| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: they were only just so many pangs to his heart. "I must not say
anything to Roxy about this thing," he said. "She is too daring.
She would be for digging these stones out and selling them, and then--
why, she would be arrested and the stones traced, and then--"
The thought made him quake, and he hid the knife away, trembling
all over and glancing furtively about, like a criminal who fancies that
the accuser is already at hand.
Should he try to sleep? Oh, no, sleep was not for him; his trouble
was too haunting, too afflicting for that. He must have somebody
to mourn with. He would carry his despair to Roxy.
He had heard several distant gunshots, but that sort of thing
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: To be sure, the extension WILL interfere with your view, Mrs.
Manstey."
"You do understand?" Mrs. Manstey gasped.
"Of course I do. And I'm real sorry about it, too. But there,
don't you worry, Mrs. Manstey. I guess we can fix that all
right."
Mrs. Manstey rose from her seat, and Mrs. Black slipped toward
the door.
"What do you mean by fixing it? Do you mean that I can induce
you to change your mind about the extension? Oh, Mrs. Black,
listen to me. I have two thousand dollars in the bank and I
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: him, but without seeing any one. Then he advanced a few steps and, to
his surprise, discovered a large mirror, in which were reflected the
faces and forms of three girls, as well as his own.
"Why, here they are!" he attempted to say; but he could not hear his
own voice. He glanced down at himself but could see nothing at all--for
his body had become invisible. His reflection was still in the glass,
and he knew that his body existed the same as before; but although he
yet saw plainly the hall and all that it contained, he could see
neither himself nor any other person of flesh.
After waiting a considerable time for his esquire to reappear Prince
Marvel became impatient.
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Vision Splendid by William MacLeod Raine: hearts and bodies. He showed her a world at odds and ends, in
which it was accepted as the natural thing that some should starve
while others were waited upon by servants.
He made her see how the tendency of environment is to reduce all
things to a question of selfinterest, and how the great triumphant
fact of life is that love and kindness persist. Her interest was
insatiable. She poured questions upon him, made him tell her
stories of the things he had seen in that strange underworld that
was farther from her than Asia. So she learned of Oscar Marchant,
coughing all day over the shoes he half-soled and going out at
night to give his waning life to the service of those who needed
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