| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: could not be replaced.
At noon he went over to the mainland to tell of the disaster, and
perhaps to find out if any hostile hand was responsible for it. He
found out nothing. Every one denied all knowledge of the accident.
Perhaps there was a flaw in the wheel; perhaps it had broken itself.
That was possible. Fortin could not deny it; but the thing that
hurt him most was that he got so little sympathy. Nobody seemed to
care whether the light was kept burning or not. When he told them
how the machine had been turned all night by hand, they were
astonished. "CRE-IE!" they cried, "you must have had a great misery
to do that." But that he proposed to go on doing it for a month
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: who was somewhere in the house, though she had failed to discover him.
Without knowing the peaceful course of daily life in Venice at the
present day, so devoid of incident that a slight altercation between
two lovers, or the transient huskiness of a singer's voice becomes a
subject of discussion, regarded of as much importance as politics in
England, it is impossible to conceive of the excitement in the theatre
and at the Cafe Florian. La Tinti was in love; la Tinti had been
hindered in her performance; Genovese was mad or purposely malignant,
inspired by the artist's jealousy so familiar to Italians! What a mine
of matter for eager discussion!
The whole pit was talking as men talk at the Bourse, and the result
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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 Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: seventeen anxious years is lifted from its heart for ever.
Yes, she is gone, to answer at a higher tribunal than that of the
Estates of England, for all the noble English blood which has been
poured out for her; for all the noble English hearts whom she has
tempted into treachery, rebellion, and murder. Elizabeth's own
words have been fulfilled at last, after years of long-suffering,--
"The daughter of debate,
That discord aye doth sow,
Hath reap'd no gain where former rule
Hath taught still peace to grow."
And now she can do evil no more. Murder and adultery, the heart
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: the boy's domain of beach and shells, of moss and pebbles. The boy's
terror of his father was so great that, like the Lapp, who lives and
dies in his snow, he made a native land of his rocks and his cottage,
and was terrified and uneasy if he passed his frontier.
The duchess, knowing her child was not fitted to find happiness except
in some humble and retired sphere, did not regret the fate that was
thus imposed upon him; she used this enforced vocation to prepare him
for a noble life of study and science, and she brought to the chateau
Pierre de Sebonde as tutor to the future priest. Nevertheless, in
spite of the tonsure imposed by the will of the father, she was
determined that Etienne's education should not be wholly
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