| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: Each ran a memorandum of this kind; and you can readily see how spirited
a character metaphysics would assume under such conditions.
"I'm going in," said Bertie, suddenly, as Billy was crediting himself
with a fifty-cent gain. "What's your score?"
"Two seventy-five, counting your break on Parmenides. It'II be cold."
"No, it won't. Well, I'm only a quarter behind you." And Bertie puffed
off his shoes. Soon he splashed into the stream where the bend made a
hole of some depth.
"Cold?" inquired Billy on the bank. Bertie closed his eyes dreamily.
"Delicious," said he, and sank luxuriously beneath the surface with slow
strokes.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: with wrinkles, was scarcely visible under the broad-brimmed hat which
the Breton peasants still retain as a tradition of the olden time;
proud to have won, after their servitude, the right to wear the former
ornament of seignorial heads. This nocturnal caravan, protected by a
guide whose clothing, attitudes, and person had something patriarchal
about them, bore no little resemblance to the Flight into Egypt as we
see it represented by the sombre brush of Rembrandt. Galope-Chopine
carefully avoided the main-road and guided the two women through the
labyrinth of by-ways which intersect Brittany.
Mademoiselle de Verneuil then understood the Chouan warfare. In
threading these complicated paths, she could better appreciate the
 The Chouans |