| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: several hours' absence.
A few steps from our front door I came upon John Mayrant, and saw at once
too plainly that no ease had come to his spirit during the hours since
the bridge. He was just emerging from an adjacent house.
"And have you resigned?" I asked him.
"Yes. That's done. You haven't seen Miss Rieppe this morning?"
"Why, she's surely not boarding with Mrs. Trevise?"
"No; stopping here with her old friend, Mrs. Cornerly. He indicated the
door he had come from. "Of course, you wouldn't be likely to see her
pass!" And with that he was gone
That he was greatly stirred up by something there could be no doubt;
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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: this symphony to him?"
He asked Clara Tinti.
"My dear child,"--for she saw that Emilio was but a child,--"dear
child," said she, "that man, who is a hundred and eighteen in the
parish register of vice, and only forty-seven in the register of the
Church, has but one single joy left to him in life. Yes, everything is
broken, everything in him is ruin or rags; his soul, intellect, heart,
nerves,--everything in man that can supply an impulse and remind him
of heaven, either by desire or enjoyment, is bound up with music, or
rather with one of the many effects produced by music, the perfect
unison of two voices, or of a voice with the top string of his violin.
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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 Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: engaged in making a grand-stand play. Reddy
Clammer used every possible incident and artifice
to bring himself into the limelight.
Reddie Ray had been the intercollegiate
champion in the sprints and a famous college ball
player. After a few months of professional ball
he was hitting over .400 and leading the league
both at bat and on the bases. It was a beautiful
and a thrilling sight to see him run. He was so
quick to start, so marvelously swift, so keen of
judgment, that neither Delaney nor any player
The Redheaded Outfield |
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 Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: in quest of health, were the only breaks in three years of
murderous inaction; and at the end of that period Jenkin was
invalided home, having 'lost his health entirely.'
As he left the deck of the guard-ship the historic part of his
career came to an end. For forty-two years he continued to serve
his country obscurely on the seas, sometimes thanked for
inconspicuous and honourable services, but denied any opportunity
of serious distinction. He was first two years in the LARNE,
Captain Tait, hunting pirates and keeping a watch on the Turkish
and Greek squadrons in the Archipelago. Captain Tait was a
favourite with Sir Thomas Maitland, High Commissioner of the Ionian
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