| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: conduct of the Commissary General of the Imperial Guard at Warsaw,
or the marvelous promptitude with which he organized supplies for
the various sections of the army so suddenly required by Napoleon
in 1815.
"One more of the heroes of the Empire is retiring from the stage.
Monsieur le Baron Hulot has never ceased, since 1830, to be one of
the guiding lights of the State Council and of the War Office."
"ALGIERS.--The case known as the forage supply case, to which some
of our contemporaries have given absurd prominence, has been
closed by the death of the chief culprit. Johann Wisch has
committed suicide in his cell; his accomplice, who had absconded,
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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 A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: short description of the principal room will suffice to give us an
idea of the wonders it offered to Caroline's delighted eyes when Roger
installed her there. Hangings of gray stuff trimmed with green silk
adorned the walls of her bedroom; the seats, covered with light-
colored woolen sateen, were of easy and comfortable shapes, and in the
latest fashion; a chest of drawers of some simple wood, inlaid with
lines of a darker hue, contained the treasures of the toilet; a
writing-table to match served for inditing love-letters on scented
paper; the bed, with antique draperies, could not fail to suggest
thoughts of love by its soft hangings of elegant muslin; the window-
curtains, of drab silk with green fringe, were always half drawn to
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