| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: on errands; boys hurrying to school; weary professors pacing slowly the old
street; prostitutes, men and women, dragging their feet wearily after last
night's debauch; artists with quick, impatient footsteps; tradesmen for
orders; children to seek for bread. I heard the stream beat by. And at
the alley's mouth, at the street corner, a broken barrel-organ was playing;
sometimes it quavered and almost stopped, then went on again, like a broken
human voice.
I listened: my heart scarcely moved; it was as cold as lead. I could not
bear the long day before me; and I tried to sleep again; yet still I heard
the feet upon the pavement. And suddenly I heard them cry loud as they
beat, "We are seeking!--we are seeking!--we are seeking!" and the broken
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: constituted a side-splitting witticism according to the
ethics which rule green Martian humor.
That I have taken moments to write down a part of what
occurred as that blow fell does not signify that I remained
inactive for any such length of time. I think I must have
sensed something of what was coming, for I realize now that
I was crouched as for a spring as I saw the blow aimed at
her beautiful, upturned, pleading face, and ere the hand
descended I was halfway across the hall.
Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when
I was upon him. The brute was twelve feet in height and
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