| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jolly Corner by Henry James: if she liked, a morbid obsession. He found all things come back to
the question of what he personally might have been, how he might
have led his life and "turned out," if he had not so, at the
outset, given it up. And confessing for the first time to the
intensity within him of this absurd speculation - which but proved
also, no doubt, the habit of too selfishly thinking - he affirmed
the impotence there of any other source of interest, any other
native appeal. "What would it have made of me, what would it have
made of me? I keep for ever wondering, all idiotically; as if I
could possibly know! I see what it has made of dozens of others,
those I meet, and it positively aches within me, to the point of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: spirit of the ancient court and traditions of bygone feuds
between the nobles and the Crown still lingered on, the
aristocracy was not whole-hearted in its allegiance to the
Tuileries, and so much the more easily defeated because it was
concentrated in the Chamber of Peers, and badly organised even
there. If the noblesse had woven themselves into a network over
the country, they could have held their own; but cooped up in
their Faubourg, with their backs against the Chateau, or spread
at full length over the Budget, a single blow cut the thread of a
fast-expiring life, and a petty, smug-faced lawyer came forward
with the axe. In spite of M. Royer-Collard's admirable
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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: fell down ignominiously. It was the first time
he had fanned that season and he looked dazed.
We had to haul him away.
I called off the practice, somewhat worried
about Rube's showing, and undecided whether or
not to try him in the game that day. So I went
to Radbourne, who had quietly watched Rube
while on the field. Raddy was an old pitcher and
had seen the rise of a hundred stars. I told him
about the game at Rickettsville and what I thought
of Rube, and frankly asked his opinion.
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 The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: he saw von Horn and his Dyaks leap into the clearing,
to which they had been guided by the sounds of the chase
and the encounter. The doctor halted at the sight that
met his eyes--the prostrate form of the girl and the man
battling with three huge bulls.
Then he gathered up Virginia Maxon, and with a sign
to his Dyaks, who were thoroughly frightened at the
mere sight of the white giant of whom they had heard
such terrible stories, turned and hastened back
in the direction from which they had come, leaving
the man to what seemed must be a speedy and horrible death.
The Monster Men |
