| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: Hochmuller."
"Oh, Mr. Hawkins--you HAVE?"
"I made a thorough search, but I'm sorry to say it was no use.
She's left Hoboken--moved clear away, and nobody seems to know
where."
"It was real good of you, Mr. Hawkins." Ann Eliza's voice
struggled up in a faint whisper through the submerging tide of her
disappointment.
Mr. Hawkins, in his embarrassed sense of being the bringer of
bad news, stood before her uncertainly; then he turned to go. "No
trouble at all," he paused to assure her from the doorway.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: this traffic, and, after a time, all payment in spirituous
liquors was prohibited, in consequence of the frantic and
frightful excesses and bloody brawls which they were apt to
occasion.
Their wants and caprices being supplied, they would take leave of
the governor, strike their tents, launch their canoes, and ply
their way up the Ottawa to the lakes.
A new and anomalous class of men gradually grew out of this
trade. These were called coureurs des bois, rangers of the woods;
originally men who had accompanied the Indians in their hunting
expeditions, and made themselves acquainted with remote tracts
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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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: picture and a portrait. After a long and eager study of the two
masterpieces, Girodet threw himself on his comrade's neck and hugged
him, without speaking a word. His feelings could only be expressed as
he felt them--soul to soul.
"You are in love?" said Girodet.
They both knew that the finest portraits by Titian, Raphael, and
Leonardo da Vinci, were the outcome of the enthusiastic sentiments by
which, indeed, under various conditions, every masterpiece is
engendered. The artist only bent his head in reply.
"How happy are you to be able to be in love, here, after coming back
from Italy! But I do not advise you to send such works as these to the
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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 Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: Clarisse was momentarily inclined to turn La Faloise out. The idiot
wasn't fond of animals, and that put the finishing touch to him! He
was busy drawing in his legs because the cat was there, and he
didn't want to touch her.
"He'll nip you; take care!" said Pluto, who was a joker, as he went
upstairs, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
After that Clarisse gave up the idea of hauling La Faloise over the
coals. She had seen Mme Bron giving the letter to Simonne's young
man, and he had gone out to read it under the gas light in the
lobby. "Impossible tonight, darling--I'm booked." And with that he
had peaceably departed, as one who was doubtless used to the
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