| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: There was this difference between the late Chapeloud and the vicar,--
one was a shrewd and clever egoist, the other a simple-minded and
clumsy one. When the canon went to board with Mademoiselle Gamard he
knew exactly how to judge of his landlady's character. The
confessional had taught him to understand the bitterness that the
sense of being kept outside the social pale puts into the heart of an
old maid; he therefore calculated his own treatment of Mademoiselle
Gamard very wisely. She was then about thirty-eight years old, and
still retained a few pretensions, which, in well-behaved persons of
her condition, change, rather later, into strong personal self-esteem.
The canon saw plainly that to live comfortably with his landlady he
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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 Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: stamping of many feet upon the floor of the outer
room.
Burton's car drew up before the doorway of the Prim
home in Oakdale. The great detective alighted and
handed down the missing Abigail. Then be directed that
the other prisoners be taken to the county jail.
Jonas Prim and his wife awaited Abigail's return in
the spacious living room at the left of the reception
hall. The banker was nervous. He paced to and fro the
length of the room. Mrs. Prim fanned herself vigorously
although the heat was far from excessive. They heard
The Oakdale Affair |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: tongues of fire. She began to walk about, striving to shake off the
horrible torpor which laid hold of her; but, like one asleep, no
object appeared to her under its natural form or in its own colors.
She grasped the hand of the little boy with a violence not natural to
her, dragging him along with such precipitate steps that she seemed to
have the motions of a madwoman. She saw neither persons nor things in
the salon as she crossed it, and yet she was saluted by three men who
made way to let her pass.
"That must be she," said one of them.
"She is very handsome," exclaimed another, who was a priest.
"Yes," replied the first; "but how pale and agitated--"
The Chouans |
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 Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: question the behavior of those I came in contact with, and of never
expecting any thing different from that I received, I might have
wondered over his visit. Every person's individuality was sacred to
me, from the fact, perhaps, that my own individuality had never
been respected by any person with whom I had any relation--not even
by my own mother.
After Mr. Uxbridge went, I asked Aunt Eliza if she thought he
looked mean and cunning? She laughed, and replied that she was
bound to think that Mr. Lemorne's lawyer could not look otherwise.
When, on the night of the ball, I presented myself in the rose-
colored moire antique for her inspection, she raised her eyebrows,
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