| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: "Us folks don't get much time to write." Jim turned away and
began tinkering with one of the wagons.
Douglas had walked up and down in front of the tents again and
again, fighting against a desire to do the very thing that he was
doing, but to no purpose, and now that he was here, it seemed
impossible that he should go away so unsatisfied. He crossed to
Jim and came determinedly to the point.
"Can't I see her, Jim?"
"It's agin the rules." He did not turn.
There was another pause, then Douglas started slowly out of the
lot.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: an execution sale, together with the tawdry imitation rococo
candlesticks, with the zinc beneath showing through the lacquer in
several places.
M. Fraisier was small, thin, and unwholesome looking; his red face,
covered with an eruption, told of tainted blood; and he had, moreover,
a trick of continually scratching his right arm. A wig pushed to the
back of his head displayed a brick-colored cranium of ominous
conformation. This person rose from a cane-seated armchair, in which
he sat on a green leather cushion, assumed an agreeable expression,
and brought forward a chair.
"Mme. Cibot, I believe?" queried he, in dulcet tones.
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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 Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: walk was to the nook wherein Troy had worked at
planting flowers upon Fanny Robin's grave, and she
came to the marble tombstone.
A motion of satisfaction enlivened her face as she
read the complete inscription. First came the words of
Troy himself: --
ERECTED BY FRANCIS TROY
IN BELOVED MEMORY OF
FANNY ROBIN,
WHO DIED OCTOBER 9, 18 -- ,
AGED 20 YEARS.
Far From the Madding Crowd |
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 Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: to feel the usual reaction that food and company produced. It
was not any recovered pleasure in life that he felt, but only a
deeper withdrawal into himself. It was easier to go on
automatically with the social gestures than to uncover to any
human eye the abyss within him.
"My dear fellow, it's sacrilege to keep a dinner waiting--
especially the production of an artist like yours." Mr. Ascham
sipped his Burgundy luxuriously. "But the fact is, Mrs. Ashgrove
sent for me."
Granice raised his head with a quick movement of surprise. For a
moment he was shaken out of his self-absorption.
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