| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: that he dared not ponder over long enough to understand.
The solitude he had hated when alone he had now come to love. He
was assimilating something from this valley of gleams and
shadows. From this strange girl he was assimilating more.
The day at hand resembled many days gone before. As Venters had
no tools with which to build, or to till the terraces, he
remained idle. Beyond the cooking of the simple fare there were
no tasks. And as there were no tasks, there was no system. He and
Bess began one thing, to leave it; to begin another, to leave
that; and then do nothing but lie under the spruces and watch the
great cloud-sails majestically move along the ramparts, and dream
Riders of the Purple Sage |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: common humanity to her terrified attendant, that he should take
some measures to relieve the girl from her distressing
situation. The deceased, he understood, had expressed a desire
to be buried in a solitary churchyard, near the little inn of the
Tod's Hole, called the Hermitage, or more commonly Armitage, in
which lay interred some of the Ravenswood family, and many of
their followers. Ravenswood conceived it his duty to gratify
this predilection, commonly found to exist among the Scottish
peasantry, and despatched Babie to the neighbouring village to
procure the assistance of some females, assuring her that, in the
mean while, he would himself remain with the dead body, which, as
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: quiet and not a sigh escaped them.
The wind changed during the night, the storm abated, and when daylight came
the sky was cloudless. The first rays of the sun shone in the open door,
lighting up the interior of the cabin.
A sleepy Indian who had acted as guard stretched his limbs and yawned. He
looked for the prisoner, and saw him sitting up in the corner. One arm was
free, and the other nearly so. He had almost untied the thongs which bound
him; a few moments more and he would have been free.
"Ugh!" exclaimed the young brave, awakening his chief and pointing to the
hunter.
The chief glanced at his prisoner; then looked more closely, and with one
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: de Fontaine still hoped to regain, was attacked by the malady of which
he was to die. The great political chief, who knew so well how to
steer his bark in the midst of tempests, soon succumbed. Certain then
of favors to come, the Comte de Fontaine made every effort to collect
the elite of marrying men about his youngest daughter. Those who may
have tried to solve the difficult problem of settling a haughty and
capricious girl, will understand the trouble taken by the unlucky
father. Such an affair, carried out to the liking of his beloved
child, would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for
these ten years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed
salaries under every department, it might be compared with the House
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