| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: them; for if they had escaped it was only to meet a new danger.
Mr. Moreen appealed to him, on every precedent, as a man of the
world; but his wife had recourse, for the first time since his
domestication with them, to a fine hauteur, reminding him that a
devoted mother, with her child, had arts that protected her against
gross misrepresentation.
"I should misrepresent you grossly if I accused you of common
honesty!" our friend replied; but as he closed the door behind him
sharply, thinking he had not done himself much good, while Mr.
Moreen lighted another cigarette, he heard his hostess shout after
him more touchingly
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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 Recruit by Honore de Balzac: There was silence for a moment. The recruit himself shuddered at the
aspect of Madame de Dey.
"Ah! monsieur," she said, leaning on Brigitte's husband, who had
entered the room, and feeling to its fullest extent an agony the fear
of which had already nearly killed her. "Monsieur, I cannot stay with
you longer. Allow my people to attend upon you."
She returned to her own room, half carried by Brigitte and her old
servant.
"Oh! madame," said Brigitte, as she undressed her mistress, "must that
man sleep in Monsieur Auguste's bed, and put on Monsieur Auguste's
slippers, and eat the pate I made for Monsieur Auguste? They may
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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 Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: "I heard a slight rustling in the deep grass to my right. I turned and
saw Kearny coming toward me. He was ragged and dew-drenched and
limping. His hat and one boot were gone. About one foot he had tied
some makeshift of cloth and grass. But his manner as he approached was
that of a man who knows his own virtues well enough to be superior to
rebuffs.
"'Well, sir,' I said, staring at him coldly, 'if there is anything in
persistence, I see no reason why you should not succeed in wrecking
and ruining us yet.'
"'I kept half a day's journey behind,' said Kearny, fishing out a
stone from the covering of his lame foot, 'so the bad luck wouldn't
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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 Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: please."
I couldn't stand it any more myself. "If you'll
just tell Hermione I called," I said, edging toward
the door. Fothergil, however, stuck it out. In the
frenzy of embarrassment he must have lost his
head completely. For as I left I heard him be-
ginning:
"Did you read the story in the papers today of
the man who killed his wife? Crimes of passion are
becoming more and more frequent. . . ."
PRISON REFORM AND POISE
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