| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: piano.
"Order in the gallery!" she retorted, without pausing in her
playing. She finished with a great flourish and gazed at him in
triumph, only to find him pretending a profound slumber. "O--o--
o!" she remarked between her teeth, "I just hate you, Condy
Rivers."
"There are others," he returned airily.
"Talk about slang."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: because if you don't go now the chances are aginst your ever goin'.
Christianity or no Christianity, such men as you hev no bisness in these
woods."
"I thank you for your advice, and bless you for your rescue of this child; but
I can not leave my work, nor can I understand why all this good work we have
done should be called useless. We have converted Indians, saved their souls.
Is that not being of some use, of some good here?"
"It's accordin' to how you look at it. Now I know the bark of an oak is
different accordin' to the side we see from. I'll allow, hatin' Injuns as I
do, is no reason you oughtn't to try an' convert 'em. But you're bringin' on a
war. These Injuns won't allow this Village of Peace here with its big fields
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: was proved at the judicial investigation opened in consequence
of the insurrection of 1832. Captain Fannicot, a bold and impatient
bourgeois, a sort of condottiere of the order of those whom we have
just characterized, a fanatical and intractable governmentalist,
could not resist the temptation to fire prematurely, and the ambition
of capturing the barricade alone and unaided, that is to say,
with his company. Exasperated by the successive apparition of
the red flag and the old coat which he took for the black flag,
he loudly blamed the generals and chiefs of the corps, who were
holding council and did not think that the moment for the decisive
assault had arrived, and who were allowing "the insurrection to fry
Les Miserables |
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 Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: sit?' said one of them. 'Oh, put me on the rim of your hat; that will
be a nice gallery for me; I can walk about there and see the country
as we go along.' So they did as he wished; and when Tom had taken
leave of his father they took him away with them.
They journeyed on till it began to be dusky, and then the little man
said, 'Let me get down, I'm tired.' So the man took off his hat, and
put him down on a clod of earth, in a ploughed field by the side of
the road. But Tom ran about amongst the furrows, and at last slipped
into an old mouse-hole. 'Good night, my masters!' said he, 'I'm off!
mind and look sharp after me the next time.' Then they ran at once to
the place, and poked the ends of their sticks into the mouse-hole, but
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
