| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: chariot; and like more modern counterparts, painted herself, wore patches,
affected an artistic walk, and a handshake with the elbow raised and the
fingers hanging down. Her children were reared by dependents; and in the
intellectual labour and government of her age she took small part, and was
fit to take none. There were not wanting writers and thinkers who saw
clearly the end to which the enervation of the female was tending, and who
were not sparing in their denunciations. "Time was," cries one Roman
writer of that age, "when the matron turned the spindle with the hand and
kept at the same time the pot in her eye that the pottage might not be
singed, but now," he adds bitterly, "when the wife, loaded with jewels,
reposes among pillows, or seeks the dissipation of baths and theatres, all
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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 Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: "Oh, nothing ... But you were both such bricks about the
letters .... And when Nelson was here, too .... Nick, don't
hurt my wrist so! I must run!"
He dropped her hand and stood motionless, staring after her and
listening to the click of her high heels as she fled across the
room and along the echoing corridor.
When he turned back to the table he noticed that a small morocco
case had fallen among his papers. In falling it had opened, and
before him, on the pale velvet lining, lay a scarf-pin set with
a perfect pearl. He picked the box up, and was about to hasten
after Mrs. Vanderlyn--it was so like her to shed jewels on her
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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 Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: Fix did not have the same thoughts, and could scarcely conceal
his agitation. He walked feverishly up and down the platform,
but soon resumed his outward composure. He now saw the folly of which
he had been guilty in letting Fogg go alone. What! This man,
whom he had just followed around the world, was permitted now to
separate himself from him! He began to accuse and abuse himself,
and, as if he were director of police, administered to himself
a sound lecture for his greenness.
"I have been an idiot!" he thought, "and this man will see it.
He has gone, and won't come back! But how is it that I, Fix,
who have in my pocket a warrant for his arrest, have been
Around the World in 80 Days |
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 Desert Gold by Zane Grey: last night," said Belding. "He's got an awful hand. Got it punching
that greaser Rojas. I want you to dress it....Gale, this is my
step-daughter, Nell Burton, of whom I spoke. She's some good
when there's somebody sick or hurt. Shove out your fist, my boy,
and let her get at it. Supper's nearly ready."
Dick felt that same strange, quickening heart throb, yet he had
never been cooler in his life. More than anything else in the
world he wanted to look at Nell Burton; however, divining that
the situation might be embarrassing to her, he refrained from
looking up. She began to bathe his injured knuckles. He noted
the softness, the deftness of her touch, and then it seemed her
Desert Gold |
