| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: fathers before us?--All evil comes out o' thereaway--it's an auld
saying and a true; and we'll e'en away there, as if the devil was
blawing us south."
"We'll follow the track o' Earnscliff's horses ower the waste,"
cried one Elliot.
"I'll prick them out through the blindest moor in the Border, an
there had been a fair held there the day before," said Hugh, the
blacksmith of Ringleburn, "for I aye shoe his horse wi' my ain
hand."
"Lay on the deer-hounds," cried another "where are they?"
"Hout, man, the sun's been lang up, and the dew is aff the grund
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: It isn't funny, like Jo's story, but I thought about it a good deal
as I came home. At the Kings' today I found everybody in a flurry,
and one of the children said that her oldest brother had done
something dreadful, and Papa had sent him away. I heard Mrs. King
crying and Mr. King talking very loud, and Grace and Ellen turned
away their faces when they passed me, so I shouldn't see how red and
swollen their eyes were. I didn't ask any questions, of course, but
I felt so sorry for them and was rather glad I hadn't any wild
brothers to do wicked things and disgrace the family."
"I think being disgraced in school is a great deal tryinger
than anything bad boys can do," said Amy, shaking her head, as if
Little Women |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: anything like real appreciation of the Rube. They
were accustomed to observe the trying out of
many youngsters, of whom ninety-nine out of a
hundred failed to make good.
Dugan chopped at three strikes and slammed
his bat down. Hucker hit a slow fly to Hoffer.
Three men out on five pitched balls! Cogswell,
old war horse that he was, stood a full moment
and watched the Rube as he walked in to the
bench. An idea had penetrated Cogswell's brain,
and I would have given something to know what
The Redheaded Outfield |
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 Purse by Honore de Balzac: drawn, if you find it tedious in places, do not blame the
description, which is, indeed, part and parcel of my story; for
the appearance of the rooms inhabited by his two neighbors had a
great influence on the feelings and hopes of Hippolyte Schinner.
The house belonged to one of those proprietors in whom there is a
foregone and profound horror of repairs and decoration, one of
the men who regard their position as Paris house-owners as a
business. In the vast chain of moral species, these people hold a
middle place between the miser and the usurer. Optimists in their
own interests, they are all faithful to the Austrian status quo.
If you speak of moving a cupboard or a door, of opening the most
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