| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: was incapable of feeling them himself? Oh! my friend, do you know
what would have become of me? Shall I take you into the recesses
of my soul? I should have gone to my father and said, "Bring me
the son-in-law whom you desire; my will abdicates,--marry me to
whom you please." And the man might have been a notary, banker,
miser, fool, dullard, wearisome as a rainy day, common as the
usher of a school, a manufacturer, or some brave soldier without
two ideas,--he would have had a resigned and attentive servant in
me. But what an awful suicide! never could my soul have expanded
in the life-giving rays of a beloved sun. No murmur should have
revealed to my father, or my mother, or my children the suicide of
Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: says; I guess you don't expect to get on ahead of your own
Britishers?'
'I am trying to do my duty, Captain Brown,' said Herrick,
with a dark flush, 'and I have the honour to inform you that I
don't enjoy being trifled with.'
'What in thunder do you want?' roared Davis. 'Go and look
at the blamed wake. If you're trying to do your duty, why don't
you go and do it? I guess it's no business of mine to go and
stick my head over the ship's rump? I guess it's yours. And I'll
tell you what it is, my fine fellow, I'll trouble you not to come
the dude over me. You're insolent, that's what's wrong with you.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: "Mr. McDonald was one of my first acquaintances in Washington," and
Mrs. Brewster smiled as she held out her hand.
"About this check, McDonald," Clymer handed it to the teller as he
spoke. "Who presented it?"
"Miss McIntyre."
"Which Miss McIntyre?" Mrs. Brewster put the question with swift
intentness.
"I can't tell one twin from the other," confessed McDonald. "But,
as you see, the check is made payable to Barbara McIntyre."
"The inference being that Barbara McIntyre presented the check for
payment," commented Clymer, and McDonald bowed. "It would seem,
The Red Seal |
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 Voice of the City by O. Henry: sad little tables in their so-called Bohemian restau-
rants; and we shuddered lest they should seek out our
resorts and make them conspicuous with their pres-
ence.
Pettit wrote many stories, which the editors re-
turned to him. He wrote love stories, a thing I have
always kept free from, holding the belief that the
well-known and popular sentiment is not properly a
matter for publication, but something to be privately
handled by the alienists and florists. But the editors
had told him that they wanted love stories, because
The Voice of the City |
