| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: and tone one would employ in a dissertation on 'Surplus Value,' or 'The
Fallacies of Marxism,' but just the stuff the dear public likes.
"'Humph!' grunted Spargo when I put the copy in his fist. 'Swift gait you
strike, my man.'
"I fixed a hypnotic eye on his vest pocket, and he passed out one of his
superior cigars, which I burned while he ran through the stuff. Twice or
thrice he looked over the top of the paper at me, searchingly, but said
nothing till he had finished.
"'Where'd you work, you pencil-pusher?' he asked.
"'My maiden effort,' I simpered modestly, scraping one foot and faintly
simulating embarrassment.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: little skirt. We found three or four copper knives, but
again they said that they came from the south. As in Spain
``west--west'' had been his word, so now the Admiral
brooded upon south.''
These folk had a very little gold, but they seemed to say
that theirs was a simple and poor village, and that we should
find more of all things farther on. So we left Concepcion,
the cross upon the rock showing a long way through the pure
air.
For two days we coasted, and at the end of this time we
came to a harbor of great beauty and back from it ran a
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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 The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: "I didn't see any; but I understood in the village that the governor
had been advised to hold State troops in readiness for trouble."
Orde fell into a brown study, eating mechanically. The men began an
eager and somewhat truculent discussion full of lawless and
bloodthirsty suggestion. Some suggested the kidnapping and
sequestration of Reed until the affair should be finished.
"How'd he get hold of his old sheriff, then?" they inquired with
some pertinence.
Orde, however, paid no attention to all this talk, but continued to
frown into space. At last his face cleared, and he slapped down his
tin plate so violently that the knife and fork jumped off into the
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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 Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: beheld struck me into a passion of anger. I thrust the fellow
aside, plucked the poor brute out of his hands, and with swift
mercy killed it. Then I turned upon the torturer, spoke to him
long out of the heat of my indignation, calling him names at which
he seemed to wither; and at length, pointing toward the residencia,
bade him begone and leave me, for I chose to walk with men, not
with vermin. He fell upon his knees, and, the words coming to him
with more cleanness than usual, poured out a stream of the most
touching supplications, begging me in mercy to forgive him, to
forget what he had done, to look to the future. 'O, I try so
hard,' he said. 'O, commandante, bear with Felipe this once; he
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