| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: obey his caprice and please his eye. Even stubborn rocks lose their
wildness, and come to seem a part of the almost sentient life around
them. If the description of such dutifulness seems fanciful, the
thing itself surpasses all supposition. Hedges and shrubbery,
clipped into the most fantastic shapes, accept the suggestion of the
pruning-knife as if man's wishes were their own whims. Manikin
maples, Tom Thumb trees, a foot high and thirty years old, with all
the gnarls and knots and knuckles of their fellows of the forest,
grow in his parterres, their native vitality not a whit diminished.
And they are not regarded as monstrosities but only as the most
natural of artificialities; for they are a part of a horticultural
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: circumstances about which she should rather not be questioned,
but that Emilia had come there the previous night from the
ball, had been seized with one of her peculiar attacks, and had
stayed all night. Aunt Jane kept her eyes steadily fixed on
Hope's sad face, and, when the tale was ended, drew her down
and kissed her lips.
"Now tell me, dear," she said; "what comes first?"
"The first thing is," said Hope, "to have Emilia's absence
explained to Mrs. Meredith in some such way that she will think
no more of it, and not talk about it."
"Certainly," said Aunt Jane. "There is but one way to do that.
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