| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: got to be done."
His eyes glittered and he shook his head....
The brig stood in slowly through the twilight toward this strange
scorched and blistered stretch of beach, and the man at the wheel
strained his ears to listening the low-voiced angry argument
that began between myself and the captain, that was presently
joined by Pollack. We moored at last within a hundred yards of
our goal, and all through our dinner and far into the night we
argued intermittently and fiercely with the captain about our
right to load just what we pleased. "I will haf nothing to do
with eet," he persisted. "I wash my hands." It seemed that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: flash she remembered childish parties when they had played charades, and
one side had left the room and come in again to act a word--just what she
was doing now. The strange man went over to the stove and sat down in her
arm-chair. She did not want him to talk or come near her--it was enough to
see him in the room, so secure and happy. How hungry she had been for the
nearness of someone like that--who knew nothing at all about her--and made
no demands--but just lived. Viola ran over to the table and put her arms
round the jar of hyacinths.
"Beautiful! Beautiful!" she cried--burying her head in the flowers--and
sniffing greedily at the scent. Over the leaves she looked at the man and
laughed.
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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 Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: will be neither judge nor hangman. An ye were the devil, I would
not lay a hand on you. An ye were the devil, ye might go where ye
will for me. Seek God's forgiveness; mine ye have freely. But to
go on to Holywood is different. I carry arms for York, and I will
suffer no spy within their lines. Hold it, then, for certain, if
ye set one foot before another, I will uplift my voice and call the
nearest post to seize you."
"Ye mock me," said Sir Daniel. "I have no safety out of Holywood."
"I care no more," returned Richard. "I let you go east, west, or
south; north I will not. Holywood is shut against you. Go, and
seek not to return. For, once ye are gone, I will warn every post
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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 The Octopus by Frank Norris: chorus, and the whiskered gentleman stopped snoring and thrust
his head from his curtains, blinking at the Pintsch lights. It
appeared that he was an Englishman.
"I say," he asked of the drummer named Max, "I say, my friend,
what place is this?"
The others roared with derision.
"We were HELD UP, sir, that's what we were. We were held up and
you slept through it all. You missed the show of your life."
The gentleman fixed the group with a prolonged gaze. He said
never a word, but little by little he was convinced that the
drummers told the truth. All at once he grew wrathful, his face
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