| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: "Oh, Rickham found me out long ago," he said lightly; then,
passing his arm through mine: "Come and see the rest of the
house."
He showed it to me with a kind of naive suburban pride: the
bath-rooms, the speaking-tubes, the dress-closets, the trouser-
presses--all the complex simplifications of the millionaire's
domestic economy. And whenever my wonder paid the expected
tribute he said, throwing out his chest a little: "Yes, I really
don't see how people manage to live without that."
Well--it was just the end one might have foreseen for him. Only
he was, through it all and in spite of it all--as he had been
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: And age, in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore, I'll lie with love, and love with me,
Since that our faults in love thus smother'd be.
II.
Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,
That like two spirits do suggest me still;
My better angel is a man right fair,
My worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
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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 Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: which he was assigned by the various enterprises in whose interests he
was now about to exercise his great talents. After spending forty-five
days in beating up the country between Paris and Blois, he remained
two weeks at the latter place to write up his correspondence and make
short visits to the various market towns of the department. The night
before he left Blois for Tours he indited a letter to Mademoiselle
Jenny Courand. As the conciseness and charm of this epistle cannot be
equalled by any narration of ours, and as, moreover, it proves the
legitimacy of the tie which united these two individuals, we produce
it here:--
"My dear Jenny,--You will lose your wager. Like Napoleon,
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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 Astoria by Washington Irving: accustomed haunts, on hunting expeditions, or during the
vicissitudes of war. The utmost skill and caution are required to
render these places of concealment invisible to the lynx eye of
an Indian. The first care is to seek out a proper situation,
which is generally some dry, low, bank of clay, on the margin of
a water-course. As soon as the precise spot is pitched upon,
blankets, saddle-cloths, and other coverings are spread over the
surrounding grass and bushes, to prevent foot-tracks, or any
other derangement; and as few hands as possible are employed. A
circle of about two feet in diameter is then nicely cut in the
sod, which is carefully removed, with the loose soil immediately
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