| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: of September. The old maid had opened the door for him and showed
him to Mr. Siders' rooms. She described this visitor as having a
full black beard, and wearing a broad-brimmed grey felt hat. Nobody
saw the man go out, for the old maid, the only person in the house
at the time, had retired early. Mrs. Winter and her little girl
were spending the night with the former's mother in a distant part
of the city. The next morning the old servant, taking the lodger's
coffee up to him at the usual hour, found him dead on the floor of
his sitting-room, shot through the heart. The woman ran screaming
from the house and alarmed the neighbours. A policeman at the
corner heard the noise, and led the crowd up to the room where the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: Theodore's; she loved him well enough to absolve him and condemn
herself. She shed tears of blood, and perceived, too late, that there
are /mesalliances/ of the spirit as well as of rank and habits. As she
recalled the early raptures of their union, she understood the full
extent of that lost happiness, and accepted the conclusion that so
rich a harvest of love was in itself a whole life, which only sorrow
could pay for. At the same time, she loved too truly to lose all hope.
At one-and-twenty she dared undertake to educate herself, and make her
imagination, at least, worthy of that she admired. "If I am not a
poet," thought she, "at any rate, I will understand poetry."
Then, with all the strength of will, all the energy which every woman
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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 Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: nearer to it than anyone I know. I've heard 'em talking about
him around town since I came back--and there isn't a rotten
story chalked up against him nowhere, and that's a lot more
than you can say for ninety-nine of a hundred New Yorkers
that are talked about at all.
"And Mallory's a man, too--the kind that every woman
ought to have, only they ain't enough of 'em to go 'round.
Do you remember how he stood up there on the deck of the
Lotus and fought fair against my dirty tricks? He's a man and
a gentleman, Barbara--the sort you can be proud of, and
that's the sort you got to have. You see I know you.
The Mucker |
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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: 'Welcome, Teule,' she said smiling. 'You are not of our people,
yet my heart goes out to such a man.' And still smiling she left
us.
'Who is that great lady?' I asked of Guatemoc.
'That is my cousin Otomie, the princess of the Otomie, my uncle
Montezuma's favourite daughter,' he answered. 'She likes you,
Teule, and that is well for you for many reasons. Hush!'
As he spoke the screen at the far end of the chamber was drawn
aside. Beyond it a man sat upon a broidered cushion, who was
inhaling the fumes of the tobacco weed from a gilded pipe of wood
after the Indian fashion. This man, who was no other than the
Montezuma's Daughter |
