| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: Esterbrook. All three were fond of talking, and had many callers
who liked to hear the feebly effervescent news of Wellwood. This
afternoon three ladies were there: Miss Abby Simson, Mrs. John
Bates, and Mrs. Edward Lee. They sat in the Glynn sitting-room,
which shrilled with treble voices as if a flock of sparrows had
settled therein.
The Glynn sitting-room was charming, mainly because of the
quantity of flowering plants. Every window was filled with them,
until the room seemed like a conservatory. Ivy, too, climbed
over the pictures, and the mantel-shelf was a cascade of
wandering Jew, growing in old china vases.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: when I tell you that we found ourselves speaking of the man as Mrs.
Braintree's husband and never as Mr. Braintree--this crippled lady, who
was of a candor equal to Juno's, embarked upon a conversation with Juno
that compelled Mrs. Trevise to tinkle her bell for Daphne after only two
remarks had been exchanged.
I had been sorry at first that here in this Southern boarding-house
Boston should be represented only by a lady who appeared to unite in
herself all the stony products of that city, and none of the others; for
she was as convivial as a statue and as well-informed as a spelling-book;
she stood no more for the whole of Boston than did Juno for the whole of
Kings Port. But my sorrow grew less when I found that in Mrs. Braintree
we had indeed a capable match for her Southern counterpart. Juno,
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