| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: And then a young man, one whom, from her years in the Bad Lands as
the White Moll, she recognized as a hanger-on at a gambling hell in
the Chatham Square district, came toward her, plowing his way,
contemptuous of obstructions, out of the crowd.
Rhoda Gray, as Gypsy Nan, hailed him out of the corner of her mouth.
"Say, wot's de row?" she demanded.
The young man grinned.
"Somebody pinched a million from de old guy!" He shifted his
cigarette with a deft movement of his tongue from one side of his
mouth to the other, and grinned again. "Can youse beat it!
Accordin' to him, he had enough coin to annex de whole of Noo Yoik!
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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 Purse by Honore de Balzac: her, she held out her hand, unable to speak a word, but two tears
fell from her eyes. Hippolyte took her hand and covered it with
kisses; for a minute they looked at each other in silence, both
longing to confess their love, and not daring. The painter kept
her hand in his, and the same glow, the same throb, told them
that their hearts were both beating wildly. The young girl, too
greatly agitated, gently drew away from Hippolyte, and said, with
a look of the utmost simplicity:
"You will make my mother very happy."
"What, only your mother?" he asked.
"Oh, I am too happy."
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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 Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: was fishing Swingleburn, Archie accompanying him, when the latter looked
at his watch.
"Well, good-bye," said he. "I have something to do. See you at
dinner."
"Don't be in such a hurry," cries Frank. "Hold on till I get my rod up.
I'll go with you; I'm sick of flogging this ditch."
And he began to reel up his line.
Archie stood speechless. He took a long while to recover his wits under
this direct attack; but by the time he was ready with his answer, and
the angle was almost packed up, he had become completely Weir, and the
hanging face gloomed on his young shoulders. He spoke with a laboured
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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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: here, I have a great satisfaction that we are setting rather than
rising; that we have done our work, instead of having it to do.
Like all our pleasures, those here are earned by fatigue and effort,
and I would not willingly live the last three years over again, or
three years like them, though they have contained high and lasting
gratifications. We have constantly the strongest expressions of
regret at our approaching departure, and in many cases it is, I
know, most genuine. My relations here have been most agreeable, and
particularly in that intellectual circle whose high character and
culture have made their regard most precious to me. The
manifestations of this kindness increase as the time approaches for
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