| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: the sympathies of the reader, addressed himself throughout to the
building up and circumstantiation of this boyish dream. Character
to the boy is a sealed book; for him, a pirate is a beard, a pair
of wide trousers and a liberal complement of pistols. The author,
for the sake of circumstantiation and because he was himself more
or less grown up, admitted character, within certain limits, into
his design; but only within certain limits. Had the same puppets
figured in a scheme of another sort, they had been drawn to very
different purpose; for in this elementary novel of adventure, the
characters need to be presented with but one class of qualities -
the warlike and formidable. So as they appear insidious in deceit
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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 Virginian by Owen Wister: and hear her voice bid him come in. All winter long he had been
choosing the ride he would take her. He had imagined a sunny
afternoon, a hidden grove, a sheltering cleft of rock, a running
spring, and some words of his that should conquer her at last and
leave his lips upon hers. And with this controlled fire pent up
within him, he had counted the days, scratching them off his
calendar with a dig each night that once or twice snapped the
pen. Then, when the trail stood open, this meeting was deferred,
put off for indefinite days, or weeks; he could not tell how
long. So, gripping his pencil and tracing heavy words, he gave
himself what consolation he could by writing her.
The Virginian |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: pavement, much as the rider in the Tyburn cart may have
observed the concourse gathering to his execution.
At the station his spirits rose again; another stage of his
escape was fortunately ended - he began to spy blue water.
He called a railway porter, and bade him carry the
portmanteau to the cloak-room: not that he had any notion of
delay; flight, instant flight was his design, no matter
whither; but he had determined to dismiss the cabman ere he
named, or even chose, his destination, thus possibly balking
the Judicial Error of another link. This was his cunning
aim, and now with one foot on the roadway, and one still on
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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 Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: blank, failed to penetrate. The composition
of this jacket was a secret, but after the
owner's death the garment was ripped open
and found to contain-ground glass! The
third sensation I must, with all due modesty,
(business of bowing) claim for myself.
The Magnet failed to attract after about
forty-eight hours, for a keen-witted reporter
discovered her methods and promptly published
them. The bullet detainer also lasted
only a short time only. When my opening
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
