| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: the sublimity of her nature and the extent of her resignation.
Stoically she bore the strokes of misery; her strong soul held her up
against all woes; she worked with unfaltering hand beside her dying
son, performed her household duties with marvellous activity, and
sufficed for all. She was even happy, still, when she saw on Luigi's
lips a smile of surprise at the cleanliness she produced in the one
poor room where they had taken refuge.
"Dear, I kept this bit of bread for you," she said, one evening, when
he returned, worn-out.
"And you?"
"I? I have dined, dear Luigi; I want nothing more."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: every copy was sold.
When the trial came on, people came from all the farms
around, and from Hannibal, and Quincy, and even from Keokuk; and
the court-house could hold only a fraction of the crowd that
applied for admission. The trial was published in the village
paper, with fresh and still more trying pictures of the accused.
Hardy was convicted, and hanged--a mistake. People came
from miles around to see the hanging; they brought cakes and
cider, also the women and children, and made a picnic of the
matter. It was the largest crowd the village had ever seen. The
rope that hanged Hardy was eagerly bought up, in inch samples,
What is Man? |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: manner, and grow monstrously fat; and the beef is so delicious for
taste, that the inhabitants prefer them to the English cattle,
which are much larger and fairer to look at; and they may very well
do so. Some have told me, and I believe with good judgment, that
there are above forty thousand of these Scots cattle fed in this
county every year, and most of them in the said marshes between
Norwich, Beccles, and Yarmouth.
Yarmouth is an ancient town, much older than Norwich; and at
present, though not standing on so much ground, yet better built;
much more complete; for number of inhabitants, not much inferior;
and for wealth, trade, and advantage of its situation, infinitely
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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 Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: I tied my jacket on the pack, and walked in my knitted waistcoat.
Modestine herself was in high spirits, and broke of her own accord,
for the first time in my experience, into a jolting trot that set
the oats swashing in the pocket of my coat. The view, back upon
the northern Gevaudan, extended with every step; scarce a tree,
scarce a house, appeared upon the fields of wild hill that ran
north, east, and west, all blue and gold in the haze and sunlight
of the morning. A multitude of little birds kept sweeping and
twittering about my path; they perched on the stone pillars, they
pecked and strutted on the turf, and I saw them circle in volleys
in the blue air, and show, from time to time, translucent
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