| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: Beatrix
The Imaginary Mistress
La Roche-Hugon, Martial de
Domestic Peace
The Peasantry
A Daughter of Eve
The Member for Arcis
The Middle Classes
Lebas, Joseph
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
Cesar Birotteau
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: So, during the evening and night of the 2nd of August,
Michael Strogoff remained confined to his inn, at the en-
trance of the town; which was little frequented and out of
the way of the importunate and curious.
Exhausted with fatigue, he went to bed after having
seen that his horse lacked nothing; but his sleep was broken.
What he had seen since his departure from Moscow showed
him the importance of his mission. The rising was an ex-
tremely serious one, and the treachery of Ogareff made it
still more formidable. And when his eyes fell upon the
letter bearing upon it the authority of the imperial seal --
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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 Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: "How--what cost? You were coming to my free clinic."
"Yes, sir," replied the woman, "but that's during working hours,
and then it is a long way from home. There are so many sick
people, and I have to wait my turn, It is in the morning--
sometimes I lose a whole day--and then my employer is annoyed,
and he threatens to turn me off. It is things like that that
keep people from coming, until they dare not put it off any
longer. Then, too, sir--" the woman stopped, hesitating.
"Well," demanded the doctor.
"Oh, nothing, sir," she stammered. "You have been too good to me
already."
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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 Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: I should have kept my life -- I let it go.
He would not love me now tho' Cypris bound
Her girdle round me. I am Death's, not Love's.
Go from me, Sappho, back to find the sun.
I am alone, alone. O Cyprian . . .
Love Songs
Song
You bound strong sandals on my feet,
You gave me bread and wine,
And bade me out, 'neath sun and stars,
For all the world was mine.
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