| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: Told him, with other annals of the port,
Not knowing--Enoch was so brown, so bow'd,
So broken--all the story of his house.
His baby's death, her growing poverty,
How Philip put her little ones to school,
And kept them in it, his long wooing her,
Her slow consent, and marriage, and the birth
Of Philip's child: and o'er his countenance
No shadow past, nor motion: anyone,
Regarding, well had deem'd he felt the tale
Less than the teller: only when she closed
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: the list, not in his pocket, but held firmly, like a plank in the
imminence of shipwreck. The Nellies and Susies pervaded his mind, and he
struggled with the presentiment that in a day or two he would recall some
omitted and wretchedly important child. Quick hoof-beats made him look
up, and Mr. McLean passed like a wind. The Governor absently watched him
go, and saw the pony hunch and stiffen in the check of his speed when Lin
overtook his companions. Down there in the distance they took a side
street, and Barker rejoicingly remembered one more name and wrote it as
he walked. In a few minutes he had come to the shops, and met face to
face with Mr. McLean.
"The boys are seein' after my horse," Lin rapidly began, "and I've got to
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: The Child drew a pail of water, turned up her sleeves, frowning the while
at her arms, as if to scold them for being so thin, so much like little
stunted twigs, and began to mop over the floor.
"Stop sousing about the water while I'm here," grumbled the Man. "Stop the
baby snivelling; it's been going on like that all night."
The Child gathered the baby into her lap and sat rocking him.
"Ts--ts--ts," she said. "He's cutting his eye teeth, that's what makes him
cry so. AND dribble--I never seen a baby dribble like this one." She
wiped his mouth and nose with a corner of her skirt. "Some babies get
their teeth without you knowing it," she went on, "and some take on this
way all the time. I once heard of a baby that died, and they found all
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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 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: teachers "showed off" -- bending sweetly over pupils
that were lately being boxed, lifting pretty warning
fingers at bad little boys and patting good ones lovingly.
The young gentlemen teachers "showed off" with
small scoldings and other little displays of authority
and fine attention to discipline -- and most of the
teachers, of both sexes, found business up at the library,
by the pulpit; and it was business that frequently had
to be done over again two or three times (with much
seeming vexation). The little girls "showed off" in
various ways, and the little boys "showed off" with such
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
