| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: strongest feelings had left him. He felt sure they would never
return. And yet, at this moment, there was a stirring of
affection at the remembrance of that Arthur Donnithorne whom he
had believed in before he had come up to this beech eight months
ago. It was affection for the dead: THAT Arthur existed no
longer.
He was disturbed by the sound of approaching footsteps, but the
beech stood at a turning in the road, and he could not see who was
coming until the tall slim figure in deep mourning suddenly stood
before him at only two yards' distance. They both started, and
looked at each other in silence. Often, in the last fortnight,
Adam Bede |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: her eyes made at rare moments her ethnology the more dubious. To
a few--men--this sight had been vouchsafed, and though long years
may have passed, they have not forgotten, nor will they ever
forget. She never talked of herself, so that it were well to let
it go down that when in repose, expurgated, Greek she certainly
was. Her furs were the most magnificent in all the country from
Chilcoot to St. Michael's, and her name was common on the lips of
men. But Mrs. Eppingwell was the wife of a captain; also a social
constellation of the first magnitude, the path of her orbit
marking the most select coterie in Dawson,--a coterie captioned by
the profane as the "official clique." Sitka Charley had travelled
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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 On Revenues by Xenophon: distant, I take it, a good deal over sixty miles;[59] and the next
closest, Thebes, a good deal nearer seventy.[60] Supposing then an
enemy to advance from some such point to attack the mines, he cannot
avoid passing Athens; and presuming his force to be small, we may
expect him to be annihilated by our cavalry and frontier police.[61] I
say, presuming his force to be small, since to march with anything
like a large force, and thereby leave his own territory denuded of
troops, would be a startling achievement. Why, the fortified city of
Athens will be much closer the states of the attacking parties than
they themselves will be by the time they have got to the mines. But,
for the sake of argument, let us suppose an enemy to have arrived in
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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 Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: "But, gracious! You're not a Mormon. You don't want us both, do
you?" she demanded, her eyes sparkling with the exhilaration of
the tilt.
"Could I get either one of y'u, do y'u reckon? That's what's
worrying me."
"I see, and so you intend to keep us both on the string."
His joyous laughter echoed hers. "I expaict y'u would call that
presumption or some other dictionary word, wouldn't y'u?"
"In anybody else perhaps, but surely not in Mr. McWilliams."
"I'm awful glad to be trotting in a class by myself."
"And you'll let us know when you have made your mind up which of
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