| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: York luxury, a luxury which has come in these later days to be so much
more than princely. By day, the grounds afforded us both golf and tennis,
the stables provided motor cars and horses to ride or drive over
admirable roads, through beautiful scenery that was embellished by a
magnificent autumn season. At nightfall, the great house itself received
us in the arms of supreme comfort, fed us sumptuously, and after dinner
ministered to our middle-aged bodies with chairs and sofas of the highest
development.
The plan devised by our hostess, Mrs. Davenport, that a story should be
told by one of us each evening, had met with courtesy, but not I with
immediate enthusiasm. But Mrs. Davenport had chosen her guests with her
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: Burdette, son of Sir Francis and brother of Miss Angelina Coutts. I
happened to have on the corsage of my black velvet a white moss rose
and buds, which I thought rather youthful for ME, but the old lady
had [them] on her cap. She is full of intelligence, and has always
been in the habit of drawing a great deal. . . . Very soon came in
Lord Aylmer, [who] was formerly Governor of Canada, and Lady
Colchester, daughter of Lord Ellenborough, a very pretty woman of
thirty-five, I should think; Sir William and Lady Chatterton and Mr.
Algernon Greville, whose grandmother wrote the beautiful "Prayer for
Indifference," an old favorite of mine, and Mr. MacGregor, the
political economist. Lord Aylmer took me out and I found him a nice
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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 The Faith of Men by Jack London: troughs.
"The sea'll never catch him!"
"But he'll r-r-run her nose under!"
Even as they spoke, the black tarpaulin swooped from sight behind a
big comber. The next wave rolled over the spot, and the next, but
the boat did not reappear. The Alma rushed by the place. A little
riffraff of oats and boxes was seen. An arm thrust up and a shaggy
head broke surface a score of yards away.
For a time there was silence. As the end of the lake came in
sight, the waves began to leap aboard with such steady recurrence
that the correspondents no longer chopped ice but flung the water
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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 Lesson of the Master by Henry James: "I thought you admired her so much."
"It's impossible to admire her more. Are you in love with her?"
St. George asked.
"Yes," Paul Overt presently said.
"Well then give it up."
Paul stared. "Give up my 'love'?"
"Bless me, no. Your idea." And then as our hero but still gazed:
"The one you talked with her about. The idea of a decent
perfection."
"She'd help it - she'd help it!" the young man cried.
"For about a year - the first year, yes. After that she'd be as a
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