| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: it with a letter for the late mail. He was a restless, wiry,
black-eyed little man, never still for a moment, and perpetually
in chase of another eluding dollar,--which half the time he
caught.
Then, laying his hand on Babcock's arm: "And she's square as a
brick, too. Sometimes when a chunker captain, waiting to unload,
shoves a few tons aboard a sneak-boat at night, Tom will spot him
every time. They try to fool her into indorsing their bills of
lading in full, but it don't work for a cent."
"You call her Tom Grogan?" Babcock asked, with a certain tone in
his voice. He resented, somehow, Crane's familiarity.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: embryo; gold realizes all things for us.
" 'None but fools and invalids can find pleasure in shuffling cards
all evening long to find out whether they shall win a few pence at the
end. None but driveling idiots could spend time in inquiring into all
that is happening around them, whether Madame Such-an-One slept single
on her couch or in company, whether she has more blood than lymph,
more temperament than virtue. None but the dupes, who fondly imagine
that they are useful to their like, can interest themselves in laying
down rules for political guidance amid events which neither they nor
any one else foresees, nor ever will foresee. None but simpletons can
delight in talking about stage players and repeating their sayings;
Gobseck |
