| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: Shelbyville, Frankfort, and Lexington. Along there I began to have a
hard time keeping up with her. The trains came along when they
pleased, and didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular, except to
keep on the track and the right of way as much as possible. Then they
began to stop at junctions instead of towns, and at last they stopped
altogether. I'll bet Pinkerton would outbid the plate-glass people
for my services any time if they knew how I managed to shadow that
young lady. I contrived to keep out of her sight as much as I could,
but I never lost track of her.
"The last station she got off at was away down in Virginia, about six
in the afternoon. There were about fifty houses and four hundred
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: father's works. His industry in this particular was truly
marvelous.
We were always devoted to sport from our earliest childhood.
I can remember as well as I remember myself my father's favorite
dog in those days, an Irish setter called Dora. They would bring
round the cart, with a very quiet horse between the shafts, and
we would drive out to the marsh, to Degatná or to
Malákhov. My father and sometimes my mother or a coachman
sat on the seat, while I and Dora lay on the floor.
When we got to the marsh, my father used to get out, stand
his gun on the ground, and, holding it with his left hand, load
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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 La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: "Some day," she said, kissing him on the forehead, "you will find out
that I have wronged you. I am going to leave you, here, without money,
without"--and she hesitated--"without a father," she added, and at the
word she burst into tears and put the boy from her gently. A sort of
intuition told Louis that his mother wished to be alone, and he
carried off Marie, now half awake. An hour later, when his brother was
in bed, he stole down and out to the summer-house where his mother was
sitting.
"Louis! come here."
The words were spoken in tones delicious to his heart. The boy sprang
to his mother's arms, and the two held each other in an almost
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: He tilted back in his chair, chuckling with laughter.
"That's not what you said to me that night. God, the trouble you gave me!"
But the little Frau seized the candle and went into the next room. The
children were all soundly sleeping. She stripped the mattress off the
baby's bed to see if he was still dry, then began unfastening her blouse
and skirt.
"Always the same," she said--"all over the world the same; but, God in
heaven--but STUPID.
Then even the memory of the wedding faded quite. She lay down on the bed
and put her arm across her face like a child who expected to be hurt as
Herr Brechenmacher lurched in.
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