| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: would not regain it on the morrow, nor the next day, nor the day
after that. What was it? He could not say. For half an hour he
imagined he was going to be sick. His mother was not to be at
home that evening, and Condy dined at his club in the hopes of
finding some one with whom he could go to the theatre later on in
the evening. Sargeant joined him over his coffee and cigarette,
but declined to go with him to the theatre.
"Another game on to-night?" asked Condy.
"I suppose so," admitted the other.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: nature worthy her royal consideration, and the next parliament,
in their great wisdom cast but an eye towards the deplorable case
of their old philomath, that annually bestows his poetical good
wishes on them, I am sure there is one Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq;
would soon be truss'd up for his bloody predictions, and putting
good subjects in terror of their lives: And that henceforward to
murder a man by way of prophecy, and bury him in a printed
letter, either to a lord or commoner, shall as legally entitle
him to the present possession of Tyburn, as if he robb'd on the
highway, or cut your throat in bed.
I shall demonstrate to the judicious, that France and Rome are at
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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 Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: being thought a turn-key,--a species of being far below a galley-
slave,--you will give me satisfaction for the insult you dared to
offer me in sending me to a man whom you knew to be a lunatic! Do you
hear me, Monsieur Vernier, dyer?"
Such was the harangue which Gaudissart prepared as he went along, as a
tragedian makes ready for his entrance on the scene.
"What!" cried Vernier, delighted at the presence of an audience, "do
you think we have no right to make fun of a man who comes here, bag
and baggage, and demands that we hand over our property because,
forsooth, he is pleased to call us great men, painters, artists,
poets,--mixing us up gratuitously with a set of fools who have neither
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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 Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: the saloon-keeper at the corner, then, tenderly carrying his
violin case, he trudged down Bourbon Street, a little old, bent,
withered figure, with shoulders shrugged up to keep warm, as
though the faded brown overcoat were not thick enough.
Down on Bayou Road, not so far from Claiborne Street, was a
house, little and old and queer, but quite large enough to hold
M'sieu Fortier, a wrinkled dame, and a white cat. He was home
but little, for on nearly every day there were rehearsals; then
on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights, and twice Sundays
there were performances, so Ma'am Jeanne and the white cat kept
house almost always alone. Then, when M'sieu Fortier was at home,
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
