| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: future which awaited him, and when they gazed upon his features were put
in mind of the dying Keats. Not that Oscar was going to die in the
least. Life burned strong in him. There were sly times when he took
what he had saved by his cheap meals and room and went to Boston with
it, and for a few hours thoroughly ceased being ascetic. Yet Oscar felt
meritorious when he considered Bertie and Billy; for, like the
socialists, merit with him meant not being able to live as well as your
neighbor. You will think that I have given to Oscar what is familiarly
termed a black eye. But I was once inclined to applaud his struggle for
knowledge, until I studied him close and perceived that his love was not
for the education he was getting. Bertie and Billy loved play for
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: already become part of the household. The silver crucifix, carried by
a chorister, a peasant child from the village, was lifted up, and the
dying mother received the Viaticum from an aged priest. The Viaticum!
sublime word, containing an idea yet more sublime, an idea only
possessed by the apostolic religion of the Roman church.
"This woman has suffered greatly!" the old cure said in his simple
way.
Marie Willemsens heard no voices now, but her eyes were still fixed
upon her children. Those about her listened in terror to her breathing
in the deep silence; already it came more slowly, though at intervals
a deep sigh told them that she still lived, and of a struggle within
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