| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: understanding of Northerners unfamiliar with the South, and also that
friendliness between the two places, which is retarded chiefly by
tactless newspapers.
Ah, tact should have been one of the cardinal virtues; and if I didn't
possess a spice of it myself, I should here thank by name certain two
members of the St. Michael family of Kings Port for their patience with
this comedy, before ever it saw the light. Tact bids us away from many
pleasures; but it can never efface the memory of kindness.
LADY BALTIMORE
I: A Word about My Aunt
Like Adam, our first conspicuous ancestor, I must begin, and lay the
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: address her. The incident of the song was the result of mere chance.
Beauvouloir had intentionally made no preparations; he thought,
wisely, that between two beings in whom solitude had left pure hearts,
love would arise in all its simplicity. The repetition of the air by
Gabrielle was a ready text on which to begin a conversation.
During this promenade Etienne was conscious of that bodily buoyancy
which all men have felt at the moment when a first love transports
their vital principle into another being. He offered to teach
Gabrielle to sing. The poor lad was so glad to show himself to this
young girl invested with some slight superiority that he trembled with
pleasure when she accepted his offer. At that moment the moonlight
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