| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: butter, or cheese, or vegetables, and drive cheerfully back
again, his empty wagon bumping and rattling down the
old corduroy road. Express, breakage, risk, loyalty to his
own region--an these arguments left him cold.
In May, after much manipulation, correspondence, two
interviews, came a definite offer from the Haynes-Cooper
Company. It was much less than the State Street store had
offered, and there was something tentative about the whole
agreement. Haynes-Cooper proffered little and demanded
much, as is the way of the rich and mighty. But Fanny
remembered the ten-year viewpoint that the weary-wise old
Fanny Herself |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: count is generous. If you oblige him so far," said the valet, pointing
half-way down his little finger, "he'll send you on as far as that,"
stretching out his arm to its full length.
This wise reflection, and the action that enforced it, had the effect,
coming from a man who stood as high as second valet to the Comte de
Serizy, of cooling the ardor of Pierrotin for the steward of Presles.
"Well, adieu, Monsieur Pierrotin," said the valet.
A glance rapidly cast on the life of the Comte de Serizy, and on that
of his steward, is here necessary in order to fully understand the
little drama now about to take place in Pierrotin's vehicle.
CHAPTER II
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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 Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: dark o' noonday...'
A cold shudder ran through natives and visitors
alike, and every ear seemed strained in a kind of instinctive,
unconscious listening. Armitage, now that he had actually come
upon the horror and its monstrous work, trembled with the responsibility
he felt to be his. Night would soon fall, and it was then that
the mountainous blasphemy lumbered upon its eldritch course. Negotium
perambuians in tenebris... The old librarian rehearsed the formulae
he had memorized, and clutched the paper containing the alternative
one he had not memorized. He saw that his electric flashlight
was in working order. Rice, beside him, took from a valise a metal
The Dunwich Horror |
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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: stories. As for trout,--was there one in Massachusetts that would
not have been curious to listen to the intimate opinions of Daniel
Webster as he loafed along the banks of the Marshpee,--or is there
one in Pennsylvania to-day that might not be drawn with interest and
delight to the feet of Joseph Jefferson, telling how he conceived
and wrote RIP VAN WINKLE on the banks of a trout-stream?
Fishermen must be silent? On the contrary, it is far more likely
that good talk may promote good fishing.
All this, however, goes upon the assumption that fish can hear, in
the proper sense of the word. And this, it must be confessed, is an
assumption not yet fully verified. Experienced anglers and students
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