| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: Bunner. I guess there'll be a wedding somewheres round
here before spring, and I'll be real offended if I ain't asked to
make the dress. I've always seen her in a gored satin with
rooshings."
Ann Eliza made no answer. She had grown very pale, and her
eyes lingered searchingly on Evelina as the younger sister re-
entered the room. Evelina's cheeks were pink, and her blue eyes
glittered; but it seemed to Ann Eliza that the coquettish tilt of
her head regrettably emphasized the weakness of her receding chin.
It was the first time that Ann Eliza had ever seen a flaw in her
sister's beauty, and her involuntary criticism startled her like a
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: saluted the line with a triple hurrah. The influence of these
attractions scarcely lasted an hour; the travelers felt
themselves insensibly drawn toward the floor, and Barbicane
fancied that the conical end of the projectile was varying a
little from its normal direction toward the moon. By an inverse
motion the base was approaching first; the lunar attraction was
prevailing over the terrestrial; the fall toward the moon was
beginning, almost imperceptibly as yet, but by degrees the
attractive force would become stronger, the fall would be more
decided, the projectile, drawn by its base, would turn its cone
to the earth, and fall with ever-increasing speed on to the
From the Earth to the Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: good. And therefore, O son of Callaeschrus, as you maintain that
temperance or wisdom is a science of science, and also of the absence of
science, I will request you to show in the first place, as I was saying
before, the possibility, and in the second place, the advantage, of such a
science; and then perhaps you may satisfy me that you are right in your
view of temperance.
Critias heard me say this, and saw that I was in a difficulty; and as one
person when another yawns in his presence catches the infection of yawning
from him, so did he seem to be driven into a difficulty by my difficulty.
But as he had a reputation to maintain, he was ashamed to admit before the
company that he could not answer my challenge or determine the question at
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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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: among four generations counted on the female side. The thought of his
heirs was abhorrent to him; and the idea that his wealth could pass
into other hands after his death simply inconceivable.
"He was a child, ten years old, when his mother shipped him off as a
cabin boy on a voyage to the Dutch Straits Settlements, and there he
knocked about for twenty years. The inscrutable lines on that sallow
forehead kept the secret of horrible adventures, sudden panic,
unhoped-for luck, romantic cross events, joys that knew no limit,
hunger endured and love trampled under foot, fortunes risked, lost,
and recovered, life endangered time and time again, and saved, it may
be, by one of the rapid, ruthless decisions absolved by necessity. He
Gobseck |
