| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Burning Daylight by Jack London: house with you, and you'll have to get introduced to him all over
again. You'll say, 'I'm Mrs. Harnish, who are you?" And I'll
say, 'I'm Elam Harnish's younger brother. I've just arrived from
Alaska to attend the funeral.' 'What funeral?' you'll say. And
I'll say, 'Why, the funeral of that good-for-nothing, gambling,
whiskey-drinking Burning Daylight--the man that died of fatty
degeneration of the heart from sitting in night and day at the
business game 'Yes ma'am,' I'll say, 'he's sure a gone 'coon, but
I've come to take his place and make you happy. And now, ma'am,
if you'll allow me, I'll just meander down to the pasture and
milk the cow while you're getting breakfast.'"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: love me?'--'Oh! yes.'--'Well, then, what will become of you?' "
At this point the women all looked at each other.
"Though I can still suffer when I recall her perfidy, I still laugh at
her expression of entire conviction and sweet satisfaction that I must
die, or at any rate sink into perpetual melancholy," de Marsay went
on. "Oh! do not laugh yet!" he said to his listeners; "there is better
to come. I looked at her very tenderly after a pause, and said to her,
'Yes, that is what I have been wondering.'--'Well, what will you do?'
--'I asked myself that the day after my cold.'--'And----?' she asked
with eager anxiety.--'And I have made advances to the little lady to
whom I was supposed to be attached.'
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. It was a sad day for the
dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she was very old, she was very
beautiful up to the last with a glossy silky coat, a superbly feathered tail,
and with brown eyes so soft and entreating, they fairly made you love her,
whether you were fond of dogs or no.
Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but Doctor, who
was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay with his head
between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his eyes round and
round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, trying to be happy
though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on his feet, cocked up his
ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, and although not a sound was
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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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: about the portages on our further journey; how far they had been
blocked with fallen trees, and whether the water was high or low in
the rivers--just as a visitor at home would talk about the effect
of the strikes on the stock market, and the prospects of the newest
organization of the non-voting classes for the overthrow of Tammany
Hall. Every phase of civilisation or barbarism creates its own
conversational currency. The weather, like the old Spanish dollar,
is the only coin that passes everywhere.
But our Indians did not carry much small change about them. They
were dark, silent chaps, soon talked out; and then they sat sucking
their pipes before the fire, (as dumb as their own wooden effigies
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