| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: widowed seclusion; and it was not lessened by her affronted
sentiments towards the comer, and her regard for another man. She
opened some little ivory tablets that lay on the dressing-table,
scribbled in pencil on one of them, "I am gone to visit one of my
school-friends," gathered a few toilet necessaries into a hand-
bag, and not three minutes after that voice had been heard, her
slim form, hastily wrapped up from observation, might have been
seen passing out of the back door of Melbury's house. Thence she
skimmed up the garden-path, through the gap in the hedge, and into
the mossy cart-track under the trees which led into the depth of
the woods.
The Woodlanders |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Arizona Nights by Stewart Edward White: plate from the box at the rear of the chuck wagon; helped
ourselves from a dutch oven, a pail, and a coffee pot, and
squatted on our heels as close to the fire as possible. Men who
came too late borrowed the shovel, scooped up some coals, and so
started little fires of their own about which new groups formed.
While we ate, the eastern sky lightened. The mountains under the
dawn looked like silhouettes cut from slate-coloured paper; those
in the west showed faintly luminous. Objects about us became
dimly visible. We could make out the windmill, and the adobe of
the ranch houses, and the corrals. The cowboys arose one by one,
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: one to be regretted, and their means of subsistence were certain.
Nor did they cross the Atlantic to improve their situation or to
increase their wealth; the call which summoned them from the
comforts of their homes was purely intellectual; and in facing
the inevitable sufferings of exile their object was the triumph
of an idea.
The emigrants, or, as they deservedly styled themselves, the
Pilgrims, belonged to that English sect the austerity of whose
principles had acquired for them the name of Puritans.
Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but it
corresponded in many points with the most absolute democratic and
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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 Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: two children by his first wife with his parents and came to this
country with Libby's mother. Here they lived in a common-law
marriage relationship for many years, and two children (one of
them Libby) were born to them. The man continued to be a
terrible drunkard and was probably insane at times. He once
bought a rifle to kill his family. He was notorious for his
great changeableness of disposition. Sometimes he would be very
pleasant, and then quickly be seized by some impulse when he
would grind his teeth, become very angry, and use vile language.
Even when sober he would go along talking to himself and people
would follow him on the street to hear what he was saying. He
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