| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: the greater or less merit of this composition from the pen of a
Parisian who had thus imported into the province the manner, the
brilliancy, if you will, of the new literary school, it could not fail
to be a masterpiece to a young girl abandoning all her intelligence
and her innocent heart to her first reading of this kind.
Also, from what she had heard said, Rosalie had by intuition conceived
a notion of it which strangely enhanced the interest of this novel.
She hoped to find in it the sentiments, and perhaps something of the
life of Albert. From the first pages this opinion took so strong a
hold on her, that after reading the fragment to the end she was
certain that it was no mistake. Here, then, is this confession, in
Albert Savarus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: trail is surely hard to anticipate," he said. "But I must hurry
up that fire. For his appearance has given me encouragement,"
Scipio concluded, and became brisk. Shorty helped him, and I
brought wood. Trampas and the other people strolled off to the
station, a compact band.
Our little fire was built beside the caboose, so the cooking
things might be easily reached and put back. You would scarcely
think such operations held any interest, even for the hungry,
when there seemed to be nothing to cook. A few sticks blazing
tamely in the dust, a frying-pan, half a tin bucket of lard, some
water, and barren plates and knives and forks, and three silent
The Virginian |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: 'I will not tell you till the last moment,' said she; 'for I
perceive you are growing too imperious.'
Breakfast over, she accompanied the young man to the
platform, bought him the GRAPHIC, the ATHENAEUM, and a paper-
cutter, and stood on the step conversing till the whistle
sounded. Then she put her head into the carriage. 'BLACK
FACE AND SHINING EYE!' she whispered, and instantly leaped
down upon the platform, with a thrill of gay and musical
laughter. As the train steamed out of the great arch of
glass, the sound of that laughter still rang in the young
man's ears.
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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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: Ireland is coloured blue. It is one great sheet of old coral-reef
and coral-mud, which is now called the carboniferous limestone.
You see red and purple patches rising out of it, like islands--and
islands I suppose they were, of hard and ancient rock, standing up
in the middle of the coral sea.
But look again, and you will see that along the west coast of
Ireland, except in a very few places, like Galway Bay, the blue
limestone does not come down to the sea; the shore is coloured
purple and brown, and those colours mark the ancient rocks and
high mountains of Mayo and Galway and Kerry, which stand as
barriers to keep the raging surf of the Atlantic from bursting
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