| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: he expected to do--pay for the whole party, or for Trina and
himself, or merely buy his own ticket? And even in this
latter case would a quarter be enough? He lost his wits,
rolling his eyes helplessly. Then it occurred to him to
feign a great abstraction, pretending not to know that the
time was come to pay. He looked intently up and down the
tracks; perhaps a train was coming. "Here we are," cried
Trina, as they came up to the rest of the party, crowded
about the entrance. "Yes, yes," observed McTeague, his head
in the air.
"Gi' me four bits, Mac," said Marcus, coming up. "Here's
McTeague |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: is the confessional still. Look at the thing frankly. You, I
say, are also at loose ends. Can you deny it? My dear sir,
don't we both know that ever since we left London you have
been ready to fall in love with any pretty thing in
petticoats that seemed to promise you three ha'porth of
kindness. A lost dog looking for a master! You're a stray man
looking for a mistress. Miss Grammont being a woman is a
little more selective than that. But if she's at a loose end
as I suppose, she isn't protected by the sense of having made
her selection. And she has no preconceptions of what she
wants. You are a very interesting man in many ways. You carry
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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 Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: which shrilled with treble voices as if a flock of sparrows had
settled therein.
The Glynn sitting-room was charming, mainly because of the
quantity of flowering plants. Every window was filled with them,
until the room seemed like a conservatory. Ivy, too, climbed
over the pictures, and the mantel-shelf was a cascade of
wandering Jew, growing in old china vases.
"Your plants are really wonderful, Mrs. Glynn," said Mrs. Bates,
"but I don't see how you manage to get a glimpse of anything
outside the house, your windows are so full of them."
"Maybe she can see and not be seen," said Abby Simson, who had a
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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 The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: come up again Mrs. Shorter barred the cellar door.
"I reckon they won't get out of there very fast," she said.
"And now you two boys run along. Got any money?" and
without waiting for a reply she counted twenty-five dollars
from the roll she had tucked in the front of her waist and
handed them to Billy.
"Nothin' doin'," said he; "but t'anks just the same."
"You got to take it," she insisted. "Let me make believe I'm
givin' it to my boy, Eddie--please," and the tears that came
to her eyes proved far more effective than her generous words.
"Aw, all right," said Billy. "I'll take it an' pass it along to
The Mucker |
