| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: "Bah! the useless nonsense of an honest man!" she replied. "He wants
to suppress fifteen thousand offices and do the work with five or six
thousand. You never heard of such nonsense; I will let you read the
whole document when copied; it is written in perfect good faith. His
analysis of the officials was prompted only by his honesty and
rectitude,--poor dear man!"
Des Lupeaulx was all the more reassured by the genuine laugh which
accompanied these jesting and contemptuous words, because he was a
judge of lying and knew that Celestine spoke in good faith.
"But still, what is at the bottom of it all?" he asked.
"Well, he wants to do away with the land-tax and substitute taxes on
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: same party carried the State, electing their Governor by near
twenty thousand. The Republicans would now have gladly repealed
the bill giving us equal rights, but they were in a minority, and
the Democrats refused to co-operate. Mrs. Whiston, who still
remained loyal to our side, collected information from all parts of
the State, from which it appeared that four-fifths of all the
female citizens had voted the Democratic ticket. In New Lisbon,
our great manufacturing city, with its population of nearly one
hundred thousand, the party gained three thousand votes, while the
accessions to the Republican ranks were only about four hundred.
Mrs. Whiston barely escaped being defeated; her majority was
|
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 Adieu by Honore de Balzac: burning the bivouacs set up about the bridge, and forcing the
sleepers, thus dislodged, to cross the river.
Meanwhile the young aide-de-camp reached, not without difficulty, the
only wooden house still left standing in Studzianka.
"This barrack seems pretty full, comrade," he said to a man whom he
saw by the doorway.
"If you can get in you'll be a clever trooper," replied the officer,
without turning his head or ceasing to slice off with his sabre the
bark of the logs of which the house was built.
"Is that you, Philippe?" said the aide-de-camp, recognizing a friend
by the tones of his voice.
|
