| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: another Physician, saying nothing of the first, and an entirely
different treatment was ordered. This continued for some weeks,
the physicians visiting him on alternate days and treating him for
two different disorders, with constantly enlarging doses of
medicine and more and more rigorous nursing. But one day they
accidently met at his bedside while he slept, and the truth coming
out a violent quarrel ensued.
"My good friends," said the patient, awakened by the noise of the
dispute, and apprehending the cause of it, "pray be more
reasonable. If I could for weeks endure you both, can you not for
a little while endure each other? I have been well for ten days,
Fantastic Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Burning Daylight by Jack London: wa'n't
more'n eight or ten pounds of rice left."
"And somebody will have to take a team and pull for Sixty Mile,"
Daylight said next.
"I'll go," said Finn.
They considered a while longer.
"But how are we going to feed the other team and three men till
he gets back?" Hines demanded.
"Only one thing to it," was Elijah's contribution. "You'll have
to take the other team, Joe, and pull up the Stewart till you
find them Indians. Then you come back with a load of meat.
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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 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: it a lovely monosyllable.
"Sentimental? Yes. Thank Gott, we Germans believe in sentiment,
and keep ourselves young mit it. Your English `you' is so cold, say
`thou', heart's dearest, it means so much to me," pleaded Mr. Bhaer,
more like a romantic student than a grave professor.
"Well, then, why didn't thou tell me all this sooner?" asked
Jo bashfully.
"Now I shall haf to show thee all my heart, and I so gladly
will, because thou must take care of it hereafter. See, then, my
Jo--ah, the dear, funny little name--I had a wish to tell something
the day I said goodbye in New York, but I thought the handsome
Little Women |
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 Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: master; a terrible thrust. It was meant for as pernicious a
bravo as ever infested the pages of romantic fiction. Cleggett
had been slaying these gentry a dozen times a day for years. He
had pinked four of them on the way across the bridge, before
McCarthy, with his stomach and his realism, stopped the lunge
intended for the fifth. But this is not exactly the sort of
thing one finds it easy to confide to a policeman, be he ever so
friendly a policeman.
Cleggett--Old Clegg, the copyreader--Clegg, the commonplace--C.
J. Cleggett, the Brooklynite-this person whom young reporters
conceived of as the staid, dry prophet of the dusty Fact--was
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