| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: and her boots were so thick! much thicker than Miss Anne's;
and, in short, her civility rendered her quite as anxious to be left
to walk with Mr Elliot as Anne could be, and it was discussed between them
with a generosity so polite and so determined, that the others were
obliged to settle it for them; Miss Elliot maintaining that Mrs Clay
had a little cold already, and Mr Elliot deciding on appeal,
that his cousin Anne's boots were rather the thickest.
It was fixed accordingly, that Mrs Clay should be of the party
in the carriage; and they had just reached this point, when Anne,
as she sat near the window, descried, most decidedly and distinctly,
Captain Wentworth walking down the street.
Persuasion |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: She did not know what to reply and wished to run away.
Presently he began to speak of the harvest and of the notables of the
village; his father had left Colleville and bought the farm of Les
Ecots, so that now they would be neighbours. "Ah!" she exclaimed. He
then added that his parents were looking around for a wife for him,
but that he, himself, was not so anxious and preferred to wait for a
girl who suited him. She hung her head. He then asked her whether she
had ever thought of marrying. She replied, smilingly, that it was
wrong of him to make fun of her. "Oh! no, I am in earnest," he said,
and put his left arm around her waist while they sauntered along. The
air was soft, the stars were bright, and the huge load of hay
A Simple Soul |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Miller, the district attorney, at eleven. Bronson was under
surveillance, he said, and any attempt to sell the notes to him
would probably result in their recovery. In the meantime, as I
knew, the Commonwealth had continued the case, in hope of such
contingency.
At noon I left the office and took a veterinarian to see Candida,
the injured pony. By one o'clock my first day's duties were
performed, and a long Sahara of hot afternoon stretched ahead.
McKnight, always glad to escape from the grind, suggested a
vaudeville, and in sheer ennui I consented. I could neither ride,
drive nor golf, and my own company bored me to distraction.
The Man in Lower Ten |
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 Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: is a town instead of an institution. All "institutionalism" is
cast away. In each cottage is a group of boys or a group of girls
living under family conditions. They are not all of the same age;
some are big and some are little, and the big ones look after the
little ones. Each cottage has its own kitchen and orders its own
supplies from the general store. The girls' cottages have each a
matron (sometimes a widow who with her little ones has been
admitted to Mooseheart), and she advises the girls how to do the
buying and the cooking.
In the boys' cottages there is a proctor to advise them and
usually a woman cook. The boys who care to can learn cookery and
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