| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: My fingers sought and found the throat, sought and found the steel
collar about it.
"Smith," I groaned; and I shook the still form. "Smith, old man--
speak to me! Smith!"
Could he be dead? Was this the end of his gallant fight with Dr. Fu-Manchu
and the murder group? If so, what did the future hold for me--
what had I to face?
He stirred beneath my trembling hands.
"Thank God!" I muttered, and I cannot deny that my joy was tainted
with selfishness. For, waking in that impenetrable darkness, and yet obsessed
with the dream I had dreamed, I had known what fear meant, at the realization
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: without having uttered a word. Pencroft, Gideon Spilett, and Herbert,
greatly astonished, let him proceed.
Their situation was truly serious, and the sailor had reason to fear that
he was lost on the wide sea without any possibility of recovering his
course.
The night was dark and cold. However, about eleven o'clock, the wind
fell, the sea went down, and the speed of the vessel, as she labored less,
greatly increased.
Neither Pencroft, Spilett, nor Herbert thought of taking an hour's sleep.
They kept a sharp look-out, for either Lincoln Island could not be far
distant and would be sighted at daybreak, or the "Bonadventure," carried
The Mysterious Island |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: a little spell, spring an' fall, an' odd times if I send after her.
I ain't near so good a hand to sew as I be to knit, and she's very
quick to set everything to rights. She's a married woman with a
family; her son's folks lives at home, an' I can't make no great
claim on her time. But it makes me a kind o' good excuse, when I
do send, to help her a little; she ain't none too well off. Poor
dear always liked her, and we used to contrive our ways together.
'Tis full as easy to be alone. I set here an' think it all over,
an' think considerable when the weather's bad to go outside. I get
so some days it feels as if poor dear might step right back into
this kitchen. I keep a-watchin' them doors as if she might step in
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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 Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: the original was typed in (manually) twice and electronically compared.
The Three Taverns
A Book of Poems
By Edwin Arlington Robinson [American (Maine) Poet. 1869-1935.]
[Note on text: Italicized words or phrases are CAPITALIZED.
Lines longer than 78 characters are broken and the continuation
is indented two spaces. Some obvious errors may have been corrected.]
The Three Taverns
A Book of Poems
By Edwin Arlington Robinson
Author of "The Man Against the Sky", "Merlin, A Poem", etc.
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