| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: Longstreth over there."
All of Fletcher's face not covered by hair turned a dirty
white. "Cheseldine--Longstreth!" he whispered, hoarsely. "Gord
Almighty! You braced the--" Then a remarkable transformation
came over the outlaw. He gulped; he straightened his face; he
controlled his agitation. But he could not send the healthy
brown back to his face. Duane, watching this rude man, marveled
at the change in him, the sudden checking movement, the proof
of a wonderful fear and loyalty. It all meant Cheseldine, a
master of men!
"WHO AIR YOU?" queried Fletcher, in a queer, strained voice.
The Lone Star Ranger |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: was a young man I imitated Swift and posed for cynicism; I will
confess that now at fifty and greatly helped by this war, I have
fallen in love with mankind.
But if I had to pick out a single figure to stand for the finest
quality of the Allies' war, I should I think choose the figure of
General Joffre. He is something new in history. He is
leadership without vulgar ambition. He is the extreme antithesis
to the Imperial boomster of Berlin. He is as it were the
ordinary common sense of men, incarnate. He is the antithesis of
the effigy.
By great good luck I was able to see him. I was delayed in Paris
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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 Young Forester by Zane Grey: saw, far ahead to the left, a black, smoky, hideous slope. We kept to the
right side of the brook and sheered off just as we reached a point
opposite, where the burned line began. Fire had run up that side till
checked by bare weathered slopes and cliffs. As far down the brook as eye
could see through the smoky haze there stretched that black line of
charred, spear-pointed pines, some glowing, some blazing, all smoking.
From time to time, as we climbed up the slope, I looked back. The higher I
got the more hideous became the outlook over the burned district. I was
glad when Herky led the way into the deep shade of level forest, shutting
out the view. It would take a hundred years to reforest those acres denuded
of their timber by the fire of a few days. But as hour after hour went by,
The Young Forester |
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 Message by Honore de Balzac: She broke off, and fled away with her treasure.
Next morning, this night-scene among my dreams seemed like a
dream; to make sure of the piteous truth, I was obliged to look
fruitlessly under my pillow for the packet of letters. There is
no need to tell you how the next day went. I spent several hours
of it with the Juliette whom my poor comrade had so praised to
me. In her lightest words, her gestures, in all that she did and
said, I saw proofs of the nobleness of soul, the delicacy of
feeling which made her what she was, one of those beloved,
loving, and self-sacrificing natures so rarely found upon this
earth.
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