| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: And the adorable little dimple in her chin became apparent. She
assumed her favorite pose, her amiable baby expression, as she held
the pile of five-franc pieces on her open palm and offered it to the
men, as though she were saying to them, "Now then, who wants some?"
The count was the sharper of the two. He took fifty francs but left
one piece behind and, in order to gain possession of it, had to pick
it off the young woman's very skin, a moist, supple skin, the touch
of which sent a thrill through him. She was thoroughly merry and
did not cease laughing.
"Come, gentlemen," she continued. "Another time I hope to give
more."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: every age. Like some great building that has suffered many
modifications of successive generations of architects, some sombre
weather-beaten pile, the delight of a poet, the story would drive the
commentator and the industrious winnower of words, facts, and dates to
despair. The narrator believes in it, as all superstitious minds in
Flanders likewise believe; and is not a whit wiser nor more credulous
than his audience. But as it would be impossible to make a harmony of
all the different renderings, here are the outlines of the story;
stripped, it may be, of its picturesque quaintness, but with all its
bold disregard of historical truth, and its moral teachings approved
by religion--a myth, the blossom of imaginative fancy; an allegory
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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 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Ingleside and her demi monde more than I."
"You ought not," was the retort. "You help to bring other
girls to her level."
"Whom?" said Malbone, startled.
"Emilia."
"Emilia?" repeated the other, coloring crimson. "I, who have
warned her against Blanche's society."
"And have left her no other resource," said Harry, coloring
still more. "Malbone, you have gained (unconsciously of course)
too much power over that girl, and the only effect of it is, to
keep her in perpetual excitement. So she seeks Blanche, as she
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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 Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: "They fight every little point. But, you see, because of this
creative undertow--if you like to call it that--we do get
along. I am leader or whipper-in, it is hard to say which, of
a bolting flock. . . .I believe they will report for a
permanent world commission; I believe I have got them up to
that; but they will want to make it a bureau of this League
of Nations, and I have the profoundest distrust of this
League of Nations. It may turn out to be a sort of side-
tracking arrangement for all sorts of important world issues.
And they will find they have to report for some sort of
control. But there again they will shy. They will report for
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