| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: thoughts in common. When they went for a walk, and the children,
absorbed in their play, ran away to gather a flower or to look at some
insect, she watched them with such deep tenderness in her eyes, that
the most indifferent passer-by would feel moved, and stop and smile at
the children, and give the mother a glance of friendly greeting. Who
would not have admired the dainty neatness of their dress, their
sweet, childish voices, the grace of their movements, the promise in
their faces, the innate something that told of careful training from
the cradle? They seemed as if they had never shed tears nor wailed
like other children. Their mother knew, as it were, by electrically
swift intuition, the desires and the pains which she anticipated and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: "Yes, it's the truth. And I wanted to tell you about it.
But you don't seem to feel at all angry."
Once more Camilla glanced adoringly at Luis Cer-
vantes' radiant, clean face; at his glaucous, soft eyes,
his cheeks pink and polished as a porcelain doll's; at his
tender white skin that showed below the line of his
collar and on his shoulders, protruding from under a
rough woolen poncho; at his hair, ever so slightly curled.
"What the devil are you waiting for, fool? If the chief
likes you, what more do you want?"
Camilla felt something rise within her breast, an empty
The Underdogs |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: "I should hate him. All young men are insuffer-
able to me--always have been. I have found my
mate, and have him I will if I have to hide in the
hold of his ship. Ah, padre mio, I know not what
I say. But you will help me. Only you can. My
father thinks you as wise as a saint. And there
are other things--my head turns round--I can
hardly think--but you dare not lose the friendship
of this Russian. And my marriage to him would
be as much for the good of the Missions as for Cali-
fornia herself. Champion our course, point out
Rezanov |
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 Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: Next, I had a collision with a Bishop - and bowled him down, of
course. We had some sharp words, and I felt pretty cheap, to come
banging into a grave old person like that, with a million strangers
looking on and smiling to themselves.
I saw I hadn't got the hang of the steering, and so couldn't
rightly tell where I was going to bring up when I started. I went
afoot the rest of the day, and let my wings hang. Early next
morning I went to a private place to have some practice. I got up
on a pretty high rock, and got a good start, and went swooping
down, aiming for a bush a little over three hundred yards off; but
I couldn't seem to calculate for the wind, which was about two
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