| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: She called sharply to Hasty, as he came down the path which made
a short cut to the village:
"So's you'se back, is you?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Sure, I'se back," answered Hasty, good- naturedly, as he sank
upon an empty box that had held some things for the social, and
pretended to wipe the perspiration from his forehead.
"Masse John done send you to de post office two hours ago," said
Mandy, as she took the letters and papers from his hand. "Five
minutes is plenty ob time for any nigger to do dat job."
"I done been detained," Hasty drawled.
"You'se always 'tained when dar's any work a-goin' on," Mandy
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: by a dry stone wall, which was covered with droppings of cow's dung
applied symmetrically. "I asked a peasant-woman who was busy sticking
them on, why it was done; she answered that she was making fuel. Could
you have imagined that when those patches of dung have dried, human
beings would collect them, store them, and use them for fuel? During
the winter, they are even sold as peat is sold. And what do you
suppose the best dressmaker in the place can earn?--five sous a day!"
adding, after a pause, "and her food."
"But see," I said, "how the winds from the sea bend or destroy
everything. There are no trees. Fragments of wreckage or old vessels
that are broken up are sold to those who can afford to buy; for costs
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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 Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: people to whom he, Davidson, was under the greatest obligation, and
that he felt morally bound to look after him. Some day he would
tell her more, he said, and meantime he trusted in the goodness and
warmth of her heart, in her woman's natural compassion.
"He did not know that her heart was about the size of a parched
pea, and had the proportional amount of warmth; and that her
faculty of compassion was mainly directed to herself. He was only
startled and disappointed at the air of cold surprise and the
suspicious look with which she received his imperfect tale. But
she did not say much. She never had much to say. She was a fool
of the silent, hopeless kind.
Within the Tides |
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 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: who had witnessed his advent looked on in amazement as
they saw the naked giant leap easily into the branches
of the tree from whence he had dropped so uncannily
upon the scene, and vanish as he had come, bearing away
their prisoner with him.
They were too well occupied in self-defense to attempt
to halt him, nor could they have done so other than by
the wasting of a precious bullet which might be needed
the next instant to turn the charge of a savage foe.
And so, unmolested, Tarzan passed from the camp of the
Abyssinians, from which the din of conflict followed
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
