| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: the scuffle, the mighty thuds, as if the ship were being knocked
to pieces. I looked over: "What is it?"
"Don't let them break his legs," he entreated me, plaintively.
"Oh, nonsense! He's all right now. He can't move."
By that time the cargo-chain had been hooked to the broad canvas
belt round the pony's body; the kalashes sprang off
simultaneously in all directions, rolling over each other; and
the worthy serang, making a dash behind the winch, turned the
steam on.
"Steady!" I yelled, in great apprehension of seeing the animal
snatched up to the very head of the derrick.
A Personal Record |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: subdued to soft light and cool shadow. Apart from the main camp were the
kitchen and the servants' tents; and midway between was the great dining hall,
walled by the living redwood columns, where fresh whispers of air were always
to be found, and where no canopy was needed to keep the sun away.
"Poor Dolly, she is really sick," Lute said that evening, when they had
returned from a last look at the mare. "But you weren't hurt, Chris, and
that's enough for one small woman to be thankful for. I thought I knew, but I
really did not know till to-day, how much you meant to me. I could hear only
the plunging and struggle in the thicket. I could not see you, nor know how it
went with you."
"My thoughts were of you," Chris answered, and felt the responsive pressure of
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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 An International Episode by Henry James: Kitty was evidently enamored of her idea. "Yes, it would
put them on pins and needles, and it wouldn't hurt you.
Mr. Beaumont is already most uneasy; I could soon see that."
The young girl meditated a moment. "Do you mean that they spy upon him--
that they interfere with him?"
"I don't know what power they have to interfere, but I know
that a British mama may worry her son's life out."
It has been intimated that, as regards certain disagreeable things,
Bessie Alden had a fund of skepticism. She abstained on the present occasion
from expressing disbelief, for she wished not to irritate her sister.
But she said to herself that Kitty had been misinformed--that this
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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 Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: Peter had observed a look of pain on his brother's
face. The look had at once been masked by an
expression of unapproachable pride, and he had
begun to question her about their flat, and the
price she paid. At luncheon, before the family
and guests, he had been witty and sarcastic as
usual. Towards every one, excepting the chil-
dren, whom he treated with almost reverent ten-
derness, he adopted an attitude of distant hauteur.
And yet it was so natural to him that every one
somehow acknowledged his right to be haughty.
The Forged Coupon |
