| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: accepted a present from you. I can no longer tell you home-truths, for
I share the fruit of what you call your labors. This is not a gift, my
poor old boy, it is restitution.--Come, do not put on your Bourse
face. You know that I love you."
"My lofely Esther, mein anchel of lofe," said the banker, "do not
speak to me like dat. I tell you, I should not care ven all de vorld
took me for a tief, if you should tink me ein honest man.--I lofe you
every day more and more."
"That is my intention," said Esther. "And I will never again say
anything to distress you, my pet elephant, for you are grown as
artless as a baby. Bless me, you old rascal, you have never known any
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: caresses and make her smile at his play; and never did his coaxing
hands, his stammered words, his intelligent laugh fail to rouse her
from her reverie. If he was tired, his care for her kept him from
complaining.
"Poor, dear, little sensitive!" cried the countess as he fell asleep
tired with some play which had driven the sad memories from her mind,
"how can you live in this world? who will understand you? who will
love you? who will see the treasures hidden in that frail body? No
one! Like me, you are alone on earth."
She sighed and wept. The graceful pose of her child lying on her knees
made her smile sadly. She looked at him long, tasting one of those
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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 Jolly Corner by Henry James: all, could have matched either the state of his mind or,
"objectively," as they said, the wonder of his situation? The only
difference would have been that, brandishing his dignities over his
head as in a parchment scroll, he might then - that is in the
heroic time - have proceeded downstairs with a drawn sword in his
other grasp.
At present, really, the light he had set down on the mantel of the
next room would have to figure his sword; which utensil, in the
course of a minute, he had taken the requisite number of steps to
possess himself of. The door between the rooms was open, and from
the second another door opened to a third. These rooms, as he
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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 Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: a flaming pathway straight to hell. All in a flash, beyond her
control there had been in her a birth of fiery hate. And the man
who had dragged her peaceful and loving spirit to this
degradation was a minister of God's word, an Elder of her church,
the counselor of her beloved Bishop.
The loss of herds and ranges, even of Amber Spring and the Old
Stone House, no longer concerned Jane Withersteen, she faced the
foremost thought of her life, what she now considered the
mightiest problem--the salvation of her soul.
She knelt by her bedside and prayed; she prayed as she had never
prayed in all her life--prayed to be forgiven for her sin to be
Riders of the Purple Sage |
