| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: age,--too sad already!--fears which pursue those who receive annuities
from private sources. You see, Monsieur, that we have estimated life
under all its aspects."
"Sucked it at both ends," said the lunatic. "Take another glass of
wine. You've earned it. You must line your inside with velvet if you
are going to pump at it like that every day. Monsieur, the wine of
Vouvray, if well kept, is downright velvet."
"Now, what do you think of it all?" said Gaudissart, emptying his
glass.
"It is very fine, very new, very useful; but I like the discounts I
get at my Territorial Bank, Rue des Fosses-Montmartre."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: any probability of recovery, and the sculptor had asked his pupil
to send his body home. "It's not a pleasant place to be lying
while the world is moving and doing and bettering," he had said
with a feeble smile, "but it rather seems as though we ought to
go back to the place we came from in the end. The townspeople
will come in for a look at me; and after they have had their say
I shan't have much to fear from the judgment of God. The wings
of the Victory, in there"--with a weak gesture toward his studio--
will not shelter me."
The cattleman took up the comment. "Forty's young for a
Merrick to cash in; they usually hang on pretty well. Probably
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
