| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: give himself up for the Hounslow murder, didn't you?"
"Yes, sir," faltered Berry.
"And all the time," I went on, "I'm not at all satisfied myself
that he did murder the woman, although things certainly looked
rather black- "
"I did!" said Berry fiercely.
The crowd of excursionists recoiled, and a small boy in a green
flannel blazer burst into tears.
"Any way," I said, " there isn't anything like enough evidence
against you, so we won't argue it. Now, then, we want to be
going. Come along."
The Brother of Daphne |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: became inseparable. Then this deeper recognition came and grew.
I felt my own soul rise and lift its wings, as it were.
Life got bigger. It seemed as if I understood--as I never had before--
as if I could Do things--as if I too could grow--if she would help me.
And then It came--to both of us, all at once.
A still day--on the edge of the world, their world. The two
of us, gazing out over the far dim forestland below, talking of
heaven and earth and human life, and of my land and other lands
and what they needed and what I hoped to do for them--
"If you will help me," I said.
She turned to me, with that high, sweet look of hers, and
Herland |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: almost as a whisper.
"You know!" cried Dick, with a glow and rush of feeling.
"Dick, you must be very blind not to see what has been plain
to all of us....I guess--it couldn't have been helped. You're a
splendid fellow. No wonder she loves you."
"Mother! You'll give her to me?"
She drew him to the light and looked with strange, piercing
intentness into his face. Gale had never dreamed a woman's eyes
could hold such a world of thought and feeling. It seemed all
the sweetness of life was there, and all the pain.
"Do you love her?" she asked.
Desert Gold |
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 Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: poor woman had but known!
"Little kind-hearted Celeste did not wait upon her willingly, but
I was never able to understand why. Probably her only reason was
that she was a stranger, of another race, of a different tongue,
and of another religion. She was in good truth a demoniac!
"She passed her time wandering about the country, adoring and
searching for God in nature. I found her one evening on her knees
in a cluster of bushes. Having discovered something red through
the leaves, I brushed aside the branches, and Miss Harriet at
once rose to her feet, confused at having been found thus,
looking at me with eyes as terrible as those of a wild cat
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