| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: good deal of sickness that winter. 'Oh, I hope he
won't talk!' she exclaimed softly just as I was go-
ing away.
"I don't know how it is I did not see--but I
didn't. And yet, turning in my trap, I saw her
lingering before the door, very still, and as if med-
itating a flight up the miry road.
"Towards the night his fever increased.
"He tossed, moaned, and now and then muttered
a complaint. And she sat with the table between
her and the couch, watching every movement and
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: reward? Though you have some privations to bear, remember the
happiness of being able, five years from now, to buy a practice. And
think, too, my dear little kitten, how happy you make your mother."
Oscar's face, somewhat thinned by study, had acquired, through habits
of business, a serious expression. He had reached his full growth, his
beard was thriving; adolescence had given place to virility. The
mother could not refrain from admiring her son and kissing him, as she
said:--
"Amuse yourself, my dear boy, but remember the advice of our good
Monsieur Godeschal. Ah! by the bye, I was nearly forgetting! Here's a
present our friend Moreau sends you. See! what a pretty pocket-book."
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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 $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: with a pardon in his pocket, the Prisoner's Friend Society met him
at the door with a situation and a comfortable salary, and all
the other benevolent people came forward and gave him advice,
encouragement and help. Edward Mills had once applied to the Prisoner's
Friend Society for a situation, when in dire need, but the question,
"Have you been a prisoner?" made brief work of his case.
While all these things were going on, Edward Mills had been
quietly making head against adversity. He was still poor, but was
in receipt of a steady and sufficient salary, as the respected
and trusted cashier of a bank. George Benton never came near him,
and was never heard to inquire about him. George got to indulging
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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 Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: part of the beach where strange things had been done in the ancient
ages, lo, there was the crone, and she was dancing widdershins.
"What makes you dance widdershins, old crone?" said the King's
daughter; "here upon the bleak beach, between the waves and the
dead leaves?"
"I hear a sound in the wind that is like a sound of piping," quoth
she. "And it is for that that I dance widdershins. For the gift
comes that will make you bare, and the man comes that must bring
you care. But for me the morrow is come that I have thought upon,
and the hour of my power."
"How comes it, crone," said the King's daughter, "that you waver
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