| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: starting out purty empty fur a long walk.
"Sam," says the doctor, as we was passing that
there Big Bethel church--and it showed up there
silent and shabby in the morning, like a old coloured
man that knows a heap more'n he's going to tell--
"Sam, were you at the meeting here last night?"
"Yass, suh!"
"I suppose it was a pretty tame affair after they
found out their Elisha wasn't coming after all?"
Sam, he walled his eyes, and then he kind of
chuckled.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: called to the taxi driver to "wait."
"Are you in trouble?" asked the guileless Jimmy.
"Yes, dreadful," answered Zoie, and she thrust a half-dozen small
parcels into Jimmy's arms. "I have to be at my dressmaker's in
half an hour; and I haven't had a bite of lunch. I'm miles and
miles from home; and I can't go into a restaurant and eat just by
myself without being stared at. Wasn't it lucky that I saw you
when I did?"
There was really very little left for Jimmy to say, so he said
it; and a few minutes later they were seated tete-a-tete in one
of Chicago's most fashionable restaurants, and Zoie the
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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 Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: written in Castilian in heroic verse, and they may compare with the
most famous of Italy; let them be preserved as the richest treasures
of poetry that Spain possesses."
The curate was tired and would not look into any more books, and
so he decided that, "contents uncertified," all the rest should be
burned; but just then the barber held open one, called "The Tears of
Angelica."
"I should have shed tears myself," said the curate when he heard the
title, "had I ordered that book to be burned, for its author was one
of the famous poets of the world, not to say of Spain, and was very
happy in the translation of some of Ovid's fables."
Don Quixote |
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 Symposium by Plato: times when there was no one present; I fancied that I might succeed in this
manner. Not a bit; I made no way with him. Lastly, as I had failed
hitherto, I thought that I must take stronger measures and attack him
boldly, and, as I had begun, not give him up, but see how matters stood
between him and me. So I invited him to sup with me, just as if he were a
fair youth, and I a designing lover. He was not easily persuaded to come;
he did, however, after a while accept the invitation, and when he came the
first time, he wanted to go away at once as soon as supper was over, and I
had not the face to detain him. The second time, still in pursuance of my
design, after we had supped, I went on conversing far into the night, and
when he wanted to go away, I pretended that the hour was late and that he
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