| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: whole town, embroidered with various circumstances that were more or
less ridiculous. Some persons insisted that the painter was maltreated
by Max; others that he had misbehaved to Flore, and that Max had
turned him out of doors.
"What a child your son is!" said Hochon to Madame Bridau; "the booby
is the dupe of a scene which they have been keeping back for the last
day of his visit. Max and the Rabouilleuse have known the value of
those pictures for the last two weeks,--ever since he had the folly to
tell it before my grandsons, who never rested till they had blurted it
out to all the world. Your artist had better have taken himself off
without taking leave."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: The Count led the discourse: we talk'd of indifferent things, - of
books, and politics, and men; - and then of women. - God bless them
all! said I, after much discourse about them - there is not a man
upon earth who loves them so much as I do: after all the foibles I
have seen, and all the satires I have read against them, still I
love them; being firmly persuaded that a man, who has not a sort of
affection for the whole sex, is incapable of ever loving a single
one as he ought.
EH BIEN! MONSIEUR L'ANGLOIS, said the Count, gaily; - you are not
come to spy the nakedness of the land; - I believe you; - NI
ENCORE, I dare say, THAT of our women! - But permit me to
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: supper. The back part of the cave permitted him to stand erect, and was large
enough for comparative comfort. There was a neat, little stone fireplace, and
several cooking utensils and gourds. From time to time Wetzel had brought
these things. A pile of wood and a bundle of pine cones lay in one corner.
Haunches of dried beef, bear and buffalo meat hung from pegs; a bag of parched
corn, another of dried apples lay on a rocky shelf. Nearby hung a powder-horn
filled with salt and pepper. In the cleft back of the cave was a spring of
clear, cold water.
The wants of woodsmen are few and simple. Joe and Wetzel, with appetites
whetted by their stirring outdoor life, relished the frugal fare as they could
never have enjoyed a feast. As the shadows of evening entered the cave, they
The Spirit of the Border |
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 The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: Herrick. 'If it bores you, I'll drop it.'
'O, cut along!' returned the sick man, irritably. 'It's better
than nothing.'
'Well,' continued Herrick, 'I had no sooner given him the
cough mixture than he seemed to straighten up and change, and
I saw he wasn't a Tahitian after all, but some kind of Arab, and
had a long beard on his chin. "One good turn deserves another,"
says he. "I am a magician out of the Arabian Nights, and this
mat that I have under my arm is the original carpet of
Mohammed Ben Somebody-or-other. Say the word, and you
can have a cruise upon the carpet." "You don't mean to say this
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