| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: from her?'
"'A memento,' says Arthur, 'that I have
treasured.'
"'Did she send it to you?'
"'It came to me from her' says be.
"'In a roundabout way?' I asked.
"'Somewhat roundabout,' says he, 'and yet rather
direct.'
"'Why didn't you ever meet her?' I asked.
'Were your positions in life so different?'
"She was far above me,' says Arthur. 'Now,
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Altar of the Dead by Henry James: there could never be too many. I should like hundreds and hundreds
- I should like thousands; I should like a great mountain of
light."
Then of course in a flash he understood. "Your Dead are only One?"
She hung back at this as never yet. "Only One," she answered,
colouring as if now he knew her guarded secret. It really made him
feel he knew less than before, so difficult was it for him to
reconstitute a life in which a single experience had so belittled
all others. His own life, round its central hollow, had been
packed close enough. After this she appeared to have regretted her
confession, though at the moment she spoke there had been pride in
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Just Folks by Edgar A. Guest: With burning liniment.
The house is like a druggist's shop;
Strong odors fill the hall,
And day and night we hear him groan,
Since father played baseball.
He's forty past, but he declared
That he was young as ever;
And in his youth, he said, he was
A baseball player clever.
So when the business men arranged
A game, they came to call
Just Folks |
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 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: CHAPTER 13
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
have now passed in review before the reader; the events of
each day, its hopes and fears, mortifications and pleasures,
have been separately stated, and the pangs of Sunday
only now remain to be described, and close the week.
The Clifton scheme had been deferred, not relinquished,
and on the afternoon's crescent of this day, it was
brought forward again. In a private consultation between
Isabella and James, the former of whom had particularly
set her heart upon going, and the latter no less anxiously
Northanger Abbey |
