| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: It would have been easier for those who had charge of them if one or the other
had held back now and then, and set a slower pace, but as that was not their
nature and could not be helped, everybody tried to make the best of them, and
everybody loved them. Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived
without them, for they were almost as much a brother and sister to her as to
each other. This morning hey had come over by invitation for what they called
a Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and if you have never
had one of your own, wait till you read about this one of Tattine's, and then
give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had one, either in your kitchen
in town, or in the woods out of town, which is better. One thing is necessary
to its complete enjoyment, however: you must have a "sweet tooth," but as most
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: glimpse of things, while on his seat, high up, the curtain man was
watching with resigned expression, careless of the play, constantly
on the alert for the bell to ring him to his duty among the ropes.
And amid the close air and the shuffling of feet and the sound of
whispering, the voices of the actors on the stage sounded strange,
deadened, surprisingly discordant. Farther off again, above the
confused noises of the band, a vast breathing sound was audible. It
was the breath of the house, which sometimes swelled up till it
burst in vague rumors, in laughter, in applause. Though invisible,
the presence of the public could be felt, even in the silences.
"There's something open," said Nana sharply, and with that she
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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 Master of the World by Jules Verne: was never one of those inevitable breaks, with which in most motors
the pistons sometimes miss a stroke. I concluded that the "Terror,"
in each of its transformations must be worked by rotary engines. But
I could not assure myself of this.
For the rest, our direction did not change. Always we headed toward
the northeast end of the lake, and hence toward Buffalo.
Why, I wondered, did the captain persist in following this route? He
could not intend to stop at Buffalo, in the midst of a crowd of boats
and shipping of every kind. If he meant to leave the lake by water,
there Was only the Niagara River to follow; and its Falls would be
impassable, even to such a machine as this. The only escape was by
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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 The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: And the interior of the house itself was in keeping. The low
ceilings, the slight irregularities of structure peculiar to the
rather rule-of-thumb methods of the earlier builders, the deep
window embrasures due to the thickness of the walls, the unexpected
passages leading to unsuspected rooms, and the fact that many of
these apartments were approached by a step or so up or a step or so
down--these lent to it a quaint, old-fashioned atmosphere enhanced
further by the steel engravings, the antique furnishings, the many-
paned windows, and all the belongings of old people who have passed
from a previous generation untouched by modern ideas.
To this house and these people Orde came direct from the greatness
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