| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart: against the recall.
"Of course, I want her back," she said slowly. "You'd understand better
if you had to live with Harvey. I'm sorry, Mrs. Gregory, that he spoke
to you as he did, but he's nearly crazy." She eyed the assembly with
her tired shrewd eyes. "I'm no talker," she went on, "but Sara Lee has
done a big thing. We don't realize, I guess, how big it is. And I
think we'll just about kill her if we bring her home."
"Better to do that than to have her killed over there," some one said.
And in spite of Belle's protest, that remained the sense of the meeting.
It was put to the vote and decided to recall Sara Lee. She could bring
a report of conditions, and if she thought it wise an older woman could
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: the yet unbroken spell of our helplessness, poised
on the edge of some violent issue, lurking in the
dark.
I started forward restlessly. I did not need my
sight to pace the poop of my ill-starred first com-
mand with perfect assurance. Every square foot
of her decks was impressed indelibly on my brain,
to the very grain and knots of the planks. Yet, all
of a sudden, I fell clean over something, landing
full length on my hands and face.
It was something big and alive. Not a dog--
The Shadow Line |
