| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: end to the street, appeared to be retired and sheltered enough from
the busy world, behind its bushy bit of a green garden, in which
all the blooming things, two or three gay hollyhocks and some
London-pride, were pushed back against the gray-shingled wall. It
was a queer little garden and puzzling to a stranger, the few
flowers being put at a disadvantage by so much greenery; but the
discovery was soon made that Mrs. Todd was an ardent lover of
herbs, both wild and tame, and the sea-breezes blew into the low
end-window of the house laden with not only sweet-brier and sweet-
mary, but balm and sage and borage and mint, wormwood and
southernwood. If Mrs. Todd had occasion to step into the far
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: encouragement, their laughter rang so constantly in Sir Percival's
head that he began to wonder if he was still quite sane. And not
a few of his friends hinted here and there that psychiatric
consultation might be useful to the knight, to get him over his
ridiculous interest in the agreeable Arissa.
About this time it so happened that as Sir Percival was on his way
to visit Sir Wishful for a nice dinner of trout and onions, he quite
unexpectedly came upon Arissa, lovely as ever, sitting near the
village waterfall and picking her teeth. Almost out of habit, Sir
Percival spoke: "Arissa, sugar, would you like to go out with
me sometime?"
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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 Adventure by Jack London: full of picturesque Tahitian sailors, and coming into the bungalow
with a Baden-Powell on your head, sea-boots on your feet, and a
whacking big Colt's dangling on your hip--why, I am only too ready
to admit that you were the quintessence of adventure."
"Very good," she cried exultantly. "It's mere simple arithmetic--
the adding of your adventure and my adventure together. So that's
settled, and you needn't jeer at adventure any more. Next, I don't
think there was anything romantic in Tudor's attempting to kiss me,
nor anything like adventure in this absurd duel. But I do think,
now, that it was romantic for you to fall in love with me. And
finally, and it is adding romance to romance, I think . . . I think
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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 Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: prayer or in conversation with callers, who became more and more
numerous as time went on. Only three times a year did he go out
to church, and when necessary he went out to fetch water and
wood.
The episode with Makovkina had occurred after five years of his
hermit life. That occurrence soon became generally known--her
nocturnal visit, the change she underwent, and her entry into a
convent. From that time Father Sergius's fame increased. More
and more visitors came to see him, other monks settled down near
his cell, and a church was erected there and also a hostelry.
His fame, as usual exaggerating his feats, spread ever more and
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