The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: There seemed to be here the groundwork of a tale. It impressed
me as if the ancient Surveyor, in his garb of a hundred years
gone by, and wearing his immortal wig -- which was buried with
him, but did not perish in the grave -- had bet me in the
deserted chamber of the Custom-House. In his port was the
dignity of one who had borne His Majesty's commission, and who
was therefore illuminated by a ray of the splendour that shone so
dazzlingly about the throne. How unlike alas the hangdog look
of a republican official, who, as the servant of the people,
feels himself less than the least, and below the lowest of his
masters. With his own ghostly hand, the obscurely seen, but
 The Scarlet Letter |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: It had come at last, but, womanlike, she evaded the issue her
heart had sought. "Yes, I know. You think it would not be fair to
throw away your life in this foolish manner after I have saved it
for you--how many times was it you said?" The blue eyes lifted
with deceptive frankness to the gray ones.
"No, that isn't my reason. I have a better one than that. I love
y'u, girl, more than anything in this world."
"And so you try to prove it to me by running into a trap set for
you to take your life. That's a selfish kind of love, isn't it?
Or it would be if I loved you."
"Do y'u love me, Helen?"
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