| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: war-office considered these conditions presumptuous in a young man of
twenty-five without a name, who might, if they were granted, become a
colonel at thirty. Max accordingly sent in his resignation. The major
--for among themselves Bonapartists recognized the grades obtained in
1815--thus lost the pittance called half-pay which was allowed to the
officers of the army of the Loire. But all Issoudun was roused at the
sight of the brave young fellow left with only twenty napoleons in his
possession; and the mayor gave him a place in his office with a salary
of six hundred francs. Max kept it a few months, then gave it up of
his own accord, and was replaced by a captain named Carpentier, who,
like himself, had remained faithful to Napoleon.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: had always thought.
Marianne's ideas were still, at intervals,
fixed incoherently on her mother, and whenever she
mentioned her name, it gave a pang to the heart of
poor Elinor, who, reproaching herself for having trifled
with so many days of illness, and wretched for some
immediate relief, fancied that all relief might soon
be in vain, that every thing had been delayed too long,
and pictured to herself her suffering mother arriving
too late to see this darling child, or to see her rational.
She was on the point of sending again for Mr. Harris,
Sense and Sensibility |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: porch.
"Oh, Mrs. Gerald," he said, as soon as he could catch his breath, "Mabel
and Tattine are all right; they're safe in the log play-house at the
Cornwells', but we've had an awful fright. Is Barney home? When the hail came
I tied him to a tree and we ran into the log house, but he broke away the next
minute and took to his heels and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
Barney's an awful fraud, Mrs. Gerald."
But Mrs. Gerald had no time just then to give heed to Barney's misdoings.
Seizing a wrap from the hall, she ordered Rudolph into the house and to bed,
as quickly as he could be gotten there, sent Philip to Rudolph's Mother with
the word that the children were safe, and then started off in the wagonette to
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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 Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: flank, August and Hare swept on with the flood, till the horses, sighting
the dark canyon, halted to stand like rocks.
"Will they run over the rim ?" yelled Hare, horrified. His voice came to
him as a whisper. August Naab, sweat-stained in red dust, haggard, gray
locks streaming in the wind, raised his arms above his head, hopeless.
The long nodding line of woolly forms, lifting like the crest of a yellow
wave, plunged out and down in rounded billow over the canyon rim. With
din of hoofs and bleats the sheep spilled themselves over the precipice,
and an awful deafening roar boomed up from the river, like the spreading
thunderous crash of an avalanche.
How endless seemed that fatal plunge! The last line of sheep, pressing
The Heritage of the Desert |
