| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: but Tony got drunk one day and beat her because she ate too much,
and she disappeared soon after. Whence she came and where she
departed, no one could tell, not even Mrs. Murphy, the Pauline
Pry and Gazette of the block.
Tony had gout, and suffered for many days in roaring
helplessness, the while his foot, bound and swathed in many folds
of red flannel, lay on the chair before him. In proportion as
his gout increased and he bawled from pure physical discomfort,
she became light-hearted, and moved about the shop with real,
brisk cheeriness. He could not hit her then without such pain
that after one or two trials he gave up in disgust.
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: Behold it, crying, "We have still a King."
`And, brother, had you known our hall within,
Broader and higher than any in all the lands!
Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur's wars,
And all the light that falls upon the board
Streams through the twelve great battles of our King.
Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end,
Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere,
Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur.
And also one to the west, and counter to it,
And blank: and who shall blazon it? when and how?--
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: right, and a constant though gentle motion is thus kept up in
society which animates without disturbing it.
The American attaches himself to his home as the mountaineer
clings to his hills, because the characteristic features of his
country are there more distinctly marked than elsewhere. The
existence of the townships of New England is in general a happy
one. Their government is suited to their tastes, and chosen by
themselves. In the midst of the profound peace and general
comfort which reign in America the commotions of municipal
discord are unfrequent. The conduct of local business is easy.
The political education of the people has long been complete; say
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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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: As he was thus moving forward past the National Gallery, in a
medium, it seemed, of greater rarity and quiet than ordinary
air, there slipped into his mind the recollection of a
certain entry in Whitcomb Street hard by, where he might
perhaps lay down his tragic cargo unremarked. Thither, then,
he bent his steps, seeming, as he went, to float above the
pavement; and there, in the mouth of the entry, he found a
man in a sleeved waistcoat, gravely chewing a straw. He
passed him by, and twice patrolled the entry, scouting for
the barest chance; but the man had faced about and continued
to observe him curiously.
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