| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: and then I saw Hiram at the rope.
"Wal, wal!" he ejaculated, "your own mother wouldn't own you now!" Then he
laughed heartily and chuckled to himself, and gave the cub a couple of
jerks that took the mischief out of him. I dragged myself after Hiram into
the glade. The cabin was large and very old, and part of the roof was
sunken in.
"We'll hang up here an' camp," said Hiram. "This is an old hunters' cabin,
an' kinder out of the way. We'll hitch this little fighter inside, where
mebbe he won't be so noisy."
The hunter hauled the cub up short, and half pulled, half lifted him into
the door. I took off my rifle, emptied my pockets of brush and beat out the
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: heard a young painter say, with the childlike lightness, which to her
was unintelligible, and which redeems a jest from the taint of
profanity, "But, madame, your Paradise cannot be more beautiful than
Raphael's Transfiguration!--Well, and I got tired of looking at that."
Thus Augustine came among this sparkling set in a spirit of distrust
which no one could fail to see. She was a restraint on their freedom.
Now an artist who feels restraint is pitiless; he stays away, or
laughs it to scorn. Madame Guillaume, among other absurdities, had an
excessive notion of the dignity she considered the prerogative of a
married woman; and Augustine, though she had often made fun of it,
could not help a slight imitation of her mother's primness. This
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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 Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: a black look at the Italian woman, saying, 'Rosina?' and then, without
waiting for a reply, went into the little barn full of hay, to bed.
The meaning of the Colonel's utterance was self-evident. The young
wife replied by an indescribable gesture, expressing all the annoyance
she could not feel at seeing her thralldom thus flaunted without human
decency, and the offence to her dignity as a woman, and to her
husband. But there was, too, in the rigid setting of her features and
the tight knitting of her brows a sort of presentiment; perhaps she
foresaw her fate. Rosina remained quietly in her place.
"A minute later, and apparently when the Colonel was snug in his couch
of straw or hay, he repeated, 'Rosina?'
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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 Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: satisfaction. An occasional direction from her mother enabled her
to cook the fish properly, and dinner was ready. There were still
a few small stores left in the closet, and Katy made a cup of tea
for her mother, and with it placed the delicate little flounder
by the side of the bed. The invalid had no appetite, but to
please Katy she ate a portion of the fish and bread though it was
very hard work for her to do so. The little girl, gladdened by
this unwonted sight, made a hearty meal, without a thought of the
trials and sorrows which the future might have in store for them.
When she had put away the dishes, and placed everything in order,
she washed herself, combed her hair, sewed up a great rent in her
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