| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: the evening of the 23rd of September?"
"Yes, that evening - it's all like a dream to me." Graumann began
again. "John wrote me a letter asking me to come to see him on that
evening. I tore up the letter and threw it away - or perhaps, yes,
I remember now, I did not wish Eleonora to see that he had written
me. He asked me to come to see him, as he had something to say to
me, something of the greatest importance for us both. He asked me
not to mention to any one that I was to see him, as it would be
wiser no one should know that we were still in communication with
each other. There was a strain of nervous excitement visible in his
letter. I thought it better to go and see him as he requested; I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: friend. The Spanish lady took her revenge very much as Celimene took
hers on Arsinoe.
"My dear, are you ignorant--you who know the provinces so well--can
you be ignorant of what a mother is capable when she has on her hands
a daughter whom she cannot marry for want of 'dot' and lovers, want of
beauty, want of mind, and, sometimes, want of everything? Why, a
mother in that position would rob a diligence or commit a murder, or
wait for a man at the corner of a street--she would sacrifice herself
twenty times over, if she was a mother at all. Now, as you and I both
know, there are many such in that situation in Bordeaux, and no doubt
they attribute to us their own thoughts and actions. Naturalists have
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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 Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: the doorway, so that I may enter with my friends!"
"The Princess won't like it," said the maid, hesitating.
"I don't care whether she likes it or not," replied Billina, and
fluttering her wings with a loud noise she flew straight at the maid's
face. The little servant at once ducked her head, and the hen reached
Dorothy's side in safety.
"Very well," sighed the maid; "if you are all ruined because of this
obstinate hen, don't blame me for it. It isn't safe to annoy the
Princess Langwidere."
"Tell her we are waiting, if you please," Dorothy requested, with
dignity. "Billina is my friend, and must go wherever I go."
Ozma of Oz |
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 Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: French habit of considering the government as the cause of all
evils. Show us the way, you learned gentlemen! Since that is a
matter about which you are informed, and we are ignorant, begin
by telling us what measures you believe to be necessary."
"Ah, ah!" exclaimed the other. "That's fine, indeed! It was
about eighteen years ago that a project of that nature, worked
out by the Academy of Medicine, and approved by it UNANIMOUSLY,
was sent to the proper minister. We have not yet heard his
reply."
"You really believe," inquired Monsieur Loches, in some
bewilderment, "you believe that there are some measures--"
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