| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: room sidewise; Camille laughed also, although she
chided Jack gently. "Mean of you to make fun of
poor Margaret, Jacky dear," she said.
For a few weeks Margaret's life in that flat was
horrible; then it became still worse. Margaret near-
ly filled with her weary, ridiculous bulk her little
room, and she remained there most of the time,
although it was sunny and noisy, its one window
giving on a courtyard strung with clothes-lines and
teeming with boisterous life. Camille and Jack went
trolley-riding, and made shift to entertain a little,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: GLOUCESTER. My lord, there needs no such apology:
I do beseech your Grace to pardon me,
Who, earnest in the service of my God,
Deferr'd the visitation of my friends.
But, leaving this, what is your Grace's pleasure?
BUCKINGHAM. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above,
And all good men of this ungovern'd isle.
GLOUCESTER. I do suspect I have done some offence
That seems disgracious in the city's eye,
And that you come to reprehend my ignorance.
BUCKINGHAM. You have, my lord. Would it might please
Richard III |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: besiegers to get as far as the ditch, and then we will push
down upon their heads that strip of wall which keeps its
perpendicular by a miracle."
"Bravo!" cried Porthos. "Decidedly, Athos, you were born to
be a general, and the cardinal, who fancies himself a great
soldier, is nothing beside you."
"Gentlemen," said Athos, "no divided attention, I beg; let
each one pick out his man."
"I cover mine," said D'Artagnan.
"And I mine," said Porthos.
"And I mine," said Aramis.
The Three Musketeers |
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 Daisy Miller by Henry James: at a beautiful villa on the Caelian Hill, and, on arriving,
dismissed his hired vehicle. The evening was charming, and he
promised himself the satisfaction of walking home beneath the Arch
of Constantine and past the vaguely lighted monuments of the Forum.
There was a waning moon in the sky, and her radiance was not brilliant,
but she was veiled in a thin cloud curtain which seemed to diffuse
and equalize it. When, on his return from the villa (it was eleven
o'clock), Winterbourne approached the dusky circle of the Colosseum,
it recurred to him, as a lover of the picturesque, that the interior,
in the pale moonshine, would be well worth a glance. He turned aside
and walked to one of the empty arches, near which, as he observed,
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