| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: and I've been a professional medium, and I've been within
one vote of being indicted by a grand jury, and the money
that bought that vote was put up by the smartest and most
famous train-gambler between Omaha and 'Frisco, a gentleman
who died in his boots and took three sheriff's deputies
along with him to Kingdom-Come. Now, that's MY record."
Theron looked earnestly at her, and said nothing.
"And now take Soulsby," she went on. "Of course I take
it for granted there's a good deal that he has never felt
called upon to mention. He hasn't what you may call
a talkative temperament. But there is also a good deal
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: answered very deliberately,--"Yes, everybody knows, but nobody
talks about it." And this is, no doubt, the reason why the early
life of the greatest woman of the Mongol race, and, as some who
knew her best think, the most remarkable woman of the nineteenth
century, has ever been shrouded in mystery. Whether the Empress
desired thus to efface all knowledge of her childhood by refusing
to allow it to be talked about, I do not know, but I said to
myself: "What everybody knows, I can know," and I proceeded to
find out.
I discovered that she was one of a family of several brothers and
sisters and born about 1834; that the financial condition of her
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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 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: hope of gaining is{sic} own was gone, he had hope for others.
Believing in hydropathy, he established, at Northampton,
Massachusetts, a large _"Water Cure,"_ and became one of the most
successful of all engaged in that mode of treatment.
<266>place to send me. "Many ships," said he, "are there fitted
out for the whaling business, and you may there find work at your
trade, and make a good living." Thus, in one fortnight after my
flight from Maryland, I was safe in New Bedford, regularly
entered upon the exercise of the rights, responsibilities, and
duties of a freeman.
I may mention a little circumstance which annoyed me on reaching
My Bondage and My Freedom |
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 Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: hue. Over her thumb hung castanets and in her hand was a
tambourine. Roguishly she began to sway into a slow, rhythmic
dance, beating time with her instruments as she moved. Gradually
the speed quickened to a faster time. She swung gracefully to and
fro with all the lithe agility of the race she personified. No
part could have been better conceived or executed. Even
physically she displayed the large, brilliant eyes, the
ringleted, coal-black hair, the tawny skin, and the flashing
smile that showed small teeth of dazzling ivory, characteristic
of the Romanies he had met. It was a daring part to play, but the
young man watching realized that she had the free grace to carry
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