| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: this work I received a dollar a day, with two meals (dinner and
supper) and was permitted to carry away from the kitchen all the
cooked food that remained after the guests had eaten. This
privilege had grown out of the custom of the colored help in the
South having their "man" to feed. I had several men to feed. My
"gang" was still looking for work and not finding any. Times were
desperate. For five cents a man could get a glass of beer and
floor room to sleep on in a lodging-house for homeless men. This
was called a "Five Cent Flop" house. My pals were not able at
times to raise the five cents a day to buy sleeping quarters. It
was late fall and too cold to sleep in the "jungle" down by the
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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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: me."
The stranger clasped Godefroid's hand convulsively, and they both
gazed at the firmament, whence the stars seemed to shed gentle poetry
which they could bear.
"Oh, to see God!" murmured Godefroid.
"Child!" said the old man suddenly, in a sterner voice, "have you so
soon forgotten the holy teaching of our good master, Doctor Sigier? In
order to return, you to your heavenly home, and I to my native land on
earth, must we not obey the voice of God? We must walk on resignedly
in the stony paths where His almighty finger points the way. Do not
you quail at the thought of the danger to which you exposed yourself?
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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 Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: begged Madame to excuse the disorder in which she found everything,
seeing that he had only received Madame's letter that very morning.
But despite all his efforts, she flew off at a tangent and walked so
quickly that Zoe could scarcely follow her. At the end of the
avenue she paused for a moment in order to take the house in at a
glance. It was a great pavilionlike building in the Italian manner,
and it was flanked by a smaller construction, which a rich
Englishman, after two years' residence in Naples, had caused to be
erected and had forthwith become disgusted with.
"I'll take Madame over the house," said the gardener.
But she had outrun him entirely, and she shouted back that he was
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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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: worth a copek, and I feared for yours. If it will only last!--if
it will only last!"
"It WILL," said she. " You have taken me from poverty, and
given me rank, wealth, and a proud place in the world: let it be my
work to keep the peace which God has permitted me to establish
between you and your father!"
The change in the old Prince, in fact, was more radical than any
one who knew his former ways of life would have considered
possible. He stormed and swore occasionally, flourished his whip
to some purpose, and rode home from the chase, not outside of a
brandy cask, as once, but with too much of its contents inside of
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