| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: he ever have done? Who governed, I wonder, while he was asleep?
How he must have travelled! The swiftest horse could scarcely
have carried him from one of these houses to another."
"I never was attached to the memory of Washington," meditated
Philip; "but I always thought it was the pear-tree. It must
have been that he was such a very unsettled person."
"He certainly was not what is called a domestic character,"
said Aunt Jane.
"I suppose you are, Miss Maxwell," said Philip. "Do you often
go out?"
"Sometimes, to drive," said Aunt Jane. "Yesterday I went
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: Count, a creditor should really be in a position uncommonly difficult
to reach; it is a question of being creditor and debtor both, for then
you are legally entitled to work the confusion of rights, in law
language--"
"To the confusion of the debtor?" asked Malaga, lending an attentive
ear to this discourse.
"No, the confusion of rights of debtor and creditor, and pay yourself
through your own hands. So Claparon's innocence in merely issuing
writs of attachment eased the Count's mind. As he came back from the
Varietes with Antonia, he was so much the more taken with the idea of
selling the reading-room to pay off the last two thousand francs of
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: a Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and if you have never
had one of your own, wait till you read about this one of Tattine's, and then
give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had one, either in your kitchen
in town, or in the woods out of town, which is better. One thing is necessary
to its complete enjoyment, however: you must have a "sweet tooth," but as most
little people cut that particular tooth very early, probably you are among the
fortunate number.
"Well, I don't see what we are sitting here for," said Mabel at last.
"Neithet do I," said Tattine; "I was only giving you a chance to get a little
breath. You did not seem to have much left."
"No more we had," laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows and
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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 Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: "And I'm meaning to go to Paradise some day, but will I?"
"You're going to help me get him out, Mike."
"Who told ye that, me optimistic young friend?"
"I didn't need to be told."
"Well, I'll not lift a finger, Bucky--not a finger."
"I knew you wouldn't stand to see a man like Henderson rot in a
dungeon. No Irishman would."
"You needn't blarney me. I'm too old a bird to be caught with
chaff. It's a dirty shame, of course, about this man Henderson,
but I'm not running the criminal jurisprudence of Mexico meself."
"And I said to Webb Mackenzie: 'Mickey O'Halloran is the man to
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