| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: spot before she spoke again, raising her voice almost to a shout.
"The wicket is shut. Please to open it. I can't get out."
As she spoke, she was quietly fingering a revolver which Adam had
given to her in case of emergency and which now lay in her breast.
She felt that she was caged like a rat in a trap, but did not mean
to be taken at a disadvantage, whatever happened. Caswall also felt
trapped, and all the brute in him rose to the emergency. In a voice
which was raucous and brutal--much like that which is heard when a
wife is being beaten by her husband in a slum--he hissed out, his
syllables cutting through the roaring of the storm:
"You came of your own accord--without permission, or even asking it.
Lair of the White Worm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: two-handed sword which he wielded, and which few others could
even lift. This "awful sword," as the common people term it, was
as dear to him as Durindana or Fushberta to their respective
masters, and was nearly as formidable to his enemies as those
renowned falchions proved to the foes of Christendom. The weapon
had been bequeathed to him by a celebrated English outlaw named
Hobbie Noble, who, having committed some deed for which he was in
danger from justice, fled to Liddesdale, and became a follower,
or rather a brother-in-arms, to the renowned Laird's Jock; till,
venturing into England with a small escort, a faithless guide,
and with a light single-handed sword instead of his ponderous
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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 The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: an example, who, before his conversion, was remarkably carnally
amorous; and after, by God's appointment, wrote that spiritual dialogue,
or holy amorous love-song the Canticles, betwixt God and his church:
in which he says, " his beloved had eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon
".
And if this hold in reason, as I see none to the contrary, then it may be
probably concluded, that Moses, who I told you before writ the book of
Job, and the Prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, were both Anglers;
for you shall, in all the Old Testament, find fish-hooks, I think but
twice mentioned, namely, by meek Moses the friend of God, and by the
humble prophet Amos.
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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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: She arranged her samples with loving care. Style, cut,
workmanship--she ran over their strong points in her mind. She
looked at them as a mother's eyes rest fondly on the shining
faces, the well-brushed hair, the clean pinafores of her brood.
And her heart swelled with pride. They lay on their tables, the
artful knickerbockers, the gleaming petticoats, the pink and blue
pajamas, the bifurcated skirts. Emma McChesney ran one hand
lightly over the navy blue satin folds of a sample.
"Pages or no Pages, you're a credit to your mother," she said,
whimsically.
Up in her room once more, she selected her smartest tailor
Emma McChesney & Co. |
