| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: from the life of belief and love from which he had been cut off.
The weaver's hand had known the touch of hard-won money even before
the palm had grown to its full breadth; for twenty years, mysterious
money had stood to him as the symbol of earthly good, and the
immediate object of toil. He had seemed to love it little in the
years when every penny had its purpose for him; for he loved the
_purpose_ then. But now, when all purpose was gone, that habit of
looking towards the money and grasping it with a sense of fulfilled
effort made a loam that was deep enough for the seeds of desire; and
as Silas walked homeward across the fields in the twilight, he drew
out the money and thought it was brighter in the gathering gloom.
Silas Marner |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: on the not strikingly important question as to whether Hortense and the
General had accompanied Charley on the yacht, or continued northward in
an automobile, or taken the train. Gone, in any case, the whole party
indubitably was, leaving, I must say, a sense of emptiness: the comedy
was over, the players departed. I never heard any one, not even Juno,
doubt that it was Hortense who had broken the engagement; this part of
the affair was conducted by the principals with great skill. Hortense had
evidently written her version to the Cornerlys, and not a word to any
other effect ever came from John's mouth, of course. One result I had not
looked for, though it was a natural one: if the old ladies had felt
indignation at Hortense for her determination to marry John Mayrant, this
indignation was doubled by her determination not to! I fear that few of
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