| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: disincorporate himself of his windy numbers along the seashore.'
"'No,' says Andy, 'I must have an audience. I feel like if I once
turned loose people would begin to call Senator Beveridge the Grand
Young Sphinx of the Wabash. I've got to get an audience together,
Jeff, and get this oral distension assuaged or it may turn in on me
and I'd go about feeling like a deckle-edge edition de luxe of Mrs. E.
D. E. N. Southworth.'
"'On what special subject of the theorems and topics does your desire
for vocality seem to be connected with?' I asks.
"'I ain't particular,' says Andy. 'I am equally good and varicose on
all subjects. I can take up the matter of Russian immigration, or the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: Reservation to the Golden Gate. Then they turned, and,
following the line of the shore, brought up at the Cliff
House. Here they halted for beer, Marcus swearing that his
mouth was as dry as a hay-bin. Before starting on their
walk they had gone around to the little dog hospital, and
Marcus had let out four of the convalescents, crazed with
joy at the release.
"Look at that dog," he cried to McTeague, showing him a
finely-bred Irish setter. "That's the dog that belonged
to the duck on the avenue, the dog we called for that day.
I've bought 'um. The duck thought he had the distemper, and
McTeague |
