| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: trust--"
"Trust!" broke in the cow-puncher. "Why, Doc, it is the best turn yu'
ever done me. I know I am a man now--if my nerve ain't gone."
I've known you were a man since I knew you!" said the hearty Governor.
And he helped the still unsteady six-foot to a chair. "As for your nerve,
I'll bring you some whiskey now. And after"--he glanced at the bed--" and
tomorrow you'll go try if Miss Jessamine won't put the nerve--"
"Yes, Doc, I'll go there, I know. But don't yu'--don't let's while she's--
I'm going to be glad about this, Doc, after awhile, but--"
At the sight of a new-comer in the door, he stopped in what his soul was
stammering to say. "What do you want, Judge?" he inquired, coldly.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: position upon the open spaces, for all the world like the people
on the grass in one of the London parks on a particularly hot
Sunday in August. In front of this entrance, on a space which
had been cleared of dead and of the shields and spears which
were scattered in all directions as they had fallen or been thrown
from the hands of their owners, stood and lay the survivors of
the awful struggle, and at their feet were four wounded men.
We had gone into the fight thirty strong, and of the thirty
but fifteen remained alive, and five of them (including Mr Mackenzie)
were wounded, two mortally. Of those who held the entrance,
Curtis and the Zulu alone remained. Good had lost five men killed,
Allan Quatermain |
