| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: Her lips pressed harder together. And so there was no Adventurer
upon whom she could call, and no police, and no one in all the
millions in this great pulsing city to whom she could appeal; and
so there remained only - herself.
Well, she could do it, couldn't she? Not as Gypsy Nan, of course
- but as the White Moll. It would be worth it, wouldn't it? If
she were sincere, and not a moral hypocrite in her sympathy for
those two outraged old people in the twilight of their lives, and
if she were not a moral coward, there remained no question as to
what her decision should be.
Her mind began to mull over the details. Subconsciously, since
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: the other end. You will hear hardly any noise, and will not feel
the blow at all. Put your ear to one end of a hard piece of wood,
and let some one hit the other. You will hear a smart tap; and
perhaps feel a smart tap, too. When you are older, and learn the
laws of sound, and of motion among the particles of bodies, you
will know why. Meanwhile you may comfort yourself with the
thought that Madam How has (doubtless by command of Lady Why)
prepared a safe soft bed for this good people of Britain--not that
they may lie and sleep on it, but work and till, plant and build
and manufacture, and thrive in peace and comfort, we will trust
and pray, for many a hundred years to come. All that the steam
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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 Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: In our town the clerks are not the pert and gum-chewing young
persons that story-writers are wont to describe. The girls at
Bascom's are institutions. They know us all by our first names,
and our lives are as an open book to them. Kate O'Malley, who has
been at Bascom's for so many years that she is rumored to have
stock in the company, may be said to govern the fashions of our
town. She is wont to say, when we express a fancy for gray as the
color of our new spring suit:
"Oh, now, Nellie, don't get gray again. You had it year
before last, and don't you think it was just the least leetle bit
trying? Let me show you that green that came in yesterday. I said
Buttered Side Down |
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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: "Alas!" replied Louis, in a melancholy tone, "only barren
good-will, my brother."
Charles II. became extremely pale; he passed his cold hand
over his brow, and struggled for a few instants against a
faintness that made him tremble. "I understand," said he at
last; "no more hope!"
Louis seized the hand of Charles II. "Wait, my brother,"
said he; "precipitate nothing, everything may change; hasty
resolutions ruin all causes, add another year of trial, I
implore you, to the years you have already undergone. You
have, to induce you to act now rather than at another time,
Ten Years Later |
