| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: like a cloud, and moving with her moving,--a tempest-whirl of
spray;--ghost-white and like a ghost she came, for her
smoke-stacks exhaled no visible smoke--the wind devoured it! The
excitement on shore became wild;--men shouted themselves hoarse;
women laughed and cried. Every telescope and opera-glass was
directed upon the coming apparition; all wondered how the pilot
kept his feet; all marvelled at the madness of the captain.
But Captain Abraham Smith was not mad. A veteran American
sailor, he had learned to know the great Gulf as scholars know
deep books by heart: he knew the birthplace of its tempests, the
mystery of its tides, the omens of its hurricanes. While lying
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: the eyes Ruth turned upon her. Together they came to the granite seat
and sank to it side by side, fronting the placid river. There Ruth,
her elbows on her knees, cradled her chin in her hands, and with a sigh
of misery stared straight before her.
"It was untrue!" she said at last. "What Richard said of me was untrue."
"Why, yes," Diana snapped, contemptuous. "The only truth is that Richard
is afraid."
Ruth shivered. "Ah, no," she pleaded - she knew how true was the
impeachment. "Don't say it, Diana."
"It matters little that I say it," snorted Diana impatiently. "It is
a truth proclaimed by the first glance at him."
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