| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: So, go away at once----Or, rather, if you will take my advice, go to
the Cointets and see them about it. They have capital. If your
invention is perfected and answers the purpose, go into partnership
with them. After all, they are very good fellows----"
"Your invention?" broke in old Sechard.
"Why, do you suppose that your son is fool enough to let his business
slip away from him without thinking of something else?" exclaimed the
attorney. "He is on the brink of the discovery of a way of making
paper at a cost of three francs per ream, instead of ten, he tells
me."
"One more dodge for taking me in! You are all as thick as thieves in a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: to the highway which led to our destination.
"The first time we met a Boxer procession my knees knocked
together in my fear of detection but they passed by without
giving us a glance. We met them often after this, and before we
finished our journey I learned to doubt their claim to detect
Christians by the sign of the cross.
"We ate at the roadside booths, slept often in a gateway or by
the side of a wall under the open sky, and after several days'
wandering, we reached the yamen of my uncle. But we dare not
enter and reveal our identity, lest we implicate them, for we
found the Boxers strong everywhere, and even the officials feared
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