| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: vegetation which sprang up again behind his fleeting
feet, leaving no sign.
But here in the hills, where loose rock occasionally
strewed the way; where black loam and wild flowers
partially replaced the sombre monotony of the waste
places of the lowlands, Carthoris hoped to find some
sign that would lead him in the right direction.
Yet, search as he would, the baffling mystery of the
trail seemed likely to remain for ever unsolved.
It was drawing toward the day's close once more when
the keen eyes of the Heliumite discerned the tawny
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: law, working in an attorney's office, where he had risen to be
superior clerk. He had taken his doctor's degree in law, had mastered
the old and modern codes, and could hold his own with the most famous
pleaders. He had studied the law of nations, and was familiar with
European treaties and international practice. He had studied men and
things in five capitals--London, Berlin, Vienna, Petersburg, and
Constantinople.
No man was better informed than he as to the rules of the Chamber. For
five years he had been reporter of the debates for a daily paper. He
spoke extempore and admirably, and could go on for a long time in that
deep, appealing voice which had struck us to the soul. Indeed, he
|
