| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: heart sank within him.
The bell was ancient, like the house; it had a thin and
garrulous note; and it was some time before it ceased to
sound from the rear quarters of the building. Following upon
this an inner door was stealthily opened, and careful and
catlike steps drew near along the hall. Challoner, supposing
he was to be instantly admitted, produced his letter, and, as
well as he was able, prepared a smiling face. To his
indescribable surprise, however, the footsteps ceased, and
then, after a pause and with the like stealthiness, withdrew
once more, and died away in the interior of the house. 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 A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: Mr. Adams and excited the whole North, because feeling ran too high to
perceive this first act on England's part to be really favorable to us;
she could not recognize our blockade, which stopped her getting Southern
cotton, unless she recognized that the South was in a state of war with
us. Looked at quietly, this act of England's helped us and hurt herself,
for it deprived her of cotton.
It was not with this, but with the reception and treatment of Mr. Adams
that the true hostility began. Slights to him were slaps at us, sympathy
with the South was an active moral injury to our cause, even if it was
mostly an undertone, politically. Then all of a sudden, something that we
did ourselves changed the undertone to a loud overtone, and we just
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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 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: of an old sail, and this they spread over a nook in the
bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions; but they
themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather,
as became outlaws.
They built a fire against the side of a great log twenty
or thirty steps within the sombre depths of the forest,
and then cooked some bacon in the frying-pan for sup-
per, and used up half of the corn "pone" stock they had
brought. It seemed glorious sport to be feasting in
that wild, free way in the virgin forest of an unex-
plored and uninhabited island, far from the haunts of
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
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 Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: not a hundred yards away. I just did it to try you."
She had spirit enough left to say, "Beast."
Then he swung her up, and carried her down the trail. He
carried her, not in his arms, as they do it in books and in
the movies. He could not have gone a hundred feet that way.
He carried her over his shoulder, like a sack of meal, by
one arm and one leg, I regret to say. Any boy scout knows
that trick, and will tell you what I mean. It is the most
effectual carrying method known, though unromantic.
And so they came to Timberline Cabin, and Albert Edward
Cobbins was in the doorway. Heyl put her down gently on the
Fanny Herself |
