| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: --we've had a good bath--we're clothed and in our right minds,
though feeling like a lot of neuters. Do you think these highly
civilized ladies are going to give us any breakfast?"
"Of course they will," Jeff asserted confidently. "If they had
meant to kill us, they would have done it before. I believe we are
going to be treated as guests."
"Hailed as deliverers, I think," said Terry.
"Studied as curiosities," I told them. "But anyhow, we want food.
So now for a sortie!"
A sortie was not so easy.
The bathroom only opened into our chamber, and that had
Herland |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: the signal. Le Goire lifted an old French chanson; the men, like
a row of ghosts in the dim starlight, bent their backs to the tow
line; the steering oar cut the black current sharply, and the boat
swept out into the night.
WHICH MAKE MEN REMEMBER
Fortune La Pearle crushed his way through the snow, sobbing,
straining, cursing his luck, Alaska, Nome, the cards, and the man
who had felt his knife. The hot blood was freezing on his hands,
and the scene yet bright in his eyes,--the man, clutching the
table and sinking slowly to the floor; the rolling counters and
the scattered deck; the swift shiver throughout the room, and the
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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 Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: scattered in all directions. In the pavilion, which is flooded with
sunshine, is the elaborate patent swing seat and awning in which
Johnny reclines with his novel. There are two wicker chairs right and
left of him._
_Bentley Summerhays, one of those smallish, thinskinned youths, who
from 17 to 70 retain unaltered the mental airs of the later and the
physical appearance of the earlier age, appears in the garden and
comes through the glass door into the pavilion. He is unmistakably a
grade above Johnny socially; and though he looks sensitive enough, his
assurance and his high voice are a little exasperating._
JOHNNY. Hallo! Wheres your luggage?
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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 One Basket by Edna Ferber: Miss Kate did not argue the point. She put the freshly painted
wooden chicken on the table to dry in the sun. Her eyes fell
upon a letter bearing an American postmark and addressed to
Sergeant Chester Ball, with a lot of cryptic figures and letters
strung out after it, such as A.E.F. and Co. 11.
"Here's a letter for you!" She infused a lot of Glad into her
voice. But Chet only cast a languid eye upon it and said,
"Yeh?"
"I'll read it to you, shall I? It's a nice fat one."
Chet sat back, indifferent, negatively acquiescent. And Miss
Kate began to read in her clear young voice, there in the
One Basket |
