| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: M. Pons' dinner and keep him here at home? Ma'am Fontaine's hen will
tell me that."
Three years ago Mme. Cibot had begun to cherish a hope that her name
might be mentioned in "her gentlemen's" wills; she had redoubled her
zeal since that covetous thought tardily sprouted up in the midst of
that so honest moustache. Pons hitherto had dined abroad, eluding her
desire to have both of "her gentlemen" entirely under her management;
his "troubadour" collector's life had scared away certain vague ideas
which hovered in La Cibot's brain; but now her shadowy projects
assumed the formidable shape of a definite plan, dating from that
memorable dinner. Fifteen minutes later she reappeared in the dining-
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: brilliant, laughing image, who would treat her like a queen..."There's only
one thing I could not stand--that he should be coarse or vulgar. Well, he
wasn't--he was obviously a man of the world, and the way he apologised...I
have enough faith in my own power and beauty to know I could make a man
treat me just as I wanted to be treated."...It floated into her dreams--
that sweet scent of cigarette smoke. And then she remembered that she had
heard nobody go down the stone stairs. Was it possible that the strange
man was still there?...The thought was too absurd--Life didn't play tricks
like that--and yet--she was quite conscious of his nearness. Very quietly
she got up, unhooked from the back of the door a long white gown, buttoned
it on--smiling slyly. She did not know what was going to happen. She only
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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 A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: the angles of the precipices, led to the world overhead. In the
place where they stood they were sheltered from the cutting winds.
Branchspell, radiantly shining at last, but on the point of sinking,
filled the cloudy sky with violent, lurid colors, some of the
combinations of which were new to Maskull. The circle of the horizon
was so gigantic, that had he been suddenly carried back to Earth, he
would by comparison have fancied himself to be moving beneath the
dome of some little, closed-in cathedral. He realised that he was on
a foreign planet. But he was not stirred or uplifted by the
knowledge; he was conscious only of moral ideas. Looking backward,
he saw the plain, which for several miles past had been without
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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 Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: And the little glow of color in Miss Gussic Fink's smooth
cheek became a crimson flood that swept from brow to throat.
"Oh, well," snickered Miss Sweeney, to hide her own
discomfiture, "this is little Heiny's first New Year's Eve in the
dining-room. Honest, I b'lieve he's shocked. He don't realize
that celebratin' New Year's Eve is like eatin' oranges. You got to
let go your dignity t' really enjoy 'em."
Three times more did Henri enter and demand a bottle of the
famous vintage, and each time he seemed a shade less buoyant. His
elation diminished as his tips grew greater until, as he drew up at
the bar at six o'clock, he seemed wrapped in impenetrable gloom.
Buttered Side Down |
