The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-07-13
THE DEYILs sPOT.

-,
mer's morning, a poor shepherd boy, clad IN the
humble habiIiments of his class, reclined upon the
sunlight bank Of the Guadalqdiyer. A gay equi-
page swept by him as he thus lay in sluggish ease
Al heavy coach, containing one Of SPANS favored
sons, was preceded by an array Of horsemen who
sent upon the air peals Of merry laughter.
And why am doomed to this ignoble employ
ment while others are mrthful! It's gold that
discriminates between men. I would sacrifice
health, nay, my very SOUL to reveI in affluence."
The brilliant cortege had just past from his en-
vious vision, when be detected comedy stranger
by his side. With mild and winning accents he
addressed the youthful herdsman: You would
even barter your hopes Of bliasfnl hereafter for
the possession Of wealth ~ Soft and sweet as the
notes Of the Lutte at egeniide the voice of the
interrogator, but the gaze that accompanied it was
so intense and fierce and fiery, that it drove the
purple fluid from the face of the brave boy, and
checked the burning ardor Of his first emotions.
The response, it is true, was affirmative but the
words came gurgiing and indislinct from the mouth
Of the young aspifant.
Dear painter for The dross that brings joys and
ennobes, ahix your mark to this simple scrol''
Submissive did the lad seize the iron pen, and en-
roll in bloody characters, a name from heneeforth
doomed to eternal woe.
The ensuing day naughty Don Of the vicinage
beloved loud curses along the banks Of the beau-
teous stream. And he tore his hair, for the Golfers
that his gripping ancestry had been filling for ages,
Were broken open and rIAed Of their boards. Yet
what cared the gay shepherd boy as he leaned
over the tafrail Of the big ship that was speeding
him to other lands He should have wealth such
as the fairy gifted princes Of the East drea med not
Of. The pearls and the rubies Of the raging Don
were but the cabinet Of the old king who was una
bic TO complete the garnture Of the single window
Of the gorgeous palace of Aladdin. In the shadowy
future has was to be thatpaace.
Times ceaseless wing girates upon the Western
upon the Eastern Continent, and the bright-eyed
and ringleted Andaiusian has assumed the form and
temper of manhood Far away from the limpid
waters Of his native river, beneath masnatic sua,
he has become restless and perturbed spirit. He
has caught up with a giants hand the busy and
complicated machinery of trade. The beled
sheets Of commerce disgorge their fat increase
to his enrichment and yet the young Spaniard
seems care-worn and haggard, as though some Sc
cret grief some hdeous care was stnging his vitals
The laughtsr-loying Creolss Of the city, whose
feet are washed by the tuFbid waters of the mighty
river ere they kiss the deep azure Of the great
Southern Galf-ihe brown.oheeked girls Of the
New Qflehns OF Ypft cannot Weau him to love or
pleasant dalliance. Al nightlall he will steal away
from the merry perambulators. He will HE him to
a dismal structure far removed from other tene-
ment or association. There, alone and recluse he
hngers till rosy dawn ushers him again among bis
fellows, Tradition whispers shat a deep norass
eRcirced fhat fearful howell; that the hoot Of tie
owl was burdened with peculiar gloom as it mounts
ed into the night air from the caves of that strange
dwelling house and belaied wayiarers have told
Of shapes and sounds within its neighborhood not
at all Heartily.
Ten years had sped on since the fair haired but
ambitious boy had Witnessed the joyous eavalcade
OF the noble and wealthy of his native land. The
poor herdsman had become king Of ngots and
would now hasten to serener climes | do believe
that the TASTE of a chaste and virgin lip would
sometimes float upon his cold and sOrdid imagina-
ton. He had wealth, and why should he not
battle his soul in welded delights
Ii was just ten years, and at the gTave-vavnng
hour Of midnight that storm Of excessive fury
burstupon this devoted city. A good old man with
foreign titles and holy motives, had reared a tenn
pie iur the worship of the Great God. That storm
cleayed the Cathedral in twain, though the cum
ming workman soon after restored the rifted archi-
lecture.
But it was observed that the elements dashed
themselves with peculiar fury over the tene.
ment of the rich, and lonely, and care-furrowed,
and laughter-hating Spaniard. The roll Of the
thunder was deeper toned, and the lightning
flashed more continuous and vivid, while the rain
descended with the wild rage of the cataract
1t was at thatterrfc hour-unrufled by the mad
eommotion around him-that the placid stranger of
the Guadalquiver knocked at the door Of his shep-
herd friend. And that knocking rang ii the ears
of the Spaniard above the deaiening sounds that
environed him. Tllen flashed upon him the mem
DRY of the iron pen, and the SCROLL ard the bloody
ink--and ne knew that the Temorseess fend now
sought the tulhlment of the contract. He could
oppose barrier 10 the entrance of the grim spirit
who rode upon the blast, and forced into fellow
ship the lurid fires OF heaven, and whose soltest
whisper rose eminent above the artillery of the
| spheres No! the helkfraught bargain was con-
summated, and a poor, shrinking, unannealed soul
is the forfeit of those boards so enviously craVed
| by the dreamy shepherdeboy, on the hoWery banks
of the distant Granddaughter.
| Anon, deafening crash is heard, fearful as
though two distempered orbs, ceaving through
| space, had met in dread collision. A shrek,
fFeighted with hellish horror pierced the night air
and the hideous storm rolled away
| Very old men shudder and turn pale when a re-
calling memory arrays the wolul occurrences of
that memorable night. They were children them
in the first dawn of boyhood, and did not dare to
sally forth to the residence of the stranger SPAN
lard until the summers sun had wheeled his fiery
| chariot in mid-air.
Those old men, lowering upon the shores of
time, with blanehed locks and trembling gait, tell
in tremulous tones, of dark, sulp hurous cloud
that for weeks afterwards hung suspended over the
! former abode of that rich, but soul bartered man.
| But no tenement was there, and the deep morass
| CONFUSION Of nature, was filled up.
| And the Spaniard--who hated merrment, and
the dark eve of woman, and social joys they
saw him no more
| Long years have sped on, and the diminutive
town that nestled and crouched at the feet of the
storm rifted Cathedral the timid bird under the
arm of its protector, has become strong and bold
| has extended its boundaries far beyond the dismal
spot on which once stood the humble dwelling of
| the gold-loying shepherd boy. Nay, a splendid
adiGra and
from the very surface where the silver-toned fend
summoned The shivering, CHASTITY prey to the I'M
quenehabe fires and black despair that are melted
out to the eternally damned
Aye, and wealthy denizens may tear down and
build up; and longrobed priests may chant in holy
strains their exorcisms, but at the lapse Of every
ten years, when the summer solstice is upon us,
freighted with its annual storms, that unearthly
and mysterious knocking will be heard The
wierd old men, whose memories are gorged
with the past tell Us It's the arehfend that in his
internal sport Of repetition, HES to the spot once
tonantad hu hia pooF victim and knocks and NIL