Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1856-09-06
The Legend OF the Wandering jew.

The Legend OF the Wandering jew.
A wild and terrible legend is that of the
middle ages, which personified the Jewish
nation by the traits of the Wandering Jew.
1t represents an old man, with naked feet,
uncovered head, and long white beard,
wandering ceaselessly over the earth.
His face is pale, mark of blood is upon
his forehead, his eyes burn lie saphires
beneath their oblique lids. With an
eaele-like nose, and blood-like lips, squalid
and harsh in features, and clad in coarse
wooden gown, he ever pursues with staff
in hand his interminable journey. Speak
ing all languages and traversing all lands,
knowing not the purpose Of God concern
ing HIMSELF and ever driven onward by
secret impulse, he is transported from
place to place with the speed of the wind;
and as the long centuries come successive
ly to close his old age renews itself with
the yigor of youth in order that he may
complete the weary round of ages. The
people wonder as he hastens past. Once
or twice only has he paused TO tell his
story. He was of the Jewish nation.
Ahasueras by name, and shoemaker
by trade. Dwelling in Jerusalem he per-
secuted Our Savior, and was of those who
cried "Crucify him!'' The sentence of
death having been pronounced, he ran to
his house, before which Jesus was to pass
on the way to Calvary. Taking his child
in his arms he stood at the door with all
his family to behold the procession. Our
Saviour, weighed down by the heavy
burden of the Cross, leaned for moment
against the wall and the Jew to show
his zeal struck the innocent one with cruel
blows, and pointing TO the place Of exc.
cution, babe him go on. Then Jesus,
turning to the unfeeling child of Israel,
said
"Thou refuses rest for the Son Of God:
60, for Ii must needs be
But for thee there shall be no rest
Or lepase until return. z,IF
Go forth thy long journey.
Leave thine own; traverse mountains and seas,
Pausng neither in the cities nor the deserts,
Nowhere-not even in the tomb
As IN example to the Universe, and bearing
Everywhere the heavy weight Of my curse,
Much shalt thou long for death, thy dehvefance.
But shalt not die until the day Of Judgment"
He assists at the cruci6xion, and then
goes forth mysterious stranger, whose
feet shall become familiar with all lands.
How age after age he longs for the
sweets Of death and the repose of the
tomb! But in spite of death be must live
on; his dust shall not mingle with that Of
his ancestors. He drags himself from u
gloomy cavern of Mt. Carmel, shaking the
dust from his beard, grown even to his
knees. Nine grinning skulls are before
him. He seizes and hurls them from the
kop Of the mountain, and they 60 bound
ing down from rock to rock. They are
the skulls of his parents, of his wife and
six small children, all of whom have been
able to die but he cannot. He rushes
into the flames of falling Jerusalem, and
attempts to bury himself beneath the crum-
bling ruins of Rome but in vain. Flying
from cities and men, the wanderer seeks
the solitary places of the earth. He
climbs the everlasting mountains passing
beyond the region Of verdure and Of dash
| ing torrents his feet tread the seas OF
amethyst and opal. Above him are only
peaks shrouded in mists and eternal SHOWS.
The daring eagle scars not so high.
There are no sounds save the cracklings
Of the glaciers. She soul SCENE almost
to touch the heavens above. There sure
/ " the Wandering Jew shall rest No. A
pursuing angel unshea.hs sword Of fam.
| ing fire, and, 10! the wonderer beholds
once more in the heavens the drama Of
the Crucifixion. The way from earth to
heaven is storied with myriads Of celestial
beings radiant with light. Before him are
all the martyrs and saints and sages who
have ever lived and died. For moment
he gazes upon the vision, and turns away
chased by the sword Of fame and demons
Of frightful form. Then he again wanders
over the earth. ever with FIVE pieces Of
"copper" in his pocket, ever with the mark
iof blood upon his forehead. Maddened
with the agony of life, he throws himself
into the crater of Etna, but the boiling
liquid and sulphurous flames harm him not.
The floods Of lava yomit him forth, for his
hour is not yet como. Embarking upon