The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1857-07-29
THE STAR OF LOVE.

There are many such moments; for oflen-
times life hangs upon thread, and if the
thread is not cut, it requires but touch TO
change The whole direction Of the future. But
in every mans life there is at least one, and
in that of young Shek Houssein it occurred
thus:
# was not often in those days that :rave-
srs crossed the grea, desert. Few Europeans
came 10 Egypt, and fewer still went 10 Sinai.
But there was a time when Houssein was
! called TO Cairo TO NEE! noble party OF west.
ern travellers, a gentleman and Two ladies,
who were making pilgrimage 10 Sinai and
the Holy Land, and who wished his protection
in crossing the desert. He saw but the gen.
tlsman, and readily engaged 10 perform the
desired service.
1t was not until the party had left the Blrk-
el.el.Haj that he met Them, where they were
encamped, by moonlight, on the sand that
stretches away 10 Suez. AS he sprang from
| his mare, before The lsnl-door, he was startled
by such vision as he had never before seen,
but thought he had dreamed of in his waking
dreams.
She was slight, fair, and, in The moonlight,
pale as a creature OF dreams. Was this one
of the aouris of his tabled paradise? No;
he rejected The thought, if it rose. There was
no spot in all the heaven of Mahommed fit
for an angel like this. Away, like the sands
on the whirlwind, like the clouds before The
sun, like the stars at daybreak: away swept
all his faith in Islam, and, in All instant the
Shlek Houssen was an idolator, worshIpping
as thousands greaier than he have done, the
beauty OF woman Perhaps he might have
quenched his thirst for the unknown at some
other fountain, but this was enough now. He
had found that wherewh 10 fill the void, and
he was content.
Love was a new emotion, sensation he
had never before experienced, aad it satisfied
him. Did she love him? That was ques-
tion which never occurred to him. What did
he care lor that? He was no, seeking TO be
loved He was looking for employment for
his own soul, aud he had found it, and thai
was enough.
The tradition goes on 10 describe his igu.
crossing of The deser-now he !r-eru5
among the hills of Sinai; how be .-i lleu
by Akaha and Pz,ra, aud J.;alaac .j,r~ raTy
weeks in the clty OF K ck ; how .ua ,aIr Eus
llsh girl faded slowly away, Tor she was now
dying when she came to Egypt; and how
weary, weli-nigh tead, ne carried her to tho
IL hair hx ihu
mountain of the Ascension. And all this
time he watched over her with the jealous
care of father or brother, and The quick
heart of the lady soy it and understood it all
And sometimes he would try, in broken
words, 10 tell her of bis old belief and his
ideas of Immortality, and she would read ia
his hearing sublime promises and glorious
hopes that were in language that he knew
nothing of, but which he half understood from
her uplifled eye and counlenance.
How he worshipped that matchless eye
He worshipped nothing else, on earth or in
heaven.
II was noon Of night under The walls Of Je.
rusalem; and in white lent close by the hill
on which the footsteps of the ascending Lord
left their hallowing touch, an English girl
was waiting His bidding 10 follow him.
Outside the tent, prone on the ground, with
eyes fixed on the everlasting stars, lay a
group of Bedouins, and apart from them a
little way their chief, silent, motonless-to
all that was earthly, dead. A low voice with
in the tent broke The stiffness of the night,
but he did not move. A voice was u,tering
again those words, of which the sound had
become familiar 10 him already, the Christian
prayer.
'Shiek Houssien"
He sprang 10 his feet. # was her voice,
; faint, low, but sivery. The tent-door was
lhrus, aside, and az hand moiioned 10 him
10 enter, he obeyed.
She lay on The cushions, her head lifted
somewhat from the pillow by the arms of heI
sister; her brother, who spoke the language
of the desert well, stood by her as the young
Shiek approached. His coofea was gathered
around his head only his dark eye, flashing
gloriously, was visible. She looked up into
it and whispered he half understood hel
before the words came through her brothers.
lips, as she told him the story Of Calvary and
Christ, and the cloud tina, received the King
and Saviour re,urniug 10 HIS 'hrone.
IT were vain to say he unde'''ood all this
He only knew that she was tenuG him OF H.
hope ere long 10 be above hln, ahuve the
world, above The sky; and ~, active but be
wlderci mind inwiought al 'Iis with an
cien raditione, and havinS !o.s ago leiec,e,
the creed That did not leach h.n' laat she wa
immortal, as he fell back on be atea tina, Ill.
imuuFals had something r. do With the Stars
: and as he lay down On ,ho s'on1j, close b'
the side OF the ieHl, listening or every SGln'
from Within he fixed his eyes on the zenltl
and watched the passing of the hosts of th'
night, unu she died. There was rustlins
of garments, voice Of inexRresslble sweet
ness suddenly silent, low, soft sigh, the ex
pira,ion of saint and that at that instan
Far in the depths OF the meridian blue, clea
star flashed on mis- eye, for the first time it