Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-07-19
THE SCAPE-GOAT,

Ellsa 0alomen. kaspar Evlg used &c
call on little Eva Stromeyer. Meetine
my friend Elias there one evening. he
treated him, under some pretext OF
other, to two or three sound cuffs.
Elias Solomon, who had begun study
ing medicine some five months before
was summoned by the counsel of stu
dents to challenge young Ev1g, which
he did with extreme repugnance, fo1
your nobleman IS usually skilful O
fence.
But for all that, Salomon made {
well-tlmed e and droye his rapiel
mob re tes q ntlemar lbs,
nAlcn .,enously m.peded the gentle
mans BREATHING, and sent him to the
other world less than ten minutes.
Rector Diemer, informed of all this
by the seconds, listened to them eoolly.
aad sald
'sYer, well, gentlemen, he is dead,
isn't he? Well, let them bury him "
Salomon was borne in triumph, like a
new Matachias, but, so far from taking
credit TO himself he was seized with
the deepest melancholy.
He grew thin, groaned and sighed
his nose, long enough already, seemed
to grow yisibly longer day by day, and
often, at eyentlde, as he crossed Three
Fountain street, he would be heard
murmuring, Casper Evig, forgive me
| did not seek your life. Wretched
Eva, what have you done? By your
thoughtless coquetry you have reused
two brave men to rage against each
other aud now Kasper's shade haunts
my yrpry- Jroo Y,rt EEva 1Y,~afobo1 Etua
what have you done
So mourned our poor Solomon the
more to be pitied that the sons of Israel
are not blood thirsty, aud that the
mighty, the jealous God, has said unto
them:
q The innocent blood shall be upon
your heads from generation to genera
ton
One fine July morning, as I was
draining my glass at the Balloon "
brewery, Elias came in, chop-fallen, as
usual, with hollow cheeks, dishevelled
hair, and detected mein. He laid his
hand on my shoulder and said:
Dear Christian, will dome favor" :"
Why not, Elias; what is it :"
Let us take a short turn In the
country [ wish to consult you about
my trouble. You, who know things
divine and human, can perhaps sug
gesb a remedy for my great sorrow. [
have the greatest confidence in you,
Christian
Having had my five or six mugs of
beer, and two or three glasses of schnaps,
! saw no objection to granting his re-
quest. Besides, / thought it very hand
some on his part to trust so much to
my discretion.
So we passed through the town, and
twenty minutes later were climbing the
little violet -bordered path which mean
ders along the old ruins of 1riefeIs.
There, all alone, walking beneath two
endless hawthorne hedges, listening to
the Lark who-Was WarbliBg himself
hOarse far above us,-and the quail who
let off his cultural croak from among
the vines, and climbing slowly toward
the tall pines of the Rothaly, Elias
seemed to breathe more freely, and
raising his ewes heavenward, he said
In all your theological reading,
Christian, have you never found way
of expiation to quiet the conscience of
great sinners? Iknow that you de-
vote yourself 10 very curious studies IN
that line. Speak! Whatever you re-
commend me to do to scare away the
avenging shade Of Kaspar Evig, ] will
DO It. "
Salomon's question made me very
thoughtful. We walked along, side
by side; he is down in the deepest
silence he watched me askance, while
[ struggled to get together my scatter
ed recollections on this delicate matter
At last answered:
If we were in India, Salomon, [
should send you to bathein the Gan
ges for the waves of that river wash
away stains from both body and soul
so, at least, the natives think, who
don't scruple to kill, burn, or rob in
full reliance on the singular virtues of
their stream. Great comfort for the
rascals 1T is a thousand pities we
have not just such river. If we were
living IN Jason's time / should tell you
to eat Queen Circe's salt cakes, which
had the remarkable property of whiten-
ing the blacklist conscience, and still
ing remorse. And finally, if you had
the good fortune to belong to our sa-
cred religion, I should prescribe a
course of prayer, and, above all, a do
nation of your goods to the church
Situated as your are, III time, place,
and belief, / see but one way"
WHAT'S it?n cried Solomon, al
ready plucking up courage.
We had reached the Rothalp, at a
solitary spot called the Holderloch, a
dark, deep gorge, edged with black fir
trees, with a great fiat rock towering
over the chasm, into which the waves
Of the Murg plunge with a roar.
SO far our path had led us. L sat
down on the moss to breathe the fresh
air from the ravine, and, at that mo-
ment, perceived below me magnificent
he-goat, trying to crop a few tufts OF
wild cress ON the verge Of the preci-
pice.
You must know that the rocks of the
Holderloch rise one above another like
a staircase, each step being, perhaps,
ten feet high, but foot and a half
broad, ut most, and on these lodges
flourish a thousand aromatic plants
honey suckle, creeper, wild vine, volu-
bilis,-ail continually bedewed by the
spray OF the torrent, and dropping in
festoons Of the loveliest greenery.
Now, my friend the goat, his broad
forehead crowned with knotty horns,
and his eyes cleaning like two gold
buttons, while his shaggy red beard,
his sly, watchful attitude under the
vine clusters, and his bold mien, gave
him the look of an old satyr on the wal
path, the goat was just then climbing
to the uppermost of these narrow lodges
and taking his fill of the odorous yer
dure.
Salomon, cried ], ''the spirit o
the Lord enlightens me at the very
moment when [ am thinking of thu
scape goat, [ behold him; 10 there ht
IS Is not the eternal spirit visible il
this2 LAY the burden of your remors'
on this goat, and let That be the last o
ii. /"
Salomon looked at me III a bewilderet
way.
should be only to glad to do it
Christian, said he, ''but how shoult
60 to work to lay my remorse ON this
goat"
" Nothing simpler. How did the
homans set about ridding themselves
of their traitors, stained full o
crimes They pitched them over the