Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1872-06-08
THE LEGEND OF THE BLOODY
FOOT STEPS,

1
whether 1t were lawful and desirable
TO take advantage OF them, great AS
was the object III view.
You see, the object OF tho lord of
-llaIl was to take life f.om the
course OF Nature, and Nature did
not choose 10 be dciraudedj 50 that
great as was inc power oil ims scIen-
uhc man over her, she would not
That he should not escape the neces-
Hl'y OF dying ut ms pr per time, eX-
ccpt uron condition OF sacrificing
some o her llIo iur hls and tins WIS
to De done every thirty years that he
chose to 1--we, thirty years being the
account OF agcneratlon OF man; and
II IN amy way III that time, tins lord
could be the death ol II human beng,
That satisfied the condition, and ne
might 1--we on.
"Now, this lord was just man by
nature, and II he had gone astray, it
was greatly ny reason ol hs earnest
wish to do something for the pooG
wicked stru9glln% bloody mcom-
lortabie race OF man, to winch ne be-
longcd. lie hethou2ht himself whe-
iher he would have right TO taxi
the life ot one oi those creatures,
without ,hclr own consent, III order
to prolonG his oNn, aud after much
arguing 10 and iro, he came to the
conclusion that he should not have
the right, unl' SIS It were lt'o over
winch ne ha1 CONTROL %Id "ncn
was next to his own. lie looked
round mm; he was lonely and ab-
stract.d man, secluded by mS stu,
dies from human affections, and
there was but one human beng
whom he cared for that was a beau
tlIul klnswomrn' an orphan, whom
his father had brought up, and, dy-
ing, left her to his care, There
vas great kindness and affection
rs gre as the abstr'ctod nature OF
his pursuits would allow-on the
part Of Tins lord toward TINS beau
tiIul young Grl; but not what Is call
ed loye,-at least, he never acknow-
ledged it to himself. But looking m
to his heart, he saw that she, II any
one, was the person whom the soc
rifco demanded, and that he might
kill twenty others without effect but
if he took the lie Of this one, 1t
would make the charm strong and
good.
"Well, let us hurry over this part
of the story rs fast as we can lie
did slay this pure young girl; he
took her into the wood near the
house, an old wood that is standing
yet, with some of its magnificent
oaks; and then he plunged dagger
into her heart after they mad
a very tender and loving talk to6eth-
er, in which he tried to open the
matter tcndorly to her, and make h,r
understand that though he Was to
slav her, it was really tor the reason
that he loved her better than any
thing else in the world, and toat he
would rather die himself II that
would answer the purpose at MI -
Indeed, he is sid to have offered her
the alternative OF Staying HIM, and
taking upon herself the burden OF
indefinite life and the studies and
pursuits by which he meant to b.n-
e0t mankind. But she, it IS sald'
this noble, pure, aud lovely beng,
booked up into hl' lace and smiled
sadly, and then snatchlng the dag
ger from him she plunged it into
| her own heart J. cannot tell VIE
ther this be true or whether she walt
ed to be killed by him. but THIS ]
know, t at III the same circumstan-
ces | should have saved my lover, or
my FREUD, the pain Of k Hug me
There she lay dead at any rate, and
he buried her IN the wood ana re-
turned to the house; and as 1t nap
pcncd, he had set his right DOT IN
her blood, and his shoe was wet IN n
it, and by some miraculous fate, 1t
left track all along the wood a'h
and into the house and on the store or,
steps of the Threshold and up INTO
his chamber, all along; an the ser
wants saw it The next day, and won
dered and whispered, aud missed the
fair young girl, and looked askarct
at their lords right foot and turned
pale, all OF them, as death
"And next, the legend says, th''
Sir Forester was struck with horror
at what be had done, an | could not
bear the laboratory where he had ton
ed o long, and was sick t, death Of
the object he had pursued, and was
most miserable, and fled from his old
Hall, and was gone many day
But all the while he was gone there
was the mark of the bloody foot
stems impressed upon the stone steps