The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-06-02

tufnacos which had beon fed With 90 much care
e .sa ysEads
stars blazing ID the frmsmert. The majestic
silence Of the night lowered over the unchanged
''' The Old man wa. seized with an indefinite
terror. He understood that he was punished
for his pride, and he had . presentiment that
| the sudden failure Of the labor and research
Punishment. 1t seemed to him that in the
midst Of the thick darkness the living God had
looked int the depths of his guilty soul, and
had stretched out HE all-powerful hand to
sn'ite him: Suddenly, as by revelation, there
came to him q knowledge of the point where
God was about to strike him. -.
my child my child !" cried he, in a voice
broken by terror and remorse.
He ran to the chamber of his daughter.
The old man opened the door gently, taking,
in spite of his terror, . thousand paternal pre-
trembling light of q small alabaster lamp cast
Its faint rays about the apartment. Gently be
drew back the curtains of the bed and gazed
fondly. upon his child.
| as peaceful as innocence. Ben-Ha-Zelah look
ed upon the sweet, calm face with transport
Of delight. The tranquility of this peaceful
sleep of childhood was communicated to him,
Md for moment stilled the agitation of his
soul.
He leaned fondy over sshe sleeping form
darling child, to the regular beating of her
heart; then, STOPPING, Imprinted q kiss of
fatherly love on the beautiful brow.
Rachel remained immovable, and her sleep
awakened" said the old man to himself, look
ing at her again. ''Sieep is 80 like DEATH"
AS he allowed his thoughts to take form, o
vague terror took possession of him.
bah! she sleeps hear her breathing" said
he aloud.
The secret iudefinable fear which be could
not banish, aud for which he could not account,
still remained: lie could no longer contain
himself.
"Rachelw cried he in loud voice. The
young girl slept on.
same time shaking her gently by the arm.
Still the calm sleep was unbroken, and the
peaceful breathing, which at first had delighted
the fond father, now 9, y, seemed like fatal spell
He took her in his arms he placed her on
couch he tried to make her walk, and in vain
essayed with his trembling fingers TO open the
The young girl slept on; her respiration as
calm and the ibythm of her heart still pre-
served its frightful monotone. All the efforts
Of the desPairing father we're vain: Day
and months, and Rachel awoke not.
The distracted father, remembering that he
was physician, sought in medical science
remedy for this strange malady. He tried
but nothing could break the fearful sleep. He
no longer went to the palace of the caliph, but
his days and nights were passed in his iabora-
tory, as they had formerly been at Cordova !;
his pride. Sorrow concentrated his mighty
genius on one thought-to discover o remedy
for bis idolized child. Bitterly did he expiate
the old anxieties of his pride by the tortrripg
perplexities of this new sorrow.
More than six months passed thus. A last
and desperate remedy to which he had recourse
had, like all the others, failed ;sBen- Ha-Z elah,
on night like that on which this weight Of
sorrow bad come upon him, was in his labora-
tory bending as ever his retert. He
had made every research, every experiment.
gest, and had failed in All. Rachel still slept.
Then the broken-hearted old man, convinced
of his own Impotence, let fall his arms at his
sides and burst into tears.
At that moment he heard o voice, which
seemed to come at once from the depths Of i'm
mensity, and from the. inmost recesses Of his
"All thy efforts are in vain," said the voice.
GO hon wilt cure thy child, only By passing
about her neck pearl necklace, not the pearls
which bountifal nature gives, and God makes,
Thou thoughtest myself the equal of God the
equal of Him who created the world and He
punishes thee by condeuIning thee to create
only few pearls, and He. is willing to lend
thee all the riches and treasures of His beauti-
fnl world. Go and seek! And when thon hast
made enough of these pearls to I'LL the box
beside thee, make o necklace of them. Put it
on the neck Of thy child, and she will awake"
1t MAS not an illusion. Tho old man had
seen no one, but the box was there beside him.
1t was q little box, Of a wood unknown to him,
which eHhaled delicious odor. On the lid,
inscribed in letters of gold, was a Hebrew
word, meaning Treasure of Godn
Ben-Ha-Z elah rekindled the fires of bis fur
naces and again applied himself to explore the
arcana OF alchemy. He took from his Golfers
all the pears he possessed, and after having
ansiyzed them, tried in vain to form them
again: but the secret Of omnipotence which
he attempted to grasp fed from him. He de-
composed precious stones, and succeeded only
in making gross calcareous substance. Again
and again he fiattered himself he had pene-
trated the mystery Of the Creator; but all his
hopes ended in nothingness. Nature which
he had once attempted to conquer to satisfy
his pride as a savant he now wooed in vain to
still the passionate yearnings of his fatherly
heart.
One day be said to himself, "My knowledge
is very little; and with the very little 1 know,
1 shall never succeed in solving this problem,
and, nevertheless, 1t is possible. The voice
which spoke to ME is voice which does not
deceive"
;. Then an inspiration came to him which
lighted with pale ray of hope the sorrowful
face long. unused to happiness. The idea oc-