Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-02-18

nifcence, and the bread of royalty satis-
| fed not his hunger. The voices OF
maidens in innocent converse, the laugh
ter and sports of children, the mirth of
the careless and idle were never heard
in this magnificent city; and no man
called another brother. Over the gilt
tering walls which encircled his golden
dominions, he beheld far off the misty
mountains, and his spirit yearned after
their vastness.
An air blew from their commanding
nights which tarnished his gilded scep-
ter. So he arose, shook from his shoul-
ders the cloak of authority, and drawing
his pilgrim garments about him, left the
house of his pride and the scepter of
his dominion to another. and in the dusk
of evening passed silently out of the
city. The song of the bulbul pulsated
through the dusky groves, and the great
stars looked down upon him, tender
and serene, and about him gathered an
invisible Presence, which communed
with him in the darkness. And the
stars waned and frightened many times
while Hassan iourneyed.
At length he approached the foot of
the mountains. Rugged and barren
they loomed before him, but upon the
loftiest peak, sharply outlined against
the western sky, grand and lofty palace
reared its splendid proportions, and
from its towers and walls slender, fame
colored banners and pennons waved and
beckoned. New life entered his veins,
new aspirations stirred his soul. On
ward and upward, with eager haste he
mounted, feasting his eyes upon the
glittering minarets, slender spires and
massive walls which sparkled pure and
clear in the rays of the sun.
But as he neared the summit his heart
misgave him. The GOODNESS chilled his
blood, and the intense solitude was
unbroken save by the occasional scream
of some fierce bird of prev, which cir
cled over Inn far up in the thin atmos-
phere. But the shadowy hand still
seemed to beckon, and the airy palace
drew him on. To sit enthroned so far
above the sordid earth, aloof from its
wearying strifes and warning passions,
and behold the world, far and low, lying
at his feet, to rest at last in serene and
untroubled contemplation, lord of
palace among the clouds-the fancy
lent wings to his tagging feet, and on
ward and upward he toiled and aspired.
He reached the goal of his desire.
Vast piles of snow-capped rocks, frozen
cascades, ice-clad peaks, splintered and
shattered masses of ice and snow, great
gaping assures through which the light
was reflected and refracted, making the
pile take on thousand fantastic shapes,
white caverns in which dwelt awful ST.
lences-this was that into which the
palace was resolved. His staff fell from
his hand, and great groan burst from
his lips, which the echoes took up and
repeated in ghostly whispers from peak
to peak and chasm to chasm.
Long he fingered among those frozen
solitudes abandoned to himself. But
at last light cloud fell upon him from
the heavens, out of whose silvery white
ness came the long-silent voices, and
soft hands guided him gently down the
mountain side. The cloud faded from
him, and he stood upon the bank of a
broad river, whose opposite shore was
concealed by thick, dark cloud, which
rested down upon the water.
1t was noon, and kneeling to perform
his ablutions, he beheld, reflected in
the stream, the image of an aged man,
whose long, white hairs and hoary beard
descended on his bosom. His head was
grand and majestic, and his brow deeply
lined by time and care. 1t was himself.
All that remained of the beauty OF the
youth who left Bagdad one bright
morning was the deep, dark eye which
still glowed with an unquenchable fire.
A deep sadness seized him. Aged and
worn, with the broad river and the dark
shadows before himl Suddenly the
cloud lifted, and disclosed landscape
of supernal beauty. Swiftly, sullenly
it sank again, as loath to reveal the love-
illness beyond. The heart of Hassan
leaped with new desire, and grasping
his staff he plunged into the flood. The
dark cloud received him into its bosom,
and he passed forever from mortal vision
still seeking and pursuing that treasure
which forever eluded his grasp. Praised
be Allah he will find it at last-in the
Paradise of the Faithful.