Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-11-15

herT MOeilef gaZed cOmpaSSiOnately
at the speaker. "You. of coure, expect
TO be happy with your wifeg" he said.
hope so, certainly" responded
Stolberg.
"fou told me the other day,v con-
tinued Herr Moeller, without appear
ing to notice Stolberg's answer to this
question; "you told me the other day
there was nothing you desired so much
as knowledge. Can you balance fifty
or sixty years (for L suppose that's
about the time your married life will
LAST against centuries of enjoyment
that knowledge will bestow? Believe
me, If your marriage be happy, joy will
make you grieve for the brevity of life.
But suppose it should not be happy,
then sorrow will cause you to be weary
of its length.
Stolberg shook his head.
"Sophie is beautiful; she is good,
likewise" he replied.
SIN fifty years, replied Moeller. 'sthe
beauty at whose altar you are about to
sacrifice combined youth, health, and
surprising knowledge will have passed
away forever"
"But SOphie's mind will remain, ("
quickly retorted Stolberg.
Herr Moeller gave short, dry laugh /.
there was no merriment i'm it.
"Iour happiness will be like poll
ished STEEL" he replied, "spoiled by a
breath.'
'Love is all of life worth living for, -
said StOlbsrg. "If / were to enter your
fraternity there would be picture in
me, and | should always curse the hour
in which L bartered love for knowledge.
Think you could forget Sophie?"
Without noticing Stolberg's question,
Herr Moeller remarked III an distracted
way:
'Rosencrux lived for two hundred
years after his reported decease."
Stolberg started.
"You surely do not mean that ~ he
exclaimed.
81 surely do" replied Moeller. s'Ro-
sencrux was supposed to have died in
li4S, and for reasons which those of
our fraternity well understand, our So
ciety fostered the idea. But he really
lived for two centuries after. The way
of prolonging life is one of our secrets,
and can only be communicated to the
initiated. | can only say to you that
its duration depends on the influence of
the stars. Paracelsus was one of our
fraternity, and it is to him we are in
debted for the elirir OF lJe.''
''Suppose, for instance, some member
of your fraternity should violate his
obligation and expose the secret?"
asked Stolberg.
Herr Moeller's white teeth were
plainly visible by the smile that played
on his lips.
''The members of our society,"" he re-
piled, "bind themselves by an oath so
extraordinary that even a mere attempt
TO violate it is prevented by DEATH"
"Your conditions are doubtless very
severe" aid Stolberg.
"You could easily fulfil them," re
piled Moeller. "You must be free from
crime-you must separate yourself from
the world and all in it, and take a VOW
of celibacy. This is all.''
"That l could never do while l so
love Sophie" exclaimed Stolberg.
"You will do it, nevertheless, re-
sponded Moeller. His words almost
caused Stolberg to tremble, for there
was certain pOsitiveness about them
that almost sounded like prophecy.
81 will see you agaIn ere long," he
said. Snow adieu; 1 am to meet one of
our most venerated members from Ara
bia; he is three hundred years old"
Karl Stolberg gazed after the speaker
in a sort of dumb wonder.
"Three hundred years old, he muir
INJURED. sCan this be true?'
Stolberg graduated at the University
when he was twenty years of age. Now
he was twenty-four. Deeply immersed
in science, he had already established
for himself a brilliant name. His fu-
ture promised to make that name Illus
trious. He had peculiar notions on
ceItain subjects. One of them was that
a man should never marry until he was
twenty-five-and never after he was
forty. He was possessed of moderate
fortune, which he could have augmented
at any moment by accepting the differ
ent professorships which were offered
him, but preferred rather TO live quietly
and pursue his studies, until he mar
ried, when it was his intention to con-
meet himself with some of the institu-
tions of the country. He had accident
ally met Sophie krummach when he
was out botanizing on the mountains
one day, and became so impressed with
her beauty and guileless manners that
he never afterward lost sight of her,
ard she finally became his betrothed.
Her father was poor man with large
family to support, and his business was
that OF a carver of wooden figures.
Often would Karl Stolberg sit for hours
and watch krummach at his work, and
wonder at the mans extraordinary ge-
MUS, while the wood-carver would, on
his part, wonder how man like the
great Karl Stolberg could find amuse-
ment in watching him make chips. Be
tween these two men sprang up a
strange sympathy. Widely separated
in intellect, they were closely knit in
the bond of communion and friendship.
StoIberg at one time endeavored to inn
prove Krummach's mind by imparting
some elementary principles of science,
but the man of wooden figures shook
his head and declared it impossible TO
comprehend the scientist. From that
day Karl Stolberg was satisfied to watch
Krummach at his work, and refrain
from introducing subjects which dis
tracted the old mans mind.
Something like two weeks from the
date of Herr Moeller's last visit, Stoi-