American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-12-13

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hand upon his arm, and the peopl,
came less and less; for he ruled by tn,
law of love, and after time every mar
found that law in his own heart anC
obeyed it as if he had made it for him
self. And everywhere throughout the
kingdom there was peace and prosperity
So the years went by, and every morn
ing the Princess opened her eyes the
very minute the sun came into the case
ment, and closed them the very minute
it went out in the afternoon; and al
night long she lay in a deep sleep, SC
that she had never seen the stars nor the
pale lights that flashed in the far north
and shone into her windows on still
winter nights. And after time il
troubled the King that he never saw heI
by candle-light, and he asked her to sit
with him when darkness fell over the
palace and the great logs sent out broad
| CLEANS of light from the wide CHM
neys; but always the same deep sleep
came upon her. The King thought long
and anxiously and it vexed him greatly,
so that he called all the wise men of his
| kingdom together and told them what
it was that weighed upon him, and asked
| their counsel.
When the wise men heard about the
Princess they looked very wise indeed,
and the more they thought about it the
less they knew about it and the wiser
they looked, just as people do nova
days. And they wagged their heads at
each other and reflected. And after
many days they came back again bring
ing great book with them, black with
age and with much using, and they
opened it and showed the King these
words:
\ Princess shall be n light in the land,
But when the light shall shine at midnight
1t shall be darkencd.
When the King had read these strange
words he sent the wise men away and
walked back and forth long into the
night bordering on their meaning, and
he knew that the Princess must sleep
from sunset to sunrise, and that if she
were ever awakened in that time she
must die; SO he gave strict orders that
while the Princess slept no one should
ever awaken her, and he set a guard be-
fore her door. And Sunbeam also knew
the strange fate that rested on her life.
If the Princess slept deeply at night
nobody was half so wide awake by day,
SO gay and merry, SO full of sweetness.
As she passed along the streets the peo-
nj, fbnx 81, toll ha,.
coming by the sunlight that seemed sud-
denly to cross their thresholds, and they
said, Its the Princess's shadow;''
for she was so lovely in their eyes that
even her shadow was light to them, and
no one in all the kingdom would have
broken IN upon her slumbers
for the half of the kings treasure. Time
would fail to tell, indeed, of all the good
deeds of the Princess Sunbeam and of
the love the people bore her and of the
prosperity and happiness of all the king
dom. The King grew old but his whit
ening hair brought him no sorrow; for
Maynard sons had grown to noble men,
and when each man loved his neigh
Dor it mattered little who reigned.
One day there came brcathless mes
senger to the palace, pale with fear and
stained with rapid travel. A new and
dreadful death had suddenly appeared
upon the borders of the kingdom, he
said, and the people died in the fields
and along the highways, and there were
few left to bury them. When he heard
this story the Kings heart was full of
sorrow, for his people were his children.
And day by day the same sad story was
told in the palace, and day by day the
terrible death spread over the kingdom,
coming ever nearer the city that lay
about the palace. AT last it was whis-
and the little children stopped playing
in the streets, and there was no longer
merry shouting and singing at nightfall,
for shadow rested on the land. All
day long mournful bells were tolling,
and all night lights cleaned in the win
dows where watchers sat with the dy-
ing.
1t was sad, sad time. The poor old
King wrung his hands and wept over
the sorrows of his people, but he could
not help them. Like a ray of sunshine
the Princess went from house to house,
her beautiful face carrying light and
peace with it. At last the King, vainly
seeking what to do, called his wise men
together again, and babe them search
in their book for some cure to stay the
plague; and the wise went away shak-
ing their gray heads as before. After a
little they came again, bringing the
great book, black with age and use,
and, opening it, they read aloud these
words:
From deep cavern in mountains side,
In the far north of the kingdom,
\ plague, wrought by enchantment, shall
come,
To slay the people and lay waste the land
Until, ut midnight, II sunbeam the cavern's
mouth shall enter.
And the wise men closed the book and
left the King alone. Long the King sat
there thinking, and the longer he
thought the sadder grew his face, for he
knew that no sun would ever send its
beam into the cavern's mouth at mid
night.
When the people heard the saying
their hearts sank within them, and they
mourned rs those that have no hope.
By chance, as the Princess went from
house to house, the strange words fell
upon her ears, and she too pondered
IL hn . nlrin