The Russellville Democrat., 1880-10-14
The City Under the Sea.
Philadelphia Times.


 Philadelphia Times
 Who has not heard of the sunken city that lies stately and fair beneath the seal Temple and tower and slender column and rich fretted palace halls lie buried in the deep, and the mariner sails over the spot, ignorant of the hidden glories underneath. Only at sunset the bells from tower and minaret peal forth wild, sweet music that floats faintly over the waters, and to who listens comes great longing to see the mysterious beauty of this hidden city, lapped in the waves of the ocean. Still, as he fingers the desire grows stronger; a strange, sweet, overpowering force urging him to descend through the cold, pure water, until with his own eyes he can behold the loveliness that lies concealed be- meath. If he is strong in spirit he closes his ears to the impelling music and steels his heart within. If he IS weak or sor- rowfll or wide-eyed with hidden fancies he yields to the spell. and the sunken city holds another victim, lying dead amid the beautiful desolation below.
 Lazily floating in small boat were two men, one gray-haired and spent and worn, with far-of look in his tired eyes; the other young and strong and happy with the ignorant happiness of youth, The day was drawing to a close and the sunset gilded the smooth waters on which the boat rocked gently, while both men sat absorbed in thought and hardly conscious of each others presence.
 Suddenly the younger one started. ''Harkl" said he; "what far. of bells are those that can be heard at this distance from the shorep
 The other listened. Soft and clear and strangely sweet they rang, now dying into silence, now pealing forth anew over the water. Spellbound they listened as the sounds swept by them on the evening wind. "They are the bells of the sunken city," said the gray haired man at last, land 1t must lie be- heath us now"
 In silent awe they both leant from the boat and looked long and earnestly into the quiet waters. Clear and green they lay, bathed in the radiance of the setting sun, and as they watched it seemed to both that the rays of light were reflected back from gleaming roofs beneath. Intently they gazed and grad ually unfolded before their eyes lay stately towers and minarets, vast marble halls and strangely gildef domes and steeples. Between them surged fathoms | of crystal water, but underneath all was still and fair and beautiful and shrouded in mystery no man could penetrate. | The sunken city lay revealed in this brief hour of sunset to the rapt watchers overhead.
 Neither spoke a word, but straining their eyes to see more gazed at the shad- owy beauty of the scene and listened to | the wild, sad music of the bells. Strange visions fioated before their bewildered sight, and the deserted streets and lone | ly grandeur of the buried city told to each silent watcher widely different tale
 The young man with glowing eyes beheld beneath him all his hopes and | desires reached and fulfilled. All that | he worked to possess awaited him in the sunken city, peopled with the shadows of those he loved, rich with | the wealth he longed for, teeming with the fruition of his proudest hopes. His life and its completion lay there; if he would but take the step and reach it; and what should hold him back2
 And the other man, older in work and disappointment than in years, saw be- meath him in the sunken city all the past iovs of his life return. Those whom he had loved and lost walked through | the deserted streets, and his bygone youth, rich with the hopes now dead, shone alluringly before his eyes. One downward plunge and he could retain it all.
 With start both men rose in the lit tie boat ready to leap into the waves, when suddenly with taint echeing sound the music of the bells broke and died into silence, and the glories beneath them grew dim and indistinct before their straining eyes. Tower and turret and gilded roof melted softly away into nothingness, and they saw only the lap pi9e waters growing gray and misty in the approaching gloom.
 With a shudder the young man drew back from the edge of the boat Tt is over," he said; "the spell is past and night IS coming on. We must return to the shore without delay, and in the real world and following out my own life will gain all that 1 have seen shadowed forth to-day. My path lies before me and l am eager to tread it. Let u' hasten back"
 But the other did not heed him. His eyes were fixed upon the water. Be meath lay hidden the golden vision O the past and he could never hope to re produce it on the earth. An overwhelm ing yearning seized him. All that h' valued lay in the sunken city and h' would join them there.
 There was faint cry, suddei plunge, and the young man sat alon within the boat as the twilight darkene' into night.