The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-11-14

you.
Next to The great Supreme Being, we
Az ecs woTshipped Ttzka, the God of
all beauty and beneficence. Every year
the priests chose from the thousands of
captives one Of perfect physical beauty
to represent this T,zca. He was clothed
in magnificent apparel; stately palaces
and gardens we're at his disposal, and
the kings, mobiles and merchants honored
and lrssted him as il he were the god
hms II.
"At the end Of eleven months bride
was chosen for him, always msi len of
high birth and lcveliness; for it '-as es-
lily to have one Ofils daughters Weddt d
to this representative of the god.
IL have told you oft beautiful Ma
cetl. Upon him fell Il fatal choice of
the priests.
Often at banquets and festivals we
met, and soon tender words and glances
fell between us, Admiration for his
beauty and pity for his fate had deep
ened into unuiterable love. And one
heavenly night when we two were alone
in the palace garden, we exchanged our
vows of constancy.
THE moonlight fell upon thousand
flowers, whose perfume filed the air.
The soft plashing of fountains mingled
with the tinkliDg of distant music, and
down below the terrace and far away
to Huitlapan rippled the waters Of Tez-
cuco
Again Zuli paused Again l met the
trembling radiance OF her eyes; and far
away in some forgotten century on some
forgotten shore, seemed to stand with
that moonlit lake before me. heard
the FLASHING fountains and distant mu-
sic, and the faint ecstasy Of passion
dead seemed to mingle with the perfume
OF tropical flowers for a moment, and
then, as If it were fash from some un-
remembered dream, the scene vanished
away.
Zuli continued "After that imagine
what Joy it was to Us when the priests
proclaimed that was to be NacetPs
bride land blessed my beauty, which
before had been but little priced by me.
Gan this time my lover was uucon-
scious Of the fate that awaited him.
immediate death would have been the
punishment of any one who Informed
him of il. So during the golden month
bdpPlbNoo oub NhS
thought of distant home and people;
while I paid for every moment of joy
with an agony OF fear.
$50 the wine of life kept oozing drop
by drop, the leaves kept dropping one
by one, un IL the dawning of the day of
doom.
1--WE were standing on the parapet of
the palace, looking down upon the hur-
rying throng ressing towards the lake
aud across il on their way TO the temple
of Tezca to witness the sacrifice.
NEARER aud nearer drew the process
sion of prie,tI coming to lead NaceLl to
The barge which should bear him away
from me forever; and louder and louder
sounded their songs and the music OF
their instruments.
with a sudden determination to die
with him, turned, and, throwing my
arms about his neck, told him, with
tears Of anguish. he fate that lay before
us BOTH And as the priests approached,
with one last passionate kiss unclasped
his arms from about me and declared TO
them that l had revealed their sacred
secret.
Side by side we were led to the lake.
Once more we were rocked together
upon its trembling breast, and then,
leaving it behind US, we began the as
cent of the pyramid.
"My parents had been informed Of my
fate, which their wealth and powerful
position could not prevent, and, heart.
broken, they were forced 10 bid me fare
vel.
"Ah it was hard to part from them
l., had ut,r-,utnHnH oil life
but it would have been harder still 10 see
Nacetl go alone to the sacrificial stone
"Higher and higher up the side of the
pyramid wound our sad procession, until
at last the summit was reached, and SIX
black-robed priests received us.
"Nacetl was bound and laid upon the
great jasper stone. and in an instant bis
heart lay at the feet of the god to whom
he and the temple were dedicated.
"One awful moment of agony and the
same knife which had piei ced the bosom
of my Tlascalan lover sought my heart
too; ana out upon the great sea of 81
lence hoated the souls of Zlli and Ma
cetl."
When she paused, my thoughts we're
for little while filled with the story l
had heard. And then l asked, "ln the
spirit world, Zuli. are you and Nacetl
always together y
81 may not tell you of the spirit
world" she replied, "but through all
changes it lie gwen me to sometimes look
again into the eyes of my beloved. And
fOI one moment through those windows
Of the soul our spirits seemed to meet
face to face. Then the freight still
fllckered on the hearth, and the wintry
wind ratified at the easement, but was
alone.