Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-10-17

As M i1E NULL 4ODS E - l
~WWVTEYT|On awhile as ], Har.
machis, went, the juice
FASAg@9 of the green herbs
x5EWNAj which the old wife,
{-ikS1-S%s2Em@s? Atoua, had placed
7~G4&XsE tpon my POUNDS
~S-|SANM capsed me much smart,
fsNa1ssA @A&kg2l but presently the pain
tAS1~f ceased. And Of a truth,
AW believe that there was
IAN0A@1 virtue in them, for with
lEaIIkf p" in two days my flesh
ID healed up, SO that after a time
SijTgSk,N no marks remained. But / be-
SNat thought me that / had dis
obeyed the word Of the old
High Priest, Amenemhat, who was called
my father. For till to-day l knew not that
he was in truth my father according to the
flesh, having been taught that his own son
was slain, as l AVE written, and that he had
been pleased, with the sanction of the Di-
vine ones, to take me as an adopted son and
rear me up, that / might in due season fill
an office about the temple. Therefore was l
sore troubled, for l feared the old man,
who was very terrible in his anger, and
spake ever with the cold voice Of Wisdom.
Nevertheless, | determined to go in to him
n confess my fault and bear such pun
ishment as he should be pleased to put upon
me. So, even with the red spear in my
hand and the red rounds on my breast, l
passed through the outer court of the great
temple and came to the door of the chamber
where the High Priest dwelt. 1t is a great
chamber sculptured round about with the
images of the solemn gods, and the light OF
Ra (the sum came to it in the daytime by
an opening cut through the stone of the
massy roof. But at night it was lit by a
swim utp CT lann of hrppza nQSsad in with
out noise, for the door was not altogether
shut, and pushing my way through the
heavy curtains that were beyond, / stood
with a beating heart within the chamber.
The lamp was lit, for the darkness had
fallen, and by its light I saw the old man
seated in q chair of ivory and ebony at a
table of stone, wherein were spread the
mystic writings of the words of Life and
Death. But he read no more, for behold
he slept, and his long, white beard rested
upon the table like the beard of a dead
man. The soft light from the lamp fell on
him and on the papyri, and on the gold ring
upon his hand, where were craven the
symbols of the Invisible One, but oil
around was shadow. It fell on the shaven
head. on the white robe, on the cedar staff
Of priesthood at his side, and on the ivory
of the Ion-footed chair; it showed the
kAAE 10y - III wv tAN ~ 49,
kingly mold, the white eyebrows and the
dark hoilows CT the deep-set eyes. /
looked and trembled, for there was about
him that which was more than the dignity
of man. So long had he lived with the
gods, and so long kept company with them
and with thoughts divine, SO deeply was he
versed in all those mysteries which we do
but family discern, here in this upper air,
that even now, before his time, he partook
of the nature of the Osiris, and was a
thing to shake humanity with fear.
/ stood and gazed, and as 1 stood he
| opened his dark eyes, but looked not on
| me, nor turned his head; and yet he saw
ne and spoke
"Why hast thou been disobedient to me,
o my SOM" he said. How came it that
thou weutest forth against the lion when /
| oade thee notf'
How knowest thou, my father, that !
went forth?s l asked in fear.
ssHow know II Are there, then, no other
ways of knowledge than by the senses2 o
ignorant child. was not my spirit with thee
when the lion sprang upon thy COM
papiona Did l not pray those set about
thee to protect thee to make sure thy
thrust when thou didst drive the spear into
the lions throat! How came it that thou
wentest forth, o my son?"
aThe boaster tainted me-" I answered,
land / WENT
eyes, l know it; and because of the hot
blood of youth, I forgive thee, Harmachis.
But now listen unto me-, and let my words
sink into thy heart like the waters of SihoI
into thirsty sand at the rising of Sirius.
Listen unto me. The boaster was sent IN,
to thee as a temptation, as a trial of thy
strength was he sent, and seei it has no,
| hnnn naItotf RI tho hI,rikn Thnrofnr0 lie fhu
hour put back. Hadst thou been strong in
this matter, the path had been made plain
to thee even now. But thou hast failed
and therefore is thy hour put back"
81 understand thee not, my father,' l IN.
swered.
"What was it, then, my son, that the ole
wife, Atoua, said to thee down by the banl
of the canala"
And thereon / told hin all that the ole
wife had said.
"And thou ~believest, Harmachis, my
soma"
May" 1 answered; chow should I be
lieve such tales. Surely she is mad. AL
the people know her for mad"
Then for the first time he looked towart
me, who was standing in the shadow.
"My sonl my son" he cried, "thou ar
wrong. She is not mad. The woman spak,
the truth; she spake not Of herself, but o
the voice within her that can not lie. Fol
this Atoua is a prophecies and holy. Nov
learn thou the destiny that the gods O.
Egypt nave given to thee to fulfill, and wo,
be unto thee if by any weakness thou dos
fail thereini Listen! thou art no strange
adopted int my house and the house of tn,
temple; thou art my very on, saved unit
me by this same woman. But, o Harmachis
thou art more than this, for in thee and nj
alone doth flow the imperial blood of Egypt
Thou and | alone of men alive are de
scended, without break or flaw, from tina
Pharaoh Next nebf whom Ochus the Per
sian drove from Egypt. The Persian cam
and the Persian went, and then after tn,
Persian came the Macedonian, and now TO
nigh upon three hundred years nave tn
Lagida usurped the double crown, deflinl
the Ian Of Khem and corrupting the wor
ship Of his gods. And mark thou this; bu
now, but two weeks since, is Ptolemy Neu
D~ionysius, Ptolemy III Piper, who woul
havesla in thee, dead; and but now hath tn
eunuch Pothinus, that very eunuch VIII
came hither, years ago, to cut thee of, Sc
at naught the will Of his master, the dea
Auletes, and placed the boy Ptolemy upol
the throne. And therefore hath his siste
Cleopatra, that fierce and beautiful CIR
fed into Syria; and there, if / err not, wi
she gather her armies and make war upo
her brother Ptolemy; for by her father
will wa she left joint sovereign with hin
And ACKNOWLEDGEMENT thou this, my som
the Roman eagle hangs on high, waitin
with ready talons till such time as he ma
fell upon the fat wether Egypt and rem
him. And mark, again, the people O
Egypt are weary of the foreign yoke, the
!, hate the memory of the Persians, sick a
heart are they of being called Men c
J Macedonia in the markets of Alexandris
!, The whole land mutters and murmur
beneath the yoke of the Greek and tn
l shadow of the Roman. Have not the
been oppressed? Lay not their childre
been butchered and their gains wrung fror
them to fill the bottomless greed and lus
OF the Lagides lave not the temples bee
! forsaken: Ay, have not the divine MAZE,
ties of the eternal gods been set at naugh
by these Grecians babblers who have dare
to NEEDLE with the immortal truthl
, and name the Most High by anothe
name tSerapisl, ~confounding the sui
stance of the Invisiblel Doth not EgyI
cry aloud for freedoml and shall she cry i
yaina Nay, nay, for thou, my SOD, art th
appointed way Of deliverance. To the
: being sunk in cid, have / decreed my right
Already is thy name whispered in many
sanctuary, from Abu wen unto Athu; q
: ready do priests and people swear all.
!, glance, evan by III sacred symbols, IN;
, hin, rrAn ohaii ha lanfarad ,,ntn than