Thomas County cat., 1889-12-05

the Roman eagle hangs on high, waiting
with ready talons till such time as he may
fall upon the fat wether Egypt aud reno
him. And mark, again, the people OF
Egypt are weary of the foreign yoke, they
hate the memory Of the Persians, sick at
heart are they of being called Men OF
Macedonia in the markets Of Alexandria.
The whole land mutters and murmurs
beneath the yoke of the Greek and the
shadow of the Roman. Have not they
been oppressed: Have not their children
been butchered and their gains wrung from
them to fill the bottomless greed and lust
of the Lagid9? Have not the temples been
forsakena Ay, have not the divine majes-
ties Of the eternal gods been set at naught
by these Greclans babblers who have dared
to meddle with the immortal truths,
and name the Most High by another
name (Serapis), confounding the sub
stance of the Invisible! Doth not Egypt
cry aloud for freedom? and shall she cry in
vaina Nay, nay, for thou, my son, art the
appointed way of delIverance. To thee,
being sunk in eld, have decreed my rights
Already is thy name whispered in many
sanctuary, from Abu even unto Athu; Al
ready do priests and people swear allie
glance, even by the sacred symbols, unto
him who shall be declared unto them.
Still, the time is not yet; thou art too green
q sapling to bear the weight of such a
storm. But today vast thou tried and
found wanting. He who would serve the
gods, o Harmachis, must put aside the fail.
lngs Of the flesh. Taunts must not move
him, nor any lusts of man. Thine is high
mission, but this must thou learn. An thou
learn it not, thou shalt fail therein; and
then, my curse be on thee and the curse
of Egypt, and the curse Of Egypt's broken
gods! For, know thou this, that even the
gods, who are immortal, may, III the inter-
woven scheme Of things. lean upon tho man
who is their instrument, even as war
rior on his sword. And woe be to the
sword that snaps in the hour Of battle, for
it shall be thrown aside to rust? There
fore, make thou thy heart pure and high
and strong; for thine is no common lot,
and thine no mortal need. Triumph, and
in glory shalt thou go-in glory here and
hereafterl Fail. and woe-woe be on theeW
He paused and bowed his head, and then
went on:
"Of these matters shalt thou hear more
hereafter. Meanwhile thou hast much to
learn. Tomorrow will give thee letters.
and thou shalt pass down the Nile. even past
white-walled Memphis to On (Heliopolis), and
there shalt thou sojourn certain years and
learn more of our ancient wisdom beneath
the shadow of that sacred pyramid of which
thou, too, art the Hereditary High Priest
that is to be. And meanwhile will Is't here
and watch, for my hour is not yet, and, by
the help of the gods, spin the web wherein
thou shalt hold the wasp of Macedonia
"Come hither, my son; come hither and
kiss me on the brow, for thou art all my
hope, and all the hope of Egypt. Be but
true, rise to the giddy height of thy des-
tiny, and thou shalt be glorious here and
hereafter; be false, fail, and will spit
upon thee, and thou shalt be accursed, and
thy soul shall remain in bondage till that
hour when, in the slow flight of time, the
evil shall once more grow to good and
Egypt shall again be free"
Idrew near trembln e, and kissed him on
the brow. May all these things come
upon me, and more." said, ''if fail thee,
Omy fatherp'
May" he cried, 'snot me; but rather
those whose will l do. And now 60, my son,
and ponder in thy heart, and in thy secret
heart digest my words; and mark what
thou shalt see, and gather up the dew OF
wisdom, and make thee ready for the battle.
Fear not for thyself; thou art protected
from all i'll. No harm may touch thee from
without; thyself alone can be thine own en-.
emy. l have said"
Then went forth with full heart. Tho
night was very still, and there was none
stirring in the temple courts. hurried
through them, and reached the entrance to
the pylon that is at the outer gate. And
then, seeking solitude, and, as it were, to
draw nigh to Heaven, climbed the pylon's
two hundred steps, until at length reached
the massive roof. Here leaned my breast
against the parapet and looked forth. And
as / looked the red edge of the full
moon loated up over the Arabian hills, and
her rays fell upon the pylon where stood,
and the temple walls beyond, and Lit up the
visages of the carven gods. Then the cold
light struck the wide stretch of well-tilled
land, now whitening to the harvest, and as
the heavenly lamp of Isis (the noon passed
up the sky, slowly did her rays creep down
the valley, where Sihor, father of the land
OF Khem, rolls on toward the sea.
And now the bright beams kissed the
water, that smiled an answer back, and
now mountain and valley, river, temple
town and plain were flooded with white
light, for Mother Isis was arisen, and
threw her cleaning robe across the darh
bosom Of the earth. Beautiful it was, with
the beauty OF a perfect dream, and solemn
as the hour after death. Nightly, indeed
the temples lowered up against the face OF
|, night Never had they seemed so grand tc
me as upon that night those ancient
shrines, before whose eternal walls Time
himself shall wither. And mine it was te
be to rule this moonlit land; mine to pre-
serve those sacred shrines and cherish the
honor Of their gods; mine to cast out the
Ptolemy and free Egypt from the foreign
yokel In my veins ran the blood of those
great Kings who, sleeping in the tombs oi
the valley Of Tapi (Thebes), await the day
of resurrection. Ny spirit swelled within
me as dreamed upon this glorious destiny
closed my hands, and there, upon the
pylon, 1 prayed Us had never prayed be
, fore to the Gotihead, who is called by many
names and in many forms made manifest
20 Amen, !" prayed, "God of gods, who
hast been from the beginning; Lord OF
Truth, who art, and Of whom all are, who
giveSt out thy Godhead and patherest IL mr.