The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-24
VENUS NNODOMINI.

And the years went on. as the years must do;
Hut our great Diana was always new
Fresh, and blooming, and blonde, and fair,
With azure eyes and with aureate hair;
And all the folks, as they came or went,
offered her praise to her hearts content.
Diana NJ Ephestx.
She had nothing to do with number
eighteen In the Braccio Nuovo Of the Vati-
can, between Visconti's Ceres n the God
Of the Nile-she was purely an Indian de-
ity-an An~glo-Indian deity, that is to say
and we called her the Venus Annodom-
ini, to distinguish her IRON other Ammo
dominis of The same everlasting order.
There was a legend among the hills that
she had once been young, but no living
man was prepared to come forward n
say boldly that the legend was true. Men
rode up TO Simla, and stayed, and went
away and made their name and did their
life's work, and returned again to find the
Venus Annodomini exactly as they had
left her. She was as immutable as the
Hills. But not quite so green. All that a
girl of Is could do in the way of riding.
walking, dancing, picnicing and over ex-
ertion generally, the Venus ~Annodomini
did, and showed no sign of fatigue or trace
of WEAKNESS. Besides perpetual youth,
she had discovered, men said, the secret
of perpetual health; and her fame spread
about b land. From a mere woman, she
grew to be an Institution, insomuch that
no young man could be said to he properly
formed, who had not, at some time or an
other, worshipped at the shrine of the
Venus ~Annodomini. There was no N
like her, though there were many imita-
tons. Six years in her eyes were no more
than six months To ordinary women; and
ten made less visible impression on her
than does a weeks fever on an ordinary
woman Every one adored her, and in
return she was pleasant and courteous to
nearly every m Youth had Dec a
habit of hers for so long, that she could
not part with it-never realized the neces-
sity Of parting with it-and took for her
more chosen associates young people.
Among the worshippers of the Venus
A~nnodomini was young Gayerson. "Very
Young Gayerson,' he was called to dis
tinguish him from his father, 'Young''
Gayerson, a Bengal civilian, who affected
the customs-as he had the heart-of
content to worship placidly and for forms
sake, as the other young men did, or to
accept a ride or a dance. or a talk from
the Venus ~Annodomini in a properly
humble and thankful spirit. He was ex-
acting, and, therefore. he Venus
himself nearly sick in n futile sort If way
over her. and his devotion and
earnestness made him appear either sby
or boisterous or rude, and his mood might
with him. bowed before the Venus Ammo,
domini. She was sorry for lin. He re-
minded her of n lad who, tbree-and.
twenty years ago. had professed a pound.
less devotion for her, and for whom in re-
turn she had felt something more than a
.A-lr .,. I1.a a1-. LII III N
away and married another woman less
than a year after he had w%orshipped her
and the Venus Annodomini had almost
not quite-forgotten his name. "yery
Young Gayerson had the same big blue
eyes and the same way of pouting his un.
derlip when he was excited or troubled
But the Venus Annodomini checked him
sternly none the less. Too much zeal was
"A thing that she did not approve of; pre-
ferring. instead, a tempered an d sober
tenderness.
"Very Young" Gayerson was miserable.
and took no trouble to conceal his wretch.
~clness. He was in the army-a line regi-
ment, / think, but am not certain-and,
since his face was a looking glass and his
forehead an open book, by reason of his
innocence, his brothers in arms made his
life a burden Ia him and embittered his
naturally sweet disposition. No one ex.
cept "very Young Gayerson, and he
never told his views, knew how old "very
Young Gayerson believed the Venus An
nodomini to be. Perhaps IN thought her
five and twenty. or perhaps she told hin,
that she was his age. Very Young" Gay.
erson would have forded the Gugger IN
Hood to carry her lightest word, and had
implicit faith i'm her. Everyone liked him,
and everyone was sorry when they saw
him SO bound n slave of the Venus Ammo
domini. Everyone. too, admitted that il
was not her fault; for the Venus Ammo
dom,;ni liNarad from, Af-S H,ulahaa aud