Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-06-12

~ more In my wretchednesS 1 be-
~ thought me Of death. A knife
was at my girdle, wherewith l might cut
the thread of sorrow and set my spirit free.
Treea ali, free to fly to face the last ven
seance of the holy Gods! Alas and alas! l
did not dare to die. Better the earth with
all it's woes than the quick approach of
those unimagined terrors that, lowering in
dim Amenti, wait the advent of the fallen.
ggroveled on the ground and wept tears
OF agony for the lost, unchanging past
seept till could weep no more but from the
silence came no answer, no answer but the
echoes of my grief. Not ray of hope! My
soul wandered in a darkness more utter
than that which was about mel was for
salzen of the Gods and cast out Of men. Ter
ror took hold upon me, crouching in that
lonely place hard by the majesty of the aw-
full dead. 1 rose to fly. How could fly in
this gloom !-how find my path down the
passages, and amid the columns? And
where should 1 fly, VINO had no place of
refuge! Once more crouched down, and
the great fear grew on me till the cold sweat
ran from my brow and my soul was faint
within me. Then, in my last despair, I
prayed aloud to Isis, to whom 1 had not
dared to pray for many days.
20 Isis Holy Mother!'' cried, ''put away
Thy wrath, and of Thine infinite pity, o
Thou all pitlful, hearken TO the voice of the
anguish of him who was Thy son and
servant, but who by sin hath fallen from
the vision of Thy love- o throned Glory,
who, being in all things, hast of all things
understanding and of all griefs knowledge,
Cast the weight Of Thy mercy against the
scale of my evil doing, and MAKE the balance
equal. Look down upon my woe, and meas
ure it; count up the sum of my repentance,
and take Thou note of the flood of sorrow
that sweeps my soul away. o Thou holy,
whom it was given to me to look upon face
to face, by that dread hour OF commune
summon Thee; I summon Thee by the mys-
tic word. Come, then, in mercy to save me !;
or, in fury, to make an end of that which
can no more be borne"
And, rising from my knees, / stretched
out my arms and dared to cry aloud the
Word of Fear. the which to use unworthily
is death.
Swiftly the answer came. For In the
silence heard the sound of the shaken
sistra heralding the coming of the Glory.
Then at the far end of the chamber grew
the semblance of the horned moon, gleam-
ing family in the darkness, and 'twixt the
golden horns rested the small dark cloud,
in and out whereof the fiery serpent
climbed.
And my knees waxed loose in the pres
encs Of the Glory, and sank down before
it.
Then spalze the small, sweet voice within
che cloud:
ssHarmachis, who was my servant and my
son. I have heard thy prayers and the
summons that thou hast dared to utter,
which on the lips of one with whom have
communed, hath power to draw me from
the Uttermost No more, Harmachis, NAV
we be one in the bond Of love divine, for
me hast thou put away of thine own act
Therefore, after this long silence 1 come,
Harmachis, clothed in terrors, and per-
fn, f0 of hi
can Isis be drawn from the halls of her
Divinity"
s'Smite, Goddessr' I answered. "Smite,
and give me over to those who wreak Thy
vengeance; for no longer can ! bear the
burden of my woe!'
''And if thou canst not bear thy burden
here, upon this earth came the soft reply,
that shall be laid upon thee there, coming
defiled and yet unpurlfied into my dim
realm of death, that is Lite and Change I'M
ending? Nay, Harmachis, / smite not, for
not all am wroth that thou hast dared to
utter the awful word which calls me down to
thee. Hearlzen, Harmachis; 1 praise not,
reproach not, for I am the Minister of re-
ward and punishment and the Executor of
DEGREES; and if give, / give in silence
any if smite, in silence do I smite. There
fore, naught will add to thy burden by the
weight Of heavy words, though through thee
it has come to pass that soon shall Isis, the
Mystery, be but memory in Egypt. Thou
hast sinned, and heavy shall be thy punish
ment, as did warn thee, both in the flesh
and in my kingdom of Amenti. But told
thee that there is road Of repentance,
and surely thy feet are set thereon, and
therein must thou walk with q humble
heart, eating of the bread of bitterness, till
such time as thy doom be measured"
''Have !, then, no hope, o Holyl"
''That which Is done, Harmachis, is done,
nor can its issues be altered. Khem shall
nc more DO free till all its temples are as the
desert dust; strange people shall, from age
70 age, bold her hostage and in bonds; new
religions shall arise and wither within the
shadows of her pyramids. for 70 every