Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-30

Martha Unexpectedly returned. She hur-
ried into the room excitedlv and said:
The Master calleth for thee, Hurry,
Mary, and do not be moping there any
longer l am ashamed of thee"
Mary arose, slowly. Martha's voice
Jared on her-but she was used to that. She
yeiled herself, and followed her sister con-
fusedly. She was unconscious OF any de-
tails on that sad, strange walk into the outer
world-her first since she had followed her
brother to his grave. She did not lift her
ewes from the ground. She saw the gravel,
and blades of grass, and little pebbles and
glittering SAND, and Martha's robe fiutter-
ing before her. She could not tell where
she was, nor how far she had gone, when q
voice quite near her murmured:
"Mdry."
oh, this was not the voice of any common
mourner, and paltry, petty comiorteri What
neighbor, what friend or kin was there,
whose sorrow sank into her sou! like sacred
devil All Mary's nature lifted itself like a
diving flower to his face. When she saw
how broken it was she fell at his feet and
passionatelv, piteously cried:
''Oh, if thou hadst been here he had not
died!''
Cut into the side of the limestone cliff
under the hamlet of Bethany, and with a
glance toward the heights of Olivet, well
shielded by olive trees, and close upon the
highway, the sepulchre of lazarus responded
drearily TO the gaze of the mourners who had
thronged it. The tomb was new, hewn by
the family upon private land, and carved
with all the mortuary art Of the times. 1t
had not been constructed above a year or
two. Lazarus himself had erected it, ex-
pending much thought upon it, that it
might be a spot of beauty and OF dignity
worthy of the family eminence. Its stone
lip had gaped now, and shut upon him; one
might fancy that it was with certain in
sensate pride that they received their de-
sgner and creator for their first victim.
1t was a fair day, sunny and warm. The
soul of the coming spring was already in the
air. Budding trees and blossoms trembled
delicately in the low and pleasant wind.
The sky throbbed with the deep color which
it wears when the creation of life is at its
fullest and richest. 1t was day when it
seems impossible to die-incredible to be
dead
Before the tomb of Lazarus there had col
lected large and serious crowd. The dis
cipleS of the Nazarene had made every effort
to prevent the knowledge of his return from
spreading widely. But this was thing i'm
possible. The eminence of the dead, the
rumors as to some cause for it more interest
ing to public curiosity than the fact itself
these had swelled the crowd of formal
mourners who came to gather about the be-
reaved household. The return of the Naza-
rene, with his close personal connection
with the case, had called from Jerusalem a
mixed mass Of people who gathered from
every motive under the sun, about the tomb.
Among these could be easily recognized
many persons familiar to our story. Nal
achi, the Pharisee, stood pompouSlv in q
prominent position, with his thick under
lip pressed up in the intensest salts action.
Malachi was not a murderous man, but he
took solid salts isfaction in the death of Lag
arus. What could so benevolently have in
teriered to veriiy his own position in regard
to the Nazarene? He surveyed the crowd
with the secret elation of man who saws:
told you SO. Hagaar, his wife, stood at
some distance from him, tremendously
veiled, more so than a married woman
needed. She acted as if she were little
ashamed of her husband. Her loud tongue
was still. Her rowing eyes were lowered.
But for the fact that it savored of immoral
ity, Hagaar would have been quite willing
that day to be taken for the wife OF some
other man. Say, of that sweet-lipped, de-
vout young man yonder. the favorte disci-
pie of Jesus, he who, it was said, kept so
closely to his Master, as it not knowing
whether he most loved or feared for him.
whether he were there to caress or protect
him. But John loved his Master. There
was no room let in his soul for any woman.
John was absorbed in Jesus as the fuel is in
the FIRE Peter. the fisherman, whispered
something to him restleSsly; but John had
the manner OF one who heard no man.
Rachel, the neighbor of Lazarus, was
among the people, and beside her leaned
Ariella and Baruch, hand clasped in hand.
Amos of Gethsemane stood behind these
three, saving nothing, as was the habit of
Amos Some of the workmen of Lazarus
were in the group, and with them the young
man who made mourning tor Lazarus and
thought of Mary. The old Sheliach from
Jerusalem could be noticed observing the
scene without commenting upon it. Stand
ing apart by himself, the slave Abraham
wept bitterly. Mary and Martha were not
yet come to the tomb, and 1t was said by the
disciples of the Nazarene that he fingered
with the sisters of the dead to comfort them.
Com fort is useful thing before that"
sneered Malachi, pointing to the closed sep
ulchre.
Malachi had scarcely spoken these words
when a murmur ran along the crowd that
the Nazarene and the sisters of the dead
were to be seen approaching the tomb. The
tary respect The lightest lip ceased its gos-
sip, and the shallowest heart felt something
like throb OF reverence.
"He boweth his head, whispered Rachel.
"He hath the aspect OF a mourner closely
OF kim
:'Kin is of the heart" murmured Ariella
to her husband.
"WouId that could see his countenance,"
said bystander, 'but the motion OF the
man hIdeth il.
At this moment stir among the people
indicated a diversion OF interest to another
quarter. Enoch the lad. prowling about, as
is the manner of boys, had peered above the
sepulchre, treading down the bushes that
grew there, and searching after who knows
what, whether the body or the soul OF the
dead. He had made a discovery which
caused him to run back, as fast as his legs
could carry him, to his former master,
Baruch, with the announcement that he had
seen a ghost. "It was not Lazarus" he |
said, ''for she was woman; but you could |
see for yourself that it WAS not like other |
people" Baruch and Ariella, hushing the |
hoy, with all speed made their way, trying |
to attract as little attention as they could, |
to the thicket whence the lad had emerged. |
There, PROSTATE on the ground, with her rich !
clothing torn by thorns her hair disheveled, |
and her face hidden on her arms, Law |
woman who seemed to be half dead with |
grief. Her teeth bit into her delicate flesh; |
her beautiful form shook with deep, div |
sobs. She had thrust one hand through the |
bushes till it reached the top of the |
sepulchre, and lay there clenched. Once |
she was seen to pat the cold stone with a |
passionate tenderness enough to break ones |
heart to see.
''Ohi womanI' murmured Ariella. "Let |
me go first, dear Baruch.''
AT the sound of voice the PROSTATE woman |