Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1890-01-02


Her beauty never Stirred me; nay, not even
when she leaned over me aud breathed
upon my hair, never thought Of it other
wise than as a man thinks Of the beauty OF
. statue. What had to do with such de-
lights! VINO was sworn to Isis and dedi-
Gated to the cause Of Egypt. o, ye Gods.
bear me witness that I am innocent Of this
thing, which was the source of all my woe
and the woe Of Khem!
How strange is this love Of woman, that
1t is SO small in its beginning and in its
end so great! See, at the first 1t Is even a.
the little spring of water yelling from
mountains heart. And at the last what is
it! It is n mighty river that howe,h ar
gosies OF JOY and makes wide lands to
smile. Or pcrchancei it is torrent 10 wash
in u flood of ruin across the fields Of Hope,
bursting in the barriers Of design, and
bring to tumbled notbingness the tenement
Of mans purity and the temples Of his
faith. For whea the Invisible conceived
the order of the universe, He set within its
plan this seed Of woman's love that by its
most unequal growth is doomed to bring
about equality of law. For now it lifts the
low to heights untold, and now it brings the
noble to the level of the dust. And thus,
while woman, tn tgreat surprise of Nature,
is. Good and Evil can never grow apart
For S; i'll she stands, and, blind with love,
shoots the shuttle Of our fate, aud pours
sweet water into the cup of itierness, and
poisons the wholesome breath OF HE with
the doom of her desire. Turn this way aud
turn that, she is at hand to meet thee. Her
weakness is thy strength, her might is thy
undoing. OF her thou art, to her thou
goest. She is thy slave, yet holds thee
captive; at her touch honor withers, locks
open, and barriers fail. She is Infinite AS
ocean, she is variable as heaven, aud her
name is the Unforeseen. Man, strive not TO
escape from woman and the love Of woman;
for, fly where thou wilt, she is yet thy fate,
and whate'er thou buildest thou build.st it
for her!
And thus it came to pass that ], Harma-
CHS, tho had put such matters far from
me, was yet doomed to fall by the thing
held of no account. For, see, this CHAR
mon; she loves NEWLY, knew not. or
her own thought she learned 10 love me,
and of her love came what shall be told.
But l, knowing naught, treated her even as a
sister, walking rs it were hand in hand with
her toward our common end.
And so the time passed on till, at length,
all things were made ready.
1t was the night before the night when
the blow should fall, and there were revel-
ings in the palace. That very day hid seen
Sepa, and with him t &c ca ,ains Of il band
of five hundred men, who shpu burst into
the palace at midnight on the morrow,
when had slain Cleopatra the Queen. and
nut the Roman and the G,llc legionaries
to the sword That ry day had l sub.
orned the Captain Paulus, who. since l drew
,vr.tll
Half by fear and half by promises of great
reward hid prevailed upon him, for his
was the watch, 1T the signal on the morrow
night to unbar that small gate which faces
to the east.
All was made ready-the flower OF Free
dom that had been five and twenty years
in growth was on the point of bloom. In
every city, from Abu unto A hue, armed
companies We're gal hered and from their
walls spies looked out, awaiting The COM
ing of the messenger who should bring
tidipgs that Cleopatra was II" more, and
that Harmachis, the Egyptian. had seized
the throne All was prepared, triumph
hung to my hand as i ripe fruit TO the hand
of the plucker. Yet, as l sat ut the royal
feast my heart was heavy, and II Shadow OF
coming woe lay cold within my mind. sat
there in place of honor, nigh to the
majesty of Cleopatra, and looked down the
lines of guests, bright with gems and gar
landed wi: h flowers, marking those whom
had doomed to die. There before me- lay
Cicola,r.,'s self, in all her beauty, which
thrilled the beholder us he is thrilled by the
rushing of the midnight gale. or by the
sight of stormy waters. gizcd on her AS
Size touched her lips with wine and torcd
With the chaplct OF roses on her 'ow, tie
thanking Inc of the dIsg r beneath my
r ID. hat h..l sworI to barry IL her breast.
A,un, and YET as..n. l gael aai sirove
10 hate her, s.rov.: 10 rejoice that she must
d:a-tad could not. There, too, II an.i
her-watchag me now: as ever, With her
deep-friuged eyes-was the lovely Lady
Cl.rmiCu. Who, to look at her innoccn;
face, would bc,ieve that She WAS the setter
of that snare wherein Should mlSerab y
perish the Queen Who loved her! Whf
would dream that locked in her girisf
breast WAS the secret Of SO much deaih!
wroih. although she smiled with her lips
and whispered: An omen. Royal Lar
machis.'. For though she S'as SO much
woman, yet, when she was ansered or SUI
fcrcd jealousy, Charmion had childish
way.
Having thus fixed the chaplet, she court
esied w before NE, and with the sofiest
tone of mocliery named me, in tue GreeH
tongue. "Harmachis, King of Love
Thereon Cleopatra laughed and pledged me
as king Of Owe" and SO did all the com
pauy, finding the jest merry one. For II
Alexandria they love NOT those who live
straight.y and turn aside from women.
But / sat licre, a smile upon my lips ant
black anger in my heart. For, knowing
who and WI I MAS, it irked me to tninl
myself Jest 10 the frivolous mobiles an.
light beauties of Cleopatra's Court. b."
chiefly was l angered against Charmion
because she laughed the loudest. and then
did rot know that laughter and bitterness
J are often the walls of a sore heart where
with it wraps lis weakness from the w.Tid
AN omen.,' she said it was-that crown o
tIawers aud so it pr we'd Indeed. For
was faieu to barter the double dladem o
the Upper and the Lower Land for wreat
of plssin,i's roses that fade even ere the
, fully bloom, AID P.Iar.ot's IVORY bed Q
state for the pillow of a fiIin'''ss woman
breast.
'.k;as Of LORE" they crowned me IN ihei
q mockery; aye, and King of S..i.ie: Aud
. with the nerfumed roses on u,y brow. b
[ descent ami Ordination Tie Pn..ra'h 9
~ ASt ~.