Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-02-16
4 NYMPH CT FIRE.

when all oar ps,ple worshiped the
bles Ell Christ, th Q stood upon the
| lopes of Ararat, apart from all other
labitatioas. a little outage nesting IN
Il overs AID embowered by the trees 81
the forest
Its inhabitants were an old man OF
Per IN face aud priessiy dress and a
souag girl Of W se appearance little
Was known. for alt ough most unmaid.
enly she roamed the wooded slopes of
the mountains. she nevertheless fled
from the presence of our young Armen-
ian hunters more swiftly than the deer
which they there pursued The women
of our country, however, II they do diff
fer in reserve from their western kins-
Women. still have ther full share OF
curiosity. and are as artful as any in
satisfying it Thus they soon reported.
with unconscious malice that the girl
stunned comparison with our dark eyed
country maidens with their ripened color
| and raven hair, because her face pos
sessed no beauty, but was pale as marble,
and that The wave of gold which the
hunters described as follow ing her fl ght
was mass of unbound hair of the red
| last sortl
S ION whispers spread the rumor that
| this old man and his daughter were
heathen "Gragabashd "-as in our tongue
we call those whom you more pleas
ingly deaoninste Guebers or Fire NVoF-
| shippers.
Why he had chosen Ararat for his
home remained a mystery, yet there in
the shadow OF that holy mount he lived
and practiced his dark rites. Surely no
man but stony hearted Gueber igld
dwell in so favored a spot and remain in.
| fl lei. Above him. ( r. in the blue deep Of
heaven, pointing with its snowy fl ger
higher anil still higher. until it would
seem that the strongest eye must fail to
follow its glittering index, aud that the
stiffest neck must bow in awe OF the
Creator, rose the grand old paak of
| Ararat Down through the green of
| the tree tops its white splendor 81 'amed
upon the cottage of the Persian. Yet he
looked not mp. save to salute the sun IN
his meridian glory.
Here i'm the very center of the world,
| percAance on the very spot where the
smoke of the first sacriiice of purified
world arose to Noal,'s God. lie made his
unholy alterations to the same false
| deity whom the wicked worshiped be-
fore the avenging deluge swept them
away. Even when his god of day
was passing away in the evening and
the shadows of the sacred mountain,
immutable, eternal. fell upon his home
even then unholy prayers and chant
ings were heard by the chance passerby.
terror. None dared put themselves in
reach of his COMPUTATIONS, and all
summed the neighborhood.
Then the war with our Persian oppress-
ors came on, and the righteously indig-
| nant Armenians would have risen and
| put him and his daughter to death and
sacrificed his cottage to his god of fire.
had they not been restrained by the only
friend the old Persian could count in all
the valley, young Vahan, the bravest
| youth of the realm, the son Of our leader
| Vartan.
said that Prince vahaa was friend
of the Persian: He was, more truthfully.
the lover of his daughter. One day be-
fore the outbreak of the war he had
been hunting on the slopes of Ararat
His thoughts had wandered from the
chase, and, plunged in revery. he had
allowed his horse to drop into a slow
and noiseless walk over the thick carpet
| of fallen leaves, the work of all tile
| centuries since the food Sudd My he
heard voice:
@Wiat shall suffer to rid my father
! of his terrible curse?" Turning toward
| the place whence came the voice he be-
held. standing underneath pine on a
brooks side. with hands uplifted to a
ray of sunlight which streamed down
through the green roof above, a being
who seemed to Vahan's deluded eyes the
ideal of all beauty, purity, and truth.
@Oh spirit of the earth, or air. or light,
or water, for thou seemest to be the
soul of all he cried; "Oh dryad of the
| pine, or naiad of the brook. or sylph of
the sunbeam, what can Vahan do to
reverence, or. IL thou perchance be
mortal. to aid thee9"
Perhaps it was his noble face and
earnest mien as well as poetic language
for he had been reared in Athens-that
assured her that he was not of the rough
peasant lads from whom she had often
fed, or perchance the beautiful witch
had already begun 10 practice her evil
enchantments; be this as it may, size
listened to his words and told her name
aud condition.
Thenceforth Vahan spent his days in
hunting and his nights in dreaming Of
the maiden whom he daily met By the
brook under the great pine on the mount
ain side His dreams were of a maiden
fair and holy featured as the Virgin,
and rich IN food Of hair, fine as though
spun Of sunbeams and soft as Magdalen's
locks that wiped the feet Of our Lord.
Oh, the craft Of 3 wicked womanl
How she seemed to love hint Then the
Persian war began. How her tender
ness increased The youth of Armenia
hastened with ardor to the frontier, but
Vahan still wasted his days in the chas
Of love His parents upbraided hiin,
his companions entreated, the old men
reminded him Of his former deeds and
the present need Of his vaIor to lead the
Arnenians to victory; but still he would
not 90. Often he saids i viii 90 to-
morrow" but tomorrow found him
still delaying by the brook, and again
tomorrow found him on his steed prick
| ing fast to the mountain cottage,
/ earnestly resolved to take that farewell