The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1891-11-02

h Then. IN my troubled sleep. . slupof
seemed 70 come oyer me. ! was IN deep
wood where vergelers Riades stretched
away on either aide into purple obFcnrity.
Il was 4 dead forest. where every veatiRe Of
life was mute The leaves. the grass. the
flowers on the damp turf were ~ motion
less ~ though Omnipotence had whispered
through the labyrinth ''be still" A
went on stumbled, once, twice, IN the
dim ligkt Behind me faint glow from
Q red sunset threw my shadow grimly
along the path until Il was lost In the
depths stepped aside, and then ! saw
that-ah-ah-I shuddered In my sleep-l
had fallen over gaunt arms that rose from
the sod and twined their skeleton fingers
across my way Here and there gray skulls
dotted the path and turned their kightleas
sockets to the fading day.
Filled with an awful fear tried TO hurry
on, but my feet refused to move. tried TO
shrek. but kly lips gave forth no sonnd. l
could not lift my eyes from the road befbre
me. Then bony finger moved: shrfyelcd
hand unclasped and beckoDed 70 me; then
smother and another, until the whole for.
eut awakened. balefnl lights CLEANED from
the hollow skulls, the rustlinR leaves woke
q weird melody. . multitude of grisly arms
waved me greeting and I awoke 10 hear
tho noises Of the street beneath my win.
dow. and rec the morning sunlight making
quaint mosa.cs on the floor.
A package from DR.. Max was handed TO
me an hour later. A book, less than an
inch In thickness. fell from the newspaper
wrapping. Between heavy OK hide covers,
each crossed with three parallel brass
bands, found fifty sheets OF heavy parch-
ment. The sheets were hard and brittle
and coarse, indicating great age. There
was no exterior symbol, but knew that
the manuscript was copy of an older
work. 1t was In early Greek, and the
quaint characters, many Of them obsolete,
forced the conclusion that my task would
not be an easy one. There was neither
preface nor introduction. The first page
began abruptly In hexameter, measure
that was sublime. IL ended on the last
page Ms abruptly az 1t had commenced
did not waste precious time commence
ing my work, which promised great fas-
cination for me. The reverence, the curl.
osity which this relic OF a lost age awak-
ened within me was but the natural out
growth Of my bibliophiIism, fostered
through years OF study and research in the
old languages | touched the faded leaves
with caressing hand and for brief in
terval stepped from under the black shadow
that hung over me, | forgot the promised
reward, and the doctor of Dutch Bottom"
was to me, for the moment. as though he
had never been.
1t was noon before knew it, but inter-
est In the brass bound book held me to my
work, and unmindful Of repeated rings Of
the dinner bell kept on. Hour after hour
Iwrote, until the floor about my table was
white with the shower of leaves.
The original manuscript had been the
work Of Delphian priestess, and was
sacred to her Offices: 1t was treatise on
the oracle, the functions Nof the priestly
order, the secrets of the temple and the in
cantation spells. 1t was in three parts.
The first fifteen pages held the rythmic
measure Of a poem Of indescribable beauty.
1t was an appeal to the highest intellectual
powers Of mana leading string thrown
out to draw him to a consideration OF the
unseen and the unknown. This. in the
succeeding fifteen pages, embraced, In
prose, a treatise on elemental mysteries,
the necessity Of inward purity to perfect
knowledge of the sublime and the control
ling forces in nature. The remainder Of
the strange tome, until it broke abruptly
on the last page, detailed the external and
purely ceremonial rites requisite TO invoke
the appearance and control Of elementals.
their complete subiugation, for evil or
for good, to the rule of the master mind.
Wrapped up, fascinated under the spell
Of the book, the tea hour passed unheeded,
and the day died with the red signals of a
storm flying in the eastern sky. My eyes
were swollen with the hours of application
m mi ne Tha lille ht1rer 81. 4
shot orbs like canopies of lead. But kept
on. pausing only at intervals to shut out
the light until the white film that gath
cred over the pupils had passed away.
The remembrance of the eighteen hours
spent at that study table maddens me, even
at this lats day. The surge of conflicting
emotions, the uncertainty of hope, the de-
spair born of a dread of life of darkness,
were lulled into sudden sleep that bore
with it a nightmare more racking than the
passion that preceded it. was chained to
my chair by some strange power sat EN-
anated from the book. The lamplight.
falling upon the pages of my work, took oh.
the etfulgence of noon, that scorched the
organs of sight until the blue lines on the
pages wavered under my weary pen, then
faded entirely, and my staring eyes looked
helplessly into space.
Nothing but my indomitable will sus-
tanned me to the end. was conscious.that
the secrets of a priestly race were mine. |
reached down the ages. past the crumbling
glories of Attica and the ruined monu-
ments of Macedonia; into the very shadow
of Parnassus, and tore the veil asunder
that shielded the secrets of the Pythoness
from the multitudes that made her haunt
their Mecca centuries before Judea had
known the Nazarne. What was modern
theosophy and the teachings of a Blavatsky
to the secrets that were within my grasps
lssAll sounds of Efe had been hushed for
hours when reached the last line Trem-
bling under the pressure of emotions held
in check wrote tile final word and threw
my pen aside. As rose from my chair
faintness seized me. my brain reeled and |
knew no more
The song Of bird, the creaking OF
wheels and voices in the street fell on my
ear with confused murmur when re-
gained my senses. 1t was broad daylight.
7 H. l@1 ~. 4