Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-11-05

- n1G O.
SHE FLUNG THE CHAIN INTO THE SILVER.
slaughtered captain and his men. The
casting was to take place in the great
plaza before the cathedral, that all
might attend: it was long since any
episode of war had caused such excite
ment and sorrow. The wild character
and remoteness of the scene of the
tragedy, the meagerness of detail
which stung every imagination into
action, the brilliancy and popularity of
De la Tore, above all, the passionate
sympathy felt for Delfina de Capalleja,
Mexico's most beautiful woman,
served to shake society from peak to
base, and no event had ever been
anticipated with more enthusiasm than
the casting of that silver bell. No one
had seen Delfina since the arrival of
the news which had broken SO many
hearts, and great was the curiosity re.
garding her possible presence at the
ceremony. Universal belief was
against her ever appearing in public
again; some said that she was dead;
others that she had gone into a con-
vent, but few maintained that she
would be high-priestess at the making
of the bell which was to be the symbol
and monument of her lovers galIantry
and death.
The hot sun beat upon the white
adobe houses of the stately city; at the
upper end of the plaza, bending and
swaying. coquetting and languishing,
were women clad in rich and vivid sat-
ms, their graceful heads and shoulders
draped with black or white mantillas:
| caballeros gay in velvet trousers lacet
| with gold, serabes embroidered with
| silver. Eyes green and black and blue
sparlxled above the edge of large black
fans; fiery eyes responded from be-
meath silver-laden sombrcros. The
pOpulace, in gala attire, crowded ii g
rest of the plaza and adjacent streets,
chattering and gesticulating. But all
looked in vain for Delfina de Capalleja.
| Much ceremony went with the melt
| ing of the bell Priests in white robes
stiff with gold chanted prayers above
! the silver bubbling in the caldron. A
| full-robed choir sang the TIE Deum,
the regiment to which De la Tore be-
lonRed fred salutes at intervals, the
crowd sobbed and shouted.
Thunder of cannon, passionate swell
| of voices; the molten silver was about
to pour into the mold. The crowd
hushed and parted Down the way
made for her came Delfina de Capal-
LEILA. Her black hair hung over her
long white gown, her body ent under
the weight of jewels-the jewels of
| generations and the jewels of troth.
Her arms hung at her sides In her
| eyes was the peace which belongs only
to the dead.
She walked to the caldron, and, TAX
ing a heavy gold chain from her neck,
flung il into the silver. It swirled like
q snake. then disappeared One by
one, amidst quivering silence, the mag.
nif3cent jewels followed the chain.
! Then, as she took the last bracelet
! from her arm, madness possessed the
breathless crowd. The Indifferent,
self-conscious men, the languid coquet-
ting women. the fat, drowsy old dowa-
gers, rushed, scrambling and scream
ing to the caldron, tore from their
heads and bodies the superb Jewels and
ropes of gold with which they were be-
decked, and flung them into the molten
mass, which rose like tide. The cleo
trio current sprang to the people, their
baubles sped like hail through the air.
So great was the excitement that a
sudden convulsing of the earth was I'M
felt When not a jewel was left to
sacrifice, the caldron held enough ele-
ment for five bells, the five sweet
voiced bells which rang in the mission
of San Gabriel for more than a CEN
tury.
Exhausted with shouting. the multi
tude was silent Delfina de Capalleja,
who had stood with painting chest and
dlatinG nostrils. turned from the sac
ri6cial caldron. the crowd parting for
her again. the Laudate Dominum
swelling. As she reached the steps OF
the cathedral, q man who loved her.
noting q change in her face, sprang to
her side. She raised her bewildered
eyes to his and thrust out her hand
suddenly. ''Adios,' she said, and fell
at his feet, dead.-Gertrude Franklin
Anterior. in Lippincott's
I'm 1895. = He (rapturously) -
"Sweetheart. I have q day from the of.
fee. We shall have q delightful HtGle
excursion to the spburba." She dds
mally)-''Not SO fast. my own. Your
rich rival has hired the rainmakers,
and it will pour from 1880 3 m ia
midniQht"