Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-08-08

is the man who would not have been over
come by her sweetness, her beauty and
that stamp of royal grace which comes
with kingly blood and tho daily exercise
of powerY Like the rich wonders Of the
robe she wore, her very barbarism, Of
which now I saw but the better side, drew
and daszled my minds eye, giving her
woman's tenderness some now quality,
somber and strange, an eastern richness
which is lacking In our we'll schooled Eng
lish women, that at one and the same
stroke touched both the Imagination and
the senses and through them enthralled
the heart
For Otomie seemed such woman as
men dream Of, but very rarely win, seeing
that tho world has few such natures and
fewer nurseries where they can be reared.
At once pure and passionate, Of royal
blood and heart, rich natured and most
womanly, yet brave as man and beauti-
full as the night, with mind athirst for
knowledge and spirit that no sorrows
could avail to qucu. ever changing In her
outer moods, and yot most faithful and
with the honor Of man, such was Oto-
mie Montezuna's daughter, princess Of
the Otomie. Was 1t wonderful then that
found her fair, or, when fate gave me her
love, that at last loved her In turni And
yet there was that In her nature which
should have held mo back had but known
Of it, for, with all her charm, her beauty
and her virtues, ut heart she was still o
savage, and, strive as she would to hide 1t,
at times her blood would master her.
But as lay in the chamber Of the pal
ace Of Chapoltepec the tramp OF the guards
without my door reminded me that had
little now to do with love and other de-
lights, whose life hung from day to day
upon hair. Tomorrow the priests would
decide my fate, and when the priests were
judges the prisoner might know the SEN
tence before it was spoken. was stran-
ger and white man, surely such one
would prove an Offering more acceptable
to the gods than that furnished by thou
sand Indian hearts. had been snatched
from the altars Of Tabasco that I might
grace tho higher altars Of Tenoctitlan, and
that was all. My fate would be to perish
miserably far from my home, and In this
world never to Ike heard Of more.
Musing thus sadly, at last slept. When
woke, the SUI was up. Rising from my
mat, went tu the wood barred window
place and looked through. The palace
whence gazed was placed on the crest Of
rocky hill. On one side this hill was
bathed by tho blue waters Of Tezouco; on
the other, n milo or moro away, rose the
temple towers Of Mexico. Along the slopes
Of the hill and In some directions for q
mile from Its base grew huge cedar trees,
from the boughs of which hung q gray and
ghostly looking moss. These trees arc 80
large that the smallest Of them Is bigger
than the best oak in this parish of Ditch
inghaln, while the greatest measures 2s
PAGES round the base. Beyond and between
these marvellous and ancient trees were
tho gardens of NIontezulna, that with thoir
strange and gorgeous flowers, their marble
baths, their aviarics and wild beast dcns
were, rs believe, the most wonderful in
the whole world. [The gardens of Monte
yuma have bcen long destroyed, but some
Of the cedars still flourish Mt Chapoltepec
though the spaniards cut down many.
One Of them, which tradition says was q
fayorite tree of the great emperor's, meas
ures-according to q rough calculation the
author of this book made upon the spot
| about 90 feet round the bole. 1t Is strange
to think that few ancient conifers should
alone survive of all the glories OF Monte.
xuma's wealth aIi state.
"At tho least" thought to myself,
"even II I must die, 1t is something to have
seen this country Of Anahuac, Its king, Its
customs and It's people. y
To RE CONTINUED