The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1894-09-14
THE WHITE FAWN.
II Was q Vcritable Mascot TO q Certain
Great General.
BY CLINTON MONTAGUE.

One day, long time. ago. a hunter VI
found in the forest doe with white 81
fawn. The doe escaped, but the flwn y
he succeeded in capturing. The ami ),
nal was SO graceful and pretty that :
he saved it alive and took it home Tor :.
his children TO play with. 1t soon
learned to eat from their hands and =
follow them about like a dog. :
The fawn grew SO beautiful that the
hunter and his wife made up their
minds that it was'worthy Of a better
home than they could provide for it.
Then the question arose to whom
should they give it, There was but
one answer to this.
"Why, to Sertorlus, of course. who
so worthy of the white lawn of Diana
as Scrtorius, our chieftain, who has
delivered us from the Romans?"
In those days, as in these, it. wa
| customary to carry the most valuable
| gifts to kings and princes, and Serto-
rius was more than either to the peo-
plc Of Spain, two Thousand years ago.
lie was "a Roman general, who, at the
time of the civil wars was on the SIDE
of Marius, and after the defeat OF thaI
great leader he had fed to Spain.
There Sertorius was welcomed by the
natives. who hated the Romans, ana
they made him their chief.aa lie was a
remarkable man, and at once began
to make headway against the foreign
crs, In all the battles he was uni
formly the victor, and all the Spanish
tribes soon gathered under his banner
to make war against Rome.
So, to Sertorius the hunter carried
the white fawn, telling him that the
goddess Diana sent it to him as a9lit
Diana, as you know, was the goddess
of hunting, and ! suppose the hunter
thought he was telling the truth
when he said that the present came
from Diana. at any rate NOBODY
thought strange of the story, and soor
it began to be rum0red about thai
Sertorius was favorite Of the god
dess, and that she had sent the fawi
to him as an evidence OF it.
Whether Sertorus believed much o.
this | have my doubts, but he was
wise enough to know that people
would think a great deal more OF hin
and have still greater faith in him j
they thought he was actually favored
by the gods. And it was great thlni
cspecially, to be favored by Diana
the cbaste and beautiulgoddess, VIII
WAS pictured hunting in the Wo0d
with her bow and arrows and tn
dogs that the god Pan had given heI
d. Perhaps in time, even he grew I
~ think that, after all, Diana nigh
have had something to do with it.
Anyway, the fawn was beautlf'
enough aud intelligent enough to wa
rant any story told of it. 1t was pu1
white in color, with skin as soft
a baby's, and dark melting eyes, an
white pearly hoofs and long slend
oWu' W ant!ers graceful as trost-work. &c
Ivy torius made a great pet OF it, and u
ass fawn followed hin, wherever he wen
w eating out of his hand, sleeping in II
no' tent and lying at his feet while
read or wrote.
VIC The great general had no wife
'i, children, so he kept the fawn WI
seu' him all the time, and he grew as io'
lhc a. her as the fawn did Of him.
ic, had many pet names for her, as o
u w always will have for these creature
'u'o Sometimes when the fawn was AISLE
''h on the gay leopard robes, her CO
'.i"i looking all the whittier by contr;
',ne with the brilliant yellow and CLOS
W. black of the skins, he called !
oo'y .Snowflake." "At other times, wi
i'"s the fiery embers of the iron braz
oo''' flashed all over her in the night tlf
'oeSs he would call her Ruby" III
''''e' again, when he awoke at night a
'cap found her nestled close beside hi
o",s os her bright eyes watching him W
e"eu atfectionate care, he called her "fic
y W ity." which, perhaps, was the m
raw appropriate name of the three.
i,'"' Aseverybody thought that the IA
''"ne was something more than she seem
sch'' il was necessary for Sertorius totr
the creature with special consid'
y tjon. He had her carefully attenf
VIM fed her on the daintiest food and
lowed her to be seen only on 81
'ac VI occasions. When he was about
IS he march against the enemy he would
1sah' tend that the goddess had comm
lhe cated with the fawn and that she
promised them victory.
II his spies told him that the en-
VI NY was preparing to attack him 0
lead an army against some frle
city, Sertorius would declare that
fawn had warned him to, have
forces in readiness for action, s.
times a messenger would bring
, who tidings Of victory gained by son
roses his officers. At such times he "
their conceal the messenger ana c"hh
'ound, people together he would prcsen
scat fawn crowned with flowers and
after them rejoice and sacrlnce 10 the
Il fra for they would speedily hear
lment, news.
$ and So the Spanlards came ~ YIN
believe That their leader was in