The herald., 1894-09-16
THE RAYS WORK.

OF all the beautiful things in this
beautiful world there was none that the
little ray loved so well as the summer
sea. He and his comrades would play
by the hour together with the ripping
wavelcts, dSrting from one to another
in dazzling, mad flashes Of light, spread
ing themselves over the waters sheet
of molten gold, till touch of the
winds light lips broke it up into thou,
sand shimmering fragments. And the
waves loved their playmates, too, aud
each, as the rays kissed it, became itself
little golden sun. sending forth its light
into the radiant air, for the sea, like
tickle, lovable woman, answers back to
all in their own moods and is loved Just
because she cannot be trusted Then,
where the waves broke on the golden
sands or round tho clean, dark rocks,
the little rays would fill their foam with
light till it siione more brightly white
than the Jungfrau' crest, and the music
of the waves breaking was Joy song
for their own loveliness Laughing, they
ran up the smooth sand and embraced
with teasing play the small pink feet
which scanpered away before them,
while the suns rays flashed from their
surface to meet the light, brighter still,
which shone from children S eyes. Oh,
those were happy days, and as the little
ray danced along over tho waters he
hoped that they never might end.
But time came when the voice of
the wind sounded from afar. The sea
heard it and was troubled to its depths
at the new life Of power and strength
which was tearing within it, while the
wavelets far and wide raised their tiny
crests, and in ripples of white foam
whispered tho news one to another. The
clouds, too, heard tho voice and gath
cred together at its bidding to spread
themselves a thick, dark curtain over
the sea and hide from the suns face
the things which were to be. And so
the little ray could visit the sea no
longer nor join any more in sport with
his favorite playmates. AT this his
heart was very sad, and he took no de-
| light in the other pleasures to which
his comrades called him. They told him
| Of the wild games they played with the
wind shaken leaves of the forest; of the
snow cold peaks which they crowned
with dazzling splendor Of jewels; Of fog
laden valleys filled with dream forms Of
weirdest, strangest loneliness; Of mys-
teries of beauty revealed midst the
worlds most squalid dreariness. But it
was all in vain. The little ray longed
for his lost playmates and would care
for none of these things.
AS he wandered sadly among the
heavy, driving clouds, losing himself
| in their sullen masses, searching for
some crevice through which he might
penetrate, one of them pitied him.
"Since you will it so, )" said she, "I
will let you through, though fear you
will find that dreams that are past can
never be dreamed again" Then she
shrank back from her neighbor, and
with one swift word of thanks the little
ray darted down through the opening
she had made.
Down he went to the sea below and
there lay quivering and lost in its black
| gulf. Oh, what a changed world it
wasl Above him the tempest hurried
along and shouted to the waves as it
went, and the waves threw their white
heads up and answered back in crashing
thunders. "Death, death, and the end
of all thingsH' passionately yelled the
tempest. "Ruinl" roared the waves.
"Naught is that can Withstand us!"
a world of darkness and tumult and
terrible unrest The little ray lay where
he had lighted, tremulous and afraid,
now glimmering for an instant among
cataracts of rushing foam and then lost
again in the dark depths of the water.
"Ha" cried the waves when they saw
| him. $50 you are here. little ray. The
world is changed since you saw it last. :"
Changed indeed" said the ray. "Oh,
why cannot you be as you were before,
| my playmates?" But the waves laugh
ed, shaking spray from their crests till
the tempest caught it and whirled it
mountain high in the air. 'Give us
the winds for playmates," they cried,
land the mems lives for our sport. Talk
to us not Of the wretched, spiritless
| days that are past. The world is worth
living in now" ''But you were happy
then. You rejoiced in the earth's beau
ty and were happy said the little ray
wistfully. because we knew no bet
ter, )" they answered. ''We have learned
since then that there is something fairer
than beauty, more glorious than joy.
Oh, the rapture of fury when we raise
the ship high in the air to hurl her
down on the rocks beneath-the cruel
rocks whom we love and linger to kiss
and infold in our soft white arms even
then in the joy of that moment of pow
er. To crush into pieces the mighty
vessel with all its wealth and labor of
workmanship; to scatter abroad the
heavy fragments, fiinging them to and
fro in tho very scorn of our sovereign
i. strength; to watch men gasp in their
death agony as we lift ourselves above
tscir writhing bodies and then to crash
duNl and dash the life from their lips
this is power, little friend; this is pow
er, and there is no glory in the world
like tho glol-' Of power. "
The i..y 81 ~ chill and wan and trem-
bled as he listened. "Is there nothing,
then, left which is fair to look upon in
all this waste Of waters?" he cried, and
no wander Il dislAally on. Everywhere
the samo-darIi galfs and white crested
mountains Eiihgiinc together il tumul-
buous chaos; every where floating frag-
II 4 ~ - n