Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-08-08
the man who would not have been over

Is the man who would not nave been over
come by her sweetness, her beauty and
that stamp Of royal grace which comes
with kingly blood and the daily exercise
of power? Like the rich wonders of the
robe she wore, her very barbarism, Of
which now saw but the better side, drew
and daszled my minds eye, giving her
woman's tenderness some new 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 Is man and beauti-
full as the night, with mind athirst for
knowledge and spirit that no sorrows
could avail to queu, ever changing In her
outer moods, and yet 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 nnture which
should have held mo back had ! but known
of it, for, with oil her charm, her beauty
and her virtues, at heart she was still q
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 tho prisoner might know tho sem
tence before 1t 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 be heard Of more.
Musing thus satlly, ut last slept. When
woke, the sun was up. Rising from my
mat, went to 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, q milo or more away, rose the
temple towers Of Mexico. Along the slopes
Of the hill and In some directions for a
mile from It's base grew huge cedar trees,
from the boughs of which hung . gray and
ghostly looking mosa. These trees arc so
large that tho 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 their
strange and gorgeous flowers, their marble
baths, their aviaries and wild beast dens
were, rs believe, the most wonderful in
the whole world. The gardens Of Monte.
yuma have been long destroyed, but some
of the cedars still flourish ut Chapoltepcc,
though the Spaniards cut down many.
One of them, which tradition says was O
favorite tree CT the great emperor's, meas
ures-according to a rough calculation the
author Of this book made upon the spot
about 90 feet round the bole. It Is strange
to think that few ancient conifers should
alone survive Of all the glories OF Monte
xumas wealth and state.
"At the least" thought to myself,
seven If must die, 1t is something to have
seen this country Of Anahuac, Its king, Its
customs and Its people.
TO BE CONTINUED.