Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-09-25
A PERSIMMON,


beautiful had q strange charm. 1t was a
VOW lo-..o -,~--'---,-o- b-'+ o+o ~ ~
and then went to bed
From ceiling that crawled and GRIN
killed. watched q cherry colored mandarin
swing slowly down onto my bed. From
the spot from which he dropped came an
other and another, all no longer than a
pea pod and as dry. Solemnly they SQUAT
ted ON my chest and lifted their hairy
arms, In which were twisted rods with
oarven, grinning faces.
crash They broke into a shrill, dis
cordant song, beating, beating, beating on
my ribs. One, near the apex Of my heart
would not keep time, and that was worse
than all. How the blows hurt, and how
their ourled up knees sank deep into my
1esh The words Of the song seemed to
leap forth like little cubes and hop over
my skin, burning as they rolled. The pain
was uncomfortable. drew a great gasp of
agony and was free. They were gone.
A long vista Of grayness resolved itself
into strange perspective was seated
in fragile jinrikisha, but instead of the
lusty runner blue skirted and handy leg
ged, between the shafts was monstrous
horse, tall to heaven, with strldings that
uCVOur6u TOdu. n NOlCGJ warming,
portentous, sounded in my ears:
BE thou careful, o careless one, for
thou hast that in charge that Is precious"
looked down, and beside me Crouched
a bit of brown baby, naked and unafraid,
whose knob Of hair, tied in q tiny brush,
painted hieroglyphiCs in the air with every
leap of the lurching vehicle.
By some swift intuition knew that
this pranciDg, gigantic horse was the pride
of the mikado's stables, and the brown
baby the hope of the empire, and that ao
cident to either meant punishment to fit
the crime. 1 looked ahead. The white
slopes of Fusiyama, the sacred mountain,
lay before US, up which none may pass
alive. On either side our way impene-
trable pines, in whose dark branches COB
Inns sat and grimaced horribly. On We
rushed. The great fore feet Of the horse
struck the slope Of the forbidden hill. A
sudden shock ran through all his body. 1
stood alone in tho road. On the side, his
blood dyeing the scanty sod, lay the horse,
q deep hole in his quivering side, while in
my arms the child lay leaden, gasping.
Crowds of other people gathered about
us and looked upon me ominously, silently.
kill this wretched creature in mercy"
I begged They stood unmoved, silent,
still, while the horse gazed at me in more
than human anguish. Clasping the child,
I hurried away, falling, stumbling, cry
ing aloud for help in vain.
Suddenly 1 stood in a vast room. All
about it's sides were ladders of bamboo,
fragile and hung by slender threads. In
the corners overhead and swinging corpse
like, were bundles, shapeless, unspeaka-
BILE. The air was filled with a sickening
odor, as Of mingled decay and strange
spices, pungent and sweet. Slowly the
swinging bundles took form, and beneath
appeared the outline of body in dim
and bewildering individuality, ludicrous
and horrible.
Again voice cried-a voice of authori
ty not to be gainsaid-"Search!" Again
knew that somewhere in this formlesS
immensely the little brown baby was hid,
still alive, and could l but find him ere
too late might save our souls alive from
1 knew not what Instantly he was no
longer the heir of the house Of San, but
mine, my own, that had lived and loved
and lain on my breast, and whose life
would die q million deaths to save, whose
agony would brave the gods to assuage.
How tossed the dreadful bundles about
How tore item open ruthlessly, only to
see q sunken eye or gaping mouth! How
chung to the spiderlike ladders and leaped
across chasmlike spaces. AT last, among
a heap of squalid rags, in a corner where
snakes writhed and ran, little foot peep
ed out. 1t moved. 1t was warm. tore
away the cloths as dog tears at the earth
that covers his quarry and snatched the
oh TO art Nm lie horn RI
ed a wide wound, its edges already purple
and receding, and as looked l saw tho IA
tai flush spread up and up. Waterl Oh,
If there were only waterl saw dull
pool at my feet and, STOPPING, dashed the
icy drops upon the wound. In vain. One
chance remained-to call back the fleeing
soul by name in desperate entreaty. Sure
ly my baby would listen. The word died
on my lips, for the child on my heart
changed again as / would have spoken,
and what knew of the name of the mi
kado's heirr Let me think. 1 must think.
Did not some one of that cruel crowd that
stared and grinned speak itH l strive;
groan; 1 cry aloud. The heavy air sends
back my cries holloway, and as 1 choke
into silence see the lids flutter and fall.
The hope of the empire has gone all too
soon to the sacred shades of Fusiyama,
and l, / alone, must answer.
Alone in the silence and darkness Of a
cell. could put out my hand and feel
that the wall was made Of some rough wo-
ven grass, about which chung penetrat-
ing odor. In this grass could hear the
movement of millions Of minute insects,
knew not of what detested shape and
kind. 1 began to pass my hands over these
walls in know not what barren hope Of
escape. Carefully 1 crept on and on, meas
uring, comparing, testing. Then went
back and began again. My hands kept
slipping off strangely into space. The
cell had no shape-simply dimension.
Alasl 1 was no simple onlooker at some
splendid revel of primeval nature. All
that was in this stupendous scheme was
me, sentient, suffering soul.
The helpless, tortured ego was a part of
the whole. 1t froze on those cold, pierre
ing peaks, baked on those plains of arid
sand, was tossed in that human sea, was
blown on those tempestuous winds. All
this I was, all this 1 inflicted, all this 1
bore for forever.
Then the end came. About me, in me,
of me, there was only light light that
grew and blazed and turned white and
grew again till the eyes of both body and
~,