The herald., 1895-07-28
LORINUS
A Tale of Love in Arizona, After
Evangelinc
By Edward Hutchison

This is the desert primeval. The howl
ing coyote and Apache
Seem like demons of old. with voices
hoarse and dscordant;
Seem like harpies old, with beaks th at
rest on their b1soms.
This is the desert primeval; bat where
are the hearts OF the lovers.
Bounding and empty as footballs. and so
used by the feet of the maidens
Dwelling OF old in the land OF the hapless
and fearless and heartless!
Loud, from the neighboring canyon, the
deep-voiced cataract
Speaks. and in accents disconsolate an
swcrs the wall from the desert.
Ye who believe in the beauty and strength
Of young mans devotion,
List to merry tradition still sung by the
widest Apaches;
List to tale OF love IN our own Arizona,
land Of the cowboys.
In the Apache land on the shores of the
NJ river OF SaluS,
Distant, secluded still, the little village
of Clinus
Lay in the fruitless valley. Vast deserts
stretched to the eastward.
Patient and peaceful bur elm bed the
mountain tops westward,
Looked OH the happy valley, and no'er
from their station descended,
Even to toll, till the gentle and kindly
cowboys, in accents
Tender and saint-like, appealed TO their
ears and their yielding integument.
Brave were the brawny lads. as Apaches
of golden days, long ago.
Fair in sooth were the maidens; as fair
AS the fair at Chicago.
Oft on the Sabbath eve the merriest lads
and their own merry lasses,
Mounted on f1eetest Of mustangs, sped far
o'er the sandiest parties;
Singing like noisiest of hreezes OF autumn
time. over the village
Round and around the village. they
scared and the song was ever of love
Love and potations; OF love like the love
of Geronimo, bravest of men;
Wondrous potations as deep as well
and as strong as the love of woman!
Fairest OF maidens in Cline was Anita,
the daughter OF Pablo Moreno.
Bravest of lads was young Carlos. the son
of Guillermo Bautista Ranchero.
Many lad with two broncos stopped at
the door OF Moreno;
Day after day Was young Carlos the only
lad, happy lad. welcomed there.
Pablo was always Guillermo's $ best friend, ,
and their children but followed them.
Oft, ON autumnal eyes, when without in
the gathering darkness,
Down the hillside. bounding, the children
rode away Ger the prairie,
Warm, by the bar within. Guillermo and
Pablo watched the gay bartender;
And when his back was turned, drank to
the health of their children.
Thus passed few sweet years and they
no longer were children.
He was valiant youth and labored no
more than bis father.
She was a woman now. with the heart
and hopes OF a woman.
Manifest now was the womanly longing,
the tender regard for all
Duty. the modernized passion. absorbing
and constant and holy.
Showing that ell the daughters of Eve
we're intended by nature for
Nothing but teaching the schools of the
villages, cities and country side.
Carlos was happy ;she would provide
for him all through the sunny years.
Now had the season returned when the
nights are for lovers and ram blers,
And when schoolmasters wander away
seeking new schoolma ans and school
houses
Into the village OF Cline, on pleasant
autumnal eve. strayed youth,
Guileless and artless. the schoolmaster now
called Lorinus, surnamed The Swan.
Slowly he entered the village; and up rose
matrons and maidens,
Hailing his slow approach with words OF
affectionate welcome.
Then came the village lads forth from the
barrooms, and columns of blue smoke
Rose from a hundred tongues, from the
Jealous lads OF the village.
Few were the words of the maidens. but
their souls with devotion translated,
Cheered with looks more than words the
mournful heart of Lorinus.
Louder and ever louder, a wall of sorrow
and anger @., et7~ -, .
Rang through the streets of the village
and high o'er the heads OF the others,
Rose. with his arms uplifted, the figure
of Carlos the bravest.
Flushed was his face and distorted with
passion; and wildly he shouted
"Down with the smooth tongued Lorinus!
d, we will not endure him among us ~
More be fam would have said, but the
rs sklllful right hand of Lorinus
Smote him upon the mouth and dragged
him down to the pavement;
And, by one impulse moved, the others
fed in the darkness.
".
Now to the cidevant school, for long
time neglected, deserted,
Flocked all the maids of the village; and
there too came sundry young widows.
Bevies Of spinsters of doubtful age, sud-
denly stricken of conscience,
To n |, 10 ~,