Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-10-17
THE
THE
PICTURE or DORIAN GRAY,
BY OSCAR WILpR

Inn that Is but suitable for a solourn OF &
night, or for a few hours Of a night in which
there are no stars and no moon is In travail.
Mysticism, with its marvellous power Of
making common things strange TO us, and
the subtle antinomianism that always seems
to accompany II, moved him for a reason:
and for a season he inclined to the ma
terialistic doctrines of the "Darwinismusr
movement in Germany, and found a curious
pleasure In tracing the thoughts and
passions OF men 10 some pearly cell In the
brain, or some white nerve in the body, de-
lighting in the conception of the absolute
dependence Of the spirit on certain physical
conditions, morbid or healthy, normal or
diseased. Yet, as has been said of him be-
fore, no theory Of life seemed TO him TO be
Of any importance compared with life
itself. He felt keenly conscious OF
how barren oil intellectual speculation is
when separated from actionand experiment.
Ho knew that the senses, no less than the
soul, have their mysteries to reveal.
And so he would now study perfumes,
and the secrets Of their manufacture, dis
filling heavily scented oils, and burning
odorous gums from the East. He saw that
there was no mood Of the mind that had not
its counterpart in the sensuous life, aud set
himself 10 discover their true relations.
wondering what there was in frankincense
that made one mystical, and in ambcrgris
that stirred ones passions, and in violets
that woke the memory Of lead romances.
and in musk that troubled the brain, and in
chamdalx that stained the Imagination; and
seeking often TO elaborate a real psychology
OF perfumes, and TO estimate the several m
fuences Of understanding roots, and scent
cd pollen-laden flowers, Of aromatic balms.
and OF dark and fragrant woods, of spiken-
ard that sickens, Of hovena that makes men
mad, and Of aloes that are said to be able TO
expel melancholy from the soul.
At another time he devoted himself en-.
tirely to music, and in a long. latticed room,
with a vermilion-and- gold ceiling and walls
OF olive-green lacquer, he used 10 give
curious concerts in which mad gypsies tore
wild music from little zithers, or gave
yellow-shawled Tunisians plucked at the
strained strings Of monstrous lutes, while
grinning negroes beat monotonously upon
copper drums, or turbaned Indians, crouch
ing upon scarlet mats, blew through long
pipes OF reed or brass, and charmed, or
feigned to charm great hooded snakes and
horrible horned adders. The harsh inter-
walls and shrill discords Of barbaric music
stirred him at times when S~chubert's grace,
and Chopin's beautiful sorrows, and the
mighty harmonies of Beethoven himself fell
UNDECIDED on his ear. He collected together
from all parts of the world the ~strangest in
struments that could be found, either in the
tombs of lead nations or among the few
aoyana t,iIcu that hax-n arrt-ivnl contact
with Western civilizations, and loved TO
touch and try them. He had the mysterious
jurupdris Of the Rio Negro Indians. that
women are not allowed TO look at, and that
even youths may not see till they have been
subjected to fasting and scourging, and the
earthen jars OF the Peruvians hat AVE the
shrill cries of birds, and flutes Of human
bones such as Alfonso de Ovalle heard in
Chill, and the sonorous green stones that
are found near Cuzeo and give forth a note
Of singular sweetness. He had painted
gourds filled with pebbles that ratified when
they were shaken; the long eldrip Of the
Mexicans, into which the performer does
not blow, but through which he inhales the
air; the harsh tute of the Amazon tribes.
that is sounded by the sentinels who sit all
day long in trees, and that can be heard, it
is said, at a distance Of three leagues; the
tepOndztlL that has two vibrating tongues OF
wood, and Is beaten with sticks that are
smeared with an elastic gum obtained from
the milky juice of plants; the B0ttbells Of
the AZtecs. that are hung in clusters like
with the skins of great serpchts, ireo me
one that Bernal Diaz saw when he went
with Cortes into the Mexican temple, and
Of whose doleful sound he has left US so
vivid a description. The fantastic character
of these instruments fascinated him, and he
felt a curious delight in the thought that
Art, like Nature, has her monsters, things
of bestial shape and with hideous voices.
Yet, after some time, he wearied Of them,
and would sit in his box at the opera, either
rapt pleasure to '~Tannhauscr," and seeing
in the great work Of art q presentation of
the tragedy Of his own soul.
On another occasion he took up the study
OF jewels, and appeared at a costume ball as
Anne de Joyeuse, Admiral Of France, in a
dress covered with five hundred and sixty
pearls. He would often spend a whole day
settling and resettling in their cases the
various stones that he had collected, such
as the olive-grecn ~chrysoberyi that turns
red by lamp-light, the cymophane with its
wire-like line Of silver, the pistachio-colored
peridot, rose-pink and wine-yellow topazes,
c~arbuncles Of fiery scarlet with tremulous
four-rayed stars, fame-red cinnamon
stones, orange and violet spinels, and
a~methysts with their alternate layers of
ruby and sapphire. He loved tho red gold
of the sunstone, and the moonstone's pearly
whiteaess, and the broken rainbow of the
milky opal. He procured from Amsterdam
three emeralds Of extraordinary size and
richness of color, and had q turquoise de Ia
rieflle roche that was the envy Of all the con-
n~oisseurs.
He discovered wonderful stories, also
about jewels. In Alphonso's '-Clericalis
Discipline" a serpent was mentioned with
eyes of real jacinth, and in the romantic his
tory Of Alexander he was said TO nave
found snakes in the vale Of Jordan with
collars of real emeralds growing on
their backs" There was a gem in the brain
Of he dragon, philostratus told us, and Shy
the exhibition Of golden letters and a scarlet
robe" the monster would te thrown into .
magical sleep, and slain. According to the
great alchemist Pierre de Boniface, the dia-
mond rendered q man invisible, and the
agate Of India made him eloquent. The
comedian appeased anger, and the hyacinth
provoked sleep, and the amethyst drove
away the fumes Of wine. The garnet cast
out demons, and the hydropicus deprived
the moon of her color. The ~selenite waxed
and waned with the moon. and the meloceus,
that discovers thieves, could be affected
only by the blood OF kids. Leonardus
Camillus had seen a white stone taken from
the brain Of a newly killed toad that was a
certain antidotc against poison. The bezoar.
that was found in the heart Of the Arabian
deer, was q charm that could cure the
plague. In the nests OF Arabian birds was
the aspilates, that, according to Democritus.
kept the wearer from any danger by fire.
The King Of Ceilan rode through his city
with = large ruby In his hand, as the cere-
mony of his coronation. The gates Of the
palace OF John the Priest were smade OF
sardius, with the horn Of the horned snake
.inwrought, so that no mar might bring
poison within." Over the gable were '.two
golden apples, In which We're two car
buncles," SO that the gold might shine by
day and the carbuncles by night. In Lodges
Strange omanc "A Margaritc Of America"
1t was stated that in the chamber Of Mar
CARTE were seen ''all the chaste ladies Of
the world, inchased out Of silver, looking
through fair mirrours of ~chrysolites. car
b%uncles, sapphircs, and greene emeraults."
M a~,. IN ~