Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-04-30

VINO were pressing upon H!ul anu I"lu
him dead at his feet
\ peal of thunder resounded. The
second wing fell, the white robe also
and the aureole vanished a voice
cried:
THE first trial-anger -
Already the courtesan, Regina, had
thrown herself into the combat. Now
she gazed upon the angel, struck by
his superhuman beauty.
Come, I love thee I" she said.
Thou didst well to slay this fellow.
He insulted thee, the drunkard Fol
low me-
Then Cyriam cried
Since no longer l am more than
man, earth's pleasures shall be mine.
I'll follow thee-thou art beautiful
and I-I-indeed am lost"
And as he mingled with the throng
they did homage to him for his valor
and his splendid presence.
Marie, left alone, wept in the high
way, knowing that great evil had be-
fallen. and her dog, for PHYS sake,
licked the teardrops from her eyes,
while her sheep grazed where they
listed.
Cyriam, of origin divine, is great
among men. Heis the most beautiful,
the strongest, the most beloved. he has
wished for gold-he is rich for land
and titles-he has them. In war he
extermimates, and the obscure crowd
of combatants give way before him,
lose their footing, terrified by the su-
pernatural. After Regina, who died
for love. others have adored him. The
earth is illumined by his brightness.
And his adventures are numberless.
He has succumbed successively to all
human temptations. The seven capi-
tai sins are his best companions by
all his immortal force, which multi
plies the evil tenfold and prolongs it
indefinitely, he surpasses the worst
human culprit. He acknowledges
neither fatigue nor repose. He pauses
not.
Sometimes, however, he looks up
ward and sighs. Yetthe sounds about
him again divert him, and he returns
to his wished for pleasure.
As time passes, bitterness comes.
The immortal beholds death about him.
AS he is human of heart, so has he
loved unreservedly both mistresses and
friends. He sees them grow old, sad
den and die. Others he has after them,
but their fate is the same. Alone un-
changeable, he sees them pass away,
and each time that a loved being dis
appears he suffers and weeps
How many times did he suffer and
weep during ten human centuries,
which seemed to him as hardly so
many days? And his martyrdom was
of every hour. Renewal did not FIJI
up the CULTS of the past.
Across the throng of faces that he
had met in the abolished years two
memories haunted him implacably-
that of heaven, and also-how strange
indeed that of Marie, the poor child,
whom he had met on that first evening,
end who now, doubtless, had long been
dead. And it was the women who re-
sembled Marie that he preferred above
the others
Thus, amid noise and commOtionr
Cvriam existed for century after CEN
turv. Then, one day, weary Of every
thing envving mankind,whos inevita.
bic escape is death (which yet may be
advanced by self killing, he drew
apart from the abodes of civilized men
walking for long time in the solitude
Of the fields.
At twilight, as on the evening o
/ long ago, he sat him down at the OF Z
/ hill. in a corner of deserted road.
Suddenly he saw poor, baretoO
child coming toward him, leading
rich flock through the deepening gloom
With painting breath he watched ne
as she drew nigh, and he murmured;
"Ob, earth Oh, earth aecursed
Yet will pardon thee if this poo
child be by miracle the child of lon
ago. the first one met, whose memOr,,
why, I know not-dwells ever in m,