The Winslow mail., 1898-09-10


FOR a!1 rao5 sald. 10 stay he made, that
noble champion.
He reached his hand 10 pluck him forth, of
fear was no account
Then mounted or hi; steed of worth, and
mace the leper mount.
Behind him rode the leprous man; when
to their hCstelIie
They came, he made him eat with him at
table cheerfully;
While all the rest from the poor guest with
loathing Shrunk away,
To his Own bed the wretch he led, beside
him there he lay.
VI.
All at the mid-hour of the night, while
good Rodrigo slept,
a breath came from the leprous man. it
through his shoulders crept;
Right through the body, at the breast,
passed forth that breathing cold
I wot he leaped up with a start in terrors
manifold.
He groped fer him in the bed, but him he
cculd not hnd,
Through the dark chamber groped he, with
very anxious mind;
1 Loudly he ll4tGQ CEj LIS NOlC6, Win SnGGQ a
lamp he brought
Yet nowhere was the leper seen, though far
AID near they sought.
VIII.
He turned him to his chamber, Got wot,
perplaNcG and sore
With that which had befailen-when 10!
his face before,
There s.ocd man all clothed in vesture
shining white.
Thus said the vision: "Sleepest thou, or
wakest thou, Sir Knight?"
81 sleep net" quoth Rodrigo; "but tell me
who art thcu,
Fer, il the midst OF darkness, much light
is en- thy broY?"
Il am the holy Lazarus, 1 come to speak
with thee;
I am the. same poor Ieper thou savedst for.
charity.
x.
mot vain the trial, nor in vain thy victory
hath been;
God favors thee, for that my pain thou
Gid'st relieve yestreen.
There shall be honor with thee, in battle
ard III peace,
Success in all thy doings, and plentiful in
crease"
The poem contains few verses more
in which the happy ever afterward"
ending is given. It is thought that from
this james Russell Lowell conceived
the idea of The Vision of Sir L2unfal."
There is also another beautiful story
of his marriage with Aimene, the
daughter of the count Of Cyledo, and
granddaughter to Alphonso the Y. AL
though a great soldier and a mighty
statesman the Cid was not ashamed of
the most gentle things Of lie, and his
soul was full OF true sentiment. The
story goes that when the Cid was tell
ing the dark-eyed Spanish girl OF his
love that she was holding in her hand
several white native roses, and that the
maidens blushing turned them Grim
SON. Afterward these roses did not
fade as roses usually do, but lasted
until the wedding. While the cere-
mony was being performed they grad
ually turned pure white again, and
they were ever. -af fterward called the
brides roses.
The origin of this legend is unknown,
and is doubtless the product Of some
late authors brain, as it cannot be
found III any Of the older chronicles.
Like all great and ambitious soldiers
who have tried to conquer the world,
after his first great defeat, the Cid died
Of anger and grief about fG99 1t was
after thc battle of Cuenca, at which
his army was completely routea. After
much disturbance the body OF the Cid
lies in the center of a small chapel in
Burgos. Here this truest Of Spanish
heroes, the embodiment of all the ma
tional virtues and most of;the national
vice, lies in great state upon large
slab. The body was bound by gold
rings to a wooden cross and placed
there surrounded by his companions in
war. To-day old time and relic seekers
have left only the rings and The small
bits Of wood that cling to them. Philip
IT. tried to have him canonized. but
Rome objected. With all. of his vir-
tues the Cid was net the fit person for
, a saint. -
Such is the story, veracious and
otherwise, of the greatest cf the guer-
rilleros in legend and in history, of
the greatest type Of the rebel, the
bandit and warrior from, the days of
Sertorius to those of FL Empecinado.
The one man whose life has gone more
to form the destiny, history and litera-
ture Of ration than any other human
being that has ever 1iyed-Louisville
j, Courier-J ourna1. ~.
New Dclts.
The shirt waists, and handsome odd