The Winslow mail., 1898-12-10


For all they said. 10 stay ne made. that
noble champion. s-..
lie reached his hand to pluck him forth of
fear Was no account
Ihen mounted on his steed ot worth, and s.
made the leper mount.
Behind him rode the leprous man, when =
to their hostelria g
Fhey came. he made him eat with him at 81
table eheerfully;s~ k sfs
While all the rest from the poor guest With se
loathing shrunk away -
To his own bed the wretch he led. beside
him there he lay. -ea 81
VI
All at the nid-hour OF the night, while ~
good Rodrigo slept -
breath came from the leprous man. 1T z -
through his shoulders crent. -
flght through the body, at the breast zres.
passed forth that breathing colo;
Wot lie leaped UP with start in terrors
manifold.
He groped for him in the bed. but him hs
Through the dark chamber CROPPED he, with -
very anxious mind
Loudly he lifted up his voice, with speed a
lamp he brought
Yet nowhere was The Ieper seen, though far
and near they sought.
: aEt
He turned him to his chamber, Got wot.
Perpiexed and sore
With that which had befallen-when 10!
his face before,
There stood man all clothed in yesture Z
shining white.
Thus said The vision: "sieepest thou.1or
wakest thou. Sir Knight9'
Il sleep not" Quoth Rodrigo; but tell me
who art thou.
For, in the midst of darkness, much light
is on thy brow?' 31 -h :.
II am the holy Lazarus, I come to speak
with thee;
am the same poor leper thou savedst for
charity.
Not vain the trial, nor in vain thy victory
hath beeE;l '-#a f. A3EEA
God favors thee, for that my pain thou
Gid'st relieve yestreen. ~
There shall be homer with thee, IN battle
and in peace. &b#f5s3E AS
Success in all thy doings, and plentiful in y
crease.
The poem contains few verses more
in which the happy ever afterward"
ending is given. 1t Is thought that from
this James Russell Lowell conceived
the idea Of THE Vision of Sir Launfal"
There is also another beautiful story
of his marriage with Ximene, the
daughter Of the count of Oviedo, and
granddaughter to Alphonso the VAL :
though a great soldier and 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 Gid was tell
ing the dark-eyed Spanish girl of his i
love that she was holding in her hand
several white native roses, and that the
lnaiden's 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 afterward 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 in any of the older chronicles. s.4
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 1899. 1t was
after the battle of Cuenca, at which
his army was completely routed. After
much disturbance. the body of the Cid
lies in the center of q small chapel in
BGrgos 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 wooden cross and placed
there surrounded by his companions in u
war. To-day old time and relic seekers
have left only the rings and the small
bits of wood taat cling to them. Philip
Ii. tried to have him canonized. but -
Rome objected. With all of his vir
tues the Cid was not the fit person for
saint
Such is the story, veracious md = =
otherwise of the greatest of the guer-5o.
rilleros in legend and in history. of
the greatest type of the rebel, the
bandit and warrior from the days Of
Sertorins to those of Ell Empecinado.1e
The one man whose life has gone more
TO form the destiny, history and litera-. Z. I.
ture Of nation than any other human
being that has ever lived.-Louisville a
Courier-J ournal. eaH