Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1898-07-30

For al thoy SAID, no stay he made, that
noble champion. ''''''
He reached his hand to nlucls >,.r ror,A
fear was no account
Then mounted on his s,eed ef worth o,,
made the lepcr mount
V.
Behind him rode the leprous man, whom
to their hostclrie
They came. he made him cat with him nj
table cheerfully;
While all the rest from the poor Cucst with
loathng shrunk away,
10 MS own bed the wretch he led. beside
him there he lay.
VI
All at the md-hour Of the night, while
good Rodrigo slept,
a breath came from the leprous man. II
through his shoulders crept;
Right through the body, at the breast,
passed. forth that breathing cold;
! wot he leaped up with start in terrors
manifold
VII.
lie CROPPED for him in the bed, but him he
could not find,
Through the dark chamber gropod he. with
very anxious mind,
Loudly he lifted up his voice, with speed a
lamp he brought
Yet nowhere was the leper seen, though far
and near they sought.
He turned him to his chamber, Got wot,
perplexed and sore
With that which had befallen--when 10!
his face before,
There stood man all clothed in vosture
shining white,
Thus said the vision; "sleepest thou, or
wakest thou. Sir knight?'
~ sleep not" quoth Rodrigo; "but tel me
who art thou,
For, in the midst of darkness, much light
is on thy brow?"
II am the holy Lazarus, ! come to speak
with thee.
| am the same poo? lepcr thou sayedst for
charity
mot vain the trial, nor in vain thy victory
hath been.
God favors thee, for that my pain thou
dd'st relieve yestIoGn.
There shall be honor with thee, in battle
and in peace,
Success in all thy doings, ard plentiful in
crease
The poem contains a few verses more
in which the happy ever afterWard
ending is given. 1t rs 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 Ximcnc, the
daughter of the count of Ovledo, and
granddaughter to Alphonso the Y, Al
though Il great soldier and mighty
statesman the Cid was not ashamed OF
the most gentle things of life, and hi,
soul was full of true sentiment The
story goes that when the Cid was tell
ing the dark-cyed Spanish girl OF hl'
love that she was holding in her han'
several white native roses, and that th'
maidens blushing turned them erin
son. Afterward these roses did no
fade as roses usually do, but LASTED
until the wedding. While the cere
mony was being performed they grad
ually turned pure white again, am
they were ever nfterward called TIN
brides roses.
The origin Of this legend is unknown
and is doubtless the product of som
late authors brain, as it cannot b
found in any of the older chronicles.
Like all great and ambitious soldier
who have tried to conquer the Worl'
after his first great defeat, the Cid die
Of anger aud grief about lo99 1t wa
after the battle of Cuenca, at Whic
his army was completely routed. Ate
much disturbance the body Of the Il
lies in the center of small chapel
Burgos. Here tbs truest of SPANS
heroes. the embodiment of all the nj
tional virtues and most of the nation'
vice, lies in great state upon lare
slab. The body was bound by go
rings to wooden cross and place
! there surrounded by his companions
. war. To-day old time ana rene seekel
have left only the rings and the sma
bits of wood that cling to them. Ph'l
ri. tried to have him canonlzed. D'
Rome objected. With all OF his VI
tues the Cid was not the fit person Il
II n saint,
Such is the story, veracious M
, otherwise, of the greatest of the que
y rileros in legend and in history,
the greatest type of the rebel. u
+ bandit and warrior from the days
II Sertorius to those of FL Empeclnad
II The one man whose life has gone mo
5 to form the destiny, history and liter
I ture cf n nation than any other hunt
. being that has ever lived.~--LoulsNi'
. Couricr-,Journal.