The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-09-01

lie had ta'en some twenty gentlemen
along with him to go,
FOR ne Will pay the ancient VOW he to Saint
James doth owe,
To Compastella. where the shrine dotb h.,
the altar stand,
The good Rodrigo de Bivar ia rtdin,
through the land
Where 'er he goes. much aims he throws to
feeble folk and poor:
Beside the way for him they pray hin,
blessing to procure.
For God and Mary mother, their Heavenly
grace to win,
His Lord was ever bountiful great was
his joy therein.
And there, In middle of the path q 1ene-
did appear;
In deep slough the leper lay, none would
to help come near
With loud voice he thence did cry: For
God, our Saviour's sake,
From out the fearful jeopardy a Christian n
brother take.
When Rodrigo heard that piteous word. he
from his horse came down:
For all they said, no stay he made that
noble champion.
He reached his hand to pluck him forth. of
fear was no account,
Then mounted on his steed of worth, and
made the leper mount.
"
Behind him rode the leprous man; when
to their hostelrie
They came, he made him eat with him al
table cheerfully:
While all the rest from the poor guest with
In3 thing Oh
To his own bed the wretch he led beside
him there he lay.
All at the mid-hour of the night, while
good Rodrigo slept,
\ breath came from the leprous man. i,
through his shoulders crept
Right through the body. at the breast
passed forth that breathing cold:
| wot he leaped up with a start in tcrrors
manifold.
He groped for him in the bed, but him h,
could not fird.
Through the dark chamber groped he, will
very anxious mind
Loudly he lifted up his voice, with speed
lamp he brought
Yet nowhere was the leper seen. though fa
and near they sought.
Will
He turned him to his chamber, Got wot
perpexed and sore
With that which had befallen-when 10
his face before,
There stood man all clothed in vestur.
shining white.
Thus said the vision: "Sleepest thou, OF
Wakest thou, Sir knight"
IN.
Il sleep not" quoth Rodrigo; but tell m,
who art thou.
For, in the midst of darkness, much ligh
is on thy brow?"
Il am the holy Lazarus, l come to speal
with thee;
l am the same poor leper thou savedst fo
charity.
Not vain the trial. nor in vain thy victor!
hath been;
God favors thee, for that my pain tho,
did st relieve yestrten.
There shall be honor with thee, In battl,
and in peace.
Success in all thy doinSs. and plentiful in
crease.
The poem contains few verses more
in which the happy ever afterward'
ending is given. 1t is thought that from
tins James Russell Lowell conceived
the idea of The Vision of Sir Launfal.
There is also another beautiful stor,
of his marriage with Nimene, thu
daughter of the count of Ovledo, ant
granddaughter to- Alphonso the y. Al
though Il great soldier and Il might.
statesman the Cid was net ashamed o
the most gentle things of life, and hi
soul was full of true sentiment. Th'
story goes that when the Cid was tell
ing the dark-eyed Spanish girl of hi
love that she was holding in her han'
several white native roses, and that tn
maiden's blushing turned them Grim
son. Afterward these roses did no
fade as roses usually do, but laste'
until the wedding. While the cere
mony was being performed they grad
ually turned pure white again, ant
they were ever afterward called th'
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 sold&r
who have tried to conquer the world
after his first great defeat. the Cid die'
of anger and grief about 1899. 1t wa
after the battle of Cuenca, at whic]
his army was completely routed. Afte
much disturbance: the body of the Ci'
lies in the center of q small chapel il
Burgos. Here this truest of Spanisl
heroes, the embodiment of all the ma
tional virtues and most of the nationa
vice, lies in great state upon larg
slab. The body was bound Gy gol'
rings to wooden cross and place,
there surrounded by his companions il
war. To-day old time and relic seeker
have left cnly the rings and the small
bits OF wood tha: cling to them. Phili
II. tried to have him canonized. bu
Rome objected. With all of his vir
tues the Cid was not the fit person TO
a saint.
Such is the story. veracious ant
otherwise. of the greatest of the guer
rilleros in legend and in history, o
the greatest type of the rebel, tn
bandit and warrior from the days O
Sertorius to those of FL Ernpecinauc
The one man whose life has gone NOR
l