The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-09-22

Hatto, the hermit, stood on the arid
plain and prayed to G,d. The wind
blew and it rained, and his long beard
and ragged hair were tossing in the
wind like the grass tufts around an old
ruin. Still he did not push the hair
from his eyes, nor tuck the beard into
his belt, for he was lifting his arms in
prayer. Ever since sunrise he had
been holding his knotty, hairy arms
towards the sky, as unwearyingly as a
tree stretches its branches, and he in
tended to stand there until night. He
had something important to pray for.
lie was man who had experienced
much of this worlds evil. He had per-
secuted many and caused them sorrow,
and he had been prosecuted in his turn
more than his heart could bear Then
he went out in the desert, dug for linn
self dwelling-place by the river, and
became holy man, whose prayers
reached Gods throne.
Hatto, the hermit, stood there by
the swiftly-fowing river, and prayed
his life's great prayer. lie prayed to
God to let the day of judgment come
upon this wicked world. He called to
the angels to make known with their
trumpcts the end of the power of sin.
He implored the waves of the sea to
drown the unrighteous, and he begged
the pestlence to fill the graveyards
with unnumbercd dead.
All around was desolatc plain. A
little farther on by the shore of the
river stood an old willow tree with
short trunk and head like protuber-
ance at the top, with new fresh leaves
and branches. Every fall it was plum
dcrcd Of these fresh saplings 10y the
people living on this plain so void of
fuel. Every spring the t.ee sent out
new fresh saplings, and on windy days
they fiared and swayed around it, like
the hair around IIatto, the hermit.
The wagtails that used to build their
nest on the top of the willy W trunk
were just going to begin building on
this day. But they could find no firm
place between the twisting, bending
branches. They came, bringing grass
and sticks, but it was no use; they had
to give it up. just then they sighted
old Hatto, who prayed to God that the
storm might increase sevenfold, and
that all birds'-nests might he demol-
ished from the earth. OF course it is
hard to realize how mossy and dried-up
and knotty and black and different
from any human being this old hermit
looked. The skin clung to his fore
head and checks, so that he rcsembled
a skull, and only from the slight glim-
mer in the depths of his eyes could one
tell that he was alive The arms were
thin and bony. covered with wrinklcd,
hard skin, like bark. He wore an Old.
black. narrow frock; he was burnt bv
the sun and black with dirt His hair
and beard were bleached by rain and
sunshine, until they had takcE on the
same green greyish tint as the under
side OF the willow leaves The birds,
seeking place to build their nest in,
mistook Hatto, the hermit, for an old
willow tree, barred in its upward growth
by axe and saw, like the other tree.
They flew around him several times,
taking notice Of the situation in regard
to birds Of prey, winds, etc. On the
whole, it was not Il very satisfactory
tree; still they decided to build there,
as it was near the river and the grass
tufts. Swift as an arrow one of them