The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-07-30
THE MURMUR
OF THE WORLD

Leaving at dawn a little town where en-
perors dweit for the time. and where
there was all the glory of imperial splen-
dor. for which he cared nothing save as
the spectator of splendid pageants, the
man set out to lose himself in the noun
tains. He wandered far. cared not whittier.
He had only his steel-shod staff for COM
panion and friend. He cared for nothing
more at the hour but there came time
when something more was demanded In
a little glade almost at the very foot of
the snow he met a cavalcade 1t was
noontime. He stepped apart and uncover
ed. recognizing that those about to pass
were his superiors. The two in the party
as the stranger lifted his hand in military
salute They were the old emperor Will
lam of Germany and the old Emperor
Francis Joseph of Austria. Some questions
were asked kindly, but in some amuse-
ment. The questions were frankly answer
ed. The venerable ruler of the Germans.
forever illustrious, bent in his saddle and
said, Take this, lad" The gift was a
common rawhide riding whip. silver
mounted. Receiving the whip the way
farer stood at salute. The two old en-
perors returned the salute and passed by.
Their suite did likewise, saluting. Why all
this, is a question answerable the book
of human kindness. In this world of ours
kindness is most becoming in the great;
n ex-a.n tae in hn nx1-1U A N
trous American, by name Dewey, passed
through that same vale yesterday and by
that spot where his unknown compatriot
was crowned in the Hall of the Mirrors at
was Drowned in the hall of the Uinors at
Versailles. whilst the guns yet Numbered
against heleaugered Paris the emperor of
the Germans.
The young wayfarer. bearing the imperial
gift as a great treasure, paused for time.
and then rested upon a stone A white
winged bird poised above him, still as some
white silhouette against a biack-bue sky.
Some other bird not known to him burst
into song in a copse hard by A cock-pheas-
ant crossed the imperial road followed by
a hen-pheasant. He reflected somewhat
bitterly that the birds were not in order.
An antered stag stood in the roadway.
defiantly. There was no doe there. The les
son was not lost upon him. From far down
the glen came to him the echo of the
horses hoofs of the emperors. He looked
at the whip, fondled it almost caressingly.
The little bit of rawhide opened to him no
rtew life. 1t was merely one letter in the
index to life he was not to know, could
not know upon this planet or any other
planet set in the almighty diadem. Half
lifting the dry bit of hide he was about to
fleek the dust of his far-worn boot He
paused. A great golden bee rested upon
his Tyrolese garment. Half-unconsciousy
he whipped 1t away. 1t lay in the mark of
an emperor's horse helpless. STOPPING he
lifted it, and he was stung bitterly He
flung it from him, and, soaring, the golden
bee passed down the vale whittier rode the
emperors. His thoughts were not bitter;
they were slightly rancorous, turning to
the side of tenderness He was merely an
American, a rebel against every CONSTITUTE
ed thing upon the earth save established
justice and personal liberty.
The man looked upward, being tired of
heart There rose the mountain as blue
DIS the SKY lHdL klSSeu II. ABdlHSl that
wondrous lower blue, just where the sun
light battled with the shadows, the white
winged bird poised, as if to beckon. The
sting of the golden bee was making fever
in his veins. He was athirst and famished.
On the other side of the road there bubbled
from a stone stream of clear water. Over
the little spring was the sign of the cross.
A crucifix was set there. He was not learn
ed in the sacred lessons of the Church. So
he uncovered. as he had done in the pres
ence of the emperors, as he would have
done upon entering holy place anywhere
He drank as an might drink at noon
time, sharp of thirst. A little way up the
road of the emperors he found the way that
led over the summit through the wood and
through the snow to the valley on tie other
side. He went that way. Some weakness
fell upon him, he knew not how or why.
He drew from the little he bore a fiagon
of wine given by the good wine-wfe far
below, and drank copiously This gave him
strength, and, with his steel-shod staff, he
found his way upward, ever weaker, ever
struggling, knowing only that some dream
had fallen upon him. AT the summit,
where the eidelweiss grew, he rested He
looked away to the westward, whittier had
gone the emperors; looked down upon the
valley. All was blacklist blackness, save
where he rested. There there the sunshine
played upon the snow marvellously. He
believed he heard music. He felt sleep
sealing his eyelids down. Struggling to his
feet he passed down the deciivity into the
blacklist blackness.
After the pain had passed she said to him
in a tongue not his own that the sting OF
the bee had been upon MIN. How long so,
that does not matter now. The record that
is writ is not for this story. The good
priest had been there constantly. A doc
tor man had come twice or thrice through
the trees and over the STOW across the
mountain The imrer police mad kept
constant surveillance The shadow had
passed-all was well. The sting Of the
golden bee of those valleys cannot be for
got, she said He locked at her, and he
believed that no creature of the hisner