The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-29

It was when NJ. Carnot was Ministel
/ Of France that he came into possession
! of the stone idol, which had beer
/ brought from India by his friend, Gus
tave le Bon
at is the most interesting of my ORR
entail acquisitions" explained the traveller
land I am giving it to you because yGu
have the true Oriental fatalism and also
because you were named after the
Persian poet.
you remember how scornful Sadi was
of amoition? Well, this idol breaches
an eloquent sermon on the same theme
i belonged to the King of Khadjurdo
9rd ihaIe was tradition that no man
who did not anoint it with the blood O.
it's previous possess or could reach the
throne.
so you see the idol bestows power
with one hand ana death with the
other"
Nine Garnet, who was present, turned
pale and looked with dislike at the gro
tesque features Of the god. But her hus
band. who was fond of outlandish curios,
caressed its head and expressed his
pleasure at the gift. NJ. lie Bon went on
10 relate the legend Of the idol.
1t was a long story.
Many kings had ruled over Khadjurdo
since the installation of the grinning
idol in the royal palace.
Their reigns had been short and bloody.
Each had died at the hands of an assas-
sin, who, Selling the idol, had usurped
the throne-only to fall in turn at the
hands Of the next ambitious rival to be
lured to destruction by the stone gods
hooking smile.
So it went until the English descended
upon India, and there were no more
kings in Khadjurdo But the idol, though
no longer anointed with royal blood, con-
tinued to bring evil fortune TO its pos
SCISSOR after first permitting him to re-
alize his ambition.
Among its modern victims had been
major of British cavalry, a Brahmin
princess, the head Of q department in
the civil service, rich money-lender
and an old dealer in antiquities, from
whose heirs NJ lie Bon had bought it.
'And so you see." he concluded. that
the chain Of evidence IS complete enough
for a supersttious mind. But you, my
dear Sadi, namesake of the philosophical
Persian. are superior to such fears, and
present the image to you as fitting
= mbol Of that ambition which the poet
warns us against in the fable of the
Flag and the Carpet
This WAS the fa0le Of the Flag and the
Carpet:
"A Flag disconnected with its hard lot
and envying the slothful life Of its neigh
Dor, the Carpet. spoke thus:
" 1 have not a moments peace in my
life. IN every expedition I march be-
meath the sun and rain. at the head of
armies You, on the other hand repose !
luxuriously in the shelter of the D r'ace.
caressed b. the most beautiful slaves |
of the harem, brilliant as the m1ol and
perfumed like the jasmine
and the Carpet replied:
" If I get re0ose II IS becaIse Z m
AUmh'y spread out and trodden UPON on /
Tie floor Of the palace. instead OF ~sis- /
:rs my head Z the sky like yo1. euu OF |
price andN glory, Whoever win raise /
himself above others must not complain /
Il he is exposed 20 peril and tossed about
by the winds -
Sadi Carnot was not an ambitious man /
III LAa@ tlot ttle Ieillo>e~t ltea 6L DSCO1- /
ing President Of the Republic. The !
thought Of the little stone god symbolic (
ing ambition amused him, but he aid not /
associate it with anything IN his own I
mind. Indeed. the idol would have been
nothing more than the chiec ooject in his
Of curiasities Il il had not been
for the approximations Of Nine Carnot. /,
who could not divest her mind of the
gloom excited by n. le Bon's narrative
In this w3y the Idol became she sub
JecJ Of a perennial household controversy.
playful on N. Carnots part. bur on his
" te's rart more serious than she cared
&c cs2fess
When feme ana power came unex-
pecte1ly - the modest grandson Of the
great revolutiouist. regicide organize Of
victory and discoverer Of NAPOLEON. he
took occasion 70 rally his wife upon her
dislike Il he Hjndoa IMAGE.
You see" he said. at has fnlalIea tba
first part Of its mission. but ala net COM
pei me 8-st % anola; E, with the blo5s
of nay predecessor Il has evidently h.
come civilized. perhaps Christianizes
I shan honor i as my mas
cot
But Nine. Cannot was even more m
easy THAI before, She saw something
more than coiDcidence in her huses-,5.S