Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-02-28
The Remarkable Tale
IF tine
Mysterious Bronze Box.


ceiVed II from my grandfather years
before. His one great desire had been
TO live 10 open it himself. but that
could not be. for il was asking of ma
ture too long a lease: so il fell 10 M
20 carry out the will of a man who had
been nearly five hundred years dead.
can see il now. with its Silver tipped
corners ami heavy hinges. and the en-
craving on the plate in the top. an
Inscription which | read over and over
and over again until it became stamp
ed upon the tablets of memory n2ver
TO be effaced. They call me mad. yet
could reproduce that inscription,
word for word. and letter for letter.
I aye. | will. that the reader may judge
for himself concerning my mental
state:
On his first day of April. in the
year OF cure LOrde a thousand tire
hundred and four score and nyne. |
Godefray. seen this box with myne
owne hand. and willie and command
that i; be not opende until FIVE hun
dred yeren To a day from this tyne.
do also willie that only by hand of
first born son of first born in Image
from me shall this seal be broken. And
when this box shall be opende. some
animal which hath no soule. be it CRETE
or small. shall Their be present Al this
willie. and curst be he whose shall
do other than here is written.
The fact that il had fallen TO me to
open the box at the appointed time
was my only proof that | was de-
scendant of the Godfrey of the in
scription. That | was the first born
of my father. and he of his. | knew:
but further back all was tradition. No
writing had been preserved. and
at each descent from father to son
the box had lost something of the
story associated with il. till at last
its history had become dim and vague.
Through this veil of miss. as it were.
| pictured Godfrey as one OF the few
firm supporters of the weak and ir-
resolute Richard of England. at that
period in the midst of troublous times.
Then there was tradition of NOR
tai foe, who | placed as probably an
adherent CT John of Gaunt-the year
being that of his return from the
South-a foe whom Godfrey had met
and terribly yanquished before fleeing
the country. Here. somehow. out of
this feud between Godfrey and his
nameless foe. the bronze box seemed to
have had its BIRTH There was. too.
something concerning a terrible re-
venge-a revenge to be perfected when
the bronze box wa opened: but this.
considering that five hundred years
would have elapsed, even should il be
preserved unopened so long-a thing
any sane man would have secuted as
highly improbable this | looked up
pom as simply widest romance. In
what way could a revenge be complet-
cd or made of any effect when both
parties would have been hundreds of
years dead?
For years after the death of my
father | kept the bronze box at the
bottom of a cLest of books little used.
and upon accepting my professional
lair at the Durston Medical College
that chest accompanied me thither
did not remove the box from the chest
until the spring of So, when some
thing reminded me of il. and | was
then deeply impressed with the fact
that the five hundred years had near
iy rounded their course. Only four
years more. should | live, and the
privilege OF opening the box would be
mine.
From that time forth my thoughts
were more or less constantly upon il.
Often at night would | take it down
from its hiding place in corner of
my bookcase TO which | had trans
ferred il from the chest. and. placing
IL before M on the table. there
dream and dream over the wonder
fully strange inscription 1t bore
Many times | was sorely tempted TO
break the seal but | resisted deter
minsdly resisted, firmly resolved that
what had bean so sacredly observed
by my forefathers should not be desc
Grated at last by me. even though |
had no son 10 whom could hand down
the charge.
As the time drew on. my every
thought began to centre upon the eng
ma. Ii was uppermost in my mind
by day. the disturber of my sleep at
night. II became the one absorbing
idea of my existence. In giving lee
lures before my classes | would find
myself wandering from my subject in
spite of every effort of will At times
would recover with a start. TO find
that | had ceased speaking altogether.
and was simply staring. IL vas the
bronze box. ever the bronze box. al
ways the bronze box.
| could not but realize that | was
not holding my class; that |. who
more than once had chained the adj
vertence of learned Minus. was losing
my power to keep ne attention of even
these raw ineeptors. How il CALLED
me. My mind had never been more
vigorous. my powers were at their best
ripened fullness. my veriest drivel was
wisdom TO those callow goslings. and
yet they Knocked me. Can you wonder
If occasionally | gave way and broke
forth upon them in passionate words?
| was glad when the final year OF
that terrible suspense drew toward a
close. | was eager TO have the matter
off my hands and out of mind Only
three months more. and that tremen-
dous circle of five centuries would be
finished. Night after night | sat with
the bronze box in my hands under nv