The L'Anse sentinel., 1906-04-14

w N"~|t chief priests, Mar
GUS grawled. shaking himself vigorous
ly in effort to overcome the chill Of
the night air. 81 like not the place or
the task which brings us thither."
I wish l were home," he added. and
his thoughts went back to the white.
lis.!ess form of his little girl, whom
he tad been forced to leave that after
noon. Would he ever see her alive
.again?" he asked himself, and the
heart OF the great rough soldier felt
as though it would break under the
weight Of its sorrow.
Little Marie was the only living
thing he had in the world. The moth
.er had died years before, ere he had
left Italy with his legion for Palestine,
and he had taken the little girl along
because she had begged so hard to
come, and because he did not feel tha.
he could leave her behind. The travel
and change from place to place had
been hard on the little one, for he was
not always able to give her the care
which she needed, but since coming
to Jerusalem, about year before, the
lines had fallen In pleasanter places.
Circumstances had made it possible
TO perform service for a Jewish fam
lily living there, and as result he
had found good home for his little
girl And just when he was happy and
'contented in the thought that she was
being well provided for and was grow
ing stronger, she had taken i'll. Tha.
was over week ago.
She had been out in the streets with
the other children when the throngs
from the city pressed out to meet one
named Jesus, whom they hailed aS
king, ond she had followed with the
rest. She had gone farther than her
strength could stand, and as result
had been thrown into a fever which
had wasted her slight form. She had
talked almost necessarily about tho
man Jesus whom she had seen ridinl
in regal state on the ass colt, anI
had declared over and over again:
"Oh, His face was SO good, wan,
to be with Him!"
Then had come the earthquake and
the darkness the day before, and the
fright had thrown her into convul-
sions, from which she had with great
difficulty rallied. And since then she
had been sinking gradually. and when
he bade her good-by he feared he never
would see her alive again.
He knew little about this man Jesus
whom the Jews had condemned to
death, and whom the Roman soldiers
had crucified, save that he made claims
to being the long-looked. king OF
the Jews.
why need they such guard?"
What" exclaimed voice OF his ell
bow, know you not that the hjgn
priests fear that this mans disciples
will come and steal his body away?'
why should they want to steal the
body?" asked Marcus. did they not
bring the body here themselves? And
is not this the tomb of the rich Jo-
.seph OF Arimathaea, one of His dis
,ciples?"
"Quite true, but know you not that II
is reported that this man Jesus de-
-clared that though they killed Him He
would rise from the grave on the third
sday?"
mo, who told thee that?"
"The centurion of our band was told
by one of the guards who stood in the
presence of PLATE when the chieI
priests appeared before Kim and asked
for a guard for the tomb. He de
.clared that he overheard them ga.
that this man, whom they called the
.deceiver, had said that after three days
he would rise again."
Gould not one who had such pow.
.er save himself from the cross" asked
Marcus, with growing interest.
Just the question which was asked
him while he was hanging on thu
CROSS" replied another of the soldiers
-'for / was among those near thu
cross. and heard Him declare that 4
He should ask for them His Fathe
would send IL legions of angels to de
liver Him."
who was His Father?' agaIl
questioned Marcus.
"He claimed t. be the son of God
but the leaders of the Jews declar
that He was the son of Joseph, tn
carpenter Of Nazareth, but the centu
rion In chargef of the soldiers at tn
cross declared (openly after the cruel
fxion that h believed that He wa
the Son Of bod"
Then God must have srnt the dark
ness and II earthquake" exclaime
Marcus. and again' his heart fiew bac
in anguish thought to his littl
daughter.
AS he pafse and repasrsd the ston
which se4ed the mouth of tn
tomb, he Jcame close enough to se
the cords | passing from one side \
the other bf the great stone and hel
in place the large seal of the Cae
aars, and ne wondered what power
could be 5hat was strong or boil
n