Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-08-24

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| Lightnings blast their serried ranks.
Bursting rivers break their banks.
| 'Whelming them In wat'ry death:
| Sacred form of ancient oak,
We thy mighty power invoke;
Mistletoc, thy mystic aid
| Firmly on our side arrayed,
Need we fear the tyrant's power,
or meath frowns OF Romans cover?
A MESSENGER APPEARS.
| Suddenly a messenger came running
down the field. He was clad in skins.
He appeared with the swiftness of light.
He seemed TO have dropped from the
sun; and before the white,robed priests
| of the sun he hurled himself. He
| poured forth tale of defeat and flight
and the rout of Cassivelaunus' army
| by the legionaries Of Caesar. The Brit
on prince was drawing near, and he
| proposed to make last stand at Veru-
lamium, at the very spot, in fine. where
| the episode of Monday the 10th OF Sep
TENDER. in the year 80 r. c.. was now
being enacted by gentry of Hertford-
shire and the people of st. Adams.
ENGLAND'S FIRST EVENT.
| In that lay the wonder and the fasci-
nation of the st. Adams pageant. The
| first event In the recorded history of
| England was commemorated in song
! and procession and tableau on the spot
where that event happened on an au-
| tumn afternoon 1852 years ago. Not
| one episode in the eight that made up
| the program had come to pass beyond
hailing distance OF the pageant ground.
| The city of Verulamium that the Ro-
mans founded and which Nero made
one of the two municipal. or free cities,
of Britain, wherein every dweller might
say II am a Roman Citizen" once
| covered this meadow.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Not only was the site OF the pageant
| Identical with the scene of the events
| 1t pictured, but many of the actors in
| the Lancastrian, Yorkist, and Eliza
bethap episodes We're descendants OF
men and women who had been partici-
pants in the actual events. One Of
| the women intrusted with minor role
could trace her descent back to Good
Duke Humphrey" who In the fifteenth
| century founded the divinity school OF
| Oxford. Others still bear the name
of Cape, which figures honoraby In
| the long annals of ST. Adams, and
| many man who bore lance and shield
| across the smiling meadows was but
| traversing ground that some ancestor
| of his had trod in identical array, but
| in a very different mood. centuries be-
| fore,
Terrified by the news of Caesars ad-
vance and the route of Cassivelaunus,
| the Druid priests seek from the maid
ems looking at their rites one TO be sac
rihced to the angry gods. They select
| the fairest Her father and her lover
plead for her life in vain. II was one
of the very great moments of the pa
geant when she sank 10 her knees and
hreathed u prayer that one day her
lover might join her beyond the rug
ged gates of DEATH" No sound broke
the stiffness of the scene save the
alone In the circle the priests had
made, When Iler voice died away
there was an instant of profound hush
among the spectators and actors.
BIRD SAVES GIRL
Then came an exquisite impromptu.
one of those unexpected touches of
beauty that sometimes give to great
ceremonials a yeritable note OF &C.
stacy. A passing bird lowered briefly
over the head OF the kneeling girl, pour
ed forth its clear. sweet song. and then
was seen no more. The advance of the
Briton princes forces stayed the i'm
name Cassivelaunus refined up before
the priests freed their victim, and de-
nounced thier barbarous rites,
I would there were revealed anther
God,
a God OF pity and enduring love.
a God of mercy and OF gentleness,
| fain would worship Him--were He
but known.
ROMAN FORCES ARRIVE.
Thus was sounded the opening note
in that strain OF Christian aspiration
which was to thunder In solemn dia-
pason through subsequent episodes.
swiftly the night OF Rome rolled over
the green plain, the helmets cleaning
In the sun. the earth revorberating
with the tread OF the unconquered leg
ionarles OF Caesar The Britons made
an honorable peace. primitive So
cia order and ancient superstition
alike retired from the advance OF Ro-
man culture, Warrior chief and Druid
priest were Ia look into the eyes of
thln-lipped pro-consuls and their mas
ters,
BRITONS SURRENDER.
Tho skin-clad men tugged at the
rope brides OF their shaggy steeds,
backing slowly before the men who
bore the plumed standards Of the
senate and people OF Rome. Tokens OF
peace were eschanged--an amulet and
cameo ring-and the kingdom OF
rocky fastness and dark forest be-
came In that instant the northernmost
outpost OF the dominlons of Rome.
From the spot where the mimic Caesar
Of the pageant sat motionless upon
his horse victorious Caesar had direct
cd hts tired, searching gaze over hills
that were 10 he the seat OF an empire
that should fiing it's battle line far
Their than tho fhrthest reaches Of his
imperious dreams Even M the tab
leau broke and dissolved IN the after
moan sun, vanishing behind the slopes
aud reccdlnB into nothingness down
the long dark aisles OF green, so an
ancient order had passed away. and
wnR ne n tale that IL told by players.
Thus ended tho tlrst episode.
BRiTAIN's BRIEF RISE
The wailng OF women ushered IN tho
second. Britain had risen. and under
Boadicea was 10 take brief and ter
rible vengeance upon Rome. and then
TO pay redoubied penalties. A hundred
and 10 years had passed with the pas
ting OF summer cloud, The war
chariots of Boadicea descended upon
yerulamlum. Several thousands are
put 10 the sword. Priests OF Apollo
and yestal virgins are dying from the