Evening star., 1909-07-11

red leave they had taken sof him on
the mountainside, Fraulein Lechner ex-
planned the American Baby and the pur
port of Mary's travels.
. oan of Arc was not Drawer when she
undertook to lead the French soldiers to
battle" said the deoonair clergyman,
with an admiring look at Mary Il am
sure no harm will come to you ladies
while you have the strong voice of the
American Baby to call assistance to you,
he added But, as we shall be in Italy
at the same tine,-I go to meet my son
in Rome i shall hope to meet you there,
and perhaps shall be able to be of service
to you"
r. After the meal the travellers hurried to
their waiting carriages, amid the cordial
adieus of mine host and all the rosy
checked mattresses, and drove down the
mountain road on their way to Oberam-
mergau. The full moon poured down on
the somber, dusky tops of the frs that
climbed the mountalnsdes, an evanescent
gliding. The soft musical jingle of the
Swiss bells beneath the necks of the
horses sounded down the line of carriages.
Mary and Fraulein Lechner sat. the whole
way, wrapped in reverie, as deep as the
slumber that enveloped the American
Baby.
MIDNIGHT after the Passion Play.
Iva Little Oberammergau lay as quiet
and dreamful in its mountain cradle as if
in the waking hours just past it had not
been the Worlds Inn. The encircling
mountains, brooding tenderly over the in
spired hamlet of their guardianship,
gathered above it a soft, fleecy, coverlet
of clouds The moon, full rounded, leaned
over a Titan peak and, dropping her float
ing, effulgent mantle on the mountain tops,
looked down on the Passion Play village,
as if mystically meditating on the noun
tain nursings achievements. The tall
gilded cross on the Kofel Peak caught the
golden love beams and reflected them
again on the domed belfry of the village
church No sound broke upon the brood
ing peace of the night, save the tuneful
flow OF the Ammer, murmurlng its ancient
lullaby as it wound through tangled en-
broidery of meadow flowers and slipped
out under the rustic bridges of the village.
In all Oberammergau no one was awake
to all this magical beauty of the luminous
night but one very enthusiastic and ro
mantle foreigner.
Mary had looked on with pity at the
hurried, pellmell flight of the five thou
sand people that witnessed the great
drama. In a short time after the last
1eciI1 I'll ACT Ol Tic ldy, llC OIIS vi
that spelbound audience seemed to have
thought but to catch the six o'clock
train for Munich. Mary, walking as one
in dream, had sought bench in a
meadow near the Ammer, over which
rose tall pole bearing aloft an image
of the Crucifed One. How the time
passed or how her stirred emotions fl
nally settled down or her mind became
conscious of every day matters, she
hardly knew.
EVEN after everyone at her pension
= - had retired, she could not sleep.
+ The stupendous Drama of the Cross, as
h it had advanced hour after hour of that
~ century long day to its fearful climax,
still cast its mystic shadow on her. She
threw wide open her sash opening win
dows, and, leaning on the broad sill,
J, where, beneath, she could hear the
Ammer, gazed out on the mountains
and all the moonlit loveliness of the
scene they inclosed. Under this soften
ing mood of the night, Mary was able to
= review the days experience more
calmly. To-day she had witnessed and
felt to her souls depths the real, human,
heart sickening tragedy of Jesus of
Nazareth.
She recalled another day, the only
other time she had so felt it. 1t was
when as a child she had first read the
story of the Cross for herself Begin