The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-12-20

lowed the nurse up to a garnet room.
where the rafters were bare and.
IaIeers. saw with horror the beautiful
form or Phaedra. She had hanged
herself n the old nurse who. fearful
OF the catastrophe, had been seeking
her about the palace. had arrived too
late TO stay her mistress from tn.
awful deed.
While some were calling for a knife
10 cut down the Queen and there was
grea0 confusion 50 that no enc did
anythfng. the king returned to his
palace and his homecoming was greet
co by the wild cries of fear and dis
tress. AS he entered with his train
ne stood for a moment perpiexed and
men called out to a servant who came
running Through the court TO know
what all this meant. 90, royal
l~heseus,' answered the Il -rified man,
| the young and tender are the dead"
Just at that m from the interior
OF h house came the sound of women
waiIing a dirge. VIVA is it. who IS
1t. are any Of my children dead?"
Nay. sire" replied the old mar who
came forth from the palace, your
motherless children are alive and
we'll"
What. my wife," Grief the King.
Keeling from the blow Of the unex-
lpected news. 'Oh tell me what has
~ iSi Sht vi HE olc WAS mo-
we'll ! knew, but-dead, you say, that
royal Phaedra whom / 1oved-she
dead who came home with me from
Crete across the sea to be my bride.
the child Of royal Minos? Nay. tell
me all, ] am strong and can bear my
woe as a man and King should bear
it Then they told him how the
Queen had just been discovered. sell
slain and hanging to a rafter in an
attic room.
What was it made her do it?''
cried Theseus. "A fit of that old, cold
anguish Of hers-did some fresh thine
befaI her? Nay, tell me all" I'VE
know no more than we have told
said the old Courtfer. but. Theseus, We
mourn with you In this your grea,
calamity" The King stood t1oughtfn,
for a ome and put his hand to his
! brow. He felt a garland upon his heao
for his dress and the chaDlet with
which he vas crowned showed tina
he had Just come from 3 pilgrimage t.
some oracle or shrine. And. indeed
: he had Just come from the shrine D
s P~oseidon, his ancestor. god of the sea
: And thus all decked and ~garlanded
I come to her!' cried the King
"Oh flowers most evil starred. oh
! varlets, uHloOse the portals and let m,
:. see the bitter sight Of her whose death
will cause mine own"
In through the great central arci
} Of the palace portal. whose grea
I leaves were thrown back for his re
ception. went Theseus. The marba
s ~coIonnades Of his castle cleaned whit
g ard glistened in the bright sun of tn
J Grecian skies; the green mountain
! ranged around were in~terSpersed wit
= dales where dwelt gods. where thicl,
e cts still hid fann and dryads and tn
s ~inlYnort3iS still inteTferGd in the yeS
r ed life Of man.
, Far off the 0fDp sea- cleaned. tenn
\ plies shone on rocky promontories al
] ready mighty with reflected Sreatnes
e of the dawn Of time. And here Wa
/ Theseus, himself descended from tn
: gods, standing in the shadow beyon'
r the palace portal beside the bier upol
? which they had laid the dead body o
? Phaedra. . Aphrodite. Goddess o
! Love, the ever. ever powerful IN al
ages and in all clirnes. the eve de
: stroying n the ever creating!
! The god-descended King who ha-
wrought such great 1abors that fabl
g still tells Of them bent over the bic
j and said: TT is the greatest and tn
: last Of all my lahors to bear his
5 Fate has laid It's heavy heel upon me
e It is the penalty of sims long pas
/ I~cannct win the shore and the wave
+. overwhe1n1 me. An, wife. sweet wife
: gone like a flame extinguished or
y flying bird where all things are forgot
Sure this is sOme stroke of the I'M
? 1nortals sent upon me for some 81
wrought by dim Kings of old, my an
~cestors. What was it brought thee t
6 thy death? Speak. Phaedra. puTes
of hearts that ever the sun Of day o
the stars of night touched-speak!' /
his agony the King bent low over tn
dead form OF his wife and observe
in her c1enched hand a tablet Of writ
inc Fastened Nv = cord to her wrist
so that even should her hand relax i
death the writing might not be lost
"Hah." cried TheseUs. There IS
writing there. Perhaps 1t will max
me understand the cause Of this, or /
> it some dying wish for me and for m,
, children? Twas her last prayer. Fea
. lnot. fond wife. no woman born shall
:. lie by Theseus's side or reign i
Theseus's house
@ He took the tablet from the dea'
8 hand. 1t was sealed with her goidel
signet. which seemed TO look mp t