The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1911-05-26
The Fires Of Montszuna
Legends Of the Aztecs.
JAMES JOHNSTON pEAvENPoRT.


it before Olatha's eyes;
gaze upon the immensely of the
ruinsOver which the crushing
wheels OF Time have ruthlessly
rolled.
Olatha looked, and suddenly
vision.
th emighty Past burst upon his.
As if spell-bound, he stood tied
to the spot, gazing intensely up
ON the shadow images that once
had had substance, out of whose
forms Time had crushed out en-
tity, leaving them unsubstantial,
the shapes and types only OF
what they had been. He beheld
the multitudirous dead myraids
of men. women. and children, of
every race and color, chisselled
infV tangible statuary, arranged,
as in a gallery, row after row,
and extended in unreasonable
lengths. He also saw the embryo
earth as it rose out of chaos,
won from the void and fOrmless
infinite, dark. bulky mass of
nebula, floating through space
Ages succeed ages, and gradual
ly conglobing. it gain sufficient
consistence and soidity to sup
port life. First the insect. and
the mOllusk, and the madsepOse.
swarmed on its surface, swan
IN IFS waters, or aggregated into
reefs TO be upheared intonew is
lands and new continents. Ages
still roll on and monster lizards
crawl over the earth s Shiny sur
face, and sport in its vast marsh
es, fringed with the club moss
and the giant fern. Other ages
come and roll-by, and the aque.
Gus mass grows more and more
solid, and animals and vege-
tables of higher grade succeed.
And still other ages pass, and
the earth is clothed with nobler
animals and nobler trees: green
grasses and beautiful flowers
every where carpet the plains
and succulent plants, NUTRIENT
and sapid, spring up, heralding
tie advent of man. Erelong he
appears with majesty in his
mien, and divinity on his brow.
the image of God,
With what an exclamation of
raptusous delight did Olatha hail
the advent of man.
How Noble said he, how
grand, and how superb being
Is man. How majestic is his ever
movement. How matchless his
every grace How symmetrical is
his peerless form, and how d.
vine his mien.
Another era succeeds. and man
has lost his original stamp of
divinity, and heavy curse
hangs on his brow. A numerous
progeny springs up around him,
in hostile clans, they suddenly
separate, and war upon one an
other Hatred, enmity. and strife
rear their snaky crests and lrge-
them on to carnage blood, and
destruction. The vanquished sub
mEsiveiy yield their necks to the
eonquerOr S yoke, or are slaugh-
tered rs victims TO their merci-
less war-gods. Disgnsted at the
revolving picture, Olatha would
have withdrawn his eyes from
the mirror, had he not overheard
the half stifled chuckle of the
Genius.
Thy derisive chuckie IN be
comes thee. thou hoarder mp Of
antiquity. Indignantly retorted
Olatha. Thou art only the GEM
as OF the Past, in to whose cap
aeious NAV all these disgusting
wrecks of humanity have been
hurled. Thou art but the recep-
tacle of the rubbish and refuse
Of Time.
To whom the Genius replied:
Spare young man. those slurs
aimed at my hoary locks. and
1T my office as the treasurer of
Time. Time is . mere STRIPPING.
: creature of yesterday compar-
ed to my venerable antiquity
and can claim no higher genealo-
gy than the origin and birth of
thy petty world. Vert thou not
mortal chained to dust and were
lot thy vision bounded by mat
erial existences. thou mightst be-
hold ~ that mirror another be-
- Who incomprehensively ex-
Eends 1T once over the Past, the
Present, and the Future.
Who = that beingi demanded
Olatha; would behold him.
HteFnitv. vain moyt.l .r.w