The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1912-11-11

IL (
had been; its very site etc:naly erased
from the eyes Of men.
The sallow disk Of the moon faded away the indigo
OF the sea turned a clearer bluc star after star left
the skies A flock Of swallows winging south whred
bx overhead The Abbate Lotrell sat as one stricken
to the lie Then across his hcnumbed BRAIN Ike
beam OF revelation, shot the remcmhr of vague
tdings brought into Tunis by a Frs, missionary
who was seeking a companion to 60 him to the
battlcficlds of Ahyssina. This man i spoken Of
some Italian town which with all its .abitants had
been swept into the by an earthquake. It's name
he did not know Stunned and supefed the Abbatc
once more duly surveyed the surroundi7e landscape
There stood the crumbling edfce Of Roua lays, grim
in the dawnght; the strait mor,'-als Charyb-
dis lifted its threatening head The yoara ariest
overwhelmed by the realization of something 100 vast
for one human mind to grasp at once; he crushed
by grief too great TO be contained wholly in
human heart. A groan burst from him and he buried
his face in his hands Upon his knees rested the parcel
wrapped in leather.
An ocean OF tumultuous emotions engufed his soul;
a thousand agonizing memories crowded upon his mind
Now he stood more than ever alone amid mankind the
victim Of colossal bereavement the martyr OF
mighty renunciaon By this dread judgment he stood
exalted suddenly to the lotest emnence OF tragic
isolation cut off at one stroke from all that makes
him utterly to renounce For the first time he felt
in all its intensity the absolute yrannous power Of
human ties and associations Of the claim Of the natal
earth and the links of social love Thry-four of his
thirty-seven years had been rooted fast in Scyla ABB
sence had but intensified his love for the place and the
people BY one terrible clash Of the shears of Fate
he stood sundcred from all ties with the past; that
part Of his life seemed though it had never been,
its records and its results exN1ged in the floods
No man had been deeply concerned in the affairs of
the community as the Abbate Lotre. In the bitter
ness Of exile he had realized that his life would
remain inextricaby bound up with the three thousand
human creatures he knew intimately. Not soul
was saved the French missionary had said Therefore,
he was doomed henceforth to wander alone in the
world an neaceabe brand upon his brow, to bear till
death the overwhelming and tremendous burden OF
memories that none could share~Nvith him. He as the
colitary survivor would be the sole repository of the
life stories Of the thousands he knew-what they had
done and thought and suferedyea, the fact that they
had ever lived known to him alone, The dark secrets
Of the confessional that lay entombed in his bosom
were now the secrets of the veritaby dead. The
catastrophe released him from every link with the
former days; it rendered null his crrand hher and
futile his great sacrifice Of three years ago and his
intended offering of to-day. The known consequences
of his own actions good and evil naught.
He stood bereft Of all antecedents alone
was alone
His dark eyes in which desolate light smoul-
dered wandered listlessly out across the sea, still
verging into richer dyes of blue. Deep under those
restless surges Scylla lay in ruins and all it's three
thousand hearts were cold and still Rosaa for whom
he had taken nfamy upon his head rested there with
Vincenzo-whom she so 1oved-n everlasting sleep.
His old mother too was locked in that deep tomb OF
water her lips would bless him again; his play
fellows of old were there, and the townspcope their
wives and chldren-oh, the many sweet and happy
children that always TO meet him in the streets
Rosalias child the little GiuEa he loved-her bright
ewes were closed in the deep and the brine was in her
baby heart The pretty cottages filled with happiness
the nuhc buildings and the spanged gardens now
law broken and chaotic heap of monstrous confusion
in the black profounds where the whirpools raved and
soun His own loved church with its graceful campa-
nile its marbles mosacs and paintings where was
4 now7 Were its bells swinging to the currents III
the deem pealing requiem to the shattered village
and its people in the oceans ooze? AS though 1t had
been Yesterday arose before him that awful sun-brght
morning when Rosa1ia to him with terror writh-
ING in her lovely countenance. Her very words rang
in his again:
''Vincenzo. my husband last night stole the sacred
vessels from the sanctuary He sold them to Iunis-
u, merchant who sailed this morning Death and de-
structon will fall upon US. Fincenzo took also 'he
Golden nonstrance which the great Pope Sixtus the
Fifth gave TO our church 50 long ago Oh Paolo Lo-
trell defend us from the Of God and the lawl
II Vncenzo be discovered he will be hanged on
Paolo. save him for the love you once bore me-tor
the love YOU bear my little Giulial If Vincenzo be
taken shall die love him still beyond all telling
If he be taken I shall die"
Aoain he saw the beautiful creature as she sank
70 the marble floor again he felt the clasp of her arms
bout his knees Her agony that had been so terrible
tten-the memory of it terrible now He recalled
his own hollow voice as he had risen and said:
"Say nothing do nohing-leave all to me-
Then followed fierce combats with his heart and
soul arrayed in arms. But the fateful truth rose
such he still bore must ever be
borne Ere that night had passed, without parting
word to any one without a farewell kiss from ms
mother with all the evidence Of guilty haste LETT
behind him he had crossed to Messna and taken the
packet for Tunis For months he had wandered among