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

''N@''T AND there, sand the Abhatc iotrclil 20
n y The sNarth' captain OF the swift fcucca,
E-S there iy dose tnrcc tall cjpresscs'
Nserrq~wvr& Ills delicate white hand pointed across
Et2JSSIS .lc moon mad waters To three pointed
S@yyas shapy tlat stood like ragged iron lance
NT n ANA hc. against the STAR strcwn shy
S1SSssgH day and night from Yuus in this
\ SsSGs y corsair craft ard now the Abbatc was
Y n once more do.e to his native town
e't52 a1aAa romantic Scyla set high upon the cN
cEsN trcmc mainland OF Italy ou thc Strait Of
G5' Ne ma The sharp praw OF the fclueea
ran with a gentle shock into the gravel OF
the horc
"Gaod-hy" my friend" said Tie Abbatc in q low
vo.c and shook hc hand OF the dark skinned kippcr
TIL. he descended hc plank sailor had flung from
dee to sand Hc carried parcel which seemed heavy
and was wrapped in leather The barharons mariners
saw their strange, silent passenger knccl upon the
strand it shoac like a stretch of silver N the moon
liet lie buried his hands in the sand and bent low
Trough to kiss it.
C.rlage crcalcd in the pulleys. the great sweeps
groanc1 in their locks and the fcucca, rcsettng her
red sails, gdcd like bird through the night The
Ablsc LotrclH arose. his hat in his hand. His pale
aus,crc and handsome face showed like marble above
his black travelling cloak; his dark hair made his
features paer still
II was the strange mystic hour OF universal hush
Just before dawn that hour when the giant energies
of nature seem for moment TO flag, when there IS
sudden pause in her respiration and the unborn day
faters and ucmblcs upon the threshold Of Time The
silence was full of awe; the stars were like the pas
sionless eyes Of the gods looking serencly down The
Abbatc stood STILL his back the the mystery Of
this morning and the significance Of his presence here
overmastcred him On his right hidden by the rising
wood lay his native village Three years had passed
since last he had seen it. The road lay like argent
river in the lunar light Through the Abbates mind
rushed This oft-rccurrent thought:
Il will swiftly make my way to the Church Of Our
Lady, open the door OF the sacristy with my key, and
leave the bundle upon the tiny altar there Saullo
the sexton will then find it when he comes to ring for
the first mass. No one is about-no will see me
now-no orc will see me again"
Before him the Three Virgins-so the peasants
called those slender expresses Beyond them the crest
line of hill was visible from which the old Roman
ruin he knew SO we'll since boyhood days oomed into
the sky To his left lay the moon-decked Medit-
teranean across the strait he Sicily the beacons
Of Messna with their tossing cresset fires and faint
and far and ghosy the towering white pyramid OF
Mount Aetna. Opposite Scylla, on the Siclian shore,
The sinister headland Of Charybdis frowned Between
these two cliffs at tire changing Of the tides howled
and roared the ship-enguhng whirlpoos that smotc
the hearts of ancient mariners with dread The waters
of the blue Mediterranean and those OF the green
Tyrrlenian Sea- charging through the narrow strait,
met here in hidcous, foaming trays
A hint Of the dawn was in the east The Abbate
Iotre ascended the road that led into the man street
of the elevated village Scyla, gray and old, with
its three thousand souls, built compacty upon
the too of the sea cliff close its brink AS he climbed
toward the town thoughts deep and strange. came to
the priest He felt his resolute soul quail under the
onslaught of dear and treasured memories poignant
with pictures Of the past On the way to the church,
OF Which he was once the head he would pass by the
house where Rosalia dwet when he first knew and
loved her-ere he became priest and she the wife
of another Farther stood the house where Rosaa
now lived with her criminal husband, Vncenzo Pagalo,
and their angelic little daughter Giulia. Then his
mothers house-a mist rose to his eyes, and then his
church. relentless fingers Of iron clutched his heart
He knew every house in the place and the inhabitants
of every house Once they all knew and loved him
now no doubt they hated or had forgotten him.
Trulv great reason they had to hate him. Did they
but know he approaching, they might even issue
from their doors and or stone him. Yet some
would feel compassion in their hearts; he knew them
well; they were his children-once
Walking in the dense shadows of the wood the
Abbate otre1i plunged in dark dreams, neared the
ton of The road which thence sioped slightly downward
into the town His eyes hungry for glimpse
of the beloved towers and houses He reached
the HIGHEST point of the road An inarculate cry
hroke dreadfuy from his lips. He swayed dizzy, then
sat suddenly down upon PROSTATE tree trunk he
nassed his hand over his bewildered eyes and looked
about him like one rudely aroused from deep sumber.
The shattered Roman ruin the neighhorng hill
caught his eve Across his features swept gust OF
horror The steely transparency of the dawn slowly
ascended the heavens behind the hills and in this wan
spectral light mingled with the moons stood revealed
a scene of mighty desoation-
5 Sweeping sharply downward from the edge OF the
broken road the earth soped in a tremendous curve
,osthe bottom of vast hollow and then rose upward
to the opposite brink of the chasm The sides OF the
s,If ran evenly around ike crescent-shaped amphi-
theatre and its bottom pitched seeply toward the sea-
II was as though internal god with one stroke
pf gigantic spade had cut down the top of the bluff
sn which Scyla stood and flung it into the Medier-
ra,s.n. Diving trees with naked roots and totering
trunks clnr to the edges of the pit, bouders uptorn
krounc to fragments or flung broadcast, Uttered the
Sewly exposed earth; spring loosed from some rent
n the rock wound seaward in track OF yellow clay
The strata of the cliff and hillside lay open like raw
Io,,6 T)ae trenches and grooves had been ploughed