Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1915-03-18

OOAA az tuO SAINT Iluc, OF the BAmo
mother: blew hot, blew cold, balmily
or tempestuously, from all points at
once. Perhaps.
In the zenana Of the royal palace
there was woman, tall, 1.-the, with
a skin of ivory and roses and eyes az
brown as the husk of water chestnut.
On her bare ankles were gem-in-
crusted anklets, on her arms bracelets
OF hammered gold, round her neck a
rope OF pearls and emeralds and ru-
bies and sapphires. And still she was
not happy.
From time to time her fingers
strained at the roots of her glossy
black hair and the whites Of her great
eyes glistened. She bit her lips to
keep back the sobs crowding in her
throat She pressed her hands to-
gether SO tightly that the little knuck-
les cracked
"Ai, all" she walled softly.
She paced the confines of her cham
Der with slow step, with fast step; or
leaned against the wall, her face hid
den In her arms; or pressed her hot
cheeks against the cool marble of the
lattice
Human nature is made up of con-
traries. Why, when we have had the
courage coolly to plan murder, or to
aid or suggest it, why must we be
troubled with remorse? More than
this, why must we battle against silly
impulse to tell the first we meet what
we have done? Remorse: what is It?
Now, this woman Of the zenana be-
lieved not in the God of your fathers
and mine. She was pagan; her
heaven and hell were ruled by thou
sand gods, and her temples were filled
with their images. Yet this thing re-
morse, was stabbing her with its hot
needles, till no torture devised by man
could equal 1t.
She was the poor, foolish woman
who loved Durga Ram; loved him as
these wild Asiatic women love, from
murder to the poisoned cup. Loved
him, and knew that he loved her not,
but used her for his own selfish ends.
There you have it. Had he loved her.
remorse never would have lifted its
head or raised it's voice. And again.
had not Umballa sought the white
woman, this butterfly of the harem
might have died of old age without I'M
burdening her soul. Remorse Is the
result Of crime committed uselessly.
Humanity is Interchangeable, for all It's
variety of skins.
And here was this woman. wanting
to tell some one!
Umballa had done a peculiar thing:
he had not laid hand upon either RAJ
mabai or Pundita. When asked the
reason for this generosity toward a
man who but recently put price on
his head. Umballa smiled and ex-
planned that Ramabai was not only
broken politically, but was religious
outcast. II was happiness for such
person to die, so he preferred that Ra-
mabai should live.
Secretly, however. Ramabai's revo-
lutionary friends were still back OF
him, though they pretended to bow to
the yoke of the priests
So upon this day matters stood
thus: the colonel, Kathlyn, Bruce and
Winnie were prisoners again; Ahmed
was in hiding; and Ramabai and his
wife Knocked by those who once had
cheered them. The ingratitude Of
kings is as nothing when compared
to the ingratitude of people.
A most ridiculous country: to crown
Kathlyn again (for the third timeD
and then to lock her up! Next to
as a barrier to progress
there stands custom. Everything one
did must be done as some one else
had done 1t; the initiative was still
chained up in the temples. 1t belonged
to the bald priests only.
But Umballa had made two mis-
takes: he should have permitted the
white people to leave the country and
given silken cord to the chief eunuch
to apply as directed. There are no
written laws among the dark peoples
that forbids the disposal of that chat
tel known as a woman of the harem,
or Zenana. There are certain Gus
toms that even the all powerful Brit
ish raj must ignore.
The catafalque of the dead king
rested upon the royal platform. Two
troopers stood below; otherwise the
platform was deserted. When Rama
bal and Pundita arrived and mounted
the platform to pay their last respects
to a kindly man, the soldiers saluted
even sorrowfully. Ramabai.
for his courage. his honesty and JUS
tice, was their man; but they no
longer dared serve him, since 1t would
be at the expense Of their own lives.
my lord!" whispered Pundita.
pressing Ramabai's hand "Courage!"
For Pundita understood the man at
her side Had he been honorless, she
..,a,,ld chic dow ha WEARING crown