The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1921-04-01

descendants Of Alexander's Macedo
mans. and Greeks from all quarters
Of the eastern Mediterranean. could
not forget that they had once been the
masters Of Egypt. Constant conflict
IN the streets between the partisanS ~
each side laid a fitting scene FOR
Charles Kingsley's religious philosoph-
ic historical melOdrama.
Cyril. bishop and later saint, is nom
inally the leader Of the battling
churchmen Of the tale; the great Aug
Justine and the phllosophic Syneslus,
bishops both. are minor perSonages OF
the drama. with many other passing
figures ~ the church, but the leading
character from that side is the humble
Philammon. the young boy Of the mon
astery i'm the desert. who makes his
way in the simplicity Of his zeal TO
brave the world. the flesh, and the dew
il. where so many other monks Of fic-
ton have found that interesting triad,
keeping headquarters AT Alexandria.
The city was ruled by Orestes. so far
as any project could rule the unruIy
cosmopolis, a worldly and elusive per
.on, who. not satisfied with the trOu-
blcs already at hand would conspire
to erect nu empire Of Africa out Of
'he difficulties OF Rome and I0uStan-
tlnople, and to crown as his empress
Hypatla. idcalist, mathematician, neu-
platonist, leader and teacher Of what
remained Of Greek philosophy as liv-
ing force. Under IIypatla's sway fell
the young PhilammOn by reason Of
her beauty. her power of speech, and
the inherited appeal of philosophy to
one whose ancestry was Athenian. An
appeal of another sort came to him
from Pelagla, dancer and beauty, dar-
ling of the city in general and of in
dividuals in particular. TO the charm
of Hypatia yielded not only the world
w project and the simple monk but
the most interesting figure Of the
story Raphapl-Aben-E Ezra, descended
from the blood of Solomon, rich, lazy,
and selfish to all appearance, but the
parsonage in whose soul and mind
was surging most violently the strug-
gle and conflict which Is the keynote
of the book. Should the traditions of
Jewry, the lure Of Greek philosophy,
the charm of pleasant if tumultuous
world, or the power of Christianity
conquer in him? In his apparently
easy going way through existence, he
was measuring what every phase Of
that seething Cauldron had to offer as
a solution for the problems which
human soul has to ponder for its own
Salvation. 1t took him long to decide,
and it was only by the ministrations
of Augustine and Synesius and the liv-
ing example of Victoria that he final
ly found in Christianity the truly dem
ocratlc creed by which the world could
best live.
Struggle and strife of soul or body
Philharmonic ycaning to see more
of the world than the monastery in
the desert; his enthrallment by the
charm of Hypatlas beauty and her
learning; Cyrirs struggles by militant
means toward a spiritual end; Ores
tes' to win an empire; Pelagia's to
win love; Raphael to find the truth ;
the conflict between old thought and
new; and as the climax, the conflict
and the end in Hypatia's case:
Eyes, on into the church itself! Into
the cool, dim shadow, with its fretted
pillars, and towering domes, and can
dies, and incense and blazing altar
and great pictures, looking from the
walls athwart the gorgeous gloom
And right in front, above the altar
the colossal Christ watching unmovet
from off the wall, his right hand raised
to give a blessing-or cursor
"On, up the nave, fresh shreds o
her dress strewing the holy pavement
up the chancel steps themselves-ul
; to the altar-right underneath the
great, still Christ; and there eve
those hell hounds paused.
, "She shook herself free from he
: tormentors, and springing back, ros
; for one moment to her full heigh
l naked, snow white against the dusk
= mass around, shame and indignatio
( in those wide, clear eyes, but not
stain of fear. With one hand sl>
), clasped her golden locks around her
the other long white arm WI
! stretched upward toward the grei
n still Christ, appealing--and who da'
h say, in vain?--from man to God. II,
lips were opened to speak; but "
( words that should have come fro
@ them reached Gods ears alone for
70 an instant they struck her down. Il
# dark mass closed over her again al
S then wall on wall, ear-piercing, raj
along the vaulted roofs, and thrillt
A. like the trumpet of avenging ange
" through Philammon's ears"
s, Copyright 1919, by the Post PuJishi
A. Co. (The Boston POST. Copyright in t
"a United Kingdom. the Dominions. its c.
=. onies and dependencies, under the cor
III right act, by the Post Publishing c
in Boston Mass. U. S. A. All rights
no served.