Year: 1868

will overtake me with it's vengeance.
If curse the name Of the great AL
lah, I may sigh in vain for future
happiness in the gardens Of Paradise.
! But if / become inebriate with the
Juice of the grape, l can expiate
that fault by severe modification,
penitence, and renewed prayer"


Then, turning his countenance up
wards towards the Genie, he said %
fountain of all evil! l have made
my choice, since thou art deter
mined upon this injury


I Name the object of that CHOICE
said the Genie.


L will get drunken with wine, as
the least of the crimes which you
propose answered the dervise.


BE it So cried the Genie; this
evening after the hour of prayer,
thou wilt find a jar of Cyprus wine
upon thy table, when thy father has
retired to rest in his own cell. Thou
mayest fulfill thy promise then; but
woe unto thee if thon deceivest me- ;


The genie gradually became less
palpable, as he spoke these. words !;
and, by the time TIE concluding
menace issued from his lips, he had
vanished altogether. Hamet retrac
ed his steps towards the grotto with
a sorrowful heart; but he would not
confide his anticipated disgrace to
the afiectionate parent who welcom-
ed his return.


The day passed rapidly away; and
in the evening, Hamet and his sire
knelt down as usual at the door of
the grotto, with their faces towards
the south, to raise their voices in
prayer When their vespers were
concluded, the old man embraced
his son tenderly and retired to the
inner part of the grotto.


AS soon as Hanet knew that his
father slept he lighted a lamp; and
as the Genie had told him, he saw q
large measure Of wine standing upon
the table. The UNHAPPY dervise raised
it to his lips, and dranke deeply of
the intoxicating draught. A glow
of fire seemed to electrify his frame
and he laughed as he set the vessel
down upon the table. Again he
drank; and he felt reckless and
careless OF the consequences. He
drank a third time and when he had
emptied the measure, he ran out to
the door Of the grotto, and threw it
down the slope Of the mountain !;
then, as he heard it bounding along
he laughed with indescribable mirth.
AS he turned to enter the grotto he
saw his father standing behind him.


Son. said the old man, 'the noise
of revelry awoke me from my slum-
Der and [ rise to find my well below
ed Hamet drunken with wine! Alas
is this merely one Of many nights
orgies and have [ now awakened to
the dread truth Of thine impiety, for
| the first time? Alas thou hast
cast ashes upon the gray head of thy
father


Hanlet could not brook this accu-
sation, and the implied suspicion
that he was accustomed to indulge
in wine while his father slept. He
felt suddenly indignant at the Ian
guage Of his sire, and cried, Return
to your couch, old dotard! Thou
knowest not what thou sayesto


And, as he uttered these words,
he pushed his father violently into
the grotto. The old man resisted,
and again demonstrated with Hamet.
The brain Of the son was confused
with liquor; and a sudden dread of
exposure to the world entered his
mind With the rage.of a demon he
rushed upon his hoary headed sire,
and dashed him fttriously against the
stone walls of the grotto. The old
man fell with his temple against a
sharp fint-one groan emanated
from his bosom-and Iris spirit fed
| forever.


Suddenly conscious of the horri-
ble crime Of which he had been gull
ty, Hamet tore his hair, beat his
brest and raved like maniac. And
in the midst 81 his rawlings, he lifted
up his voice against the majesty of
heaven, and cursed the Deity whom
he had SO long and fervently wor-
SHIPPED!
| At that instant terrible din ech-
oed round about, the thunder roll
ed, the tall trees shook with an
earthquake, and, amidst the roar OF
the conflicting eleme ents were heard,
shouts of internal laughter. And
hell seemed to rejoice at the fall OF
a good man, whom no other vice
had ever tempted away from
the paths of virtue, until drunken
ness itself. The rage of the storm
increased, the trees were torn up by
their TO OTIS, and fragments of the
rocky parts ofOlympus rolled down
the hill with the fury Of an Alpine
avalanche Then suddenly the Genie
appeared before the wretched Hamet
and exclaimed, Fool! by choosing
to commit the crime which seemed
to thee the least, thou hast commit
ted the other two likewise! Fol
there is more danger in the wine
cup than in any other means of temp
tations presented by Satan to man
kind =


And the last words of the Genie
mingled with the redoubled bowling
I of the storm. as Hamet was borne
down the slope ofthe mountain b.
; fthe falling masses and dashed tt
pieces at the bottom.


From the Nashville Press.