The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907, December 07, 1878, Image 2

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JEW; Gentile & Christian, OR THF CURSE OF MOREY THE TEACHINGS OFTHE NAZARENE AN IMAGINARY STUDY OF CREEDS. CHAPTER II. Israel Torriano stood on the Neapolitan shore, looking into the darkling night, and catching eagerly at the sparkling flashes of spray, which the fitful gleams of the rising moon created on the heaving waves. The slight manifestations of beanty in the natural world attracted him, and for it he would at any moment forget that other world which man has created on earth; a world in which he is momentarily, hourly, and daily with the divine for human existence; even in its utilitarian aims is a constant fusion of earth and heaven; of love and hate; of selfishness and devotion; of despotism and equalization. For all these moral struggles there exist little sym pathy in Israel; they appeared to him paltry, egotistical and frivolous; while he could embrace in thought the heavens, and wander among those starry existences there beyond; yearning to know the intentions of the Creator. Faugh ! what had h9 to do with the creature ? His own crdatnre-necssities abhorrent to him, and to be got rid of at the easiest. Could men and women not walk the spiritual guise of being whose very longings reach into infinite; for dream they ndt of a life beyond ? Then why such gross preparation here for that life? Israel bad forgotten himself, those streaks of pafle golden light were drawing him away from thfe earth. ‘By heavens! Sir, can’t you see ?’ called some one to him, stumbling over Israel towards the shore; ‘and what! Jocopo, are you deaf?' Israel gathered up his bodily self, and clutched at the intruder. ‘Well, what do you want ? My friend, let me alone, quick.' Israel was in the first actual encounter of his life, human pugnacity would have its way. He shook the other, a tall, big man, and sent him sprall- irig a couple of yards off. The very moment Israel regained however his serenity, he walked towards his unknown foe, and helped him to rise. The man said not a word, but hurried to the sea, where a small coasting vessel lav alongside. Three other men jumped from it and something was handed to Israel’s antagonist, who rushed off inland with it. Israel went up to the three, they looked dar ing and odd, not quite like the Neapolitans he had seen, but of duskier color, as far as he could observe in the struggling moonlight. ‘Where do you go to ? Do you stop here ?’ he asked in his odd Italian. •Oh! no, get away as quick as possible, all rtong by Sardinia and the Balearics, we go to Spain.’ •Where’s the pello?' meaning the money. it this eCough?’ He reached them* fonr gold pieces. Their eyes sparkled, not because it was enough, but because where it came from there might be rnor^. ‘Well, well, sirs.’ Thev helned him in. Israel was evidently inclined to leave the little luggage he had brought to Naples, behind. The sound of footsteps was approaching; the men let go the rope hastily and the little craft drifted out into the world of blue waters. What car^d Israel Torriano, the great eastern banker, if they were respectable people or not, with whotn he was, they were in his eyes better a thousand times than those detestably fussy f.dks on the regular steamers whose belongings were their gods. Anyhow, itf this smuggling- beat, there were no boxes, no baggage, no arrengements, no calls and orders, he lay down in the bottom on a coarse woollen coverlet, and indulged in the delicious sense that he had got rid cf every-day life among men and could think, speculate, and gaze as he chose* The three men, and a boy they had with them, crouched at the other end, handling their light shell with the ease of clever mariners. The boy began a Spanish baroarola, and one of the men joined him, the rich mellow sounds swam away into the air, and gave Israel a dreamy idea that he was being carried to some haven of riest ont of the world. There he lay, his wide open eyes staring np into the moonlit skies, his sonl entranced with anxious longings for that beyond, where alone he would find the life of his ‘Master,’ where alone he could mingle his own existence with that of other higher exist ences, where the body would not forever bo the prominent portion, asking loudly to have its wants supplied, and subduing the spirit by its demands. And poor Rebecca ? Ah ! while Israel Tcwiano imagined only himself in connection with the infinite, he forgot the finite, he forgot or did not even think of the beautifully formed consin, whose heart, brimfnl of the images of rich Italian poetry, had had a glimpse of that earthly heaven, ‘love’ between the sexas. Poor Rebecca leant on her widow sill, and sent her heart’s desires after that image that had risen before her in such exqiusite manly beanty, and had vanished as quickly. The whole world seemed dark to her, Sarah called in vain, her father rebuked her in vain; Rebecca sat on through the night, and in that night a new life, a new hope, a new rest struggled within her, and the shut leaves of her sonl-life gently, gently un folded and discovered as rich a c&liax as ever was ownedjby mortal. Sweet, holy Rebecca, a grace granted but to few was being given to th ee. i Israel had fallen asleep in his boat; the air had become stifling and sultry vapors had risen, as ooming from volcanoes underneath, and had impregnated the atmosphere witn sulphurous particles. The moon hid away, the stars glim mered but here and there, and man’s wicked moods were in the ascendant • Then the men in the oraft whispered to the boy, who slid to the young Jaw’s side and rifled his pockets; from it he brought a purse, whioh they counted. ‘Not enough to take and throw them over board.' > ‘What then T Who was the handsome man ? Suddenly, the boy jumped up; a paper on it was written, 'Israel Torriano to Anton Torriano, Paris.' The boy eagerly said to the men: ‘I know who he is; they expected an Eastern rioh man in Naples, where my ancle steals when he can, and where my cousins beg, at the Jews in the villa. It is hel It is hot Ma estro it's a prize; let ns pinion him.’ **No, no, restore the parse, we shall see. Holy mother Mary, auoh a fortane I ’Ah 11 like the Qipsies beet, they don’t praise gods when they rob or mnrder; they do it quietly, busineas-lik& Bah I I’m cleverer than 1 you three, I’m half a Gipsy, tho’ my father is the privileged beggar at the monastry of Guiseppe, and my mother the fortune-teller of the great ladies in the Toledo. The padrone and the padrona spend it between them, and I have to shift for myself. But I don’t call upon Holy mother Mary—bah ! ’ Israel moved uneasily; the men and boy drew away from him, and by the time the young Jew opened his eyes not the slightest trace was left that he had been undergoing an examination at their hands. Aud the boat passed along over those Medi terranean waves, that have seen the birth of the greatest ancient nations, and have borne on their eternally crested waves the Phoenician navigators, the Greek colonists, tne Carthage- nian merchants, the Roman world-conquorers, the Moorish armies, the crusading knights, the Venetian and Genoese ships of commerce, the Popish subsidiaries, the Spanish gold-laden vesseles, the French Republican forces, the En glish men-of-war, and the last phase of national development, the, floating flags of ‘United Italy.’ In what great human revolution have those Mediteranean waves not had a share? What tales of joy and anguish can they not tell ? And now, while bearing along Israel Torriano, they carried on their billows one of the few originally thinking minds of modern times, a mind daring enough to look for principles in teaching forms, for truth in carrying them out, for purity and equalization in the relations of life. Ah, for those much dimmed humane lessons of Jesus the Nazarene! It was so easy for Israel to satisfy his wants, that his pockets mostly supplied them; he rose, as the morning breeze was wafted towards him, and regardless of those near him, stood up in real adoration, stretching his arms to the great spiritural power whose signs men ignore, though they can perceive them daily and hourly for their enlightenment; though they shine brightly in the faint morning flush, and softer in the evening’s dusky red. The day wore on; it became hot, and still the boat was swiftly borne along by eastern winds. The men had evidently altered their course they held aloof from all signs of land, and were steer ing round the southern points of the island of Sardinia; here thev calculated whether their provisions were snflieient for a certain number of days, and then communicated with Israel. Would he share with them ? They had bread, figs, salt meat, onions, and wine. Israel looked at the bread and the figs and turned from the rest, but necessity sways the universe, and be fore the day was out tiis insufferable thirst had made him taste for the first time in his life the fermented liquor of the Spanish grape. His milk, dates, and bread were gone, and he had humbly to own that it is a duty to maintain ex istence ! The winds were propitious, and the small ves sel fled towards Spain. Israel had resigned himself to the hospitality of the mariners, and now and then, what with Italian and Spanish, entered into conversation with them. He found they were smugglers, hardy, nn compromising rogues, to whom a small business in the matter of doing away with a few specimens of humanity was nothing; who understood little of his visions when he expanded on the loveli ness of the sea view around them, and who were devoid of all other religious or moral knowledge, but that of devoutly crossing themselves before an image of Santa Maria madre. The boy, how ever, pressed close to him, and looked up into his face confidingly, the natnral cunning of his mind giving away before a genuine touch of greatness. Days passed; they ran at last into a small creek in the south of Andalusia, not far from Malaga. Violent consultations had been going on in a jargon Israel did not understand. The boy had taken no part, be had od,1v listened attentively. In the gray of the morning the parry stepped on Spanish soil; with a rush two of the men threw themselves on Israel, pinioned and cagged him, and thrust him back into the boat. The boy was sent off somewhere at full speed. It w&s not very comfortable to be in such a position, but Israel, though in actual pain, bore it resignedly; to him recurred forever and ever greater suff erings,more exquisite tortures. What was he, that his life should be free from them? God’s sky was still above him, consoling, refreshing, and inexpres- sedly charming in its mute, infinite expanse. The whole hot day the rich Jew lay at the mer cy of some Spanish smugglers, exhausted by thirst and huDg9r; towards night, peculiar pro longed whistles were heard. Suddenly, tbe boy ran up and was immediately followed by a posse of odd-looking—Spanish gipsies. Again consultations, angry whisperings, final ly complete understanding. Israel was oarried off on a litter. The boy slipped from his mas ters and suddenly joined the group. He went up to the litter, stroked Israel’s hands, wiped the cold perspiration from his forehead, and drew the gag from his mouth slily, making a sign to him not to speak. Then he passed some pieces of bread dtoped in wine between his lips, and, under some strange emotion, kissed the pinioned hands. Such a look rewarded him! The boy put his fingers on his lips and hasten ed to the side of the bearers, who were j ust baw ling out wbat he was doing there. He remain ed, however, master of the situation; a threat ening movement with his fist showed that he knew too much to be treated badly. It was complete night; they had traversed hil ly ground, that became wilder and more roman tic in appearance as they proceeded. A long, low whistle, once, twice, thrice; they broke upon a gipsy camp. What a characteris tic scene! Half a dozen loosely raised tents,un der the shadows cf almost tropical trees; large chestnuts, a few date, palms and olive corpses shrouded the camp from view. Big aloes and cactuses stretched their priekly arms like an en- tertwining hedge around it, and the soent of a thousand sweet heath plants and wild flowers impregnated the air. Low, glimmering fires burnt here and there; dusky groups of children and women stood about, and men lay negligent ly by the fires, smoking and sulkily chatting to gether. The procession was received quietly enough, and Israel taken to one of the largest tents; it had evidently bean prepared; there was only an old woman crouching on the floor within. ‘The blessed child of Israel is come,’ she croon ed; ’but he has sorrow in his horoscope, sorrow for others, for the women wherever he goes.’ ‘Hold your noise, mother,’ broke out the most important of the men, ‘and attend to bnsiness. This man wants looking after.’ ‘May I do it?’ said the boy, who had pressed with the others into the tent. ‘Come now, let me do it; I gave the information who he was, I have a right to it.’ ‘Threaten, yon young braggard; be off, or I will chnok you in the well.’ ‘No you won’t—remembsr Zillah.’ ‘Wretched, insolent little brute! I’ll aot let yon come here again.’ ‘Who’ll do the smuggling information ?’ ‘Imp!’ the man walked away, bnt turned around again; ‘Mother, let Pedro be with thee.’ ‘Pedro is the right hand of the tribe—young, sly, and wily Pedro—the Neapolitan serpent Pedro, thy horosoope is entangled in his,’ mum bled the old woman. ‘I know it.’ ‘How ?’ ‘Something here,’ laying his hand nn his heart, ‘gavea big jump when I saw him; I knew he would be my master and I should be hia slave.’ ‘Great is his name, great is his aoal, great i« his power—Pedro, greater still is the evil he will cause to the women —till the last will be like the first and he will be no more a snare to them. He is the ohosen one of a race, not our own, bat I see him in my big horesoope. He is none o us, he will bring sorrow here, tell them to take him away.’ , •But; mother, the money for his ransom. ‘Never mind, take him away; evil is coming, hot, red hot; take him away, he is holy, he will enrse onr camp, onr tribe; he’ll bring sorrow, mnrder and death—away!’ The old woman rush ed from the tent howling hideously. ‘She’s mad again; all the better. I can attend on bim. O’i, he’s fainted. Master, sweet mas ter; I’ll wait, qn you, never, never, never to leave y °The boy gently and softly nursed Israel, and at last heard a sigh; Israel opened his eyes; felt hia loosened hands; saw Pedro kneeling him, and w'h an inward blessing laid his hand on the boyl®ead. That moment bought the boy’s soul. ‘Senor. ij saved. Te Naz irene. ‘I will.’ Israel I. have cast k? in the worl<j| and starved •• numerable whose frown In what may, your life shall be he about Him whom yon call the keep me with yon.’ mo, the man whose word could down, made the money-market ictnate, altered the price cf corn, [lions, stopped the work in in- .nnfactories. works and mines, nuuoa ^juld have beggared homes, sent men to suicide and women adrift, perhaps to in famy, as knowing nothing better to do, driven children to refuges, asylums, and work-houses —Israel TorriAno lay in the Spanish gyps/ tent at the mercy d*f the gipsy boy. . Capital, thol mover of human and mechanical forces; thou despot of mankind; what art thou in the abstrao* ? Nothing without application, the application of the energies thou canst buy. A medium thou art, and wilt be forever, what ever man may make of thee now. Thou art not a primary force, not original power; only that which will buy both and set them going. Art thou much ? V /Art thou little ? Little in. thyself, incomprehensibly great in thy application, thou hast become the arbiter of the fates of men. Did he who invented thee, dream that thy .power would once reign absolute over the civilization of mankind? And wilt thou ever dwindle back to thy insignificance,making room for something more real, more moral, more substantial—the combined, not the bought action of hundreds and thousands ? The answer is hidden in the womb or time. Israel rested a day, nursed by Pedro; the old woman did not appear again; but now and then the same middle-aged man who had given the boy leave to stay, put in his head to see that the two were right, and that the rich prize was there. For hours the next day Israel slept soundly; watched over tenderly. Pedro had washed his wrists with sweet oil, and had brought fresh figs, dates, new milk and cakes. In the evening Is rael sat up and was nearly himself again. . . Pedro had gone, evidently to make inquiries in the camp. Suddenly, he rushed in flashed and excited. ■Maestro, wilt thou see Zillah? she dances to night.’ ‘And who is Zillah ?’ <Our queen, our beautiful queen. When she dances the stars shine brighter, for they want to grace her dance; the moon hides herself, for Zillah is sweeter than she; ihe air is full of soft sounds to praise her; the camp'is gat’iered around; the men are shouting, the women ap plauding, the ohildren clapping their hands;and I, poor Pedro, the gipsy spy, I feel that Zillah is a beauty, and that a beautiful woman can make one mad.’ •Why Pedt f'.hou dreamest.’ ‘No, I do i tL dream, but I could cry.’ ‘Cry ?’ si 1 ‘Yes, cry; * when Zillah dances the Taran tella my braiji-iwims, my heart beats. I could fall at her ffbur« nd sa y» ‘ X am thv slave -’ Save me, maest;^ ( -.Jbon you speak of Him up there, I forpet qjG' 3 - come *o- ni g ht an,i t9U me wliai ic atr KJahs.’ ‘But you say’I must not stir; that they have taked me prisoner here.’ ‘Ha, ha,’ laughed Pedro; ‘why, maestro, you may come into the camp when you are well. You couldn’t stir if you would; every outlet is watch ed, every path sure. You'll have to be raDSom- ed. Hush, here he comes.’ The man put in his head: ‘Mayest come out when thou wilt, stranger; we 11 talk to-morrow. Israel’s feet were not yet steady, and his gait a little nncertain. The long days in the cram ped boat, the little food lie had taken, the wea ry yesterday, when pinnioned tightly, he had been carried on the litter by the gipsies over rough,nnknown roads,had had some eff ict upon him; but onoe a few steps out of the tent, his natural independance returned. The assembly was ready, and the gipsies were holding their seanct. ‘Come along, there at the back under the tree, you can see her. Don’t go close to her, you might frighten her.’ Zillah was dancing with her castagnettes grace fully and slowly; she began in measured rounds, every movement told on those around her, every sweep of her figure, every step of her feet sent the men into ecstacies; she bent low, she rose np, Bhe swept backward, sbe leant forward; the castagnettes sounded, her feet quickened—her arms aloft, her long tresses hanging almost to the ground, her svelte figure in a curve,she was the image of impassioned graoe—her face smil ed, but alone bore no trace of passion. She dan ced to please others, not herself; that wild, mad dance bad awakened no echo in her heart; she danced it unconsciously, and understood not its power over others. Qiicker, madder, quicker, madder, round, up, down, low, high, backward, forward—quicker,quicker,quicker ;with a bound she twisted round, leant back her head and caught sight of a stranger’s dark figure, and a quiet, mournful, noble face. She dropped her castagnettes and hid her face —it was dyed scarlet. The man who seemed to be most powerful, rose from the ground and tonohed her. ‘Art ill, Zillah ?’ ‘No, no; why have strangers here?’ ‘Where?’ j ‘Below therb, under the tree.’ But Pedro, panting with excitement, had har ried up to Israel: ‘Come away to the tent,’ he said, and draged him on; Israel was gone, no stranger was found. ^ ^ ^ ‘Zillah wants to see you to-night,' said Padro to Israel next morning. Til take you; talk to her as you talk to me—Bhe is very good. And the old’un will be here booh. Look you, maes tro, he will want muoh money, for I told him who you were before I knew I did wrong; don’t beaDgry with me. Will you take me with you when yon are ransomed ? ‘But I shall never be ransomed.' ‘Not ransomed; not yon, the rioh Jew ? Bat here he is.’ The man in authority entered. •Sit down, stranger,’ he said; ‘we want few words. West wilt thou pay to be released ? We have treated thee well, but thou art prisoner all the same. We know that thon art rich; very rioh. Thou mightest not know Spanish meney, put it in French—say two hundred thousand *™Why tempt thee with so muoh T I’ll be pri soner. I’ll stay here.' •Oh yon Jaw, no Christian would say that. ‘Art thon a Christian t Dost thou know what the word means?’ •No, and don’t oare; but he would pay. •Why?’ •To be free.' ... , •I don’t oare to be free; freedom u everywhere, if one likes.’ ‘But thou art expeoted in Pans. •How dost thou know ?' •I do.’ ‘Very well, wbat then? ‘Man, thon must know thy worth. Thon art made of gold, precious gold. Thy very name is gold—thy breath is gold. Thon art wanted for thy gold.’ ‘And if I am ?’ ‘Why, let them know thon must have money.’ ‘Never. I’ll ask no man for money.’ ‘But it is thine.’ ‘I know nothing of it.’ ‘Suppose we kill thee ?’ •Do.’ ‘Dost not fear death ?’ ‘No.’ ‘What art thou? Jews fear death; we had one before, he paid up jollily.’ ‘I am a Jew, a Nszarene.’ ‘Then thou art not of the faith, I know; some thing new, I suppose. Art tbou a branch of ur, of the Zincalo, the Gitano, or the Manusch? Man alive, thou drivest me mad. Rich, rioh, rich till you may wallow in gold; young and handsome, and doesn’t care to be free, doesn’t even care to live! What dost call thy faith ?’ ‘I am a Nazarene.’ ‘They must be odd people; what do they do with their money ?' ‘Their Master said it was no use for earth and worse than useless for heaven, Give it to the poor.’ * ‘Then give me thine.’ ‘Thou dost not want it; and, besides, I own nothing.’ ‘Israel Torriano owns nothing ?’ ‘Oh, thou knowest my name. Look at me, here I stand, as thou sayest, Israel Torriano;say what do I own ? Nothing but a body for this life and a sonl for the other.’ ‘A rouI, what’s that ?’ ‘I’ll stop and teach thee; better than the ran som.’ ‘Better than two hundred thousand francs! nev er. There, thou art a wheedler; why my tribe will think me a fool. Think of it by to-morrow, hard times may be coming.’ ‘Let them.’ The gipsy left the tent, shaking his head and mumbling: ‘A soul better than a ransom; won der what it is. Pedro, Pedro, come here.’ Pedro came. ‘Look, thou Neapolitan vagrant, don’t get taken up with the Jew’s fancy for a thing he calls a soul, in bis funny Italian talk. Thou wert always a dreamer and a spy, and I’ll hang thee to the next tree if I find thee at tricks. The Gitana-mother doesn’t like thy eyes.’ ‘Pray, Senor Grandezza, and when didst find Pedro napping ? Who brought the Jew ? Bah, must grow wiser before thou threaten Pedro. I’d get the lot into prison if I liked, but for Zil lah.’ ‘Wretch.’ ‘Same to the Senor.’ * * * * * * The Andalusian night lay stilly on the earth; the tropical air was filled with wonderful rich essences, that distilled through the luxurious vegetation, and enslaved men’s senses; big fire flies hovered over the dark foliage and sward, the rapacious southern night-bird was heard, as he swung himself from hiB layer up into the dark vaults of the heavens, looking for prey; be yond, on the brows of the lower ranges of the * Sierra Nevada, io their fastness, the hungry howl of a lonely wolf could be discerned, and here and there a few wild Andalusian horses, mules, and goats would troop by to enj iy their freedom from taming restraint. The South claimed its right to natural beauty, enriched as_ it was by the vivifying power of strong solar influence. The sun here called forth a higher pc-nerative power in the earth, from the earth arose tho ex halations of this exuberant vegetation, and back again they fell in dew and shower, fructifying bv their own changing evaporation. 'Pedro had crept to the tent of his protege who was lyin g, quietly before it, unstirred by anv emotional thoughts; the p_’st and future of his own life were blanks to him, his imagina tive powers ever concentrated themselves on present contemplation. Perhaps there passed just slightly through his memory the noble fig ure of Rebecca, as he had S9en her last near her window. Certainly Jerusalem and its surround ings were inc irporated with his ideas; but all remembrance vanished before this glorious An dalusian night. „ , •Senor, Zllah waits; come talk to her all about you and the Nazarene,’ Israel and Pedro softly went across the heath to a spot Pedro indicated; there, on a little knoll behind protecting cactuses, at her feet a small gurgling rivulet, sat Zillah, the admired Gipsy Queen. ‘Comest thou to a Gitana?’ she said in broken Italian. , , ‘Why not, the Gentile was dear to our Mas ter?’ ‘Who was thy Master?’ ‘He who taught my Jewish race the way ot love, of sympathy, of mutual hundredfold for giveness; He who said that chastity lives in a thought, and godliness often in undeclared pur pose; He who judged us according to our ac knowledged faultiness, not by our own right eous standard; He who in prophetic words spoke to the multitudes from Mount Olivet by the Galilean seas, near river Jordan, on the way- side to the Samarian woman, and lastly from the cross to the thief; He who is distorted by men that profess to own Him, who is unknown as yet to millions that may know Him one day ; He who loves you, and me, and all, all sinning, humanity. Oh, Gitana, lovely as thou art, danoa that dance no more; it is unohaste thought. Come now, listen to me.’ ‘Thou makest the tears come into my eyes; what am I that I should do other than my own? Pedro knows that I love the sun, the moon, and the stars, and that we sit and apeak ti the riv ulet. Pedro knows how am watched, how simple is mv life; and thou sayest I do wrong when I danoe to amuse my people. Who is thy God? mine is all about me,—Ha who created my own fair country, my Spain. •You are right, Zillah; God, both mine and thine, is in all around ns; but If we cannot im agine the Creator beyond His oreations, then we draw Him down to ns. Come, Bit down, both of yon. I will teach you.’ Israel took tho plaoe on the knoll, Zillah and Pedro sat below him at his fast, and both, half- bred Spanish and Itiliaa gipsies as they were, listened earnestly to every word. What a teaoher, this Israel Torraino, the great eastern banker! Teaching a Rips J g«l and boy, making them know God in His works, and com prehend His loving kindness i-a ^ying sent the Nazirene to give us the greatest lesson of hu manity. The higher the theme went the more impassioned beoame Israel, until ho rose11n u exoitsment, and towering abo™ “f sent torth poetio sentences of adoration to the Southern skies. ‘We must go,’said Pedro. , , •Already? answered Z llah. * tho Tarantella no more, good Israel, come here to-morrow and teach again.’ ‘If you wish it’ . ... , .. •Yes. yes,’answered Zillah, With * Pedro and Israel retired first; ZtUah followed them slowly and reluctantly. Suddenly she was stopped by the Gitana-mother. ‘Where hast been, birdy?’ , ‘In the night air, to oatoh the breath of life. ‘Take oare; wolves are about, human wolves, with floe faces to devour fair maidens. Remem ber, remember thy bethothed, the Hungarian Cinganno ohief is ooming. Eimembar thy bond.' , ‘I own no bond to any man* ‘What! rebellion i already.’ ‘The stars teach me to own only Him wno made them, as master.’ Strange to say, the Gitana-mother fell ill hurling the most fearful execrations against some one in her delirium. Tue head of tbe tribe, the one who had bargained with Israel, had disappeared on a mysteri ous mission. The young J ew. waited upon by Pedro, like a shadow, was allowed to roam about freely, bnt Whenever he had wandered a little too far, a giply would abruptly stand be fore him, emerging from some hiding-place. Is rael knew he was watched; what of it? If he was to go forth from here, well it would be don e; money should never buy him off. He brought the gipsy children around him, and spoke to them kindly, talked gently of the Great Spirit, and made their big black eyes dance with delight at his tales of the. far off conntry. The children would rush to him. ‘ Mother thrashed me,because I would not fetch the fowls of the Alcalde in the next village,’whim pered a big boy one day. ‘Why wonld’st tbou not ?’ ‘ Because you said, what other people owned was their property, and I must ask them to give it. I did ast-the Alcalde for the fowls, and he would not give them, but threw a stick at me, so I rushed home and told mother.’ ‘ Dost thou see the beautiful sky?’ ‘Yes, it’s very blue to-day.’ ‘It smiles because thou wert good and wonld’st not Bin against the law.’ • Do men-others in the towns—never take fowls from Alcaldes?’ ‘They do, fowls and other things.’ ‘ Does the sky not thunder then ?’ • Do you know what thunders? A little voice in there, in their breasts, that shakes them, be cause they have not dealt by their neighbors as they would be dealt by; that voice would speak loud, but they won’t listen. Don’t take whai thy neighbor has, but give what thon hast’ ‘That seems funny to Gitana children, who are just taught the other way. But I like you much, von have soft eyes and a beamifal face, and are never in a passion or cross. Dost thou come from the spirits ?’ ‘I wish I did.’ ‘Queen Zillah says you are her God’s child, and He will take you up to live with Him.’ • Q oeen Z ; Hah shouldn’t say so. 0 ur G od had only one child, and He lives with Him now.’ ‘ Oh tell ns about Him.’ Then Israel would sit under the shade of the big southern chestnuts, and have a score of gip sy children around him, telling them of the Nazarene, who walked about the foreign contry healing the sick, pardoning the evil, and loving little ohildren. They would press to him and often whisper: ‘ Teach mother, she scolds if I do not run and hide in the village to take the things. Mother will learn, too.’ Bat the mothers and fathers fought shy of Is rael; they would not learn; they hal tasted the unwholesome sweet fruits of wild wilfulness. Zillan was at the try sting-pi ace, sitting below the knoll, for that was sscred to Israel. The Gitana’s color came and went, her baud played tremblingly with a massive gold chain she wore her eyes were moist, her foot kept faint measure to her quick, shifting thoughts. Zillah, be trothed somehow to tho great Hungarian Cingan no Chief, revolted at the idea to be his wife, to dress smartly for his pleasure, to dance grace fully for his delight, to be the show-piece of the tribe. The earnest words of the stranger tingled in her ears, his persuasive teaching had opened a new world in her soul. Ou, why wm she a poor uo*angbt Gitana girl? She had never known father and mother! the powerful elder mother of the tribe took authority over her, but eves? she dared notsav much. Evirvone in the oahip locked npor, Zillah as something beyond their k«n, as somebody to be loved, fondled, and respected. Zdish had been spoiled, rude hal b^eo the awakening from such indulgence to a real life of thought, idea, religion, and hopeless aff ‘ction ! Israel, Isra6i, and Israel again, was before her, morn, noon, and night. Might sne hav3 touch ed his band, misht she have smoothed bis hair, might she have kissed the hem of his garment! Like a lov’ng chil d she thought. Zillah, it was as something else, thou wiuldst have done it. Wha' was the use of the new teaching if it made her so unhappy? Why should she know the Groat Spirit and Hi3 crucified Son, it they could not help her to another outward life? Oh. it was misery, to have longings she could not satisfy. It was misery to live ont of her self. R-ib«cca, the Jewess, had speedi'y fonnd an inner life, a oproaohing to a solution of her doubts and aspirations, but poor Zillah, there was no foundation to build on, and like a wiy- wird reed. Zi'lah, the Gitana Q leen, swayed backward and forward in the stormy atmosphere of unanswered love. Israel came; Zillah rose, as if obedient to her master. • Z bah, why so smart to-day? Why that gold chain ?’ ‘The mother made me wear it' ‘The mother? Hast thon not a father?’ ‘No, no, no, Israel, thou kindly teacher, teaoh me no’mora; thou wilt go awiy some day, awiy into the great world, seeking thy ma’e in person and spirit. I, poor Z llah, shall be left here with the vast sky and the big trees, with the cry of the night-bird and tbe howl of the wolf. I shall have no one to tell my thonghts; may be my be trothed will drag me to the other country. 0a, leave me an ignorant Zingara, as I have been, dancing the Tarantella ’ «Not dancing the Tarantella, Zillah, it is wicked - ’ ‘Why? I am not wicked.’ ‘ Because it makes men think wicked, unholy thonghts. Why shouldst thou be the cause of them? Zillah, thou art chaste, remain so; give thy heart to the Spirit, adore Him, find your new life in your own S9lf, and flee the w lys of men. ‘ How ean I? Shall I go with thee ?’ she said, hesitatingly and under her breath. ‘ How oanst thou ? I am an errant being, go ing here and the-e seeking my Master’s ohildren on this earth, and if I cannot find them? Ah, then Pedro ran up: ‘Oh, here yon are; coma maes tro, he, ihe head, has returned, and wants to confer with you; quick, quick, before he find* yon; and oh, Z Hah, witi him has come the great Cinganno Chief from U ngaria, to take these away; come after us slowly. In au hour they will be all drunk at the welcome feast, oozno back then, I have much to say to you both.’ Israel w&> in his tent; the ohief put in his head: . . ‘I’ve been in Paris, I’reseon the rich T orruno. I’ve told him thou art hare. Ha w mid not be lieve me u ale is thou didst write. He said thou couldst travel like a mooaroh, thou couldst not fall into the hands of the soum of the earth, the gipsey; bnt if thou wilt sand word he will pay the money. Write, I want to go back; I hare friends here who need me. I have treated thee better than I should have others, only the Q.- tana mother made ma.' ‘I shall not write, I shall not pay; whenever I leave this camp I shall leave it as I am.’ •Tuna never wilt, we'll kill thee first. Wjat have a prize and no ransom ? Waara would be the sense and reason ?' ‘Dost thou think thou dos right?' ‘What is right but every man's advantage? I know tbe Jaw, I know the Ohristiau; they do r - other, only they color it over by fiae talk at cunning ways.’ ‘Dost not know the Great Spirit V