Miscellaneous.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2047, 25 March 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Miscellaneous.

The Lark Ascending*

He rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of found Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake, All infcrvolved and spreading wide, Like water dimples down a tide Where ripple, ripple, ovcrcurls And eddy into eddy whirls ; A press of hurried notes that rim So fleet they scarce are more than one, Vet changingly the trills repeal And linger ringing while they fleet. Sweet to the <]Uiek o’ the ear, and dear To her beyond the handmaid ear, Who sits beside our inner springs, Too often dry for this he brings, Which seems the very jet of earth At sight of sun, her music’s mirth, As up he wings the spiral stair, A song of light, and pierce, air With fountain ardor, fountain play, To reach the shining tops of day, And drink in everything discerned. An cc.tasy to music turned Impelled by what his happy bill Disperses: drinking, showering still, Unthinking save that he may give His voice the outlet, there to live Ucncwcd in endless notes of glee, So thirsty of his voice is he, for all to hear and all to know That he is joy, awake, aglow, The tumult of the heart to hear, Through pureness filtered crystal clear, And know the pleasure sprinkled bright liy simple singing of delight. Shrill, irrespective, unrestrained, Kapt, ringing, on the jet sustained Without a break, without a fall, Sweet silvery, sheer lyrical, I’ercunial, quavering up the chord Like myriad dues of sunny sward That trembling into fullness shine, And sparkle dropping argentine ; Such wooing as the ear receives from zephyr caught in chorio leaves Of aspens when their chattering net Is Hushed to white with shivers wet; And such the water spirit’s chime On mountain heights in morning's prime, Too freshly sweet to seem excess, Too animate to need a stress ; Hut wider over many heads The starry voice ascending spreads, Awakening, as it waxes thin, The best in us to him akin ; And every face, to watch him raised, I'uts on the light of children praised, So rich our human pleasure ripes When sweetness on sincereness pipes, Though nought be promised from t lie seas, Hut only a soft nulling breeze Sweep glittering on a still content, Serenity in ravishment.

The Lovers or Damascus. One night, when the Arabs were besciging Damascus, thoir pickets were warned by the neighing of a horse, and, looking toward the city they beheld a solitary mounted figure stealing forth. At a distance followed another solitary figure, likewise mounted. The Arab sentinels, concealing themselves, fell upon the first ami captured it; hut the second escaped. The prisoner proved to be a young nobleman of Damascus, named Jonas. He told his captors his story. He was in love with a beautiful maiden, Eudocca, who returned big passion ; but there was a feud between the families, and thoir parents opposed the match. They bad, therefore, resolved to fly from the city and find happiness elsewhere. They had bribed the Christian sentinel to let them pass the gate, preferring to risk the dangers of falling into the hands of the Arabs to remaining under tbe angry surveillance of their families. Jonas was advancing to sec that the, way was clear, when lie was taken and thus more effectually separated than before, from his beautiful Kudoeoa. Jonas was carried before Khalcd.

“ Embrace the faith of Mohamet," said the Moslem chief, “ and when the city is taken your betrothed shall bo yours, llefuse, and 1 will send her your head 1” This was too poworfulan argument for the unhappy Hover to resist, and he became a convert to the faith, preferring his head to his religion.

In the meantime Eudocea, deeming her lover destroyed, manifested her devotion to him by entering a convent and taking the vows of celibacy. There Jonas found her, after the city was surrended. He threw himself upon his kness. He acknowledged his apostacy and pleaded with her to become at once a convert to Mahammedanism and his wife

Now it had been stipulated that such of the Christians of Damascus as chose to depart from the city should be allowed three days to make their way to Antioch, during which time they were to be safe from molestation and pursuit. With that mournful caravan, abandoning their homes forever to seek an asylum among strangers, departed Eudocea, to the despair of Jonas, whose apostacy had deprived him even of her esteem. In his madness the disappointed lover conferred with Khaled, and told him that if the Moslems would confide in him he would guide them by secret passes through the mountains, which would enable them as soon as the three days of grace had expired, to fall upon the caravan of exiles and secure their treasures. Thus once more the treachery of one of their number proved the ruin of the Christians—this time through the treachery of a despairing lover.

The caravan was overtaken, the exiles put to the sword, the plunder secured, and Jonas beheld, with transports of joy, Eudocea once more in his possession. Hut to that noblehearted girl death was more welcome than the love of a renegade. When he would have caressed her, she drew a dagger and stabbed herself to the heart.

Origin of OpiumAccording to the Bengal legend, there once lived on the banks of the holy river (ianga a rishi, or sage, in whose hut* made ot palm leaves, there was a mouse, which became a favorite with the seer, and was endowed by him with the gift of speech. After awhile the mouse, having been frightened by a eat, at its earnest solicitation was changed by the rishi into a cat; then, alarmed by tings, into a dog: then into an ape, then into a bear, then into an elephant, and then, being still discontented, into a beautiful maiden, to whom the sage gave the name of “ I’ostomania,” or the '• poppy seed lady.” The king having seen her asked her parentage. I’ostomania to deceive the king, told him that she was a princess whom the rishi had found in the woods and had brought up as his child. The upshot was that the king made love to the girl and they were married by the holy sage, She was treated as the favorite queen, and was very happy; but one day, while standing by a well, she turned giddy and fell into llie water and died. The rishi then appeared before the king and begged him not to give way to consuming grief, as the late queen was not of royal blood. She was a mouse," he said, "and by her own wish I changed her successively into a cat, a dog, an ape, a hoar, an elephant, and a lovely girl. Let her body remain in the well fill up the well with earth. Out of her flesh and bones will grow a tree, which shall bo called after her, ■■ Poslo," that is the ‘ poppy tree.’ From this tree will be obtained a drug called ■opium,’ which will beswallowed or smoked till the end ot time. The opium swallower or smoker will have one quality of each of the animals to which Postomania was transformed. He will be mischievous, like a mouse ; fond of milk, like a cat ; filthy like an ape : quarrelsome, like a dog; savage, like a bear; and high tempered, like a queen.”