Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1880 — FOUR DREAMS. [ARTICLE]

FOUR DREAMS.

A Very Curious Story* The evening shades were falling over a desorted battle-field; the victory was won, and four soldiers camped in a lonely corner were enjoying a tardy meal. Seated on the grass in front of a roaring fire, before which a few slices of LunV, wjwtf cooking, the red light oast a Grangeshadow around, and the pale flicker revealed many sleeping their last sleep. .-The soldiers were laughing boisterously, search noticing the glazed eyes fixed bn them. The day’s work had been severe, and the living were resting, not knowing what the morrow might bring. Death and night were spreading their * rfigs over the blood-stained earth where terror and silence were standing side by side. Their feast ended, Gneuss began to sing; his deep voice sounded hoarse as it. fell on the desolate and mournful air; the song so joyous on his lips echoed but a sob ; astonished at the strange accents, he began singing with redoubled ardor, when a piercing cry, issuing from the shadows, disturbed tlie little group. Gneuss was silent, and with a troubled expression said to Elberg: “Go see which corpse is awakening. ” Elberg went armed with a sword and a lighted torch. His companions coidd Just perceive the outline of his form as he bent over the dead, but he soon disappeared. “ Clerian,” said Gneuss, after a short silence, “ the wolves are about to-night, go l<?ok for our friend. ” And Clerian went, and was in turn | soon lost in the darkness. Gneuss and Flem, tired of waiting for the return of I the Wanderers, rolled themselves in their i cloaks and lay down by the smoldering embers. Their eyes were just closing, when the same dreadful cry rent the air. Flem rose, walked silently to the spot from whence issued the sound, and was soon lost in the gloom. Gneuss sprung to his feet, terriand at the sight of the black gulf where the agonized gurgle fire. He threw a few dried leaves on to the burning logs, hoping that the brightwpuld dissipate his ferrs. The fliiitnq rokfe, shedding its light in a ghastly rod circle on the ground; in this circle fiie shrubs looked unreal, and the dead seemed roused by invisible hands. * Gneuss’ terror increased; he shooluihe lighted branches and stamped out the flames. As the tliick shadows fell around him once more he shuddered, fearing to be again overtaken by the death shout. He could not rest. He sat down, then rose again to call his companions, but the sound of his own voice made him shrink and fear that it had attracted the attention of the surrounding corpses. Suddenly the moon appeared, and Gneuss trembled to see it shedding its pale beams over the battle-field. Night no more concealed its horrors. The plain, strewn with dead and dying, seemed to extend under the shroud of white light, and this light seemed to give in unearthly touch to the scene. Gneuss, now thoroughly roused, wondered whether he could ascend the mountain and extinguish the pale night torch. In his excitement he thought the dead must rise and speak to him now that they could see him so plainly. Their perfect calm was terrible, and, expecting every moment to be overtaken by some dreadful catastrophe, he closed his eyes. But as he was standing there a strange heat touched his left heel. He stooped, and saw a thin rivulet of blood flowing past his feet, leaping over the stones and causing a gay murmur. It came out of the shade, meandered in the light of the pale moonbeams, then fled and returned to the darkness like a snake, in its tortuous windings. Gneuss could not remove his eyes from the tide of ‘ flowing blood. He saw it swelling slowly, and visibly getting larger; the rivulet became a peaceful stream that a child could have easily leaped over; the stream became an ever-increasing torrent, bursting over the ground and throwing up a red foam on all sides; the torrent became an immense flowing river. The river was ever carrying away the dead, but a cold shiver ran over him as he saw that it was supplied by the blood running from their wounds. Gneuss kept moving backward from the ever-increasing tide; he could no longer distinguish the opposite bank, and the .valley was changed into a lake. Suddenly he was stopped in his course; a cluster of rocks impeded his flight. He soon felt the waves leaping round his knees, and the dead drifting on, insulting him in their course, each one of their wounds bpcoming a blood-stained mouth to scoff <t; his fears. The dreaded sea, t ever increasing, now touched his waist. •He made a final effort, by clinging to the cracks in the rock ; but alas ! the rock Jgave way, and the tide covered his shoul3«rs. The moon, pale and sad, watched sea where her rays were not reflected. The light floated heavenward ; this immense sheet of shadowy and clamorous blood seemed to be the entrance to some great abyss, The waves, ever as-

cending, touched and covered with their red foam the lipa of the tortured Gneuss. IL At dawn Elberg returned; he woke Gneuss, whom he found sleeping, with his head pillowed on a stone. “Friend,” said he, “I was lost in the shrubs, and, sitting down to rest at the foot of a tree, sleep overtook me, and my soul was troubled by strange visions, the remembrance of which disturbs my waking thoughts. “The world was in its infancy; the sky was one eternal smile. Earth, a virgin still, was basking in May’s rich sunbeams; each blade of grass was ripening Mid surpassing in beauty the finest oaks; the trees were bursting into gorgeous leaves and fruit totally unknown to me. The sap was ever flowing through earth’s deep veins, and in its abundance drifted into the recesses of rocks and gave them life. “The horizon rose calm and smiling in the distance. Nature, waking from its sleep as a child, knelt and thanked God for His light; it spread out its arms toward heaven to give praise for its songs and perfumes, so graceful and so sweet that my mind was overwhelmed with the divine impression. Earth, gentle and prosperous, engendered without pain. Fruit trees sprung out of every corner, the roads were hedged with -fields of ripe corn, where, to-day, plains pf thistles and thorns would rise. The air was not laden with the weight of human sorrow. God was alone working for His children. “ Man, like the birds, fed on food sent by God, gathering fruit on his way, drinking the water from the cooling spring and sleeping under a shelter of leaves, whose lips seemed- to shudder at the sight of flesh, not knowing the taste of blood, relishing only the dew-sprinkled and sun-ripened finite. “So man remained innocent, and his very innocence anointed him King over all living things. Earth had assumed a new touch of purity, and was cradled in supreme peace. Birds fled no more at the sight of man to far-stretching forests; all God’s creatures lived together under one supreme law—goodness. “I was walking with them, enjoying their perfect nature and feeling myself growing stronger and better under their united influence. I felt the delicious breeze so pure after the laden breath of earth. “As the angel of my dreams watched beside me, my eyes strayed to a forest. I saw two men following a narrow, shady path. The younger took the lead, singing gayly and smiling at the beauty all around; now and again he turned to smile on his companion, and the smile made me guess they were brothers. But the lips and eyes of his companion did not respond; he followed the youth with a look of hatred, and hastened his step to keep up with him. “I saw him cut down a branch and make it into a rough club; then he hastened his step, feanng to lose sight of his victim, and hiding his weapon behind him. The young man, who had been resting,, rose at his approach, and kissed him on the forehead in welcome. “ They set out once again on their walk. The day was drawing to a close. The youth hurried on as he perceived in the distance the sun gradually sinking behind a hill. The man thought the youth was trying to escape and lifted his club. His young brother turned, with a happy speech on his lips; the club felled him to the ground, crushing his face, from whence gushed a stream of blood. “ The first blade of grass it-touched shuddered and shook the drop on to its mother earth ; earth trembled and was startled ; a great cry of repugnance was wrung from its breast, and the sand in the road turned into a foaming red current. “ The scream from the wounded youth seemed -tq- sow Her Grid's creatures far and wide ; they fled into deep and dark places, the strong attacking the weak. I saw them in the gloom polishing their hooks and sharpening their claws. The great work of the brigandage of the creation has begun. “ Then the eternal tide passed before me. The sparrow flew at the swallow ; the swallow in its turn seized the gnat; the gnat sucked the blood from the corpse. From the worm to the lion was one great insurrection. Nature, touched at the sight, was convulsed The pure lines of the horizon were effaced, the dawn and sunset gave forth bloodstained clouds; the rippling of the waters seemed one prolonged sob, and the leaves of the trees fell faded to the ground ere they bloomed. ” in. Scarcely had Elberg finished his tale when Clerian appeared, and, seating himself between his two companions, said to them: “ I know not whether what I saw was a reality or a dream; the vision was so like the truth, and truth so like a vision. “My steps led me along a road that encompassed the earth; it was studded with towns, and crowds followed its course. A stream of red foam flowed onward, and my feet were soon bloodstained. Careworn, I wandertd on amid this mass of human beings, increasing as we went, and cruel sights met my gaze. Fathers offering their daughters in sacrifice to some avenging god, the fair heads bent under the touch of steel, and fainting at death’s kiss. Trembling maidens seeking death to escape from hatefid kisses, the tomb alone shrouding their virginity. Women dying under passionate caresses; one crying bitterly on the brink of the river that had carried away her love; another killed in her lover’s embrace; the blow was a death knell to him, and, locked in each other’s arms, they soared heavenward. “ Meh vainly seeking liberty and peace that were unattainable here below. Everywhere footprints of Kings were marked with a crimson blot. One walking in the road stained by his brother’s blood; another enjoying his crown at the cost of his subjects’ lives; and still another wading in God’s blood; and the people, standing back and letting him pass on, would say: ‘ A King has passed this way.’ “ Priests massacred their victims, and, open-mouthed over their bleeding entrails, pretended to read therein Heaven’s secrete. Swords were hidden under their priestly robes as they preached warfare in the name of God, and at the sound of their voices each man turned to slay his neighbor, thinking thereby to glorify his Maker. The intoxicated mass of human beings was hurrying hither and thither, a crushed and seething crowd, brandishing their naked weapons without mercy, and felling innocent souls to the ground. A craving for massacre fell on the raging populace. Their cry rang furiously on the still night air, until the last drop of blood was trampled from out the seething wounds, and men cursed their victims for dying so quickly. ‘ ‘ Earth drank unceasingly of the bloodred stream, and seemed insatiable and glutted over the dregs. “I hurried on, wishing to lose sight of my fallen brothers, but the road lay dark and interminable before me, while the crimson tide drifted ever onward. Darkness increased around me until I could scarce perceive the barren plains, the forsaken rocks, the mountains towering to the skies, the valleys becoming great gulfs, the stones turning into hillocks, and the furrows into yawning abysses. “No sign of life was there, no green thing visible, nothing but rocks, desolated rock, whose summits, barely touched by the wavering light, made the f floom appear more terrible in this valey where the road led, and where my footsteps echoed in the deathly silence. “A sharp turn brought me to a ghastly sight. Four mountains leaning heavily forward formed a basin. Their sides,

straight and staff like the walls of a cyclopean city, formed in their center an immense well, and this well where the stream terminated gradually increased the thick and tranquil sea that rested so peacefully in its bed of rocks, giving a purple hue to the clouds. “ I knew that this abyss must receive the blood of the murdered; that drops from each wound had gone to swell the surge of this flowing sea.” “ Stop," said Gneuss, “ the torrent I saw this night went to feed that cursed lake.” “ Struck with terror,” continued Clerian, “I stepped to the brink, and saw that the tide nearly Yeached the summit of the rocks. A voice from the abyss spoke to me: ‘ The river is ever increasing, and will continue to increase until it reaches its utmost heights; then it will overflow into the plains; the mountains will give way, and tired earth will soon be covered and flooded. New-born babes will be drowned in their fathers’blood.’ ” “ The day is at hand, friends,*’ said Gneuss, “ the waves were high last night.” IV. The sun had risen ere Clerian had finished his tale; the trumpet was sounding to rally the scattered troops. The three soldiers arose, and, shouldering their weapons, moved aw’ay, casting a last lingering look at the fire, when Flem appeared, foot-sore and travel-stained. “ Friends,” said he, “ I know not whence I come, so rapid has been my flight. Long hours aid I wander, till the noise of my footsteps rocked me gently, and I fell into a strange and restless sleep, never slackening my speed till I came to a lonely hill. The sun poured down upon it and scorched the ground, while I hurried on to attain the summit. “ And as I fled a man appeared toiling up the path; a crown of thorns was on his head, a heavy burden on his back, drops of blood were standing on his forehead, and his tottering steps could scarcely reach their goal. “I grieved to see his agony, and I waited for him; he was carrying a cross, and I saw by his crown and purple robes that he was a King, and I despised him, and rejoiced over his sufferings. “ Soldiers followed him, hurrying his faltering footsteps. At last, when they came to a standstill on the highest pinnacle of the mountain, they divested him of his garments and nailed him to the cursed tree. The victim smiled sadly as he stretched out his hands and crossed his feet ready for the murderous deed. He turned his face heavenward; tears flowed slowly down his cheeks, tears which he felt not, and which were lost in the resigned smile on his lips. “ The cross was soon greeted, and then the weight of the martyr’s body enlarged the wounds and broke his bones until he shuddered again and again, and sought strength from above. “ The sight riveted me to the spot, and as I looked I said, ‘ That man is no King.’ “Then, in my great pity, I cried to the soldiers to kill him. “A linnet perched on the cross was singing a sad strain, that caught my ear and made me think of the weeping Virgin. “ ‘ Blood is feeding the flame,’ said the linnet, ‘blood colors the flowers, blood shades the clouds. I alighted on the earth and my claws were stained, and as I touched the trees my wings grew crimson. “ ‘ I met a just man and followed him, and, having bathed in a pure spring, I thought to find rest on his shoulder from the wickedness of earth. “ My only song to-day is a sob on Golgotha’s heights for one who carried me safely through many dangers. He came to purify, and he is doing it with the crimson tide from his own wounds. “‘Oh, Jesus!’ I cry, ‘when shall I find Thy brother to take me under his sheltering wings. Ah ! when shall Thy son come to wash my wings in Thy sprinkled blood ?’ “ The victim listened to the linnet’s song. Death was hovering over him, but his look was one of gentle reproach, a serene and hopeful smile passed over his face. “Then, with an unearthly shout, he gave up the ghost; his head sank, the linnet fled, the sky darkened, and the earth trembled. “ I still ran on and on in my sleep ; dawn had come, the valley awoke smiling under their morning mists. The rain of the preceding evening gave a fresh touch to the green leaves, but the road was still hedged with the thorns that had impeded my course the night before. The same hard stones stopped my way as the snakes hissed out their warning note. The just man’s blood had flowed in vain for the world. “ The linnet passed on its way, telling its tale as it went: “‘ln vain have I sought a cleansing stream to wash my blood-stained wings. Look at earth! it is no better for the sacrifice, and I have only to record the burden of one more murder. ’ ” The clarion now rang loudly. “ Friends,” said Gneuss, “ we are driving a wicked trade ; our sleep disturbed by the phantoms of those we have slain. “My rest, like yours, was disturbed by a ghastly nightmare; I have been massacreing for thirty years, and am tired of it. Let us leave our brothers, and go into the country together and till the ground. I know of a valley where the plows are idle, for want of hands. ” “ Such is our wish,” replied his companions. The soldiers buried their weapons, bathed themselves in the cooling stream, and arm in arm they started on their new road.