Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1907 — A CHURCH LEGEND [ARTICLE]

A CHURCH LEGEND

While Peter Smltz, mayor of Aix-la-Chapelle, was brooding, bow to find funds with which to finish the cathedral his daughter Gertrude announced Hendrlc Staufman. ' Heudrlc was a goodly fellow, a Uttka wild perhaps—but, then, he was the Captain of the city guard, and much > might be excused in a soldier who ventured blood and life as freely as though he had ample store of both. The little fat mayor guessed the errand upon which the youth had come and was not sorry to have an opportunity to deliver bls mind upon the matter. “Your daughter, wbrthy mayor,” said the soldier ■ briskly—“l love her and would ask your consent to woo her.” Now, although Peter Smltz had not the slightest intention in the world of favoring the suit of the young man, yet so versed had he become in the arts of diplomacy since his service as mayor that he did not openly tell the suitor that his suit was hopeless, but he returned an evasive answer. “I have no objection against you, my gallant captain,” the mayor said, caressing his fat chin and smiling upon the soldier as if he fully intended to say yes at once and have done with it, “but affairs of state require me to hesitate before deciding such a weighty matter. You know that our cathedral is unfinished, to the great scandal of our town.” “What has that to do with your daughter?” exclaimed the soldier In astonishment “Surely you do not expect that she can aid in finishing it!” The soldier’s words gave rise to a bright idea in the mind of the mayor. “Exactly!” he cried. “My daughter’s husband must finish the cathedral.” “By my faith, then, she is apt to go husbandless for awhile!” the soldier cried bluntly as he withdrew. The mayor chuckled with delight upon getting rid of his visitor so easily and Immediately resumed his study of the surrounding country, planning how he might best attack, the insolent neighbors who had dared to scoff at the unfinished church. The soldier quitted the mayor’s mansion In disgust, and as he walked down the street, brooding moodily over the utterly impossible conditions that old Peter had imposed, he became conscious that there was a stranger gliding by his side. Young Hendrlc glared at the stranger in wrath. He felt in the humor for a quarrel, and here was a chance. The man was tall and thin, with a nose curved like an eagle’s beak, deep sunken eyes glowing like balls of fire, a long, drooping mustache and a sneering smile, and he was wrapped from head to foot in a long black cloak. Upon his head he wore a little hooded cap, and a single slender red feather curved in the air like a tongue of fire. Hendrlc was hot with rage when he glanced at the stranger, and then all of a sudden be became as cold as ice. “Our fat little mayor made strange conditions,” quoth the stranger, his voice as metallic as the ring of steel upon steel. Hendrlc could only stare, not speals. “You see, I know all about it,” the stranger continued, with a confident nod, “and I take quite an Interest in your case. It is a shame that two young hearts should be kept from each other, and if you say the word I’m the man who will give you the maiden.” Hendrlc shivered, and as he glanced •round to see if any one was near hh gaze fell upon the unfinished cathedral. The two had halted right in front of the ill fated church. “There you are!” cried the stranger as he looked at the vast pile with the air of a man who considered himself a judge about such things. “The finishing of that is but a mere trlfie. I’ll help you myself. It is a little out of my line to build churches, but opposl-, tion is the life of trade. I’ll aid you cheap. Just sign me this contract. The purport of it is that the first who shall enter by the open door when the cathedral is finished shall belong to me, skin and hair, body find soul.” As it Is generally very easy in this world to give away what does not belong to us, Hendrlc gladly signed the contract, and then the dark stranger agreed to deposit a certain sum amply sufficient to finish the cathedral In a lonely spot upon the grounds belonging to Hendrlc’s dead father, accompanied by a will purporting to be signed by the old man bequeathing the money to his son. This was so arranged that none might have a suspicion as to wto furnished the money. All went well. Hendrlc found the money, devoted it to building the cathedral and married the girl. But before the cathedral was finished Hendric had confided to his wife the bargain he had made with Satan, and she, womanlike, set her wits to work to cheat the fiend. , The contract stated that the first to enter should fall Satan’s prize, but did not stipulate whether that first should be human or beast And so the opening day came and a 'vast crowd assembled. Two men placed a large box close to the cathedral door, the portal was opened, the box was shattered and a huge welf ran into the church at headlong speed. The fiend In waiting gripped the beast fast, but, when he saw how he had been tricked be vanished with a howl of rage. The contract had been strictly kept. The fiend had completed the cathedral.