Cousin, On the Death of a Young Female. Commandery of New York, The Grand.. Cleveland Auxiliary, International Institute.. Capt. Webb, Monument to........... Claims, Appellations and Rites... Hunter's Resolve, The Poetry... 290 .1, 65 I, You or, Poetry... International Institute-Cleveland Auxiliary, Proceedings of the... The Great Phenomenon. The Apostle Paul's Idea of Death.... The Mystic's Prayer. Poetry........ The Hunter's Resolve. Poetry......... The Wand of Immortality...... THE GLEICHEN LEGEND.-CHAPTER IV. THE Sultan who, at that time held the sway over Egypt, was the valiant Malek al Aziz Othman, a son of the celebrated Saladin. His greatest proof of valiancy, however, was in his numerous progeny, of which the Princess Melechsala was the last and most lovely. The only surviving daughter of the Sultan was so richly gifted with nature's treasures, that court and people were unanimous in their praises; and the father's eye could not but dote on her beauty. She was the pride of the Sultan's family; her brothers ever competing with one another to show her esteem and affection. The grave Divan sat often in solemn consultation as to what prince to attach to Egypt's benefit by an alliance of love. But the father cared for little else than how to gratify the slightest wish of his favored daughter, so as to keep her mind in constant brightness, lest the slightest cloud should cast a shadow over her pure and lovely face. The Princess had passed the first years of her childhood under the care of a nurse, who was a Christian, of Italian parentage. In her youth she was carried off by pirates from the shores of her native town, sold in Alexandria, traded over from one to another, until she came into the palace of the Sultan, where she became the Vol. 62.-No. 6.-1. 321 nurse of the young Princess. Gifted with a good memory and a smooth and placid tongue, she knew so many stories and tales, that the princess delighted in them, not a thousand nights but a thousand weeks. But when a girl has lived a thousand weeks, she is no more contented with strange stories; she begins to find material for a story of her own. Now the fairy tales gave way to vivid pictures of European manners and customs; and the nurse, remembering her youth, gave such pleasing descriptions of Italy, that the tender imagination of her princely nursling never could forget these warm and glowing impressions. The more she grew in years, the more the Princess Melechsala became passionate for European habits and ornaments; and her whole appearance seemed to discard the usages of her country, and to learn the European fashions. From her childhood she loved flowers, and if in other things she had European fancies, in this one she gave proof of Arabian descent; that she delighted in expressing the feelings of her tender heart by significant bouquets and floral crowns. Yea, she contrived ingeniously to embody whole sentences and verses of the Alcoran, by a happy combination of various flowers. Then she gave her companions the task of guessing, in which they seldom missed. Thus she one day formed a Chalcedonian LYCHNIS, in the form of a heart, encircled this with white roses and lilies-enclosing a beautiful anemone; and when she offered it to her attendant ladies, they all spoke, "innocence of heart is above birth and beauty. Father Othman rejoiced in the playful ingenuity of his beautiful daughter. His talents in that line were poor. A strict and honest Moslem, he sympathized little with the foreign propensities of the fair Melechsala; but, as a tender and affectionate father, he rather encouraged her floral predilection. Then he contrived to combine these with her European tendencies, and had imagined to lay out for her a garden, according to the taste of the Western nations. The idea struck him so as to communicate it to his favorite Sheik, Kiàmel, pressing its execution with the utmost speed. Aware that his master's wish was law, the Sheik did not care to speak of difficulties. He knew as little about a European garden as the Sultan himself; and in all Cairo he knew not a soul who could assist him. Then he inquired after a gardener among the Christian slaves, and got, as we have seen, the wrong man for the |