Show ALI in the last years of the eighth centi nry there reigned in bagdad the caliph Abul fedal In coffers arede the wealth of the east had been poured wibb a most and the magnificent city of the enchantress was not only the abode of peace but a splendid jewel in the empire of the FaithfuL of all the caliphs of this wonderful city since almansor its founder no two had blessed or cursed the world with the same idea of what it was necessary that man should do to enjoy life in this world and at death to be worthy of a place among the dark eyed damsels and beautiful youths of the gardens of paradise the magnificent Al mamoun scattered ms inestimable wealth in the greatest contrast with the abstemiousness and frugality of the mighty omar and the aaronn el of bagdad is vastly different from the akaah whose fanatic advance only the heaving waves of the atlantic were able to hinder the caliph Abul feda had succeeded his father whose desire to gather the gold of the then known world into bagdad without expending it for any purpose had put the youthful prince to many disadvantages and fostered inyim the desire to do otherwise when he would succeed to the mantle of the prophet therefore when his own sons were choosing their ends or pleasures the caliph Abul feda was always ready to forward or indulge them among the youngest of his many children waa AIL for years he had blooded brooded oyer and planned on the aidea of a wonderful edifice that he hoped in time to construct gfall the anres it had been his privilege a of jahe commander of the faithful to see aono all things the perfection of which the young prince dreamed therefore on the death of his father the prince began the building of the long deferred happiness there arose on the banks of the river the most wonderful architectural dream that even that magic age and that wonderful city had produced yet to the prince it was unfinished something waa yet lacking to make it the abode of perfect pleasure one evening the prince was sauntering along one of the most magnificent of ithe curiously carved arcades of the palace when a voice called his name prince alii son ot Abul fedal prince alii the young prince glanced quickly around on all sides but beheld no one except the silent sentinels on guard around the palace and the picturesque horsemen that at a little distance rode slowly back and forth as safeguards jl approaching danger again came the voice prince alii son of Abul fedal prince alii son of Abul fedal quick as a flash the prince drew the splendidly ornamented and equally splendidly tempered blade at his side and stood ready to face any opponent but it was unnecessary before him stood an old man bowed and whitened by the sorrows and trials of many years his dress and manner also distinguished him as belonging to some other period prince alii son of Abul fedal be began 1 I am assented prince ali scarcely knowing whether to tower up to his full height and answer with the pride he felt in noble name ora acknowledge his inferiority before a higher power 1 I know you I 1 know you answered the aged man 1 I imea your honored father and conr fathers fathers and a supernatural expression spreading over his visage and stood side by side with the prophet himself in many a dearly won fight with the enemies of the only true belief but I 1 wronged him I 1 did him an injustice and therefore is my slumber in the tomb disturbed when the commander of the faithful or one of his children has an earnest longing or desire I 1 or some other who has wronged the prophet is called from the tomb in answer to their prayers prince alii son of Abul fedal what is thy desire the prince thereupon began at the birth of his hope for the possession of an architectural wonder and related all until 1 I understand I 1 I 1 understands under cried theold man eflowly beckoning the prince to balence Bi lence abu have exhausted your to succeed to happiness in desire and have failed Is it not as I 1 saya it is answered the prince and I 1 now yearn for something beyond tha power of man to accomplish or understand be it then as you desire answered the aged father behold this staff ask inot from whence it came nor discover tho mystery to any living man gitil I 1 return for ita possession the prince took the staff and looked it curiously over but nothing extraordinary occurred seeing his expectancy the aged man continued the followers of the good man jesus whom the christians believe and the worshipers of the stars and moon and the elements and other works and do ings of the one and only god for there is but god and mohammed his prophet nave images Deaun rui to de hold yet far from the handiwork of the creator to us is forbidden such images would you fill the structure yon have built with more wonderful images beyond the construction or understanding of mankind 1 I I 1 exclaimed the prince delighted with the expectation the power is in your hand answered the strange visitor and vanished for several minutes the prince stood as if awakened from a dream but not long for just at that moment a young girl a favorite with the prince came on tiptoe behind him noiselessly as the soft breeze that scarce moved the dark hair that fell uncontrolled over her white shoulders she crept up and was about to clasp her small hands over his eyes when the prince seeing the shadow and excited by the strange visitor who had just left him wheeled suddenly around and in doing so touched the laughing girl with bis staff As a statue of the whitest marble she stood before him As the prince stood wondering at the magic power of the apparently commonplace staff a courier approached in all haste with a message from a distant province governed by a very dear friend of prince AIL the breathless messenger fell on his face before the prince and after salam ing after the manner of the day and recovering breath enough to speak he begged the pardon of the prince for first exacting a promise of secrecy in regard to the matter upon which he bad been sent it being his masters special order in his anxiety the prince raised tho hand that held the staff and placed it on athe shoulder of the exhausted messenger and he too was marble r As the days went by the palace filled avith strange images and the possessor of the wonderful staff began to long for the supernatural donor the possession of his gift began to be a weight and each image added to the palace was a weight added to the burden of its ruler still the longed for visitor came not at last when the prince was almost driven to madness his strange visitor again appeared before he could ask a question of the descendant of the great mahmoud the staff was thrust into his hands and he was prayed by the memory of the great leader to restore to life the silent images that instead of adorning cast a gloom over the palace Is that not beautiful asad the strange visitor pointing to the figure of the mischievous girl favorite dooh looh at the grace the smile almost bursting into laughter it is beautiful most beautiful answered the prince but berbaugh ber laugh would be to me more beautiful than all and that exclaimed the aged man look how natural that courier is about to relate bis message most natural most natural sighed the prince but the unspoken messana is locked in that marble breast to several others the strange visitor drew the shrinking prince and commented on the peculiar beauty of each but the prince could not be diverted from the melancholy that possessed him take them awall take them awall exclaimed the prince leave my pal aoa as it was and I 1 will be happy perfectly happy I 1 be it as you say answered the aged man and profit by the lesson there was a slight rustle in the courts of the palace and when it passed all was as it bad been even the strange visitor himself was gone the palace of prince all of bagdad stood for ages as it was erected except this inscription over the main entrance ALI SON OF TO TEE PRINCES OF THE WORLD there Is iio pleasure where the happiness ol 01 a fellow creature ia endangered nor is abert loveliness in anything where there is elthon adding to or taking from handiwork the of th most high god donald S macgregor in new aorl hews |