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Show Ij THE BOOK SHELF , I 'Living Death' j In Prison Cell 1 Told by Byron By ELIZABETH C. JAME3 LORD BYRON'S "The Prisoner of Chillon" is a story of dungeons and chains, of cruelty and death. Beside Lake Leman in Switzerland stands a castle that once saw the imprisonment and death of the last members of a noble family. The dungeon of this castle was so deep that the water of the lake seeped through the walls and formed little pools on the prison floor. Sunlight never came into the dark prison, there was only one window and that was high and small. Through it came light during a short part of the j "- -t 1 day, but the sun- I shine never came . through, and the dis- f V torted light gave a 'i , wan and ghostly ap- ; v" pearance to the in- terior of the deep t JL dungeon. f J y n Into this prison t , ' were placed three I y the last members Elizabeth alive of their honor- James able family. There I had been seven in the beginning but the father had been burned a the stake, two brothers had diec on the field of battle and their mother moth-er had died of a broken heart Placed so that they could not see each other, each man was chained to a rock pillar. Now the three of them languished in their chains which were so fastened that their bodies were soon indelibly scarred. One Brother Dies. After a time the voice of the second sec-ond brother, the active, out-of-door one, grew more and more despondent; despond-ent; he spoke more softly and less often. Then he did not speak at all. When the keeper came to bring their water and prison food, he found this brother dead. The two remaining brothers, the Eldest and the youngest sens of the family, talked with each other of the battles and the insurrection that had brought them to this prison. But one day the youngest of the i familv Hifi nnt rct-n 1 .1. ' LORD BYRON" A PLAYBOY Two handicaps attended George Gordon, Lord Byron: his family environment and his own vanity. Gordon grew up without training, train-ing, for his mother, bcinf deserted desert-ed by her willful husband, the J rowdy Captain Byron, declined into melancholia so overwhelming overwhelm-ing that at times her mind seemed doomed. The parents left the boy to grow up alone. Byron's natural pride was enhanced en-hanced by his unexpected inheritance inheri-tance of the estate and title, for which there had been two heirs ahead of him. His attractiveness combined with his lack of principle princi-ple kept him In mix-ups with women all his life. His marriage to a lovclv woman wom-an of England went h.ippilv for only a short time. Soon after I their daughter w3s born. Ladv I B.vron loft her husband, never to i return to him. she steadfastly ... , any reason for lis. but London soon heard of his behavior In a srand.il. He was ostracized, and fled to Italy I nt.l the end of his life. Byron "cd on the continent. no's riT,',Cr W'',S CnlV qilirt- I in the dungeon, broken bv the hstcnenl cries of ,!lG cldet on kicking to his brother to stav vv-i him. But 'he had died. I Terror, Then Calm. Kr!e0fr1,,im,e),10 W;,S St,""1fJ ith Ki-'tf. he lost track of time or ph,ce except CrSCiu " S exeep vague oblivions. Then grad 1. m that he was alone in the prison t'- dungeit,him flC ,0 WaIk Sna'ed7n,eJ 'SCC ,he "'do of , le I! m!Ui SCV ll" lie c I n?'fn rork until t tl.ro ?h !Slf l'P ,0 l00k Acros, Z U IilUo cning. diVt-m ."SU' hp w in freedom Moanl,,,.,,.,,. nindo n ?; ... 10 thp fstlo and go f,-lp,d ,oM h tlM ho could now Ko? Ho l,i ",,,M'" co'h' he ,0 I ..,,P ",e Wl,rU it. lie s'ti h W,H,M , (i).Vi,,n;1'"- to his rilh,r - ,,. Ktory. T,,,,.p '."""' tn.o Vt'Mr.i 1 ti,p , '" ''' t for four ,,'""..-'-.--.I;.,-k;il7.. 1 v |