My Initiation Into The Abyssinian Mysteries.

followed by a rubbing motion , and at length a deep bass voice— " Neophy te , art thou ready ? " I answered , " Yes . " " Art thou willing to take upon thee the vows appertaining to these awful mysteries ? " " I am willing . " With this the door was unlocked , ancl I had just light enough to see that my new conductor was apparently a negro of the most unadulterated ebony hue . He carried in his hand a little torchwhich only served to make darkness visible . " What ! " I

, thought to myself , " do they have darkies in this Loclge ? " I began to have misg ivings that I had been inveigled into some conventicle of clandestine Masons . My guide conducted me to a large room , which I recognised b y the dim lig ht as the main family room of Ed . Johnson . Here I was ushered into the presence of about a dozen more apparent darkies , all as black as ebony . Not only were the faces as black as night—only the whites of the eyes gleaming

with chalky whiteness in the taper ' s dim light—but they were all robed in black , with black cowls over their heads . Every man held in his hand a drawn dagger , which had an awful sinister look in the dim li ght . Altogether it was rather a trying position , and although I believe I am a man of courage , who has faced danger and death on the battlefield , I must confess I rather' wished I was well out of the business . But , of course , I was going to brave it through

now , no matter what might happen . Here I was bid to kneel down in the centre of this group of goblins , damned or whatever they might be , and a long rigmarole of vows propounded of which I have precious little recollection now . I remember there were a good many questions , with promises that I would " never , never , no never ; " to which , as I had seen H . M . S . Pinafore a shore time before , I thought to myself— " no never , that is , hardly ever . " I don ' t know , indeed , but' I may involuntaril y have muttered something of this , for I thought I heard an audible snicker among those gloomy conspirators .

Well , this ceremony ended , I was solemnly addressed— " Neophyte ! thou art going to descend into the deepest abodes of the lost spirits beneath . Whether thou shalt ever ascend again will depend on th y fidelity and courage . " With this all disappeared except two of these cowled gentry . I was left in total darkness . In a few moments I was taken by each arm and led I knew not whither . At last I found myself seated on a stool , in some sort of narrow box . Then a deep voice thundered— " Is all read ? " From beneath another

y deep voice souncled— "All is ready . " Then one of them with me said" Neophyte , farewell , we shall seek thee next in the shades . " With that I found myself going very rapidly downward ; the descent was about thirt y feet , but it seemed in the darkness ancl the uncertainty about a hundred . I came down with such a shock as threw me sprawling off the stool on which I had been sitting—I had gone down the dumb waiter into the coal-cellarwith

, a rapidity which nearly took my breath away . Here I was immediately seized by strong invisible arms . Loud cries responded— " Who is this that clares to penetrate the gloomy abodes of Hades ? " I thought to myself that I would never do it again if I could once get off ; but I said nothing . Then came an animated conversation as to what should be done with me , which ended in a fiendish proposition to consign me for ever to the flames of

Tartarus . Suiting the action to the word I was taken into another cellar , where I could see a fire blazing in the furnace , the light coming from whose open doors revealing a negro dressed in scarlet—horns on his head , a pitchfork in his hand . " Take any shape but that , " I involuntarily said to myself . Arrived at the furnace door , I was the subject of another parley—some were fierce for my commitment to the flames—and the reason iven wasthat I

g , , a white-livered , pale-faced man , had dared to invade the ghostly shades , where black w as the orthodox colour . At last the argument was brought to an end by a happy suggestion that I should be painted like the rest—black . This was accepted , and I became the involuntary victim of burnt cork , until I looked like a twin-brother of the other Abyssiniaus . The furnace door was