The Helmet of Mambrino 



by the slow ruin of block after block 

 inward toward the center of vitality. 

 This form of decay comes at last to 

 girdle the whole town with mounds 

 of fallen wall, vacant squares of roof- 

 less masonry, fragments of paved 

 patio, secluded no more by inclosing 

 corridors, but open and much fre- 

 quented of drowsy goats, who come 

 from their feeding-grounds to sleep 

 on the sun-heated stones. 



Here and there a more firmly 

 founded edifice, like a church or a 

 posada, resists the unrelenting prog- 

 ress of destruction, and stands for a 

 few years in lonely despair among 

 the leveled dust of the neighbor 

 buildings. 



If a church, it is bereft of its im- 

 memorial chimes, which are made to 

 jangle forth the Angelus from some 

 better-preserved tower on the plaza. 

 Owls sail through the open door, and 

 brush with their downy wings the 



