The Promised Key And Kate Mulhall: A Romance of the Oregon Trail

I wish to state to you my dear Readers, that Ethiopia is a Country of great contrasts largely unexplored and is populated by Black People whose attitude towards this so called Western civilization has not changed within the last six thousand years.

The people are Christians while retaining Primitive customs. The result is that the Black People of Ethiopia are extraordinarily blended into a refined fashion that cannot be met with in any other part of the world.

In 1930 the Duke of Gloucester undertook one of the most interesting duties he had been called upon to execute up to this date. The occasion was the Coronation of His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the conquering Lion of Judah, the Elect of God and the Light of the world.

The Duke was to represent his father The Anglo-Saxon King. The Duke handed to His Majesty Rastafari the King of Kings and Lord of lords a Scepter of solid gold twenty seven inches long, which had been taken from the hands of Ethiopia some thousand years ago.

The Duke fell down on bending knees before His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and spoke in a loud voice and said, "Master, Master my father has sent me to represent him sir. He is unable to come and he said that he will serve you to the end Master." See Psalm 72: 9 to 11 verses, also see Gen. 49 chap. 10 verse.

On one side of the Scepter was inscribed Ethiopia shall make her hands reach unto God, and on the other side the King of Kings of Ethiopia, the top of the shaft was finished with a seal and above was a clen cross in which a single carbuncle was set.

The Scepter was a magnificent piece of workmanship and had been designed from an historic piece in which the special ceremonies of His Royal Highness of Ethiopia, Earth's Rightful Ruler.

The Duke also handed to Queen Omega the Empress of Ethiopia a Scepter of gold and ivory. The shaft is in the form of a spray of lilies and at the top a spray of lilies in bloom.

It was a brilliant ceremony, the church began to be filled. The Ethiopians were brilliant in special robes having discarded their precious white robes, and wore Jewels of great value.

The men's swords were being heavily ornamented with gems. On their heads they wore gold braided hats, in which the covered lion's manes were to be seen. In contraction then were the solar note struck by the women who were heavily veiled, and wore heavy cloaks.

His and Her Majesty King Alpha and Queen Omega the King of Kings drove to the Cathedral in a Coach drawn by six white Arab horses.

Queen Omega in a Robe of Silver and the escort on mules wearing lion's skin over their shoulders, forming into procession outside the Cathedral.

King Ras Tafari and Queen Omega the Royal pair, the escort and a line of Bishops and Priests entered the guest rank obeisance.

King Alpha sitting on his Throne homage was done to him by the Bishops and Priests fulfilling the 21st. Psalm. The ceremony took 10 days from the second day to the eleventh day of November 1930.

King Alpha was presented with the orb spurs, and spears and many other mighty emblems of His High Office, Dignitaries of the world power presented King Alpha with the wealth of oceans.

The Emperor attended to most of his preparations for the reception of his thousands of guests himself, and day after day could be seen rushing about in his scarlet car seeing how the white laborers were getting on with the new road he had ordered that the lawns he had laid down be attended to and that the extension of the electric lights throughout the city were being hurried on.

Kate Mulhall was just twenty when her father crossed the Missouri River and the Great Plains on their way to the "Oregon Country." Prior to the day of their departure for that far-away region of mystery and romance, she had never been outside the restricted neighborhood where she was born—in La Fayette County, Missouri, whose every third inhabitant was a slave; had never seen a railroad, and until a short time before, not even a cook-stove. All of her life had been in a real pioneer environment; but she grew up strong, hearty and self-reliant upon the plain and wholesome food, the pure air and active outdoor life of what was then the frontier.

She was of the brunette type, with dark hair and lustrous eyes that fairly sparkled with the delight of being interested in the fields and flowers, grand old woods full of wild life, birds, animals and everything about the home or farm. Of more than the average height, her movement was lithe and free; her form an excellent subject for an artist's brush. Outdoor life appealed to her nature, and she took a joyful satisfaction in all of its activities.

Kate was an expert horsewoman and a crack shot with the rifle, often picking a wild turkey off the lower limb of a forest tree at one or two hundred yards. In addition to that splendid game bird, timorous water-fowl were abundant on the rivers and in ponds; deer, grouse and pheasants in the wood and brakes; rabbits and squirrels almost everywhere; and the "razor-back" hog, wild and ferocious, roamed the forests and dense thickets of Missouri in those pioneer days. Many a litter of pigs, sprung from domesticated ancestors, lived by digging out edible roots under the surface, or hunted beneath the heavy fall of autumnal leaves for the more nutritious acorns, beechnuts and walnuts.

The constant search for food developed an independent life which soon relapsed into the state of nature; so wild hogs became, like the deer and turkey, common property for the hunter's rifle. From these various kinds of game Kate kept the Mulhall family table well supplied with substantial and seasonable food. Missouri also harbored among its inhabitants not a few wild men, contact with whom sometimes involved taking desperate chances.

David Mulhall, Kate's father, was a typical non-slaveholding farmer of that period in Missouri—honest but not "progressive" in the present general understanding of that word. He was intensely prejudiced against the negroes, but bitterly opposed to the institution of slavery. Because of these well-known views, he was regarded with suspicion by a majority of his slaveholding neighbors; and, in fact, looked down upon as belonging to the "poor white trash" of the South who worked with their hands.

Many others like him migrated from Missouri because of their hatred of slavery, though usually carrying with them a prejudice against the black man. Others left that region for "free territory" because of the bitter class prejudice existing between those who owned negroes and those who did not; and the latter particularly to save their children from the necessity of competing with slave labor.

Mulhall was by nature and training an easy-going person, who believed in "letting well enough alone"; and was, therefore, averse to going out upon a world of uncertainties, or taking unnecessary chances for bettering his condition. He was born before the advent of railroads in the United States, when oxen supplied the principal means of transportation, and "hog and hominy" comprised the basic food supply for a majority of the people.

The sickle cut his grain, which was thrashed by the flail; and the wind separated it from the chaff. Boiled wheat frequently took the place of white bread, as it was a long distance to a mill and usually a tiresome wait for the "turn" to have the grist ground; hominy was often substituted for johnny-cake or corn pone when the meal was all gone. It is difficult for a generation accustomed to an abundance of every kind of food, including luxuries, to realize how the American farmer lived in the early part of the nineteenth century.

A rather large one-room cabin was the home of the Mulhalls—with a loft overhead, the fireplace in one end and the bedroom, curtained off for the parents, in the other. Kate's room was in the loft with the younger children—all girls—reached only by a ladder fastened to the wall; the patter of rain on the roof often lulled the youngsters to sleep, whether they willed it or not.

Kate was not one of those who constantly chafe for things they cannot have and lament over their fate. She was too healthy in mind and body to give way to discontent—was satisfied with her lot, and proud of the class to which she belonged. Nor would she willingly exchange places with anyone who lived in idleness and comparative affluence upon the involuntary labor of fellow mortals of a different color.

Fine qualities of head and heart combined with an exceptionally attractive personality to make her very popular with the young men of marriageable age and inclinations in all the country around. Nor were all of her admirers of her own circle; at least one belonged to those prone to consider themselves superior to white families who owned no servants. But at the time this story begins, Kate had no serious intention of taking any step that would abridge her personal freedom; there was plenty of time for that.

But whenever there were any "doings" in the neighborhood—dances, spelling bees, sociables or camp-meetings—she was sure to be on hand, and never lacked for an escort home. Sometimes it would be Ben Hardy, at other times James Price or one of the Shaeffer boys. She had never gone anywhere with Isaac Pelton, although she always treated him in a friendly way at such places, and actually admired him more than any of the other young men of her acquaintance.

He was a fine looking young man, sensible and well-behaved; but when the thought that he belonged to the slave-holding class—most of whom either sneered at her kind of people, or acted patronizingly towards them—came vividly into her mind she said to herself, in effect, "Banish the thought! Never will I come to terms of intimacy with one of those would-be aristocrats, however nice he may be personally."

Isaac was really a victim of circumstances. Born of a slaveholding family, he had a good education and bore himself like a gentleman, never assuming any airs of superiority over his neighbors, whatever their station in life. As a matter of fact, he deplored the conditions that separated him from those with whom he felt he had more in common than with his own people. There were many like him in those days.

Standing six feet in his stockings, he was erect in bearing and rather slender in frame, though no weakling when it came to physical prowess; "of stature tall and slender frame, but firmly knit" would apply to Isaac Pelton. His hair was brown and his eyes grey, indicating mental alertness; a slightly prominent chin and firm-set lips stamped him as one not easily swayed from his course.