II. MAY'S PRIDE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 13, 28 March 1901, Page 23

11. MAY'S PRIDE.

Karl Bhivered. His mother took her shawl and wrapped him closely in it.

' Ah, dear mother,' he said, ' I have never been warm sinoe we left the little house. If father would come back and take me in his arms again I Bhould be warm. When shall we see father ? ' Frau Wiener choked down a sob as she led her little boy along the windy street. It was in February, and really cold and blustering:. Karl looked very quaint and funny with his gold head anl blue eyea above the dark blue Bhawl, and with its fringe dragging behind him, people turned to look at him and his mother. They had just come from the steamer, driven from their home by the failure of the crops. Karl, the father, had died of overwork and exposure in the fields, and his wife Gretchen and little Karl were left with almost nothing. But somehow Grelchen felt more hopeful every time she looked at Karl's curly head. Surely the dear Child Jesuß would help this little one ! And so she took her little boy and embarked on the cold, wide pea, trusting in God. She could apeak no English, and, after she had reached Boston, she became afraid for the first time. After all, she said, perhaps she and Karl had better have remained among the ruined crops at home than to have come among these strange people, who hurried so, who were not Christians — for she saw nowhere images of the dear Lord or the saints. It was Sunday, and yet the people hurried. She had been directed to a German boarding-house, and there she had left her mattress and her little box, so that she might go to Mass. She carried her basket, in which Bhe kept her own shoes and Karl's when they did not wear them, for Gretchen looked on shoes as very prtcious. They were to be worn only on Sundays and in the town. In the country they were to be carried in the basket. After MasH she would try to find work as a servant. Karl and she tramped on, Karl feeling very uncomfortable in his stiff shoes. ' Oh, mother,' he said, ' I must take them off. They hurt ! ' ' But we are goiug to Mass,' Bhe said, ' and we must be well dressed before our Lord.' Karl hobbled along, and many eyes were turned to the poorlyclad woman and the curly-headed little boy. The wind caught Qretchen's usually smooth locks and turned and twisted them in most unruly fashion. At last Gretchen caught eight of a gilded. cross. She was heartily glad. Here were rest and hope at last. She gave Karl the holy water and piously crossed herself. The candles were lit for High Mass. She entered the beautiful vestibule. It was warm and bright with the soft glow from the stained windows. ' Oh, little mother,' whispered little Karl, ' let me take off my shoes. They hurt so ! ' The church was empty, so Gretohen took off the little fellow's shoes and put them carefully into her basket. ' Oh, how good it is to be warm,' he said, • and in God'a house !' Gretchen pressed him close to her heart. She looked at the red light before the Blessed Sacrament. 'We are at home, Karl,' she said — • we are at home as much as if we were in our own little house.' ' Let us go in.' Some people, in fine clothes, had entered, and Gretchen followed them. Hhe had no fear. In the house of God poor and rich were alike. The pews puzzled her ; there were no pews in the little church at home. She drew aside the soft red silk cord that hung there and walked into one. People passing up the aisle did not notice her. Remembering her basket, she hastily left Karl in the pew and put it under the bench in the vestibule. Karl was alarmed. ' Are you sure, little mother,' he asked in a whisper, ' that the good God will take; care of my shoes ? ' She did not answer ; she had taken out her rosary and had lost herself in prayer. She was in her Father's houße. She began to be warm again. She did not shiver now, and poor little Karl raised his chubby handa and began to pray for his dear father with all his might. Up the aisle — by this time the Mass had begun — came May Gartland and her schoolmate, Laura Wells. Behind them was Mr. Gartland. ilia wife and Margaret and Alice had gone to early Mass. May wa< conscious of her well -fitting dress, her new hat, and her fashionable air. And Laura Wells had flattered |her by whispering as they entered : ' Dear me ! quite respectable — no poor people— just like an Episcopalian church.' Laura herself was an Episcopalian, and she had oome with her Catholic friend just to have a look at things. May walked up the aisle with her head in the air. It was so lucky that all the pewa were filled with well-dressed people. It wai lucky, too, ahe thought, that those horrid, dowdy Smiths, who occupied the pew next to theirs, were not at church. Mr. Gartland had quietly slipped into the last pew ; he had no desire to be disturbed by Laura's restlessness and questions. May made her most graceful genuflection, with her miud entirely taken up with Laura. As she ro»e she caught sight of the woman with the old shawl, the tangled, wind-blown flaxen hair, and the shabby little boy. They did not see her. Karl's little hands were clasped, his eyes fixed devoutly on the altar, and his mother had forgotten all earthly things. May touched her on the shoulder. ' Will you please leave this pew? ' she asked in a sharp whisper. People like you ought to go to early Mass.' ' Fraulein 1 ' exclaimed Gretchen, awakened from her vision of the angels. May dropped into her German. She knew enough to give the command : 1 Leave at once, this seat is mine.' Gretchen arose, bewildered. It was a new thing to be driven out of church. She drew Karl by the hand and walked quickly down the aisle. Mr. Gartland, absorbed in his devotion*, did not notice this.

Gretchen wont Into the vestibule. She picked up the prayerbook which Karl always liked to hold open in chnrch — it was his father's prayer-book — and looked back into the beautiful church. Ah, surely, she thought,, the people were not Christians in this country, though they had such a bpautiful church ; she Hat for a few minutes on the bench, and then, fearful lest somebody should drive her away, she put on Karl's shot sand, taking her basket, went out upon the front steps. The wind whirled past her. Karl cried , he wanted to go back into th< lovdy. warm church ; he was cold. 'Rn rrmfprU nipin Hehohpn ' she said. 'We shall hear Mass here ; the people within do not want us ' « Bnt OH w«nt« na' Knrl i?id hn teeth chattering. ' I know he wants us. Let us not mind the people. 1 Gretohen shook her head She wrapped the boy in her shawl and knelt, saying her rotary, with the sharp wind cutting lu>r like a knife, until "he heard the ' Ite Misea ent.' Then she could kneel no longer ; she fell forwaid on the cold steps iainting, and little Karl cried out for help with all his might. Mr, Gartland, being in the last pew, was the first to come to her. 1 Poor creature." he said as she opened her eyes. ' Why, she has a high fever.' Gretchen seemed to be burning up and shivering both at once. Mr, Gartland lifted up her head and f-aid to Karl . ' Don't cry, little boy, your mother will be well soon." K?rl did not understand the words, but he felt the kindness of the look, so he ceased to c ob. May and Laura passed by. • Piipa is so queer,' May said. ' We'll just go on ahead. I sup- ! pose that womin has been drinking. Somebody ought to keep such people away from respectable churches. It's just awful '' 'We have a chapel for such people as that.' said Laura, lifting the long-handled single eye-glass she used po constantly, and the possession of which May envied. ' They never come near our church at all. Do you know.' Laura continued, patroniaingly, ' I think if you would not let such a rniscellaueous lot come to your churches, we'd come oftener just to hear the mubic' May tried to feel grateful. Mr. Gartland called a carriage and drove to a hospital. He could not understand Karl, and Gretchen could not tell where her boarding-house \va?. The doctor at the hospital, who knew Mr. Gartland, said that Gretchen was very ill. ' She has been exposed to the cold for some hours, and may have a fever.' Then he dropped into German, speaking to Karl. ' The little hoy says that a young lady drove him and his mother from the church, and that they had to kneel on the steps in the cold.' 'Is it possible?' asked Mr, Gartland. 'What is the matter with the woman .' ' ' Scarlet fever — possibly , it looks like — developed by exposure. But I can't tt 11 yet.' 1 The Sisters will take care ot her, and the boy. You may count on me for expenses." When Mr. Gartland reached horne — he had walked slowly through the blustering wind — he found May and Laura and Margarit and hi-> wife m the parlor. Alice came in with a telephone message. 4 The woman i° wor-o. pTpn." oho said. 'Dr. We<-t tells me to tell yuu «o. Ife says that she probably would not have had the fever at all if she had not taken Mich » bad chill ' 1I am -orry.' he -aid. ■ Her little boy will die of grief. He is a nice, frank-looking little fellow.' ' How i ould you he so awfully silly, you papa,' said May, with her e\ki on Lauri. ' to take ho much trouble about that untid\-lo"l:i'ig wn'imn ' I had to a-k her to leave our pew.' 'You' evUuned Mr. (iartk-i 1. ' You did that !' 'And very proper.}'.' -oid Lauia ' The church was not a place for her.' Mr. Gartland di 1 not notice th'V ' May," he <-aid. ' \ thought that your frivolity had touched only your head ; I had no i.'« a it- bad affected your heart. Go to the telephone, Alice, an! t 11 Dr. We^t that I will call this afternoon, that it was my daughter who ordered that poor woman out into the cold and thut, it* I am re^j'oriMble in a manner for her illness. he must spare, no t\pei)M> for her or the boy.' ' Your fathf r is aw f.il,' whi-perort Laura. May blushed and bej;aa to eiy. and Mr. Gartland told the to his wife. ' It is my duty to nr.ke all tlr* amends I can,' he said. Mrs. Gartland. for the fhst time in her life, spoke very sharply to May. That joung l.idy v nit up to h<=r room, and refused to come down to dinner. Liura looked as if the hail been insulted. and pitied ' poor, di-ir May," in :i whiter. The dinner wan nor as ( hoerful as n«.usil. Mrs. Gartland was uneasy ; her hiiMiand was s'U-nt ; Alice and Margaret were as polite as possible to Laura, but they wi rr not v<_ry fond of her, and they felt less so now beeuise of her heartier chatter. It t-cemed to Mr* O.irM i-nl a r< il misfortune that her dunghtor ahould have been m> i i kit d to nry poor r« r-on And to think of having driven that woman and child out of ( hurch ' Mr*. Gartland resolved to have a'-trious convocation with May. In the evening, when Laura had gone home. Mr. Gartland spoke little ; he went several times to the telephone and made anxious innuirie-". ■No better." he said — ' worse, in fact. Oh, May, how could you have been so heartlets ? ' May pouted. 'There's one thing he will not do,' she said to herself. 'He. will not take back his promise about the trip. I'm sure of that, at any rate.' • The doctor told me this afternoon over the wire,' Mrs. Gartland said, ' that this poor woman was a Bavarian peasant driven over here by that failure of the crops May was reading about.'

1 Indeed said Mr. Gartland, languidly. 'Do you know, Peggy, I am very tired to-night, and I have a sort of a headache.' May looked up from her book. ' Shall I play something for you ?> she aßked. ' No — not to-night — thank you,' he said, coldly. May pouted again. The idea of making people uncomfortable about a wretched woman 1 What would Laura Wells think of the whole thing 'I And Alice and Margaret evidently felt that Bhe had done wrong ; she might have gone into the Smith pew and let the poor woman cay her prayers in peace, they said. The idea I Was not the pew her property, as well as Alice and Margaret's ? Having come to the coucluMioii LhaL &ht> was deeply injured, May went upstairs again, hastily paid her prayers — all the time wondering whether her father would cauoat) to go by the Hamburg or Havre line of steamers — and closed her eyes for the night. On Monday morning Mr. Gartland did not appear at breakfast. He was ill — a alight fever He was anxious about Qretchen Wiener and Karl. He seemed relieved when he found that the boy had been taken care of and that the woman was no woree. The girls enjoyed the pleasure of waiting on their father : it was 'so nice 'to have him at home. Alice took in her pots of white hyacinths. Margaret made all sorts of dainties, and May hovered about. Her father was very gentle to her. ' You need sorrow dear,' he said, 4to soften your heart. If we are a little hard through too much prosperity, sorrow always comes — always.' On Wednesday the doctor said that he was really ill ; he had scarlet fever, and the girls, who never had the disease, were forbidden to enter the room. May went about the house sobbing. 'He caught it from that wretched woman ! ' she cried. ' Oh, why did he trouble himself about her ? ' 'If you had left her to say her prayers in peace,' said Mrs. Gartland, sternly, ' she would not have fainted on the steps, and he would not now be ill. In future, daughter, learn to respect poverty.' Days of anxiety succeeded. Gretchen Wiener grew steadily better. One day little Karl was permitted to see her, and on that day the priest came out of Mr. Gartiand's room and said to his wife : ' God help you I It is over — he passed away blessing you and the children — and he was well prepared. You know he received the Holy Eucharist yesterday, and I had just given him absolution after confession to-day when he May's wild cries rent the air. She could not be comforted. • God's will be done 1 ' Mrs. Gartland said. ' God's will be done I ' After this, times changed for the Gartlands. They were obliged to move from their fine house, and Laura Wells ceased to know them. It required the greatest economy for Mrs. Gartland to live and educate the girls. She was in delicate health herself ; and yet she could not bear to think of obliging one of them to neglect her education to help in the household work. May had offered to stay at home : she had changed wonderfully ; she was now as meek as she had formerly been arrogant. ' Sorrow has come, as father said,' she often thought. ' But, oh ! if I could only have him back !' Tlkv hvtd outside the city in a little house surrounded by a garden. ' If I only had somebody to help me, how bright I could make it Mrs. Gurtland said, one day in the spring, looking at the bursting buds, bhe was tempted to keep May at home, but that would mean that the girl should miss her changes of an education. ' Ah,' she said. ' if I had only somebody to assist me, I could raise plants and flowers for the city market — it would help so much ! ' It seemed as if her thought was answered : ' Lady,' said a voice behind her, ' Ach, dear lady, I have found you ! I am well now, and I have been told all. Will you let me and my little Karl work for you ! ' ' It was Gretchen who had learned some English ; and there was curly-headed Karl, in his stiff shoes, looking up at Mrs. Gartland with his frank blue eyes. Mrs. Gartland stooped to kiss him. ' So you are the little boy 1 ' Karl nodded as if he would never stop. He liked Mrs. Gartland's look. And so it was arranged that Gretchen and Karl should stay, and they made themselves very valuable. You see that the failure of the crops in Bavaria did influence May Gartland's trip. — Dr. M. F. Egan in the Catholic Times,

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