AND THEY WERE GUIDED BY A STAR

New Zealand Tablet, 10 July 1913, Page 11

AND THEY WERE GUIDED BY A STAR

(By Nora McAuliffe, for the N.Z. Tablet:)

Annie Egan leaned out of her window and gazed at the stars, and from the sky her glance swept downwards to the lights of the city that lay stretched • be- . neath her. It was Christmas week, so the thronged streets shone with an added Merrymakers and Christmas shoppers good-naturedly jostled one another. The heart of the city was pulsing joyously, youthful once more with the old Romance that is ever new. And, aloof from the life around; her, Annie Egan stood at her open window and confessed herself a failure. Six months before she had leaned from her window and laughed up at the stars. 'Jewels of the night, you are glorious, but the lights of the city have bewitched me—the dear throbbing intimate lights of our city.' Well, the city would have none of her. You do not belong,' it seemed to cry. ' You cannot give me anything in exchange for a foothold.' A foothold! It had come to that. Once she had dreamed the whole city was within the hollow of her hand. Well, she would go back, and if she winced at the thought it was as much for those to whom she was returning as for her own hurt. And she wouldn't return to them the same girl. The city had made her doubt the value of what she had been taught to prize. She had lost her bearings. She was a voyager in an open boat adrift on an uncharted sea. There was., a God in heaven, no doubt, but His ears were deaf to the cries of His children and He no longer walked amongst His people. At this point Dennis, who was sitting on the front step, looked up and caught sight of her. ' Isn't it a bosker star, Miss Annie?' he shrilled, pointing with his crutch. 'See it's right above the Church of our Lady of the Stars, down near the wharves, where they're having a novena.'. He hobbled round till he stood beneath her window. ' I've got a candle alight before the statue down there, and I guess you'll see me captain of St. Pat's eleven, yet, Miss Annie. My word/ he added reflectively, ' won't we just wipe out that Grammar School lot.' 'Good luck to you, Dennis; I'm sure you'll be having a happy Christmas.' Annie beamed on him through a mist of tears. When he had gone she looked accusingly at the stars—' And at the hospital, to-day, they told his mother that tuberculosis of the knee had set in.' ''

. Next morning Annie woke with her. sense of failure still strongly on her. The knowledge accompanied her into the streets, after her sketchy breakfast, but she squared her shoulders, as she swung into the Megaphone office with the bearing of a gallant boy. ‘Anything for me this morning, Mr. Price?’ she inquired, with a smile. Jimmy had remarked that the brilliance of her smile increased as her hats grew shabbier. There so seldom had been anything, but Jimmy’s way of replying,‘l’m afraid there’s nothing this morning,’ always held a delightful implication that there had been yesterday and that to-morrow,, of course, there would be again. This morning, however, he had just turned to the girl when his telephone rang. ‘ All right, Carteret, we’ll manage.’ He hung up the receiver. ‘ Here,’ he said, ‘ there’s some sort of a racket at one of the down town churches. A novena, or something of that sort, and they claim that all sorts of miracles are being worked. The congregation’s mostly French fisher-folk and Assyrian hawkerswe’ll give it half a column.’ The color flamed to Annie’s cheeks. Her chance! Her chance at last. Jimmy turned away so that he might not see the eagerness in her face. It would mean nothing, he was simply using her as a stop-gap. ‘ And, oh, I say Miss Egan, don’t treat it too solemnly, a touch of humor.’ She nodded, scarcely hearing him. Already the opening lines danced before, her eyes. She boarded a down town car, and noted whilst doing so that the passengers were the really. poor; some looked startlingly sick. In the corner sat- little Dennis nursing his crutch. .She secured a strap near him, and smiled down at him. He returned the smile with interest. ‘l’m getting off at the next corner,’ he said, so you’ll

be able to sit down then. I suppose you are going'to the Church of our Lady of the Stars; we’re nearly all going there.’ Then why are you getting off at the next corner,’ asked Annie. ‘ Oh, I’m going to walk the rest of the way,’ the youngster replied easily, and Annie remembered that the corner marked the beginning of another penny section. Well,’ she said, ‘I do wish you’d ride all the way, because I’m a stranger, and it wouldn’t do for me to get lost.’ She paid the conductor for two as she spoke, and the boy uttered the faintest sigh; of relief. ‘ I won’t be late, now. You see, I m buying candles to burn, and that takes a penny every day, and there’s a penny for the car.’ ‘ Twopence is a good deal every day,’ Annie admitted, but this was her first visit.

Well, then, she didn't know of the wonderful things that were happening. Tom Murphy's sister was dying, two doctors said so, and her mother had taken her to the church and the old Assyrian priest had touched her and blessed her, and now she was getting better. As for himself, he wanted to walk straight again. ' The doctors at the hospital say I can't get better, but I will.' . *-*-■_, b... Annie looked away. Her eyes were full of sorrow for the child's disappointment. Of course, he wouldn't get cured/Miracles like, that didn't happen. The clear-featured man standing beside her looked with sympathy at both of them. Here we are,' he tsaid quietly, as the car stopped, and, stooping, without more words, he lifted Dennis and placed him gently on the pavement. ' The Church of our Lady of the Stars was a plain wooden building, and humbly it stood between two warehouses; there was a salt freshness in the air that spoke of the nearness of the harbor. Annie entered the little porch. In a niche stood a crudely colored statue of the Blessed Virgin, around her head a halo of gilded stars. The people, excited and chattering, thronged the porch; many were intently placing lighted candles about the statue. To Annie, in her new-born wisdom, the scene was inartistic; nay, even -vulgar. Then her gaze rested on Dennis. His eyes were fixed on the statue, and his lips were moving in silent prayer. - ; That was the very heading for her paragraph: ' The Eyes of Faith.' There would be laughter running through it, but, oh, the tenderest laughter, for once, she too had believed. Dennis had at last succeeded in placing his candle on the little altar. Such a little flame amongst so many. How could its light reach to heaven ! Dennis came back to her side. ' He's coming. He's coming,' he whispered excitedly. ' If we stand here he might bless us. Sometimes he touches you—then you get better.' An elderly priest came slowly through the people. Reaching Dennis and Annie, he stopped. The boy grew rigid, but leaning forward the priest touched. Annie's eyelids. ' You see badly, my child,' he said gently, and entered the church. The people, all silent and reverent' now, followed him. In the church old memories came crowding round Annie Egan. She was back again in the Chapel at St. Mary's and the nuns were singing the Benediction. She lived over again that last distribution, when, glowing with excitement,. her voice trembling with feeling, she had read her farewell verses to' the school. How they had applauded her! How they had looked to her to keep the ' light burning on the altar of Faith.' Her face suddenly burned as she remembered the few paragraphs she had written. Not much of the old ideals about them. In a dream, she knelt on. The priest left the altar, and gradually the church was deserted. Still dreaming, she left the church. In the porch she lingered reverently before the shrine. Dennis?' said the voice of the clear-featured, cleanlybuilt man. And as- they turned, he added, 'Now we're going to see what, can be done for this foot of yours.' He carried Dennis down the church steps, and placed him in a shabby-motor car. Annie hesitated on the pavement. : v ,/..// :/;/ /; : My name is Lindon. Could you spare another half hour till we look into this.' • Lindon! The wonderful doctor whose power of

healing the halt and :■ the lame was spoken of as miraculous. " • • • ' ""■> 'Dennis,' Annie cried, 'you're going to be cured.' The boy nodded. ' It'll be all right to play footer, again, won't it,' he grinned; \ 3 < ■ :' ~. : Half an hour later, the 'doctor came to her in his 1 shabby waiting-room. ' He'll get better,' was his brief comment. He smiled suddenly. He'll be captain of St.-Pat's eleven yet, miss.' --"> ' ■ ' I've been a beast,' said Annie Egan. And the •doctor understood her, for he replied, 'So have I, aniss. For nine mornings I .have watched him, thinking that he wouldn't hold out against repeated disappointments.' .-: "-.._••. On her way back to the Megaphone office, Annie's brain worked at top speed. They wanted a paragraph; well, she'd give them one; something, perhaps, they didn't expect. It would be her swan song, for of course it would spell ' finis ' to her career. Gallantly she swung into the office, and. seating herself at a desk in the corner commenced to write. At the end of two hours she placed the written sheets before Jimmy Price. Her cheeks were aglow and her eyes were starlike. 'lt isn't what you expected,' she said slowly, 'but it's the truth.'

Jimmy’s eyes travelled down the sheets. ‘ It’ll have to be cut,’ he growled. Then a phrase arrested him. After a second or two he looked up. ‘ Wait a minute,’ he murmured, and disappeared into the chief’s room.

‘ I’ve got a girl out here—a slip of a school-girl,— and we’ve got to give her a job,’ he grinned. ‘ Send her back to a boarding-school,’ growled the chief. Tell her the Society and Fashion-’ ‘ Society Chat and Fashions—— ’ interrupted Jimmy, ‘ I tell you the kid’s got the goods.’ He slapped the sheets down. ‘ Look at that,’ he said, ‘ and that. My word, it brings you right up against it. Can’t you see those Assyrian women in their purples and pinks, hot, and heavily scented, and the big brown eyes of them seeing the Sign of God in everything.’ The chief read quickly. ‘ Send her in,’ he said. And Annie Egan came. What would they say to her, these city men who cared for nothing but money and success. 1 Miss Egan,’ the editor said, ‘ Mr. Price has recommended some of your work to me, and I can offer you a small opening on our regular staff, if you’d care to join us.’ If she cared! She nearly laughed, then suddenly she felt her eyes brimming with tears. ‘ Then that’s all settled,’ said Jimmy Price. * You’ll call in to-morrow morning at 10 sharp. She gave the chief a watery smile and found herself once more in the outer office.

Jimmy Price looked at her. How many hours is it since your last meal?' he asked. She laughed, and confessed she had forgotten all about lunch. Then, 'Will you come and have some tea with me?' said Jimmy, who thereupon became full, of care for his appearance, and retired to look at himself in the cracked glass above his mantelpiece. The chief caught him at it. Looked at him pityingly, ' You've got it, Jimmygot it bad,' he said. But Jimmy cared not if all the world guessed it. As for Annie Egan, she was in an exalted mood. The city had opened its arms to her. She was one with the busy people who thronged the streets. She had won her foothold. She belonged ! She was free of the city! ***** , That evening she stood at her window looking dreamily at the night. Away in the distance she could dimly discern the modest spire of the Church of our Lady of the Stars, and poised above it, golden and wonderful, shone the evening star. Through the open window of the room below where Dennis and his mother were sitting, came the lad's voice. • He was reading a Christmas story aloud: 'And the Wise Men from the East travelled for many days over thorny wastes and desert places, and always they were guided by a Star.' ~ " 'They were guided by a Star,' repeated Annie, softly. She thought of Dennis, of the doctor, of the

poor people at the church—bf-Jimmy Price. ‘ God bless us—oh, God bless us, everyone ’ said Annie -Egan, smiling at the stars. .>