Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-10-11

"A su u4ElSI II HoE q ktAAAoSg HAAA tAt
HIti is good piece of meat. answer
ed the wife ts,Fhey have had guests al
the castle. and there was much flesh
and go5d Hhits bread aiso given away
at the gates to-day
Father asked Martin, presently,
while pecking at his supper as delicate
I Iy as a bird, with but little appetite for
the meal. 'tFather, did not the master
builder come With you T. the oak?''
YES, boy, he did"
ssffe was talking t6 yea like a friend
father.''
ssIe talked as pleasant and easy as
Richard Longbeck might have done
he told ms all that has to be done in
20 father, tell me Z" cried Martin,
with sparkling eyes.
"Well; gheh we have finished the
chancel, with its fine fFetwoIk and all
the difficult tracery in the east window,
which she master VIII have to do
himself, there will be fine cOlOred glass
put in. and pictures viii be painted on
the walls, the miracles Of the blessed
Saint Sylvester
srVb5 viii paint those, father p
ssSot1a men are coming aeross the sea,
from the land called Italy, to do them,
so the master told me. But the pic
lures viii be a year or more a-paintinE
but we shall have finished our work
long before that"
Have you more than the chaEeeI to
build; father 20
YES, boy; we have to put up two
screens Of fine open work, like the
great wihdoY, ar the east end Of the
south aisle, TO make q chapel, where
Sir Simon de Harcourt and the dame
his wife will be laid when they are
dead and 8 grand tomb viii be raised
over them, with their figures carved in
stone upon it."
Z" the Dame 4ilered passed through
the village today and shs smiled kind
iGueer thing on her head, like the
church steeple for shape, made all OF
fine blue silk. and a veil of lawn hung
down her back from the top of it. )"
People bring back such foliies when
they go TO London" said the wife. II
like the old ways best but It is ft for
the mobiles to have new and fine things,
and the Lady MiIdred@is q good WO-
tnst1.''
issir simon is a thrifty man and q
4 generous added her husband, "tO
spend his money on the church build
h will cost a great sum, beyond a
IA great sum It viii cost a good
Thousand pound, the master tells me-"
"a thousand pOundP cries both
mother and sons for pound was Of
century than it is now.
"And yet Sir Simon de HaFeourt is
not so rIch as soma Of his ae1gh bors, !"
/ added the wife.
ssFIis lands are not broad. but he is
none of your rash mobiles, like one
have heard tell OF, who had fifty suits
II of golden tissue and instead Of building
one Of these new fashioned mansions Of
wood, ali carved and plastered, be is
content to live in stones as his fathers
did"
'sBut if he were to build him a new
house, 1t would be new work for you, -
said the wife.
f"Frue. wife but in the end like bet
ter to see those that can living in good
stone, as they did in the fair old times,
before these luxuries came in of Chim-
I neys and soft sleeping.
After a little pause Martin heaYed a
"What is it, child ~ asked the MOTH
er tenderly. ''eAIe you in pain ~
mo; but do wish could work in
the church ike father" he answered,
in a low voice.
The mas IN laughed.
you'll never do that, boy,'' he said.
But the mother understood her son
better, and laid her hand softly on his
thin fingers.
''NoW we must show father some-
thing shall we ~ She said.
Martin nodded and going to an oak
\ en- locker, she opened It aud brought
= ont fresh stone lcroe 20 final, dGli-
Ecately carved IN the shpe or three
II yOunEe fern froRds; two tightly eurled
up, and nOdding to yards each other ;
the third just opened enough to bend
like a graceful feather over its little
sisters. The mason took it and turn 1t
over and over, while Martin looked on
with anxious eyes and painting breast.
THAT'S good bit of work J" said the
] F-4 Lr, n
Martins cheeks flushed red with iov.
and his eyes e eaned mischievously,
but the mother was too proud 10 keep
the secret.
''It's our Martins" she said.
A'Wbat do you mean ? Who did it7''
4 tOur Martin himself; he did it"
tfAartin! you % The mason looked
with a puzzeld air from his son TO his
4 wife and back again.
''He has been working day by day
+ when you were out, with his grand
fathers old tools which you gave him, y
j said the woman; ''but he would not let
ne speak a word ill he had done some
thing fit TO show you. Isn's it pretty,
now? Look at the leaves. for all the
world like bit of fern"
the mason turned the final over and
over between his finger and thumb,
muttering an occasional thum, hum %
Of admiration and pleasure.
GLOW did you get the fancy of it,
boY?'
zone day when you carried me to the
foot of the church bank, and I waited
there all the morning. I played with
some li6tle ferns, and resolved to try if
1 could not make Them
tGoud strokes; fair strolzes; hum,
hump murmured the mason.
Very timidly, Marin edged himsel1
along the settle to his fathers elbow,
and looking in his face with wistful
eagarness, said,-
There is thing I have 50 longed to
ask Cf you, father
fsWhat is it boy - asked the mason,
4 still holding the bit of stone in one hand
while he laid the other round his sons
neck.
81 long so to do some work, if ever SO
little, IN the church. I think 1 should
! so desrly like piece of my own bandi-
, work, tuaJ is a piece of myself, to be
: always in the dear church long after ]
am gone where J. cannot see be.
The workman looked puzzled.
'But buiding-up is hard to do, child
. One must run mp ladders and carry
, mortar, and 90 from place to place.
: Eyes, father, in building bus not in
3 carving. O, If you would show thOst
! little ferns to the master, and ask him
l whether a poor little boy, who longs tC
do it very much, might carve wreatI
5 thought, father. The heads of the pill.
lars are all rough and plain. Might
g not cut a wreath of fiOWegs on one o
Q them Then I should think that little
. bit Of me would be there always wher
e the good fathers are preaching about
- Christ; and it would be tiny Offering
[ also, and something to show that ther,
4 was such boy as Martin once in Aw
9 burg village, who did all he could fo
s God"
e ''WeII, lad, it might be, in time" re
4 piled the mason. "But you are to,
s weak now you could not stand to tht
e work. Wait a while till you are strong
e er, and then I will ask.
Martin fixed two grave eyes on hi
,, father.
It 'sFather, dear" he said. 81 dom
It think I shall ever be stronger. I dom
h think I shall see the fine pictures in tn
o church. But o. l do so long to do som
e little, little work for God before I die
II have heard such beautiful thing o
}, heaven and of the Lord Jesus, that
I 40 Of 2