The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-08-06

Sr. LUcILLE-"I am not gypsy;
tell no fortunes | know them not, onl'
God knows. | make baskets, they ar
not handsome, but good, strong"
1t is st. Lucille who says this, stand
ing at my back door one sunny Angus
afternoon; a tiny woman, who might a,
well have said, "I'm not a fairy or d
brownie :" but | saw at once that sht
had been rudely driven from some door:
as a gypsy fortune-teler, and in nerv
Gus, sensitive way sought at the very out
set to shield herself from similar misun
derstandings.
Poor little Lucille she wasn't one o
the grand, heroic saints, who stand uI
brave and bright clothed with gloriou,
strength. Under her uncouth Shaker
bonnet, twice too large for the small head
1t covers, you see a thin, brown face, am
smooth, gray hair. parted over a wrin.
kled forehead her little brown hands
small enough for a child of ten years
tremble with the weight of her baskets
by virtue of her tiny stature and shrink.
ing ways she is child in view Of sixty
years of endurance, Of labor, of unswerv.
ing faith and patience, she is woman
and saint
Her broken speech, as well as her
graceful manners aud the nervous ges.
lures of her little brown hands mark her
as French Canadian
"What is the price of this basket ?"
Fifty cents but if you like not tc
give me fifty, give me forty or whatever
the lady please, for | have been out all
day, and sold not one or, if you give
me some old bed-quilt for a basket
thank you. not beg only the lazy
beg; but winter will come very cold
my husband ten years sick with the rheu.
matsm he so cold he no meat at al
on his bones, no meat at ALL" pinching
up, as she spoke, the sclnty flesh of hel
own fragile little hand. "In the winter
he crazy with cold and with pain." n
wonder then that IN the burning August
afternoon she was so keenly alive to the
mi-erles of winter
Sand what supports you through all
this sickness aud trouble ~ There was
IA little upward gesture of reverence, and
the answer came ; misiuterpretiug my
use of the word support, but shamng my
want OF trust
The Lord he support us"
Than | ventured to ask shalt | dare
call it a more practical question, for
what so practical, as the Inquiry whence
comes the inspiration that carries IL
through every difficulty, and furni,ne,
daily the very breath OF life, If not it,
bread ? "But how do you get food aud
clothng?' And then | noticed the little
old-fashioned wooden cape, twenty year
old if it was a day, pinoed across her
breast, and the mite Of u checked apron
that covered her faded dress.
IL make baskets" was the answer.
Every one that has not sickness can
work." this with the quiet dignity of d
princess).
When | had searched my store OF
bedding, and feeling less sure of cold
winter than she did, found warm cov-
erlid that could be spared, hardly dal-
ed to ask her acceptance Of it, inasmuch
as she was $50 strong and could work,
and it is "only the lazy who beg" Bul
a lovely look of surprise lighted up the
withercd face as offered it, and she only y
said, The Lord direct you, he did di
rect you" and, rising to 90, she sudden.
y took my hand and kissed it. la II
minute more she was gone. The fencc
at the head Of the yard completely con
cealed her small figure, and | stood Il;
the door with tears in my eyes they
come back now at the thought of her
not a New England woman, whose work
is almost her God, and whose down-lying
aud uprising are but parts Of the plan
whereby she is to accomplish so much
cooking and scrubbing and washing and
ironing but little fragile, light-hearted
body, made for butterfly, bat forced to
tear off her wings and become an ant
aud turning the light of her natural gay.
ETY. into a holy glow that served to keep
this dark life bright.
cannot forget her among the win.
ter storms | see a picture that is moi
painful, although it shows poverty, SUI.
fering, WEAKNESS and cold, for there is q
grace, good cheer, an unconscious he.
rosm about it,-little Lucille, earning
all uuwttingly her crown of glory
From "Lices of the Saints" in "OLD AM
New" for august.