The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-08-16
BY RAOUL DE NAvERY.
CHAPTER II.
The Hd,.reSf Home.

much to be pltied Alas 1Or poor llttie
Armelle! she worse than an orphan. Her
mother had died worn ont and heart-bI oxen !;
8 long course of ll-usage had fastened her
end. Her husband was hopeless drunkard !;
he would come Keeling home from the Foaming
Pitcher and load her with reproaches and
abuse; sometimes tie peighbors heard An
notes voice broken by sobs, then scream :
and more than once she had been seen running
ont of the house with her child in her arms, to
pass the night in an clubhouse or a yard. If it
was very wet or cold she would knock timidls
Mt the door of farmhouse; and it would have
been o hard heart indeed that could have
refused shelter to the pale trembling woman,
with her ohild's rosy face pressed to the bosom
30 Unprotected from the winter wind. Then,
mt daybreak, she crept back to her wretched
home, lit the fire, prepared the poor break fast,
and all with the most accomplishing patience.
But there came day when Macheconl refused
to let the straw cutter add to his score unless
he paid part of his reckoning. This he could
not do; high words followed, and MachecouI
said: "Your wife has to beg her bread through
your misconduct. Annette is my god-daughter,
and If she comes to me, l sha'n't refuse her."
The straw-cutter went homo mad with fury,
which only seemed increased by the silence
with which his wife met his abuse. He
dragged her out of tho house, and she fell,
he pushed her with his foot against the door
step. In the morning he remembered nothing
of what had happened, but noticed with sur
prise that there were no preparations for his
breakfast. He opened the house. door; there
Annette lay, her hair loose on her shoulders,
her white face upturncd and on the left temple
was deep-red mark: he gave only one look,
and fled from the place. Soon afterwards, q
laborer, who wanted some straw for the finish
ing of his bee.hives, came to the door; he
lifted up the poor young woman, bathed her
face, and gradually she recovered conscious
ness. Recognising the man, she said: " 1 had
fall, Catherinet, but it is nothing. Many
thanks; am sorry to have troubled you ;
my husband will DO wanting his breakfast"
She just managed to drag herself to tho bod,
and to say: Catherinet, go and send the
priest to me: God will repay you for your
trouble" The man went, with tears in his
eyes, to do her bidding. Poor Annette! her
long martyrdom was all but ended. She con-
Tossed, and received absolution and received
the " Bread of Life " to support her on her
last journey. She Gied very quietly, forgiving
her husband, but troubled about her little one.
7" ~ Will laho Cosc VI HeT bue 5alu TO the
priest. Providence my child" he answered,
IS is q good mother to the orphan"
Two neighbors stayed beside Annette's
corpse; and when her husband came in, one of
them said: "TaAe off your lat, Daniel; you
must pay her some respect in death, though
you made her life wretched"
He obeyed mechanically.
"Say a prayer, Daniel; she is gone to God
and she forgave you"
The straw-cutter knelt, but he did not know
how to pray He could feel remorse though,
and the thought of his heart was "She never
gave me an angry word, and have killed
her!"
The next day he followed her to the grave,
and afterwards took his little girl in his arms,
and leading by string the goat whose milk
had fed her, went to one of the women who
had watched by his wife, and agreed to nav
her so much q month for taking care of the
child
Little Armelle grew and throve. Chantetleur
dotted on her the only trouble was that every
now and then her father talked of having her
homo but the good woman put him off, and
Baid he had better wait till she was old enough
to cook his dinner and mind the house He
saw that the child was terribly afraid of him,
and this made him furious
When Armelle was seven years old, he took
her home. 1t was q sad change for the poor
child but the thing that She most missed Was
hearing Chanteheur talk of her mother. One
day she had put rosary round the childs
neck, telling her that her mother said it every
day; and never since then had Armclle failed
to say it too. Sho pulled up daisy-tufts, and
planted them on her grave, and gathered the
first violets and the pretty little mlk-worts to
lay there. One day little boy gave her a
birds nest, in which were some downy nest
lings: she put it in wild rosebush which
grew by the grave, and told the little birds TO
sing to her mother when they were old enough
Chantefeur had always kept her neat and tidy
but now the frocks were in rags, and the little
feet bare. She was very ignorant, Daniel
refused to send her to school, and very often she
had to beg
Ono evening, when she was about ten wears
DID, her father came in with coarse untidv-
looking woman, whom he ordered Armelle 70
call mother"