The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-07-07

among the DOG WteA tine devious curves OF
river. wound Through the valley to the tw,
passes between the hills which afforded exi
TO the world beyond.
Other landDaIks were few and far between
was broken by black ridges, and dark, shining
pools Of peaty water, fanked by conical brown
hillooks whore the newly cut turf was piled tc
dry In the spring sun here and there ON th'
lower slopes Of Gne hills, or down in q hollow
of the tnrf outtipge, the grey stone walls and
peat -thstched roof of q cabin with o thin blue
cloud Of smoke hanging round its caves, nigh
be discerned. Far in the distance, at the head
Of the valley, whitewashed farmhouse show
ed conspicuous, being distin guished far and
wide by the little plantation of wind.grisved
aspens and cline that sheltered 1t and made IL
the boast of the district
Faint signs Of life and stir came thence &c
greet Elien's eyes and eais with tokens OF hu-
man neighborhood. The bark of o heep-doR
from the hill; the hatter of woman's red pet
tieoat, eontrasted against the green of tbs
slopiDg field whence che was driving her COW
home the figure of An old man with great
creel Of turf on bis back toiling mp the steep
path to the open door. Further away still, in
an opposite direction, could be seen o barefoot
ed girl, with ragged black cloak on heI
. tall patch Of reeds towards the house. She
was the 6ret-comer that morning of the numer-
ous pensioners from the peighboring cabins
who had been dependent through the bitter
winter on Ellen's charity to keep them from
actual starvation. Was the winter over and
gonef It had been time Of terrible suffer.
Ing but surely the worst must be past now.
Here was spring, with seed-time come again.
wipe ont the memory of the privatious it had
been such misery to witness during the past
months. There could be no wiping ont of the
gIie that shadowed her own household +; but
there might come, what Ellen old herself
would be inf aite relief-leisure to dwell with
her sorrow in peace, and weave 1t into her life
so that the sense of loss should not overeha-
dow the bright memory Of the love that had
gone before.
As Ellen turned to re. enter the house, she
looked at it with more desire to find it home
1t was q long, low, grey. stone building. in
the main part only one story high. but break
ing out at each end into manifestations too
their Independence of the original design OF
the builder by rising to various heights one
behind the other. The front and back doors
were exactly opposite each other. and stand
ing wide open, Ellen, as she walked mp the
garden path, could see through the house to
the farmyerd beyond, where q barefooted girl,
thed and boy, open-mouthed and rousd-
eyed, stared back at Ellen while he mechani-
oally worked the pump-haudle up and down,
Needless that the water had long since over
flowed the pail and was making streams and
puddles all over the yard, to the manifest
disgust Of an old SOW and her piglinas, which
testified their dsspproval by chorus Of
gruntings. The farmyard was inclcsed by .
rndely-built stone fence ; and beyond it lay .
deeply shaded grassy rHvine, sloping upward
between the sides of two hills, and widening
at its highest point into deep hollow, once
the basin OF Q mountain tarn, now q miniature
valley, green with the vivid tints of moss and
uncut bog vegetation. Behind it again, Q foil
to it's gem like green lustre, rose the bare,
stony peak of one of the Masm Turk mount
aims. that thrust its dark shoulder toward to-
werds the lower range Of brightly colored
hillp, like angry giant frowning down on the
sport of pigmies. Ellen's eyes sought this
and d~a1f in nrofar,
ence to any other feature of the landscape /;
for, softened by distance. it had formed one of
the range of purple peaks she had been used
tie DAILY.
: The daily little crowd of pensioners had be,
gun to gather round the back door of the
year it was real misery, too grim for cajolery
and adroit fattery, that had to be dealt with.
The girl Ellen had seen running through the
bog had just gained the house. and was lean.
ing against the side of the door, pale and
painting efter her run. and fixing craving eyes
that looked out of large black hoilows on q
plate of crusts of bread and obeese rinds. the
the kitchen dresser. Ellen emptied the food
into her trembling, outstretohed hands, before
she turned aside TO go to her mothers room,
and she tried not to see the two emaciated
women, with babies in their arms, and lame
beggarman, who had settled themselves pa
tiently on the door sill to await her leisure,
looked with Jealous disapproval at the lavish
hOoo "hloA SbN0 SuSA COfoGcO tKo1SuLCO AukO
one hand.
Mrs. Daily was waiting for the little sorsp of
news of Pelham almost as eagerly ss the beg
gars we're waiting for their dole of food.
Had Ellen seen him safe to the turn of the
road Which horse was he ridingf Not the
one that had stumbled yesterday! Had he
looked himself to the fastening of the saddle
girths-remembering Patsy's stupidity-and
that there was no one else in the stable nowf
And, above all. what had Ellen given him for
breakfast, and had he eaten heartilyi
A look of reproaoh came into Mrs. D4ly's
eyes with the last question, for she suspected
Ellen of encouraging Pelham in q habit he
had fallen into lately of eating sparingly, that
there might be more food for Ellen to divide
among her pensioners when he had ridden
away. She was willing to suffer herself with
the starving people; bat it was quite beyond
her strength to endure the thought of Pelham
suffering, and her Rrudge against the authors
of his self denial showed itself each day in
reluctance to spare Ellen when the hour for
the distribution of food came.
What, again to day r she said, as Ellen
prepared to leave the room. "Are they all COL
lecting again here to.dayi You promised at
first that it should be only three times o
week."