Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-12-25
ON CHRISTMAS EVE.

simple poverty untroubled generally BIZ
the burning political questions which have
during the long national struggle convulsed
poor Italy.
Now and then there was grievous tribu-
lation, when the young men were drawn
by the CONSUMPTION, and carried off for
many years, or perhaps forever, into the
unknown world that lay beyond the chest
nut-clad hills of San Martino. Now and then
one of them would come back for while on
leave, having altered so much that his very
parents looked on him with a mixture OF
admiration and dismay, and shuddered
and crossed themselves when he spoke of q
state of things which seemed to them evil
and blasphemous beyond measure in the
great world.
The people kept their quiet habits and
their old traditions, and they went on feed
ing their children on the chestnut bread.
though they knew well the consequence
that out of every baby family at least half
were sent to join the little band of the holy
innocents in heaven. 1t is the will OF
Heaven, they said, and sought no remedy.
The browning glory of San Martina was
the convent. 1t stood half way up the hill,
with the chestnut trees all around it, a
large gray building, with its church ad-
joining, and cloister which was exquis-
itely lovely enough to have attracted sight
seers from far and wide had its existence
been better known.
In old daysthe Convent of the Saints
sima Annunziata had been founded and
held by very rich community, and the
buildings were very large and the revenues
were great, and the convent chapel pos
sessed g rich treasure of golden and sill
roll : af
tar vessels, adorned with precious stones
and rare enamels. The village belonged to
the convent, and the Mother Superior her
self issued orders to all her c0ntGdili, who
cultivated the land in the valleys round
But Of late the riches of the convent had
vanished-only about twenty Sisters lived
there and the Mother Superior had not
even appointed & Chaplain, but bad ac-
cepted the services of the village Priore,
the consequence being that the little vii
age church was temporarily closed, and
the large convent chapel was thrown
open to the village public, and the nuns oc-
cupied the gallery at the west end. seated
behind an ancient grating of old wrought
iron, the delicate LEAKAGE and scroll work OF
which were touched here and there with
gold.
Behind this grating the Sisters assem-
bled in their creamy-white robes and led
the singing. There was one voice among
Them of SUCH eXtEaQraiQary power and
richness of sound that it seemed to echo
and ring through the church-and the
worshipers would turn and gaze at me
closed-in gallery and wonder from which
of the still, yelled figures, ali apparently
exactly alike, came The glorious melody.
Had they seen within they might have
wondered still more. Sister Assunta could
l., i : T. Il z
ST. Cecilia-but she could do nothing else.
She was not wise, she was not cleTer-for
years they had tried to teach he. slow fin
gers to play the organ-she could not learn
delicate embroidery in her hands was
hopelessly tangled and spoiled she could
not even teach the little orphans in the
Sisters school to do anything-her eyes
were always far away and dreamy The
Mother Superior used to tell how she had
been brought to the convent years ago
when a child 10 years old. and that then
she seemed so dazed and bewildeIed that
they said il would be cruel to arouse her
slumbering mind the shadow of some
terrible horror, something that she had
heard or seen, had fallen on the brightness
of her intellect and quenched its light.
But she could sing 1t was long before
she could learn the glorious old Latin
hymns that sounded so nobly from her
lips; but when she had once mastered the
words she never forgot them, but would sit
with her hands in her lap, her face raised
and her eyes gazing outward unseeingly
and the sound of her voice grandlY ringing
through the building or thrilling higher
and higher, ending with a sound 50 full
and sweet and heavenly that long after j
had ceased the air seemed to vibrate with
its music.
And for that wonderful gift Of song al
the Sisters loved Assunts, and treated he
with peculiar, gentle tenderness, almos
reverence.
The Mother said to the Priore one day
It seems to us, indeed, sometimes tina
when the spirit of the real, lonely, misera
BILE child was quenehed that st. Cecilia tool
her under her own especial protection, an(
gave her that look in her eyes and that toni
in her voice
But as the years passed by, and the tid'
of thenineteenth century passed over Italy
the waters of the new era rushed even int
the far-distant sleeping valleys, and ont
day terrible thunderbolt fell on the San
tissima Annunziata.
The Mother Superior was summoned tC
appear before the Project of the district
and found him in presence Of the Mayor
of strange officer whom she had neve
seen before, and of the Priore himself
keen sense and shrewd cleverness by in
tuition she knew more of the ways of th'
world than would really seem possible
She had long expected the crisis that came
on her that day, but the blow was none thD
less terrible when it fell.
The Project announced to her that BY
order of the Government the convent woulC
be closed within one week; that by orde
of the Government the Sisters were to dis
band, were to resume secular dress, anG
to disperse to their homes; and he turtle
began to declare them freed from thei
vows, absolved from all obligation to con
tinue in their order, and
But the Mother stopped him with
gesture so dignifed that he felt as if TO pro
coed would be to offer an insult to de
throned Queen.
He bowed and folded up the paper from
which he had been reading.
Madame doubtless fully understand
without my forcing on her the pain of beini
more explicit he said. The, Govern
ment. IN consideration of the helplesSneS
of its subjects THIS thrown homeless upol
TIE world"
Here the Mother could not avoid throw
ing look of anguish on the PrioTe. TIKI
Project cleared his throat and went on
s'The Government undertakes to give
pension of one franc daily to each nun TO
the rest of the term of her natural life, ans
until she marries Or"
Hold r. said the Mother You nav
said quite enough-one franc q day anC
our revenues-the revenues of the conYen
that we have held for past generations Il
Gods stewards for His poor2n
.'9hey become the affair OF the Govern
menu said the Project, with bow.
The Mother Superior stood still for ont
moment: no one dared to interrupt her
She stood before the three men, her hands
meekly hidden in the broad sleeves of he
white habit her face full of q concentrated
power and dignity which awed them iRvol
unfairly. The old Priore could not face tbs
blow She had received as she did herself
his hands trem1led and the tears rolled
down his cheeks.
When she spoke Sgain il was with I'M
mite quietness How long do these gen.