Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-04-18

touch our beloved-I only wrote her
that the operation was to be attempt
ed, and that / would bring her the
earliest tidings.
"The next morning | went into the
clean, hospitable ward, where the
bright sunlight poured in through the
u lshuttcred windows upon the pale
face of Jules, so sadly changed since
he waved his hand to us in gay fare
well. They had had to bind him to
the operating table while they gave
him aG@sthetics, his beautiful hair
was shaved of close and lay in little
mass of black curls on the floor. The
clear, calm, assured face of the young
surgeon bent above him, explaining
concisely, to the assembled physicians,
his diagnosis and proposed operation.
~ felt faint and giddy and hurried
out. Was the poor fellow to be set
free from that hell of tortured fancies
in which he had been bound so long?
Could a bit of Jagged and depressed
bone be lifted and all life's sweet
sanity come back again? +?
can hour-two-three went by, and
then the young surgeon hunted me
up.
Colonel Pierrepont," he said, Il
am very happy to tell you my dag
nosis was in every respect correct, and
| think when our patient regains con-
seriousness he will ne entirely sane.
OF course he must be kept perfectly
quiet, and his recovery will be Slow
"'Can | tell his mother"
"'Not yet; not yet, Let us be GER
tain first
$50 | waited. Jules slept and
walked, and slept again, and still
waited, until one day the surgeon
said, with his calm smile:
"'Colonel Pierrepont, the days of
miracles are not yet over. Modern
science has given your friend back his
SOUL
ain the war; continued the col
onel slowly, "they did not call me
coward when | led the Louisiana
Tigers, but when l found | must go
and tell Madame d'Arblay that her
long waiting and watching was over
at last, that her faith was justified and
her prayers answered, | was afraid to
go alone. 1t was night when | reach
ed New Orleans, but | hunted up little
Father Jerome, who had been her con-
lessor and spiritual director through
all these many years, and made him
90 with ME. We had been in such
close sympathy with her, and the mo-
ment was fraught with such emotion,
that neither spoke as we made our
way along the quiet streets. Present.
ly the great cathedral bell struck the
hour, and / paused involuntarily. 1T
is Easter morning. said, and the lit
tie priest crossed himself as he an
sWered:
"'My son, the Lord is very merciful
to all his children And not another
word was spoken until we reached
Madame d'Arblay's gate.
'She was expecting US, for as we
lifted the latch she came down the
white shell path to meet US. She had
a great bunch of lilies in her hand,
she wore long white gown, and the
face she turned toward us was lumi-
nous as star. In her eyes were all
the prayers one could fancy that
motherhood has ever offered since the
first mother agOnized over the dead
body of her first-born. My boy, for
many years | had called myself agnos-
tic, infidel, but at the sight of that wo-
mans face it all dropped away like a
useful garment, and believed as sim
ply as when, c,ild, knelt at my
mothers knee.
"She did not ask us question.
Perhaps souls that live so near God as
as hers have knowledge too deep and
subtle for us to grasp, but we knew
there was no need to tell her our mes
sage.
"She did not even appear to see me,
but went up to Father Jerome with
outstretched hands and an expression
of such ineffable peace as the angels
may wear about the great white
throne.
Father she said rejoice with me,
for this my son was dead and is alive
again, was lost and is found
"The little priest bent his head in
silence a moment, and then he raised
his hand solemnly.
"I am the resurrection and the
life, saith the Lord, he repeated. He
that believeth on me shall live though
he were dead
~ slipped softly away and left them,
and as | went the dawn of Easter be-
gan to redden all the East, and from a
hundred churches over the sleeping
city the bells pealed out the great an
nouncement in glad hosannas: ITO
" 4 H. h,e ,.,..,