Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-05-26

that his beard, eyebrows, and hair were
always white with dust. and his eyes per-
petually swollen and running with tears;
but he was full of strength AMI joy in
spite of his great age, and il was plain to
see that the queen of paradise was gra-
ciously guarding the last days OF her
child. Marbode scuptured her sitting on
a throne, with a nimbus around her head;
and he was always careful that the folds of
her robe should cover the feet of her of
whom the prophet said, "A garden in
closed is my sister, my spouse And then
sometimes he would represent her as
graceful child, and she seemed to be say
ing, go Lord, thou art my Lord :" "Diri
de centre MATHIS mep: Deus meuS eS IT,"
psalm XXI, l1.)
In the convent there were also poets,
and they would compose in Latin prose
and verse hymns in honor OF the blessed
virgin Mary; and there was even one monk
from Picardy who used to put the miracle
of our lady into the language of the COM
mon people and in rhyme.
When he saw such rivalry of praises
and so great harvest of tributes, Barnab6
was always amenling his ignorance and
stupidity. Alas" he would sigh, as he
walked alone in the little shadeless garden
of the convent: ~ am very unhappy that
| cannot, like my brothers, worthily praise
the holy mother of God. to whom | have
vowed the tenderness of my heart. Alas !!
Alas. l am a rough man and without
skill; and | have for your service, Madame
Virgin, neither learned sermons nor treat
ises divided according to rules, nor fine
paintings, nor beautifully cut statues, nor
verses counted out into feet and marching
by measure. Ihave nothing, alas ~ And
then he would groan, and give himself up
to sadness. One day while the brothers
were talking during their recreation he
heard one of them tell of monk who
could do nothing but recite the cave
Maria" This monk was dispised for his
ignorance; but, when he died, there came
out of his mouth five roses in honor of the
five letters of the name of Maria and his
holiness was thus manifested. As he
heard this story, Barnabe once more won
dered at the virgins goodness; but he was
not consoled by the example of the blessed
dead monk, for his heart was full of zeal,
and he longed to eXalt the glory of his
lady who is in the heavens.
But he sought in vain for a means of do
ing this; and he grew day by day more
grieved till one morning he awoke full of
joy, and, running to the chapel, remained
there for more than an hour, going back
again after dinner. From that time he
would go every day to this chapel at an
hour when it was empty, and he spent
there a great part of the time that the
other monks consecrated to artistic and or
binary labors. He was no more sad and
he no longer groaned.
So singular change excited the curios-
ity of the monks, and they began to Cos
sip as to the frequent retreats of Brother
Barnab6. The prior, whose duty it was to
pass over nothing in the conduct of his
monks without scrutiny, resolved to OBJ
serve Barnabf in his solitary devOtions:
and one day, when the brother was shut
up as usual in the chapel, came my lord
prior, with two of the oldest brethren, to
spy out through the cracks of the door
what was going on inside.
Then they saw Barnabe before the altar
of the virgin on his head, his feet in the
air tossing up and catching again six cop
per balls and twelve knives. He was play
ing, in the honor of the holy mother of
God, the tricks which had formerly won
him so much praise; but, not understand
ing that this simple man was thus offering
up his one talent and his only knowledge to
the service of the holy virgin, the two old
monks cried out at the sacrilege The
prior knew that Barnab6 was incapable of
any such thing, but he judged that the
poor man had fallen from melancholy into
insanity and they were all three about to
drag him by force from the chapel, when
they saw the holy virgin come down the
steps of the altar and gently wipe OFF with
the fold of her beautiful blue robe the
drops of sweat which stood thick on the
forehead of the juggler.
Then the prior knelt down with his face