The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-01-30
THE GOOD CANON.

ElU WVVO ONlVVNs
The canon of Marineda resided in the
same house with his sedate and elderly
.housekeeper, and he had a cat and a
thrush--one of those which are called
lmaloises in Galicia, that whistle and
itrill in the most remarkable manner and
can initiate all the other songsters.
The canon's residence was not only
plain, but even poverty stricken, and
showed no signs of the scrupulous neat
ness usually the chief characteristic of
those who wear priestly garb, for
you must know that the canon's house
keeper, Dona Ramona Villardos Caba-
leiros, had formerly been a lady of rank,
and therefore she was resolved to do as
little homework as possible. She was
fond of dwelling on the past and of Civ
ing herself completely up to doleful rec
objections, ignoring the fact that there
were such things as sweeping and cook
ing to be attended to.
! Such scenes as the following were
therefore Of frequent occurrence at the
priests dwelling: He would come in
after saying mass, and while he hung his
cloak and hat on nail his stomach
would clamor loudly for nourishment, re-
rninding him that it was time to take his
cup of chocolate. Fortified by prospect
of this comforting beverage, he would
sit down to wait until that nutritious
beverage should be brought to him.
But, alas! quarter of an hour would
elapse, and then another, without any
signs of his breakfast. Finally he would
timidly and gently call to the house
keeper:
.sDona Ramonal Dona Ramonaw
/; At the end of ten minutes doleful
voice would reply:
"What do you want?
"Ah, where is my cup of chocolates"
"Alasp calculated the suffering du-
ena, 81 cannot attend to anything today
Do you know what day it is?''
Eyes, Thursday, Feb. 6, st. Dorothy
and st. Revocata."
Gust so-the anniversary Of the day
on which felt SO happy and sud-
denly shocked by receiving the news
that my brother-in-law, the major, had
died of yellow fever in Cuba. Alas, may
the Lord grant me patience to bear up
under my af1iction!"
I The worthy, good natured canon never
dared to ask the dame whether the fact
that her brother-in-law had died Of yell
low fever was any reason why her mas
ter should be starved to death. He
would meelkly open the cupboard in the
kitchen, take out a piece of chocolate
from its greasy wrapper and mbble at it
awhile, washing it down with a glass of
water. Then he would endeavor to
comfort Dona Ramona. who was usually
shifting on the sofa, with her face tied up
in handkerchief.
'sDona Ramona, You should be resign
ed to your lot. You ought not to rebel
against God. Come now; if you keep on
crying we shall no longer be friends.
And so on, sometimes for hours at a
time.
Occasionally the canon, with those
very hands which shortly before had
raised the consecrated host, would be
compelled to perform the humble Office
of washing potatoes or preparing vege-
tables for his broth.
However, these things did not worry
him as much as his lack Of oratorical
gifts and his failure to console the trou-
|bled housekeeper's spirit, for if the
worthy canon ever had any longing it
WAS to be eloquent. He would have
given his right hand in order to be able
to compose a striking sermon. Every
time that silver tongued Jesuit would
ascend into the pulpit and deliver fiery
address railing against the irrehgious
theories of Draper and Of Strauss, who
were totally unknown in Marineda, or
some young priest cut after the pattern
Of CASTELAR, would discourse about "Ju-
daicaI hard heartedness'' and the ''epoch
of the reconquest' or ''the light of CIV
ilization spread from Golgotha," the
worthy canon was not consumed with
envy, for he was incapable of such
weakness, but he would become pain
fully conscious Of his own deficiencies
and would lament his own incapecity
for preaching.
If we.were to gather together his dis
dointed reflections they might read as
follows: 80 my Lord, it is evident that
I am good for nothing. am not worth
my salt. am as dumb as fish. It
was folly on my part to desire, as have
done, that l might be sent to preach the
Gospel to the heather in the wilds of
Africa, where rich harvest of souls
might be CLEANED. A nice apostle I
should make, with my faltering tongue,
my commonplace remarks, my croaking
voice and my ordinary appearance! 0
Lord, why hast thou withheld the power
of speech from me:"
At the confessional the canon encoun-
4; &C