Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-04-11
SHE EouNp THE vIoLRrs

courtyard. Long before midsummer
came they had seen more Of life than
they and ali the other violets along the
Rye road could ever have dreamed Of,
| giving violets imaginations equal even
to their fragrance
! They saw Blind Flaherty, the beggar
man, beat his lame boy over by the sink
until the police came in, and after them
an ambulance One awful afternoon
they saw the wife of Micky Donovan,
the prizefghter, jump from the fifth
story window Of her room and fall on
the pavement in sprawling heap
white, black and red-and she did not
even moan when she was picked up.
They also saw Paddy McKeever, him
that drives the bakers cart, meet Sally
I just outside the gate i'll the shadow the
night before they ran away and were
married. They liked this and they also
liked the hand organ man who some
times played in the street outside the
court while the children danced to its
strains. These things reminded them of
the country road, and they were better
for seeing and hearing them. 1t is a
great mistake to think that wild flowers
forget their country homes when they
are planted i'll town pots. If you do not
believe this, just take your spring flow
ers back to the brook meadows and see
how quickly they will revive at one
Whit of the fresh, soft air.
In stormy weather she took them in
side the room, and when the weather
grew cold they stood on shelf facing
the window beside the stove, where it
was always warm.
That is the way the violets lived from
early in May or late in June until the
winter had gone and Easter had almost
come.
Up town there is great church 1t
! is rich and beautiful. The sunlight that
streams through the stained windows is
purple, blue and golden, and sometimes
the figure of saint wondrously col
ored is cast across the chancel floor.
The little girl who picked the violets
used to go to this great church, and she
was welcomed here because it is great
church.
Good Friday. with its seven services,
! had passed, and the Lenten trappings of
gloom were being taken away to make
place for the Easter flowers. There were
lilies, roses, orchids, violets, palms and
Towering shrubs. There were great
wreaths of green's hung from the pulpit,
and the baptismal fount was all white
and pink. Rare and common, hothouse
and wild flowers were massed together.
They were all love offerings, and this is
the reason that simple bunch of blue
] wild yiolets found a place in one corner
of the altar almost hidden by splendid
display of roses. Only one person saw
them, except the young women Of the
Altar guild who. laboring for love, ar
range the flowers for Easter and other
feast days
She sat in one of the front pews, and
she was dressed III plain black, very
plain and common black, such as other
washerwomen wear when their children
die. She saw the viUIets. and her one
wish was that the little girl who had
brought them to town from the old stone
bridge and had cared for them all year
for this very Easter altar were only
alive to see them too.
1t was great congregation befitting
a great church and still greater feast
day. From the doors TO the cbancel rail
every pew was filed. and there were
chairs IN the aisIes These were filed,
| too, and back OF them all men and wo-
men stood. The front pews in this
church are given up on Easter day to
| the poor Of the parish. The children