Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-09-01
7vHFFr ING REGISTER SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1885.
MADELINE; A TRADITION OF THE
APOSTLE ISLANDS.

they received their name. While one
may question his creed, none can ques-
ton the immortal intensity Of his
faith.
one day recently a pilgrim stood
looking off and over the vast, bright,
changing inland sea Of Superior. An
old man limped up. and after looking
at the stranger with curious air
said:
"sorter stranger hereabouts, Ell,
lHster?" YES" CURLY.
Well yer needn't be hufed erbout it.
I'm q Yankee, YOU see"
The answer explained the curiosity,
and was so good naturally given that
the other gave way and held out his
hand. Il was thinking" he said, "of
/ Madeline Island over there. and of
your old church, where the seeds Of
Christianity were first sown in the
Northwest"
Thinking of the old church?"
quaried the old man. Wall, that puts
/ me in mind Of er story erbout it," And
this is it. released from the thralls OF
| dialect and told in another tongue.
II seems that Pierre La Fonte was a
pretty lad i'm his old day-a day half
| lost i'm the mist of history just as this
win be lost i'm time. but one that left
| It's touch upon our planet, as the touch
/ OF this one viii be left. There is some
/ preordained plan-but there. this is
q tradition. not preaching of philOs-
ODhy. Little Pierre was regarded by
his dull UnprOsperous, and unprogres-
sive parents I'm the light OF their other
products and was kept from morning
until night IN the vineyard.
/ Iftlis branch OF q vine were too pre-
1 nature or if that were too backward,
be was taught 10 apply the remedy,
/ ana therein lay the whole region of
his knowledge.
He could neither nor write He
knew nVthing of the world that throb-
. bed and Numbered outside the small.
. unchaugiNg territory of the clustered
/ vineyard iu France, until something
[ happened or his fourteenth birthday
/ something That was destined to change
his whole lire and leave an immortal
/ impress upon the march-forward of
/ Christianity i'm half of our world.
/ Pierre was sitting i'm the shadow of
vine one golden August afternoon more
than two centuries ago. He sat there.
Door. little unletteved child on the
day when this record of his tragic life
/ begins.
A whirl of dust which got up from
/ the roadside brought his thoughts
/ back from their wauderinss. A car
/ riaEa stopped i'm front OF the old vine
/ ward gate. and a little girl came up TO
him. saying.
please. boy. 7 am Madeline. and
. win Won give me some grapes?'
Pierre bushed holly on seeing the
. vision and. acting on q natural inn
/ pulse began plucking fruit from the
/ nearest vine.
"Oh. thank YOU murmered Made
/ line
mo replied Pierre. 81 have better
/ fruit" and ne led her to another vine
"C0me any day and You can have all
/ the grapes YOU want
"Oh. thank YOU again! responded
/ the Girl "I live i'm that great big house
over there. pointing TO an old castle
/ across the river. and if you viii come
and see my father, he viii pay YOU
We'll"
"Pav. grovled Pierre. u want no
pay 7 gave them to YOU
"bUt father says I must not take any
gifts from his peasants.
OF don belong 10 your father re-
/ piled Pierre. angrily.
"Oh. yes YOU do, Father says you
are one of his best men, or rather
I BOYS and She laughed sWeetly.
"Teil him then from me, that I am
no mans slave and without another
word me left her there.
But the girl took no umbrage, and
com0 again and yet again On her
/ second visit she Rad a gold piece which
She offered TO Pierre.
NO. I win NOT take it," he said
/ "The vineyard belongs to your father
"Oh. / know thct but ne says your
father pays his rent on the very day
and that Won must make me no gifts
'He said that. did he?" and his fair
face darkeued with a sudden unhappi-
ness.
Then something strange happened
for the girl caught his hand and kissed
it, Pierre stood peuided. His whole
/ little world changed in a fash
"oh. If j could only read' he said,
/ impe,uously.
Ican teach YOU replied Madeline,
not without q touch OF pride i'm her
tone. See. here is my catechism.
This letter is A. this is b. this is c.
and thus and there began the educa-
tion OF one VINO was destined TO have
am immortal influence on his race.
The beauty Of Madeline Necker be-
came proverb throughout France as
/ the years Went Bly, Her admirers
learned The p3u-city of language. art.
and fancy when they saw the picture
first No pen can depict. no brush
portray. no thought evolve more than
q faint idea of her infinite loveliness.
Small marvel. then. that Pierre became
her slave. but If one had seen him I'm
/ that Vasue old day. so far removed
from this he would have said it was
small marvel that She worshipued the
bright. beautiful boy VINO doomed TO
throw the shadow Of despair upon
+ her-a shadow that was never lifted
/ Till She passed beyond the visible con-
. fines OF these lower lands.
+ 1L Nocher died and his daughter
! inherited the whole of his imperial
| property. Her first step was charac-
teristic Meeting Pierre a few DAYS
after the funeral. he said:
Tel. your father for me that there
viii be no further rent on his vine