The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1896-12-28
THE WEE PRIEST.

| In front Of the weo priests whitewashed
cottage was bit of garden, containing
two fuchsia bushes and some cabbages,
and outside the garden was !. strip of com.
mon land. 1t was here at he kept his
| pet and took his daily g. rcise. 1t was
here, too, that he first J. 10 his friend.
One day he was wa ing on the COM
mon, with his eyes led on the ground
and his thoughts IN heaven, as was usual
| with him. Heaven Is long way from
| Ballycrook, and thoughts that wander
there are loath In return; so it happened
that the wee priest was quito unconscious
| of little figure that stood In his path
until he found himself on tho point of up
setting 1t. He then realized that it had
been waiting for him. 1t was the kind Of
little figure that had not hitherto entered
very notably into his life. 1t had curly
hair aGd big, blue eyes, and it was about
years old This was Ely, the daughter
of the colonel.
"Tie my shoe" said Ely, lifting up a
tiny foot
The wee priest hesitated He was al-
ways slow to take in new idea.
"Tie my shoe repeated Ely imperious-
ly, waving hor foot in the air to draw at
whin bush. The priest looked around for
help in his extremity, but there was 10
one in sight His chubby face grew GRIM
son with embarrassment for tying the
shoestrings of colonels' daughters had not
come into the curriculum of his college,
bnt he bravely knelt down and did as he
was hidden. 1t took him some time and
made him very warm, but he rose with q
sense of achievement. Eily's nurse cut
the string later I'm the day.
Presently tho wee priest found himself
walking along the common with little
pink hand clasping one Of his fingers. 1t
felt very odd, but he had heard of such
things being done, and the blue eyes that
looked up at him appeared quite calm, as
though there was nothing abnormal In the
situation. So he introduced her to the
goat and gave her Il sprig of fuchsia.
81 likes 90, said Ely when she was
going away. 'I'ze cumming adam"
''If you Please" said the priest politely.
1t was fully an hour before his thoughts
went back to heaven.
Ely came again often. The children of
Ballycrook, whether rich or poor, are early
independent, for they are among friends,
and SO the colonel's daughter left her
nurse at home, and, as we have seen, ap-
pointed TO that Office any one she might
happen to meet. Her visits to the white
washed cottage on the common became the
chief incidents of the wee priests life. Her
likes and dslikes were his most absorbing
interests. He had faint reminiscence of
eating sweets In his childhood and liking
them, so he bought some in the village
shop and found the experiment successful.
Ely had u weakness for bright colors, SO
he dug up his cabbages and planted gor-
geous flowers in their place. Ely watered
them and picked them. She also fed the
goat with the wee priests dinner.
All the autumn their friendship deepen
ell. They never spoke very much, but
whenever the priest walked ON the common
Ely trotted Mt his side, and the pink fist
was quite at home now doubled up inside
the brown hand. But as the weather grew
colder things changed. Eily's walks abroad
were confined to a quick constitutional,
under supervision, and the wee priest wait
ell in vain for his friend till his face grew
wistful. When the snow came, lie gave up
hoping. But he reckoned without his
guest, who was IL person of resource.
He WAS sitting alone one day, thought
fully stroking n woolly lamb on wheels
which he and Ely used sometimes to draw
round the garden by "A string. He heard a
shufliing noise on tho doorstep and Eily
herself walked in. She was chuckling
''I'ze ranned away" she said, beaming
Then she stated hor business.
Make snow man..
The woe priest shuddeI ed He would
have preferred playing with the woolly
lamb by the iireside. But he had come far
since the day that he was daunted by a
prompt obedience. So no fetched his spade
meckly.
Here" said Ely, standing i'm front Of
the door. "We'll have him just here, f.
fink, where he can see 90 froo the win
dow" For II moment the wee priest was
staggered. Public opinion is strong in
Ballycrooll, and snow man in the priests
garden is unusual "Just here" repeated
Ely. So the snow man was made jus5
there.
So splendid snow man had never been
seen in Ballycrook. 1t is true that the
priest had no notion how TO proceed, but
Eily's experience was large, and she had a
genius for giving orders. By mixture
of obedience and inspiration the patient
workman produced a triumph of art, and
Ely was satisfied. She even crowned the
work herself by giving the snow man peb-
BILE buttons.
''I'se so cold," she murmured presently.
The wee priest did not observe that she
had put Oh her thin coat by mistake when
she had framed away" She was no
judge Of such things But he did hear
that her teeth were chattering, 90 he took
her into the hreside. She went home,
however, still shivering. When one is 8
years old, one catches cold SO easily.
The next day he heard that she was Ill.
He thought he was going to be III too. 1t
was really anxiety that he felt, but he had
never been anxious before, SO he did not
understand. His anxiety did not last long,
however, for on the third day ELY died.
When they told him about It, he was
mending the woolly lamb, which had a
broken leg. Ho laid 1t on the table silent
ly, and for a long time he sat still, only
stroking the woolly lamb now and then
unconsciously. When mt last he looked
up, the snow man was grinning at him
through the window. A little treble voice
seemed to ring In bis ears: