The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-03

ne ulu uOb say tu6 mass OH Un6 nOr-
row. He remained shut up in his room
and dared not take walk round his
orchard.
On the next day villager from the
next hamlet came to ask him to take the
extreme JUNCTION to dying man.
M. lie Cure has not yet got back"
said the faithful Marie.
Marie makes a mistake. Here I
am, T" said the able as he came up the
passage of the house.
AS he came back from his sad little
journey he met one of his most faithful
parishioners.
"Well, M. le Cure, have you had
nice journeyf"
Then for the second time the able
told lie. Excellent, my good friend,
excellentW
"And the bell?" asked the parishion-
or.
The able told another lie. Superb
One would say it is made of pure sill
YER"
"And when shall we see it," asked
the delighted listener.
"Soon-very soon. But we must en-
grave on the metal the name of its god
parents and some verses of Holy Scrip
ture, and all that takes time to do.
Marie" said the able ON his return
home, eff we sold the armchair, the
clock and the sideboard which are in
my room should we get 100 crowns for
them?'
~ don't think that you would get 5
francs for them, for all your furniture,
M. lie Cure, is scarcely worth 10 francs. !"
marie, i will eat no more meat /;
meat does not suit me-"
But the old servant broke in with:
"That will not be right. There is
something the matter. You have never
seemed to be the same since your jour-
ney to Teller. Tell me what is wrong. !"
And she questioned him so keenly
| that in the end he told her all his secret.
"Oh, / am not surprised! Your kind
heart will be your ruin. But we will
not cause any bad feeling. will under
take to explain the matter some way or
other until you have been able to scrape
the 100 crowns together again.
And thenceforward Marie made up
stories, which she repeated to every
conner. The bell had been cracked dur
| ing the packing of it, and it had had to
| be recast. Then when the bell was re-
cast M. le Cure had had the idea to send
| it to Rome to be blessed by the pope
| himself, and that was of course, long
| Journey. The able let her talk, but he
became more and more unhappy, for
he now felt that he must bear the bur-
| den of the lies told by Marie This, In
| addition to the misuse Of the money,
| weighed on him more and more, until
| his rosy cheeks grew quite thin and he
| lost the innocent look of hearty old
age.
The day fixed for the jubilee OF the
cure and for the baptism of the bell was
already long past. The people of Argue
lin were wondering at the delay. Ru-
| mors 90 about. The blacksmith said he
| had seen the cure talking with some
| pypsies and even limited that the good
able had spent the money with these
beggars. The worthy parish priest fell
into bad odor with some of the people.
Some of these would not raise their hats
to him ON meeting him in the street.
The good man was overwhelmed with
remorse.
The anguish of his conscience became
unbearable as his action seemed to grow
worse and worse One day, after remain
ing long time in silent prayer, he re-
solved to atone for his mistake by max.
ing a public confession to his flock OF
what he had done with the money, and
he Thought there could not be more
suitable time than on the holy feast oil
Christmas, which was approaching.
On the Christmas morning he went
ND into the pulpit, after having read the
gospel for the day, and with pale' SCI
face and q greater resolve than ever
nerved the martyrs of the arena ne be-
gan, my dear brothers, my dear friends'
nv dear children, have to make con
fession TO you ALL" At that moment
clear. silvery chime sounded in the bel
fry and filled the old church. Every
head turned to look, and q surprised
whispering ran from pew to pew, Inc
new bell, the new bell. F"
Was it miracle? Had angels brought
the new bell and thus saved the honor
of the good old priest, or had Marie
really poured out the story OF the faith
ful abbe's embarrassment in the kindly
ears of the English Milford and his lady
who had lived for three years at the ole
chateau, q mile out Of Arquelin, ant
whose only daughter had been 90 beau
tifully consoled by the loving ministra
lions of the cure when she was dying O
declinef The latter seems more likely
whatever IL was, the simple, good foil
Of Arquelin never knew what their cur
had 70 confess to them. -Prinoe&