Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-03-23

She is always specially difficult"
when the church bells ring; can barely
tolerate their toiling Tor church, and
is rendered furious by the practice for
the Christmas, the New Year and other
festivals. She has. indeed. curious
terror of music. 1t is not often now
that there are any to make music at
tho rectory, but on those occasions
when Guy runs down, and old friends
of his look in upon us; when the piano
is opened again, and again the plain
tive numbers flow for old, unhappy,
far-oG things. and battles long ago.
then Mary takes refuge in the under
| ground cellar and mutfleS her head in
| q shawl.
1t may he that the melancholy
madness is trying to Mary's nerve; it
may be that she is unusually suscepti-
bio of the charm of music; she is, per-
| haps, dimly conscious that Il she ceased
to withstand its sway its power over
her might become irresistible; perhaps
| the measured MALICE awakes within
| her longings which toar her breast with
unspoakable pain. Mary does not plead
any of these excuses. She calls music
a s'terrufic Mise" and says it gives
her '.sinsin' in 'er in'ards.'
| She might DO induced to 20 to the
| church oftener but for the music, she
thinks, but she speaks with no GER
tainty on the point. Familiarity, |
fear, has accomplished its usual office,
| and bred contempt in the rectory SER
want OF the forms of that religion
which is the rectory "ccnsarn, Us she
| puts it. She is unable to separate the
master in the pulpit, with his learn
| ing, his ascendency, his voice of
authority, from the master of the home,
who has to BIO scolded for forgetting to
put comforter round his neck; whose
study fire has to be lit six times day
because his memory is not to be
trusted to remind him to put on the
GOALS; who is SO wickedly unpunctual
about meals.
g don't want him asserting up ter
tache me-" Mary says with frank dis
dain; "ef so be as liver / want ter
pray. take it l kin pray without such
as him.
So, instead of going to church, Mary
sits over the kitchen fire on the Sab
bath with her Bible in her lap. 1t is
in fact u monster Bible, being one
which she bought at the door of
travelling agent, expending all her
earnings upon it--long ago, when Mar
! EolSt Wh5 d Dhpl
There never was Sunday afternoon
after the acquisition of this treasure
which Mary and Margaret did not
| spend over its vilely illuminated sheets.
The tiny fingers could point out Noah
on his knees before his fire Of sticks,
the rainbow over his head, Abraham
with the abnormal muscular develop
ments, and sacrificial knife raised
above his son, long before her baby
tongue could speak their names. On
the very last Sunday afternoon Of the
child's life she and Mary went through
the pages with as much interest as if
they had never seen them before
On that day, coming home from
church, | entered the rectorv by the
kitchen door. The kitchen had that
inexplicable, indescribable Sabbath
air which places have on the hallowed
day. which Nature herself always
wears. On the much-scrubbed deal
table was a great brown gotten full of
lilac, was the Bible, with Margaret,
her head propped on her hand. leaning
over it; one of Mary's hard red hands
rested on the book waiting to turn the
leaves. tShe always honors the Sab
bath day by wearing in the afternoons
q brass watch chain which one of her
lovers gave her. remember that
Margaret's brown hair, turned to bronze
and gold in places by the kiss of the
afternoon sun, fell upon the picture of
the Flood.
1t is partly the possession of that
enormous Bible which gives Mary such
o feeling of superiority to the rector
Once in moment of expansion, anxious
to share the blessings that wore hers,
she carried the book, wrapped in the
cloth which always enveloped it, into
the dining room, and laid it proudly
down before her masters clair.
THE gays arc wonnerful instructin', -
she said, her eyes on her treasure, but
modestly Withdrawn from its neighbor-
hood. There's angels in ut. and
Balum's dicky crunchin' of his mas
ter's fut. -
The rector, who does not care to
tackle Mary herself, was very severe
when her back was turned on the sin
of vulgarizing Holy Writ by such
abominable caricatures. As he turned
from oneillGstration to another, he grew
reproachful Us well rs severe. Surely,
he said, we who for so many years had
enjoyed the inestimabie privilege OF
sheltering this good and faithful servant
beneath our roof should have done
something to correct her taste, tc
elevate her understanding. She had
given us her best, and we-what had
We done in return? The duties we
felt called upon to perform towards oul
interiors were only gross, material ones.
II we had fed sumptuously, knowing
that one among us was perishing fol
want of food, we should be called cul-
pable, and the world would cry out ON
us. But here was one, starved of al
/, culture, associating with us who boosted
of our refinement, yet savage in
matters Of taste. SHANE! Shame ~
said the rector, having turned his back
on the book, and mildly lecturing his
son and me as he paced the room.
, And then Guy, who happened to be
at home on that occasion, and who had
! lounged up to inspect the cause of SC
, much eloquence, gave shout of laugh,
ter, and called on his father to admire
: with him the representation of Lots
wife.
And while the rector. his homily for
: gotten, an unwilling smile on his lips
l stood there with a hand upon Guys
shoulder, took heart to tell him how,
for all her little life, Margaret hac
loved the blue and red and yellow
: daubs; and / told him. too, Of thai
picture. always present to my mind, o.
the child on that last Sunday Afternoon
with her rIppled hair falling upon the
picture of the Flood.
After that the rector sat down by
Guys side and silently and in reverence
looked at the dreadful plates, and said
no other word of condemnation. Anc
; presently, when the end was reached