The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-08-26

Dut the cdtHtuTui Deli huu ciliitu tut
hour, and Toni paused, remembering
Pere Laurent's words:
wait for me on the steps, mons fills,
and l will take you with me to hear
some music-some violin music--which
Father Charles will play for u.s."
And in passing by Pere Laurent had
placed his hand on Toni's rough, tangled
curls with gesture of protection and
was it affection?
At the thought, TOMS rich Italian
blood surged up, coloring the dark
olive of his cheeks, and his eyes, which
were watching the gathering clouds
being driven up by summer storm
from across the gulf, shone like two
luminous stars.
No, not to please Heavenly Father,
remote and unknown, one who had
not watched over those dark and UNI
happy days from which he had
emerged, would Toni strive to follow
the narrow path pointed out to him by
Pere Laurent.
That path, which excluded passion,
| vengeance and curses, ill-will and theft,
l
| long-cherished dream, which was to
square up those old accounts of his OPP
| pressed childhood, and settle the debt
| with compound interest he owed those
who had so harshly treated him.
Toni would sit and plan how he
would wipe out tho old scores when he
would be brawny and tall and power
full, like the sailors on the goelettcs and
charcoal boats moored in the Old Basin.
But if he was to renounce the keen
pleasure over which he had so gloated,
vengeance on Mere Felix and others, it
was only to please Pcrc Laurent, to
bring Il smile to his dim, kind eyes, and
to hear him say: mons fils,' those
words which, sinking deep, made TOMS
heart swell with passionate love and
pride.
No, it was not for the sake of doing
right. at the dictate of that remote God
in Heaven. 1t was for love of Pere
Laurent.
| Toni Tedona had been unwittingly
the cause of contention and reproach
in Father Laurent's quiet home, the
presbytere by the cathedral.
Old Madame Jean, his housekeeper,
| had raised her hands in holy horror and
her voice in strong protest when told to
prepare cot in the wing room for Toni,
the vagabond, who led all the pranks
and villainies committed by the gamins
of the levee. 1t was impossible that
| Pere Laurent would think seriously
of trying to reform so notorious a
young villain!
And to bring him into the presby-
tere! That quiet, orderly house!
1T was impossible! Why, in weeks
time she. Madame Jean, would not have
a chick or hen left in the yard. nor
would Father Laurent have one of those
beautiful silverspoons presented to him
i'm gratitude by his congregation.
Toni Tedona was brigand. and it
was easy to foretell what would be his
ending"
But Pere Laurent had smiled his
slow, quiet smile of compassionate re-
proof, which Madame Jean herself said
was like ray of divine light from
Heaven, and reminding her of the char.
ity of Him who had said to the thief:
Meet me in paradise" had persisted
that Toni, the reprobate, be made wei
come under his roof.
THE boy is brave, and he lives not
who can assert that there is only evil
in him. He is young and has been hard
ly treated. His eyes are fearless and
true and | will trust him"
So Toni was brought to the presby-
tere. ii had been hard work for Pere
Laurent to implant into his wild and
passionate nature the seeds of those
traditions and virtues which guide the
Christian world, but there was fascina-
tion in the work, and he had persisted
| And soon Pere Laurent realized the
magic of those two words my son.
and their effect upon Toni to quell his
burst of passion when troubled and
worried by the men on the levee for
whom he worked, words which would
bring tears of repentance to his eyes.
So Pere Laurent skilfully and pa
tiently tended the wild plant he had
| plucked from the poisonous dunghill of
the street, and watched with prayerful
delight its gradual unfolding into q
thing of beautiful growth.
you think you have tanned him.
Pere? You wait and see! One of these
days Toni will blaze out in fiji of fury,
and we will be assassinated!" insisted
Madame Jean.
But Pere Laurent only laughed
amusedly, if little sadly. 1t had been
at TOMS own request that he had taken
| him as altar boy some six months ago,
marvelng that he should wish it.
| Altar boy! Toni Tedona altar boy!
When the news spread abroad down
the levee, among those riotous compan-
ions, formerly led by him to the com
mission of deeds which would not bear
the light of day, and which an individ-
uality of interests alone kept hidden
away from the scrutiny of the police,
how they yelled and shouted derisively
and Knocked ut the farce.
And as Toni sat that evening on the
steps of the cathedral in the waning
light, he clinched his teeth hard to
keep down the rage in his heart at the
recollection of the names they had