New Ulm review., 1901-08-21
very soon she died, because she had
kept her secret SO long it had just burn


ed her heart out.
After that, no one knew how it hap
pened, but pretty soon everybody began
to whisper and look Queerly at Sera-
phita when the nurse carried her into
the street, and her father seemed trou-
bled, and he talked with the priest and
wanted to pay some more money to the
church, but they wouldn't have any
| more ceremonies for Seraphita. and the
priests tried to make the people stop
| talking. What they said was nom
sense But it was not nonsense, and
SO they went on talking among them
selves, and they would take their own
children out of the way when Seraphita
was old enough to play about
$50 she grew up all alone except for
her father and her nurse and the priest
! who went to live in the house, which
showed that the church thought there
was something in it, else why should a
priest go and live in the house?
Zone day when Seraphita was out
walking she came across some little
boys who We're stoning black kitten
to kill it, for everybody knows that
black cats belong to the devil. And
Seraphita ran right in among the flying
stones, and not one Of them hit her, for
the devil held his hand between her
and the stones, and she caught up the
devils kitten and hugged it tight, while
the stones fell at her feet, and the boys
cried out: Devils brat! Devils cat!'"
'sPepita," said l, "she seemed to me
to have been very nice, soft hearted
little girl"
'SOh, no, Sonora Maria Madalena! You
see, black cats belong to the devil, and
if she had had any soul she couldn't
have taken one in her arms.
"She carried it home, and she used to
feed it, and she had to hide it away, be-
cause, Of course, nobody wanted to
have devils cat around, and the cat
would run and jump into Seraphita's
arms whenever she came near, but 1t
would fly like mad and its hair would
| all stand on end when any one else
came around. which shows, does it not,
that something was wrong? And an
other thing showed that all was not
right with Seraphita: the priest began
| to teach, and she learned faster than
any child should. There was an evil
| spirit that whispered the words into
| her ear, so that she did not have to
study.
"She had power over horses, too, and
| If she just put her lips to a horses ear
| he would turn and rub his nose on her
| face. You see, horses have no soul, and
! they knew that Seraphita hadn't any.
"And, besides that, she always looked
very old and grave when anybody was
| near. but when she was alone in the
| fields or in the woods she would laugh
| out loud, and they could hear her talk
| with the birds, for she knew bird Ian
| guage, and she would lean over the wa
| ter and talk to herself or to the fishes.
| Oh, it was true, she had no soulv'
"Wcll, what became of herr" asked
| as Pepita paused to emphasize her
| statement.
| "She grew up so beautiful that stran-
gers would stop in the street and look
| at her as she passed, but Of course ev-
erybody soon found out all about her,
and then they would not look at her-at
least they would not look her in the eye
unless they had charm on
"Do you mean that she had the EVIL
eye?"
ooh, yes! Why, she could make any.
one have bad luck just by looking at
them, and she could make flowers grow
and blossom and be more colors than
any other flowers. She knew she had
the evil eye for she never went any!
where or visited the sick or the poor
though she had plenty of money. She
used to send the priest with food or
clothes. You see. she knew"
| "And what became of poor little Ser
| aphita? ?'
| "Why, you see, when she was about
! 20 years old she was very i'll again, and
she lay in a trance for three days. The,
doctors wouldn't go near her, and her
own old nurse had died, and they
couldn't get any one to take care Of her
| till finally the priest sent to the convent
for one Of the sisters. She was very
| good woman, and she went to the,
house, and, creeping on her hands and
knees SO that the devil, could not get
hold Of her, she went right into the
room and prayed all night Her pray
ers went straight up to heaven, and she.
prayed that Seraphita might die and,
that before she died her soul should be
given back to her.
/ "And, Sonora Maria Madalena, just
as the sky began to grow pink in the
east and the white mist blew across
the vega and the birds began to call
what do you think happened?
| "a beautiful white dove flew into the
window and alighted on Seraphita's
breast, and, laying its bill close to her
] mouth, it breathed soul into her, and
| then the dove just vanished, and Sera-
phita was dead.
"Then, because God had been good to
him and had given Seraphita a soul
again. her father built an orphan asy-
lum and called it after her, THE Sc
raphita,' and you can see it over there,
with the sun shining on it. It looks like
\