Gardnerville record. (Gardnerville, Nev.) 1898-1902, 1901-08-16

so they went OH 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 iro ;ail alone except for
her father and her nurse and the priest
who went to live en the house. which
showed that the church thought there
was something in It,, else why should a
priest go and i've inithe house?
"One day when iSeraphita was out
walking she canael across Some little
boys who were stdning a black kitten
to kill IL. for everybody knows that
black eats belong 10 the devil. And
Seraphita ran rlghtiin among the flying
stones. and not onelof them hit her for
the devil held his hand between her
and the stones. and she caught up the
devils kitten aud Rugged il tight. while
the stones fen al her feet. aud the boys
cried out: Devils brat, Devils cat
"Pepita." said l. she seemed To me
to have been ii yery nice. soft hearted
little girl
"Oh. no. Sonora Maria Mada.eua, You
see. black cats belong 10 the devil and
II she had had any soul she couldn't
have taken one in her arms.
"She carried ii home. and she used to
feed IT, aud She had 10 hide it away. be
cause. of course, nobody wanted 10
have devils cat around. and the eat
would run and jump into Seraphita's 5
arms whenever she came near. but il
would fly like mad and its hair would
T all stand on end when any one else
came around. which shows. does 1t 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
II 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 seraph,a hadn't any.
And. besides thai. she always looked
very old and grave when anybody was
fields or IA 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. II was true, she had no soule'
We'll. what became of herr" | asked
a. Pepita paused to emphasize her
statement
"She grew up so beautiful that stran-
gers would stop In the street and look
at her "a 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 a charm on"
do you mean that she had the EVIL
eyer"
"Oh. 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.
aphitaf"
why. you see. when she was about
20 years old she was very Ill again, and
she lay In trance for three days. Tie
doctors wouldn't go near her, and her
own old nurse had died. and they
couldn't get any one 10 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 II her she went right INTO the
room and prayed all night. Her pray
ers went straight up 10 heaven, and she
prayed that Serapaita might die and
that before she died her soul should be
given back to her.
And, Sonora Maria Madaiena. 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 happenedg
~ beautiful white dove dew into the
window and alighted on Seraphlta's
breast, and laying its bill CLOSE 10 her
mouth. IL breathed IA soul Into her. aud
then the dove Just vanished. and Sefa
phita was dead
"Then. because God had been goal 70
him and had given Seraphita soul
again. her father built an orphan asy
lum and called II after her The Sc
raphita, aud you can see II over there
with the sun sh<ling on IL, II looks Ike
gold"
"lt Is pretty story. Pepita, but do
you believe she had no souls'
.'rhe sonora knows ! am English on
my fathers side, but my mother was
Spanish"
$50 you are half Spanish and half be-
lieye IT, Is that so, Pepita?
Eyes. sonora"