The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-13


1t was spring-time The bright March
suns had burst upon the earth, warm
ing and thawing it, and calling its DOR
mant powers into life again. The sap
began to run in the trees, and the
grasses to cut the mold with their
green blades, fairly rifting it with the
might of their tiny strength.
During the long, cold winter, the
cloister had been pleasant, sheltered
spot, and the five little postulants felt
snug and safe from the bleakneSS of
the world. On winter nights, when the
storms ragged about the convent build
ings, the beating rain and the bowling
winds had seemed the prototype of the
warfare of the world, the flesh, and the
devil, waged against the poor world
lings outside. The angry gusts that beat
against the walls and tore the cling
ing ivy from the thick adobe pillars,
whipped and stripped it till morning
found it dead and broken on the flag
stones; the coppice was fallen in ruins,
and the trees, reduced to skeletons
by the fury of the elements, stretched
their naked, helpless arms in mute ap-
peal to the relentless sky.
So the world appeared from the clois-
ter windows. But here, in their quaint
nunnery, they were safe from the
storms without. Nothing untoward
could touch them now; the peaceful
tale of their days would roll itself out
to a peaceful close, and they would be
gathered with their sisters under the
convent walls. No rude shocks could
reach them, nor cruel blows, no bitter
disappointments, nor blighting sorrows.
In the quiet, even tenor of the coming
twenty, thirty, or even forty years,
every day would be the same-serene
and safe. A satisfied complacency ex-
uded from the five draped figures as
they contemplated all this.
But now it was spring-time. The
spring suns had burned away the
clouds and heaven bent low over the
earth as if it loved it, loved to hear it's
ll-throated voice of joy and watch
the Springing of it's myriad forms of
life. The earth was clothed with gay,
fresh verdure that glowed with all the
colors of the rainbow the birds had
come back and begun to sing as if their
little brown threats would burst with
the melody that dubbed out of them,
and all the world was thrilled with the
blessed joy of living. Each new spring
day seemed richer and fuller than the
last had been, and when, at length,
the long, glad day was done, when the
drowsy peoples bowed their golden
heads and the murmuring tree-tops in
toned lullaby, when the sinking sun
rallied his forces to make a last gall
liant stand, firing his long, red rays into
the very teeth of the advancing night,
it died in such royal purple state one
could almost love to have it live only to
see it die. And then this marvel of a
spring day softened into a balmy spring
night. The air grew heavy with the
faint, sweet breath of blossoms,
and the odor of the fresh, up-turned
earth and rich, rank vegetation, and
all nature-sounds were hushed in the
silver silence of the rising moon
But from all this the five little pos
tulantS were safe, too. Safe during the
day in their rounds of study, work and
meditation. Safe during the twilight
and evening in their vesper chapel SER
vices. Safe in their fasts and vigils dur
ing the weeks preceding their solemn
VOWS from the wild impulse to throw
off their sombre vestments, fling out
their cramped young limbs, and dance
and shout for very joy that this was
the SPRING time of their lives.
But, if they could not go out to meet
the spring-time, much of it's freshness
and beauty came to them. The skies
above the convent close were as bright
as those above the open fields, the Gull
tivated flowers in their garden put out
new shoots, and the birds focked un-
an energetic little brown pair, after
much tWittering and fluttering and
Swimming in the air, laid the ground
plan of nest in the niche of a tiny
window in the dormitory building. Back
and forth they flew with tireless in
dustry, with bit of fleece, a tuft of
thistle down, a sorrel horse hair, or a
cast-off feather. To be sure, there was
some scolding and chattering between
q eli oir
and twittering all told, and how they
seemed to love to do it! And how pair
of bright eyes Widened as they
watched them!
When the bell rang for mathis, the
four other poStulantS already assem-
bled looked askance at the fifth one,
who came almost running into the
chapel to save herself from being late.
All day long there were duties that
kept her from slipping away even for a
moment to take a peep at the little
brown tenants on her sill, and at
length, after Vespers, when she did get
moment to steal upstairs, she found
the nest half-finished and the builders
gone. Every morning thereafter their
noisy tWittering and chirruping began
with the dawn as they worked away
like little Trojans, till the last touch
was given, and tiny blue egg lay in
it's downy depth.
The little Fifth did not speak of her
feathered neighbors to any one; this
was the only interest she had that was
not in common with the whole sister
hood, and they came in time to seem
her own special friends. And often, as
she stood on tiptoe watching them, her
eyes wandered off to the open plains
of the vast Sacramento valley, to the
wealth of golden peoples that glittered
nynO ND hn h~, Il -.
stretches of rank, vivid green beyond,
the deep, purple mountains rising in
the distance, till her poor little brain
almost reeled under the blast of color
that struck her eyes.
Within the cloister it was HOLY
Week. The tapers were extinguished,
the altar stripped of it's decorations,
the Office of the Tenebrae was chanted,
the chapel services were long and fire.
quent, and the fasts more rigid than
ever. The fifth young postulant began
to long for the coming of Easter, to put
an end to all this, although Easter
week this year was to be fraught with
a deeper meaning than anything that
had ever come into her life. She was
then to renounce the world forever.
She did not put her WEAKNESS of the
cloister routine into words; she did not
quite understand it herself, for it was
only the spring life running in her veins,
and she could no more have kept down
her restless spirits than a buttercup could
have kept from blooming. The bleak
winter, with its naked trees and dripping
Shrubbery, had accorded well With the
spirit Of remuneration and self sacrifice,
but it was hard to reconcile it with the
reckless joy Of living that came with
this festival season. She told herself over
and over how beautiful was this life OF
fasting and prayer, and how necessary
not only for her own sins, but for those
of the world, and how safe and serene she
was within her convent walls; but there
were two tiny fledglings in the nest now,
which brought a glimpse of the love and
life of the outside world right up to the |
window of her cubicle.
AS the days went by she began almost
to dread the approach of Easter and the
week succeeding, but the Four seemed
satisfied even eager. to take the initial