The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-01-24

a machine by which BOOKS are printed
| for the blind, and during the tihe that
| she was growing up she made many
| books for her similarly afflicted friends,
and contributed many volumes to the
| fifteen public libraries in the United
| States where books for the blind are
kept. the Albany library, the Congress
| Sional library, the Cincinnati library
and the Boston library.
The Reverend Doctor Beecher took
an especial interest in this girl, and
| translated the work of Thomas A.
Kempis into point" because she was
especially fond of his writings. And,
although she priced them highly and
Won 81 be sorry to lose them, she has
lent them, her own point copies, to
her blind brothers and sisters all over
the country.
| Her unselfish spirit and her desire to
| help others less fortunate than herself
was born in her, her mother says. Ever
since her affliction sne has been of a
| spiritual turn of mind. Robbed of the
pleasure of seeing the ceremonies OF the
cathedral, with its beautiful altar and
its shining candles, unable to hear the
peal Of the grand organ or the solemn
chant of the vestal virgins in the
hidden nave, she. still c1ung to religion
to prayers and ceremonies.
After a time she wrote upon her
point machine the desire that was
nearest her heart-that she wanted to
take the holy habit, become a nun in d
convent. Her parents had moved to
Newark then, and Madeline's chief oC-
cupation was teaching the priests of
Saint Dominic to read in point" so
that they could reach the darkened
minds of the blind worshiDDers.
There was no objection raised to her
inc nd mir
were pure as a child's. She was in
every way fitted to take the veil. But
no deaf and dumb and blind girl had
ever been admitted before, and there
was no one who could put the questions
to her which constituted the irrevocable
promises which every woman must
make to renounce the world and live
only for the church. How was she to
be admitted?
The blind girl solved the problem her
self. When she learned that she could
not take the veil until new ceremonial
could be found by which the rules of
the sisterhood could be kept and the
questions administered to her. she set
to work teaching Mother Emanuelle,
mother superior of the Newark con-
vent, how to read in the sign language.
The good mother already loved the girl
and entered upon her task willingly.
Before long she had mastered it suffi-
GENTLY to be willing to undertake the
ceremony.
The rites were performed in the cha
pei of the cloister. The beautiful lit
tie church was decorated with flowers
and illuminated with candles, as if for
wedding. And, truly, it was we'd
ding-the wedding of blind girl who
was to become the bride of the church.
"a hot oh
pealed the soft rhythm of a solemn
march, and Madeline appeared at the
door and marched down the aisle of
the church, escorted by many nuns,
dressed in white, as if they were her
bridesmaids
The girl was gloriously beautiful,
dressed as she was, in a long white
satin gown, with a brides veil of tulle
sweeping to the hem of her train, the
handiwork of her mother. There were
orange blossoms in her hair and great
white boquet of flowers in her arms,
and to make the scene complete her
brother marched down the aisle with
her leaning upon his arm-her brother
who gave her away" to the church.
The mother superior met her at the
altar and the priest began the cere-
mony of questions and responses. When
the priest would ask his questions aloud
the mother superior would interpret
them and deliver the reply to the al
tar. 1t was as if the fair applicant
was a foreigner and could not under
stand the language.
There was not pause in the cere-
mony, and when the questions had been
answered the organ began again to peal
and the bridal party moved silently to-
ward the iron gate through which the |
girl passed out of the world.