The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-09-20

- ~ Ing lfOu the village Iete
- | noticed in the light Of q
AOi moonbeam child sleeping
H|l7N ll1ln against a tree in the road
way, alongside Of minia-
ture cathedral in plaster I have often
wondered who buys these hideous pro-
auctions of ecclesiastical architecture,
with such square, ungraceful outlines,
surmounted by tall steeple and illu-
minated with candle end placed on
the altar. A sensation Of pity seized
me when gazed upon the poor little
merchant who must have spent the
entire evening trying to sell his church,
and, finding no purchaser, had fallen
asleep to dream. perhaps, OF the beat
ing which awaited him ait home
Ragged, dusty and tanned, he was as
picturesque as he was dirty. awak-
ened the lad, gave him some money,
and to avoid the semblance Of almsgiv-
ing. 7 accepted the plaster cathedral
1t bothered me good deal az ] car
ried it of under my arm walked
faster, being anxious to relieve myself
Of the burden, which intended to
leave in corner of the garden where
it would serve as a scarecrow for the
sparrows which were already begin
ming to steal my cherries.
/ must have looked like one Of those
personages you see in religious paint
ings bearing the resemblance in min
iature of the chapel which they have
dedicated to Saint Timeoleon or Saint
Ildevert in expiration of their sins.
Midnight sounded; was still awake
N my bed, with eyes half closed. But
1t was an insomnia without fever,
vague and delicious, refreshed by the
soft moonlight entering through the
wide-open window close by, which also
bathed the winding paths of the gar
den below, the beds Of flowers and the
velvety grass in the pale enchantment
of fairyland.
Perfectly happy in my semi-conscious
state, without the sensation Of exist
ence. yet enraptured with the Joy Of
living, was rather thing ecstatic
than man. And the vast silence, the
absolute calm, SO suggestive Of solitary
wastes, drowsy hooks, of leaves un-
stirred by any breeze, were deepened
by the almost arrested throbbings of
my heart, by the dispersion in dream
less peace OF all my dead desires.
Suddenly slight noise startled me.
One might have called it the contact
scarcely sensible Of some delicate OBJ
ject with feebly resisting surface.
The sound was rhythmicai, too, at
equal intervals, suggesting the idea of
u ben infinitely distant among the
clouds.
The noise continued hardly audible,
yet seeming to gently importune me-
arose and looked out of the window.
Fancy my surprise!
The cathedral which on entering
had placed near the door in narrow
path, like church at the end Of an
avenue-the cathedral whose candle
end inside had long been extinguished
now radiated illumination through
all its tiny red windows, and as !
leaned forward to examine more close
" I perceived that the inclination Of
an adjacent w0odbine caused the
steeple to be capped by an oscillating
bell flower in which a bee performed
the Office Of clapper or ringer. What
was going on then in my garden be-
meath the mystic light Of the moon?
I softly stepped over the window sill
and knelt In the shade of an acacia.
In the wall Of the little church, Just be-
hind the choir, was crevice, through
which now peeped. More than a
hundred drefiies attached either to the
shafts of the columns or perched before
the altar in lieu Of candles filed the
edifice with light, and in the top of
the steeple the industrious bee tolled
his bell in the woodbine, as IL calling
the devout to some important eere-
mony.
A constantly increasing and innum-
cradle throng Of insects was entering
the portals. Crickets and grasshoppers
from the fields jostled each other Gag
erly in the van; lady-bug, to avoid
being pushed in the crowd, was posed
on the wing Of dragon-hy: tiny in
sects vested in black and white, pre-
sumahly the clergy, followed gor-
geous cocbineal in purple. The whole
seemed strange confusion OF muir
murings from countless creeping things
Of every color.
When, at length. the entire company
had taken their places in proper Or
der, large ny few up to tbs organ
loft and presently humming sort Of
music, joyous yet religious, fairly filed
the little basilica, so brightly iilumin-
ated by the firenies.
A ceremony, indeed, Of some sort
was on the point Of commencing,
When 4 beheld two minute creatures
proceed toward the choir, the one with
confident air beating Its wings vic
toriously, the other hesitating and
timtd, Isupposed there was a wedding
afoot.
And Of this was sure when / saw
at the high altar a magnificent beetle
with green and gold chasubIe, assisted
by two lesser bugs as aeolyfess apz
prOach the bridal party With gesture
seemingly 81 beneaictIon.