The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-01
NEW EOOES.
80, Mar.,ret's N~n Story.

.i,,e, be Margaret herself in old age.
W., Wv, A., cid woman." she says in account
-. for hc".elf at the period when she had
,"s historian. Not many old women,
90 dare cay. could lave conducted through
,,,,, rageS pen so animated and SO
V,rt,I Repeatedly we have found our-
t.'yes thinking; This is really Mr.. Crockett
h, (, orackng Jokes and dancing gaily
.h,it and not the venerable Margaret az
Norgaret in Mr.. Crockett's frs, chapter
...ords for us her impatienca OF the restraint
,s,an,ai unon her in French convent
."hon she was only ls years old. Lord.
va, how hated it. she writes. a. Mar
.,rs. p,uras. who had been the petted
- croa, mon and strong men ever since
Ia rs,cmher." In that observation we
,,ro considerable explanation Of Mar
a,,et She was lovely and she knew It,.
Sho, wrong for loyeliness to be obliged
y. sursr the discipline of Il nunnery! We
I'M o,,o,e single specification of the cruel
,ies that she was monstrously called upon
10 endure.
o'clock in the morning, black roar
l., uinter or gracious June. out you must
,mrr in this our Convent of the Birch
.ra ,borrh YOU he thrice Princess in
1,u, own right And they would not let
,ou ba ye 20 much az a drop Of warm water
!, A pottery jar for the foot Of your bed
,mioh,,ly comforting it is to lone womenD
mr. even slfY ar you to sleep in your WOODEN
oou,lie which is to say gown that hath
soodto it and being turned head and heels,
makes an admirable nest for cold great toes
s.nshts. have suffered from cold feet
nv DAYS Indeed if had not, perhaps,
had been a happier woman
Would Margaret really have made this con-
,sssion? Il it not obviously Mr.. Crockett
rskinc it for her? IL it not unmis-
,kably male person who takes 1t upon
,in,self to rehearse that old fiction Of the
cold feet Of lone ladies'? 1t has seemed
N It's as though We had discovered here a
r,de stroke from masculine hand.
The story has it that Margaret called
he lady superior of the convent a bald
"a, and that she surreptitiously kissed
Larry McKim. holy abbot still in his
youth who had curly hair and came to the
npnnery richly attired. riding snow white
mule Our heroine married the Abbot
Larry. strange az that may seem. and be-
fore she married him she married Lord
William Douglas and Lord James Douglas,
one after the other, though these two pre-
Urinary marriages we hasten to say,
were merely nominal and did not count.
She had certain pride at Is in the pros
pect Of nlatrimony. though she spoke Of
The same without reverence in her old age
when she was composing this chronicle,
A certain boastfulness. permissible in a
tried and triumphant female, is observable
at this point, as we'll as at most. others.
We read at page %:
MY chief Joy and safety in thus COM
peting my education was that every one
knew that was so soon to be married
| BY high pontiical dispensation. Papal bull,
holy cord. and four pounds Of wax thereto
ntached-not to speak, as 1t were. of bell,
book and candle. So they might sigh,
The men of them, that is-but no one could
think mo, not for momentl that meant
any harm. Indeed. I never did, and said
70 frequently when the harm came
Four pages further on the aged heroine
writes. after recording something saucy
that she said to the Abbot: Larry said
nothing in words, but his fingers itched
viibly to box my ears--or for aught
NOV, more and worse" 1t sounds, we
ayagain, like Mr.. Crockett. and not like the
aged Margaret. Surely she wo uld not
approach reckessness so nearly. We sup
pose that to itch visibly is to afford the
active physical signs consequent upon
bodily irritation and calculated to allay it.
At any rate, we're We ourselves to say Of
anybody that he itched visibly. we should
expect the reader to understand that he
\ scratched himself
1t is impossible, much az we have the
Inclination, to tell all about Margaret.
We will speal; further only of the great
cannon fired of by Malise McKim. The
reader will find an account of this in the
chapter entitled -Malise Does His Work.
Inc title Is quite accurate regarding Malise.
That mad blacksmith wrought great havoc
nth his cannon. The King and the others
stood around. of went the cannon.
'doctored' monster There were "back
Wedges that had been immersed in oil.
Margaret heheid them and OWNED. For
once she was not fippant and playful.
stop she cried, Il beseech you all to go
away There is danger here-rerhaps
oeath' The King was merely angered
this Interruption and warning. He called
Margaret a girl" He bruskiy ordered
Der away.
Va went the cannon, as we have said.
Margaret saved herself and the one tine
aooot Larry. She records: BY this time
nae my hand on the collar OF Laurenoe's
muse ri the strong, rough stuff which
eWore al his en- ginery. Suddenly, learning
81 my weight upon it, | brought IL both
70 the ground at the very moment when
"a" Ma,Ise set his blazing match to the
'uchhoe' Tho roar Of the lombard wss
'''l ' by cry more great and terrible
sun. tor moment it seemed as il all
VINO moment before had TODD about were
g'Gs IN their blood, The great cannon
uiu burst at the first trial Tho wedges
"au shipped like glass. Morton had fallen
VI 'us lace with his arms outspread. Angus,
ta'e "a parchment, lay wounded to the
.ea'n' Inc King, when they went to lift
."n up was dead. And ga to Malise the
.A'n' after that great explosion, in plain
words he was not"
~ not he. but the story Of him, that
."a'ffS or him and the others. Margaret
.We readily, with much playfulness and
o' what was amusing. We believe