The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-01
y;J COOKS.
.,,r Marsa-c,'s Own stor,

a., nlI woman, she slys in account
! a." r,r bor ,elf a, the period when she had
l n0s,ed historian. Not many old women
'l i.-o e,v. cgu!d have conducted through
We u ro re, rem 80 animated and 80
I" D, poreatedv we have found our
la,res thinking This is really MIR. CROCKETT
' 's, l., cracking jokes and dancing gaily
w. W.. ami not the jenerable Margaret at
~ Margaret in Mr.. Crockett's frs chapter
'r., forus her impatience Of the restraint
,-,.n,sd upun her in French convent
w., she was only 1s years old. Lord!
W., how hated it, she writes. Il, Mar
''"u ,, Dnrla.. aho had been the petted
t = ,reat mon and strong men ever since l
,,n1d remember" In that observation we
..a considerable explanation OF Mar
'A "a, She was lovely. and she knew it..
Ths, wrong for loneliness to be obliged
a,rer the discipline of nunnery! We
an ,,rote a single specification OF the CRUEL
WIN t .h.t she was monstrously called upon
to endure: ,,,
,ro winter or gracious June, out you must
,,r in this our Convent OF the Birch
though YOU be thrice Princess in
" nour own right And they would not let
~, hs va so much as drop Of warm water
, nottery jar for the foot of your bed
,night,ly comforting it is to lone womenD
.,r even suffer YOU to sleep in your wooden
.,.,I,s which is to say gown that hath
tood, it and being turned head and heels,
r.kes an admirable nest for cold great toes
nights. have suffered from cold feet
,nnv DAYS. Indeed If had not, perhaps,
had been a happier woman"
Would Margaret really have made this con-
,,..ion, Is il not obviously Mr.. Crockett
s.ting it for her? Is it not unmis-
,.kably male person who takes it upon
tirself to rehearse that old fiction of the
cold feet of lone LADIES' 1t has seemed
IA us as though we had discovered here
,,de stroke from a masculine hand.
The story has it that Margaret called
The lady superior of the convent a bald
rat and that she surreptitiously kissed
larry McKim, a holy abbot still in his
Youth who had curly hair and came to the
nunnery richly attired. riding snow white
mile Our heroine married the Abbot
Larry. strange al 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-
lminary marriages. we hasten to say,
we're merely nominal and did not count.
She had certain pride at Is in the pros
rect Of matrimony, 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
a. this point, as well as at most others.
We read at Page %:
MY chief JOY and safety in thus COM
peting my education WIS that every one
Knew that | was so soon to be married
by high pon,itical dispensation, Papal bull,
holy cord. and four pounds Of wax thereto
attached not to speak, as it were, of bell,
hook and candle So they might sigh,
| he men Of them, that is-but no one could
think mo not for moment) that l meant
any harm Indeed, never did, and said
20 frequently when the harm came"
Four pages further on the aged heroine
sites 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
row, mora and worse" 1t sounds, we
syagain, like Mr.. Crockett, and not like the
ssed Margaret. Surely she wo uld not
approach recAlessness 50 nearly. We sup
rose that to itch visibly is to afford the
sc;ve physical signs consequent upon
oddly irritation and calculated to allay it.
A 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 as We have the
''cination, to tell all about Margaret.
We will speak further only Of tho great
cannon fred Off by Malise McKim. The
rsader will find an account of this in the
chapter entitled "Malise Does His Work"
The title Is quite accurate regarding Malise.
hat mad blacksmith wrought great havoc
Nth his cannon, The King and the others
stood around. Of went the cannon,
doctored" monster There were black
Wedges that lad been immersed in oil.
Margaret beheld them and OWNED For
ohce she was not fiprant and playful.
Mop she cried. Il beseech You all to 60
,Fay There ia danger here--perhaps
o'a'h' The King wa, merely angered
AIMS interruption and warning. He called
h'garet girl He brusi,y ordered
Der away.
Va went the cannon ne We have said.
Margaret saved herself and the one time
iooot Larry. She records: BY this time
mad my hand on the collar Of Laurence's
.''Ase, OF tho strong rough stuff which
'e wore at his engnery. Suddenly, leaning
ell m" weight upon it, | brought us both
70 the ground at tho very moment when
saw Ma!is' set his blazing match to the
'l.hhoIe' Tho roar OF tho lombard was
'Viio"e 81 by cry more great and terrible
sun FOR moment it seemed as il all
"ao moment before had stood about were
!'ag In their blood. The great cannon
law ourst at the first trial. Tho wedges
laa slipped like glass, Morton had fallen
u us lace with his arms outsEread. Angus,
INe az Parchment, lay wounded to the
.ea'h' The King, when they went to lift
In' up was dead. And as to Malise the
sni'n' after that great explosion, in plain
'ords-he was not"
~ not he, but the story of him, that
ALTERS OF him and the others. Margaret
rue readily with much playfulness and
vhse Of what was amusing. We believe
nave SAID before that readers will think
Aer more Ii o Mr. l'r,ol,a,. 49,. H. -,