The St. Mary banner., 1907-09-28
By
l. LovEoRovE.

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sister. Above all rose the dread OF
self-betrayal! If she remained at home
that might come at any moment.
Il must 60 away" she said it half
aloud in her earnestness. Il can see
so well what is coming, and l cannot
stay to see it through"
And then the thought of her moth
er, and Of how untitled she was to meet
the cares of the household, swept like
an overwhelming wave over her
troubled heart.
"Oh, can't 60. and yet must!
must! l never have left them; they
must manage without me-" she
thought, and still the battle ragged.
Finding physical energy at last Civ
ing out, she retraced her steps, and
wearied in body and mind found her
way to her aunt's, where all this time
she had been supposed to be. She
seemed too tired and spent to make
up her mind to anything, but as she
stepped into the cosy room sense of
rest stole into her weary heart.
This was the home" using that
sweet word in its truest sense, of her
fathers maiden sister Aunt Doro-
thea gave one look at the girls white
weary face, then her arms went out.
and in a moment later, like an over
spent child In the arms of it's mother,
Nan rested there until sOOthed and
comforted by deep, unspoken sympathy,
she sank on to a footstOOl at her aunt'3
feet, feeling that the tension was re-
lieved, and her burden already light
ened.
And there, in the freight, she un-
burdened her heart, and told that
which but an hour before she had inly
resolved should never meet the ear of
any human soul. Such is the potency
of sympathy. The words of that con-
versation need not be recorded. Words
are important, but in those rare heart
to-heart talks Of which life gives so
few, that which matters most is the
love-lit eye, the tender tone, and the
sacred unveiling of the recesses of hu-
man hearts. At such times spirit
with spirit can meet" and only then do
we realize how closely two human
souls can touch, and how deep and
far-reaching is the influence of one
personality on another.
DOrothea COverdale was living ex-
position Of Lowell's beautiful words:
Be noble;
And the nobleness which lies in Others
sleeping, but never dead,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
Quietly there, in that cosy room,
which somehow seemed the natural
environment Of the pure soul who in
habited 1t, Aunt Dorothea, in her turn.
told the romance of her own girlhoods &
days. It was story before which
Mans little tale dwindled into insig-
nidcance, and yet the woman who had
suffered such terrible heart-ache, some
no wmanaged to convey to the listen
| ing girl the sense that all her feelings
were understood, and the bitterness
not one jot underestimated.
| "Yes, dear, l am not afraid to let
you know that l think. the bestowal
of good mans love brings to true
woman the highest and purest OF
earthly happiness. believe that with
out tina gift, woman's life is, and
must be, incomplete, for the grand
range OF feelings which come to a wife
and mother cannot be hers, and
therefore, one side Of her nature must
ever go hungry; but" and the words
which followed left Nan feeling that
the Highest still remained for her, and
the message, Il am among you as He
that serveth" took on a new meaning
The dear home life she saw in a new
light, and the home love seemed
worthy of any sacrifice.
AS she walked home she thought Of
Longfellow's Legend Beautiful" and
entered the house with the words ring
ing her ears:
Do thy duty, that is best;
| Leave unto thy Lord the rest
and life was invested with a new
meaning.
It was well that Nan was fortified
for even as she had foreseen, it came
to pass. She had to run the gauntlet
OF all that she had dreaded.
'Nan," said Mrs. Coversdale, one
afternoon as they sat alone, do you