Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-07-04

kWAA&Xu Of her invalid father had invested her
i N& 4 sappcd and sober middle age with a
tardy, an almost unbecoming freedom.
se11u1 And she had trcmblingly
<stN1 gained her secure possession of the little
vM Stephen than from every direction plati-
tudes of approval drifted toward her.
Sattcrnly mothers who had themselves
bed big families without development in themselves
ot heroic virtues. loud to predict that the
sponsibily for a child would work miracle for the
lonely woman The kindlier of Sophies neighbors
hid agreed that it would give her something to
lie ior the others, less graciouy, that it would
give her Something do" Nobody would have
gone so far assert that the arrangement would
benefit the boy, for, like the rest of the world, Wray
ford had its for old maids chdren"; but
Nrayiord could for itself that lean, sober, little
Stephen seemed, if child was, adapted to his
destiny. lie had belonged to that less lovely hall
OF the adolescent in which one misses from
very birth. the beautiful completeness of infancy;
children who are incomplete adults merely, whose
too sharply nodded faces the anxious presagc
ot things to come; whose little mouths and
N@o'e eyes, barren OF dreams are impatient for
maturity Even at the age of four, you could have
{, tcctcd no infant impshness in Stephens already
wccontrolcd character.
It had, indeed been pattern of staid companion
ship that they had presented, as Stephen trudged
doclely to church by Miss Burchell's side or sat
with his book while she sewed or helped her with
her gardening. 1t had not seriously troubled his
fostcr-parent, as IT had the more speculative of her
neighbors, that the child was never "naughty"; it
was quite plain that his dignity and good sense were
sufficient to keep him from irrational misdcme anors;
moreover, she believed that Stephen would keep
good" by virtue of the quality of her care for him
for there dwet within her secret of the sort that
dull neghbors never penetrate. Miss Sophie had
devout faith in her own genius for motherhood it
was her arrogance.
Through many patient unblessed years Sophie
Burchell had boarded, poet might this belief in
her own divine capacity. Neither the tyranny of
Adam Burchelfs long illness the pity OF her own
loneliness had family discouraged it in her
Nor was this merely vague longing to strain warm
laughing babies to her breast; it was the touching
certainty that she could tireessly cherish and we
care for them. 1t had been her strangely besettng
fear that she might yield to her LIES too constant
danger OF growing warped thorny as hard
pressed, long starved will; for she fe, that
she must keep herself sound and strong and sweet
for the child that would some day need her 1t did
not profoundly matter that the child could not be
her own. Every child that she saw, for that matter
every puny baby, every scrawny urchin called out
the unstinted flow OF Sophc's maternal tenderness.
1t was an Opuent and trimming motherhood to
which Stephen Ortiz fell herr
Whether Stephen would repay her as people said
Tor what she magnifcenty gave him. was a calcula-
nevertheless, there intimaons, after year or
80, OF what onlookers considered an almost miracu-
lous rccompense, Stephen was not only dutiful he
was actually gifted. At least he discharged with
what other children regarded offensive ease the
tasks that his teachers almost deferenally assigned
hi;1; and by the time he eight years old his
fame as a student had gained him prestige in Wray-
ford of which he him, eli was precociouslv sensible
BIT. Stephen teachablc in department as in
letters, mindful ALWAYS of
exhortations he his juvenile honors graciouslv
and bore himself toward his elders with the respect
that their years, /: not always their mental calibe,
demanded. His selipossession had been born with
him, and slightly awkward he always was in in
tercourse with children, he was always ready to
'"shakc hands' agrceaby with any number Of adult
visitor, and describe to them his pleasure in attend
ing school, 1t only natural that the question of
The chids future should early come to seem
natter OF public Importance; and Miss Sophie's
entire acquaintance experienced relief when not long
after the boys ninth birthday she was able to in
form them that Stephen had momentousy chosen his
profession. He TO become a minister
Up to this point Miss Sophie had borne her
precious burden with confident courage She had
made all Stephens clothes, always with an anxious
care that they thick and large enough; she had
xenlonsly noursned his body she had taught him his
prayers and in thousand ways had spent upon him.
with what discretion she could. the passion of her
mOther-love. NOW It suddenly seemed to her that
she had no. done enough She had not taken the
childs gifts into sufficient account, and it was al
most blasphemous that she had allowed him to call
her mother" There seemed adequate help that
such commonplace she felt herself to
be could give superior in preparing for the
ministry" But Miss Sophie grded herself afresh
"A week later she had decided that if she could not
give Stephen spiritual reinforcement she could at
Least educate him, 1t became known in Wrayford
at SODhie Shedt IN tai: in
Once started upon the formal part OF his
education, Stephen found himself with singular ease
Where his classmates disappointed him, there were
always professors that he found congcnal lie was
after all, very little Inconvenience by Miss Sophc's
small income the friends that he made found always