The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-12-06

and clear head we're no longer his,
and his reputation for punctuality and
trustworthiness became thing of the
past.
On several occasions the manager
pointed out to him the error of his
ways, but all to no purpose.
One morning, however, when Gerald
arrived later than usual, he called him
into his room and said in very grave
accents:
81 regret to say that you still dis
regard my warnings, Mr.. Darcy. I
have overlooked a great deal and put
up with more, perhaps, than I should
have done, because of my friendship
with your father; but now solemnly
warn you that if you come here again
the worst for drink or behind time
you will certainly be dismissed"
Gerald vowed reformation, but alas!
to reform now required a herculean
effort beyond the power of his weak
ened will In short time, the bank
manager was obliged to tell him that
his services must be dispensed with,
and the once promising youth became
one of the submerged tenth, herding
with London's wretched outcasts.
Gerald's letters home had been few
and far between of late, so that his
people were not very much surprised
when they now ceased altogether;
and his father, who had received in
telligence of his dismissal mourned
for him as did the father of the
Prodigal
It was again the feast of the AS
sumption, and people were Fastening
to the little church of Innistoge for
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Many of them looked curiously at a
poor tramp who seemed also going
to the village church, but with slow
and tagging footsteps, the conse-
quence evidently of weakness and eX-
haustion.
Poor fellow!" said one of them to
his companion; ''he seems to have one
foot in the grave already He posi-
lively staggers sometimes. And see,
his face is like that of skeleton;
the bones are almost coming through
the skin. Wonder where he came
from. 1t isn't often that you see a
tramp in Innistoge."
"Hush!" answered the other. He
evidently overheard your last words.
saw his whole frame culver when
you called him a tramp"
HE is more sensitive, then, than
most people of his class. The gen
crafty of them glory in the title. |
suppose he is going to Benediction in
order to afford charitable folk an OPP
portunity for almsgiving."
'Alms might very possibly be be-
slowed on worse object then. He
doesn't seem by an means an ordi-
nary common sort of tramp-looks as
if he were some poor fellow come
down in the world
So saying the villagers passed on
while the poor tramp followed slowly
after; his face, or at least as much
as could be seen of it, for he wore his
battered hat low down on his fore
head, seemed full of harvest of
bitter memories.
"a tramp! Yes, that's what they
called me. My God! Can it be true
that have come to this?" said Gerald
Darcy to himself, for the poor tramp
was none other than he. After years
of degrading vice and wretched pow
erty he felt an irresistible desire to
seek his native place. He could not
tell why; perhaps it was because of
the instinct which impels even the
wounded wild beast to seek it's lair.
/ At all events he returned, but
though he had spent hours wandering
about the village amongst the people
whom he had known from childhood,
nobody seemed to recognize him.
Even his own father, grayer and
graver than when he had seen him
last, had passed him by in the street
without deigning more than a f1eeting
glance This brought home to him
more than anything else the degrade
ton to which he had reduced himself,
and he felt chilled to the very heart.
For the first time for years he felt a
sense of shame at his own condition
and he resolved to leave the village
without making himself known to any
one He would seek out some quiet
spot where he was unknown, and
where he might hide his wretched
head, and perhaps die.
There was one spot, however, in
Innistoge in which Gerald Darcy
knew that he would not feel a
stranger. This was the village church.
When the bells rang for Benediction
he followed the crowd, and, kneeling
at Our Lady's altar where the old
statue still smiled so benignly down
on all her children, the wandering as
well as the virtuous, he felt for the
first time since his arrival in the
village a sense of "home."
The sermon was again on the great
power and influence Of Our Blessed
Lady with her Divine Son, and her
marvellous mercy and kindness to err
ing man. And the heart of each one
there beat faster as the preacher re-
lated an instance within his own per-
sonal knowledge of how an abandoned
sinner who had recourse to her at the
last moment was snatched from the
very jaws of hell, which were wide
open to receive him.
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