Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-06
TO-DAY'S INSTALLMENT,
Seventeenth Chapter-Continued

Partly undressing, l climbed into
my cot and lay still for the next half
hour, while the doctor held his hand
on my mothers pulse and the nurse
spread d linen cloth over table and
put four or five lighted candles on It,.
remember that ! was thinking
that II God sending for my mother
meant that she was to be put into a
box and buried under the ground it
was terrible and cruel, and perhaps if
] prayed 70 Our Lady He would not
ind 1t in His heart to do so. was
trying to do this, beginning, under
my breath, 20 Holy Virgin, thou art
so lovely, thou art so gracious .
when the nurse said:
Here they are back again
Then heard footsteps outside, and
going to the window | saw a sight
not unlike that which / had seen on
the night of The Waits.
The Sacrament.
A group of men were coming to-
ward the house, with Father Dan IN
the middle OF them, Father Dan, with
his coat hung over his arms like
cloak, was carrying something white
in both hands, and the men we're car
Fying torches 10 light him on his way,
! knew what II vast was the
Blessed Sacrament. which they were
bringing to my mother, and when
Father Dan had come into the room.
saying Peace be to this house" and
laid little white box on the table,
and thrown off his coat, he was wear
ing his priests vestments underneath.
Then the whole of my fathers
househoid--aii except my father him
self-came into my mothers room, in
Guiding Aunt Bridget, who sat with
folded arms In the darkness by the
wall, and the servants, who knelt In a
group by the door.
Father Dan reused my mother by
calling hsr again, and after she had
opened her eyes he began to read.
Sometimes his voice seemed to be
ehoked with sobs, as IL the heart of
the man were suffering. and some
times II pealed out loudly as II the
soul OF the priest were inspiring him.
After communion he gave my
mother extreme unction-anointing
the sweet eyes which had seen no
evil, the dear lips which had uttered
no wrong, and the feet which had
walked in the ways of God.
All this time there was a solemn
hush IN the house like that OF
church--no sound within except my
fathers measured tread in the room
below, and none without except the
muffled murmur which the sea makes
when il is far away and going out.
When all was over my mother
seemed more at ease, and after ask
ing for me and being told l was in the
cot. she said:
You must all go and rest. Mary
and l will be quite right now"
A few minutes afterward my moth
er and | were alone once more. and
then she called me into her bed and
ciasped her arms about me and l lay
with my face hidden in her neck.
What happened thereafter seems to
be too sacred to write OF, almost too
sacred to think about yet ii is all as a
memory OF yesterday. while other
events OF my life have fioated away t.
the ocean of things that are forgotten
and lost.
Listen, darling" she said, and then
speaking in whispers, she told me she
nad heard all | mad said about the
convent, and wondered if would nor
like to live there always, becoming
one OF ths good and holy nuns.
l must have made some kind OF
protest for she went on to say how
hard the world was TO a woman ant
how 1ifficult she had found IL.
Not that your father has been t.
hlame-you must never think that,
Mary, yet still
But tears from her tender heart
were stealing down her face and she
had to stop.
80 you see we shall never be part
ed. never really We shall always be
together. Something tells me that
wherever you are, and whatever you
are doing. | shall know all about It. ="
This comforted me and ! think it
comforted my mother also, though
God knows if II would have done so,
il. with her dying eyes, she could
have seen what was waiting for her
child
II fills my heart hrimful to think
OF what happened next