The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-06-27
A Child of the SaCed Heart

What a pretty hamlet Greenleigh
was! 1t contained in all not more
than twenty houses, rusty looking old
buildings, with rickety fences and
large gardens, filled with trees and
flowers. It's situation was delightful.
1t lay in a valley, on each side of
which the mountains rose to a Won
derful height-thick, woody noun
tains, Astounding in musical pines, and
great stones, studded with gravels.
How often | climbed Upon those old
stones, and lay On their m~oss-covered
tops, for hours at a time, reading, or
idly dreaming, or looking up at the
blue summer sky, with it's fitting
clouds, and listening to the dulcet
notes of the wild birds. My favorite
stone had a small pine tree growing
from an aperture in it's centre. Under
the waving boughs of that little tree,
| dreamed of the far distant city, OF
it's colleges, of my future. Often in.
deed | slept there during the hot aft.
ernoons of June and July, using my
arm for a pillow-"beauty maps" ]
called those slumbers.
At the west end of the Greenleigh
ran a deep yellow creek, spanned by a
bridge made of two trees joined to-
gether by thick pieces of oak. There
| loved to sit, and dream, looking
down into the yellow depths, my ears
drinking in the soft gurgling of the
water. Yes, Greenleigh was a pretty
little place; and every one that ever
visited it once, came a second time.
However, there was no church in the
village. 1t contained about an equal
number of Catholics and Protestants,
those attended Mass at Riverview, a
town about three and a half miles dis
tant from Greenleigh; these occasion
ally held services in the old school
house. The Catholics of Greenleigh
were good practical Catholics who
thought the walk to the Riverview
church but a pleasure. [ see them
now, those simple people, dressed in
their best clothes, setting out on a
bright Sunday morning with their
sturdy-legged children to walk to Riv,
eryiew.
On the way home from Mass the
husbands and wives chatted about the
sermon and the eloquence of Father
Dean, the parish priest of Riverview,
how pretty and clean the church was
and how well Miss Need sang. The
boys ran races among the small bush
es that skirted the road and the girls
culled the flowers that grew in profu-
sion by the way. Oh, what would
not give to live again one hour of
those dear, dead days, to be again a
round-faced, freckle-nosed urchin, run
ming along by my parents side, as we
came from Mass on Sunday!
One summer a young seminarian
named Bernard barrow, who was dis
family related to our family, came to
spend a few weeks with us at Green
leigh.
How we'll I remember him! He was
tall and straight as a young poplar
and had a face without a trace of color
in it-a calm, handsome face. His
eyes were large and black and full of
fire, yet there was something very soft
and winning in them; his closely crop
ped hair was brown and would have
curled, had he allowed it. His every
feature is deeply engraven in my
heart; but I remember best his smile
there was so much kindness, so
much good will in il.
Mr.. barrow and l walked to River.
view every morning to hear Mass. He
became very fond of me and l looked
up to him as a superior being. He
received Holy Communion three times
every week; and very often | won
dered that he did not faint while walk
ing to church, he was so frail and del
icate and the distance Sc long.
His favorite devotion was that of
the Sacred Heart. On each of the
first Fridays-he spent only two hours
with us-When he and / were walking
home from Mass, after having break
tasted with the parish priest, he talked
of the e~xcellency and the advantage of
devotion to the Sacred Heart. His
voice was low and very sweet, and he
never seemed stuck for words" as
our boys used to say. / listened with
such attention that we were in Green
leigh before | thought we had been
walking a half hour. l have never
forgotten his little instructions: they
sank deep into my heart and will stay