Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-27
IL WOMAN THOU CAVEST ME ~ t5A4 S As47s1c

a big dressing table, a big praying
stool with an image Of Our Lady on
the wall above it, and an open window
to which a sparrow used to come in
the mornings and chirp.
/ When | came to recognize and to
classify I realized that this was my
mothers room, and that the sweet
/ somebody who used to catch me up in
| her arms when ! went lettering on
voyages of discovery round the vast
place was my mother herself, and thai
! she would comfort me when ! fell,
and stroke my head with her thin
white hand while she sang softly and
rocked me to and fro.
| AS | have no recollection of ever
having seen my mother in any other
part of our house. or indeed in any
other place except our carriage Wnen
we drove out in the sunshine, | con-
clude that from the time of my birth
she had been an invalid.
Certainly the faces which first
emerge from the islands of my mem
DRY are the cheerful and sunny ones
of Doctor Conrad and Father Dan. |
recall the soft voice of the one as he
used to enter our room after break
fast saying, How are we this morn
ing ma am? % And | remember the
stitl softer voice. of the other as he
said, And how is my daughter to-
day?"
] loved both of them, but especially
Father Dan, who used to call me his
Nanny and say | was the plague and
pet of his life, being as full of mis-
chief as a goat. He must have been
an old child himself, for | have clear
recollection of how, Immediately af-
ter confessng my mother, he would
go down on all tours with me on the
floor and play at hide-a seek
around the legs of the big bed, amid
squeals and squeaks of laughter. |
remember, too, that he wore a long
sack coat which buttoned close at the
neck and hung loose at the skirts,
where there were two large vertical
pockets, and that these pockets were
my cupboards and drawers, for / put
my toys and my dolls and even the
remnants of my cakes into them to
be kept in safe custody until wanted
again.
My mother called me Mally veen
MARY dear), and out of love of her
only child she must have weaned me
late, for | have vague memories of
her soft white breasts filled with
milk. | slept in little wic<erwork
cot placed near her bed, so that she
could reach me if | uncovered my
self in the night. She used to say
| was like a bird, having something
birdlike in my small dark head and
the way ! held it up. Certainly | re-
member myself as a swift little thing,
always darling to and fro on tiptoe,
and chirping about our chill and
rather cherries house.
If was like a bird my mother was
like flower Her head, which was
small and fair and her face. which
was nearly always tinged with color,
dropped forward from her delicate
body like a rose from its stalk. She
was generally dressed in black. ! re-
member, but she wore a white lace
collar as well as a Golf such as we
see in odd pictures, and when | call
her back to my mind, with her large
liquid eyes and her sweet soft mouth,
| think it can not be my affection
alone, or the magic of my child
ish memory, which makes me think,
after all these years and all the coun-
tries | have travelled in, and all the
women | have seen, that my darling