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

Partly undressing, J 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 a linen cloth over table and
put four or five lighted candles on it.
remember that | was thinking
that if God sending for my mother
meant that she was to be put into
box and buried under the ground II
was terrible and cruel and perhaps If
l prayed to Our Lady He would not
find it in His heart to do so. was
trying to do this, beginning, under
my breath. 20 Holy Virgin. thou art
so lovely, thou art Sc 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 l had seen on
the night Of he Waite
The Sacrament.
A group of men were coming to
ward the house, with Father Dan III
the middle OF them Father Dan, with
his coat hung over his arms like a
cloak, was carrying something White
in both hands. and the men were car
rying torches 10 light him on his way.
! knew what ii vast was the
Blessed Sacrament, which they were
bringing 10 my mother, and when
Father Dan had come INTO the room
saving Peace be to this house and
laid a little white box on the table.
and thrown of his coat, ne VAS wear
ing his priests vestments underneath
Then the whole Of my fathers
household-all 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
group by the door
Father Dan reused my mother by
calling her again, and after che had
opened her eyes ne began TO read
Sometimes his voice seemed to be
choked with sobs as II the heart Of
the man were suffering, and some
times It pealed out loudly as Il the
soul OF the priest were inspiring him,
After communion he gave nv
mother extreme unction--anointirR
IIH sweet t9 tS WHICH hGll StNl no
evil. the dear lips which had uttered
no wrong, and the feet which had
walked in the ways Of Goo
All this time there was 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 II 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 was In the
cot. she said
you must all go and rest Mary
and I will be quite right now"
A few minutes afterward my moth
er and were alone once mere, ard
then she called me into her bed and
claspcd her arms about me and LAY
with my face hidden in her neck
What happened thereafter seems to
he too sacred 10 write Of. almost too
sacred TO think about. yet 1t IS all as q
memory OF YESTERDAY while other
events OF my life have hoated away t.
the ocean of things that are forgotten
and lost
Listen, darling" she said. and then
speaking in whispers she told me she
had heard All had said about the
convent, ana wondered " ! would mol
like to live there always beComiue
one Of the good and holy nuns
! must have made some kind OF
protest, FOR she went on TO say how
hard the world was To a woman aul
how difficult she had found IL.
Not that your father has been tu
hls me-Nou must never think that,
Mary. Vet SIN
But tears from her tender heart
We're stealing down her face and she
had to stop
So YOU see We shall never he part
co, never really We shall always he
together. Something tells me that
wherever YOU are. and whatever YOU
are doing ! shall know all about it
This comforled me. and / think II
comforted my mother also, though
God knows If 1t would have done so,
IT, with her dying eyes. she could
have seen what was waiting for her
child
II fills my heart brimful TO think
Of what happened next