The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-03-07
Continued from Page 81
PETER THE RIGHTEOUS.

@SSSS
ed Peters unresponsive hand and MUIR
INJURED conventional condolences.
WELL" said Peter, "she was good
little mother and great companion;
I'll miss her awfully. But, anyhow,
she has done her work.
read a sinister significance in
those words today. But they struck
me as obvious enough then, coming
from Peter.
We put ourselves out of our way to
be kind to Peter after that, for some
of us had already felt the. emptiness
and desolation of such loss. Much
against our better judgment, we in
vited Peter to join our amateur dra-
matte society. Every year we put on
Shakespearean play for the benefit
of the Gentlemen's Sodality, and the
rehearsals tended to keep us together
and fill most of our evenings with
pleasant work. Peter was cast for
Malcolm in Macbeth" and almost
learned his lines. Before three weeks
had gone by, Peter had stated out
loud that we were only crowd of
country pumpkins and that the stage
manager didn't know his business.
The stage manager proved the con-
trary by performing on Peter the in
teresting operation known in stage
parlance as giving the hook" The
whole thing was funny, in way, but
in II
called the day, when we were all in
knickerbockers, that Peter had pitched
his fielder's mitt away and gone and
sulked on the fence. The leopard
hadn't changed his spots.
Meanwhile Peter had secured an
other job. This time he was assistant
cashier in fish market, and those of
us who knew something of Peter and
something of fish markets wondered
if he found it congeDial work. But
fourteen dollars a week was some
thing not to be sneezed at, even by
Peter.
Possibly the atmosphere of the fish
market tended to bring about the
next development. Peter fell in love-
No, on reflection, I don't mean that
Let me rather say that Peter felt the
necessity of taking to himself wife
Maybe you will think of the fourteen
dollars a week-and the two-for-a.
quarter cigars-and smile incredulous.
| ly. But then you don't know Peter.
The thing, really, mightn't have
been so bad if Peter had only exer
cised a little discernment and discre
ton. There were plenty of good girls
in our town, and some of them would
have managed the fourteen week
though doubt that any of them could
have managed Peter. But Peter the
Righteous didn't choose any of them
Instead, his thoughts centered on a
certain young and specifically pretty
woman who occasionally wrote gushy
verses for popular magazines and call.
ed herself Mrs. True Calkins Travers
A widow? Not quite; divorce.
Mrs. Travers, so far as anybody
could make out, though she came of a
Catholic family and had been married
in the Church, was of that pseudo.
intellectual type that favors no re.
ligion at all; Peter was a Catholic
But Peter wooed and won, and then
announced his engagement. Some OF
us thought he deserved a talking to-
| So we went to him one evening and
spoke for several consecutive minutes
in vigorous Anglo-Saxon.
4 might resent your interference,
Peter said, loftily, "only l know that
you mean WELL But you needn't
worry. There's always a way of ar
ranging such things
We knew better, just as his late
majesty, Henry VIII, knew better; but
| Peters clear eyes and superior smile
| impressed and silenced us.
Peter called on Father Dineen-old
Father Kearney's successor-with the
intention of arranging such things.
But somehow Father Dineen didn't
take Peters viewpoint. Father Dineen
has way of talking very much tt
the purpose, and rumor has it that he
told Peter that Catholic man ought
to have more sense. Peter wrote tc
the bishop; but the bishop gave hin
no satisfaction. Peter admitted as
much to me one holiday afternoon as
we sat together at a ball game.
ut naturally makes things awkward
for you," / remarked, idly.
Peter, before replying, glanced a
me out of the tail of his eye and made
several meaningless marks in the
margin of his score-card.
mo, think not
What do you mean?" I asked il
genuine surprise.
tits little difficult to explain,
said Peter, 'but it's all quite clear il
my mind. The law of the Church con
corning marriage with divorced per
sons is good law-I may say nee
essary LAWN general; but it obvi
ously doesn't apply in my case"
Rubbish, Peter! It applies il
every case; that's what the law i!
for"
Il tell you it doesn't apply in my
case" repeated the imperturbablt
Peter.
you told me yourself the bishor
says it doesi"