The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-24
mate as the ivy around the strong
and living oak.

her way, Mayer thought 1hat the pest
thinS TO do was TO busy hlmseH our
ing Wendes absence in endeavoring
to lead O Fana to the true faith. His
first object therefore was to seek out
the Catholic nuns of TOXIC, and to
recommend to their care the young
wife OF his youthful master. Ihe nuns
entered heartily into his plans. and
promised to exert all their power 10
save this beautiful soul from the
pernlcious influence and the stupid
practices of paganism.
Among the nuns at Toxic was,
sWeet-faced, loving character by name
Sister Marie. To naturally even and
mild temperament she united all the
graces OF a refined and winning per-
sonallty. By her manners, at once
gentle and sweet, she had endeared
herself to strangers and natives alike.
10 this nun, therefore, Mayer now be-
took himself, and in calling one day
on . Fana he presented Sister Marie.
o Fana had not conversed alone
With her more than a quarter OF an
hour when she experienced that feel
ing OF kinship which seems to bind
together all kindred spirits, and Sis
ter Marie at once detected a soul made
for higher things, and determined to
use every means in order to win her
from the thraldom of paganism. On
taking her departure the Sister was
confirmed in the opinion she had form
ed OF O Fana, for the latter made her
promise that she would call from time
to time. Her conversion is now a
comparatively easy NATTER said the
good nun as she related her expert
ence to Mayer, who had retired on
introducing the two.
In the meantime O Fana could not
keep her thoughts from wandering DER
the sea, and in wondering after all why
Wendes should be obliged to leave so
suddenly. Whenever Mayer or Sister
Marie called on her she would con-
duct them to the study, and there be-
fore large map she would make
them point out the exact spot where
her lord was at that moment. For her
| something replete with dangers and
| secret terrors. Giving full play to her
superstitious mind, her imagination
peopled the azure depths with evil
| spirits, horrible monsters, fatal is
lands, hidden rocks and all manner of
| terrible beings who seemed to rise up
| to dispute the onward progress OF ner
loving master towards the home of
| his fathers. She imagined that she
was aboard with him and a passenger
| on the great ocean greyhound; in
| spirit she was walking the deck arm
| in arm with him; she busted herself
in putting his cabin in order, and
making everything pleasant, and then
on a sudden she would fondle her lit
| tie Cherry Blossom, and playfully
hand him to this fanciful passenger to
kiss; then again, standing by the side
of the vessel, she would cast the vari-
Gus amulets given her by the Bonza
| into the sea, and was treasured by the
| thought that they would render vain
and powerless all the efforts of the
evil genii. who plotted against the
life of her lord
| From the day that Wendes set sail
on the deep o Fana knew no other
| street than the one leading down to
the beach, There every day she would
wander with her child nesting on her
bosom, and with her mother would
| l,o
plate in silence the blue waters of the
| beautiful Bay of Yedo, and the al
mond eyes would strain themselves as
if trying to pierce the pitiless horizon.
AS the dusk of twilight arose on every
side from the fields of rice, the aged
and from the villages nesting in the
winding curves of the mountains or
o'erhanging the brow of the hills, it
cast a great, weird shadow, like a
mantle, over the whole eXpanse of the
heavens that were still family CLEAN.
ing from the last rays OF the setting
sun. AS the dew gently mantled the
surface of the earth, the silence grew
apace, and the first stars peeped out
from behind the clouds that here and
there f1ecked the sky, all nature was
enveloped in solemn and awful calm
a sweet repose, an unspeakable tran
quillity, the tranquility of night But
in the heart of O Fana there was no
peace. A deep sorrow, poignant
grief seemed to rend her very soul
. and in those moments of melancholy
the temporary absence of Wendes ap
peared to her distorted imagination
| rather a shameful flight, heartless
| abandonment, nay, she imagined her
self already clothed in Widows garb.
In the many visits sh received from
European and Japane ladies she
had often heard them speak of the
lax and easy morals of the Capital
She had become acquainted with the
usages and the laws regarding the mar
riage. of Europeans. She knew o.
other Japanese girls who, like herself
having been married by the BonZas
, were afterward abandoned by thei1
European husbands, who proceeded
r forthwith to marry again on their re
turn to Europe, or even to Japan.
These poor, unfortunate girls never
? dared to complaint they wept bitterl.
r in secret hut stil, were Obliged to re