The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-02-09
The Face on the Stone.

Lord HydethOrpe had said-and said
more than once-to Father Clement,
that on conscientious grounds he re-
GREETED he could not accept the good
priests Offer to purchase from him a
strip of land in the manor Of Hyde
thorpe for building upon it a proposed
Catholic church.
Every Christian is a fellow of
mine" he wrote to the good priest
but whilst | have the greatest adj
miration and respect for all the good
work that is done in various ways by
the members of your excellent com
munion, yet / must crave your pardon
if on pure grounds Of conscience
find [ must decline to accede to your
request. Pray let this be final" And
having penned these lines and sent the
letter to the priest OF the new mission
which had only just been erected by
the Catholic Bishop of the diocese, the
nobleman went out into the grounds
of Hydethorpe Hall for stroll and
quiet read. He had quite made up his
mind that he could not do it-seIl that
bit of waste land to a Catholic priest.
Having arrived at his favorite spot
in corner of the beautiful grounds,
he went inside the tiny summerhouse,
sat down in cosy chair, and started
to read--though he was very sleepy.
The sun was shining brilliantly.
A tramp, travel-stained and tired
and foot-sore, was resting at full
length on the sidepath of dusty vel
low country road, and was half-buried
in the green grass. The appearing
green branches of tall elm shaded
him from the heat of the exposed sun,
and the scene all round was a picture
of quiet repose broken only by the
twittering of the birds and the muir
muring of the brooklet that ran along
side the. path. The man was resting
on his elbow with his head in his hand,
and his eyes were open.
Presently, he bowed his head and
closed his eyes-not in sleep, but as
one does in fervent prayer or deep
thought Then he slowly opened them,
as though his mind was following some
train Of though that was stretching
away into the next world, a mental
operation over which he seemed to
have no control. His gaze was riveted
on a stone lying close to his elboW-a
fiat stone with smooth surface. He
had called himself back from the other
world Of dreams, and was again alive
to his surroundings.
The eyes of the tramp plainly dis
cerned upon the face of the stone the
CONGREGATIONS of human-like head
beginning to wiggle and dance itself
into form and shane-frst the chin
and mouth, then the staring. eyes, then
the full contour of the face-this be
ing followed by a detailed and finished
design of a perfect head that seemed
to be animated with life.
The man was not one bit perturbed
by the strangeness. of this apparition
on the stone. On the contrary, he be-
came quantity curious, and thrust his
reclining head forward a little to
scrutiniZe the object more closely, and
as he did so, what seemed to him like
a red spot appeared in the middle
of the forehead of the phantom head.
Compelled by a force, the character
and origin of which he could not clear
ly divine, he bent his head down still
further and reverently kissed this red
mark. In confused sort of way he
thought he recognized the face and
Knew what the red spot meant:
Presently, whilst his mind was in a
state of blank amazement. the face
on the stone faded away into nothing.