The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-04-26


Contest, Miss Frances Louise Trew,
of Washington, D. c., was declared
the winner. Her story is entitled
"One Vacation" We give it in full
My Dear Jack:
Since that memorable day when my
esteemed project hurled me merci-
lessly onto a bank of sharp-pointed
stones, my occupation in life has been
chiefly OF a contemplative sort-per-
force-and hence the postmark with
which / have no doubt surprised you.
You have already jumped to one or
two conclusions am taking COM
plete vacation from religion, or | am
determined to do missionary work
with vengeance. My dear Jack, the
latter conclusion would do great cred
it to your power of discernment.
| awoke in st. Joseph's Hospital
one morning with a vague recollection
that it was vacation time and that |
belonged to a certain section of your
glorious sodality Indistinct outlines
of grimy but picturesque little Italian
street urchins fioated on the immacu-
late walls of my room, and the golden
words OF the penny catechiSm had an
odd connection, in my confused brain,
with the golden sunlight which danced
through the elm leaves outside my
window. was a prisoner and my
sectional work was merely a dream,
but | cOnsoled myself with the thought
that, after all, it was my own dear
project who had mashed me. | hope
you are sufficiently conscience-smit-
ten to sell that old machine, unless
you have some beneficent intention
Of consigning all your socialists pre-
maturely to a brighter and happier
section of the universe
| began to convalesce in spite of
your Internal auto and possible in
tentiOns, and the doctor ordered me
to spend the rest of the summer in
some mountain resort!
AS | am not overload Of rural de-
lights, this made me sore mentally
as we'll as physically; but, being little
| more than mass Of jelly, | was
| obliged to submit.
AS | said in the beginning, I was
also in a contemplative mood AS
| my senses returned slowly | could do
little else than pass long, sunny hours
in contemplation-or, shall | say me-
| Citation? Of course, my first thought
was for you, and | was almost afraid
to ask if you were still alive. They
| said you were about as happily and
| evenly mashed up as myself, which
| was, OF course, most consoling. They
| also said you were going home. 1 did
not try to see you, as I felt confident
you would say it was all a dispense
ton of Providence, when, in reality,
| it was dispensation of nothing but
your own reckless driving. | may say
that the strongest point of my medita-
lions was regret that | ever met you
at college and particularly that, hav-
| ing done so, | ever attempted to
strengthen that acquaintanceship with
a moonlight auto drive.
| But all this sdoesnt explain my
present location; for there are noun
tains and mountains, and I know you
have been Tuning to know why
chose this very Protestant and unen-
lightened region. Dear Jack, there is
method in my madness! Perhaps you
will remember that | once belonged
to a sort of literary section, though
we did not call it that in those days
It's more than decade of years ago
| Dear Father Tim asked that each OF
us send one of our magazines to a
magazine was ever seen. Mother had
just subscribed for a number for me-
and | asked Tony, who in those days
travelled South with a pack upon his
back, to bring up list of names from
| the benighted lands of his travels.
Perhaps you will recall Tony's gra
phic descriptions of those genial Prot
estant Southerners whom he met
and their beautiful homes, and remem
Der also his lament, that for miles
and miles not even a wayside chapel
was to be seen where one might en-
ter and murmur a prayer to the gen
tie st. Anthony or the Blessed Mother
| Tony's list of names included
French, German and Irish. l think
we mostly picked at random, hoping
to strike a Catholic family in exile.
was struck by the name of Michael
O'Malley, which was the only Cath.
olic-sounding name in certain little
| mountain village. 1t was to him
mailed my most beautiful magazine
kept it up for the four years I was
at our old alma mater. Then, as you
know, l went abroad; and, l must
confess, l neglected it thenceforth
Yet the name of Michael O'Malley
has always been to me as the name
of friend, and it REQUIRED to me in
those long, sunny, meditative days at
st. Joseph's when | was coming fee
bly, back into the land of the living.
And so l am here! l simply came
to look up Michael O'Malley-with
what success I'll tell you in my next
Here am known as John Burnett
but am ever your friend,
Christopher North.
P. Slope you don't object to my
borrowing your name. You see,
used to put my own on the magazine