The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-02-18
example, aims and prayers.

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| II wonder If the Signorina is stingy,"
a friend of hers was saying one day.
E"she never, seems. to spend but for
/ the fstfictest necessaries, and her
clothes, though very neat, are the
same year after year. found her the
other day, cobbling her shoes herself;
and one day dropped in while she
was at dinner and she had nothing on
I the table but some walnuts. and plain
boiled carrots, and she was taking the
water the carrots had been boiled in
by way of drink
oh, no, I'm sure; she is not miser-
ly,' answered another friend. ".She is
very, very economical; hut remember
how much she gave to the Red Cross
and other charities during the war.
Why, she maintained prisoner and
don't know how many orphans, and
whenever there is an appeal for poor
family or mission. she always gives
generously" =.s "
| well, she must earn O. good Bit
continued the first. land II don't see
why she. need be SO fearfully econom-
ical, She seems to count every cent
she spends"
And so she did, but it was not
through avarice, but because she was
so anxious to save for her two great
purposes, the first. to promote Gods
glory by supporting the missions, the
second, which size sometimes told her
|self was a selfish one, to save up
enough for a years trip back to Eu-
rope, trip during which she would
visit not only her own dear native
land and its great art galleries, but
also England, France and Switzerland,
and during which she hoped to paint
some picture which would perhaps
make her name famous at last and
enable her to earn still more for her
dear missions. She had been dfyid-
ing Zip all she could save between
these two purposes for the last ten
years, and she had brought the art of
economy down to its finest point. She
now managed to feed herself, oh, quite
Sufficiently, on twenty-five cents a. day
or even less, in spite of the high cost
|of. living, her carefully mended clothes
lasted her year after year, she never
went out to entertainments or pic
trre shows, and even her correspond
|ence to intimates was written on
scraps of typewriting paper given her
by a stenographer friend and put into
turned envelopes. And in this way,
she was able to pay the expenses of
a poor seminarian studying to become
"a missioner and for thosesof two. cate
chists in China, besides sending con
slant donations to most Of the mis-.
sion houses i'll America and Italy And
how she did pray for the missions, the
conversion Of sinners, andeth poor
souls In purgatory!
Yet there was nothing of the recluse
or ascetic about Signorina Rolandi.
She was bright and witty andsa good
companion, fond Of long walks, of ma
ture, or animals, of beauty Sin every
thing, and of pleasant little times with
her friends. BY nature, she was real
ly fond Of society, of good living, Of
Injuries and pretty things. and her,
abstemious living was a constant
struggle against her love of candies
and cakes and such good things, which
she would not allow herself to indulge
in, if she had to buy them. but which
she enjoyed like child when given
to her.
And now, by dint of pinching and
saving, she had, in spite of always
giving half her savings in charities,
amassed the good little sum Of one
thousand dollars, and she felt that in
a few weeks, when her pupils had
dropped of for the holidays, she would
be able to start on her much longed-
for trip. She had made UP her mind