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Show , ..Mm Boys ana girls.., . EDITED BY AUNT BUSY. murrSSU6Cr,PtS f contrlons not accepted wtU For the Soul of a Soldier. t? f a i,,iw: h-nric cjes and curly hair, stood six fwt two in his so u all the p lory of her hrst situation as nurse to iho onl.V child of Mrs. Caxton Jones, the wife'of a JapT Imh frirl had won ,y Xothing. however, is perfect in this world, and the absolute truth of this statement, must bo mv excuse fQr its obviousness. . So, although Eessie's soldier sweetheart was all that he outfit to b. in her eyes, and really almost as attractive as her fond jancy painted him which is sayin- a jrood deal-one deal-one dark shadow hovered over her sunshine and that lay m the fact that he was a Protestant. When Bessie had first come to Knpland. some six months apo. she had been a fervent Catholic and extremclv firm as regarded the undesirability of mixed marriages. mar-riages. She was a good Catholic still, but environment environ-ment tells with all of us. and perhaps just a little of the fervor was lacking'. There is heresy in the very atmosphere in England, and it affects one more or, less, according to the different temperaments of those who breath" it. Also her feelings concerning intermarriages between Catholics and Protestants had undergone considerable change. It. is one thing for the untempted to hold firm and fixed opinions on any given subject, but when tempi ation presents itself to us personally, say. in the disguise of a horse soldier in blue and gold, we are apt, some of us, to lower our standard and assure ourselves that circumstances alter cases. And this was what happened hap-pened to Bessie Randall. 'T oaivt give him up." she said tearfully one day to her confessor, who was also her compatriot. "lie imf--''r says it'll be good for him to have a Catholic wife. It's a great respect he has for our holy faith, and maybe it's himself that will belong to it later on." Father Ryan shook his head doubtfully. TTe had lived in England for many years and had heard that hope expressed so often, and he knew by long and sometimes sad experience that it is the Catholic soul which suffers and not the Protestant one which gains. ''Has he agreed that your children, if you have any, shall be brought up as Catholics The. asked gravely! Bessie flushed and examined her books with much apparent interest, "Sure. Father dear, I haven't said anything about that. I thought maybe you " she hesitated and her color grew deeper. "Send him up to me," said the priest. I will speak to him about it. and if he refuses or raises any objections, why, then, Bessie, you must put the whole thing out of your head, for I cannot ask for a dispensation for you under those circumstances. When I have seen him I will send for you and tell you what he says." Nearly a fortnight elapsed before Bessie received re-ceived the expected summons, and the moment she entered Fathpr Ryan's study she read in his face the failure of her hopes. "You must be a brave girl and give the young man up," he said to her. "There is nothing else to be done. lie has apparently no religious principles and he declares that nothing would induce him to allow his children to be what he describes as Papists." Pap-ists." This, by the way, was a decidedly bowdlerized version of the trooper's remarks, but even so they pounded sufficiently appalling in the ears of the girl who loved him. For an instant she was inclined to rebel, and then her early training stood to her. "That settles it, I suppose, then, Father," she i-aid. meekly, with that submission to priestly authority au-thority which, curiously enough, distinguishes a nation so averse to any other species of coercion. - "I will tell him it must be all over between us." "That's a good girl!" returned Father Ryan with a relieved air. He had anticipated tears and reproaches and, being a tender-hearted individual, had greatly disliked the prospect. You are young and you'll get over this," he added, "but if you had married him you would certainly cer-tainly have been miserable later on, and the souls of your children, if you had any, might have been lost through your fault." "I may see him, Father ?" asked Bessie as she reached the door.' The priest hesitated. He himself had come just a trifle under the influence of Trooper Jim's blue J eyes and winning manner, and he was by no means inclined to underestimate their probable effect on. a feminine heart, yet he was very human, which explained ex-plained his power over all sorts and conditions of men and women. "Well, it would be wiser, perhaps, if I broke the news to him," he said at last, "but I can't say no to you. you have been such a good girl; so see him yourself and ask our Blessed Lady first that you may have strength to resist temptation." Bessie glanced gratefully up at him from under her long lashes. "I'll do that Father," she said simply. "And I can do something more, too. 'Twas yourself was saying last Sunday what a grand thing it was to make the First Fridays for all Ave wanted; 'tis the first tomorrow, so I'll begin them for Jim's conversion."' conver-sion."' "That's a grand ide." remarked Father Ryan heartily. "Who knows but you may get him yet if it's God's wilH" . . i j And so the following- morning Bessie obtained P rmission from her mistress to get up an hour earlier lhan usual and go to Mass and Communion, l and, that done, she considered that the first step with regard to her lever's conversion had been taken in f an eminently satisfactory manner Her interview 1 with him. which came off the next Sunday left her f a verv forlorn little person indeed, and taxed her strength and moral courage to the utmost. There amount of "comet her' about J Carey Mhich made it extremely difficult for a young and nprecCTonable girl to withstand his ; persuasions and eXaticT and when, in addition, there is an enemy entreaties, an Kvavs loss easy to present a l her convictions for the akerf ' and as James Carey reman judices, the parting was IJd who lis- i tened to her charge's prattle during the weeks that loJiowed and guided his pram through the traffic ot Kensington High street. It was June when Bessie began her Xinc Fridays Fri-days and early in October the Hussars got the route for India. She was informed of the fact by Father Ryan one Saturday when she went to confession a nephew of his having recently enlisted in the regiment reg-iment and although she had become a little more resigned to her lot, the idea of Jim's leaving the country was anything but a pleasant" one. It was true that she had never seen him since the rupture of their engagement, still she knew he was in her neighborhood more or less, and India scemd so many, many miles away. "Suppose he wants to bid me bood-by. Father?" she faltered. Father Ryan reflected, and again his humanity came to the fore. Also, which may possibly have had a little to do with it, he considered it unlikely that the blue-eyed trooper would be very keen about a parting interview with the girl he was leaving behind him. so he gave his consent and Bessie went away hoping against hope for one more glimpse of the man she loved. A few days later this boon was vouchsafed hfr. Trooper Jim had been really rather badly hit this time, possibly because was a novelty to him wh?re women were concerned. She was modest and attractive and pure-minded; and these are feminine attributes which do not very frequently fre-quently enter into the limits of a soldier's experience. experi-ence. So he wrote and asked her to see him jitst once before he left England, and they met the following fol-lowing Sunday in the green glades of Kensington (Jardens. Bessie found it even more difficult to say good-bv than it had been on a previous occasion. Jim's blue eyes looked so reproachful and his complaints com-plaints of her cruelty so touched her that hlr? felt it was almost impossible to reiterate her formal refusal re-fusal to be his wife. Indeed, for quite an appreciable apprecia-ble space of time she did not hesitate, until the remembrance re-membrance of her unfinished Nine Fridays brought her back to her better self. So, the Hussars sailed for India, leaving, no doubt, many sad hearts behind them, and among thm in particular one belonging to a brave little Irish girl who had made a big sacrifice sacri-fice for the faith that was in her. It. was a dull gray morning in February with a suspicion of frost in the air, when Besie ended the novena of the Nine Fridays. Tt had been rather a surprise to her implicit, confidence in the heavenly powers that her prayers on her lover's behalf had not met with a more speedy response. Father Ryan's nephew was an earnest practicing Catholic, and. moreover, very friendly with Trooper Jim, and she had hoped much from their companionship. Still, shj firmly believed that sooner or later Jim's -heart would be touched by the consoling beauty of the Catholic religion, and that the barrier now existing ex-isting between them would be rolled away. She prayed with even more fervor than usual that morning, and when she had finished her thanksgiving thanks-giving an irresistible impulse, for which she could not account, impelled her to call at the rectory and ask Father Rvan if he had received any recent Indian In-dian news. The priest greeted her with a grave face. "I was just coming to see if you were still in church, Bessie," he said. "I have some bad news for you, bad in one sense, at least," he added, "and you must try to bear it bravely.' "Is it Jim?" faltered Bessie. "Has he married some one else ?" "Xo. my child, he has remained true to you, and your faith has met with its reward. lie has become a Catholic, but" and his voice trembled a little "it was on his deathbed." And so Bessie's prayers were answered in God's own way. Grace V. Christmas in the Messenger of the Sacred Heart. |