Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

8 /; TO TRl'.^T.
Then arc you, Kate, what they call a Papist?' inquired the
hoy. bad people. I heard the KarkMnilh, who is a
very clever man, say so."
'I AOM the happiness of being a Catholic,' replied Catherine
warmly. 'It is a holy religion, and it teaehes us to he good.
Those who speak against it do not understand it.'
'I don't know what you mean,' said Maw. 'What does it
teach you? and what is the good
of it? '
'
It teaehes us first, to know God, to love Him, and serve Him
in this world; and if we do this, we shall he happy with Him
for ever in the next.'
'
To know God, to love Him, and serve Him! '
repeated Maw,
'
thoughtfully. I have heard that there is a God. But I don't
know anything about Him, so I cannot love Him; and I am sure
1 could not serve Him, for I never see Him. Who is God? and
'
why should I love Him?
'Poor Maw!' said Catherine compassionately; 'did no one
ever speak to you of the great God who created all things? has
no one ever taught you to pray? Well, then, listen to me, and I
will tell you. God is a pure Spirit, that is to say, He has no
we cannot see Him while we are in this world, but He
sees us at every moment, and knows even our most secret
thoughts. He is all-powerful, all-just, all-merciful."
The two children had, at this moment, reached the border of
the moors. Catherine laid her hand on her companion's
shoulder, and asked him to stop for a moment.
'Look, Maw,' she said, pointing to the glorious heavens;
'look at the beautiful stars; see, how fair the moon is; then,
down below, look at the ocean, how mighty and wonderful it is.
On the other side of us are the trees, with the soft breeze rust-
ling through their leaves. Even the grass we tread under foot,
and the yellow clumps of gorse which cover the moor, are full
of beauty. Well, Maw, it was God who created all these things
for our use and happiness. Just now you asked me why we
should love Him. Do you not see how much He has done for us?
And God has done far more, and greater things for us, as I shall
tell you another time.'
*
'
O, Kate,' exclaimed the boy, I never knew all that before.'
The two then proceeded
on their road in silence.
We usually hear the great truths of religion at so tender an age
that they sink gently into our hearts without producing in us
any vivid impression; we learn the existence of God, and our
love for Him awakens in our young souls before the mind can
fully comprehend the object of its affections. And thus are
happily implanted in us the seeds of religion, which gradually
expand as our reason developes. But this had not been the case
with Maw. He had reached the age of nine without having re-
ceived any religious instruction: so that now, when for the first
time, he heard of the Great Being who created the universe, and
learnt that it was his duty to love Him, and that God was ever
present, and witnessed all his actions, he was filled with wonder
and awe. The stars, the ocean, the trees and plants, were not
new sights to him; yet they seemed to wear a different aspect
since Catherine had pointed them out as the works of God, and
specially made for the use and happiness of man.
It is true the uncultivated intellect of the child could not form
a just idea as to what a pure spirit was; nor could he understand
how God could be present without his seeing Hun. The boy,
therefore, purposed to question his cousin concerning all this
another time; but in the meanwhile he believed, with the simple
and earnest faith of childhood, what one older and evidently bet-
ter instructed than himself had told him.
They soon regained the village, where the festivities had not
yet terminated. Dome Barnby had been so busy gossiping
with her friends and -acquaintances, that she had taken little
tice of the absence of Catherine and Maw.
no-
Ere Catherine fell asleep that night she thought over the ocriirrences
of that evening; her fortunate meeting with Father
Ralph, the prospect she now had of being able, sometimes at
') attend to her religious duties; and, again, her eonversa-
tion with little Maw, awakening the joyful hope that she might.
as the good priest had told her, be the means of converting her
aunt and cousins.
With tlie natural impetuosity of her disposition, (lie ardent
girl longed for the morrow, that she might begin their instruc-
tion. She could see no obstacles; all seemed easy to her /.eal.
Age and experience te i
itc
the ardor of evi :
desires; but who can Hatter themselves, at the age of fourteen,
with the idea that they have attained perfection? Certainly
Catherine did not; more mature reflection would doubtless have
convinced her that the task she was about to undertake \\
more arduous than she had at tirst supposed; though she would
not have abandoned it on that account, even if her hopes had
been less sanguine. Still, it is certain that too great a zeal for
good is far preferable to a total want of it; the former, age may
soften, the latter nothing can remedy.
On the following day the festivities assumed a different char-
acter; idling, with music on the water, called by the inhabitants
'having a pen'orth of sea,' succeeded to the rejoicings of the
previous evening. An old fisherman took the children of Dame
Barnby out m his boat; Catherine, unaccustomed to the sea,
preferred to stay at home.
So she sat near the cottage gazing on the lively scene, as the
boats p'lied to and fro, while she listened to the strains of music,
which, although the only instrument used was the bagpipe, did
not sound harsh when borne across the waters, and heard in open
air; the fresh voices of the children chiming in with the murmurs
of the waves, and having altogether a wild and effect.
pleasing
As she watched the gay scene, she nevertheless felt sad, for she
could not free herself from a feeling of disappointment, because
her plans had been disturbed; and she had not, as she had
counted, been able to speak to Maw. But now there was no
chance that day, and the next would be market-day, and she
would be wanted to go with her aunt and help to carry the fish.
As she mused on these things it suddenly occurred to her that,
while forming plans for the conversion of her relatives, she had
forgotten the most important part, namely, to ask God's assistance,
without which all her endeavors would be fruitless. Catherine
now saw her fault, and raised her heart for a few minutes
in humble and fervent prayer.
She then tripped gaily into the cottage and found that her
aunt had gone to Ty-an-dour, leaving to her special care the pot
which was boiling on the fire, and which was indeed a thing de-
serving attention, as it contained the family supper. Having
seen that all was right, she again went out, this time proceeding
along a little path that skirted the moors, and not stopping lih
she stood before a miserable-looking cabin, which rose to view
near a dark pool of w^ter a forlorn looking place, the dwelling
of an aged and infirm woman, who subsisted chiefly on the little
supplies brought to her by charitable persons. Widow O'Reilly
often sent her provisions, frequently employing Catherine to take
them, well knowing the pleasure it afforded the kind-hearted
girl. The instructions of her mother, often repeated, never to
turn away her face from the poor, or to speak a harsh word to
them, had sunk deeply into her heart: and in earlier days even,
when with others she was occasionally quick tempered, towards
the poor her manner was always soft and kind, recognizing in
them the suffering members of Jesus Christ.
As Catherine passed the threshold of the cottage, an expression
of joy appeared on the countenance of its bed-ridden inhabit-
ant. Affectionately did the youthful visitor inquire after her
health, and tender were the words she addressed to her. Nor did
she leave until all around had been made as comfortable and as
clean as circumstances would permit; and what perhaps pleas-d
and touched the old woman more than anything was a large im-e
gay of wild flowers placed by her side,* that so, if deprived of the
enjoyment of nature during that sweet
at least see some of its beauties.
season of summer, she
No wonder that Cath-
might
erine felt happy as she returned to her own occupations in her
aunt's cottage, for she had given gladness to a sorrowful heart.