CHAPTER III.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 17, 15 August 1884, Page 5

CHAPTER 111.

(From Miss Stewart's " Stories of the Christian Schools " ; Catholic Publication Society Co.)

THE FOUNDLINGS OF ST. JOSEPH'S. It seemed manifest to the good Brothers of the College that the child found sleeping at the gates on Christmas day was, by the Divine dispensation, committed to their care. Every effort was, however, made to discover from whence the boy had strayed, as it was evident from the material of his clothing that his parents wer<s not of that condition of life that, in a monetary sense, would make him ah object of charity. Little footprints in the snow were a guide to the corner of the lane where poor Charlotte slept in death. Her aspect and her dress led to the conclusion that she was a German bonne. But whether Jaccident, or some wrong-doing of the unfortunate woman herself, bad made the child an outcast and caused her own piteous death, it was impossible to Judge. There was no paper or trinket about either the dead womaa or the child f .om which the slightest clew could be obtained. That the boy had been in her charge was certain, from bis mournful cries of " Charlotte ! Charlotte I" when he was taken to sec the corpse. Poor Charlotte w.is consigned to the grave, and the Brother Superior at St. Joseph's not only caused all possible research nnd inquiries to be made in the neighborhood, but was at the trouble of sending to Strasburg, and not only making inquiries among the muniicipal officers at that city, but was also at the expense of inserting advertisements in the newspapers describing both the child and the nurse, and circumstances under which he had beau taken charge of at the College. All these measures were abortive. Days and weeks rolled into months and years, and theie was no inquiry for little Emmanuel. Me had been but a short time a resident at the College, however, ere he had so endeared himself to the whole community that it would have been a grief to every member of it, and especially to Brother Aloysius, had he been claimed. He was so gentle, so obedient and loving. From the date of the blessed feast on which the young Brother found the child at the gates, he had made him h:s peculiar charge, and to part with him would have been a great sorrow. Let it not, nevertheless, be supposed that Aloysius would for a moment have hesitated between his own feelings and the good of the boy. The Superior himself was not more earnest in his endeavor to discover the friends of the little waif : • how hard poor Aloysius tried to glean some informatio.i from his baby talk ! But it was baby talk, and the name of the parents on whom for many weeks he called so pitifully never passed his lips. The boy was of German birih unquestionably, but whether from Catholic Bavaria, or Protestant Wurtemburg, Aloysius could not discover. " - Catholic, of course, was the boy at St. Joseph's. Conscious of his own great love for him, Aloysius sometimes scrupled at the satiafaction he was aware he felt at the non-appearance of the child's friends. But as the years passed on, this theme of pious self-reproach ceased to exist, as it became very certain that little Emmanuel had no friends in the world save the Christian Brothers I Worthy of the divine name by which they called him, worthy of their tender care and their best instruction, he proved. Generous, sensitive, affectionate and intelligent, the seed fell upon fertile ground, and brought forth abundant fruit. Nor was the casket of his corporeal frame unworthy of tho gem of the fresh, pure spirit which it enclosed. Emmanuel grew to be a tall, strong-limbed boy, and his handgome features glowing with health, his broad forehea I shaded with locks of dark brown hair, his bright complexion and beaming smile, made up an appearance which the htir of a kingdom might have envied. Emmanuel was as brave, too, as he was gentle and intelligent, and always self-sacrificing. A sickly season came and fuver ravaged the adjacent hamlet and spread its pestilential wings over the. College, where two of the Brethren and one of the pupile died. Then was the courage, the Christian bravery of the foundling boy made manifest. While the other pupils shrank from those apartments of the College where the s; ck were treated, Bmmanuel made it his prayer to the Superior that he might be permitted to attend on them. The Bnperior demurred, though ho was sorely at a lot-s for help in the sick chambers, but the physician assured him that Emmanuel's very fearlesanesa would protect him from the infection. So he assented to Emmanuel's request, and the boy not only, as tke dootor foretold, himself escaped tbe infection, but had the supreme satisfaction, of being told that it was ia a great measure^ wing to his watchful care that one of his compauions and his beloved. Brother Aloysius, who had been attacked, recovered. Thus much for the moral courage of Emmanuel. For that kind of valour which demands physical strength, coolness and determination, he was equally eminent. There came a winter of unusual severity ; not only were the peasants starving, but the wild animals, driven froai tbeir haunts in the woods and mountains and made additionally fierce by hunger, ventured into the neighbourhood ot ttie villages and near the small towns. As in the time of their great founder, when there was a famine in France, which the bounty of Louis XIV., of Madame de Maintenon, and other wealthy and charitable persons could but inadequately relieve, the Brothers of the "Christian Schools" at St.

Joseph's were prompt to make their own little less by ministerine to the poor. • " & It was the delight of Emmanuel to be made a dispenser of this chanty, and often did he manage, when sent to the hamlet with food for some of the famishing children, to reserve his own allowance and go hungry that he might help to feed others. It was a bitter morning in February. A slight thaw on the pre- j ceding day had been succeeded by a still more severe frost. The uneven ground between the hamlet and the cottage was dangerous to traverse, for the descents into the hollows were sometimes sharp and steep. Now the earth was as if sheeted with glass, and to assist his footsteps Emmanuel carried a stout alpenstock as he trudged laboriously along with a heavily- packed basket on his shoulder. The first of his charitable visits was, to be made to a poor widow with three young children, whose cottage stood by itself on the outskirts ot the hamlet. Piercingly cold as was the atmosphere, tbe day had been fine • the sun shone brightly, though its rays had no power to soften the keen atmosphere. Now the brief day was drawing to a close,and a few lurid, bloodred streaks in the west showed that tbe sun had set. At the foot of an eminence, clothed to its summit with a thick fir coppice, stood the bumble habitation of the widow. That wooded eminence was a shelter and protection for the cottage both summer and winter, screening it alike from the bleak winds and the parching heat. It was no steep mountain, with a thick impassable forest, giving shelter to the wild boar, the bear, and that vile animal, more dangerous than either, the vicious, ravening wolf. The widow and her children expected Emmanuel's visit, for since the weather had set in so cold the Brothers had sent her a weekly dole. Her two eldest children, boys of six aad eight years of age, were watching for Emmanuel. When he was within a hundred paces of the cottage, a red beam of the declining sun settled on his head, and the children with a joyous shout rushed forth to meet him. But that cry was succeeded by a shriek of terror, for at the same moment forth from the covert of the copse, with a hideous howl sprang out an enormous wolf. ' With foaming jaws and eyes that glared like balls of fire, the monster made for the children, who, paralyzed by terror stood stockstill ; and one or both of them had been tore down by the furious brute had not Emmanuel, at the peril of his own life, turned its fury on himself by catching up and flinging at it a loose piece of ice. The fragment was heavy and sharp/and the aim so true, it struck tbe creature on the head, fractured the frontal bone, and almost cut oat one of its eyes. With a renewed howl of agony, as well as rage, the monster turned ana sprang blindly at Emmanuel. Wolves generally hunt in packs, and the boy knew that if the howling monster had companions be was lost. He had a perilous chance even if it were alone, for it was of unusual size and he had neither hunting-spear nor firearms with which to defend himself. With gaping jaws the creature came at him full charge : he would have leaped aside, but that he feared a fall on the slippery descent. If he was to be the prey of the wolf it should not be unresistingly, was his muttered thought. Its weight would hurl him to the ground if he suffered it to spring upon him, therefore he met its charge, and with unparalleled strength and firmness he thrust tbe alpenstock between its gaping jaws. Halfway down the creature's throat penetrated the iron ferrule at the end of the stout staff, and its fangs crushed through the cudgel-like oaken staff as if it had been a willow wand. But its throat was torn with the ferrule ; it was wounded unto death ; choking and blinded with its own blood, it rolled upon the ground, uttering inarticulate howla still the brave boy launched at its head a huge stone, which lad the effect of fracturing its skull, when, after another faint howl and a feeble, convulsive movement, the terrible animal lay dead. Happily it was alone, and had probably strayed to a considerable distance from its accustomed haunts.