HOW MY GREAT-GRANDUNCLE MADE A FRIEND

New Zealand Tablet, 13 December 1906, Page 37

HOW MY GREAT-GRANDUNCLE MADE A FRIEND

'Is it not terrible, grandmother,' I said, ' that s the religious -. Orders should have been turned * out oi ~~ France ? ' - " -" ' - Grandmother mildly assented. Her nee-dles clicked in an-d out for a while •; -then" she resumed the conversation. 'English people are proud of their tolerance,' she , remarked, ' and of the hospitality their country'shows ' to foreigners. They are apt to forget that, a century ago, Catholics in England ..were oppressed by .cruel?, laws.' ' *- " 9j' :\ , s Now, grandmother's words recalled to my mind -the. family hero", old Major B. He had died at the rjpe age of ninety-nine, ,; when I was a* tiny tot. ".' ' Your uncle, the Major, was, in the British army; - How did he. enter, being a Catholic ? ' I .-asked. - Grandmother shook 'her head. , „, J . ; 1 A fe\\£ did manage it— that much 1 know. - But so carefully were ' they obliged to conceal their v faith" that two Catholics were sometimes together in a regi- . merit without being 'aware that they .professed the r same creed.' • , Here 'grandmother smiled reflectively. 'A story! ' I < cried. 'Tell me the story,' please.' And the sweet old lady went~ on, nothing loath : ' The regiment was encamped near Quebec at" one time, and my uncle's tent was shared by " another young officer. The two men had' known each other for ' some months, but no confidences had hitherto been exchanged between them. One night my uncle, unable to' sleep, lay listening to" the" breathing of his more fortunate companion, when the. latter began to mutter sin' his sleep, "and" words fraught with significance reached my uncle's ears. '"Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with; thee,"— that was all he heard, " bxit that little was enough. .. . - - • ' " The man is a Catholic !" my uncle thought jubilantly. He resolved, nevertheless, to frighten- him a little'; and next morning • he- ; addressed the young officer sternly. _ „.- iit sir;" he said, ",I heard you mutter prayers K-n', your sleep. How is, ,it that you are in the army? Are- you' not a Papist?" ** - - . -•- 'He read" confirmation "-of the supposition he . had * made in the sudden paleness" which over spread 'the younc ' man's features. \ ; ' " ' . v; • ' "; '''You- J are, a/"R oman Catholic," continued' ray uncle. "1 can denounce you to the authorities if L," please. I ,' . • , ,. > " v ' s ; . /.'U' P^ sb..if the , young man- retorted/, bravely. ".Gpd forbid^Hhat - 1 should deny my - faith !! M ** _, „' He., had -turned-, and- .faced- -my uncle' by this' time/ ,the two. men stood confronting each other for a .'mo- ' ment. . rhen my "uncle's, hand came down'on'the'dtherV' shoulder. , -- \ - <". • v - • i . "

t " Never mind, old fellow ! " he cried in a hearty Voice," and his eyes were^-.as ytindfnow as . before th«y had been stern. '• If you are a Catholic and amenable to the law,-. why ,7 take courage?;;. fbr'.sb.^am-J' ! " ' And that was how your greatrgranduncle 1 made a friend,' said my. grandmother. 'Their intimacy lasted until, fifteen years later, Captain S. was killed at Waterloo.'—' Aye Maria.' -, „' „-> ~~ ,-. ,^