A Complete Story

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 15, 10 April 1924, Page 11

A Complete Story

(By Mbnkiette Eugenie Delamare, in the North-west Review.)

In Haste

"You may say what you like, and Father Murphy, too," exclaimed Constance petulantly, as she strode along beside h«r friend. "You will never make me believe that everything is ordered by God. How can you suppose, for instance, that He should have taken the trouble to order it to pass that I should break a perfectly good tooth yesterday biting on a piece of candy

Her friend, Elizabeth, laughed merrily. “Excuse me, Conny,” she said, “I did not mean to laugh at your misfortune. But you put things too funnily. Yes, I think God sent you that little accident, and I base my belief on no less authority than the words of our Lord himself who told us that not a sparrow falls without the will of his Father, and that the very hairs of our head are counted. Your tooth is of far more importance to you than one of your hairs.”

“Well, but what earthly good can the breaking of ray tooth be to any one

* . “It gives you the •pportunity of meriting your resignation and patience.”

“I have not either,” interrupted Constance, grumpily. “That’s a pity. Your dentist may be hard up, and it will enable him to earn a few dollars,”, suggested Elizabeth with a laugh.

“Dentists never can be hard up; they charge too much and have too many patients.”

“Well, perhaps our dear Lord wished to give you a hint that yoiu could do something better with your money than spend it on candy during Lent.”

“Of course, you think that I ought to practice mortification, and give the money to the missions as you do,” answered Conny. “I don’t pretend to be a saint,” she added with a sneer.

Elizabeth colored at the unkind speech, and for a second her eyes flashed. Then she answered quietly. “No more do I. Indeed, it is just because I am much a sinner that I think I ought to do some little penance. But oh, look, Connie ! she added, as they 'came within sight of her house. “See all those things waiting for us on the doorstep. Isn’t this grand! Why, I declare, it is -Ethel’s very best tailor-made dress! Isn’t it generous of her to give that for the missions when they are so hard up? And she has so few dresses, poor child!”

“I think it is perfectly insane of her, for it is the only decent looking thing she has to wear. Surely, you must be mistaken as to her wishing to give it to the missions!”

“Why, no! I can’t be. For she said to me, “When we move I’ll have a lot of things we don’t need that I’ll be able to give for your poor missions, and if you are not home, I’ll leave them on the. doorstep.’ And see, here is an old coat of her husband’s that she spoke to me about, and some baby things that Tommy has outgrown, and ever so many other old clothes. Isn’t it fortunate they should arrive to-day when you have come to help me pack up! It does seem wonderful about this beautiful dress, for I know' Ethel thought so much of it. But I’ll tell you what it must be. Poor dear little Tommy nearly died of pneumonia a few weeks back, and I dare say Ethel made a vow to part with this dress if he was cured. ‘The poor girl has so little she could sacrifice, she doubtless could think of nothing else. How delighted some poor Indian will be to receive it!” The two girls immediately set to work, and carefully sorted and packed the numerous things that had been sept for the poor missions, « specially large parcel of warm articles including the precious dress being made up for a destitute Indian mission in North Dakota. The girls had haidly tied, up the last parcel, when a gentleman friend called for Constance and offered to take all the ’ parcels to the post office. -

“Oh, thank you, that will be grand,” exclaimed Elizabeth. “I’m sure you will be just in time to catch the mail. I certainly seem in luck to-day, for everything comes just at the minute I want it. God is so good,” she added softly. Constance -and her escort had barely been gone an hour when there was a ring at the telephone, and Ethel’s voice inquired anxiously: .

“Have you found my embroidered cloth dress? The cleaner tells me that not finding me at home, he hung it on your door, knowing you were a friend of mine and would know where I had gone to.”

“The cleaner!—Your embroidered cloth dress!” gasped Elizabeth, feeling her legs shake under her.

(‘“Yes. I. have an invitation to Mrs. McGuire’s card party to-morrow night. So, as I have no other decent dress, I thought I’d have that handsome cloth dress of mine cleaned. But I stupidly forgot to tell the man that I was moving and didn’t give him my new address. Didn’t you find the dress? O dear, what shall I do if it is lost! Do you suppose somebody could have stolen it?” she added in a tone of distress.

“No, k was not stolen. I ——found it hanging on my door in se_$ e _ midst of the things you had left for the missions, and I thoughtl—Ethel; I wish you had phoned a couple of hours ago!”

“Beth Garfield! You don’t mean to say you are crazy enough to send my only respectable dress to the missions! Why, you knew it was the only decent one I had, and that I have not a cent to buy another with! Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?” and Ethel burst into a flood of tears.

“Don’t cry, Ethel, don’t cry!” exclaimed her friend. “I will rush down to the post office and see if I can stop the parcel; and if not, I will send a special delivery letter explaining the matter to the father and begging him to send the dress back at once at my expense. The letter is sure to get there long before the parcel, and so you will got the dress back all right in a few days.”

“Yes, but what am I to wear in the meantime? Oh, Beth, how could you do such a thing in such a hurry, too! You might have phoned and asked me about it. You might have known I could not afford to give away my only good dress!”

“Well, I couldn’t have phoned for I don’t suppose you have a phone in yet. But, of course, it was stupid of me to send off the things in such haste. But don’t fret, I’ll run at once to the post, and if I can’t stop the parcel, you may be sure I’ll make it all right for you, if it costs me my last cent.”

So Elizabeth hurried down to the post only to find that the mail had left just half an hour before. Then, after writing a very explicit and apologetic letter to the good missioner, she sent it off by special delivery and hastened to her friend, Ethel, from whom she had to take volumes of bitter reproaches and floods of tears! Beth felt miserable enough for tears herself, but she managed to keep them back, and finally cheered and comforted her friend by promising to lend her a perfectly new gown of her own which none of their friends had seen.

That night she slept little. The next day she also had to run the gauntlet of Constance’s sarcasms.

“Well, now do you think that every little thing comes from God? There you are, always working and slaving for the missions, and just through your eagerness tfi help them you get into this pickle. That seems a queer reward for all your devotedness to the winning of souls.” “Perhaps I deserve a punishment for something,” answered poor Beth. “In any case I know it must be the ill of God, and that it will turn out for the best in some way, though it is very distressing to me now-.”

They waited in anxiety for Hie return of the parcel, or at least for some word ’from the father whom Beth had entreated to write at once and if possible to send a telegram. But though Beth sent letter upon letter and two imploring telegrams, days passed and one . .week succeeded ; another* and there was no news of the lost dress! Ethel was more and more indignant with her friend, . and poor Beth was fairly worn out with worry and self-reproach. Meanwhile the letters and the telegrams had safely

reached the mission and were lying in a heap on the good father’s plain deal table, while he painfully travelled through the snow and bitter winds, visiting one after the other of his missions. His youmg who had come to help him for a while, had not- dared' to open any of his mail; but he had told her that if any parcels of clothing arrived in his absence, she was to open them and distribute the things to the most needy, keeping any exceptionally good articles until his return, when he would decide to whom to give them. There happened to be in the neighboring city a sehool chum of- Loretta’s, whom she had met by accident on the rare occasion when she was able to be driven to town to do some necessary shopping. On her return she had spoken of the girl to her brother, who was much. annoyed at her having renewed the acquaintance, for although a Catholic, the girl was divorced and had entirely given up the practice of her religion.

“Mind,” said the father sternly, “I don’t Avant yon to have anything to do with Eleanor Jones. She is not a fit woman to associate with my sister*, and I forbid you to let her into my house. I have serious reasons for this.”

“But, Albert, if she should come all this long way, along these impossible roads to see me, it would be cruel to send her away! How could I do it ? And Are used to be such friends at the convent! , I am sure she cannot really be a bad girl!”

But Father Albert was obdurate and insisted that Loretta should write a letter telling the girl of his refusal to receive her into his house. Loretta fully meant to comply with his wishes, but had put off writing the painful letter from day to day. A week or so after the young pastor had gone on his rounds, the parcel from Beth arrived. Loretta had eagerly opened it and spread the things around, when there was a ring at the bell. Before she had time to get to the door, it flew open and in bounced Eleanor Jones dressed in the very latest and loudest fashion and powdered and painted up to her eyes, exclaiming gushingly :

“Oh, you dear, sweet thing, how glad I am to see you!”

Poor Loretta felt an awful sinking at her heart. Why had she not written! What could she do or say now?

“Well! You don’t seem very glad to soe mo,” cried Eleanor. “This is a queer welcome to get after jolting for miles on these beastly roads to visit an old friend. I thought you’d be just tickled to death to see a civilised being.”

“I would have been ever so glad to see you if Albert had not forbidden me to receive any company,” stammered Loretta. “I’m so sorry I can’t he hospitable and ask you to stay to tea.”

“Oh, never mind about the tea. But you need not think you are going to turn me out at once, for I just won’t go till I have seen something of you. What a dandy tailor-made dress you’ve got there. The embroidery on it is perfectly stunning! Where did you get it, you lucky girl?”

“It’s just what I’ve been longing to get for myself, but one can’t find anything in this hole of a place.”

“It —it isn't mine,” stammered Loretta. “It has just been sent from the middle west to give to some of our poor Indians, who have hardly a rag on their back.”

“To give to some poor Indian! That lovely gown? Why, Loretta, it would be a sin! Fairly casting pearls before swine! It is a peach •of a dress! I’ll tell you what, Lorry, sell it to me. I’ll give you hard cash for it and you will be able to do far more gooS to your old Indians with that than by giving them this unsuitable thing. I know it would just fit me.”

“I am afraid, Albert might not like it,” stammered Loretta, though she longed to accept, for she had that very morning visited a wretchedly poor family where the father lay almost dying on a heap of straw in a miserable tent, without a- fire, though the temperature was at 20 degrees below zero. The poor creatures had no food and scarcely any clothes, and she had but little to give them.

“Bother Father Albert,” cried Eleanor. “He isn’t here anyhow. I knew that before I started, or I wouldn’t have come. Be a dear, Lorry, and let me have this. I’ll give you five dollars for it.” 7

“No, I can’t. I am afraid of vexing Albert,” answered Loretta,

“He won’t have seen it. He need not know anything about it ..unless you are , such a goose as to tell him. Besides he would have the sense to know that the money would be of more use than the gopn.”

But Loretta still refused. She was far too honorable to think of hiding anything from her brother, and he had told her to keep any particularly good thing till his return. Yet she wished with all her heart she dared accept the monej . The temptation was great, and Eleanor was terribly insistent. She had coaxed and persuaded and raised hex ©flex, and at last she seized the dress and throwing a ten dollar bill on the table, she ran out of the house saying with a laugh :

“You can tell his Reverence that I dropped in and carried off the dress in spite of you.” Fairly stunned, Loretta stood fox - a minute as if rooted to the ground, .and by the time she had recovered her presence of mind and run out, Eleanor’s machine was spinning down the hill. Well, thought the girl, the only thing to do now was to help the poor Indian family with the money, and trust to our Lady to help her out of the muddle. A Sioux chief, called Great Horse, volunteered to go to town to buy the most necessary things. The next day, when Loretta saw the comfort the money had brought, she could not help rejoicing over it. But a few hours later, when Father Albert returned rather sooner than had been expected, she felt miserably anxious and guilty, and when on opening his mail he told her of its contents and bade her pack the dress up immediately and send it back to its o\\ nex, she nearly fainted with emotion and consternation.

“I—l—haven’t got the dress. I—sold it!” she gasped between her tears.

“Sold it! Whom did you sell it to?” asked her brother, and poor trembling Loretta told him the whole story. At first he was very angry. But the girl was so remorseful and distressed, that his kind heart was touched. He realised, too, that she had been forced into the sale in spite of herself.

“There, there, don’t cry any more over it,” he said kindly. “The only thing to do is to go to town, give that girl back her money and get her to return the dress. on can explain to her that the gown was sent by mistake and was not ours to sell.”

“But I haven’t got the money ! I spent it all yesterday to buy wood and food and a blanket for poor Red Deer, who is so sick and in much misery!”

“Spent it all! Goodness ! What a hurry you women are in about everything. How in the world did you manage to spend ten dollars in this Mace?”

“Great Horse was good enough to ride to town for me. I thought it was so fortunate he was home! What can "edo ? Could you lend me the money, and I’ll get mother to advance me my next month’s allowance and paA’ you back?” , s “

“Lend you ten dollars? My dear girl, I could barely lend you ten cents! Perhaps you can persuade your friend to give up the dress and wait a few days for her money.” In this hope, Loretta was driven to town by a good Indian, but Eleanor totally refused to give up the dress unless paid at once for it. Indeed, she pretended not to believe at all the story abojit the mistake. Loretta* was desperate. She was determined not to go home until aho had safely mailed the gown to its owner. In her perplexity she asked the advice of the good Indian, who suggested she should try to borrow the money , of the richest man of the neighborhood, who had only recently come to live on his large estate. The poor girl naturally dreaded asking him, but at last she screwed up her courage, and almost before she realised what she was doing, *£we was standing shyly before him and stammering out her request. The gentleman was astonished at seeing such a perfectly charming and refined girl in that out-of-the-way place, and insisted in making her take a- chair and explain the matter to him. In her anxiety, Loretta waxed quite eloquent, describing the misery of the poor Indians, the devotion and untiring efforts of her brother and his many hardships and difficulties, going after his scattered flock in his. rickety •m Ford, over steep hills and almost impassable roads, through snow and storm, »r under the blazing sun, always

ready to risk his life, if need be, in order to save souls or relieve misery. / ■

“1 don’t know why I am telling you all this,” she said suddenly. “As you are not a Catholic, it cannot interest you. Please forgive me.” A pretty blush made her look lovelier than ever, thought her host.

“But 1 am a Catholic,” he answered. “At least, I was brought up one.”

“You are a Catholic! Then why —?” and she stopped, blushing rosier than over.

“Then why have I not looked up the missioners and helped the missions?” he said with a laugh. “Yes, you are right, I ought to have done so, and I certainly will do so in future. To begin with,” he added, handing her five crisp ten dollar bills, “please give this from me to ycur brother for the needs of his mission. I am sure he .will ho glad to have you use one of them to buy back the dress you are so distressed about. If you have any trouble in getting it back, just let me know. Tell Father Albert that 1 hope to have the pleasure of calling on him in a very few days. In the meanwhile, if I can be of any assistance to you, please let me know.”

So that day Beth Garfield received a telegram, telling her the dress was safely on its way back, and soon afterwards she received a bright x and charming letter from Loretta stating the cause of the delay and recounting the adventure of the sale and recovery of the dress. The only part she said little or nothing about was her visit to Mr. Morley and his subsequent visits to them. But Father Albert supplemented that, for little more than a month later he wrote, thanking Beth for her next parcel of clothing, and adding:

My sister was much charmed by the kind letter you wrote to apologise for the trouble you had given her, and we both were sorry to see how much you had worried over the matter. Please do not think any more about it, except to thank God. who allowed this all' to happen in order to bring incalculable good to the mission and to a precious soul. My sister most likely told you that in order to buy back the dress she nerved herself to borrow the money from a. wealthy man, who was a perfect stranger to us all. He turned out to be a fallen-away Catholic, and he was so touched by Loretta’s account of our poor mission that he not only lent her the money she wanted but gave her forty dollars more for our poor Indians. Since then he has been most interested in my mission, has been regularly to see us, giving generously every time, and begging me to prepare him to receive the sacraments once more. That has been satisfactorily accomplished. On Easter Sunday he came to make his Easter duty among our good, zealous Indians, to whom he brought many gifts, while to their unworthy pastor he gave —what do you think? Whv, a splendid little new Ford to replace my battered one, Isn’t it grand? And all that might never have happened if you had not made that little mistake about sending the dress in your eagerness to help us. I must add that there is a. slight drawback to my perfect joy over this affair, and that is that if Mr. Morley has given me a Ford, 1 find that he is about to steal from me my most precious possession, the sweetest sister a man ever had. However, I think he is worthy of her, and they both promise to come to see and help me constantly, so I must not grudge the dear girl her happiness, which she also owes indirectly to you. So you can imagine what heartfelt prayers are going up for you every day.”

“Isn’t God wonderful!” exclaimed Beth, as she handed the letter to Constance. “Didn’t I tell you that everything he allows to happen always turns out for good?”

"Yes, this is truly grand!" cried Constance. Then she added with a laugh, "I have not yet discovered what wonders may come of'my broken tooth, but then, it is true, I did nothing but grumble about my ill-luck instead of bearing my trouble ~ patiently as you did. To your motto that all things turn out for good, we must add ' to those who offer up their troubles and bear them patiently.' "

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