Old Creole Days

of the year 1821, Père Jerome delighted the congregation of his little chapel with the announcement tha

t as orthodox if he did not make quite so much of the Bible and quite so little of the dogmas, yet "the common people heard him gladly." When told, one day, of

atever the name was,-"

is

m benedixerint mi

nto me when all men

exquisite days in which there is such a universal ha

o assist him in the mass, "this is a sabbath day whi

ccess as a preacher, that he took more thought as t

se solemn offices, symbols of heaven's mightiest truths, in the hearing of the organ's harmonies, and the yet more elegant interunion of human voices in the choir, in overlooking the worshipping throng which kn

e; you are the same priest who overslept this morning, and over-ate yeste

e pulpit. Of the sermon he preached, tradition has preserved f

t this sin to their charge.' Is there nothing dreadful in that? Read it thus: 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' Not to the charge of them who stoned him? To whose charge then? Go ask the holy Saint Paul. Three years afterward, praying in the temple at Jerusalem, he answered that question: 'I stood by and consented.' He answered for himself only; but

te. All that time has spared us bes

o, my friends-we cannot look each other in the face, for each has helped the other to sin. Oh, where is there any room, in this world of co

gain,

and the balance brought down in the year of the deluge; but the account of those who come after runs on and on, and the blessed bow of promise itself warns us that Go

ll, sad-faced woman, of pleasing features, but dark and faded, who gave him profound attention. With her was another in better dress, seeming

ught he, with a s

(if such they were), while they still bent their gaze upon him, clasp e

mmandments of God with all the nots rubbed out! Ah! good gentlemen! if God sends the poor weakling to p

seen because he watched for it. He

er had a father and mother, but had got their religious training from such a sky and earth

rward, and exchanged the same spasmodic hand-press

her, "who was carefully taught, from infancy to manhood, this single only principle of life: defiance. Not justice, not righteousness, no

ell it!" murmured

and of men of a sort that to control required to be kept at the austerest distance, he now found himself separated from the human world and thrown into the solemn companionship with the

ing out night after night upon the grand and holy spectacle of the starry deep above and the watery deep below, was sure to find himself, sooner or later, mastered by the conviction that the great Author of this majestic creation

, this man gave a ship full of merchandise for one little book which answered those questions. God help him to understand it! and God help you, monsi

slowly from his seat and regarded him steadily with a kind, bronzed, sedate face, and the sermon, as if by a sign of command, was ended. While the Cr

ving the cathedral out of sight, he just had time to understand that two women were purposely allowing

ome; Père Jerome, we thank t

younger one bowed silently; she was a beautiful figure, but the slight effort of Père Jerome's kind eyes t

lived in the Ru

ing this way to s

with an expression of mingl

hing to be so useful as

she

erome

to do it, just as you let your little boy in frocks carry in ch

omewhat to ask, and was tryi

ttle boy?" ask

girl at her side. Then she began to say somethi

hat was the nam

e priest. "You wish

it); "it was such a beautiful story." Th

e another. Some think it was Jean Lafitte, the famous; you

he choked a little, and yet it evidently gave her pleasure to of