Short stories; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
There was one thing about her which excited much talk; I suppose it was
only a piece of old-maidism. Of course she was religious. She was really
very good. She was considered very high church. I do not think, from
my recollection of her, that she really was, or, indeed, that she could
have been; but she used to talk that way, and it was said that she was.
In fact, it used to be whispered that she was in danger of becoming a
Catholic. I believe she had an aunt that was one, and she had visited
several times in Norfolk and Baltimore, where it was said there were a
good many. I remember she used to defend them, and say she knew a great
many very devout ones. And she admitted that she sometimes went to the
Catholic church, and found it devotional; the choral service, she said,
satisfied something in her soul. It happened to be in the evening that
she was talking about this. She sat down at the piano, and played some
of the Gregorian chants she had heard, and it had a soothing influence
on everyone. Even Joe, the fidgetiest of all, sat quite still through
it. She said that some one had said it was the music that the angels
sing in heaven around the great white throne, and there was no other
sacred music like it. But she played another thing that evening which
she said was worthy to be played with it. It had some chords in it that
I remembered long afterward. Years afterward I heard it played the same
way in the twilight by one who is a blessed saint in heaven, and may be
playing it there now. It was from Chopin. She even said that evening,
under the impulse of her enthusiasm, that she did not see, except that
it might be abused, why the crucifix should not be retained by all
Christian churches, as it enabled some persons not gifted with strong
imaginations to have a more vivid realization of the crucified Saviour.
This, of course, was going too far, and it created considerable
excitement in the family, and led to some very serious talk being given
her, in which the second commandment figured largely. It was considered
as carrying old-maidism to an extreme length. For some time afterward
she was rather discountenanced. In reality, I think what some said was
true: it was simply that she was emotional, as old maids are apt to be.
She once said that many women have the nun’s instinct largely developed,
and sigh for the peace of the cloister.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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