The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
"They were welcomed to the home of her aunt with true Scottish
hospitality; and the most devoted and delicate attentions which
affection could devise were lavished upon her heart-broken mother, to
soothe and comfort her, while the little Maggie became at once the
pet of a large household of cousins older than herself, who regarded
her ever after as a dear sister. So kind were the whole family to
her, that she was not permitted to feel the loss of her father in
the sense most chilling and painful to the heart of the orphan, that
of being an object of indifference and neglect. They went frequently
to visit their Lowland friends, and kept up an intercourse with them
during the life of her mother.
"When she had reached her twelfth year, the minister of the kirk
which they had attended since their removal to the Highlands, with
several of his small congregation, among whom were her mother and
herself, made their profession of the Catholic faith; soon after
which event her mother died.
"When Maggie was in her fourteenth year, she became acquainted with
Donald Macpherson, whose father was a warm friend of her uncle
Kenneth. A strong attachment soon grew up between the young people,
and when she was sixteen she was married to Donald. When they had
been married about six years, and had three children--the oldest of
them a daughter five years old and named for herself, and the others
boys--Donald thought best to join a colony (among whom were two of
her cousins and their families) who were preparing to depart for one
of the new and remote districts of Upper Canada. Donald, as the one
best fitted by education for that purpose, was appointed surveyor of
the wild lands, and to lay out roads in the wilderness.
"They suffered much in parting with home and friends, but alas!
subsequent floods of affliction obliterated all traces of those
lighter griefs.
"Their voyage was long and stormy, and when they were at length in
sight of Newfoundland, and hoped they were about to reach the end of
it in safety, a storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence drove their vessel
upon the rocks in the darkness of evening, and it was wrecked. The
poor young parents lashed their little Maggie firmly to a plank, and
committed her to the waves; then taking each a child, and imploring
the aid of heaven for themselves and their little ones, they plunged
into the water. The mother was soon exhausted with the buffeting of
the waves; her child was borne from her arms, just before she was
thrown within the reach of friendly hands, and taken up unconscious.
Donald was dashed against the rocks, and caught from the receding
waters of an immense wave, shortly after, by those who were on
the shore watching to render aid to the sufferers, insensible and
apparently lifeless. The child he had was also lost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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