The City and the World and Other StoriesKelley, Francis Clement
Religion
The City and the World and Other Stories
Kelley, Francis Clement
Christian fiction; Short stories
The Cure of Ste. Agatha was agitated. He plainly wanted to speak but
choked back twice. Then he rose and looked at his friend with a face
as red as fire, and started toward the gate. He took two steps, came
back, and spoke rapidly. "Do you think the Sisters will bring it back,
the valise? _Mon Dieu_! It was mine."
Ten miles from St. Eustace and thirteen miles from Ste. Agatha a
Yankee tramp was hurrying toward the parish of Ste. Catherine. He had
the money for one pick and one shovel in his pocket keeping company
with one note from the purse of the generous Cure of St. Eustace and
one of a much larger denomination, from the wise but hard-hearted
Cure of Ste. Agatha, who never gave to tramps.
And this is the lesson of the story as the Cure of St. Eustace saw it:
that some gloomy and worried millionaires are lost to the States, to
make a few irresponsible but happy rascals who live by their wits, and
whose sins even are amusing. One must not blame them overmuch.
As to the Cure of Ste. Agatha. He has no opinions on the matter at
all, for the Sisters gave him back his new valise.
HOW FATHER TOM CONNOLLY BEGAN TO BE A SAINT
If you knew Father Tom Connolly, you would like him, because--well,
just because Father Tom Connolly was one of the kind whom everybody
liked. He had curly black hair, over an open and smiling face; he was
big, but not too big, and he looked the priest, the _soggarth aroon_
kind, you know, so that you just felt that if you ever did get into
difficulties, Father Tom Connolly would be the first man for you to
talk it all over with. But Father Tom had a large parish, in a
good-sized country town, to look after; and so, while you thought that
you might monopolize all of his sympathy in your bit of possible
trouble, he had hundreds whose troubles had already materialized, and
was waiting for yours with a wealth of experience which would only
make his smile deeper and his grasp heartier when the task of
consoling you came to his door and heart.
Now, there lived in the same town as Father Tom another priest of
quite a different make. He, too, had a Christian name. It was Peter;
but no one ever called him Father _Peter_. Every one addressed him as
Father _Ilwin_. Somehow this designation alone fitted him. It was not
that this other priest was unkind--not at all--but it was just that in
Father Tom's town he did not quite fit.
Father Ilwin had been sent by the Bishop to build a new church, and
that on a slice of Father Tom's territory, which the Bishop lopped off
to form a new parish. Father Ilwin was young. He had no rich brogue on
his tongue to charm you into looking at his coat in expectation
of seeing his big heart burst out to welcome you. He was
thoughtful-looking and shy, so he did not get on well and his new
church building grew very slowly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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