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Untitled Article
* Yes , ' said Helena , * I felt grief when I kissed the relics for the last time , and when I looked on the crucifix which must be " carried away to-morrow . But then , Liese , I remembered Nuremberg . Nurse Bohrla ' s voice was in my ears , and I thought of my
garden , where the plants I was so fond of cannot all have died , and of the singing birds , which nurse vowed to keep for my sake . I hope there is no sin in remembering these things . I am sure I said my prayers much better at nurse ' s knee when a child than I have ever done here : and I have never known so much of God
within these wails , as I learned among my roses by the river side * Father Gottfried is very wise and very pious , I know ; but I learned quite as much religion as he has ever taught me , when our old John lifted me up that I might see the bees at work in the hive , and when he told me legends of the Saints as we sat in the shade angling for trout in the stream that runs past our garden . The swallows under the eaves have been a great comfort to me here . I have often been sorry to leave them for one of Father Gottfried's homilies . '
• If you feel thus , ' said Liese , * I cannot wonder that some of our sisters , who have parents and brethren , seem more ready to depart than even yourself . I had hoped that a life of devotion had been more precious to you all . ' 6 , Liese , if you knew all , you would not say so , nor look on me with such severe compassion . You force from me now what I meant never to say to any one but my confessor . —Do you
know I have long been wondering what has become of my devotion , and I hope I shall find that it has only been laid asleep in this dull place . I am not like you : I cannot be pious in all places and times alike ; and I cannot tell you how miserable this has made me whenever I thought of my vows . I am very weak , very childish ; and believe I shall feel more fervour in my prayers the
first night that I shut myself into my own little chamber at Nuremberg , than , with all my efforts , I have felt for these many months . I could almost thank Martin himself if he could help me better than my confessor has done ; and it was because I saw something about prayer in that book that I was tempted to open it again . I wish you would let me tell you what 1 saw . '
For this , however , there was no time , ail the sisters being punctually summoned to the refectory , where the delegate of the magistrates was entertained with due honour . Silenced by the unaccustomed presence of a stranger , the sisters were not slow in obeying the signal to withdraw when the meal was ended . 4 This night , at least , I may spend in peace , ' thought Liese , as she closed her breviary and extinguished her lamp . * Heaven
only knows when I may again be self-collected as it is my wont to be here ; ' and she opened her lattice that she might look abroad as far as the grating allowed her upon the star-lit scenery , and b 6 fanned by the night-breeze before » he lay down to dream pf heiresy and the perils of the world .
Untitled Article
15 H Liese ; ory the Progress of Worshi p *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1832, page 158, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1808/page/14/
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