University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

Page 33 text:

THE REDWOOD 15 Ah, well he may Since there athwart his steps a parent lies, Beseeching by the hoar frost of his locks For pity from that son. Fierce struggles heave The breast one moment, till his duty bids The Church release from bonds nor yield to ought: Upon the asp shalt walk, the basilisk, Upon the dragon and the lion tread. He speaks And sunders nature ' s fondest tie forthwith. Tb ' Eternal City sheds her weeds of woe Hailing a Gregory with loud acclaim. Special.

Page 32 text:

14 THE REDWOOD BACH TO ROME (an incident of AVIGNON.) Christ ' s Vicar halts; amazement thrills his limbs, — Then pain, — then fearful hesitation, — while He eyes and eyes the prostrate form outstretched To bar the path of his departing. Rome, Art thou again defrauded of a meed divine, Ere it return unto the eager clasp ? Long hast thou waited for this gladsome day. When Avignon, now three score years and ten Thine all unequal rival, should repent Her folly and deliver thee the spouse That ' s thine, the Papacy not circumscribed To any country ' s narrowness but broad As are the mighty world and thou! So grand Erstwhile, reduced to dire, dire wretchedness, — Sombre th ' historic lanes and desolate, — The owlet nestles in thy temples rare And hoots the night to morn, — thy glory gonel For he is far from thee and lingereth still, Thy Pontiff-King, thy soul, thy joy, — despite His heaven-recorded vow.

Page 34 text:

i6 THE REDWOOD When in that year of madness and unrest, the dire summons came for the Padres to leave their home, Carmel, around whose cloisters their hearts clung closer than the aged ivy reaching up its walls, little six year old Ricardo was weeping and sobbing with a vehe- mence quite unusual for his gay little heart. He cared not for the others; (for was not Padre Edmunde cross to bim) but he was to lose his loved Padre Francisco who told him stories, taught him his prayers and filled his pockets with good things. And we shall never see him again? Then I want to stay and die near him. And Padre Erancisco was loathe to leave; for how could he go far away, nay, place an ocean between himself and his children? And the sea! How could he live away from its roar so musical to him, voicing from out the restless blue depths the might and strength of God? As he fancied himself thus removed from this loved home, and for a moment allowed himself to dream, every spot, every sound, every movement seemed to beckon to him to return. And as he came to himself he was surprised to find his cheeks wet, his hoary head bent still more, and his feeble step rendered still more uncertain. The night when the stars came out to keep their vigil, he dropped on his knees before his skull and Crucifix, and prayed that if he must go, it would be to the one place dearer to him, Heaven. Long and earnestly he wrested in prayer, and when they came into his cell the next morning to serve the writ, they found him there on his knees, his white hair flowing caressingly over his shoulders, dead. Out beneath the willows they carried him, and while the birds he had loved so much and fed so often with his own hands chirruped the requiem, they laid him to rest in the valley of his love. Long after the others had gone away, a little Mexican stole softly up to the newly made grave, and having breathed a little prayer planted there his only treBsure, a red rose-bush, and quickly stole away. II. Just at dust when the summer sun had bidden farewell to the little town of Monterey, and had thrown a shower of gold on the restless waves which lapped its shores, a handsome, manly young Mexican rode proudly into the town. The prancing of his blooded horse, who seemed as he tossed his head and champed his bit, to be con- sciously proud of his master, awoke for a moment the slumbering streets from their drowsy lethargy; and as he passed through the Spanish portion of the little hamlet, many were the greetings from the vine covered verandas, and many a Mamma wished within her