"Oh, honey, it's blessed times with me now. I bin blind all my life; I
never see nuffin till now. Ah, honey, that good priest you send me
aint like the buckra parsons I used to know. _He_ aint too proud to
sit down by a poor nigger, an' take her lame hand in his'n, and rub it
with some sort of liniment he fotch. And thar's a bottle of wine he
left 'cause the doctor said I must have some. _He_ don't stand off as
if he was afeard I would pizen him, and fling the gospel at me like
stingy people throws bones to dogs. He makes me _feel_ that I'm a
child of God as well as white folks, by _treating_ me like one, honey."

"I'm very glad, Aunt Mabel, that you are comforted by Father Fabian's
visits," said May, smiling at her unsophisticated statement.

"Yes, he comforts me mightily, Miss May; and he talk so simple and
beautiful, that I understand every word he says."

"What does Father Fabian tell you, Aunt Mabel?"

"He read one thing to me out of my ole Bible thar. You know I can't
read myself, Miss May, but I keep it 'cause it belonged to my missis.
He asked me if I ever been baptized?' I told him, 'No, sir.' Then he
ask me how I knew, and I tell him that too. Then he read what Jesus
Christ said, 'Unless you be born again, of water and the Holy Ghost,
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven;' and, honey, it was enough,
for me to know he said it. And then he told me about the power our
Lord left with his Church to forgive sins, and I didn't dar doubt it,
'cause who can be so presumptuous as to contradict Jesus Christ when he
lays down the way and the truth? But oh, Miss May, when the day comes
for me to receive in my ole heart the dear Lord hisself--my poor ole
tired, aching heart--then I lived long enough, 'cause the glory of God