years more she will know the meaning of the vow of chastity into which she has been deluded. It was brought home to me vividly on hearing, a few years ago, the confession of a young nun who was in the wild throes of passion-birth; after detailing the usual peccadilloes she began to tell me of her utter misery and isolation. Her sisters were unkind, thoughtless, and jealous; ‘and yet, father,’ she urged piteously, ‘I do want someone to love me.’ I muttered the usual commonplaces, but, as she knelt at my feet, looking sadly up at me, in their little convent chapel, I felt how dark a sin it was to admit an immature girl to a vow of chastity. How their parents—their mothers—can let them act thus without a word of warning surpasses my comprehension. ’Tis another signal instance, no doubt, of the triumph of grace over nature!
