The vision that follows is that of my early piety, simple and full of faith, which was as some good angel o'ershadowing me with its snowy wings, and showing me God everywhere, in all, and with all.
The good God, Who each day provides my daily bread!
The God, Who spared my mother in sickness, and relieved her when she suffered—God, Who shielded me from harm when I did right!
The God, Who sees all, knows all, and is Omnipotent, Whom I loved with all my heart.
Alas! faithful, simple piety, thou art dead; in innocence alone couldst thou live!
Next comes the love of my earliest years. Love in childhood, love in youth, so full of true, simple joy, that initiated me in the sweet pleasure of [pg 118] devotion, that taught me self-denial in order to give pleasure, that destroyed all egotism, by showing me the happiness of living for others.
Love of my childhood, love of my youth, so pure, so holy, on which I always reckoned when they spoke to me of trouble, loneliness, depression ... thou also art dead.
An involuntary coolness, an unfounded suspicion never cleared, an ill-natured story ... all these have destroyed that child of Heaven. I knew it was tender, and I cherished it, but I could not believe it to be so frail.
I could make a long list of all the dead enshrined in my heart! Oh, you who are still young, upon whom God has lavished all the gifts that are lost to me,—candor, simplicity, innocence, love, devotion ... guard, oh, guard these treasures, and that they may never die, place them beneath the shelter of Prayer.