the orphanage vkvvs letter
1 A Til Eli I IKK MAN
••My dear," Asked Father Herman
of iittle twelve year nld ereol Con
• tan tine, “Do you think that this lit
tle chapel that they are building tsgo
iiijj up in vain' ” “1 do not know,
Appa,’’ saui Constantine. “I did not
understand the question at the time,
fays Constantine, “but the words are
very strongly impressed in my mind.
After a moments silence the old man
continued, "remirubsr, my child,
some day a mouastViry will rise on
this spot."
• Thirty years will pass after my
death, all those now living will have
died, you al*ie will remain living,
you will be old and poor, and then you
will recall me,” said Father Ilerpian
to his disciple, Ignatius Aligiaga.
Sure enough, after thirty years had
passed people began to gather statist
ic*! items and all the known data fur
the compilation of the life of this
s kiut y man. “It is remarkable,’Yx
claimed Ignatius at trie turn*, now a
imm similar to usm all respectscould
have known all these things so far a
lieail. However he was not an ordi
nary man. He knew our thought*
ami nit!neuoetl us to suoh a degree
th it we unwillingly uncovered to
him our thoughts and desire* and al
ways profited hy it
"When I die, said the old man to
hi* scholars bury me hy the side of
father Joasaph. You will bury me
by yourselves as you will not wait
l,,ng enough fora priest to come here.
I > , not wash toy body, lay it out on a
board, fold my hand* across my chest,
cover me with my mantle and cover
iny face with the ends of it, then put
the e ill mi my head. If any nue
will vish to niter me his last resincts
let him kiss the crucifix, do not let
any one see my face."
The old man’s span of life was coin
ing to an end. One day he ordered
Ins disciple Gerasim to light up the
candles before the holy images and
read the acts of the apostles. In a
littie while his face was lighted up by
a smile and he said in a loud voice,
“Glory to thee, O Lord.” Then he
commanded the reading stopped and
announced that God willed to prolong
Ins life for another week. A week
later, again the candles were lit in
obedience to bit desire, the rea lingof
the acts of the Apostles resumed.
Quiet»y the old man inclined his
head upon the breast of Gerasim, his
face lit up as in happiness and, Fa
ther Herman was no more In this
manner he'lied the death (if a saint
on the slat year of his arduous life.
The date w as the Idth day of Decem -
ber the year 1837.
The messenger that was gent to Ko
diak with this nad intelligence on his
return to Klovoi said that Manager
of the Colony, Kaskevarnff, forbids
them to bury the old man until his
arrival, that he had ordered a new
casket made and he would bring a
priest to say the funeral service over
the remains. Short.1 y after, a strong
wind sprang up, heavy rain came
down in torrents, and a frightful
storm rag'd that lasted for a whole
month. The distance fr< m Kiovoi to
Kodiak is but two hours ride in a row
boat, but no one dared venture out in
the raging s’rotii During this whole
month the remains of Father Herman
lay in tin* hut unburied, yet there was
no evidence of decomposition. Fin
ally the casket was brought over by
an experienced mariner, Kosma Ueh
ilischef The laxly of the old man
was interred by the natives with no
one present from Kodiak. So the pro
phetic words of the old man came true.
THE EM)