nely to and
fro about the island farm, in their floating black draperies,
directing the daily lives of their subjects by means of a nod, a
gesture of the hand, a curt word here or there. They were the only
gods we had. (There was nothing to make us think of them as
goddesses.) And, so blind were they to their opportunities, they
offered us nothing better. By which, I do not mean that our chapel was
neglected. (It was not, though I do not think it meant much more for
any of us than the milking, the wood-chopping, or the window-cleaning.)
But, rather, that these capable, energetic women entirely ignored their
unique opportunities of uplifting us. It was an appalling waste of
god-like powers.

I could not honestly say that I think the sisters ever gave anything
fine, or approximately fine, to one of their young slaves. They taught
us, most efficiently, to work, to do what Americans call 'Chores.' No
word they ever let fall gave a hint of any real conception of what
life might or should mean. I recall nothing in the nature of an
inspiration. Some of us, myself included, possessed considerable
capacity for loving, for devotion. This latent faculty was never drawn
upon, I think, by any of the sisters. We feared them, of course. We
even respected their ability, strength, and authority. We certainly
never loved them.

In fact, I do not think it was ever hinted to one of us that there was
anything beautiful in life. There were wonderful and miraculous things
connected with the Virgin and the Infant Christ. But these were not of
the world we knew, and, in any case, they were matters of which Father
O'Malley possessed the key. They had nothing to do with the farm, with
our work, or with us, outside the chapel. Heaven might be beautiful.
There was another place that very certainly was horrible. Meantime,
there was our own daily life, and that was--chores. That this should
have been so means, in my present opinion, a lamentable waste of young
life and of unique powers. I consider that our young lives were
sterilised rather than developed, and that such sterilisation must
have meant permanent and irrevocable loss for every one of the
orphans, myself included.

But I would be the last to deny the very real capacity and ability of
the sisters in their discharge of the duties laid upon them. I have no
doubt at all about it that they succeeded to admiration in doing what
Father O'Malley and the powers behind him (whoever they may hav