Page:The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg (1928).djvu/253

 that was useful to her. When at forty-five it began to fail her she prayed desperately to Saint Francis to give her strength. It was not death that she feared but the thought that her body's failing her might shut her off from all those who called her The Ugly One and The Mad One. Saint Francis could help her, whom she loved with all her soul.

Sitting by the bed of Miss Annie Spragg she read, holding the page close to her weak swollen eyes:

"When Saint Francis drew nigh unto Bevagna he came unto a spot wherein a great multitude of birds of divers species were gathered together. When the holy man of God perceived them he ran with all speed unto the place and greeted them as if they had shared in human understanding. They on their part all awaited him and turned toward him, those that were perched on the bushes bending their heads as he drew nigh them, and looking on him in unwonted wise while he came right among them, and diligently exhorted them, all to hear the word of God, saying, 'My brothers the birds, much ought ye to praise your Creator, who hath clothed you with feathers and given you wings to fly, and hath made over unto you the pure air, and careth for you without your taking thought for yourselves.' While he was speaking these and other like words, the little birds—behaving themselves in wondrous wise—began to stretch their necks, to open their beaks, and to look intently upon him. He, with wondrous fervor of spirit, passed in and out among them, touching them with his habit, nor did one of them move from the spot until he had made the sign of the