JANE AND NELLIE
Jane deLacey had hardly been living with the girls in the
Big House by the Park for a week. Every
morning was a shock to her; the world around her was so different from what she
had known. Jane had been living comfortably in England
in 1594 when she was suddenly and unexpectedly supratemporally transmigrated to
Kisco Hills, New York, in 1904. As the daughter of a great lord, with lots of
servants at her beck and call, she was used to having things her way and speaking
what was on her mind. She was learning
how to dress herself and to make her own hot chocolate in the morning, and that
is was not unhealthy to take a bath. She
spent a lot of time sitting on the veranda or walking in the park, trying to
come to grips with what had happened to her.
This morning, Nellie asked her to come into her room and see
her new dress; it was the latest thing, a guimpe dress, with a jumper-like
dress over a fancy blouse.
“How do you like this, Jane?” she asked, “Katherine Alyse
picked it out for me, and she knows all about the latest styles.”
“I like it passing well, but I am yet uncomfortable with
showing my legs, thick-stockinged though they may be.”
“You’ll get used to it.
There are many things you will have to get used to, Jane.”
Jane was about to agree whole-heartedly when her eye fell on
the items on Nellie’s chest of drawers, a carved wooden figurine of a saint,
and a pearl and silver rosary. Jane
picked up the rosary with some alarm.
“What popery is here!
Mariolatrous beads! And a superstitious
popish idol! In this house? I had thought this abode was free from such
dangerous things!”
Nellie was dumbfounded.
“What do you mean, Jane? These
aren’t dangerous. It’s just my rosary
and St. Agnes.”
“These are yours? I
had no idea that you were a Papist!”
Jane took a step back.
Nellie drew herself up. “I’m Catholic, if that’s what you
mean. And what’s wrong with that?”
Jane was a little afraid, but replied boldly, “It is
well-known that Roman Catholics are enemies of the state! Popish plots to overthrow the Queen are well
attested! There are many who would put
King Phillip of Spain,
or Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne!
My father, Lord deLacey, has personally brought papists to justice for
their crimes!”
“What are you talking about?” asked Nellie.
“The danger that might befall us all if the Bishop of Rome
should regain control of the English
Church! We have spent years ridding the land of such
idolatry as the veneration of saints, and the worship of the Virgin Mary! And I am astounded to find items connected to
these fallacies here in this house!”
“Look, Jane,” Nellie was stern. “I don’t like you talking
that way about things that are important to me.
The rosary was my mother’s, she gave it to me just before she died! And St. Agnes is the patron saint of young
girls – young girls like you!”
With that, Nellie turned and left the room.
Julia saw Nellie go off in a huff, and wondered what had
upset her. She stepped into the room and
saw Jane contemplating the rosary and statue.
“What happened between you and Nellie, Jane?” Julia asked.
“I have discovered that she is a papist, and has these
popish baubles here in her room. Are you
not afraid for our safety having such a person living among us?”
Julia sighed, “Dear Jane, the world has changed a lot since
you left England. Three hundred and ten years is a long time,
and many things have happened. Roman
Catholics are no longer seen as enemies of the state or threats to national
security, at least not in the United
States.
True, there are still places where anti-Catholic feeling sometimes turns
violent, but not here, not now. There is
no established church in the United
States; that was one of the first things our
Founding Fathers made sure of. Many of
the colonies that became this country were settled by people fleeing religious
persecution: Catholics in Maryland,
Quakers in Pennsylvania
. . .”
“What are those?” asked Jane.
“And Puritans in Massachusetts.”
Jane frowned. “I know
about Puritans.”
“Here in Kisco Hills, all religions are welcome, and
everybody gets along. Why, the Catholic
church, St. Claude’s, is right next to the Anglican Episcopal church, St.
Anne’s. And the Unitarians are across
the street from the Friends’ meeting house; they’re the Quakers I
mentioned. There aren’t enough Jews in
town to have a real synagogue, but the Orthodox minyan meets in the back room
of Rabinowicz’s tailor shop.”
“There are Jews in this town?” Jane was more curious than alarmed.
“There’s a Jew in this house, Jane, our dear little
Gila. She, too, has come here to escape
religious persecution. In this house,
Jane, all faiths are respected. Most of
us here are Theosophists, and a major tenet of that philosophy is that there is
an underlying truth behind all religions, even Roman Catholicism and Anglican
Catholicism!”
Jane was very quiet.
She was confused and embarrassed, but managed to say, “I meant no harm
to Nellie. I only know what I have been
told.”
Julia put her hand on Jane’s shoulder. “What you were told was very likely true, in England, three
hundred and ten years ago. But it is not
what is true in this house today. I
think you should apologize to Nellie, and try to be her friend.”
Jane hung her head; she was not used to being scolded by
anyone other than her governess. Julia
left her alone, and soon, Nellie came back into the room.
Jane blushed.
“Nellie, I . . .”
Nellie reached out to Jane.
“It’s all right, Jane. I know you
are struggling to learn about the world of the twentieth century, and having to
learn many things all over again. I want
to be your friend, and I will be glad to help you in any way that I can.”
Jane smiled. “I thank
you, Nellie, most humbly.”
“And don’t worry, Jane,” Nellie went on, “I won’t pack the basement
full of gunpowder and blow the house up with you in it, like Guy Fawkes and the
Houses of Parliament.”
“WHAT?!”
“Oh, that’s right!
That hadn’t happened yet for you.
It was in 1605, sixteen years after you left. There was a Catholic plot to kill the king,
but it turned out all right, they caught Guy Fawkes just as he was about to
light the fuse.”
“Thank God for that!” said Jane.
“Thank God, indeed,” said Nellie, “and be thankful that God
smiles down on all His children, however they choose to worship Him.”
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