A PROMISING “MIRACLE” BLIGHTED.
At the Church of the Sacred Heart, in Trenton, N. J., on a recent Sunday, a crowd appeared and gazed with awe upon the mysterious picture of a man and woman which had made its appearance on the wall between “the first and second stations of the cross.” A group of children were at prayers in the church Saturday afternoon, when one of them noticed the outline of the picture, which seemed to have just materialized on the wall. The child told her companions, and in a few minutes the report was widespread that a miracle had taken place. For a while older people who undertook to investigate were mystified. It was not until Sunday night that the mystery was fully solved. Years ago, when the church was frescoed, the decorators amused themselves by painting various pictures on the walls, believing that their work would be permanently obliterated by the finished decorations. These pictures were done in oil, while the frescoing was in water color. The latter has at last been4 (484)absorbed, so that the work in oil shows plainly underneath. An aged Sister of Mercy remembered the painting of the church, and it was her explanation which solved a mystery that even the rector of the parish was unable to clear up. Who knows how many traditions of miracles in the Middle Ages could be accounted for in this credible way, and thus to a considerable extent relieve the reputations of the purveyors of miracles?—Christian Advocate.