THE VENERABLE DON BOSCO
CHAPTER V
MARGARET BOSCO IN VALDOCCO. SUCCESS OF THE ORATORY. ATTEMPTS ON THE LIFE OF DON BOSCO
We must not overlook those of the gentler sex who contributed of their means and labors to Don Bosco's work, the ladies who clothed such numbers of his poor children, made and mended their garments and nursed them when they were sick. But it was Margaret Bosco, his saintly mother, who led the way. Poor Margaret! She was already fixed in the home of her son Joseph and loved and was beloved by his children; she seemed, indeed, settled in repose for the rest of her life when one day during his convalescence at Becchi, he seemed unusually serious as he sat down to talk with her. She noticed it and asked the cause.
"Madre mia," he said caressingly, "I need a mother for my poor boys, some one to care for them and love them, some one to manage my large household. Ah, if I could only bring the most precious treasure I have here in Becchi—my mother—to Turin!"
Margaret started. The tears sprang to her eyes; a few words of grief at such a separation—final and complete, she saw it must be—from her lifelong home; a little word of the great sac-
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