Full text of "The Catholic world"

THE 




MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

AP 

i 

OF C3 




PUBLISHED BY THE PAULIST FATHERS. 



VOL. XC. 

OCTOBER, 1909, TO MARCH, 1910. 



NEW YORK : 

THE OFFICE OF THE CATHOLIC WORLD, 
120 WEST 6oth STREET. 



1910. 



CONTENTS 



American Cardinal, The Fir< t. 7 hcmas 

F. Meehan, 807 

Anglican Ordinations (Converted Mar- 
ried Ministers and the Priesthood). 
Lout's O' Donovan, D.D., . . 64 

As It Happened. feanie Drake, . . 776 

Background to Life, A. Charles Plater, 

*/, 323 

Barcelona, Recent Events in, . . 568 

Barcelona (Recent Impressions of Spain). 

A. /. Zhipman, .... 656 

Book of Devotions, A Forgotten. 

Char It on Benidict Walker, . . 29 

Breviary, The Roman (A Forgotten 
Book of Devotions). Charlton Ben- 
edict Walker, .... 29 

Campion, Edmund (Stonor Park and its 

Martyrs). Do m Bede Camm, O.S.B. 642 

Canada's First Church Council. A. E. 

Burke, D.D , 382 

Catholic Church, The Intellectual 
Claims of. Bertram C. A. Windle, 
M D., FR.S., . . . .225 

Catholic Conference at Manchester, 

The. A Spectator, . . . 352 

Catholicism and Authorship. Agn<s 

Reppl.er, 167 

Catholicism in the Crucible. Alexan- 
der Mercier, O.P., . . . 84, 216 

Catholic Poetry, 1 he Year's. Charles 

Phillips, 445 

Catholic Principle, A, and the Criticism 

of Socialism. Hubert Hull, . . 433 

Catholics and the Public Library. 

Ernilie Louise Haley, . . . 375 

Catholic Writers and '1 heir Handicaps. 

Louise Imogen Guiney, . . 204 

Catholic Writers (Catholicism and Au- 
thorship. Agnes Repplier's An- 
swer to the Rev. John T albot 
Smith), 167 

Catholic Writers (Catholic Writers and 
Their Handicaps. Louise Imogen 
Guiney's Answer to the Rev. John 
Talbot Smith), .... 204 

Celtic Element, 1 he, in Philosophy. 

William Turner, th.D., . . 721 

Comet, Present Probabilties About the. 

George M. Searle, C.S.P., . . 289 

Converted Married Ministers and the 
Priesthood. Louis U^ Donovan, 
D.D., 64 

Current Events, 129, 273, 417, 57, 707, 845 

Darwin Centenary, The. G. Wadding- 
ton, S /., j 75 

Discovery of the Pole, The. George M. 

Searle, C.S.P. 145 



Foreign Periodicals, 119, 261, 406, 550 

700, 838 
For Sport. feanie Drake, '. . 50 

France, Religion in (The War Against 
Religion in France). Mai ia Long- 
worth Storer, 611 

Froudeand Carlyle. W ilfrid Wtlber- 

force, 37 

Halley's Comet (The Present Probabil- 
ities About the Comet.) George M. 
Searle, C.S.P , , . . .289 

Happiness, The Way of. Gertrude E. 

AfacQuigg, 670 

Heart of a People, The. F. W. Graf- 
ton, S./. 753 

Her Mother's Daughter. Katharine 

Tynan, 12, 150, 305, 462, 583, 738 

His Neighbor. feanie Drake, . . 329 

Institution, An, Along New Lines. . 638 

Intellectual Claims, The, of the Catho- 
lic Church. Bertram C. A. Windle, 
M.D , F.R.S., . . . .225 

James, William, The Pragmatism of. 

Thomas Vet ner Moore, C S.P , . 341 

Juliana's Christmas Holiday. Pamela 

Gage, 363 

Lincoln Agricultural Fchool, The (An 

Institution Along New Lines), . 638 

Lytton, Robert, Poet and Diplomat (A 
Poet and a Diplomat). Walter 
S a, gent, 493 

McCloskey, Cardinal (T he First Ameri- 
can Cardinal). 1 homas F. Meehan, 807 

Manchester, The Catholic Conference 

at. A Spectator, .... 352 

Mexico, A Visit to. TAomas P. Mc- 

Loughlin, 479 

Nativity in Early Pageants, The. R. 

L. Mangan, S /., . . . 194 

New Books, 100, 244, 386, 533, 680, 816 

North Pole, Discovery of the (1 he Dis- 
covery of the Pole). George M. 
Searle, C.S.P., . . , .145 

One Hundred Fruitful Years. 7 hcmas 

F. Meehan, 519 

Pageant?, The Nativity in Early. R. 

L. Mangan, S./., .... 294 

Patchwork, A Bit of Old. H. W. G. 

Hyrst 185 

Patmore, Coventry. Katherine Brfgy, 796 

Personal Studies, Ten. Wilfrid Wil- 

berforce; 153 

Philosophy and the Celtic Element 
(The Celtic Element in Philosophy). 
William Turner, Ph.D., . . 721 

Plenary Council in Canada ^Canada's 
First Church Council).^. E. 
Burke, D.D., 382 



CONTENTS. 



in 



Poet, A, and a Diplomat. Walter 

Sargent, 493 

Poor Clares, Mother Mary Veronica of 

the. Walter Elliott, C.S.P., . 764 

Pragmatism, The, of William James. 

Thomas Verner Moore, CS.P.. . 341 
Prophet's "Mantle, The. Helen Haines. 621 
Public Library, Catholics and the. 

Emilie Louise Haley, . . . 375 
Religion and Health. /antes /. Walsh, 

M.D ,Ph..D , LLD , . . ,599 
Religion in France, The War Against. 

Maria Longworth Star er, . .611 
St. Francis and Socialism. Father 

Cuthbert, O.S.F.C., . . . i 
St. Ignatius, Life of. By Francis 

Thompson. Wilfrid Wilberfvrce, 510 
Seton, Mother, and the Sisters of 

Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (One 

Hundred Fruitful Years). Thomas 

F. Meehan, 519 

Sheep-Run, Life on a. M. F. Quinlan, 239 



Socialism, A Criticism of (A Catholic 
Principle and' the Criticism of So- 
cialism). Hubert Hull, . .433 

Socialism, St. Francis and. Father 

Cuthbert, O.S F.C., . . . i 

Spain, Recent Impressions of. A. /. 

Shipman, 656 

Stonor Park and Its Martyrs. Dom 

Bede Camm, O.S.B , . . . 642 

Supreme Problem, The. George M. 

Searle, C.S.P., ' . . .788 

Tabb, Father. Alice Meynell, . . 577 

Thompson's, Francis, " Life of St. Ig- 
natius." Wilfrid Wilberforce, . 510 

Tyrol (The Heart of a People). .F. W. 

Graf ton, S./., . . . .753 

Veronica, Mother Mary, of the Poor 

Clares. Walter Elliott, C.S.P. . 764 

Waiting, The. N. F. Degidon, . , 502 

White Gift, I'h&.Catalina Pdez, . 73 

With Our Readers, 140, 284, 428, 571, 717, 856 



POETRY. 



Assisi, Night in. Amelia Josephine 

Burr, 814 

Beyond. '-John W. Coveney, S./., . 83 



Change, The. Maurice Francis Egan, 322 
Herself. Katharine Tynan, . . 351 

Shepherd, T\it.Hugh F. Blunt, . 492 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Acta et Dicta, . . . . . . 105 

Alcott, Louisa May, .... 698 

American Marriages Fail, Why, . . 817 

American People, The, . . . 390 

Antonio, 102 

Arabian Nights, The, .... 544 

Arundell, Lord, of Wardour, Some Pa- 
pers of, . . . . . 828 

As Others See Us, .... 691 

Atonement, The Doctrine of the, . 825 

Auxilium Infirmorum, . . . . 107 

Baldwin, Big John, .... 547 

Behold Your Mother, .... in 

Bellarmin, La Theologie de, . . 835 
Blessed Virgin, Meditations and Instruc- 
tions on the, . - . . . . no 

Book of the Lily, The, . . . .388 

Buddhisme, ...... 256 

Boys and Girls of Seventy-Seven, . 698 

Breviary, The Roman, .... 103 

Calendar of the Blessed Sacrament, The, 549 
California, The Missions and Missiona- 
ries of, 535 

Catechetical Instructions, A Compen- 
dium of, ^ . _ . . . 688 

250, 



832 
837 



Catechism in Examples, The, 

Catholic Diary for 1910, A, . 

Catholic Doctrine, The Convert's Cate- 
chism of, 836 

Catholic Encyclopedia, The, . . 681 

Catholicity in Philadelphia from the 
Earliest Missionaries Down to the 
Present Time, 387 



Catholic Social Work in Germany, . 403 

Certain Rich Man, A, .... 249 

Challoner, Bishop, Life and Times of, 820 

Changing Voices ; and Other Poems, . 834 
Chretien, L'Experience Esthetique et 

1'Ideal, 399 

Children Live and Learn, How Two 

Hundred, . . . . ; . 686 

Christian Pedagogy, .... 693 
Christian Perfection, The Groundwork 

of . . 826 

Christian Philosophy of Life, The, . 393 

Christmas, The Book of, ... 548 

Christ, the Church, and Man, . . 542 

Christ, The Life of 113 

Christ, The Life of, for Children as 

Told by a Grandmother, . . . 404 

Christ, What Think You of ? . . 396 

City of Peace, The, . . . . 690 
Colin, Venerable Father, The Life of 

the, 249 

Communion Book, A Simple, . . 836 
Compania de Jesus, Historia de la, en 

la Asistencia de Espafia, . . . 822 

Confession ; and Other Verses, . . 833 

Crime Problem, The 688 

Diary and Time-Saver for 1910, . . 259 

Dictionaries, New Standard, . . 258 

Do It To a Finish, .... 697 

Education Morale, La, etses Conditions, 819 

Electricity, Makers of, . . . . 386 

Elizabeth, Queen, The Girlhood of, . 536 

Eloquence, The Principles of, . . 829 



IV 



CONTENTS. 



English Literature, .... 398 
English Poetry, The Romantic Move- 
ment in, 251 

Ethics, The Science of, ... 247 

Everyman's Library, .... 246 

Everyman's Memo Book, . . . 259 
Evolution, The Berlin Discussion of 

the Problem of , ..... 116 
Explorers in the New World, Before 

and After Columbus, . . . 823 

Faith and Reason, .... 836 

Farming It, ...... 695 

Felicita, 692 

Garden Calendar, The, .... 549 

Garibaldi and the Thousand, . . 683 

German People, History of the, . . 533 

Giannella, 547 

Gleanings of Fifty Years, . . . 397 

God of Love, The 687 

Greater Power, The 548 

Great Possessions, .... 680 

Guatemala and Her People, . . . 837 

Guest at the Gate, The, . . . 833 

Happy Ending, 680 

History of the Church, Leading Events 

in the, 109 

Holy Man, The, of Santa Clara, . . 834 
Holy Mountain, The, .... 690 
Holy Sacrafice, The, and Its Ceremo- 
nies, 543 

Homilies for the Whole Year, . . 246 
House of the Heart, The, and Other 

Plays for Children 699 

Humanity : Its Destiny and the Means 

to Attain It, 394 

Hymnal, The Roman, .... 697 

Hymns, Great, of the Middle Ages, . 549 

Islam, La Doctrine de la, ... 255 

Jason, 101 

Jesus Christ the Son of God in Medita- 
tions, The Life of Our Lord, . . 252 
Land of Long Ago, The, . . . 696 

Libris, De, 826 

Life, The Art of, 689 

Lincoln, Abraham, .... 537 

Little Night Brave, The Adventures of, 697 

Little People Everywhere, . . . 658 

Love, Faith, and Endeavor, . . . 8^3 

McCormick, Cyrus Hall, . . . 823 

McDonald, Rev. William, Memoir of, . 398 

Mary's Adventures on the Moon, . . 699 

Mass in the Infant Church, The,- . . 108 

Materialism and Christianity, . . 827 

Matrimonio, Los Espousales y el, . 834 

Mind Healing, The Errors of, . . 257 

Month, The, A Complete Index to, . 836 

Moral Theology, A Short History of, . 258 
Naples, The Mystery of, . . .251 

Necromancers, The, . . . . 546 

New York, The Beginnings of, . . 836 

O-Heart-San, 396 

Peres Apostoliques, Les, . . . 835 



Philosophy, A Brief History of, . . 538 
Pie IX., Les Premieres Pages du Ponti- 
fical de, ...... 400 

Pitman's Commercial Dictionary, . 837 

Pitman's Progressive Dictator, . . 837 

Poems, 833 

Pole, Reginald, The Angelical Cardinal, 1 15 

Quick and Dead, 830 

Recollections, ...... 389 

Red Children, Tales of the, . . . 689 
Religieuse, Etudes de Critique et d'His- 

toire, 831 

Religion Second Book, . . . 112 

Religiosas, Las, 835 

Religious and the Sacred Heart, . . 832 
Retreat for Religious, A Private, . . 250 
Retreat, The Annual, .... 543 
Revolution Fran9aise, Histoire Religi- 
euse de la, 106 

Rhymes, A Round of, . . . . 388 
Roman Empire, An Outline History of 

the, 396 

Sacrament of Duty, The, . . . 539 

Ste. Marie, Rev. Mother, Life of the, . 115 

St. Sidoine Apollinaire, ... 822 

St. Vincent de Paul, Life of, . . 697 

San Celestino, 545 

Scientific Thought, The Trend of, Away 

From Religious Beliefs, . . . 827 

Sermon Delivery, 827 

Seton, Mother, 836 

Seven Little Marshalls, .... 699 

Shaw, George Bernard, .... 244 

Shepherd, The, Who Did Not Go to 

Bethlehem. ..... 837 

Short Story, Writing the, . . . 696 

Silver Lining, The ; and Other Poems, 834 

Silver Shoon, The Romance of the, . 699 

Sixth Reader, . . 836 

Social Forces, 687 

Socialism, At the Root of, . . . 401 

Social Question, The Approach to the, 816 

Sociology of the Bible, The, . . . 100 

South, The Spirit of the, . . . 546 

Spain, Travels in, .... 824 

Speakers of the House, The, . . 391 

Standard Catholic Readers, . . . 254 

Stradella, 694 

Temple, The, 695 

Theologiques, Le Principe des Develop- 

pements, 

Tuberculosis : The Great White Plague, 
Vocation, Choosing a, .... 
Washington's Farewell Address and 

Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration, 402 

White Prophet, The, .... 547 

Woman Who Never Did Wrong, The, 546 

Word Was Made Flesh, And the, . no 

Writing and Speaking, . . . 837 

Young Mothers, Short Talks With, . 693 

Young Priest's Keepsake, The, . . 818 

Youth in the City Streets, The Spirit of, 696 



THE 



CATHOLIC WORLD. 



VOL. XC. 



OCTOBER, 1909. 



No. 535- 



ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM. 




BY FATHER CUTHBERT, O.S.F.C. 

PRESENT-DAY writer, in comparing the ideals 
of a modern American city with those of St. 
Francis, asks the question : " Which of these have 
attained the real secret of success these vision- 
aries of Umbria long dead, or the solid, live men 
who have made Chicago ? Those who get or those who give ? 
Truly if they (the visionaries of Umbria) were right, then the 
modern world is altogether wrong." And he goes on to quote 
from a modern novel: "No, no; I don't see an American 
divesting himself of his goods, preaching poverty, and talking 
to doves. Instead of St. Francis we shall, maybe, have men 
who will lessen poverty and make the world a more comfort- 
able place."* 

These last words undoubtedly represent the sentiment with 
which many thinking men look upon the Franciscan move- 
ment of the thirteenth century and the enthusiasm which has, 
of late years, been evoked by the story of St. Francis and his 
thirteenth, century followers. To them the ideal and method 
of St. Francis are utterly impracticable or, rather, it is not 
their ideal. The spirit and method of St. Francis are alien to 
their conception of life, which implies at least a sufficiency of 
wealth and a comfortable place in the world. 

" Cf. G. Masterman in The Peril of Change, pp. 188-9. I must add that the author does 
not unreservedly endorse the sentiment he quotes. 

Copyright. 1909. THB MISSIONARY SOCIETY OP ST. PAUL THE APOSTLB 
IN THR STATB OF NEW YORK. 

VOL. XC. I 



2 ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM [Oct., 

Nor is this the ideal of men who live simply for themselves ; 
it is the fundamental conception of many an enthusiast for the 
betterment of society and the lot of the poor. They would 
use wealth itself as a means of their own and their neighbor's 
salvation ; through material comfort they would attain to a 
higher human development. 

St. Francis, on the contrary, preached the renouncement of 
wealth and material comfort ; he built up his reform upon the 
principle of poverty the divesting oneself of this world's 
goods. 

Here, then, we have two very different principles of life, 
social and individual : the one relying for salvation upon the 
acquisition and distribution of wealth ; the other upon its re- 
nunciation. 

Now it is necessary to make this sharp distinction because, 
although when we come to apply either principle to social 
life generally, we shall find that they must necessarily overlap 
in any practical scheme, yet the spirit in which one approaches 
the social problem, and to a great extent one's methods, are 
shaped and colored by the principle from which one starts. 

The social problem cannot be settled offhand by the word 
" renunciation " or the word " poverty," any more than it can be 
put at rest by the enunciation of the principle that every man 
may justly claim a material sufficiency. Life is too complex 
for any such easy solution. But in so far as renunciation or 
the endeavor to gain represents a tendency towards an ideal, 
it will determine one's efforts and fashion one's methods. 

I make this remark purposely because much misconception 
has sometimes arisen regarding St. Francis' Gospel of Poverty 
in its application to the question of social reform. St. Francis 
never for a moment assumed that all men would divest them- 
selves of their riches and all be equally poor ; nay, in his idea 
of life he took for granted that some would have wealth and 
others would not ; yet at the same time he did not deprive 
the rich of the benefits bestowed upon the world by the Lady 
Poverty. To the legalist dealing with words, this might seem 
a contradiction or a confusion of thought. But St. Francis 
was an idealist a very practical idealist and he dealt with 
ideals. Poverty to St. Francis was the corner stone of a new 
edifice, the mistress of a new vision of life ; it was not the 
edifice, nor the vision of life. 



1909.] ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM 3 

It is important, in considering St. Francis as a social re- 
former, to remember that he embraced poverty, not as a meas- 
ure of social reform, but as a means of personal sanctification. 
He became poor because in poverty he himself found liberty 
of soul. In the first instance he was thinking of himself not 
of his neighbor; afterwards, when others joined him, he was 
glad because he would share with others that measure of spir- 
itual liberty which he himself had found in poverty. When 
again he feels in himself the call to go forth and preach, he 
does not preach poverty to the people, but the love of God 
and peace amongst men. Only to the .very few does he give 
the invitation to renounce all worldly goods and share with 
him the delightful treasure of his own life of poverty. 

Nor does he ever denounce the possessors of property; in- 
deed, he reckons them amongst his friends, equally with the 
poor and the lepers. What St. Francis does denounce in his 
sermons are the feuds which set the people against one another 
and the avarice and envy and lust of domination which were 
the source of these feuds. But he denounces avarice and am- 
bition, notfso much as a social injustice but as a personal sin. 
In a word, he came before men not directly as a social re- 
former, but as a religious reformer. He had no thought of 
revolutionizing the established forms of society. He took for 
granted the existence of feudal lords and civic republics, even 
as he took for granted man himself. He only appealed to the 
lords and burghers as men and Christians, and sought to 
bring them to a love of God and their neighbor, and to a 
proper discernment of the eternal values of life as opposed to 
the transient earthly values. Where, then, did that "Most 
High Poverty," which he loved so much, come in his preach- 
ing? It was the force behind his words as he urged the su- 
preme value of eternity and the comparative nothingness of 
that material comfort and earthly domination in the strife for 
which men were losing their grip on the spiritual world. 

His appeal to the world was directly for a detachment of 
soul from wealth and power such a detachment as is neces- 
sary to any one who would live the life of the spirit as set 
forth in the Gospel of Christ; and his appeal pierced through 
the materialism of the age, because of his own evident joy in 
absolute poverty. His poverty was the argument for their 
detachment, forcing from them the confession that life had 



4 .ST*. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM [Oct., 

something greater than feudal or civic power or material wealth 
and luxury. 

But though the mission of St. Francis was directly a reli- 
gious mission, addressed to the individual soul, yet it had its 
social effects. In rectifying men's outlook on life, St. Francis 
necessarily laid the foundation of a new social order, especial- 
ly as many of the features of the existing social order were 
due to a distorted moral vision. And he undoubtedly forced 
upon the popular mind certain truths which though not new, 
since they had been proclaimed by the Church time out of mind, 
now for the first time, in that age at least, acquired the force 
of moral realities. Such were the love and respect due to man 
as such, apart from rank or position. 

St. Francis had a tine human feeling, which in him was a 
religious conviction, that embraced all humanity in fraternal 
affection and intimate reverence. It was not that he had any 
theory about the equality of man socially and politically. He 
had no such theories ; he accepted as a matter of course the 
distinctions of rank and position which existed amongst men; 
but behind such acceptance was always an intense feeling for 
the brotherhood of man. Every man, whether rich or poor, 
noble or beggar, was to him a brother, in whose joy or sorrow 
he had a ready interest. Not even crime could divest a man 
of his claim of brotherhood in the eyes of Francis, as the 
Fioretti bears witness in the chapter which tells of the robbers 
of Monte Casale. The reforming influence upon social rela- 
tions of such a truth keenly felt by large numbers of men, can 
be imagined when, as was the case in St. Francis* day, there 
was so wide a separation of class from class, and even family 
trom family. 

Again St. Francis, in glorifying poverty as he did, necessa- 
rily modified the attitude of mind with which the poor were 
regarded by a people who worshipped power and wealth and 
regarded the poor as inferior beings, to be pitied perhaps, but 
otherwise of no account in the scheme of life. The poor under 
the aegis of St. Francis, acquired a certain dignity in the eyes 
of those who fell under his influence. They came to be re- 
garded as liegemen of the Christ Who Himself was poor. 

Yet, again, the Franciscan message of peace most insistent 
note of their preaching necessarily influenced the social re- 
lations of a people, who regarded the family and civic feud as 



1909.] ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM 5 

a matter of honor, and who went forth always armed ready to 
meet a foe. 

In these and various other ways did the Franciscan teach- 
ing influence society and bring about some measure at least of 
social reform. It has been said that the spread of the Fran- 
ciscan movement gave the last blow to Italian feudalism; it 
certainly raised up a strong body of opinion against the 
tyranny of the Italian civic republic; which, far more than 
feudal lordship, was the enemy of individual liberty and the 
fomenter of class feud and bitterness. And in this matter of 
social and political reform the teaching of the Friars was re- 
inforced by the establishment in almost every town and vil- 
lage of Italy of the Order of Franciscan Penitents, called the 
Third Order of Penance. The Tertiaries, as the members of 
this Order were called, were men and women of the world who 
formally professed to live according to the teaching of St. 
Francis; and from the point of view of. the student of social 
reforms, this fraternity has special value, as showing in con- 
crete form the working of St. Francis* Gospel of Poverty. 

The Tertiaries did not necessarily renounce their property; 
in fact, most of them could not do so consistently, considering 
those social duties which St. Francis recognized. But though 
retaining their proprietorship, they yet did so as moral trustees, 
rather than as absolute owners.* Hence, whilst supplying for 
their own needs according to strict frugality, they must also 
assist, as far as they can, their neighbors who are in need. 

Again, they might hold positions of honor and power, yet 
always as ministers and servants of the community, not irre- 
sponsible lords and masters. Further, since they must regard all 
men as friends, they were prohibited from taking part in civic 
or family feuds, and were not allowed therefore to carry arms, 
except in defence of their country or the Church. Amongst 
them as also amongst the Friars manual labor was to be 
held in honor as a means of avoiding idleness which leads to 
sin ; and this at a time when manual labor was regarded as 
proper only to menials. Finally, any God-fearing man or woman 
might be a member of the fraternity, whether noble, burgher, 
or peasant. There was no class hindrance ; in the fraternity all 

* It was a common practice for Tertiaries of means to distribute, from time to time, the 
surplus of their income after providing frugally for their own wants ; or to set apart a fixed 
portion of their income for the poor. 



6 ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM [Oct., 

were brothers whatever might be their rank or station in the 
world. 

Now when it is remembered that the Tertiaries were no 
small body, but were found in large numbers throughout Italy, 
as Pierre de la Vigne, the chancellor of Frederic II., had reason 
to complain, it will be understood how potently their presence 
in the community must have affected the social organism. 

The historian of Assisi, Antonio Cristofani, styles St. Fran- 
cis "the Father of religious democracy." And without doubt 
his principles were democratic, inasmuch as they tended to lift 
man himself above the conventional distinctions of honor with 
Ivhich society labels him, and thereby to win for him a nobler 
liberty; but it was the liberty of the children of God as set 
forth by Christ Himself in His Gospel a liberty which has its 
source in the recognition of the duty which every individual 
owes to God and his fellowman; and it was a liberty secured 
by that spirit of detachment from earthly possession and dom- 
ination, which Christ made a condition for entrance into His 
Kingdom, and which St. Francis idealized in the Lady Poverty. 

From this brief resume of St. Francis' teaching we may de- 
termine its relationship with the Social Reform movement of 
our own time. Some one once said rather foolishly : " We are 
all Socialists now"; and the phrase being taken hold of by all 
sorts of people with large sympathies for the suffering and 
poor has tended to make the word "Socialism" bewilderingly 
elusive and vague. Moreover, it may justly be urged that 
Socialist thought and theory are still in an evolutionary stage, 
and that it is unfair to charge to the present propaganda the 
tenets, often crude and impulsive, of the past. 

Nevertheless certain characteristics seem to cling to the 
Socialist propaganda throughout all its modifications, and to 
determine its tendency. In the first place organized Socialism 
has always tended to the secularizing of the state or commu- 
nity; either it is professedly anti- religious in its teaching, or 
else it simply ignores religion as a factor in the social organ- 
ism. It certainly takes no account of the supernatural in man, 
and its consistent tendency has been to regard the doctrine of 
the supernatural as inimical to man's temporal interests. 

Now it is hardly needful to point out that with a propa- 
ganda of this nature St. Francis can have no part. All his life 
and teaching were suffused with the thought of that greater life 



1909.] Sr> FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM 7 

which is promised in the Gospel and which has been the in- 
spiration and hope of Christian teaching from the beginning. 
To him eternity was the substance of which time is but the 
shadow, and in his endeavor to gain that substance he wil- 
lingly renounced many of those temporal interests which to the 
Socialist seem of such supreme importance. 

Another mark of the Socialist propaganda has been its em- 
phatic insistence upon the rights of men and its persistent fail- 
ure to indicate the duties which flow from these rights. In its 
own way, and wherever Socialist influence has gained sway, it 
has brought about a tyranny as destructive of peace and lib- 
erty as any other tyranny ; and equally as harmful to indi- 
vidual character. 

But St. Francis made his direct appeal to duties rather than 
to rights. He did not urge the weak and the poor to claim 
their due ; but rather he urged the rich and the strong to give 
the poor and the weak their due. Certainly in setting before 
one class of men their duties towards another class, St. Francis 
implicitly or explicitly proclaimed men's rights, since there can 
be no duty without a corresponding right. But the difference 
of method springs from a fundamental difference of temper and 
aim. The claiming of a right may be of merely earthly value ; 
the fulfillment of a duty has in it a directly eternal value. 
One may suffer the loss of one's rights without imperiling 
one's soul; but the same cannot be said of the neglect of 
one's duties. The exclusive insistence upon rights denotes the 
materialist temper ; the insistence upon duties the religious. 

And just as St. Francis laid far more stress upon man's 
duties than upon his rights, so too did he appeal not for jus- 
tice but for love, as the basis of social relations. Indeed, he 
considered that all right- doing must proceed from love that 
consecrated love which in Catholic theology is termed caritas* 
else to him it hardly seemed right- doing. 

It may be said that he would have injustice taken away by 
love and by love only. No other remedy seemed to him to be 
of any consequence or to be real. Hence even the inequalities 
in the social organism gave him a certain satisfaction, for they 
seemed to him to give love its opportunities. The wealth of 

* The word " charity " has come to have so debased and dechristianized a significance in 
our English tongue, as implying a condescension on the part of a superior to an inferior, that 
one now hesitates to use it in the Catholic sense, lest it be misunderstood. 



8 ST. FJtANCIS AND SOCIALISM [Oct., 

the rich would meet in brotherly charity the need of the poor; 
those in power would stretch forth their hands to help the 
weak; and so, out of these inequalities, would come the nobler 
equality of love and friendship. Even mendicancy was, in his 
eyes, invested with a halo of glory, inasmuch as he saw in 
almsgiving a sort of sacrament of mutual good-will between 
giver and receiver.* 

Socialism, however, would seem to proceed upon a different 
principle. Justice and not charity is its immediate ethical 
principle; and upon the basis of justice only does it endeavor 
to build up the social organism. Doubtless it will be urged 
that only on the basis of justice can you establish rights; but 
it is just this exclusive appeal to the rights of men which is 
the moral weakness of the Socialist propaganda. The appeal 
to mere justice, whilst it may be of value in establishing rights, 
can never evoke the sense of duty in its highest and most en- 
during quality. Duty, without love as its impelling force, never 
yet bound hearts together. And it is in the union of hearts 
that social justice has its final security. It is evident, there- 
fore, that between St. Francis and the Socialist propaganda 
there can be no alliance. The only point at which they meet 
is in their common pity for the poor and suffering ; here only 
do they find any kinship of spirit. But the kinship hardly 
goes beyond this primary sentiment of pity. In ultimate ideals 
and actual methods the Franciscan and the Socialist stand far 
apart. 

But whilst co-operation with the Socialist propaganda is 
impossible to the Franciscan, he is not, therefore, out of sym- 
pathy with those political and economic reforms which make 
for the material betterment of the poor or for the liberty of 
all classes in the state. In truth, the Franciscans have gener- 

* Perhaps I may be allowed to point out here what seems so seldom to be understood by 
writers on St. Francis the true significance of mendicancy in the saint's teaching. Mendi- 
cancy was never meant by the saint to take the place of honest labor. Over and over again 
he insists, in his Rule and other writings, that his disciples must work for their bread; only 
where the wages for their work are not given to them are they to go and beg. In actual fact, 
they frequently had to beg, because their labor was not of the kind to bring in wages as, for 
example, their preaching, their attendance on the lepers. Nevertheless, whilst insisting on the 
brethren being always employed in honest work, St. Francis had a peculiar feeling for mendi- 
cancy, because the alms which were given him were the symbol of his neighbors' good-will 
towards him. In the same spirit he would never bargain for wages in any service he gave to 
others. Freely give and freely receive was his principle. Anything in the shape of bargaining 
was abhorrent to his instinct, because it implied self-assertion of a low type, and distrust of 
others' good-will, besides being a temptation to covetousness. 



1909.] ST. F&ANCIS AND SOCIALISM g 

ally been found in sympathy with such reforms; for though 
economic and political aims were not distinctly and consciously 
included in St. Francis* mission, yet, as we have seen, his 
worship of poverty and his principle of all-embracing love 
necessarily set his followers in moral opposition to the reign 
of avarice and oppression against which genuine democratic 
movements are directed. And thus is St. Francis rightly reck- 
oned amonst the prophets of Christian democracy. 

Moreover, that principle of active sympathy with the poor 
and the weak, which St. Francis so insistently inculcated, has 
naturally brought his followers at times into active co-operation 
with political and economic reform. In the circumstances of 
the case we look for such active co-operation to the Tertiaries 
more than to the Friars, since the Tertiaries are more immedi- 
ately brought into contact with the world's affairs; and, in 
point of fact, the history of the Tertiaries in the thirteenth 
century is closely bound up with the political and economic 
history of the time, at least in Italy. But even the Friars 
could not altogether stand aloof. 

The same principle of brotherly charity which led St. Fran- 
cis to make the care of the lepers a particular duty of his 
Friars, also led the Blessed Bernardine of Feltre, in the fifteenth 
century, to rescue the poor from the power of the Jewish 
money-lenders by establishing Monti di fieta ; and his broad, 
humanizing influence, which affected the citizens of Assisi ard 
led to the enfranchisement of the serfs,* is again apparent in 
the relations of the English Friar, Adam Marsh, with Simon 
de Montfort in his struggle for English liberties. In truth the 
deep human feeling of St. Francis naturally brings his disciples 
into sympathy with those movements which make for the bet- 
terment of the lot of the poor or the oppressed or the suffer- 
ing, and knowing St. Francis one would be surprised were not 
his followers to be found carrying out the apostolate of cor- 
poral as well as spiritual mercy.f 

* The charter for the enfranchisement of the serfs was drawn up in 1210. A. Cristofani 
and others consider it was the result of the preaching of St. Francis. 

t Perhaps I may be allowed to call attention here to a work of mercy inaugurated by the 
Capuchin Franciscan Friars in Germany, under the appropriate title : Seraphisches Liedes- 
Werk, which, under the title of The Seraphic Work of Charity, has now a branch in the 
United States, with headquarters at Pittsburgh. The object of the Association is to rescue 
Catholic children who would otherwise receive non-Catholic education. In 1906 the American 
Branch undertook to promote Volunteer Probation Work on behalf of poor Catholic children 
coming before the Juvenile Courts. 



io ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM [Oct., 

But the question of Social Reform goes beyond what we 
understand usually by the corporal works of mercy; it takes 
in the fundamental question of the acquisition and distribution 
of wealth in society generally. As I have already pointed out, 
St. Francis at no time preached absolute poverty as a rule for 
society at large; this rule he laid down only for those who 
united themselves with him in his renunciation of the world. 
Hence, there may well be an alliance between the spirit of St. 
Francis and those Christian social reformers who regard the 
acquisition of wealth and material comfort within certain limits 
as a necessary condition of social and moral betterment, and 
who make it an immediate object to secure for every man, as 
far as possible, the opportunity to gain for himself a sufficiency 
of material comfort. In truth, taking the world as it is, it is 
an abundantly proved necessity that an effort be made to give 
to the thousands of the poor who crowd into the dark corners 
of our industrial life, a greater measure of material comfort 
than they now possess ; and for the sake of their own manhood 
and self-respect, to bring them to acquire it, in some measure 
at least, by their own effort. Only a faddist or a heretic would 
teach otherwise; and St. Francis was neither a faddist nor a 
heretic, but a wholesome-minded Catholic enthusiast; and his 
teaching bears the mark of his wholesomeness. He acknowl- 
edged the right of men to acquire and hold property, even 
though he himself renounced it. But he made three claims 
against the holding of property claims which all must admit 
who stand for a Christian character in society. First, he de- 
manded that in the acquiring and holding of any material 
wealth, there must be sufficient detachment of heart and mind 
to secure a man's soul in its proper spiritual liberty, so that 
his mind and heart be not oppressed by the care for material 
comforts or for secular power, and rendered inert in the pursuit 
of what is spiritual and eternal. 

In the second place, he would have those who hold prop- 
erty to regard it as a trust before God, rather than as an ab- 
solute dominion; so that whatever they held should be not 
merely for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of others 
who are in need. For to St. Francis all men are a family > 
the family of God with claims upon each other. To refuse 
to share one's goods with another who needed help was, in the 
eyes of the saint, a betrayal of the kinship which unites all 



I909-] ST. FRANCIS AND SOCIALISM n 

men in God and a disruption of that bond of charity which he 
regarded as a first law of Christian society. 

Thirdly and this is of the very essence of his message, 
and perhaps its most distinctive note he taught that human 
dignity and the higher development of the moral and spiritual 
life are not necessarily dependent upon material comfort, but 
can be attained even in absolute poverty ; nay, that absolute 
poverty can be the state of the highest spiritual liberty; and 
though in practice it is but the few who find this liberty in 
poverty, yet it is man's right to know that material comfort is 
not an essential condition of moral and spiritual development. 

To withhold this knowledge, or what amounts to the same 
thing to create a system which would lead jmen to regard 
wealth and material comfort as an absolute necessity of a 
Christian life, St. Francis would regard as a betrayal of the 
Gospel of Christ. Yet that is one of the dangers which meets 
the social reformer at all times. In the effort to better the 
material lot of the poor, the idea is apt to gain ground that 
without some measure of wealth and material comfort a man 
is degraded below the proper level of human life and dignity, 
and men come to estimate their own worth by their hold upon 
the things of earth rather than by their hold on things eternal. 

It is in his warning against such error that St. Francis will 
prove an especially valuable ally to the social economic re- 
former. Economic reform easily runs into materialism, unless 
held in check by such faith and mental vision as we find in 
the "Poor Man of Assisi." "Not by bread alone does man 
live, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of 
God," says our Divine Master; and this was the truth vividly 
realized by St. Francis and his disciples, when they set them- 
selves to better the lot of the poor and to awaken the con- 
science of Christian society. 




HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

PART II. STELLA. 
CHAPTER I. 

CHILDHOOD. 

ESIDENTS in Shepherd's Buildings, Mann Street, 
King's Cross, had grown accustomed to the 
" stand-off " ways of Mrs. Mason, who lived at 
the very top of the buildings. 

The great pride and glory of the buildings 
were that their builder, who was a man of imagination and died 
bankrupt, had given the buildings bow-windows, a fact which 
differentiated them from their neighbors. " The Buildings with 
the Bows" was usually enough in the way of direction for 
those who sought in darkest King's Cross, as one might search 
in a haystack for a needle, for any particular one of the flats 
that reared their tall red heads above the insignificant, grimy 
houses which, in their turn, must some day soon make way 
for other buildings as steep and hideous. 

Mrs. Mason's flat was quite to itself at the very top of 
No. 4 Shepherd's Buildings. It had its own little flight of 
stairs, which made it peculiarly isolated. It was in fact a sort 
of attic to the buildings, which roared and fought and starved 
and sweated below it, shut out of sight and hearing by the 
swing door at the foot of the little staircase and the bright 
green door with a brass knocker, which shut away Mrs. Mason 
and her little girl into a kingdom of their own. 

As you knocked at the brass knocker you were aware of a 
curious opening in the wall above the electric bell, an opening 
as large as a dinner-plate at your end of it, but narrowing in- 
wards. This was a .device of the imaginative builder, for 
which the inhabitants of the buildings were grateful, a device 
by which it was possible to inspect the person who knocked at 
the door before giving him admittance. In proportion as it 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 13 

was a source of delight to the owner of the castle it was un- 
popular with those who called with a little bill, or who desired 
to deliver a summons. It was, in fact, a curiously unselfish 
device of the builder, who certainly looked forward when he 
built the flats to receiving the rents; and its existence was a 
cause of special objurgation to the representatives of those 
who had profited by the late Mr. Shepherd's ill-luck, whose 
task of collecting the rents on Monday mornings was increased 
a thousand times in difficulty by the existence of the spy- 
hole, as the ingenious device was known in the buildings. 

There had never been any difficulty about Mrs. Mason's 
rent. As long as little Estelle could remember the rent had 
been made up in a neat little twist of paper and set on the 
corner of the sitting-room mantel-piece every Monday morning, 
awaiting the knock of the rent- collector, which came punctual- 
ly about noon. Everything else was paid as punctiliously. 
Yet Mrs. Mason used the spy- hole as assiduously when there 
was a knock at the door as the most debt-harassed of her 
neighbors* 

Estelle could remember the time when her mother had 
started for every knock at the door. That was a long time 
ago, in that dim border land of memory beyond which lay 
gardens and lawns and a great house and carriages and horses 
and servants ; and, most beautiful of all, a great big handsome 
papa who doted on his little daughter and loaded her with all 
manner of gifts. There were days when Estelle had cried "to 
go home," and her mother had tried to comfort her with a 
frightened face. Gradually the memories had become faint and 
blurred; and the child had grown used to her new estate, 
which was a lonely enough one for a healthy, normal- minded 
child. 

Estelle and her mother hardly ever went out at first. Mrs. 
Mason gave lessons on the piano at home, and when she had 
no pupils worked at lace-making. The most familiar fact of 
Estelle's childhood was her mother bending to the window to 
catch the light for the fine stitches. Luckily they were high 
above the street. Estelle used often wonder how any one ever 
lived down the deep, dark well of the street. Up there at the 
top of the buildings there was light and air and sky, and the 
dome of St. Paul's, and many church spires standing up above 
a wilderness of chimney pots. 



14 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

Sometimes there were Turneresque effects of church-spires 
in a rosy mist of sunset and smoke; or there was a wonder- 
ful sky of stars above the lurid light of the streets; or the 
lightning flashed and leaped along the horizon; and all these 
were sights Mrs. Mason liked her little girl to see and admire. 
She had even lifted her from her bed to see the lightning 
when it was unusually splendid, and had told her that this and 
all beautiful things were among the wonderful works of God, 
and so to be praised and reverenced. 

At first the neighbors had disliked Mrs. Mason, because she 
was plainly a lady and desired to keep herself aloof. But 
finding that she was kind and helpful in cases of sickness or 
poverty, and was always ready to advise or nurse or do what 
she could, the feeling in time came to be rather one of admira- 
tion and pride in possessing her. In fact, the inhabitants of 
No. 4 came to have a distinct advantage over their neighbors 
in the matter of Mrs. Mason. 

"There's a lady lives at the top of our 'ouse," they would 
say, " as is a lady. None o' your flyaways. An* 'er flat as 
grand as grand. Pictures and books and cushions to the chairs, 
and the walls as white as white, although she don't keep no 
servant. An' 'er little kid. You couldn't see a nicer lady's 
child not if it was ever so." 

The neighbors at first put down these remarks of the No. 
4's as romancing, till they in time became acquainted with the 
appearance of Mrs. Mason and her little daughter; and that 
took some time, for in the early years of her life at Shep- 
herd's Buildings Mrs. Mason only went out when the shades 
of evening had fallen. 

Mrs. Mason's flat and Mrs. Mason's little girl were in those 
days a sort of window in fairyland to the children of Shepherd's 
Buildings. The children had peeped in at the door of the flat 
and beheld its glories, the modest brown carpet on the floor, 
the water-colors on the white walls, the few little bits of china 
and pottery, the piano, the book- shelves to them it repre- 
sented splendors as unattainable as those of Park Lane. And 
the little girl, with her flame of hair and her delicate face, in 
the pretty frocks her mother made for her, was as fine as the 
fairies in the pantomime to which some of the children of 
Shepherd's Buildings were admitted once a year. 

Mrs. Mason watched over her little daughter with a jealous 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 15 

dread. Of course there was no friendship possible between her 
and the children of the buildings, not even between her and 
the children who came for music- lessons to the flat, the chil- 
dren of neighboring greengrocers and butchers and the like. 
In fact Mrs. Mason lost her best pupils, the three daughters 
of Mr. Vine, the butcher, by refusing an invitation to their 
Christmas party for Estelle. 

"Nasty, stuck-up thing," said Mrs. Vine. "She don't know 
'er place. An' me payin' a pound a quarter too for Enid, 
Elaine, and Guinevere ! " 

It was, of course, a drawback in the money-earning way that 
in those early years Mrs. Mason would not visit pupils in their 
own homes; because, of course, careful mothers of the little 
shop-keeping class did not care for their daughters to go to 
Shepherd's Buildings, which every one knew was a low-down, 
workingman's place. 

However, when Estelle was about seven her mother dis- 
covered a convent of French refugee nuns who had dropped 
down in a big house of an old, decayed square close at hand. 
The nuns had opened a little school, besides doing their flam- 
boyant embroidery for church purposes, by way of a living. 
The school was, in the nature of things, a very small one; but 
the safety and harmlessness of the place were a Godsend to 
Mrs. Mason, who was terribly afraid of the streets of London 
for the child. She could leave her there every morning, fetch 
her home for dinner as she returned from her round of tuitions, 
deposit her again in the afternoon, and claim her finally about 
the tea-hour. The big, roomy house had an old garden, with 
elm-trees where thrushes and blackbirds sang as soon as they 
did in the country. The nuns had brought some boarders with 
them from France, demure French children who wore their 
hair in pig-tails, who could shriek at play-time with a shrillness 
to surprise the islander. It was a safe and happy shelter for 
little Estelle, where she had the playmates she had lacked be- 
fore, and received an education from the nuns which was sup- 
plemented by the influence of the place, with its atmosphere 
of peace and refinement. 

Meanwhile Estelle's mother widened her sphere of teaching, 
going as far afield as some of the Bloomsbury squares and flats, 
and getting a much more profitable class of pupils by so doing. 

Sometimes some of those patrons of hers would make her 



1 6 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

free of a square or enclosure; and when it was summer weather 
she would sit with little Estelle under a bower of lilac or haw- 
thorn and do her lace-work, while the little girl read by her 
side, or bowled her hoop demurely along the gravel paths. 

There were even afternoons of summer very rare and pre- 
cious afternoons these were when mother and child would get 
into the train at King's Cross or St. Pancras and go away into 
the green country, where they would have a few precious hours 
among fields or woods, have tea at a cottage or an inn, and 
come back to Shepherd's Buildings greatly refreshed in spirit 
to dream of future outings. 

Mrs. Mason dressed her daughter daintily and prettily, as 
became her pretty age. For herself she bought as few new 
clothes as consisted with being respectably dressed. She was 
always in black, and always wore the somber veil which one 
associates with widows and people abroad who mourn their 
dead. As she went from place to place she kept her veil down, 
even when the weather was hot and she gasped for air. Only 
when she and Estelle had reached the quiet fields where they 
were quite alone did she throw back the stifling veil. And 
even then, if she heard a footstep coming their way she would 
hastily draw down the veil and would remain so till the harm- 
less intruder had passed out of sight. 

CHAPTER II. 

FIAMMETTA. 

The years passed and every one seemed to bring its portion 
of gifts and graces to shower them upon Estelle Mason. 

Despite the cramped London life she had perfect health, 
although hers was a spiritual beauty, which to the undiscerning 
often suggested delicacy. She grew tall and straight and slender 
as a young branch blown in the wind. There was a delicate 
color in her cheeks. Her hair, light and lifted by every breeze 
that blows, made a cloudy halo about her young, intense face. 
Her blue eyes were lambent flames. She did nothing that was 
not graceful. She was charming; but if she knew of her charm 
it was in a manner of detachment. If people praised her she 
seemed as though she would efface and abstract herself. She 
was a great lover of poetry and music. The nuns had taught 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 17 

her many feminine accomplishments and much dainty French 
housewifery. She was not unlike a French girl, with her fine, 
usually colorless, skin. She wore her clothes with a French 
cleverness. Above all, she had a delightful voice, which the 
nuns trained to the best of their ability, bidding her remember 
that her voice was the gift of God and should be dedicated to 
His service. 

The conventual life, although it appealed to her imagina- 
tion, was, she knew, not for her. If there had been no other 
barrier, there was her mother she would never leave her 
mother. There were other ways of using her voice for God 
than singing with the nuns behind the grille in the convent 
chapel. She could not hear a thrush or blackbird sing without 
having her thoughts lifted to God. Why should not her voice 
do as much beyond the strict confines of the convent chapel? 

The nuns sent for Mrs. Mason and urged on her the culti- 
vation of her daughter's voice. At first she seemed averse 
from the idea. There was no place near at hand where a voice 
could be trained. She would not have her running about Lon- 
don by herself. There was a faint shriek in her tone as she 
said it. And she herself could not think of leaving where she 
was, where she had formed a connection. Estelle must learn 
what she could in the neighborhood. 

At last a way was discovered. There was a certain very 
old maestro living in one of the dusty squares, who had been 
famous in his day, but had outlived most of his patrons and 
pupils. Few of the people who had known him in his hey-day 
knew that he still lived. His voice was now only a thin, 
cracked old fiddle, but he had his method still, his wonderful 
method, which had trained a prima donna and prepared many 
lesser lights for the stage. 

He heard Estelle sing, and groaned over her method while 
he wept with pleasure for her voice. He did not now take 
pupils. He was too old; and the great voices went elsewhere. 
But for the sake of his valued friends, the nuns, and for the 
love he bore to art, he was going to do what he could for the 
young lady. 

Estelle had dreams, as what young girl would not. The 
Signer who had trained La Telia's voice was going to under- 
take hers. Who could say what she might not achieve ? Who 
could tell what she might not do for her mother? It was all 
VOL. xc. 2 



1 8 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

for her mother in these days. Sister Margaret, her good friend 
at the convent, to whom she imparted her dreams, smiled and 
sighed over them. 

" Poor little one ! " she said, " it is all for the mother. 
Long may it be so. She is too tender and sensitive a thing 
for the rough world." 

"Saon, little mother, you will toil no more for me," Estelle 
said to the faded, still pretty, woman, "you shall sit at home 
and do what you like. You shall have a sealskin coat for the 
winter and pretty things for the summer ; and plenty of books 
to read and flowers to look at; and we shall not be in the 
buildings any more. There are country cottages to be had 
not so far from London. Ours shall sit right in the middle of 
a garden; and a thick hedge~shall shut it off from the world. 
There will be sweet-briar in the hedge and clumps of laven- 
der in the garden. And there will be an orchard and a 
meadow, and a little wood where the nightingales will sing. 
It will be an old, old cottage, and we shall have a tidy, bright- 
faced maid, and a dear dog^to take care of us " 

She paused, a little out of breath, and laughed. 

" We deserve all that," she]went on, " after so many years 
of the buildings. Do what we can, we can't keep out the 
smell of the buildings' washing-days ; and the buildings' greens 
a-boiling; nor the sound of the women quarreling and the 
men grumbling and the ^children crying. Up here one can 
think of sweet and delicious things, as one always can at the 
convent; but there are always the stairs of the buildings to be 
traversed before one gets up here the dirty stairs, and the 
evil smells and the sound of the*babies crying and the women 
scolding. Ah " 

She closed with a little fastidious shudder. 

" If it had not been for thee, petite maman " she had 
learned the way from the nuns " I^believe I should have fled 
from the buildings into the convent. It is all clean there, as 
it is clean here." 

"You have minded it so much, Estelle?" the mother said 
wistfully. 

" I have detested it. The country has beckoned me as an 
oasis of palms and deep water-wells beckons the traveler dying 
in the desert. Only there was always an oasis close at hand 
You ! " 

After this conversation the mother sighed at intervals, while 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER ig 

she read or worked, forgetting sometimes that her daughter's 
wakeful love was aware of those sighs. Once, while Estelle 
was absent at a music lesson, she turned out ot an old work- 
box, fitted with mother of pearl bobbins and reels, most of its 
contents, all manner of odds and ends, till, at the bottom, she 
discovered an envelope neatly inscribed with a date. She took 
from it a newspaper cutting and read it over to herself. It 
was quite old now and it had been pasted on to a sheet of 
note-paper the better to preserve it. 

"To Mrs. Nesta Moore," it ran, "widow of James Moore, 
her heirs or representatives. The said Nesta Moore is a bene- 
ficiary under the will of the late Miss Elizabeth Moore. Her 
address is sought for by Messrs. Lincoln & White, Solicitors, 
Valley, Loamshire." 

Mrs. Mason had dropped a good many tears over that 
newspaper cutting. One or two of the tears had dropped on 
the cutting itself, making the print faint. 

She read it, for the hundredth time perhaps. If she could 
only put out her hand and take this gift from the dear old 
woman who had loved her and been good to her! It might 
mean the country cottage the child sighed for. Bat she was 
afraid ; the habit of fear was upon her. She said to herself 
that her heart had been cowed within her ever since Jim died, 
her brave, strong, beautiful Jim. Of course they couldn't take 
the child from her now. Estelle would choose for herself and 
choose her mother. Yet 

Suddenly the key turned in the lock outside, and almost 
before she was aware of it Estelle was in the room, bringing 
the West Wind with her. It was a West Wind day ; and the 
unusual color was bright in the girl's cheek. Turning round 
with the cutting still in her hand the mother had an intuition 
of the incongruity between Estelle and her surroundings. A 
lily on a dung-heap, a country bird amid the smuts and foul- 
nesses of mean London streets. 

"The poor old Signer is ill with bronchitis, too ill to give 
me a lesson," she said, "so I came straight home. It is a 
glorious day. The spring has found us out even in London. 
Let us make up a picnic basket and go off into the country. 
I stopped at the cook-shop to get a few slices of ham; and I've 
brought a lettuce and a little fruit. Let us pack up the tea- 
pot. We'll find a cottager to give us hot water. What is 
that you have got there, Mummie ? " 



20 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

She stooped over her mother's shoulder and read the ad- 
vertisement. 

" How nice it would be if it were for us ! " she said, " if it 
were we who were the beneficiaries. The Signer wants me to 
go to the Royal College of Music. He is gloomy over his 
bronchitis. He is always like that, thinking he will never give 
me another lesson. To-day he was downright discouraging. 
' It is a very sweet voice,' he said, 'but you will never sing 
in opera. Oh, no, you will never sing in opera. And if you 
did, what then ? 'Tis only a few years for the best of us. 
The woman's place is at home, ah, heaven ! at home. The 
opera it is to break the heart, unless you are strong as a 
lion and as brave.' You see he was in a mood of despond- 
ency. Why, what is the matter, Mummie, you are pale ? " 

Mrs. Mason was putting away the things she had taken 
from the workbox. She was pale, and she felt weak. She 
said to herself that it was natural after the long winter. It 
had been such a long winter. 

They had their day in the country together. It was de- 
licious, if it was all too short. When they got back to London 
it was raining. The streets were in puddles. The omnibus 
steamed with the vapor of wet clothes, was rank with the 
smell of waterproofs. 

For the first time Mrs. Mason noticed that her daughter 
attracted attention. People stared at her in the 'bus. One or 
two men leaned from their hansoms to catch a sight of the 
young, flame-like figure and face, straight and graceful as a 
poplar in spring. One young man, evidently a gentleman, 
came up to them at a dangerous crossing, where the mother 
hesitated while the daughter, with an arm about her shoulders, 
urged her forward, and offered his assistance. He was quite 
a youth, dark, blue-eyed, with an air of good-breeding which 
was unmistakable. He did not seem to glance at Estelle, but 
when he had taken them across and lifted his hat and left 
them, he stood staring after them for a second or two, un- 
aware of the jostling, hurrying crowd. 

"What a face!" he said, "to leap out of the London 
darkness. Fiammetta that must be her name. I have a mind 
to follow them ; but, if they discovered me, they would think 
me a cad. Fiammetta 1 I wonder if I shall ever see her 
again." 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 21 

CHAPTER III. 

AN ADVERTISEMENT IN THE POST. 

The Signer's bronchitis did not mend very rapidly, and 
Estelle' was at home for some weeks, during which she prac- 
tised a great many hours a day, making the flat at the top of 
Shepherd's Buildings like a grove of nightingales, and bring- 
ing the neighbors crowding the stairs to hear her. 

But practise as she would she was dissatisfied that her mother 
must come and go in all weathers, while she, a great, lazy, 
overgrown thing, as she put it herself, could stay in the house 
in comfort if the day were not inviting, could do pretty well 
what she would, while her delicate little mother must keep the 
treadmill round. 

It ended in her procuring some tuitions for herself, partly 
through the nuns, partly through the Signer, and her joy and 
pride when she brought home her first earnings to her mother 
were very pleasant things to see. 

" I shall not rest," she said, "till you are able to sit 
there" indicating the fireside arm-chair "just whenever you 
like." It was a particularly unpleasant East Wind day, when 
the whole world was pinched and arid ; and within the little 
flat it was pleasant with firelight and lamplight, and the 
green and white china cups on a little white cloth on the 
table. These were the hours that made life worth living to 
the mother and daughter. " Here am I, a grown woman, and 
you have been earning for me up to this. I take shame to 
myself for it. Why didn't you set me to work at the begin- 
ning instead of leaving me so long with the nuns and then 
handing, me over to the Signor?" 

" But there was your singing, darling," said the mother. 

"Yes, so there was my singing. But who knows if the 
Signor will ever teach me again ? He has had so much asthma 
this winter. And he talks incessantly of what a hard life it 
is for women, the life of the professional singer; and of how 
so many get pushed to the wall and so many go under. I 
tell him that I shall not get pushed to the wall or go under; 
but he says that with my face I had better have given my 
voice to the good God. He gets stranger and stranger, the 
Signor. Why with my face? Why should it be against me?" 



22 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

The mother sighed at the innocent question. Estelle was 
not so beautiful as noticeable. Every day it seemed she grew 
more flower-like, more gracile, like a lily in bud. It was not 
a beauty for the vulgar. The buildings had never thought 
much of Estelle's looks. It was something for the artist and 
the lover of spiritual beauty. 

She used to come in to the Signor in his great dingy 
room, where he huddled above his gas stove, fresh as the 
daffodils she brought him. Sometimes she flashed in the same 
way on the jaded eyes of some wayfarer in the London streets. 
She was Fiammetta, as the boy who had helped them at the 
crossing had called her. Once an artist followed her home 
and begged her mother to let her sit to him. 

" I want to paint her in a meadow full of spring flowers," 
he said, " in a white gown with her arms full of flowers. It 
will be something jewel-like. Pray do not refuse me." 

He was a young man of low stature with a clipped golden 
head, shining blue eyes, and a warm color. If he had had 
but stature he would have been splendid. He was winning 
enough as he implored Mrs. Mason ; but she would not listen 
to him. She had a fear when she was speaking to him, a cold 
fear that clutched her heart. The young man might be well 
enough in himself. For her he typified the world in which 
dangers lay in wait for her girl. 

She bowed him out remorselessly ; and the incident made 
her fear of London greater. To be sure Estelle was now a 
woman in years; she ought to be able to take care of her- 
self; but the nuns and her mother between them had kept her 
life an enclosed garden. She knew nothing of the perils and 
the pitfalls that awaited her in the world. She had had no 
one to open her eyes. All the grosser side of life was hidden 
from her. It was perhaps the sense of her innocence that 
made the Signor so averse from exposing her to the life of 
the woman who must fight for her place. 

The tuitions were safe enough. They were in schools or con- 
vents, hardly ever with private pupils. Estelle brought home 
money to her great delight. The mother sought for no new 
pupils to replace some she had lost. It was now her turn to 
be indoors and to prepare the fire and the comfortable meal 
against the return of the working-woman, who was often wet 
through ; often when the summer came, languid with heat, 



1909.3 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 23 

Estelle came in sometimes tired and dispirited, having met some 
rudeness or rebuff or injustice during the day. 

The mother was unhappy about it. Estelle would have her 
way, although the Signer, when his asthma was in abeyance, 
grumbled that the hard life would destroy the girl's voice; he 
had known such evil results from a heavy wetting, from an 
exposure to a bitter wind. And her lessons had all but ceased. 
He had not known he was training her for such a life ; to 
break her heart against the stupidity of blockheads. Her 
mother had much better let the convent have her. A mind, a 
spirit like hers, would have been safer with the good God. 

In those days more than once Mrs. Mason took out that 
advertisement with a half- resolve to write to the solicitors. 
But she would have to reveal herself, and she felt less and 
less able for what might ensue. She said to herself that she had 
not one friend in the world upon whom she could really lean. 
She had been Mrs. Mason so long, that all that other life seemed 
distant and unreal. She had no near relative. There was 
Godfrey. She wondered what had become of Godfrey. Per- 
haps he was dead. During the first year at Shepherd's Build- 
ings she had read that Godfrey had been dangerously wounded. 
Perhaps he had died of the wound. All the other people of 
the old life had become shadowy and unreal. To which of 
them could she appeal for help for Estelle or herself, if she 
were to come out of the grave of those years to be Nesta 
Moore once more ? 

It was the second winter of Estelle's independence, and the 
mother was worried because the girl had a cold which lay like 
a cloud upon her brightness, and her own weakness was more 
confirmed than before. She had paid a surreptitious visit to 
a doctor, and he had comforted her by telling her that she 
was quite sound, only needing good food and change of air 
and cheerful surroundings. Couldn't she get away somewhere, 
to the fields or the sea ? He gave her a prescription for a 
tonic and told her to come again so that he might judge if 
she improved. But change of air and scene and cheerful sur- 
roundings would be better than any prescription he could give 
her. Above all no worry. " I can see that you worry about 
something," he said, with a kind little pat of the shoulder. 
The pretty, frightened woman interested him. " No worry, 
no worry," he said; and then smiled with a humanity which 



24 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

had brought and kept him many patients. " It is so easy for 
me to talk, isn't it ? " 

On her second visit she waited in Dr. Orme's dining-room, 
where a score of people sat turning over the illustrated papers. 
She had a memory of something that might have happened in 
another life, so dim and distant was it, of the time she had 
waited for Jim, and seen him come out from the doctor, with 
his death sentence written in his eyes, in just such a room. 

She took up a paper hurriedly as a distraction. It was 
the Morning Post. A long column of advertisements was under 
her eyes. She read it down mechanically. Suddenly she 
paused at one, looking at it with dilated eyes. She had caught 
sight of names that belonged to that other life. 

"Wanted: A young lady as Companion- Governess to a 
delicate boy of twelve. Must be musical and fond of reading 
and games and out-door life. Must be thoroughly trustworthy, 
kind, and patient. Salary ,100 a year. Apply to Stephen 
Moore, Esq., Outwood Manor, Burbridge, Loamshire." 

She stared at it, and the words danced before her eyes. 
So Stephen must have married and had a son. The child 
would have all that should be Estelle's. What a strange, 
strange chance that she should have lit upon the advertise- 
ment, she who hardly ever opened a newspaper. Her thoughts 
were in a whirl while she saw the doctor, and while she went 
home in the 'bus, not daring to walk lest Estelle should have 
come in before her and should catechise her in her bright, fond 
way as to what had taken her abroad on a particularly un- 
pleasant day. 

She stirred up the fire and lit the lamp, moving hither and 
thither while she made the room pleasant for the girl when 
she should come in. She put Estelle's slippers to warm in the 
grate. She knelt before the fire and toasted the bread for the 
tea. All the time her mind was working. She would, she 
would not; she dare, she dare not. 

Ah, there was Estelle's foot on the stairs ! There was 
Estelle's bright face, Estelle's dear voice apologizing gaily for a 
wet umbrella and muddy shoes and a draggled, wet skirt. 

And all of a sudden the mother knew that there was only 
one way, and that at last, at last, she was going to take it. 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 25 

CHAPTER IV. 

CONFESSIONS. 

She hovered about the girl with a more anxious tenderness 
than usual; helped her off with her wet garments and into a 
warm, comfortable dressing-gown. She brushed out Estelle's 
shining hair, which was sprinkled with rain, and stood out more 
cloudily because of the damp. She pulled off her wet shoes 
and stockings, and knelt holding the cold, slender feet in her 
hands, rubbing them with a warm towel, while the girl pro- 
tested half-shyly. She wanted to do these things for herself; 
but the passion and glory of motherhood in the woman's eyes 
frightened her a little. With such a look had Nesta Moore 
held her baby's feet against her breast more than a score 
of years ago. 

It was the hour of the day they both loved, when they 
were together and need go out no more into the wet, unhome- 
like street. It was always so comfortable to sit down together 
to the tea-meal, which was dear to them as to most women. 
But to-day Mrs. Mason's movements were awkward. She 
fumbled with the things she touched; finally knocked down a 
saucer and broke it. They both stooped together, to pick up 
the pieces, and their hands met. 

"Why, you are cold," Estelle said; "yet you have been 
by the fire and the day is not cold. There, sit down in your 
comfortable chair. I am going to wash up presently. You 
don't suppose I shall let you do things for yourself or for me. 
You shall know the comfort of having a daughter." 

" Why I have known that since the hour you were born." 

She tried to work at her lace while Estelle bustled about 
getting things in order, but she only entangled the threads 
which got into knots and broke off short. Her hands trem- 
bled excessively and were very cold. There was nothing to 
fear in the story she had to tell ; but the events of long ago 
had increased her natural timidity. If it were not for Estelle 
she would have preferred to remain dead as people had come 
to believe her. But there was Estelle, at whose brightness, as 
of the evening star, men looked curiously in the street. Es- 
telle must not be left alone if anything were to happen to her. 



26 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct., 

And there was no provision. The five hundred pounds which 
had come to her from her aunt, and which proved so opportune 
in time of need, had dwindled to its last dregs. If she were 
to be ill even why, how should Estelle, the poor child, keep 
the wolf from the door ? 

"Well, Mummie, what is it?" 

Estelle sat down opposite to her, took her cold hands and 
chafed them. 

" It is something I have to tell you, child ; something you 
ought to have known before perhaps. It is the story of my 
life, Estelle." 

" Of your life. What is there to tell, little mother ? You 
have told me how you were brought up by your aunt in the 
country and lived with her till you married. And that after 
my father's death you carried your grief and sorrow away to 
London. Is there more than that?" 

"There is more than that." 

While the shadows grew in the room, where the lamp was 
yet unlit, mother and daughter leant together; the daughter 
controlling the mother's agitation, holding the trembling hands 
in her young, firm grasp, encouraging and comforting her with 
soft words of compassion and sympathy, till the tale ended 
with the beginning of the life at Shepherd's Buildings. 

It seemed that Nesta Moore had met with good Samaritans 
on that night journey long ago, who had taken her and her 
little child by the hand and kept her till she was able to think 
and act for herself. Looking back to her childhood Estelle 
remembered them, Captain John Burrowes, the delightful, sim- 
ple old sailor-man, always so spruce, with a flower in his coat, 
and his comfortable old wife with peaceful eyes, gray- blue like 
lavender. They had been the only visitors who ever came to 
see them ; and they had always brought the child toys and 
sweets and cakes, although they had grandchildren of their 
own, scattered about in various sea-board towns, for Captain 
Burrowes' sons had all taken to the sea. And then one day 
Mrs. Burrowes had come alone and in black, and had wept, 
clinging to Mother and trembling like a leaf. She had come 
again and again ; but she had rather frightened Estelle, being 
always in black and so ready to weep. And then she too had 
disappeared out of the picture. 

"And was there no one you could have gone to? No one 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER a; 

who would have stood by you ? " the girl asked with tender 
pity, fondling the mother's hands. 

" I only wanted to get away with you, child. I was so 
frightened lest they should take you from me. There were 
people who would have stood by me if I had stayed. John 
Lee, the lawyer who drew the will, would have helped. He 
was bitterly opposed to it, And there were others friends, 
acquaintances." 

"You should have stood your ground, little mother; you 
should, indeed. They could have done you no harm. The law 
would have stepped in. The whole world must have known 
that Papa's will covered a trust for you. How could any one 
think otherwise?" 

The mother passed her hand over her brow as though she 
were confused. 

" They said things " not for worlds could she have told 
her young daughter what those things were "they would 
have made out a case against me, to prove that I had alienated 
my Jim's affection from me. They were wicked and they hated 
me. And they threatened to take you from me " 

"They couldn't. The stones would have cried out. Such 
a little, innocent, gentle mother ! You would have had cham- 
pions everywhere. But all that is over and done. Do you think 
now I am going to let you bend your back and blind your 
dear, beautiful eyes over that lace-making ? I am going to 
right you, little mother. They shall answer for it to me before 
the world." 

She lifted her head proudly and an oblique shaft of sun- 
shine, suddenly piercing the Western clouds, set her hair alight 
about her young brows. There was something conquering, 
Olympian, about her, that made the poor little tired mother 
gaze at her in wonder. 

"You are like your father, Estelle," she said. "Your fa- 
ther feared nothing in the world. And I I was made to fear 
everything." 

" I wonder what Papa would have' thought of your cower- 
ing here all these years, as though you fled from justice; as 
though you, and not they, had sinned. Hiding even your name. 
Little mother, you ought to have had more fight in you." 

Her hand caressed her mother's hair, taking the sting of 
reproach from the words. 



28 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Oct. 

"So it was you," she said suddenly, "they were advertis- 
ing for in that newspaper scrap I once found you poring over. 
Whose will was it under which you benefited then ? " 

" My one friend other than your father during those years 
at the Mill House. They were beautiful years, as I see them 
now, because your father was with me. What did all the rest 
matter ? Child, child, it is not enough to be happy. We must 
know that we are happy as well." 

" I always know that I am happy. I have never yet known 
a time when I was not happy. But I shall be happiest of all 
as your champion and protector. I shall stand by your side, 
as Papa would have done if he had lived, and shelter you. 
The wrong has lasted a long time. I suppose they think that 
God has forgotten them. They will know He has not when I 
come." 

Again the sinking sun lit up the golden head and the 
mother was reminded of something. What was it ? Perhaps 
the St. George of Donatello a St. Michael. Something she 
had seen somewhere in that long-buried past. 

" And you let her legacy go too," the girl went on quietly. 
"I wonder if she was unhappy about it where she went, if 
any one could be unhappy there. Why, you had nothing but 
fears, nothing but fears. But you are never going to be afraid 
any more with me to take care of you." 

(TO BE CONTINUED.) 




A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS. 

BY CHARLTON BENEDICT WALKER. 

f OTHING is more striking to one who casually 
turns over the pile of publishers' catalogues 
which accumulate upon his study table, than 
the constant output of devotional literature : 
prayer books of every kind and at every price ; 
schemes of meditation; companions for the altar; pious ex- 
tracts for every day in the year; religious poetry; hymns; 
books about prayer vocal and mental ; reprints of the writ- 
ings of the great masters of intercourse with God, pour from 
the press in a constant stream. And when one spends an 
hour or so in glancing through some of the latest of these 
productions, as they lie ready for sale, one is struck by the 
fact that much of this vast supply is excellent and much of it 
is ephemeral; for devotion, like all else, has its fashions and 
its seasons; none of it, no single book can, of course, be con- 
sidered as complete containing in itself all that a Christian 
can need in the matter of prayer for the needs of the soul 
are, as the words and deeds of our Lord, too many for the 
world to contain if they were written in books. 
But this constant output of devotional literature is in itself 
evidence of a constant demand. This demand is not self-evi- 
dent. We are over four hundred years from the introduction 
of printing, and it would not be surprising if we had long ago 
settled, by a process of steady elimination, upon a standard 
work in each department of devotion, suitable for every class 
which finds its home in the household of Faith. Yet this, need 
not disturb us; it is but one more sign of the buoyancy and 
freedom of the life which is lived in the Catholic Church, the 
life which is inspired by the Divine, and which vibrates to its 
furthest limits in response to the beatings of the Sacred Heart 
of its Reedeemer. Perhaps because it is realized that the eye 
of authority will scan its pages before it reaches the eye of 
the faithful; rather, I venture to think, because of the splen- 
did tradition which has constantly inspired the efforts of the 



30 A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS [Oct. 

Catholic publishing world, little indeed is put forward which is 
entirely worthless. But, at the same time, any one who has 
had much experience of this kind of literature will not hesi- 
tate to affirm that in every devotional book there is much that 
is of questionable value. And this, first, because it does not 
meet the immediate need in the simplest way ; secondly, be- 
cause it is so often couched in language which is not that of 
ordinary, familiar, affectionate converse with God how often 
is an expression, a phrase found which, by its awkwardness 
and the unfamiliarity of its language, breaks the flow of the 
conversation which it should sustain ? or, thirdly, because it 
has confounded the desire to teach with the attitude of the 
disciple to the Teacher, just as the attempt to invent a new 
form for the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, in the Book of 
Common Prayer of 1549, resulted in a didactic address to the 
sick man, far removed from the ordered simplicity of the form 
which the change hoped to replace. And, further, were it not 
that vocal prayer is but the stepping-stone to that wider prayer 
which throws away crutches that have helped it to the waters 
stirred by Angel-hands, one would ruthlessly abandon prayers 
such as those of St. Thomas or St. Bonaventure, written, not 
for use as vocal prayers, but rather as suggestions for mental 
prayer. 

The suggestions which follow, therefore, are no plea for a 
new book of devotions. They are rather a demand, from a 
layman to laymen, for a general bracing-up of the subject, for 
further investigation by those principally concerned in a ques- 
tion of great importance. Yes, the question is not merely im- 
portant, but enormously important. If the priest is on the 
mount with Moses and Elias, we are below in the thick of the 
battle. If the leader needs that his arms be supported as he 
raises them high in supplication all day long, we, face to face 
with Amalek, have our part to play in the divine drama. 

If the cloistered religious pray hour after hour before the 
Prisoner of Love in His earthly home, is it not that we may 
be renewed and strengthened; is it not that we, too, may be 
made more perfect in prayer and in the language of the Faith 
which will tread under the world, the flesh, and the devil? 

Certain it is that every Christian is falling short of an ele- 
mentary duty, who is not making constant effort making it, 
not talking about it towards closer union with God. And if 



1909.] A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS 31 

one asks by what means, close at hand, this constant effort is 
best helped and maintained, there is no hesitation in the an- 
swer. First and foremost is the diligent use of the sacraments, 
greater and bolder and more generous attempts to increased 
Communion, a steady and unflinching determination that the 
present Pontificate shall see the establishment of a world-wide 
Order of Daily Communion and the restoration, in accord- 
ance with the expressed wish of the Holy Father himself, of 
what we have been in danger of losing from the insidious at- 
tack of an obscure and hateful heresy. 

And next, there is need for a steadier discipline in the 
matter of mental and vocal prayer. Concerning mental prayer 
I will say no more at present but that it is bound up with 
wider considerations than those usually dealt with in standard 
treatises. There is no small danger that the ordinary educated 
layman should be turned in weariness from this out-breathing 
of his soul, by an easy misconception as to its difficulty. St. 
Ignatius and St. Alphonsus took no small pains to prevent 
this misconception by insisting that prayer is prayer, and not 
mere turning of books. The work of those who have followed 
in their steps varies directly in so far as they do or do not 
grasp this fundamental principle. 

But what about vocal prayer ? " The tongue is indeed a 
little member," says St. James, " a fire, a world of iniquity." 
Indeed it is so, and the greater the need of discipline. It is 
very easy for a person to try to live upon vocal prayer, which 
is very like trying to support bodily existence by reading the 
lists of foods sent out by provision merchants. But, neverthe- 
less, vocal prayer is a very real and important part of the 
spiritual life. It takes a high place in the corporate life of 
the Church and its function should be to transfer this never- 
ceasing expression of corporate need into the private life of 
the individual. As in all else, the excellence of a gift is de- 
termined by the position of the giver, and the gift of a prayer 
or a form of devotion receives its worth by reason of the ex- 
cellence of its source. The fact that a particular book of 
devotions bears an imprimatur is no guarantee in itself that it 
will meet our particular need. No, we must go further still. 

Is there, after all, no book of devotions which represents the 
common possession of all the children of the Church ? Are there 
no books which gather into their pages the devotional treas- 



32 A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS [Oct., 

ures of all ages, which will put upon our lips the very words 
of our Lord and His Blessed Mother and His saints, which 
will give us the battle-songs of His army, that we may swing 
along our way, rank by rank, in step with those who have 
gone before, which will tell us the cry we must raise when we 
faint and are near to falling by the way, which will keep the 
door of our lips that we offend not in our tongue? In other 
words, what does the Church provide? 

The Church provides, and has provided for centuries, that 
daily official prayer which shall be the expression to her children, 
and to an unbelieving world, of the life that is within her. 
In the Missal and in the Breviary she provides, and will con- 
tinue to provide, that outward expression of the needs of her 
heart which is the third part of her duty in the sphere of 
worship. For she bids us confess that we have sinned exceed- 
ingly in thought, word, and deed, no less in our public and 
corporate action than in our private relations to His Divine 
Majesty. In thought, for we have been lukewarm and neglect- 
ful in our corporate insistence upon the personal affection of 
the Bride for the Bridegroom ; in word, for we have discour- 
aged, by coldness and indifference and positive neglect, the 
constant stream of public vocal prayer which is a large part 
of our duty; in deed, by slovenliness [ about ceremonial, un- 
spiritual carelessness about the minutia of the Royal Court, a 
spirit which gains the easy approbation of those outside the 
Church, who pretend to find in her an overcarefulness for de- 
tail. I do not pretend to disregard the clear fact that all this 
is against the clearly expressed command of the Church. It 
is this command upon which all our eagerness to keep the 
Liturgy and the Divine Office to the fore is ultimately based. 
Nor do I pretend to disregard the needs of an age which is 
in some sense the age of little leisure. It is these very needs 
which appear to me to call for an immediate return to the 
essentials of divine worship. We are tempted, and we suc- 
cumb very easily to the temptation, to a kind of smug com- 
placency if we devote half- an- hour a day to hearing a low 
Mass, too often, also, choosing the time when the sacrifice is 
being offered, for the recitation of the rosary, or the deferred 
saying of our morning prayers. 

First, then, I would plead for a more general return to the 
excellent custom of assisting at Mass. Says the Fenny Catechism: 



1909.] A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS 33 

"Should you also hear Massif you have time and opportunity? 
I should also hear Mass if I have time and opportunity, for to 
hear Mass is by far the best and most profitable of all devotions" 
Now, it is obvious that we cannot do two things at once, and 
that in order to hear we must listen attentively, and that all 
that we do or say must have reference to that to which we 
are listening. I do not intend by this to deprecate the saying 
of the rosary during Mass when ordered by authority, as dur- 
ing the month of October; nor do I forget the excellence of 
hearing Mass by way of meditation, which is a practice recom- 
mended by saints, and which in itself demands attention to 
what is being done at the altar. But I plead for universal and 
practical recognition of the fact that " Dominus vobiscum" is 
not an address to the server, but to the congregation present, 
and that " Orate fratres" is an invitation to the faithful gener- 
ally to pray for the priest and not merely a signal to a child 
of tender years to say " Suscipiat." There is, indeed, little ex- 
cuse for not following the priest at the altar. The Lay Folk's 
Mass Book shows us clearly that before the age of printing our 
fathers in the Faith were accustomed to follow the words and 
action of the liturgy with intelligence. The Missal in the ver- 
nacular is available for every one who can afford a book of 
devotions at all, the Missal in its own mother-tongue is equally 
available. And the advantages of hearing Mass are almost in- 
calculable. We are witnessing to our corporate existence ; we 
are praying in the very words of our Mother ; we are receiving 
the teaching in the lesson and the Gospel which she has de- 
signed for us to hear this very day ; we stand and express, not 
by standing up alone, but by our softly altered recitation as well, 
our unity with the holy host of heaven and our allegiance to 
the Faith once delivered to the saints; we pray, as our Mother 
prays, that overwhelmingly majestic prayer of the ; Canon of 
the Mass, that knocking upon the gate of heaven which, like 
the Sanctus of the angels, ceases not day nor night. Yes ; we 
cannot refuse it, we are led on to it by our Mother herself, 
beating our breasts at the Domine Non Sum Dignus, we are 
caught in the toils of the Divine Love, and humbly and fear- 
fully we rise to make our way day be day to His Table 
Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in 
vitam aternam. Amen. And this is all liturgical worship, 
there is nothing here which has not been consecrated again 
VOL. xc. 3 



34 A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS [Oct., 

and again by the experience of the saints. This is the book 
of devotions for the Mass. 

And, secondly, I would plead for the use of the Breviary. 
" What!" I hear many exclaim, "that long and tedious Breviary, 
that dull and wearisome book which is laid upon ecclesiastics 
and from which we of the laity are so happily free ? Surely 
there is nothing for us there." But one moment. We have 
seen how the use of the Missal as a book of devotion for the 
Mass has proved its own value. But the Mass is limited, if I 
may be allowed the expression, to but one-half our day. By 
mid- day at latest must our corporate worship be at an end? 
Not so. " Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee," 
says the Psalm of the Saints, and though I do not know if I 
am right in ascribing this to King David himself, yet the tenor 
of the whole Psalm seems to me to point out the author as a 
busy, practical man. And seven times a day, if not from the 
very earliest ages of the Church, yet for centuries, has been 
the rule for that extra-liturgical worship which we call the 
Divine Office, not for ecclesiastics only, but for the whole body 
of the faithful. Here again we are met by the objection 
" There is no time." If prayer is important to the spiritual 
life, then in the life of every single individual there is time 
for prayer if the will be set aright. And if the time be short, 
how much greater the importance that our vocal prayer should 
be prepared no less than our mental prayer. If the experi- 
ence of one who has tried to say the Breviary for nearly 
twenty years be worth anything and I offer it for what it is 
worth I would say that the saving of time which is attained 
by the use of the Breviary for vocal prayer tempts me to de- 
clare that those who have much leisure for prayer, whose lives 
are not lived outside in the world, really need something more 
than the Breviary ! It is to the busy man, the real man of 
business, the man who spends much of his year in traveling 
the country by rail, the literary man, the student at college 
it is to these that the Breviary comes as a revelation when 
they use it for the first time. 

It will be objected that the Breviary is in Latin and that 
Latin is a dead language. But the new edition of the Breviary 
in English offsets this difficulty ; and if a wider demand showed 
itself, the price could be so lowered as to bring this work 
within the reach of all. 

This book then, the Breviary, is what I have ventured to 



1909.] A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS 35 

call " A Forgotten Book of Devotions." Those who know it 
will not cavil when I call it by a kinder name, " The Lay- 
man's Book of Devotions" 

I commend it for five reasons. First, because it contains 
the Psalter, the War-Songs of the Prince of Peace, as it has 
been aptly named by a Protestant writer. To enshrine within 
its pages the words used by our Lord Himself in the worship 
in which He deigned to join while on earth seems to claim for 
it a high place in Christian devotion for all time. Secondly, it 
contains the greater part of the Sacred Scriptures set out in 
orderly portions spread over a whole year. Here again material 
for which we may be thankful is given to us. Thirdly, it con- 
tains portions of Patristic commentaries on the Sacred Scrip- 
tures which, brief though they be, are valuable for their very 
brevity. A layman does not need a load of theolgical learning, 
but an acquaintance with Patristic methods of interpretation 
may serve him in good stead by acting as a corrective to those 
of later times, the fruitful breeding-ground of so much that is 
deplorable in the history of religious thought. Fourthly, it 
contains day by day the prayers which link it to the Mass, of 
which it is the complement and around which it circles. And 
lastly, it contains in the Responsories, Anthems, and Hymns, a 
collection of material for the service of Divine Praise which 
leaves far behind all modern and unofficial attempts. No one 
who, year by year, joins Holy Church in the Passion- tide Re- 
sponsories, the Anthems of the Holy Cross Festivals, or the 
stupendous office of St. Thomas for Corpus Christi, will ques- 
tion this judgment. 

And lastly, two practical suggestions, for this is a question 
of practice and not merely of theory. 

I suggest first that the Breviary should be more widely 
used in public worship. Vespers is not a complicated service if 
dealt with intelligently. I well remember the awe and delight 
with which I, a Protestant school-boy of sixteen, listened to 
Solemn Vespers in a strange London church, into which I had 
wandered. Matins again is not a long, wearisome service. 
Three-quarters of an hour hardly longer than "Devotions and 
Benediction," suffices for its recitation aloud. 

My second suggestion is for the laity only, and would be 
brief and practical. Buy a Breviary, preferably a Breviary in 
four volumes, that there may be less turning of pages, the per- 
plexity of which is so disturbing to devotion. Be in no hurry 



36 A FORGOTTEN BOOK OF DEVOTIONS [Oct. 

to master the whole contents at a sitting, but take up the 
Pars Hicmalis and find the General Rubrics. They are very 
plain, they say no more than is absolutely necessary, but they 
are the work of experts and may be trusted as such. And 
then begin at once with Compline, studying well the arrange- 
ment and order before saying one word. And then Prime, 
which is not quite so easy, and the Lesser Hours, Terce, Sext, 
and None. In six months you will be eager for Lauds and 
Vespers, in a year or less you will blame me for not having 
led you at once to that truly incomparable simple office of 
Matins. Festina lente. Mistakes and omissions on your part 
do not carry the blame which would attach itself were you an 
ecclesiastic. Happy are they who can recite this Divine Office 
in company with others, happiest of all are they who can find 
it day by day in recitation in the house of God. But alone 
or in company they are raising their voices, taking an active 
part in that round of praise which circles the Mass, learning 
here on earth the meaning of the liturgical worship which 
gives a title to the very angels themselves " Are they not all 
ministering (liturgical) spirits, sent to minister for them, who 
shall receive the inheritance of salvation ? " 

May I be allowed to conclude with a quotation from a 
beautiful work, The Spiritual Life and Ptayer, by the late Ab- 
bess of Solesmes? In the concluding chapter "There is but 
one Liturgy " speaking indeed of the life of those who are 
bound by vow to the religious life, but in words which might 
well be engraved upon the mind and heart of every one who 
tries to do his pait in corporate worship, she says: 

As long as they are striving to prefer nothing to the Divine 
Office, and are eager to display in its celebration all the care 
and refinement which so august a function claims, the science 
of their own sanctification is communicated to them under the 
form which they must realize in the depth of their own souls. 
And if it came to pass that in some liturgical function the 
souls called to take part in it were all very near the perfection 
of their own private liturgical worship, that is to say, the 
highest reach of the spiritual life, the angels would, in the 
midst of such an assembly, well-nigh think themselves in 
heaven. God's satisfaction would for certain be unbounded, 
and the radiation from such a center would be the wonder of 
this whole world. 




FROUDE AND CARLYLE. 

BY WILFRID WILBERFORCE. 

HEN Anthony Froude published his books on 
Carlyle man X people were inclined to say that 

** was a case * "Save me * rom m y Wends." 
They declared that their idol had been shat- 
tered and that the iconoclast was no other than 
the great man's intimate and trusted companion who had lifted 
his heel against him. Such was the fixed, if unspoken, opin- 
ion which prevailed among a great number of Carlyle's Eng- 
lish admirers. But, whatever may be thought of Froude's 
wisdom in publishing the books, it must be owned that the 
facts and circumstances as they have been given to the world 
by Mr. Herbert Paul in his Life of Froude, if they are to be 
implicitly relied upon, acquit the author of Carlyle's biography 
of any false or hostile feeling against the man who was not 
only his friend but the object of his most profound and almost 
filial reverence. 

Froude's career divides itself naturally into several parts. 
We begin with his unhappy boyhood and his school days at 
Westminster, followed by his entrance at Oxford and his early 
association with the Tractarian leaders, of whom his brother 
Hurrell was one of the most notable and certainly the most 
romantic. Then came the severance from these early views, 
culminating in the publication of The Nemesis of Faith and the 
loss of his Exeter Fellowship. Following these events was his 
admiration of Evangelicalism as it was displayed in the life of 
a God-fearing Irish clergyman, until his religious opinions set- 
tled down into those of a free-thinking Protestant, who became 
not merely an admirer of the Reformation, but its warmest 
defender, who looked upon that hideous act which defiled the 
history of England and robbed its people of their Faith, as the 
basis of that people's manhood and the safeguard of its liber- 
ties. 

As an apologist of the Reformation it goes without saying 
that Froude was a thoroughgoing Erastian and a bitter enemy 



38 FROUDE AND CARLYLE [Oct., 

of the Catholic Church. In this character and with these 
views he wrote his history, and, unhappily for the true view 
of the events with which he dealt, he was the undisputed 
master of an exceptionally beautiful style. It is quite as hope- 
less to imitate Newman's transcendent manner as it is impos- 
sible to emulate the heat and brilliance of the sun. But the 
humblest laborer may become tanned by the ardor of its noon- 
day rays, while understanding nothing of its chemistry ; and 
there is little doubt that Anthony Froude owed something of 
his wonderful power oi narrative, and the easy and beautiful 
style that fascinates even hostile critics, to the fact that in 
early days he had been under the spell of Newman's enchant- 
ment. 

The juxtaposition of these two distinguished names gives 
me an opportunity of correcting an error into which Mr. Paul 
has fallen. He is indeed in good company in his mistake, for 
it has been repeated over and over again, far and wide. But 
a mistake it is none the less, and one which will, in all proba- 
bility, continue to be made, though it has before now been 
refuted. Mr. Paul tells us that Froude, at Newman's request, 
wrote the " Life of St. Neot " for the series of the Lives of 
the Saints. This, of course, is perfectly true. But we should 
have expected the biographer of Froude to examine this 
"Life" before making it the excuse for repeating the time- 
worn and baseless story that Froude added to his work the 
following epilogue : " This is all and perhaps rather more than 
all, that is known of the life of the Blessed St. Neot." Mr. 
Paul puts this passage into inverted commas, as though he 
were quoting Froude's words, whereas no such epilogue ap- 
pears in the " Life of St. Neot." 

The origin of the tale is this : In the " Life of St. Bette- 
lin," written not by Froude but by Newman himself, we find 
the following characteristic sentence, added not in cynicism, 
of course, but in all seriousness: "And this is all that is 
known, and more than all yet nothing to what the angels 
know of the life of a servant of God who sinned and re- 
pented, and did penance and washed out his sins, and became 
a saint, and reigns with Christ in heaven." 

As far back as 1897 a refutation of the great Froude myth 
was published in the Times by Mr. Bellasis, now one of New- 
man's literary executors. After once more exploding the 



1909.] FROUDE AND CARLYLE 39 

legend, Mr. Bellasis adds this cogent commentary upon New- 
man's epilogue: "The Cardinal is apologetic almost throughout 
this little life of 15 pages as to many reputed events being 
attributed to divers persons, etc., citing Bollandus to the same 
effect 'Here is a basis of truth and a superstructure of error.' 
. . . What more natural than the conclusion, though couched 
in Newman's own inimitable way: 'This is all I can learn 
about St. Bettelin, but it is more than I can vouch for.' " 
This is the real sober truth which has given rise to the legend 
of Froude's supposed "witticism." With a little more care 
surely the official biographer of Froude might have guarded 
himself against giving further currencey to a baseless tale. 

Another period of Froude's life is that connected with the 
History, which, regarded merely as literature, placed its author 
deservedly among the greatest writers of his day. it was 
when preparing materials for this work that he became ac- 
quainted with Carlyle, being introduced to him in his Chelsea 
home by James Spedding, who thus, in Mr. Paul's words, 
"made unconsciously an epoch in English literature." Not 
only was Froude influenced in considerable measure by Car- 
lyle's philosophy of life, but it is to Froude that we owe the 
picture we now possess of the Cheyne Row menage, of the fire- 
side talk of Carlyle, of the brilliant intellect of his scarcely less 
gifted wife, of her rare powers as a letter- writer, and of the 
little weaknesses of her great husband which helped to make 
her life unhappy. 

Mrs. Carlyle, as Mr. Paul tells us, "was an unhappy woman, 
without children, without religion, without any regular occupa- 
tion except keeping house. Her husband she regarded as the 
greatest genius of his time, and his affection for her was the 
deepest feeling of his heart. He was at bottom a sincerely 
kind man, and his servants were devoted to him. But he was 
troublesome in small matters, irritable, nervous, and dyspeptic. 
His books harassed him like illnesses, and he groaned under 
the infliction. If he were disturbed when he was working, 
he lost all self-control, and his wife felt, she said, as if she 
were keeping a private mad-house." 

There can be no doubt that dyspepsia prompted Carlyle to 
utter sentiments the reverse of wise. The Chelsea Sage, as he 
was called, committed himself in private conversation to the 
opinion that Mill was a poor feckless driveller ; that Darwin 



40 FROUDE AND CARLYLE [Oct., 

was a pretentious sciolist; that Newman had the intellect of a 
moderate-sized rabbit; that Herbert Spencer was the most un- 
ending ass in Christendom ; and so on ; all of which probably 
meant that Carlyle was feeling very ill and very cross. No 
wonder we are told that Froude, in listening to his " eloquent 
and humorous diatribes, . . . felt more admiration than 
sympathy." That Mrs. Carlyle was unhappy can scarcely be 
wondered at, if Mr. Paul is right in saying that her husband 
had taken away her dogmatic beliefs and put nothing in their 
place. Her pale, suffering face, we are told, " haunted Froude 
in his dreams." 

Her end was tragic in the extreme. In 1866 Carlyle had 
been made Rector of the Edinburgh University, and naturally 
felt some anxiety as to his Rectorial Address. Its delivery 
gained him much applause among the students, and we may 
well imagine how keenly he was looking forward to describing 
the scene to his wife, whom he dearly loved in spite of all the 
trouble and chagrin that he sometimes caused her. 

He had retired to Dumfries to enjoy a short rest after his 
Edinburgh labors. Here the news reached him that he was a 
widower. He never recovered from this blow. For the rest of 
his life he continually spoke to his intimate friends of his 
"Jeanie" and of her lovable qualities, at the same time ex- 
patiating upon his own shortcomings, which his sorrow no doubt 
led him to exaggerate. His grief was embittered by a perusal 
of her diaries. " He realized that he had almost driven her to 
suicide," writes Mr. Paul, " he, the great preacher of duty and 
self-abnegation." 

" For the next few years," says Froude, " I never walked 
with him without his recurring to a subject which was never 
absent from his mind." Of course there was much exaggera- 
tion in all this. His affection for his wife was most profound 
and real and this led him after her death to magnify the little 
rubs of life as well as the more serious differences, until in his 
brooding and melancholy mind they took on the appearance 
of crimes. "But he had at times been cruelly inconsiderate," 
writes Mr. Paul, "and he wished to do penance for his mis- 
deeds. A practical Christian would have asked God to pardon 
him, and made amends by active kindness to his surviving fel- 
low-creatures." 

The circumstances of Mrs. Carlyle's death, during her hus- 



1909.] FROUDE AND CARLYLE 41 

band's absence from home, and at a moment when he was being 
feted and applauded to the skies, added much to the bitterness 
of his sorrow.] 

On the 2 ist of April, 1866, she was driving: in Hyde Park, 
Her pet dog was running by the carriage. It was run over, 
and she caused it to be picked up and placed on her lap. She 
then told the coachman to drive round th$ " Ladies' Mile," 
until he was otherwise directed. The man obeyed, but be- 
ore long he became surprised at receiving no further orders ; 
he stopped the carriage and inquired whether he should 
drive home. He received no answer. Very soon it became 
evident that for some time past he had been driving a corpse. 
She had died from heart seizure, precipitated probably by the 
shock of the accident to the dog. 

Five years after this event, when Carlyle had almost cease- 
lessly, throughout his waking hours, rehearsed the tragic scene, 
and brooded over the harshness of which he had sometimes 
been guilty, he suddenly called upon his friend Froude carry- 
ing with him a bundle of papers. These contained a Memoir 
of Mrs. Carlyle, written by himself, a number of her letters, 
and other biographical fragments. All these Froude was to 
read, to keep, and, after Carlyle's death, to publish or not as he 
thought best. 

This proposal was not without its attraction. Carlyle was, 
of course, one of the leading men of letters in the English- 
speaking world, and it was quite certain that the position of 
his literary executor would be both honorable and lucrative. 
To be chosen with every mark of confidence to publish or with- 
hold an important work by Carlyle was a fact of which any 
man might be justly proud. 

But, on the other hand, the proposal bound the chosen man 
to perform the task whether it was agreeable or not. To 
Froude it was a distinct sacrifice of literary liberty. He was 
at that time under no sort of necessity to undertake a task for 
which he was not inclined either for the sake of money or fame. 
His reputation as a literary man was already secured. A book 
with his name on the title-page was certain of a wide and ready 
sale, while the eminence he had attained gave him an unfet- 
tered liberty in the choice of his subject. He already had it 
in mind to produce a history of Charles V., one of his great 
heroes. The theme was thoroughly congenial to him. Mr. 



42 FROUDE AND CARLYLE [Oct., 

Paul tells us that the book would have enabled Froude to show 
forth " the best side of the Roman Catholic Church," but it is 
perhaps conceivable that " the Roman Catholic Church " will 
survive the loss of his patronage as it was indifferent to the 
virulence of his hatred. The great apologist of the Reforma- 
tion could scarcely be expected to love the Bride of Christ. 

Froude then had won the right to produce books in his 
own way and at his own time, and there were undoubtedly 
reasons which made him hesitate before yielding to Carlyle's 
wishes. But the great man persisted, and his friend undertook 
the task. First of all he told Carlyle that it was right that his 
wife's letters should be given to the world, and that the Mem- 
oir by Carlyle should appear with them. On these points he 
consulted John Forster, whose name is best known as the bi- 
ographer of Dickens. By Forster's advice Carlyle defined his 
wishes in a will, dated February, 1873. By this instrument 
the MS. of the Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle 
was given over to Froude. Carlyle's brother, John, and John 
Forster were to be called into consultation ; but the final judg- 
ment was to rest with Froude, and his authority was to be equal 
to that of Carlyle himself. 

In this will was a clause which ran as follows: "Express 
biography of me I had really rather that there should be none." 
Notwithstanding this, however, Froude in course of time re- 
ceived a further consignment of documents consisting of "a 
box of more letters, more memoirs, diaries, odds and ends, put 
together without much arrangement in the course of a long 
life." These, he was informed, were the materials for a biog- 
raphy of Carlyle, and he was requested to embark upon the 
work at once. 

In 1878, while Froude was devoting his energies to the bi- 
ography, he was appointed by Carlyle one of his executors, 
the others being Dr. Carlyle and Sir James Fitzjames Stephen. 
In the following year the death of Dr. Carlyle left Froude and 
Stephen the sole executors. 

In the autumn of the same year a curious incident occurred 
one which was destined to cause trouble later on, as any 
careful man might have foreseen that it would. Carlyle casually 
said to Froude: "When you have done with those papers of 
mine, give them to Mary " meaning his niece, Mary Aitken, 
Mrs. Alexander Carlyle, who had, since Mrs. Carlyle's death, 



1909.] FROUDE AND CARLYLE 43 

lived in Cheyne Row, to take care of her uncle. In his will 
the great man speaks of her in terms of pathetic affection. He 
notes the "loving care and unwearied patience and helpfulness 
she has shown to me in these my last solitary and infirm years." 

Carlyle's casual request naturally struck Froude as strange 
Up to that time he had regarded the papers as his own, though 
that Carlyle himself did not so look upon them is clear from 
the fact that he had left them by will to John Carlyle 1 The 
latter was now dead, and no doubt it was on that account that 
Carlyle made the verbal request to Froude that he would hand 
them when done with to his niece. 

Meanwhile Froude was making progress with the Life. So 
far did it absorb his time that, at Carlyle's request, he had 
resigned the editorship of Eraser's Magazine, a post which 
brought him an income of ,400 a year. 

Carlyle's trust in his friend's discretion was without limit ; 
and in the exercise of his undoubted right, Froude determined 
to publish Carlyle's reminiscences of his father, of Edward 
Irving, of Francis Jeffrey, and of Robert Southey. But in 
1880, the last year of Carlyle's life, the old sage asked his 
friend what he meant to do with the Letters and Memoir. 
Froude replied that he meant to publish them, to which Car- 
lyle seemed to assent. 

" Froude," remarks Mr. Paul, " drew the inference that 
most people would, in the circumstances, have drawn. He con- 
cluded that Carlyle wished to relieve himself of responsibility, 
to get the matter off his mind, to have no disclosure in his 
lifetime, but to die with the assurance that after his death the 
whole story of his wife's heroism would be told." 

On February 4, 1881, Carlyle died, and then began the 
inevitable trouble. Hardly had the grave closed over her uncle 
than Mrs. Alexander Carlyle told Sir James Stephen " that 
Froude had promised her the whole of the profits arising from 
the Reminiscences ', that her uncle had approved of this arrange- 
ment, and that she would not take less. . . . Mrs. Car- 
lyle did not know that the memoir of her aunt would be 
among the reminiscences, and the sum which Froude had 
promised her was the speculative value of the American edi- 
tion, which was never in fact realized." 

For this offer he substituted one-half of the English profits. 

When Carlyle had been dead a little more than a month, 



44 FROUDE AND CARLYLE [Oct., 

Froude published the Reminiscences, including the memoir of 
Mrs. Carlyle. 

In the following May, Froude, in accordance with his friend's 
request, sent the manuscript containing the memoir of her 
aunt to Mrs. Alexander Carlyle. Now, unfortunately, there 
was a slip of paper attached to this manuscript, containing a 
vague surmise that the book, which at the time Carlyle meant 
to burn, might survive him. In that case he solemnly for- 
bade his friends to publish it as it stood, without editing, and 
he added a warning that the "fit editing of perhaps nine- 
tenths of it" would, after his death, be impossible. 

Here was a chance of correcting and harassing Froude, of 
which Mrs. Alexander Carlyle was not slow to take advantage. 
In a letter to the Times she accused him of violating her 
uncle's express directions. 

Froude's reply to this charge was easy. The very fact 
that five years after writing the injunction Carlyle had handed 
the manuscript to him to deal with it as he thought fit, 
showed clearly that he had thought better of his prohibition. 
The will which I quoted above, and the verbal permission to 
publish, given in 1880, still further exonerated Froude from 
Mrs. Carlyle's charge. 

But the lady was not satisfied, and she went so far as to 
express a doubt of her opponent's veracity. This stung Froude 
into making an offer which, had it been accepted, would have 
destroyed his work and defeated Carlyle's own wish. He had, 
he declared, brought out the Memoir by Carlyle's desire. He 
would do the same with Mrs. Carlyle's letters. "The remain- 
ing letters," he added, " which I was directed to return to 
Mrs. Carlyle so soon as I had done with them, I will restore 
at once to any responsible person whom she will empower to 
receive them from me. I have reason to complain of the 
position in which I have been placed with respect to these 
manuscripts, they were sent to me at intervals without in- 
ventory or even a memorial list. I was told that the more I 
burnt of them the better, and they were for several years in 
my possession before I was aware that they were not my own. 
Happily I have destroyed none of them, and Mrs. Carlyle may 
have them all when she pleases." 

It was fortunate for Froude's biography of Carlyle that this 
rash offer was not accepted. According to Counsel's Opinion, 



1909.] FROUDE AND CARLYLE 45 

dated three months after Carlyle's death, the old sage's re- 
quest, that the papers should be handed over to Mrs. Alexander 
Carlyle, was " an attempted verbal testamentary disposition, 
which had no legal authority," and obviously it could not be 
held to override written instructions by virtue of which, ac- 
cording to Mr. Paul's interpretation, Froude had no power to 
part with the documents without the concurrence of Sir James 
Stephen, his co-executor, and Stephen would not have con- 
sented to the return of the papers until Froude's work was 
accomplished. 

Nor was Mrs. Carlyle's contention upheld by some other 
members of the family, one of whom, writing to Froude, said : 
" My uncle at all times placed implicit confidence in you ; and 
that confidence has not, I am sure, in any way been abused." 
Mrs. Alexander Carlyle considered the publication of the 
Memoir a breach of faith, but, according to Mr. Paul, this did 
not prevent her claiming the whole of the profit arising from 
its sale. Froude, as we have seen, contended that he had 
promised her the income derived from the American edition 
which, contrary to expectation, turned out to be very small. 
He ultimately offered her fifteen hundred pounds, retaining 
only three hundred for himself. She accepted the money, 
though she denied that it was a gift. Stephen, one of the 
leading lawyers in England, was of opinion that it was a legal 
gift, "though there may have been in the circumstances a 
moral obligation." But Mrs. Carlyle put forward another con- 
tention which the executors heard of for the first time in June, 
1881. This was that, in 1875, her uncle had orally given her 
all his papers and handed to her the keys of the drawers con- 
taining them. 

The obvious reply to this was that, as early as 1873 or at 
the beginning of the following year, the greater part of the 
papers had been in Froude's possession and not in the drawers 
of which she had the keys. 

Mrs. Carlyle demanded the return of the papers. Froude 
referred the matter to his co- executor, who refused the de- 
mand; and, in accordance with what he believed to be Car- 
lyle's wish, he finished his work. 

There would certainly seem to have been a confusion as to 
the ownership and destination of Carlyle's papers. The manu- 
script of the Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle 



46 FROUDE AND CARLYLE [Oct., 

were clearly bequeathed to Froude, who was to take counsel 
with John Forster and John Carlyle on the subject of their 
publication. In 1879 Carlyle gave Froude the verbal instruc- 
tion that he was to hand over "those papers of mine" (in- 
cluding others besides the Letters and Memorials), when done 
with, to "Mary." Before this Carlyle had left them by will 
to his brother John, who was then dead. Mr. Paul declares 
that Froude could not dispose of the documents without the 
consent of his co-executors, and yet for many years (before 
the will of course had saddled him with co-executors, if not 
later) he had regarded the papers as his own, to do with as 
he pleased. 

In a letter to Froude, printed for private circulation, Sir 
James Stephen explains his action in the following words: "It 
was my whole object throughout to prevent a lawsuit for the 
determination of what I felt was a merely speculative question, 
and to defeat the attempt made to prevent you from writing 
Mr. Carlyle's life, and I am happy to say I succeeded." 

Froude complained, in a letter to Max Miiller, that his ill 
star was uppermost when he laid aside his project of writing 
his book on Charles V., and accepted Carlyle's offer. "There 
are objections to every course which I can follow," he writes. 
"The arguments for and against were so many and so strong 
that Carlyle himself could not decide what was to be done, 
and left it to me. He could see all sides of the question. 
Other people will see one, or one more strongly than another, 
whatever it may be; and therefore, do what I will, a large 
body of people will blame me. Nay, if I threw it up, a 
great many would blame me. What have I done that I 
should be in such a strait? But I am sixty-four years old, 
and I shall soon be beyond it all." 

In 1882 Froude published the first two volumes of Carlyle's 
biography, bringing his life up to the year 1835. The next 
year saw the publication of Letters and Memorials 0f Jane 
Welsh Carlyle, in which, for the first time, the reading public 
of England became acquainted with Carlyle's wife. The book 
proved that she was one of the most accomplished letter- 
writers that the modern world had seen. 

In 1884 appeared Carlyle's Life in London, which com- 
pleted Froude's task. It is not too much to say that these 
volumes were the leading books of the seasons in which they 



1909.] FROVDE AND CARLYLE 47 

appeared. For months together people "talked Carlyle" and 
little else, unless we add criticism of Froude, for, of course, 
there was plenty of abuse poured upon the man who had 
painted his hero as he believed him to be. It seems the very 
height of absurdity to suggest that in pointing out Carlyle's 
faults and weaknesses, he had any ulterior motive, and un- 
doubtedly the reading world owes him a debt of gratitude for 
supplying it with volumes of deathless interest. It is at least 
possible that Froude felt that Carlyle's fame " would bear 
many spots," and that his hero, like Warren Hastings in Ma- 
caulay's famous Essay, "would have wished posterity to have 
a likeness of him, though an unfavorable likeness, rather than 
a daub at [once insipid and unnatural, resembling neither him 
nor anybody else. ' Paint me as I am,' said Oliver Cromwell, 
while sitting to young Lely. ' If you leave out the scars and 
wrinkles, I will not pay you a shilling.' " 

One of the most interesting sights in London, a spot visited 
each year by many hundreds of American and English citi- 
zens, is the little, unpretentious house in which for so many 
years Carlyle and his wife lived. The tranquility of the Chelsea 
street in which it stands seems to suggest the seclusion in 
which the sage spent his life, and from which at intervals he 
sent out those works which in the rugged language of a Scotch 
peasant and a Teutonic philosopher, alternately lashed and 
scorned the everyday world of men. The house remains, 
down to the smallest details, as Carlyle himself left it on that 
chill February day when he closed his eyes upon a world 
which had never but half understood him. There is his writ- 
ing table, his ink-stained pens, his plain chair, his clay pipes. 
There too is the room where for two hours he and Tennyson 
sat together without either of them uttering a word, at the 
end of which time Carlyle declared that he had had a delight- 
ful talk with "Alfred." There also are the dining-room, and the 
table whence a frightened domestic was one day ordered to 
" remove these Stygian viands." The very bareness of the 
rooms seems appropriate to what we know of the grim auster- 
ity of the " dour " Scotchman, who craved as his one comfort 
an undisturbed tranquility which in London he could never 
attain. The "sound-proof room," designed by Carlyle himself, 
is also shown, a windowless apartment into which it is to be 
feared the crowing of the much-hated cocks still penetrated to 



48 FROUDE AND CARLYLE [Oct., 

disturb his meditations. For his sake and that of his harassed 
wife, we may be thankful that he did not live to see the ad- 
vent of the motor car. 

The deserted scene of the philosopher's labors and of his 
wife's household drudgery, is fruitfully suggestive of the vanity 
of human life and fame. Froude's book has no doubt led many 
hundreds to wander thoughtfully from room to room in this 
plain, prosaic house, and I venture to say that no one has 
ever left its threshold without having gained a clearer idea 
than he had before of the life, half-tragedy, half-comedy, which 
was once lived therein. 

Mr. Herbert Paul's Life oj Froude is a well-written book 
full of pleasant reading, but it contains a blemish of a very 
grave and even unpardonable character. I refer to the out- 
rageous and utterly unsupported charge against Blessed Edmund 
Campion. Mr. Paul accuses the martyr of being in intention a 
murderer, and this without one word of proof. "When Cam- 
pion," he tells us, " pretended that his mission to England 
was purely religious, he was tampering with words in order to 
deceive. To him the removal of Elizabeth would have been a 
religious act. The Queen did all she could to make him save 
his life by recantation, even applying the cruel and lawless 
machinery of the rack. If his errand had been merely to 
preach what he regarded as Catholic truth, she would have let 
him go, as she checked the persecuting tendencies of her 
Bishops over and over again." There is certainly a touch of 
grim humor in the picture here presented of Elizabeth's burn- 
ing anxiety to save Campion's life, or rather to make him save 
it, an anxiety evinced by the use of the rack ! And when we 
are assured that the soft-hearted Queen would have let Cam- 
pion go free if his object had been merely a religious one, we 
are inclined to ask Mr. Paul how he reconciles the statement 
with the passage on page 140, in which we are told that " the 
Mass ... to Elizabeth was a definite symbol of political 
disaffection." And we may also fairly invite Mr. Paul to square 
this with another passage of his which occurs on page 138, in 
which he informs us that " Elizabeth boasted, and boasted 
truly, that she did not persecute opinion." That "if people 
were good citizens and loyal subjects, it was all the same to 
her whether they went to church or to Mass." 

If the Mass was to Elizabeth "a symbol of political disaf- 



1909.] FROUDE AND CARLYLE 49 

faction," how could she feel this indifference ? And is it con- 
ceivable that Mr. Paul does not know that the " religious 
object " of a Catholic missioner necessarily involves the offer- 
ing of Mass ? 

As for the charge against Campion* that he was at heart a 
murderer, we can only say that, until Mr. Paul attempts to 
bring forward some evidence in support of his monstrous 
calumny, he must be set down as an unscrupulous bearer of 
false witness. Even Mr. Froude, with his hatred of the Catho- 
lic Church, makes no such charge. The other allegation, that 
Campion " endured torture and death without flinching rather 
than acknowledge that Elizabeth was lawful Sovereign over 
the whole English realm," is refuted by Froude himself, who 
records the precise opposite. Indeed, it is universally recog- 
nized by all historians that Campion not only acknowledged 
that Elizabeth was his lawful Queen, but that he died with 
that acknowledgment upon his lips. 

It is greatly to be regretted that Mr. Paul should have al- 
lowed his bigotry to spoil a work of high literary value. The 
very merits of the book will continue to attract readers, many 
of whom, of course, will swallow wholesale the calumnious non- 
sense that the author has written about a glorious martyr of 
God's Church. 

This is assuredly an unpleasant mode of taking leave of a 
writer whose book is in so many respects a pleasure to read, 
but it would be impossible to pass over in silence so gross an 
instance of anti- Catholic bigotry, It is, of course, possible that, 
in the four years that have elapsed since the Life of Froude 
was published, Mr. Paul may have written a retraction of his 
unscrupulous charge which has escaped our notice. If he has 
not done so, it is high time that, in the interests of historical 
truth and for the credit of his own name, he repaired the 
omission. 



vot xc. 4 




FOR SPORT. 

BY JEANIE DRAKE. 

JOU know, Mr. Vantage, that I have never asked 
before for a vacation in all the years I have been 
with you. And I have never once been absent 
except on those strictly business trips to Belgium 
and Italy on which you sent me." 

The speaker's accent was un-American, though hardly foreign, 
and his tones of so melodious a quality as to please any one* 
unless, perhaps, an irritated employer. The head of the great 
Western department house rose from his office chair and took 
a turn or two about his glass cage. 

"Two months is a long time," he said testily, "and you'd 
have to be back on the first sharp, ior the fall rush. I sup- 
pose " reseating himself " you may as well go, if 'twas only 
for peace sake ; as you've been at me about it since last 
Christmas, I do believe, Scarpia." 

His companion smiled, showing very white teeth under a 
black mustache. It was his temperament to gain his end by 
patient siege rather than direct attack. "Thank you, Mr. 
Vantage," he answered gently. " I shall want to start this 
week. So I will leave my department in perfect order and 
give Rogers instructions about everything." 

" Give him some brains if you can," growled Mr. Vantage. 
Afterwards he remarked to the head-bookkeeper coming in; 
"Scarpia is the only one in the place who really knows any- 
thing about lace. I'd trust nobody else here for an expert de- 
cision about that old point from Brussels and Genoa." 

" Steady fellow," agreed the bookkeeper sententiously. "Not 
likely to get into any trouble during a vacation." 

"No"; said Mr. Vantage, with a short laugh. "He won't 
spend his time dissipating, but just mooning about and what 
you might call " duding " it. Well, how about that consign- 
ment of chiffon ? " 

Meanwhile the young man in question moved with peculiar- 
ly easy grace between the counters in the busy hive below, his 
great dark eyes quick to note everything needful; himself ready 



1909.] FOR SPORT 51 

to oversee, assist, reprove, like the invaluable chief of de- 
partment he was. He went about with serious, business-like 
indifference ; invariably polite and considerate, and was a sooth- 
ing contrast to others hurtfully rough. 

The only vague emotion, outside of business interest, that 
Giovanni Scarpia ever felt in this place was when some fair 
goddess of the social Walhalla, gliding past on her way to 
her car, let a fleeting glance fall on his handsome face. Then 
it was as though the winter sun had rosed for a moment his 
cloud-castle. For it was in the clouds that his inner life was 
lived, and the lover of Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura, 
though human and lowly-placed, might easily be blind to a 
shop-girl's coquetries. 

Antonio Scarpia, who long ago kept a small fruit stall in 
the Italian quarter of this Western city, had one fair daughter 
whom he loved not passing well, or he would never have 
ordered her to marry a certain plasterer called William Scruggs. 
The girl, just sixteen, timid and submissive, accepted him at 
her father's command, as she would have married Bluebeard 
which might, indeed, have been the better match, as her misery 
would have been the sooner ended. The plasterer, who had 
coarsely fancied her soft eyes and pretty figure, her musical 
voice and childish manner, was an ignorant, rough animal, a 
bully and a drunkard, and the poor child's life was a martyr- 
dom. 

How often in their one dingy and disorderly room for 
life-long poverty had not taught her neatness had her only 
child seen her olive cheek whiten and felt her tremble as he 
clung to her skirt while she affected to be busy at wash-tub 
or cooking-pot, when a heavy, unsteady foot made the ricketty 
stairs creak. The " little language " of his childhood would 
have been of oaths alone but for his mother. The boy was 
her very self in person and nature, and their love for each 
other was a passion. How often had they mingled tears and 
mutual consolation. How often had the timid creature tried 
to shield him from brutal blows. How often had his loving 
heart sickened at his childish impotence to protect her. Then 
came the day well-remembered when a neighbor, likewise 
Italian, living in their tenement, came in and said: "Giovan- 
nina, they say your man is killed." 

The little boy was frightened at the gladness which he 



52 FOR SPORT [Oct., 

felt on their tyrant's removal. Was it not as wicked as mur- 
der, perhaps, to be rejoiced at one's father's death ! He dared 
not ask his mother, who was on her knees, hands clasped and 
great eyes raised to the cheap copy of Carlo Dolci's Madonna, 
which she had brought from her home and which Scruggs had 
once thrown into the fire. He would strike her now if he 
could come in and find her praying. The child shuddered at 
the thought; and then knelt beside her and prayed too. 

But when the poor funeral was over, he clasped his little 
arms around her and said joyfully : "Madre Giovannina mia 
it is for me to take care of you now ! " 

She smiled : " Oh, carissimo, and you but nine ! You must 
go to school." 

"But not for long?" 

" To read and write good, you must. After that " bright- 
ening with an unexpected thought " all learning is in the 
books and they will be open to you." 

" And now my name shall be Giovanni Scarpia ! " 

At the child's birth the father had roughly silenced her 
suggestion that to him should be given some of the musical 
names of her country. " My name's plenty good for him. 
And look out you don't call him nothin* but ' Bill.' " 

The boy had always loathed the harsh name and its asso- 
ciations, and now, looking into his eager eyes, she consented 
that he should take the masculine equivalent of her own. Ten 
years of cruel treatment had not utterly destroyed all traces 
of former beauty, and but for her child's ideal devotion, desti- 
tute as they were, she might have fallen into hands as brutal 
as Bill Scruggs'. But the work by which she made a meager 
subsistence while her boy went to the parochial school, oc- 
cupied most of her time, and her church now freely visited 
and care of him took the rest. Then came his thirteenth 
birthday, when they had spaghetti and fried plantains for a 
treat. 

"I am not going to school any more," [he announced, 
" Father Felice has found me a place in a store as errand boy ; 
and he is so kind he will still teach me at night the things I 
need, and to speak French and Italian. I speak it now, you 
know, Nina mia" coloring sensitively for her "but not not 
always quite right, you know." 

Then came the happiest part of the poor seamstress* life, 



1909.] FOR SPORT 53 

when her boy, though tired and hard- worked, would say proud- 
ly that " he was getting on fast." When she would walk out 
to church with him on Sundays, and afterwards hear Father 
Felice praise him. When his tiny earnings brought her some 
small personal comforts, especially what she had yearned for, 
a picture of San Gian* Battist', her patron. And then just 
then she died. For it is not only the blessed who die in the 
Lord whose works follow them. The wicked also leave their 
mark; and years of Bill Scruggs' ill-usage, together with pri- 
vation and over- work had developed the seed of inherited 
disease in the fragile Italian woman. 

The struggle was mercifully short and almost painless at 
the end; but the boy's grief was fearful to see. With the in- 
tensity of race and temperament he gave himself to such de- 
spair that Father Felice felt called upon to reprove him severe- 
ly in religion's name. Then the good pastor, relenting, took 
him in his arms and wept with him, which was the best com- 
fort, after all. He took the lonely child to his own little home 
which, though in the same noisome and swarming quarter, 
would remove him somewhat from the deadly moral atmosphere 
of the crowded tenement ; and so, with work by day and read- 
ing with the priest by night, the boy's adolescence had gone 
by. 

This was years ago, and Father Felice had passed to his 
reward. His pupil industrious, temperate, of quick perception, 
and ready of service to others had risen until he occupied 
his present position. Having no vices on which to squander 
money, he was able to live in handsome rooms in a pleasant 
quarter. 

"This looks like a woman's apartment," commented a pic- 
ture-dealer who had come to examine a rare engraving which 
Giovanni had picked up. " What do you do with all these lit- 
tle traps ? " In which he touched on a defect of the young 
man's quality a rather finical fastidiousness and devotion to 
petty luxuries which amounted to effeminacy. Also, for the 
virile sports of his fellow-clerks he held a distaste which was 
to his physical disadvantage. 

On the other hand, he possessed a wonderful, grave patience 
and self-control under annoyance, which were sometimes tested 
severely. Yet he could astonish an associate who spoke roughly 
to a saleswoman in his presence; and the other did not easily 



54 FOR SPORT [Oct., 

forget his keen words and flashing eyes. For no Paladin of old 
had a more ideal devotion to womanhood, founded on the 
memory of the mother, whose picture hung in his oratory with 
the cheap Carlo Dolci and the San Giovanni. The horror he 
felt, even now, remembering her suffering, would heve made 
him lay down his life to save one of her sex. Added to this 
were the dreams inspired by the noble and gracious ladies of 
his beloved Italian poets. 

It was now the holiday season at watering places, where 
those who have played hard all winter seek variety of play. 
In a great hotel on the Atlantic coast, far from Vantage's 
"Emporium," two girls sat brushing their hair. The strong, 
salty breeze blew some glossy, ash-blond strands over the 
shoulder of one on to her kimono and she smoothed them, 
then sighed. 

"What is the matter?" asked her companion, smiling. "Is 
it : ' He cometh not, she said. I am a- weary of nothing but 
women. I would that I were dead or wed'?" 

" It is all very well for you," responded her friend, " with 
Walter Travers coming down every Saturday. But heaven 
pity the rest of us in this crowd of women. Only four men, 
and one of them deaf, and all of them stupid ! Ah, there 
goes the band. The coach must be coming from the station. 
Let's see if there are any arrivals." 

Miss Juliet Champney trailed her blue gown across the floor 
and parting the curtains stepped on to the little balcony which 
commanded the lawn and gate-way. The high iron railing 
made her comparatively safe from observation, but a young 
man was just then alighting from the coach and in the interest 
of the moment she leaned forward. He happened to look up, 
she drew back, and he carried into the house a confused im- 
pression of a radiant vision with shining blue eyes framed in 
long, rippling waves of fair hair. 

" My dear child," she announced, gliding back," the arri- 
val is not only a man, but a handsome man Romeo himself 
an ideal Romeo for your poor, lonely Juliet." 

"That remains to be seen," said Miss Elliott indistinctly, 
" there are a few other young women here." A most in- 
judicious remark, for her friend, smiling sweetly, made instant 
resolve. 



1909.] FOR SPORT 55 

" Lace my gown for me, Katherine," she said, coming in 
presently from the adjoining room in dinner toilet of black tulle. 
The blond locks were now fastened high on the shapely crown, 
with just a tendril or two escaping. "Romeo," she said in- 
consequently, "is grace itself; and such glorious dark eyes, 
my dear! And, Katharine, he plays the mandolin, or lute, 
or something, for I saw the case among his traps." 

" You are a silly goose, but very pretty in that gown," 
said Miss Elliott judicially. " Come, let us go down." 

" 'Tis he, 'tis Romeo ! " murmured Miss Champney at the 
dining-room door; but, being well-bred, her look of uncon- 
sciousness was perfect as she passed the stranger at the table 
next their own. He, on the contrary, instantly recognizing 
the woman of the balcony, flushed and played nervously with 
the menu card. 

Giovanni Scarpia was in the uncertain, half-painful first stage 
of a realized vision. He sat, as he had often dreamed, far from 
the madding crowd of shop-girls and troublesome customers ; 
from the everlasting heaps of gloves and perfumes and laces; 
among people whose low tones and quiet movements were a 
pleasure to him. The band played "Adelaide," on the lawn, 
with the undertone of the surf beating on the sands. Boats 
glided, in theatric fashion, between the window- frames, each 
of which enclosed some marine view ; the breeze wafted about 
the fragrance of flowers. Artist as he was by temperament, he 
could have thrilled with rapture to the finger-tips, but for a 
pang of earthly disquiet. 

"Would he not prove unfit, by habit or manner, for com- 
panionship with the denizens of this favored sphere ? Could 
books supply the want of early training and association ? " 

" For the men " he felt within himself a Latin's quick 
adaptability. "For the women, felicissime" his wandering, 
thoughtful eyes by chance encountered Miss Elliott's. Kather- 
ine Elliott, not handsome, had yet so fine and noble an ex- 
pression as instinctively to convince a beholder of her good- 
ness and the possibility of his own. " For the women " con- 
cluded Giovanni Scarpia in his thoughts " I have done noth- 
ing to make me unworthy. They are so sweet and beautiful 
they, too, must love music and art. They are like Laura, 
' and Monna Vanna, and Monna Bice.' " 

Occasionally, crossing the pathetic strain of "Adelaide," he 



56 FOR SPORT [Oct., 

caught a subdued, silvery laugh from the neighboring table, 
and traced it to the fair beauty. "Bellissima /" he murmured, 
glancing in that direction. 

Right above the Elliott's table hung a small chandelier 
which the head waiter had already noted was insecure. "Surely," 
thought Scarpia, " that sways too much," and was just in time 
to catch it as it would have fallen on Juliet. The confusion 
was slight, few being present, and Giovanni had left the room 
before Mrs. Elliott could recover herself. " Thank you a thou- 
sand times," had Juliet said, with lovely, upward glance which 
was so misleading. "Dear Mrs. Elliott," she complained in- 
genuously, " I hate to seem to call you remiss, but we ought 
to have said more. Only for him we should all have been 
badly hurt." 

"Well," said Mrs. Elliott, bewildered, "I can, of course, 
speak to him again. !&\ityou need not, Juliet. He is a stranger, 
and, and " 

Katherine smiled quietly. She smiled again, when later she 
saw her mother, walking the broad veranda with Juliet, stop 
and speak to the young stranger, whose manner was most def- 
erential. Katherine knew well by whose deft arrangement it 
was that he remained and strolled beside them for a few minutes. 

" It will give me great pleasure to play for you at any 
time," she heard him say. " It is a guitar. Yes ; I sing some- 
times tenor." 

" What a lovely voice in speaking," thought Katherine, but 
said distantly : " Mamma, you must be tired. You have walked 
so much to-day." 

"Yes, dear; I am going to sit down now." 

But Juliet lingered a moment, the moonlight falling on her 
fair head shining out of a black lace scarf. " Well, then, Mr.? 
oh, Scarpia, yes in the morning the little parlor is best 
for practice. Every one will be in the surf then ; good-night." 

As for Giovanni Scarpia in his room, he merely exchanged 
a waking for a sleeping illusion, for he was a dreamer by day 
and by night. 

" Ah, you will kindly play my accompaniment ? How good 
you are 1 " He bent over the girl, who ran her fingers lightly 
across the keys, with the ease of one sure of her technique. 
The "little parlor" or music -room was, as she had predicted, 
quite empty, it being the hour for surf-bathing. Mrs. Elliott, 



1909.] FOR SPORT 57 

with her fancy-work, would have mounted guard at Katherine's 
suggestion, but Miss Champney had laughingly assured her 
" that it was heroism worthy of a better cause, and that she 
might more profitably follow Katherine into the surf." 

" Your papa would not say so," said the chaperon help- 
lessly. " You know nothing of this gentleman, Juliet." 

"I know that he is quite the handsomest man I have ever 
seen " promptly " as for other particulars, I will ask him 
straightforwardly, and tell you what he says." 

" I play fairly well," she now answered him sweetly, " but 
my real specialty is accompaniment, I think. It is a great 
delight for me to put myself in sympathy and follow a singer's 
shades of feeling." 

" That is lovely, and most rare even in professional ac- 
companists. Shall we begin with ' Spirito Gentil ' ? Or, shall 
we try it is worn, perhaps, but always beautiful ' Non e 
Ver ' ? " 

"We will try them all." She sounded the prelude, and 
his voice rang out, clear, flexible, thrillingly sweet, as only a 
tenor can be. She had expected him to sing well, he looked 
like a primo tenore, ,but she was taken by surprise at the 
quality of the voice. A few loiterers gathered quietly in the 
room, delighted. A German waiter hung outside the door 
muttering: "Ach! das ist musik-lieblich, wunderschon ! " She 
went on, with hardly a pause, from one song to another, and 
he would have .sung at her desire indefinitely, but suddenly 
she arose. 

" Unconscionable, I know it is, to tire you so, for my de- 
light ! " She presented him to the little group present, who 
loaded him with compliments almost unheeded, as he saw her 
leaving the room. With hasty excuse he followed to where 
she lingeringly crossed the corridor. 

" I thank you a thousand times for the exquisite accom- 
paniment." 

" I thank you a thousand times for the exquisite singing," 
she smiled, with faint, enchanting reproduction of his slight 
accent. Then, serious again, seated herself among the hall 
window cushions and fixed her bright gaze upon him. "I am 
going to show you, Mr. Scarpia, how mean and selfish I 
really am. Since I have heard you sing, I want you to promise 
me that you will never sing in the parlor again. It attracts a 



58 FOR SPORT [Oct., 

mob unmusical most of the time who talk and disturb us. 
You have your guitar, which is accompaniment enough for 
such a voice as yours, and and I want you to sing only 
for me" 

Giovanni's dark cheek glowed, his eyes shone like stars. 
He leaned against the wall near her to say gravely : " If it 
were only something harder, that I could do it for you, sig- 
norina gentillissima / " 

" See now, how good I can be, when I give my mind to 
it," said Miss Champney to Katherine that evening. " Instead 
of going down to the pavilion alone with Mr. Scarpia, to hear 
him sing, I have promised that Mrs. Elliott will come too, 
and you besides Mr. Travers not being expected." 

" Extraordinary discretion not to go out alone by moon- 
light with an accidental acquaintance of yesterday ! " 

Miss Champney threw some white lace over her hair as 
they strolled down the beach to the pavilion. This was a 
music-stand far down the sands, where the orchestra some- 
times played. 

"Ah, most happy night!" murmured Giovanni, giving his 
hand to each lady up the little steps. 

Under the moon serene, the waves in long silver curves 
came lapping up the shore, and receding left a sparkling train 
of phosphoric specks to mark their path. " See the pale moon," 
hummed Giovanni, leaning dark and slender against a pillar. 
Then the girls and he sang " Santa Lucia." 

" A Venetian night hardly surpasses this," said Juliet 
softly. 

"I had some beautiful ones there," said Giovanni, "when 
I stayed out all night on the Grand Canal. But, no, no ; you 
are right; they lacked much of this." 

He began singing again to light touching of the guitar. 
Mrs. Elliott was almost disquieted by the moon and his voice 
and graceful pose. It seemed hardly proper to be taking part 
in what looked like a scene from an operetta. Ought a gentle- 
man to appear so picturesquely attractive ? Walter Travers, 
her daughter's betrothed, a good fellow, very sensible and a 
bank president besides, could never look or sing like that. 
Miss Champney spent the next afternoon on the rocks, 
with Giovanni reading aloud to her Petrarch's sonnets in the 
original. 



1909.] FOR SPORT 59 

"I do not understand it all," she told him, "but I like 
it." In fact she understood scarcely a word, but it was mu- 
sical, and she could recline, with the rose lining of her parasol 
tinting her charming face, and divine the meaning when ever 
and again his dark eyes were raised to hers. 

More bewildering days, more moonlit nights, and Katherine 
ceased further remonstrance,, which was but a spur to the wil- 
ful girl. Other women tacitly abandoned all claim to this 
picturesque cavalier. As for him his life-long "Dream of 
Fair Women" was now realized. For this reward had he 
lived with labor and art, keeping himself above all feminine 
allurement more ignoble than that of poesy's heroines. His 
recompense had come, as he had always known it would. He 
felt not the slightest misgiving, but trod upon air, with the gods. 
Even Katherine could not but notice that he grew daily 
handsomer, and did not fail to be softened by his unceasing, 
gentle, courteous thought for others, in spite of his own evi- 
dent preoccupation. One afternoon Miss Champney had, with 
premeditation, substituted " Romeo and Juliet " for the usual 
Italian poet. He leaned below her in their rocky nook with 
only the crested waves and screaming sea-gulls in sight : 

"'I have more care to stay,'" he read, "'than will to go: 
Come, death, and welcome ! Juliet wills it so. 
How is't, my soul ? Let's talk ' " He paused. 

" My name is Juliet," she said in her clear tones, as ii ir- 
relevantly, letting her look wander away over the water. The 
book dropped; he looked up, calling back her gaze by the 
intensity of his own, and in a moment was at her feet. The 
attitude impossible to an Anglo-Saxon suited the vehemence 
of a passion which almost terrified her. 

" Giulctta, Giuletta mia ! " he cried, " life of my life, and 
soul of my soul, give me a look a word ! " 

Half-fascinated, she let him take her hand. " It is like a 
star like an angel stooping to the earth ! " And he pressed 
his lips to the hem of her white gown. 

It was about a month later that Miss Champney, coming 
from her room to her friend's remarked thoughtfully: "So 
Giovanni must go home to-morrow, and this season will soon 
be merely a memory." 



60 FOR SPORT [Oct., 

" Giovanni ! " 

"Well, why not? We have been engaged for some time." 

" Engaged ! And your father ! You, Juliet, who of all 
girls should make a conventional marriage ! " 

"Did I say a word about marriage?" calmly "I may 
never see him again after to-morrow." 

Miss Elliott merely looked at her. 

"You need not look so unutterably reproachful. He has 
never presumed in any way just gazes at me with those 
glorious eyes as if I were a goddess. He thinks all women 
divinities. And what would I have done in this dullest of 
places without him? Katherine, I tell you, neither you nor I 
have heard anything like it ! " 

" Could you not find some plaything which was not sen- 
tient ? " asked Miss Elliott coldly. 

Next day Giovanni Scarpia went away when the afternoon 
sun was rosing the window-panes; and the children sported in 
the sand; and the band on the lawn once more played 
" Adelaide." 

" Addio, Giuletta, donna carissima ! Addio, vita mia / " and 
his look and tone so touched even this girl that she was moved 
to give him what he besought, a little, shining lock of hair. 
She asked her father, carelessly, when she went home herself, 
to inquire in his business correspondence with St. Louis about 
a family called Scarpia. " There were some people of that 
name at the beach," she said. 

"There are innumerable Scarpis in the Italian quarter," 
replied the correspondent. "Of Scarpia I can find but one, 
a salesman in a large department house. Of humble origin, 
he is described, but of very refined tastes, handsome, musical, 
and with good manners." 

Miss Champney raised her eyebrows again, with a difference. 

As for Giovanni, he had taken up his daily routine at Van- 
tage's quite simply. His evenings were Juliet's; for when he 
sang, it was to her absent ; and when he read, he thought of 
her. The glamor so transmuted even his days that Vantage 
said to him : " I never saw a man so improved by a trip. 
Have you had a fortune left you, too?" 

" A fortune ? Yes " ; smiling slowly. 

"By Jove, that fellow's good-looking," muttered Vantage. 

When a week or two had gone by and the expected letter 



1909.] FOR SPORT 6 1 

did not come the hours began to drag heavily and anxiously. 
He had written at once and again and again. After three or 
four weeks of suspense, he told himself: " I cannot bear this. 
My beautiful lady is very ill, perhaps. I must go and see her." 
And then, a letter was handed him in her writing. In all his 
eagerness he would not open it until a chance came to draw 
apart from the bustling crowds in the shop. Then he read. 

To Mr. Giovanni Scarpia. 

DEAR MR. SCARPIA : I find on returning to my home that 
I was altogether mistaken as to my feelings towards you. 
And on quiet reflection that we were most unsuited to each 
other. I know that you will agree with me, therefore, in 
thinking that it is best we should not meet again. You will 
understand that this is final, when I tell you that I am shortly 
to be married to a gentleman well known to my father and 
friends. With best wishes for your future welfare, 

Very truly yours, 

JULIET CHAMPNEY. 

He folded it with mechanical neatness and slipped it in an 
inside pecket, where it touched a soft little package he always 
carried there. 

" What's the matter, Scarpia ? You look white," called a 
fellow-clerk passing. " Guess they've too much heat turned 
on." 

"Land sakes ! " said his janitor's wife next morning, "this 
bed ain't been touched ! Came in early, too, last night Mr. 
Scarpia. Hope he ain't sick." She was a motherly soul and 
liked the gentle, considerate tenant. Indeed, he had spent the 
night walking his room amidst the ruins of his cloud castle, 
out of which Juliet's face shone with mocking allurement; and 
again it seemed his mother's wistful, sad eyes which looked at 
him while the winds of autumn at his window echoed: "Addio, 
Giyletta mia ! Donna carissima, addio, addio I 

He continued his duties now with careful precision; but 
looked often languid and ill. And once, when a chilling blast 
was whistling, he forgot his overcoat ; and another time he was 
caught in a drenching rain and made light of staying all day 
in damp clothing. And many times, in preoccupied indiffer- 
ence, he failed to eat and sleep. 

Mrs. Barton, a very wealthy customer, came into the store 



62 FOR SPORT [Oct., 

during the Christmas season, and with her were friends a 
newly married couple from the East. " What a striking re- 
semblance, Walter," said the bride, " to a young man we 
knew at the beach." The salesman she remarked had passed 
them quickly on his way to a rear department. Immediately 
after there was some slight confusion in that part of the store. 

" What is it ? " asked Mr. Vantage, himself in converse with 
the important customer. 

" It is Mr. Scarpia, sir/' said a saleswoman near, " they 
say he has fainted had a hemorrhage some sort of attack." 

" I hope not," with some feeling. " He is, you know, Mrs. 
Barton, an invaluable man, and has been with us so long. He 
has looked very badly all winter. They tell me his mother 
died of rapid decline." 

"Scarpia!" cried Mrs. Travers, "Oh, Walter, it is the 
same man. I wish we were not going on this evening that 
we might ask for him." 

It was more than a month before they returned from Cali- 
fornia on their homeward route, and then Mrs. Barton told her 
that young Scarpia was very ill. She had inquired for him, 
having a pleasant, shopping acquaintance with him, and had 
sent him fruit and flowers. 

"I wish /might ask for him!" said Katherine impetuously. 

" My dear child, there is no reason you should not," re- 
plied her husband. " I will drive there with you." 

"It is quite an excellent street," added Mrs. Barton reas- 
suringly. 

"Walter," Katherine said, as they drove from the florist's, 
where she had supplied herself with his choicest blooms, " Mr. 
Scarpia was in perfect health and spirits when Juliet Champ- 
ney could that " 

"My dear" smiling with a little superiority "you do not, 
surely, believe in broken hearts and all that stuff ! This was 
a very industrious young man who had his daily duties to 
occupy his thoughts." 

" The body and mind being partners," persisted Kathetine 
slowly, " I think an accidental illness might have easy work 
if desire to live were lost." 

Her husband preceded her to the first floor where, in the 
hushed atmosphere of Scarpia's tasteful rooms, the janitor's 
wife held her apron to her eyes. A Sister of Mercy came 



1909.] FOR SPORT 63 

from the inner apartment and took the flowers from Katherine. 
" He will be so grateful," she said. " He appreciates kindness 
so deeply. He is always and entirely conscious though it is 
but a matter of minutes." When she came again: "He wishes 
to see you," she told her; and Katherine went in. 

Giovanni lay on a lounge near a window and facing the 
oratory where a priest knelt and where hung his mother's 
picture with the Madonna and San Gian' Battista, He was 
but a shadow of his former self, and it was startling to see 
how the darkness of his hair and great eyes intensified the 
whiteness of skin and gleaming teeth. 

"How good heaven is!" he whispered, as Katherine gently 
touched his hand, nearly transparent against the crimson silk 
cover. " It is almost like seeing her. Ah, donna carissima, 
grazie the flowers so sweet; and the violets most so their 
fragrance she loved it always. But you must not stay no- 
it might be painful." 

He closed his eyes, exhausted, and turned his head that his 
cheek might rest on an ash-blond curl lying on his pillow. 

The priest followed Katherine into the outer room. " It is 
kind of you to come, Madame," he said. " Though many call 
inquiring for him, he had but few intimates, being so different 
in tastes and thought from his associates. It is curious, too ; 
for I happen to know that his beginning was humble and his 
first environment deteriorating. But if the pure of heart shall 
see God then he will; for I have met few like him and a 
confessor should know. Still, I am bound to admit that his 
chief idea of heaven is being with his mother again. He is a 
dreamer and so, perhaps, unfit for this material world of ours. 
Ah, they call me." 

When the Sister came out in a little while, she raised her 
hand solemnly and there were tears in her eyes. 

Katherine had a sudden vision of a graceful figure leaning 
against a pillar in the moonlight, his glowing eyes fixed on a 
girl with white lace over her blond hair, and the waves beat- 
ing a refrain to the notes of a guitar and a touching, thrilling 
voice. She forgot that he was but a lowly-born clerk with a 
foolish, fanciful passion for a fair woman of the great world 
a desire of the moth for the flame. 

"Oh, the pity of it!" she murmured; and her eyes, too, 
were wet. 




CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS AND THE PRIEST- 
HOOD. 

SHOULD CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS BE ALLOWED 
TO RETAIN THEIR WIVES AND BECOME PRIESTS ? 

BY LOUIS O'DONOVAN, D.D. 

JEVERAL months ago fifteen non-Catholic minis- 
ters, almost simultaneously, "went over to Rome," 
and the belief obtains in high places that very 
many more would soon follow were they, being 
married men, allowed to become priests and 
keep their wives. To them, therefore, if not also to us, it 
cannot be an uninteresting question whether or not the Church 
should offer such terms to these " other sheep." And when 
we recall that not many years ago in England, a minister 
brought his whole congregation with him when he came into 
the Catholic Church, one may fancy the proportions that might 
be assumed by a tidal wave " Romewards " were the dike of 
priestly celibacy allowed to sink before the sea of prospective 
home-coming ministers on both sides of the Atlantic. 

The question is not, of course, whether or not celibacy is 
to be maintained as a sine qua non for the clergy in general, 
Neither is it whether or not converted ministers shall be al- 
lowed to marry after being ordained priests. But whether or 
not non- Catholic ministers already married, may become Catho- 
lic priests and continue to live with their wives. 

Further, it is not intended here to discuss the probable 
gain in numbers by lay accretions from the various non-Cathc- 
lic sects, were such a step taken. Neither shall we question 
whether such expected converts would prefer as guides, con- 
fessors, and directors their one-time married non-Catholic min- 
isters and their then married Catholic priests whose time, 
thought, prayers, and means must then necessarily be divided 
between family and flock or whether they would rather be 
directed and led by life-long celibate priests. 

We leave aside also the question of probable shock and its 



1909.] ' CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS 65 

scandalous consequences, in gravity and numbers, were such 
news borne to the ears of the Catholic faithful. And this, 
even though it were explained to be only an exceptional, ex- 
traordinary case of the Church becoming "all things to all 
men in order that [she] might save all" (I. Cor. ix. 22). 

We also pass by the probability of non- Catholic laymen or 
ministers, who contemplate entering the Church and the priest- 
hood, taking advantage of this relaxation to marry before en- 
tering upon their studies for the priesthood. Finally, we do 
not raise the issue whether married Catholic laymen would, or 
would not, ask that they, the children to the manor born, be 
accorded equal privileges with outsiders, and, at least, material 
heretics, should they wish to become priests. 

Cutting off all these questions, interesting and important 
though they are, the question of historic precedent only is 
here considered; namely, what has been the Church's practice 
in the past in such a situation quod semper, quod ubique, quod 
ab omnibus. Nor shall we consider what individuals have as- 
serted as their personal convictions, even though it should be 
a St. Jerome asking: "What is practised by the Churches of 
the Orient? What by those of Egypt and the Apostolic See?" 
and then answering: "For they receive either virgin or conti- 
nent clerics : or if their clerics had wives, they cease to be 
married." * No matter if it be a Pope St. Gregory the Great 
writing to his Subdeacon Peter in Sicily that : " It seems good 
to me that from the present day all bishops be notified not to 
presume to make any one a subdeacon unless he has promised 
to live chastely. . . . But those who, after the prohibition, 
will not live apart from their wives, we do not wish to receive 
Holy Orders."! 

Leaving aside all these ancillary questions, we shall con- 
sider only more or less general laws, formulated by early 
synods, that is, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, in 
both the East and the West. Lest some be shocked by state- 
ments hereinafter made, let them bear in mind that laws are 

* Quid tacient Orientis Ecclesiae ? Quid ^Egypti et Sedis Apostolicas, quae aut virgines 
clericos accipiunt aut continentes: aut si uxores habuerint, mariti esse desistunt? " (Cont. 
Vigil., n. 2., P. L., Tom. XXIII, Col. 341). 

t " Unde videtur mihi ut a praesenti dieepiscopis omnibus dicatur tit nullum subdiaconum 
facere praesumant nisi qui se victurum caste promiserit. . . . Eos autem qui post prc- 
hibitionem factam se a suis uxoribus continere noluerint, nolumus pervenire ad sacrum ordi- 
nem " (Epist., Lib. I., Indict. IX., Epist. xliv., P. L., Tom. LXXVII., Col. 506). 

VOL. XC. 5 



66 CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS [Oct., 

made for the worst, the relatively few, and are no indication 
of the moral status of the generally good. They should not 
lose sight of our Lord's own warning, " that scandals needs 
must come"; that even among the Twelve Apostles one fell 
afoul of the most fundamental law. And then, too, it should 
not be forgotten that these synodal canons that we are about 
to review were formulated in reconstruction days, times when 
uncouth, passionate men had to be dealt with men who had 
broken through many laws, human and divine, and who needed 
the healing physic, or even, at times, the cutting scalpel of 
the Divine Physician, as well as the self-sacrificing nursing of 
Holy Mother Church, to bring them back to a sanitary, spirit- 
ual condition. This much premised, we may take up the main 
inquiry. 

In the year 305 or 306 (Hefele, History of Church Councils, 
Book. I., ^13, Ed. Clark, Edinb., 1894), in Andalusian Spain, 
surely nineteen, possibly forty- three, bishops gathered and held 
the Synod of Elvira, for the purpose of reconstruction after 
the persecutions of the preceding three centuries. Of the eighty- 
one canons, the thirty-third orders : " Bishops, priests, and dea- 
cons and all clerics in the ministry to separate from their wives 
and not beget children " (Hefele, Councils, Book I., 13). Here 
is the first synodal legislation on celibacy, and the note struck 
is quite clear and to our point, showing no uncertainty or com- 
promise in Spain, at least in the early fourth century, and im- 
plying that the same had always been in vogue, at least gener- 
ally, if not, indeed, universally. 

Not ten years later, in 314, near where the Rhone debouches 
into the Mediterranean, a great number of bishops, estimated 
variously at from thirty-three to six hundred, from all the 
provinces of Constantine's Empire, held the great Council of 
Aries. Its purpose was to rectify abuses that had arisen from 
the Donatist schism. And while it was not an oecumenical 
council, yet it has been called a general council of the West. 
In its last canon (sixth or twenty-ninth) it declares: "We ex- 
hort our brothers that priests and levites do not live with their 
wives, because they are occupied with daily ministration " 
(Hefele, Councils, $15). The tone of legislation embodied in 
this canon, it will be noticed, is less imperious than that of 
Elvira, and it embraces the sentiment of a far vaster part of 
the Church all the West. 



1909.] AND THE PRIESTHOOD 67 

This same year, 314 (Hefele, Councils, Book I., $16), a 
smaller number of bishops, variously put down as from twelve to 
eighteen, met at Ancyra in Asia Minor, to readjust matters there 
after the persecutions. The tenth of the twenty-five canons 
formulated was : " If deacons, at the time of their appointment 
(election), declare that they must marry, and that they cannot 
lead a celibate life, and if accordingly they marry, they may 
continue in their ministry, because the bishop (at the time of 
their institution) gave them leave to marry; but if at the time 
of their election they have not spoken, and have agreed in 
taking holy orders to lead a celibate life, and if later they 
marry, they shall lose their diaconate" (Hefele, Councils, 16). 
Here is still greater leniency in words, yet the wording implies 
that as a general thing it was assumed by the very fact of or- 
dination that the candidate intended celibacy, and should he 
wish to marry he must so declare before receiving deaconship. 
It should be noted, though, that there is question only of the 
diaconate, and that nothing is said of the priesthood. 

Of priests who marry after ordination, the Synod of Neo- 
Caesarea, in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, held between the date of 
this Synod of Ancyra and that of Nicaea in 325, declares, in 
its first of fifteen canons that: "If a priest marry, he shall 
be removed from the ranks of the clergy " (Hefele, Book I., 
17). If, therefore, we interpret the mind of Ancyra by the 
text of Neo-Caesarea, so near in time and space, Ancyra would 
forbid all married life for priests. 

So far, then, legislation in the West and East forbids priests 
to live with their wives. In the East, it is true, while saying 
nothing explicitly of priests already married who remain with 
their wives, the legislation positively forbids both priests and 
deacons to marry after ordination, and, by implication, forbids 
priests already married to live with their wives. 

One naturally desires to know what legislation on celibacy 
was passed at Nicaea. Here, in Asia, seventy-five miles south- 
east of the present Constantinople, the first truly ecumenical 
council met, A. D. 325, and over three hundred bishops were 
present. The third of the twenty canons says: "The great 
synod absolutely forbids, and it cannot be permitted to either 
bishops, priests, or any other cleric, to have in his house a 
suneisaktos (subintroducta) with the exception of his mother, 
sister, aunt, or such other persons as are free from all suspi- 



68 CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS [Oct., 

cion " (Hetele, 42). But what does the term subintroducta 
mean? Does this forbid "spiritual" marriages, real marriages, 
or does it forbid all women but the true wives ? Each opin- 
ion has its supporters (Hefele, loc. cit.}. And hence the Fathers 
of Nicaea are not clear, for us at least, on this point, whatever 
they might have been for themselves. 

At Rome, in 386, eighty bishops met in synod and de- 
clared: " We advise that the priests and levites should not live 
with their wives" (Canon 9. Hefele, Book VIII., 105). This 
expression " advised " is explained as no retrogression, but as 
meaning that priests are advised to observe what is already a 
law, and no new legislation. At Carthage, in Africa, in 387, a 
synod " Binds bishops, priests, and levites to live apart from 
their wives " (Hefele, Book VIIL, 106). Fourteen years later, 
in 401, the Sixth Synod of Carthage (canon 4) decreed : 
" Bishops, priests, and deacons may not live with their wives, 
or they will be deposed from their office. The rest of the 
c l er gy> however, are not so bound" (Hefele, Book VIII., 
113). Africa seems, therefore, to have stood with the West 
for absolute, unqualified celibacy of the priesthood. 

This same year, 401, a synod at Turin addressed a synodal 
letter of eight canons to the Galilean bishops, and declared : 
" No one who has been ordained irregularly, or has begotten 
children while discharging the ministry of the Church, may be 
promoted to any higher grade" (loc. cit.). The parallel here 
implied between irregularity and fatherhood in the priesthood 
of course precludes the latter from being permitted to priests. 
It would seem that the Galilean bishops appealed to Rome on 
some points of 'this letter, and the next year, 402, the Synod 
of Rome, under Pope Innocent I., decreed among other things, 
that : " Bishops, priests, and deacons must remain unmarried " 
(loc. cif. t 114, can. 3). No doubt, therefore, seems ever to 
have clouded the legislation of Rome on this point. 

In the year 441 a synod was held at Orange, in south- 
eastern France, when thirty canons were formulated. The 
twenty- second is: "Married men shall not, henceforth, be or- 
dained deacons, unless they have previously vowed chastity." 
The twenty-third is : " He who, after receiving ordination to 
the diaconate, shall live with his wife, shall be deposed." Yet, 
in a more indulgent strain, the twenty- fourth declares: "Those 
however, who at an earlier period (before the passing of this 



1909.] AND THE PRIESTHOOD 69 

law) were ordained deacons and have fallen back into married 
intercourse, are excepted from this punishment. But, in ac- 
cordance with the decrees of the Synod of Turin, they must 
not be advanced to higher dignity." And canon twenty-fifth 
is: " Persons twice married, in case they are received into the 
number of the clergy by reason of their upright conduct, shall 
not be advanced higher than the sub-diaconate " (Hefele, Book 
X., 162). Hereby not only priests, but even deacons are 
prohibited to have wives unless married before the law was 
promulgated. 

The Second Synod of Aries (443 or 452) enacted fifty-six 
canons, the second declaring : " A married man is not to be 
made a priest unless his conversion (i. e. t vow of chastity) has 
preceded" (Hefele, Book X., 164). Nothing clearer, or more 
to the point, could be asked in our inquiry. In 461 a dozen 
Gallic bishops met at the Synod of Tours and passed thirteen 
canons, the first being: "Priests and levites are exhorted to 
perpetual chastity, because they may at any moment be sum- 
moned to the discharge of a sacred function sacrifice, bap- 
tism, etc." (Hefele, $211). Four years later, in 465, the Sy- 
nod of Vennes, in Brittany, published sixteen canons, number 
ii speaking of "Priests, deacons, subdeacons, and all those 
who are themselves forbidden to marry," thus taking celibacy 
as an established fact. Again, in southern Gaul, in A. D. 506, 
thirty-five bishops met at the Synod of Agde. Of the forty- 
seven canons received as genuine, the ninth says : " . .- . 
Incontinent clerics shall be deprived of all ecclesiastical dig- 
nities and offices. Only those who did not know that the 
continuance of married life was forbidden, may be allowed to re- 
tain their office if they live apart for the future" (Hefele, 222). 
And canon sixteenth is: ". . . If a young married man 
wishes to be ordained, he must be asked whether his wife also 
agrees, and is willing to depart from her husband's abode and 
practise continence," France, therefore, made no compromise, 
but demanded celibacy of all her priests. In 517, in the prov- 
ince of Tarragona, in Spain, a synod of seven bishops decreed : 
"If married men are ordained, they must, from the subdeacon 
to the bishop, no longer live with their wives," etc. (Hefele, 
229). Thus Spain, too, demanded and had a celibate priest- 
hood, and would tolerate no other. 

In A. D. 535 two hundred and seventeen bishops met at 



70 CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS [Oct., 

Carthage, in an African general council, to reconstruct legisla- 
tion and morals after the Vandal Kingdom's devastation, and 
the consequent rampage of Arianism. They discussed the 
" question whether those who had been Arian priests of the 
Vandals should, after reception of the orthodox doctrine, 
be left in their offices, or should only be taken into lay com- 
munion. All the members of the synod inclined to the latter 
view; yet they would not decide, but resolved, unanimously, 
to apply to Pope John II. for guidance " (Hefele, 248). The 
Pope's answer was that : " Their office in the Church could not 
be left to the converted Arian priests, but that they should 
receive support from the property of the Church." Here, 
nearly fourteen centuries ago, in now "darkest" Africa, was 
formulated an interesting and practical solution of the case 
which will not endanger orthodox faith, yet not financially 
embarrass newly-converted ministers. This same year the 
Synod oi Clermont, in Auvergne, decreed : " If any one is 
ordained deacon or priest, he must not continue matrimonial 
intercourse. He becomes a brother of his wife. As, however, 
some . . . have cast off the girdle of the warfare (of 
Christ) and have returned to matrimonial intercourse, it is or- 
dained that such must lose their dignity forever" (Hefele, 249). 

The Third Synod of Orleans, A. D. 538, decreed: "No cleric, 
from a subdeacon upwards, must remain with his wife, whom 
he formerly dwelt with. A bishop who allows it is to be sus- 
pended for three months" (Canon 2. Hefele, 251). Three 
years later the Fourth Synod of Orleans, attended by thirty- 
eight bishops, and twelve representatives of bishops, decreed : 
" Sacerdotes (bishops and priests) and deacons must not have 
the same dwelling with their wives, so that they may not be 
brought into suspicion" (Canon 17. Hefele, $253). Not only 
must the priesthood be celibate, but all " suspicion " even to 
the contrary must be avoided. Again, at the Fifth Synod of 
Orleans, A. D. 549, it was decreed: "If a cleric of any degree 
whatever returns again to his wife, he shall for his whole life- 
time be deprived of the dignity of his Order and deposed from 
his office" (Canon 4. Hefele, 284). The First Synod of 
Macon, A. D. 581, was attended by twenty- one bishops, who 
formulated nineteen canons; the eleventh is: "Higher clerics 
who persist in married life are deposed " (Hefele, $286). 

Just after this synod, one at Auxerre declared : "No pres- 



1909.] AND THE PRIESTHOOD 71 

byter may, after his ordination, dwell with his wife, or resume 
married life with her. So with the deacons and subdeacons" 
(Canon 21). At Lyons, in 583, eight bishops met and decreed: 
"The married clergy may not live with their wives" (Canon i. 
Hefele, 286). Thus Gallic synods are consistently for celibacy. 

At the General Council of Toledo, held in 589, to set 
aright the abuses resulting from Arianism in Spain, it was pre- 
scribed that : " As the bishops, priests, and deacons, that have 
come over from heresy, still partly live in matrimony with 
their wives, this is now forbidden to them. "Whoever does so 
shall be regarded as a lector" (Capitulum 5. Hefele, 287). 
And at Saragossa, A. D. 592, a provincial synod declared: "If 
an Arian priest becomes a Catholic and upright, particularly if 
he is chaste, he may be ordained as priest anew on repent- 
ance. So also a deacon" (Canon i. Hefele, 288). Finally, 
another Spanish Synod at Huesca, A. D. 598, ordained that: 
" All clerics must lead a chaste life." 

Summing up, therefore, we find that of these twenty-seven 
synods, not selected because of any biased legislation on the 
subject, but because they are the earliest dealing with the 
case, dating from reconstruction days after the terrible double 
catastrophe the persecutions and the early heresies summing 
up, we find that three synods were held in the East and 
twenty-four in the West. Of the three held in the East, the 
major one that of Nicaea is apparently not clear as to the 
obligation of celibacy for those newly-converted who wished to 
exercise the priesthood. Indeed, the synod seemed to have 
inclined to the obligation of celibacy, but was probably, if we 
may hold the account historical (see Hefele, 43), prevailed on 
by Paphnutius not to forbid these newly-converted, already 
married, to live with their wives. 

Of the two minor Eastern synods, one, Ancyra, allowed 
deacons to live with their wives, if they so stipulated before 
ordination, but nothing is said of priests. The other, Neo- 
Cassarea, orders priests to be deposed if they marry. 

Hence, the legislation of the East, on our point, is rather 
in favor of celibacy, for one synod is doubtfully against obliga- 
tory celibacy; one does not deal with the case directly; and 
the third is for celibacy in general. 

In the West eleven of the twenty- four oblige celibacy in 
priests, while thirteen presuppose^ or imply, or exhort to celi- 



72 CONVERTED MARRIED MINISTERS [Oct. 

bacy. One of these latter would have converted priests sup- 
ported as laymen, but not made priests. 

It is accurate, then, to say that the early synods generally 
forbade converted priests retaining their wives and becoming 
priests. Indeed, we might say that it was decidedly the ex- 
ception for such a course to be allowed. Nay, we may say that 
we have not one entirely trustworthy account of a synod in 
these three centuries, unquestionably, uncompromisingly allow- 
ing converted priests to become priests in the Catholic Church 
and still retain their wives. Whereas we have two dozen 
clearly, positively forbidding the same. By countries, we find 
Italy, Africa, Spain, France, all clearly for celibacy, and Asia 
rather doubtful, if not for celibacy. 

Again, by plurality vote, we would find that the prepon- 
derance was for making celibacy obligatory on the part of con- 
verts, if they would become priests in the Catholic Church. 
More accurately, against the 300 who, at Nicaea, probably did 
not vote against a married clergy, 445, or by some records 952 
(with eight synods not listed, wherein all voted for celibacy, 
and therefore probably from two hundred to four hundred 
more), all voted for a celibate clergy. 

Hence our conclusion is that, historically, from precedent, 
the Church cannot, consistently with her traditions of these 
three early centuries, allow converted non-Catholic ministers 
to become Catholic priests, unless they promise to practise 
celibacy. 




THE WHITE GIFT. 

BY CATALINA PAEZ. 

fWAY up at the north of Caracas, where the streets 
grow steep and hilly, and the gray-green "Silla" 
starts boldly in the foreground, stands the church 
of " Our Lady of Mercies." A holy and stately 
title, and one fraught with deep significance to 
the brown- habited friars who first inscribed in faultless script 
upon the parish records: " Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes." 
But friars and records alike have lain for many centuries be- 
neath flat slabs in the transept, and the name has died with 
them ; for the parish loves better one of its own bestowing : 
" La Merced." 

With its rectangular, white stuccoed walls, square-domed 
towers, and tiny plaza a beautiful riot of neglect, La Merced 
differs little externally from her many sister-churches in Ca- 
racas. But here the similarity ceases, for the unpretentious 
little church in a hilly, unfashionable section, outranks them 
all in fame. 

Boasting neither the stateliness of the Cathedral, the vener- 
able dignity of Altagracia, nor the new and fashionable mag- 
nificence of Santa Teresa, La Merced yet numbers pilgrims from 
each of these, who slip in between Masses with a rosary and 
a votive. For within, where the prie-dieus cluster thickest, 
and the flag-stones are slippery with the drippings from in- 
numerable candles, is the shrine of the Blessed Lady, she of 
the miracles and mercies. Hither come all weary and afflicted 
to pray for intercession ; and many are the tales of wonders 
wrought and miracles performed. Of these the most recent and 
by far the most wonderful is that which befell little Amalita 
Rivas, daughter of Don Ricardo and Misia Soledad. The whole 
city rings with the story. But the city does not mention, for 
the city does not know, the deepest phase of the miracle : how 
a woman's hard heart was softened and charity descended upon 
one who had been as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. 
It was the ninth night of darkness, and Amalita toiled up 



74 THE WHITE GIFT [Oct., 

the hilly street, bearing away the evening's allotment of can- 
dles. Occasionally she paused on the slope to rest, for Ama- 
lita was little and the candles were large, of that long, thick 
variety which cost a real at the panaderia. They used to be 
only a medio, but that was before the blockade had sent prices 
soaring. As she journeyed Amalita made labored computations, 
with much assistance from the fingers of her one free hand. 

"Two candles a night for nine nights, excepting on Friday 
when papaito was worse, and we reserved one to burn in his 
bedroom. Nine times two makes eighteen, less one seventeen 
good candles in all, to say nothing of the Ave Marias and 
Padre Nuestros ! Surely the Blessed Lady will be satisfied, 
and send the dress, just a simple little dress. I don't ask for 
tucks, or ruffles, or embroidery just so that it be white, and 
fit for the Holy Communion. The padre said we were not to 
be thinking of finery, but to keep our thoughts on the Holy 
Mystery ; but the prayer book says " decently appareled " 
and here she looked down at her faded, shrunken calico, whose 
decency lay entirely in its scrupulous cleanliness. "Ah, if the 
Good Lady will but send the dress my little First Commun- 
ion dress ! " 

She paused to shift her candles and wave a kiss to her 
mother, who stood at the doorway of their unlighted house, at 
the foot of the hill. Misia Soledad would watch thus until 
Amalita returned, for it was not seemly that a ninita should 
be abroad alone, and at this hour. But what was to be done ? 
Misia Soledad dared not leave the sick father, and Maria had 
departed an hour before with the drawn-work. Poor, faithful 
Maria, with a heart as white as her face was black, who stayed 
on in their poverty as she had in their days of wealth, asking 
no wage, but the privilege of lightening their labors. 

Maria it was who haggled over the yams and plantains in 
the market-place, bargained with the panadero, wheedled an ex- 
tra pint from the milkman ; who washed and swept, and occa- 
sionally, but not too often scrubbed ; and who struggled with 
scant fuel, and scanter fare over the charcoal brazier. And it 
was Maria who, after Amalita's long hours of pulling threads 
and Misia Soledad's still longer ones of catching, twisting, and 
drawing them, took up the resultant bit of needle-craft, and 
went into the streets to find a purchaser. For, although it is 
no disgrace for a lady to work, most assuredly no disgrace, 



1909.] THE WHITE GIFT 75 

yet one must not openly avow it therein lies all the shame 
and degradation. 

So Maria made her rounds with the handkerchiefs and scarfs 
only after nightfall had diminished the danger of recognition; 
and crowded her rotund person into as small a compass as pos- 
sible, as she displayed her wares in shadowy doorways, speak- 
ing, when necessary, in deep, sepulchral tones, which she fondly 
imagined disguised the natural inflections of her voice. And 
those who bought, or bargained, or merely admired, helped on 
the little play, as is the wont of the sympathetic folks of Ca- 
racas, and made many exclamations over the beauty of the 
drawn-work, coupled with random surmises as to the identity 
of the maker; just as though they did not know all along 
that it was Misia Soledad's Maria who hawked her wares in 
this fashion. But appearances had been maintained : and Misia 
Soledad's pride was saved her poverty had not been paraded. 

Not that poverty in itself confers any stigma; in fact, quite 
the reverse has come to be the case, now that the wealthy 
risk being classed with foreigners, " new people," and dictators 
all of them quite beyond the pale of respectability. For what 
with the revolution, the forced loans, and finally the blockade, 
all of the old aristocracy are poor save only a few fortunate 
ones like Dona Mercedes Fernandez, who, rumor avers, has a 
trunkful of French securities buried beneath the altar in her 
oratory. 

With the thought of Dona Mercedes new lines came around 
Misia Soledad's mouth, and new rings beneath her eyes, while 
her face grew hard and rigid. It might have been cut in 
marble, and labelled, "Despair." 

For others, yes, there was hope. They stared at their 
wasted plantations and desolate chattel farms, and mourned 
over goodly bales of hides and sacks of coffee piled in useless 
heaps up on the sweltering wharves of La Guayra, where 
starving peons huddled blinking in the sunshine ; while over all 
the grim, gray ships kept watch. But soon, thought Misia 
Soledad, there would come another squadron, a white, all- con- 
quering fleet, which would steam majestically into the harbor 
to strains of Yankee Doodle, and fling wide a starry banner 
over the wharves and custom houses. And then the intruders 
would slink away into the darkness, and the warehouses open 
wide their doors, and steamers once more anchor in the rest- 



76 THE WHITE GIFT [Oct., 

less roadstead, bringing wealth and happiness to many. To 
many, but not to her. The blockade might be lifted, the block- 
ade might rest, and Godo or Liberal sit in the president's palace 
of Miraflores for her the future presented the same dreary as- 
pect. No longer did there exist a miraculous potency in "to- 
morrow," that vague, elusive hope with which the Venezuelan 
assuages all his sorrows and excuses all his procrastinations. 
To Misia Soledad to-morrow could bring but the sorrows of 
to-day; and the future stretched drear and bleak to the gates 
of eternity. 

For she and her house were accurst! Save the black ban 
were lifted, of what use to hope ? But still Misia Soledad 
murmured, as she had done innumerable times every day during 
the past fifteen years: "From anger, hatred, and all ill- will, 
O Lord, deliver us ! " 

It was not of herself she thought, nor yet even of the 
husband coughing his life away in the dark bed- room, but of 
the little daughter who toiled so hopefully up the hill with 
the candles. She who gladdened the dreary household by her 
never-failing cheerfulness, chatting to Maria in the kitchen, 
retailing merry bits of gossip to her father, and singing blithely 
beside her mother as she pulled the linen for the drawn- 
work. It was oftenest now the drawn-work, lor there was 
pressing need of diligence. Was she not about to make her 
First Communion, and does not a First Communion imply a 
white dress, and a wreath, and a beautiful veil reaching down 
to one's very shoe-tops? But these things necessitate money. 
So much money that Amalita gasped as she considered it. 

To be sure there was Misia Dolores next door, who had 
promised the loan of her wedding-veil, still fresh and pretty 
in its blue paper wrappings; and roses and orange blossoms 
were to be had anywhere for the picking; but the dress there 
still remained the dress. Do what they would, they could not 
obtain the dress; although Amalita pulled threads until her 
fingers showed aching furrows, and Maria wandered the streets 
for hours, and even stood forth boldly in the plaza with her 
basket. But selling was slow, for few could afford the luxury 
of fine needle-work. And there was the rent, and the black 
beans and rice and plantains, even though one did forego 
meat and wheaten bread; and then the 'medico for the father, 
and pills, and an occasional tonic; and so very few rcahs 



I909.J THE WHITE GIFT 77 

found their way into the clay pig which Amalita shook so 
often, with her ear close to its corpulent side. Most certainly 
the pig did not grow fat by eating, and his diet ceased alto- 
gether for days at a time ; until finally, one evil morning, he 
came to an untimely end under an annihilating hammer; and 
Misia Soledad, the tears streaming down her face, gathered up 
the scanty treasure disgorged, to bestow it upon an insistent 
landlord, in partial satisfaction of certain unliquidated obliga- 
tions. 

Then it was, when human endeavor proved fruitless, that 
Amalita took up her unfailing hope, and carried it to the 
divine keeping. Every evening, for nine evenings, she climbed 
up the Street of Mercies, to say her novena at the top. To- 
night was the last of the nine; the novena would end and 
then then- 
She looked down at her mother, then raised her eyes with 
an expression almost triumphant. It would come, she felt sure 
it would come ; the Blessed Lady would not leave her prayers 
unanswered. 

She turned and caught sight of Dona Mercedes Fernandez, 
sewing on a mass of white, in her window. 

Sewing, invariably sewing, was Dona Mercedes, and not even 
Misia Soledad's skillful fingers fashioned such exquisite work- 
manship. For Misia Soledad, hampered by straightened cir- 
cumstances, wrought only upon linen, while the great wealth 
of Dona Mercedes supplied her with gorgeous brocades, filmy 
laces, silks, satins, and threads of twisted gold, whose richness 
shimmered in strange contrast against the austere blackness of 
her own simple, almost nun-like habit. For it was not with 
purpose of her own bedecking that Dona Mercedes labored with 
her needle and shears, but for the attiring of the sacred image 
of her patron Lady in the church above. Of Dona Mercedes, 
Caracas might well say, with double meaning, that " she re- 
mained to dress saints " ; the phrase in its hackneyed conno- 
tation, referring, of course to her continued spinsterhood. Not 
that Caracas was inclined to take liberties with the name of 
Dona Mercedes the strict adherence to the formal and little 
used " Dona," in place of the more colloquial " Misia " Mer- 
cedes, was ample proof of that ; for there was something in 
the lady's cold, impassive countenance, the calm, even tones of 
her voice, her severe and dignified demeanor, coupled with 



78 THE WHITE GIFT [Oct., 

her known reputation for an austerity of living amounting al- 
most to asceticism, that checked even the exuberant facetious- 
ness of Caracas. Dona Mercedes had no nickname, wonderful 
to relate. " A most holy and excellent lady," said all, and they 
held her up as a model to the young. It even was whispered 
that a scourge, all knotted and stained, hung upon the wall of 
her oratory. 

" It is almost as though she did penance," said old Misia 
Vicenta, her neighbor; "but in so saintly a life there can be 
no fault to atone. Do I not know, I who have watched her 
from her childhood? Not sinning, but sinned against, if you 
will. Never has she been the same since the unfortunate affair 
with Ricardo Rivas, who, as you know, jilted her for Solita 
Aguero. Ah ! she was bright and merry enough before that, 
and such balls as she gave in the big house, such balls! And 
such jewels, and gowns, and manias! And now she goes like 
a religious, and the house so dark and silent, it makes me 
shiver to enter it, and Mercedita always in the church, or 
sewing alone in the corridor ! Dios mio de mi alma / What 
changes, what changes!" 

None of which, of course, was known to Amalita as she 
shifted her candles, caught her breath, and surveyed Dona 
Mercedes with mingled awe and curiosity. Dona Mercedes was 
a strange neighbor. She never came to gossip in the corridor: 
nor to bustle aimlessly about in earnest uselessness during the 
father's illness; nor did she send him delicious, indigestible 
delicacies on a silver tray, with a spray of jasmine or magnolia 
pinned in its white napkin. It was seldom, even, that one saw 
her at the window, for the great house usually presented a 
blank front of tightly-closed shutters, behind forbidding iron 
bars. 

" I hope that when I am grown up I may be as saintly 
as she is," said Amalita ; but even as she spoke she drew 
away from the cold, shadowy mansion, and stood on the curb, 
warm with recent sunshine. The woman at the window looked 
up and started, so that the scissors she held pierced her 
finger, and a bright red spot glowed upon the shimmering 
garment in her lap. Amalita saw, with eyes that blurred with 
feeling, while over her swept a wave of undeniable sympathy 
for the lonely recluse before her. She pulled from her hair 
the spray of jasmine her mother had twined there, and stepped 



1909.] THE WHITE GIFT 79 

hastily to the window. " I am so sorry," she whispered ; then 
laid the flowers upon the sill, and, like Pippa, passed on her 
way unknowing. 

Dona Mercedes shrank back as though some one had struck 
her, while a dull red flushed in her faded cheeks. She looked 
at the starry, wax-like flower, then at the child disappearing 
in the dimness, and again at the blossoms lying just beneath 
her hand, which clutched at the window grating. The hand, 
tense and trembling strangely, released the iron bar, and hov- 
ered for an uncertain moment just within touch of the spray, 
until finally it swept up the green thing into its icy fingers. 

"Jasmine," said Dona Mercedes in a voice bereft of all its 
customary calmness, "Jasmine! His flower!" She fingered 
the pale blossom gently, her face softened with tender remin- 
iscence; then her expression changed, and she cast the spray 
fiercely from her: "No"; she said, "no; I am not to be won 
thus, with soft words and fair gifts. I will not be won ! Ri- 
cardo Rivas, between me and thee, and all of thine, there is 
an undying hatred, and may the black blight encompass thee 
to the Day of Judgment ! " 

She raised her arms above her, as though calling heaven to 
witness, and a dark drop fell from the wounded finger and 
spattered upon her lips. She shuddered with superstitious hor- 
ror, then entering her oratory thrust her hand into a font of 
holy water, then knelt for a half-hour in prayer. But the spot 
upon her lips, unnoticed, remained unwashed; and her peti- 
tions flowed from a mouth defiled. 

For fifteen years had Dona Mercedes prayed much and 
fervently; for fifteen years had her lips been polluted with 
stain, a stain darker and more evil than that which now rested 
upon them. 

A decade and a half had passed since she stood, one even- 
ing, quivering with love, jealousy, and wounded pride, in the 
shadow of the house which awaited the coming of Ricardo 
Rivas and his newly-made bride. Ricardo, who had sought and 
loved and won her; and, having won, had passed on with his 
love, in his gay, nonchalant fashion, to conquer anew, and this 
time to be held, by pretty Solita Aguero. As they crossed 
their threshold, Mercedes stood forth and cursed them. Cursed 
them and their house and their children, unto the third and 
fourth generation. 



8o THE WHITE GIFT [Oct., 

"May your cattle starve and your crops wither and fail; 
may your house, and the lands of your fathers, pass into the 
hands of strangers; may you sicken in poverty, Ricardo, and 
behold your wife toiling to maintain you; and may your name 
die out in ignominy and humiliation, with never a son to suc- 
ceed you." 

Then she had fled up the Hill of Mercies with Solita's 
scream sounding in her ears. Many times during recent years 
had she heard the scream in imagination. She heard it when, 
one after another, three little sons sickened and died in the 
house at the foot of the hill ; heard it when a drought de- 
stroyed the sugar, when a flood swept off the cattle, when 
mortgages and revolutions carried away hatos and haciendas, 
leaving only Misia Soledad's drawn-work and lace-making be- 
tween them and starvation. For Ricardo, the fop, the gallant, 
the debonair, had been brought home from the battle at Mara- 
caibo with a bullet through his shoulder, and now sat and 
shivered all day in the sunshine. Once Dona Mercedes had 
seen him, making his slow way up to the church, coughing 
and stumbling when his cane slipped among the loose cobble- 
stones ; and she, pallid and trembling at the window, had caught 
up a glass of wine and borne it half-way to the doorway, only 
to hurl it crashing into the patio fountain. " The curse shall 
rest," she muttered. 

But after he had passed her house, she stole out into the 
street, and followed him up the slope, watching every waver- 
ing footstep, starting forward at every uncertain movement, 
creeping like a shadow behind him up the hill, across the 
plaza, and into the dim, cool church. At the second row of 
the pillars she stopped and, gazing for a moment upon the 
little door which shut him into sacred privacy with conscience, 
turned and made her way to the shrine of our Lady. There 
was one aisle of the church which Dona Mercedes never en- 
tered. He who confesses must atone, so Dona Mercedes went 
unabsolved. And so the curse still rested. 

" I am not to be won," she said, as she rose from her 
knees in the oratory, and muffled her hand in her handker- 
chief. "I am not to be won," she repeated, as she gathered a 
handful of withered petals from the floor, and laid them be- 
tween the leaves of her prayer book. "I am not to be won," 
she insisted, almost mechanically, as she made her way to the 



1909.] THE WHITE GIFT 81 

church, bearing with her the lacy white robe she had spent 
many hours making ready for the coming fiesta. 

The wardrobe of the Lady of Mercies numbered many 
beautiful garments silks, satins, velvets, and stiff, rustling bro- 
cades but none of them in all their gorgeousness could com- 
pare with this soft, sheer linen, straight and simple as a child's 
frock, but wonderfully wrought with multitudinous inlayings 
of narrow lace, and a delicate tracery of vines and rosebuds 
which ran from hem to neck, and back to hem again. Dona 
Mercedes* skillful fingers had done their utmost, and now she 
was taking the fair, shimmering gown for a final fitting. Not 
that she had any doubt as to its accuracy of line, for during 
its construction, she had many times tried it on Misia Vicenta's 
little grandniece, Clorinda, who was just of a size with the 
Blessed Lady. 

The church stretched vast and gloomy, relieved only by 
the dim light of a sanctuary lamp. Dona Mercedes approached 
the shrine by a side aisle and paused in the shadow behind it, 
so she did not perceive the two candles which flickered low in 
their sockets and cast wavering lights upon the bent head of 
a little girl, who knelt between them. Dona Mercedes ad- 
justed the short flight of altar steps, which the sacristan had 
left for her using, and mounted to the narrow wooden ledge 
which ran along the back of the shrine. But she started back 
at the sight of a tiny figure prostrated upon the stones below 
her. Brief as was the glimpse, it brought startled recognition 
to the woman up among the shadows, and she clutched at the 
near-by pillar with shaking fingers. 

"It is she," she whispered, "the child!" 

She steadied herself, and made an effort to slip on the robe 
she held, but the Lady of Mercies, usually so gentle and yield- 
ing, seemed strangely averse to the robing. She stiffened her 
arms so that Dona Mercedes* trembling hands could not draw 
on the sleeves, and stood with the gown, unfastened its entire 
length, dangling upon the wrists. Dona Mercedes endeavored 
to draw it off, but the Blessed Lady was still obdurate ; she 
would not wear the robe, neither would she part with it. A 
voice came up from below, a plaintive, childish treble ; and as 
she heard, the woman leaned weakly against the pillar. The 
accents were recently familiar and she could hear in imagina- 
tion a tender, pitying ; " I am so sorry ! " while the cloying 
VOL. xc. 6 



82 THE WHITE GIFT [Oct. 

sweetness of jasmine stole up from the prayer book in her 
bosom. The little voice grew louder, tense with the fervor of 
supplication, and then Dona Mercedes perceived that the words 
were not those of her memory, though the tones might be the 
same. 

" And now, dear Lady, having completed my novena, I only 
await your gracious intercession. More prayers I cannot say, 
for I know none; more candles I cannot bring, for as you 
know, dear Lady, the father lies shaking and burning without 
light for his bedroom, that I might offer his evenings' candles 
to you. Well do you know my need, gracious Lady, so I will 
not tire you with explanations; only a little white dress for my 
First Communion please send me a little dress." 

The voice rose to a wailing cry of appeal, that pierced the 
very soul of the bitter woman who listened. " Mea culpa ; 
mea culpa " ; she moaned, and sank to her knees, thus releas- 
ing her hold on the skirt of the Lady's white garment. 

Amalita, prostrate in an ecstasy of adoration, heard a sud- 
den motion and a flutter above her. She raised her eyes, 
started for a moment of rapturous terror, then uttered a ring- 
ing cry of thanksgiving. For there stood the Lady of Mercies, 
beaming down radiance upon her, and holding out in her two 
hands a dress, a lacy white dress, which she dropped into 
Amalita's arms. 

"A miracle," says Caracas, and likens Amalita to Berna- 
dette, while La Merced bids fair to rival Lourdes' famous 
grotto, from the number and fervor of its pilgrims. 

Only the good padre knows of the first of these, a stricken 
woman, who knocked at his wicket that night ; but he can ex- 
plain nothing, for the secrets of the confessional are inviolate. 



BEYOND! 

BY JOHN W. COVENEY, SJ. 

At morn on heaven's shore, 
When death's dark night is o'er, 

While yet bewildered and alone I stand, 
Who first with friendly grace, 
From out that spirit race, 

Will bear to me the sun-clad King's command? 
What need of herald from the throne 
If conscience flout the sins I recked not to bemoan? 

For then, with smiting shame, 
Must memory proclaim 

My destiny 'fore heaven's squadroned host ! 
What din or battle sound 
Can quaking heart confound 

Like that dread dawning sense of heaven lost, 
When bare before her Maker's eyes 
My soul appears in all her vile enormities? 

Oh ! whither shall I flee ? 
Just God ! I have no plea ! 

As fettered dove against its prison-bars 
Beats out its fluttering life, 
E'en now, in senseless strife, 

Would I my spirit yield to listening stars 
If aught could Thy poised sentence stay! 
IyO ! I but dream ! Time hath not merged in Judgment Day . 

Then don Thy thorny crown, 
Dear I,ord, Thy crimsoned gown 

Put on ! that I may still for mercy pray 
While yet Thy Heart doth bleed! 
I ask not for the meed 

No eye hath seen : enough to toil alway, 
If at the dawn Thy kind embrace, 
With welcome wake my soul in Thy fair biding place! 




CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE. 

BY ALEXANDER MERCIER, O.P. 

JHE title to this paper is very similar to one which 
heads an article in the Cosmopolitan Magazine 
for August, 1909. The latter is one of a series in 
which all are of the same spirit and trend. The 
writer, Mr. Harold Bolce, makes the charge that 
the universities of America are contemplating nothing less than 
the foundation of a new religion "the introduction into the 
world of a system of belief superior to the Christianity of the 
ages." To pave the way for that enterprise, we are told, they 
have placed Christianity in the scholar's crucible and have 
sweepingly condemned the Christian Church " as one of the 
leading obstacles in the way of man's spiritual unfolding." 

Which Church is meant ? The professors mentioned aim 
apparently at every religious body that calls itself a Church ; 
yet it can be safely assumed that this assault upon the Church 
is first of all directed against the Catholic Church. 

Because the Catholic Church has been frequently mentioned, 
and her teachings questioned, this essay has been written. It 
has no aggressive aim. Aggressiveness may be good tactics 
in time of war, but I do not care to wage war against adversa- 
ries whose sincerity I do not question, and, in any case, I have 
very little faith in the efficacy of war and polemics for the 
triumph of truth. 

My purpose is simply to show that these attacks, as far as 
the Catholic Church is concerned, do not really hit the mark ; 
that when placed in the scholar's crucible the Catholic faith 
victoriously stands the test ; and that, if rightly understood 
understood with a knowledge that enables the critic to differ- 
entiate between what is essential and non-essential that faith 
would save college professors and all others the labor of ex- 
cogitating a new religion. 

In the beginning we will state some preliminary principles 
which underlie the majority of the explanations to be given in 
the following pages. 



1 909-] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 85 

First, it would be unjust to impute to religion all the errors 
or mistakes into which its followers have fallen, and which pro- 
ceeded partly from their religious belief. This principle is dic- 
tated by ordinary common sense. Everybody knows, or should 
know, that the most sublime truth, the noblest of causes, if 
associated with some misconception, can contribute to generate 
monstrous errors and criminal actions. Should we, for that 
reason, condemn all truth, all noble and generous enthusiasm, 
even though these things led frequently to the shedding of 
human blood ? We meet here with one of the favorite accu- 
sations brought against religion and Church ; one which appeals 
more to the heart than to the mind. The college men in ques- 
tion do not fail to give it a prominent place. "The old in- 
dictment, drawn up by irreverent critics against the Church, 
is repeated with a new force and a new meaning. . . 
Motley and Draper have been cited in support of the teaching 
that the Church in many ages murdered more people than it 
saved. And these victims were burned alive, strangled, or be- 
headed, not for crimes committed, but in some cases for read- 
ing the Scriptures, or looking askance at a graven image, ot 
smiling at an idolatrous procession as it passed." 

We will overlook the rhetorical exaggeration in all this, and 
the intention it betrays of emphasizing the persecutions imputed 
to Christianity. Let us grant, for the sake of argument, that 
religion, associated with, and exploited by, human passions, 
caused a great amount of bloodshed. What does it prove? 
More blood has been shed, very often unjustly shed, for other 
causes, for the sake of country, property, family, love, fame, 
honor, etc., than on account of religion. And yet do the col- 
lege men condemn all these things, pursue their destruction, 
and strive to invent substitutes for them among men ? 

This shedding of human blood for the cause of religion 
proves, at least, that religion in all centuries has been a matter 
of deepest and most intense interest for all mankind. If his- 
tory did not record that bloody evidence of the vital import- 
ance in which religion has been held, we should surely hear 
of some other scholars who, arguing against religion, would 
accuse it of impotence, ineffectiveness, since it was never able 
to stir up human feelings and passions as do the most trivial 
of human interests. They would also conclude, as some of the 
professors of American universities are reported to do from 



86 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

the opposite fact, that another and more powerful ideal is 
needed to take the place of religion. 

If men were wrong in killing their fellowmen for the sake 
of religion, their action does not prove that religion is not a 
sacred thing. 

The wrong must be abolished, but the wrong-doing, caused 
by the perversity of human ignorance and passion, never af- 
fected, and will never affect, the sacred promise in whose name 
it was at times done. 

This is one instance, and perhaps the most conspicuous 
one, in which the principle laid down above has been disre- 
garded ; the principle that forbids us to impute to religion the 
mistakes and failings which should be ascribed to human frailty 
and which have shown themselves in every field where a cher- 
ished interest of mankind was at stake. 

A second principle and one which applies almost exclusive- 
ly to Catholicism, is : It is not right to consider all tenets held 
in the Catholic Church as dogmas of the Catholic faith. 

Every enlightened Catholic knows that with regard to 
Catholic faith there are doctrines that are essentially of faith ; 
and teachings, tenets, customs that are not essentially of faith. 
Both classes have this in common, that they are believed be- 
cause explicitly or implicitly revealed by God. This common 
condition is necessary ; for if such tenets were held on the 
ground of some human or natural evidence, they would not be 
religious tenets, but scientific or philosophical opinions. But 
between the two classes there is this difference, that the former 
are believed to have been certainly revealed, the others as more 
or less probably Revealed, by God. I need not dwell on the im- 
mense importance of this difference. 

The tenets that belong to the first class, these only are 
real and actual dogmas of the faith. They must be believed 
because they have with absolute certainty been revealed by 
God. Moreover, the fact of their being certainly revealed by 
God must be acknowledged by the universal Church, and, as 
a rule, be declared in due form by the supreme authority. 
Hence, to consider a point of doctrine a real dogma of the 
faith, it is not enough that we find it commonly believed, 
promiscuously asserted, taught, preached in the Church. We 
must ascertain if it also is believed, as being undoubtedly re- 
vealed by God, and there is hardly any other way to ascer- 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 87 

tain that, save by the authentic declaration or definition of the 
Councils or Popes. 

The dogmas of the Catholic faith are as unchangeable as 
the Divine Truth : the Catholic Church is the guardian of 
them and is fully responsible for them. 

But it is different with other tenets, large in number, which 
are believed and held as revealed, to some extent at least, by 
God. These are not, or at least they are not as yet, dogmas 
of faith. They may be changed. After more thorough in- 
vestigation, it may be found out that they were never revealed 
by God, or at least that the special meaning heretofore at- 
tached to them was not revealed truth. If the object of such 
a tenet is within the range of some natural science, the testi- 
mony of that science will be received with due deference. 
Since the Catholic Church proclaims that truth is one, that 
there cannot be conflict between natural and supernatural 
truth, between science and faith, it is entirely consistent to ad- 
mit that any fact or opinion disproved by science, has not been 
revealed by God ; that the previous probability of its being 
revealed is brought to naught by the verdict of science. 

We speak of real science, the data of which are positive, 
unquestionable, definitive, and not of hypotheses, theories, 
ephemeral systems of philosophy to which their authors could 
not warrant even a few years' continued and worthy life. 
Between the data of science and the real dogmas of faith there 
was never any conflict, nor can there be. The reason of this 
is that there is hardly any common ground upon which both 
can come into serious conflict ; or at least the regions where 
the supernatural object of faith and the natural object of science 
meet, are too abstract, too far removed from all experimental 
verification, to allow human science any claim of certainty in 
its speculations. 

In fact the instances of apparent conflict between any science 
and the Catholic teaching, are instances in which the data of 
science faced tenets of the second of the classes we have de- 
scribed ; tenets which were believed, according to a certain 
meaning, because they seemed probably revealed according to 
that meaning by God, and there was no argument, at the time, 
to suggest that they were not so revealed. These tenets were 
religious opinions and not dogmas of faith. 

The root and reason of such conflicts have been taken 



88 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

away by the Catholic Church, through its assertion of two 
orders of things, the natural and the supernatural ; the former 
being, as a rule, the field of human science and reason, the 
latter that of divine revelation and faith. Hence, it follows 
that the object of divine revelation is not, as a rule, anything 
that is, at the same time, the matter of any human science. 

Formerly, at a time when human learning was in some 
matters in its infancy, Christians thought to find much scien- 
tific data in the Holy Scriptures, in the Divine Word spoken 
to man in the language of man. But this expectation, this 
general belief, was never a dogma of the Catholic faith, nor is 
it at the present time. 

It is a dogma of faith that all statements contained in the 
revealed word of God are endorsed by God, are asserted by 
God, according to a certain meaning : that is to say, accord- 
ing to the meaning they have with reference to the general 
theme and object of the Holy Scripture. 

Doctor Shurman says that we " know not on what principle 
the books of the Holy Scripture were put together as a Bible.'* 
Yet this principle, in other words the general theme, the lead- 
ing idea or fact in which all statements of the Holy Scripture 
centre, is suggested by the very name which has been given 
to it of old. The Bible is the Book of the Testament or 
Covenant. Its general theme or subject is the fact that God, 
the Creator of the Universe, freely condescended to come 
down to man, His creature; associated and united Himself 
with man ; that He Himself became Man, in order to raise 
man to Himself, to the partaking of His divinity and eternal 
happiness. Everything in the Sacred Book, from the first page 
to the last, is calculated to reveal, to assert this great fact, 
to illustrate it in its various stages and its final issue. This 
great central theme, and everything directly connected with 
it, is what we call the supernatural order, because such a 
union of God with man, such a raising of man to the Divine, 
is a thing which is above human nature, even above the nature 
of all possible created beings. In the meaning with which they 
are related to that great fact all sentences of the Holy Scrip- 
ture are revealed and asserted by God. 

Did God also intend to teach man some points of human 
science, instead of simply using, in the way of examples and 
illustrations, the imperfect notions possessed by the human 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 89 

writers who were his organs ? It is not a dogma of faith 
that He did (except, maybe, in the few cases in which the 
knowledge of a natural fact or truth was an essential element 
to conceive and express a supernatural dogma). 

The Church does not condemn this view, this general prin- 
ciple, " that, since the days of Eden, God never spoke to man 
in order to teach him any merely natural science." This prin- 
ciple is most consistent with the Catholic doctrine which asserts 
the existence of the two orders, the natural and the supernat- 
ural. In repudiating the paradisiacal state (the original state 
of our first parents, which implied the knowledge of all things 
supernaturally communicated by God) man chose to be left 
dependent for his natural knowledge and science upon his own 
exclusive powers. That choice was, in a measure, permitted by 
God. Hence, it has become a rule of Divine Providence that, 
in matters of natural knowledge, of progress, of civilization, 
and the like, God does not directly interfere, but leaves man 
to his own efforts and resources. His positive intervention on 
earth, by speaking of, revealing, and manifesting Himself, out- 
side the phenomena of nature, is confined to the things belong- 
ing to the supernatural order, as it is realized (that is to say, 
started and initiated on earth, to be completed hereafter) ; such 
intervention is always so calculated as to alter as little as 
possible the order of nature. 

In accordance with such economy, it is to be anticipated 
that, if God inspires a book, the contents of that book will be 
directed to the foundation and growth of the supernatural 
among men. 

The Catholic Church, I say, does not ignore nor reprove 
these principles, though she exhibited at times, and lately more 
than ever, a distrust of the immoderate and destructive use of 
them in which some freely indulged. 

The Church has always, indeed, been slow to abandon her 
positions even in matters she did not consider dogmas of faith. 
She refused quite often in the past to obey the summons of 
the so-called science of the time, which is now ridiculously 
obsolete. She acted wisely when declining to endorse it and 
to accommodate her doctrine to unfounded speculations. Yet 
many scholars are prone to blame her for having borrowed too 
much from the Greek and Roman philosophers, for having in- 



90 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

troduced into her dogmas and tenets too many views and ideas 
derived from secular origin. They should conclude from this 
that she is not averse to human progress. Even nowadays 
in regard to tenets which, though never considered real dog. 
mas of faith, were quite universally held and taught as con- 
tained in the Holy Scripture, she allowed her theologians and 
exegetists to reconsider, because science seemed to have reached 
well-founded data, and was entitled to a respectful hearing on 
certain matters placed within its range. 

We readily admit that the end of religion, of Christianity* 
is not the advancement of merely natural science, nor of civili- 
zation and temporal prosperity, but we are not willing to make 
little of the promise of Christ, when He said : quarite primum 
regnum Dei etjustitiam ejus et h<zc omnia adjicientur vobis. . . . 
" Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and 
all these things shall be added unto you." Must we not see the 
compliance of that promise in the undeniable fact that the very 
civilization of which we moderns are so proud was exclusively 
born of and developed in the nations and among the people 
who belong to the Church, or at least used to belong to it? 

The proper end of Christianity, of the Church, is the king- 
dom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the gratuitous adoption 
of men into the sonship of God, their final glorification in the 
next life, after they have duly fulfilled their natural destiny on 
earth, and kept in their soul the germ of eternal life. But we 
contend also that while striving to achieve its own immediate 
purpose, Christianity helps powerfully, albeit indirectly, in the 
attainment of human and earthly welfare, that it has a benefi- 
cent influence in promoting progress, science, and civilization. 

It has been so in the past, it will be so in the future, by 
the very fact that the Church will maintain her essential posi- 
tion, preserve the real dogmas of her creed, and keep an atti- 
tude of prudent expectation with regard to all scientific data 
which may seem either to corroborate or contradict the doc- 
trines commonly held by her teachers, but which are not as 
yet dogmas of the Catholic faith, especially when their object 
belongs to the field of purely natural science. 

We can now apply these preliminary remarks in answering 
first, the comprehensive indictment against the Church which 
is attributed to the University of Boston. In Boston Uni- 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 91 

versity it is taught that " Bible texts have been arrayed against 
astronomy, geology, political economy, philosophy, geography, 
religious toleration, anti-slavery, mercy to decrepit old women 
called witches, anatomy, medicine, vaccination, anesthetics, fan- 
ning mills, lightning-rods, life insurance, women speaking in 
churches and going to the general conferences." 

I answer that no Bible texts have been arrayed as real 
dogmas of faith by the Catholic Church, in a meaning opposed 
to astronomy, geography, or any other natural science. I lay 
stress on all words of that answer. If some Bible texts were 
alleged against astronomical or geological theories, they were 
not alleged as dogmas of faith certainly revealed by God; or 
they were not asserted by the Church, but only by private au- 
thority ; or at least they were understood in a meaning that 
aimed not at any natural science, but at divers religious errors 
or superstitions productive of criminal and harmful practices. 

Astronomy has been mentioned first in order to hint at the 
famous affair of Galileo. In that case, indeed, Bible texts were 
arrayed against astronomy. But every enlightened Catholic 
knows that it was done in terms and under conditions which 
were not sufficient to make them, in the meaning that was 
given to them, dogmas of faith. The supreme authority of the 
Church did not pronounce, in due form, a definitive and irrevo- 
cable sentence. 

On the other hand, this act was a mere incident nearly 
unnoticed in the Church. I wonder how fair-minded scholars 
can represent the geocentric notion as the foundation and 
corner stone of the Christian and Catholic creed, and the ideas 
of Copernicus and Galileo as the arch-enemies against whom all 
forces of the Church fought desperately from the beginning. 

Nothing of the kind appears in the Catholic literature of the 
time. The founder of modern astronomy, Copernicus, was a 
Catholic priest. The great work in which he laid down the 
foundation of the new science was dedicated to a Pope; his 
first followers were clergymen of all degrees, and when, later 
on, his book was temporarily prohibited by the Index, this 
measure did not in any way make the opposite opinion a 
dogma of Catholic faith. But again the perusal of the official 
documents and of the most bulky books of theology published 
at that time and since, shows that the matter, from the reli- 



92 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

gious point of view, was considered of very little importance. 
It was never an essential, much less a fundamental belief of 
the Church, it was no dogma of faith, that in the cosmologic 
meaning of the words: "Earth stands still, with heaven above 
and hell below." Astronomy may have "set the earth spin- 
ning, dislocated heaven and hell, and whirled man from the 
centre of the spacial universe." The Catholic dogma has not 
been touched. 

In fact, the fundamental dogma of Christianity, as taught 
by the Catholic Church, is the dogma asserting that God, by 
the most gratuitous favors, came down to men, to propose and 
grant them a destiny that exceeds all created nature a par- 
ticipation in His own divine life and happiness. Does it make 
any difference with regard to this dogma, whether the earth is 
the centre of the world, or revolves around the sun ; whether 
man occupies the centre of the spacial universe, or is whirled 
around the sidereal immensity ? In both hypotheses the Incar- 
nation of God, sanctifying grace, the glory of heaven, remain 
gifts as supernatural to man as they are or would be to angels. 

If the views of Copernicus and Galileo were censured, it is 
only because they seemed at variance with some passages of 
Holy Scripture, and not in the least because they were un- 
dermining the whole religious edifice, by robbing man of the 
privilege of occupying a central abode in the material universe. 
A few writers of long ago may have found some harmony be- 
tween the central place as they thought, allotted to man in the 
system of the world, and the state to which he has been raised 
in the supernatural order ; but the one was never adduced as 
the motive of the other. Such an explanation not only was 
never a dogma of Catholic faith, but it would have been in all 
times considered nearly heretical, as being hardly consistent 
with the dogma of the full gratuitousness of the order of grace. 

I dwelt a little longer on the question of astronomy, because 
it seems to afford what I should call a stronghold to many 
opponents of the Catholic faith. The previous quotations show 
that these college men in their assault on the Church have em- 
ployed it as such. But the answer to them is simply that no 
astronomical or cosmologic theory was ever a dogma of the 
Catholic faith ; that, if the Church once took sides for some 
hypothesis on this ground, her decision was but a theological 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 93 

opinion; one of these tenets which can be given up without 
necessitating the destruction of the Church, and the founding 
of a new religion. 

We will now turn to various points on which these college 
men are reported as censuring the doctrines of the Church. 
First as to the conception of God. "The college men say that 
they criticise the God of the Christians' conception because such 
a God is not big enough for the demands of this enlightened 
century ; He is a God who did not know the shape of the 
earth; a spiritual over-lord, one terrible in anger though 
moved at times to compassion ; a celestial czar, a stickler for 
etiquette, so that some external rite is a condition for salva- 
tion; a God absent from the world, Who has occasionally in- 
terrupted the operation of nature to impress His omnipotence 
upon puny man." 

This description of the God of the Christians' conception, 
as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, is nothing but an 
unfaithful caricature. 

The Catholic faith acknowledges two ways of knowing God ; 
by reason and by revelation. Man may know God, either be- 
cause he discovers in the universe and in himself the evidence 
of a first principle and Maker, or because God manifested Him- 
self purposely to mankind. In other words, the Catholic faith 
recognizes two classes and degrees of relations between God 
and His creation, the one essential and natural; the other 
freely and gratuitously superadded to the former, by which 
He is constituted the God of the supernatural order. 

The first knowledge of God, the knowledge of the God of 
nature, pertains in itself to human science, to natural philoso- 
phy. No greater or more admirable conception of God could 
be presented to the world than that given by Catholic philoso- 
phers; for example, by St. Thomas Aquinas. And for the very 
reason that the Church wishes to maintain this "big" concep- 
tion of God, she will never descend to picture Him as a God 
identical with the world, Who "is the constant, vital, eternal 
soul of the race " ; that is, a God who is changeable, subject 
to error, to corruption, to development, etc. 

The other kind of knowledge the knowledge of the God 
who manifested Himself directly, purposely to mankind is the 
one with which the Church claims to have been entrusted. 



94 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

This knowledge of God is not exclusive of the former ; that is, 
of the knowledge of God gained by natural powers; it implies 
the former. Theoretically, at least, this knowledge gained by 
revelation is not intended to take the place of knowledge won 
by purely human powers; much less does it aim at revealing to 
man on earth all that God knows, or all that man would like 
to learn, and is attainable to human investigation and science. 
Its proper object is the great fact of the personal union with 
God to which man is called ; the fact of God made Man, and 
of man raised to a certain possible participation in the divinity 
and this we call the supernatural fact. 

Hence, though knowing not which text these college men 
alluded to, in support of the statement that the God of the Chris- 
tians' conception did not know the shape of the earth, I am 
positive that the God of the Bible did not aim at teaching 
men the shape of the earth; but only used occasionally the 
language of their ignorance, to assert and illustrate the super- 
natural fact. 

God so acted, because there are two orders of things; be- 
cause man here on earth, in accordance with his own prefer- 
ence, is confined, to a large extent, within the order of nature ; 
he must investigate by his own labor and study the things of 
nature to which unquestionably belongs the shape of the earth. 
On the other hand, the question of the shape of the earth has 
no bearing whatever on the supernatural fact as outlined 
above. 

The supernatural fact and the specific form in which it has 
been, and is, and will be finally realized among men, this is 
the main fact that sums up all the objects of the Catholic 
faith; the general formula of that dogma is, as we put it 
above: God becoming Man for our sake and man in turn 
called to a divine destiny. The college men, for instance Pro- 
fessor Frank Sargent Hoffman, also assert our divinity. But 
I think they mean a divinity that does not really differ from 
human nature, that rightly belongs to it, and is, so to speak, 
its perfection. Hence these words "we should not attribute to 
Him (Jesus) a divinity different from our divinity." The di- 
vinity to which, according to the Catholic faith, man has been 
raised is, on the contrary, a divinity of gratuitous favor and 
not of nature. We believe that God after making man a 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 95 

human being, condescended further to make him, in a true 
sense, by virtue of His own Incarnation, a divine being ; not 
that man becomes God, not that we believe at all in panthe- 
ism, but that man, retaining his own complete personality, 
shares in some way in the divine nature of God. There is but 
one divinity, the divinity of the supreme God, which is com- 
municated to man in the way of union. But it can be com- 
municated in two degrees and may be predicated substantively 
of man, and only of the one Man, Christ, so that we may say 
in an absolute sense, Christ is divine, Christ is God ; or it 
may be predicated adjectively of man, so that we may say 
that men are called to be divine. We agree with Professor 
Hoffman when he says: "There are not several kinds of di- 
vinity, but only one." But in the way of union the divinity of 
the one God can be partaken of in different ways. Then 
it does not follow "that we are as truly sons of God as was 
the Nazarene." We only admit as a fact that the divine Son- 
ship of the Nazarene and the divine sonship of other men are 
intimately connected and belong to the same order of things, 
the order of grace, and in the order of grace to the same par- 
ticular dispensation. 

Only ignorance of the two orders taught by the Catholic 
Church gives a meaning to the quotation from Comte, who is 
thought to have spoken of the Christians' God, when he wrote: 
" Science would ultimately escort Him to the frontier and bow 
Him out with thanks for His professional service." It is not, 
and it never was, a dogma of the Catholic faith that appeal 
to God, and neglect of natural causes, has in itself any scien- 
tific value. Nobody was ever more positive in asserting that 
the world is ruled by stable laws which flow from the nature 
and essence of things than the great, the Catholic philosopher 
par excellence, St. Thomas Aquinas. God is assuredly the First 
Cause the ultimate reason for the existence and action of all 
things; but this does not give us the explanation of the phe- 
nomena of any particular science. The cynical, "professional 
service " of Comte is, therefore, absolutely beside the point. 

The conception of God as a spiritual over-lord, a czar 
whose terrible anger impresses on man "an injurious sense of 
weakness, inferiority, and fear," is not at all the Catholic con- 
ception. Such a conception is the fundamental truth of revela- 



96 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

tion the truth that gives to all other conceptions and ideas 
their real form and significance. 

According to the Catholic teaching, the God of religion, the 
God of the Bible, is the God Who came down to the level of 
man, spoke to man in the language of men, Who made Him- 
self Man; Who did so not primarily to vindicate His rights 
as Creator, nor to enforce the moral law by positive pre- 
cepts, by threats, or by terror. His aim was to raise man 
above humanity, to the divine sphere, to perfection, to the 
happiness of heaven. His anger consists essentially in re- 
fusing Himself as an object of divine and infinite beatitude, 
when His creatures have, of their own free-will and in spite of 
His every effort, deserted and denied Him. 

Thus the God of the Christians is a God of infinite good- 
ness and munificence, a God infinitely different from the one 
who has been pictured and criticized by the college men. 

Further, it was never taught in the Catholic Church that 
the world "Was set running by a now absent God Who has 
occasionally interrupted the operation of nature to impress His 
omnipotence on puny man." The belief in the omnipresence 
of God is, on the contrary, a dogma of the Catholic faith. 
The Catholic theologians explain that He is the first principle 
underlying all the created world, keeping all things in exist- 
ence in accordance with their nature. He is not an absent 
God. If He has occasionally interrupted the operation of na- 
ture, or rather substituted His divine operations for those of 
nature, it was not primarily to impress His omnipotence on 
puny man ; it was to come down to man, to associate with 
man, to make Himself Man, and thus to raise man to a share 
in His own divinity. 

It is well now, we think, following the order of the article 
from which we quote, to say some few words about marriage. 

This subject occupies, it seems, quite a large place in the 
criticism that these college men launch against the doctrines of 
the Church. Their views are given as examples of the phil- 
osophy of spiritual liberty which they are heralding. 

We will follow our tormer course, and simply explain the 
dogmas and position of the Catholic Church. 

First, the Catholic Church teaches that .marriage is a Sacra- 
ment when the contracting parties are baptized Christians. 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 97 

When the contracting parties are not baptized, the Church 
does not, and of course cannot, regard their marriage as a 
Sacrament. It is simply, in our eyes, a natural contract. With 
her, therefore, it does not enter into the supernatural order. 

But the Catholic Church believes, and with her it is a 
dogma of faith, that marriage between baptized Christians is a 
sacred thing, a Sacrament. This is fully consistent with the 
fundamental dogma of her creed respecting the supernatural 
state to which man was raised originally and has been restored 
by Christ. 

Adam, according to the Catholic teaching, was created in 
a supernatural state, both as to body and soul. He was to 
propagate a posterity like to himself, of human beings blessed 
with supernatural gifts and destiny. Therefore a mate like 
unto him, possessing not only the same human nature, but 
also endowed with the same supernatural attributes, was given 
to him, made of his bones and flesh, miraculously created in 
Eden. Thus the first marriage recorded in the Holy Writ was 
a sacred thing. Its end was the transmission, in the way of 
generation, not only of the human nature but also of the su- 
pernatural life. But, as we have said, man fell from this high 
estate. 

Christ came and restored in part the order of things that 
man had forfeited in Paradise. In part, I say, as far as the 
present and earthly life is concerned, because the supernatural 
and divine life, in the new economy, is only imparted to the 
invisible and spiritual soul, and cannot be transmitted in the 
way of natural generation and paternity. Hence marriage is 
not destined, it is true, to generate children, who, by the very 
fact of their birth, will possess the supernatural life. But if 
parents cannot transmit by generation the supernatural life, 
which is now merely a personal attribute, they can generate 
children with the intent of having them regenerated by the 
means instituted by Christ for that purpose, and of bringing 
them up as Christians, who will attain their supernatural destiny. 
The very contract which husband and wife make with each 
other, was deemed by Christ to be of such dignity and of 
such importance that He elevated it to the supernatural order. 

A Sacrament does not necessarily mean a public rite per- 
formed by the ministers of the Church. Its outward, external 

VOL. XC 7 



98 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Oct., 

mark may be any sign by which a man and a woman express 
their will to be, from that moment, husband and wife to each 
other. Given by baptized Christians, such a sign means a 
Christian marriage, and is a sacred thing, a Sacrament. 

In fact, for many centuries, and in this country until Easter, 
1908, the Catholic Church acknowledged as a Sacrament any 
marriage between baptized Christians, even though it was con- 
tracted in the most clandestine way, not only without the as- 
sistance of any priest, but secretly and privately without any 
witnesses. She still keeps the same view of marriage between 
non-Catholics who are baptized Christians. 

As to Catholics, in order to put a stop to the scandals and the 
evils resulting from clandestine marriages, such marriages, be- 
cause there is not sufficient evidence of the intention of the con- 
tracting parties, have been declared invalid. Certain formalities 
have been prescribed, the disregard of which means, on the 
part of Catholics, no intention of entering into Christian wed- 
lock. In fact, all the formalities may be reduced to one the 
necessity of celebrating marriage in the presence of a few wit- 
nesses, one of whom is the pastor appointed by the Church. 
According to the teaching of the Church, the priest is only an 
official witness. The ministers of the Sacrament are the con- 
tracting parties, the man and woman, who, being baptized 
Christians, will, in turn, bring into life future Christians, citi- 
zens of the kingdom of God and of heaven. 

Thus Professor Sumner may remark that "the notion that 
a religious ceremony makes a marriage and defines it, had no 
currency until the sixteenth Christian century." We will only 
add that such a notion has no currency in the Catholic Church 
even nowadays. The religious ceremonies of the Catholic ritual, 
the going to the church, the altar, instituted to solemnize wed- 
dings, are not essential. The only necessary formality is the pres- 
ence of witnesses, among whom the best qualified is the priest. 
And yet provisions have been made for the exceptional case 
where no priest is at hand. Then marriage may be contracted 
before merely secular witnesses, and it will forever be a Sac- 
rament. 

These explanations, I think, sufficiently dispose of the posi- 
tive statements of these college men on marriage. If they ac- 
cepted even as a mere hypothesis, the standpoint of the Catholic 






1 909-] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 99 

Church, the fundamental dogma of man's supernatural destiny, 
they would realize that marriage among those who are actually 
partakers of this destiny, cannot be merely natural contracts ; 
they would then shrink from stating " that there are and can 
be holier alliances outside the marriage bond than within it ; 
that a man and woman can find in their love a security more 
sacred than anything the Church can create " ; " that marriage 
is not divine ; that man and woman are not joined together by 
the decrees of any God"; "that no commandment against 
divorce is divine." Marriage among Christians who know the 
divine character of the destiny to which they are called, and 
of the spiritual life they must live even on earth, and be in- 
strumental in perpetuating, cannot be viewed but as a sacred 
thing. 

The foregoing discussion on marriage is rather a digression. 
But the objections made by some of these college professors, 
the ignorant attacks upon Catholic doctrine, and the unspeak- 
able license into which theories and teachings pronounced at 
haphazard would lead the individual and nation show some- 
thing of the chaotic condition of certain schools of thought 
and why it is that every now and then a "new religion" is 
launched. 

In our next paper we will treat of other objections urged 
against the Church. 

Sherman Park, Hawthorne, N. Y. 

(TO BE CONCLUDED.) 



Hew Boohs, 

Though one occasionally finds some 
SOCIOLOGY. obiter dictum, or some interpre- 

tation of text or fact, with which, 

as Catholics, we cannot agree in The Sociology of the Bible,* 
from the pen of the professor in the Lutheran Theological 
Seminary of New Brunswick, N. J., yet Catholic sociologists, 
and others who give thought to the deep social movement of 
the age, will gratefully assign to this able work a place in the 
library of Christian Sociology, at the head of which stands the 
great Encyclical, Rerum Novarum, of Leo XIII. Dr. Schenck's 
work, indeed, might be described as exhibiting, in the form of 
an object-lesson, the practical principles and doctrines laid 
down in abstract form by the late Pontiff. The scope of the 
work is briefly set forth by the author as an attempt "to 
gather the most important facts and principles of the society 
of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation; to classify 
them in a sociological way; and to consider what light they 
throw upon some of the social problems of to-day." 

The author aims his work against Socialism, inasmuch as 
Socialism, or at least many of its leaders, hold that the Bible, 
and especially the teachings of Christ, favor their theory of 
society ; the first principle of which is that private ownership 
is unlawful, and that the present evils of our industrial, social, 
and economic system can be cured only by substituting for 
private ownership the principle of collective ownership. In 
refutation of this claim Dr. Schenck draws in detail the 
scheme of the Hebrew social organization, public and private, 
as it is laid down in the inspired writings, and as it was, at 
least imperfectly, realized in the life of the people. The an- 
cient legislation is viewed not merely in the isolation of the 
Old Testament, but also in its relation to the contiguous 
ancient civilization, and as supplemented by the teachings 
of Christ. Besides and it is the practical element of Dr. 
Schenck's work this divine economy is brought into applica- 
tion with the problems of present-day society, for the purpose 
of demonstrating that in the teachings of Christ, when put into 
universal practice, the world to-day may find a remedy for 

The Sociology of the Bible. By Ferdinand S. Schenck, D.D., LL.D. New York : The 
Board of Publication of the Reformed Lutheran Church in America. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 101 

the evils which press upon it from the present social and eco- 
nomic system. These evils Dr. Schenck enumerates and dis- 
cusses at considerable length, in language pleasantly free from 
the technical phraseology which so many of our sociologists 
delight in hurling at our heads. 

Though a foe to extravagance and fanaticism, he courage- 
ously denounces the injustices of the present day, without, 
however, deviating from his attitude of judicial dignity. But, 
one will ask, are not present conditions so different from those 
of the Hebrew theocracy, that to attempt to solve the present 
problems by the light we may draw from the institutions of 
that people, can be but little more than a statement of bare 
principles, while our difficulty lies in their application to our 
highly complex world? The answer to that question must be 
sought in a careful study of this book, which will well repay 
the reader. 

In his latest novel * Mr. Forman, 

JASON. who, if not a profound psycholo- 

By Justus M. Forman. gj s t, i s a capable story-teller, 

abruptly enlists, according to the 

modern fashion, his reader's interest. He introduces two young 
men, one English, the other French with a touch of Irish 
blood and an English training. These companions, sauntering 
along the streets of Paris, when their conversation is overheard, 
put us in possession of the mise-en-scene. Hartley, the English- 
man, is in love with the beautiful, rich American, Miss Ben- 
ham, who lives with her grandfather, a forceful old American, 
and his son, her uncle, a retiring, listless, unpractical kind of 
person of studious disposition; at least that is the opinion en- 
tertained of him by his relatives at the opening of the story, 
though they have very good grounds for correcting their idea 
before the end of the story. Miss Benham's brother, an idle 
young scamp, has suddenly disappeared, and all efforts to trace 
him are vain. His grandfather, wroth at his conduct, has re- 
solved to disinherit him unless he reappears before his twenty- 
first birthday, which is near at hand. 

The young Frenchman, Ste. Marie, a modern Bayard, falls 
head and ears in love at first sight with Miss Benham, and, 
to win her reluctant consent, pledges himself to find her 
brother, Arthur. Thus our modern Jason is launched in search 

* Jasfn. A Romance. By Justus Miles Forman. New York : Harper & Brothers. 



102 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

of his golden fleece, the search of which centres around and 
terminates in the suburbs of Paris. An Irish adventurer, 
O'Hara, a man of good family, but of a more than shady 
reputation, is justly suspected by Ste. Marie, who is guided by 
intuitions in a manner strongly in contrast with the inferential 
processes of the Sherlock Holmes' school. As he pursues, 
amid very rapid action, the clue to his prize, Ste. Marie comes 
across Coira O'Hara, the beautiful and noble daughter of a 
disreputable father. She appreciates, as the cold and calcu- 
lating Miss Benham was incapable of doing, the chivalrous, 
idealistic, modern Bayard who plays his knightly part on the 
woefully reduced arena open to knighthood in modern times. 
To reveal the issue would be to spoil part of the pleasure in 
store for the reader of this pleasant novel, which, though it 
once or twice touches the fringe of the demi-monde, is a clean 
and clever story. 

This is a story * of the cloister 

ANTONIO. versus the hearth, in which the 

By Ernest Oldmeadow. cloister succeeds against its rival 

in retaining the hero, and ulti- 
mately capturing the heroine. It may be said at once, to 
obviate any disturbing surmises, that the novel, as the author 
of Marotz said of that novel, is completely steeped in Catholi- 
cism. Perhaps it is needful now to add that it is one of fas- 
cinating interest. It opens with the dispersion of a Benedic- 
tine monastery in Portugal, by the Government, towards the 
middle of the nineteenth century. This episode is one of the 
best pieces of work in the story, and may form a modern 
companion piece to Father Benson's description of a similar 
scene in The King's Achievement. 

Antonio, one of the expelled monks, on the eve of cele- 
brating his first Mass when the community is broken up, re- 
solves that he will go into the world and set himself to gain 
money enough to purchase back the monastery property from 
the confiscators, in order once more that the Opus Dei may 
be chanted in the old stalls by sons of St. Benedict. With 
this vow upon his shoulders, he sets forth to seek his fortune. 
Fate starts him in a wine merchant's warehouse ; and in the 
course of time he finds himself visiting the houses of the 

* Antonio. By Ernest Oldmeadow. New York : The Century Company. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 103 

English nobility to sell the vintages of Portugal. Having made 
some money he returns to Portugal ; and, passing as a peas- 
ant, he begins vine growing in the vicinity of his old monas- 
tery. The rustic belles set their caps to catch the prosperous 
young peasant; and the attempt of two worthy people to 
capture him for their daughter introduces some delightful 
scenes of rustic Portuguese life. In vain, however, is the net 
spread in sight of the bird. 

The struggle begins, however, when the high-born, uncon- 
ventional English girl, Isabel, comes on the scene. She has 
been fascinated with Antonio in England ; and as her father 
has purchased the monastery on account of some valuable 
decorations which, to the grief of Antonio, he plans to remove, 
Isabel and Antonio are soon thrown much together. He loves 
the girl with a love which the author very cleverly shows to 
be without sexual passion. Isabel, though haughty and capri- 
cious, soon becomes a suppliant for his affection, or rather 
for a declaration of it. For she believes he loves her, but that 
being, as she imagines, of lowly birth, he hesitates to ask 
her hand. A somewhat perilous situation ; and one to which, 
we fancy, no spiritual director would permit a young monk 
to expose himself. However, the author, who shows himself 
at home in theology and rubrics, and in the Catholic appre- 
ciation of the religious ideal, manages the delicate situations 
skillfully, though somewhat fancifully, and gives us some tender 
pages, wet with tears and luminous with the love of the things 
that are above. The hero never falters from his high pur- 
pose, and has his reward, again with some attendant circum- 
stances to which a spiritual director would take emphatic ex- 
ception, when he perceives Isabel among the assistants at his 
first Mass in the restored monastery. 

A competent translator has placed 
THE ROMAN BREVIARY, at the service of English readers 

Dom Baudot's interesting and in- 
structive history of the Roman Breviary.* The work is one of 
the best among the Science et Religion series of Bloud et Cie., 
where the standard of scholarship and execution is uniformly 

* The Roman Breviary : Its Sources and History. By Dom Jules Baudot, Benedictine of 
Farnborough. Translated from the French by a Priest of the Diocese of Westminster. St. 
Louis : B. Herder. 



104 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

high. To sketch the origin of the Breviary demands research 
into dim paths through the earliest ages of the Church, 
before her public prayer had received any systematic organi- 
zation or uniformity. The divine authority of the Pontiffs, as 
Dom Baudot observes, intervened only at later stages, and 
then to control the slow development which from the begin- 
ning had been progressing under the influence of the clergy 
and laity. 

The historian distinguishes three chief periods in this devel- 
opment, and divides his work accordingly. They are: (i) The 
Patristic Period, the period of formation, presenting in germ 
the different canonical hours and their chief elements; it ex- 
tends from the earliest years of the Church down to the pon- 
tificate of St. Gregory at the end of the sixth century. (2) The 
Middle Ages, extending from St. Gregory to the Council of 
Trent. (3) The Modern Period, beginning with the reformation 
and reconstruction introduced by Trent, and extending down to 
our own day. The author zealously strives for historical ac- 
curacy, and as large a measure of completeness in detail as 
can be expected in a hand-book of this size. He has followed, 
in the main, the great work of his German confrere, Dom 
Baiimer, published in 1895; an <3 has drawn also from the less 
portly but much more readable work of Mgr. Batiffol, of which 
we possess an English translation. 

The book presents the Divine Office as a fine illustration 
of the manner in which the life of the Church has grown 
through its innate varied forces and impulses, shaped into uni- 
formity through the guidance of authority. The last chapter 
of the book discusses the reformations that have been sug- 
gested as desirable at the present moment. Dom Baudot gives 
a brief outline of the several schemes for revision submitted 
by various nationalities to the Vatican Council. All of them, 
with the exception of the Canadian, suggest that whatever, in the 
legends, does not agree with historical criticism should be ex- 
pugned ; and the French asked that the choice of saints might 
be made more Catholic, by reducing the number of those 
saints who belong to Rome and are scarcely known outside 
the Eternal City. Among the author's own suggestions are 
the cutting down of some of the legends of the second noc- 
turn, especially in the offices of more modern saints; and at- 
tention to recent literary and historical studies. To empha- 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 105 

size this latter recommendation he points out that in the 
office of the Immaculate Conception, which he justly says 
is so dogmatically important, a passage is taken from the 
Cogitis me, which, while attributed to St. Jerome, is a pious 
fraud of the learned Abbot Ambrosius Autpert, of pre-Car- 
lovingian times. 

The lesson of this history may be summed up in the 
writer's words : " The Canonical hours are a magnificent growth 
of divine service, the germ of which has been planted in 
apostolic times ; it is the living development of ritual de- 
votions which have their root in the needs of the human 
heart and in the relations of the man and the Christian with 
his Creator and Redeemer." 



The St. Paul Catholic Historical 

THE CHURCH IN THE Society, which has for its object 
NORTHWEST. the preservation of whatever his- 

torical documents concerning the 

Church in the Northwestern States it may be able to gather, 
presents as the first fruits of its labor a volume of lively in- 
terest.* From the human, as well as from the historical point 
of view, its most attractive contents are a number of letters 
written over half a century ago, which give us some realistic 
glimpses of the conditions of the Northwest at that time, 
when "in St. Paul, the largest town in the territory, there was 
no need of more than one priest." This modest estimate of 
the needs of St. Paul is to be found in a letter of a semina- 
rian, a New Yorker, who, previous to his ordination, did good 
catechetical work among the Whites and Indians. This letter 
alone would make the volume worth preservation. The writer's 
unflattering estimate of life in St. Paul would not, perhaps, be 
judged by some devout New Yorkers to stand in need of 
much amendment to bring it up-to-date. "The only thing," 
he writes to his friend, A. J. Donnelly, afterwards pastor of 
St. Michael's, New York, " that can sustain a New Yorker in 
this wild country is a speedy release from this life and a 
good place in the next." 

* Ada et Dicta. A Collection of Historical Data Regarding the Origin and Growth of 
the Catholic Church in the Northwest. St. Paul, Minn. : The St. Paul Catholic Historical 
Society. 



106 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

The present situation of the Church 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, in France is sending the reading 

world back to the study of the great 

Revolution, since to obtain any intelligent view of the crisis 
of to-day one must seek the clue to it in the mother move- 
ment of the eighteenth century. All the historians of that epoch 
recount incidentally, each according to his own prepossessions, 
the story of that struggle in its religious aspect. To make 
that point of view the main topic is the task of Pierre de la 
Gorce, whose work * has won the respect of European scholars 
who, in many instances, do not share his sympathies. What 
these sympathies are may be inferred from the language in 
which he defines the scope of this, the first volume of his 
work : " I would reconstruct, in a general tableau, the history 
of the Catholics and priests of France, from the day when the 
infant Revolution deprived them of their privileges till that 
other day fcrhen, purified by poverty, refined by persecution, 
strengthened by martyrdom, they re-entered their abandoned 
temples and, at the dawn of a new century, chanted the Easter 
Alleluia." 

The first volume, he continues, may be designated as From 
Privilege to Persecution, Accordingly, the author first describes 
at considerable length the privileges accorded to the Church 
under the ancien regime privilege of worship, privilege of 
jurisdiction, exemption from taxes. He next surveys the riches 
of the Church; and deprecates the pretence made by some 
historians to reach an accurate figure in so complicated a 
problem. Discussing the origin of the Church's riches, he 
shows how they were entrusted, during the course of centuries, 
to the clergy for two specific reasons : charity towards the liv- 
ing indigent, and charity towards the dead who were in need 
of help. 

For long ages the clergy were, on the whole, faithful to 
their trust. But in the course of time we follow the gist of 
M. de la Gorce's exposition after faithfully fulfilling her trust 
towards the living and the dead, the Church saw a great cor- 
ruption ensue. " I wish in a word to characterize this deca- 
dence. It is summarized in the separation of two things mor- 
ally indivisible ; that is, the wealth accumulated by the liber* 

* Histoire Religieuse de la Revolution Fratifaise. Tome I. Par Pierre de la Gorce. 
Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 107 

ality of the faithful, and the pious obligations with which this 
wealth was charged." The wealth became the spoil of the 
aristocracy in the Church, French or Italian, and was fre- 
quently spent in an unworthy manner; while the duties de- 
volved upon the inferior clergy. These received a comparatively 
insignificant wage, frequently only a wretched pittance, for ful- 
filling the services for the discharge of which former piety had 
given the revenues that were now spent in Rome and Paris. Be- 
hind the worldly vanities which had been hung around the Church, 
M. de la Gorce shows, there existed, especially in the cloisters 
of women, a power of prayer and charity which, in the ap- 
proaching hour of persecution, was to make glorious amends 
for the errors of the ancien regime. 

Our historian relates, in detail, the course of events that 
resulted in the destruction of the privileges of the Church. 
He follows step by step the proceedings of the Assembly which 
carried out the confiscation of all ecclesiastical property, and 
subsequently introduced the "civil constitution" of the clergy. 
The chief characters in this drama, the conflicts and aims of 
the various parties and classes, the negotiations with Rome, 
and the methods and results attending the attempt of the civil 
power to force the oath upon the clergy, are treated with a 
thorough grasp, and M. de la Gorce's pictures of men and 
measures exhibit both an intimate knowledge of his subject 
and a keen analytical knowledge of human nature. A page or 
two describing the frame of mind of the average country cure 
when confronted by the order to take the oath to the consti- 
tution are at least the equal of any of the famous passages of 
Macaulay's England. The last book of the volume follows the 
religious situation down to the separation of the Assemble Con- 
stituant, in September, 1791. The following volume will deal 
with the era of persecution. 

The person for whom the papers 
AUXILIUM INFIRMORUM. which make up this little book 

were written was an invalid for 

eight years ; and, before her death, she begged that they might 
be published in book form in order that other souls might also 
obtain from them the spiritual benefit which she had reaped. 

* Auxilium Infirmorum. A Manual for the Sick. By Robert Eaton, Priest of the Ber- 
mingham Oratory. St. Louis : B. Herder. 



io8 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

The readings or meditations treat of subjects suitable to the 
sick, and, without following any comprehensive system, they 
touch upon most of the phases and trials of illness, and the 
spiritual needs and opportunities that accompany sickness, 
especially when it is a prolonged condition of invalidism. The 
thought is not so concentrated as that of Ozanam's Bible of 
the Sick ; and, perhaps, for that reason may be more adapted 
to many sufferers who are unable to make any vigorous men- 
tal effort. 

From historic Maynooth comes a 

THE MASS IN THE INFANT contribution, modest in size and val- 

CHURCH. uable in quality, to the large vol- 

By Rev. Garrett Pierse. ume of positive theology which has, 

of late years, been growing around 

the Blessed Eucharist. This is a treatise,* written by a candi- 
date for the degree of doctor in theology in Maynooth. The 
occasion of the work is a sufficient guarantee that it will pass 
the test of critical judgment. The author's purpose is to pre- 
sent whatever documentary, monumental, and liturgical evidence 
there is to be found in the records of the age, 150 to 250 A. D., 
to prove that at this time Mass existed in the Church. "My 
task," he says, " is not to determine whether the varying 
opinions of modern Catholic writers are found in distant an- 
tiquity. I speak only of definitive and authoritative teaching." 
He limits his scope to showing first, that the Church of that 
age held the Mass to be an objective sacrifice, not merely a 
sacrifice of praise or thanksgiving, nor a rude commemoration 
of the sacrifice of the Cross ; and, secondly, that the Church 
held that the object offered in the Eucharistic Sacrifice was 
the body and blood of Christ. 

Beginning with St. Justin and the other sub-apostolic Fa- 
thers, Dr. Pierse presents all the testimony that survives of the 
Fathers and other writers of the Eastern and Western Churches. 
He marshals his evidence with admirable lucidity, which is se- 
cured largely by separating the two questions : Does the wit- 
ness testify to the belief in an objective sacrifice ? And, Does 
he testify to the belief that this sacrifice was the body and 
blood of Christ ? And the value of his conclusions is enhanced 

* The Mass in the Infant Church. By the Rev. Garrett Pierse. New York : Benziger 
Brothers. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 109 

by the care he takes not to put on any text a strain heavier 
than it will bear. 

The section treating of monumental evidence is, necessa- 
rily, rather meagre; for this part of the subject would demand 
a measure of archaeological illustrations that is not to be looked 
for in a dissertation for the doctorate. But the author has 
done all that could be expected of him when he has described 
the chief pictures and other objects that bear witness to the 
Mass in the early Church ; and his search for liturgical evidence 
through the Fathers has been painstaking and fruitful. He has 
traced the progress throughout, from comparative indefinite- 
ness to growing precision, in the idea of the Mass ; and sets 
forth with vigor the mass of proof that shatters the theories 
of Renz, Wieland, and Harnack. Theological students are in- 
debted to Dr. Pierse for a work that will serve to supplement 
and control the deficiencies of most of their text-books on the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice. 

The Sisters of Notre Dame are to 
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, be congratulated on the neat, clear, 

and appropriately scaled little text- 
book of early Church history * which they have just issued. 
It contains a compendious statement, in condensed narrative 
form, of the important events and phases of the history of the 
Church from the beginning down to the conversion of Britain 
and Ireland. They are to be congratulated still more warmly 
if, as must be the case, this book may be taken as an index 
of the knowledge of Church history which they exact from their 
pupils. A set of examination papers based upon it would be 
a catastrophic experience for a large proportion of our Catholic 
college boys. 

The book will make demands on the teacher; for, unless 
he or she merely aims at loading the pupils' memory with facts 
and figures, a great deal of explanation must be attached to 
the text in order to make it interesting or even properly intel- 
ligible. And we should recommend that in a future edition 
maps should be added. Unless the pupil acquires a consider- 
able geographic knowledge as a setting for the historical, only 
a jumble of words, attached to no definite idea, will be all that 

* Leading Events in the History of the Church. Part I. Written for Schools. By the 
Sisters of Notre Dame. New York : Benziger Brothers. 



no NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

he or she will have as a reward for committing to memory an 
immense number of names, such as Cappadocia, Amalfi, Thes- 
salonica, etc., etc. A number of the illustrations might be 
profitably exchanged for maps of the various countries. For 
example, one of the journeyings of St. Paul would be of im- 
mensely more value for the study of history than is the repro- 
duction of some painter's conception of the martyrdom of St. 
Stephen; and a similar remark might be made with regard to 
the pictures of St. George in medieval armor, and St. Patrick 
traversing Ireland. Why not, also, to introduce the pupil to 
the nature of historical science, indicate and explain the char- 
acter of some, at least, of the chief sources from which our 
knowledge of the past is obtained ? These comments are made 
not to disparage the present form,' but as suggestions towards 
the further perfection of this meritorious and much-needed lit- 
tle text-book. 

The meditations by Ephraem on 

MEDITATIONS AND IN- the Mysteries of the Rosary* are 

STRUCTIONS ON THE more pithy, suggestive, and origi- 

BLESSED VIRGIN. na i than most of the new books 

of this kind; it indulges less in 

imagination, relies more closely on the truths of faith and the 
Gospel history, and cultivates that sobriety of thought and il- 
lustration which is congenial to the English-speaking world. 
Each meditation might, on occasion, be easily turned into a 
solid and simply eloquent discourse. 

Another set of meditations, more extensive in scope and 
more elaborate in treatment, is the Belgian work of Father 
Vermeersch, S.J., the first volume f of which has just been done 
into irreproachable English by Mr. Humphrey Page, one of the 
officials of the Papal Court. The first part consists of medita- 
tions on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin, with a short intro- 
duction on the origin and meaning of each feast. The second 
part, intended specially for the Month of May, is based on the 
incidents recorded of Mary in the Gospels. The present vol- 

* And the Word Was Made Flesh. Short Meditations on the Fifteen Mysteries of the 
Rosary. By Ephraem. New York : Benziger Brothers. 

t Meditations and Instructions on the Blessed Virgin. For the Use of the Clergy and the 
Faithful. By A. Vermeersch, S.J. Translated by W. Humphrey Page, K.S.G. New 
York : Benziger Brothers. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS m 

ume does not include the third part of the original work, viz., 
that devoted to the predestination of Mary. While the author 
has followed a popular form of exposition, he has embodied in 
it all the ascetical and dogmatic theology pertaining to the 
subject. Accordingly he offers his book both to the faithful 
at large and to preachers in particular. To both classes of 
readers he has endeavored to present exact conclusions sup- 
ported by solid reasoning, '* never relying on mere legends or 
false interpretations of Holy Scripture." Without assuming the 
polemical tone the author, as occasion arises, deals gently but 
effectively with the principal criticisms and objections urged 
by non-Catholics against the position occupied by Mary in the 
Catholic Church. Besides the exposition of doctrine the medi- 
tations urge, in the light of Mary's example, the practice of 
the Christian virtues ; and here the counsel is precise and prac- 
tical. It is to be regretted that the publishers could not see 
their way to co-operate efficiently with the splendid effort of 
the author to extend and strengthen the devotion to the Mother 
of God, by issuing this book at a more attractive price. 

From a better known, but less methodical, pen than the 
Belgian Jesuit's comes another book * devoted to the glory of 
Mary. Under the title of Behold Your Mother we find a collec- 
tion of characteristic papers, eloquent, tender, diffuse, now rising 
to true poetry, now condescending to the commonplace, from 
the veteran Father Matthew Russell, S.J. He writes in his 
own familiarly discursive vein, liberally seasoned with personal 
reminiscences, which affects the reader as if, instead of follow- 
ing the cold print, he were listening to living, persuasive lips. 
Perhaps we may close this notice by citing the author's own 
appreciation of the book, not however without adding the com- 
mentary that his estimate is a more correct reflection of his 
own modesty than of the intrinsic worth of this sweet little 
volume: '"Another book about the Blessed Virgin!' Yes; 
although far better books exist already in abundance; but this 
new one may fall under eyes that would never read those bet- 
ter books; and God may, perhaps, use these simple pages to 
inspire some hearts with the filial love that is due to our 
Mother in Heaven." 

*Behold Your Mother. The Blessed Virgin's Goodness and Greatness. By Matthew 
Russell, S.J. New York : Benziger Brothers. 



ii2 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

The second book of the " Reli- 

RELIGION SECOND BOOK, gion " series,* written for children, 

by Doctors Pace and Shields of 

the Catholic University, on scientific, pedagogical principles, 
aims at impressing on the child's mind the idea that every- 
where in the universe there is a Divine law, and that, in the 
case of man, this law imposes a rule of conduct which cannot 
be violated with impunity. The method pursued is in ac- 
cordance with approved educational theory. It employs fa- 
miliar things to impart religious ideas, and thereby obviates 
the danger of conveying to the child the false impression that 
religion is something foreign to everyday life, and is to be 
kept apart from all else in a compartment of its own. Having 
conveyed the truth of the existence of natural laws, the book 
introduces the supernatural, in the person of Christ. The his- 
tory of His birth, childhood, and some of His striking miracles, 
and, afterwards, the history of the Creation and Fall of man 
are told. All this information is conveyed in the method which 

" Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 

This method can claim the highest approbation ; for it was 
employed by the Master Himself, who taught the most pro- 
found religious and moral truths in parables taken from the 
everyday life of his hearers. 

The educator of the present day labors under the difficulty 
arising from the fact that among the two great classes into 
which our juvenile population may be divided, rural and urban, 
there is but little in common regarding the things and habits 
which fall under everyday notice. While the ways of birds, 
the character of cattle, flowers, weeds, and trees, are matters 
of which every country child may be assumed to have an in- 
timate knowledge, to his city brother these things are by no 
means familiar. The latter, on the other hand, is master of 
expert information regarding street cars, taxicabs, the police 
and fire departments, the respective characteristics of the vari- 
ous races of Europe, with a small encyclopedia of industrial 
and sociological knowledge of which the country child is almost 
entirely ignorant. This difficulty the editors of this series have 

* Religion Second Botk Washington, D. C. : The Catholic Education Press. 



1 909. ] NE w BOOKS 1 1 3 

evidently perceived, and will continue to keep in view during 
the preparation of the subsequent numbers of this excellent 
series. As this method is something of a departure from the 
old trodden path, it meets in some quarters with no great 
amount of sympathy. It is not alone conservative John Bull 
who glories in the maxim that all changes, even if they are 
for the better, are to be deprecated. This obstacle, however, 
always yields before the pressure of genuine merit. 

" In the life of Christ is found an 

CHRIST AND THE CHILD inexhaustible wealth of illustra- 
MIND. tions of a nature to make cate- 

chetical instruction clear and in- 
teresting," says the preface to a book* which is an important 
contribution to the literature of religious instruction. To the 
mind of every thinking person of to-day the greatest problem 
that faces us as Catholics is the well-grounding of our children 
in the principles of Catholic faith and conduct. In their early 
days we must give them a knowledge and an enthusiasm that 
will make them intelligent, strong men and women, able to 
face and to withstand the temptations that must inevitably be 
faced in this day of doubt, of questioning, of lax principles. 
Let any one question a grown-up Catholic, and in many cases 
he will be utterly shocked at that Catholic's ignorance of the 
life of Christ yes, of the elementary truths of the faith which 
he nominally professes before the world. Where lies the fault ? 
Is it with the instructor? Is it with the child ? Is it with the 
individual who is so apathetic that, from the beginning to the 
end of the year, he never reads a line of religious literature ? 

Whatever may be the answer, one of the most efficacious 
means to secure for the child a right start, and to give him an 
impetus that will urge him on in the right way all through life, 
is a knowledge of the words, deeds, and actions of our own 
Blessed Lord. " In proportion as our Lord becomes a vivid 
reality to their young minds, and they come to know Him in- 
timately and feel His tender love for them, will their love for 
Him be molded and formed." We quote again from the pref- 
ace; and the quotation is eminently true. 

So, though it be but a small volume, its worth is extremely 

* The Life of Christ. Course of Lectures Combining the Principal Events in the Life of 
our Lord With the Catechism. By Mary Virginia Merrick. St. Louis : B. Herder. 
VOL. XC. 8 



ii4 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

precious. For the teacher of the young, for mothers and fa- 
thers who have a real interest in the Christian growth of their 
children, for the children themselves, and, of course, for priests 
who are pre-eminently the pastors of the lambs, that they 
may use it themselves and that they may commend it to in- 
structors, we also recommend this volume by Mary Virginia 
Merrick. The book is prefaced by an introduction by his Emi- 
nence Cardinal Gibbons, In combination with the catechism 
Miss Merrick shows forth in a most opportune and telling way 
the events of our Lord's life that will best bring home to chil- 
dren the value of the lesson and throw upon it the light of 
our Lord's example. It is a work that required much labor 
and much sympathy with, and knowledge of, the child's mind. 
Our sincere hope is that it will meet with wide encouragement, 
and that, through the zeal and good will of those who have 
an interest in the instruction of the young, it will be able to 
do the work for which its author so faithfully labors. 

The author of this handbook * 

CHOOSING A VOCATION, was engaged in the work of the 
By Frank Parsons, Ph.D. Vocation Bureau established in 

Boston by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, 

the daughter of Agassiz, and one of Boston's munificent phil- 
anthropists. The purpose of the bureau is to develop voca- 
tional counsellors trained to give expert guidance to young 
people about to choose a career in life. Professor Parsons, who 
had considerable experience in this work, set himself the task 
of becoming counsellor to the counsellors, and providing them 
with a systematic method of carrying out their work. His 
starting-point is that there are three broad factors in the 
choice of a vocation: (i) A clear understanding of yourself, 
your aptitudes, abilities, interests, ambitions, resources, limita- 
tions, and their causes; (2) A knowledge of the requirements 
and conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, com- 
pensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of 
work; (3) True reasoning on the relations of these two groups 
of facts. He first takes up the question of personal data; in- 
dicating how the mentor is to conduct his investigations in 
order to obtain a proper knowledge of his client's character, 

* Choosing a Vocation. By Frank Parsons, Ph.D. New York and Boston: Houghton 
Mifflin Company. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 115 

ability, and aptitudes. Then he passes on to the industrial 
problem. He has drawn up extensive tables of the conditions 
requisite to efficiency, and others setting forth the wages to 
be expected, the prospect of employment, the hygenic condi- 
tions prevailing in the various occupations. A large bibliog- 
raphy of works for profitable reading in history, economics, 
politics, biography, is suggested. Finally a number of "sam- 
ple cases" are recorded for the purpose of showing the good 
results that can be achieved by intelligent direction of this 
kind. To educators and others who share the responsibility of 
directing young persons to select a profession or trade the 
book will amply repay study. 

The latest addition to the "St. 
CARDINAL POLE. Nicholas Series," is a life of Car- 

dinal Pole,* composed in the sim- 
ple, popular, yet accurately historical style which characterizes 
the other biographical monographs of the collection. It brings 
out, in full relief against the gloomy background, the pathetic 
figure of the retiring, scholarly, saintly prelate whom circum- 
stances forced to take a leading part on a bloodstained stage 
crowded with brutal enemies, unscrupulous men of action, and 
treacherous friends. The story of Henry's divorce, the reign 
of Mary, and the Great Reconciliation are related clearly and 
picturesquely. The author deals very gently with the motives 
of Paul IV. in the matter of the charge of heresy which the 
Pope permitted or promoted against the Cardinal; and the con- 
duct of Philip of Spain towards England is put in a more fa- 
vorable light than it is in The Queen's Tragedy of Father Ben- 
son, who contributes a short but pithy preface to this volume. 

The subject of this biography,f 
MOTHER STE. MARIE, born in 1803, was, like many other 

valiant women, who in our own 

times have done noble service for religion, a member of a no- 
ble French family. At the age of about thirty she founded a 
congregation in France which took the title of the Society of 

* The Angelical Cardinal, Reginald Pole. By C. M: Anthony. New York Benziger 
Brothers. 

t Life of the Reverend Mother Ste. Marie, Henriette le Ftrestier d'Ossville, Foundress of 
the Society of the Faithful Virgin. Translated from the French by W. A. Phillipson. Lon- 
don : Burns & Gates ; New York : Benziger Brothers. 



n6 NEW BOOKS [Oct., 

the Faithful Virgin. Its work is the education of girls and 
general works of charity. In 1846 she founded a convent in 
Norwood, a suburb of London; and afterwards she sent out 
sisters to establish what has proved a flourishing and fruitful 
foundation in the British West Indies. The biography is a 
very detailed one, and incidentally affords intimate glimpses of 
the struggles and crosses borne by those who, in the days of 
Wiseman, contributed to bring about the "Second Spring" in 
England. Mother Ste. Marie had her share of crosses from 
within and without till her death in 1857. She and her sisters 
were involved in vexatious law proceedings, instigated by the 
insane rancor of Protestant bigotry against convents. One of 
these incidents has bequeathed to us a characteristic letter of 
Cardinal Newman, reproduced in the Life. When the sisters 
found ruin staring them in the face they unexpectedly received 
the following letter from Newman, who had recently been con- 
demned to pay the heavy costs of the Achilli trial : 

DEAR RBVBREND MOTHER : I have this morning received 
the amount so charitably contributed to pay the costs of my 
recent trial, and I should like at once to ask you to allow me 
to ofter you a donation of ,400 to pay off any debt you may 
have contracted in consequence of the equally unjust proceed- 
ings instituted against you. I owe so much to your prayers 
that, in addition to the fitness of thus disposing of a portion 
of the surplus jthat remains to me, I am happy to have it in 
my power to show you, and through you to Catholic France, 
this little mark of gratitude for your generosity in my behalf. 
Begging the continued aid of your good prayers for me and 
mine, I am, etc. 

A chapter on Mother Ste. Marie's educational methods will, 
perhaps, provoke some mild dissent from American .teaching 
sisters. 

The series of lectures delivered in 
EVOLUTION. Berlin, in the presence of an audi- 

ence representing German science, 

about two years ago, by Father Wassman on Biological Evo- 
lution,* may well be accepted as the most authoritative non- 
official definition of the Catholic position to-day regardirg 
this question. The circumstances which led to the delivery 

* The Berlin Discussion of the Problem of Evolution. By Eric Wassman, S.J. St. Louis : 
B. Herder. 



1 909. ] NEW BOOKS 1 1 7 

of the course, the conditions under which it was given, the 
criticisms which the lecturer underwent and brilliantly re- 
pelled, all co-operated in attaching a representative character 
to Father Wassman's competent survey of the evolution 
claims, and his estimate of their value. Professor Haeckel, 
of Jeaa, having frequently referred to and misrepresented 
some of Father Wassman's views, as expressed in his Biology 
and the Theory of Evolution, Father Wassman determined 
to express his opinions in Berlin before a scientific audience, 
if possible. A committee of distinguished scientists took 
up the matter, drew up a programme to include, besides 
Father Wassman, a number of well-known scientific advo- 
cates of evolution who would criticize and controvert his 
views. The syllabus drawn up embraced three lectures from 
Father Wassman. The list of opponents contained eleven 
names, most of them belonging to well-known professors; and 
provision was made for a closing speech in which Father 
Wassman should reply to his critics. The present volume con- 
tains the text of the lectures, the closing speech, and most of 
the criticisms. Some of the latter have been omitted ; since, 
alas for the ideals of scientific poise and dignity, some of the 
speakers, neglecting the rigorous rules of the arena, contented 
themselves with launching into abusive attacks of the old- 
fashioned sort against the Society of Jesus and the Catholic 
Church. 

In the first lecture Father Wassman gives a short account 
of the scientific hypothesis of evolution, which in his second, 
he carefully distinguishes from evolution as a philosophy cf 
life, and, besides, he draws the line between, on the one side, 
the evolution theory which is perfectly compatible with theism, 
and, on the other, the atheistic principles incorporated with it 
by Haeckel and others. The third lecture deals with the ques- 
tion whether the theory can be applied to the descent of man. 
The speaker frequently elucidated his views by illustrations 
from his favorite science of entomology, in which he stands 
an acknowledged master. 

Father Wassman accepts all the established facts in favor 
of evolution; admits the evidence offered to prove that new 
species have evolved in large numbers from a common source. 
Thus far, he shows, the evolution theory is perfectly consistent 
with the doctrine of a Personal Creator. In the third and 



n8 NEW BOOKS [Oct. 

most important lecture he reviews closely all the evidence of- 
fered in support of the descent of man from the lower animals, 
and signally points out how the proofs fail to support the ex- 
treme evolutionist conclusion that is drawn from them. In 
particular, he scores severely the argument urged from the al- 
leged resemblances between human blood and the blood of the 
higher apes ; as well as the one based on the characteristics of 
the Neanderthal cranium. 

The discussion which followed the lectures, notwithstanding 
the rules previously laid down, did not confine itself to the 
subject in hand ; and many of the speakers, instead of answer- 
ing his arguments, directed their remarks against the lecturer; 
sometimes accusing him of having introduced theology into his 
exposition, sometimes challenging his right as an entomologist 
to speak as a scientist. However, one may gather a correct 
idea of the impression made by Father Wassman from a criti- 
cism which, during the storm that arose in the press after the 
discussion, appeared from a hostile source in the non- Catholic 
Hochland: "The disgraceful fact remains that Wassman, an 
insignificant priest, in consequence of his training, and not of 
his intellectual abilities, speaking as a philosopher, routed our 
collective scientists, and in the course of the discussion, dis- 
played the greatest tact in combating that scientific arrogance 
which deals with truths that are limited to an existence of 
twenty- five years, as Ibsen-Stockmann tells us, whereas the 
Church, in her exalted wisdom, is fully conscious that no 
earthly truth of any kind whatever can be contrary to a divine 
truth." 

No one who carefully studies these highly instructive lec- 
tures, and the subsequent attacks made on them, can refuse to 
approve Father Wassman's assertion, that his eleven opponents 
did not, individually or even collectively, succeed in encoun- 
tering or refuting him on the grounds of scientific facts or of 
the philosophical deductions from them. And when we con- 
sider the quality of the attacking phalanx, we may take for 
granted that the doctrines which Father Wassman has so ably 
championed " do not clash with the principles of really free 
research." This is a book which should be in the hands of 
every student of philosophy. 



foreign periodicals* 

The Tablet (7 Aug.): "The Attack Upon the Act of 1902" 
tells the victory of denominational schools in the " Swan- 
sea School Case." The point at issue asked whether " a 
local authority had the right to differentiate between 
two sets of schools, and to pay teachers of equal quali- 
fications, and doing the same work, at different rates 
only because some were employed in council and others 
in voluntary schools." The king's bench decided in the 

negative. Mr. Francis O. Glutton writes against the 

acceptance of the miracle of the liquefaction of the 
blood of St. Januarius, and agrees with Father Thurs- 
ton that " the whole matter is one for further inquiry 
and suspension of judgment." Extracts from a char- 
acteristic article of G. K. Chesterton in The Church 
Socialist Quarterly on "The Staleness of Modernism." 
(14 Aug.): "The Royal Declaration" captions a rather 
pointed criticism of the present Government for its 
failure to do aught towards changing this document so 
offensive to Catholics. "The Chancellor tells us it is 
wrong, the Prime Minister says it is intolerable, and 

yet both acquiesce." An Englishman's impression of 

the great gathering at Cologne on the occasion of the 

Eucharistic Congress one of great admiration. Copy 

of " A Catholic Layman's " letter to The Times anent 
the late Father Tyrrell. It replies to charges made by 
The Times "that the funeral of Father Tyrrell evidenced 
an equal lack of logic and charity on the part of the 
Church; whose decision in the matter was "an act of 
vindictiveness and a triumph over charity and justice." 
(21 Aug.): That the falling birth-rate is a serious prob- 
lem for the United Kingdom is evident from the report 

of the Registrar General. Father R. H. Benson gives 

his views on the obstacles and aids to the progress of 
Catholicism in England. Socialism, the Broad Church 
movement, and a sectarian spirit among Catholics, are 
the stumbling stones; while the respect and reverence 
of non-Catholics for the Church, their craving after some 



120 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Oct., 

religious authority, and the missionary spirit growing 
among Catholics, are the hopes of future Catholicism. 

The Month (Aug.) : " The Conversion of Socialism," a dialogue 
by Father Garrold. " Sociology and the historical argu- 
ment, if properly used, may go far towards effecting 
the conversion of Socialism." " Only those who vener- 
ate the past are the fertile initiators of the future." 

P. A. Sillard discusses Oliver Wendell Holmes, "the 
'Elia' of America," as essayist and poet. "Holmes is 

more vigorous, more versatile than Lamb." C. C. 

Martindale, continuing "Two Histories of Religion," 
shows how M. Reinach bases his biblical criticism on 

Loisy and his history upon Lea and Voltaire. 

In "The Grail Legend in Modern Literature" T. Elliot 
Ranken shows that, had Tennyson believed in Transub- 
stantiation, "his interpretation would have been not only 
more practical but infinitely nobler and more beautiful." 
"Impressions of Father Gerard Hopkins, S.J.," con- 
tinued. " Onward Ever" or " Continuity " in London, 

by James Britten, is a study of the Catholic revival in 

the Established Church. Father Herbert Thurston 

deals with " Clerical Celibacy in the Anglo-Saxon 
Church." "The existence of the law against the mar- 
riage of those in Holy Orders (the word priest in 
Anglo-Saxon bearing the general meaning ecclesiastic] 
was not less clearly recognized or more laxly observed 
in this country than elsewhere in Western Christendom." 

The Hibbert Journal (July): In "Religious Life and Thought 
in Germany To-Day " Professor H. Weinel sees three 
movements : the Idealism of Eucken and the scholarly 
investigation of Harnack, Herrmann, and Jiilicher; the 
Buddhistic pessimism of Schopenhauer, Wagner, and Von 
Hartmann ; and Nature-Mysticism or anti- Christian Mon- 
ism of Kalthoff, Ellen Key, and Johannes Miiller. 

" Jesus or Christ," a reply to Mr. Roberts (January num- 
ber) by G. K. Chesterton and Professor J. H. Moulton. 
Mr. Chesterton finds Christ, if only " one of the ordi- 
nary teachers of men, ' splendid, suggestive, but full of 
riddles and outrageous demands ' ; but if God, ' He would 
give us a sensation that He was turning all our stand- 
ards upside down and yet that He had undeniably put 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 121 

them the right way up.' " Professor Moulton says : " Nei- 
ther Jesus nor Christ could do it (i. e., attract all men) ; 
Jesus Christ alone can work the marvel we see to-day." 

" Moral Force in War," by Lieutenant-General Hart, 

quotes " Napoleon's dictum that the moral forces are to 

the physical as three to one." " The Confusion of 

Pragmatism," says Professor Ladd, is aggravated by " its 
unfortunate temper and style," and " its disregard of a 
reasonable demand to criticize its underlying assumptions. 
Pragmatism turns out to be either a pretty thorough- 
going agnosticism or a highly emotional idealism." 

" Choice," by F. C. S. Schiller, says that " the existence 
of moral beings protests against the fallacy of Determin- 
ism." Professor B. D. Eerdmans, on " A New De- 
velopment in Old Testament Criticism." " Is Nature 

Good ? A Conversation," by Professor John Dewey. 

" The Mohammedan Cult of Saints," says Professor E. 
Montet, " rivals the Christian or Indian, with which it 
offers numerous points of resemblance or comparison." 

Louis T. More, in " Atomic Theories and Modern 

Physics," urges scientists "to confine their efforts to the 
discovery of natural phenomena and their classification 
into general laws derived by logical mathematical pro- 
cesses." "The Scottish Establishment," by the Rev. 

D. Frew. " Kant's Transcendental ^Esthetic in the 

Light of Modern Mathematics," says Professor W. B. 
Smith, exhibits "prevailing unclearness, the endless re- 
iterations, and the contradictions the hall-mark of gen- 
ius," yet " his doctrine is not wholly and irredeemably 
invalidated." 

Expository Times (Aug.): The theory of atonement from a 
Jewish point of view, considered by Rabbi Adler, " An- 
glo-Jewish Memories," and synopsized under " States of 
Recent Exposition." In a last analysis, says the Rabbi, 
the modern Jew defends no theory, for the simple rea- 
son that he admits " no doctrine of atonement " in real- 
ity. Now that "the halo of martyrdom is a little less 

dazzling to our eyes," Rev. Cyril W. Emmett thinks it 
" more possible to examine the books of M. Loisy in the 
better light of common day " so, under " M. Loisy and 
the Gospel Story," we find a thorough analysis of the 



122 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Oct., 

Abbe's views principally as set forth in his Les Evan- 
giles Synoptiques with a trenchant criticism of the same. 

Rev. A. S. Martin offers a proof that " the original 

and normative character of Christianity, though strongly 

contested, has not been disproved. "The Date of the 

Crucifixion," by Rev. David Smith, gives a brief history 
of this puzzling question, with a plea for the non-rejec- 
tion of the Johannine report " for, while critics are 
right in accepting the synoptic account, it may be ques- 
tioned whether their rejection of the Johannine account, 
as irreconcilable therewith, be not a hasty verdict. 

Irish Ecclesiastical Record (Aug.): "The Definition of Moral 
Obligation," says Rev. J. S. Hickey, O.C., is " a ne- 
cessity resulting from the known will of a superior, of 
our doing (or omitting) an action physically free but 
required for the preservation of the objective and natu- 
ral order of things." The history of Colonel Richard 

Grace continued. Rev. P. J. Dowling, C.M., in "A 

Plea for Continuation Schools," urges the clergy to favor 
these night schools because of Ireland's educational de- 
ficiencies. Rev. Wilfred Lescher, O.P., says that "The 

Progress of Scholastic Philosophy," since Pope Leo's 
Encyclical, has not been fully successful, since it has not 
been everywhere recognized as the philosophy of finding 

truth as opposed to the philosophy of search. " When 

Gael met Greek," second article by Tomas Ua Nuallain. 
" The Science of Ethics," by C. Murphy, is a eulo- 
gistic review of the Rev. Dr. Cronin's book with that title. 

Le Correspondant (10 Aug.): Mgr. Baudrillart praises the 
achievements of the Universities of Paris, Lille, Lyons, 
Angers, and Toulouse in the higher education of clergy 
and laity, and in the formation of Catholic savants and 
apologists. Prince Louis d'Orleans et Bragance, con- 
tinuing his articles on "Chile," describes Valparaiso, its 
earthquake disaster of 1906, and the exploitation of the 

saltpetre section. " The Canadian Spirit," says Louis 

Arnould, is an amalgam of the qualities of old France 
and of England with American greed, vanity, sensation- 
alism, and political corruption. " The New House," 

a novel by Philippe Regnier, continued. " Lucian 

Bonaparte and His Departure from Rome in 1810," by 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 123 

J. Moulard. Frai^ois de Witt-Guizot discusses "The 

French Peasant in Modern Fiction.*' " Economic Life 

and Social Movement," by A. Bechaux. 

^tudes (20 Aug.) : Devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacra- 
ment is enthusiastically maintained at Lourdes, writes 
M. de Tonquedoc. To prove his statement he relates a 
number of miracles worked through prayers to the 

Eucharistic God. Conversion of Protestants through 

the Holy Eucharist, by Emmanuel Abt. Th. Malley 

contributes the Diary of the Pastoral Visits of Mgr. 

Camille de Neuville. It was a favorite opinion of the 

late O. Hamelin, of the Sorbonne, that under the phi- 
losophy of Kant there was hidden a great mass of 
Scholasticism. M. de Beauprey thinks this is not so. 
On the relations of sense-perceptions and the intellect, 
on the absolute value and autonomy of the latter, on 
the question of moral law the theories of Kant and St. 

Thomas are as widely different as daylight and dark. 

"The Religious Situation in Brazil," Joseph Burnichon. 

The works of Father Desurmont; an indefatigable 

missionary of France, are extensively noticed. These, 
we are told, are particularly pure in their doctrine, 
Apostolic in fervor, clear in expression, precise and 
practical in their conclusions. 

Revue du Clerge Francaise (i Aug.): J. Paquier writes of 
" Quietism," a theory of spirituality and mysticism which 
he sums up in two propositions: The man who is striv- 
ing for perfection should tend to the annihilation of his 
own activity; and the only activity of the perfect man 
consists in a continual state of union with God by con- 
templation and by love. After pointingfout the errors 
in this apparently excellent system, the author proceeds 
to trace its origin and its relation to the theological and 
philosophical schools of that period. In the " Philo- 
sophical Chronicle " A. Ducrocq reviews two works by 
F. Palhories, one a biography of Rosmini and the other 
The Ideological Theory of Galluppi in Its Relations with 
Kanfs Philosophy ; also one by F. Mentre on Cournot 
and the Renaissance of Probabilism in the Nineteenth 

Century. " The First Pope " is the title of a sermon 

by J. Bricout, published in this number. 



124 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Oct., 

(15 Aug.): E. Mangenot begins a study of the " Paul- 
inism of Mark." In this number he gives in brief form 
numerous conflicting opinions put forth by Rationalist 
writers, Holsten, Volkmar, Weiss, and others, with one 

or two opinions from Catholic exegetes. L. Pillion 

continues his study of " The Stages of Rationalism in 
its Attacks Upon the Gospels and the Life of Jesus 
Christ." This article deals with what the author calls the 
Eclectic School dating from 1860. It includes such schol- 
ars as Wellhausen, Wernle, Harnack, and many others. 

In the " Chronicle of the Theological Movement " 

F. Dubois reviews among other works one volume of a 
History of Dogma, by J. Tixeront. This volume covers 
the period from St. Athanasius to St. Augustine (318 
430). The reviewer notes the opinions of the historian 
on such points as the source of faith, the human igno- 
rance of our Lord, original sin, etc. 

Revue Pratique d* Apologetique (15 Aug.): "The Moral Law in 
the Assyro-Babylonian Religion," says P. Dhorme, O.P., 
was not separated from religion, but religion, as we see 
from catalogues of faults and lists of precepts, com- 
manded duties towards God and men. The views of Le 

Bon, Tylor, and Morgenstern are erroneous. Michel 

d'Herbigny continues " St. Augustine's Apologetic Ar- 
guments," this time against the Manichean question 

about evil. A meditation on "Prayer," by Ph. Pon- 

sard. " It is a desire and an expectation of the better 
thing, with confidence in One who can and will answer 

the desire; it is talking to God." J. Guibert writes: 

" May I ask priests, who so anxiously seek funds for 
our schools, to be no less anxious to secure the truly 
Christian direction of the classes? Shall we have teach- 
ers enough ? Will they be fervent enough ? " 

Annales de Philosophic Chretienne (Aug.) : B. Gallot reviews the 
treatise of M. Rousselot on "The Intellectualism of St. 
Thomas." This is defined as "a doctrine which puts 
all the value and intensity of life, the essence of the 
good, in an act of the intelligence," realized perfectly 

only in God. "The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy," 

writes M. Louis, were favored by the absence of a 
strongly organized priestly class, of intangible revealed 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 125 

dogmas, of official commentaries in sacred writings, and 

by the presence of subtle Hellenic dialectics. Dom 

Pastourel, O.S.B., finds that " Egotism/' as described by 
M. Barres, is not opposed to altruism and is deeply relig- 
ious; it is best summed up in the words of Pascal: 
"The member, in loving the body, loves itself, for the 
part has being onjy in the whole, by it and for it.'* 
A. Bros and O. Habert warn Catholics who inves- 
tigate the history of religions, not to attack theories 
already abandoned; and apologists not to accept unre- 
servedly the affirmations of rationalist savants, especially 
as regards totemism and animism. 

Stintmen aus Maria Laach (7 Aug.) : J. Bessmer, S.J., in his 
discussion on "Telepathy," says that science, when 
ruling out the existence of a world of independent 
spirits as an unworthy hypothesis, is yet at a loss to 
explain psychical facts, such as clairvoyance and trans- 
mission of influence. S. Beissel, S.J., continues his 

paper on " The History of Prayer Books " down to the 

beginning of the sixteenth century. V. Cathrein, S.J., 

concludes his article, "Ethics and Monistic Evolution- 
ism." Heinrich Pesch concludes " Strikes and Lock- 
outs," and discusses the possible value of compulsory 

arbitration. "Modern Catholic Literature: a Reply 

to Karl Muth," by A. Baumgartner, SJ. 

Revue du Monde Catholique (i Aug.): Among the continued 
articles appearing in this issue we find those of Arthur 

Savaete dealing with " Liberalism in Lower Canada." 

"The French Clergy Since the Concordat of 1801," 

by M. Sicard. Father At's concluding installment of 

his article on " The Spanish Apologists for the Nineteenth 

Century." "The History of Marmoutier," by Dom 

Rabory. "The Mysteries of the Inheritance of A. T. 

Stewart's Vast Fortune," by Denans d'Artigues. Alex- 
ander Harold's article describing "The Presentation of 

La Fontaine's Animals." " The Feminine Opening," 

by Theodore Juan, wherein the author presents to us 
the ideas held by Mme. Auclert, treating the question 
of woman's vote. 

(15 Aug.): Arthur Savaete continues his article treating 
of the political and religious difficulties in Lower Canada, 



126 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Oct., 

and of the appeal of the Catholics of the province of 
Quebec to the Great Leo XIII., together with his reply 
urging them to continue courageously their struggle 

against Liberalism. " Marmoutier at the End of the 

Eleventh Century," by Dom Rabory. In " The Fem- 
inine Opening," by Theodore Juan, it is his opinion 
that man and woman are not equals, due not alone to 

physical but likewise to mental differences. Other 

articles are those of M. Sicard relative to " The French 
Clergy Since the Concordat of 1801." "The Presenta- 
tion of La Fontaine's Animals," by Alexander Harmel. 

"The Mysteries Surrounding the Inheritance of A- 

T. Stewart of New York," by Denans d'Artigues. 

La Revue des Sciences Ecclcsiastiques et La Science Catholique 
(Aug.) : Unedited Works of Mgr. Glautier (continued). 

"The Restoration of Gregorian Chant and the 

Solesmes School," by Norbert Rousseau. The "Rela- 
tions between the Church and the State; or, the Public 
Right of the Church and Liberty of Conscience," by 
1'Abbe J. B. Verdier. This article is a brief history of 
the Concordat from 1800 to 1906. "The Electro- 
Chemical Fabrication of Nitric Acid," by Jean Escard. 

"Bulletin of Philosophy," by M. 1'Abbe Biguet. Re, 

views new works on pragmatism, modernism, reason and 
faith, free-will aud God's fore-knowledge, also Nicolay's 
new volume on What the Poor Think of the Rich. 

Revue Thomiste (July-Aug.) : Father Gardiel, in " Le Donne 
Theologique," outlines the different methods of pro- 
cedure in the study of theology; the supremacy of the 
scholastic, or positive, over the so-called scientific method 
is shown from a comparison of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of each and by proving the latter illogical. 

" The Mystery of the Redemption " is a discussion of 
the theology of that dogma, by Father Hugon. The 
different theories are touched upon, and the principal 
elements forming an adequate idea of the doctrine 
grouped together and analyzed. The Church's teach- 
ing on " Vocation to the Priesthood " is the subject of 
a paper by J. Lahitton. The divergence of the opinions 
of St. Thomas and St. Alphonsus is cleared away. The 
sacerdotal vocation is determined and depends on the 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 127 

call of the Bishop. The "Authentic Writings of St. 

Thomas of Aquin" is continued. The Catalogues of 

Pierre Roger (Clement VI.), William de Tocco, St. An- 
toninus, and Louis de Valladolid are compared. 

La Civilta Cattolica (7 Aug.): "The Interference in Wills 
Made in Favor of Religious Communities." This article 
gives the decision of the Court of Appeals of Rome, 
which pronounced the will of Pietro la Via null because 

made in favor of a suppressed congregation. " St. 

Clement of Rome and Miracles." Last month Harnack 
endeavored to show the saint's mind as regards miracles 
in general. In this article he believes he has given St. 
Clement's mind on the miracle of the Resurrection; but 
Father Van Laak, S.J., says that St. Clement's writings 
prove how false Harnack's conclusions are and how unjust 
it is to the Holy Pontiff to say he gave little religious 

value to the Resurrection of Christ. " The Origin of 

the Gothic Style." "New Books on Japan." A list 

of books on various subjects relating to Japan, and a 
short review of each. 

(21 Aug.): "The Progressive Depopulation in Civilized 
Nations." Here we find the low birth-rate and the 
number of social suicides according to the statistics of 
the European countries. This alarming condition, the 
author maintains, is due to the dissemination of anti- 
Christian teachings. " Polemics on Modernism Apro- 
pos of Recent Writers." A review of some of the ablest 
writers of France and Italy against Modernism. Con- 
tinued Articles : "The Story of the Inquisition in France." 
" The Origin and Nature of Language." 

Espana y America (15 Aug,): " Christian Labor and the Social 

Question," by P. Bruno Ibeas. P. A. Blanco gives 

Mendel's law as to variability of species and of hybri- 
dation. In " Theological Modernism and Traditional 

Theology " P. Santiago Garcia defends the institution 
by Christ of Baptism and Confirmation against Loisy 
and Murri. P. Juan M. Lopez continues " The Apos- 
tle James and the City of Compostela." "Travel 

Notes from China," continued, by P. Juvencio Hospital. 

P. E. Negrete reviews Elois and Morlocks, which he 

calls a "thesis novel; an apology for Catholic spiritual- 



128 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Oct. 

ism and supernaturalism, and an attack, in the name of 
science and of faith, upon false materialistic science." 

P. Diodoro V. Gonzalez replies to the attacks of 

D. Andres upon the Augustinians. 

Razon y Fe (Aug.): V. Minteguiaga, continuing "The Civil 
Power and Theatrical Immorality," reviews the various 

legislative acts against indecent plays and players. 

" The Dogma of the Redemption According to the Apos- 
tolic Fathers," says J. M. Bover, was substantially iden- 
tical with the modern Catholic view, as we see from 
various texts and from their general interpretations. It 
differed utterly from those who deny the objective value 

of Christ's passion in reconciling man to God. N. 

Noguer criticizes a French volume on The Social Teach- 
ing of Jesus. " Spontaneous Generation Before Sci- 
ence and Philosophy" is completely discredited. The 
Fathers and scholastics who believed in this doctrine did 
so from incomplete investigation; Haeckel and '.his fol- 
lowers in order to disprove creation by God, according 

to E. Ugarte de Ercilla. Zacarias Garcia, in " The 

Pardon of Sins in the Primitive Church," explains pen- 
ance as expounded in the " Shepherd " of Hermas. 

" Catholicism and Spanish Patriotism," by R. Ruiz Ama- 

do. "The Holy See and the Book of Isaias," by 

L. Murillo, continued; this article discusses difficulties 
aroused by the biblical and cuneiform chronologies of 
the period 747-696 B. c. 



Current Events* 



The statesmen and politicians of 
France. France have been taking a rest in 

preparation for the labors of the 

last session of the present Parliament. The duties of the Min- 
istry have doubtless been important, but they have not been 
of a character to call for the attention of the public. The 
only exception is that the Minister of Public Works, M. Mil- 
lerand, to whose care the Post Office is entrusted, has under- 
taken a reorganization of this department of the public service. 
It has been generally believed that, whatever changes France 
may have undergone in the form of government, the adminis- 
trative offices remained unchanged and fairly efficient. It will 
bs hard to entertain this belief much longer, in view of the 
faults which have been brought to light within the past few 
months. The state of the Navy was the occasion of the fall of 
M. Clemenceau. Now it is being recognized that the Post 
Office and its allied services stand in great need of reform. 
Things for some years past have been going from bad to 
worse. The various departments are badly organized, ard in 
consequence frequent conflicts take place. For these scandal- 
ous deficiencies it has been impossible to fix the responsibility. 
A private enterprise, if conducted in the way in which the 
French Post Office has been, would have come to grief in six 
months. These defects the new head has been engaged in 
removing. 

The Tsar's visit to Cherbourg, according to the statement 
of the French Foreign Minister, has not resulted in strength- 
ening or consolidating the alliance between France and Russia, 
for that was not required. It has done more : it has made it 
perfectly clear to both parties that there is complete unity of 
views between the two Powers, and complete unity of effort 
and action, not only on the great lines of their international 
policy, but also in the most petty details, and even with re- 
gard to possible eventualities. Moreover, between the two 
peoples, M. Pichon declared, and not merely between the gov- 
ernment, the visit had made it evident that there was a bond 
not only of a common interest, but of a genuine sentiment of 
VOL. xc 9 



130 CURRENT EVENTS [Oct., 

friendship. M. Hanotaux, once Foreign Minister and a close 
student of political events, declares that the one enduring and 
unchanging element in the two countries for the past fifteen 
years has been the consistent support given by both to the 
Dual Alliance. The reason for this is that the Alliance corre- 
sponds to the interests and aspirations of the two Powers, as 
events have shown, and that it is the greatest security for the 
maintenance of peace by maintaining the balance of power. 
As regards the future, if the Alliance maintains its character 
as a pacific instrument of equilibrium in Europe, it will remain 
invincible and indestructible. 

The idea that crime could be restrained without capital 
punishment has been predominant in France for some years; 
but some awful deeds that have taken place have caused a 
revulsion of popular feeling. M. Briand, the new Prime Min- 
ister, was, a short time ago, so much opposed to the infliction 
of the death penalty that he ardently supported a Bill for the 
entire abolition of capital punishment. He has, however, 
yielded to the force of public opinion ; the Bill will not be 
proceeded with ; and, in a case which has recently occurred, 
he has not recommended the President to exercise his preroga- 
tive of pardon. As a consequence, for the first time in ten 
years, an execution has taken place in Paris. It is satisfactory 
to be able to note that there were no such horrible scenes as 
were witnessed a few months ago at executions in the provinces. 

When the first strike of the Post Office officials took place 
M. Clemenceau's government, while brave in words, was weak 
in deeds. A second strike took place, to the success of which 
the government's firmness proved an obstacle. The new Min- 
ister of Public Works seems to have reverted to the former 
policy of yielding. He has reinstated a large number of the 
officials who had been dismissed from the service owing to 
their conduct in the strike last May. For this he has been 
criticized ; direct encouragement has thereby been given, it is 
said, to insubordination. M. Millerand defends his course on 
the ground that those who have been reinstated were led 
astray, and that they had been recommended to mercy by their 
superior officers. The ring leaders, however, would not be re- 
instated, for that would truly be an approbation and justifica- 
tion of the strike. Yet the Minister admits that the strike 
was not without justification, for it seems that in France, as 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 131 

well as in this country, there is such a thing as influence, and 
that this influence was used by members of Parliament, not 
for the public benefit, but for the private advantage of their 
own relatives, friends, and political supporters. 

The clemency shown by the government to the strikers has 
not been confined to them. Political offenders and others who 
had been imprisoned for anti-militarist utterances, and for vari- 
ous other offences, have since been released by a decree of 
the Prime Minister. This clemency has gone so far as to em- 
brace those who belong to the other extreme of political 
opinion in France. The young Royalists who were arrested 
for manifesting their feelings in a riotous manner, as well as 
M. Bietry, the reactionary leader of anti- Socialist Unions, and 
M. Andre Gaucher, who was being punished for insults offered 
to the judges by whom he was being tried, have had their 
terms of imprisonment curtailed. 

What motive actuates the government in thus acting is 
hard to say. Anti-militarism, for example, is not a thing of 
the past. It is, in fact, spreading, as is shown by the fact that 
the number of those who refuse to serve their term in the 
army is growing. In 1906 there were 4,567 refractory recruits; 
in 1909 there were 11,782. In Paris the number has risen 
from 288 to 1,417. Manuals are distributed among the soldiers 
encouraging insubordination and desertion. The primary school 
teachers are, it is said, indoctrinated with a cosmopolitan hu- 
manitarianism, which is exceedingly admirable in theory, but 
which, it is to be feared, will not conduce until the neighbor- 
ing nations are at least equally well-disposed to the safety 
of the country from external attack. 

That a step towards better feeling between France and 
Germany has been taken is shown by an interesting ceremony 
which took place a short time ago at Mars-la-Tour, the scene 
of the celebrated charge, thirty-nine years ago, of the Prussian 
Regiment of Dragoon Guards in the battle of Gravelotte. A 
monument has been erected by the Germans in memory of the 
soldiers who fell on that occasion. At its inauguration French 
and Prussian soldiers took part, and speeches, expressive of 
mutual good-will and confidence, were made. On the other 
hand, the presence in France of large numbers of spies tends 
to alienate the two nations from each other. 

In the event of war the Vice- President of the Army 



132 CURRENT EVENTS [Oct., 

Council would be the Commander- in-Chief of the French 
armies. General de Lacroix has, up to a few weeks ago, held 
this office, but has been obliged to retire on account of having 
arrived at the limit of age. Whatever may be said of the 
Navy, the Army is, if we may believe the testimony of this 
retiring officer, in a perfectly satisfactory condition. It out- 
distances, so he declared, all other nations in every respect. 
It has a marvelous gun which it knows how to use, and in all 
kinds of new inventions it keeps the lead. The French soldier, 
on account of his peculiar temperament, possesses an unques- 
tionable superiority. The soul of the nation exerts so magnet- 
izing an influence upon the Army, that there need be no 
longer any fear of the incompetency of a commander- in-chief. 
Such is the testimony of the late Commander- in-Chief. 

Germany and France have one other thing in common the 
financial year is, as usual, closing with a deficit. That of France 
is even larger than Germany's, being some forty millions of 
dollars, but will not require heroic efforts to provide for it. 
These deficits are due, it is said, to the subordination by the 
deputies of the general public good to the local requirements 
of their own constituants. The new Minister of Finance will, 
it is thought, increase the tobacco tax, and, for a consideration, 
give a state guarantee of the purity of the vines which are 
submitted for inspection. 

Very little that calls for mention 

Germany. has taken place in Germany. The 

German Emperor has made no 

speeches; the Reichstag has not been sitting; its members 
have not addressed their constituents, or, if so, have had 
nothing to say that has attracted public attention. Whether 
this is the quiet that precedes or follows a storm cannot be 
told. Naval and military reviews have been held, as is usual 
during the autumn. China has been the field of the chief 
manifestation of German activity; and this manifestation has 
not been so much in the diplomatic as in the financial world. 
If we may believe the accounts that have been given, German 
financiers have underbid those of the other nations, who are 
so anxious, according to their wont, to shower benefits upon 
the backward nations of the world. For the promotion of the 
building of railroads China is dependent upon other nations 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 133 

for the supply of the necessary funds. The terms on which 
this supply was to be given were made much more acceptable 
to China by the German financiers than by those of England 
and France. But, although these terms were more acceptable, 
they were not in reality for China's best interests. On this 
account the United States stepped in and claimed to have the 
right, for China's good, to have a share in the transaction. 
When even our financiers are so disinterested it speaks well 
for our progress. The German people, however, have reason 
to wish that the managers of the home finances should per- 
form their office in such a way as to prevent the ever-recur- 
ring deficits. The deficit of the last financial year amounted 
to thirty millions, and the other various needs of the Empire 
will require a loan of some seventy millions of dollars; this is 
irrespective of future deficits and new demands. 

In other respects Germany has a right to congratulate her- 
self. Her wealth during the last fifteen years has increased by 
fifty- nine per cent. The wages of the working men have risen. 
The standard of life has been raised all round. Food has im- 
proved ; clothes have improved. Germany has become a rich 
country without the lowest grades of poverty that exist else- 
where. Such is the report of the British Consul- General at 
Frankfurt-on-the-Main. 

The chief political interest of the immediate future is in 
the new Chancellor of the Empire and as to the way in which 
he will deal with the various parties in the Reichstag ; to which 
of them he will look for the necessary support. The outcome 
of the crisis which led to the fall of Prince Biilow was the 
restoration of the Catholic Centre to its long- held position of 
control and predominance. This was accomplished by co-op- 
eration with the Conservatives. The bloc was completely de- 
feated. The Conservatives, however, declare that their co- 
operation with the Centre was only temporary. Further for- 
mulations and combinations will, therefore, be necessary, and 
it will be interesting to see "what they will be. 

The good relations which had ex- 
Austria-Hungary, isted for many years between 

Austria- Hungary and Great Brit- 
ain, or at least between the governing circles of the two coun- 
tries, were interrupted in consequence of the attitude assumed 



134 CURRENT EVENTS [Oct., 

by the British government towards the annexation of Bosnia 
and Herzegovina. The press of Vienna could find nothing too 
bad to say about England and the English. English money, 
whatever might be said about other people's, was certainly the 
root of all evil. When, therefore, it was announced that King 
Edward was going for the "cure" to a bath in Bohemia, and 
was not to visit the Emperor, the conclusion was reached by 
many that the alienation was to be, if not permanent, at least 
indefinite in duration. 

This appears, however, to have been a rash inference. For 
there took place between the two monarchs an interchange of 
courtesies which showed, so far as they were concerned, that 
no ill-feeling continued to exist, and the intercourse between 
the King and prominent Austrians and Hungarians have brought 
about, it is said, a better understanding of the whole question 
than was before attainable. There seems, therefore, reason to 
look forward to a resumption of the cordial relations which 
formerly existed. The expectation of this is strengthened by 
the announcement made by a paper in Vienna, which possesses 
the confidence of the Foreign Office, that the whole of the 
facts connected with the annexation have never been published. 
When this is done, it will be seen that Austria's action was not 
really so culpable as it appeared. Austria's hand was forced 
by the latest addition to the ranks of European Kings. That 
there was an appearance of culpability is thus admitted ; that 
it will be shown that there was no real culpability will, we 
hope, be satisfactorily proved. 

It is seldom that changes so great as those which have 
taken place in the Near East have been made, except as the 
result of prolonged warfare. The restoration of the Turkish 
Constitution ; the proclamation of Bulgarian independence ; the 
annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; the withdrawal of the 
international contingents from Crete ; the breach of the Austro- 
Russian understanding of 1897; mark the close of the period 
that began with the Berlin Treaty. Any one of these events, 
almost, might have given rise to armed conflicts and, in all 
probability, would have done so, had it not been for the strong 
desire for peace by which the controllers of the destinies of the 
present generation are animated a desire of which The Hague 
Conference is but one expression. 

To the Emperor-King Francis Joseph, pre-eminently, the 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 135 

happy outcome of the recent entanglement is due, and many 
of the various races within his dominions have been taking 
the opportunity presented by his seventy- ninth birthday to 
show to him their gratitude. Upon Baron von Aehrenthal has 
been conferred the title of Count, a title which is to be trans- 
mitted to his descendants. In the hope that he was not as 
black as he has been painted, and with the knowledge that he 
suffered himself to be guided by his sovereign, we may ac- 
quiesce in this honor being conferred upon him. 

It is too soon to form any very 
Turkey. trustworthy estimate of the course 

of events in Turkey. On the 

whole, however, the prospect seems good for the definite es- 
tablishment of a constitutional form of government. The new 
Sultan, after having been practically for a life- time a prisoner, 
does not find the wholesome bonds which every constitution 
imposes so galling as he would have done had he once ruled 
as an autocrat. He seems to have realized also that the main- 
tenance of his power depends upon its acceptance by the people; 
and he has been making efforts to ingratiate himself in their 
good will a thing which, so far as we are aware, has not 
been done by any of his predecessors in recent times. They 
were content to rule by violence, espionage, and murderous 
repression. Mahomed V. has been paying a visit to Brusa, a 
city associated with many of the great deeds of his ancestors, 
and in which some of the greatest of those ancestors are buried. 
From all the surrounding districts swarms of peasants crowded to 
see him; and they welcomed him with every mark of popular 
enthusiasm. That a Sultan should seek, and his subjects will- 
ingly give, such marks of mutual appreciation is an unlooked- 
for sign of the progress of good government. 

Another sign is the fact that the Turkish Parliament has 
been working assiduously and regularly. There have been no 
scenes or sensational incidents. All the members of the min- 
istry of Hilmi Pasha still remain in office, with the one ex- 
ception of the Minister of Public Works, to whose place 
an Armenian has succeeded. Experts from other states have 
been called in to take charge of various departments and to 
bring into order the chaos which has been the result of the 
rule of Abdul Hamid. One other sign of constitutional rule 



136 CURRENT EVENTS [Oct., 

is the issue of a loan. The Cretan question, it is true, brought 
the country within measurable distance of war. The inhabi- 
tants of this island seem to be as willing to give trouble as 
they were in St. Paul's days. They have, to all intents and 
purposes, been made independent of Turkey, an independence 
safeguarded by the four Powers France, Italy, Russia, and 
Great Britain. The flag of the Ottoman Empire is kept flying 
as the sole token of the suzerainty of the Sultan. 

The Cretans, however, voted their annexation to Greece, 
and hoisted the Greek flag as a sign of the union. This ex- 
cited popular feeling throughout Turkey. Meetings were held 
and the government was called upon to take action. The loss 
of Bulgaria and of Bosnia and Herzegovina was as much as 
the Turks were willing to bear. The government could do 
nothing less than listen to the voice of the people; and there 
is little doubt that it would have taken warlike measures, had 
not the four protecting Powers undertaken the task of bringing 
the Cretans to reason. To remonstrance the islanders were 
deaf. Marines had to be landed; and with due solemnity four 
sailors, representatives of each of the four Powers, proceeded 
to cut down the flag-staff on which flew the flag of Greece. 
Under the circumstances nothing else could have been done; 
but it is clear that a full settlement has not yet been made. 

The attitude of Greece towards 

Greece. those whose strongest desire was 

annexation did not at first give 

satisfaction to the Turks. There is reason to believe also that 
the Greek bands were on the point of renewing in Macedonia 
their old methods of rapine and massacre. The Turkish gov- 
ernment, in consequence, made a very strong remonstrance to 
Greece, and required a categorical renunciation of any purpose 
of annexing Crete or of interfering in Macedonia. The four 
protecting Powers had to intervene to restrain the ardor of 
Turkey and to hold the Greeks within due bounds. Through 
their efforts a collision was avoided. 

All those events have led to what has been almost a revo- 
lution in Greece. The army has long been standing in need of 
reforms, due to the incompetence of the officers at its head. 
These officers were Princes of the Royal House, who had been 
placed, simply because they were sons of the King, in posi- 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 137 

tions for which they were unfit. In July last the ministry 
then in power had to resign because of the agitation of the 
soldiers. The ministry which followed, that of M. Ralli, failed 
to satisfy their demands. The Officers have formed a Military 
League for the redress of grievances. This League, at the 
head of some two thousand soldiers, assembled in force and 
made certain demands which M. Ralli refused to accept. Those 
demands included the removal from command of the Royal 
Princes and the appointment of competent officers. Apprehen- 
sions were felt that it was the intention of the League to de- 
throne the King; but this has been denied; nor does it seem 
probable that, so long as their wishes are complied with, things 
will be carried to this extreme. A new ministry has been 
formed which is willing to carry out the demands of the army; 
not, as its head says, because they are the demands of the 
army, but because he is himself convinced of the necessity for 
the reforms for which it is calling. Greece, therefore, is vir- 
tually under the control of the military. Bad as this is, it is 
perhaps better than the preceding state of things, in which 
two opposing, but equally corrupt, sets of politicians made their 
own profit out of the masses of the people. 

Order has been restored in Barce- 

Spain. lona and throughout Catalonia. 

There has been great exaggeration 

as to the outrages which took place during the troubles. They 
were bad enough, indeed, but far less than reported. It seems 
impossible to say with certainty what were the real objects of 
the uprising. Whether it was to establish a Republic through- 
out Spain, or to separate Catalonia from the rest of the penin- 
sula, or whether it was mere anarchy and the overthrow of all 
government that its promoters had in view, cannot yet be de- 
termined. The government, it is satisfactory to say, has not 
been rigorous in its methods of repression or in the amount 
of punishment which it has inflicted. Only one execution has 
taken place ; but, as there are a thousand prisoners, perhaps 
the future will give us a new example of Spanish methods. 

The war in Morocco is still going on. It has not, however, 
been prosecuted with great vigor, although it seems likely that 
it will not be brought to an end until a definite result has 
been secured. The soldiers have distinguished themselves by 



138 CURRENT EVENTS [Oct., 

their bravery. They are in fact, to quote the testimony of a 
Carlist deputy, who has been paying a visit to the scene of 
warfare, as brave as the Japanese. Throughout Spain great 
sympathy has been shown for the troops, and active measures 
have been taken for their relief and that of their families. 
Subscription lists have been opened ; wealthy Spaniards have 
made donations ; bakers have sent presents of bread ; doctors 
have given their services free of charge ; actors have offered to 
give performances; and, to crown all, four leading bullfighters 
have offered to fight, free of cost, any bulls that the breeders 
may give. 

It would be a mistake to think 
Morocco. that it is with Morocco that Spain 

is at war. Morocco is a mere 

congeries of a more or less united number of tribes. It is 
possible to be carrying on hostile operations with one or more 
of these tribes, and yet to be at peace with the Sultan. This 
is what has taken place in the present instance. It is with 
the Riffs, and perhaps one or more tribes friendly to them, that 
Spain has come into conflict. The Sultan perhaps would have 
been more ready to support his fellow-countrymen had he not 
had a nearer enemy with whom to contend. This was the 
long-standing Pretender, Bu Hamara. His career has, how- 
ever, at last come to an end. The Sultan's victory has been 
complete, and he took the opportunity of showing the method 
in which an autocrat, not controlled by public opinion, triumphs 
over the conquered. Mulai Hafid himself made choice of the 
punishments. One was condemned to have his lower jaw shat- 
tered by the blow of a hammer; another to have his eyes put 
out ; another still to have the palm of his hand slashed with a 
knife, sprinkled with salt and sewn up into a leather glove. 
Others were put to death, but by long-drawn-out ways. The 
Pretender himself was shut up in an iron cage, which was borne 
upon a camel's back; and he was carried in this way through 
the city, amid the jeers and taunts of the populace. So hor- 
rible were the methods adopted that the representatives of the 
Powers in the capital, at the command of the home authorities, 
made a vigorous protest to the Sultan. To their demands he 
has yielded, and has promised to bring his ways of government 
more into harmony with those of civilized countries. 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 139 

The strike in Sweden has given 
Sweden. proof that the possession or sup- 

posed possession of power by per- 
sons at the lower end of the social scale leads them to act at 
times in the same way as oftentimes kings and potentates in 
general have acted, although perhaps not in so manifestly 
cruel a way. The working men of Sweden, to the number of 
between two and three hundred thousand, made a deliberate 
attempt, for the redress of their grievance, to bring to a stand- 
still the social and industrial life of the nation. Nor, in their 
endeavor to carry out this purpose, did they hesitate to break 
the most solemn and explicit promises. They were not, how- 
ever, guilty of violence. This is attributed to the fact that 
the government closed all public houses and stopped almost 
completely the sale of intoxicating drink. The strike lasted 
four weeks; and although out of the 460,000 workmen in 
Sweden (not including agricultural laborers) 286,000 took part, 
yet it resulted in a failure. Neither the objects nor the meth- 
ods of the strikers commanded public sympathy. A band of 
voluntary helpers was formed, called " The Public Security 
Brigade." Counts and barons, military and naval officers, pro- 
fessional and business men, engineers, clerks, students frcm the 
universities and technical schools, volunteered their services, 
and took a part in working trams and steamboats, transporting 
and unloading the necessities of life, such as coal and food. 
Their efforts, combined with the failure of the strikers to make 
their strike absolutely universal, brought about its failure. 



WITH OUR READERS. 

THE change in the title of this department, formerly called 
"The Columbian Reading Union," now "With Our Readers," is 
made with a view of widening its field. It will still endeavor, as 
in former years, to keep in touch with the Reading Circles of our 
country, and at the same time discuss in a brief way matters of 
general interest throughout the world. 

PTATISTICS of church property and church membership, re- 
O ported to the Census Bureau in 1906, have just been made pub- 
lic. These statistics supply us with figures that are very interesting, 
and we quote those that will be of special interest to Catholics. 
The property of the Catholic Church this includes only the build- 
ings owned and used for worship, together with the value of their 
sites, furniture, organs, bells, etc. was reported as being worth 
$292,638,787. The increase of value in Catholic Church property 
from 1890 to 1906 amounted to $174,515,441. The total amount of 
debt, as reported by the Catholic Church representatives, was 
49,488,055. This equals 16.9 per cent of the total value of the 
property. 

Another interesting and instructive point gained from this cen- 
sus is that in sixteen states of the Union the ^majority of church 
members belonged to the Catholic Church. These states and terri- 
tories are : New Mexico ; Rhode Island ; Montana ; Massachusetts ; 
Nevada ; Arizona ; New York ; New Hampshire ; Louisiana ; Con- 
necticut ; California ; Vermont ; Maine ; New Jersey ; Wisconsin ; 
and Michigan. In two states, Wyoming and Colorado, the largest 
proportion, though not a majority of church members, belonged to 
the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church reported a total mem- 
bership of 12,079,142. This is an increase over the total reported 
in 1890 of 5,837,434 ; or, in other words, of 93.5 per cent. 

It is also of much interest to note that this is the first census 
that has given statistics of church membership according to sex. 
While in Protestant bodies there is a marked difference in the re- 
turns reported, 39.3 per cent for the males and 60.7 for the females, 
the Catholic Church reports a membership almost equally divided, 
49.3 per cent male ; 50.7 per cent female. 

These figures are, on the whole, very comforting and encour- 
aging to Catholics. They show that, numerically, Catholics are 
very strong. But they also bring at once to our mind the question 



1909.] WITH OUR READERS 141 

as to whether Catholics are at all proportionately true to their re- 
sponsibilities both with regard to themselves and their children ; 
and also with regard to their obligation to present worthily the faith 
and to lead to the true Church the non- Catholics who are our fellow- 
countrymen. When one asks himself that question, and reviews 
his experience, short though it may be, the answer surely is that 
though much has been done and is being done, still, considering 
our numbers and our opportunities, we are strangely indifferent to 
many of our duties and our obligations. It is the first duty of a 
Catholic to be well educated in his faith, and many Catholics are 
not well educated. From the year's beginning to the year's end 
they never read a word about the Catholic faith, and have not read 
a word since they left Sunday-School. They hear but few, if any, 
sermons; and their faith, as a practical incentive in everyday life, 
finds little employment. The great treasuries of Catholic truth are 
to them a sealed book, and nothing, it seems, will rouse them 
from their lethargy. 

It is the duty of a Catholic to interest himself personally, both 
by personal effort and by financial support ; and if he cannot furnish 
the latter, he assuredly can give the former in works of Catholic 
charity, of Catholic education; of Catholic public action many 
Catholics know nothing, nor do they seek to know anything of 
these works. It is the duty of a Catholic, while he is a devoted 
parishioner, to realize also that he is a member of the Catholic 
Church the Church of the world that in every country the 
Church has her problems ; that from her battles and her trials in 
one land we may learn much ; that our very sympathy with her, 
and sympathy cannot be without knowledge, will lead us to love her 
the more. In our own land there is problem after problem that she 
has to meet and to answer. And she would have her children meet 
them intelligently and wisely. In truth, she can meet them only 
through her children. It is the duty of Catholics so to live, so to 
act, so to converse, that to their non-Catholic fellowmen they can 
always give a true and edifying impression of the Catholic Church. 
It is our duty to spread, in so far as we can, by word, by example, 
by book, Catholic truth among those who do not know it. What 
has been done, what our increase, our growth, our power can do, 
is the most inspiring call to be alive to what we can yet do. And 
the most efficacious means to increase our individual and corporate 
worth and power is Catholic literature. Without Catholic litera- 
ture and here we but repeat the words of our Holy Father the 
cause of the Catholic Church will never progress. There must be a 
capable, intelligent presentation of the Catholic faith ; reliable 
knowledge of Catholic needs, opportunities, and duties, in the field 



142 WITH OUR READERS [Oct., 

of education, of public libraries, of public morality, of Catholic de- 
fence in fields innumerable these are the things that are absolutely 
indispensable to a strong Catholic life and prosperity not only in 
the individual but also in the corporate body. There is no reason 
why to-day the Catholic Church, through her written word, in her 
pronouncements, in her solutions of the problems that so vex hu- 
manity, should not be the leader and the leader recognized by all 
in the religious, moral, and social life of America. 

To do its part in this work THE CATHOLIC WORLD has labored 
for forty-five years. In that time it has aimed at the highest, and it 
has never been willing to be " popular " in order to be the more suc- 
cessful. It asks the support of every Catholic throughout the coun- 
try, and for the never-failing answer of kindly co-operation from 
thousands of American Catholics THE CATHOLIC WORLD is grate- 
ful. As the years go on, the possibilities of still higher achievement 
appeal to us. We would put THE CATHOLIC WORLD into every 
public library throughout the land ; we would have it in every 
home, that it may be to thousands more the help and the joy that 
it is to thousands now. Its aim is to show that the Catholic 
Church, the Church of the ages, is still fresh with the vigorous 
life of youth. And every help, every evidence of co-operation 
which its readers give to it, will help it on its appointed mission 
to promote the glory of our Church among her children and 
among those whom we hope will one day seek to be enrolled un- 
der the same title. 

* # 

Rose Kavanagh and Her Verses, edited by Father Matthew 
Russell, of the Irish Monthly ', has just been published by Gill & 
Son, of Dublin. The volume includes many appreciations of Miss 
Kavanagh's work by noted writers. The poems have received 
much well-merited praise. Miss Kavanagh was not a great poet, 
but she was a sweet singer, and her work is saturated with the love 
of her country the land itself and its patriots. 

* * 

In the Liverpool Catholic Times for September 10, the Rev. 
Charles Plater, S.J., writes of the need of concerted action in 
spreading the work of the Catholic press. The conclusions which 
he draws, while reached with direct reference to England, are not 
without point in this country. He says : 

" This is a matter which requires to be taken to heart by the 
whole Catholic body. This work absolutely must not be left to the 
small number of Catholics who have hitherto supported it with 
courage and devotion in the face of apathy and cheap criticism. 
Only when the whole Catholic body gets the matter on its conscience 



1909.] WITH OUR READERS 143 

may we hope for the success which has attended Catholic action in 
Germany or Austria." 

Taking up the work of the Catholic Reading Guild, he con- 
tinues: 

"The object of the Guild was, in general, to circulate Catholic 
newspapers; but particular attention was paid ,to the work of get- 
ting them introduced into public reading rooms. We see at once 
the importance of such a step. The newspaper room in our public 
libraries is becoming more and more frequented, and is, to a large 
extent, forming the opinions of the working classes. Here, no less 
than in the elementary schools, are our countrymen storing their 
minds with impressions, picking up their views of life, forming their 
opinions and ideals. The place is a school for adults. The result 
will infallibly be according to the kind of mental food that is being 
assimilated. And we have some power of determining its quality. 

" How does the thing work out ? Supply is, to a large extent, 
conditioned by demand. Repeated inquiries for a definite Catholic 
newspaper may often result in its being taken in at the expense of 
the institution in question. Here at once is an opportunity for 
valuable Catholic action involving very little trouble, and no ex- 
pense. I/et two or three well-known Catholic ratepayers at different 
times step into their public library and see whether Catholic news- 
papers are being supplied. If they are not, they may be asked for. 
The chances are that they will make their appearance. If not, the 
further question may be asked : ' Will you put Catholic news- 
papers in the reading room if they are supplied to you gratis ? ' 
The answer is generally in the affirmative, and the information is 
further volunteered that various non-Catholic religious newspapers 
(and sometimes anti-religious newspapers) are already being pre- 
sented to the reading room." 

The need for an awakening of our people to the absolute neces- 
sity of action along this line is just as urgent here as in Europe. 
Something has already been done to this end by the Knights of 
Columbus and the American Federation of Catholic Societies, but 
the work has yet to be taken hold of whole-heartedly by the Catho- 
lic people. How long will it be before Catholics realize the dire 
necessity ? 



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The New Schaff-Hetzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. IV. 
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Oak Flooring. By Henry H. Gibson. Pp. 38. Price 50 cents. 
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L' Ignorance Actuelle en Matiere Religieuse. Pp. 128. Price dofrs. 




THE 

CATHOLIC WORLD. 

VOL. XC. NOVEMBER, 1909. No. 536. 

THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLE. 

BY GEORGE M. SEARLE, C.S.P. 

VERY one at all interested in geographical matters 
must feel well satisfied by the practical certainty 
now existing that the north pole has at last been 
reached, and every American must feel some 
pride that Americans have accomplished this. 
For whatever may be the real value of the work, it was a 
difficult one, and to accomplish anything difficult, in which 
others have so often failed, requires an amount of energy, en- 
durance, and determination of which one may well be proud. 

It is unfortunate, however, that so much incredulity has 
been shown as to the fact of the accomplishment. The rule 
has usually been observed, that when a man really competent 
for any scientific work says that he has achieved it, his state- 
ment is accepted. The principal reasons for this acceptance 
are: first, the confidence felt by scientific men in the truth and 
honor of others of that class; and, secondly, the fact that 
even if this confidence was not justified, an attempt at fraud 
would hardly pay, as it would be fairly certain to be detected, 
sooner or later, and the reputation of the one attempting it 
be permanently ruined. 

The exception to this rule in the present case seems to 
have been mainly due to the second one who announced his 
success. His feelings in the matter are, of course, easily 
understood. It was one on which his heart had been set for 

Copyright. 1909. THB MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THB APOSTLB 

IN THB STATE OF NEW YORK. 
VOL. XC. 10 



146 THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLE [Nov., 

many years; for which he had endured much more labor and 
hardship than the other or any one else ; for which he had 
sacrificed, we may say, the best part of his life. It was cer- 
tainly hard to have it believed, though it might be only for a 
time, that another had taken the laurels which he had con- 
fidently hoped to win. Nevertheless, the proper course for 
him to pursue was quite plain. He should have said to him- 
self: "Either Dr. Cook has forestalled me, or he is a liar." 
He should have been satisfied that, if the latter were the case, 
it would be found out in time, and not assumed at once that 
it was the case. If he believed that he had proofs that it was, 
he should have waited till he was able or ready to produce 
them. To say not to himself, but openly, and without giving 
such proofs that a fellow-worker in science is a liar, espe- 
cially when, for the second reason above mentioned, such a 
statement seems improbable, is really an insult; or, to say 
the very least, quite contrary to scientific etiquette. 

But it may be imagined that Commander Peary might 
simply think that Dr. Cook was mistaken ; that he thought he 
had been at the pole, when really he had not reached it. 

This hypothesis may seem to save the situation ; but it 
cannot be admitted. The pole is, we may say, the easiest spot 
on the earth to be sure of. It does not even require a grad- 
uated circle or a chronometer to assure one of it. If the sun 
circulates round the sky at the same altitude above the hori- 
zon, except for its daily change in what is called declination, 
which is given in the Almanac (and which is identical with 
altitude at the pole), the observer is sure that he is there. 

That is to say, he is sure with all necessary precision. To 
be sure to the foot or yard, or even thirty yards, would re- 
quire instruments of considerable size and accuracy, capable of 
measuring what is called a second of arc. If even a regular 
astronomical observatory were located at the pole, it would be 
a good while before its position could be determined so ex- 
actly. 

And, indeed, even if it were ascertained that the instrument 
of the observatory were located exactly at the pole, it would 
not stay there. Or rather, the pole would not stay by the in- 
strument. 

What is the pole? It is the extremity of the axis round 
which the earth rotates. Now it has in recent years been dis- 



1909.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLE 147 

covered, and really proved, that this axis shifts a little : " wob- 
bles," as it were, round a mean point. This wobbling is all 
done in a space less than an acre. All we can safely predict 
about the pole, till we know the law of this wobbling better, 
is that it will keep somewhere within this acre. Of course we 
could mark out the acre with some accuracy, and know pretty 
well whereabouts the pole would be in it. 

This wobbling of the pole the word is not a very good 
one, but best describes the motion of course makes the equa- 
tor, and all the parallels and meridians wobble too, and pro- 
duces a continual variation, within narrow limits except for 
longitudes near the pole, of the latitude and longitude of every 
point on the earth. 

This shifting of the pole, of course, makes the true bearing, 
as navigators would say, of points near it quite uncertain ; and 
even if it did not shift, the uncertainty of its precise position 
would make it impossible to tell if an object were, for instance, 
exactly north of the observer, when he is quite near the pole. 
If he could get it in line with the pole, of course, he would 
know it was exactly north; but how can he do that, when he 
doesn't know exactly where the pole is ? 

To all this difficulty, which would exist even if the north 
pole were on solid land, as the south pole probably is, is added 
the fact that, according to both of the explorers, the pole is 
on the open sea; open, that is to say, except for the ice, 
which, though pretty solid, is not solid to the bottom (as the 
sea is quite deep there), and therefore is constantly drifting. 

But still, this does not prevent any one who succeeds, as 
we confidently believe both Dr. Cook and Commander Peary 
have succeeded, in getting practically to the pole, from know- 
ing that it is within, say, a quarter of a mile. But, having 
put up a flag, to say the pole is just here to the dot, is, of 
course, absurd for three reasons : first, because the instruments 
are not good enough, and no instruments could be; secondly, 
because the flag, so put up, would drift away with the ice ; 
thirdly, because even if the flag did not drift from the pole, 
the pole would wobble away from the flag. 

So much, then, for the astronomical pole, the object of so 
much endeavor for centuries. Let us say a few words about 
another pole, which is really more important than the as- 
tronomical, and much more easily reached. 



148 THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLE [Nov., 

This is what is called the magnetic pole. 

Every one knows that a compass needle points approxi- 
mately north and south. Some imagine that it points exactly 
north and south, and wonder what it would do if it were at 
the north pole, where every direction is south, and there is 
no north. 

But, in fact, at the north pole there is no trouble about 
the compass needle. The north end of it points (south of 
course, for every way is south), but in a perfectly definite di- 
rection, approximately toward a point north of Hudson's Bay, 
in about seventy degrees north latitude, which is known as the 
magnetic pole. At any rate, it is to be presumed that it would 
so point; we do not know whether either of the explorers 
has made careful observations on this matter. 

What would the needle do at this magnetic pole itself ? 
The north end would point vertically down, the south end up. 

Indeed, even here in New York, a compass needle, if per- 
fectly balanced, and freely suspended, say by a string, would 
point more down than in any horizontal direction. This down- 
ward pointing, measured in degrees, is called the dip of the 
needle. It may be anything, from zero up to ninety degrees. 
It is ninety at the north magnetic pole. 

There is another, a south magnetic pole, lately located by 
Lieutenant Shackleton in the Antarctic regions; there the south 
end of the needle would point down, and the north end up. 
Of course, therefore, by whatever way one goes from the north 
magnetic pole to the south one, he would come to a point 
where neither end would point down or up. Evidently, then, 
there must be a line encircling the earth where this is the 
case; where a perfectly balanced needle would lie horizontal. 
This line is called the magnetic equator. And lines where the 
dip is the same are magnetic parallels. 

Now does a needle always point to the magnetic pole as 
far as its horizontal pointing is concerned ? No, evidently it 
could not point to both of them, unless they were at diamet- 
rically opposite points of the earth. But it points approxi- 
mately to the one to which it is nearest. Sometimes it may 
happen to point exactly north or south. One could evidently 
trace a line approximately corresponding to the meridian of 
longitude of the north magnetic pole (about ninety- five de- 
grees west from Greenwich) on which the compass needle would 



1909.] THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLE 149 

point due north. This is what is called a line of no varia- 
tion. Again, another line might be traced down from the 
magnetic pole, on which the variation would be, for instance, 
just ten degrees to the west. Lines like these are called mag- 
netic meridians. 

Of course sailors have to know approximately on what 
magnetic meridian they are; or, in other words, what is the 
variation of the compass from the true north, in order to know 
how to direct the course of their ships. The true north is 
what they need, not the magnetic north. But their charts give 
the variation of the compass approximately at all points of the 
earth. 

The existence of the magnetic poles does not mean that 
there is a great loadstone hidden just at those spots, north and 
south. No; it means that the whole earth is an immense mag- 
net, around which the lines of force are arranged in rather a 
complex way. The direction of the magnetic needle, in varia- 
tion and dip, is the resultant of all the magnetic forces of the 
earth. We could not tell very accurately what it would be, 
except by experiment; but experiments have been made almost 
everywhere to suffice for practical purposes. 

Still, a further knowledge of the subject would be of great 
value. And a careful examination, especially of the region 
near the magnetic pole, would apparently be of more real scien- 
tific use than the further exploration of the astronomical poles. 
Let us therefore hope, while giving due honor to the ability, 
energy, and endurance of the illustrious explorers who have 
reached the north pole, and of those who will reach the 
south one, that more attention will hereafter be paid to the 
magnetic ones. For one thing, the earth's magnetism is evi- 
dently produced to a great extent by action from the sun; and 
conditions of temperature and of weather generally, seem to be 
somewhat dependent on it. So the magnetic poles have not 
only a theoretical interest ; their thorough investigation may 
have quite a practical bearing, not only to sailors and geog- 
raphers, but to every intelligent person. 




HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

CHAPTER V. 

A MEETING. 

T first Stella Moore let us give her her true name 
was greatly averse to entering her rightful home 
under false pretences. She was for confronting 
her uncles boldly and demanding her inheritance 
at their hands; yet the mother's arguments at 
last prevailed. Nesta did not want any one to be punished 
for the sin against her. She dreaded the noise and the scandal 
that would ensue if her husband's brothers were called on to 
give up their ill-gotten gains. She was afraid of them; afraid 
especially of Richard, whom she did not know to be dead. 

Let Estelle enter the house of her uncles quietly and find 
out how the land lay. Perhaps Estelle, as a dependent even, 
might win her way where her mother had failed so signally. 
To the mother Estelle was irresistible. And was there not 
the pointing finger of Providence in the advertisement in the 
Post which, at last, had unsealed the mother's lips ? 

" Very well then," Stella said at last. " I shall apply for 
the position. If I gain it there will be hundreds of appli- 
cants I shall perhaps believe that there is something more 
than chance. If I am rejected I shall go down to Valley, find 
out if that lawyer is yet alive who made Papa's will, tell him 
who I am, and ask him to take up my case. If he does not 
some one else will." 

Of course the walls of Jericho would fall down before the 
first blast of the girl's trumpet ! 

With this compromise Nesta Moore was forced to be con- 
tent. She saw the letter written and dispatched, the fateful 
letter. If no reply came then she would have to let Estelle 
go her own way. But the application was not going to fail. 
There was the pointing finger. They would not need to fight 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 151 

for their rights, to bring the name perhaps into disrepute and 
disgrace, to open up old griefs and old hurts. 

The third day after the letter had been dispatched the re- 
ply to it was lying in the letter box when Estelle got up to 
make her mother's morning cup of tea; that was something 
she had always insisted on doing, though there were mornings 
when it might have been grateful to He longer a-bed. 

She took up the envelope, a thick one with a crest, the 
address written in a spidery, jerky hand-writing. An expert 
might have pronounced the handwriting to be that of a person 
of ill-balanced mind, a neurotic and degenerate. 

She opened it deliberately while her pulses went a bit 
faster. It was the parting of the ways. To be sure she would 
rather, have entered her kingdom by the front door than by 
the back. But since she had been chosen out of many she 
did not doubt now that she was chosen it must be the right 
way after all. She was a cheerful, sensible girl, but she had 
her Celtic blood that believed in signs and omens. 

The letter was short and to the point. Mr. Moore believed 
that Miss Mason would be a suitable person to fill the position 
she had applied for. Would it be possible to have an inter- 
view with Miss Mason ? Mr. Moore would, of course, have 
pleasure in paying Miss Mason's expenses, and he should feel 
indebted to her for the consideration which spared a very busy 
man a run up to town. 

While the kettle boiled Estelle consulted a time-table. 
There was an early train leaving Euston at ten o'clock. She 
did not let the grass grow under her feet. She had on her 
hat when she stood by her mother's bedside with the tea. 

"Going out so early, darling?" said the mother. 

" The answer to the letter has come. I am going down on 
approval." 

She laid the letter with the address uppermost on her 
mother's tray and wondered at her sudden pallor. Poor little 
mother, had she been so afraid then ? 

"But but hadn't you better give him some warning? 
He might be away and the station of course it has all grown 
since then in my time the station was at Burbridge." 

" There is one now at Valley. I am sure to find him at 
his business-place. If he is not there there will be plenty of 
time I can walk to Outwood. Five miles is nothing. I am 



152 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov., 

so sorry you must have your breakfast alone, dear. I shall 
leave everything ready." 

" You will have your own breakfast ? " 
" I am just going to eat it. You'll take great care of your- 
self while I'm away ? I can't get back till the afternoon ; so 
I shall have some kind of a meal there. Look for me about 
five o'clock." 

She flitted back to the little sitting-room and ate a hur- 
ried breakfast, after which she set out. It was a clouded, 
fresh morning, promising rain. As she walked along the dark 
and dingy streets she smelt the spring in them an odor of 
wet violets from the flower-girls' baskets, the sharp scent of lily- 
of- the- valley, smote across her face as she went. She stopped 
by one of the baskets, bought a few sprays of lily-of-the-val- 
ley, and pinned them into the bosom of her dark green frock. 
She was in good time. As she went slowly along the plat- 
form to her third-class carriage it did not occur to her that 
she might be lavish for once, since the rich man was going to 
pay she encountered a pair of eager eyes in a frank, boyish 
face. The owner of the eyes lifted his hat, made a move- 
ment as though to stop, and went on again. It was the dark- 
haired youth of the crossing, older, more matured, yet unmis- 
takably he. 

As for Estelle her heart had given a little leap. She bowed, 
smiled rather primly, and went on more rapidly to her car- 
riage. She would always be frank and innocent, but she had 
been a working- girl in London, and she knew the things that 
were not to be thought of and the first of them was to speak 
to a stranger. Of course this stranger was all right a boy, 
said Estelle to herself, conscious that he was probably younger 
than she, and making an effort to feel very sedate and even 
elderly. 

Yet she was in something of a flutter when she found a 
carriage and sat down in a corner facing a decent working- 
man and his wife, who had with them two small babies. 

It was only when she was seated that she discovered to 
her vexation that she had lost her lilies-of- the- valley. She 
had barely time to miss them and grieve for them before the 
youth was at the door. 

" Please forgive me," he said, as though he asked pardon 
for some offence. "You have dropped these." 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 153 

He extended the flowers to her, and she took them, feeling 
indignant with herself because the color came to her cheek. 
The young man, too, wore a guilty air as though she could 
have guessed at the abstraction of one or two of her flowers ! 
When she had taken them he retired, nearly knocking off his 
hat as he did so by not stooping low enough. She noticed 
then that he was tall. As he walked up and down the plat- 
form waiting for the departure of the train he passed and re- 
passed the carriage door. She drew herself further back into 
her corner and listened to the workingman and his wife dis- 
cussing him. " One of them there toffs," the man called him ; 
and the woman replied that he was "a bonny lad whoever 
owned him. And look at the fit of his clothes ! " she added, 
a naive remark which made Estelle smile in spite of herself. 

After the train had started she could not help speculating 
as to whether he was going to Valley or not. Of course it 
was most unlikely, seeing that this was a main line train. And 
of course it could not possibly matter to her where he was 
going. She was not likely ever to see him again. 

She remembered a counsel of the nuns to young girls that 
they should never look a strange man in the face in the street 
or a public place. It was one of the simplicities of the nuns 
which their island pupils had been wont to smile over. She 
was the least conscious of creatures and had been wont to 
regard frankly whatever came directly in her way. This new 
shyness troubled her. Why should she mind a mere boy like 
that? To be sure he had been kind at the crossing long ago; 
and he had been almost as shy as she was when he offered 
her the flowers. And it was a very, very strange thing that 
they should have met again. 

The run down was a fast one. Estelle won the heart of 
the babies' mother by being sympathetic instead of disgusted 
when they cried, and being pleased when they smiled at her. 
The heart must be hard indeed that can resist the smile of a 
toothless baby ; and Estelle's heart was a soft one. She heard 
a good deal of the family history, and listened to it with some 
inattention as the train roared through tunnels and rattled 
across bridges and raced along the levels. She seemed to be 
all polite attention while the good woman described the deaths 
of all her family from heart-disease, winding up by saying 
with startling suddenness: "I believe I've got it myself, too." 



154 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov., 

" Oh, I hope not," said Estelle, becoming aware that the 
train was drawing up at the platform of a big station. She 
looked out for the name and discovered it to be the place 
where she was to change for Valley. 

She bade a hasty farewell to her humble friends and got 
out of the carnage. As she reached the platform her skirt 
almost brushed against her friend of the crossing. She had 
been calling him her friend in her own thoughts. . 

"Can I help you?" he asked, smiling his bright, depreca- 
ting smile. " If you are going on to Valley the train will 
start in a minute or two from the other platform across the 
bridge." 

They had to make a scurry for it. It was impossible for 
her to keep him at a distance. They ran round side by side 
and caught the little loop line train. As they ran along the 
platform, some curious eyes watched them from the first-class 
carriages. Everyone knew every one in those parts; and that 
Maurice Grantley should be traveling with a rather unfashion- 
able-looking girl, of a striking appearance, whom no one had 
ever seen before, provoked interest. The Duchess of St. Ger- 
mains was there with her maid a dowdy- looking old lady 
now as to her garments, and not averse from using the Com- 
pany's privileges of cheap fares on a Friday. 

" Maurice ! Maurice ! come in here !" she called to the young 
gentleman as he passed by. But Maurice did not hear her. 
The fresh wind blew the imperious old voice away from him. 

Leaning from her carriage-window the Duchess saw him 
hand the strange young lady into her carriage and then take 
his place in that next to hers. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE MILLS. 

It was raining when the train drew up at Valley station, 
which was more than a mile from the town. There were car- 
riages for the smarter folk and the humbler ones gathered up 
their bundles and set out to walk. 

Estelle was not at all displeased at the prospect of a walk. 
She had been reproaching herself with indiscretion in so far as 
regarded the strange young man. How well he had behaved 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 155 

in not following her into the carriage ! Well, he must not 
think Estelle recalled some of the maxims which had grown 
up with her for the guidance of young girls when they took 
their walks abroad unprotected that she had any desire to 
attract him. She did not suppose him at all the sort of per- 
son to think that. Still she had been indiscreet, running with 
him across the bridge, and laughing because the wind blew off 
her hat. She colored a little at the memory, for a strand of 
her hair had blown loose and had lain for a moment across 
his face. 

Presently the Duchess' carriage passed her by, and she 
had a glimpse of her unknown friend leaning forward in the 
front seat, looking not altogether comfortable. He raised his 
hat to her as the fat horses trundled the carnage past her. 
There was a little cloud on the usual brightness of his face, 
which lifted somewhat as he caught sight of the girl. 

"Ho! ho!" said the Duchess to herself. "My godson, 
Maurice, would rather be holding his umbrella over that per- 
son's flamboyant head than jogging along with his old god- 
mother behind Jenkins and the bays. And I don't think the 
worse of him for it. I wouldn't give a straw for a youth with- 
out spirit. All the same my bounden duty to his father and 
mother is to take him under my protection. I won't let him 
go if I can help it either until I drop him at his own gates." 

She said the last words half aloud as she had a habit of 
doing ; her oddities grew with her age, and Maurice Grantley's 
face cleared with a sudden gleam of fun. 

"You're not going to leave me at home," he said "for I'm 
going home with Mr. Moore. I saw him yesterday and prom- 
ised I should go home with him to-night. I shall find him at 
the mills." 

"You won't be going to look for young women with flam- 
ing red hair after I've set you down ? " said the Duchess, in 
no wise dismayed by the discovery that she had been thinking 
aloud. Indeed she did it of late so often, and at such inop- 
portune moments, that it took all the glamor of her straw- 
berry-leaves to cover up her indiscretions. 

"Don't be afraid. We were fellow- travelers, and I confess 
she interested me. But I should not think of following her or 
forcing myself upon her, if that is what you mean." 

"Ah, good boy, good boy. One always knows you are 



156 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov., 

telling the truth, Maurice. I wish my grandson was like you. 
If it were he now I should be quite sure that he only waited 
for my back to be tuined to do the thing I wanted him not 
to do. Yet his face of engaging innocence would deceive any 
one who knew him less well than I." 

" He does no great harm," said Maurice Grantley, with a 
twinkle in his eye, which was evidently caused by some remi- 
niscence of that scapegrace, the young Duke. However, her 
Grace took him somewhat of a round, which kept him longer 
on the way than he had bargained for. 

Arrived at the mills he made his way to the little, low- 
browed office, full of dust and cobwebs, as it had been twenty 
years ago, where the owner of the great property sat at a 
wooden table in the last stage of disrepair. Everything in the 
room was in the same condition. Although it was bright out- 
side, the sky showing wide stretches of gray-blue, as though 
the rain had washed it; although the western sky was piled 
high with snowy wool-packs and ice-floes, yet the brilliant 
light of the March day came dimly through the window-panes, 
coated with the dust and the cobwebs of years. It was an 
understood thing that whatever else in the mills should be fur- 
bished up, the master's room was to go untouched. He liked 
it so as it had been when he and Dick and Jim had been 
together, and the mills a little concern doing a small, safe 
business. 

Stephen Moore was leaning over the table as Maurice came 
in. He looked up at him with a nod and a queer, friendly 
smile, while the pen yet hovered over the paper. 

" I shall not be ready for half-an-hour, lad," he said. " You 
won't mind waiting ? Ah, by the way, this lady is going with 
us to Outwood. She proposes to look after Jim for me. He 
is lonely when I am away. Let me introduce you, Mr. Grant- 
ley, Miss Mason. She would like to see the mills. I was just 
going to call down through the tube for Seaver to show her 
over. Perhaps you will call him, Maurice." 

He had known all the time she was there, Fiammetta, the 
girl with the flame-colored hair, who was so much in his 
thoughts. She was sitting in an obscure corner of the obscure 
room, but her hair and her eyes lit up for him the dingy room 
that held her. She put out her hand now and he took it. 
She looked at him with a bright, deprecating glance. " I am 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 157 

in his way." The words were rather formed on her lips than 
spoken. She nodded with a bright humor at the bowed figure 
in the chair. Already Stephen Moore had forgotten them and 
was scribbling away. 

" I will take Miss Mason over the mills, if she will allow 
me," young Grantley said. 

" Ah, very well. Then Seaver needn't come. Seaver has 
plenty to do. Don't be in a hurry. Show her everything. 
There is plenty of time." 

They went out quietly, closing the door behind them. 

"How glad he is to get rid of us," Stella said, as they 
went out into the yard. There had been a shower and all the 
flags were shining in the sun. Little blades of grass were push- 
ing their pale green heads through the interstices. A creeper 
growing over the oldest of the mill- buildings was breaking into 
delicate leafage. 

" He is the head here. He won't let any one help him. 
There used to be three, you know. He does the work of the 
three as though he had to give an account. He works too 
hard for a rich man and one not over-strong." 

"There used to be three?" Stella repeated. Her heart 
beat a little quicker. She would hear something of the father 
her mother adored; and of the things that had been happen- 
ing since her mother had been buried in Shepherd's Buildings. 

" Yes, there were three brothers. One was dead before my 
time. He was a glorious fellow, splendidly handsome. He had 
all the gifts and graces, while his brothers there, I am gossip- 
ing like an old woman. They have been very good to me, 
this Mr. Moore, Stephen, and his brother, who died when I 
was a kid. I remember him quite well." 

"The other brother he interests me more," said Stella, in 
a voice that trembled a little, despite her efforts to control it. 

" My mother could tell you about him. Though it is so 
long ago she can be eloquent over James Moore still. He 
was a very remarkable person. The Duchess of St. Germains, 
too, remembers him. He seems to have made impressions. 
There was a story a rather painful one. But I will tell you 
later. I am sure the brothers were not to blame." 

She looked at him with eyes darkly dilated, but said noth- 
ing. She meant to right her mother and herself, with as little 
wrong to others as might be. She had meant to hate Stephen 



i $8 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov., 

Moore at first sight ; but somehow she did not. The bowed 
back of the man who carried a burden, the lined face, the 
shadowed eyes, moved her generous spirit. This was not one 
who enjoyed his ill-gotten gains. 

They went up and down steep staircases, in and out rooms 
full of busy workers and whirring machinery, across other yards, 
shining wet in the March sun. Everywhere she brought a 
bright intelligence to what was told her. The foremen of the 
different departments came to explain things to her, and she 
listened with a hand behind her ear, the better to hear amid 
the whirring noises. The men seemed delighted to tell so 
eager a listener all they could. She had the gift of gracious- 
ness, standing so with her charming head inclined. 

They were among the engines now in a hot, damp atmos- 
phere, smelling abominably of machinery oil, an ill-lit pit, from 
which she seemed in no hurry to be gone. 

" One would think the love of it was in your blood," 
Grantley said smiling. 

She stepped back a pace or two as though he had startled 
her, and suddenly he shouted and caught her in his arms* 
She hardly knew what had happened. She heard his furious 
rating of those about him and their humble apologies. 

He snatched her out of the place into the open air again. 
He was quite pale and trembling. 

"What was it?" she asked. 

" Come out here on the bleaching green and I will tell 
you," he said. "Good Heavens! to think of what might have 
happened ! " 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE DREAMS OF CHILDHOOD. 

They passed through the last black archway, leaving the 
mills behind. The thunder of them yet shook in the air; and 
here it was peaceful with the wide stretches of green grass on 
which lay the webs bleaching in the sun. There was a path 
across the bleaching green leading straight to a little white 
house. Between the stunted willows there was the gleam of 
the river. Beyond it the cattle yet grazed on the pasture 
which James Moore had coveted for houses. 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 159 

"There was a trap-door open," he said. "It was abomi- 
nable negligence. If I had not been near enough to catch you, 
you well, there is a ladder from the trap right down to the 
bottom of the buildings. Nothing could have saved you." 

She shuddered a little. 

" How fortunate you were standing so close to me," she 
said. " I thought the earth had opened. But there mustn't, 
please, be any punishment. I heard what you said to them. 
I couldn't bear that I should bring trouble. They were all so 
kind." 

" It was some one's business to see that the trap was shut," 
he said. " They grow abominably careless. If I had not been 
in time I should have killed the man who was responsible 
with my own hands." 

She blushed at his agitation, a pleasurable blush. 

" Please don't tell Mr. Moore about it," she said, putting 
a hand on his arm in the earnestness of her supplication. " I 
think I saw the man who was responsible. He looked 
frightened out of his wits. I am sure he will be careful for 
the future." 

" He had better be," Grantley responded ; and the girl felt 
she might leave it so. 

" What a delightful, unexpected glimpse of country it is ! " 
she said, "and so unexpected. The utilitarianism of the mills 
has spared much here." 

" I have heard my mother say that if James Moore had 
lived the town would have spread all over those fields. He 
was the man of genius without whom all this" he indicated 
the great mills lying behind them "would never have been. 
The brothers were great conservatives. They kept things as 
he had left them." 

"And the cottage?" she asked. 

" You shall see the cottage. It is Mr. Moore's bit of piety. 
It was their father's home before they began to get on in the 
world and built the Mill House. You must have passed the 
Mill House on your way in. James Moore lived there when 
my mother was a girl. She visited his wife there. It is kept 
going still and Mr. Moore sometimes sleeps there. I believe 
he is more at home there than at Outwood, and would be 
happier there if it were not for the boy." 

He knocked at the brass knocker on the green door of the 



160 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER Nov., 

cottage, which in its spick and span whiteness was more than 
ever like a doll's house. It was opened by a little, clean old 
woman, who invited them in with a pleased smile. Apparent- 
ly Mr. Grantley was no stranger. 

They went over the little house, all spotlessly clean as in 
the days when Aunt Betsy, with her own hands, washed and 
scrubbed and swept and polished. As they went, he told her 
of Aunt Betsy, of whom he had been a great pet in his child- 
hood. They went out in the garden, where crocuses were up 
in the beds and primroses of many colors and daffodils and 
little, pale, dainty primulas. 

" It is a wonderful garden in summer," he said. " I believe 
Richard Moore made it originally. He had a passion for 
flowers, as his brother has for birds. You shall hear the birds 
singing all over the house at Outwood. He gains the confidence 
even of the wild birds. The robins will feed from his hands in 
winter." 

" Flowers and birds ! They are very gentle tastes."; 

She was thinking of her mother's terror of the brothers, 
and their cruel treatment of her. What a strange thing human 
nature was, that Stephen Moore should love the birds and his 
brother, who according to her mother had been the arch-vil- 
lain, should have been a lover of flowers ! 

He guessed at something of what was in her mind. "Wait 
till you see Mr. Moore with his boy!" he said. "You won't 
wonder then at the birds." 

She seemed to have seen it all before, in a dream perhaps, 
or a dim memory of her childhood. That path winding round 
there led to a tower cut high in a yew hedge from which one 
saw across the fields. That other led to beehives, a shady 
corner where there was a warm smell of mignonette and box. 
As they went from room to room of the little house she had 
known what she would see. She had known that in this room 
was a much-spotted convex glass in a gilt frame, and in another 
a little gray house where a man and woman went in and out 
according to the weather. She had been frightened as a child 
by the picture of the prophet in needlework with terrible beady 
eyes. She had sat on the Berlin wool-work fender-stool long, 
long ago in that dimness of great distance, and had listened 
to the voices of her elders passing over her head. Why she 
believed she could have re-constructed any of the quaint, old- 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 161 

fashioned rooms without entering them. She had not known 
that she remembered anything, but this return to the scenes 
of her childhood had troubled the fountains of memory. 

" Miss Moore, whom every one called Aunt Betsy," the 
young man said, breaking into her brown study, " used to give 
me a great dainty long ago. It was bread strewn with brown 
sugar with a layer of cream on top." 

She could have cried out that she remembered such dain- 
ties ; but she recalled to herself in time that she must not. 

" And that reminds me," he went on, " that Nanny, who 
looks after the cottage and keeps things just as Miss Moore 
left it, will expect you to drink a cup of tea and taste her 
home-made bread. It is an uncanny hour for tea; but perhaps 
you won't mind." 

" I shall love it. I had very little breakfast this morning ; 
and a journey always makes me hungry." 

They sat down in the exquisitely clean little kitchen and 
had tea from old china-cups, with a pattern ot shells and sea- 
weed in sepia-color upon them. The cloth was shining white 
and much darned ; the spoons of thin old silver. Stella rather 
wondered at the refinement, but concluded rightly that the 
things had belonged to the last occupant of the house. 

She enjoyed her tea, with the new-laid eggs that accom- 
panied it, and looked up to find the young man smiling at her. 

" I didn't know young ladies ever were hungry," he said. 
"You've had my share and your own. Shall I ask for more 
bread and butter ? " 

"I am horribly greedy," she said, conscience-stricken, "but 
I was really hungry and the food was so tempting." 

" We shall have to eat lunch at Outwood. I suppose we 
had better be joining Mr. Moore." 

He looked at his watch. 

Nearly one o'clock," he said, and lunch is at two. Do you 
think you can get up another appetite by that time ? " 

" I shall try to," she said demurely. 

As they walked across the bleaching green she turned about 
to look at the little house. " What an abode of peace for 
somebody ! " she said. 

"Yes; isn't it? Such a jolly little place! And plenty of 
fish further up the river. By the way, it is waiting for a 
claimant. Miss Betsy Moore left it, just as it stands, with all 

VOL. XC. II 



1 62 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov., 

its appurtenances, to the widow of her nephew, James. No one 
has come forward, and I fear that poor woman must be dead 
long ago. She disappeared mysteriously. I must tell you 
about it one of these days." 

How he spoke ! As though they were going to have abund- 
ant opportunities of being together, he, Maurice Grantley the 
grandson of the Earl of Mount-Eden and she, who had been 
reared in genteel poverty at Shepherd's Buildings, King's 
Cross ! 

Once again she turned about to look at the little house 
which really and truly belonged to her mother. What a refuge 
it would be for that sad little woman, who was pining in a 
city slum for the freshness and greenness of the country ! And 
now, when soon summer would be " a come-in* " 

A wild thought came to her that somehow, by some means, 
she must get her mother to the cottage. She did not quite 
see how yet ; but she was not going to have her languishing 
and gasping through the summer at Shepherd's Buildings, 
while .her one solace was away in the 9 green country. She 
would neglect herself; perhaps she would even starve herself. 
Mrs. Mason had kept her money affairs a secret from her girl ; 
but Stella had a painful feeling that money grew scarcer and 
scarcer. And the mother grew more shadowy. Somehow, some 
way, she must be brought to the delicious cottage. Besides, 
it was not fair to the love that had left it to her that she 
should not use it. 

"Mr. Moore does not go much to the cottage?" she said. 

" Never. He seems to have a dislike for it. He saw his 
aunt there before she died. He sees that it is kept in order; 
but I do not think now that he ever goes near it." 

She was absorbed in her thoughts, and he, with the egoism 
of a boy, was impatient of whatever it was that excluded him. 

Not once had Stella any misgiving that her plans might go 
wrong, that Stephen Moore might reject her as a companion 
for his son. She was too sure of the pointing finger that had 
shown her the way so far. 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 163 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE NEW CHARGE. 

Stephen Moore was yet deep in his letter-writing. 

" I thought you had only just gone," he said, addressing 
the last envelope. 

We have been gone an hour and a half," Maurice Grantley 
said, consulting his watch. 

"Ah, well, there is plenty to see in and about the mills. 
Is the carriage ready ? " 

"It is waiting." 

During the drive young Grantley pointed out this and that 
object of interest to Miss Mason. Stephen Moore said very 
little. Now and again he turned and glanced from under his 
bushy eyebrows at the girl by his side. She returned his glance 
frankly and freely. She had come down prepared to hate him 
for his cruelty to her mother. She yet tried to keep alive the 
flame of her anger; but it burned low despite her efforts. 
The man looked as though he had suffered so much. And his 
glance at herself had been kindly. 

When they arrived at the Manor, Maurice Grantley jumped 
out first and assisted her to alight. As they entered the house 
the luncheon-bell pealed. Some one was coming down the 
stairs in a carrying-chair borne by a couple of men the boy 
whom all the world believed heir to all the Moore riches. 

The father's face lit up as he saw him ; its plainness was 
transformed with that light of love upon it. 

"And how have you been to-day, my lad ?" he said, going 
to meet the chair. " I have brought a lady to see you. This 
is my boy, Jim, Miss Mason." 

The boy smiled at her and held out a thin hand. She 
felt a sudden rush of warmth flood her heart. The poor little 
chap ! And how beautiful he was, despite his ill-health ! 

She followed behind his chair into the dining- room, and 
when he had been set down she found her place was at his 
right hand. The boy fascinated her. He looked so oddly, 
weirdly bright. He had fine, soft, golden hair like a child's. 
His skin was very fair, and the eyes under the too big forehead 
were a beautiful lambent gray. The upper part of his face had 



1 64 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov., 

an unchildlike wisdom ; the lower part had the softness of 
childhood, although it was too thin for fortunate childhood. 

He was by his father, who took the head of the table. 
Opposite him Maurice Grantley sat looking at him with intent 
affection. In fact Stella had a feeling that the delicate face 
with the odd spiritual brightness upon it was the centre which 
drew all their eyes. 

" You haven't told me how you got on this morning." 

"I went out for a while in my chair; but it came on to 
rain, and Thomas had on no coat, so I made him turn back/ 1 

" You think too much of other people, lad," said the father. 

" Thomas would have been wet through," the boy answered 
gently. " He didn't want to turn back. He was very kind. 
He brought me into the wood to see the primroses. Afterwards 
I played with my models for quite a long time. Then I read 
Treasure Island. I never grow tired of reading it. You were 
so kind, Maurice, when you thought of that book for me. 
And, of course, I had Trust." 

Hearing his name a little gray dog, whom Stella had not 
seen hitherto, came out from under the chair and stood up 
with his paws on his little master's knees. 

" But, of course, I missed you, Father. I always do miss 
you. Nurse is very kind ; but there are so many things she 
does not understand." 

The boy had but a fitful appetite. Stella was touched by 
the father's solicitude and his attempts to coax him to eat. 
It was easy to see that he was the centre of love. Maurice 
Grantley came round from his place to win him to eat by a 
playful pretence of feeding him. Even the servants seemed 
anxious about him, and their official manner lost something of 
its woodenness when they brought the dishes to Master Jim. 

The meal appeared like a banquet to Stella, and, despite 
her tea at the Mill, she thoroughly enjoyed it. Once, as she 
was taking a second portion, she looked up and found Stephem 
Moore smiling grim approval at her. She blushed and smiled 
and said something about the country air giving her an appetite. 

" Ah, that's right," he said kindly, " that's right. Country 
air will soon blow the roses into your cheeks. Eat well, sleep 
well, drink plenty of milk. Now that the fine weather is com- 
ing Jim must be in the open air all day." 

So it was settled in his mind as well as in hers. 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 165 

At the end of the meal she accompanied Jim to his own 
bright, light room, where the windows were open over a bal- 
cony, and the room was full of books and pictures and games 
and engines of all sorts. 

" You see he has the family genius," the father said fondly. 
" I am going to leave you to make friends. The carriage will 
be ready after tea to take you to the station. The 5:15 is 
one of our best trains to London there is only one stop." 

To Stella the afternoon was a delightful one. Outside the 
clouds had passed away and the air was springlike. The birds 
were singing in all the coppices and the lambs were bleating 
in the near pastures. Jim showed her all his treasures, explain- 
ing things to her with a gentle, patient carefulness which she 
found irresistibly sweet and touching. He had out of their 
boxes various little models of machinery he himself had con- 
structed; and he took them all to pieces for her and put them 
together again, delighting in her interest. 

"You see," he said, "it is a terrible disappointment to 
Father that I am not strong that I can't take his place at 
the mills. And I love him so much that I feel his disappoint- 
ment a great deal. So I think out things while he is away 
all day. It was only Maurice and, of course, you who 
brought him back to lunch to-day. I believe one day I shall 
make him a new machine, a wonderful invention, which will 
be just as good as though I had been strong and could help 
him in the mills. Don't you think it would?" 

" I am quite sure it would," Stella said, taking the face 
between her hands and looking down into the spiritual eyes 
" only, dear little lad, you must n'ot work too much at your 
models and plans, for if you could only grow stronger your 
father would be better pleased than if you discovered the finest 
thing in the world. Supposing we put away the models and 
play games instead. And when you're tired I shall read to 
you." 

Stella had played many games with children, but none she 
enjoyed more, although it was so quiet, than this with Jim. 
While they were yet playing, with soft little peals of merri- 
ment from the boy crossing the girl's joyous laughter, Stephen 
Moore came up the stairs. His face relaxed and brightened 
wonderfully as he heard the boy's laughter, a sound too 
little familiar. 



1 66 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Nov. 

" If she can make Jim laugh like that she is worth her 
weight in gold," he said to himself; and then he went in on 
what was quite a riotous scene for that quiet room. Why, 
Jim was quite flushed with the joyful excitement of the game. 
He felt a little pang of jealousy. He had never been young 
enough or happy enough to play with this boy. 

The girl looked up at him with laughter yet in her eyes 
and on her lips. Her hair was puffed out in a cloudy halo. 
She was holding Trust, whose sad little face was done up in 
a night-cap, while his body was swathed about in a red ban- 
dana handkerchief. 

" He makes a very good Wolf in Red Riding- Hood, doesn't 
he?" she said. "He will enjoy it ever so much better the 
next time." 

" There will be a next time ? " cried Jim in a sedate ecstacy. 
" Oh, Father, it has been so delightful ! " 

"Would you like Miss Mason to stay with you, boy?" 

Jim's eyes answered more eloquently even than his words. 

"Then she is going to be with you every day. Aren't 
you, Miss Mason ? By the way, the tea is coming up here. 
You don't think you would like to stay now ? You could 
telegraph and have your things sent on. Could you?" 

" I'm afraid not," said Stella, getting up from the floor 
where she had been sitting, and shaking herself out like a 
bird that preens its plumage in the sun. "I must go back to 
Mother and tell her. But there really need not be any de- 
lay. I can come back to-morrow, in the afternoon. Will that 
do, Jim ? " 

"Sensible girl!" said Stephen Moore approvingly; "not 
one in a hundred could have come under a week." 

While she sat pouring out tea, Jim's face looking satisfac- 
tion at her, she seemed to have known it all before the 
shape of the room, the octagon window, the fire sparkling in 
the grate. But there was no pale child with wistful eyes gazing 
at her, strangely happy. 

(TO BE CONTINUED.) 




CATHOLICISM AND AUTHORSHIP. 

BY AGNES REPPLIER. 

RIPPLE has been stirred in the quiet current of 
the Catholic press by a paper, equally indignant 
and ironical, written by the Rev. John Talbot 
Smith, and published in St. John's Quarterly. It 
bears the somewhat derisive title, "The Young 
Catholic Writer : What Shall He Do ? " and embodies an ani- 
mated protest against the torpidity of Catholic publishers, and 
the indifference of Catholic readers. The purpose of this pro- 
test so its author avows is to save the young writer from 
that bitterness of spirit which follows the shock of disillusion- 
ment; and the plain advice it gives is to leave the world of 
Catholic letters and of Catholic thought severely alone. 

" If you will let, as none will do, 
Another's heartbreak serve for two," 

then, says Father Smith, cherish no dreams on the subject of 
the Catholic press, and waste no time in trying to give those 
dreams vitality. 

The starting point of this strange argument is a letter pur- 
porting to come from a real young Catholic writer, who gives 
Father Smith the benefit of his depressing experience, which 
experience is passed over in turn to the readers of St. John's 
Quarterly. The young writer, with the diffuseness common to 
youth, explains at length that he desires to devote his ener- 
gies to the service of his Church, but is given no encourage- 
ment to do so. In the secular publishing world he can find 
plenty of work, " with a good chance for fame, honor, and 
money " ; but the Catholic press will have none of him. He 
is willing to bear his share of the burden, to stand "in the 
humblest place with Brownson and Hecker and McMaster and 
Sadlier " " But I am not permitted to do anything. No one 
will so much as accept my manuscripts. There is no de- 
mand from the 18,000,000 Catholics in this country for even 



1 68 CATHOLICISM AND AUTHORSHIP [Nov 

the reading matter which is forced upon them. What am I 
to do?" 

To most of us this final query seems superfluous. If the 
Catholic publishers decline to accept the young man's manu- 
scripts, he is not only absolved from all allegiance to them, 
but he has no option in the matter. He may, if he can, earn 
" fame, honor, and money " (three valuable assets) as a secular 
writer. He may become a broker, or a real estate agent, or a 
manufacturer of fancy soaps. It is obvious that he cannot 
stand as a pillar of the Catholic press on rejected manuscripts, 
so his case may be considered closed. 

We assume, therefore, that when Father Smith proceeds to 
analyze the difficulties which confront the " young Catholic 
writer," he uses the term in its general sense, and is no longer 
occupying himself with his disillusioned correspondent. Even 
the more fortunate aspirant, to whom the lists are not alto- 
gether closed, has, in Father Smith's opinion, no real chance 
either for self-support or for renown. The six Catholic maga- 
zines and quarterlies, the five reputable Catholic publishing 
firms, offer no legitimate field for work. Of the publishers, in- 
deed, he darkly hints that 

the less said about their methods, their dealings with au- 
thors, their ability to reach the Catholic public, the better 
for all parties. . . . On business principles, no publisher 
should enjoy the privilege of conducting a business which 
pays an author less than the porter who packs the books for 
delivery, or have the right to demand new books from capable 
writers when he cannot pay the market price for them. He 
is running his business at the expense of the writers who ac- 
cept his terms. 

Had Father Smith said "moral grounds" instead of "bus- 
iness principles," his argument would have been irrefutable. 
Business is, and has always been, a mere question of supply and 
demand. It has nothing to do with the humanities, nothing to 
do with the individual, save as a contributor to the wealth of 
nations. The publisher has, indeed, no right to "demand" 
books on any terms from anybody ; but he has, " on business 
principles," a right to accept books on the best terms he can 
make, though he would undoubtedly add to his own dignity 
and moral worth by greater liberality. It may even be that 



1909.] CA THOLICISM AND A UTHORSHIP 1 69 

he would find such liberality a paying basis. As much may 
be said of secular publishers. We know to what splendid 
heights Murray rose by what seems to us a course of prodigal 
generosity. And do we not also know secular firms who have 
to use the bitter old phrase "drunk their wine out of the 
skulls of authors " richer wine and deeper draughts than were 
ever quaffed by the most parsimonious of Catholic publishers ? 
After passing in review a list of Catholic writers whose 
devotion to their Church was rewarded by poverty and neglect, 
Father Smith proceeds to offer his remedy for the evil. His 
counsel is two- fold. First and this is reasonable the young 
Catholic author must enter the secular arena, and write for 
the multitude. Second ; and this is eminently unreasonable 
he must conceal his faith until his fame be won. 



Publishers and their readers of manuscripts [asserts Father 
Smith] have a feeling against writers known to be Catholic, 
and it takes but a trifle often to decide against a meritorious 
book. Critics also have the same prejudice. Secular editors 
refuse recognition to Catholic writers almost by instinct. The 
young writer must keep the fact ot his faith in the back- 
ground until he has won his place in public favor. His books 
must be as indifferent in tone as if an indifferentist wrote 
them. He must avoid all Catholic gatherings, associations, 
and movements. His voice should never be heard in protest 
against French persecution, army vandalism in the Philip- 
pines, neglect of the Catholic Indians, and similar matters. 

Here is cynicism walking hand in hand with simplicity. Does 
Father Smith really believe that the big, indifferent, easy-go- 
ing world is concerning itself for one moment with the reli- 
gious convictions of a young literary aspirant ; or that editors, 
who are striving to keep their public instructed and amused, 
can afford to be side-tracked by theology ? The average edi- 
tor is not looking out for Episcopalian, or Unitarian, or free- 
thinking contributors. What he wants is timely and readable 
matter, and very little of it can he get. Let a good short 
story be written by a Muggletonian (I am told that members 
of this interesting sect still survive in remote corners of Eng- 
land), or a good article on migratory birds by an esoteric 
Buddhist, the editor does not care. He thanks heaven for his 



170 CATHOLICISM AND AUTHORSHIP [Nov., 

luck in getting that story or that paper, and publishes it forth- 
with, oblivious to creeds and customs. 

If a book be designed solely for Catholic readers, if it be 
controversial in its tone, or treat of matters which concern 
Catholics and Catholics only, we can hardly expect the secular 
press and the secular public to welcome it with enthusiasm, 
unless it be a great literary masterpiece. The Apologia Pro 
Vita Sua has never languished for readers. But that a Catho- 
lic setting can be made acceptable in fiction has been amply 
proven by the success of Mr. Henry Harland's three last stor- 
ies, The Cardinal's Snuff Box, The Lady Paramount, and My 
Friend Prospero. The atmosphere of Catholicism, revea.led with 
such triumphant gayety and grace in these books, charmed the 
wide world of English readers, because it harmonizes with the 
narratives, because it feeds the currents of thought and of 
emotion as naturally as the church of Thrums feeds the life 
currents of that chilly town. Father Smith makes no mention 
of Mr. Harland's stories, though he draws a sharp contrast 
between the popularity among Catholics of Mr. Marion Craw- 
ford's secular novels, and our neglect of such distinctively 
Catholic writers as Dr. Brownson, Father Hecker, and Mr. John 
Gilmary Shea, " who devoted their entire time and talent to the 
faith." But the novelist commands a wider public than the 
toiling scholar be his faith what it may can ever hope to 
reach. Mr. Crawford has doubtless been read by thousands of 
Catholics who have never opened one of Dr. Brownson's books; 
he has also been read by thousands of Protestants to whom 
the studious, painstaking, and rabidly anti-Catholic histories of 
Mr. Henry Charles Lea are wholly and happily unknown. The 
preference of the average reader for what Dr. Johnson amiably 
called "light and sparkling compositions" has little or nothing 
to do with theology. 

As for the Catholic novelists cited by Father Smith as lan- 
guishing under undue neglect, they have for the most part won 
that modest tribute of success which their art warranted. It 
is hardly fair to range alongside of Mr. Crawford such writers 
as "Mrs. Sadlier, the genial story-teller, Mrs. Dorsey of a simi- 
lar fame, Mary Agnes Tincker, our cleverest novelist, and a 
host of others, who could have won fame and even fortune in 
the secular field, and who got nothing for their fidelity to 
their own standard." To compare Mr. Crawford's career with 



1909.] CATHOLICISM AND AUTHORSHIP 171 

the careers of Mrs. Sadlier, Mrs. Dorsey, and Miss Tincker 
would seem to indicate some possible comparison of their work, 
and this cannot be made. Mr. Crawford's art has its visible 
limitations, and the necessity for unceasing exertion drove him 
with painful speed along his chosen path, marring, as speed 
always mars, both depth of thought and delicacy of construc- 
tion. (One remembers the lamentable history of the man who, 
having been ill six weeks with typhoid fever, complained that 
he had never afterwards been able to " catch up " with Marion 
Crawford's novels.) But, nevertheless, Mr. Crawford was a past 
master of his craft. He knew the world and the men who live 
in it. His range of sympathies was singularly wide. And if 
the telling of a tale became for him a task of perilous ease, he 
told it to the end if we except one or two lapses into melo- 
drama with the restraint and refinement of a man whose 
standard of taste was high. Some of his stories, like Marzio's 
Crucifix and A Cigarette- Maker s Romance, are eminently ar- 
tistic. Others, like Saracinesca and San? Ilario, are valuable 
and interesting studies of social conditions which the author 
perfectly understood. Even the magnitude of his work, the 
fact that in twenty- seven years he wrote forty novels, besides 
such admirable historic studies as Ave Roma Immortalis and 
The Rulers of the South, tended to solidify his reputation. An 
isolated book, even if it be a tolerably good book, is quickly 
forgotten by the world; but each succeeding volume renews 
its predecessor's life, and the author of a fair-sized library 
must be truly bad to be consigned to a speedy oblivion. We 
cannot in justice place by Mr. Crawford's side any of the 
novelists mentioned by Father Smith as suffering for the cause 
they upheld. There are unhappily other hindrances to fame 
and fortune besides loyal devotion to one's faith. 

It is granted, even by Father Smith, that there are a few 
Catholic writers who have felt no need to conceal their con- 
victions from the world. He instances Rev. Patrick Au- 
gustine Sheehan, Rev. William Francis Barry, Mr. Wilfrid 
Ward, Miss Mary Catherine Crowley, and M. Rene Bazin, as 
authors who have found their public in defiance of Catholic 
apathy and of Protestant intolerance. To this list may be 
added Rev. Robert Hugh Benson, Dr. Maurice Francis Egan, 
Miss Grace King, Miss Imogen Guiney, and Lucas Malet 
(Mrs. Mary St. Leger Harrison), whose Far Horizon portrays 



1 72 CA THOLICISM AND A UTHORSHIP [Nov., 

with exquisite art that distinction of mind and character which 
is an inheritance of Catholic tradition and of Latin civilization. 
I have read many stories of conversion (all the fiction in our 
convent library had for its motive the turning of the soul to 
grace), but I can remember nothing that equals in depth and 
delicacy the description of Dominic Iglesias casting off the 
bondage of London, the terror of loneliness and old age, " us- 
ing freedom to abjure freedom," and, like a tired child, return- 
ing humbly and gladly to the shelter of his ancestral faith. 

With a deliberate irony, which overleaps its mark, Father 
Smith cautions the Catholic writer who has "secured his pub- 
lishers and public," and " whose name is mentioned honorably 
among the lesser lights," to conceal his faith with more care 
than ever, lest it blight his literary reputation. 

His religion must become a deeper secret from the general 
public, and particularly from the ladies and gentlemen who 
hold the position of reader to a publisher or a magazine. It 
should, above all, be kept irom the Catholic press, with its 
woeful habit ot sounding the praises of Catholic writers and 
other eminences in the secular field, although every blast 
gravely imperils future reputation and income. With ordi- 
nary care he will escape evil consequences ; for, in his begin- 
nings, his co-religionists will not think him worth notice, and 
in his middle career they will think his success improbable ; 
when his meridian arrives, their discovery of him will not 
matter, except to themselves, for the general public will not 
believe their claim to fellowship with such intelligence and 
success. 

At the risk of being profoundly egotistical, I venture to 
offer my own experience as a refutation of this casuistry ; and 
I do so because I am a plain example of a " lesser light," 
whose publisher and public are assured a small public, be it 
said, such as befits the modest nature of the illumination. In 
the first place, far from being repulsed at the outset by Catho- 
lic magazines, as was Father Smith's unfortunate correspondent, 
I met with encouragement and a helping hand. The first 
cheque for fifty dollars that I ever received (and a lordly sum 
it seemed) came from THE CATHOLIC WORLD for a story 
which I am now inclined to think was not worth the money. 
The first criticism I ever wrote was an essay on Mr. Ruskin 



1909.] CATHOLICISM AND AUTHORSHIP 173 

(how many years has it been since essays on Ruskin had a 
market ?) which was undertaken by the advice of Father 
Hecker, and was also published in THE CATHOLIC WORLD. 
Father Hecker told me that my stories were mechanical, and 
gave no indication of being transcripts from life. " I fancy," 
he said, "that you know more about books than you do about 
life, that you are more of a reader than an observer. What 
author do you read the most ? " 

I told him "Ruskin"; an answer which nine out of ten 
studious girls would have given at that date. 

" Then," said he, " write me something about Ruskin, and 
make it brief." 

That essay turned my feet into the path which I have 
trodden laboriously ever since. The imperious necessities of 
life have driven me, in common with other workers, to seek 
the best market I could find for my wares. I have never 
aspired to be a bulwark of any cause, have never felt myself 
needed in any field. I have been a mere laborer in the trenches, 
with no nobler motive underlying my daily toil than the de- 
sire to be self-supporting in a clean and reputable fashion. 
But I have never in all these years found it necessary to ignore, 
much less conceal, my faith. I could not if I would. When 
faith is the most vital thing in life, when it is the source of 
our widest sympathies and of our deepest feelings, when we 
owe to it whatever distinction of mind and harmony of soul 
we possess, we cannot push it intentionally out of sight with- 
out growing flat and dry through insincerity. Nor have I 
ever been able to trace any failure on my part to an editor's 
distaste for my creed. When I have failed, it was because my 
work was bad a common cause of collapse, which the author 
for the most part discredits. Nor have I ever been asked by 
editor or publisher to omit, to alter, or to modify a single 
sentence, because that sentence proclaimed my religious beliefs- 
It is not too much to say that I have found my creed to be 
a matter of as supreme indifference to the rest of the world 
as it is a matter of supreme importance to me. Moreover, the 
one book which I have written which has a Catholic back- 
ground a book designed for my own people, and which I 
thought would be acceptable only to those who, having shared 
my experiences, would also share my pleasure in recalling 
them has been read with perfect good humor by a secular 



174 CATHOLICISM AND AUTHORSHIP [Nov. 

public. It is impossible for me to believe that anybody cares 
what catechism I studied when I was a child, or what Church 
I go to now. 

One more point of Father Smith's argument remains to be 
considered. He hopes and believes that the Catholic writer 
who, intimidated by the "sensitiveness" of secular publishers, 
the " quiet hostility " of the secular public, conceals his creed 
until his reputation be secured, will nevertheless " keep alive 
the spirit of the faith," so that, when the right time comes, 
he will step forward and give it expression, he will be a leader 
of the Catholic press, when Catholics have a press to lead. 
Whether years of feigned indifference can be trusted to pre- 
serve a noble spark of enthusiasm, whether an excess of caution 
can give birth to courage and generosity, are points upon 
which one feels a reasonable doubt. There are historic in- 
stances which prove that an overmastering purpose may be 
nourished and strengthened by concealment. Scanderbeg, with 
a duplicity so profound that it disarmed suspicion, lived from 
childhood in the court of Amurath the Second, hiding his 
passionate hopes and passionate hatred until the moment 
came when he could throw aside his masque, avenge his wrongs, 
and regain freedom and sovereignty. But the fire that burned 
in that proud heart could scarcely be ignited in the heart of a 
young novelist, striving for nothing higher than popularity. 
The Maranos, who hoodwinked for centuries the watchful eye 
of Spain, escaped the Inquisition, and kept alive through gen- 
eration after generation the faith of Judaism, have never been 
highly esteemed by their more scrupulous brethren. Nor is it 
on record that they ever struck one good and open blow for 
their cause. Cowardice, born of long secrecy, disarmed them. 

Father Smith closes his argument with an apt quotation 
from Disraeli. " The great secret of success in life is for a 
man to be ready when his opportunity comes." But readiness 
depends as much on will as on capacity, as much on character 
as on cleverness. Disraeli was the prince of opportunists; but 
opportunism is not the noblest force in life, nor is it the lesson 
of all others which Americans need most to learn. Rather let 
us repeat with Cardinal Newman : " The truest expedience is 
to answer right out when you are asked ; the wisest economy 
is to have no management; the best prudence is not to be a 
coward." 




THE DARWIN CENTENARY. 

iBY G. WADDINGTON, S.J. 

N Tuesday, June 22, delegates from almost all the 
universities of the world assembled at Cambridge, 
to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Charles 
Darwin and the fiftieth anniversary of the publi- 
cation of the Origin of Species. The celebrations 
were accompanied by the usual festivities, addresses, and con- 
ferring of degrees, and were brought to a close by the delivery 
of the Rede lecture by Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., on "Dar- 
win as a Geologist." This last is of especial interest, as it was 
to geology that Darwin owed the first foundations of his views 
on the origin of species. 

The spirit of the celebrations is typified in two books, both 
published in connection with the centenary. If The Founda- 
tions of the Origin of Species, a copy of which was presented 
to each of the delegates, stands for the beginnings of Darwin- 
ism, its later development is not inaptly represented by Dar- 
win and Modern Science, a collection of essays contributed by 
eminent biologists of the day. Whilst these essays are all a 
tribute to the memory of Darwin, the personal views of the 
authors have led to the exposition of every important form of 
Darwinism now advocated. 

The present time is most favorable for a calm and dispas- 
sionate consideration of Darwin's work. Fifty years ago, when 
the theory of the origin of species by Natural Selection was 
given to the world, the heat of controversy aroused by it was 
too great to allow of a calm consideration of the hypothesis 
and its consequences; now, after half a century of observation 
and experiment, biologists are beginning to recognize that what 
Darwin propounded in 1859 was but the commencement of a 
great work to come. 

The life of Charles Darwin affords an example of one whose 
career and greatness turned upon a single decision apparently 
of little moment We refer to his acceptance of the post of 
Naturalist on H. M. S. Beagle for the voyage of circumnaviga- 



176 THE DARWIN CENTENARY [Nov., 

tion. He entered on this voyage, in December of 1831, with 
the object of filling in the time between the taking of his de- 
gree and his entry upon his future career, that of a clergyman. 
When he returned, all thought of a vocation to the service of 
the Church had vanished, and he settled down to the study 
of Natural History as his life's work. In 1840 he wrote to 
Captain Fitzroy : " I have nothing to wish for, excepting 
stronger health to go on with the subjects to which I have 
joyfully determined to devote my life."* 

That the voyage was not only the turning-point of his life's 
work, but also the cause of his first thoughts about transform- 
ism, is shown by an entry in his pocket-book for the year 
1857: "In July opened first note-book on Transmutation of 
Species. Had been greatly struck from about the month of 
previous March by the character of South American fossils, 
and species on Galapagos Archipelago. These facts (especially 
latter) origin of all my views." f 

It is significant of the wonderful patience which character- 
ized Darwin's work, that his earliest publication on the origin 
of species was not produced until 1858, twenty years after he 
had begun to collect materials for the work. The gradual de- 
velopment of his views on the great question is well described 
in the first volume of the 'Life and Letters. In 1858, in col- 
laboration with Wallace, Darwin read the epoch-making essay 
before the Linnean Society " On the tendency of species to 
form varieties " ; and in the following year appeared the Ori- 
gin of Species, It is impossible in the present article to give 
a detailed account of Darwin's theory : a brief summary of his 
main principles will suffice for the purpose of comparison with 
the present state of the Darwinian hypothesis. 

Darwin is not, as is often erroneously imagined, the dis- 
coverer or inventor of the doctrine of evolution. Evolution, 
in one form or another, was a subject of speculation among 
philosophers of the time of Aristotle and long before. Darwin's 
claim to distinction is that he put forward with a considerable 
show of evidence certain definite agencies by which he main- 
tained the vast multitude of existing species may have been 
evolved from a few, or, perhaps, a single primitive form. The 
two main factors on which he relied were Natural Selection 
and Sexual Selection. He did not lay much stress on direct 

* Life and Letters. Vol. I., p. 272. t Itid., p. 276. 



1909.] THE DARWIN CENTENARY 177 

proof of transmutation of species: his position was in the main 
that, assuming the truth of the doctrine many phenomena in 
biology, that had hitherto greatly puzzled naturalists, were there- 
by satisfactorily explained. Working on this assumption he 
strove to show by what agencies transmutation was effected. 
The idea of Natural Selection came to him during a perusal of 
Malthus' work on population. Just as a gardener or breeder, 
in striving to obtain a particular strain of plants or animals, 
rigorously selects those most nearly approaching his ideal, cast- 
ing aside those individuals which show no advance towards the 
desired type, so, he argued, nature, acting on a vast scale and 
through endless ages, has gradually, by the elimination of the 
unfit and the selection of the fittest, produced the numberless 
species that exist at the present day. It is to be noted that 
in support of, his hypothesis Darwin was compelled to make 
two important additional assumptions : first, that there is in 
plants an unexplained tendency to vary ; and, secondly, that 
it is possible for favorable variations to be transmitted from 
generation to generation by heredity. 

In 1871 Darwin published his Descent of Man. He had not 
apparently intended at first definitely and explicitly to extend 
his views to the case of man. In his preface he writes : "Dur- 
ing many years I collected notes on the origin or descent of 
man, without any intention of publishing on the subject, but 
rather with the determination not to publish, as I thought that 
I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views." 
In this volume Darwin brought into greater prominence the 
second of his two main factors concerned in transformism : 
namely, the principle of sexual selection, thereby reluctantly 
separating himself from Alfred Wallace, who denied its im- 
portance. 

On February 26, 1867, he wrote to Wallace: "The reason 
of my being so much interested about sexual selection is, that 
I have almost resolved to publish a little essay on the origin 
of mankind, and I still strongly think (though I fail to con- 
vince you, and this to me, is the heaviest blow possible) that 
sexual selection has been the main agent in forming the races 
of man."* 

In the same letter he referred to the possibility of submit- 
ting this principle to the test of experiment: "I wish I had 

*I6id. Vol. III., p. 95. 
VOL. XC. 12 



178 THE DARWIN CENTENARY [Nov., 

strength and time to make some of the experiments suggested 
by you, but I thought butterflies would not pair in confine- 
ment." It is much to be regretted that Darwin did not attempt 
to carry out some such experiments. Such experiments as 
have been performed on these lines since Darwin's time, v. g. t 
by Mayer and Tegetmaier, show conclusively that the principle 
of sexual selection, as stated by Darwin, requires considerable 
modification.* 

The last of Darwin's works which we will mention was pub- 
lished in 1872 under the title of The Expression of the Emo- 
tions. This work he had originally intended to incorporate in 
his Descent of Man, but as the bulk of the latter increased, he 
thought it better to keep his views on the origin of the emo- 
tions for a separate volume. 

Darwin's views, then, on the question of transmutation of 
species may be summarized thus: He held that existing species 
are due to evolution from earlier forms, or even from a single 
form, under the influence of natural and sexual selection; 
that this evolution had been very gradual, being brought about 
by the accumulation of minute favorable differences accentuated 
by the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence, and 
perpetuated by means of heredity. He did not confine himself 
rigidly to these two main factors, but left room for the play 
of other factors. He was, for instance, to a certain extent, 
Lamarckian, in that he admitted as minor factors use and dis- 
use of organs in response to the needs of the environment. 

When we come to consider modern views concerning or- 
ganic evolution, we are bewildered by the complications that 
have gathered round the problem raised by Darwin fifty years 
ago. Biological science has made great strides since Darwin's 
time, and each advance has raised new issues and rendered the 
problem more complex. As a result of this we find at the 
present day quite a number of schools, all proclaiming the 
triumph of Darwinism, but differing fundamentally from each 
other in their interpretation of that doctrine. This divergency, 
however, has, as a matter of fact, considerably damaged some 
of the most important features of the original doctrine. 

Thus to Weismann, notwithstanding his unhesitating faith 
in evolution, is due the main part of the demolition of the 
theory we had almost said the myth of the inheritance of 

* Vide Experimental Zoology, by T. H. Morgan, London, 1907, ch. xxix. 



1909.] THE DARWIN CENTENARY 179 

acquired characters. Darwin held that somatic variation could 
be transmitted, /. e., that effects produced by external condi- 
tions on the body-cells of plants or animals could be passed 
on to the next generation. But, according to Weismann, such 
inheritance is impossible; only those changes that are directly 
produced in the germ can be transmitted. Thus Weismann 
struck the first blow at Darwin's theory of transformism, in so 
far as it involved Lamarckian principles, and brought about a 
complete revolution in the generally accepted views as to the 
transmission of acquired characters. 

The next great modification of Darwin's position came from 
a different direction. It was brought about by the discovery 
of mutations by Hugo de Vries. In his attitude towards Dar- 
win he naturally takes up the line 'indicated to him by his own 
discoveries. Thus, whilst acknowledging the existence of min- 
ute individual variations, or fluctuations, he denies their im- 
portance in the scheme of evolution as compared with the 
sudden, and, generally speaking, more violent variations which 
he has called mutations. Mutations, he holds, are the real 
basis of species building. He says in his essay on variation: 

Fluctuations constitute one type ; they are never absent 
and follow the law of chance, but they do not afford material 
from which to build new species. Mutations, on the other 
hand, only happen to occur from time to time. They do not 
necessarily produce greater changes than fluctuations, but 
such as may become, or rather are from their very nature, 
constant.* 

In the same essay de Vries insists on the importance of 
progessive mutability as a factor in the building of species. 
Thus he writes: 

Mutating variability occurs along three main lines. Either 
a character may disappear, or, as we now say, become latent ; 
or a latent character may reappear, reproducing thereby a 
character which was once prominent in more or less remote 
ancestors. The third and most interesting case is that of the 
production of quite new characters which never existed in the 
ancestors. Upon this progressive mutability the main de- 
velopment of the animal and vegetable kingdom evidently 
depends.! 

* Darwin and Modern Science, Cambridge, 1909, p. 73. t Ibid., p. 75. 



i8o THE DARWIN CENTENARY [Nov., 

Darwin's theory was fundamentally opposed to this doctrine 
of discontinuous variations, believing, as he did, that any sud- 
den variation in plants or animals would be completely swamped 
by unfavorable crosses. Mendel's discoveries in heredity have 
taught us that the swamping effects of intercrossing are by no 
means inevitable. The truth of this may, perhaps, be best il- 
lustrated by reference to two cases of Mendelian inheritance 
occurring in mankind. Take, for example, the cases of con- 
genital cataract and of brachydactylism (a peculiar shortening 
of the fingers and toes) in man; the chances are extremely 
strong against the intermarriage of two persons affected by one 
of these peculiarities, yet both congenital cataract and brachydac- 
tylism reappear constantly in successive generations. A glance 
at the genealogies of families in which these maladies occur 
shows approximately an equal proportion between the affected 
and non-affected. Thus not only are these characters not 
swamped by constant crossing, but they completely hold their 
own. 

Again Darwin, in order to provide a satisfactory basis for 
his views on heredity, enunciated his theory of Pangenesis. 
Briefly stated it assumed that inheritance was brought about 
by the migration of innumerable particles or gemmules, from 
the body-cells to the germ-cells. These ultra-microscopic 
getntnules, the theory supposed, form the physical basis of 
heredity, in that they are derived from every part of the or- 
ganism, and bear the stamp of the organ from which they 
have proceeded. By the aggregation of these gemmules to the 
germ-cells, Darwin argued, their transmission to the next gen- 
eration is affected. Such a view, had it been able to stand the 
test of time, would have explained away many difficulties in 
heredity, but it failed to survive the severe test of increased 
knowledge of cell- structure, combined with Weismann's work 
on acquired characters. The consideration of advances made 
in cellular biology during recent years leads us to a more di- 
rect treatment of modern methods of research on organic evo- 
lution. 

But a greater departure still is the change from Darwin's 
method. Darwin's plan of attacking the problem of descent 
was very different from that pursued to-day. He was a natur- 
alist who concerned himself primarily with the more obvious 
characters of plants and animals, and relied mainly on the ob- 



1909.] THE DARWIN CENTENARY 181 

servation of the phenomena which present themselves in nature. 
It is, then, remarkable that, unfamiliar as Darwin was with the 
intimate structure of animal and vegetable tissues, he was able, 
on purely theoretical grounds, to enunciate his provisional hy- 
pothesis of pangenesis, an hypothesis which, though it has 
been abandoned in its original form, foreshadowed the future 
combination of cellular biology and work on organic evolution. 
In 1838 Schlieden and Schwann had enunciated their cell- 
theory, but progress in this branch of biology was very slow, 
and was, moreover, worked out on lines quite independent of 
the problem of descent. Only in comparatively recent times 
has the study of the cell and the problem of descent been 
brought into line. As Professor Wilson writes: 

And yet the historian of latter-day biology cannot fail to be 
struck with the lact that these two great generalizations (the 
cell-theory and organic evolution), nearly related as they are, 
have been developed along widely different lines of research, 
and have only within a very recent period met upon a common 
ground. The theory of evolution originally grew out of the 
study of natural history, and it took definite shape long before 
the ultimate structure of living bodies was in any degree com- 
prehended. . . . Only within a few years, indeed, has the 
ground been cleared for that close alliance between students 
of organic evolution and students of the cell, which forms so 
striking a feature of latter-day biology and is exerting so great 
an influence on the direction of research. It has, therefore, 
only recently become possible adequately to formulate the great 
problems of development and heredity in the terms of cellular 
biology indeed, we can, as yet, do little more than so formu- 
late them.* 

Two other branches of modern research in biological science 
demand notice in any attempt to indicate the present attitude 
towards the problem of descent. During the ten years follow- 
ing upon 1860, when Darwin's views were raising fierce oppo- 
sition in half the world of biologists and arousing the enthu- 
siasm of the remainder, Gregor Mendel, in the obscurity of 
the Augustinian monastery at Briinn, was carrying out a series 
of experiments which were destined to revolutionize the whole 

* The Cell in Development and Inheritance, by E. B. Wilson, New York and London, 1906, 
pp. i and 2. 



1 82 THE DARWIN CENTENARY [Nov., 

of modern work on heredity. The results of his patient and 
careful researches on experimental hybridization were com- 
pletely lost to the world for thirty years, and not until 1900 
were his papers unearthed from their obscurity, and the signifi- 
cance of his work appreciated. During the last nine years 
Mendel's discoveries have been the starting point for all ex- 
perimental work on heredity. It is true that Mendelism has 
not yet produced decisive evidence on the question of devel- 
opment, but it has, at least, provided a method, which gives 
promise of great fruit in the future. As Bateson remarks: 

No one can survey the work of recent years without per- 
ceiving that evolutionary orthodoxy developed too fast, and 
that a great deal has got to come down ; but this satisfaction 
at least remains, that in the experimental methods which 
Mendel inaugurated, we have means of reaching certainty in 
regard to the physiology of Heredity and Variation upon 
which a more lasting structure may be built.* 

Lastly the astonishing results obtained in recent years in 
the field of experimental zoology call for notice. Thus the 
accurate and careful experiments on artificial fertilization, car- 
ried out by American zoologists, by Loeb, Davenport, Morgan; 
the researches of Driesch on the artificial production of twin 
embryos, and kindred experiments; the attempts by these and 
others to fathom the intricacies of restitution processes all 
this has resulted in a wealth of valuable material which must 
be carefully sifted and satisfactorily interpreted before its 
bearing on the question of development can be adequately 
stated. The interpretation of these results is confessedly the 
least satisfactory part of modern work on organic evolution ; 
indeed, instead of the advance upon Darwin's position, that 
half a century might have been expected to bring, the first 
biologists of the day recognize that we must practically go 
back to the beginning. Much of the superstructure that has 
been raised upon Darwin's theories will, as Bateson asserts, 
have to come down, and biologists will have to be content, 
for the present at least, to work tentatively according to the 
more accurate method of biological experimentation, in which 

* Darwin and Modern Science, p. 101. See also Mendel's Principles of Heredity, by W. 
Bateson. Cambridge, 1909. 



1909.] THE DARWIN CENTENARY 183 

Abbot Mendel was the great pioneer, trusting that their work 
will receive in the future a satisfactory interpretation. 

Meanwhile speculations concerning the supposed ancestry 
of present-day species (for which Haeckel has invented the 
term phytogeny), which have formed so large a part of dog- 
matic Darwinism in the past, tend more and more to be left 
in abeyance. In this respect Darwin himself, in his earlier 
works, at any rate, gave a good example oi the attitude to be 
taken up. As Driesch writes : 

Darwin, for instance, gave the greatest latitude to the 
nature of the variations which form the battle ground of the 
struggle for existence and natural selection ; and he made 
great allowances for other causal combinations also, which 
may come into account besides the indirect factors of trans- 
formism. He was Lamarckian to a very far-reaching extent. 
And he had no definite opinion about the origin and the most 
intimate nature of life in general. These may seem to be de- 
fects, but really are advantages of his theory. He left open 
the question which he could not answer. ... * 

So little that is exact is known about phylogeny, that it 
would seem a waste of time and energy to speculate upon 
it, so long as fields of useful and decisive work lie open for 
investigation. Phylogeny, in the present state of biological 
science, can offer nothing, as Liebmann complained, but a 
" gallery of ancestors " with, as yet, no sound and rational 
principles underlying it. It is true that Darwin in his Descent 
&f Man attempted the construction of a genealogy of man, 
but far from allowing this as an excuse for present specula- 
tion, we incline rather to see in it one of the indications, 
which occur more frequently in Darwin's later works, of lapses 
from truly scientific method, and excursions into a philosophy 
that tended more and more to become fanciful. The cautious 
statements of eminent biologists of to-day serve to confirm the 
conviction that there is an abyss between a limited and scien- 
tific theory of transformism and the dogmatic assertion of uni- 
versal evolution. As for the fantastic genealogical trees elab- 

* The Science and Philosophy of the Organism, by H. Driesch. London, 1909. Vol. I. 
p. 260. 



1 84 THE DARWIN CENTENARY [Nov. 

orated by Haeckel and other extreme phylogenists, we may 
best answer them with the scathing irony of such a first- rate 
authority as Professor Driesch: 

But it is quite another thing with phylogeny on the larger 
scale. Far more eloquent than any amount of polemics is the 
fact that vertebrates, for instance, have already been " proved " 
to be descended from, firstly, the Amphioxus ; secondly, the 
annelids; the Sagitta type of worms ; fourthly, from spiders ; 
fifthly, from Ltmulus, a group of crayfishes; and sixthly, 
from echinoderm larvae. * 

In this condition of biological knowledge, it is best perhaps 
to recognize that we are but at the beginning of what may 
be called exact knowledge in the field of organic evolution, 
and to be content steadily to carry out the work that lies to 
hand, avoiding the fantastic speculations that have marred not 
a little the work done in the past. Meanwhile the conclusion 
we would draw from the history of Darwinism during the past 
fifty years is the value of sobriety, caution, and patience in 
all speculation. Science slowly but surely weeds out false 
theories whilst it preserves and confirms whatever elements of 
truth they may contain. 

* Ibid. Vol. I., p. 257. 



A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK. 




BY H. W. G. HYRST. 

( ORTH HAM is noted for oysters, a coal-harbor, 
and the trousers worn by its fishermen ; and of 
these latter a tale is told. 

When by dint of much casting of anchor on 
public-house benches, the seat of a smacksman's 
shore-going nether gear has become cobweb-like, and the knees 
thereof shapeless and leaky, the honest fellow devotes an idle 
hour to rendering them sea-worthy. Over the stern goes a 
square ot sail-cloth, twelve by twelve, sewn as only a seaman 
can sew, and the garment is ready to defy the elements; for 
high sea-boots cover a multitude of ankle-snatches and knee- 
rents. But constant work aboard a smack soon necessitates 
more stitching of new cloth on to old raiment; and, in course 
of time, every inch of the fabric, from hip to knee, has been 
beautified by a new patch ; and the more numerous the patches 
and the more variegated their hues, the greater is the pride 
of their possessor. 

Old Tom Keame, skipper and owner of the Polly a sixteen- 
ton cutter that dredged in winter and trawled in summer had 
just such a pair. The younger men chaffed him irreverently 
about them, while facetious Cockney visitors would urge him 
to name a price for the curiosities. To these the genial old 
fellow's reply was invariable : " 'Alf a suvren, Mister." 

Proclaim a price for your wares often enough, and some 
day you may be taken at your word. One afternoon, as Tom 
and his crew stumped up the shingle, two men, well dressed 
and redolent of London, after staring in speechless wonder- 
ment at the old man, exchanged a wink and a gurgle of laugh- 
ter. Then one of the twain, stout, clean-shaven, and fishy as 
to the eyes, murmured: "By gum! the very thing!'* 

The other, black-moustached and Hebraic, nodded. 

"'Alf a dollar'll square that lot," he said; and both fol- 
lowed the four smacksmen to the shed where they were about 
to stow their oars, boots, and oil-skins. 



1 86 A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK [Nov., 

" Mornin* gents," said Tom, pausing in the doorway. 
"Warnt a boat, do ye? There's my old mate " 

The stout man's expression had become grave; funereal, 
even. "No, my friend; we want to buy your trousers these!" 

The rest of the crew broke into a laugh ; but a real shade 
of irritation clouded Tom's brow; the joke was becoming stale 
and boresome. 

"Now who's bin puttin* of ye up to this 'ere caper?" he 
demanded. 

The man rattled some money in his pockets. 

"We mean business, my dear sir. What'll you take for 
them ? They'll be exhibited, and your name'll go down to 
prosperity " no doubt he meant something else " as the 
original wearer of the most original pants in the world." 

" Tryin' to take a rise, aint ye ? " growled Tom. " 'Alf a 
suvren's my proice Moind 'self" and he dragged off a wet 
sea-boot with such vigor that he nearly capsized him of the 
black moustache. 

" My golly ! " ejaculated the stout man. Now that the boot 
was off, the trouser leg revealed itself in all its full beauty ; 
the patches came no lower than the knee; below was the orig- 
inal substance, enhancing unspeakably the glory of the garment. 

"Five bob!" snapped the dark man, with auction- room- 
like brevity. 

"You take yer five bobs som'er's else," replied Tom; while 
his burly, six-foot son cried: 

"I say, old brother; you an* your mate better sheer off; 
we don't want no old clothes men round 'ere." 

The dark man was not pleased at being hailed under such 
colors. " I don't want none of your sauce," he snarled. " If 
yer think I can't buy up the lot of yer" he threw some 
small silver and a half-sovereign onto a cask-head. "There's 
yer 'air-quid an* a drop over. Now, quit talkin* an' we'll 
take what we bargained for." 

Young Keame made a step forward that hinted at something 
over and above what was bargained for, but his father stopped 
him. 

" Now, stow that, Sonny. The gents are as good as their 
word ; though, gentlemen, I must say I thought you was a- 
skylarkin*. Well, you got 'old o' somethin' good there." He 
slapped his thigh. "All up 'ere is as thick as a board; take 



1 909.] A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK 187 

a middlin* lot o' sea-water to go through. When moight ye 
warnt 'em, gents?" 

"Now, of course"; said the stout man with a grin. 

" Fair's fair," said the old salt. " Son, go you acrost 'ome 
an* fetch the pair what I wear o' ^evenin's." 

"Fact is," continued the more civil stranger, when the lad 
had departed on his errand, " we come from the British Mu- 
seum, and are making a collection of curios. That old clay 
you're smoking, now; take a tanner for it? It's well colored." 

Tom wiped the pipe on his guernsey sleeve. 

" Sir, I will not, excuse me. If you loike t' accept of it, 
it's yourn. Come to that" he fingered the gold and glanced 
at the half-crown's worth of silver " you've spoke us fair 
enough, an* stood a drink to all 'ands" he pointed to the 
silver "so I make bold to ask you to take back this 'ere" 
he held out the half-sovereign "I ain't so sharp drove as all 
that; and ye're koindly welcome to the old brigs, if so be 
they're any sarvice to ye." 

The old seaman's dignified manner was lost on the two 
Cockneys; clearly they considered him an old fool. The one 
with the black moustache, still very much out oi temper, shook 
his head. 

"You keep it," he said ungraciously. " You don't earn 
money so easy every day." The fisher lad now appearing with 
another garment, the purchasers strolled on to the shingle, and 
in a couple of minutes the coveted trousers were handed out, 
neatly wrapped in newspaper and rope-yarn. 

"This 'ere Museum you talk of, now," said Tom, emerging 
in decent blue serge and carpet slippers. " Moight that be 
anywheres nigh the docks ? " 

The dark man turned away impatiently ; but his more suave 
companion paused to say : " You can walk there from Holborn 
Viaduct Station in twenty minutes. There's going to be an 
exhibition of nautical costumes there, and your old bags'll about 
fetch the house get first prize, I mean. Bye-bye." 

" 'Ear that, Sonny ? " said the delighted old fellow. " Now, 
you take an' see that there ex'bition next March." The boy 
grinned sceptically. 

"I should bu'st o* laughin' if I see that there old patched 
gear o' yourn stuck up there." Sonny was in the Naval Re- 
serve, and went to Poplar every spring for his month's drill. 



1 88 A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK [Nov., 

" Well ; you moind an' goo" said the father impressively. 

A few weeks later, there was a day's excursion from North 
Ham to London, and Tom and Sonny were among the pas- 
sengers. While trawling near the Sands, the Polly had made 

a record haul of soles, and Tom, already the wealthiest man 
in the fleet, was the richer by about fifty pounds, a good part 
of which he felt justified in devoting to a day's holiday-making. 
Sonny was not the only unbeliever as to the future greatness 
of his father's trousers ; though when Tom asked the sceptics 
to assign any other reason for his being paid so large a sum 
for his old patchwork, they were at a loss how to answer. 
Now, at least, was a chance of proving who was right, for Tom 
was determined to make a pilgrimage to the Museum while he 
was in London. 

London, to seamen, means the docks; not five per cent of 
them have ever set foot west of London Bridge. But neither 
Tom nor Sonny meant to display their ignorance before the 
crowd of North Ham shopkeepers that surged on the platform 
at Holborn. When the coast was clear they strolled out of the 
station; and then Tom called a halt, while he took his bear- 
ings with the aid of a pocket-compass. 

" West is where all the grand folks live," he muttered. 
" We'll shape a westerly course, Son; we can ask about this 
'ere Museum when we git a bit furder on"; and, with backs 
arched and hands in breeches-pockets, they lurched along 
Holborn. 

" Look ; look ! " cried Sonny, after a while. " British Mu- 
seum Station ! " Both charged across the road at risk of limb 
and life, and in the booking-office found a kindly newsboy 
who put them on the right tack for Great Russell Street. 

" Now for the old pants," chuckled Sonny. " 'Ow much to 
pay, Sergeant? " 

"Straight through, my man; nothink to pay," said the 
policeman, preening his feathers at the temporary promotion 
conferred on him by the country lad. They followed the di- 
rection indicated and saw many things that were strange and 
wonderful, but positively nothing that had any bearing on sea- 
men's trousers; and the most civil inquiries led only to bewil- 
dered stares or uproarious mirth; till, foot-sore, hungry, and 
irritated, they left the building. 

Dinner and a pipe of tobacco reanimated them, and they 



A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK 189 

set off on an omnibus tour. But even after visiting the Zoo, 
Madame Tussaud's, and Earl's Court, Tom and Sonny had not 
succeeded in accomplishing the British holiday-maker's chief 
aim and real purpose the getting through a certain sum of 
money in a given time. At seven o'clock each still had five 
pounds in his pocket. 

Chance and a motor-omnibus had now set them down out- 
side a music-hall, whose face was resplendent with bright- 
colored representations of the gifted beings who were to per- 
form within. One depicted a man walking a tight-rope; a 
second, a highly educated horse; a third, a pair of boxers. 
By the main entrance was a much larger poster, and, at sight 
of it, the fishermen cried out in astonishment ; for there, red- 
nosed, clay-piped, guernseyed and sou'-westered, was pictured 
the stout man; and there, uneclipsed by sea-boots, were the 
patched trousers ! 

" 'E was a-makin* sport of us, a'ter all," gasped Sonny at 
length. 

Tom looked lingeringly at the poster and finally broke into 
a hearty laugh. 

"We must ha' bin stoopid jakes," he said. Obviously, if 
Tom was disappointed at all, it was on the pleasurable side. 
It was only a bit o' fun; the "gents" had paid up like good 
"uns" ; and at least he would now have the laugh on unbelievirg 
North Hamites who had derided the notion of his property's 
figuring in public. Here was as much fame for the venerable 
garment as if it had found a home among mummies, manu- 
scripts, and marbles. He continued: "We'll goo an' 'ave a 
front seat at this 'ere fit-out, if it costs us a suvren a-piece." 

Just then Tom, to his amazement, heard himself called by 
name, and, looking round, saw a fireman who was employed at 
the theatre, and who had sailed before the mast on the Amer- 
ican whaler, of which old Keame had been fourth mate. To 
him the fishermen explained the position; and, after a brief 
colloquy between the fireman and the ticket-clerk, and the 
interchange of some money, two seats in the front row of 
stalls were procured, and the fireman was made happy with 
the gift of a five -shilling piece for old- times' sake. 

And now behold the two seamen cozily ensconced within a 
few yards of the footlights cigar in one hand and glass in 
the other gaping, laughing, nudging one another, gasping out 
exclamations of astonishment, or admiration, or delight, and 



190 A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK [Nov., 

storing up enough mental notes to furnish a dozen Saturday 
nights' tap room conferences at the " Pig's Head," North Ham- 
" Turn " succeeded " turn " ; a stout lady in fancy garb was 
followed by a thin man in a dress-suit many sizes too large 
for him ; then came an eccentric individual who played a 
piano with his toes; and, when he and his instrument had 
vanished,' there was a sound of slopping, pit-a-pat footfalls. 
The audience burst into a hurricane of cat- calling, clapping, and 
cheering and the stout man came on the stage, trousers 
and all ! 

If any relic of disappointment had remained in the minds 
of the two seamen, it was dispelled by the artist's comic face 
and slap-dash, confidential manner; and both roared at the 
grotesque imitation of their rolling sea-gait till the tears came 
and the other occupants of the stalls wondered. The comedian 
began with some glib patter to the effect that he was a fisher- 
man; and this with the first verse of his song, roused a good 
deal of benevolent contempt for his ignorance in the minds of 
Tom and Sonny ; for it was evident that he confused their 
pet abomination, the long-shore boatman who hocussed excur- 
sionists in summer and laid bricks in winter, with the genuine 
deep-sea trawler. 

But at the second installment of patter, old Tom's face 
lengthened and his brow clouded. The actor's expression and 
manner were becoming more and more suggestive, and his 
words more frankly obscene. Perhaps old Keame had some 
strange notions of right and wrong ; perhaps he had never 
been inside a church since his wedding day ; perhaps his lan- 
guage, when his tackle was fouled or his wind stolen by an- 
other smack, was such as may not be printed here; but within 
him was a child-like purity of thought and of life that was 
something more than mere conventional respect for decency. 
And now, as he looked round him and observed that the 
audience was half composed of women, and as he reflected that 
he might have brought his own little Bessie to such a place 
in ignorance, the blood mounted to his dear old head, and he 
sat clenching and unclenching his fists, longing to put a stopper 
on remarks that were as foul as they were idiotic and pointless. 

The patter rippled on; the Cockney audience shrieked with 
pleasure. Sonny's weather- tanned face had become very grave ; 
he was used to hearing a spade called a spade, but not to 
dabbling with that spade in a cess-pool. He was stealing a 



1909.] A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK 191 

sidelong glance at- his father, to see how the old man appre- 
ciated the artist's wit, when suddenly Tom rose to his feet. 
In a few seconds only a sailor could tell how he had cleared 
the orchestra, cleared the footlights and wires, and was on 
the stage, grasping the singer by the back of the neck. 

" You dirty varmint ! " he yelled ; and a hearty kick fol- 
lowed the epithet. Then an.other kick. " You beastly, wretched 
feller!" kick number three. "You ballad-singin* vagabon' ! 
ain't you ashamed o' yourself ? " Here followed a fourth re- 
minder with his boot-toe. 

" Come back ! " cried Sonny in alarm. " You'll git yerself 
locked up." 

For the first few moments the audience cheered hysterical- 
ly, imagining this to be a preconcerted part of the performance. 
But the singer's sudden pallor under his paint, his futile strug- 
gles to escape the muscular grip that detained him, and the 
hurried advent of the manager and a couple of scene- shifters, 
soon gave another aspect to the case ; and a buzz of excited 
voices arose, some commending, some condemning. 

" You'd better get him away before he finds himself in 
trouble," said a stern-faced, elderly man who sat next to 
Sonny. At the same moment the manager none other than 
the stout man's black-moustached friend made a grab at Tom 
and called on his subordinates to do likewise. This was enough 
for Sonny. Brushing aside a couple of bandsmen, who tried to 
stop him, he sprang like a cat on to the stage, and, with the 
merest touch of his hand, sent the manager reeling into the 
wings. 

"None o* that, old skipper," he said threateningly; "one 
to one's fair play." 

The shifters, at sight of the young giant who stood between 
them and Tom, edged away, muttering something about its 
being a police job. The sound of men's shouts and women's 
screams in the auditorium was swelling to a whirlwind; but 
old Tom quelled it with a quarter-deck yell for silence. 

"Ain't there no fathers 'ere?" he roared, dragging his 
victim towards the footlights. " Would you loike your darters 
to listen to sich devil's talk as his'n ? Now, then, you foul- 
mouthed monkey! I'm a-goin' to give you your 'alf-suvren 
back, an'" 

Tom got no farther, for he suddenly found himself cut off 
from the spectators by the fall of the curtain ; and, on turning, 



192 A BIT OF OLD PATCHWORK [Nov. 

saw a crescent of actors, shifters, and policemen closing in on 
him, while four men, who looked like plain- clothes constables, 
were trying to hold Sonny still. 

"Lock 'em up; lock 'em both up ! " said the manager jerk- 
ily, as two policemen rescued the singer by main force. 

"Just one moment, please," said a clear voice that smacked 
of authority; and the stern-looking, elderly man who had 
spoken to Sonny in the stalls, came on the stage from be- 
hind, under the guidance of an attendant. Two of the police- 
men saluted; then glanced at one another with elevated eye- 
brows. 

"You are the manager, I think?" 

The black-moustached one bowed. 

" Here is my card. If you take my advice, you will let 
these men go." 

The manager waxed uncomfortable; the name on the card 
was that of a celebrated criminal counsel; and, worse still, a 
member of a Parliamentary commission then inquiring into the 
conduct of music-halls. 

" If you press the charge, I shall be pleased to undertake 
their defence, and " the stranger smiled grimly. 

"'Ave it yer own way," said the manager sullenly. "'Ere, 
one of yer show 'em out, an' good riddance to 'em." 

" 'Alf a moment, sir, excuse me," said Tom, turning to 
the barrister " 'Ere, 'ere's the 'alf-suvren as you give me for 
them trousers; now take 'em off Excuse me, sir, I don't goo 
away from 'ere without my old gear. I never did any but a 
honest day's work, in 'em. 'E 'ad 'em off'n me under false 
pertences; an* for sich as 'im to stand up an' play the tom- 
fool in my clothes patches or no " 

The lawyer turned on the comedian and said drily: 
"Hadn't you better take back your half-sovereign?" 

The next evening there was an intolerable stench of burnt 
rag in the fishing-quarter of North Ham, traceable to a fire in 
Tom Keame's back yard, whereon smouldered the patched 
trousers. 

" I left 'em fit for any honest man to wear," said Tom, as 
he solemnly officiated at the burnt sacrifice. " But not even 
a self respectin' tramp'd put 'em on a'ter 'e'd wore 'em So- 
long, old brigs ! " 




TEN PERSONAL STUDIES. 

BY WILFRID WILBERFORCE. 

[LL that Mr. Wilfrid Ward touches turns to gold." 
These words of the Guardian, in its review of 
The Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman, oc- 
curred to my mind after a first perusal oi Mr. 
Ward's latest book, Ten Personal Studies.* 
The distinguished persons of whom it treats vary one from 
the other in character, intellect, and mode of regarding life, 
quite as much as they themselves differ from the ordinary run 
of men. A list that includes a Supreme Pontiff, three cardinals, 
three literary politicians, a simple priest, a Cambridge profes- 
sor, and three editors, can scarcely err on the score of same- 
ness. For many writers, indeed, such a variety of appreciation 
might be an embarrassment. To analyze the peculiar mental 
characteristics of men so aloof from each other as Leo XIII. 
and Sidgwick, as Wiseman and Lytton, as Newman and Balfour, 
and to succeed in delineating those characteristics in a measure 
so ample that it is difficult to decide which study is the most 
fascinating, is an achievement which happily illustrates the 
praise which I have quoted from the Guardian, and invests 
Mr. Ward with one more title to the high place among writers 
and thinkers of the day which he has long and justly held. 

The volume opens with a thoughtful study of a phase in 
Mr. Balfour's career. It was while he was Prime Minister that 
his Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, propounded what a few 
years earlier would have been scouted by all parties alike as 
an economic heresy, namely, that the Free Trade of Cobden and 
Bright was, under England's changed conditions at least, a mis- 
take. Nor did Mr. Chamberlain throw out this theory in any 
tentative or hesitating way, but as if it were a matured and work- 
ing scheme. The world, not unnaturally, looked to the Prime 
Minister for an expression either of denunciation or agreement. 
Mr. Bilfour, however, committed himself to neither. The world 
in consequence held him up to ridicule as a roi faineant, and 

9 Ten Personal Studies. By Wilfrid Ward. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1908. 
VOL. XC. 13 



194 TEN PERSONAL STUDIES [Nov., 

as one who was adopting a policy that was " impossible " and 
"humiliating." 

Mr. Ward, on the contrary, contends that Mr. Balfour's 
attitude, unenviable as it was, was inevitable. As head of the 
Government it would have been wrong for him to adopt as a 
recognized policy a theory which was avowedly crude and un- 
defined. At the same time the idea was not a priori, absurd 
or impossible, and, with the changed conditions of our Colonial 
relations, it certainly contained valuable matter for examination 
and discussion. But, as Mr. Ward reminds us, "the world 
loves to be addressed in tones loud and positive," and even so 
little sensational a paper as the Spectator declared that "what- 
ever else may happen, Mr. Balfour's day as a great British 
statesman is over. No turn in the political kaleidoscope can 
restore to him the confidence of the country." 

Yet Mr. Ward shows how Mr. Balfour, having often justi- 
fied his wisdom and his leadership, justified both again by 
the exercise of those very remarkable qualities which charac- 
terize him. Many leaders, perhaps most, would have resigned 
in circumstances so discouraging as those which Mr. Balfour 
had to face, but in so doing they would have disintegrated 
their party and wrecked several first-class measures which were 
on the eve of becoming law. " It may well be," says our 
author, "that the future historian will have to record in the 
story a fresh instance in which one man has, at a moment of 
extreme difficulty, restored the fortunes of the republic by a 
policy of delay. Cunctando restitute rem." 

In this place I have but touched in barest outline this very 
able study of one phase in Mr. Balfour's career. The full 
details, brought out with a wealth of coloring and illustrated 
with the happiest analogies, must be sought for in Mr. Ward's 
book. 

The chapter dealing with three notable editors will be read 
with special interest. Of these, John Thaddeus Delane be- 
longed to a type which is now extinct. The Times during the 
period of his rule occupied a position which is now held by no 
newspaper, and his power as its editor was of a kind that we 
can scarcely realize in our altered conditions. The causes of 
this change are manifold. They have been contributed to, no 
doubt, by the vast multiplication, during the last twenty-five 
years, of newspapers, many of them of reduced price, as well 



1909.] TEN PERSONAL STUDIES 195 

as by the growth of influential magazines. Certain it is that 
the empire of the Times has gradually yielded to successful 
competitors. No longer is Printing-House Square the only or 
even the foremost purveyor of news. No longer can "those 
hands that write in secret " pull down Administrations or en- 
tice a Government !into war. Scarcely even, in these days of 
displaced sovereignty, can the once powerful Jupiter before 
which Ministers trembled, induce a foolish and superannuated 
judge to doff his ermine. 

It is not uncommon for men to attribute the lowered pres- 
tige of the Times to the fiasco of the Parnell case. This may t 
no doubt, have been a factor in its downfall ; but to my mind 
the loss of power wielded by one paper costing three-pence as 
opposed to a dozen which may be bought for one-third or one- 
sixth of that price is attributable to the lowered franchise. 
The country is no longer governed by the aristocracy and the 
clubs to which the Times penetrates, but by the readers of 
penny and halfpenny papers who have for the last quarter of 
a century at least possessed the power of upsetting govern- 
ments and dictating policies. 

Forty years ago the Times was great and Delane was worthy 
of his paper. To its interests he gave his life not that he 
was in the highest sense a literary man, but he was in many 
respects a very strong man. He was a fearless rider and a 
first-rate boxer. To these physical qualities was joined a mind 
vigorous,- alert, active. His decisions were prompt, but they 
were also profound. He thoroughly understood how to deal 
with men of different characters. He was firm and independ- 
ent, yet considerate towards other people. Besides all this he 
stuck to his work with the regularity of a machine. Society 
was pleasant to him and he was welcome in the most exclusive 
houses, and yet he never allowed his invitations to encroach 
upon the hours that were sacred to his work. Half-past ten 
at night found him invariably in his room at the Times office, 
and he never left it until four in the morning. " He took 
breakfast when others took lunch," writes his friend Mr. Brod- 
rick, "and was busily engaged with interviews and correspond- 
ence during all the earlier part of the afternoon, and perhaps, 
during emergencies, up to dinner time." Two of his intimate 
friends were Lord Palmerston and Lord Aberdeen ; but this 
did not prevent Delane opposing them in the Times when be 



196 TEN PERSONAL STUDIES [Nov., 

thought their policy wrong ; whereas he vigorously supported 
Sir Robert Peel whom, personally, he scarcely knew. 

One instance must be given of Delane's astuteness in obtain- 
ing exclusive tidings. " The Times prided itself on always being 
the first to announce any important news. Of bold and shrewd 
ventures made with this object, Delane's announcement of Lord 
Northbrook's appointment as Viceroy of India in 1872 is a 
good instance on the strength only of Northbrook's having 
asked his doctor (a friend of Delane's) if a warm climate would 
suit his daughter's health. The appointment though of course 
antecedently probable was a perfect secret, and was, indeed, 
only accepted after the doctor' favorable reply. The divination 
of the Times completely amazed Northbrook." * 

The essay on Richard Holt Hutton is even more attractive 
than that on Delane, and it was clearly a work of love for 
its author to write it. Few public men have been more loved 
than he if, indeed, the term public man can be applied to one 
who wrote anonymously and was scarcely known by sight to 
one in ten of his readers. His influence was extraordinarily 
great ; not, like Delane's, in the political world, though even 
there it was considerable, but in the sphere of morals. Mr. 
Ward compares his influence to that of a great teacher of phi- 
losophy in a university and to that of a great preacher in his 
pulpit. It never occurred to Hutton to consider what was the 
popular view of a question. With absolute sincerity, and some- 
times with a certain pleasing ruggedness which recalled his 
own features, he would put forward his view based invariably 
upon motives of principle, and appealing always to the loftiest 
ideals. His sense of duty carried him to the practice of per- 
sonal holiness, and this fact appeared with an unconscious grace 
in his writings, week by week. Not that there was, as a rule, 
any direct mention of religion, or the remotest ostentation of 
superiority, but his evident rectitude gained him respect even 
from those who differed most profoundly from his views of 
literature, politics, or social problems. 

United to an enthusiastic acceptance of the doctrines of the 
Divinity and Atonement of Christ, was a difficulty in believing 
in the Sacramental system as it is held by Catholics. For the 
Catholic Church itself he had a deep reverence and even affec- 
tion. During the last ten years of his life he attended Mass, 

* Ibid., page 56. 



1909.] TEN PERSONAL STUDIES 197 

Sunday after Sunday, at the church near his house at Twick- 
enham, and among his friends he numbered such men as Car- 
dinal Manning, Father Dalgairns, William George Ward, and 
many other leaders of the Catholic Church in England. Besides 
this, his acquaintance with men of widely divergent views and 
his high personal character, gave him a position which was 
absolutely unique. His friends, " however otherwise divided, 
. . . were united in regarding him not only as what he was 
often called a great teacher but as one who, in practical 
sympathy with the distressed, personal holiness, and unswerv- 
ing devotion to duty, had in him something of the saint.* 

There can be no doubt that the Spectator, under Hutton's 
editorship, bore a great part in diminishing anti-Catholic preju- 
dice. Even the great editor's well-known admiration for Charles 
Kingsley did not prevent his writing enthusiastically in praise 
of the Apologia; and I am inclined to agree with Mr. Ward 
when he remarks that Newman might never " have completely 
emerged from the cloud which stood between him and the 
English public, after the events of 1845, had it not been for 
the outspoken and independent admiration of the Spectator" 

Another notable editor, Sir James Knowles, introduced a 
new and original feature into the world of ephemeral literature. 
He made himself the Keeper of the Ring in which champions 
of every school of thought did battle for their own side. The 
Nineteenth Century ; established in 1877, was the neutral ground 
whereon every one who could pen a readable essay on an inter- 
esting subject was welcome. Knowles would hear a fellow- 
guest at a dinner-party declaim against some article that had 
appeared in his magazine. Far from being annoyed, he would 
be delighted. "Write an answer for next month," he would 
say, and so the game went on merrily on all subjects social, 
political, and religious. When the French persecution was in 
its earlier stages, Knowles one day found Mr. Wilfrid Ward 
at the Athenaeum Club, and asked him if he could supply him 
with an article on the situation at a fortnight's notice. Mr. 
Ward objected that this would entail a visit to Paris and a 
dislocation of other plans; but Knowles put the matter on so 
generous a footing that all difficulties were overcome. The 
appearance of the Pope's Encyclical on Modernism was the sig- 
nal for a visit from Knowles at Archbishop's House to ask for 

* Ibid., page 67. 



TEN PERSONAL STUDIES [Nov., 

an article giving the most authentic Catholic interpretation 
of the document. What a glaring contrast to the ignorant un- 
fairness to which English Catholics had long been subjected ! 

Very attractive is Mr. Ward's sketch of Father Ignatius 
Ryder, who succeeded Newman as Superior of the Birmingham 
Oratory. His was a character of unique beauty, his intellect 
was refined and his ideals lofty, while his poetical abilities 
were quite exceptionally great. Never did I meet any man 
more kind in his judgments of others, or more ingenious in 
finding out the gold in their natures and distinguishing it from 
the alloy. Indeed a larger-minded man never breathed. It 
became an interesting study with his friends to see what ex- 
cuse or explanation he would find for some wrong-doer. I 
well remember the case of a man whose sufferings were so 
terrible that they wrung from him Catholic as he was mur- 
murs and even outcries of impatience, which betokened any- 
thing rather than resignation to the will of God. "Do not 
be too much distressed," said Father Ryder to a near relation 
of the sufferer, " God knows how to make allowance for the 
acuteness of his pains. He understands that a man may be 
quite willing to undergo death without being in love with his 
executioner." The metaphor, if incomplete, was certainly in- 
genious and not devoid of consolation. 

His gift of metaphor, indeed, was extraordinary ; and, be- 
ing very frequently founded upon some poetical thought, it 
gave his conversation a peculiar richness and charm. There 
were times when he almost seemed to think in parable, and 
his metaphors were equally striking whether they were deep 
and poetical or witty and humorous. Indeed the extraordin- 
ary readiness with which he would see some parallel to a 
passing event was sometimes almost embarrassing, especially 
when practical business was in hand. But this power, like 
every one of his gifts, he used not only for the glory of God 
but for the benefit of his neighbor. 

Father Ryder was a poet to the backbone, and had his 
time not been taken up with his priestly duties and his 
polemical writings, he could not have failed to win lasting 
fame as one of England's leading poets. He did indeed pub- 
lish, in 1882, a volume of poems, many of which rank with 
the most exquisite in the language. Mr. Ward gives us a few 
welcome specimens, but these only quicken one's regret that 



1909.] TEN PERSONAL STUDIES 

this priceless volume should have been allowed to go out of 
print. A metaphor of his, uttered many years ago, has dwelt 
in my memory on account of its completeness and beauty. 
His youngest sister, to whom he was deeply attached, died 
suddenly in India, in 1877. Her letters, written in the vigor 
of health and youth, kept dropping in by the mails which the 
cruel brevity of the telegraph had long outstripped. " These 
letters," remarked Father Ignatius sadly, "are like the light 
from some beautiful star which is long ago extinct." 

He was at one time chaplain of the Birmingham gaol, and 
many a curious anecdote he had to tell of his experiences in 
that capacity. One of these related to a house-painter who 
occasionally gave way to drink. Over and over again had 
Father Ryder exhorted him to give up the habit, but each 
period of abstinence would be followed by a fresh fall. One 
day Father Ryder received a hasty summons to the prison, 
and there in the infirmary he found the poor man lying griev- 
ously injured. The prison authorities had employed him to 
paint the railing at the top of a wall, the job needed a clear 
head, which was exactly what he had not at the moment. He 
fell off the ladder and was shockingly injured by being im- 
paled on some iron spikes. In his agony the man kept con- 
tinually repeating the words: " He was bound to do it, Father, 
He was bound to do it" At first Father Ryder thought he 
was delirious, but presently he understood the meaning of the 
strange words. " You told me, Father, not to drink, and I 
would not listen. Then God had to punish me like this. 
Yes, Father, He was bound to do it." Father Ryder would 
add, as he told the story, " I feel, if I am not more faithful 
to God, He will have to throw me upon iron spikes ! " 

A little incident connected with his chaplaincy of the Bir- 
mingham Workhouse, which he told me himself, is too beauti- 
ful to be omitted. He had as usual visited all the wards of 
the infirmary in which there were any Catholic patients, and 
he was on the point of leaving, when one of the nurses told 
him that in the children's ward was a little Catholic boy who 
was suffering from a tumor in the cheek. He was only six 
years old and had not received any instruction about the 
Sacraments. Father Ryder, therefore, intended, on that occa- 
sion, only to say a few kind words and give him a blessing. 
" Would you like to go to heaven," he asked, after a short 



200 TEN PERSONAL STUDIES [Nov., 

conversation. "Yes, Father"; replied the little fellow, "but 
I had rather get well and go to school ! " Father Ryder had 
with him a relic of St. Philip Neri. With this he very gently 
touched the wound which had perforated the cheek and left 
the teeth visible. At the same time he pronounced a blessing. 

A few days later he again visited the Workhouse. To his 
surprise the nurse asked him what he had done to the little 
boy. Father Ryder related all that had passed. " Well," said 
the nurse, "it is very strange. Soon after you left I visited 
the child and found him sleeping peacefully for the first time 
since he came here, and the doctor says that the wound is 
healing quite nicely, and that he is entirely out of danger." 
Father Ryder told me that he had not even thought of asking 
for any miracle. He had merely wished to give the boy St. 
Philip's blessing. 

It is as a controversialist that Father Ryder is best known, 
and his name will be immortalized in Catholic literature by his 
admirable brochure called Catholic Controversy. The notorious 
clergyman, Dr. Littledale, had, in 1882, published a small, easily 
carried book entitled, Plain Reasons Against Joining the Church 
of Rome. In it he had collected together and printed every 
possible accusation he could lay his hand to against the 
Church of God. These accusations and calumnies he had 
huddled, without any particular method or order, into a neat 
volume, and this was sold for a shilling under the auspices 
of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 

It is easy to imagine the difficulty of compressing into a 
volume of similar size, and at an equally low price, a complete 
and telling answer to each and every one of Littledale's calum- 
nies. A fool can ask questions in a few words, and in a few 
words an unscrupulous man can level charges, which a wise and 
honorable man can neither reply to nor refute in many words. 
It may safely be said that no other writer, in so narrow a com- 
pass, could have triumphantly disposed of Littledale and have 
pulverized his falsehoods in the crisp, neat, and telling way in 
which Father Ignatius achieved that feat. His mode of treat- 
ment, too, was charmingly light in hand. While absolutely 
miking mince-meat of his opponent, he all the while did so 
with the thrust of the rapier not with the clumsy blows of the 
bludgeon; and his crushing refutations were constantly en- 
livened by keen sallies of irony and humor. In one passage 



1909.] TEN PERSONAL STUDIES 201 

of grave rebuke Father Ryder writes: "If Dr. Littledale is 
an honest man, has he no friends to tell him that he is not 
doing himself justice ?" 

That Catholic Controversy was regarded as a formidable op- 
ponent by the Ritualist party was exemplified by a little per- 
sonal experience of my own. Some years ago I was the guest 
of a Ritualist lady, the wife of a clergyman. In the drawing, 
room, one day, I picked up Littledale's book. "Ah! read 
that," exclaimed my hostess, with a tone of triumph. " You'll 
learn something if you do." "Yes"; I replied, "I'll read it 
willingly, if you will promise to read Father Ryder's answer 
to it." "Indeed I won't," replied the lady, "I will not allow 
it in the house!" From her own point of view she was wise, 
seeing that Father Ryder's book has been the means of effect- 
ing many conversions. One of the most noted of these was 
the case of a gentleman who occupied a distinguished position 
HI the medical profession in Birmingham. Some one had given 
him Littledale's book, and shortly afterwards he came across 
Father Ryder's reply. As he compared the volumes, he said 
to himself: "One or other of these writers must be a con- 
founded liar ! " He then set to work to find out which it was. 
Happily he had access to an excellent library; and this and his 
clear head very soon showed him which of the two deserved 
the opprobrious epithet. In due course he was received into 
the Church and is now one of our most prominent men. 

But long before the Littledale controversy, Father Ryder 
had made his name in the world of theological literature. In 
1867 and the years that preceded and followed it, Catholic 
opinion was much divided on certain questions. The very ex- 
treme views of William George Ward and his masterly essays 
in the Dublin Review, had made him the leader and champion 
of what was known as the Ultramontane school. Ryder pub- 
lished a pamphlet on Idealism in Theology, which caused much 
sensation at the time. In those days Dr. Ward's side was the 
popular one, and by many outside the Birmingham diocese 
Father Ignatius Ryder was looked upon as hardly orthodox. 
This was how Newman himself was regarded in some quarters, 
and many thought that the pamphlet was really his work. So 
far, however, was this from being the case, that when Father 
Ignatius asked his advice on certain points, Newman refused 
to give it, saying that such matters were not in his line. The 



202 TEN PERSONAL STUDIES [Nov., 

result was that Ryder had to take a journey in mid-winter to 
Adare, in County Limerick, to consult Father Flanagan, who 
had formerly been an Oratorian, and with whom he had read 
theology. Newman contented himself with simply approving 
the line that Ryder took. A book, or rather a pamphlet, was 
published about this time by Father Knox, of the London 
Oratory, on Infallibility, which was considered to be a correc- 
tion of the " minimising doctrines of Newman's school." For 
this the author received the Doctor's Cap, honoris causa. 
Time, however, has its revenges, for under Leo XIII. Newman 
was made a Cardinal, and Father Ignatius Ryder, who suc- 
ceeded him as Superior in 1890, was made a Doctor of Di- 
vinity specially on account of the soundness of his doctrines. 

A few years after the controversy with Ward, the unhappy 
Ffoulkes, who had joined the Catholic Church and returned to 
Anglicanism, wrote a pamphlet, in which he attacked both 
Newman and Manning. Ryder replied in a critique, which es- 
tablished his reputation not only for ability but for orthodoxy, 
for this time he was defending Manning as well as Newman. 
So delighted was Ward with this pamphlet that with his habit- 
ually chivalrous impetuosity, he wrote to Father Ignatius, of- 
fering to hand over to him everything that concerned Patristic 
teaching in the Dublin Review. This offer, much as he appre- 
ciated it, Father Ryder did not see his way to accept. It is 
pleasant to know that, during what seemed a bitter contro- 
versy, there was also between Ward and Ryder a private in- 
terchange of letters of a cordial and friendly character, and 
Ryder was amazed to find the real W. G. Ward, "as shown in 
his letters, so unlike the embodiment of relentless logic and 
dogmatic positiveness which his theological articles had made 
him appear." In a letter to Ward he wrote : " You must allow 
me to thank you publicly for what the public does not know 
the chivalrous good humor of your private letters to one 
who was publicly your foe." 

And even before the close of the controversy, we find 
Ryder writing playfully to Ward on the expense of publishing 
theological pamphlets : " I wonder whether a rejoinder in verse 
would sell, entitled, we will say : ' Ward's Reformation in Six 
Cantos ; * or, Pighius Redivivus ! ' " And when Ward communi- 
cated his intention of giving a very brief summary of the con- 

* This refers to a once well-known book, Ward's Cantos on the Reformation. 



1909.] TEN PERSONAL STUDIES 203 

troversy at its close, Ryder writes, under date May 17, 1868: 
''It relieves me to hear that your summary will be so short. 
As to its probable effect on me, I can only say that I hope we 
shall be able to swallow and be swallowed after our kind good- 
humoredly, like the excellent little fishes in Ethel's ' Book of 
Angels.' " 

Father Ryder's feelings on succeeding Newman as Superior 
of the Oratory, were playfully expressed in a letter to his 
brother, Sir George Lisle Ryder : " I feel," he wrote, " like a 
rat which has climbed up into the master's arm-chair." Writ- 
ing to Mr. Wilfrid Ward, he says : " My troubles are mainly as 
yet in anticipation. At present I am sensible of a mild grati- 
fication at having been so far thought well of, abstracting al- 
together from the consideration of. my deserts. I have hitherto 
been a more or less somnolent inside passenger, and a coach- 
man's seat seems very strange to me. I need all the prayers 
my friends can spare." 

Needless to say Mr. Wilfrid Ward is a keen admirer of 
Father Ryder, whose guest he frequently was at the Oratory. 
It was during one of these visits, and when Ryder was listening 
to his guest's singing, that he was taken ill with his first stroke 
of paralysis. 

It had been his prayer that he might die before age and 
illness had clouded his mind or impaired his faculties. But 
God willed otherwise, and his closing years were full of pathos 
to his friends and of suffering to himself. For six years, in- 
deed, bis life was a slow martyrdom, sweetened only by the 
supernatural help of religion and by the affectionate care of his 
brother Oratorians. On the 7th of October, 1907, the end came. 

It is clearly impossible, in the limits of a single article, to 
convey a just and adequate idea of a volume so full of inter- 
esting matter as that of Mr. Ward. The Essays on Professor 
Sidgwick, the late Lord Lytton, and Grant Duff, would by 
themselves need at least one article for their full analysis. 
With regard to those dealing with Pope Leo XIII., "the Gen- 
ius of Cardinal Wiseman," and with Cardinals Newman and 
Manning, I hope to be able to treat them in a future article. 
Of Wiseman, Mr. Ward, as his biographer, has a special right 
to speak. The paper in this volume was originally delivered 
as an address at Ushaw College on the occasion of the Cen- 
tenary Celebration, in July, 1908. 




ON CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS. 

BY LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY. 

\N the July number of St. John's Quarterly (Syra- 
cuse, New York), there was an able, animated, 
rather bitter article by the Rev. John Talbot 
Smith, LL.D. Such a strong, melancholy indict- 
ment of the Catholic public in our country, and 
their editors and publishers, coming as it does from one of our 
most thoughtful pens, challenges attention, and plays upon a great 
many memories, present problems, and forecasts. For much of 
what is said in those thorough-going pages about " the appall- 
ing indifference of the Catholic crowd," and "the helplessness 
of the Catholic press," is lamentably true. Much else is largely 
fallacious. Right protests against existing conditions are based 
on false premisses. And the generalizations are hasty : the 
prisoners of war are shot, as it were, in platoons. 

The article is entitled : " The Young Catholic Writer." It 
hinges upon an inquiry supposed to be raised by a young 
man of excellent dispositions, and of no mercenary spirit. He 
is quite willing, in Lacordaire's apostolic phrase, to "crucify 
himself to his pen." But in that world of Catholic interests 
which he longs to serve, he finds, quickly and convincingly, 
that he is not wanted. In plain, forth- right speech, not woven 
altogether of exaggerations, Father Talbot Smith gives us the 
exegesis of his imaginary correspondent : 

In taking up the art of literary expression, and in giving 
form to his Catholic emotions and speculations, the young 
man took it for granted that the Catholic millions in the 
United States own a press equal to their needs, their num- 
bers, and their importance. He had enough acquaintance 
with the secular press to know its extent and character. 
Probably he knew that no human engine has ever served 
error so well as the printed word, and naturally he supposed 
that truth would employ it as effectively ; therefore, he 
looked for a battalion of capable weeklies, monthlies, and 
quarterlies, perhaps a few dailies, too, and half a hundred 



1909.] CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS 205 

publishers, all overworked in supplying the demands of 
18,000,000 Catholics in the American world. What did he 
find ? Numerous Catholic publications of little consequence ; 
a few eminent magazines; small demand for contributed arti- 
cles ; little or no pay for the same ; publishers not many, 
trying to get books for next to 'nothing, oftenest for nothing ; 
the writers of the past unknown to fame ; the writers of the 
present without honor or emolument ; and among the Catho- 
lic millions, high and low, clergy and laity, intellectual and 
simple, a grand indifference to the Catholic press at home 
and abroad. 

The tacit assumption here is that we Catholics in the United 
States ought to be, but are not, an intellectual and a zealous 
body; also that we ought to have, but have not, co-ordination, 
close-knit clannishness, and a sort of racial faculty for " march- 
in' forrard in order." Some patience seems called for, even 
when our alleged eighteen millions are shaved down, for practi- 
cal purposes, to ten. Of these, many are hard- worked, or foreign, 
or uninstructed, or isolated from their co-religionists; few are 
leisurely enough, educated enough, earnest- minded enough, to 
read anything but the news of the day. The comparatively 
small class with opportunities and dollars is less, not more, 
Catholic than the poor. The American Catholic, like the vast 
bulk of his Protestant compatriots, is in a chronic tearing hurry. 
People read, if they read at all, only light magazines and vapid 
novels : and he well, he is people ! He fails to read Catho- 
lic books, not because these are Catholic, but because they 
are likely to stir up serious thoughts, and are by that token a 
bore. We are all external, superficial, in this brilliant semi- 
civilization of ours: we fight shy of solid religious literature, not 
as Catholics but as Americans. Our general line of action in 
such matters pinches most our own ecclesiastical body, securing 
oblique and unlovely results. Contemporary domestic promise 
is exiled, or perishes in the seed ; inspirations turn trite and 
dwindle; and our entire output in the arts (with some very 
notable exceptions) continues quite imperturbably sixth- rate. 

Father Talbot Smith gives us not only hard knocks, but 
generous reproaches. We, and our neighbors too, thanks to 
us, are accused of culpable forgetfulness of divers men and 
women of real worth who have unselfishly labored in the home 
harvest-fields. But here again his inferences seem to go astray 



2o6 CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS [Nov., 

a bit. George Miles is not less known than he ought to be 
because he was a Catholic, but because he was a scholarly 
minor poet: the multitude, even when blessed with the true 
faith, do not browse on poetry, unless, like Mr. Kipling's, it has 
plenty of catnip in it. Dr. Gilmary Shea is somewhat over- 
looked not because he was a Catholic, but because he was an 
historian ; and in no generation is history, except history of 
great romance, like Froude's or Lamartine's, much run after. 
Dr. Brownson's star looks dim along the modern horizon not 
because he was a Catholic, but because he wrote on the deep- 
est subjects which can, but do not, engage the mind of lazy 
man. Moreover, unlike Coleridge or Pascal, he has no fullness 
of literary charm, no essence of a master style to embalm and 
preserve his thoughts for the ages. Father Talbot Smith la- 
ments that these good Catholics, dedicated exponents of Catholic 
themes, are dead and ignored ; and he notes that other good 
Catholics, conspicuously knights-at-large, and by no means al- 
ways Haunting the denominational badge, are popular, and own 
a bank- account. He cites Mr. Max Pemberton and our late 
much-lamented Mr. F. Marion Crawford. Did these gentle- 
men owe their vogue to some convenient suppression of their 
Catholic ideals? Far from it: they owe their vogue to the 
simple but nutritious fact that they wrote fiction. Surely Father 
Talbot Smith knows that fiction only is what the illiberal 
general public now wants and pays for ? And the plain truth 
is that it does often read and relish Catholic novelists with a 
style. It has unaccountably passed over Miss Tincker: but 
her day will come. It has smiled, to the tune of many editions, 
for instance, on M. Rene Bazin, and on Mr. Henry Harland 
before, and notably since, his death. These craftsmen, open 
exponents of the ancient faith, are immensely interesting to the 
world and his wife. Allow that Bazin and Harland are read 
by more Protestants than Catholics. Is that to be deplored? 
It all comes to the same desired issue in the end : the diffusion 
of appetite for things Catholic. Fiction the medium, Catholic 
authors in the secular field the agents, bring about gradually 
that mood in which the Boston cabman of Mr. Matthew Ar- 
nold's admiration shall sit at his stand reading Newman instead 
of Herbert Spencer. 

Writers, Jew or Gentile, possess, not infrequently, a very 
great fund of natural reserve. Their business is expression, 



1909.] CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS 207 

with thinking as the sub-structure of expression; they must 
learn to express themselves clearly, however difficult that game 
may be to some individuals. A true Catholic's thoughts go far, 
and of necessity "step grandly out into the infinite/' as others 
need not do. Notably is this true of Catholic poets and liter- 
ary artists. But a genius like Coventry Patmore, permeated 
by mystical theology, cannot (nor can Francis Thompson after 
him) talk like a popular prayer book, in expletives and en- 
dearments, of holy things. A Catholic literary beginner, un- 
less he is so fortunate as to have inherited a promiscuous Cel- 
tic or Latin fluency, is seldom ready at twenty, nor always 
ready at thirty, to speak out from his deepest heart. Until he 
is ready, he will try his hand as any one else might do, and 
with spontaneous ease and blamelessness, on nihil ad rem: he 
will put forth idyls of October, or perhaps little treatises on the 
diaphragm of bats. Almost in exact proportion to his genius, 
or lack of it, will be this instinctive by-play. Meanwhile, if 
his inward ripening progresses, the time will come when he 
may dare write down some adoring thought, and even print his 
words where sympathetic eyes may fall upon them. He has 
been long and largely silent about religion, as he is silent about 
all very intimate and personal things. 

To veil one's faith from natural shyness of the spirit is one 
thing; and to hide it from policy is quite another. Yet to hide 
it from policy is exactly what Father Talbot Smith recom- 
mends, in a remarkable passage, to his Young Writer. (One 
seems to catch all along and between the lines of this singu- 
lar plea the accent of that worthy economist about to be con- 
victed of larceny in the Paris courts : " Mais il faut vivre / " 
and twined with it, the Judge's charming, cold-blooded answer: 
" Je n'en vois pas la ne'cessite." Thus, after due consideration, 
and with no lack of honorable intent, Father Talbot Smith 
offers his advice. 



the young Catholic writer . . . enter the secular 
arena, write for the multitude, win a place and an income, 
and use both later on for the cause which lies next his heart. 
It is regrettable that in adopting this tactic religion must for 
the time be laid aside. Publishers and their readers of manu- 
scripts have a feeling against writers known to be Catholic, 
and it takes but a trifle often to decide against a meritorious 
book. Critics also have the same prejudice. Secular editors 



2o8 CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS [Nov., 

refuse recognition to Catholic writers almost by instinct. The 
young writer must keep the fact of his faith in the background 
until he has won his place in public favor. His books must 
be as indifferent in tone as if an indifferentist wrote them. He 
must avoid all Catholic gatherings, associations, and move- 
ments. His voice should never be heard in protest against 
French persecution, army vandalism in the Philippines, 
neglect of the Catholic Indians, and similar matters. 

This self- suppression may seem cowardly as well as dis- 
tasteful. But is it not made necessary by the conditions? 
The young writer must write, get an audience, hold a pub- 
lisher, increase in power, influence, and usefulness, if he is to 
be a writer at all. In the Catholic household he can get none 
of these things. There is but a shadow of a Catholic press, 
which does not require his services ; the Catholic publishers 
can do nothing for him, because they have slight relationships 
with the Catholic body ; the grand majority of Catholic read- 
ers will not read his books ; but they will read them when the 
secular world has recognized his work and paid for it* . . . 
Catholic authors are not bound lo write books for people who 
do not read them. Let our young writer conceal his faith for 
a time from publishers and public, shut off all expression of 
it in his books, and win his place as a " nothingarian." This 
may sound like irony. That does not hinder it from being 
the soundest sense. It is the conditions that are ironical, 
ridiculous, since they force a capable writer to empty his faith 
from his writings in order to get the regard of the very people 
who profess that faith. But anything is possible in our con- 
ditions, and the ridiculous seems to be the grass of some 
American conditions. . . . The young Catholic writer to 
whom this advice is being given would know how to use his 
opportunity when it came. Secure of his public, who care 
nothing about the faith of the man who pleases them, indif- 
ferent to the hostility of publishers' readers, sure of the critics 
because his publisher advertises largely, strong in friends 
among the journalists and clubs, at home and abroad, he 
would be at last free to express, like Huysmans, the inmost 
emotions of a religious nature, and to send out Catholic books 
of artistic worth. He could appear before Catholic colleges 
and societies, in the parlors of the Catholic 61ite, and lecture 
on the proper topics ; he might even gather together the 
obscure writers of the Catholic scribbling, editing, and print- 
ing circle, honor them with the right hand of fellowship, de- 

* Italics in original text. 



1909.] CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS 209 

scribe his method and his experience, and call to them the at- 
tention of the bishops, clergy, and laity who have not the 
honor of their acquaintance. His name might help to build 
up the Catholic Press. He could afford to write for charity, 
and could send out a syndicate letter at intervals to be printed 
in all the Catholic journals. He would have the entr6e into 
all the leading Catholic publications at the usual rates, and 
his name would help their subscription list. On all Catholic 
questions of moment he would be consulted by the secular 
press, which always looks to the stars for direction in educa- 
ting the people. 

What acrobatic ethics are these, of de-Catholicizing and re- 
Catholicizing ? Many are the occasions, in magazines and else- 
where, when it would be absurd for a Catholic to parade his 
creed. But pass as a "nothingarian " he cannot. We live in a 
day of feverish moral wakefulness: every cult and quasi-cult 
on earth has its voluble recruits and flapping guidons, over- 
heard and overseen at odd moments in the most unexpected 
places. Amid this scrimmage of the raw, the untried, the 
partial, the ignorant, the fantastic, there is always room for 
that ancient watchword, and that unmistakable oriflamme, of 
" JHESU MARIA!" and if it be not forthcoming, everybody 
knows by instinct the man who ought to utter or to carry it. 
Fifty years ago the most genteel of sects was non-sectarianism; 
but non-sectarianism, in this psychic twentieth century, is " noe 
Religion for a Gentilman." We have learned not only to live 
and let live, but even to like idiosyncracies and contrarieties. 
The thing which this cynical planet now respects most and en- 
joys most, is the individual with a label. Few humanists could 
better the morality of Mr. Gilbert's operatic stave: 

"Whatever you are, be that; 
Whatever you say, say true ! 
Straightforwardly act: 

In fact, 
Be nobody else but you ! " 

But if the Young Writer wishes, like the poor puppy on the 
long weary journey taken all by himself in the baggage-car, to 
eat his label, and to become a citizen at large, traveling towards 

VOL. XC, 14 



210 CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS [Nov., 

no known destination, he is going to have a hard time of it. 
His wits, which should be employed on their proper work at 
his desk, will be terribly taxed with divers metaphysical prob- 
lems. For instance, "he must avoid all Catholic gatherings": 
this is singularly pleasant advice to most scribblers, who have 
preferred ere now to herd alone, and to develop the most 
cruel spite against confraternity picnics. Unfortunately, Sun- 
day Mass itself is a " Catholic gathering," and quite often 
a hot, ill-ventilated, crowded, inelegant one I It is obvious 
that Father Talbot Smith does not intend any deduction from 
his words such as might be drawn in this instance. But think 
of the quandary in the mind of a very literal literary lamb! 
In fact, the business bristles with practical difficulties. How is 
one, for the time being, to seem a little less Catholic without 
being so ? Where letter and spirit are absolutely inblended, 
who can safely negotiate that brief duration and small sub- 
traction ? Who can feel sure that his integrity has not been 
touched thereby to the quick ? There is a beautiful new plastic 
material with a misleading name: marble cement. In working 
it, coloring and moulding are virtually one process; it takes 
its hue throughout before it hardens, and cannot take it at all 
afterwards, as other surfaces do. To attempt to modify the 
red or the green of a marble cement bas-relief is therefore to 
ruin i-t, and miss your object as well. There are some anal- 
ogies here for the baptized children of the Great Mother. To 
minimize, without some reason of duty or charity, the mani- 
festation of one's religion shows, no doubt, an accommodating 
spirit, but, much more surely, it shows sheer helpless ill-breed- 
ing. To conceal one's religion of malice prepense, and try to 
look blank over it, like Laban's daughter sitting on the im- 
ages in the tent, is, at best, dismally silly. Let the Young 
Writer, if he be not open to deeper arguments, ponder on the 
uninteresting nature of his manoeuvres. 

Our literary production, such as it is, does deserve a far 
better market, as our Bishops are always saying. But one's 
thoughts go leaping past that desirability, to some final Utopia 
where Catholics might bear themselves so ably and uncom- 
promisingly and perseveringly in the cosmic world of letters, 
that special publishers, or a special press, except for our little 
ones, need hardly exist. To leaven the American mass is, after 
all, their ideal : it will scarcely get done by means of too much 



1909.] CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS 211 

tribal seclusion. That has never been the policy of "imper- 
ial thinkers." So far, so good. The trouble with Father 
Talbot Smith's selfish explorer is that he will profit abso- 
lutely nothing either those among whom he sojourns, nor 
those to whom, in time, he chooses to return. He has been 
so busy in making a living, that, in the words of a noble 
publicist now dead, he has missed making a life. Suppose 
the dramatic attitude recommended has been quite success- 
fully struck for a year, or for a number of years, and that 
the Young Writer has triumphantly passed for what he is 
not. What then ? For so merry a dance on the village 
green, is there in truth no ghostly piper to pay ? no smirch 
and wryness and decay fastened upon character by deliberate 
insincerity ? Is mental obliquity so easily redeemed ? does the 
spring, the resiliency of human nature, remain so unimpaired 
after compression and disuse, that the youth who washed his 
hands of his holiest associations, and became a sorry separatist 
for a consideration, is free to arise at forty as a sudden tower 
of strength to the Catholicism of his country ? I trow not. 
The worst of making a god of " Getting On " is that it is such 
a desperately tanglefoot business. Snarled up with it once is 
to stick in it for good ; and, ten to one, there shall be no 
other gods before you for evermore, than that grinning idol 
which you once set up as a temporary makeshift. Conven- 
ience, expediency, is well enough in the application of prin- 
ciples, but it is the very devil in the place of principle. Con- 
sciences have a sorry trick of becoming atrophied. When it 
seems agreeable to avow one's suppressed convictions, the 
power to do so effectively is clean gone. Spiritual death has 
somehow intervened. The Young Writer's one little trick will 
have been the end of soundness in his moral nature, and it 
will infallibly be the end of soundness in his art. Says Ruskin 
in his earnest way : " No right style was ever founded save 
out of a sincere heart." It is a vexatious fact, and a long- 
established one, that conduct and craftsmanship will insist on 
meddling so with each other ! 

Father Talbot Smith is not blind to the possible conse- 
quences and corollaries of his followed-out counsel. He even 
queries the likelihood of a full recovery of influence after the 
course of secrecy pursued, but fortifies himself and the Young 
Writer by citing the well-known instances of M. Bourget and 



212 CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS [Nov., 

M. Coppee, men who won their spurs as agnostics or latitu- 
dinarians, and afterwards stood forth efficiently as confessed 
Catholics, most helpful to the brow-beaten Church of contem- 
porary France. Unluckily, this deduction, too, has nothing to 
stand on. MM. Bourget and Coppee were indeed born of 
Catholic parents, but they fell away almost in infancy from 
any and every Christian practice, and sloughed off all that as so 
much hindrance, discomfort, bother, foolishness, and what not: 
so that throughout their literary careers they are not to be 
considered as victorious jailers of the faith that was in them, 
but as settled pagans, expressing only their unhampered art. 
Later, the grace of God found them both, as it has found so 
many notable French wits of our generation. Poet and novel- 
ist both responded promptly and loyally, and turned away 
from their admired toys, from " those gay things that are not 
Thine." The public which had sustained them in earlier van- 
ities saw them pledge their practical services to the cause of 
Christ's Kingdom. There is no duplicity of any kind in their 
story, nor in Huysmans', no wilful lying low and pre-arranged 
popping up again, such as may seem feasible to dreaming neo- 
phytes who might be influenced by this article in St. John's 
Quarterly. 

The moment for the Young Writer's despair of succeeding 
as a Catholic is singularly ill-chosen. In the English- speaking 
world his prospects (those precious prospects !) should be sin- 
gularly bright. The tone of our lesser American Catholic 
publications is coming up visibly; and with the tone, let us 
hope, the pay. The new reviews and other cognate enterprises 
and foundations are of the best. Secular magazines, notably 
those published in England, are more hospitable than ever 
before to our scholars and apologists. Most significant of all, 
those non-Catholics who are pleased to occupy themselves with 
the direct or indirect defence of Catholic ideals, are every- 
where bought and read. Dr. Gairdner is waging a mighty war, 
not against but for us, all along the historical horizons of 
the Reformation; Mr. Lang, in the grace of his skirmishing 
surmise and cutting insight, is emphatically our ally ; Mr. 
Chesterton is engagingly presenting the Church to the world 
as the most romantically endearing of its paradoxes ; Mr. 
Mallock (as nakedly logical a genius as his long-dead uncle, 
Newman's beloved Hurrell Froude), is taking care of our cause 



1909.] CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS 213 

in the teeth of socialism and other fallacies; and the Rev. 
Spencer Jones is putting in the best eirenic work of its kind 
ever planned by any man speaking our tongue, in building up 
what the Holy Father calls " a union of minds in truth, and 
of hearts in charity." Truly, Catholicism is being well- received, 
as we say ! 

The sober truth is, that there will be very soon, at this rate, 
such a public, such a press, that the Young Writer may reasona- 
bly fear that he cannot keep pace with them. What they will in- 
fallibly require of him is quality, quality, and yet again quality. 
Let that neglected genius, with his Jittle provincial grievances, 
tighten his string and heighten his spring board. He is needed^ 
he is looked for, he will be crowned and feasted ; but his running 
high jump must first be a record-breaker. Perhaps there are 
in our country too many Young Writers for the rather un- 
literary situation. Some weeding might be desirable. Writing 
is something more than a pastime or even a profession: it is 
a terribly responsible vocation, and should have its dissuasive 
or corroborative noviciates, slow, severe, with endless fasts* 
vigils, and penances, and confession of faults in chapter. 
Much failure due to hopeless mediocrity has been looked upon^ 
in parochial circles, as martyrdom imposed upon budding 
talent plus virtue. Many are our would-be celebrities, many 
the boastings which have buzzed around them. Fewer pens^ 
and better, would perhaps cheer things along. It is not we 
Catholics of vast America who are manning the yards nor 
driving the engines of our own great new venture, the Ency- 
clopedia. We cannot blink the fact that we have hardly any 
trained craftsmen in prose, or verse, and not many learned 
specialists. Our highlands have no peaks : but, wait ! We are 
only at the end of our glacial period : the peaks are already 
grumbling and rising. 

The remedy for our too low intellectual status in this coun- 
try lies in our own hands. One obvious way of inoculating the 
acknowledged sluggishness of our unawakened multitudes is even 
now quietly being tried in several high quarters, and is bound to 
have immense results. It is to amalgamate as closely as circum- 
stances will permit, amalgamate organically and commercially, 
with those brethren of ours over sea whose language and laws 
we share: the Catholics of Great Britain. Doubtless it may re- 
quire some humility on our part to perceive and admit how un- 



214 CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS [Nov., 

conscionably far ahead of us they are, all along the line. Very 
desirable for ourselves would it be to acquire such standards, 
such traditions, such leaderships, such general ethical intelli- 
gence. They also have another asset worth all these. No 
American priest or layman who has ever lived with them, 
known them at home, will gainsay it that they can teach us 
something of simplicity and loyalty; of fearless thoroughness 
in the practice of our common religion, and passionate enthusi- 
asm for it. They write as they do because they live as they 
do. Their progress is greater than ours, because they are a 
more spiritual society. When will our men, especially our 
young men of the Universities and the professions, generate 
among our eighteen millions aforesaid a Catholic spirit equal 
to theirs in England ? We shall hear no more in that day of 
subterfuges recommended to the Young Writer and imagined as 
sadly necessary. 

Meanwhile, if Catholics, now and here, in the secular world, 
are indeed "shut off from the ordinary privileges," and if the 
cold shoulder is habitually given to professedly Catholic books 
in the great reviews, the reform of such conditions, again, 
depends solely upon ourselves. Consider: what should 7 he 
Nation, for instance, do with some little new Life of Saint 
Aloysius, save sputter and eye it darkly ? The reviews of the 
United States are not conspicuously religious- minded, since 
their average reader is not so. And even where they are re- 
ligious-minded, let it be confessed that we Papists are horned 
fish to handle. Some of us exact that everybody must not 
only respect, but read, our " little language," and accept as a 
commonplace of modern life our very arcana. Why should 
some nice, comfortable, mundane clientele be expected to swal- 
low off-hand the disturbing, ruthless supernaturalism, or the 
dogmatic caviare of Catholicism. Such a demand is nothing 
short of potential tyranny. " Let the Young Catholic Writer 
enter the secular arena," by all means. Let him, in Crashaw's 
phrase, " strike for the pure intelligential prey," and see to 
what heights, professing to be just what he is, he can rise. 
Let him make of himself the strongest bridge he can, to con- 
nect his own castellated lands with the smoky cities beyond 
Jordan. In the day when a cultivated reviewer, who is also 
a genuine Catholic, comes as by right to the editorial synods 
of The Nation, and when the Catholic public subscribe in their 



1909.] CATHOLIC WRITERS AND THEIR HANDICAPS 215 

thousands for that best of our national weeklies in that day 
even the pious new Life of Saint Aloysius will get its dues. 
If it, being a worthy piece of hagiology, would lack those dues 
now, is that because The Nation is a hog? Surely not: is it 
not obvious that the book would be wholly irrelevant in that 
atmosphere ? Great books, as we know, have a rude fashion 
of forcing their way everywhere. Middle-class books, the over- 
whelming majority, must run their chances ; and if the ethos of 
these be also distinctively Catholic, they must not, in fairness, 
look for such a welcome as they might get if ours were a 
country Catholic from shore to shore. What we want from 
our writers is a harvest of great books : productions so lofty 
and masterful that there can be no debate about their recep- 
tion. As no one of us has yet produced a really great book, 
it is, perhaps, too soon to complain of the cold world's chill- 
ing blight. Moreover, we cannot, in any case, sweat quite as 
hard as others do, to please the cold world aforesaid : for, 
after all, we do play, as Father Talbot Smith more than once 
indicates, a handicapped game. So long as we are a Peculiar 
People, stick-in-the-muds, irreconcilables, symbolists, with weird 
codes and signals and awkward souls to save, who shall blame 
extremists among our creedless neighbors that they prefer us 
when we have doffed our war-bonnets, and look " nothinga- 
rian " ? The Young Writer must quite accept, as part of his 
future campaign, the ultimate and essential estrangement be- 
tween the faith and the world. " For if ye had been of this 
world, the world would love its own." We all know Who said 
that. 




CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 

BY ALEXANDER MERCIER, O.P. 

JN taking up again the objections* urged against 
the Church, we find that : " Professor Browne 
teaches that the deepest source of religious er- 
ror has been the false naturalism and the false 
supernaturalism which have led to looking for 
God only in manifestations outside of the order of natural 
law." 

I am not very far from agreeing with the learned pro- 
fessor on this point. But I say that the Catholic Church 
never incurred the blame expressed in the sentence just quoted 
from him. She acknowledges two ways of looking for God; 
the order of the natural law, that leads to the God of nature, 
and the order of the manifestations outside and above the 
natural law, that leads to the God of the supernatural. The God 
of nature and the God of the supernatural is one and the same 
God; but the Catholic Church believes that God after creat- 
ing the universe and especially man, after impressing upon 
the natural being of the latter some image of His perfection 
wished to unite Himself to man, and to fit man for a divine 
and infinite happiness; this is what we call the supernatural. 
Thus the Creator, the God of nature, has become also the 
God of the supernatural. 

For the very reason that the Catholic Church warns us 
against false naturalism and false supernaturalism, that is, 
against a confusion of the two orders, she teaches that the 
God of the supernatural must be looked for, and can be found 
only in manifestations outside of the order of natural law. 
Admitting the supernatural either as a fact or as an hypo- 
thesis, this teaching must follow as a necessary conclusion. It 
involves the belief in the interference by God, in the world, in 
human affairs, which is one of the most fundamental beliefs of 
Christianity. 

Yet we are told that "there is probably not an eminent 

* See THE CATHOLIC WORLD for October. 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 217 

philosopher in America who believes that an external God 
ever interfered in human and natural affairs. All the teach- 
ings of Christianity in this respect are repudiated as belittling 
man and making him the puppet and dependent of an irre- 
sponsible Deity." 

The appeal to philosophers rather than to history shows 
the real reason of this disbelief in God's positive interference 
in the world. The facts are not even investigated. The facts 
are denied a priori ; they are neither examined nor discussed. 
Catholic teaching recognizes that the laws of nature are 
supreme in their own sphere ; that they rule cosmic phenom- 
ena. God is their first cause, the underlying principle that 
keeps everything in existence and motion. But His action is 
not discernible from the operations of nature. In this way we 
fully agree with the professors who, throughout the United 
States, teach that God is never absent. 

But if we suppose that to human affairs God wishes to 
add, to graft, a new, a divine order of things; such action will 
require a new interference on His part in the world which 
will be different from His Omnipresence and universal action 
as Creator. The Catholic Church believes that God established 
such a divine order ot things among men, and that God did 
so, not to belittle man and make him the puppet and depend- 
ent of an irresponsible Deity, but to raise him gratuitously 
to a real divine destiny. Because of this most gratuitous munifi- 
cence of God, it belongs to no man to define anything " re- 
garding the activity of God in certain places and at certain 
times." It is a matter of fact, which ought to be investigated 
with fairness and sincerity like other historic problems. 

On the other hand, if this activity of God recorded by the 
sacred books is supernatural and miraculous, we wonder how 
its comparative scarcity, its limitation to places and times, may 
be objected to, by men who are so strongly opposed to any 
and all things miraculous. For, who does not see that if God 
wished to establish the supernatural order on earth, in such a 
way as to alter the natural order to the least extent, He had 
to select certain places and times for such supernatural activ- 
ity ? It was sufficient for the Divine purpose that the record 
of these miraculous facts should be transmitted, like other his- 
torical facts, to the knowledge of mankind in all places and at 
all times. 



2i8 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Nov., 

The selection of a definite place and time when the super- 
natural would make its appearance, depended entirely upon 
the free-will of God. Yet there is nothing contradictory to 
the dogmas of faith in admitting that the preference was given 
by God to places and epochs which were naturally best adapted 
to this purpose; for instance, the most central in space and 
time, etc. It was an old thesis that the history of the ancient 
world had been supernaturally prearranged by the special 
action of God so as duly to prepare the world for the divine 
Advent. This view is still held by some strong-minded and 
renowned scholars. Yet, in the Catholic Church, it is not 
considered at all as a dogma of faith. The opposite view may 
also be held that God, after allowing the destinies of nations 
to follow the natural course of things, selected for the mani- 
festation of the " mystery which had been hid from ages and 
from generations " (Col. i. 26) the most appropriate time in 
history. Nor is it a dogma of our faith that God super- 
naturally interfered in the rise and fall of ancient cities and 
empires. The words of the Holy Scripture remain true from 
the point of view of Catholic orthodoxy, if, on the one hand, 
God is the first cause of the natural laws, so that their re- 
sults are ultimately traceable to Him; and if, on the other 
hand, He had the power and liberty of interfering to avert 
changes, calamities, catastrophes, such as marked the history 
of nations. The statement, therefore, of Professor W. H. 
Lough cannot be proved, " that no ancient cities owed their 
fall, as sacred records tell, to an abandonment of God's tutelary 
care." 

We know that, in the language of the Holy Scriptures, many 
facts and events are attributed to the divine Providence, simply 
because God, being able to prevent them miraculously and 
supernaturally, did not think it good to do so. Professor Lough 
could not adduce any proof (for the case he alluded to) against 
the belief that, but for their lack of "pious inhabitants," Sodom 
and Gomorrah would have been supernaturally saved by God 
from the devastating fire and brimstone, from the effects of 
the volcanic eruption, which, according to the natural laws, 
were to destroy the doomed cities. This is again a matter of 
fact, which can be known only by divine revelation, the af- 
firmation or negation of which is beyond the range of any 
human science. 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 219 

Catholic teaching, well understood, never implied the belief 
" that the Deity can be turned from His purpose by prayer." 
But it does teach that, since God came down to man, God 
would have man pray to Him, converse with Him. 

God at times wills that the events which were to happen 
according to the natural course of things, according to the rules 
of His general Providence, should yield place to others which 
will happen by His supernatural interference. In this there is 
no turning of the Deity from His purpose. It is but the neces- 
sary subordination of one order to the other, of the natural to 
the supernatural. The prayer which obtains and brings about 
such facts was foreseen and prepared from all eternity, as one 
of the necessary causes of what was to happen in time. 

To sum up, in accordance with Catholic teaching, an event 
may be, and is, attributed to God's positive and supernatural 
interference in two ways : either directly, because God acted 
outside the laws of nature ; or indirectly, because God refused, 
stopped, suspended His supernatural intervention, leaving to 
their free course the natural laws and agencies. We wish to 
employ this distinction, in answering the criticism of some of 
the teachers in the colleges against the doctrine of the Church 
concerning evil. "The teaching of the most advanced philoso- 
phers is that the Church's proclaiming that suffering is sent 
into the world to satisfy divine purposes and to chasten and 
to purify the souls of men is monstrous." In the meaning 
aimed at by this particular professor, this statement is not a 
dogma of the Catholic faith. Faith teaches that God raised 
man to a state which excluded, by virtue of a special, super- 
natural favor, all natural evils and sufferings, and that this state 
having been forfeited, mankind became the prey of all the evils 
and sufferings to which it is liable from the laws of nature. 
Such teaching means that God denied to man, because of man's 
unwillingness, those supernatural gifts which would have averted 
these evils; and the evils being thus permitted, or not pre- 
vented, are made serviceable to divine purposes, to the chas- 
tening and purifying of human souls. There is nothing mon- 
strous in this doctrine. 

Among the sacred things which have been conspicuously 
assailed by some of these college professors, are the Ten Com- 
mandments. "The professors deny the authority of Sinai in 
the matter of morals." Professor Giddings does not believe in 



220 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Nov., 

"a miraculously obtained moral code." "It is deemed far 
more valuable to a student to believe that the laws of the 
moral world are not handed down from the dead past, but that 
they perpetually unfold in the life and consciousness of the 
race." 

The Catholic Church does not trace the moral law to Sinai. 
She is most positive in asserting the existence of a natural, 
moral law which " unfolds in the life and consciousness of the 
human race." This law ruled mankind many centuries before 
Sinai. The Ten Commandments, according to Catholic the- 
ology, are the most obvious dictates of the natural law, which 
were endorsed and promulgated by Jehovah when He concluded 
a covenant with Israel. 

All dictates of the natural law have become clauses of the 
new and universal covenant, by which God has made Himself 
the Father, the Friend, the last end, and the happiness of man. 
Man must observe the moral law of his nature ; this is the first 
step in the attainment of the high destiny to which he is 
called. In order to be raised to a participation in God's life 
and beatitude, man must, first of all, be without blame, as far as 
in him lies. Hence the laws of natuie in the moral order 
have become divine and supernatural laws. Yet they do not 
owe to the supernatural either their existence or their intrinsic 
and essential value. They would exist, even if God had never 
spoken, nor revealed Himself to mankind. But because they 
have been supernaturally promulgated and endorsed by God, 
they possess an additional divine value. 

I hardly need to insist on the evident fact that such rais- 
ing of human morals to a divine value does not imperil nor 
lessen their natural value. Thus, even from his own point of 
view, Professor Edward A. Ross, of the University of Wiscon- 
sin, has no need to fear from the Catholic dogma about morals 
and morality the inconvenience he points out that, "albeit beliefs 
are associated with many of the means of control, a type of 
restraint, when it gets inextricably entangled with a particular 
cosmology or theology, when it rests squarely upon some 
dogma, such as the Last Judgment, or the Divine Father- 
hood, or the Unseen Friend, must be regarded askance, how- 
ever transcendant its services. Either the dogma collapses, 
and with it the restraint built upon it, leaving the last state 
of the man worse than the first, or else the dogma, obstinately 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 221 

protected, becomes a stumbling-block to enlightenment, a bar- 
rier to progress, a shelter to superstition, and an offense to 
that intellectual honesty and sincerity which is one of the most 
precious impulses of man. Moral incentives should be anchored 
to lasting granite, such as human nature or the immutable con- 
ditions of associations, not to masses of dogma which the first 
thaw-wind of doubt will melt." 

The thought of the eminent professor is rather complex, 
yet I shall use some of his expressions to show that, accord- 
ing to Catholic doctrine, natural morals are in no way en- 
tangled either with a particular cosmogony, or with any re- 
vealed dogma. It is the raising of human ethics to a super- 
natural and divine dignity and importance that is inextricably 
entangled with the fundamental dogma of God's union with 
man. This dogma gives additional incentives for doing good 
and avoiding evil, but it leaves intact the ones which are "an- 
chored on human nature, or the immutable conditions of asso- 
ciation." These professors are at full liberty to assert the lat- 
ter, and to lay stress on them. The Catholic theologians will 
follow and back their endeavor, as they preceded it long be- 
fore there were any non-Catholic universities and collegemen ; 
for it is noteworthy, that centuries ago the most renowned 
among Catholic theologians used to compose treatises on ethics 
in the form of commentaries on Aristotle's work, in which no 
mention occurs of the revealed dogmas. 

The scope of the Christian religion is the divine life begun 
in a sort of embryonic state on earth to evolve hereafter and 
become eternal life and infinite happiness. The living up to 
the moral law is one of the requisites for preserving this divine 
life, but it is not the only one. I need hardly mention the 
theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. None of these 
seems to be questioned except faith, and the object of faith is 
looked upon as useless dogma. Yet in the hypothesis of the 
supernatural fact, which we have so many times formulated, 
faith is far from being an idle and useless thing ; it is an in- 
trinsic necessity. For how will man play his part in this free 
association of mutual love, between God and himself, if he does 
not know that the possibility of such a love exists ? Or, to use 
almost the very words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the man 
who strives to come near to God, to please Him, who seeks Him, 



222 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Nov., 

must needs know that there is such a God, Who is pleased by 
being thus sought, and Who welcomes the seeker. 

This is the supernatural fact in its most general formula. 
Now this fact, its existence, its extent, form, conditions, etc., 
can only be known by divine revelation and held by divine 
faith. The dreaming of a religion without dogmas, and faith, 
is the ignoring of one of the main essentials of any religion at 
all. The object of religion is not only the worship of the 
Supreme Being: it is also the sanctification of man. The 
Catholic Church believes that the supernatural life, the life of 
grace, which is imparted to the human soul, and gives that 
soul the power to share in the operations of the life of God 
in Himself (obscurely on earth, but with clear vision hereafter), 
is a real life, as real as the natural life of the body, and that 
it is imparted and increased by a positive action of God. 

It is this part of religion that necessarily implies rites and 
ceremonies and Sacraments. None of the rites and ceremon- 
ies with which the Catholic Church professes to be intrusted 
by Christ is a mere act of worship. 

The Catholic Church believes and teaches that the chief 
intent of Christianity is the infusing into human souls of a 
life real and divine. This is wrought by God's invisible action, 
and yet it requires acceptance and co-operation on the part of 
man. Hence the necessity of some signs agreed upon, ex- 
changed between God and man, by which God notifies man 
that He is imparting to him the supernatural life, and man 
expresses his acceptance, his longing for, the divine gift, the 
divine sonship, and the alliance of mutual love which is offered 
to him by his God. Now, unless we suppose an infinite mul- 
tiplication of miracles, there is no other practical way of meet- 
ing that necessity, but the permanent institution by God of 
some rites, with the promise of communicating His divine life 
every time they will be duly performed; and the voluntary 
use of which, by man, will mean his free acceptance of this 
divine life. Thus the multitudes of people the professors are 
speaking of, may, without regarding God as "a stickler for 
etiquette," believe that some external rite or ceremony is a 
necessary condition for salvation, and that only certain persons 
may perform the rite or the ceremony. If salvation means 
birth, a rebirth into a real and divine life, and personal ac- 



1909.] CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE 223 

ceptance of this upon the part of the individual; morever, 
if religion on earth is to be at all a social and public fact, 
then all the whole ritual and all the ceremonial practices of 
the Catholic Church follow as a logical consequence. 

I think that the foregoing explanations sufficiently fulfill our 
purpose. It was not our intent to answer all the statements at- 
tributed to the college professors which conflict with the Catho- 
lic faith ; many of these statements are absolutely gratuitous, or 
do not amount to more than merely personal opinions. Those 
were selected which seemed to afford some foundation to the 
accusations brought against the Church of being " one of the 
leading obstacles in the way of man's spiritual unfolding." 

To put Catholicism in its true light, we have defended it 
systematically and carefully on its own ground the super- 
natural ground. I know that the supernatural is denied more 
often than any other truth to-day. But why ? The super- 
natural is a contingent fact, which can only be known, 
like other contingent facts, by experimental verification. 
Catholic teaching speaks of many supernatural phenomena, 
which prove the presence of the really divine among men. 
The attitude of those who refuse to accept it is a contemptu- 
ous a priorism, the flat denial of the possibility of such phe- 
nomena, the refusal to verify, or discuss even their possible 
existence. 

Yet, would any one who admitted the existence of a per- 
sonal God endowed with intelligence, free-will, doubt that this 
God can and may come down to man, and raise man to Him- 
self ? 

The most fundamental divergence of view between the 
Catholic dogma concerning the supernatural order, its possi- 
bility and its actual existence, and the opposite theories sug- 
gested by these critics, is reducible to a divergence regarding 
the very idea of God. Christianity takes as the very founda- 
tion of its creed, the belief in God Almighty, Creator of heaven 
and earth : that is to say, First Cause, First Maker of the 
visible or invisible creation ; distinct from His work, in some 
way opposite to it, as the active is opposite to the passive, 
the cause to the effect ; the belief in a God Who is a personal 
God, possessing His own individuality, intelligent and free, 
altogether different from the individuality of any creature. 



224 CATHOLICISM IN THE CRUCIBLE [Nov. 

These critics, on the contrary, conceive God as identical 
with the world, especially with mankind. They teach that 
" God is. the soul of man." They mean the natural soul, oi 
course. " The constant, vital, eternal soul of the race." 

The way which leads to the pronouncement of such wild, 
chaotic notions is the denial of the first principles of human 
reason ; of those principles which are, were, and will be uni- 
versally admitted, and appealed to in the practical life; which 
never failed to be confirmed by experience, the disregard of 
which, on the ground of practice and life, would mean destruc- 
tion and suicide. 

Let the professors, if they will, in speculative mood, doubt 
these principles ; fancifully build upon this denial philosophic 
systems, and apply them recklessly to even the most sacred 
and the most vital concerns of life. But I wonder if their con- 
science, their professional sense of duty, absolve them when 
they take advantage of their high standing, of their influence, 
and, without weighing the result, offer mere empty hypotheses 
to the young men and women entrusted to their care. Will 
their conscience absolve them when they rob their pupils of 
the best gifts of time and eternity, and lead their hearers away 
from the divine destiny and happiness for which we were all 
created ? 

(THE END.) 




THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF THE CATHOLIC 

CHURCH. 

BY BERTRAM C. A. WINDLE, M.D., F.R.S. 

!*NY great structure, natural or artificial a great 
mountain or a great cathedral can be looked at 
from a number of different standpoints, and tbe 
greater and the more wonderful the object is, the 
greater the number of points from which it can 
be viewed. 

Now, even the most bigoted of our opponents will hardly 
deny that, whatever else it may be, the Catholic Church is a 
great, a significant, an unescapable fact one of the greatest 
facts that history has ever known. 

Nor would it be easy to exhaust the number of points of 
view from which it is possible to contemplate that great and 
significant institution, the Catholic Church. 

For instance, to many of us, and especially to those who 
have arrived at or passed the middle age, the Church stands 
prominently out as a consoler and helper in times of trouble. 
Few, indeed, have reached the mezzo del cammin di nostra vita 
without having experienced the need of that help and sym- 
pathy which the Church is so well able to extend in the hour 
of stress and tribulation. Those who were near and dear to 
us are called away; friends become estranged; children disap- 
point; the Church is ready to pour balm into the wounds of 
the spirit. Misfortune and ill- health dog the footsteps; the 
Church is there to point to a better world, where God will 
wipe the tears from every eye. She is there, too, to promise 
that when we also are called to pass ex umbris et imaginibus 
in veritatem, she will unceasingly pray to God for us that He 
may give us the entry to that place of refreshment, light, and 
peace for which every tired spirit longs. 

From this point of view, few of us Catholics advance any 
very great distance along the pathway of life without finding 
VOL. xc. 15 



226 THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF [Nov., 

abundant reason for crying out: "Thank God for our Holy 
Faith." 

The universality of our Church is another feature which 
must often have been pressed home to those who have jour- 
neyed outside their own country. It is, of course, the Catholic 
Church, but this cannot fully be appreciated until one has 
visited other lands, where, though a stranger, one has found 
oneself always at home in the nearest Catholic Church. I 
think I may be permitted to give a remarkable instance of 
this Catholicity, which impressed itself very greatly upon my 
mind no later than the summer just past. It was my lot to 
make a journey with a party of over one hundred individuals, 
all representing different denomfnations. A wit once remarked 
that England was the possessor of one hundred different reli- 
gions, though of only one sauce. The number of religions has 
more than doubled since he wrote, and perhaps the number of 
sauces may have also. At any rate it was not possible for 
our party to include members of all the varied faiths, of which 
a list may be found in Whittaker's Almanac. But we had 
ministers and laymen of most o! the important denominations, 
and amongst them were a Catholic Bishop, some priests, and 
two laymen. 

We returned from our journeyings on one of the magnifi- 
cent vessels of the Nord Deutscher Lloyd Company, and it 
was also carrying somewhere about two hundred and fifty 
Polish emigrants to America. 

It was impossible to look at them without thinking of the 
multitudes of our own Catholic Irish men and women who an- 
nually leave our shores for that new land beyond the Atlantic. 
Like most of our own emigrants these Poles were Catholics, and 
as they spoke no tongue but their own, it was wholly impos- 
sible to speak to them or to preach to them or to communi- 
cate with them in any way. One of the priests of our party 
offered Mass on the Sunday morning for these poor Poles, and 
no one who was present could doubt that they fully under- 
stood and most fervently assisted in what was being done, for 
their devotion and the manner in which they followed the 
Mass were the edification and the admiration not merely of 
the Catholics but also of the numerous Protestants who were 
present at the celebration. In fact, in the course of the after- 
noon, a distinguished Protestant minister, who had been pres- 



1909.] THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 227 

ent at the Mass, remarked to me : " We had a grand example 
of the universality of your Church this morning, and we have 
been saying to one another that no others but you could have 
done anything in the way of affording any religious help to 
those poor Poles." Our Church is everywhere in the world, 
and what is a great deal more it is everywhere the same, and 
is available for all its children, however different their colors 
or tongues or opinions. And so the wanderer and the cos- 
mopolite may also join in the paean of praise and cry: "Thank 
God for our Holy Faith." 

Again, if we keep our eyes open and observe what is to 
fee seen in our churches, as far as I know all the world over, 
and compare it with what is to be seen in the churches of 
ther denominations, we can scarcely help being impressed with 
the fact that our Church is, in a very special even unique 
manner, the Church of the poor and the ignorant; for the 
poor, there is no manner of doubt of that, ive have always 
with us. 

When one considers this feature, one must take into ac- 
count the fact that a true religion would naturally be one 
which would meet the needs and suit the capacities of the 
poor, the ignorant, the simple, since such persons form the 
majority of the inhabitants of the civilized to say nothing of 
the uncivilized world. 

The poor, who find in the Church the one streak of gold 
in an otherwise rather drab-colored world, will certainly join 
their voices with those who cry: "Thank God for our Holy 
Faith ! " 

But because our religion is one which is suited to the sim- 
ple needs of the poor and the ignorant, because it is capable 
f being comprehended by them in all its essentials, and of 
being their guide and mainstay during life, it is, therefore, 
sometimes assumed, and even proclaimed, that it is only a re- 
ligion fit for the poor and for the ignorant, and quite unwor- 
thy of the serious consideration, even for a passing moment, 
of really intelligent and educated persons. 

Such is the verdict, and that not merely of that most ob- 
jectionable of creatures, the "superior person," but of many 
others who have been contented to take their information at 
second-hand as, unfortunately, so many do and have never 
troubled to examine the real facts of the case for themselves. 



228 THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF [Nov., 

One has even heard our Holy Faith derided as a " a ser- 
vants' religion," and that, too, by people whose intellectual 
attainments were not up to the level of those of a child in 
the seventh standard. 

I need not say that I am not going to waste my read- 
ers' time by refuting absurdities of this sort, uttered, as I 
think I shall be able to show, by those who have exceeding- 
ly little knowledge of the subject with which they are pre- 
tending to deal. But I do want to emphasize one thing. 
Perhaps it may not be a very popular thing to say, but the 
popular things are not always the most necessary or useful. 
And it certainly, in my opinion at least, wants saying. I 
mean that we Catholics lay Catholics, of course, for I am 
not going to attempt the popular role of critic of the clergy 
even decently well-educated lay Catholics, do not know any- 
thing worth speaking of concerning the intellectual treasure of 
which the Church has been the mother and the keeper. In 
fact, I entertain a kind of suspicion that some of us have an 
uneasy sort of feeling that, perhaps these foolish and ignorant 
critics are right, and the Church has fewer claims on the in- 
tellect than she has upon the heart. We forget, or perhaps 
we have never known, that the Church has been, the mother, 
and in very many cases the fondly loved mother, of more 
great writers and of more discoverers in all branches of dis- 
covery than have all the other religions of the world put to- 
gether. I have not here the space to justify this statement, as 
I might do, but I refer my readers to the works of Dr. James 
J. Walsh, who has devoted himself to the elucidation of this 
point; works which should be in every Catholic library in the 
world. 

We Catholics are, so it seems to me, rather too ready to 
take our religion, as we do the sun and the moon, and the 
wind on the heath, and other pleasant and obvious things, as 
a matter of course, and to bestow but little time or interest 
upon the very remarkable intellectual splendors which it is 
ready and able to lavish upon us if we will but ask for them. 

Amongst the persons and subjects of whom Catholics are 
often very ignorant are those much-abused worthies, the "school- 
men," or scholastic philosophers, the butts and opprobria of 
generation after generation of sciolists, now passed or passing 
away. I remember when I was a boy that one used to read 



1909.] THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 229 

and to be told that the schoolmen spent their time in discuss- 
ing such problems as that of the number of angels who could 
dance upon the point of a needle. Moreover, it was said that 
people were so misguided as to maintain them, in what is 
sometimes pictured as a state of bloated luxury, as a reward 
for pursuing these and other like questions. Now, I confess 
that, in my ignorance, I am not able to say whether any 
schoolman ever did discuss the question alluded to above 
Those who belittle it are, however, themselves the ignoramuses, 
since, far from being merely a ridiculous terpsichorean enigma, 
it is underlain by a philosophical problem of great interest and 
profundity. What I do want to point out is that even if this 
and other like problems were discussed, and they may have 
been ; and even if they were ridiculous, which I wholly dis- 
pute; they formed but a very small percentage of the import- 
ant points which came under the -consideration of the so-called 
schoolmen, and constituted the bulk of the enormous number 
of volumes which they gave to the world. And in this con- 
nection I would like to draw a little parallel. 

I suppose that most persons will have heard of such a thing 
as the Fourth Dimension ; probably there are many of my 
readers who understand that matter far more fully, and could 
explain it far more clearly, than the very unmathematically- 
minded individual who writes this. But as I must essay the 
task, in order to make my point, I must first remind you that 
we ourselves are cognizant of three, and only of three, dimen- 
sions of space. But with that cognizance, it is at least possible 
for us to conceive of beings living in what has been called 
Flatland, who would be only cognizant of two dimensions of 
space. Let us imagine that any one of us was placed inside 
a low closed ring let us say a flat india-rubber ring together 
with a Flatlander, who knew nothing of such a dimension as 
height. To occupy the time, which might hang rather heavy 
on our hands in company with a person of such mental limi- 
tations, we might occupy ourselves by alternatively jumping 
out of the ambit of the ring and jumping in again. What would 
be the result? Every time that we jumped we should disap- 
pear from the cognizance of our Flatlander to reappear again 
as we reached the surface of the land within or without the 
ring. In other words, we should appear and disappear like 
some uncanny kind of ghost, and, no doubt, our companion 



230 THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF [Nov., 

would be exceedingly uneasy in his mind as to the kind of 
thing with which he had been brought into contact. With a 
very slight effort of the imagination we can make this rough 
and admittedly, in some respects, inaccurate picture for ourselves; 
but it is a little more difficult to conceive what would happen 
if there were a Fourth Dimension. A person of Fourth-Di- 
mensional capacities would be just as stupefying to us as w 
should be to the Flatlander. We could astonish our Two-Di- 
mensional friend by turning the flat rubber band inside out, 
which he could not do for want of the Third Dimension. But 
the Fourth-Dimensional person could equally astonish us by 
turning a tennis-ball inside out without making any hole in its 
wall, or, indeed, without making any solution of continuity 
in its surface. 

" But," you may ask, perhaps rubbing your eyes a bit, " is 
there any such thing as a Fourth Dimension in which suck 
wonderful things can happen ? " To which I can only reply 
that no one may say that there is not, nor, most certainly, may 
any one say that there is. All that one may say is that such 
a thing has never been called into account for any physical 
fact by any physicist. Nevertheless there is, so I am told, 
quite a considerable mathematical literature about this Fourth 
Dimension. " What," you will ask, " a serious mathematical 
literature about a thing which may not exist ; a thing which 
is certainly not capable of being apprehended by any of our 
senses?" Unquestionably there is. I applied to a friend, who 
is as kind as he is learned, and as learned as he is kind, and 
he not only informs me of this, but he adds: "What the math- 
ematician does on the subject is, I think, this. He takes sym- 
bols, subject to certain laws of combination, transposition, and 
so on. Then he deduces the logical consequences. The geo- 
metrical interpretation is not, I think, a logical consequence, 
only a conceivable interpretation, and from analogy. You put 
your symbols into the mathematical machine I suppose the 
mind you turn the handle, and certain arrangements of the 
symbols emerge. These symbols need not relate to anything 
existing outside the mind, and so it is possible to mathemati- 
cize about things not appreciable by the senses, unless you say 
that the symbols are the things reasoned about." 

And now I think I can almost hear some sapient person 
remarking to his better-informed friend: "Just look at those 



I909.J THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 231 

silly mathematicians! spending their time in abstruse calcula- 
tions about a condition of affairs which may not exist anywhere, 
and which, in any case, is wholly inappreciable by our present 
senses ! " 

To which I can imagine the instructed friend making reply : 
" Foolish and ignorant person ! is it possible that you are un- 
aware that it is to mathematicians we owe tables of logarithms, 
of strains and stresses, optical treatises, nautical almanacs, and 
a host of other matters, without which our race would scarcely 
have emerged from a condition of barbarism ? " 

And to the derider of the schoolmen my remark is : Mu- 
tato nomine de te fabula narratur ! 

Let any such derider be shut up for the working parts of 
a week in a cell I would allow him a quite comfortable cell 
with a volume of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa and a Latin 
dictionary. 

If he has sufficient knowledge to use the latter, and suf- 
ficient brains to comprehend the former I admit that both of 
these are large assumptions he will emerge from that cell, at 
the end of his retreat, a very much wiser, and not necessarily 
in any way a sadder, man. 

I do not propose that we should now resolve ourselves into 
classes for the study of Thomistic philosophy, nor, if I were 
bold enough to do so, should I venture to propose myself as 
an instructor. But there are a few points which I want to 
bring out in illustration of my main thesis. That thesis is that 
the writers and philosophers of our Church were not the con- 
temptible triflers that some ignoramuses would have us believe 
them; but that, on the contrary, they were many of them 
singularly clear-sighted and far-sighted. Further, that, when 
one considers the very rudimentary, not to say chaotic, state 
of science in their days, even compared with its still far from 
orderly or complete condition at this moment, it is simply 
amazing how nearly they approached to the theories which 
scientific men of to-day are coming to believe theories, too, 
of the absolute falsity of which the predecessors of the present 
generation of scientific men were equally well assured. 

The centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin has this year 
been celebrated with all due solemnity in the University of 
Cambridge, in which he was a student. I do not intend to 
dwell at length upon the theories with which his name is as- 



THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF [Nov., 

sociated. But, in face of the fact to which I have just alluded, 
I cannot pass by the matter without a word respecting his 
theory, or at least that one of them which is supposed to be 
best known, and which is certainly most discussed. 

I say advisedly " supposed," for, as a matter of fact, if one 
inquires from most persons as to what Darwin really taught, 
one may expect to be told that his idea was that men were 
descended from monkeys. As a resume of Darwin's views this 
reply is nearly as satisfying and as accurate as the definition 
of the French Academy of a crab as a red fish which walks 
backwards, as to which Cuvier said that it was correct but for 
the fact that the crab was not red, that it was not a fish, and 
that it did not walk backwards. 

At any rate, the main thesis with which the name of Dar- 
win is connected in the minds of most people, is that of evo- 
lution or transformism, or whatever one may chose to call it. 
As a matter of fact, Darwin never claimed to have inaugurated 
this idea, nor has any instructed person ever made that claim 
for him. 

What Darwin really did, inter alia t was to give to the 
world a theory as to certain agencies, the chief of which he 
named Natural Selection, which, in his opinion, were capa- 
ble of effecting and explaining the evolution which he postu- 
lated. 

As to these views I say nothing, but as to the thesis of 
Transformism or of Derivative Creation, as a .Christian writer 
would prefer to call it, that view was put forward long before 
Darwin's time, and was commented on by St. Augustine, by 
St. Thomas Aquinas, by Cornelius a Lapide, and by Suarez. 

In connection with the centenary to which I have just al- 
luded, the University of Cambridge has published a handsome 
volume in the nature of what the Germans call a Festschrifft t 
in which there is an article on Darwin's predecessors. Many 
other persons who wrote about Transformism are quoted, but 
not a word is said about the numerous Catholic writers who 
dealt with this question a rather surprising piece of omission 
in such a book, and from such a source. However, the facts 
remain as I have stated them, and, whether right or wrong 
for that is not germane to my present argument the theory, 
now so much discussed by biologists who think that evolution 
presents us with the best explanation of the facts of animated 



1909.] THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 233 

nature, is the same theory, in its essential features, which 
Catholic philosophers have been discussing for centuries. 

I pass from this point to two others, which, though I have 
dealt with both of them elsewhere, seem to me to be of suffi- 
cient interest to warrant consideration, in view of their bearing 
upon the proposition which I am engaged in bringing to your 
notice. 

For the sake of argument, I will assume that there is at 
least one of my readers who is unfamiliar with the more ele- 
mentary teachings of the scholastic philosophy, and I will ask 
the others, to whom these matters are commonplaces, to bear 
with me whilst I clear up matters, as well as I can, for this 
one poor, uninstructed soul. 

Well then, my uninstructed friend, you must know that 
the scholastic teaching as to all material objects is that each 
consists of two constituents, both substantial, not accidental, 
principles; that is to say, both essential constituents, without 
which the object could not be what it is. 

One of these constituent factors is called the Matter, and 
is passive and recipient. The other is called the Form, and 
is active and determining. Hence, as Aristotle taught, the 
material element is the same in everything, that is, there is a 
materia prima, or ultimate substratum. And the specific differ- 
ences are due to the differences in the active co-efficient. In 
other words, the material element in gold and in lead is the 
same, it is the form which differs and makes gold, gold; and 
lead, lead. 

Now, if I have made this sufficiently clear, I can turn to 
the application of the matter in question. Not merely the 
scholastic teachers, but also the chemists, or as they were then 
called, alchemists, held these views, and the latter continued 
to hold them long after the Scholastic Philosophy had lost its 
grip in England at least. 

In fact it was an Irishman, Robert Boyle, who is oddly 
enough described on his tomb as "The Father of Chemistry 
and the Brother of the Earl of Cork," who, in 1681, first at- 
tempted to show, in his work The Skyptical Chymist, that 
there was no such thing as a "simple perfect essence," but 
that there were some considerable number later generations 
made it up to seventy or eighty of substances all utterly and 
ab origine different from one another. From this time on- 



234 THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF [Nov., 

wards, until our own immediate day, the scholastic view has 
been discredited and the schoolmen themselves held in the 
same scorn as the poor alchemists who occupied their time 
in trying to find out the " philosopher's stone," which meant 
the method by which lead or other base metal could be trans- 
muted into gold. Obviously, if there was only one materi* 
prima common to all substances, it might be possible to alter 
one substance into another, whilst if the accepted " elementary " 
chemical substances were all originally, and, as we might say, 
irrevocably different, the task was one which none but the in- 
sane would attempt. And yet ! if some of our modern men of 
science are to be believed, their predecessors, from Boyle to 
our own times, have been all wrong, and the scholastics, not 
to speak of the poor forgotten alchemists, have been muck 
closer to the truth, at least in their main thesis. 

Here again it would not be possible, within the limits of 
our space, to enter upon the task of giving the evidence upo 
which this statement is based. 

Suffice it to say that chemists and physicists seem now to 
be agreed that from Uranium a so-called element may be 
formed Actinium, and from that again Radium both of these 
also belonging to the category of so-called elements and, 
most amazing of all, from Radium may be formed Lead, one 
of the earliest known of all the so-called elements. More- 
over, they conclude that the same thing is true of the other 
so-called elements, and that none of these are elements, in 
the old meaning of that word, but that all are expressions of 
one fundamental matter; that none of them are fixed, but 
that, in the words of Heraclitus, everything is in a state of 
flux. 

A recent authority, exulting over these discoveries, exclaims : 
" We have made a great step in advance on the view that 
matter is made up of chemical atoms fundamentally distinct 
and eternally isolated." A great advance! yes, no doubt; 
but upon what ? Upon the view held during the past two 
centuries, but backwards in the direction of the views of those 
which preceded them. It is true that the view of the scho- 
lastics was based upon purely philosophical considerations, and 
not on those experiments and observations upon which science 
is now able to base her conclusions; but that only makes it 
the more remarkable that the scholastics in their conclusions 



1909.] THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 235 

should have got so very near to what science to-day tells us 
is the actual condition of affairs. 

But there is something further to be stated on this point. 
What is this materia prima of which the chemists of to-day 
talk though some of them prefer to call it protyle, I suppose 
because that is new Greek instead of old Latin what is this 
material element ? Naturally on this point there is much un- 
certainty and difference of opinion. This, however, may be 
said, that the corpuscles of which the prime matter is said to 
be made up, may be thought of as being each about one 
eight- hundredth part of the mass of a hydrogen atom; that 
they are associated, each of them, with a unit of negative 
electricity; and that, from one aspect, we may regard them 
as disembodied charges of electricity. 

Perhaps it may not be too much to say that we may look 
upon each of these corpuscles as made up of a moving unit 
f negative electricity, together with the ether which is bound 
p with it, and upon a collection of such corpuscles, surrounded 
and balanced by a sphere of positive electricity, as an atom. 

But, if that is the case, what makes the difference between 
any two substances, say lead and gold ? It seems that the ar- 
rangement, the organization of the corpuscles in the atom or 
perhaps the kinks or vortices which they produce in the ether 
around them, this or something like this it is which makes the 
difference between lead and gold ; between any one object and 
any other object of an inanimate character. 

Similar Ether Corpuscles or Electrons, or what you will, 
and varied Arrangement; Common Protyle and Diversified 
Organization ; Matter and Form : after all, do not these notions 
approximate towards each other ? Is there not, to say the 
least, a singular affinity, a highly suggestive likeness between 
the root-ideas of the medieval thinkers and the final explana- 
tory concepts of the most recent science ? 

Again, without venturing to say how far the modern views 
are right or wrong, for I have no claim or intention of posing 
as a critic of such matters, it is quite clear to the ordinary 
observer that the position which has always been held by the 
scholastic philosophy is much nearer to that of the modern 
physicist than it is to that of the two previous centuries of 
scientific workers, so many of whom looked down upon the 
scholastics as mere ponderous triflers unworthy of the considera- 



236 THE INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF [Nov., 

tion of serious persons. And, again I ask you whether it is 
not a little remarkable that Aristotle and the philosophers 
who followed him should have arrived at a conclusion so close- 
ly resembling the last word so far uttered by science on the 
subject ? 

I pass to one last instance, that of the nature of life or of 
living matter. Here, again, for the sake of my uninstructed 
friend, who is really in the way of getting quite a lot of in- 
formation, I will venture to explain that the scholastic view of 
life is based upon the definition that it is activitas qua ens 
seipsum movet the activity by which a being moves itself; 
motion, be it observed, being taken to mean not merely alter- 
ation in shape or position, but to include all forms of change, 
not excepting intellectual cognition. 

Further, as Father Maher puts it, "the principle -of life in 
the lower animals was held by the schoolmen to be an ex- 
ample of a simple principle which is nevertheless not spiritual, 
since it is altogether dependent on the organism, or, as they 
said, completely immersed in the body. St. Thomas accordingly 
speaks of the corporeal souls of brutes." 

In a word, then, what differentiates living from non-living 
matter is the existence in and with the former of a simple 
principle which makes it what it is, which dominates the non- 
living part and gives it its peculiar habit and constitution. 

Now all this was mysticism and rubbish to the mid-Victor- 
ian materialistic men of science, and still is to the belated 
wanderers of that period who, with a conservatism strenuous 
and enduring, still cling to explanations which have been 
abandoned by many other biologists and seem in a fair way to 
be rapidly becoming obsolete. That view was that all living 
processes could be explained in terms of chemistry and physics 
and that nothing existed in living things which did not belong 
to the domains of those sciences. 

Since my book on this subject was published, there have 
appeared the monumental lectures of Professor Driesch on 
the " Science and Philosophy of the Organism." Professor 
Driesch is not, I believe, of our faith, and he certainly holds 
no brief for the schoolmen, for he only once mentions them, 
and then merely incidentally, in the course of his two large 
volumes. But he is one of the most distinguished biologists 
in the world, and he has won his distinction chiefly in con- 



1909.] THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 237 

nection with his studies on the nature and structure of proto- 
plasm, a substance which we may certainly look upon, as 
Huxley did, as " the physical basis of life." Yet Driesch's 
view of life is practically identical with that of the schoolmen. 
His terminology, as I will point out in a moment, is different, 
but when one analyzes the exact significance of his statements 
their close resemblance to the views of the older Catholic 
philosophers and their followers of to-day is as obvious as it is 
remarkable. 

But Professor Driesch is by no means singular in this view. 
He is only one example, though a most distinguished one, of 
a number of biologists, especially in Germany and the United 
States, who have abandoned the purely materialistic or chemico- 
physical explanation of life, which may be said to have very 
largely held the field up to some quarter of a century ago, and 
have returned to the conception of life so long and so per- 
sistently held by Catholic philosophers. 

Here, again, I have to ask my readers to observe that if 
modern biologists have now arrived at the conclusions which 
have been always held by the schoolmen, it is a little hard to 
see how the latter can have been the very inept persons some 
would have us believe. 

Once or twice in the course of this article I have had oc- 
casion to allude to the changes which have been made in ter- 
minology, changes sometimes avowedly, sometimes tacitly, ef- 
ected for the very purpose of escaping from the phraseology 
of the scholastic books. This seems to me to be more than 
a little foolish in many cases, but after all, if the meaning is the 
same, we need not quarrel with a writer who desires to invent 
his own names for things. 

Professor Driesch prefers to speak of the specific factor 
which makes a living thing, living, as an "entelechy," from the 
Aristotelian phrase. Another writer, desiring to escape from the 
mysticism of the Middle Ages, re-christens "vital force" as 
" biotic energy " ; and if he feels himself happier in Greek than 
he would have been in Latin, it is not for us to deny him what 
is, after all, a very harmless gratification. 

New " protyle " another flight from Rome to Greece 
pleases some better than old materia prima ; and here again we 
have no reason to grumble. If the thing itself is the same and 
is so defined that no mistake can be made about it, the name 



238 INTELLECTUAL CLAIMS OF THE CHURCH [Nov. 

is of much less importance, though one might put in a plea of 
economy that nomina as well as entia should not be multiplied 
prater necessitate,. 

What I have been anxious to bring out is that the works 
of men who were capable of thinking out conclusions so very 
close to those of modern men of science cannot be wholly un- 
worthy of study. Further, I desire to emphasize the fact that 
these conclusions are the conclusions of thinkers who wrote in 
and what is more to the point on behalf of, the Church to 
which we have the good fortune to belong. And the conclu- 
sion of my argument is that those who deny the intellectual 
greatness of that Church are talking about a matter of whick 
they are profoundly ignorant. 

Those who care to take the trouble to study it in the dry 
light of science will soon discover that our Church, from the 
intellectual standpoint, is just as much a matter for marvel 
and for thankfulness as it is from any of the many other stand- 
points from which it may be viewed. 

The intellectual man, the man of reading and thought, he, 
too, has every reason to join with the ignorant, the weary, and 
the afflicted, with the wanderer from home, with all the Church 
Militant, Suffering and Triumphant, in that heartfelt cry of 
gratitude: "Thank God for our Holy Faith!" 




LIFE ON A SHEEP-RUN. 

BY M. F. QUINLAN. 

By homestead, hut, and shearing shed, 

By railroad, coach, and track, 
By lonely graves of our brave dead, 

Up-Country and Out-Back : 
To where, 'neath glorious clustered stars, 

The dreamy plains expand 
My home lies wide a thousand miles 

In the Never-Never Land. Henry Lawson. 

jlFE on an Australian sheep-run may be regarded 
from widely different points of view, To the 
sheep enthusiast it is the only life for an intel- 
ligent man. Sheep take a lot of knowing, and 
the man who has studied them assiduously for 
fifteen or sixteen years, is still at the beginning of things. 
How to increase the weight of the fleece, and how to improve 
the texture of the wool ; what breeds give the best, all-round 
results ; what will be the possible effects of judicious crossings 
these are questions which are of vital moment to every 
wool-king, even as they are matters of absorbing interest to 
every station-hand whose heart is in his work. 

Then, again, there is the study of the classification of the 
wool. This is expert work, the knowledge of which is not to 
be acquired in a day, nor in a year. Once fully qualified, 
kowever, the wool -classifier can command high pay in every 
shearing shed. 

But the man who is interested in cattle is apt to overlook 
these conditions. To him, life on a sheep-run is beneath con- 
tempt. It is too slow. There is no variety in it. One day is 
exactly like the last; there is nothing to distinguish one week 
from another. Such a life is no life, says the stockman, who 
in his secret heart views the boundary sides with a pity that 
is akin to scorn. For the stockman's life is bound up in the 
rush and tumble of a cattle camp, and his ears are filled with 
the sound of flying hoofs: 



240 LIFE ON A SHEEP-RUN [Nov., 

Hear the loud swell of it, mighty pell-mell of it! 

Thousands of voices all blent into one ; 
See " hell for leather " now trooping together, now 

Down the long slope of the range at a run ! 
Dust in the wake of 'em; see the wild break of 'em! 

Spear-horned and curly, red, spotted, and starred: 
See the lads bringing 'em, blocking 'em, ringing 'em, 

Fetching 'em up to the wings of the yard ! 

Mark that red leader now: what a fine bleeder now: 

Twelve hundred at least if he weighs half a pound ! 
None go ahead of him. Mark the proud tread of him. 

See how he bellows and paws at the ground ! 
Watch the mad rush of 'em ; raging and crush of 'em ; 

See when they struck how the corner- post jarred ! 
What a mad chasing and wheeling and racing and 

Turbulent talk 'twixt the wings of the yard. . . . 

No; there is nothing of that sort on a sheep-run. Here 
there are no " loony " bullocks to be chased in and out of the 
scrub; no breathless galloping to head off a stubborn leader; 
no restless mobs to be rounded in; no shouts; no laughter. 
Here there is only that wonderful, all-pervading silence that 
clings to the open spaces, while the slowly-moving flock is 
spread out across the plain like a white cloud that has strayed 
down out of the blue. 

There is no need for the boundary rider to keep a tight 
rein. On the contrary, his bridle rests on his horse's neck. 
He sits his saddle loosly; his hands are in his trouser- pockets ; 
his pipe between his teeth. The sheep are all right. He has 
the flock under his eye; and, so long as the grass is good and 
the water sufficient, he has no anxiety for his flock. Once 
the water- holes begin to dry up, he must keep a sharper look- 
out, the evaporation of the water leaving a margin of soft 
mud in which the sheep, when they go down to water, are apt 
to get bogged. Sheep cannot fend for themselves; and the 
fact of one sheep getting stuck, far from deterring the others 
from approaching the soft ground, invariably impels the re- 
mainder to follow in his steps. 

Then, again, it is the duty of the boundary rider to see 
that the sheep do not graze near any plant that may be in- 



1909.] LIFE ON A SHEEP-RUN 

jurious to them. For in some parts of the back-country there 
are patches where the native pea grows. And if the flock eat 
of The Darling Pea they become fractious and cause the bound- 
ary rider to use such language as is peculiar to dry districts. 
His expletives are striking and expressive, but somewhat too 
lurid for print. 

Not but what he has some justification for thus expressing 
himself. For it is apt to try a man's temper to find a sheep, 
that has hitherto been content with the level, suddenly smitten 
with an ambition to climb the nearest gum-tree. And when, 
being parched with thirst, the animal refuses to go down to the 
water- hole, and has to be dragged thither by main force, the 
attitude of mind of the man in charge can readily be under- 
stood. Multiply this one sheep by five, or fifty, as the case 
may be, and it will be easily seen why the boundary rider is 
inclined to strike. Nor is his action merely figurative; he kills 
the stricken sheep, partly because it is a nuisance, and partly 
because the pea-struck sheep rarely recovers its normal tone. 

But unless the man is a new chum or a fool, which are 
often interchangeable terms out-back, be rounds them in before 
any harm is done. Every inch of ground is known to him ; 
accordingly, he can tell to a foot where the accursed plant 
grows. 

From time to time there is a muster when, for a fortnight 
or three weeks, the staff are camped on some distant corner 
of the station. These weeks of camp-life give a welcome 
variety to life on a sheep-run, and the damper and the Johnnie 
cakes, which are turned out by the camp cook, taste sweeter 
far to the tired men than any yeast- made bread from out the 
kitchen of the homestead. 

Except for this, there is little to disturb the quiet routine 
for the station-hand ; when he is not seeing to the fences, he 
has only the sheep to think about. Therefore he sits his horse 
from sunrise to sundown, and he thinks his own thoughts in 
the wilderness. In the distance he can hear the chiming of 
the bell-bird, and from the slowly drying water-hole comes 
the croak, croak, of the bullfrogs as they sun themselves in the 
warm, liquid mud. 

Sometimes the boundary rider is stationed far out on the 
run; sometimes he throws in his luck with his fellows at the 
men's hut. And for the study of life and character, there is 
VOL. xc. 1 6 



242 LIFE ON A SHEEP-RUN [Nov., 

no place out-back like the men's hut. Here are gathered 
together human oddments from the various States and from 
beyond the seas: oddments that have been washed up, like so 
much flotsam and jetsam, and deposited here in the silent places 
by the all-compelling waves of circumstance. 

Some are sons of the soil, competent and self-reliant. These 
are the men who are ever ready to take the odds; game for 
any fate. Others again are past their prime and are still bat- 
tling for their daily bread. Some bear trace of gentle bearing, 
suggestive of a different world ; but in the men's hut, where 
manners are rough and ready, the aim of the man oi culture 
is to cover up anything that may distinguish him from his fel- 
lows. Here uniformity is best, and the man who is wise will 
mark time. Some have tragedy folded away in their past; 
some have come here to forget; some to be forgotten. One 
or two may have "died" elsewhere (this, for convenience sake), 
and then have started in out-back. Social failures, moral bank- 
rupts, human misfits they all follow the track that ends in 
the scrub. 

For it is here 

By lonely huts northwest of Bourke, 

Through years of flood and drought, 
The best of English black- sheep work 

Their own salvation out; 
Wild, fresh-faced boys grown gaunt and brown 

Stiff- lipped and haggard- eyed 
They live the Dead Past grimly down { 

Where boundary riders ride. 

The College Wreck who sank beneath, 

Then rose above, his shame, 
Tramps West in mateship with the man 

Who cannot write his name. 
'Tis there where on the barren track 

No last half-crust's begrudged 
Where saint and sinner, side by side, 

Judge not and are not judged. . . . 

Out-back men are not demonstrative. There seems to be a 
prejudice, too, against conversational expansion. Men speak 



1909.] LIFE ON A SHEEP-RUN 243 

little in the loneliness ; and when, the day's work done, they sit 
and smoke in the starlight, the need for human companionship 
appears to be satisfied by the " swapping of lies." It is the 
local substitute for conversation. Besides which, there is an 
object in it: it saves them from the relation of more intimate 
and personal matter, and from the temptation of expressing 
their real feelings. Thus, when referring to the things that 
matter, they are apt to assume an impersonal and cynical tone. 
But of that which lies deepest they speak not a word. 

So they sit on their heels outside the hut, and the tings 
of smoke curl softly upwards, while each one chews the cud of 
reflection. They have lived their life and are without illusions. 
Some have tasted its joys; all have drunk of its sorrows. 

And were they to volunteer a statement of their own past, 
they would express it with truth in the words of Edward Dyson : 

We are common men, with the faults of most, and a few that 

ourselves have grown, 
With the good traits too, of the common herd, and some more 

that are all our own; 
We have drunk like beasts, and have fought like brutes, and 

have stolen and lied and slain ; 
And have paid the score in the way of men in remorse and 

fear and pain. 
We have done great deeds in our direst needs in the horrors 

of burning drought; 
And at mateship's call have been true through all to the death 

with the Farthest Out. 



IRew Boohs. 



G. K. Chesterton has written a 

SHAW AND CHESTERTON, most interesting book about G. B. 

Shaw,* and also, by the way, about 

many other things. According to Mr. Chesterton, Shaw is a 
daring pilgrim, an Irishman, a Puritan, and a Progressive, who 
" has set out from the grave to find the cradle." Having 
started from points of view which no one else was clever 
enough to discover, he is at last beginning to discover points 
of view that no one else was ever stupid enough to ignore. 
Though an Irishman, he is an Irish exile, and has, therefore, 
missed all that living knowledge of his home, his faith, and his 
motherland with which his countrymen so usually set out. 
Again he is a Puritan, "the greatest of modern Puritans, and 
perhaps the last." A Puritan meant originally a man whose 
mind had no holidays. He would let no living thing come 
between him and his God. Puritans thought that it was right 
to praise God with your brain, but quite wrong to praise Him 
with your passions or your physical habits or your gesture or 
instinct of beauty. Hence, they objected to the Catholic view 
that "you must be at ease in Zion unless you are only paying 
it a flying visit." They thought it wicked to worship God in 
song and dance and sacrament or by saying prayers when one 
was half asleep. 

Thirdly, Mr. G. B. Shaw is a Progressive a man who, in 
spite of his splendid zeal for the salus populi, spends so much 
of his energy "in gnawing at the necessary pillars of all pos- 
sible society." 

Having defined and discussed these attributes of Mr. Shaw's 
being, Mr. Chesterton proceeds to examine the quality and 
trend of his critical and dramatic work, ending up with a dis- 
course upon what may be called his philosophy as disclosed in 
Man and Superman. 

The great defect of Mr. Shaw's fine intelligence is the fail- 
ure to grasp and enjoy the things commonly called Convention 
and Tradition. He is dead to these things and being dead to 
them he is dead to what is most living and essential in society 

* George Bernard Shaw. By G. K. Chesterton. London : John Lane. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 245 

itself religion, love, patriotism are for him but the expression 
of sentimental excess, a thing to be worked out of man by 
civilizing influences. " Shaw is wrong," says Chesterton, " about 
all the things one learns early in life and while one is still 
simple. . . . He cannot imagine the main motives of life 
from within." 

But Shaw's philosophy shows signs of a breakdown. "I 
have described the three ultimate supports of Shaw as the 
Irishman, the Puritan, and the Progressive. These are the three 
legs of the tripod upon which the prophet sat to give the 
oracle; and one of them broke . . . suddenly, by a mere 
shaft of illumination, Bernard Shaw ceased to believe in Prog- 
ress altogether. It would appear that the late reading of Plato 
had something to do with it. Anyhow he has come to a con- 
viction that * since progress swings constantly between extremes 
it can hardly be called progress at all/ And this is a prom- 
ising sign." 

The evil that Shaw has done to his generation can be 
summed up under three heads. And so can the good. On the 
wrong side, he has encouraged fastidiousness by inducing people 
to confuse real sentiment with false sentimentality. He has 
encouraged anarchy of thought by inducing many to throw 
themselves for justification upon the shapeless and the unknown. 
He has made young men very trying to their betters and elders 
by teaching them to boast of their victories before they have 
gained them. On the right side, he has shown that it is pos- 
sible to be intelligent without becoming unintelligible. " He 
has stood up for the fact that philosophy is not the concern 
of those who pass through Divinity and Greats, but of those 
who pass through birth and death." He has also brought the 
theatre in touch with real life, the real life that passes to and 
fro about its doors that theatre which proudly sends a han- 
som cab across the stage as realism, while everybody outside 
is whistling for motor-cars. Thirdly, he has obliterated the 
mere cynic, " like every great teacher he has cursed the bar- 
ren fig-tree." 

As for Mr. Chesterton himself, he has written a highly con- 
troversial book. All the weapons he has used and conquered 
with are Catholic, and it is not disloyal to say that they are 
used with a might and simplicity that Catholic laymen should 
pray to imitate and obtain. 



246 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

Of sermon books most priests will 

SERMONS FOR THE YEAR, say we have enough and to spare. 

But what young preacher would 

not be glad to have a set of homilies which takes up verse 
after verse all the Sunday Epistles and Gospels, brings out 
plainly every idea in the text, throws light on hard passages, 
answers clearly and well every difficulty, and furnishes abundant, 
wholesome, practical applications of the sacred message to the 
life-problems of the average Catholic ? A four- volume set of 
such homilies,* written by Bishop Bonomelli, and splendidly 
translated by Bishop Byrne, has been published recently, in ex- 
cellent style. A thorough topical index in each volume, and 
an appendix to the first volume containing a brief treatise on 
the senses of the Bible, rules for the sound interpretation of 
Scripture, and a small geographical and historical dictionary of 
the New Testament, add greatly to the value and usefulness 
of this work. 

There is to-day a wealth of libra- 

EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY, ries, or series of publications, which 

endeavor to present certain selec- 
tions or classes of books, best readings from English literature, 
works that give a liberal education, the world's orations, the 
master poems, etc., etc. Their number is increasing almost 
daily, and with regard to most of them some trustworthy guide 
is needed before a prospective purchaser makes his choice. In 
some the selections are made with poor and uncultivated taste, 
or with a taste that likes but a single dish; or the mechanical 
make up of the volumes is poor; or the price too high. 

But we wish to call the favorable attention of our readers 
to a library of this kind which has been for some years in 
course of publication, and which when completed will include 
a thousand volumes. It is entitled " Everyman's Library," f 
and the publishers in this country are Messrs. E. P. Dutton 
& Co. With regard to any extensive selection of books, a 
critic, if he so chose, might, of course, make many exceptions. 
Favorite volumes may not be found in the list; and some that 
are found he will think unworthy. But we believe that "Ev- 

* Htmiliesfor the Wholt Year. By Bishops Bonomelli and Byrne. Four volumes. New 
York : Benziger Brothers. 

t Everyman's Library. Edited by Ernest Rhys. New York : E. P. Dutton & Co. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 247 

eryman's " lives up to its name ; and, up to date, includes a 
selection of books that cannot fail to appeal to everybody. 
The publishers announce as the object of the series " to make 
it easy for every one to obtain, and get at small cost, all that 
is good, all that has worn well in English literature." 

It would be impossible, of course, for us to give a list of 
the hundreds of volumes already published. The divisions em- 
brace: oratory; philosophy and theology; poetry and drama; 
science ; travel ; fiction ; history ; romance ; and juvenile litera- 
ture. The departments of philosophy and theology, we regret 
to say, are almost exclusively non-Catholic. We would wish 
to see included, and we think it but a fair request, many of 
the Catholic classics of medieval and modern England that, 
even as literature, "have worn well." 

The series gives an opportunity even to the man of but 
little means to become well-acquainted with the well-known 
English authors. When one reviews what efforts are being 
made to make the wholesome story and the instructive essay 
the common heritage of all, he wonders why more do not take 
advantage of it. These books are well printed ; tastefully bound; 
include an artistic frontispiece ; and oftentimes a special preface 
by a master hand ; and may be obtained for the small sum of 
thirty- five cents. It is a rare chance for the poor man and 
the rich man also to get some good things. 

The scarcity or, to speak frankly, 
ETHICS. the non-existence of any complete 

and adequate work on ethics, from 

the Catholic standpoint, in the English language or in fact in 
any other language, has been severely felt, both by professors 
and students, especially of late years, during which the study 
of ethics has been acquiring a constantly growing importance. 
The text-books, available in profusion, necessarily confined 
themselves to a rather narrow and jejune exposition of the 
fundamental principles and elementary applications of Catholic 
doctrine; while, if they did not ignore altogether, they trun- 
cated the exposition and condensed the refutation of hostile 
systems to such an extent that the student emerged from his 
ethical studies very inadequately equipped for the task of 
bringing our own doctrine to bear upon the problems and the 
errors of to-day. The lean years, however, have passed; and 



248 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

in Dr. Cronin's monumental work we judge from the first 
volume,* which alone has appeared the student will find 
ample guidance and information on the science of ethics. The 
work is cast in a generous scale. This volume contains over 
six hundred pages of print about the size of the pages of 
Sidgwick's Method of Ethics a book which, by the way, it re- 
sembles very closely in external appearance. The two may 
stand together harmoniously on the same shelf, as the poison 
and the antidote. The author's main purpose is to present a 
full, connected account of the ethical system of Aristotle as 
modified, purified, and completed by St. Thomas. He opens 
with a discussion of the scope of ethics, its relation to psy- 
chology and moral theology, and the true method to be pur- 
sued in this science. Here in his answer to the objections 
urged against the claim of ethics to be a normative science 
the reader will perceive with pleasure that the writer may be 
depended upon to take the thought of the day into account. 

This promise is amply fulfilled in the succeeding chapters, 
on the Good, the Moral Criteria, Freedom, Duty, Hedonism, 
Utilitarianism, Evolution, Biological and Transcendental, The 
Moral Faculty, and Intuitionalism. Under these captions all 
the theories that are of any consequence are satisfactorily 
stated and systematically criticized. Of special utility is the 
criticism of Transcendental views, which, in one form or an- 
other, occupy so conspicuous a place in the ethical thought of 
to-day, and, notwithstanding, escape with scant attention frcm 
our text-books of ethics and theology. Dr. Cronin's attacks 
usually strike straight at the weakest points of the enemy's 
structure ; and he is not inclined to make the mistake of un- 
derrating their strength. 

The volume treats, furthermore, The Consequences of Mo- 
rality; Habits and Virtues; Rights; leaving to the following 
one the application of principles in special ethics. Close ex- 
amination of this fine work will, doubtless, bring to light some 
points on which Dr. Cronin's treatment may be subject to ex- 
ception. But its massive excellence is so obvious, its line of 
procedure so sure, that one feels safe in predicting that the 
most searching criticism will fail to detect in it any serious 
blemish. 

* The Science of Ethics. By Rev. Michael Cronin, M.A., D.D., Ex-Fellow, Royal Uni- 
versity of Ireland. Vol. I. : General Ethics. New York : Benziger Brothers. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 249 

With the best intentions in the 

A CERTAIN RICH MAN. world it is impossible for any one 
By William Allen White, to know even one-fifth of the 

novels that are turned out to- 
day ; and " turned out " is not too frivolous a phrase under 
the circumstances. It is very difficult, also, to know what to 
read and yet gain pleasure and profit from the reading. To 
such an inquiring one we heartily recommend A Certain Rich 
Man* by William Allen White. Mr. White's ability is, of 
course, known to our readers; but in aim and actual accomplish. 
ment we think that in this book he has surpassed himself. The 
story is an admirable and careful study of the effect of wealth 
or money-seeking upon a man's character; and, as such, is a 
great production. In its character-drawing; its light and shade 
of humor, pathos, and tragedy ; in its serious moral tone and 
clear spiritual vision, it is far above the ordinary book, and 
is a distinct credit to American letters. 

Mr. White has a message for the American people ; he sees 
the danger ahead the danger that is already here and has 
been here for some time. But, apart from that message, the 
book tells an immensely interesting human story, full of the 
things of the heart and soul, and is a thoroughly American 
tale. Although a fascinating novel, one cannot but see that it 
is the strongest sort of a plea for the religious education of 
our young. 

There are flaws of literary construction ; exaggerated senti- 
mentality ; gross unreality, we think, in the conversion of John 
Barclay ; and a surplus of financial detail but these are minor 
flaws in an exceptionally good and worthy piece of work. 

To the many who think that the 
VEN. FATHER COLIN. ages of sanctity have long since 

departed, this book f will come as 

a surprise. It is the story of nineteenth century Christian 
heroism, almost rivaling that of the Apostolic era. In the 
year 1824 Father Colin, a humble priest of Cerdon, in France, 
founded (and not without a host of difficulties ever attendant 

* A Certain Rich Man. By William Allen White. New York : The Macmillan Company. 

t The Life tf the Venerable Father Colin. Founder and First Superior-General of the 
Society of Mary. Translated from the French b a Religious of the same Society. St. Louis : 
B. Herder. 



250 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

upon such undertakings) a missionary society devoted to Mary 
the Virgin. So numerous were the blessings granted it by 
God, and so masterly the hand of the saintly Colin who guided 
it, that within a short time houses of the society could be found 
in many places in Europe. Incredible as it may seem, it is nev- 
ertheless true, that in nineteen years after its foundation one 
hundred and nineteen Marists left France to convert the hea- 
then in Oceanica. The story of the hardships and sufferings 
endured by these missionaries on the islands of the Western 
Ocean is inspiring and interesting reading. From first to last 
the work is historical. The style is in many places uneven, 
due no doubt to the translator's desire to be as faithful as 
possible to the original. 

This is a rather unusual retreat 

A RETREAT MANUAL. book.* It not only gives the 

regulation meditations and con- 
ferences, but it includes full and detailed directions as to how 
to make a retreat, and supplements the author's reflections 
with appropriate readings from St. Alphonsus. The matter is 
abundant (five hundred pages) and well varied. With such a 
manual as this in hand, no religious need fear that the well- 
springs of thought will dry up, and a private retreat, instead 
of being, as some might fear, a burden and a weariness, may 
easily become more enjoyable and more profitable than the 
ordinary public retreat. 

We have had occasion before, to 

THE CATECHISM IN EX- notice in a commendatory way, 

AMPLES. Father Chisholm's Catechism in 

Examples.^ The plan is vefy 

simple. Just one short, didactic sentence or paragraph is 
given under each heading. The remainder is entirely anecdote. 
To give the book into the hands of children would probably 
supply them with a surfeit (if children can ever be surfeited 
with stories), but its best use, it would seem, is to provide in- 
teresting illustrations for teachers of the catechism. For such 
a purpose it is very conspicuously successful. 

* A Private Retreat Jr Religious. Enriched with Reflections and Select Readings takes 
from the Spiritual Writings of St. Alphonsus. By RCT. Petar Geiermann, C.SS.R. New 
York: Benziger Brothers. 

t The Catechism in Examples. By the Rev. D. Chisholm, Priest of the Diocese of 
Aberdeen. Second Edition, in Five Volumes. Vol. III. Charity: Tht Commandments, 
London : R. and T. Washboine ; New York : Benziger Brothers. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 151 

A new addition to the abundant 
THE MYSTERY OF NAPLES, literature already written about 

the liquefaction of the blood of St. 

Januarius is contributed by Edward P. Graham in a volume 
entitled The Mystery of Naples.* For any one desirous of get- 
ing information on this subject from an eyewitness, and in a 
form brief and easily understood, this book will be of much 
value. The author does not pretend to say the last word that 
would put the genuineness of the miracle beyond all doubt; 
but aims rather to give such evidence as will at least acquit 
the clergy and faithful of Naples for generations past of con- 
scious mendacity or superstitious simplicity. His thesis is 
specifically directed against two classes of writers : those, like 
Mark Twain, " who gather up eagerly and repeat heedlessly 
every slur and sneer against Catholicity that comes in their 
way " ; and those, of the type of Andrew D. White, who, 
" with a pretence of learning and a deceptive air of candor and 
judgment, deliver oracles that betray more prejudice -than un- 
derstanding and more want of ballast than logic." Although 
professing to have begun his inquiry " without belief and with- 
out unbelief," the author confesses that he never got over the 
indignation raised in his mind at first reading the account of 
the phenomenon given in The Innocents Abroad. His feelings 
frequently betray him into a tone of ridicule for his opponents 
which might seem to imply that the presentation of facts alone 
was insufficient. 

" Until the eighteenth century," 

THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT says Mr. Arthur Symons in his 
IN ENGLISH POETRY. recent discussion of English poet- 
ry^ " imagination, if not always 

a welcome guest, had never been refused admittance." But 
the Augustan era, following devoutly after the correct and 
" lucid madness " of Pope, shut the door upon so unruly a 
visitant. How " romance rose out of the grave of Chatterton," 
and pathos, with the true lyric quality, stole back after the 
songs of Burns, until gradually the "Renaissance of Wonder" 
was consummated, forms the subject-matter of the present 
volume. For most readers its Introduction will prove the most 

* The Mystery of Naples. By Edward P. Graham. St. Louis : B. Herder, 
t The Romantic Movement in English Poetry. By Arthur Symons. New York: E. P. 
Dutton & Co. 



252 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

interesting part, because it is the only part which provides 
any critical perspective, or from which a continuous history of 
the Romantic Movement can be gleaned. We quote one sug- 
gestive passage: 

The quality which distinguishes the poetry of the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century, the poetry which we can 
roughly group together as the romantic movement, is the 
quality of its imagination seen chiefly as a kind of atmo- 
sphere, which adds strangeness to beauty. Is there in 
Homer, in Dante, in the poet oi any bright, clear land, where 
men and things are seen detached against the sky, like 
statues of architecture, a passage like that passage in 
Keats : 

" Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam 
Oi perilous seas, in fairy lands forlorn " ? 

In these two lines we get the equivalent of that atmosphere 
which, in England, adds mystery to the beauty of natural 
things. The English sense of atmosphere, this imaginative 
transmutation of reality, is to be found in all English poetry 
from the beginning. 

The body of Mr. Symons* work is encyclopedic in nature, 
consisting of separate critical sketches of the poets (?) im- 
mediately preceding Blake, and continuing through Scott, 
Moore, Wordsworth, Landor, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and 
innumerable " Minors." To many minds his appreciation of 
the poet mystic, William Blake, may seem excessive, and that 
of Wordsworth scarcely adequate. But the excellent critiques 
upon Coleridge, Shelley, and Southey, the spirited study of 
Lord Byron, that " supreme incarnation of the natural man," 
and of Thomas Hood, a poet too scantily remembered by the 
present generation, give the volume real value. One could 
wish for a more exhaustive study of the tragic and significant 
role played by Thomas Chatterton. 

\ Christians will never cease reading 

LIFE OF OUR LORD. of the life of Christ, whether in 

the Gospel narrative, or in the de- 
tailed historical forms given it by learned and holy writers. 
But it is hardly too much to say that Christians, taken as a 
body even pious ones have not yet so much as begun to 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 253 

meditate systematically on the events and teachings of our 
Redeemer's career. No contribution to devout literature can, 
therefore, exceed in value such books as Father Meschler's 
Life of Christ Meditated.* 

The author's design is to draw from the Gospel chronicle 
the solid nutriment of our Lord's teaching, both moral and 
doctrinal, by means of mental application to the subject-matter. 
He has succeeded admirably. He detaches into bold relief 
the purpose of our Master in each miracle, event, discourse, 
and conversation. About this, his main work, the author has 
grouped the minor but often exceedingly important happen- 
ings of the life of Jesus and His disciples, everywhere offering 
good, sane, and sometimes very striking suggestions in aid of 
sincere appreciation or practical resolve. The whole book is 
pervaded with an atmosphere of close acquaintanceship, per- 
sonal and direct, with the divine Master. The author's effort 
is to make these meditations a crystal medium of divine light 
between Christ and the soul. He has gained a large meed of 
success. Without a sense of nearness to Him, our meditations 
are artificial, are a kind of self- sermonizing. These are not to 
be despised, for they are often the best we can do. But when 
to such honest but artificial mental endeavors, we are enabled 
to add the noble and majestic and benignant influence of the 
divine Person Himself, we have breathed the breath of life 
into our mental prayer, or rather God's Spirit has taken it 
over and made it His own. 

One excellence of Father Meschler's volumes is that they 
are essentially an interpretation of the Gospels. Right after 
each meditation we find the familiar Douay version of the 
divine narrative of the fact or doctrine, given in a harmony of 
the Evangelists; and to this addendum constant reference is 
made by the author in his text. Such a facility for using the 
original passages effectually safeguards one from excessive 
elaboration and methodizing. The human and divine aids to 
prayerful thought are closely joined, and the usefulness of the 
book for preparing sermons and instructions greatly enhanced. 

Relying, of course, on the traditional interpretation of the 
Fathers, the author by no means despises the later biblical 

* The Life ef our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God in Meditations. By Maurice Meschler, 
S.J. Translated from the fourth German edition by a Benedictine Nun of the Perpetual 
Adoration. In two volumes. St. Louis : B. Herder. 



254 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

researches as a help to devotional reading and to piayer. 
"Nothing," he says in the preface, "that leads to a more de- 
tailed knowledge and deeper comprehension of divine truth 
must be neglected. . . . It is certainly the glorious result 
and undisputed merit of modern scriptural study and inter- 
pretation, that it throws into relief and pieces together the 
life of our Savior." 

The translation has been made with great care, reads smooth 
and clear, is almost entirely free from traces of a foreign idiom, 
and, having been undertaken and carried through from high 
religious motives, has a sweet, devotional flavor. A brief but 
excellent summary of the rules of meditation is incorporated 
in the author's preface. 

As to the material qualities of these two volumes, the dis- 
tinguished publishing house of B. Herder has "given its patrons 
a book whose binding will survive a lifetime of daily use, and 
whose pages are dressed in the clearest and most sightly 
type. 

CATHOLIC READERS. We havc J ust received from the 

American Book Company five vol- 
umes comprising a series of school books entitled : Standard 
Catholic Readers, by Mary E. Doyle. An examination of the 
volumes shows that they have been prepared with unusual 
care and thoroughness. The reading matter is, as a rule, of 
the very best, and the illustrations, many of them reproduc- 
tions of masterpieces, are in harmony with the high literary 
tone. To some of the selections exception might be taken; and 
we repeat here a truth that it is very important for instruct- 
ors to keep before their minds: It is fundamentally necessary 
for a teacher to be careful, and most of all with the young, 
to inculcate exact ideas. Our concept of truth depends upon 
this. It is not fair either to poetry or to doctrine to debase 
either by making the one serve the other. Verse may be de- 
vout and accurate in its dogmatic expression, but it may not 
be poetry. A reader is not, of course, a catechism. The dis- 
tinction is essentially important. 

Another criticism we have to offer is that with regard to 
the first three volumes it might have been well to indicate 
more frequently the authorship of the prose compositions. 
Such references may seem of no immediate importance ; but 



1009.] NEW BOOKS 255 

as the child learns he will read more intelligently if he culti- 
vates the habit of knowing the author. In the readers for the 
fourth and fifth years, however, we find at the end of the 
volumes biographical notes of the authors whose works are 
quoted. This is, indeed, a very useful and valuable addition. 
When our children at an early age are introduced to the 
writings of such masters as Cardinal Newman, Aubrey de 
Vere, Alice Meynell, Coventry Patmore, Sidney Lanier, Eu- 
genie de Guerin, Thomas a Kempis we select but a few 
names at random there is every reason of hope for the future 
of Catholic literature and for the welfare of the Catholic 
Church in our country. For we have a great intellectual as 
well as a great moral inheritance, and it is absolutely neces- 
sary to sustain and promote both. The words of St. Paul, that 
our service of God must be a rational service, are weighty 
with a supreme meaning. To sustain them means work and 
thought, the cultivation of taste, the studious acquaintance 
with the masterpieces of the saints and of the great Catholic 
writers. Children, with their souls undefiled by sin, can appre- 
ciate great and high things. If a good, high literary taste be 
given them at the beginning they will have no difficulty in 
rejecting the cheap, inconsequent and shallow productions of 
many secular publishers. We warmly congratulate the publish- 
ers on the noble work that their good taste and wise selections 
mean for the right growth and development of our children. 

The competence of Baron Carra de 

STUDIES IN THE HISTORY Vaux to speak with the authority 
OF RELIGIONS. of the scholar and the practical 

investigator on Mohammedanism 

has already been established by his previous publications, es- 
pecially those dealing with the philosophic thought of Islam. 
His present work * is devoted to orthodox Mohammedanism, 
and is, therefore, of a different character; for in the Mussulman 
world philosophy is largely heretical. We have, here, a full 
and fairly detailed account, in popular form, of the religion as 
it is practised to-day, among the followers of the prophet. 
This portion of the book will offer nothing new to the student. 
Of special interest, however, owing to the actual Young 
Turk Movement, will be the Baron's examination oi the future 

* La Doctrine de V Islam. Par le Baron Carra de Vaux. Paris : G. Beauchesne et Cie. 



256 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

of Islam and the problem whether the Mussulman world can 
follow the present movement towards the assimilation of West- 
ern civilization and yet remain orthodox. After passing in 
review the various branches of Islam Arabs, Turks, Russians, 
and Egyptians the author hesitates to pronounce a decisive 
opinion. There is, he sees, an upper stratum everywhere in 
the Mohammedan world, which desires development and prog- 
ress. But he doubts whether, without doing grave violence 
to Islam, it can adapt itself to our manners and habits of 
thought. One thing, however, he believes is certain. Through 
this section the Mohammedan world is drawing closer to us, 
endeavors to make itself heard, and asks to speak with us. 
The ancient chasm which separated it from Christendom has 
ceased to exist, as has also the lethargic sleep in which Mo- 
hammedanism was buried for centuries. Everywhere there is 
activity, curiosity, and good-will. It is our duty to turn this 
movement to profit, to respond to these friendly advances- 
These men possess the sentiments of uprightness and honor; 
they have cultivated habits of thought, and begin to acquire 
the habit of work. Much may be done by us if we make the 
best of the opportunity. 

The course on Buddhism * delivered to the students of the 
Catholic Institute of Paris, last year, by a professor of the Uni- 
versity of Ghent, is an evidence of the importance which the 
comparative study of religions has acquired, quite recently, in 
our Catholic centres of learning. The main purpose of the 
course is to investigate the dogmatic element found in the 
Buddhistic scriptures. The task is not an easy one, owing to 
the diverse character and the often contradictory tenets met 
with in this heterogeneous collection from widely different 
sources, not to speak of the almost insuperable difficulty for a 
Western scholar to seize the vague, mystical, illogical categories 
of the Oriental mind. The lecturer has not, as some writers 
have done, failed to recognize these difficulties; and, generally, 
he modestly sets forth his opinions in tentative, provisional or 
suggestive, rather than in peremptory, form. This attitude is 
conspicuous in his discussion of the burning question : What 
was Buddha's conception of Nirvana? Did he teach immor- 

* Bouddhisme : Opinions sur I Histoire de la Dogmatique. Par L. de la Valte Poussin. 
Paris : G. Beauchesne et Cie. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 

tality and personality, or mere phenomenism or negation ? The 
professor's solution is that both views were designedly intro- 
duced by Buddha, who applied them separately and without 
any pre-occupation about their logical reconciliation, to in- 
culcate his moral doctrine. 

" ' Transmigration ' and ' impermanence ' are, for the Bud- 
dhists, truths known, and,, therefore to be retained, whatever 
may be the difficulty or the impossibility of understanding them 
in combination. These truths have the guaranty of Buddha, 
and rigorous reasoning shows that they are each both true and 
useful." " Similarly," he continues, in illustration, "we believe 
in human liberty and divine omnipotence, and we cut the 
Gordian knot, in spite of the criticisms of Leibnitz, with Bos- 
suet and Descartes; an act of faith which, at once, is the su- 
preme effort of reason." 

The professor has added to the value of his course by en- 
tering upon an exposition of Tantraism, or that amalgamation 
of Buddhism with Hindu paganism and superstition which van- 
quished and supplanted Buddhism in the land of its birth. It 
is a subject for congratulation to find that Catholic thought in 
France, notwithstanding the trials through which the Church 
is passing, is vigorously building up, in this realm of study 
as well as In many others, a literature which commands the 
respect of the learned world. 

A reputable physician, with a taste for authorship, Dr. 
Willman, proposes, for the benefit of humanity, to refute the 
preposterous claims of the mind-healers* and the assertion of 
Christian Science that disease is an illusion oi mortal mind, by 
showing in the light of science the real nature oi the diseases 
and ailments which Christ miraculously cured. Incidentally he 
pauses before he enters on this task, to dwell on various cases 
of disease and medical intervention recorded in the Old Testa- 
ment and in profane history. Then he essays, in scientific 
nomenclature, a classification of the diseases that our Lord 
cured; and recounts the Gospel narrative for the purpose of 
emphasizing the obvious fact that the inspired writers repre- 
sented both the ailments and the cures to be realities and not 
illusions. Then, after acknowledging the legitimate claims of 

* The Errors of Mind Healing. By Reinhold Willman, M.D., Author. St. Joseph, 
Missouri : The Advocate Publishing Company. 
VOL. XC. 17 



258 NEW BOOKS [Nov., 

mind-influence and hypnotism, he proceeds to denounce, with 
uncompromising vigor, Dowieism, Theosophy, Eddyism, and 
Emmanuelism. 

He closes with a Conclusion and a Summary, both quite 
interesting in their way, though, like the whole book, leaving 
much to be desired in point of method and close reasoning. 
One item of his conclusions will be unchallenged by the most 
sceptical historian : " Since the days of Hippocrates, who lived 
in the third century before Christ, medical science has, from 
time to time, improved slowly, perhaps, but surely and truly 
aad regular and well-defined schools of the art gradually came 
into existence." Even Tennyson's infidel hospital doctor would 
not object to see strenuously inculcated on the faithful the fact 
to which Dr. Willman assigns a place of honor in his Sum- 
mary : " Scriptural Law required that the physician must be 
paid for his services upon the afflicted." The Doctor appends 
to his closing lines the appropriate text from the Book of 
Proverbs : 

" He that walketh with the wise shall be wise ; 
A friend of fools shall be like unto them." 

It is just possible that some impatient reader may find re- 
curring to his mind that other pearl of wisdom Of making 
many books there is no end ; and much study is an affliction 
of the spirit. 

Father Slater's little book* sketches 

MORAL THEOLOGY. rapidly and lightly the history of 

Moral Theology during the whole 

of the Christian era. He does not write for the scholar who 
delights in and demands detailed analyses of problems and 
evidences, but for the busy man of affairs, or students of other 
seiences, who wants only a general but reliable knowledge of 
this subject. Such readers will find his book interesting and 
instructive. 

The publishing firm of Laird & Lee, Chicago, 111., are to 
be congratulated on the excellent editions of Webster's New 
Standard Dictionaries that they issue from time to time. We 

*A Sktrt History of Moral Theology. By Rev. Thomas Slater, S.J. Pp. 50. New 
York : Benziger Brothers. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 259 

wish to call special attention to the "Library Edition," for 
library, home, and office use, which has just come to us. This 
volume is of handy size with flexible cover, and has an index 
similar to that of the larger dictionaries. It is up-to-date in 
every way and we are agreeably surprised at the valuable 
amount of new addenda which it contains. The price of the 
volume is reasonable, $2.50. The Student's Common School 
edition is an ideal school lexicon and may be had for 75 
cents. 

The same publishers issue two handy booklets : Everyman's 
Memo Book, and a Diary and Time- Saver for 1910 ; price 25 
cents per copy. 

AMERICAN LEGATION, COPENHAGEN, 

September 29, 1909. 
Editor, The Catholic World, New York City. 

MY DEAR SIR : I am much obliged to your critic for his 
well- written notice of The Wiles of Sexton Maginnis in the 
May number of THE CATHOLIC WORLD. It is certainly ad- 
mirably written, but I cannot see why on earth he draws 
Canon Sheehan's name into it because I write and have 
written many times about the life of priests, why on earth 
should my work be compared to Canon Sheehan's, or why 
should I, who have cultivated all my life the art of saying 
serious things lightly, be accused of not touching the deeper 
currents? It seems to me that most writers in Catholic peri- 
odicals insist too much on a lack of humor. If a truth is not 
said ponderously, it has no real importance for them. Now 
one thing that I have done, in The Wiles of Sexton Maginnis, 
is to touch the deeper currents. I don't say that I go deeply 
iato " the deeper currents" that's a different thing. A half- 
kundred critics have discovered this, and among them was Mr. 
Roosevelt himself; and a very recent one, from whom I did 
mot expect it, was Mr. Edwin Markham. I hope that you un- 
derstand that I admire Canon Sheehan immensely, as I also 
admire Ferdinand Fabre but not so immensely. It is not 
that I should not be happy to be compared with Canon 
Sheehan ; but as there is no resemblance whatever in our point 
of view mine, I hope, being that of a layman who knows the 
world, and his of a clerical man of genius who knows one little 
world I do not see the necessity. Besides, while your critic 



260 NEW BOOKS [Nov. 

hastens to call attention to what he calls my lack of precision 
and definiteness, he alludes to Father Dudley's hasty scrap of 
dinner-table conversation and suggests that I misquote St. 
Thomas; whereas Father Dudley sternly demands: "Have 
you ever read St. Thomas ? " and then begins : " ' Et h&c est 
demonstratio Aristoteles. Relinquitur '" when he is interrupted. 
Now, Father Dudley, like most people who talk a great deal 
about St. Thomas and do not read him very deeply, had be- 
gun to quote from the well-known note on page 288* in Jour- 
dain's Philosophic de St. Thomas d'Aquin, on St. Thomas' ex- 
planation of the design of the Creator in forming the soul, and 
he quotes literally. But, as your critic might have seen, the 
quotation is intended to give color to the scene and to show 
that Father Dudley is not a very learned man. One does not 
expect people to make very accurate quotations in dinner-table 
conversation. Speaking of accuracy, why does the critic put 
Willie Curtice's farm in Virginia? It is evidently in Maryland. 
There are not many Catholics in rural Virginia, are there ? 
And, by the way, " St. Stephen " in the first chapter should 
be "St. Sebastian"; my bad writing was responsible for that. 
I wish your man had not treated the book so much <( Js 
haut en has" I am, 

Yours very sincerely, 

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN. 

* As everybody uses that argument, the Ph.D. (studied from life !) interrupts him. 



foreign ipertobicals. 

The Tablet (18 Sept.): "Latin in Seminaries" emphasizes the 
need of the study and the use of Latin. The decline of 
this study in France is cited, where, " unless an effec- 
tive stand be made, in twenty years the French clergy 
will have no better knowledge of Latin than they have 

of Greek. " At Lourdes," a description of a day 

spent at this wonder-working shrine and an account of 

some recent miracles. The Anglican Archdeacon of 

Madras pays a glowing tribute to the progress and work 
of the Church in foreign fields, under the title, "Catholi- 
cism in India." 

(25 Sept.): A report is given of the jubilee meeting of 
the Catholic Truth Society at Manchester; the address 
there of the Archbishop of Westminster, " Catholics and 
Questions of Day"; and extracts from various papers 

that were read. Other articles are " The Church and 

Socialism," by Mr. Hilaire Belloc, M.P. "Catholics 

and Social Study," by Rev. Charles Plater, SJ. 

"Catholics and the Comparative History of Religion," 

by Rev. C. C. Martindale, S.J. In this same number 

a Catholic gives his views on the question of the Dra- 
matic Censorship. The miracle of St. Januarius, is 

discussed by the Roman correspondent. King Ed- 
ward's message to the Catholics of Canada is published. 
It gives assurance of the king's constant desire that 
religious and civil liberty should always be enjoyed by his 
subjects in all parts of the empire. 

(2 Oct.) : " Catholic Action in France," discusses the 
proper action for Catholics at the next general election. 
A Catholic party in France like the Centre Party in Ger- 
many is out of the question, but much could be achieved 

by harmonious action among Catholics. Father Rick- 

aby gives the first installment of an interesting dis- 
cussion on " Truthfulness." W. Croke Robinson writes 

on the use of the Question Box, and his conclusion 
is : " It is far in a way the most powerful means of 
making converts that has yet appeared; at least, that 
is my settled conviction after all but thirty-five years 
of experience." 



262 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Nov., 

(9 Oct.): "The Problem of the Suffragettes" discusses 
the means which the advocates of the movement employ 

.to further their cause. Father Rickaby concludes his 

discussion on " Truthfulness. " " The Wolf and the 

Lamb," by Father de Zueletta, charges the London 
Times with suppressing the truth about the action of 
the Separation Law in France. The Roman Corres- 
pondent writes that Italy has for a whole generation 
been copying France. The evolution from an Italian 
Waldeck-Rosseau to an Italian Briand threatens to be 
quicker than in France. The Correspondent also says 
that it may be taken as almost certain that a Con- 
sistory will be held before the close of the present year. 

Henry G. Graham supports Father Robinson's words 

and writes : " In America, in the hands of the Paulists, 
it (the Question Box) has proved the most successful 
convert-making instrument yet invented; but the best 
proof of its efficacy lies in the fact that Protestants hate 
it like poison and publicly denounce it." 

The Month (Sept.) : " The Eucharistic Congress at Cologne," 
by A. Milliard Atteridge, notes the indifferent treatment 
given the Congress by the English and by the German 
non- Catholic press. The enthusiastic reception accorded 
the Papal Legate, Cardinal Vannutelli, by the German 
people of all classes, is highly praised. In conclusion a 
programme of the exercises is given. An article en- 
titled " The Clergy and Social Work," takes up the 
question whether the clergy should take part in social 
and economic movements. The author argues affirma- 
tively, maintaining that such action has received ec- 
clesiastical approbation, and that both modern circum- 
stances and Christian charity demand it. " The 

Problem of Evolution," by the Editor, tells of the lec- 
tures given by Father Erich Wasmann, S.J., in Berlin, 
at which he discussed the theory |of Evolution with 
several German scientists. The article further deals with 
the attitude of the Church toward science and the free- 
dom which she grants to her children in scientific mat- 
ters. The Rev. Herbert Thurston, in "A Libel on 

Medieval Missions," takes issue with the Rev. Percy 
Deamer, who in an article entitled " Our Church History 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 263 

as Told in the Scenes of the Pageant," states that from 
the tenth to the sixteenth century, the voice of the mis- 
sionary was heard only in the Eastern Church. Father 
Thurston offers considerable documentary evidence in 
support of the existence and labors of English mission- 
aries during those centuries. 

The International Journal of Ethics (Oct.): "The Meaning of 
Literature for Philosophy," by Ernest Albee. " Not 
only morality and religion, but all civilization seem to 
be based upon the progressive development of sympathy 
and imagination. As Shelley says : ' Poets are the un- 
acknowledged legislators of the world.'" Charles M. 

Bakewell, in "The Unique Case of Socrates," says: " He 
is one of those men who refuse to be classified ; he is 
not a teacher merely but an example, and as such is 
glorified, idealized, ... an Isaiah come to meet a 
religious crisis that had taken the form of a philosophic 
dispute." J. E. Creighton, in " Knowledge and Prac- 
tice," says : " Philosophy becomes the pilot of life when 
the desire for wisdom and enlightenment enters into the 
mind as its dominant motive. Knowledge is real only 

when it takes the form of self-knowledge." "The 

Organization of Truth," says John Wright Buckham, 
"depends upon our finding some supreme and regulative 
reality. This is found in personality. For that only can 
be true which is good, that is, personal. This implies a 

rational idealism in recognizing truth values." R. M. 

Maclver, says that " Ethics and Politics " cannot be in 
conflict, because "politics regards man in a particular 
abstract relation, whereas ethics regards man in his con- 
creteness as a human being, one of whose characteristics 
is to be a 'political animal.'" 

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record (Sept.) : That a " Lay College at 
Maynooth" was the origin of the present seminary, from 
which the clergy elbowed out the laity, and that thus, 
by appropriating government funds, the clergy succeeded 
in keeping the laity ignorant, is declared by the Editor 

to be a charge totally unfounded. Rev. R. Fullerton 

denies "The Evolution of Mind" in the sense of Ro- 
manes and Haeckel. Animals, he says, have not the 
human faculties of reason, self- consciousness, speech, and 



264 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Nov., 

free-will. " The Last Years of Archbishop Creagh, of 

Armagh," by W. H. Grattan Flood. The formerly ac- 
cepted dates as to the Primate's death in prison are de- 
clared incorrect and the correct date given as early in 

December, 1586. The Very Rev. Reginald Walsh, 

O.P., continues " Glimpses of the Penal Times," and 
deals with the career of Ambrose MacDermott, Bishop 

of Elphin. "Female Suffrage," says the Rev. David 

Barry, " from a Catholic standpoint, is not justified. It 
is not defined that woman has the right to a living wage 
or the duty of supporting herself at all ; the virtue of 
distributive justice has no direct concern with her; her 
interests are not incompatible -with or antagonistic to, 
those of the male members of her family. Woman suf- 
frage is incompatible with the Catholic .ideal of the 
unity of domestic life." 

Le Correspondant (25 Aug.): "Social Congresses," begun in 
1904 by Henri Lorin, the first being held in Fribourg, are 
described by Etienne Lamy. Their purpose is to enable 
practical Catholics to find out what Catholicism demands 
and teaches in the way of social activity, and what ideas 
and aims may be common to Catholics and socialists. 
"These congresses," says M. Lamy, "are a means of 
restoring Christianity to the laws of France, especially 

with regard to laws that affect the working classes." 

" The Russian Army and the Western Border of the 
Empire." "Russia now has 1,200,000 effective fighting 
men in peace and more than four millions ready to be 

put into service in time of war." " Regnard, the Man 

and the Poet," is described by Rene Gautheron as a 
lesser Moliere, whose comedies are eternally young and 

amusing. G. Saint-Yves discusses the operations of 

Spain in Morocco. 

(10 Sept): "The Campaign Against William II." is 

the second installment of H. Moysset's "The Spirit of 

the People in Germany." Bernard de Lacombe writes 

of " Cardinal Lavigerie." He says : " Never did a busier, 
more restless dignitary sit in the Sacred College. Asia 

and Africa were his fields of glory. E. Angot asks, 

in " A Little Feminism," whether it would be wise to 
urge a young girl to persevere in serious studies, even 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 265 

could she excel in them, when it is probable that she 
will never need such knowledge for her temporal sup- 
port? The author answers in the negative. 
(25 Sept.) : Louis Riviere would institute and promote, 
as he puts it, both " Catholic and Neutral Works," 
whether the latter have Catholic leaders and admit re- 
ligious discussions or not, in order that the faith, be- 
coming more thoroughly known by the social interests 

of its adherents, may be revived in France. "The 

Work of Carmen Sylvia" is reviewed by Leo Claretie. 
Gabriel Aubray writes of " The Sad State of Fem- 
inism." He quotes Dumas: "Man has revolted against 
God; woman revolts against man. With the woman 
falls the home ; with the home, society. Women need 
order rather than liberty; custom should lead them to 
the hearth and law keep them there." 

Etudes (5 Sept.): Pedro Descogs again joins issue with M. Ch. 
Maurras. The latter's views in many places are said to 
be distinctly un-Catholic; his philosophy positivistic; 
his religious system agnostic. M. Descogs warns the 
young men of France to beware, lest they be caught 
by a movement which would divorce politics and relig- 
ion. The notion of responsibility is subjected to fur- 
ther analysis by Xavier Moisant. In this number he 
shows the content of the idea at different periods in 
Christian history. From the time of Jesus Christ and 
the Apostles even down to the days of Pelagius, great 
emphasis was laid upon the supreme sovereignty of God. 

"The Correspondence of Bossuet and of Fene- 

lon," by Eugene Griselle. "The Fall of the Con- 

stitutional Clergy (1793)," the story of their apostasy, 

by Pierre Poliard. " A Recent Portrait of Mother 

Barat," by Rene Compaing. 

(20 Sept.) : The Editors contribute a short biography 

and estimate of the labors of Father du Lac, a leading 

Jesuit of France who died recently. Vladimir Solo- 

viev, a great Catholic layman of Russia, is described by 
Michel d'Herbigny as "a Russian Newman." Like the 
great cardinal, Soloviev was born outside the Church, 
but through religious loyalty, fervor in prayers, and 
fidelity to the light, he came at last to make his sub- 



266 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Nov., 

mission to the successor of Peter. There are some won- 
derful resemblances in these two converts. They both 
loved the Scriptures and the Fathers St. Augustine in 
particular ecclesiastical history, the philosophy of evo- 
lution. Before their conversion both were attracted to 
a life of perfect chastity, and took perpetual vows. 
Soloviev died in 1900. 

Annales de Philosophic Chretienne (Sept.) : " The Responsibility 
of the Church in the Repression of Heresy in the Middle 
Ages," by E. Jordan, treats of "the Inquisition and 
the defence of society." The author reviews the doc- 
trines and practices of the heretics as regards marriage, 
obedience to civil authority, and concludes: "If the 
State in the Middle Ages and the Church with it, and 
in its interests, repressed the Albigenses and the Van- 
dois, the Fratricelli and the Wyclifites, as governments 
to-day repress rebels and anarchists, it would be unjust 
to approve the one and to blame the other." 
(Oct.) : Lemarie discusses the " Nature of Religious 
Faith," and says: "Science attaches itself to the 'how' 
of the world and of life ; religion to the ' why.' We 
know that God exists, because He imposes Himself up- 
on us and draws us to Himself. Faith is our answer 
to the divine call, its realization by our will. We seek 
God only because we have already found Him; and we 
find Him because God has inclined our hearts to seek." 

L. Laberthonniere reviews M. Heitz's book on St. 

Thomas and the Connection Between Science and Faith* 
According to M. Heitz : "For the Abelards, the An- 
selms, the Bonaventures, all following St. Augustine, 
theology was the science of the revealed truth ; for St. 
Thomas, . . . faith excludes the scientific knowledge 
of its dogmas. It is the master stroke of the will that 
forces the adhesion of faith." The writer criticizes M. 
Heitz for such assertions about St. Thomas as: "that 
he was the first to understand the true character of 
revelation, misunderstood by St. Paul and the Fathers"; 
"that he did not continue the work of his predecessors, 
but contradicted it " ; " that dogma to remain dogma 
must remain in itself unknowable." 

Revue Pratique a? Apologetique (l Sept.): E. Mangenot, contin- 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 267 

uing "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ," declares that 
the risen body, "although identical with the earthly 
body, was no longer in its former material state, but 
transformed by divine omnipotence and adapted to the 
glorious nature of the Risen One and His vivifying 
action in the Church." In another paper he will dis- 
cuss the alleged oppositions between St. Paul and the 
Gospels ; in this he gives the theories of Loisy, Le Roy, 

Stapfer, and others. "The Sources of Duty," by M. 

Gossard. Abbe Broussolle gives the third installment 

of " The Apostles in Renaissance Art," illustrating "the 
share of mystical speculation in the iconography of the 

Apostles." "The Feasts of the Holy Cross," their 

origin and character, and the nature of the cult to be paid 

to the cross, are described by H. Lesetre. "The Latin 

Question Again," by J. Guibert, includes approbation 
from various sources of the author's advocacy of Latin in 
education, particularly its wider use in seminaries. 
(15 Sept.): "Prayer for the Dead," by Dom Cabrol, in- 
includes the defence of this practice by Bossuet against 
the Protestants, an attack recently renewed by M. 
Reinach, and the testimony of epitaphs and liturgies to 
the universality and the antiquity of the tradition, al- 
though the silence of the liturgies has led some to deny 

its apostolic origin. E. Mangenot presents the second 

part of his " Resurrection of Jesus Christ," reviewing 
the Gospel narratives and critical theories thereof, es- 
pecially the natural explanations of the discovery of the 
empty tomb, the hypothesis of the apparent death and 
that of the stealing of Christ's Body, and concludes that 
" the discovery of the empty tomb is not a legend but 

an historical fact." Ph. Ponsard, treating "The Divine 

Command," says that " man can will only what God 
commands, because this alone is the expression of the 
perfect good and His first reason for making the com- 
mand absolute is to withdraw men from their individual 

vagaries." "The Bible Stories: Jonas," by H. Lesetre. 

J. Guibert appeals for an apostolate of " Teach- 
ers of Christian Schools" and shows the dangers of iso- 
lation, especially in lowering personal perfection and con- 
sequently professional value. 



FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Nov., 

Chronique Sociale de France (Aug.-Sept.) : A. Lugan answers 
the charge that Christ scorned labor and bade man 
trust blindly in Providence, by explaining the "Be not 
solicitous for the morrow " passage of St. Matthew 

vi. 25-34. "The Social Activity of Swiss Catholics" 

is an account of the recent Congress at Zong. "A 

Practical School for Social Formation," founded by Mile. 
Gahery, to work for children of all denominations and 
to educate teachers, is described by L. de Contenson. 

La Revue des Sciences Ecclesiastiques et La Science Catholique 
(Sept.): "The Use of Latin in the Seminaries," by 
Abbe Biguet. The article is a reply to M. Abbe Guibert. 
The latter, before the Board of Directors of the Grand 
Seminary, presented the view that all ecclesiastical stu- 
dents should be obliged to use the Latin language. 
Questions and answers, papers to be written, all exam- 
inations and the like, should be conducted in Latin. 
Abbe Biguet claims that the present student is not equal 
to such a task. The colleges do not attend sufficiently 
to the classics to give a scholar any fluency in Latin. 

"Joan of Arc." The author of the article, M. E. 

Hurault, brings forth some new facts recently discov- 
ered by Abbe Carrez about the march of Joan of Arc 
to Rheims. The entrance, on July 14, 1429, to the 
town of Chalons-sur-Marne, is the chief topic of the 
paper. Chalons was not so important in the issue of 
the campaign as the surrender of Troyes, still it singu- 
larly facilitated the march of the army. Upon the atti- 
tude of the inhabitants of this city depended the possi- 
bility of the passage of the Marne, and consequently the 

conquest of Rheims. " Sociological Modernism." The 

article is chiefly a number of letters sent to Abbe Fon- 
taine in approval of his recent work Sociological Modern- 
ism. The object of the book is a presentation of 
Modernism in so far as it affects the Social Question. 

Revue du Monde Catholique (i Sept.): In his article, "Louis 
XIII. and the Jesuits," Eugene Griselle introduces ex- 
tracts from unedited documents, supporting the King's 
favorable attitude toward the Society of Jesus. Con- 
tinuing his series of articles on "The Feminist Move- 
ment," Theodore Joran treats of one of the principal 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 269 

grievances of the feminists, namely, the opposition to 
their entrance into the domains of letters. 

Revue du Clerge Francais (i Sept.): F. Dubois begins an ex- 
position of "The Teaching Church." The present article 
is concerned with the Teaching Authority and its object. 
Its first section aims to determine in a precise manner 
the Catholic position, namely that the pastors and the 
faithful, the Ecclesia docens and the Ecclesia discens, work 
together by diverse titles and in different degrees to the 
preservation and the development of the revealed de- 
posit, in contrast to the Modernist antitheses of Loisy, 
Tyrrell, and others, that the teaching authority, the Pope 
and the Bishops, are only the organs and witnesses of 
the common faith. The second section is " a simple ex- 
pose of the common teaching of theologians on the 
object of the ecclesiastical magisterium which shows the 
distance that separates it from the anti-intellectual 

theories of G. Tyrrell." "Go, Daughter of God, 

Go ! " is a review by J. Bricout of a drama of Jules 
Baibier depicting the life of Joan of Arc. In the 
" Chronicle of Ecclesiastical History " E. Vacandard re- 
views among other works the following: "the first num- 
ber oi a Dictionary of Ecclesiastical History and Geo- 
graphy, published by Letouzey & Ane, Paris; a history 
by Achille Luchaire, of Innocent ///., the Lateran Ceun- 
cil t and the Reform in the Church ; a History of the In- 
quisition in France, by Th. de Cauzons ; and a volume 
by Albert Weiss, O.P., a continuation of the history of 
Luther and Lutheranism in its First Development, begun 
by Heinrich Denifle. 

(15 Sept): A. Villien writes of "The Discipline of the 
Sacraments," giving a brief historic sketch of the usages 
and ceremonies connected with the administration of the 

sacraments. Some of the recent works reviewed by L. 

Venard under the " Biblical Chronicle " are : a History 
of the New Testament Canon (German), by J. Leipoldt; 
How Did the Books of the New Testament Become Scrip- 
ture ? by M. Leitzmann ; Who Has Founded Christianity, 
Jesus or Paul? by A. Meyer; Paulus und Jesus, by A. 
Juelicher; Jesus et Paul, by J. Breitenstein; 7 he Chris- 
tianity of Paul, the Gospel of Jesus, by W. Walther. Of 



2;o FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Nov., 

these last four Meyer maintains that St. Paul was a 
visionary who drew from himself much more than he re- 
ceived from apostolical tradition, with the result that his 
teaching on very many important points is quite differ- 
ent from that of the Gospel. Yet he does not go so 
far as the critics of a few years ago who held that be- 
tween Paul and Jesus one was compelled to make choice. 
He would say that Paul leads to Christ. Juelicher takes 
a position still less radical than Meyer, holding that 
although St. Paul's teaching is on many points different 
from that of Jesus, still it is essentially that of the 
twelve. Breitenstein practically agrees with Juelicher. 
Walther represents the conservative tendency of Ger- 
man Protestantism. His work is a refutation of the 
theory that St. Paul's teaching is any other than that of 
Christ, excepting its adaptation to changed circumstances. 

Writing of " Chapels of Aid," A. de Mun describes 

conditions in the poorer districts of Paris, where two 
steps from the most aristocratic part of the city " dwell 
a people more abandoned, more ignorant of God, than 
a tribe of negroes in the Congo." 

Stimmen aus Maria Laach (14 Sept.): "The Conclusive Force 
of the Argument for the Existence of God From the 
Tendencies of the Soul," by O. Zimmermann, S.J., with 
reference to the present state of religious thought in 
Protestant Germany. "That which corresponds to the 
deepest, noblest needs of nature must exist, for these needs 
cannot have their satisfying goal in a void. We need 

God ; therefore He must exist." V. Cathrein, S.J., 

writing on " Christianity and Socialism," maintains that 
he who believes modern socialism to be compatible with 
positive Christianity has no true idea of either the one 
or the other. ^O. Pfuelf, S.J., apropos of a work of 
Th. de Cauzons on The Inquisition in France, points out 
the merits of this work, its impartial historical treatment, 
though not from a Catholic standpoint, and its recogni- 
tion of the fact that the heretics punished were enemies 
of the State as well as of the Church. 

Ln Civilta Cattolica (2 Sept.) : " The Condition of Catholics in 
the German Empire." The ardent fanaticism of the 
sixteenth century against the Catholic Church appears 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 271 

even to-day in some parts of the German Empire as 
strong as in the time of Luther. Until the year 1899 
Catholics in Saxony, Mecklenburg and Brunswick were 
not allowed to practice their religion freely nor to build 
schools and churches, and even to-day the condition is 

\.\ '':'- but little better. In Brunswick only four Masses may be 
said in one year; to say a fifth Mass would be con- 
sidered dangerous to the State. " Freemasonry." 

This is the third article on Masonry in answer to the 
question : " What is the real religion of Freemasonry ? " 
The Masonic religion, in its ultimate analysis, turns out 
to be a false naturalism which does not differ substan- 
tially from materialism and ends logically in atheism. 
The article has reviewed the writings of the most im- 
portant masons in America and Europe. 

LA Scuola Cattolica (Aug.) : Under the title " Other Points of 
Biblical Criticism," F, S. rejects the proofs which Loisy 
brings forward against the Gospel of St. John from the 
silence of the early writers concerning it. He shows 
that Loisy did not faithfully translate the fragment of 
Fapias; that likewise he tries in vain to show that St. 
John is not the author of the Fourth Gospel from the 
silence of Fapias. In conclusion the argument from 
silence is used against Loisy. " The Bible and Phi- 
losophy in the Catholic Dogma of the Resurrection of 
the Dead." A. Cellini, notwithstanding the opposition 
of many philosophers, argues for the belief of the He- 
brew people in the immortality of the soul. He shows 
that the Thora is not opposed but favorable to the im- 
mortality of the human soul. 

Raxon y Fe (Sept.): "Without Country and Without Faith," 
by R. Ruiz Amado, illustrates from the recent Barce- 
lona riots the author's contention that the renegades 

from religion are apostates from patriotism. E. Ugarte 

de Ercilla, on "New Orientations in Morality." 

" Printing Presses of Early Jesuits in Europe, America, 
and the Philippines," by C. Gomez Rodeles. The first 
article deals with those set up in Rome and Messina in 

1556 and in Palermo between 1732 and 1735. J. 

Beguiriztain makes " Observations on the Eucharistic 



272 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Nov. 

Apostolate of St. Ignatius," arguing that the saint, 
"powerfully urged frequent, even daily, Communion." 
Espaiia y America (i Sept.): "The Exegetical System of St. 
Thomas," continues P. C. Fernandez, taught that the 
contradiction between ascertained scientific truth and 
proposed biblical interpretations could and should fol- 
lowing, however, the teachings and traditions of the 
Church be reconciled by adopting other interpretations. 
There can be no error in Scripture; and religion and 

science cannot really contradict each other. P. Bruno 

Ibeas, in "Christian Work and the Social Question," 
concludes by appealing for applied Christian principles 
againt socialism. "All our organizations need reform; 

let us restore all things in Christ." " Chameza and the 

Recollet Augustinians," by P. P. Fabo, gives data from 
the history of Colombia ; notes the marked improvement 

in morality, education, and government. P. M. Valez 

sends "Notes from Peru." He thinks that "Yankee 
Imperialism," which endangers the independence of the 
Spanish American republics, will be beneficial by insur- 
ing peace; and approving the laws against Oriental im- 
migration. 

(15 Sept.} : F. Vezinet pays a tribute to P. de Mugica 
in "A Spanish Critic in Germany," saying: "Three 
qualities are requisite for a critic : extensive learning ; a 
mind daring to express its honest convictions, though 
without bitterness; and an attractive style. P. de Mu- 
gica possesses all three." " The ^Esthetic Ideas of 

St. Augustine," by P. E. Negrete, concluded. "The 
immediate end of art is the realization of the beautiful. 
There can be technical and physical beauty without mo- 
rality. But art, if it does not preach, should at least 

not blaspheme." "New York Notes," by P. M. Blanco 

Garcia, is a description of the Champlain celebration. 



Current Events. 

The tranquillity of the French people 
France. has met with but little disturbance. 

The Chambers have not been in 

session and the preparations which doubtless are being made 
for the election of the new Chamber next spring are not yet of a 
character to excite public interest. The relations with the rest 
of the world remain as before the effort of Mulai Hafid to 
involve France in the quarrel of Morocco with Spain not hav- 
ing succeeded. Ostensibly, and on the surface, France and 
Germany are on the best possible terms; but the underlying 
hostility has been made manifest by the invasion of France by 
hosts of German spies at least so the French assert. Regu- 
lar agencies, it is said, are established in France. Frenchmen 
in straitened circumstances are induced, by offers of money 
and other practises still less praiseworthy, to furnish informa- 
tion about the army. Deserters especially have been approached 
by those German emissaries, who train them to render more 
effectual service against their own country. In particular, a 
machine gun of special construction was stolen from one of 
the barracks, and there is every reason to think it has found 
its way into the hands of the German military authorities, by 
means of a traitor in the camp. The detestable spy system, 
which is one of the chief evils of a state of war, seems to be 
growing into a permanent institution even in time cf peace. 

The French navy itself so great has been its declension 
has had to endure the surprise visits of Ministers. One of 
those visits disclosed the fact that the work of the depart- 
ment in question was several months, and in some cases sev- 
eral years, in arrears. The secular teaching which has been 
embraced by the French State cannot boast of having effected 
any very profound improvement in the performance of even 
the most elementary duties. And yet the government does 
not cease to wage war with the only agency for the preserva- 
tion of the nation's moral life. A series of prosecutions of 
Bishops, for alleged seditious language uttered in the pulpit, 
has led to their condemnation. M. Briand justifies his action 
by alleging that the Bishops have violated the Separation Law. 
But, as has been well said by the Abbe Gayraud, the worst 
VOL. xc. 18 



274 CURRENT EVENTS [Nov., 

violences of despotism have been legal at certain moments of 
history. Unjust laws are only a form of tyranny. A states- 
man should try to amend those laws, to repair their injustice, 
and to restore peace to oppressed consciences. 

The fact is that French Catholics must learn to protect 
themselves, and this is what they are beginning to do. They 
are making active preparations, both openly and behind the 
scenes, for the next elections. The freedom which they now 
enjoy, and which is perhaps the one good result oi the recent 
legislation, enables them to enter into combination with their 
bishops as leaders, and it seems probable that all differences, 
political and social, will be sunk and a union iormed for the 
defence of Catholic interests. Whether this union should take 
the form of a political party a thing which might bring it 
into conflict with all the other parties combined against it 
is a point now under discussion. Among others, the forma- 
tion of a Catholic Party is deprecated by the Abbe Bizet, on 
the ground that the Church on principle is not and cannot be 
a party ; that it is open to men of all parties, and cannot identify 
itself with any. Neither the Popes nor the Bishops have any 
mission to carry on political government, nor would their in- 
tervention be tolerated. Cogent as these reasons may be there 
seems to be nothing in them to prevent Catholics of all parties 
from uniting in defence of the interests of religion. But so 
great is the obliquity of the government that it resents the 
action of the Bishops when they take measures to see that the 
law controlling educators is not violated by the teachers. 

In the lull of French political activity the attention of 
French publicists, as indeed of those of most of the other Eu- 
ropean countries, has been directed to the proposed Budget 
legislation in England. M. Jaures and M. Leroy-Beaulieu agree 
in asserting that these proposals are in their essence socialistic 
the mast socialistic in fact that have ever been presented to 
a European Parliament. This, however, is not the unanimous 
judgment of those who defend socialism. By seme those pro- 
posals are declared to be the last entrenchment of the middle 
classes against the onslaught of the socialists. But the propo- 
sals of the new French Minister of Finance, M. Cochery, while 
they are not in theory socialistic, are in reality steps towards 
the ownership of property by the State. In order to remove 
the deficit he proposes to take over succession to estates of large 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 275 

value, in the case of the more remote degrees of relationship, 
no less than a quarter of the total value of the estate, and it 
is said that even a third may, in certain eventualities, be 
claimed. 

The proposed Income Tax, too, is a step in the same direc- 
tion. The opposition to it, however, is rather based upon its 
inquisitorial character, which makes it a reversion, as M. Ray- 
mond Poincare declares, to the most irritating and arbitrary of 
the systems of the past. 

It may be interesting to quote the opinion M. Poincare has 
formed of the French Chambers of Deputies, as he is one of 
the most respected members of the French political world. 
" Some Frenchmen," he says, " become Deputies, as they might 
become lawyers or doctors, or even cooks and domestic ser- 
vants, simply in order to have a good place and to try to keep 
it. Those professional politicians are a serious danger." The 
wants and demands of the Deputy's constituents prevent his 
looking to the real interests of the country and deprive him of 
the necessary independence. Compared with fifteen years ago 
political morals have been lowered, and political mendacity has 
made great progress. Local interests prevail over the public. 
Ualess a remedy is found, the Parliamentary regime is doomed. 
M. Poincare's remedy is in such a reform of the electoral system 
as will broaden the basis of representation, abolish the injustice 
of government by more shifting majorities, and seek a real 
reproduction of opinion by means of proportional representation. 

There are, however, certain opinions held by some French 
citizens of which M. Poincare would not wish to have repre- 
sentatives, but which have led to action even in so well-drilled 
an institution as the Army. At Macon, on the occasion of 
manoeuvres, one of the flags was missing, and was found in a 
certain place which is not generally more definitely indicated. 
On learning of this incident two of the leaders of opinion in 
France, M. Herve and M. Yvetot declared in public the for- 
mer, that he was delighted that "the French flag had under- 
gone such an outrageous insult " ; the latter, a trade unionist 
leader, " that it was as necessary to defile the idea of father- 
land (la patrie) as it had been to defile the flag." M. nerve" 
and M. Yvetot are not, of cpurse, representative Frenchmen, 
but they are not without a following. 

It would be a great mistake to look upon the incident at 



276 CURRENT EVENTS [Nov., 

Macon as typical or as a sign of the deterioration of the army 
as a whole. So far is this from being the case, that the well- 
known German military critic, Colonel Gadke, who was present 
at the autumn manoeuvres of the French Army, and who had 
been allowed to see what he wanted, sums up a series of arti- 
cles in the Berliner Tageblatt with the words: "This army de- 
serves in every way our greatest respect and our most earnest 
attention. We can learn from the French at least as much as 
they can learn from us." The French people, he declares, are 
as deeply interested in the army as are the German. " If dur- 
ing the last two days of the manoeuvres," says Colonel Gadke, 
" one had suddenly put the French army into Prussian uniforms, 
one would have seen a picture not differing in any respect from 
that presented every year by our manoeuvres." 

The autumn is devoted by Euro- 
Germany, pean Emperors and Kings to the 

inspection of the armies, the sup- 
port of which is an almost intolerable burden to their peoples. 
This year the German Emperor has been present not only at 
the manoeuvres of his own, but at those of the Emperor of 
Austria. On the occasion of the celebration of the Jubilee of 
Francis Joseph last year, the Kaiser said that on the word 
of command given by the Austrian Emperor, Field Marshal in 
the German army, that army would march. In the recent 
crisis Russia was compelled to recognize the annexation by the 
mere intimation that the command was on the point of being 
given. The success of Austria was due to the support of 
Germany. Since that time the union between the two em- 
pires, which is now the dominating element in European poli- 
tics, has had no occasion to make a special manifestation of 
itself, but a few indications of its existence have not been 
wanting, of which the Kaiser's presence at the Austrian ma- 
noeuvres, and that of the Grand Duke Ferdinand's presence at 
the German army manoeuvres is one. Another indication of 
the desire to bind the two countries together in the closest 
way is the effort that is being made to reconcile the Germans 
who are within the borders of Austria to endure with patience, 
if not with joy, their separation from their brethren who are 
subjects of the German Emperor. A few years ago much was 
done in just a contrary direction. The Pan- Germans did all 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 277 

they could to make the Germans of Austria discontented and 
to teach them that their destiny was to be united with the 
new Empire. Their efforts met with no small success, and 
large numbers of the subjects of Francis Joseph almost openly 
avowed their disloyalty. Germans are not satisfied unless they 
are supreme, and the result of the expulsion of Austria from 
Germany, consequent upon the war of 1866, was to bring to 
the front the Slav elements of Austria- Hungry. This their 
German fellow-subjects could not endure, and this their fellow- 
Germans, subjects of the Kaiser, encouraged them not to 
endure. 

But now times have changed, and with them politics. The 
united action of the two Empires is to be secured. Herr von 
Bethmann-Hollweg, Prince Biilow's successor as Chancellor, 
has, in pursuance of this, paid a visit to Vienna, and in a 
somewhat unwonted manner given public expression of his im- 
pressions of the Emperor. He pronounced his Imperial Majesty 
to be the great phenomenon of Europe, the most venerable, 
the most remarkable, the most interesting phenomenon on a 
throne, nay, even a touching and fascinating phenomenon. He 
is a living excerpt from the history of the world. His great 
delight was that he had been received so graciously by a 
monarch of such exalted worth. How ready then should his 
own German subjects be to recognize his rule. This seems to 
be the practical inference to be drawn from the utterances of 
the German Chancellor. 

But that this might be made quite clear, a frequent guest 
and adviser of the Emperor William, Professor Adolf Wagner, 
went to Vienna and made a speech at a congress there, in 
which he extolled the achievements of the Habsburg Monarchy. 
It had broken the power of the Turks. It had given the first 
check to Napoleon. It had rendered possible German life and 
German culture. Therefore, in the future, must the Hohenzol- 
lern and the Habsburg stand together with their armies and 
their navies and sing: " Dear fatherland, no fear be thine; firm 
stands the watch on Danube and Rhine." 

In furtherance of the same policy of close union between 
Germany and Austria, Prince Ludwig, the eldest son of the 
Prince Regent of Bavaria, made a speech on the occasion of 
his unveiling of a monument in commemoration of his own 
wounding in the war of 1866 at Helmstadt in Lower Franconia. 



278 CURRENT EVENTS [Nov., 

In this speech, while recognizing that the Germans of Austria 
had remained outside of the German unity which had been at- 
tained, and had thereby suffered great loss both in prestige and 
in actual fact, yet he said it was their duty not to cast sidelong 
glances across the frontier ; to do so would be, he said, an act 
of high treason and an injury to all loyal Germans in Austria- 
Hungary. There must be union between the two empires, and 
the condition of union must be mutual non-interference. In 
this way war would be averted in the future, just as it was 
averted a few months ago. 

Meanwhile, Germany continues to work hard for the pre- 
servation of peace by the building and launching of Dread- 
noughts, improved Dreadnoughts, and improved improved 
Dreadnoughts; for there are said to be these three classes, con- 
sisting of four ships in each. Six of these Dreadnoughts have 
been launched, the last of which belongs to the improved type. 
Docks are being built for the reception of these ships and vast 
sums of money are being expended. All these sacrifices are 
being made, as is affirmed over and over again, for the pre- 
servation of peace. " We carry the burden of our defence 
willingly," the Emperor William said lately at Karlsruhe, " for 
we know that we must preserve and maintain our peace." 
The socialists of Germany have been holding their Congress at 
Leipzig, a Congress which has passed off more peacefully than 
usual. They also maintain that their strongest wish is for 
peace, but think that the government's methods are more likely 
than not to lead to war. Strange to say these views of the 
socialists were held by a statesman who, for many years, in- 
fluenced, as the power behind the throne, the foreign policy of 
Germany. The late Herr von Holstein declared a short time 
before his death that to maintain that the addition of great ships 
to the navy augmented the strength of Germany was a lying and 
treacherous fallacy. To quote his own words : " In Germany 
' navy fever ' is raging. This dangerous disease is fed by fear 
of an attack from England, which is not in accordance with 
facts. The effect of the ' navy fever ' is pernicious in three 
directions." He proceeds to point out in detail these dangers, 
the last of which is that of war between England and Germany, 
as well perchance with Japan. He recognizes, however, that it 
is hopeless at present to stand against the prevailing disease, 
that any one who should so act would be decried as wanting 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 279 

in "patriotism"; but expresses his conviction that, in a few 
years, the justice of his views will be established. 

Austria-Hungary is occupied with 

Austria-Hungary. paying for arrangements necessary 

for its recently adopted active pol- 
icy. Her union with Germany has rendered it incumbent upon 
her to build Dreadnoughts as well, for the purpose, it is pre- 
sumed, of driving Great Britain out of the Mediterranean. 
It seems fairly certain that four of these war ships are to be 
built, but the full scheme advocated by the military party 
calls for no fewer than sixteen. The chief obstacle, and it is 
a great obstacle, is the expense. Austria is one of the most 
highly taxed countries in Europe. The cost of the four Dread- 
noughts is estimated at more than forty*millions of dollars, and 
in addition to this the bill has to be paid for the mobilization 
of troops which took place last spring occasioned by the an- 
nexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The amount has not been 
definitely disclosed, but a rough estimate places it at no less 
than a hundred millions, involving the doubling of the estimates 
for 1909. The feeling of the country has changed in view of 
these figures. One of the principal papers says: "Count vcn 
Aehrenthal is experiencing bitter days. The bill for his success- 
ful Balkan policy is now to be presented to the peoples of 
Austria and Hungary ; and, lo ! not a soul wants to pay it. 
All political and racial antagonisms in this distracted monarchy 
become silent as soon as those figures begin to speak. Ger- 
mans and Czechs, Poles and Ruthenes, Serbs and Croatians, 
Magyars and Rumanes, are united in resisting the mighty bud- 
getary burdens that have grown, and will continue to grow^ 
out of the annexation policy." Hungary in particular, theie 
is every reason to think, before voting her share of the ex- 
pense, will insist on a further Magyarization of the army and 
on other particular demands. 

The long-drawn-out crisis, brought on by the resignation 
last May of the Hungarian ministry, had not been settled a 
few weeks ago. The efforts made to form a new Cabinet failed, 
and the attempt was postponed. They have been renewed, and 
something must now be done, for the Prime Minister, Dr. 
Wekerle', is resolved to retire into private life. The coalition 
cabinet has failed in accomplishing that for which it was called 



a8o CURRENT EVENTS [Nov., 

into being the reform of the constitution by the establishment 
of universal suffrage. Its efforts were not very sincere. The 
continued unjust domination of the Magyars was the only thing 
it cared about, and they found no real way of so doing con- 
sistent with universal suffrage, although a scheme was published. 
It was, however, so inadequate and one-sided that it has found 
no supporters. The King is determined, it is said, that the 
new Cabinet shall be pledged to carry out the long delayed 
reform ; but Hungarian politicians so far have offered him only 
the alternative between a Cabinet made of Dualist members 
and one made up of Independent members; that is to say, a 
Cabinet advocating the present Dual arrangement between Aus- 
tria and Hungary, and one which wishes to separate the two 
countries so completely that the person of the sovereign should 
be the sole bond. 

Russia seems to be making steady 
Russia. progress and a constitutional regime 

seems to have a good prospect of 

being firmly established. The Tsar has so far recovered his 
popularity, that crowds are found who cheer him when he ap- 
pears in public. The prospect is favorable. There are, of 
course, reactionary influences at work; but, so far, they have 
been powerless. The Tsar has stood firmly in support of his 
ministers, and has not listened to backstairs counsellors; and, 
as a consequence, his prestige has been enhanced. A good 
harvest, prompt payment of taxes, increase of revenues, agrarian 
reforms, the transformation of the peasants into freeholders, 
which is going on, have all contributed to the advent of more 
prosperous conditions. Repressive legislation is, however, still 
in existence; but there are hopes that it will soon come to an 
end, when the raison d'etre disappears. The alliance with 
France remains unshaken, and the good understanding with 
Great Britain is a compensation for the loss of Austria's 
friendship. The common action of Russia and Great Britain 
in Persia has resulted in the overthrow of one of the absolute 
rulers whose sway is an affliction to the dwellers upon earth. 
It is said that if the ex-Shah could have brought himself to 
believe that the Tsar was sincere in supporting a constitution 
for Persia, he would have yielded in time and not have lost 
his throne. 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 281 

Hopes, too, may be entertained 
Turkey. that Turkey's constitution will not 

be again destroyed. Such at least 

are the assurances given by those who are in a position to 
form a reliable judgment. The large number of those who 
fattened and battened on the spoliation of the people in 
Hamidian days are, of course, discontented and would destroy 
the present order, if they could. It is thought, however, that 
they are well under control. The Turkish Parliament is work- 
ing well and soberly. Expert advisers from other countries 
are being appointed to supply the experience of which the 
Turks themselves are necessarily lacking. The army is to be 
trained by German officers, the Navy has been placed under 
an English Admiral, while a Board of Advice for Financial 
Affairs has been formed, made up of French, English, and 
Italian experts. The credit of Turkey under its new institu- 
tions has become so good that it has become possible to raise 
a loan. And concessions have been granted for the develop- 
ment of hitherto unused resources. 

The state of Greece shows that 
Greece. something more is necessary for 

the common weal than the mere 

possession of a constitution and of a parliament. It would take 
too much space to give in detail an account of the evils with 
which the body politic in Greece is afflicted. The war a few 
years ago with Turkey showed that even then its army was in 
such a state of disorganization and inefficiency that the attempt 
to enter into a conflict with the Turkish troops made Greece 
the laughing-stock of the world. Things have not improved 
since the war ; and within the last few months Greece has had 
to submit through sheer impotence to the somewhat arrogant 
demands of Turkey. This has roused the spirit of the soldiers 
who, as in Turkey, seem to be the only body at once able to 
perceive the existent evils and courageous enough to make any 
effort to remedy them. The leaders of the political parties 
care only for the spoils of office; in fact, they have sunk to 
the level of the Portuguese politicians whose only object it has 
been in rotation to rob the .public. In Greece the people are 
giving their support to the efforts which the military league is 
making, and, although there has been some talk of the proba- 



28* CURRENT EVENTS [Nov., 

bility of a dictatorship, there are hopes that the necessary 
reforms may be effected without the abolition of constitu- 
tional methods. A good deal depends upon the action of the 
King and on his co-operation. He is personally popular, and 
his great services to the state are universally recognized. He 
has had the desire to abdicate and the treatment of his sons 
may well have strengthened this desire. But it is hoped that 
the well-being of the State, to which his continued presence 
is of great importance, may induce him to retain the reins of 
government. 

It is impossible not to feel grave 
Spain. anxiety as to the permanence ot 

the present regime in Spain. Writ- 
ers of repute declare that there is widespread corruption in 
every department, that its constitution is a mere name, and 
that the discontent with the present conditions is growing. 
The recent resort to such arbitrary measures as the suspension 
of the constitutional guarantees and the censorship is a sign 
of the weakness of the government. The war with the Riffs 
may develop into a war with Morocco, and this may lead to 
complications with France, and perhaps with other Powers. 
The excitement caused by the execution of Senor Ferrer is 
but one of the many indications of unrest. No one except a 
sympathizer with anarchy and rebellion would look upon this 
execution as unjustified. The prisoner may not have had all 
the safeguards which are granted in countries where the liberty 
of the subject is more jealously guarded; but it seems clear 
that substantial justice was done. Even the writers in the 
Spanish press, who do not approve of the sentence, do not 
attack either the procedure of the Court, or the impartiality 
and competence of the judges; not even with Stnor Ferrer as 
a man do they evince any sympathy. He is rather regarded 
as a valuable battle cry in the warfare against the government. 
To enable a judgment to be formed, the following account 
is given of the procedure : A preliminary inquiry was held by 
the Secretary of the Military Tribunal, sitting in camera as a 
juge d' instruction empowered to collect what evidence and to 
hear what witnesses he pleased ; the prisoner was not repre- 
sented, but he had the right to call any witness he chose. 
The whole case thus digested and prepared was presented with 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 283 

the documents and depositions of both sides to the Court- 
martial by the juge d* instruction. The Fiscal followed with a 
speech for the prosecution. Then counsel for the defence fol- 
lowed with a speech admitted by both sides to be very able. 
And finally Scnor Ferrer himself spoke. For some reason no 
witnesses were called on either side; on the strength of these 
three speeches the Court made its decision. This decision 
had to be approved by the Captain- General f and the supreme 
Court-martial. The Cabinet then had to advise whether it was 
a case in which the prerogative of mercy should be exercised 
or not; and it decided in the negative. The trial took place 
in a prison and lasted five hours. The Court consisted of a 
Lieutenant- Colonel and six captains. About 200 reporters and 
250 of the general public were present. 1^ juge ^instruction 
read the report of his work, which had been going on three 
or four weeks, and the declarations of witnesses for both sides. 
This occupied two and a half hours. The charges were re- 
bellion, the incitation to the declaration of a republic, and the 
instigation of destruction of property. No fewer than seventy 
witnesses supported those charges before the juge d* instruction. 
The worst that can be said of the trial seems to be that Spanish 
methods are not ours. Whether the Cabinet was well-advised 
in not advising the King to exercise the prerogative of mercy 
depends upon a knowledge of the political state of Spain, 
which but few possess. In the art of governing, a recent 
writer has declared, the only sure means of keeping one's feet 
is to take a step forward at the right moment. It seems some- 
what problematical, in view of the excitement caused and the 
possible results of that excitement, whether the Spanish govern- 
ment would not have been better advised if it had made use of 
clemency. As for the King, he could only act as his ministers 
advised. 



With Our Readers. 



THE remark is often made that Catholic peoples are exceptionally 
unkind to animals. The following letter, written to the Lon- 
don Athenaum, is important and instructive : 

' ' Permit me to send you a few words of protest against a state- 
ment which I was surprised to read in your issue of September 1 1 . 
The statement was made in a review of a book by the Countess Marti- 
nengo-Cesaresco, entitled : The Place of Animals in Human Thought. 

" ' . . . that creed of the Roman Church which holds that, 
as animals have no souls, they have no rights against man, and that 
cruelty to them is not any transgression of the moral law. . . . 
The deplorable effect of this view on the conduct of the Roman 
Catholic populations, from Ireland to Sicily, is only too well known. 
As cruelty to animals is not reproved as a sin by the clergy, the 
treatment of domestic animals is often shocking, and reacts on the 
treatment of weak human beings, such as women and children.' 

" But this statement is doubly false ; false in theory and false 
in fact. In the first place, it is true that Catholic teaching (and 
why not say ' Christian ' ?) denies to animals the possession of an 
immortal soul like unto our own, it is equally true that kindness 
to animals is one of the marks of virtue which has at all times been 
emphatically counselled by the Church, and of which the lives of 
her saints offer numerous examples. It is sufficient to mention the 
Golden Legend that popular catechism of the Middle Ages more 
widely read and commented on than the Bible itself wherein one 
will find on every page, from the legend of St. John the Evange- 
list to that of St. Francis (a zealous Catholic who certainly cannot 
be accused of cruelty towards animals), every sort of simple and 
touching story, noble examples in this world, that exhort Christians 
to extend towards animals here on earth all the greater kindness 
and sympathy precisely because they are excluded from the enjoy- 
ment of future blessedness. 

"And with regard to what the Athenaum's critic says about 
the apparent superiority of Protestant countries over Catholic in 
their treatment of animals, I am able to say with the knowledge 
of personal experience, having passed my life upon the highways of 
Europe, that it is in the Catholic countries of Bavaria, the Tyrol, 
and the borders of the Rhine, that throughout these lands there is 
perfect and intimate friendship between man and beast. I do not 
deny, however, that the Latin races of South Central Europe, the 
Italians, the people of Provence, the Spaniards, are hard upon their 



1909.] WITH OUR READERS 28$ 

horses and donkeys but that is a result of heredity, which endures 
after centuries of Christianity. Even before the Fathers of the Church 
protested against it, pagan writers also sought to discourage it. 

"And, finally, I wish to add that in all my long experience 
as a traveler and as a friend of animals (and all the while a Catho- 
lic) I do not remember ever to have witnessed such a revolting 
spectacle not even in Spain, where I have seen the crowds rush to 
the bullfight as that which I mel with in many of the towns and 
cities of Holland Protestant by large majorities where the princi- 
pal industry of the people is destroying the eyes of young birds, 
native and imported, canaries, blackbirds, nightingales, in order 
that the pain of the little sinless martyrs will cause them to sing 
more sweetly, and bring to their owners, who sell them in the 
market place, a few extra florins." 

* * * 

THE religious life, we speak in particular of the religious life 
for women, has always been, and will continue to be until the day 
of real enlightenment dawns, a source of misinterpretation and mis- 
understanding to the non-Catholic mind. No amount of contro- 
versy or of evidence, it seems, will rid the world of the prevailing 
notion that the convent is pre-eminently a refuge for those who have 
met with some disappointment in life. The non- Catholic world seems 
to have settled back obstinately and contentedly to this conclusion. 

The dramatization of Marion Crawford's novel, The White 
Sister, which is now being produced in New York, confirms this 
satisfied and self-confident class in their convictions. It is impos- 
sible for a Catholic not to feel uncomfortable at the free and easy 
talk on the stage about the Holy Father and the vows of the reli- 
gious ; but even these things might be overlooked if we knew that 
a non-Catholic was able to differentiate between the real and the 
unreal nun. We remarked in the August number of THE CATHO- 
LIC WORLD that the story of 7 he White Sister was saved from being 
sensationally melodramatic only by Mr. Crawford's extreme sim- 
plicity of style. The play is framed entirely on just such a melo- 
dramatic order and gives only the closing scenes of the novel. 
Changes have been made in the plan of the novelist's climax, but 
the final outcome of both the book and the play weakens the work 
to such a degree that we wonder why the story should have been 
told or the play presented. If we were asked to judge it from a 
dramatic standpoint we should have only words of sincere appre- 
ciation for Miss Allen's admirable interpretation ; but such has not 
been our purpose. 

* * * 

AN English translation of Anatole France's Life of Joan of Arc 



286 WITH OUR READERS [Nov., 

is soon to be published in America. For a scholarly and compre- 
hensive judgment on the character and worth of this Life, we refer 
our readers to the articles by Abb< Bricout which appeared in 
THE CATHOLIC WORLD of November and December, 1908, and 
January, 1909. 



WE have received a number of letters requesting us to publish 
an article on Halley's comet, concerning which there is now so 
widespread an interest. In answer we would refer our readers to 
the capable paper on the subject written by the eminent astronomer, 
Rev. George M. Searle, C.S.P., and published in THE CATHOLIC 
WORLD of June, 1908. 



IN 7 he Lamp for October, an Anglican monthly published in 
the interests of corporate reunion with Rome, there is an interesting 
article entitled " The Call of St. Francis." After citing a number 
of founders of religious communities, the writer continues : 

" The other day, in Washington, a Protestant minister said to 
us : ' Francis of Assisi is the saint of us Protestants '; and certainly 
he voiced the sentiments of a vast number of his fellow-religionists. 
The Salvation Army has published a short life of the saint, which 
has been read by many thousands of the proletariat, and a socialist 
writer and lecturer of increasing distinction was heard to say in the 
company of other socialists some weeks ago : ' I consider St. Francis 
of Assisi the most perfect follower of Jesus that ever lived.' " 

It is certainly true that no saint has had so many Protestant 
admirers as the Poor Man of Assisi, unless, indeed, it be St. Cather- 
ine of Siena, of whom Miss Vida D. Scudder has written with such 
rare insight and appreciation. The remark concerning the use by 
socialists of the name of St. Francis is suggestive. A year ago a 
series of lectures was delivered in New York City by a socialist min- 
ister, an evening apiece being devoted to St. Thomas More, St. 
Francis of Assisi, and the Dominican Tomaso Campanella. 

The lecturer's point of view was unfair, inasmuch as he trans- 
ferred, without overmuch attention to details and without any ac- 
count being taken of the practical faith of the witnesses, century-old 
criticisms of social conditions and applied them to modern life. 
This free and easy appropriation of a part, without due emphasis 
upon the whole, of a saint's life is one of the most serious misuses 
which Protestants make of Catholic history. It was to correct just 
such a false impression as this that Father Cuthbert contributed his 
last paper, " St. Francis and Socialism," to THE CATHOLIC WORLD 
for October. 



1909.] WITH OUR READERS 287 

The inauguration of Columbus Day as a State holiday took 
place on October 12, and in the city of New York the festivities 
walked, somewhat unfortunately, upon the retiring heels of Henry 
Hudson and Robert Fulton. This covering of the retreat of a strenu- 
ous two-weeks' celebration may account in a certain measure for the 
attitude of the New York newspapers ; but it does not account satis- 
factorily for their treatment of a mass-meeting held on the evening 
of the 1 2th in Carnegie Hall. 

This meeting was under the auspices of the Knights of Col- 
umbus, and among the invited guests were the Governor of New 
York and the Mayor of New York City. The papers agreed in re- 
porting that the great hall was " crowded to the roof." The seating 
capacity of the hall is 2,626 ; on the evening in question there were 
nearly 4,000 people, seated and standing, in the auditorium. 

It might be presumed, hastily, that a common interest suffi- 
ciently strong to draw a crowd of 4,000 people to a public meeting in 
celebration of a State holiday, merits some attention at the hands of 
the city press. And yet, on second thought, such a presumption is 
unwarranted, since merit is not a determining factor in the city de- 
partment of the papers of New York, or any other city. It will not 
be without point, however, to see jnst how the New York dailies 
actually treated the mass-meeting in Carnegie Hall. 

7he American devoted fourteen lines to it, but no separate 
heading. 7 he World thought it of no importance whatever, and 
did not mention it. 1 'he Press gave ten lines, and no separate head- 
ing. The Telegraph did not mention it. The Times gave it eighteen 
lines more than it gave in the same issue to a *' schoolboy's strike," 
which received forty-two lines and a three-line heading. 7he 
Ttibune gave eighty lines and a four-line heading. The Herald 
fifty- three lines and a five-line heading. 7 he Sun gave eleven lines 
to the meeting. 

There is no desire on the part of THE CATHOLIC WORLD to cry 
prejudice where none exists ; but facing the situation fairly, the 
failure of the New York press in this instance, when it is recalled 
that the meeting was held under the auspices of a Catholic society 
,and that a Catholic priest spoke from the platform, is quite signifi- 
cant. There was nothing denominational in the gathering. 

The Knights of Columbus are of considerable strength in New 
York City, and they have sufficient power in their hands to make 
such conduct as this unprofitable to any newspaper guilty of it. 



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THE 



CATHOLIC WORLD. 



VOL. XC. 



DECEMBER, 1909. 



No. 537. 




PRESENT PROBABILITIES ABOUT THE COMET. 

BY GEORGE M. SEARLE, C.S.P. 

ALLEY'S comet, as was stated in an article in 
the June number of this magazine last year, was 
known to be due at perihelion in the spring of 
1910. At that time it appeared probable, from 
the calculation made in 1864 by Fontecoulant, 
that May would be the month. But the perturbations caused 
by the great planets having been computed more accurately by 
Messrs. Cowell and Crommelin, of the Greenwich Observatory, 
it became apparent that it would arrive about a month earlier. 
This change in the perihelion date, however, did not make 
very much difference in the location in the sky where it might 
be expected to appear first ; so that the region in which search 
was to be made for it was not open to much doubt. Accord- 
ingly it was looked for in that region during this whole year, 
except when the sun was too near that part of the heavens. It 
was hoped that the increase in the power of telescopes since the 
comet's last appearance, and especially the introduction of stellar 
photography, might lead to its detection very much in advance. 
For photography has peculiar advantages in a case like this. 
The eye, in looking for a nebulous object, generally sees it 
immediately, if at all; prolonged looking weakens its seeing 
power. But the longer a photographic plate looks, the more 
it sees. 

Copyright. 1909. THB MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THB APOSTLB 

IN THB STATE OF NEW YORK. 
VOL. XC. 19 



290 PRESENT PROBABILITIES ABOUT THE COMET [Dec., 

The comet, however, was not detected, even photographical- 
ly, in the early part of the year, and in the summer its place 
in the sky was too near the sun. But it seemed very probable 
that it would be found in September, and efforts to that end 
were then renewed with great confidence. It was first recog- 
nized by Professor Wolf, of Heidelberg, on the night of 
September n. It had, however, actually been photographed 
at Greenwich two nights before, but the plates taken there 
were not examined carefully enough, till after the discovery 
by Wolf was announced. The case was somewhat similar to 
that of the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, The 
English astronomer, Challis, was then methodically examining 
the heavens in the place computed for the new planet by his 
compatriot Adams ; but he took his time to work up his 
results, and meanwhile the German, Galle, got in ahead of him, 
using Leverrier's calculations, and some charts lately prepared 
at Berlin. Neptune had been seen by Challis, but he did not 
know it. 

As soon as the discovery of Halley's comet was reported 
by Dr. Wolf, with the precise direction in which it was seen, 
the present writer immediately adopted the plan of finding 
when this line of direction would cut the plane of the comet's 
orbit, as determined by Cowell and Crommelin, to see where 
the comet was at that moment actually located in its orbit, so 
as to find out what time it would arrive at perihelion. It was 
like actually sighting a train on a railroad track, to find what 
time it would arrive at a given station; only that the move- 
ments of a comet, when it is once accurately located, can be 
depended on with much more precision than those of a rail- 
road train. The trouble with the comet had been that it was 
so long away, about seventy-five years; and, at a great dis- 
tance from the sun, it was moving so slowly that a little un- 
certainty in the calculation might easily get it a day's journey 
out of place; and a day there would count for a day here. 

The result of the examination, made as described above, 
was that the comet would pass the perihelion on April 19, 
1910; which now appears to be the actual day. But owing 
to the omission of the precise time of observation in the de- 
spatch as reported in the newspapers, this date was off by a 
day from what would have resulted had the correct time been 
given. The difficulty probably was that the position of the 



1909.] PRESENT PROBABILITIES ABOUT THE COMET 291 

earth itself was taken for the wrong time. At any rate, ac- 
curate observations (with the time) being subsequently ob- 
tained at the Lick Observatory, the date of perihelion re- 
sulting was April 18. 

Later, a revised and more correct orbit being published by 
Cowell and Crommelin, the time of perihelion resulting from 
the same process came back to April 19; or rather, by ordi- 
nary time, about 4:30 A. M. by Greenwich time on April 20. 
The astronomical day, however, begins at noon ; so that it is 
still April 19, astronomically, till the noon of April 20. 

If the orbit, as revised by Cowell and Crommelin, is as 
correct as it should be and probably is, this result is likely to 
be very nearly correct. All the observations so far made in- 
dicate it. 

A remarkable circumstance results from this date of peri- 
helion, assuming of course that the orbit is otherwise correct. 
It is that the comet should pass directly between us and the 
sun, if the perihelion is within about six hours on either side 
of 3 o'clock A. M. at Greenwich on the morning of April 20. 

This transit of the comet across the sun's face should occur, 
if the perihelion is within the limits just named, at some time 
between 12:30 and 6 o'clock on the morning of May 19, Green- 
wich time ; or by New York time, at some time between 7:30 
p. M., May 1 8, and i A. M., May 19. There seems to be little 
chance of our seeing it here, but a fair chance that it can be 
seen in northern Europe, or Asia, or the Pacific Ocean. 

But the question really is whether we shall be able to see 
the comet at all, even though it is between us and the sun. 
Of course we see Mercury or Venus easily enough when they 
are in such a position, as a distinct black spot on the sun's 
face. But we are not really sure that there is any solid body, 
like that of a planet, in a comet, even though it be a large 
one like that of Halley. A comet, probably, is usually a more 
or less scattered shower of meteorites, with some gaseous mat- 
ter, very much rarefied. Therefore it would hardly be seen as 
a distinct black spot, like Mercury or Venus. If seen at all, it 
would be rather as an indistinct blur or shading on the sun's 
surface. Indeed its very dimensions might prevent its being 
seen at all. For the whole coma or nebulous mass of the 
comet may be several hundred thousand miles in diameter, and 
its distance from us will be only about one-sixth of that of 



292 PRESENT PROBABILITIES ABOUT THE COMET [Dec., 

the sun, so that it might easily look much larger than the sun 
itself. The principal hope of seeing it would be in a very de- 
cided concentration about the nucleus, such as is often observed 
in large comets. 

There are some cases in which comets have come, like this, 
between us and the sun, and one in which the comet seems 
to have been seen (June 26, 1819), though this is by no means 
certain. But one like this of Halley ought to be seen, if any 
one can, and the possibility of such a spectacle ought to be 
settled once for all on this occasion. The circumstances are 
as favorable as they well can be; we have a first-class comet, 
and we shall know just exactly when to look for it, and it is 
far enough away from the sun to be cool, so that if there be 
any considerable solid mass, it will remain solid. 

At any rate, there might be a general obscuration of the 
sun's light, capable of measurement in clear regions of the 
earth, like Egypt. There would probably be quite time enough, 
where the transit would occur near noon, to compare the 
sun's light before and after the transit with that light during 
it. It certainly seems that even a hundred thousand miles of 
coma, and several million miles of tail, should produce some 
effect on the light coming through it. 

For the tail will probably point quite directly toward us. 
The tail of a comet always is turned from the sun. If it is 
a little aslant, so much the better, for the centre or axis of it 
is hardly so dense as the outside. 

At any rate, we shall be in the tail, whether we see the 
comet or not, and even if the head does not pass directly be- 
tween us and the sun. The question which seems to worry 
some people is : " Will the tail do us any harm ? " 

To this we can answer pretty confidently that it will not. 
In fact we have already been, and not so long ago, in a comet's 
tail; namely, in that of the great comet of 1861. We did not 
know it till it was all over; but no one could be sure that 
anything out of the way had been noticed. There was per- 
haps a "sickly yellow light" in the sky, but it could not have 
been very appalling, for most people did not see it, the pres- 
ent writer for one. 

But it does not follow that some effect might not be pro- 
duced on sensitive instruments ; possibly of an electric or 
magnetic character. In this case we shall know about it be- 



1909.] PRESENT PROBABILITIES ABOUT THE COMET 293 

forehand, and be prepared to observe all possible phenomena 
accurately and carefully. 

Unfortunately, at the time of the transit, when we pass 
through the tail, the moon is past the half, and well on the 
way to the full; still, it will be set by about two o'clock, and 
some illumination may be seen from the tail on the sky, if it 
extends, as is probable, quite a distance beyond the earth. 

Before the transit, the comet will be seen in the morning 
sky. One must get up before sunrise to see it, but it will 
be worth while. It will appear early in April, and get bigger 
and brighter all the while, and the tail longer and more por- 
tentous ; then, a night or two before the transit, the head of 
the comet will (apparently, but not really) make a rush straight 
for the sun, and the tail will swoop down on us, and enclose 
us in its tremendous volume. 

After the transit, the comet will appear in the evening, 
going apparently (and really) quite rapidly away from the sun, 
and can be seen till the end of May, and very probably 
longer. Indeed it will be followed for a long time with tele- 
scopes, and again go behind the sun (as in the early spring of 
next year), and be caught again by telescopes in the winter 
of 1910*11. But even with the naked eye, we shall have a 
two months' view of it. 




THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS. 

BY R. L. MANGAN, SJ. 

|HE popular interest shown in the Pageants per- 
formed during the present year in many places 
throughout America and England reminds us that 
this form of entertainment is neither modern nor 
original, but goes back to those dark ages when 
there was not, apparently, light enough to see the bewitchery 
of trifles, and men were sufficiently simple and devout to en- 
joy the representation oi the great mysteries of their faith. It 
may, perhaps, interest readers of THE CATHOLIC WORLD to have 
some account of these Pageants or Mystery Plays, or Miracle 
Plays, as they are sometimes called, although there is a dis- 
tinction between the two sufficiently obvious in the names. 

The earliest mention of Miracle Plays, properly so called, 
occurs in William Fitzstephen, the biographer of Becket (1170- 
1180): 

" Instead of theatrical exhibitions, instead of scenic plays, 
London has plays of a holier kind: to wit, representations of 
the miracles which the holy confessors worked, or of the suf- 
ferings in which the constancy of the martyrs was gloriously 
confirmed." 

He makes no mention of Mystery Plays, and although they 
were an accepted institution in Central Europe in the thirteenth 
century, the only examples of any importance in English, with 
the possible exception of the Chester Series, do not date earlier 
than the fifteenth century. They are contained in four series, 
known as the Chester, Coventry, Towneley, and York mysteries, 
and frequently give evidence of some common source although 
the finest work contained in the Towneley Series is certainly 
original. Their authors are not known unless some weight may 
be attached to a note upon one of the MSS. of the Chester 
plays telling us that these were " Whitsun playes first made 
by one, Don Randle Heggenet, a monke of Chester Abbey, who 
was thrise at Rome, before he could obtain leave of the Pope 
to have them in the English tongue. The Whitsun playes were 
playd openly in pageants by the citizens of Chester in the 



1909.] THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS 295 

Whitsun Weeke. Nicholas the fift then was Pope in the year 
of our Lord 1447." 

The mention of Whitsuntide as the time of representation 
is evidence of the earlier origin of the Chester plays, for there 
can be little doubt that the others owe their existence to the 
institution of the feast of, Corpus Christi, which began to be 
observed in England about 1311. The sports and combats 
which would otherwise have amused holiday makers upon a 
feast-day were evidently thought unsuitable, and the problem 
of combining the spirit of religion and of holiday was solved 
by these Mystery Plays. They represent what is now practi- 
cally a forgotten art, the conjunction of popular drama and 
religious instruction, and although the connection with the the- 
atre of Shakespeare is but slight, they can claim an important 
place in literary history as precursors of the sixteenth-century 
drama. They derived the name Pageant or Pagand (Gk., peg- 
ma ; ~L^t. t pagina plank) from the platform upon which the play 
was given. This platform was made in two stories, the lower 
being curtained round to serve as a dressing-room for the 
players and to hide the machinery and effects necessary to give 
a realistic touch to such scenes as " Hell's Mouthe." In ad- 
dition there was a stand for spectators, and both pagand and 
stand were dragged round the town and paused at places con- 
venient for spectators. 

The text of the plays was very probably due to those use- 
less lazy monks, whose general good character no amount of 
positive evidence seems able to restore in the eyes of those 
who will not see; whilst the expenses and production were in 
the hands of the various Trade Guilds, another relic of the 
dark ages, whose loss the thoughtful student of history has 
never ceased to regret. We have mention of Barkers, Glovers, 
Dyers, Cardemakers, Sadlers, Masons, Peyntours, Smythes, 
Spicers, Fletchers (arrowmakers), and many others. We can 
imagine with what enthusiastic rivalry the different Guilds would 
set about to make their particular scenes the success of the 
day. It was evidently a labor of love, entailing a sacrifice of 
leisure, time, and money, but drawing tighter the bonds of 
family and corporate life, providing for thought and gossip 
subjects worthy of immortal men and suggesting new aspects 
of mysteries upon which the soul grows. Among the forces 
which go to form a national life, a native art, however crude, 



296 THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS [Dec., 

is surely one of the most potent, if it but kindle love and 
rivalry. 

The necessity of the co-operation of the Guilds, even from 
a pecuniary standpoint, may be seen by a glance at the various 
account books which have come down to us. They prove that 
no expense was spared to make the play as worthy of the sub- 
ject as possible, and there are some quaint items. In the rec- 
ords and accounts of the trading companies of Coventry, refer- 
ring to the Corpus Christi Play, the mention of two mitres for 
Annas and Caiphas would puzzle us, did we not learn that they 
were called bishops, probably because the people would not 
have understood the term High Priest. We find also : " God's 
coat of white leather; a poll-axe for Herod's son ; to the devill 
and to Judas \$d.; halfe a yard of Rede Sea 6d.; two worms 
of conscience; makynge of hellmouth new 2id" 

Add to these a thousand and one more expensive items for 
the making and repair of the pageant itself, for musicians, 
players, horses, drivers, machinery, and we begin to realize 
what an important day was Corpus Christi day in the eyes of 
the good craftsmen of Chester, York, Coventry, and Wakefield. 
Their neighbors from the country round would flock to see so 
fine a show, and the plays were favored by the presence of 
great churchmen and even, sometimes, of royalty. 

In the Coventry Text Book we read : " 1457 (the King came 
to Coventry on) Fryday the xi of Fevyere, the yere reynyng 
of Kyng Kerry the sixt the XXXVti . . . the quene (mar- 
gin). On Corpus Xpisti . . . came the quene (Margaret) 
from Kelyngworth to Coventrie ; at which tyme she wold not 
be met, but came prively to se the play there on the morowe. 
. . ." Lest her gracious majesty should lack sustenance, the 
mayor and his brethren sent her, amongst other things, " a pipe 
of rede wyne, a dosyn of grete fat [pykes, a fgrete panyer full 
of pescodes and another panyer full of pepyns and orynges and 
ii cofyns of counfetys and a pot of grene ginger." 

But it is time we made room for the players and the plays 
and, fortunately for our purpose, the scenes dealing with the 
Nativity are the best. The scene in the Chester Series follows 
fairly closely the account given in St. Luke's Gospel, and 
opens with the greeting of Gabriel.* 

* We hasten to assure the reader who hesitates before the quaint spelling, that a little 
thought will make the meaning clear and a little practice make him to catch the rhythm. The 
effort will be found to be rewarded. 



1909.] THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS 297 

Octavian has decreed the census and Mary and Joseph go 
to the stable at Bethlehem: 

Mary: "Ah, Lord, what may this signifie ? 
Some men I see glad and mery, 
And some sighing and sory, 
Wherefore so ever yt be; 

"Sithe God's Sonne came man to forby, 
is come through his great mercy, 
we thinke that man shold kindlye 
be glad that sight to see." 

Angel: "Mary God's mother deare 

the tokening I shall the leere (teach), 
the common people that thou seest here, 
are glad as they well may, 

" that they shall se of Abraham's seede 
Christ come to helpe them in their need; 
therfore thy joye, without dreede, 
for to abyde this daye. 

"the mourning men takes this in mynde! 
are Jewes that shall be put behynde, 
for it passes out of their kinde 
through Christ at his cominge. 

" for they shall have no grace to know 
that God for man shall light so lowe; 
for shame on them that sone shall show, 
therfore they be mourning." 

When the Star appears the Sibyl tells Octavian to look 
up and see that one is born that passes him in power. 

Octavian : " Ah ! Sybbill, this is a wondrous sight, 
for yonder I see a mayden bright, 
a yonge child in her armes slight (closed), 
a bright crosse in his head." 

The shepherds enter, and after a quaint scene in which 
they produce the different things they have brought to eat, 



298 THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS [Dec., 

the Star appears, the angel sings the Gloria in Excelsis, and 
they move on to Bethlehem, where they offer their gifts, the 
first a bell, the second a flackett (flask or bottle) 

" and thereat hanges a spone 
to Bate thy potage withall, at none, 
as I my selfe full oft hath done, 
with hart I pray thee : take it " ; 

the third offers a Capp, the fourth " a paire of my wy ve's olde 
hose." (!) 

Those who are inclined to imagine that belief in the Im- 
maculate Conception of our Lady had its rise in the definition 
by Pius IX. in 1854 might ponder over the words of the first 
shepherd: 

" Nowe fare well, mother and may, 
for of synne naught thou wottest, 
thou hast brought forth this day 
God's sonne, which of might is most. 

" Wherefore men shall saye : 
Blessed in everye coast and place, 
be thou, memorial! for me and for us all, 
so that we may from sin fall, 
and stand ever in thy grace, 
our lord, God be with thee!" 

Three of the MSS. insert in this scene a small interlude 
played by the shepherds' boys, who follow their masters in 
offering their poor little gifts ; and one, who offers a nuthook, 
says: 

"Now, child, all though thou be comen from God, 
and be God, thie self, in thie manhood, 
yett I know that in thie childhood 
thou wilt for sweete meat looke. 

"to pull down peares, appells, and plomes, 
old Joseph shall not neede to hurt his thombes, 
because thou hast not plentie of cromes, 
I give thie here my nutthocke." 

The shepherds are followed by the Magi (played by the 



1909.] THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS 259 

Vintners), who offer the Child gold for His Royalty, incense 
for His Godhead, and myrrh for His Passion. 

The first of the Shepherd's Plays, in the Towneley Series, 
opens with a comic scene in which the shepherds, after nearly 
coming to blows, open their sacks and sit down to a most 
miscellaneous collection of dainties, including boar's brawn, 
cow's foot, sow's shank, blood puddings, an oxtail, goose's leg, 
tart, and calf's liver, with two bottles of "good holsom ayle" 
as a cure for their ills. Whilst they are sleeping after this 
earthly feast the angel bids them awake 

"Herkyn, hyrdes, awake! gyf loryng (praise) ye shall: 
he is borne for oure sake, lorde perpetuall 
he is comen to take and rawnson you all 
youre sorowe to slake Kyng emperiall, 

he behestys (promises); 
That chyld is borne 
At bethlehem this morne, 
ye shall fynd hym beforne (before) 
Betwix two bestys." 

Gyb, the first shepherd, thinks the song was a cloud whist- 
ling in his ear; but the second, Home, is sure it was an angel 
speaking of a child. They recall the words of the prophets 
and Gyb quotes the famous lines of Virgil's Fourth Eclogue: 

" Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto 
Jam rediet virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna," 

and is chaffed by Home on his Latin. Slow-pace, the third 
shepherd, tries to reproduce the song, but finds he has a cold, 
so the others help and take him up. The song done, they 
think of starting, though there is no moon, and pray that they 
may see this Child. 

The Star guides them to the stable and Gyb enters first 
and presents a little spruce coffer. 

" hayll, King I the call ! hayll, most of might ! 
hayll, the worthyst of all! hayll, duke! hayll, knyght ! 
Of greatt and small thou art lorde by right; 
hayll, perpetuall ! hayll, faryst wyght ! 
here I offer ! 



300 THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS [Dec., 

I pray the to take 
If thou wold, for my sake, 
With this may thou lake (play) 
This lytyll spruse cofer." 

Home offers a ball to play with, and Slow-pace a bottle, 
for " it is a good bourd (jest) to drink of a gourd." 

Second Shepherd : 

" hayll, lytyll tyne mop, rewarder of meed (merit) ! 
hayll, bot oone drop of grace at my nede; 
hayll, lytyll mylk sop! hayll, david sede! 
Of oure crede thou art crop, hayll in god hede! 

This ball 

That thou wold resave 
lytyll is that I have, 
This wyll I vouch save 

To play the with all." 

Third Shepherd: 

" hayll, maker of man, hayll, swetyng ! 

hayll, so as I can, hayle, praty mytyng (little one)! 
I couche to the than for fayn nere gretyng: 
hayll, lord ! here I ordan how at oure metying 

This botell 
It is an old by-worde, 
It is a good bourde (jest) 
For to drink of a gourde 
It holdys a mett potell (measured two quarts). 

The second of the Shepherd's Plays, in theTowneley Series, 
also opens with a comic scene in which two shepherds are 
joined by one Mak, a lazy hind whom they suspect of designs 
upon their flock. He lulls their suspicion by telling them of 
his wife who does nothing but eat and drink and bear chil- 
dren, and would eat him out of house and home, however rich 
he were. Whilst the shepherds are asleep, he puts a spell 
upon them, "borrows " a sheep and carries it home. His wife 
lets him in, but, afraid that the shepherds may follow, she 
puts the sheep into a cradle and pretends it is a new-born 
child. Meanwhile, Mak returns to the shepherds, who shortly 
after awake, discover their loss, and carry Mak home again in 



1909.] THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS 301 

hopes of finding the sheep. A comical scene follows, Mak re- 
proaching the shepherds for their suspicions and for disturbing 
his wife, the latter declaring that she will eat the child in the 
cradle if ever she cheated them. The ruse of the cradle would 
have succeeded, but for the kind-hearted Daw, who, ashamed 
of their rude disturbance of a good Christian family, goes back 
to kiss the child and give it sixpence. The shepherds are 
furious at the trick played on them, but cannot help laughing 
at the joke, especially when the wife maintains that she saw 
an elf change the child as the clock struck twelve. Mak, how- 
ever, pleads guilty and the shepherds let him off with a good 
tossing in a blanket. The Star appears and guides them to 
the stable. The first shepherd bids the young Child hail and 
offers Him "a bob of cherries." The second shepherd brings 
Him a bird. Daw's heart bleeds to see his "derlyng dere"in 
" so poore wede, with no pennys," and brings Him a ball that 
He may " go to the tenys." 

Mary promises to pray her Son to keep them from woe, 
and they go their way singing. 

In the same series, after the Offering of the Magi, and the 
Flight into Egypt, comes the scene of Herod the Great, and it is 
probably from the tyrant's ranting that we have derived the 
expression "To out- Herod Herod." He was evidently a favor- 
ite character with both players and spectators, and a stage 
direction in the Coventy Pageant of the Shearmen and Taylors 
seems to imply that the stage was too small for his powers, 
for we are told 

" Here Erode ragis in the pagand and in the strete also." 

In the Towneley play his mirth is turned to grief because 
of a lad whose bones he would break if he could catch him. 
He blames his knights for not having stopped the Magi, and 
when they grumble, abuses them heartily with good English 
words and threatens to " dyng them with stones." He then 
bids the clerks inquire in Virgil, in Homer, and Boethius, in 
legend and tales but not in service-books (!) as to this talk 
of a maiden and her Child. They quote the prophecies, only to 
be called "dotty pols" and bidden to fly and throw their 
books into the water. The counselor then advises him to bid 
his knights slay all the children under two years of age, a 



302 THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS [Dec., 

suggestion which so pleases his master, that he makes the 
counselor Pope. (!) The knights are called and sent upon 
their murderous mission, a move which brings our author an 
opportunity for some fine dramatic verse between the soldiers 
and the poor women whose children they slay. 

In the Coventry Pageant of the Weavers there is a still more 
quaint and interesting mixture of realism and simple spiritual- 
ity. The Angel Gabriel bids Mary make her offering in the 
Temple, accompanied by Joseph. After the angel has left her 
Mary speaks to her Child: 

"Now cum heddur (hither) to me, my darlyng dere, 
My myrthe, my joie, and al my chere ! 
Swetter than ever wasse blossum on brere (brier) ! 

Thy swete mouthe now wyll I kis. 
Now, Lorde of lordis, be oure gide, 
Where-ever we walke in cuntreyis wyde, 
And these to turtuls (two turtledoves) for bus provide 
Of them thatt we do nott mys ! " 

Joseph is ready to go, but when Mary asks him to get the 
turtledoves, indeed he will not; he cannot be hunting birds' 
nests ; Mary is imposing on his age and weakness. At last he 
submits ungraciously, complaining of his lot in marrying a 
young woman, and praying the Lord to send him those birds, 
black or white! The fowls are very hard, indeed, to find; and 
after wandering about wearily, he determines to sit down and 
await the Lord's will. 

An angel brings him the birds and he returns and delivers 
them to Mary. 

"Now, rest well, Mare, my none darlyng! 
Loo ! dame, I have done thy byddyng 
And broght these dowis (doves) for oure offeryng; 

Here be the bothe alyve. 
Woman, have them in thy honde, 
I am full glade I have them fond. 
Am nott I a good husbande? 

Ye ! dame, soo mot I thryve ! " 

But when Mary would make speed to the Temple he de- 
murs, as he is tired and would like " to blow a while." How- 



1909.] THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS 303 

ever, he recovers his spirits and they bring the Child to Simeon 
who greets Him 

Now welcum, Lord of honour ! 
Now welcum, Prince, unto this place ! 
Welcum, oure sufferent Saveoure ! 
Welcum, the Groundr of oure grace ! 
Welcum, oure joie ! welcum, oure myrthe ! 
Welcum, oure graceose Governoure ! 
Welcum to huse, that heyvinly flowre ! 
Now, blessid be the day and oure 
Of thy gloreose byrthe." 

And as he takes the Child into his arms he prays: 

" On, on with me, my fryndis dere, 
With this chylde thatt we have here, 
Of this worlde the lanterne clere 

Of whom all lyght schall spring ! 
With hoole [all] hur heartis now lett hus praie ! 
Thatt oure and tyme now bless we may 
That ever we abode the day 

Of this chyldis comynge." 

There is much more for which we have not room, simple, ten- 
der, grotesque, comical, dramatic, but for the sake of those who 
think that lyricism was practically unknown in England until 
the Renaissance we may conclude with two little songs sung by 
the shepherds in the Coventry Pageant: 

" As I rode out this enderes (past) night, 
Of thre joli sheppardes I saw a sight, 
And all a-boute there fold a star shone bright 

They sang terli terlow; 
So mereli the sheppards ther pipes can blow. 

" Downe from heaven, from heaven so hie, 
Of angels ther came a great companie, 
With mirthe and joy ,and great solemnytie, 

They sang terli terlow; 
So mereli the sheppards ther pipes can blow." 



304 THE NATIVITY IN EARLY PAGEANTS [Dec. 

In this manner did the old English folk continue to make 
holiday. The moral may be left to the discerning reader to 
draw, and we do not doubt about his judgment when he compares 
this mingling of innocent mirth and childlike devotion, this 
depth of spiritual suggestion with the frank vulgarity and 
thinly-veiled lasciviousness of many of our modern fairs. Nay, 
though these were plays acted by and for the uneducated people, 
we need not hesitate to compare them for aesthetic effect, if 
not for literary form and finish, with many of our modern stage 
productions, our inane musical comedies, our artificial and inept 
dramas. The "glorious" reformation gave the mystery plays 
their death-blow, and the populace was thrown back upon 
brutal sports or wearisome interludes with no message for the 
heart. It is pathetic to read of the struggle made by the good 
men of York and Coventry to keep their plays by petitions to 
Queen Elizabeth. The true spirit of holiday died hard in 
England, but it did die and there are some who wonder whether 
it ever came to life again. If to speak to-day of "merry 
England " sounds like bitter sarcasm, the fault lies with the 
persecuting reformers. In the accounts of the Coventry trad- 
ing companies are the following entries: 

" 1580. The pageants were again laid down." 

" 1584. This year the new play of the Destruction of Jerusa- 
lem was first played." 

"1591. At a Council House held ipth May: It is agreed 
by the whole consent of this house that the Destruction of 
Jerusalem, the Conquest of the Danes, or the historic of K[ing] 
E[dward] the V.th at the request of the Comons of this cittie 
shalbe plaied on the pagens of midsomer daye and St. Peter's 
daye next in this cittie and non other playes And that all 
the mey-poles that now are standing in this cittie shalbe taken 
downe before Whit-Sunday next and non hereafter to be sett 
up in this cittie." 

The Catholic apologist should not overlook this argument 
in support of the truth that the English people were robbed of 
their faith. 




HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

CHAPTER IX. 

A WOMAN FRIEND. 

IAURICE GRANTLEY was not a young gentle- 
man who had much subtlety where the ways of 
women were concerned, or he would not have 
attempted to bespeak the friendship of his cousin, 
Mary Beaumont, for Stella. 
It was April and Miss Beaumont had come on a visit to 
Lady Eugenia before the arduousness of the London season 
stiould be upon her. She was five years older than Maurice, 
aid had had already several London seasons without marry- 
ing, a fact which had caused some concern to her father, 
Pulteney Beaumont, who found what remained to him of his 
wife's fortune quite little enough for himself without having to 
provide for a daughter with tastes disproportionately expensive 
to his will for satisfying them. 

His cousin Eugenia had been very decent to him in taking 
the girl off his hands a good deal. This year Lady Eugenia 
had rented a tiny house in Green Street for the season and 
was undertaking the entire charge of Mary and her gaieties. 
Lady Eugenia would have liked a daughter of her own. Fail- 
ing that it had been a pleasure to her to make something of 
her own of Mary Beaumont. 

Mary and Maurice had been friends from childhood. Doubt- 
less the intimacy did a good deal towards frustrating the hopes 
Lady Eugenia had formed of a love-affair between the cousins 
they were sufficiently remote in cousinship for there to be no 
objection on that score. Mary had always been perfectly 
sensible, reasonable, and sweet-tempered, and Lady Eugenia 
had as much respect for her character as affection for herself. 
That she should be the daughter of that rake, Pulteney, was 
something perpetually surprising to Lady Eugenia. Indeed, if 
there was any fault to be found with Mary it was her even 
VOL. xc. 20 



3o6 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

excellence of character. There had been times in Mary's teens 
when Lady Eugenia had felt that Mary was too sensible for 
her age : when a little folly would have been not unpleasing. 

Still, when one comes to marry one's son, common sense 
and reasonableness in the object of his choice are qualities to 
be desired. Lady Eugenia was really very glad that Mary 
had corns through her seasons unpledged, unwedded. There 
was that youth, Reggie Dare, in Mary's second season. At 
one time Mary had seemed as though she must forget her 
good sense if Reggie urged her to. And every one knew that 
Reggie was not going to have a penny when his uncle, Lord 
Dashwood, died: for Lord Dashwood had married his nurse, 
who had given him an heir within the year; and every penny 
the old man could scrape together had been willed to the heir 
and his mother, with whom her old husband was yet in- 
fatuated. 

Maurice had been watching Mary for some time. She was 
sewing, a feminine occupation which men like to see their 
women-kind employed at. Leaning over her seam she dis- 
played to him the narrow parting in her bronze-brown tresses, 
which she wore in an unusual way, divided down the centre, 
festooned on the temples, and knotted at the back. Her deli- 
cate, slightly aquiline nose, her closed mouth, neither small to 
primness nor large to loosensss, were pleasant to the eye. She 
had a warm, wholesome color and a round, well- developed 
figure. Certainly it was something of a wonder that Mary 
should have remained unmarried through five seasons; except, 
of course, that she had no money and possessed a rather dis- 
reputable male parent. 

Maurice acted on a sudden impulse. Mary had always been 
so decent to him, such a good girl always to an exacting little 
brute of a boy, he said to himself, recalling their relations 
of earlier years. 

" Mary dear ! " 

Miss Beaumont started as though she had been a thousand 
miles away in her thoughts. 

"Yes, Maurice." 

"You have always been awfully good to me." 

"Have I?" Her smile was encouraging. 

He took a chair close to her, and leaning towards her, very 
gently removed the seam from her hand and laid it on the 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 307 

table. Then he took her two hands between his. He had no 
idea that the action might be misconstrued. Mary and he had 
always understood each other so thoroughly. Yet the colot 
mounted in Mary's cheeks. An expression, half-gratification, 
half something else, was hidden under her drooped lids. 

He was not looking at her, however, to see these signs. 

" Mary," he said, " because you have always been such a 
dear girl to me I want you to take an interest in and be good 
to some one in whom I am interested." 

"Yes, Maurice?" 

She had steadied herself suddenly. Her mouth grew a little 
harder; there was a chill in her voice which did not reach 
him. What a fool she had nearly made of herself ! It was 
not the first time she had received such a confidence. That 
was the worst of being what people called sympathetic. For 
a second she had a somewhat dreary vision of her own future. 
She might marry a certain elderly baronet with a bad rep- 
utation, or she might resign herself to spinsterhood and 
poverty. Neither prospect pleased ; yet a moment ago she had 
thought that Maurice Grantley's hand and heart were about to 
be laid at her feet, and she had jibbed at the prospect! 

He went on, the foolish young man, not understanding the 
signs and portents. 

" It is about a lady in whom I am interested. Not 
to beat about the bush, Mary, it is Miss Mason, who has come 
to look after little Jim Moore. She is very lonely there. She 
has no society of course. I want you to be kind to her, to 
take her by the hand, to make a friend of her. She is in a 
somewhat anomalous position, because she is a lady and a 
beautiful one. You will say so when you see her, Mary." 

Mary had seen her at church the previous Sunday, and 
had resented her hair. No girl in that position ought to have 
such conspicuous hair. But she did not say anything. Once 
Maurice had let himself go he went with a vengeance. Mary's 
soft, warm hands in his were an encouragement to him. He 
poured out everything, how he had seen her first, his Fiam- 
metta, in the grime of a London street, with her wonderful 
face like a flower or a star shining out above all the common 
faces. Then, after some hesitation, he had followed her and 
the lady who was with her, whom he took to be her mother. 
But he had lost them unaccountably. They must have got into 



HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

one of the omnibuses which crowded at a corner a short dis- 
tance away from where he had seen them. He had thought 
never to see her again, and heaven had been emptied of its 
stars for him. He did not put it quite that way, but he con- 
veyed that in the absence of this particular young woman there 
was nothing of beauty left. Then, as he came down from town 
one happy morning how lucky that he had gone up to see 
one of the last football matches of the season and had stayed 
in town over-night by the early train, what had shone upon 
him in the dark railway station but Her Face ? The wonder- 
ful face ! He longed to be a painter that he might render it 
in its brightness, its repose, the soft lovely paleness, the mys- 
tery of the eyes with their curling lashes ! And wasn't it a 
strange coincidence that he and she should have been bound 
for the same place? Fellow-travelers, they came to the same 
destination. The Duchess had delayed him and when he kept 
his appointment with Stephen Moore the girl was there before 
him. 

" But she is most adorable of all with the child," he said. 
"The poor little chap is not the same since she came. It is 
new life to his father to look at the boy's happy face and hear 
him laugh. They are out all day ; and he grows stronger and 
fatter. She is educating him too. Her French is exquisite and 
she is like St. Cecilia when she is at the piano. She has never 
sung for me, but I know by her speech that she has a heavenly 
voice." 

Again the arid prospect of spinsterhood, or the horrible al- 
ternative of Sir Courtney Blakeney, came into Miss Beaumont's 
mind. Did Maurice think he was talking to a stock or a stone 
when he raved over this strange young woman's beauty ? It 
made her feel elderly and plain-looking. What did he mean 
holding her hands and looking into her eyes, and feeling no 
more for her than if she were eighty ? A young woman of 
the domestic servant class, too ; that is how she put it to 
herself. He was positively asking her to take up a young 
woman of that class in whom he happened to be interested ! 
More, he was asking her to enlist his mother's interest in her. 
Lady Eugenia was as proud as she was simple. What would 
she think of the young woman with the flame colored hair as 
a daughter-in-law ? Mary could have laughed aloud at the 
idea. 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 309 

Fortunately there was very little need for her to say any- 
thing. The infatuated lover found so much to say that she 
was left to her silence and her bitter thoughts. At last the 
raptures slackened. 

"Well," he said, "are you going to be kind to her, best 
of Maries ? " 

She controlled her voice to keep the coldness out of it. 

"You must let me see her first," she said. "If she is all 
you say, of course but isn't she, occupying a rather humble 
position ? Your father and mother " 

He knew it himself, but he broke out in new rhapsodies. 
They had only to see her for their opposition to fade away. 
Not that there need be any question of opposition yet; for, 
of course, he had said nothing to her. She would probably 
refuse to look at him. He looked so debonair, such a picture 
of joyous youth as he said it, that it made Mary's heart ache 
suddenly with a sense of the hopelessness of things in general. 

"I've been a horrible egoist," he said, suddenly discovering 
the weariness in her face. 

" All lovers are egoists, Maurice," she replied. 

"You will see her anyhow? You have only to see her. 
And forgive me for tiring you. Poor Mary ! Why did you 
encourage me ? I shan't do it again." 

"Don't make rash promises," she said. "I am quite wil- 
ling to be a safety-valve. ' f She felt a hundred as she said it. 
" And we shall see your prodigy very soon, for Mr. Moore 
has asked us to lunch on Wednesday, Cousin Jennie and me." 

It was eloquent of the affection between Lady Eugenia and 
her young distant cousin that Mary should refer to so stately 
a lady as " Cousin Jennie." 

Nothing more was said on that occasion, for as it happened 
the door of the room opened and Lady Eugenia appeared. She 
made a momentary gesture, as though to retire again, which 
caused Mary to smile coldly. To be sure any one would have 
thought that Maurice was making love to her from his posi- 
tion. For the next day or two Lady Eugenia had a wistful 
way of watching Mary, as though she expected her to speak ; 
but she asked her nothing. She was not one to hurry confi- 
dences. And Maurice, whistling about the house like a lark 
when he was in it, brought the brightness to his mother's face. 



310 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

CHAPTER X. 

JIM'S INDISCRETION. 

A girl with Mary Beaumont's traditions and bringing up 
for her mother had been the unexceptionable daughter of a 
younger son who was a country parson does not easily turn 
aside from the path of quite straight and fair dealing. 

Indeed alone in her room that night, she sat down, with 
her masses of hair about her, and considered within herself 
what was fair dealing in the matter. It was not fair to Lady 
Eugenia, who was so good to her, to conceal her son's infatua- 
tion for a girl in the position of Miss Mason. And she had an 
idea that Captain Grantley, who in middle- age was almost as 
slim and elegant as he had been in youth, would object even 
more strenuously than his wife. For Lady Eugenia had in 
her that Quixotism, that romantic generosity, that one could 
never be quite sure of her heart not running away with her 
head. Her husband was less imaginative, and remained a high 
and dry Tory and a somewhat narrow Churchman when poli- 
tics and religion alike were widening their borders. 

" He ought to have gone to his mother and not to me," 
Mary said to herself with a vexed laugh. " He might have 
brought over his mother to his side." 

There was nothing for it but to let things drift. Maurice 
was not one to keep his secret long from his mother, with 
whom he had far more in common than he had with his father. 
Perhaps, indeed, she need not trouble herself at all. Maurice 
bubbled over so with his secret that at the first chance it 
would out. Indeed, Lady Eugenia had noticed her son's al- 
ienations of high spirits and dreaminess, and had put it down 
to the right cause, but associated it with Mary Beaumont; and 
Miss Beaumont knew it and smiled wryly over it. 

She had not the smallest intention beforehand of prejudic- 
ing Lady Eugenia against "Maurice's nurse-maid," as she 
called Stella in the bitterness of her heart. She meant to 
stand apart and let Lady Eugenia see and judge for herself. 
It was as likely as not that she might take quite a fancy to 
the red- headed girl, as a charming young person for her po- 
sition, of course. 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 311 

Maurice had also been bidden to the Wednesday lunch ; 
but he had an engagement elsewhere. Mary shrewdly sus- 
pected that he shirked seeing the first meeting between his 
mother and his beloved. 

"You shall tell me all about it," he whispered, pressing 
her hand under the rug as he tucked his mother and Mary 
in the carriage on "Wednesday. Lady Eugenia, although she 
was giving some final instructions to a maid, noticed the whis- 
per and suspected the pressure of the hand ; and her face was 
the brighter for it during the drive. In her own mind she 
wondered why Mary did not tell her what she must know 
would be such a happiness. It was like Lady Eugenia to have 
set her heart on Maurice's marrying a portionless girl, seeing 
that there were so many well-endowed to be won. And Mary 
Beaumont loved that unworldiness in her, having smarted over 
its opposite; and was grateful to her and half- vexed with her 
for her plans about Maurice and herself all at once. 

Stephen Moore was out on the lawn when the carriage ar- 
rived. He had been moving the stronger ones of the canaries 
into their summer quarters, a thatched wired-in enclosure in a 
sunny and sheltered corner where the birds lived during the 
fine months of the year. 

He came to help the ladies alight; and his face was brighter 
than Lady Eugenia remembered it. 

"Jim has just come in from a drive," he said. "Miss Ma- 
son will have him go driving. He used to get so tired trund- 
ling about in the bath chair and knowing all he should see 
beforehand. It is no more trouble to get him into the pony- 
carriage than into the chair. Oh, we are doing finely, your 
Ladyship. Miss Mason has all but persuaded me to take Jim 
abroad next winter. Poor little man; the winters have been 
monotonous for him." 

Outwood was still conducted in an old-fashioned manner. 
Mrs. Whittaker, the housekeeper, received the two ladies and 
took them upstairs to a big bedroom hung with blue and sil- 
ver, where there was a roaring fire in the grate, although the 
windows were all open. You were not expected to eat lunch 
in your outdoor clothes and depart with all speed after a few 
minutes' conversation in the drawing-room. No, indeed; you 
took off your hat and your outdoor wraps, and stayed the 
greater part of the afternoon, and had a bountiful tea at half- 



312 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

past four as though there had been no lunch at two o'clock. 
Lady Eugenia confessed her liking for the old-fashioned ar- 
rangement. "So much pleasanter," she said, "than when you 
dine out in London and take off your wraps in the hall, with 
three or four men-servants standing about." 

" The ways of the middle-classes are always more comfor- 
table than ours," Mary assented. "Comfort is one thing we 
never think of." 

On their way downstairs they passed by the door of Jim's 
room, which stood slightly ajar. A shrill, joyous voice, which 
no one who had known Jim a month earlier would have recog- 
nized for his, brought a smile to Lady Eugenia's face. 

" It's not my friend, Jim," she said, pushing open the door 
and going in." 

Jim was already in his carrying chair, waiting for the men 
to carry him downstairs. He had a color in his cheeks and 
his eyes were bright. The quietness, which used to grieve 
Lady Eugenia's heart, had disappeared. 

" Oh, Lady Eugenia," he said, as she came in. " We are 
having beautiful plans, Miss Mason and I. Do you know that 
this chair is my flying machine, and we are going to fly half 
over Europe in it. No one ever seemed to think before that 
F could get about; but if up and downstairs, why not out into 
the world? That is what Miss Mason says. And Papa agrees 
with her." 

Lady Eugenia bowed to the tall girl who stood by the 
chair, one arm laid across the back of it, with an unconscious 
air of protection and possession. Stella bowed in return, and 
then stooped to pick up little Trust and to deposit him on his 
master's knees Miss Beaumont shook hands with Jim she 
was not one of his particular friends. She bowed coldly to 
Stella as she would have bowed to a servant, and hated her- 
self for her coldness the while. 

Jim chattered to Lady Eugenia gaily. They were going to 
have a picnic, as soon as the weather was warm enough, to 
Warnack Woods. Perhaps there would be some warm weather 
in May and the woods would be full of bluebells. Jim had 
never been into a wood yet; but Miss Mason had told him all 
about it, and he had often wished to go. And would Lady Eu- 
genia come ? And Miss Beaumont, too, please ? Jim did not 
particularly want Miss Beaumont ; but he was a polite little 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 313 

boy and would not exclude her. And of course Maurice would 
be there too. Maurice had promised to help to light the fire 
and boil the kettle and make tea. It was going to be such a 
jolly picnic. 

Of course Lady Eugenia would come, she would be de- 
lighted ; unless the occasion came too late and she were in 
London. "And Mary would be delighted to come," she added, 
answering for her silent companion. 

They went downstairs in the rear of the chair. Somehow 
Lady Eugenia rather expected the young woman to settle Jim 
in his place and disappear. She was uncertain how to regard 
her. She looked like a lady; but Lady Eugenia had had par- 
lor-maids who almost looked like ladies; and she had known a 
peeress who looked like a dealer in second-hand clothes. And 
Stella had not spoken. 

She adjusted everything for Jim with something of the quiet 
deftness of a trained nurse. Then she took the chair beside 
him. It was a round table and there was no precedence. 
Lady Eugenia's place was almost opposite Miss Mason's. 

No one could say that Stella obtruded herself. She spoke 
hardly at all, though several times Stephen Moore tried to 
draw her into the conversation. She looked after Jim's needs 
with a carefulness which pleased Lady Eugenia ; and, while she 
was so quiet, she had an air of being perfectly at home that 
did not altogether please Miss Beaumont. A little more shy- 
ness, Miss Beaumont thought, would have been more becom- 
ing. But Stella, at her convent school, had come in contact 
with ladies of even higher birth than Lady Eugenia. One or 
two very proud names were hidden under the Sisters' names 
in religion. She did not feel herself to be out of place lunch- 
ing with the fine ladies. 

To be sure Jim dominated the conversation. 

" Would you know him ? " the father asked joyfully of Lady 
Eugenia. 

" Hardly. It is a miracle." 

" Which we owe to Miss Mason." He bent his head confi- 
deatially to Lady Eugenia, who was at his right hand. "I 
can't be grateful enough for the good fortune that sent her 
to us." 

" I am going to learn Latin," said Jim proudly. " I haven't 
learnt anything because I wasn't strong. But I am going to 



3H HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

begin. And presently I shall have a tutor. Do you know 
about Proserpine, Miss Beaumont ? Maurice came yesterday 
when Miss Mason was gathering flowers for me in the meadow. 
He said she was like Proserpine. I asked him who Proserpine 
was, and he said that she was a very lovely person, and that 
I should learn about her when I knew my classics. And that 
Miss Mason was Proserpine when she wasn't Fia Fia Fiam- 
metta, I think." 

" You shall learn all about it, my lad," said his father, " so 
you shall. And if we get on as well as we're doing now, why 
you might be at Oxford one of these days." 

The father and the son were alone of the party in being 
quite at their ease and unconscious. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PROUD LADY. 

If the ready color had not flooded Stella's cheeks, Lady 
Eugenia, most unsuspecting of mortals, might have found noth- 
ing amiss in Maurice's classical allusion. As it happened her 
eyes were on Miss Mason's face at the moment; and though 
she averted them as quickly as possible she had seen what she 
had seen. 

She glanced from Stella to Mary. Mary's face had the cold 
look which she had seen it wear once or twice of late. She 
frowned slightly and the handsome brows bent so made her 
face for the moment sullen. Poor Mary, she did not like to 
hear of Maurice's compliments to this young woman ! Mary 
was no more reasonable than any other girl in love. It prob- 
ably was only the lightest compliment to a pretty girl. Miss 
Mason was a very pretty girl, quite unusually pretty. But young 
men would say such things. It was a little narrow-minded of 
Mary to look so displeased about it. 

Lady Eugenia tried to banish the incident from her mind; 
but, though she talked to her host and Jim with great persist- 
ency about indifferent matters, the thought would recur. Was 
it possible Maurice had been flirting with this girl ? She at- 
tached no exaggerated importance to such things Maurice had 
never given her and his father any serious trouble; and she 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 315 

did not expect him to be unlike his kind. Still Miss Mason 
was a dependent in a friend's household in which Maurice, 
being held in great affection, came and went as he would. She 
hoped Maurice would not use his privileges to turn the young 
woman's head. And with Mary staying at Mount Eden, too. 
An uneasy thought struck her that Maurice had not been quite 
so much at Mary's beck and call of late. 

She was distracted while she talked to Stephen Moore in 
the drawing room after lunch. Jim had been taken away for 
his afternoon siesta ; and Mary had wandered off to amuse 
herself. Stephen Moore was looking brighter than she had seen 
him for many a year. He was full of the new hopes and 
schemes for the boy. 

" I have been feeling for so many years that only the in- 
valid's life was possible for him. I can't tell you what light 
has been let in upon me by the knowledge that other things 
are possible. His brains are as clear as crystal. 'I hey were 
not hurt. His life has been so dull and dreary all these years. 
I can hardly forgive myself. You can't imagine what a flood 
of light this girl has brought with her. It is as though she 
opened a window on the darkness." 

They went out together to see the canaries in their new 
home. 

"Who is this Miss Mason?" Lady Eugenia asked. 

"Who is she? Why I do not know exactly, except that 
she answered my advertisement. She had a very excellent 
recommendation from the Reverend Mother of some French 
sisterhood in London ; and also from an Italian musician." 

" A Roman Catholic ? " 

" No ; but she went to school to the nuns." 

" Ah, that accounts for her air of refinement." 

" I suppose so," Stephen Moore said with some surprise. 
" It wouldn't have occurred to me. She seems a remarkably 
gentle, sensible, pleasant girl. I assure you the house hasn't 
been the same since she came." 

He opened the door of the aviary and the birds flew about 
him in a yellow shower. One perched on his finger, two on 
his head, a flight of them on his shoulders. 

" I could always do anything with birds," he said ; his dark 
face momentarily bright. 

" Pretty creatures !" Lady Eugenia said absent-mindedly. 



316 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

" This Miss Mason of yours she reminds me in some ways of 
somebody." 

" Ah, I daresay. I shall have to get some one to take care 
of the birds for me if we go traveling next winter." 

"That will be a great departure for you. How you will 
enjoy it ! " 

" For the boy, not for myself. We can't give much time 
to it. He has a good deal of leeway to make up in the matter 
of education. Not but what he has educated himself. All he 
reads sticks. I don't know how I came to have such a son. 
It is his mother, I suppose." 

Lady Eugenia said nothing. She was too truthful for a 
woman of the world ; and she saw nothing of the ugly, half- 
deformed father in the fair, spiritual child. 

Her interest in Miss Mason had apparently ceased. They 
saw the girl and her charge again before leaving. Jim was to 
spend a day at Mount- Eden in the following week. There was 
no suggestion that Miss Mason should accompany him. 

"You will be glad of a few hours' freedom," Lady Eugenia 
said, blushing like a girl. It was difficult for her to be un- 
pleasant to anybody. 

" Yes, thank you " ; the girl said coldly. She was profound- 
ly conscious of the proud and unfriendly face of Mary Beau- 
mont. She thought she could have liked Lady Eugenia it was 
such a good face, an honest, kind face but Miss Beaumont 
had behaved to her as though she were a servant. 

Neither lady had shaken hands with her. She stood apart, 
behind Jim's chair, as they said good-bye to him. Jim was 
uneasy, scenting some hostility between those he liked. Stephen 
Moore saw nothing, suspected nothing; had even the purblind- 
ness to suggest to Miss Beaumont as he stood by the carriage- 
door that it had been pleasant for Miss Mason to see some 
one of her own age. 

" How odd," Mary said, as the carriage drove away, " that 
Mr. Moore should suppose there could be possibly anything in 
common between Miss Mason and myself ! Jim's nurse ! He 
is a very simple person." 

" Poor girl, she occupies a rather anomalous position," Lady 
Eugenia said pityingly, recalling the wounded flush on Miss 
Mason's cheek. "Those half-way people are such a diffi- 
culty." 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 317 

"This young person seems to have made a very comfort- 
able position for herself at Outwood," Mary said. " Apparently 
she is going to have everything she wants. Foreign travel, 
too. And poor Mr. Moore thinking she thinks only of the 
boy ! " 

"She seems to have done him a deal of good anyway," 
Lady Eugenia said, with the same remorseful air. She was 
wishing the girl had been plain and beyond any question of 
Maurice's being silly. It had hurt her to hurt a girl in that 
position. Poor Mary ! How quickly her sweet reasonableness 
had disappeared when it was a question of Maurice. She did 
not like to think that Mary could be jealous. It was one of 
the elementary passions which she would have liked to think 
was confined to the women of the people. 

Anyhow Maurice was waiting to welcome them when they 
got home, and apparently very eager to get Mary to himself. 
How unreasonable it was for Mary to show such unwillingness 
to be taken off to the stable-yard to see the mare which 
Maurice had just acquired, which she could ride if she would 
next season ! What was the matter with the girl ? 

Mary hardly knew herself. She picked up the trailing skirts 
of her delicate lavender visiting gown as though the stable- yard 
were ankle-deep in mire, whereas it was kept spotlessly clean, 
and a recent shower had only freshened it up. 

"Well," he said, looking at her eagerly when she stood 
fondling Colleen's nose. The mare was an Irish mare, and a 
beautiful creature, and Mary Beaumont, bred and born in the 
Shires, could never resist a horse. "What do you think of 
her ? " 

She glanced casually at his nearly six feet of goodly man- 
hood and her mouth hardened. 

"The mare?" she said, wilfully misunderstanding him. "I 
think she's a beauty." 

" Not the mare. You've told me what you think of her. 
Miss Mason. What did my mother think of her?" 

" My dear Maurice, I'm afraid your mother only thought of 
her as Jim's nurse." 

She knew perfectly well that Maurice would detest her, for 
the moment, at least, for her speech. But she could not help 
it. For the matter of that, she was not over-pleased with her- 
self. 



3i8 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

"I thought you were my friend, Mary," he said in a hurt 
and offended voice. 

" My dear Maurice, a girl like that ! I can't help it. I 
can't help you. What would Cousin Jennie think of me ? 
You are very young, Maurice, or you would not have come to 
me with such a story." 

" You are quite right, Mary," he said in a cold and un- 
friendly voice. "I ought to have gone to my mother, to be 
sure." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE FACE OF THE PICTURES. 

He had it in his hot, eager mind to go straight to his 
mother and tell her that he was head over ears in love with 
Estelle Mason. His mother had always been ready to listen 
to him and help him. He appreciated her pride at its true 
value. If she could love the girl she would accept her poverty 
would be no barrier ; she would look upon it that Maurice 
would lift his bride to his own position. She was capable of 
a grand Quixotism; and she would make things easy with the 
Pater. The Pater always accepted the Mater's judgment of 
things finally, though he might be some time in coming to it. 

Yet, after all, what had he to tell his mother ? The story 
he had to tell must be told to Estelle first. He knew her 
name was Estelle, she could have had no other name with those 
heavenly eyes. He had known Estelle about six weeks at 
least it was six weeks since they had met on that railway 
journey, and his infatuation for her was complete. He said to 
himself that it was no new thing, that he had been in love with 
her since that first meeting in his freshman year at Oxford, 
when he had made that fortunate run up to town and seen her 
heavenly face at a street crossing. His Fiammetta, seen first 
as Dante had seen Beatrice. 

"Clearly herself, the same. whom he 

Met not past girldhood in the street, 
Low-bosomed and with hidden feet, 
And last as woman perfectly." 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 319 

Since that meeting he had thought much of her. He had 
made endless sketches of her. Her face was in the pretty 
water-color drawings which he did with such ease, the pen and 
ink drawings he accomplished with such patient care. 

" It is no new thing," Mary Beaumont said a little later, 
standing before a picture in his mother's boudoir, which had 
been her last birthday gift from her boy. "It is no new 
thing. Why, that might be her portrait." 

It was the head of a young woman wearing a wide hat 
tied with pale green ribbons under the chin, a young woman, 
blue-eyed, with a wild glory of hair. 

" To be sure," Lady Eugenia said. " I couldn't think who 
she was like." 

" And here, and here, and here " 

Mary Beaumont went about the room pointing to this pic- 
ture and that. Everywhere the blue-eyed, red-haired girl. 
She looked from a magic casement over "perilous seas"; she 
was Andromeda chained to the rock ; she was Elizabeth of 
Hungary; she was an angel. 

"Why, to be sure, to be sure." 

A hurt wonder was coming into Lady Eugenia's expression. 
More than that, something of grief and anxiety. She said 
nothing, but Mary Beaumont read into her mind clearly. The 
thing that seemed evident to the mother's mind was that her 
son's acquaintance with Miss Mason was a thing of some years' 
standing. 

She left Mary and went upstairs to the tower-room, which 
had been Maurice's from boyhood. He had never given it up; 
and all about were mementos of his loving and innocent boy- 
hood. There were his school prizes, gaudily- bound volumes of 
adventure dear to the boyish heart. There was his first school 
cap hanging on the handle of his first cricket- bat in a con- 
spicuous place on the wall. There were various photographs 
ot himself, from round-faced childhood up to the last year at 
Oxford, There were photographs of her and his father and 
various school and college friends. An old, very shabby Bible 
had the place of honor on the chest of drawers. She had given 
it to him when he was ten. There was a shell-box which he 
had purchased with his pocket-money once when they were at 
Brighton; his best-sailing toy-boat; a telescope; a model 
engine. 



320 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Dec., 

Then there were his cups won for various athletic feats at 
Winchester and Oxford. The arms of his school and various 
pictures of it were conspicuous. Photographs of pretty ac- 
tresses, books, papers, the litter of a smoking-man, paints and 
brushes and a palette were on the mantel-shelf and the table. 

She glanced at her son's bits of painting here and there. 
Everywhere the face was the same. She opened a pile of his 
sketch-books and began looking through them. In all the later 
ones the face was repeated over and over. 

She went rapidly through several books. Then she found 
that at a date some four years back the pictures of Miss 
Mason began. Before that date there was nothing remotely 
resembling her. 

So the acquaintance had begun so long ago! And Maurice 
had said nothing of it. He had referred casually once or twice 
to the lady who had come to look after Jim, but she had de- 
tected no consciousness in his manner. And all the time he 
and this girl had been old acquaintances. 

Like most unsuspicious people Lady Eugenia, once she 
began to suspect, let her fancy run riot. Had it been through 
Maurice that Miss Mason had come to Outwood ? What were 
the relations between them, friends or lovers ? The thing 
pointed to some kind of a secret understanding, or why should 
they have pretended to meet as strangers ? 

The poor lady was perturbed beyond measure. It was some- 
thing she could not bear to speak about, even to Mary. It 
hurt her pride and love too much. She wondered if she should 
tell Godfrey ; but she had always been the strong one, used to 
bearing the burdens and thinking for both of them. Godfrey 
was still amazingly boyish, in character as well as in looks, to 
be the father of a grown-up son. She had an idea that God- 
frey might bluster and make a noise, thus driving Maurice to 
the very thing she would have him avoid. And poor Mary ! 
It was no wonder Mary's instinct had made her dislike the 
girl. 

There were times during the days that followed when she 
thought that her son was about to speak, and her heart leaped 
up, only to fall again. He had had secrets from her for so 
long. 

Then on? day Maurice made a concession. He had been 
looking gloomy of late, so much so that the unsuspecting 



1909.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 321 

Captain Grantley asked his wife if there was not a quarrel be- 
tween the boy and Mary. She had shaken her head for all 
answer to the question. "By Jove," said Captain Grantley 
with sudden observation, " you're not looking well yourself, 
Jennie. I wish this Tom-Fool business of a season were over 
and that I could carry you away to the moors." 

Captain Grantley had no love for the season, which took 
them from the freshness of deep country to the dust and heat 
of London at the loveliest season of the year. In fact he had 
claimed an exemption for himself. If they wanted him they 
could have him of course; and he would relieve Maurice now 
and again without grumbling. Maurice hated town as much 
as he did; but, of course, the women-kind couldn't be left with 
no man to look after them. He and Maurice must take it in 
turns. He was sweet-tempered about it, even when a letter 
came asking him to go yachting with Percy Luff, an old and 
dear friend who had been his school-fellow and chum at Sand- 
hurst. 

" Of course I can't go," he said cheerfully. " That would 
be to leave you to frizzle in town from May to July. I'm not 
such a selfish fellow as that. And old Luff must find another 
shipmate. Those Kerry fjords in June will be simply ripping. 

Maurice looked up at him with an affectionate expression. 

" Of course you must go, Pater," he said. " In fact there 
would be no use in your staying. I can stick out the season 
this year very well. There's a lot I want to see cricket and 
polo and the theatres and no end of things." 

" Sure, my boy ? I thought you couldn't endure Mayfair 
in the whirl." 

Father and son were alone together. Maurice had been ap- 
pearing a bit down on his luck lately. What was the matter 
with him ? 

If it was Mary they would have abundant opportunities of 
making it up if they were housed together for those three 
months. 

" You are quite sure ? " he repeated. 

" I yearn for it," Maurice said, with an overdone cheerful- 
ness. 

" Ah well, to be sure, it is more your place than mine after 
all. I shan't see my old friends this year, nor see any of the 
events of the season. You must explain for me. I couldn't 
VOL. xc. 21 



322 THE CHANGE [Dec. 

disappoint old Luff. I hope there'll be plenty of sun. What 
long days we shall have cruising about at our pleasure ! " 

He looked half-remorsefully at Maurice. 

" I'll tell you what, my lad," he said ; " you'd better take 
the new mare up to town and put her at livery. You can 
ride in the Park of mornings, and when the women set you 
free you can get out to Hamstead Heath and have a good 
gallop. And I'll stand you a new saddle. It shall be my gift 
to you. Your old one's rather worn." 

"Good old Pater! " Maurice said, with the ghost of a smile. 

(TO BE CONTINUED.) 



THE CHANGE. 

BY MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN. 

THE rain that falls on yellow fields 

Was mist an hour ago ; 
The smoke that the brown vineyard shields 

Was last spring all aglow 
In sap, in vein, in tendrils green 
Ah, mystic power ot Force unseen ! 

And yet more wondrous change He made 
When of the wheat and vine 

He took the fruits before Him laid, 
And said: "This flesh is Mine 

My blood! " Behind great Nature's screen 

No change so marvelous has been ! 

The Old Cloister^ Elsinere. 




A BACKGROUND TO LIFE. 

BY CHARLES PLATER, S.J. 

JODERN democracy would appear to some extent 
to have lost its bearings. It set out on its path 
with cheery assurance, and the path seemed clear 
before it. True, it suffered certain vicissitudes, 
and manifested various unamiable eccentricities 
of temper and regrettable lapses of judgment. But its hopes 
and ideals alike were high, and the world seemed at its feet. 
" The future lies with the democracy," was a saying which had 
ceased to be a somewhat daring prophecy and had become a 
platitude. 

And really democracy had a great deal in its favor ! The 
old barriers of caste and privilege had largely collapsed with 
the shifting of economic conditions. The old individualism 
was slowly becoming discredited. What was more, the Catho- 
lic Church, proverbially cautious and slow to change, had wel- 
comed the new movement " Christian Socialism " was a term 
strongly discouraged at the Vatican ; but " Christian Democ- 
racy " was the device on a banner put into the workman's 
hands by Leo XIII. himself. Nor need this surprise us when 
we remember how great a share Catholic ideals have had in 
the formation of the modern democracy. 

Yet the democracy is now walking with far less assured 
step than might have been expected. Indeed, it is positively 
stumbling. Here it has surrendered itself to a group of polit- 
ical wire-pullers. There it has worked itself into a state of 
nervous irritability and will cast stones at those who offer it 
sound counsel. We see it duped by a corrupt press, engineered 
by self-seeking politicians, gaping like a country clown at the 
socialist sharper with his loaded dice and accommodating pack 
of cards. This is not what we hoped and expected. This is 
not the democratic ideal the permeation through the whole 
body politic of sound common sense, of healthy human in- 
stincts. Democracy, if it means anything, should mean that 
the individual is to be considered as an end, and not as a 



324 A BACKGROUND TO LIFE [Dec., 

means; that with the securing of his political liberty should 
come the development in him of a certain critical sense (so 
highly praised by Aristotle) which would prevent his becom- 
ing the dupe of those who would exploit him. Unless this 
critical sense be cultivated and developed he will gain little 
by political emancipation. Freedom is no great boon to those 
who have never been taught how to use it. 

Contemporary history reminds us forcibly of Aristophanes' 
comedy in which the Athenian democracy is represented as a 
very credulous and weak-minded old gentleman who is abso- 
lutely controlled by his own servants. They know his weak- 
nesses and have learnt to play upon them, outbidding each 
other in attempts to secure his good will by pandering to his 
various unworthy appetites. 

The democracy presents itself to some as a vastly self- 
sufficient and resolute person, bent on realizing a very definite 
ideal. But Leo XIII. showed more insight when he regarded 
it as helpless and misled, though full of potentialities and 
eminently lovable. He does not seem to have pictured it as 
a self-possessed giant, running a well- calculated course. He 
seems to have regarded it as a very overgrown child which 
had tumbled down and required to be picked up. He raised a 
cry for help. He did not tell Catholics to get out of the way. 
He told them to come and pick the child up, plant it securely 
on its feet, brush its clothes, and show it the road. The task 
was a gigantic one, for the democracy was very big and very 
helpless. And the task has by no means ended yet. The 
Pope could not do it all himself, or get it done in his own 
lifetime. He had, so to say, to put it into commission. His 
august successor has taken up the work, and all Catholics are, 
or should be, helping him to carry it through. 

It would be very interesting, if space allowed, to see how, 
in the various countries, the Catholics have responded (some 
promptly, others with hesitation) to Pope Leo's summons to 
" go to the people." By social study and concerted social 
action great efforts have already been made to apply the teach- 
ing of the Encyclical on Labor to the complicated details of 
modern life. Most of all in Germany has the work progressed, 
and it is there that the results have been particularly encour- 
aging, especially in view of the difficulties which had to be en- 
countered. But it is my purpose in the present article to con- 



1909.] A BACKGROUND TO LIFE 325 

sider not so much the specific application of Catholic social 
doctrine to current needs (for this must vary in different coun- 
tries) but a certain root problem which is everywhere the same, 
and which must be solved before any considerable progress can 
be made in the work of Christianizing the democracy. 

Before men and women can be got to apply the principles 
of the Gospel to current social problems, they must be deeply 
imbued with the spirit of the Gospels. Before they will make 
efforts to " restore all things in Christ," they must have a very 
firm grasp of Christ's mission in the world and of the meaning 
of their own lives. They must be given a standard of values 
before they will rise to unflagging, unselfish work for the com- 
mon good. It has been abundantly proved that no secular 
philosophy or science can give men this standard of values. 
Philosophy and science can tell us many things about the world 
and about human life, but they cannot show us why the great 
game of life is " worth while." From this point of view science 
is, as a great French writer declared it to be, bankrupt. Nor 
can Socialism, despite its appeals to the imagination, really justify 
the value which it attaches to the temporal kingdom to come. 
Only in the light of Christian revelation does the world take 
on a coherent appearance and present itself as a great arena 
in which man has a worthy part to play. 

The future, then, lies not with democracy but with a Chris- 
tianized democracy. For it alone will retain that permanent 
stimulus to high human action which is to be found only in 
the conviction that the individual has his own value and that 
he is called upon to take generous part in a struggle to be 
crowned by a victory in which he will have a personal share. 
This point was well illustrated in the Bampton Lectures for 
1905, delivered by that brilliant writer, the Rev. F. W. Bussell. 
It is with a practical application of this point that I have now 
to deal. 

How may the working classes, amid the jangle of philoso- 
phies, the sophistries of the press, the distractions and cares of 
daily life, be brought to realize the deep fundamental truths 
of Christianity, upon their grasp of which depends not only 
their happiness, but also their value, and indirectly their social 
efficiency. 

Of course there is the great system of spiritual aids already 
provided by the Catholic Church missions and sermons, in- 



326 A BACKGROUND TO LIFE [Dec., 

structions and services, and the like. These are quite invaluable, 
and are constantly exercising their influence to an incalculable 
degree. But in face of the quite peculiar difficulties of modern 
times, owing partly to the elaborate organization of labor and 
the growing absorption in material things, we naturally cast 
about for some means of bringing the workingman into closer 
touch with the spiritual helps just described. So many Catho- 
lic workingmen are drifting out of touch with these channels 
of help and instruction that we look for a method of popular 
" conversion " a sharp experience of religious reality, a close 
contact, however short, with the eternal verities. Otherwise 
the great stream of mankind will drift on, unconscious of its 
high mission, absorbed in the daily round of material cares. 

How might one flash into the eyes of toiling humanity the 
light of Christianity ? By what means can the democracy be 
inspired with a religious ideal which will lead it to make daily use 
of the glorious treasures of the Catholic Church ? How provide 
it with a background to life which will throw into distinguished 
relief, and give value to, its strivings, otherwise dull and mean- 
ingless ? 

A glance into the street may suggest an answer. There, 
entering the poor tenement of a broken- down worker, goes a 
Sister of Charity. She has given up, it may be, a brilliant 
position in the world to put on her rough religious garb and 
to minister unceasingly to Christ's poor. She is radiantly 
happy and carries an atmosphere of sunshine with her. She 
never flags at her task, though many must be her hours of 
weariness. Slights and rebuffs cannot discourage her. She is 
a confirmed optimist not of the loquacious and irritating type, 
but of the quiet, active, reassuring kind. She bears within her 
an unfailing supply of strength. What is the secret? 

How can she lead a life which would daunt the most gen- 
erous humanitarian, the most ardent secular reformer? What 
stays her up amid labors unrelieved by any of the pleasant 
distractions which most of us find so indispensable ? Ask her, 
and she will tell you that she finds her strength in union with 
God, in the Sacraments and prayer. She will tell you that she 
has been taught to go straight to the Blessed Sacrament when- 
ever she feels a temptation to discouragement. And she will 
add that one of the strongest supports in well-doing with which 
she is provided is her annual retreat. 



1909.] A BACKGROUND TO LIFE 327 

\ 

The annual retreat ! How much it means to thousands of 
priests and religious and great-hearted laymen who labor un- 
ceasingly amid crushing difficulties to make the world a better 
place. In their annual retreat they step aside from the world 
altogether, and let the great truths of religion sink down deep 
into their souls. When they come out there is a new light on 
the world. What that light is it is impossible to describe to 
one who has not made a retreat. It must be experienced. 
But we can know something of it from its effects. And we 
see what it does for our priests and nuns. It is an enormous 
source of light and strength. It enables them to work unsel- 
fishly and continuously. It brings peace into their hearts, and 
gives a deep sacramental meaning to the commonest things of 
life. 

Now is it not quite evident that the worker and especially 
the worker under modern conditions needs an annual retreat 
no less than the priest or nun ? Is it not well that he, too, 
should be given an opportunity of stepping aside from the 
world with its discordant cries, its false glare, its corruption, 
and of taking a long, steady look at the eternal truths ? The 
workers feel the need, and many a time have they expressed 
it; more often have they felt it as a dim want which they 
have not known how to express. 

At last the want is being supplied. In Belgium there are 
already half a dozen large country houses, each standing in 
extensive and attractive grounds, where week by week groups of 
workingmen come to spend three full days in retreat. Ten 
thousand men pass through these houses each year, and the re- 
sults are encouraging beyond words. The men are aston- 
ished at their own happiness they go out strengthened and 
tranquillized and determined to impress their Christianity upon 
all about them. The world to them has a new aspect. They 
have found their bearings. They have got their background. 

The present writer has already given some account of the 
actual working of these retreats in Belgium and elsewhere,* 
and it is enough to state here that the experiment has resulted 
in a remarkable growth of solid piety and fervent enthusiasm 

* See two pamphlets published by the Catholic Truth Society, 69 Southwark Bridge Road 
London, and entitled respectively Retreats for Workers and Workingmen as Evangelists ; also 
articles in The Hibbert Journal, October, 1908, The Spectator, October 17, 1908, The Month 
April, 1908, etc. 



328 A BACKGROUND TO LIFE [Dec. 

among the working classes, aad, indirectly, in increased efforts 
to promote social justice throughout the country. 

The work has been taken up in England and a country 
house has been taken near Manchester at which retreats are 
given every week to a score of men representing every con- 
dition of life. Here again the work has already borne fruit 
to an extent which it would be impossible to indicate within 
the limits of this short article. In the United States, as well, 
the movement has just recently begun, and houses of retreat 
for men and women have been established in several places. 
It need scarcely be added that the Holy Father, the Bishops, 
and the clergy have expressed their warmest commendations 
of this new apostolate. 

Here, then, is an institution which succeeds, as no mere 
educative or social institution succeeds, in instilling high ideals, 
in fashioning character, in giving not only light but strength. 
Follow up the retreat and its intimate and striking appeal to 
the individual conscience, with religious organization (sodali- 
ties, confraternities, and the like) which will keep alive the spirit 
generated during the retreat, and you at once have an organized 
body of Christian apostles who will permeate society with the 
principles of the Gospel. Here, surely, is a form of apostolate 
well suited to our time, and deserving of our most generous ef- 
forts. It is a method of Christianizing the democracy which 
has already proved its signal efficacy. 

Given the strong impulse of a Christian ideal among the 
people, the other problems which harass the democracy will 
admit of a comparatively easy solution. Where there is steadi- 
ness of aim, fixity of principle, and an unfailing source of cour- 
age and hope, obstacles will speedily be surmounted. But until 
these are supplied we cannot hope to see the democracy in- 
creasing in strength of character, steadiness of judgment, re- 
straint in action. Mere progress in material comfort or mechani- 
cal invention cannot produce these qualities. There is need of 
a deep spiritual renovation if man is to find his true self and 
satisfy his deepest cravings. The democracy must be Christian- 
ized if it is to realize its highest possibilities. 




HIS NEIGHBOR. 

BY JEANIE DRAKE. 

" Christmas remains to remind us of those ages, whether Pagan or Christian, when the 
many acted poetry instead of the few writing it. Im all the winter in our woods there is no 
other tree in glow but the holly." 

"We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neigh- 
bor." G. K. Chesterton. 

[HE Inn of the Silver Star in Leuterdorf has no 
parlor. " Why should it have ? " asked Herr 
Cornelius, the landlord. " People who are too 
fine to talk to their kind in dining-room or kit- 
chen may trudge along to the next village." 
He sat in the latter room himself by preference, now that the 
winter had closed in and the summer birds of passage had flown 
away. He had a taste for comfort, Herr Cornelius, which being 
gratified in essentials by an excellent supper, now found further 
satisfaction in the soothing heat of the great, glowing stove, in 
the strings of ruddy sausages and peppers depending from the 
rafters, in the glimpse of a haunch of venison and some feath- 
ered game which the wire doors of the safe permitted. There 
was unconscious content, also, in the brisk ministrations of the 
sturdy Hedwig, his elder daughter, who filled their mugs of 
beer and moved the big screen to keep out the draught; and 
in the quieter movements of his slender Gertrude, whose long, 
fair braids hung below her waist, and whose thoughts, like her 
blue eyes, may have been far from the knitting-needles which 
seemed of themselves swiftly to transform coarse woolen yarn 
into stocking shape. 

" In any case," pursued Herr Cornelius, between meditative 
puffs of his pipe, "my summer people like to eat outdoors, 
and live there, too. Tables and benches, the roadside, and the 
sky for ceiling, that is parlor enough for them. They come 
only for the climate and scenery always scenery. Of these, 
thank God, we have sufficient for them, and still some left for 
another season, and yet another." 

" One must be thankful," said the blacksmith, sipping his 
beer, "that their good money remains to help us. But, Him- 
me I! how foolish some of them are ! Will you forget the young 



330 HIS NEIGHBOR [Dec., 

Italian advocate who was afraid of guns, yet shouted and swore 
and always wore the black cock feather in his hat. 'Ah, my 
child,' he said to Louisa, our goose-girl, ' do not fear for your 
geese. My gun does not go off of itself.' And Louisa, who 
shoots pretty well, found out afterwards that his gun was not 
loaded." 

"The Americans are queer," remarked Herr Cornelius sen- 
tentiously. "One old lady told me that feather beds were 
barbarism. I should like to have her up here about Martim- 
mas, for my bed- rooms have no fireplace." 

"The English are the queerest," pronounced the school- 
master, "and above all, if they pursue art. Their grotesque- 
ness of dress and their work are an insult to nature. I have 
looked for an angry avalanche sometimes to blot out their fig- 
ures and their sketches. In music it is worse," he grumbled, 
for he was likewise the village organist. " One English Mees 
I had for singing lessons two summers; and her mother com- 
plained to me: 'She studies so long; it is time for her to 
sing.' 'To sing, Madame,' I tell her, 'she can never sing. I 
thought you meant it to strengthen the lungs.' She was angry 
and said in English, which I understand a little, that I was a 
blockhead." 

" Ha ! ha ! She found you out," laughed the host in heavy, 
good-natured banter. 

Neither Hedwig nor Gertrude seemed to pay much atten- 
tion to their elders' talk. The former, after clearing away the 
supper dishes, was busy supplying the wants of a couple of 
stray peddlers whom snow and ice had not deterred from brav- 
ing the terrors of the Hinter Pass. They were giving her a 
description of the hardships encountered, and incidentally pay- 
ing her those compliments they considered a Kellnerin's due. 
Hedwig, plain of feature and clumsy of figure, received these 
with smiling literalness, as perhaps they were meant; for a 
German's taste in womanly beauty is most frequently uncon- 
ventional. Gertrude had withdrawn into a recess behind the 
stove, where her knitting needles still flew, under the super- 
vision of a well set-up, good-looking young man in a semi- 
soldierly uniform. 

i "Is that for a Christmas gift?" he asked her, "that you 
cannot take time from it to look at a fellow when he tells you 
of his travels ? " 



1909.] His NEIGHBOR 331 

"I am behindhand with my winter work," she told him de- 
murely; yet with the hint of a smile, which clearly elated 
him. 

"The freeholder's Sylvester is making good play," whis- 
pered the blacksmith. " Nothing like a soldier among the girls. 
You may have a wedding, Cornelius, by next Easter." 

"As time and fortune will," said the inn-keeper imper- 
turbably. " The boy is well enough ; has a good record from 
the Transvaal ; an only son, and the freehold farmer is well-to- 
do. But her sister's wedding should come beforehand. Lack- 
ing their mother rest her soul ! it is my duty to see to that. 
Laban showed his wisdom in caring for his Leah's interests 
first of all." 

"Nonsense, man," said the schoolmaster disrespectfully. 
" They must have had much useless time to waste in those 
days. Try putting your daughters' suitors on a fourteen or 
even seven-year probation now, and you will find them both 
old maids on your hands." 

" Heaven forbid ! " said the host solemnly, " that would be 
awful quite awful; and their chests of linen all made and 
ready ! And if they should get to look like those big, bony 
Englishwomen who come and bring their dogs ! " He took a 
long draught to drown the very thought. 

" By the way," said the blacksmith, again lowering his voice, 
" what has become of Andreas ? I surely thought that he " 
the speaker looked at the wood-carver's Fabian, and the flaxen- 
haired youth, who had smoked and dreamed and said nothing 
all evening, answered for his friend something in which : " The 
Head Forester's orders Balse Hohenweg Schwarzwald " 
were audible. 

By a strange coincidence the subject of these last remarks 
was at that very moment tramping up the village street on his 
way towards them. The last time he had approached the Inn 
of the Silver Star how different had been the scene ! Then 
the little Tyrolese village was basking in the rays of the sum- 
mer sun. On the wooden benches tourists and villagers sat 
and chatted together; the children played sedately under the 
trees; grazing cattle dotted the green hills; yellowed corn glit- 
tered in the fields below; and the sound of distant streams 
tumbling over the rocks had sung in his ears. 

How well he remembered it ? How he recalled stopping 



332 HIS NEIGHBOR [Dec., 

at the fountain where stood an image of St. Florian, the 
village patron; and how, carefully skirting the inn, he had 
hurried around to the kitchen, only to find his Gertrude too 
busy, much too busy, to give him a word. Yet there was that 
trifling, flirting Sylvester helping her to ladle out the soup 
almost as if he were a son of the house. And as recently as 
the spring just past, blue-eyed Gertrude had encouraged him, 
Andreas, plain of speech, used to work but unused to women 
had encouraged him to hope. 

Then the Schutzenfest had come, and Sylvester had re- 
turned from the Transvaal. Traveled and self-confident, this 
same Sylvester had caused a fluttering in the Leuterdorf dove- 
cotes. For, in shooting at the Eagle, Andreas, the Forester's 
assistant, being troubled, failed of his best, and Sylvester, the 
soldier, triumphant as King, had, with easy assurance, chosen 
Gertrude as his Queen, and availed himself in every way of 
his claims and privileges. Andreas, too proud to complain, had, 
with slightest farewell, gone willingly on the mission given him 
by the Forester, to Switzerland, and later to the Schwartzwald, 
and there had prolonged his stay, in study and experiment. 

But here again, in Christmas week, once more he walked 
Leuterdorf street, whence the tourists had long gone and only 
the sombre firs persisted among the overwhelming snows. The 
animals were under shelter, the little, playing babies safe in 
bed, the pleasant sights and sounds of summer vanished. 
Night and darkness and bitter wintry blasts were about him, 
and the heart within him was as unquiet as when he went 
away. He crossed once more the market-place, with its foun- 
tain frozen motionless now and St. Florian with a mantle of 
snow. The Inn's fire and lamplight made bright squares on 
the snow outside, and through the window-panes he saw Syl- 
vester bending over and restoring to Gertrude her worsted 
ball, with perceptible pressure of the knitter's fingers. His firm 
jaw wore a forbidding squareness at his abrupt entrance 
within. Nothwithstanding he had hearty reception. 

" Ha, Andreas, this is a pleasant surprise," cried the black- 
smith ; and the schoolmaster said : " We were fearing the 
Schwartzwald fairies would hold thee over Christmas, lad." 
Herr Cornelius clapped him on the shoulder and the dreamy 
Fabian came from his corner to clasp his friend's hand. For 
had he not grown up among them, plain, honest, and true, al- 



1909.] His NEIGHBOR 333 

ways kindly and helpful though reticent and grave ? Hedwig 
hastened to pour a fresh, foaming tankard, and to ask cheerily: 
"Did you come back for to-morrow's dance, Andreas ?" Even 
Sylvester, with light ignoring of the past, gave him debonair 
greeting; and only she whose voice he yearned to hear bad 
started, murmured something nothing and resumed her knit- 
ting. 

"Did he come for to-morrow's dance, Hedwig?" said 
Fabian, laughing. " Surely you know him better. Nothing 
could have brought him back but that the work is finished 
that he went to do." 

Gertrude's head bent a little lower. 

"The question is not why but how he came," said one of 
the peddlers. " The storm was thick three hours ago when we 
arrived, and the Hinter Pass almost impossible." 

"I came by the Alter Pass," said Andreas quietly. 

" Himmel/" said the other peddler. " Why, it was madness ! 
On skis ! That side of the way was worse and there the 
avalanche fell. Give Christmas thanks, man, for your life ? " 

The knitter's fingers were still for a moment and her lips 
pale; and Andreas' eyes met hers suddenly with a most unex- 
pected intensity, while his heart gave a great throb. The next 
instant she jested with Sylvester, and Andreas answered calmly: 
"We never know just how much we may have to thank God 
for." 

"For all things," said Herr Cornelius ponderously, "espe- 
cially sleep, for which it is now the hour. You will remain 
the night, Andreas ; you must, after so long a ski journey, be 
tired out." 

" No, I thank you, Herr. My report is yet to be made to 
the Forester. Come, Fabian, your way goes with mine. Good- 
night, Hedwig." Andreas might have had even a friendlier 
word for the slim, silent maiden who stood beside her sister, 
had not Sylvester gaily interrupted : 

"I hurry no one; but I am waiting to help shut up the 
Inn, and Hedwig is very sleepy." 

How could Andreas know that, as he went his resentful 
way, pretending to listen to Fabian, up in her little pigeon- 
hole of a room a girl, with tremulous lips, said to herself: 
" He is too cold to care for anything but his work." 

Andreas' affairs with the Head Forester kept him busy the 



334 His NEIGHBOR [Dec., 

next day, or he might again have been angered to see Sylves- 
ter at the Inn, supervising, suggesting, and working at the 
decorations for the evening dance. He found but a moment to 
send down some birds to Herr Cornelius with his compliments. 

"These foresters and game- keepers," scoffed Sylvester, when 
he saw the gift, " they think they own the earth the Lord's 
forests and all His creatures therein. I have been in lands 
where there are no tyranical restrictions and no aristocratic 
privileges. Why should the Herr Count or his officers have 
the right to shoot a deer or hare and not you or I ?" 

" I don't want to shoot a hare," said Hedwig simply. 

" Sylvester, you talk nonsense," said Gertrude. " The lands 
and forest are the Herr Count's, not yours or mine." 

" I like game," said he, nodding down at her from his 
ladder, while she held up to him the Christmas wreaths, " and 
mark my words, Gertrude, since my gruff and grim neighbor, 
the Forester's assistant, has not the decency to offer me some 
shooting, I will take it when I can." 

"The freeholder's land adjoins the Count's. Why not ask 
your father to get you permission ? " 

" To be refused by his High Mightiness, Andreas ? How 
charming you look in that position, Gertrude, and with your 
cheeks so red." 

"Don't be silly; and don't, I beg you, spend Christmas 
day in jail for poaching." 

"Have no fear; and be sure you save me the first and 
third and half-a-dozen other dances." 

" You are really too modest." 

"Above all, remember your promise to wear your Queen's 
crown." 

She had not forgotten, but she did regrtt that promise, for 
it had been made in last night's pique over Andreas' de- 
meanor. Yet when the lamps were all lit in the long dining- 
room, and the green and crimson and floating ribbons of the 
decorations glistened, no one could have denied that its chief 
ornament was the young maiden, in scarlet petticoat and velvet 
bodice, with snowy sleeves, and the golden crown which so 
becomingly adorned her head. 

Then the great doors flew open and, preceded by two 
fiddlers playing mightily, there came in a great rush of icy 
air, and with it a procession of young men and girls, alert, 



1909.] His NEIGHBOR 335 

expectant, chatting, laughing, and rosy from winter's touch. 
There were the Sennerins, Rosalia and Hilda; Matias, the 
goatherd ; Fabian and his sister, Elise ; the dairy farmer, An- 
selm, and his cousins; the black-eyed Sophie, who helped the 
freeholder's wife and was a wonderful spinner; these and many 
more. Their elders preferred the warmer kitchen, where small 
and mild Father Friedel, their pastor, was already installed 
with pipe beside the stove. But who minded the cool air of 
the dining-room when the fiddlers' march changed into a 
dance tune and young men and maids swung into such rhyth- 
mic, lively measure as made the floor shake and the rafters 
ring with wholesome merriment ; such measure as would amaze 
the sophisticated who know no dancing but the languid waltz. 
The King and Queen of the Schutzenfest led this, and upon 
them Andreas' eyes fell when he entered, escorting the For- 
ester and his only daughter, Fraulein Marie. Herr Cornelius 
hastened to receive the new arrivals, for the Head Forester 
was reputed rich; had already spoken of retiring; and that 
would mean the advancement of Andreas. The Head Forester 
also dined sometimes with the Herr Count himself, so he 
must be placed at once next to Father Friedel. 

" The Christmas decorations are very pretty," said Marie 
timidly. 

But Andreas could only see the golden crown, which 
seemed to mock him from Gertrude's hair. Another dance 
began, and Sylvester, calling boldly : "The Queen again honors 
her King," led her forth. Andreas, in fiery anger, found him- 
self opposite them with Fraulein Marie, gentle and sweet and 
wearing fashionable town attire, about which the girls whis- 
pered behind their hands, and " supposed Andreas would in- 
herit the Head Forester's place, if " and so on. 

"You you were long away, Andreas," said Gertrude, when 
she was near him in crossing hands. 

"Had I known certain things I would have wished my 
absence longer," he answered roughly. 

"Take care," interposed Sylvester, "you mix the figure; 
that's wrong; you are forgetting how to dance, man, as well 
as how to shoot." 

" It is possible," retorted Andreas, with knitted brow, " that 
I shoot better at a living target if I am not a wandering 
soldier." 



336 HIS NEIGHBOR [Dec., 

"You both shoot wonderfully," said Fraulein Marie in haste. 

She crossed to Sylvester, and Gertrude murmured hur- 
riedly and low: "What 'certain things'?" 

"Why these" still frowning " that women have no truth 
in them, and care for nothing but their vanity and the last 
feather-head that flatters them." 

"Is that for me?" 

" Yes, if it fits." 

She said no more, holding her pretty, crowned head high, 
while a deep flush stained her cheeks. But as he swung her 
for the last time, he saw that her lips trembled and great tears 
stood in her soft eyes. He had no chance to speak to her 
again, for she was surrounded, and when the dancing was over, 
Fraulein Marie was his charge. 

The landlord beamed upon all. The occasion was a cer- 
tain success it was gratifying to see so many, including the 
Herr Forester himself and the freeholder's son, attentive to 
his pretty Gertrude. He was even satisfied that Hedwig should 
fill and re-fill plate and glass for the poetic Fabian, at whose 
carvings the summer visitors raved. He shrugged his shoulders; 
perhaps one could do no better for her. 

Under the sparkling stars in the winter night, the Forester's 
party went homewards ; but the silent Andreas paid but per- 
functory attention to his companions' remarks. He thought 
ruefully of his late anger. "The pretty, darling child with 
the tears in her blue eyes i And I to cause them i What a 
brute and a clown am I ! I cannot be what I should with that 
coxcomb soldier about. I will write yes, I will write her be- 
fore I sleep." Yet in the morning, with the paper crackling 
in his breast pocket, the puzzle was how to get it to her un- 
observed. He passed the Silver Star on his way to a distant 
plantation ; Sylvester was already there at the Inn, playing 
checkers, and Gertrude, pale and reserved of manner, was too 
near others for him to present the note. At last he was forced 
to say : " Gertrude, do you remember the old oak we used 
for a post-office when we were little? It is covered with 
snow, but it is still there. I passed that way this morning." 
He had gone, but he had seen her look at him, and knew 
that she understood. 

So, unfortunately, had Sylvester, quick of ears and of wits, 
who presently went away, and remembering also the post- 



1 909.] His NEIGHBOR 337 

office of childhood, drew forth from a hollow, snow- sprinkled 
old stump a letter which he scrupled not at all to open and 
read. It ran : 

MY OWN GERTRUDE : For you were nearly mine last spring, 
or let me hope so. After the Schiitzenfest, and since then, 
you have been so changed, that perhaps you can make some 
excuse for my angry words of last night. But if not, I heart 
ily ask pardon for them. And I have come back after these 
long months hoping still for your love; for my whole heart is 
yours and yours only. Give me some word to-night that I 
may know I can still call you mine now and always; and so 
make me happy for the Holy Child's birthday. 

Your devoted ANDREAS. 

Sylvester whistled a little, put the letter in his pocket, and 
went away into the woods. So, when a slim maiden came 
breathlessly to the old oak stump, it was with startled incred- 
ulity that she explored, only to find it empty. 

"Could Andreas dare would he venture to presume upon 
upon my former feeling ! To mock me as a punishment for 
my politeness to other old schoolmates ! It must be so." 

Meanwhile Andreas, hopeful and alert, finished his work, 
and taking an unfrequented cross-cut through the dark fir 
forest along the mountain slope, walked noiselessly, snow 
underfoot and snowy branches overhead. Suddenly, near a 
dense copse, he was recalled from his thoughts of Gertrude 
by the report of a gun at some slight distance. He moved 
in that direction swiftly and cautiously, and, hearing a foot- 
step, watched from behind a great fir. A soft rustling and 
crunching of snow, and Sylvester appeared, his gun on his 
shoulder and a brace of hares in his hand. He moved with 
little circumspection and even whistled softly, as this hill went 
usually untrod, save by an occasional fagot- gatherer. In the 
sheer surprise of the moment he found himself disarmed. 

"I will take the hares also," said Andreas grimly. "Your 
father's land borders ours, but does not include it. It is, per- 
haps, my duty to arrest to hand you over to the head- 
gamekeeper; but but " 

Sylvester, who had gathered himself together, sprang for 
the sequestered gun, but Andreas grappled with him, and the 
two men wrestled furiously in the snow. " This is no Schut- 
TOL xc. 22 



338 His NEIGHBOR [Dec., 

zenfest," muttered Andreas, " I could crush you like an egg- 
shell, boy." He was, indeed, taller, broader, heavier, stronger 
in every way, than the slight Sylvester, and presently, with final 
effort, lifted him high and threw him from him. 

Sylvester's head striking a root under the snow, he lay a 
minute stunned, then slowly rose, and with a touch of his hand 
to his pocket a movement not understood by Andreas he 
said mockingly: "Keep the game, with my compliments. It 
is another sort of poaching I most enjoy ; and in that game I 
expect to win." Then with ironic bow he went. 

Tkere was no looked-for white billet in the oak-hollow when 
Andreas passed that way on his road to the Silver Star. 
"She is shy, perhaps," he reassured himself, "and I have 
frigkteaed her with my rough manners. She will give me some 
sign to-night." But if she gave sign that night it was only to 
fill him with bitterness. The tender, tremulous Gertrude of the 
dance of last night's dreams had given place to a lively, 
sparkling, jesting maiden, playful with her father, with the 
guests, with Sylvester, and neither seeing, hearing, nor recog- 
nizing Andreas. Sylvester took advantage of the girl's assumed 
high spirits to go far. 

"You are both crazy to-night," said the indulgent Hedwig. 

" My own Gertrude," the soldier called her once or twice. 
"Your beauty," he said again, "makes my words excusable; 
but if not, I heartily ask pardon." And again : " I came back 
from the wars hoping still for your affection, for my heart is 
yours and yours only." And finally : "Give me some word to- 
night that I may hope and be happy for the Christmas time." 

Gertrude, with well-acted mirth, laughed with him, not 
dreaming whose sentences he quoted ; but when Andreas recog- 
nized his own, a deep wound and hot anger divided him. 
" Even if she cared nothing, that she could make a jest of my 
letter with him ! To read it with him and laugh over it to- 
gether, and taunt me with it to my face ! So he gets his re- 
venge for this afternoon's humiliation. Truly, all is over." 
He went out abruptly into the night. 

Next day was Christmas Eve, and Father Friedel would 
hear confession at night, before the Midnight Mass. But all 
holiday preparations being complete, there was a morning in- 
terval of leisure, when the younger folk decided to go skating 
on the Leuterbachsee, now hard frozen. So, from all sides, 



1909.] His NEIGHBOR 339 

village and hills and scattered cottages for miles, a joyous crowd 
hastened along, men and girls in bright winter costumes, swing- 
ing skates. The crags of the Rotherkel overhung the wonder- 
ful ravine at the entrance of the Lastthal. Above the sombre 
belts of fir forests towered great walls of irregular, snow-covered 
peaks ; and making their merry way through the opening, the 
procession soon came upon the See, a lovely, translucent blue in 
summer and now a silvered crust of thick ice. Here they went 
upon the lake in long, linked lines; or paired, as intimacy or 
skill in skating determined. Both these things probably de- 
cided Gertrude and Sylvester who, hand- in- hand, glided and 
twisted, turned and re-turned, skimming the ice as swiftly and 
gracefully as circling swallows. The lake was long and narrow, 
curving quite around the mountain base. Tired of circum- 
scribed space, and excited by enjoyment of their own skill, the 
pair sped on and on until out of sight of other skaters. 

Andreas was not among these. It was a relief to the gloom 
and harsh bitterness which consumed him to offer himself to 
procure for Fraulein Marie such a Christmas tree as she had 
timidly expressed desire for. " One very large, very thick, 
very symmetrical." He had tramped tar and wide across the 
mountains without finding just what his restlessness required, 
and when the tree was at last cut and shouldered, his shortest 
way of returning was along the mountain path overlooking the 
Leuterbachsee. Through the crystal- clear air came now and 
then faint echo of the skaters' merriment. Almost directly be- 
neath him he saw a couple flying along towards this farther 
end, but saw them wholly without interest. 

"What a Christmas for me," he thought, "who will not 
even go to the Christ Child's Mass. For I am a murderer in 
mind, at least. I regret now that I did not shoot that fellow, 
the impudent poacher ! I was within my right, and the law 
would have upheld me." So he brooded gloomily. A sudden 
crackling of ice reached him, then a cry one of the figures 
had disappeared, the other stood paralyzed with horror at 
the edge of a splitting, widening aperture. " An air hole," he 
decided, shouting at once: "Here, here is help," and flung the 
great tree from his shoulder, so that it projected across the 
hole. He was there almost as soon himself; and Sylvester, 
recognizing him, bit his lip at his own unreadiness, and jumped 
into the water, only to catch wildly at the girl's dress and 



340 HIS NEIGHBOR [Dec. 

soon become helplessly benumbed himself. Andreas, already 
out on the tree, reached now a careful arm, and as the gasping 
Gertrude would have disappeared under the ice, drew her 
strongly from the current and along the branches until she 
was safe. Once she was on firmer ice, it was evident that 
, Sylvester was in worse case, for his futile struggling left him 
half-drowned. " Herr Gott ! Must I go alter him f " muttered 
Andreas; but .'again he made a cautious way along the thick, 
green branches, and with a muscular grasp upon the collar of 
the drowning man, drew him too from under the treacherous 
ice and on to the safety of the strong tree trunk. 

His loud, clear yodel attracted the attention of the skaters, 
and speedily help came to convey the unconscious man and the 
dripping, shivering girl to aid and warmth and shelter. 

Up on the hillside the bell rang invitation that evening t 
all who would prepare for Midnight Mass. The lanterns that 
moved like glow-worms here and there on the pathway lit up 
the shadows which the bright moon left untouched. But ia 
one of these shadows, unlighted, Sylvester waited until An- 
dreas came near him. Then he spoke low : " This," he said, 
" is yours," and held out a paper. 

.Andreas started, puzzled, at his own letter to Gertrude. 

" I took it from the hollow," explained Sylvester with ef- 
fort. " She has never seen it. I I owe my life to you. You 
may be more willing to pardon and give me your hand, for the 
Holy Child's sake, if I tell you that she cares not at all for 
me, but as her former playmate." 

A great wave of joy surged over Andreas. He clasped 
Sylvester's offered hand heartily. " We used to be friends," 
he cried, " as well as neighbors. May we be so always." 
Both went on to their confession. 

When Andreas came from Father Friedel a maiden, very 
pale and hesitant, stood in the church porch. " How can I 
thank you, Andreas," she began sweetly ; but he interrupted : 

" By reading this," and drawing her a little apart, by his 
lantern light, she reaH the letter. 

" You need not answer now. Take your own time," he 
protested, still uncertain. 

But she put her hand in his before her father and Sylvester 
and all the trooping villagers, and together they went in to 
the Christ Child's Mass. 




THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES.* 

BY THOMAS VERNER MOORE, C.S.P. 

JHE development of Pragmatism by William James 
reads like the plea of a skillful attorney for a 
criminal with every prima facie evidence of guilt 
against him. The bald assertion that truth is 
an essentially variable quantity, that it has in 
it nothing stable and permanent, that what is really true to me 
may be false to you, sounds on the face of it to be wholly 
indefensible. It rattles with the noise of a falsehood. But 
when one starts in to read the plea of James, Pragmatism does 
not appear to be such a guilty criminal, and it takes some 
time and thought to see that, after all, Pragmatism is guilty 
and deserves the condemnations which so many philosophers 
have heaped upon it. 

The first step in the development of the Pragmatism of 
Professor James is a point of method. What method has 
proved the most successful in modern research ? Has it not 
been that which appeals to facts, that which has framed hy- 
potheses and adopted those that fit in with the facts and dis- 
carded all the rest ? What, then, has been the test of truth ? 
The agreement of a given theory with facts. That theory is 
true which works out well, which most closely agrees with re- 
ality and it is in so far true as it accords with the facts. The 
truth then of an idea is not to be sought in its accuracy of 
representation, but in its workability not in that which is 
static, but in that which is dynamic. If an idea accounts for 
present facts and helps us to explain future events, then that 
idea is true; when it ceases to do this it ceases to be true, and 
becomes false. Truth, therefore, is not a constant and eternal 
quality of our ideas, but one that comes and goes with the 
development of our intellects. 

* The Meaning of Truth. A Sequence to Pragmatism. By William James. Pp. 
New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1909. 



342 THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES [Dec., 

How do we know, when any given idea is proposed to our 
minds, that it is going to help us account for facts how is it 
intelligible to us, how can we adopt it into our minds as some- 
thing which is not 'contradictory ? This we know by the idea's 
fitting into our previous conceptions. It sounds in our men- 
tal life a pleasing, harmonious tone. There is no jar or discord 
that accompanies its presence. We feel it to be true, we are 
satisfied with it. We adopt it without effort or strain. And 
in this way we assent to it as a true conception. But there 
comes a time when the idea no longer satisfies then it ceases 
to be a true conception. Evidently, therefore, truth is not an 
absolute but a relative something. 

At each and every concrete moment, truth for each man is 
what that man " troweth " at that moment with the maximum 
of satisfaction to himself; and similarly, abstract truth, truth 
verified by the long run, and abstract satisfactoriness, long- 
run satisfactoriness, coincide. If, in short, we compare con- 
crete with concrete, and abstract with abstract, the true and 
the satisfactory do mean the same thing. . . . 

The fundamental fact about our experience is that it. is a 
process of change. . . . The critic sees both the first 
" trower's" truth and his own truth, compares them with each 
other, and verifies or confutes. His field of view is the reality 
independent of that earlier trower's thinking with which that 
thinking ought to correspond. But the critic is himself only 
a trower ; and if the whole process of experience should ter- 
minate at that instant, there would be no otherwise known in- 
dependent reality with which his thought might be compared 
(pp. 89-90). 

At abou't this stage in the development ol Professor James* 
doctrine the reader will commence to wonder just what he 
meant in the Preface when he quoted from his previous work 
entitled Pragmatism, and said: "Truth is a property of certaiii 
of our ideas. It means their agreement, as falsity means their 
disagreement, with reality. Pragmatists and intellectualists 
both accept this definition as a matter of course" (p. v.). 
Truth is the agreement of the idea with reality, and still if the 
subjective process of experience should terminate at any instant 
there would be no reality to tell whether or not the concepts 



1909.] THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES 343 

of experience were true. Time and time again Professor James 
insists upon truth as the agreement of the idea with reality. 
He even goes so far as to suggest that the war between him- 
self and the intellectualists is one of words (Preface, p. xi ). 

It almost seems as if he felt some kind of an obligation to 
profess a belief in reality which he does not hold as if reality 
was one of a philosophic thirty-nine articles to which he had 
to subscribe. Were the work written all at one time one 
might think that it really was the plea of a skillful attorney 
to a jury the reading public. This reading public is accus- 
tomed to look upon reality as an extra- mental object and will 
be somewhat reassured where they think that after all Profes- 
sor James means that truth is just such an agreement. They 
will be puzzled by his sarcastic references to the adaequatio 
intellectus cum re, and when finally his real meaning dawns 
upon them it will have been gradually realized and they will 
be less shocked and more ready to accept his opinion. 

Such an intention could not have been in the mind of Pro- 
fessor James. The work is a reprint of a number of lectures 
and they follow each other in an almost perfect chronological 
order. But the effect of the continued protestations of belief 
in reality is the same as if they had been made with the ex- 
press purpose of clouding the issue. In the lecture on Human- 
ism and Truth he defines at last just what he means by reality. 
By Humanism he means a further development of Pragma- 
tism strictly so-called. Strictly speaking, Pragmatism is only a 
method implying that " truth should have practical conse- 
quences " (p. 52). But the Pragmatism of Professor James 
includes Humanism, and there is no reason for distinguishing 
James the Pragmatist and James the Humanist. In the lecture 
referred to he writes that 

i. " An experience, perceptual or conceptual, must conform 
to reality in order to be true." But what is this reality ? 
What can reality be if it is not an extra-mental something to 
which the mind is conformed? This he answers as follows: 

2 " By reality humanism means nothing more than the other 
conceptual or perceptual experiences with which a given present 
experience may find itself in point of fact mixed up " (p. 100). 

Truth, then, is not the conformity of the intellect with real- 
ity, unless you mean by reality what Professor James means 



344 THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES [Dec., 

by it, i. e. t not an objective world but your own subjective 
mental states. And if one admits Professor James* view of 
reality, then there is no escape from the conclusion that truth 
is the fitting of a concept into our past experience, that what 
may be true to one man is false to another, that there is no 
absolute truth, that all knowledge is in a state of flux, that the 
axioms and dogmas of to-day may eventually pass over into 
the rejected and unworkable hypotheses of some future day, 
near or dimly distant as the case may be. And it all seems 
to flow from the starting point, that those hypotheses are to 
be accepted as true which account for the facts and those re- 
jected which fail to do so. 

But as a matter of fact the Pragmatism of Professor James 
has nothing at all to do with the methods of modern science. 
It is not developed by these methods, nor is it a conclusion 
that is to be drawn from them. The Pragmatism of Professor 
James rests upon an enormous assumption the assumption that 
outside of our mental states there exists no real objective 
being the assumption that " viscera and cells are only possi- 
ble percepts following upon that of the outer body " (p. 130); 
" that mind stuff itself is conceived as a kind of experience." 
Those who are prepared to admit that underlying appearances 
there is no substantial substance from which phenomena flow 
as effects from a cause, that underlying our own mental states 
there is neither a brain nor a soul that perceives, that there 
are sensations and that no one " senses," touches without any 
one or anything being touched, emotions and no one is affected, 
anger and no one is angry, motion and nothing moves those 
who are prepared for such assumptions as these, those and 
those only can be logically forced to adopt the Pragmatism of 
William James. 

It will be hard for some readers to appreciate the position 
of William James, without having a glimpse at its antecedents. 
James has no doubt been influenced by Wundt. Wundt, dis- 
satisfied with materialism which his experimental psychology 
had made all the more untenable and at the same time unwill- 
ing to accept the old theory of a soul as the thing that feels 
and wills and thinks, looked about for a new theory, and adopted 
the bold assumption that the substrate of mental processes is 
neither brain nor soul. Neither materialism nor spiritualism is 



1909.] THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES 345 

right. There is no brain and there is no soul. Nothing exists 
but mental processes and the connection between them. The 
American mind revolts at the concept of thoughts without any 
one or anything thinking, sensations without any one or any- 
thing feeling, emotions without any one or anything being 
disturbed. The philosophy of Hume has influenced English 
and American students by first passing through the mind of 
Kant and then returning with a German flavor. But with the 
German philosophers of to-day and yesterday the concept of 
motion without anything moving is perfectly familiar; and they 
can assimilate it without the least mental indigestion. It is for 
many of them, therefore, a truth in the pragmatic sense of the 
word. The first step in the development of this concept was 
the Kantian doctrine that only appearances are known ; the 
thing in itself the substance underlying appearances is un- 
known and unknowable. What is the nature of substance, 
whether or not, ^indeed, there are substances, are insoluble 
problems. Fichte took up the Kantian doctrine and pushed it 
a step further. He wanted to be intellectually honest and abso- 
lutely untramelled by prejudice. If we do not know that there 
is any such thing as substance, we have no reason to say that 
substances actually do exist, therefore let us throw aside the 
concept of substance and say that there is no substance but 
only the "Ego" with its mental processes. And thus he ar- 
rived at his idea of action without anything acting a contra- 
diction which even his metaphysical mind could not brook, and 
in his later philosophy he gave up the idea and maintained 
the doctrine of really existing substance. But his first philoso- 
phy is one of the ancestors of the Wundtian doctrine of the 
soul a doctrine of widespread influence which has cast its 
mantel over the literary psychologist of Harvard. 

On the assumption that this doctrine is true some such 
theory as the Pragmatism of Professor James is logically the 
only one that is left open for us to accept. But if not, then 
Pragmatism is but the dream of an idle imagination. For, 
granted that there is nothing in the world but mental pro- 
cesses, my thoughts and your thoughts, my sensations and 
your sensations, my emotions and your emotions, granted that 
no mental process is aroused by an extra-mental object, that 
there are indeed no extra-mental objects, what then is the 



346 THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES [Dec., 

only admissible definition of truth ? Surely there is no such 
thing possible as the adaequatio intellectus cum re, simply be- 
cause there is no thing with which the intellect can correspond. 
If there is any such thing as truth it must be that which the 
empirical study of assent will reveal, viz., that when a doc- 
trine is accepted as true, it must be, because it fits in with the 
subject's previous convictions. Truth, then, is the agreement 
of a concept with previous concepts and not with an object 
outside the mind, simply because there is none. 

But suppose there is an extra-mental object. Suppose that 
it is possible that James and Wundt and the younger Fichte 
are wrong one and all. Suppose for a moment that there is a 
substantial soul that thinks and that there are substantial ob- 
jects about which it thinks. Suppose that there is such a 
thing as an objectively valid principle of causality and that in 
virtue of the validity of this principle the extra-mental realities 
are revealed to the thinking substance, what, then, must be 
our concept of truth ? Must it not be that expressed by the 
old definition at which James pokes so much fun, the adaequatio 
intellectus cum re ? If this is the case, there is a distinct qual- 
ificative difference between a man's being right and merely 
thinking that he is right. Whereas if James is right the only 
difference is the length of time during which he will be satis- 
fied with his belief. If there is any extra-mental reality, then 
a judgment of the mind, that such and such an object pos- 
sesses such and such a characteristic, is not true unless de fact* 
the object referred to has an extra-mental correlate corre- 
sponding to the predicate of my judgment. If, for instance, 
my predicate is " red," then there must be something in a 
real object by which it absorbs or transmits certain rays and 
reflects others which give rise to my sensation of red. That 
property may be something quite different from my sensation; 
but it must be a definite property distinct from that which 
causes green or any other color of the spectrum. 

What applies to sensations applies also, mutatis mutandis^ 
to historic truth. If there are real objects and real personages 
in history who did real deeds, then our personal likes or 
dislikes in the matter, our most deeply rooted habits of mind, 
have nothing to do with the proposition that a given character 
in history accomplished or did not accomplish a certain deed. 



1909.] THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES 347 

Professor James' view of historic truth can only be true on 
his own assumption as to reality if, indeed, it would then 
be true. He says : 

Moses wrote the Pentateuch, we think, because if he didn't, 
all our religious habits will have to be undone. Julius Caesar 
was real, or we can never listen to history again. Trilobites 
were once alive, or all our thought about the strata is at sea. 
Radium, discovered only yesterday, must always have ex- 
isted, or its analogy with other natural elements, which are 
permanent, fails. In all this, it is but one portion of our be- 
liefs reacting on another so as to yield the most satisfactory 
total state of mind. That state of mind, we say, sees truth, 
and the content of its deliverances we believe (p. 88). 

While it may be true that the assent of a given individual 
is determined by his previous mental habits and conceptions, 
one must not conclude that therefore truth is the agreement 
between one of his conceptions and the others. This conclu- 
sion is only valid on the assumption that to seem true and to 
be true are one and the same thing. If there are real per- 
sonages in history, if Moses was one of them and actually did 
write what we now call the Pentateuch, it is true that he did 
so and our mental habits have nothing to do with the case 
whatever. If the mental habits of those interested in the 
Pentateuch should change so that future generations of be- 
lievers should acquire most stable persuasions that Moses did 
not write the Pentateuch, and still if at the same time Moses 
actually did exist and did write the works in question, the 
stability of these future convictions will not alter the historic 
truth of the fact. 

The Pragmatism of Professor James depends at every turn 
upon the assumption of a theory of reality, and this the reader 
of his works should constantly bear in mind. Among the 
supporters and followers of the Wundtian theory of the soul 
James is like Zeno among the Eleatics. He is the renfant 
terrible of the school. Zeno by his very advocacy of his side 
reduced it to an absurdity. He carried the denial of becoming 
so far as to maintain that motion was impossible, that the 
swift Achilles could never catch up with the slow tortoise, and 



348 THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES [Dec., 

that the arrow in its flight is certainly at rest. And so, too, 
James comes along with his Pragmatism. If there is no sub- 
stantial soul and no substantial extra-mental world, but all is 
mental processes and the bonds between them, then there is 
no objective absolute truth. What is true to me may be false 
to you, simply because the idea that fits neatly into my mind 
is all angles and corners when the attempt is made to pack it 
into your intellectual compartments. What is true to me to- 
day may some time become false, for my conceptions can 
change and the idea that was once very becoming to me will 
have to be put away in the wardrobe, for it will no longer 
harmonize with my mental complexion. 

Motion with nothing moving and the complete relativity of 
truth are not the only surprises in the philosophy of Professor 
James. There is another point which a pragmatic philosopher 
should have avoided with great care. 

The essential service of humanism, as I conceive the situa- 
tion, is to have seen that though one part of our experience 
may lean upon another part to make it what it is in any one of 
several aspects in which it may be considered^ experience as a 
whole is self-containing and leans on nothing (p. 124). 

Professor James develops this formula, attempting to show 
that: 

[if it] be accepted, it will follow that, if there be any such 
thing at all as knowing, theknower and the object known must 
both be portions of experience. One part of experience must, 
therefore, either (i) know another part of experience in 
other words, parts must, as Professor Woodbridge says, rep- 
resent one another instead of representing realities outside 
of "consciousness" this case is that of conceptual knowl- 
edge ; or else (2) they must simply exist as so many ultimate 
thats or facts ot being, in the first instance. . . . This 
second case is that of sense-perception (pp. 126-7). 

The problem of sense experience is the final point that I 
would raise in this brief review of Professor James' recent 
work. Whence come our sensations ? Professor James says 
that though one part of experience may lean upon another 
part, experience as a whole leans on nothing. Sensations 



1909.] THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES 349 

for such a view are very uncomfortable quantities. They can- 
not be directly dealt with. What, then, is to be done with 
them ? The facts do not fit the theory therefore so much 
the worse for the facts. But it would not do for a philoso- 
pher, who boasts of a theory whose chief recommendation is 
that of explaining facts, to say this quite so baldly. Conse- 
quently, he does not say that the origin of sensations is ut- 
terly inexplicable by a pragmatic theory of the mind, but 
that sensations are ultimate thats or facts of being. But do 
sensations commence to be ? What causes them ? Previous 
mental states or external stimuli? Certainly Professor James, 
as an empirical psychologist, should give an account of the 
origin of our sensations. As an empirical psychologist he 
will trace our sensations of sight to something termed ether 
waves, those of hearing to certain waves of what goes by the 
name of air, those of touch, hearing, smell, and taste to various 
specific stimuli. And these stimuli which antecede the sensa- 
tion, are they or are they not mental states? If they are not 
mental states, and the prima facie evidence certainly is that 
they are not, then you have an extra-mental reality which is 
so abhorrent to the pragmatist. And if they are mental 
states, it certainly seems to be casting one common name over 
two very opposite quantities. One might indeed do this, but a 
profound difference will still remain between the sensation and 
its stimulus. The ether waves which vibrate without any eye 
to take cognizance of them, or any mind to perceive the sensa- 
tions of sight to which they might give rise, these ether waves 
and the subject will remain distinct and must be so recognized 
no matter what terminology you may adopt. Given the sen- 
sations and a perceiving mind Professor James may elaborate a 
very complex psychology. He may explain emotions as the 
perception of organic sensations and be able to tell us that we 
do not weep because we are sorry, but that we are sorry be- 
cause we weep. He may then tell us a great deal about the 
stream of consciousness. But when you take away from him 
the postulate of sensations and ask him, as a pragmatist, or a 
" humanist," if he prefers the designation, to explain just how 
it is that sensations arise in the mind, he can only say : " They 
must simply exist as so many ultimate thats or facts of being, 
in the first instance" (p. 127). There are no objective stimuli. 



3So THE PRAGMATISM OF WILLIAM JAMES [Dec. 

"Experience, as a whole, is self-containing and leans on 
nothing." 

Experience is, indeed, in a continual process of change. One 
change arises from a previous change. Effect "a "arises from 
effect " b," and so on to effect " n." But while the whole 
series from " a " to " n " is caused, it has no cause, for it " leans 
on nothing." Such is the final contradiction at which the Prag- 
matism of William James arrives. 

Still Professor James has for his theory great hopes. He 
dreams of his formula becoming " canonical " and " developing 
right and left wing supporters." 

Perhaps [he says] the rising generation will grow up more 
accustomed than you are to that concrete and empirical in- 
terpretation of terms in which the pragmatic method con- 
sists. Perhaps they may then wonder how so harmless and 
natural an account of truth as mine could have found such 
difficulty in entering the minds of men far more intelligent 
than I can ever hope to become, but wedded by education and 
tradition to the abstractionist manner of thought (pp. 297-8). 

Perhaps! Perhaps the empirical interpretation of terms, 
which does away with an objective reality and asks our assent 
to that very concrete idea of motion without anything moving, 
may meet with universal acceptance. Perhaps it may, but there 
are no empirical grounds that lead us to expect that it will. 



HERSELF. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

it in her keeping, the house quietly sleeping 
When all the world is fast asleep she's keeping guard ; 
Her hands stretched in blessing have Heaven for possessing, 
She and her Baby keep the house in watch and ward. 

Withoutin fears and harm, the folk sleep and lie warm, 

Since there are Two that keep the house the whole night long ; 

Against fire and danger and the storm's wild anger, 
The pestilence that flies by night Herself is strong. 

Her Son she is holding like a flower unfolding 

'Twixt the sleepers and the evil that walks abroad ; 

She draws a line round them and her light to bound them 
Under the shelter of her hands and the Byes of God. 

The children quietly dreaming of woods and waters gleaming 

Wander all night in Paradise amid the flowers, 
And wake up still smiling for the dream's beguiling 

To her leading and tending through the daylight's hours. 

There is love and no chiding in the house of her abiding ; 

There's a light that glows, none knoweth whence, in the air serene. 
She who is Queen and I/ady of her Son and Heaven already, 

Herself is I/ady of the House, its Mother and Queen. 




THE CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER : 

SOME IMPRESSIONS. 
BY A SPECTATOR. 

GREAT Catholic gathering is always an inspiring 
occasion. It satisfies our natural instinct for 
solidarity as nothing else can. No other reunion, 
however intimate, can match it. A gathering of 
"old boys," such as that commemorated in the 
touching lines of Oliver Wendell Holmes, may stir fragrant 
memories and evoke kindly feelings; yet the sentiment is apt 
to be shallow and transient. An old man's genial musing on 
his vanished past is something very different from the ringing 
consciousness of participation in the Communion of Saints, the 
exultant brotherhood, the spiritual camaraderie of the sons of 
the true Church. 

A scientific gathering, again, may be deeply interesting. It 
gives you something of a thrill to find yourself sitting next 
to the world-renowned German professor or French savant 
who is on the peaks of the subject up the lower slopes of 
which you may happen to be industriously pushing your way. 
As you exchange greetings you almost feel as though you 
were exchanging brains. Yet you are not perfectly at home 
with the affable stranger. There are spiritual barriers between 
you. His outlook on life, for all you know, may be widely 
different from yours. Not only may he wish your country at 
the bottom of the sea, but he may look upon your religion as 
an exploded superstition. You feel that you cannot take him 
to your bosom without some preliminary inquiries. 

Even a patriotic gathering, delirious as may be its enthu- 
siasm and honest its emotions, leaves the deepest in us still un- 
touched. There is apt to be an element of self-glorification in 
our cheers, of Jingoism in our protestations, which gives us a 
twinge of conscience when we are back amid the prosaic routine 
of life. The deepest patriotism is almost afraid of popular 
rhetoric. " My country, right or wrong," is, as Mr. Chester- 



1909.] CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER 353 

ton points out, almost as unfeeling and disloyal an expression 
as " My mother, drunk or sober." 

But the Catholic gathering ! Well, in spite of hitches and 
misunderstandings, we feel that we are at one in the matter 
where unity is most intimate and most essential ; and that we 
are furthering a cause, the most glorious which the heart of 
man may conceive. Our solidarity is the more complete be- 
cause there is no element of selfishness in it. 

The Catholic Truth Society has done a great work in 
England during the last twenty-five years. It has circulated 
millions of pamphlets and books, nailed a whole cargo of anti- 
Catholic lies to the counter, removed prejudice, promoted 
knowledge, fostered devotion. But one of the most useful 
things which it has done has been to provide the Catholics of 
England with an annual Conference. 

At the Conference held in Manchester last September the 
Society celebrated its silver jubilee. The occasion was his- 
toric and gives us a suitable opportunity for estimating the 
strength of the Catholic Church in England, taking its bearings, 
and noting its relations to the social order, of which the rapid 
shifting in recent years has filled many with dismay and filled 
others with the hope of yet wider conquests for Catholicism. 
Such an estimate, to be adequate, would take us far beyond 
the limits of a magazine article. All we can do here is to re- 
cord some impressions of the Conference, selecting a few features 
which appear to have special significance. 

Manchester 1 Even in the somewhat depressing atmosphere 
of Cottonopolis itself we find ourselves weaving once more in 
imagination the parti- colored web of the city's eventful history. 
Far back into Roman times Manchester had its importance a 
fact confirmed by recent excavation. Its Catholicity may be 
said to date from shortly after the conversion of King Edwin, 
when the little Saxon chapel of St. Michael was built in Aid- 
port, near the modern Deansgate, thirteen hundred years ago. 
Many a place-name near Manchester enshrines the memory of 
St. Chad, the holy Bishop who ruled Manchester from the see 
of Lichfield. The fierce inrush of the Danes, the Norman 
Conquest, the slow building up of a stable social order in the 
Middle Ages all these have left their mark on Manchester. 
Other memories come back to us as well, for in the late six- 
teenth century the diocese had its martyrs, priests and lay- 
VOL, xc. 23 



354 CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER [Dec., 

men, barbarously put to death for upholding the Pope's suprem- 
acy or for exercising sacred functions. Can we forget James 
Ball, the renegade priest, who like St. Peter, atoned for his 
betrayal of his Master by martyrdom ? We read how the old 
man, when the death sentence had been passed upon him, 
thanked God and spoke thus to the judge: 

I beseech you, my Lord, for the love of God, add also to 
your former sentence that my lips may be pared and my 
finger ends cut off, wherewith I have heretofore sworne and 
subscribed to heretical articles and injunctions, both against 
my conscience and the truth. 

A glimpse of the Free Trade Hall starts a fresh train of 
associations Cobden and Bright, the triumph of the " Man- 
chester School " of Liberal Economics (now happily giving 
way to an impulse towards that social solidarity which the 
Church has ever fostered) the days of the merchant princes, 
when vast fortunes were piled up and the workman was caught 
in the new machinery. And again, as our tram speeds by a 
fine Catholic Church standing in the highway, we are reminded 
that the ancient Faith is coming out into the streets once 
more, and that the three hundred thousand Catholics in the 
diocese represent a spiritual and social force which is yearly 
growing more effective in its beneficent action. 

Manchester's drab streets this week may well send our 
imaginations scampering back across the centuries. The place 
has been rushed by modern commerce as the Danes rushed it 
of old; but there are signs that spiritual forces are abroad 
which may end by civilizing commerce as the Popes civilized 
the barbarian. Ever and anon the martyr's purple flashes its 
challenge to a materially- minded people, for twelve Bishops 
are here for the Conference. About the Free Trade Hall the 
Catholic stream is running strong priests from all Lancashire, 
students and workers from London, women from the mills, 
delegates, officials, visitors from everywhere. 

We catch a sight of Abbot Gasquet, who has snatched an 
interval from his great work of revising the Vulgate (a monu- 
mental piece of scholarship to which Catholic America is con- 
tributing resources, and will, we trust, contribute yet more) ; 
the learned Abbot of Farnborough, keenly interested in the 



1909.] CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER 355 

progress of Catholicism in the land which shelters him in exile; 
Bishop Vaughan, but lately come to work in the diocese once 
ruled by his illustrious brother ; Father John Proctor, the 
Provincial of the Dominicans; the Archbishop with his grave 
smile; Mr. Britten, the busy Secretary to whom the Catholic 
Truth Society owes so much ; Miss Fletcher, who has organ- 
ized the flourishing " Catholic Women's League " ; and many 
others, priests and laymen, men and women, who are shaping 
the religious and social and intellectual forces of Catholicism 
in the country. 

Sunday the iQth opens with pontifical High Masses in the 
various churches and special sermons from noted preachers. 
In the afternoon some eight hundred members of the Society 
of St. Vincent de Paul occupy the Holy Name Hall and hold 
an interdiocesan meeting of the Liverpool and Salford Councils. 
The Society has already done a great work in England, and a 
gathering such as this should do much to extend its influence. 

The Conference proper is introduced by a meeting on Mon- 
day evening, in the Large Free Trade Hall, the chief fea- 
ture of which is the address by the Archbishop of Westminster. 
The occasion is generally taken by the Metropolitan to publish 
some weighty pronouncement on the relation of the Catholic 
body to the public authorities, or to indicate the policy to be 
followed in matters of Catholic organization. Hence it is always 
looked forward to with considerable interest and has indeed 
become an event of national importance. In the present in- 
stance his Grace deals with two important topics in a manner 
which is likely to have far-reaching effects. 

The first concerns the question of Catholic organization. 
Already the suggestion had been made that the annual Con- 
ference, organized by the Catholic Truth Society, should be 
extended so as to become a thoroughly representative Catholic 
Congress, securing the co-operation of the various Catholic 
organizations. But this suggestion had been tentative and its 
promoters scarcely ventured to hope that any immediate action 
in the matter would be taken by ecclesiastical superiors. The 
Archbishop, however, sweeping aside the objections of the timor- 
ous, definitely advocates the institution of a Congress, and 
points out in detail the manner in which the various Catholic 
forces in the country might combine towards its realization. 



356 CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER [Dec., 

I feel that we cannot, in this Jubilee year of the Catholic 
Truth Society, show in a better way our appreciation of the 
position which these Conferences, to which it gave birth, 
have attained, than by resolving to realize cow the complete 
hope of those who first conceived the idea of an annual Con- 
ference, and by determining to hold in future a Catholic 
Congress in the full sense of the word, wherein all our Catho- 
lic societies, without exception, shall have their place, in 
order that once a year at least there may be, as it were, a 
review of all our forces, and a complete survey of the work 
which lies before them. Two years ago I should have hesi- 
tated to make this suggestion : to-day I make it without any 
diffidence at all. . . . 

It need scarcely be said that the Archbishop's proposal, in 
spite of the practical difficulties which its realization may involve, 
opens out a perspective of Catholic solidarity and effectiveness 
in England which may well cause future generations to look 
back to the Manchester Conference as a landmark in the history 
of the Church in that country. 

In the second part of his address the Archbishop deals with 
the Education Question, and administers a dignified rebuke to 
the Government. 

The mornings and afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday 
are devoted to the reading of papers in the Lesser Free Trade 
Hall. After the first paper one becomes accustomed to the 
surroundings and settles down into one's place like an under- 
graduate in a familiar lecture- room. The first inspection re- 
veals a large and somewhat dingy room, well filled : in front 
a distinctly dingy stage with its dinginess thrown into contrast 
by the blaze of Bishops and other resplendently robed digni- 
taries who occupy it. In the centre of the stage is a table at 
which the Bishop of the diocese presides, with the Archbishop 
on his right and the reader of the paper on his left. The lat- 
ter forms the variable element in the picture and has to endure 
the scrutiny of the curious with as much self possession as he 
can muster. 

The first paper is looked forward to with pleasant anticipa- 
tions which will not be disappointed. Mr. Hilaire Belloc, M.P., 
is announced to discourse on Socialism. Both theme and speaker 
are eminently suited to the occasion. Seated in the hall are 
many priests and laymen who can testify to the havoc which 



1909.] CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER 357 

Socialism is making in the spiritual lives of the people. Social- 
ism will not do ! That much is evident. Yet how show the 
essential wrongness of a system which looks at first sight like 
the legitimate reaction of the democracy against the heartless 
economics of the last century ? The task is one for a man who 
combines the training of an historian with a vivid insight into 
Catholic ideals and a firm grasp of Catholic principles. Such 
a one is Mr. Belloc, dear to the Oxford Undergraduate, welcome 
relief in a prosy House of Commons, writer on Everything and 
Nothing, naturalist of the children's wonderland of Beasts, pil- 
grim of the Path to Rome, biographer of Danton and of Robes- 
pierre, and half of that incomparable animal the " Chesterbelloc " 
at which Mr. G. B. Shaw delights to hurl his challenges. 

Mr. Belloc, indeed, has something written on the paper which 
he holds in his hand, but it does not seem to matter. Most 
of his address appears to consist of glorious interludes, sudden 
takings of the audience into his confidence, abrupt hammerings- 
out of a newly- suggested thought. There is no studied oratory 
about it. The whole performance is seemingly casual, but as- 
tonishingly effective. Now, with head thrown back and eyes 
upon the ceiling, the speaker pursues his theme as though 
thinking aloud ; now, with an emphatic gesture of contempt, 
he sweeps modern capitalism and modern Socialism alike into 
that pulping machine, the wide utility of which he has demon- 
strated in his matchless book, Dr. Caliban's Guide to Letters. 
He stands like Plato's spectator of all time and all existence 
(or, let us rather say, like one who sees with the eyes of the 
eternal Church) and declares the essential shoddiness of what 
claims to be triumphantly stable, the lurking falsehood in what 
claims to be universally true. Clean-shaven, massive, almost 
Napoleonic of head, French in his quickness of thought and 
brilliancy of logic and form, English in his humor and practical 
sense, Mr. Belloc is a magnetic personality, and Manchester sees 
him at his best. 

Other papers follow: on Christian Democracy; on Social 
Study ; on the Sociologcial Aspect of the Education Question ; 
on the Comparative History of Religions ; on the Rationalist 
Propaganda; and on the Catholic Truth Society. Among the 
readers of papers are Abbot Gasquet and that distinguished 
young scholar the Rev. Cyril Martindale, S.J., who crowned a 
career of exceptional brilliancy at Oxford by carrying off the 



35$ CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER [Dec., 

Ellerton Theological Essay Prize founded by an Evangelical 
clergyman. He is the editor of the admirable series of penny 
pamphlets on Comparative Religion published by the Catholic 
Truth Society pamphlets which deserve a circulation as wide 
as that of the garbled science which has called them forth. 
His^ paper elicits from the Archbishop a warm eulogy and a 
weighty pronouncement on the need of prosecuting the study 
in which Mr. Martindale has already done such good work. 

Here, then, is a matter in which the Manchester Confer- 
ence marks a step in advance. The attention of the Catholic 
body has been definitely and authoritatively called to the need 
of providing and circulating popular apologetic literature deal- 
ing with the comparative history of religions and of fortifying 
Catholics against insidious attacks on their faith. The question 
had previously occupied the minds of individual students; now, 
we may hope, it will be made the subject of general endeavor. 
The Conference has revealed a weak spot in our defences. It 
will be our own fault if we do not strengthen it. 

Another idea which has become, as it were, conscious and 
articulated in the mind of the Catholic body as the result of 
this Conference, is that of the need for concerted social study. 
Here, again, we see the immense value of these annual gather- 
ings a value which will be considerably increased when, as the 
Archbishop desires, the Conference shall be enlarged into a 
Congress. In the^present instance the need for such study was 
realized more or less distinctly by a number of isolated social 
students and workers. As soon as it was publicly stated it 
met with instant recognition and acceptance: The widely dif- 
fused and scarcely formulated desire to establish intercom- 
munication between Catholic social students took definite shape 
and acquired gratifying momentum. About a score of leading 
Catholics, including clergy and laity, and representing most of 
the existing Catholic associations, found themselves eagerly 
discussing ways and means, and making provisional arrange* 
meats for an organization which should promote the concerted 
study of social questions in schools, clubs, study circles, and so 
forth, provide and circulate literature, found bureaus in Man- 
chester and London, and by these and other means intensify 
the social consciousness of the Catholic community. The dis- 
tinguished Rector of Oscott, Mgr. Parkinson, found himself 
unanimously called upon to preside over the movement; and 



1909.] CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER 359 

fields of work as well as details of method rapidly suggested 
themselves under the stimulus of the enthusiasm evoked by the 
Conference. As to the need of the new organization there 
was general agreement, publicly endorsed by those who have 
had intimate experience of modern social conditions. The 
summons of Pope Leo's Encyclical on Labor, the need of ap- 
plying Catholic principles to a dislocated social order, the 
dangers of a Socialism which can only be met by offering an 
alternative scheme of reform, the duties of citizenship all these 
and other motives were at work to foster interest in, and se- 
cure support for, the new Society. Should it meet with the 
success which its promoters anticipate, some account of its 
methods may be offered on a future occasion to readers of 
THE CATHOLIC WORLD. It would be premature to describe 
what is in the stage of experiment and tentative effort. 

We may mention yet a third definite result secured by the 
Conference in the course of its deliberations; namely, an in- 
creased regard of the havoc which is being wrought by the 
Rationalist Propaganda and a determination on the part of 
Catholics to supply a more effective antidote than they have 
provided in the past. The Catholic Truth Society called at- 
tention to the matter long ago, and has done all in its power 
to grapple with the situation. We may instance the widely 
circulated sixpenny editions of Father Gerard's The Old Riddle 
and the Newest Answer and of The Key to the World's Progress 
by the late Mr. Charles Devas. But, valuable as these efforts 
on the part of the Catholic Truth Society have been, they bear 
no proportion to the floods of rationalistic literature with which 
the working classes are being deluged ; and it became necessary 
to call the attention of the Catholic body once more to the 
importance of prompt and united action. Nothing could have 
been more stimulating than the paper read on the subject by 
Mr. Leslie Toke a paper which may be commended to the 
serious perusal of Catholics in all countries where the blight 
ot rationalism is settling on a restless people. To supply anti- 
rationalistic literature on anything like an adequate scale re- 
quires careful organization and considerable generosity. The 
Catholic Truth Society may be trusted to secure the former 
condition; the need of the latter was impressed upon the audi- 
ence in a practical fashion by the Bishop of Southwark, who 
stood at the door of the hall at the conclusion of the meeting 



360 CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER [Dec., 

and persuasively extracted a substantial amount of gold and 
silver from the people as they filed out, declining coins of less 
precious metal on the ground that the episcopal hat would be 
unequal to the strain. 

A word must be said about what was, in the opinion of 
many, the most significant feature of the Conference. The 
Catholic Women's League is an institution which, during the 
few years of its existence, has accomplished an astonishing 
amount ot valuable work. Some account of its progress may 
be found in The Month for May, 1909, and its quarterly organ, 
The Crucible, will be familiar to some of our readers. Founded 
by Miss Fletcher, in 1906, the League has now a membership 
of over a thousand women, not counting the members of half- 
a dozen flourishing branches. It runs an excellent information 
office in London (28 Ashley Place, Westminster), organizes 
lectures and debates, and performs a variety of other useful 
functions too numerous to specify. Its ideals may briefly be 
summed up as follows : 

More efficient work for the Catholic cause among lay- women. 
Their more direct moral and intellectual influence in combat- 
ing the anti-religious propaganda of the day. The growth of 
experience and knowledge by co-operation. The prevention 
of that waste of time, money, and energy, which results from 
overlapping and isolation. The increase in the number of 
social workers. The providing of practical training in social 
work. Solidarity and a habit of concerted action among 
Catholic women. 

At the Manchester Conference the Catholic Women's League 
organized a mass meeting for women. The speeches and papers 
reached a high level of excellence, and included contributions 
by Miss Fletcher, Mrs. Crawford, Mrs. Wilfrid Ward, and Miss 
Zanetti. Over a thousand women were unable to find admis- 
sion to the hall, so large was the audience. Did space permit, 
it would not be difficult to indicate the value to the whole 
Catholic body of the increased solidarity among Catholic 
women which was both manifested and fostered by this mass 
meeting. 

These, then, are the main practical ideas which may be 
said to have emerged in the course of the Conference, namely, 
the desirability of enlarging the scope of the Conferences 



1909.] CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER 361 

themselves, the importance of increased attention to the study 
of the history of religions, the need of concerted social study, 
the development of the anti-rationalistic propaganda, and a 
sense of increased solidarity among Catholic women. Should 
the notions thus clearly grasped and unanimously assented to 
at the Conference translate themselves into practical action 
during the course of the next twelve months, the Conference 
may well deserve to be called historic. 

We may conclude by recording a few impressions of other 
scenes witnessed during the Conference scenes common, per- 
haps, to all great Catholic gatherings of the kind, and bearing 
no special relation to particular national wants. Yet we can 
scarcely pass them over, for they show us on a large scale the 
daily life of the Catholic Church and the fulfillment of her 
divine commission to teach the world. 

The Free Trade Hall is packed from floor to ceiling with 
children. Marshalled in excellent order, they have poured in 
at the entrance and now occupy every seat. The wh,ite cor- 
nettes of the good Sisters of Charity stand out like lilies in 
beds of primroses. On the platform is the Archbishop, the 
Bishop of the diocese, various other dignitaries, and Father 
Nicholson ! Father Nicholson is the children's orator par ex- 
cellence, invariably requisitioned on occasions such as this. 
After some touching words from the Archbishop, in which he 
begged for the children's prayers, Father Nicholson rises to 
talk to the children, or rather to talk with them. The idea of 
talking with several thousand children may appear somewhat 
astonishing. In most cases the experiment would result in a 
pandemonium. But Father Nicholson can play on a vast audi- 
ence of children as on an organ, and evoke the most orderly 
music. One moment they will be shrieking with delight at 
his graphic representation of a boy burning his fingers, to be 
checked in an instant by the lifting of a hand ; at another 
they will yell in concert their protestations of loyalty to their 
faith. (" That's the noise that killed the Education Bill," said 
my neighbor, with a catch in his voice) ; a moment later they 
will be parrying the Father's efforts to catch them tripping in 
their religious instruction. In short, they are enjoying them- 
selves thoroughly and are having their imaginations impressed 
with a scene which may help them in later years when they 
find themselves battling with the world's seductions or dis- 



362 CATHOLIC CONFERENCE AT MANCHESTER [Dec. 

couraged by its indifference to higher ideals. Two such meet- 
ings take place in order to accommodate the Catholic children 
in the local schools. 

One more scene. This time the Free Trade Hall is occu- 
pied by men save, indeed, for the thousand women who have 
been unable to find room in the lesser Hall for their own 
meeting and are meekly admitted to the men's mass meeting. 
The audience is put into a good humor during the first part of 
the programme by the efforts of a popular entertainer. Then 
the Bishop of the diocese rises to introduce the orator of the 
evening, Dr. Keane, O.P., upon whom, as the chairman puts it, 
the mantle of Father Thomas Burke is generally recognized to 
have fallen. 

The distinguished Dominican then rises; indeed, it seems 
as if he will never have done rising, for nature has gifted him 
with a colossal figure, made all the more impressive by the 
graceful habit of his Order. His theme is Catholic Truth, and 
he holds his hearers from the beginning. The hand of the 
clock sweeps round the dial (was it twice ?) unnoticed as, with 
impressive gesture and range of voice, which rises to thunder 
and sinks to the softest modulation, the orator speaks of the 
beauty of Catholic Truth and the cowardly attacks showered 
upon it from all sides to-day. Round after round of vocifer- 
ous cheering breaks the thread of the discourse. The audience 
are moved to a degree seldom witnessed in this staid country 
as they see a sight none too common in these days that of 
a man stirred by deep feeling and able to express and com- 
municate it by the medium of the rolling periods and sonorous 
phrases and dramatic gesture which we associate with the 
greatest orators of a bygone age. 

Here must end these somewhat disjointed notes of what 
was in many ways a remarkable gathering. Shortcomings 
might, of course, be pointed out and disappointments recorded, 
but it would be an ungrateful task to dwell upon them here. 
The situation of the Catholic body in England is at present an 
anxious one, and we need not dwell apon the internal causes 
which give reason for the anxiety. We shall do better to 
fortify ourselves with the reflection that the Conference did 
much useful work, opened out valuable fields for Catholic ac- 
tivity, and impressed upon many an increased devotion to the 
sacred cause of Christ's Church. 




JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. 

BY PAMELA GAGE. 

JT was a pity in a way about Juliana Lynam, said 
the kindly neighbors, for the woman meant well. 
Her meaning well had resulted in making miser- 
able the lives of some half-dozen people. There 
was first her brother-in-law, Felix McCarthy 
perhaps he was not exactly her brother-in-law, for Marcella 
McCarthy, Felix's dead wife, had been only the step-sister of 
Juliana. There was his old mother, who was helpless with 
rheumatism in the lower limbs, who sat in her fireside corner 
knitting rapidly and listening with a kind of patient anguish 
to Juliana as she flounced hither and thither, scolding the chil- 
dren, harassing the servant, driving out the dogs, screaming 
at the hens, and generally making life hideous for everybody, 
while throwing out a hint not at all a dark one now and 
again about them who sat doing nothing and weren't worth 
the bread they ate. There were four small McCarthys, whom 
Juliana was incessantly scolding and shaking when they got in 
her way. These, however, had learnt, as such oppressed things 
will, to keep out of Juliana's way, and once free of the house 
they contrived to be happy enough, forgetting their tyrant. 

There was another person whom Juliana fretted and worried, 
although she was not under the McCarthy roof, and that was 
a near neighbor, Nannie O'KeefTe. 

Now Nannie was a delightful creature, although she was no 
longer very young, and bright silver hairs were showing amid 
her nut-brown tresses. She was soft and laughing, tender and 
lovely, and changeful as the Irish skies. It was a thousand 
pities she should have been sacrificed to her brothers and grown 
into old-maidenhood. Not that Nannie would have accepted 
that point of view. She was tremendously proud and fond of 
her boys, who were now doing her credit in various honorable 
walks of life. If she was a bit lonely and empty-handed and 
hearted for them in the old farmhouse, where she was now 
alone after having reared them all, she made no complaint. 
Presently they would be sending their babies home to her. 
Meanwhile she had everybody's children within reach to love 



364 JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY [Dec., 

and to be loved by; best of all were Felix McCarthy's children, 
when only she could carry them off to Ballingarry for a little 
while. 

She had passionate impulses of pity too for Felix and for 
old Mrs. McCarthy; often the tears flashed in her eyes over 
them; and yet she was one of the first to say that it was a 
pity for Juliana, the creature, so it was, to be annoying herself 
and everybody else, seeing that she meant nothing but every- 
body's good. 

It was not always easy to get hold of the children, for 
Juliana had a somewhat unaccountable antipathy to Nannie 
O'Keeffe, whom the whole world loved. The children on their 
outings were forbidden to wander towards Ballingarry, where 
there was always a tender welcome awaiting them. If Nannie 
ran in to sit a while with the old granny in the chimney- 
corner, Juliana would make such a banging of pots and pans, 
such a hustling and driving and shrieking at the live-stock 
and the humans within reach, that the two could hardly hear 
each other speak ; and after a fretted hour or so the old woman 
would make despairing signs to Nannie to be going, and Nan- 
nie would get up and go quietly away, often without the civil- 
ity of a parting nod from Juliana. 

The old woman in the chimney-corner, who knew many 
things when Juliana would permit her to think, could have told 
Nannie O'Keeffe the cause of Juliana's antipathy. Juliana was 
jealous, or so the old woman thought. When Juliana had come 
swooping down on them after poor Marcella's death, and grasped 
all authority into her two hands, she might or might not have 
had an idea of consoling Felix in time. There was no reason 
against a man marrying his step- sister-in-law. But if she had 
any such idea, she had set about the best way of defeating it. 
She had harassed poor Felix a big, fair, handsome fellow, with 
a constitutional inability, it seemed, to hold his own against a 
woman dreadfully. He adored the children and was devoted 
to the old mother. To see these helpless creatures oppressed 
had often almost brought him to the point of resisting Juliana. 
The thing that had kept him short of the point was the feel- 
ing that Juliana, according to her lights, was doing her best. 
It was because she did too much for him and his that she was 
ill-tempered and made the house a misery for them all. 

For Juliana had an unfortunate love of housewifery. It 
manifested itself in an incessant whirlwind of cleaning and tidy- 



i 



1909.] JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 365 

ing. She was afoot at an unearthly hour in the morning, and 
spent her days in an incessant fatigue. None of them could 
live up to Juliana's standard of cleanliness. The children who 
dirtied their pinafores and muddied their boots, poor Felix who 
brought his pipe and his brogues into the newly- polished 
rooms, the old woman who required so much doing for her, 
the easy-going Irish servants, were at least as great a fret and 
worry to Juliana as she was to them. 

She had been pretty once, with a fair, sharp prettiness, 
bound to be spoilt in time by shrewishness. Marcella had been 
gentle and insipid, and had left little mark on her husband's 
life either in her presence or her departure. But in those lat- 
ter years of Juliana's rule, Marcella shone a gentle saint by 
comparison ; and Juliana had lost all her prettiness through 
her incessant fretfulness. 

There had been a time long ago, before Marcella was dreamt 
of, when Felix McCarthy, who was a friend and intimate of 
the O'Keeffe boys, had been head over ears in love with Nan- 
nie. He had spoken, or tried to speak, but Nannie was too 
much taken up with her boys to listen. How could she leave 
her boys, with so much to be done for them, to marry any 
one ? Felix had perhaps been too easily repulsed. He had 
gone away and troubled Nannie no more with his suit; and 
presently, meeting Marcella Lynam, her kittenish prettiness 
and large, languishing eyes had put Nannie out of his mind 
for a brief foolish season, at the end of which he found himself 
married to Marcella and bound to make the best of it and think 
no more of Nannie. 

There were times when he sought refuge with the old friend 
who had never been his sweetheart, resting for a while in the 
peace of her kind, charming presence, in the quietness of her 
shabby, comfortable old house, where the fire always burnt 
brightly and there was an armchair by the hearth for a man 
to loll in while he smoked his pipe. Why, Nannie O'Keeffe's 
parlor was redolent of vanished masculine presences. The boys 
had lounged there as they would and had desired nothing bet- 
ter. Looking about him, Felix McCarthy could recall Tom 
and Larry and Fergus and Hugh, who were far away, and 
Bryan, who was dead. What good days ar,d nights those had 
been, when they were all boys together and brought their 
work and their play to Nannie's parlor, and were never rebuked 
for any of their slovenly, masculine ways. 



$66 JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY [Dec., 

He was standing one wet December morning with his back 
to the fire in Nannie's parlor. Nannie sat and sewed at a 
tiny garment for Tom's first-born. Looking down at her bent 
head, with its neat division, Felix noticed for the first time 
how silvery Nannie's hair was becoming, although it still waved 
and curled as it had done in her girlhood. 

It was restful to see her sit and sew. She was wearing a 
little muslin apron with tiny scarlet bows on the shoulder- 
straps. It struck Felix that an apron like that was a pretty, 
comfortable, womanly thing, not a bit like Juliana's check 
overalls, that rustled wherever she went, Nannie's voice was 
rich and low. It matched the warm brown of her complexion 
and her brown eyes. When she smiled at him, with a Rash 
of white teeth, her eyes smiled too; little golden lights awoke 
in the depths of them and played there till the sweep of her 
heavy lashes covered them again. She had rather thick eye- 
brows, as is usual in the Irish beauty of her type. Juliana 
had thought them ungenteel. Felix wondered how any one 
could object to them. 

Nannie was smiling now because they were planning, like 
a pair of conspirators, all sorts of merry things for Christmas. 
A most extraordinary thing had happened a thing so bewil- 
deringly strange and delightful that Felix had had to run 
across from the field, where he was supposed to be superin- 
tending farming operations, in order to spread the news to 
Nannie. 

Juliana had intimated her intention of spending the Christ- 
mas away from home. A genteel friend of hers, whom she 
had known up in Dublin before she came down to slaving for 
an ungrateful family, a Mrs. Finnegan-Flanagan Juliana in- 
sisted on the double name was taking Juliana to spend the 
Christmas holidays in England, at a place which was described 
in the advertisements as being a nobleman's mansion in a 
splendid park of fifty acres. Riding, shooting, golfing, hunt- 
ing, motoring, were to be among the out-door diversions. 
Dancing, theatricals, bridge tournaments, a Christmas Tree, 
among the indoor ones. 

" I have never had a holiday since the day I came to look 
after you, Felix," Juliana had said, with the air of injury 
which conveyed that every one else's life was made up of 
holidays. "I suppose you'll be able to get on without me?" 

"Indeed, we will," said Felix with a heartiness he was 



i 



1909.] JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 367 

only made aware of by Miss Lynam's glowering eye. He tried 
to make it up by a stammering speech to the effect that Juli- 
ana had earned a holiday if ever any one had ; but she was 
beyond propitiation. 

" You seem well-pleased to get rid of me," she said with 
asperity. " It would serve you right if I wasn't to come back 
to you at all. A nice way you'd be in then. As Mrs. Finne- 
gan-Flanagan says, 'tis a great foolishness for me, so it is, to 
be slaving after your children when I might be enjoying my- 
self; and me with a bit of money of my own, too." 

It was true that Juliana had a bit of money of her own ; 
and it had suffered no decrease during the years she had kept 
house for her brother-in-law. Indeed, it had seemed only in 
the justice of things to her that she should repay herself for 
all her hard work out of the money she administered; and she 
did not rate her own value too low, so that Felix was often 
puzzled to account for the discrepancy between the sums of 
money he gave out for the housekeeping and the rather scanty 
supplies of food and other things which Juliana provided. 

He went through the scene now for Nannie O'Keeffe, with 
a leisurely humor, which was none the less delightful because 
it was somewhat rueful. 

" Sure, God help her, the creature," Nannie said. " Isn't 
she always wearing the life out of herself, all to no end ? I'm 
sorry for her, so I am ; but I don't know " she said the words 
with a conscious deliberation "but what I'm sorrier for you 
and the children, Felix, to say nothing of your mother. It's 
a pity she wouldn't be staying away altogether." 

A little color came to her face as she said it; but Felix, 
stupid fellow, did not see it. 

"Anyhow, we'll have fine times this Christmas," he said. 
"'Twill be the good, old-fashioned Christmas we'll be having. 
The children don't know yet that she's going. What at all 
will we do to make them happy, Nannie ? " 

. "There's many a thing we can do," said Nannie, the color 
ebbing away again from her cheek. "But, sure, God bless 
them ! they're that lovable that they'd be happy enough with 
just you and me and the granny. 'Tis a pity they couldn't 
be happy their own innocent way." 

A day or two before Juliana took her departure Felix had 
to leave home on business which would keep him away the 
better part of a week. He was a little alarmed about how 



368 JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY [Dec., 

Juliana would take it, for she was a person apt to stand on 
her dignity, and it was likely that she would expect her 
brother-in-law's escort as far as Dublin. 

However, when he broke the news to her, accompanying it 
with a propitiatory offering of a five- pound note, Juliana was 
oddly gracious. She bid him not be thinking about her. She 
would be quite safe in the train. Girls ot her dignity of bear- 
ing would be safe anywhere. He might expect her back about 
the third week in January, well braced up in mind and body 
to take the direction of his troublesome household once more. 

He came home on the appointed day with an unwonted 
sense of exhilaration, and walked across the bog by a short 
cut to his house. The short December day was closing in 
with a cold light in the western sky, which was reflected in the 
pools of bog-water. He whistled as he walked briskly along. 
He was very glad to be coming home with Juliana away. 
When he had had a meal and time to wash his hands and face 
and change his clothes, he thought, he'd go to see Nannie. 
There were a number of parcels at the station waiting to be 
fetched across to his house, parcels containing the most won- 
derful things for the children, toys and sweets and games, such 
as were forbidden under Juliana's austere rule a story-book 
apiece, a warm shawl and the stuff for a new dress for the old 
mother, a trifle for Nannie herself weren't they old friends? 
just a pretty old brooch picked up out of an antique shop, 
which he had felt would delight Nannie. She hadn't many to 
think of her now since the boys had left her. She was a very 
pretty woman still. Why shouldn't she have pretty things like 
the other women ? 

Within sight of his own door a sudden chill fell upon him. 
Where were the children ? They were always used to see him 
from afar off and to troop out to meet him, forgetting to be 
sedate, despite Juliana's scoldings. 

Now there came only Grip the terrier; and he walked 
mournfully, with a dejected tail that scarcely wagged. The 
stormy gleam in the sky fell lower, died out beyond the dis- 
tant hills. The wind sprang up and sighed dismally. 

The house windows were dark. Not so much as a gleam 
of fire light in them. He had a sudden foreboding. It looked 
as though some one were dead in it. 

He hurried on. The half-door leading into the kitchen 
was open. There were plain signs of Juliana's absence, for a 



i 



1909.] JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 369 

brood of chickens clucked about the kitchen. The boldest 
of them were on the table, where some food lay, left appar- 
ently from the maid-servant's midday meal. Except for the 
fowl the kitchen was empty, empty and disordered, only a 
few sparks showed in the gray ash on the hearth. 

He went on further, opening the door to the parlor. The 
children must be out to tea. Why, of course, they were gone 
down to Nannie's. And Biddy, the careless hussy, had slipped 
away to the village, leaving the old mother all alone. 

Yes, there she was in the dark corner by the fire. Her 
face looked towards the door eagerly as he entered. He 
heard the click of her rosary-beads. The fire fell in and a 
little flame spurted up. There were tears on the old face. 

" Have the children left you by your lone self, mother?" 
he said. "That worthless Bridget! Why, your fire is nearly 
out and you have no light." He leant forward and took the 
two old hands in his own, fondling them tenderly. "You're 
quite cold, God help you ! " he said. " They're bad little 
children, so they are, to leave you by yourself. Is it gone 
over to Nannie's they are?" 

To his surprise the old woman began to sob somewhat to 
his alarm, too. What did it mean ? Surely nothing could 
have happened to the children ! 

" Whisht, mother," he said, "you're frightening me. Where 
are the boys and the girsha? " 

"They're far enough away, Felix. I told her you wouldn't 
like it, that it 'ud be the lonely house you'd come home to. 
Sure, I've been that low spirited since they went that I didn't 
mind what that girl Bridget did. She's been in and out like 
a dog at a fair ever since. Och, the desolation of it ! " 

A wild idea suggested itself to him. 

"It isn't likely Juliana would be taking them with her?" 
he said slowly. " She was never one for children." 

"Not she," said the old woman shrilly. "She's put them 
all to school. 'Tis in the convent in Dublin they are a 
hundred miles from you and me. I was to tell you she con- 
sidered it was for the best. 'Tis running wild they'd have 
been without her. She's had it in her mind for some time. 
Sure, she always had her own way with you." 

He did not hear the implied reproach. He was moved to 
anger at last ; and it shook him as a big wind shakes a tree. 

VOL. XC. 24 



370 JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY [Dec., 

" My children ! " he said. " My children 1 That woman " 

And then, perhaps fortunately, he was inarticulate. 

Bridget, coming in a little later, found the master with a 
sterner mood upon him than she had imagined possible. He 
had made up the fire and lit the lamp, and was searching 
about for the materials to make his old mother a cup of tea. 

He swept Bridget off her feet with the whirlwind of his 
wrath, thereby exciting in her an admiration and attachment 
which his gentleness had never provoked. When he had re- 
duced her to an abject humility he handed her over the tea- 
pot, and, forgetting that he himself had not eaten, walked out 
of the house. 

He knew what he was going to do, although as yet he 
could barely collect his thoughts. He was going to fetch the 
children back to-morrow, and he was going to break Juliana's 
rule. She had gone too far this time ; and her reign was at 
an end forever. 

Mechanically his feet took the way to Ballingarry. The 
storm had got up and the wind was shrieking about him as 
he walked, but he was hardly conscious of it. A few drops 
of rain fell, the precursors of a wet night. 

He was within a few yards of the white wall with green 
palings a-top, behind which the long white house under its 
thatch stood prettily surrounded by a garden. An outside car 
met him coming from the opposite direction. The light of 
the lamps flashed on his face and the driver of the car pulled 
up. It was Father Tom, the parish priest. 

" I hear the children are gone to school, Felix," he said. 
" Wasn't it very sudden ? And they so little ! Surely you 
could have kept Nora and Rody at home ? I'm not saying a 
word against the nuns up in Dublin, but we've a very good 
convent school of our own." 

His voice was slightly offended. Father Tom expected to 
be consulted in the affairs of his parishioners, and this send- 
ing the children to school particularly affected him. 

Felix came forward and laid his hand on the rug that 
covered Father Tom's knees. His hand yet trembled with the 
passion that had swept him. 

"'Tis the cold, unnatural father you must think me," he 
said, "to be ready to do without them. Let alone that it 
would break my old mother's heart. It was that woman, 
Juliana." He spoke the name as though he could hardly en- 



1909.] JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 371 

dure to do it. " If I was to let myself go, Father Tom, may- 
be you'd rather not be hearing me. Sure, I've been a poor 
fool all these years, and no wonder the woman despised me. 
'Tisn't the children will go out of it, but Juliana Lynam. I'm 
going to Dublin by the night mail." 

" Quite right, quite right ! " said Father Tom heartily. 
" Juliana took too much on herself, a great deal too much. 
They're but small to be outside the four walls of their father's 
house. Where would they be but in it ? The old granny's 
terribly fond of them, God help her! 'Tis a pity now they 
couldn't be having a mother instead of Juliana." 

He looked slyly at Felix's agitated face, on which the 
lamp cast its lights and shadows. 

"You were going to tell Nannie about it?" he said in a 
voice which he tried in vain to rob of any suggestion. "Quite 
right, too. Nannie'll console you. She's a good girl is Nan- 
nie, God bless her ! 'Tis a shame she shouldn't be making 
some man happy. She's thrown away at Ballingarry, by her 
lone self, so she is." 

Felix looked up at him suddenly and a wild surmise dawned 
in his eyes. It was as though he were looking on new heavens 
and a new earth. 

Father Tom laughed gently to himself, then touched up 
the horse. 

"Well, good night, Felix"; he said "and good luck! I'll 
look in to-morrow evening to see if the children are any the 
worse for their travels. You'll be home with them by five 
o'clock." 

After he had driven away, Felix McCarthy stood for at 
least three minutes staring into the light that was flooding all 
his soul and all his life. Was it possible that Nannie should 
be his after all for the asking ? Nannie who, he realized all 
at once, was the one woman for him, had always been the one 
woman for him ! No wonder he was blinded by the sudden 
light. 

He came in on Nannie a few minutes later, Nannie, warm 
and sweet in fire-light, just sitting down to her tea. She 
looked up at him as he came in, and there was a smoldering 
fire in her eye for which he loved her none the less. 

"You didn't know about it?" she said. "Juliana said you 
knew. They were crying fit to break their hearts as they 
went. I know they nearly broke mine. I went down to see 



372 JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY [Dec., 

them, whether Juliana liked it or not. Will you let me take 
the granny over here ? 'Twill be the sad Christmas for her." 

Felix advanced a step or two to where she stood on the 
hearth-rug. All the fury seemed to have died down in him in 
the happy peace of her presence. He bowed his head till it 
rested on her shoulder, and said very gently : 

"Don't leave us to Juliana any more, Nannie. Sure we all 
want you the old mother and the children and I. 'Tis the 
wretched life she's led us." 

"I thought you'd never ask me, Felix," she said in a 
whisper at his ear; and he felt the sudden glowing of her as 
though he held a rose in his arms. 

Juliana came home earlier than was expected. She had 
quarreled with Mrs. Finnegan-Flanagan, and she was extreme- 
ly annoyed at the non- receipt of letters from home; besides 
which, the nobleman's mansion had proved a delusion and a 
snare, and Juliana was heartily glad to get out of it. 

She returned unannounced, nursing her wrath to keep it 
warm, and quite unsuspicious as the mail train flashed by her 
somewhere between Holyhead and Chester that it was carrying 
a letter which would have made her return to Kilmore quite 
unnecessary. 

She was driven from the station by Andy Dumphy, the 
most taciturn of his kind, and your Irish carman is abnormal- 
ly taciturn by nature, only coming out of his shell unwillingly 
to entertain the stranger who expects it of him. Andy sat, a 
wooden image of taciturnity, on the side of the car, parted 
from Miss Lynam by her stack of luggage. It was no use 
asking him questions. Juliana was unpopular with the poorer 
neighbors. Her lips tightened as she sent Andy a thought. 
There would be a tussle presently over the fare. Juliana always 
disputed payments. 

However, for once, Andy said nothing as she tossed him a 
coin. He had driven her straight into the farmyard instead 
of approaching the house by the hall- door way. The kitchen 
was lit up brightly. There was a roaring fire. It was still 
well within Twelfth Night; and the holly and ivy were yet 
up. A piece of beef was turning round on the spit before 
the fire. A strange girl, in a neat cap and apron, was in the 
kitchen. 

Juliana stood and stared. It gave Andy Dumphy an op- 



1909.] JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 373 

portunity to whisk down her trunk with a willingness he had 
not often shown in her service. He had it on his shoulder and 
was following her as she lifted the latch of the parlor door. 
Andy was able to tell it all afterwards, discarding his tacitur- 
nity for the occasion. 

Juliana had whisked into the parlor to demand the reason 
for these extraordinary happenings, and Andy was close on 
her heels and had set down the trunk at the foot of the stair- 
case which led from the parlor to the bedrooms above. 

What Juliana had intended to say can only be guessed at, 
for what she saw struck her dumb. The round table was set 
for a meal, with a white cloth upon it, highly polished glasses 
and silver, flowers and fruit as a centre piece, and the hanging 
lamp above it swathed in a perfect forest of holly with its 
scarlet berries. Thefe was a roaring fire. In the chimney- 
corner sat the old granny, furbished up incredibly, and look- 
ing as blessed an old lady as could well be imagined. 

The four children, who ought by rights to have been at 
school in Dublin, were sprawling on the hearthrug, playing 
with their toys and with Grip, the Irish terrier, who was never 
allowed into the house under Juliana's reign. Recognizing her, 
Grip wagged his tail deprecatingly and looked all manner of 
apologies for being alive. 

In the midst of the group, side by side, sat Felix McCarthy 
and Nannie O'Keeffe. There was an unmistakably gala air 
about them. Nannie was wearing a dress of a soft lavender 
color which became her amazingly. They sat hand in hand. 
So sudden was Juliana's entrance that they still sat in that 
lover-like attitude for fully thirty seconds under her unfriendly 
eyes. 

At last she found words. 

" It's easy to see I wasn't missed," she gasped. " Yet all 
these years I've slaved, doing my best for my sister's children. 
Why are they here and not at their good school?" 

Felix stood up, putting Nannie away from him with a ten- 
der gentleness, and stood between her and Juliana, as though 
he would intercept Juliana's wrath. 

" Indeed you meant well, Juliana," he said in his deliber- 
ate, gentle voice. " But it wasn't always as good as you 
meant it to be. I've written to you. I suppose you didn't 
get the letter. You're very welcome to stay a bit, if you're 



374 JULIANA'S CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY [Dec. 

disposed to be friendly. You see, Nannie and I were married 
last Wednesday. We've just come back from a bit of a honey- 
moon. It might have been longer if we could have made our- 
selves happy away from the old mother and the children. I 
took the children away from school, Juliana. It was well- 
meant, but how could you think we'd be happy without 
them ? " 

Juliana put her hand once or twice to her throat while her 
brother-in-law made his leisurely speech. She looked around 
the room, bright as it had never been in her time, with all 
the good things in use, the linen and the glass and the silver, 
which she had kept jealously locked up. They had all seemed 
amazingly happy when she had broken in upon them. Now 
they sat with a little cloud of consternation on their happiness, 
for the moment, because she was there and furious. 

" I hope you've had a pleasant holiday," went on Felix, 
" a very pleasant holiday, Juliana. You'll take off your bonnet 
and have a bit with us ? Andy'll be taking up your boxes." 

Andy advanced a step or two, but Juliana turned round 
upon him. 

" Stay where you are, man ! " she said furiously. Then 
she made an ironical bow to Felix McCarthy. " I've had a 
very pleasant holiday, thank you," she said. " After all my 
slavery for you ! It's going to be all holidays with me from 
this minute. Andy Dumphy, take back my boxes to the car." 

" Sure, where would you be going to, Juliana ? " her brother- 
in-law asked amicably. " There isn't a train out of here till ten 
o'clock. Sit down, woman, and eat a bit before you go." 

"You poor creature!" responded Juliana; and having 
hurled that shaft she flung open the parlor door and stalked 
forth majestically, never to return. 

" I'm not sure but what she was right," Felix said when 
the sound of the car-wheels had died in distance and the 
children had begun to play again. " 'Twas the poor creature 
I was to be putting up with her so long. I wonder you ever 
looked at me, asthoreen." 

He slid his arm about his wife's yet slender waist and 
pressed his lips on her hair, while the old mother gazed at 
them with a smile like a benediction. 

"Sure 'twas a pity," said Mrs. Felix characteristically, " the 
creature having her holiday spoilt." 




CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

BY EMILIE LOUISE HALEY, 

|HE world must admire the wise solicitude of the 
Church for the welfare of her children, as mani- 
fested in her constant watchfulness in the matter 
of their reading. While she recognizes the bless- 
ings of literature, she does not fail to see the 
dangers lurking in immoral and irreligious writings. While the 
Public Library exercises a praiseworthy vigilance in excluding 
from its collection books of doubtful moral tone, still it cannot 
be expected to show that strict care which Catholic principles 
require, and by which the mind and the heart are equally safe- 
guarded. The man of religious faith must avoid not only the 
immoral book, but also the irreligious book. This leads us to 
the consideration of a subject of vital importance to the Catho- 
lic public and to the library authorities as well, namely, the 
selection and care of Catholic literature in Public Libraries. 

In THE CATHOLIC WORLD for July is expressed the opinion 
that the establishment of Catholic libraries is a thing imprac- 
ticable. In view of this the Catholic public should be more 
willing to consider the advantages held out by the Public Libra- 
ries, which are ready to supply to Catholic readers the literature 
they require and invite Catholic patronage, not only to increase 
their already wide usefulness, but also to vindicate their claim 
as impartial disseminators of knowledge and truth. That libra- 
ries organized to supply general wants may likewise respond 
to special needs necessitates a new order of requirements, but 
the efficiency of prominent libraries in meeting these require- 
ments has already been demonstrated notably in the city of 
Cleveland, where a highly satisfactory system has been insti- 
tuted. The writer may be pardoned for setting forth in outline, 
at least, an account of the effort which has there been made 
for perfecting this system. 

The library authorities have endeavored to provide a fair 
representation of Catholic books in the Public Library, and are 
always ready to give particular thought and care to the choice 



376 CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY [Dec., 

of Catholic literature. About a year ago a special effort was 
made to care for the library wants of the Catholic people 
with systematic care. This work has been placed in charge 
of Catholic assistants. One of these has supervision of Catho- 
lic institutions in the city, with a view to supplying the books 
required by all classes of the Catholic reading public. It is 
evident that such a person should have perfect sympathy with 
the principles of Catholic education, and a thorough under- 
standing of that for which the Catholic educators are striving. 
The experiment thus far has been successful, and has received 
the cordial endorsement of pastors and teachers. Under this 
supervision Catholic colleges, schools, clubs, and reading cir- 
cles, as well as the general public, may receive the most effi- 
cient service, especially in all reference work pertaining to 
Catholic subjects, and, as a result, clubs and reading circles 
are deriving great benefit from the Library. The represent- 
ative of the Library visits them, prepares lists, and supplies 
them with collections of books, according to their needs. A 
peculiar feature of the work is the Sodality Library. The li- 
brarian deposits in the Sodality room a collection of a hundred 
books, to be changed every three months. These are not all 
professedly Catholic books, a fair proportion deals with general 
literature, and some with well-chosen fiction ; every book in 
the collection, however, is passed upon by the Catholic super- 
visor, and is perfectly safe for the young Catholic reader. 
One of the members of the Sodality is responsible for the col- 
lection and has charge of the loan system. 

Perhaps the greatest help has been given to the teachers 
and students in the colleges and schools, to which the Library 
has really become an adjunct. In the preparation of all sup- 
plementary work, debates and literary competitions, the teach- 
ers and the Library supervisor co-operate. The teachers are 
familiar with the resources of the Library on all subjects re- 
quired by the students, and the Library authorities strive to 
meet the needs of the schools and colleges. The grammar 
schools are visited at regular intervals, the wants of each 
teacher noted, and the required books are supplied from the 
Library. This plan provides for the establishment of a de- 
pjsit station in every school. In some instances a strict super- 
vision is kept of the children who visit the Library, and re- 
ports are made to the principals of the schools regarding the 






1909.1 CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY 377 

conduct and reading of the children. This close association 
with institutions soon made it apparent to the Library authori- 
ties, that a number of Catholic books must be added, in order 
to provide for the increasing patronage of the Catholic people. 
A choice of books for adults was made, and these books, sub- 
sequently added, form the foundation of an excellent Catholic 
Library in the collection for older readers. 

In the early stages of the undertaking a request was made 
to the Cleveland Public Library for a list of the Catholic 
books in the Library. The librarian had the list compiled by 
a Catholic assistant. While previous lists of Catholic books 
were used as references, they were not accepted without veri- 
fying every author in the Library. It sometimes happens that 
authors listed as Catholics are, upon investigation, found to be 
not of the faith, and hence the research required in this cause 
has been well worth while. Further, this list has the advan- 
tage of annotations on books in the religious and various 
other classes; namely, short comments and criticisms. This 
list of Catholic books will be distributed to all Catholics in the 
city, through the combined efforts of the Public Library and a 
local council of the Knights of Columbus. Besides listing the 
Catholic books in the Library, a supplementary list in every 
classification was made of the desirable books which were 
wanting. These books were purchased, in order that the list 
might be truly representative. A list of these new Catholic 
books was published in the local Catholic newspaper. They 
are books of standard worth, and when it became known that 
they had been added to the Library the demand for them was 
most satisfying. In this case, the supply created the demand, 
and the experiment was equally as successful as in the work 
with the institutions where the demand created the supply. 

During the year the compiler of the catalogue of Catholic 
books gave a series of talks on Catholic literature, and the 
worth and characteristics of the Catholic books added to the 
Library. These talks were given to the heads of the depart- 
ments and to the librarians at the branch library which had the 
largest collection of Catholic books. While employed on the 
catalogue, the compiler devoted some time to the main circulat- 
ing department. Here it was her duty to meet, among others, 
all grades of Catholic readers, and to make known to them the 
resources of the Library, particularly in Catholic literature. 



378 CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY [Dec., 

The study of Catholic literature is a specialty, and covers a 
wide field of general knowledge. There are degrees along 
which the reader must advance; as, for instance, some will find 
interest in Newman's Apologia, or The Stonyhurst Series, while 
others must be led step by step from the lighter fiction, 
through interesting and enlivening biographies and essays, on 
to ethics and religion. In thus fitting the book to the indi- 
vidual need, the circulation oi books becomes a mission, and 
possesses great possibilities. 

The reading public, no matter of what religious belief, is 
beneficially served by the wise selection of Catholic books. 
To one who knows the contents and value of the introduction 
of Pastor's History of the Popes, that rare study of the Renais- 
sance in Italy, how satisfactory it is to be able to give it to 
the club- woman who wants "just a study of the attitude of 
the Romish Church towards the Renaissance of letters in 
Italy," and one's experience is rich with such instances. And 
so, in Cleveland, the attempt to solve the problem of circulat- 
ing Catholic literature has received a hearty welcome; the ex- 
tent of the work, its wide-spreading influence, its glorious op- 
portunities, and its sure reward are being realized. Thus far, 
the good work has been confined principally to the children 
and the schools. To reach out and to serve the large body 
of Catholic men and women, to acquaint them with the re- 
sources of, and to aid them to use, the Library which they 
help to support, and which they have the right to use, is the 
further hope of the Library authorities. 

The ideal solution of the problem of how the Public Li- 
brary may benefit Catholics lies in the perfect co-operation of 
the Public Library authorities and Catholics. The part sus- 
tained by the Public Library in this plan of co-operation is 
principally to furnish Catholic books. And this should be 
done, not because they are demanded and used, but because 
every reputable Public Library should, for its own sake, in- 
clude the representative Catholic books. Surely the Catholic 
Church and its numerous religious institutions and its mem- 
bers have held a vastly important position in the world's his- 
tory. No one would attempt to deny the influence of the 
Church in all ages. Therefore, every Public Library, in order 
to attest its worth and its thoroughness, should have on its 



1909.] CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY 379 

shelves all the best Catholic books; the books that explain the 
philosophy and the teaching of the Church ; Catholic authors 
narrating the life of Christ; books of Catholic devotion; 
Catholic lives of the saints and of the popes; Catholic essay- 
ists; Catholic historians and the best Catholic fiction; Catholic 
reference books and the leading Catholic periodicals; and this 
class of literature should be supplied absolutely regardless of 
its possible use by Catholics. The traditional opinion that the 
purchase of Catholic books should be regulated solely by the 
demand for them must go by the board. 

In a Public Library, into which pours the " annual cata- 
ract of literature," it is but just to expect a fair representation 
of Catholic books. The same policy that is followed in gen- 
eral book selection should be observed in selecting Catholic 
books. A certain percentage of the general fund is used for 
the purchase of books. The book reviews and the publishers 
are studied with a view to selecting the desirable new books 
in every class; also the requests of the public are considered 
and granted, with certain exceptions ; in this way every class 
of literature is continually being enlarged. Take, for instance, 
the minor subject of foreign missions; a reader asking for the 
latest publication in missionary work would be sure to find it 
in a Public Library, no matter how far distant the scene of 
the mission or how obscure the author. And this collection is 
provided for a very small fraction of the reading public. It 
is only a certain class of Christians who zealously watch the 
progress of foreign missions; and yet the Public Library very 
properly supplies them with the latest publications in this 
sub-division of literature. Catholic literature certainly consti- 
tutes a very large and important class and should surely re- 
ceive as much consideration as is given to less important 
subjects. Therefore we are convinced that with regard to 
Catholic books, the same policy should hold as with regard to 
books on other subjects. That is, Catholic books should be 
procured by the Public Library not because they may be used, 
but because they are requisite, in order that the library may 
have a representative collection on an important subject. 

It must also be apparent that for the efficiency of the 
Public Library in this field the choice of a Catholic librarian 
to have supervision of Catholic literature is a necessity, in 
view of the practical impossibility of any one not imbued with 
the spirit of Catholic culture and ignorant of the Catholic 



380 CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY [Dec., 

viewpoint fulfilling the requirements of this position. Experi- 
ence proves the value of Catholic librarians ; this has been 
recognized by the Librarian of Cleveland, who believes that the 
entrance of qualified Catholics into this field is advantageous 
to the Public Library. These Catholic librarians must possess 
the general qualifications of the librarian, and in addition to 
this a knowledge of Catholic literature and sympathy with 
Catholic educational principles. Particular stress should be 
placed on the importance of Catholic children's librarians. 
They must have all the training of the children's librarians, 
and, besides this, special culture along Catholic lines of thought, 
to enable them to guard the reading of Catholic children. 

An unusual interest has been awakened all over the coun- 
try in regard to the work with children in Public Libraries. 
This field is most fertile. To children what a storehouse a 
library is ! How they revel in its treasures, how they browse 
there and take in every idea, and accept as truth, not, to be dis- 
proved, the merest fancy couched in the simplest words. It is 
in childhood that we are least critical, and it is then that the 
seeds of truth and falsehood become imbedded for life. It is 
in youth that the mind is most receptive, and is most credu- 
lously satisfied with the printed page. It is difficult to alter an 
impression obtained in childhood. How many of us have striven 
at some time to correct a wrong impression, the never- failing 
retort being: "But, I read it in a book." Therefore Catholic 
educators, before endorsing the movement, wisely insist that 
the Catholic children receive in the libraries books which will 
promote their spiritual welfare. They maintain that the child's 
mind cannot subsist on a sawdust diet, and that infidelity will 
surely be the outcome of a careless and unsubstantial reading. 

We know that the Public Children's Library is chosen with 
particular care for the moral tone of books; at the same time 
it is advisable that the distribution of these books to Catholic 
children should devolve upon a Catholic; for only a Catholic 
mind can detect the insidious attacks upon the Catholic religion 
found too often in juvenile books. Infinitely more important 
than the choice of a. book for a certain grade, or the placing 
of an enticing myth into the hands of an eager child, or the 
selection of the latest book on toy- making for the boy of me- 
chanical bent, more important a hundredfold is the particular 
care required of the conscientious librarian to protect the heart 
and mind of a Catholic child against the innuendoes of irre- 



1909.] CATHOLICS AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY 381 

ligious or bigoted writers. These provisions on the part of the 
Public Library would work wonders in the practical solution 
of the problem of how Catholics can safely be supplied with 
books in Public Libraries and, in all reason, would remove all 
hesitancy of the Church authorities in sanctioning unrestricted 
use of the Public Library by the faithful. 

And now what shall we expect from the Catholic public 
when the Library has done its share ? In a word, the use of 
the books. It is unnecessary to urge this point, since time 
and again Catholic leaders of thought, lecturers, journals, and 
federations have insisted that Catholics manifest an intelligent 
interest in the Public Library. This principle, however, may 
be laid down that whatever contributes to the general culture 
of Catholics will also foster the use of the Public Library. 
Catholic reading circles and guilds, as they are formed for edu- 
cational purposes, should profit by the means of culture offered 
by the Public Library. Through Catholic societies the use of 
the Library should be systematically encouraged. The Knights 
of Columbus have done good work in many places by obtain- 
ing Catholic lists. They no doubt realize that the listing is a 
small matter compared to the circulating of the books. Every 
parish, through its school or a society, may become a centre 
of library interest and share in the advantages of its system. 
With the children, especially, education and familiarity with the 
library will proceed hand in hand if the school authorities 
feel an absolute trust in the books and their distribution. 

An idea arising from experience in the work suggests that 
a committee of Catholics working with the Public Library au- 
thorities would do much to bring about a perfect sympathy 
between Public Library authorities and the Catholic public. 
The personnel of this committee is important, and for that 
reason it would be advisable that the choice be made by rec- 
ognized Church authorities ; they should be cultured, earnest, 
wide-awake, forming a working committee able and willing to 
give time and aid to promote the library interest of Catholics. 

It is the hope of all interested that the happy solution of 
this problem along these or other lines will be reached in the 
near future, and that a perfect understanding and confidence 
will be established between the members of the Church, the 
patron of learning in all ages, and the Public Library, which 
has been aptly termed " the people's university." 




CANADA'S FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL. 

BY A. E. BURKE, D.D. 

[HE Church History of our continent has been 
enriched by one more National Council. The 
First Plenary Council of Canada, which will be 
known technically as the " First Plenary Coun- 
cil of Quebec," closed its deliberations on All 
Saints' Day with a solemn signing ot the decrees and the ever- 
touching ceremony of the " Kiss of Peace." The Council as- 
sembled together a great representative body of churchmen, in 
the Basilica of our Lady in the Mother See of Canada, under 
the distinguished presidency of his Excellency, Mgr. Sbarretti, 
Papal Delegate. 

Quebec is a venerable French centre not over large, and 
retaining many of the marks of the seventeenth-century civili- 
zation which cradled it. Its citadel and ramparts still bespeak 
the warlike ages which we would fain hope have passed away 
forever. It is well equipped with religious institutions all the 
Orders are found here and the congregations, which are a 
later growth of ecclesiastical polity, have houses and schools 
on every hand. Its great seat of learning, Laval University, 
eloquently expresses the firm and devout Norman French mind in 
education. The University possesses every advantage found in 
progressive university centres, and shelters a little army of sound 
and enthusiastic scholars, who go forth into all the walks of 
Canadian life, and successfully hold their own against all com- 
petitors. The place is essentially religious in its atmosphere, 
and, while the Council added some extra brilliancy to the ec- 
clesiastical side of its life, it brought little in the line of cere- 
mony that even the plainest resident of Quebec had not in 
ordinary life seen over and over again within his city walls. 

There had been considerable discussion as to where the 
Council should be held. Some favored Quebec, some Montreal, 
some Ottawa. The quasi-primatial character of the Quebec 
see doubtlessly influenced the Pope to call it in Quebec, and 
his wisdom was understood by all the fathers even those who 



1909.] CANADA'S FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL 383 

were at first most opposed long before their deliberations were 
brought to a close. There was no other city so universally 
Catholic; no other where the heads of the Church and State 
could work in such perfect accord; no other in which the 
slightest inclination of the delegates would command so com- 
pletely the pious attention of a whole populace. 

The Dominion of Canada has, within two-score years, grown 
rapidly from a few scattered provinces to a great, self-sufficient 
nation. The portions of the new Dominion, which were con- 
sidered by most people a dreary waste when the first trans- 
continental railway was built to keep faith with our Western- 
most provinces, constitute to-day the home-seekers' paradise. 
Those vast, rich plains, yellow with wheat crops, are now the 
world's largest granary. The wealth of the field is beyond 
comparison with that of the rich gold mines, or of the forests, 
now so highly regarded, and the teeming treasures of lakes and 
seas. The people flowing into these regions in large numbers 
require the Church's aid. Indeed, it is in this very portion 
of the continent that the destiny of the Catholic Church of 
Canada will have to be worked out. The Church has been 
there many long years, it is true. She has extended mission- 
ary care to the red man, and ministered to the adventurous 
coureur de bois and the half-breeds whom rude conditions 
scattered over the prairies. But a new, a more highly-organized, 
and a more exacting civilization has come with the colonist 
flood of late years, and the Church has to meet their many 
wants, has to have many priests who will dispense the word of 
God, has to take this great people and their possibilities ol 
progress, and lead them to Christ. 

As the work of the Council, there were the varied and vital 
necessities of a national Church to be considered with regard to 
the old organized provinces, and the new ones, still unorganized 
throughout the territories. Therefore, the Holy Father in his wis- 
dom called together this First National Council of Canada, and 
bade all the prelates from the ice-bound regions of the North, 
whose human intercourse is confined almost entirely to the 
Indian and half-breed ; from the mountain fastnesses of the 
Pacific, from the sweeping prairies, from the older portions 
known once as Upper and Lower Canada, and from the sea- 
washed divisions of the Atlantic coast. They all assembled, 
some from thousands of miles away, and with their theologians 



384 CANADA'S FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL [Dec., 

and advisers set themselves to the consideration of the Catho- 
lic problem as it presented itself to them in this favorite land 
of religious freedom and progress. 

From the very outset fortune smiled upon their endeavors. 
Having solemnly invoked the Holy Spirit, and formerly opened 
the sessions, a message was sent to the Holy Father, and the 
precious reply that his Holiness vouchsafed in return was an 
augury of the good which the Council was to effect for the 
welfare of the Church. Another message was sent to the 
King, and the answer despatched by his Majesty augured equally 
well for the good the Council would effect for the well-being 
of the State. It was new to be told by the King, in these 
gracious terms, how he appreciated Catholic duty : " I thank 
your Excellency, and the Archbishops and Bishops associated 
with you, for your telegram of loyalty, which is in harmony 
with the best traditions of the Church of which you are the 
Hierarchy, and of the Dominion where you are assembled. It 
is my constant desire that religious and civil liberty should 
always be enjoyed by my subjects in all parts of the Empire." 

And what has the Council effected ? Nobody can discuss 
its decrees until the Holy Father has approved them. It is 
well understood, however, that the system of legislation en- 
acted by the Baltimore and Latin American Councils has been 
followed with the addenda and restringenda which the necessi- 
ties of the Church of Canada demand. There will be a state- 
ment of doctrine, as is common to all the Church Councils, 
and an accommodation of disciplinary canons; endeavors to 
promote Church progress in every way ; and, above and beyond 
all, in value and urgency, the pointing out of national dangers 
to faith and morals which must be grappled with heroically at 
once, so that the vigor of our Catholicity and its purity may 
shine forth before all peoples. The missionary needs in the 
modern sense have also been burnt into our brains, and the 
new methods will get more support and encouragement in the 
future, as the only sure way of saving precious souls to the 
faith. 

This Council lasted over six weeks, and therefore was one 
of the longest national Councils on record. Its deliberations 
were most harmonious and able throughout. It seated 190 
members in all, including over thirty archbishops and bishops, 
four administrators, fifty prelates, a dozen heads of communi- 



1909.] CANADA'S FIRST CHURCH COUNCIL 385 

ties, and many theologians and officials. Without exception all 
devoted themselves assiduously to the work of the Council. 

The offices which the Most Reverend President of the 
Council discharged were highly commended. All marveled at 
his grasp of the complex matter under consideration, his 
versatility of genius, and his natural aptitude for the govern- 
ment of large and difficult assemblies of men. In the end the 
bishops approached him, declared their admiration for his con- 
duct of affairs, and presented him with a full purse of gold to 
enable him to carry the precious decrees of their Council to 
Rome for ratification. His generous soul, rejoiced though it 
was at this expression of fealty and affection on the part of 
brother bishops, could not permit him to retain the gift, and 
so he passed it over, amidst a scene of deepest emotion, to 
one of the prelates charged with relieving the immediate ne- 
cessities of the great body of Ruthenian people now so badly 
beset by the wiles of proselytizers in the West. 

The Canadian Church rises up strong and vigorous from 
this Council. Great work still lies before her doubtlessly, but 
closely united to the Chair of Peter, the purity of her faith, 
now to be proclaimed everywhere, must make easy the loyalty 
of her own children to her, and help immeasurably in the 
conquest of the innumerable souls which still yearn for conso- 
lations she alone can afford. As Mgr. Begin, speaking from 
his pulpit as the Council adjourned, so well said : " I have con- 
fidence, my brothers, that from all this there will remain more 
than an agreeable and passing memory. It will be for you all 
to make it consoling and durable. We were asked before the 
Council to pray the Holy Ghost to descend upon us and fill 
us with His light. I ask of you after the Council to pray still 
that this same Sanctifying Spirit may remain with us. During 
the exacting days now drawn to a close we have all learned 
together to love better the Holy Church of God. May we all 
in the future, by our words and works, as by our example and 
virtues, strive to extend more and more her beneficent reign 
throughout this blessed land ! " 



VOL. xc 25 



flew Books, 

If one were asked to supply a 

MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY, text to express the spirit of Dr. 
By Potamian and Walsh. Walsh's labors in the field of 

Christian Apologetics, it would be 

hard to find a better one than Philip's practical answer to 
Nathanael's query, whether anything gocd could come out of 
Nazareth : " Come and see." Nathanael was simply repeating 
a foolish proverb which had fixed itself in his mind, not be- 
cause he had any proof for it, but because he had heard it so 
often. Philip's answer was that of a plain man who had gotten 
hold of the facts and was sure of his ground. 

In every age there are many such question- begging phrases 
which gain currency because most people are too lazy to ex- 
amine them. " Near-Thought " is " Mr. Dooley's " happy title 
for such phrases; and Gelett Burgess would surely rank most 
of them in his list of "bromidioms." "The conflict between 
religion and science " is one of these forms of thoughtless 
speech which is frequently on the lips of modern Nathanaels. 
And Dr. Walsh, the man with the facts, has been persistently 
urging the invitation of Philip : Come and see. 

In the present work * he has secured the collaboration of 
Brother Potamian, of Manhattan College, a man whose scientific 
attainments have made his name justly celebrated. The bio- 
graphical plan which the authors have adopted enables them 
to combine in pleasing and harmonious form three important 
fields of knowledge: science, history, and religion. 

The selection of names has not been made with reference 
to a pre-arranged apologetic plan; a glance over the list will 
show that it includes the greatest of those who have contri- 
buted in a vital way to the development of the science of 
electricity. Thus, for instance, we find Columbus, Franklin, 
Galvane, Volta, Coulomb, Oersted, Ampere, Ohm, Faraday, 
Clerk-Maxwell, and Lord Kelvin. 

The religious value of the work consists in showing, in the 
words of the authors, that " Every one of these men was a 

* Makers of Electricity : The Lives of the Men to Whom We Owe the Great Advances in Elec- 
tricity. By Brother Potamian, F.S.C.,Sc.D. (London), Professor of Physics, Manhattan Col- 
lege, and James J. Walsh, M.D.,Ph.D., LL.D., Dean and Professor of the History of Medicine 
at Fordham University School of Medicine, N. Y. Illustrated. New York : Fordham Uni- 
versity Press. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 387 

firm believer in the great truths of a Providence that guides 
the world, a hereafter of rewards and punishments, and the ne- 
cessity that man is under of rebinding himself to God in re- 
ligion. Most of them were Catholics, and some of them, like 
Galvane, Volta, Coulomb, and Ampere, devout adherents of 
their religion. Faraday, Clerk- Maxwell, and Lord Kelvin were 
profound believers in all the great truths of religion : men of 
strong, beautiful character, who loved their fellows and were 
beloved because of the unselfishness of their Christian charity 
towards all." 

The studies have been divided about evenly between the 
two authors, each of whom develops his topic in his own way. 
The variety of style is rather agreeable. In this connection it 
is interesting to observe that it is the scientific note which 
dominates in the work of the Christian Brother, and the apolo- 
gist note in the work of the Doctor of Medicine. This is as 
it should be. It disarms criticism, and affords in itself another 
proof of the contention of the authors that devotion to religion 
and to science is a double, but not a divided, duty. 

An extremely valuable history of 

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF Catholicity in Philadelphia comes 
PHILADELPHIA. to us from the pen of Joseph 

Louis J. Kirlin, priest of that 

archdiocese.* The narrative has its beginnings before the 
coming of William Penn, and traces the labors of the pioneer 
Catholic missionaries, the brave, troublous days of the Revo- 
lution, the Hogan defection, the " Native American " riots of 
1844, and that steady organic growth which has borne its fruit 
in the great diocese as it stands to-day. The mass of material 
sifted and employed in the preparation of the work is astound- 
ing, and the temperately judicial tone of its author on all con- 
troversial points is a matter for congratulation. 

An Appendix of particular local interest contains a brief 
but detailed history of every parish in the Philadelphia arch- 
diocese : while the incidental accounts of the Venerable Bishop 
Neumann, and of the Russian Jesuits (during the suppression 
of Clement XIV. and Pius VI.) make their appeal to all who 
are interested in Church history during modern times. Father 

* Catholicity in Philadelphia from the Earliest Missionaries down to the Present Time. By 
Joseph L. J. Kirlin. Philadelphia : John Joseph McVey. 



388 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

Kirlin has wisely aimed " to consider the Church not as a 
thing apart, but as a vital factor in the city's life, influencing 
and being influenced in its turn by the various elements of a 
great and growing municipality "; consequently, he produces a 
work of reference with real vitality and human interest. 

If any reader is looking about for the 

SOME RHYMES AND A successor to John Boyle O'Reilly 
ROSARY. an( j J ames Jeffrey Roche, let him 

observe that the popular and not 

improbable claimant to their poetic mantles may be found in 
Mr. Denis McCarthy. A second and enlarged edition of the 
latter's early poems is with us,* containing all of the former 
favorites, and several felicitous additions notably " The Fields 
of Ballyclare " ; " The Caged Songster " ; " The Fortune Fairy " ; 
and a "Song of Beauty." These verses, and the best of the 
old, create a standard to which the young poet must, one of 
these days, more exclusively cling. For to perpetuate in a 
volume experiments like " Cheer Up," or merely topical verses 
(however noble their "purpose"), is dangerous business. If, as 
has been asserted, almost every Irish priest is potentially a 
great preacher, it is equally a fact that in almost every Irish 
writer there is the making of a true poet. Such are the fire 
and grace and pathos of the Celtic nature ! None the less, 
after the initial spark of inspiration, genius is mainly, as de 
Maupassant put it, long patience, 

A word of eulogy must be given to the suitable and beau- 
tiful typography of The Book of the Lily^\ a little volume mainly 
in praise of the Blessed Among Women, but including mis- 
cellaneous verses of equal merit. The effect of the poems is 
not incomparable to that of a cool hand upon the brow, or of 
quiet candlelight in the dusk which follows after a weary day. 
The lyric ecstasy and white heat of emotion which are essen- 
tial to such great religious poetry as shall subdue even the 
unreligious, are not here. But there is a pleasing sense of 
verbal music, a tender and cloistral devotion, and the dignity 
which comes of simple and soulful things. The opening poem, 
"Immaculate," will recall to many readers the atmosphere of 
Aubrey de Vere's May Carols. 

*A Round oj Rhymes. By Denis A. McCarthy. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 
t The Book of the Lily; and Other Verges. By a Sister of the Holy Cross. Notre Dame, 
Indiana : Ave Maria Press. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 389 

Washington Gladden that name 
RECOLLECTIONS. has a familiar and grateful sound 

By Washington Gladden. to t h e Catholics of the United 

States whose memory is keen of 

the troublous events of half a generation ago. It is a name 
which bears associations of liberty and rejoicing which lie 
deeper than the obvious puns that it suggests. In the sudden 
outbreak of anti-Catholic hostility known as the A. P. A^ 
movement, his was the strongest voice raised in the Protestant 
pulpit in defence of American principles of liberty of con- 
science. He spoke out boldly when the vast majority of his 
brethren were either fanning the flames of bigotry or keeping 
silence through fear. 

In this book of reminiscences* he narrates the events of 
those times and his own share in them briefly and modestly. 
Speaking of the growth of this " epidemic of unreason and 
bigotry," he pays a deserved tribute to the attitude of those 
who were the object of attack : 

It cannot be said that the Roman Catholics had recently 
done anything to excite this antipathy : all their tendencies 
had been in the direction of more friendly relations with their 
Protestant neighbors. And while this fury was in the air, 
their behavior was, for the most part, altogether admirable. 
They endured, with great forbearance, the monstrous false- 
hoods which were told about them ; they waited patiently for 
the day when the mists of suspicion and fear would clear 
away. 

And, in concluding the subject, he says: 

I have lived through two of these epidemics of religious 
rancor, about forty years apart ; I sincerely hope that our 
country has seen the last of them. Our Roman Catholic fel- 
low-citizens have earned the right to be protected from such 
proscription. There is no reason to suspect them of any un- 
patriotic purposes. They are bearing their part in the pro- 
motion of thrift and order and intelligence. Any attempt to 
discredit or disfranchise them on account of their religious 
beliefs ought to be resisted by every intelligent American. 

Viewing the book at a wider range, one is not surprised 

. * Recollections. By Washington Gladden. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 



390 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

to find that this incident in Dr. Gladden's public career, which 
looms so large in a Catholic estimate of him, is only one 
among many manifestations of a large-minded and generous 
public spirit. Passing over his religious opinions, with which 
we have no immediate concern, and viewing him as an Amer- 
ican citizen, we find in him a man who has taken an active 
part in every great public movement during the last half- 
century, and, in the main, on the right side. He is a fine 
American type, not only in his loyalty to principles such as 
made him champion the cause of Catholics, but in his ideal- 
ism, his optimism, his unfailing confidence in the ultimate 
good sense of the people in a democratic state, and in the 
final triumph of right. 

For making a study of the char- 

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, acteristics of a people, there are 
By Low. certain advantages in being a for- 

eigner. Experience of another set 

of ideals and institutions stimulates inquiry and affords a stand- 
ard of comparison. This is, perhaps, the reason why a French- 
man and an Englishman, de Tocqueville and Bryce, have been 
able to write studies on our form of government which rank 
among the most judicious and discerning. Of course there are 
foreigners and foreigners. This country has had to endure the 
sort of criticism that ought ,to be published with the title 
"America From a Car- Window"; and there have been works 
written on American Catholicity which could properly be en- 
titled "The American Church Viewed From the Eiffel Tower." 
Mr. Low is not of the latter sort. He is an Englishman 
who has lived in this country for twenty years, and has had 
abundant facilities for observation through his residence at the 
national capital as correspondent for an English newspaper. 
If any fault can be found with his attitude,* it is that he is 
more profoundly impressed by the share of the Puritan element 
in the determination of our national history and ideals, than 
many of us would be willing to concede. He is, however, 
strongly of opinion that there is a distinct American type of 
nationality which is not to be considered, either as the survival 
of the Puritan element or as a mere amalgam of races. The 
work is an attempt to discover the main factors which have 

* The American People : A Study in National Psychology. By A. Maurice Low. Boston : 
Houghton Mifflin Company. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 391 

determined this national type. The factors considered are cli- 
mate, geographical conditions, and, at much greater length, the 
characteristics of the various groups of early settlers. In his 
treatment of these groups he errs, as we have stated, in his 
estimate of the Puritans. The names of Washington and Jeffer- 
son, to mention no others, should have been enough to give 
him pause. 

From a Catholic point of view, Mr. Low's work presents 
agreeable aspects. Obiter dicta, such as a reference to Cran- 
mer as being "venerated for his saintly character," may be 
read smilingly by one who read recent Protestant estimates of 
that sinister politician, though such remarks may raise a doubt 
as to Mr. Low's knowledge of general history. But in dealing 
with the Catholic share in establishing the principle of religious 
toleration in America he speaks in no uncertain tones. Whatever 
may have ibeen the motives of the founders of the Catholic 
colony, he says: "the fact remains that Maryland, in the sev- 
enteenth century, was the only place on the American conti- 
nent under English rule in which religious sects were unmo- 
lested." And, speaking of the general attitude of Catholics 
towards the civil power in this country, he says : 

There has never been any clash of authority between the 
Catholic hierarchy in the United States and the temporal 
power ; no American Catholic has served Church and State 
with a divided allegiance. . . . Catholicism in America 
has not destroyed or weakened the fibre of American Repub 
licanism ; from a small beginning the Church has grown and 
become a mighty instrument in the development of American 
character, but it has been accomplished without the direct 
participation of the Church in politics. 

Mr. Fuller presents in this volume * 

THE SPEAKERS OF THE a history of one phase in the de- 

HOUSE. velopment of our political institu- 

By Fuller. tions. It is a timely work, for 

the whole country is interested in 

the vast increase of power which the presiding officer of the 
House of Representatives has obtained since " Czar" Reed first 
took the chair, and contemporary discussions of legislative 

*The Speakers of the House. By Herbert Bruce Fuller, A.M., LL.M. Boston: Little, 
Brown & Co. 



392 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

events centre around the dominant personality of Speaker Can- 
non. Mr. Fuller's book is not a technical disquisition on par- 
liamentary problems. It is a very readable narrative of the 
leading events in the House in which the Speaker's office has 
been involved. In this regard he deserves great praise for the 
deftness with which he selects from the vast amount of material 
in Congressional Reports only such portions as lie along his 
particular line of inquiry. The temptations to digress must 
have been great, but he has resisted them. The result is a 
well-knit presentation of the history oi the Speaker's office. 

The personal characters of the different occupants of the 
Chair are described in a succession of delightful vignettes, which 
are marked by precision and sureness of touch. Henry Clay 
he considers as the greatest of American Speakers. He han- 
dles in an impartial way the question of Reed's rulings. By 
the way, he quotes some of the caustic remarks of the burly 
Czar, such as: "The Senate is a nice quiet sort of a place, 
where good Representatives go when they die " ; "A states- 
man is a successful politician that is dead"; "The right of 
the minority is to draw its salaries, and its function is to make 
a quorum " ; " The trouble with that gentleman is that he fails 
to realize his true relation to the stellar universe." 

A few selections from his description of Speaker Cannon 
will aff .>rd a good idea of the author's gift of characterization. 

His ideals are not exalted ; he lacks imaginative or artistic 
genius. His mental attitude reveals the lack of such broad- 
ening influences as education, culture, and travel in early 
life. ... A superlatively intense partisan, he believes 
firmly in but two ideals his party and his religion. . . . 
Cannon is in all ways temperamentally a Conservative. It 
has been'well said that had he attended the caucas on Crea- 
tion he would have remained throughout loyal to Chaos. 
. . . He has a rare and courageous indifference to public 
opinion. He scorns to quibble, he has no sympathy with 
those who dissemble. . . . His studied unconventionally 
is his chiet personal characteristic; medium-sized, with a 
quaint, ruddy lace, lighted generally with a kindly smile, 
chin whiskers, and thin white hair and piercing gray eyes ; 
at banquets he drinks champagne from his water glass, tilts 
his chair back against the wall and smokes the finest cigars 
in the style popular at the cross-roads store. 






1909.] NEW BOOKS 393 

In a brief prologue Mr. Fuller discusses the character of 
the Speaker's functions in different periods of the history of 
the English House of Commons. Incidentally, he gives an an- 
swer to the puzzle of giving the title of Speaker to the one 
man in the House who is not allowed to speak. Originally 
the Speaker was considered as the mouthpiece of the Com- 
mons in all communications to the sovereign or the nation. 
Later on, the office became an instrument of tyranny, as the 
Speaker was selected to impose the royal will on the Assem- 
bly. In England at present the Speaker is merely the mod- 
erator of the proceedings and is supposed to be above party 
feelings. In America the office was originally intended to be 
a moderatorship ; but we have been gradually reverting to an 
earlier English phase, the only difference being that the Speaker 
serves the interests, not of a King, but of a Party. 

The Christian commonweal owes 

THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSO- a debt of gratitude to the family 

PHY OF LIFE. of Pesch, which gave three sons to 

By Pesch. the Society of Jesus: Tillman, 

the author of this book,* an emi- 
nent philosopher; Christian, one of the best of our living theo- 
logians; and Heinrich, who has edited this work of his de- 
ceased brother. 

The Christian Philosophy of Life is a valuable contribution 
of Catholic thought. A good deal of the religious literature 
which comes to a reviewer's hand is secondhand and common- 
place. But at the very first inspection of this book one gets 
a sense of power, and that feeling does not diminish as one 
goes on. One sees that here is a book that is not a thing of 
borrowed shreds and patches. It is the work of one who 
"scorned delights and lived laborious days"; who "sees life 
steadily and sees it whole." He has read; he has studied; 
he has meditated; and, most of all, he has lived what he 
teaches. It is the result of years of clear vision. It is full, 
not only of Christian principles, but of Christian living. Re- 
ligion is no thing of mere abstract phrases for him. It is pri- 
marily a life, but a life led by one who possessed, in eminent 
degree, the faculty of analysis and statement. The great think- 

* The Christian Philosophy of Life : Reflections on the Truths of Religion. Translated by 
M. C. M'Laren. London and Edinburgh : Sands & Co. ; St. Louis: B. Herder. 



394 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

ers, philosophers, poets, and dramatists are laid under contri- 
bution for his view of life, but with a Catholic- mindedness that 
finds the good in them and rejects the evil. There is nothing 
new in the principles set forth by him. The whole view of 
life is Catholic, which means old and tried and true. 

The style is direct and clear. The work wins by lucidity 
and sincerity of thought rather than by ornament. The ideas 
are close-packed, but never disorderly. The topics treated are 
numerous. The paragraphs are short and pithy, and at times 
they are but single sentences phrasing apothegms worthy of A 
Kempis. Naturally, it is not "easy reading. " We are warned 
by the author that deep reflection is necessary for the task to 
which he invites us but it is supremely worth the labor. It 
is a book for the meditation of a thoughtful Catholic ; a book 
to recommend to a serious-minded non-Catholic in search of 
religious truth. 

The laborious work of a translator generally receives only 
a passing word of praise, but in this case a double superlative 
is due it is most excellently well done. 

Vicar General Brossart deserves 

CATHOLIC SOCIAL PHIL- the thanks of the Catholic com- 

OSOPHY. munity for his excellent rendering 

By Denifle. j nto English of this contribution 

to social philosophy written by 

the great Dominican historian, Father Denifle.* The storm of 
impotent fury raised around his history of Luther and Luther- 
anism, the recognition given to his work in the world of 
scholarship, and his regrettable death while on his way to re- 
ceive deserved honors from the University of Cambridge, are 
matters of recent history. 

The present work is a magnificent expositition of the eter- 
nal Catholic principles which the Church has ever used to 
guide her attitude towards civil society and the social move- 
ments in history God and right first and last, be the conse- 
quences what they may ; the interests of eternity vastly more 
important than those of time; the same moral law for men as 
statesmen and men as individuals; Christ as the model of 
mankind, and the true Savior of society as well as of souls; 

* Humanity : Its Destiny and the Means to Attain It. A Series of Discourses by Rev, 
Henry Denifle, O.P. Translated from the German by Very Rev. Ferdinand Brossart, V.G., 
Covington, Ky. : Pustet & Co. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 395 

the Church as His representative on earth; the dominance of 
Christian ideals in the State, the family, and education. 

The lectures which make up the work were originally de- 
livered (at Gratz, in Austria) in 1872. We are told that 
Father Denifle revised them in later years, but they bear un- 
mistakable evidences of the earlier date. They are the work 
of the young philosopher rather than of the ripe historian. They 
contain general statements without that array of facts and dis- 
tinctions which one might expect of a man who had been 
making an accurate study of the endless variety of social in- 
stitutions. Thus the expression "modern state" is very 
loosely used. If all the points in the indictment against it are 
to be taken collectively, the term can be strictly applied only 
to the form of godless tyranny which masquerades under the 
name oi a republic in France. The United States is, in a cer- 
tain sense a " modern state. " Is it such in the opprobrious 
sense ? True, it is not the ideal state, but then the ideal state has 
never existed in actuality. Practically, with our judicial system 
guaranteeing personal and ecclesiastical rights, we have no 
ground for dissatisfaction. And, frankly, American Catholics 
have not the slightest desire to modify the principles of gov- 
ernment, though they are anxious to inject their moral and re- 
ligious ideals into the legislation and life of the American Re- 
public. We do not mean to say that Father Denifle's argu- 
ment is directed against the practical acceptance of the condi- 
tions which we enjoy; but merely that a student of historical 
facts might be expected to supply the needful distinctions in 
presenting his principles. 

The tone of the work also reflects the despondency of the 
sad '70*3. We are told that Leo XIII. made use of the ideas 
here presented in his famous Encyclicals. But there is lacking 
in the work the fresh and hopeful spirit in face of the condi- 
tions of the age which that great Pontiff inspired in the 
Church. Father Denifle believes, of course, in the final triumph 
of religion; but he thinks that matters must become far worse 
before they begin to be better. In this country a more hope- 
ful spirit sustains us. We may be deceived by it, but hope is 
a better stimulus to energy than despondency. 

But, turning once more to a consideration of the work as a 
presentation of the religious view of human life and society, 
one forgets the local point of view, and rejoices in its warmth 



396 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

of Catholic conviction, its insistence on the things of eternity, 
its strong setting forth of the need of Christian ideals and faith 
for the social salvation of humanity. 



Professor Davis, of the University 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE. of Minnesota, has issued this out- 
line story of the Roman Empire* 

to meet the needs of students of the later history of the West 
who are not familiar with the conditions and institutions which 
had so large a share in determining the character of European 
civilization. The work is brief, clear, and readable. Succinct 
and suggestive paragraphs, treating of social, economic, and 
moral conditions in the various stages of imperial history, save 
the book from the danger of becoming a mere record of events 
and dates. The method, however, does not escape the defects 
incidental to summarizing historical judgments in brief space. 
The last chapter, especially, on " Christianity and the Empire," 
is open to criticism. 

0-Heart-San is a delicately phrased 
0-HEARI-SAN. little story f of a Japanese girl, by 

Helen Eggleston Haskell. It is 

dainty and quaint as a Japanese carving. The conclusion, how- 
ever (the little lass grows up and becomes a nurse in a hospi- 
tal at Tokio), while eminently satisfactory from a strict ethical 
point of view, is unartistic. It is like reading the story of a 
poet's dream, and finding on the last page that it is an Evan- 
gelical trapt. 

The distinctive purpose of this 
CHRISTOLOGY. little pamphlet \ is to prove the 

divinity of Christ from historical 

data against Rationalists and Modernists. Meeting these ad- 
versaries on their own ground, and laying aside the proof of 
Christ's divinity from His miracles and other supernatural 
manifestations, the author takes the New Testiment as a mere 

*An Outline History of the Roman Empire (44 B.C. to 378 A. D.) By William Sterns 
Davis, Ph.D. New York: The Macmillan Company. 

t 0-Heart-San. By Helen Eggleston Haskell. Boston : L. C. Page & Co. 
\ What Think You of Christ f An Historical Inquiry into Christ's Godhead. By Bernard 
J. Otten, S.J. St. Louis : B. Herder. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 397 

historical book, and from it deduces a striking proof of the 
divinity of Jesus Christ. 

The pamphlet very neatly sums up the theological proofs 
from the Synoptists, St. Paul, and St. John, that demolish the 
Modernist position. We recommend this readable pamphlet to 
all who would like a clear summary and defence of Christ's 
divinity against Modernism. 

This is one of the collection of 

DEVELOPMENT OF DOC- excellent theological pamphlets 
TRINE. published under the name of Sci- 

ence et Religion.* That alone is a 

sufficient recommendation. Add to this the fact that it is a 
translation from English into a language already rich in books 
and articles treating this same question, and we must acknowl- 
edge that it really has great merit. It is a translation from 
the Introduction of Oxenham's famous History of the- Dogma of 
the Redemption. While his treatment of the principle of theo- 
logical developments has not attained the success of Cardinal 
Newman's Development of Christian Doctrine, it presents a strik- 
ing originality and is well worthy of our serious considera- 
tion. The translation is enriched by a valuable bibliography 
and notes, which brings the original essay in touch with recent 
writings on this important question. 

A recent article in the Catholic 

A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY press, under the caption "Show 
IN THE NORTHWEST. U s Your Works," declares that 

Catholics do not give sufficient 

publicity to the remarkable works they are quietly carrying on 
for the good of the community. The work of our sisterhoods 
especially, the writer contends, should be made better known. 
We have in this volume f a partial fulfillment of his wish. 
It is a record of the trials and triumphs of a community 
which, not long after its foundation in Quebec, was invited by 
Archbishop Blanchet to assist in the pioneer work he was 
doing in the Oregon Country. The tale is told with a sweet 
and modest simplicity which heightens the effect of the record 

* Le Principe dts Dtveloppements Theologiques : Henty N. Oxenham. Traduit de 1'Anglais, 
avec notes, par Joseph Bruneau, S. S. Paris : Librairie Bloud et Cie. 

t Gleanings of Fifty Years : The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in the 
Northwest, iSfy-iyoQ. Portland, Oregon : St. Mary's Academy. 



398 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

of courage and efficiency which it contains. Archbishop 
Christie writes an introduction in which he pays a warm trib- 
ute to the sisters and to his zealous predecessor, Archbishop 
Blanchet. 

This work * is a tribute of respect 
MEMOIR OF REVEREND and gratitude paid to a worthy 

WILLIAM McDONALD. pastor of souls by a member of a 

religious community which shared 

in his labors. It is not merely an intimate portrait of the 
work of a good priest ;^it is a contribution to the history of 
the Church in New Hampshire, and a setting forth of the 
means by which Catholicity made itself at home in that once 
hostile region. In this case the main factor was the character 
of the holy and public-spirited pastor. But it is interesting to 
note that, as far back as 1865, he felt sure enough of the fair- 
mindedness of the community to organize a series of lectures 
for non-Catholics in a public hall. Fathers Hewit, Deshon, 
and Young first gave a mission to the Catholics in the church* 
Father Hecker then followed with lectures to non-Catholics in 
Smyth's Hall. The reports of the lectures, dug up from the 
files of the Manchester Daily Union, are good outlines, pre- 
sented with a fairness that is a credit to the journal that pub- 
lished them. 

The work is well gotten up, the numerous photographs 
being a particularly interesting and valuable feature. 

This workf is highly commend- 

ENGLISH LITERATURE, able, as being at once interesting 

and calculated to give younger 

readers an intelligent [appreciation of good literature. In touch- 
ing on religious questions the author is fair and impartial, 
though one might complain of the misleading mildness (p. 99) 
which barely hints at the "persecutions under Elizabeth. There 
are a few notable omissions, such as Lingard, Francis Thomp- 
son, and W. B. Yeats, and the valuable studies of Mr, Wilfrid 
Ward are not included in the bibliography relating to New- 
man. Also the author might have said something of the 

* Memoir of Reverend William McDonald, First Pastor of St. Anne's Parish , Manchester, 
N. H. By a Sister of Mercy. Manchester, N. H.: Mount St. Mary's. 

t English Literature* By William J. Long, Ph.D. Boston : Ginn & Co , 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 399 

medieval precursor of Robinson Crusoe and of the alleged pre- 
decessors of the Pilgrim's Progress. But where are the later 
English versions of the Bible, the Rheims, the Douay, and the 
King James ? This last especially occupies as literature a 
commanding position in the opinion of Catholics as well as of 
Protestants, yet it is only incidentally mentioned. Westward 
Ho is printed with a mark of exclamation (a common error which 
ought not to be found in a text-book). By limiting himself 
to the literature of England the author has made his book less 
useful for American readers. 

We Catholics are better at doing 

CHRISTIAN ESTHETICS, good things than at talking about 
By Loisel. them. It is in accordance with a 

fine spiritual counsel, but we carry 

it too far. We organize vast works of charity, but write few 
books on social economics. We have produced the best art 
in Europe, but it is non- Catholics who analyze its principles. 
M. Loisel is therefore a rightful heir entering into his patri- 
mony when he steps into the field of aesthetics.* And, indeed, 
as he shows, there has arisen a danger that the "squatters" 
in our territory will try to oust us from our claims. 

M. Loisel discovers in contemporary French thought two 
conflicting tendencies with respect to art. One is to make art 
take the place of religion; the other is to sacrifice both art 
and religion as being in the way of the progress of science. 
The chapters in which the author treats these views : " The 
Impotence of Art as a Religion"; and "Science Versus Art"; 
are the finest in the book. The reader cannot help seeing how 
here, as in so many other cases, the " Catholic wholeness " of 
our views of life makes them so much wider and saner than 
the knot-hole perspectives of even brilliant men among our 
adversaries. 

Only the smaller portion of M. Loisel's book is controver- 
sial. The bulk of it is devoted to a discussion of the philos- 
ophy of aesthetics, the principles that underlie the formation 
and perception of form, rhythm, and style, as expressed in the 
arts of poetry, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. In 
an appendix is found a good bibliography of works in French 
bearing on general aesthetics. 

* L 'Experience Esthetique et Vldial Chretien. Par Armand Loisel. Paris : Bloud et Cie, 



400 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

This is the French translation * 

THE PONTIFICATE OF (made at the instance of Pius IX. 

PIUS IX. himself) of the work by the Roman 

Jesuit, which only now, after the 

author's death, is being given to the public. It was begun as 
the first part of a complete history of Pius IX., but when, in 
1867, it was ready for publication, the author began to realize 
the difficulties besetting one who attempts to treat fearlessly 
and impartially of persons still living and of events yet fresh 
in men's memories. As he saw that such a work might do 
more harm than good, he determined not to proceed with it; 
and while even then he might have gone on with the publica- 
tion of what had been already written, dealing as it did with 
a period sufficiently remote, he preferred not to leave behind 
him an incomplete production, and so the proof-sheets for it 
was already in press were set aside. 

It had, however, two special claims to survive. In the 
first place it was the product of an extensive one may say 
exhaustive study of written sources, supplemented by per- 
sonal knowledge ; and, secondly, it had been revised by no 
less a personage than the very Pope of whom it treats, whose 
marginal notes, corrections, etc., were embodied in the text. 
For these reasons it has rightly been deemed too important to 
be allowed to perish. 

The ground it covers is not unfamiliar. Beginning with 
the election of Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti in the Conclave of 
June, 1846, the author treats of the amnesty granted by the 
new Pontiff, together with the extravagant and not wholly 
sincere manifestations of joy occasioned thereby, and then de- 
scribes the attempts at industrial and educational improvements 
within the Papal States, the relations with the Powers, espe- 
cially as regards Switzerland and Austria, and the gradual in- 
sidious growth of the movement which culminated in the 
Revolution of 1848. The flight to Gaeta is narrated in an 
appendix (also corrected by Pope Pius IX.) taken from P. 
Bresciani's novel The Jew of Verona. 

The reader must remember that the book as we have it 
now is just as it was going to be issued in 1867, and that in 
view of this the judgments of men and of events cannot be 

*Les Premieres Pages du Pontifical de Pie IX. Par Raffaele Ballerini, SJ. Rome: 
Bretschneider. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 401 

attributed to any sentiment of hostility aroused by the loss of 
the Temporal Power and the subsequent attitude of the Italian 
Government. The author wrote at a time when the tranquil 
possession of the Papal States rendered needless an ex- part e 
attack on the enemies of the Papacy. The book cannot, 
therefore, be regarded as a piece of special pleading, but must 
be taken as a straightforward, and, in a sense, contemporary 
account of a much-misunderstood Pope. At the same time 
the author does not conceal his sympathies; on the contrary, 
he plainly declares on which side they lie. " Je veux dire," he 
says in the Preface (p. xiv.) "ma partialite envers le Pontife, 
auquel je suts indubitablement attache par des liens de toi, 
comme catholique, d!observance, comme sujet, et de devoumenr, 
comme membre d'une institution speciale qui professe pour le 
Vicaire du Christ une obeissance encore toute speciale." But 
he makes of these very sympathies a claim on the reader's 
acceptance, since the Sovereign he loves and obeys is, of all 
rulers, "le plus candidement ami du vrai." Such naivete ought 
to disarm the most exacting critic. 

Although a " serious " work, the book reads at times al- 
most like a novel. The style is simple and vivid, and the 
references, etc., are sufficiently numerous for the student with- 
out giving the work too learned an air for the general reader. 
There are a few errors of typography, e. g., the placing of 
the Congress of Genoa at Geneva (p. 74) ; but the printer's 
work is, as a whole, well done, and the phototype reproduc- 
tion of the original corrections in the hand of Pius IX. lend 
an added interest. 

The ineffectiveness of many of the 

AT THE ROOT OF SOCIAL- current brief refutations of Social- 
ISM. ism is a source of much disappoint- 

By Power. ment t o the thoughtful reader. 

Either too many features of the 

Socialist programme are dealt with, or defects are emphasized 
which exist in the present system as well as in Socialism. In 
the one case the criticism is so sweeping and superficial as to 
be of little practical value ; in the other case it frequently 
leaves Socialism apparently stronger than before. Neither of 
these faults vitiates the lecture delivered by Father Power* 

* At the Root of Socialism. A Lecture Delivered Before the Social Democratic Federation. 
By Rev. M. Power, SJ. London : Sands & Co. 
VOL. XC. 26 



402 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

before the Socialists of Edinburgh. He devotes his attention 
mainly to the single point that the capitalists and other pro- 
prietors whose goods would be confiscated according to the 
programme of the Glasgow Socialists, would not submit quietly 
to this process of spoliation. As a consequence, the new So- 
cialist State would find itself burdened from the outset with 
such a quantity of discontent and strife as to belie all the 
rosy prophecies concerning the Socialist millenium. Father 
Power's arguments for this counter- prophecy are likely to ap- 
pear convincing to the average man, as well as to the serious 
thinker who is not caught in the meshes of an a priori doc- 
trine of historical and social development. The author's defence 
of the superior claims of the inventor is not so pertinent, be- 
cause most Socialists do not now hold that all producers should 
be rewarded equally. His "Apologia for the Natural Law" 
is good as far as it goes, but it does not attempt to define 
how far the natural law has been abused and violated through 
the existing legal titles of property. It is these abuses that 
give vitality to the Socialist attacks on the institution of prop- 
erty in land and capital. Similarly, the author's criticism of 
the " right to work " is inconclusive, inasmuch as it considers 
this claim merely as asserted against the employer. As a 
matter of fact, it is against society, or the State, that the right 
to work is commonly put forward. The present Archbishop of 
Tuam is not often credited with large democratic sympathies, 
and yet he recently gave unqualified assent to this interpreta- 
tion of the right to work. If the modern State is to do its 
full duty toward the working classes, it must at least provide 
those economic conditions in which employment will be possi- 
ble for all who need and seek employment. One of the best 
features of Father's Power's pamphlet is its unvarying good 
humor. 

Worthy of note as a model of 

RIVERSIDE LITERATURE good editing is a little volume* 
SERIES. in Houghton Mifflin Company's 

" Riverside Literature Series," 

which reproduces Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's 
First Bunker Hill Oration. The editor, Professor Foster, of 

* " The Riverside Literature Series." Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's 
First Bunker Hill Oration. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by William Trufant Foster, 
Professor of English and Argumentation in Bowdoin College. Boston : Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 403 

Bowdoin College, has compressed in narrow limits a large 
amount of well- selected information bearing on the occasions 
of the orations, the speakers themselves, their oratorical style, 
bibliographical references, etc. The lists of " Questions and 
Exercises " will prove helpful and suggestive to teachers of 
argumentation. 

When the papers bearing this title 

CATHOLIC SOCIAL WORK were appearing anonymously in 

IN GERMANY. the Dublin Review, they were at- 

By Plater. tributed by some persons to the 

editor of that magazine. This was 

a sufficiently high compliment to the young Jesuit author who, 
we believe, is not yet a priest. Should any other articles be 
published unsigned in this magazine on the social question 
they will probably be ascribed to Plater rather than to Ward. 
The former has for some two years been doing splendid work 
in this field the best work that has been done by any Eng- 
lish Catholic since the death of Charles Devas. The four arti- 
cles in the Dublin Review become in this reprint* four chapters, 
three of which describe the achievements of the German Catho- 
lics, while the fourth seeks to apply German lessons to English 
conditions. In the first chapter the author presents a striking 
and sympathetic picture of the zealous, able, and fearless in- 
itiator of the German Catholic social movement, Bishop Kette- 
ler, together with a brief description of the obstacles that he 
had to meet and overcome. He quotes one statement of the 
bishop which finds a much wider acceptance now than when 
it was first uttered: 

" If we wish to know our age we must endeavor to fathom 
the social question. The man who understands that knows his 
age. The man who does not understand it finds the present 
and the future an enigma." The author's account of the or- 
ganized activity of the German Catholics gives abundant proof 
that much of their success was due to their adoption of the 
point of view emphasized in this quotation. The first annual 
congress of German Catholics was held in 1848, and had for its 
chief purpose to obtain liberty of worship and of education. 
Within a few years these congresses had become the reunions 
of all kinds of societies and associations for religious, moral, 
educational, and social improvement. All of these enterprises 

* Catholic Social Work in Germany. By Charles D. Plater, S. J. London : Sands & Co. 



404 NEW BOOKS [Dec., 

have flourished and increased to a degree that is truly re- 
markable. In 1 86 1 the number of subscribers to all the Catholic 
periodicals of Germany was less than 60,000; at present it is 
about seven million. The Volksverein, which grew out of the 
annual congresses, and which was intended to " keep the Catho. 
lies of Germany in close and constant touch with social move- 
ments," has now more than six hundred thousand members. It 
has twenty thousand trained workers or promoters, who spread 
Catholic social doctrine, both written and oral, among its 
members. Through its central bureau it gives courses of in- 
struction in social science and practice, and distributes about 
fifteen million pieces of literature during a single year. 

These are merely a few of the more striking facts of the 
movement which is so well described in the little volume under 
review. In the final chapter the author attempts to answer 
the question as to how far German methods may be utilized 
by the Catholics of England. Many of the recommendations 
of this chapter will be found suggestive to American Catholics 
who have some conception of the need of similar action in our 
own country. 

The excellent work done in be- 

A LIFE OF CHRIST. half of poor and neglected chil- 
By Mary V. Merrick. dren by the Christ Child Society, 

founded by Miss Mary V. Merrick 

in Washington only a few years ago, and which seems destined, 
under her direction, to spread throughout the country and even 
beyond, is sufficient proof of her force of character and ability 
to succeed in great undertakings; we need not be surprised to 
find therefore in her rendition into English of A Life of Christ 
for Children * something well worthy of praise and commenda- 
tion. This book is quite in line with her other work, being 
intended to bring within easy grasp of children the life and 
teachings of our Lord. 

The original work was a series of stories from the Gospels, 
related to her grandchildren by Mme. de Segur. These stories, 
committed later to writing, comprehend the entire Gospel 
history of our Lord. They are told in dialogue form, in which 
the grandmother tells the incidents almost exactly as related in 

* A Life of Christ for Children as Told by a Grandmother. Adapted from the French of 
Mme. La Comtesse de Se"gur by Mary Virginia Merrick with a Preface by the Rev. John J. 
Burke, C.S.P. St. Louis, Mo. : B. Herder. 



1909.] NEW BOOKS 405 

the Gospels. The questions and comments of the children 
furnish occasion for the explanation of difficult words and pas- 
sages, and for interpreting parables and allusions, as well as 
for the imparting of instruction in Catholic doctrine. 

The following is, in part, the story of the Sermon on the 
Mount. 

Grandma : It was springtime in Judea ; the lilies were 
blooming in the fields, the vines and figtrees were green 
upon the hills, and the birds were singing. A great crowd 
had followed Jesus and seating Himself on the hilltop, while 
the people crowded in the plain, He spoke to them in a beau- 
tiful discourse, which is known as " The Sermon on the 
Mount." " Blessed," He said, " are the poor in spirit ; for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

Henrietta : What does poor in spirit mean ? 
Grandma : The poor in spirit are those who do not seek for 
greater wealth and gain, and who do not set their minds and 
hearts on riches, and wish all power for themselves. 

Miss Merrick seems to have mastered the art of adapting 
her language to the capacity of the child mind, an accom- 
plishment not at all easy to attain. 

Although written primarily for children this book may be 
read with interest and profit by older people. Teachers of 
Sunday- Schools can find in it many helpful suggestions, as 
well as useful materials for familiarizing their pupils with the 
life of the Savior. It will furnish to parents also a convenient 
means of instructing their children more fully in the truths of 
religion. But it will be of especial value to those who live 
away from cities and in places where there is neither religious 
instruction in the schools nor any regular opportunity to at- 
tend Sunday- School. It is to be hoped that the book will 
receive as wide a distribution as it deserves. 

In our November number we gave John Lane & Co., London, 
as the publishers of G. K. Chesterton's George Bernard Shaw. 
The work is published by John Lane & Co., New York City. 



^Foreign iperiobicals* 



The Tablet (16 Oct.): Miss Louise Imogen Guiney sketches 
from original sources the charming life of St. Frides- 
wide, whose name in Saxon means " the Bond of Peace." 
She is " the only saint whose life and death are con- 
nected throughout with Oxford," and is the patroness 

of both the city and the university. The Roman 

Correspondent details the history of the interdict of 

Adria. The Apostolic letter of our Holy Father on 

the Franciscans, defines the relation of the various 
branches to each other and grants certain privileges. 

Address of Mr. James K. Britten delivered before 

the recent conference of the Catholic Truth Society at 
Manchester. After narrating its origin, history, and 
work, he makes an appeal for moral and financial aid. 
(23 Oct.): The characterization of Ferrer's execution as 
"murder" by the London Daily News is examined edi- 
torially and shown to be unfounded from reports in 
other London papers. Miss Guiney narrates the vary- 
ing fortunes of St. Frideswide's cultus through the dark 
period of the Reformation and down to our own day. 

Maria A. Degani suggests that the French teaching 

orders seeking refuge in England, instead of entering 
fields already crowded, should open " a training course 
in manual pursuits and housecrafts for pupils leaving 
elementary schools." 

(30 Oct.) : An Editorial on the French Government's 
violation of neutrality in the schools and the latest 
measures looking to a complete and absolute state mo- 
nopoly of education. Miss Guiney narrates the his- 
tory of St. Frideswide's cultus outside of Oxford. A 

letter of Father Tyrrell to Bishop Herzog of the Old 
Catholics, in which he repudiates the Councils of Trent 
and the Vatican, and declares his opposition to the 

Papacy. "The Intellectual Claims of the Catholic 

Church," Dr. B. C. A. Windle's address delivered before 
the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland. 

The Month (Oct.): "The Clergy and Social Work" considers 
the nature of the various social works practised by 
priests in France and Germany. It points out how 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 407 

these works, whether from a moral or from a material 
standpoint, have proven beneficial to the working classes. 

Rev. Joseph Keating, in an article entitled " The 

Rationalist as Prophet," reviews a late book, The Decay 
of the Church of Rome, by Joseph McCabe. The latter 
bases his arguments on statistics which Father Keating 
condemns as founded on an arbitrary system. Father 
Keating quotes several passages from the book to show 
that its author is prejudiced toward, and misinformed 

about, matters Catholic. "The Economy of Religious 

Orders," by Rev. Joseph Rickaby, considers the eco 
nomic effects of Religious as teachers and as nurses. 

Rev. J. H. Pollen writes on " Italy and the Counter 

Reformation." This article is a review of The Religious 
Life in Italy During the First Years of the Company of 
Jesus, by Father Venturi. The writer considers at length 
the moral and political condition of the country at the 

time when the Jesuits first came to Italy. In the pre- 

ceeding number Rev. Herbert Thurston considered the 
injustice now done to the Catholic missionary enter- 
prises of former ages. In the current number he takes 
up the question of the early Anglican efforts, which re- 
ceived such praise at the recent Pageant. He maintains 
that the evidence goes to show that the Anglican claim 
of long and laborious years of missionary toil among 
the savages is not established. "The Stonyhurst Ru- 
bens," by W. P. Baines, describes a painting found in 
the gallery of Stonyhurst College. It is said to be a 
genuine Rubens, though not of the usual worldly type, 
and represents the Four Western Doctors of the Church. 
Together with a minute description of the painting, and 
a photograph of it, the author gives a short history of 
the supposed artist. 

(Nov.): The article "A Catholic Society for Social 
Study," by Charles Plater, deals with a new organiza- 
tion composed of eminent Catholics, both clergy and 
laity. The object of this society is to furnish the 
Catholics throughout England with useful information 
and valuable literature. It is part of the scheme to 
establish clubs and, as far as possible, to bring the 
peoples of different sections into communication with 



408 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Dec., 

one another. "The Belgian Patronage System," by 

Frederick O'Connor, describes the clubs for men and 
boys scattered throughout Holland. These clubs were 
founded and are under the supervision of Catholic lay- 
men. The author claims that these clubs have proved 
effective in checking the spread of Socialism. Father 
Thurston's "Book, Bell, and Candle" is a consideration 
of anathemas. It shows the mistaken notions generally 
held concerning them. The author points out that the 
motive for the accumulation of these was to strike terror 
into the hearts of the people, rather than to inflict the 

punishments enumerated. " A Zealous Lover of the 

Sacred Heart," by Ymal Oswin, is a sketch of the life, 
the labors, the sufferings and death of Louise Terese de 
Montaignac, one of the first secretaries-general of the 
promoters of the Apostleship of Prayer. 
The Hibbert Journal (Oct.): Rivalry between "Germany and 
England," says Adolf Harnack, need not ultimately and 
necessarily lead to war; these nations are indispensable 
to each other, which is the secret of peace. Science will 
promote mutual understanding and uproot chauvinism. 
An authoritative discussion of the Emmanuel Move- 
ment, by the Rev. Samuel McComb, under the heading 
"The Christian Religion as a Healing Power." He 
emphasizes its distinctness from Christian Science ; its 
active co-operation with trained physicians; its efforts 
confined to functional disorders; its insistence upon the 
fact of the sub-conscious and upon the inter-dependence 
of the mind and the nervous system : upon the move- 
ment's ethical and philanthropic character. The Rev. 

John Naylor, writing of "Luke and Ancient Medicine," 
propounds the question how far Luke's supernaturalism 
affects his accuracy as an historian, and answers that, 
even if his interpretation of miracle stories be doubtful 

or wrong, the event may have happened. The Rev. 

Alfred Fawkes thinks that the Catholic Church will slow- 
ly but surely crumble under the attacks from " the most 
important life- and thought-tendency since the Reforma- 
tion Modernism." " Ptolemaic and Copernican Views 

of the Place of Mind in the Universe," by Professor S. 
Alexander. In analogy with the Ptolemaic and Ccperni- 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 409 

can views as to the relative importance of the earth in 
the universe are the views that mind is the central 
reality and that mind is merely a distinctive property 
of a certain group of physical things. The author says 
that the former is predominant, but that the latter is 

abroad in some forms of realism. Professor Borden P. 

Bowne praises Darwin as a model investigator, but says 
that " most of Darwin's particular crude claim has passed 
away. Organic connection and unity must be found not 
in the space and time world, but in the world of thought." 

Sir William Collins, in "Crime and Punishment," 

shows the failure of " the present allocation of social 
offenders and defectives," and says that " it is on the 
moral plane that we must work if we are to reconstruct 
character and not merely regulate conduct." 
The Church Quarterly Review (Oct.) : " The Moravian Church 
and the Proposals of the Lambeth Conference," by 
Rev. W. N. Schwarze. The writer feels that church 
unity, while desirable, is not immediately practicable, 
since the Moravians do not consider the episcopate as 
essential, and also because parity between the Moravian 
and the Anglican clergy is not recognized in the pro- 
posals. A General Moravian Synod has, however, since 

adopted resolutions preparing the way for reunion. 

A writer on "The Problems of Morals in France" 
quotes from the rationalists: "Without God we have 
not been able to put forward an efficacious morality." 
" Pharisaism has become the order of the day," and makes 

reform impossible. F. B. Jevons, in "The History 

and Psychology of Religion," denies that fear, although 
predominant, was the only emotional reaction of which 
the religious consciousness was at the beginning capa- 
ble, but claims that to substitute love for fear has been 
the exclusive prerogative of Christianity. "Gnosti- 
cism and Early Christianity in Egypt," says P. D. 
Scott Moncrieff, were curiously mingled until the sure 
establishment of the episcopate in Alexandria and the 

rise of the school of Clement. A description of the 

development of the Jewish doctrines of "Eschatology and 
the Kingdom of Heaven"; how Jesus Christ fulfilled 
all that was pure in their expectation, as He does that 
of all other races, ancient and modern. 



410 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Dec., 

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record (Oct.): Under "The New 
Knowledge and Its Limitations," Rev. P. Coffey, review- 
ing the advances that have been and are every day being 
made in the science of chemistry, states that these dis- 
coveries but enhance the value of the argument from 
design for the existence of God, and urges how impor- 
tant it is that believers in God should familiarize them- 
selves with the scientific facts, lest they be " distorted 

to serve as seeming supports for infidelity." Rev. 

J. F. Hogan, in "The Lay College at Maynooth," con- 
cludes his refutation of the charge that the college was 
founded for the laity as well as for the clergy, and that, 
"by crafty contrivances and machinations the clergy 
succeeded in 'grabbing' the establishment and elbowing 

the laity out. In his first article on " The Words of 

Joan of Arc," R. Barry O'Brien gives a brief account 
of the " Maid's" early life and of the motives which im- 
pelled her to espouse the cause of her country, and 

traces her career from Domremy to Orleans. " A 

Curate in England " writes on " Some Features of 
Catholicism in England." He objects to the spirit of 
gloom which seems to permeate the columns of the 
Catholic press of the country. 

The Irish Theological Quarterly (Oct.): Rev. Leslie J.Walker, 
S.J., in "Truth and Toleration," answers an attack 
upon infallibility by Dr. F. C. S. Schiller. Father 
Walker says that " an infallible authority is the only 
sure criterion of progress," and that "it is not a hard- 
ship to have to obey dogmatic decrees in a society in 
which the qualification for membership is faith." Nor 
is infallibility inconsistent with toleration, since " no one 

is to be constrained to embrace the Faith." "Fair 

Prices and Methods at Auctions," by Rev. David Barry. 

Rev. T. Slater, S.J., says that the "Repetition of 

Extreme Unction " to the same person in the same sick- 
ness oftener than once a year is against the universal 

practice since the Council of Trent* By the words 

"He shall be saved, yet so as by fire," St. Paul speaks 
directly of Purgatory, according to Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., 
as well as of temporal tribulation; he speaks also of 
the last judgment and of the conflagration which will pre- 
cede it. Both "Scholasticism and Modern Thought," 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 411 

writes Rev. P. Coffey, have their difficulties. If the 
former is indefinite about materia pr i-ma, so is the latter 
about ether. But "Scholasticism must be modernized, 
reformed, supplemented, harmonized with modern science 
it must become Neo-Scholasticism if it is to in- 
fluence modern thought." 

Le Correspondant (25 Oct.): "Socialism and the Conquest of 
the Peasants," by Joseph Bois. " The peasant loves his 
soil"; according to the author these few words express 
more forcibly than any long discourse, the chief obstacle 

in the path of the Socialists. " The Religious Crisis 

of the French Revolution," by De Lanzac de Laborie. 

"The Union of South Africa," says E. de Renty^ 

"is virtually accomplished. Its constitution was ap- 
proved by the English Parliament on the 2Oth of last 

August."- "A Victory," a short story by Dorlisheim. 

Jules Guillemot contributes a critique of " The 

Prefaces of the Younger Dumas," and of Edmond About, 
Victorian Sardou, and Edouard Pailleron. 

Etudes (5 Oct.) : The origin, work, the extent of the secrets 
known by, and the relations with the government and 
clergy, of the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, a 
seventeenth-century charitable organization of France, 
in the light of documents recently edited, are described 

by Joseph Brucker. Jules Grivet joins issue with 

Henri Bergson over certain philosophical conclusions of 
the latter. In his attempt .to prove the freedom of the 
will, Bergson, is said to fail, because he does not under- 
stand the true nature of man. Grivet claims that man 
is free because he is reasonable and can will all that 

reason shows to him to be good. Michel d'Herbigny 

continues an account of the life and writings of Vladimer 

Solaviev, the Newman of Russia. Salvation among 

the Hindoos, writes Pierre Carty, consists in the libera- 
tion from the chains of existence which is accomplished 
by true knowledge. The means for obtaining this are 
described as, at their best, only preternatural. 
(20 Oct.) : A summary of the legislation effected by the 
Belgian Catholic Congress at Malines, in September last, 

is contributed by Joseph Boubee. It is the opinion 

of Gabriel Huvelin that there are two distinct accounts 






412 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Dec., 

of the creation and the deluge in Genesis. Such a theory 
is said not to conflict with inspiration, nor with the 

reality of the main facts. Joseph Brucker continues 

his article on the Company of the Blessed Sacrament, 
relating its various charitable foundations throughout 
France, in Northern Africa, and the Far East, especially 

in hospitals, refuges, and prisons. In 1823 Father 

Fortis, S.J., forbade the Jesuits of France to teach seven 
propositions chosen from "The Essay of Fenelon." The 
latter resented the action, and the correspondence that 
followed between him and Father Godinot, the Jesuit 

provincial, is given in full by Paul Dudon. Lucien 

Roure criticizes experiments with the medium, Eusapia 
Falladino. 

Revue du Clerge Francais (15 Oct.): In the " Paulinism of 
Mark," E. Mangenot, begins an analysis of M. Loisy's 
theory, according to which the Gospel of Mark, in its 
present form, was not written by a disciple of Peter, but 
by a partisan, if not a disciple, of Paul. "The Con- 
gress of Psychology at Geneva (August 3-7, 1909) and 
the Study of Religious Phenomena," by Jules Pacheu, 
is, in part, a report of the Congress, but it deals espe- 
cially with the tendency of certain Positivistic scientists 
to dogmatize on the non-existence of the supernatural. 

J. Bricout reviews a Manual of Apologetics, by P. 

Etienne Hugueny, O.P. This is the first volume of a 
work entitled Catholic and Critic. The work is highly 
praised for its excellent composition, its wisdom and 
moderation, for its success in combining severe critical 
methods with correctness of language and elegance of 
style. Under the heading, "The Philosophical Chron- 
icle," E. Lenoble reviews The Systems of Philosophy or 
Affirmative Philosophies, by Ernest Naville; a Text-Book 
of Psychology, by William James; and a volume of 
Essays on Cognition, by George Fonsegrive. A pas- 
toral letter of the Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops 
of France sets forth their mind relative to the " Rights 

and Duties of Parents regarding the Schools." "The 

Sexual Morality of the School," is a reprint of a con- 
ference of M. Malapert. 

La Revue des Science* Ecclesiastiques et La Science Catholique 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 413 

(Oct.) : Abbe J. B. Verdier treats -"The Relations Between 
Church and State," or the public rights of the Church 
and liberty of conscience; the Concordat as seen at Paris 
and at Rome. The demands of the Cardinals in 1905 
for a loyal understanding and application of this working 
basis for co-operation has proven utterly futile.' Em. 

Nevent continues " The Structure of the Psalms." 

" The Gregorian Restoration and the Solesmes School," 
by Norbert Rousseau, continued. The points argued are 
as follows: "The work of Solesmes does not contradict 
the 'Gregorian Melodies' of Dom Pothier; it is a licit 
work, authorized, though not officially approved; it is 
strictly scientific and traditional; it is aesthetic and prac- 
tical." 

Revue du Monde Catholique (15 Oct.) : " The Duties and Rights of 
Parents Relative to the Education of their Children," is 

treated by X -, who, from the pastoral letter of the French 

Episcopate, desires to show how the State, although it 
can aid and assist parents, yet can never supplant them 
in the education of their children. "Monsieur Tyr- 
rell ; or, the True Religion of the Modernist," by 
Chanoine Beaurredon, based on the volume Am I a 
Catholic f a reply to Mgr. Mercier on the seat of au- 
thority in the Church. " Are Women More Moral than 

Men ? " is the question Theodore Joran undertakes to 
discuss in his article : " Feminism in the Order of Moral 
Realities." He answers that, in this matter, the sexes 
are on a par. 

Revue Thomiste (Sept.-Oct) : The opening article, by Dom 
Renaudin, O.S.B., on " St. Thomas Aquinas and St. 
Benedict," may be summarized under the following head- 
ings : The Influence of Monte Cassino in the training of 
St. Thomas; His devotion to St. Benedict and his ap- 
preciation of the Benedictine rule as manifested in his 
works ; His friendly relations with the Benedictines. 
A. D. Sertillanges, in the " Principles of Nature Ac- 
cording to St. Thomas," discusses at length the Thomis- 
tic theory of the constitution of matter, and shows its 
i elation to ancient naturalism and the modern Dynamic 

Theory. "The authentic Writings of St. Thomas" 

is continued. R. P. Petiot writes on " Pascal's Theory 



4H FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Dec., 

of Knowledge." A correct understanding of Pascal's 
thought is said to depend on the clear distinction made 
between reason and intelligence, and between the will 
and what in his terminology is meant by the heart. 
Stimmen aus Maria-Loach (21 Oct.): "Literary Oppositions 
Among German Catholics." A. Baumgartner, S.J., dis- 
cusses R. V. Kralik's answer to accusations raised against 
him by Muth. The writer agrees with Kralik that 
Catholic belles-lettres should have a religious and Catho- 
lic spirit as well as a national and artistic one. "The 
Devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ Reviewed His- 
torically, Down to the Beginning of the Devotion to 
the Sacred Heart." H. Bruders, S.J., sketches the de- 
velopment of the interest taken through the Christian 
ages in the devotion to Christ's person as we see it 
reflected in epic and lyric poetry, in painting and archi- 
tecture, in processions and particular devotions, and in 
Eucharistic Congresses. The devotion to the Sacred 
Heart has brought the devotions both to the historical 

and the Eucharistic Jesus into a complete harmony. 

Julius Bessmer, S.J., in an article, "The Cult of De- 
cadence," discusses pathological literary tendencies on 
the example of Paul Verlaine, and the great interest 

taken in him by many modern writers. St. Beissel, 

S.J., concludes his " Contributions to the History of 
Prayer-Baoks," by discussing the types of prayer-books 
used since the seventeenth century, and by calling 
attention to the superabundance of cheap prayer-books 
used at the present time. The liturgies of the Church 
are the best example and the most wholesome source 

for prayer-books, Otto Pfuelf, S.J., concludes his 

paper " An Impartial Word About the Inquisition." 
The political and social development of the Christian 
world led with almost automatic precision to the estab- 
lishment of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was not an 
arbitrary introduction, but a judicial progress. It did 
not introduce severer punishments, but restricted the 
existing ones and brought them under legal control. 
The main object of the inquisitors was to bring back 
the erring and to secure the protection of the faithful 
and innocent. 



1909.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 415 

Revue Pratique d ' Apologetique (15 Oct.): Amaury de Cibaix 
presents an " Essay in Religious Psychology," treating 
the problem of evil, man's present fallen state, and his 

search for happiness. " Notes on Jewish Thought in 

the Time of our Lord," by G. Bardy, concluded. The 
author says that the apocalypses proclaimed the sorrows 
of this world, which they announced as providentially 
determined by God and the glories of the world to 
come, the date of whose arrival they definitely settled. 
These books appeared under the name of some venerable 
person like Enoch and claimed authority above canonical 

writings. E. Mangenot, writing of the " Reality and 

Glorified State of Christ's Risen Body," says: "The 
Gospel narratives cannot be explained by interior visions; 
the fact of the Resurrection of Christ in corporeal life 
must be taken or left. The hypothesis of pneumatic 
objective visions cannot satisfy the modern conscience, 
which rejects everything supernatural. It cannot explain 
the empty tomb and it makes God the direct cause of 
a serious optical delusion." " Meditation on the Ro- 
sary," by Ph. Ponsard, is a defence of external religion 
and of the use of matter in our redemption, as it had a 

share in man's fall. H. Lesetre reviews the origin, 

object, and lessons of the feast of All Saints. Col- 
lective Pastoral Letter of the Bishops of France on the 
rights and duties of parents in the matter of education. 

La Civilta Cattolica (16 Oct.): "Theosophic Motives of Cred- 
ibility for the Gospels." This article shows how irre- 
ligious, anti-scientific, and immoral are the general prin- 
ciples of theosophy, by which the famous Annie Besant 
claims that her communication with the spirits of the 
other world have confirmed in part the story of Christ's 

life in the Gospels and in part discredited it. "The 

Duty of the Family in the Correction of Youth." The 
writer lays bare the disordered conditions of the social 
body to-day, resulting from the prevalence of public 
life over the private ; of society over the family, and 
claims that juvenile criminality is the result of di- 
vorcing Christ and religion from the schools. "The 

Activity of Catholic Ladies in Italy." A new society 
has been organized in Rome by the Princess Lady 



416 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Dec. 

Christina Bandini, with some of the wealthiest women in 
Rome and in various other Provinces, in order to alle- 
viate the sorrows and miseries of the poor. " Popu- 
lar Action in France." The purpose of this Catholic 
action in France is the defense and propagation of 
sound social doctrine. The founder of this work is the 
Abbe Leroy. 

Espana y America (15 Oct.): P. A. Blanco gives his third paper 
on " Mendel and his Scientific Work," summing up the 
precautions used by the Augustinian in his experiments 
upon plants, and presents tributes to his accuracy from 

Cuenot, Bateson, Biffen, and Mayer. P. C. Fernandez, 

O.P., continues his " Exegetical System of St. Thomas 
Aquinas." He says that St. Thomas undeniably ad- 
mitted a plurality of literal senses in the Scriptures, as 
did his master, St. Augustine, or at least that such a 

plurality is not repugnant. P. M. B. Garcia is enthu 

siastic over a visit to a popular New York theatre, and 
quotes approvingly the words of Van Dyke: "The 
people of the United States are most idealistic, engaged 
in a tremendous materialistic task." 

Raztn y Fe (Oct.): V. Minteguiaga, following the example of 
the prelates of the ecclesiastical province of Bourgos, 
appeals to the civil power for a law repressing anti- 
social and anti-religious propaganda, as evinced by the 

Barcelona riots. R. Ruiz Amado, in answering the 

charges about "The Excessive Number of Monks," re- 
fers to the much greater number of bachelors and of 
depraved persons in Spain, the preponderance of women 
over men even favoring many women's entering con- 
vents, and then declares that celibacy is not a crime 
against nature, when freely chosen and freely persevered 

in. "The Use of Sweet Wine at Mass," and various 

theories of fermentation, with ecclesiastical opinions and 
permissions, by Eduardo Vitoria. N. Noguer de- 
scribes the regeneration of the Italian province of Trent 
by co-operation. Concluding " Notes on the Euchar- 
istic Apostolate of St. Ignatius." 



Current Events. 



The relations of France with for- 

France. eign Powers have undergone but 

little change. Some anxiety was 

felt for a time that the co-operation and mutual understand- 
ing with Spain as to Morocco was being endangered by the 
warlike operations against the Riffs which have been carried on 
so long. Apprehensions were beginning to be felt that these 
operations might be the prelude to more ambitious projects. 
Rumors were abroad that compensation for the loss of her 
colonies was to be obtained by the conquest of a part of 
Morocco, and that this was the goal of the King's ambition. 
The former Commander-in-Chief of the French army during 
the operations in the neighborhood of Casablanca, General d'Am- 
ade, gave public utterance to these fears, by declaring that 
Spanish activity was imperilling French interests in Morocco. 
The fifty or ^sixty thousand men whom Spain had sent to 
Africa indicated projects, the General thought, that were of 
greater importance than the policing of Melilla, projects which 
threatened to interfere with the securing by France of an out- 
let from Algeria to the Atlantic Ocean. 

These utterances of a General on the active list, if they had 
remained unnoticed by the French government, would have 
implied its approbation, and would consequently have brought 
an end to further co-operation between France and Spain. 
The Minister for War ; therefore, felt that it was his duty to inflict 
upon the over-zealous General the penalty of placing him, as 
they call it, en disponibilite, that is to say, putting him upon 
the unemployed list of the army for six months, with the pay 
of his rank, and the possibility of being reinstated. The For- 
eign Minister, M. Pichon, declared in public that he recognized 
the loyalty of Spain to her engagements, that she had kept 
within the sphere which had been defined by treaties, and that 
she had given formal assurances that it was her intention to 
respect all the clauses of the Treaty of Algeciras. Those trea- 
ties, M. Pichon declared, secure to France a free outlet 
through Morocco from Algeria to the Atlantic. There seems, 
therefore, no reason to think that discord will arise between 
TOL xc. 27 






4i 8 CURRENT EVENTS [Dec., 

France and Spain, and still less reason for believing that Ger- 
many is promoting what does not exist. 

There is reason, however, to anticipate a revival of the 
conflict between Morocco and France. Mulai Hafid, the Sul- 
tan who a short time ago was a humble suppliant for recog- 
nition by the Courts of Europe, has already undergone that 
deterioration which the possession of power so often brings 
about. Not content with inflicting upon his own subjects tor- 
tures so many and so horrible that they have called forth the 
remonstrances of the Powers, he has of late been subjecting to 
unjust treatment the protected subjects of other powers, and 
particularly of France. Moreover, he objects to pay the bill 
which has been incurred by the recent operations round 
Casablanca, at least he has up to this deferred payment. He 
seems anxions, too, that France should evacuate both Casa- 
blanca and Ujda. He has sent an embassy to Paris to negoti- 
ate, but this embassy seems more desirous of talking than of 
coming to any decision. 

The French, therefore, are becoming impatient, and it is not 
at all improbable that the near future will see a resumption of 
active operations against the Sultan. With reference to other 
countries France's relations are in the same state as before, 
although there is reason to think that the Tsar's visit to the 
King of Italy, and the rapprochement between Italy and Russia 
indicated thereby, may have the effect of bringing Italy and 
France into closer relations. 

The last Session of the Chambers previous to the Election 
next spring has begun, and the political campaign has been in- 
augurated. M. Briand's ministry will, in all probability, re- 
main in power and conduct the election, although it would be 
rash, considering the large number of various parties existing 
in the Chamber, and the possible permutations and combina- 
tions of these parties, to feel sure. M. Briand himself seems 
to be growing in influence. He has become an eloquent and 
persuasive orator, manifesting an appearance of fairness and 
moderation which is lacking to the Extremists on either side, 
and if he has not abjured the Socialism of which he was once 
the ardent defender, he recognizes fully that it is not yet with- 
in the range of practical politics. In the speech which he made 
at Perigueux before the beginning of the Session, which was 
meant to be an exposition of his policy, conciliation and toler- 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 419 

ation were declared to be his guiding stars. The Republic was 
not only to be strong, but it was to be made capable of being 
loved by all Frenchmen. The adhesion and support of all was 
to be attracted so powerfully as to render opposition to the 
Republic an antiquated absurdity. The French Republic must 
be, he declared, the Republic of all Frenchmen, including 
Catholic Frenchmen, for he has repeatedly recognized that even 
these have the rights of French citizens. The broadest tolera- 
tion and freedom of speech and of religious opinion were in- 
cumbent upon the government. Workingmen's pensions, the 
encouragement of national industries, security and confidence, as 
the condition of all prosperity, were to be the immediate aims 
of the government. The relations of capital and labor, the 
conflict between which he could not bring himself to believe 
was to be eternal, would be dealt with to the best of the 
ability of the government, in the hope that a radical solution 
might gradually be evolved ; towards which solution profit- 
sharing seemed to him to present hopeful promise. The undue 
devotion to the local interests of their own constituents, which 
has been a source of abuse in the past, rather than to those of 
France as a whole, rendered it necessary to inculcate upon the 
electorate the necessity of remembering that a deputy once 
elected is no longer their own mere local deputy, but a deputy 
of France. 

A strong movement has been begun for a reform of elec- 
toral methods in order to prevent these selfish local interests 
just referred to from exercising undue preponderance. The 
substitution of what is called the scrutin de liste and of propor- 
tional representation for the existing method of scrutin d'ar- 
rondissement is being advocated as a means of effecting this 
desirable object. A leading member of the Cabinet, M. Mil- 
lerand, has publicly advocated this plan, and it has the sup- 
port of representatives of every shade of political opinion, 
from the Extreme Right to the Socialist Left. The fact that 
so prominent a member of the government had given support 
to the proposed Reform, led people to expect that the Minis- 
ters would, during the present session, advocate its adoption. 
M, Briand, however, although not in any way an opponent of 
the measure, declared that it was impossible, in the short time 
that remained before dissolution, to make so great a change. 
The country had not had time to understand the meaning of 



420 CURRENT EVENTS [Dec., 

the proposal. Moreover, it would be bad party policy at the 
present time, from the Republican point of view, for it would 
strengthen the Extreme Right and the Extreme Left. The 
majority of the Chamber accepted this proposed adjournment, 
and M. Briand's speech was ordered to be placarded through- 
out France. But the organizers of the movement will resolutely 
continue their campaign, and it seems likely that, during the 
coming elections, the question will be paramount among the 
election cries. 

M. Briand's declared devotion to toleration, even towards 
French Catholics, made at Perigueux, was soon put to the test, 
and does not seem to have stood that test. The text- books 
used in the State Schools are, in many cases, of so anti-relig- 
ious a character that no religious Protestant in this country 
would allow them entrance into his house, much less make 
them the authoritative guides for his children. Such at least 
was the case some years ago, and we have no reason to think 
that they have improved. The Bishops of France felt bound 
to condemn the use of such books, just as every conscientious 
parent in this country is doing every day. Moreover, many 
of the teachers in the French schools aggravate the difficulty 
and not only pervert the children, but violate the law as it 
stands. The Bishops, allied with laymen, have successfully 
sought the protection of the courts so successfuly that a bill 
is being introduced to protect the teachers in their wrong- 
doing. 

That the Bishops should have taken these active steps has 
raised a great outcry, and there were those who felt that the 
principles enunciated by M. Briand should lead him to take 
their side. For Catholics, he had often said, were French 
citizens, and had all the rights of French citizens. But, no ; 
the supremacy of the Ecolc La'ique must be maintained, and any 
one and anything that conflicted with this supremacy was to 
be suppressed. And so M. Briand expressed his agreement 
with the proposals of M. Doumergue, the Minister of Educa- 
tion, and promised to give his support to them. These pro- 
posals have for their object the exemption of the teachers from 
legal prosecution. Not satisfied with this, M. Doumergue has 
warned the teachers to take no account of any summons that 
may be addressed to them by the clergy or by associations of 
parents, asking them to withdraw from the hands of the pupils 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 421 

the regular text-books which the Bishops have condemned. 
The poor children, too, who obey their parents are to be vis- 
ited with disciplinary penalties. 

This is the way in which, when it comes to the point, lib- 
erty and toleration are understood in France. It is well to 
remember, however, that it might, perhaps may, be worse. 
The Catholics are, at present, allowed to have their own schools. 
But there is a party in France, of which M. Combes, not long 
ago Prime Minister, is the leader, which advocates the entire 
suppression of these schools, and the making it unlawful for 
any one to teach, except under the control of the State. How 
numerous this party is we do not know, nor whether it will in- 
crease or decrease in numbers. This depends upon the greater 
or less resistance which is offered to it by the people of France 
and to the way in which the resistance is offered. There is a 
fair prospect that an effective mode will be found of counter- 
acting what is in reality a despotic form of government. It 
has been suggested that Catholics, genuine Liberals, and decent 
people of all parties, should unite in a policy of justice and 
conciliation, and this suggestion has been approved by a large 
number of Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops, including the 
Archbishop of Toulouse. In view of the approaching elections 
the Bishop of Nancy has issued a manifesto approving of a 
policy which, had it been adopted years ago, would have 
averted many evils. He counsels the faithful of his diocese to 
draw a sharp distinction between the defense of religious in- 
terests and the defense of the political interests of the country, 
the confusion of which in the past he knew had been frequently 
disastrous. " It is my conviction," he said, " which is con- 
stantly becoming more profound, that in France the clergy 
ought not to take part in electoral fights. By doing so it would 
compromise its mission, which is higher, which is essential its 
mission as an apostle, as a savior of souls. ... I affirm that 
public opinion in France is opposed to such intervention of the 
c^rgy, and that none of the political parties would agree to it." 
No surer way, indeed, to secure the defeat of religious in- 
terests can be found as things are now than for the clergy to 
support them by interference in elections. The mere suspicion, 
M. Julien de Narfon affirms in the Figaro, that the clergy are 
attempting to govern the consciences of their flocks, is an 
asset of considerable value to the enemies of religion, and the 



422 CURRENT EVENTS [Dec., 

higher the source of the intervention the more disastrous are 
the consequences. 

The Bishop, however, is not in favor of total abstention 
from the political defense of religion ; while carefully abstaining 
from organizing a party, Catholics should make use of their 
votes in all cases and on behalf of the candidates most likely 
to do the best service to religious interests, without scrutin- 
izing too closely their political creed. The one who would 
oppose the spirit of persecution in all its forms should be 
chosen for support. The Catholic Press, the Bishop declares, 
has been as great a sinner in the tone of its polemics as have 
been its opponents; without wishing to suppress "contro- 
versies which though fiery, remain courteous," the Bishop is 
convinced that it would be " a glaring contradiction to speak 
of an understanding and of common action while persisting in 
personal attacks and in violent accusations." This conciliatory 
political movement, advocated by the Bishop, ought to be 
promoted by an active spirit of conciliation rather than by the 
usual organization of committees. Conciliation is a state of 
mind rather than a cast-iron party programme, a virtue not of 
this world. The Bishop finally advises his flock not to yield 
to the feeling which is widespread in Catholic circles, that 
"things must be worse before they become better." The wise 
course is to use every available means to make them better at 
once. Abstention from the polls, he declares, has always been 
one of the cankers of French Parliamentary institutions, 
i 

The seventh of October was the 
Germany. thirtieth anniversary of the sign- 

ing of the Treaty between Ger- 
many and Austria-Hungary which, by the subsequent adhesion 
of Italy, eventuated in the Triple Alliance. The exact terms 
of the Treaty have not been published, but its results have 
been manifest. The maintenance of peace for so long a period 
is to be attributed to it. It has, in fact, formed the founda- 
tion of European politics for three decades. According to the 
Cologne Gazette this league between Germany and Austria has 
passed into the blood of the peoples. The relation of Italy 
to the other powers is not so close, nor is it clear that the 
two Powers are satisfied with its attitude; and it is all but 
certain that Italy is not satisfied with the position in the 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 423 

Alliance which Germany and Austria would have her to take. 
There are those who think that the recent visit of the Tsar to 
the King of Italy may initiate a new grouping of the Powers. 
The rapprochement between Italy and Russia which has re- 
sulted from the visit seems incompatible with the objects of 
the Triple Alliance. 

No year passes in Germany without the issue of a new 
loan. The fresh issue is not so large as that of the previous 
year, although it is for a considerable sum about one hun- 
dred and twenty-five millions of dollars, It would be a mis- 
take to think that, however unsatisfactory the process of 
making additions to the indebtedness of the nation may be, 
these additions are an indication of the poverty of Germany. 
Experts in finance affirm that the Empire is well able to bear 
even greater burdens. That it can raise a loan at all indicates 
the possession of resources ; there are nations so poor that 
no one will lend to them. 

The Socialist Party, in spite of all the opposition offered to 
it, continues to make further progress. At Coburg and in 
Baden and Saxony it has been winning electoral victories. In 
Baden those victories were won at the expense of the Centre- 
Conservatives, whose vote decreased by 14 per cent, while the 
Liberal vote was 8 per cent less than at the last elections, the 
increase of the Socialist vote is given at 71 percent. In Sax- 
ony the number of Socialists is 21 times as large as in the 
previous Parliament 21 Socialists instead of one. In Berlin 
itself they have been successful at three by-elections It is re- 
ported that the Imperial Treasury contemplates the adoption 
of what many look upon as a socialistic expedient for raising 
revenue. It has requested the Federal Governments to furnish 
information with regard to the introduction of an Imperial un- 
earned-increment tax capable of yielding five millions a year. 
Upwards of a hundred municipalities for their own local pur- 
poses have already adopted this tax ; the proposal that it 
should be adopted as an Imperial Tax was first made by the 
Conservatives. 

Austria-Hungary has been cele- 

Austria-Hungary. brating its own anniversary that 

.of the annexation of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina, although so great is the degree of internal dis- 
organization in the Dual Monarchy that neither of its two Par- 



424 CURRENT EVENTS [Dec., 

liaments has ratified the act of annexation. The promised Con- 
stitution has not yet, so far as we have learned, been pro- 
claimed, although it is said to have been prepared and ap- 
proved of by the two Governments. Of the events which led 
up to the annexation corrections are being made of the accounts 
which appeared at the time. In particular, the well-known 
Austrian historian, Dr. Heinrich Friedjung, has made an effort 
to place Count von Aehrenthal's conduct in a more favorable 
light. 

The danger of war having been averted, the various nation- 
alities have resumed with renewed vigor their internecine 
quarrels. In Bohemia the conflict between Germans and Czechs 
has been so fierce that the Diet has had to be prorogued with- 
out doing a stroke of work. In the Diet of Carniola at Lai- 
bach Slovene Liberals assailed their Catholic opponents with 
missiles filled with sulphurated hydrogen. In Hungary the 
dissensions are so bitter that for six months it has been im- 
possible to form a ministry. The Diets of Lower and Upper 
Austria, Salzburg and Vorarlberg, have voted measures estab- 
lishing German as the only official language in these prov- 
inces. On the ratification of these provisions by the Austrian 
Cabinet, the two Czech members resigned. The high treason 
trial, which has been going on at Agram for some nine 
months, resulted in the condemnation of some of the accused. 
This was a part of the conflict for supremacy between the 
Magyars and the Slavs. The former alleged that there was a 
treasonable conspiracy of the latter; and although the case 
completely broke down, it was felt necessary, for reasons 
thought to be for the good of the State, to inflict penalties on 
those whose guilt had not been proved. The remarkable 
thing is that this supposed State- necessity was looked upon as 
a sufficient justification of such a proceeding. 

As a consequence of the recent unwonted activity, the peoples 
of Austria, already overwhelmed with taxes, are to have a large 
additional burden imposed upon their shoulders. The avowed 
deficit is very large, even without taking account of the build- 
ing of Dreadnoughts which is contemplated. To meet it fur- 
ther taxes are to be imposed, an increased duty on spirits, a 
successive duty on inheritances and gifts of from ij^ to 18 
per cent; an increase of the income tax, and of dividend 
taxes. Bachelors, and others who have only one person for 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 425 

whom to provide, are to be made to contribute on this account 
to the support of the State, as well as all drinkers of mineral 
and soda waters. And no one is to be allowed either to make 
or sell matches except the State. All these increases are irre- 
spective of the cost of the Dreadnoughts which it is proposed 
to build. 

In Russia there has been no no- 
Russia, table change. The Constitution is 

still in existence, although it has 

many enemies. The Tsar has regained popularity, and can 
not only venture to go through the streets with safety, but is 
cheered by the people on his public appearances. He is, for 
the first time for many years, to pass the winter in St. Peters- 
burg. Anxiety has been felt about Finland, that a second 
attempt was to be made upon its privileges, and even that a 
part of it was to be incorporated into Russia. But there 
seems to be reason to think strange to say that in the con- 
flict that has arisen the Russian government may be in the 
right. Finland belongs to Russia by conquest from Sweden, 
although in the treaty by which the latter country relinquished 
its former province, certain privileges were conferred on the 
Finns. The question which has now arisen concerns the extent 
of these privileges. Some of the Finns seem to exaggerate, 
and to give an extension to them beyond all due bounds. 
Their claims are analogous to those of the Independence Party 
in Hungary. They wish to have no other bond to Russia 
except the personal bond, which consists ia the fact that the 
Tsar is Grand Duke of Finland. The Russian Ministry and 
the Duma are to have no power over any Finnish institution. 
This claim is resisted by the Russian government, who declare 
that, while willing to maintain all the privileges really granted 
at the time of the union of Russia and Finland, it cannot go 
further. Finland was a province of Sweden, she cannot claim 
to be more than a province of Russia, although autonomous. 

An Imperial Rescript has been published withdrawing from 
the competence of the Finnish Diet all imperial military legis- 
lation, and handing it over to the Duma; imposing also a con- 
tribution for the support of the army. These measures are 
meeting with strenuous opposition in Finland and troops have 
been sent in view of a possible uprising. The President of the 



426 CURRENT EVENTS [Dec., 

Duma, M. Homiakoff, is reported to have said that, had the 
question arisen ten years ago, he .would unhesitatingly have 
said that Russia was wrong; but that at present it was im- 
possible to pass judgment. 

The visit of the Tsar to the King 
Italy. of Italy, which has been due for 

many years, is, as every one ac- 
knowledges, an event which may have far-reaching conse- 
quences. The almost ostentatious way in which his Imperial 
Majesty avoided even passing through Austrian territory is 
looked upon as indicating that the alienation between the two 
countries is as great as ever. The result of the visit, as de- 
clared by the best authorities, is the attainment of complete 
accord between Italy and Russia on all Balkan questions. 
How Italy can be in perfect agreement with both Austria and 
Russia in these matters, inasmuch as the two latter countries 
are in direct opposition one to the other, passes the wit of 
man to see ; and in what way the inevitable disagreement will 
be manifested is an object of interest for the near future. 

The revolution which has taken 
Greece. place in Greece, by which consti- 

tutional methods have been over- 
ridden although not destroyed, is in many ways similar to 
what has taken place in Turkey, but in one very important 
respect different. In both cases it was the army which caused 
the reforms to be made, and in both cases their motive was 
the same the humiliations to which the antecedent regime 
had compelled their country to submit from foreign powers. 
The difference between the two cases was that the government 
overturned in Turkey was the loathesome despotism of Abdu 
Hamid, while in Greece the offending authority was a parlia- 
ment of the most democratic form. 

Greece, since attaining its freedom from the rule of Turkey, 
has been a constitutional monarchy and its legislative cham- 
ber, elected by universal suffrage, is but one and has no sen- 
ate or House of Lords to control it. The King, too, has, by the 
admission of all, acted always in a perfectly constitutional way^ 
never resisting the advice of his minister nor exercising any in- 
itiative of his own. And yet things have been so mismanaged 



1909.] CURRENT EVENTS 427 

that the country has seen the necessity of acquiescing in the 
practical seizure of all power by the Military League. This 
League has dictated to the Chamber more than a score of laws, 
and the Chamber has obediently passed these laws, without dis- 
cussion, when the League wished there should be none ; with a 
semblance of discussion, when such was the will of the League. 
While seizing power themselves, the attempt of Typaldos to 
do the same on behalf of the junior officers of the Navy was 
promptly crushed with the co-operation of the League. The 
defeated mutineers are not to be tried by Court martial, but, 
as being a political offense, they are to be handed over to the 
Civil Courts. Perhaps Spain would have been better advised 
if its government had acted in the same way with Senor Ferrer. 

^ <r 

There seems at last to be good 
The Congo. ground for looking forward to a 

settlement of this question. The 

Belgian Minister for the Colonies has laid before the Chamber 
a plan which gradually revokes the decrees which established 
the central feature of the system hitherto in force the owner- 
ship by the government of the natural products of the country. 
The natives are to be granted the right to take the produce 
of the soil in the Domain. This is to be accomplished in three 
stages the last of which is to be July I, 1912. How the Con- 
cessionaires are to be treated has not yet been announced, but 
an investigation is to be made to ascertain whether it may not 
be advisable to make fresh arrangements with these companies, 



With Our Readers. 



PRESIDENT TAFT was present at the recent celebration of the 
1 golden jubilee of St. Aloysius' parish, Washington, D. C. It 
is an interesting fact that fifty years before President Buchanan was 
present at the dedication of the same church. President Taft's 
words at the celebration are in striking contrast to the policy of 
relentless tyranny against the Church pursued for years past by the 
government of France. The President declared that separation of 
Church and State in this country did not mean that there was hos- 
tility between the two. 

Pius X., during an audience lately given to some French 
pilgrims, denounced the recent religious persecutions in France. 
" In that country," said the Holy Father, " where the State is the 
arbiter of religion, war is being waged against the Episcopate, the 
clergy, and the faithful, who are prevented from performing their 
duty, while the rights of citizenship are denied them." 

That the persecution is a deliberate and cold-blooded attempt 
to root out every vestige of religion in the coming generation of 
French men and women is evident from the following extract from 
the Daily Post of Birmingham, England. The article was written 
by their French correspondent : 

" French families of good old Huguenot stock are as grieved at 
what is going oh as Roman Catholics themselves. At their Con- 
sistories, at their meetings, in their temples, in their homes, the 
note is one of lamentation ; and, if I venture on a statement that 
may appear paradoxical, it seems to me, from facts that have come 
under my personal notice, that French Protestants and French 
Catholics have been brought into sympathetic contact with each 
other by the anti-Christian wave. It is the first instinct of common 
action against a common danger, and will certainly grow. 

" This very week I have been appealed to by a distinguished 
Protestant family, well known in French society and in consistorial 
circles, to do my utmost in the press to call attention to a grievance 
that affects the sanctity of the Christian home. It is this. At 
the lycees the teachers give the boys on Saturday afternoon so many 
lessons to prepare for Monday morning that the Sundays are taken 
up in studies, and, as a consequence, divine worship, the catechism 
class, associations with parents, are interfered with. Altogether 
it is an indirect method of secularizing the whole week, instead of 
six days. My friends are not alone ; a number of their co-religion- 
ists share in the same discontentment, and it helps what I have been 



1909.] WITH OUR READERS 429 

saying when I add that in the movement of protest that is being 
formed the Protestant pastors are seeking the active support of the 
Catholic priests." 

Yet Dr. Henry van Dyke, who lectured during this year at the 
Sorbonne, has some encouraging words to say about the present 
conditions in France : 

" Despite the many injustices of the Separation I,aw and the 
friction between Church and State, in my opinion the outlook for the 
Catholic Church in France is brighter than it has been in many a 
long year. The very hardships the Church is suffering are making 
for good, and in the rural districts a devotion is being roused in the 
hearts of the peasantry which will be the Church's strength in years 

to come." 

# 

A PROPOS of the statement that the late Father Tyrrell would have 
f*- found a peaceful home in the Anglican Church, it is interesting 
to read the words in the Anglican organ, The Church Quarterly Re- 
view, written by the Professor of Pastoral Theology in King's Col- 
lege, London : " If he had joined us, what would he have found? 
Freedom from obscurantism in pulpit, press, and council ? Clear 
solutions of his two great problems, ' What is revelation ? ' and 
'What is Church authority?' Absence of legalism, Medievalist, 
Protestant, and Erastian ? Seperiority to shibboleths, [a text, an Arti- 
cle, an Act of Parliament, a point of ritual, a dogmatic symbol, the 
catch-words of the third, or fourth, or sixth century, or of that line 
across Church history, mythical as the ' line ' of the equator, which 
is called the undivided Church ? We trow not." 



AN interesting and instructive address, that should inspire many 
workers, lay and clerical, in the missionary field to-day, was 
delivered at the Kucharistic Congress held in Cologne, by Bishop 
Clancy, of Elphin, Ireland. He recalled the fact that the famous 
John Duns Scotus once lived in Cologne and labored in the Fran- 
ciscan monastery there ; Scotus died there in 1308, and there he is 
buried. Ireland bore the light of the Gospel and the blessings of 
Christian civilization to almost every people on the continent of 
Europe. Columba crossed to lona and he and his brethren were 
the apostles of the Picts and Serbs of North Britain. St. Fiacre 
preached around Meaux, in France, and so popular became pilgrim- 
ages to his shrine in after years that the hackney coach which con- 
veyed travelers thither received and still bears the saint's name. 
St. Killian won his crown of martyrdom at Wurzburg ; and Livinus 
suffered unto death in Flanders. St. Donatus died a bishop of Lecce, 



430 WITH OUR READERS [Dec., 

in the then kingdom of Naples. St. Virgilius became Bishop of 
Salzburg, in Austria ; and St. Fridolin evangelized Spain. It was 
fitting, indeed, that the bishop should recall to the Christian world 
its indebtedness to the " Island of Saints and Scholars," to whose 
agency, under God, the preservation and, in many places, the incep- 
tion of the Church's faith is indisputably due. 

* * * 

ONE of the most important and efficacious means of spreading 
abroad Catholic truth is Catholic literature ; and Catholic lit- 
erature that is within the reach of the people : that is written by 
authoritative and capable hands, and yet phrased in language to be 
understood by the people. When one surveys, even for a moment, 
the conditions of, and the problems that confront, the Catholic people 
of our land, there is no more crying need than this. To know and 
be guided by right principles in the increasingly acute social diffi- 
culties that confront us ; to know our Faith and its definite teach- 
ings amidst the storms of doubt, of criticism, of questioning that 
every one of us must in some measure weather ; to have the inspira- 
tion in our daily life that comes from a personal knowledge of our 
inheritance as Catholics, is a necessity that has been put before us 
with emphasis by the Holy Father, the bishops, the priests, through- 
out the land ; not to mention the lesson of our own personal experi- 
ence. Anything done to further the spread among our people of 
wholesome Catholic literature is certain to bear its good fruit for 
time and eternity. 

* * 

"O EADERS of THE CATHOUC WORLD will be pleased to know 
IV that thee ditor of The Lamp, with all his associates, at Gray- 
moor on the Hudson, six men and twelve women, have been received 
into the Catholic Church ; and that the Society of the Atonement 
will continue its corporate existence. The Lamp will be published 
monthly as usual. Its editor and the members of his Society have 
our heartiest good wishes. 

* * 

THE two papers on Catholic writers and their difficulties, by Miss 
Guiney and jMiss Repplier, in our last issue, have attracted 
wide attention. Apropos of a statement in Miss Guiney 's article, 
we have received the following letter : 

NEW YORK, November 15, 1909. 
To the Editor of the Catholic World : 

In her contribution to the very interesting discussion of the 
question of " Catholic Writers and their Handicaps," which you 



1909.] BOOKS RECEIVED 431 

print in the November number of THE CATHOLIC WORLD, Miss 
Imogen Guiney says : " It is not we Catholics of vast America who 
are manning the yards nor driving the engines of our own great new 
venture, the Encyclopedia.'* 

It is not polite to contradict a lady, but, in the interest of his- 
torical accuracy, will you allow me to say, as a compromise, that 
Miss Guiney's nautical figure is ill-chosen. If she had said that 
Some of the cargo was imported she could stand on the manifest, but 
as to the craft itself, she is sadly out in her rating. 

From keel to topmast the vessel is the production of Catholic 
America. American capital financed the enterprise ; American- 
born editors, with one exception, have directed its progress so far. 
It was my privilege, during the production of the first five volumes 
of the Encyclopedia, to have immediate supervision of the " engine- 
room " and the condition of " the yards " ; and, having signed in the 
crew of another craft now, I can, without impropriety, testify that to 
the zeal, ability, and careful work of my former associates of the 
working staff, is due in great measure that finished form of the 
Encyclopedia which has won such universal commendation. With 
one exception they were all American-born and trained in American 
schools and colleges. 

While the Encyclopedia is cathplic in every sense in range, 
treatment of subjects, and in the selection of writers the fact must 
not be obscured that we owe it to purely American enterprise and 
direction. Hence, as a witness from the inside, I beg leave to dissent 
from Miss Guiney's assertion in regard to the details that have ac- 
complished this success. Very truly yours, 

THOMAS F. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 

THE CENTURY COMPANY, New York : 

Great Hymns of the Middle Ages. Compiled by Eveline Warner Brainerd. Pp. 

XXXvi.-I22. 

LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York: 

The Life and Times of Bishop Challoner, 1691-1781 . Vols. I. and II. By Edwin H. 
Burton. Price $7 net. Orpheus With His Lute. By W. M. L. Hutchinson. Pp. 293. 
BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York : 

A Compendium of Catechetical Instruction. By Rev. John Hagan. Part I. and II. 
Price $4.25 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York: 

Heavenly Heretics. By Lyman P. Powell. Pp. 139. Price $1.25. San Celestino. By 

John Ayscough. Pp. 346 Price $1.50. 
HENRY HOLT & Co., New York : 

// Never Can Happen Again. By William de Morgan. Pp. 687. Price $1.75. The 
Demagog. By William R. Hereford. Pp. 364. 



432 BOOKS RECEIVED [Dec., 1909.] 

BOOKS RECEIVED.-ci*if. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, New York: 

The Temple. By Lyman Abbot. Pp.i7i. Price $1.25 net. 

JOHN LANE & Co., New York : 

The Holy Mountain. By Stephen Reynolds. Pp. 309. Price $1.50. 
PETER REILLY, Philadelphia: 

The Courage of Christ. By Henry C. Schuyler. Pp. 127. Price 50 cents. 
SHERMAN, FRENCH & Co., Boston, Mass.: 

The Prison Ships ; and Other Poems. By Thomas Walsh. Pp. 115. Price $i. 
THOMAS J. FLYNN & Co., Boston, Mass. : 

The Woman Who Never Did Wrtng. By Katherine C. Conway. Pp. 140. 
OLIVER DITSON COMPANY, Boston, Mass. : 

Piano Compositions. By Ludwig van Beethoven. Edited by Eugene d'Albert, Vol. I. 

Price, paper, $1.50; cloth, $2.50. 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, Boston, Mass. : 

Farming It. By Henry A. Shute. 111. Pp. 248. Price $1.20 "net. Why American 
Marriages Fail. By Anna A. Rogers. Pp. 214. Price $1.25. The Girlhood of Queen 
Elizabeth. By Frank A. Mumby. Pp. 354. Price $3. Travels in Spain. By, 
Philip S. Marden. Pp. 434. Price $3. 
RICHARD G. BADGER, Boston, Mass. : 

The God-Man ; or, The Life and Works of Jesus. Poem in fifteen parts. By Rev. Henry 
Losch, M.D. Pp. 182. Under the Mulberry Trees. A Romance of the Old Forties. 
By Theron Brown. Pp. 504. The Lash. By Olin L. Lyman. Pp. 241. Price $1.50. 
Shawnie Wade. By Sarah J. Prichard. Pp. 143. Price $i. Christus Centuriarum. 
By James Davidson Dingwell. Pp. 59. Price $i. Waters From an Ozark Spring. By 
Howard L. Terry. Pp. 64. Price $i. Elizabeth of Boonesborough. By Patlie French 
Witherspoon. Pp. 122. Price $1.50. The Spirit of the South. By Will Wallace 
Harney. Pp. 227. Price $1.50. The Haunted House, By Henry Percival Spencer. 
Pp. 49. Price $i. Mary's Adventures on the Moon. By A. Stowell Worth. Pp; 
157. Price 75 cents. Three Thousand Dollars. By Anna .Katharine Green. Pp. 157. 
Price 75 cents. The Automatic Capitalists. By Will Payne. Pp. 150. The Beginnings 
ff New York. By Mary Isabell Forsyth. Pp. 69. The Countersign, By Claude P. 
Jones. Pp. 305. Price $1.50. Apologies for Love. By F. A. Myers. Pp. 401. Price 
$1.50. Folded Meanings. By Susan C. Hosmer. Pp.55. Price $i. Alcestis. By 
Carlotta Montenegro. Pp. 107. Price $1.25. Changing Voices. By R. D. Brodie. 
Pp. 64. Price $i. The Shepherd Who Did Not Go to Bethlehem. By S. Alice Ranlett. 
Pp. 115. Price $i. The Guest at the Gate. By Edith M. Thomas. Pp. 139. Price 
$1.50- 
B. HERDER, St. Louis, Mo.: 

A Damsel Who Dated. By Genevieve Irons. Pp. 327. Price $1.60 net. The Principles 

of Eloquence. Pp. 367. 
CHARLES A. ROGERS BOOK COMPANY, Louisville, Ky. : 

The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky. By Hon. Ben. J. Webb. Pp. 594. 
THE ANGELUS COMPANY, Norwood, London : 

The Catholic Diary for 1910. Pp. 384. 
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., London, England: 

Quick and Dead. Pp. 71. Some Papers of Lot d Arundell of Wardour, Pp.284. 
SANDS & Co., London, England: 

Catholic Social Work in Germany. By Charles D. Plater, S. J. Pp. 137. Price 35 cents. 
R. & T. WASHBOURNE, London, England : 

Life of St. Gerard Maiella. By the Rev. O. R. Vassals-Phillips, C.SS.R. Pp.232. 

Price U. 
P. LETHEILLEUX, Paris, France: 

Les Enfants que I'on Pleure. Par 1'Abbe" J. Brugerette. Price 3/^.50. Nos Marts au 
Purgatoireau del. Par TAbbe* J. A. Chollet. Le Glas Souvenir des Marts. Par 
1'Abbe" E. Thiriet. Price 3 frs. Doctrines Religieuset des Philosophes Grecs. Par M. 
Louis. Le Modemisme Sociologique. Par 1'Abbe" J. Fontaine. 

E. PEILLART, Abbeville, France : 

Une Bonne Affaire. Par M. du Campfranc. Price 2 frs. 50. Suzel et sa Marraine. 
Par M. Auqueperse. Price i fr. Paroles de Jeanne d'Arc. Pp. 168. Price ofr. 25. 



THE 

CATHOLIC WORLD. 

VOL. XC. JANUARY, 1910. No. 538. 



A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND THE CRITICISM OF 
SOCIALISM. 

BY HUBERT HULL. 

When a Society is perishing, the wholesome advice to give to those who would restore it 
is to recall it to the principles from which it sprang. . . . The first and most fundamental 
principle, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of .the masses, must be the invio- 
lability of private property. Rerum Novarum. 

SOCIALISTS lament occasionally that the criticism 
of their proposals is inadequate. This sounds 
paradoxical ; but there is no reason why it should 
not be perfectly sincere. Socialists possess in 
large measure the two great conditions of suc- 
cess, faith and enthusiasm : they believe firmly that they have 
found a solution of the problem of poverty, a way out of the 
horrid economic maze ; they are unweary in making this dis- 
covery known, truly apostolic in their zeal for controversy and 
discussion. They are convinced that, suitably presented to 
mankind, its truth is self-evident; that in proportion as it be- 
comes a living principle in men's minds and enters the war- 
fare of ideas, struggles with one idea, combines with another, 
gains a fresh application from a third, is seen from new angles 
and in new lights, in a word, in proportion as it develops in 
the popular mind, its acceptance will inevitably extend. They 
are firm in their faith, and criticism they know is not the 
enemy but the servant of truth. For nations and men, for 
policies and dogmas, opposition is necessary for true growth. 
Criticism is the fire wherein falsehood is consumed, and truth 
made strong. 

Copyright. 1909. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE 

IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
VOL. XC. 28 




434 A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM [Jan., 

But, though this lament may be sincere, is it reasonable? 
It is not, certainly, if we measure criticism by the gallon of 
ink, or the square yard of paper. At irregular intervals, in 
papers and reviews, a large amount of space is occupied with 
the discussion of Socialism ; it fills perorations with sound and 
fury, and to the politician the word " Socialism " is as great a 
godsend as Asia Minor to the traditional schoolboy. But in 
great measure the discussion is merely parthian and irritatory, 
inconsistent and vague, and where it is based on any discover- 
able philosophy, that philosophy is such that no Catholic can 
accept. The whole controversy goes on like a fight in the 
dark. If we put on one side the Catholic opposition, based as 
it is on quite definite teaching and tradition, neither inconsis- 
tent nor vague, we may agree that the Socialists' lament is 
reasonable as well as sincere. 

There can be no question about the Catholic attitude. Its 
antagonism to Socialism is constant and recognized. 

The attempt is sometimes made to denounce this antagon- 
ism as misconceived and unfair, as based on the exaggerations 
and extravagancies of individual Socialists, and unconnected 
with the essence of the Socialist creed. Now, it may be freely 
admitted that the Socialist idea, that by which Socialism is 
Socialism, is not of necessity bound up with anti-Catholic or 
irreligious tendencies or teaching. At the same time it is un- 
deniable that the Socialist movement is, de facto, generally irre- 
ligious and anti-Catholic, and that the Socialist idea is put 
forward as based necessarily on a theory of society and a 
philosophy equally opposed to all Christian teaching. Where 
this is the case the denunciation of Socialism as atheistic or 
immoral can hardly be considered misconceived or unfair. 

But Catholic antagonism to Socialism is not based merely on 
errors accidental to and separable from the essential proposition. 
On the capital question Socialism says "Yes"; and the Church 
says " No." With this primary divergence, this paper is con- 
cerned. Its object is to give some account of the criticism 
offered to Socialism by two of .the most brilliant publicists in 
England ; both, it is asserted, ex-Socialists, both keenly demo- 
cratic, both basing their criticism on Catholic teaching and Catho- 
lic tradition. The controversy can hardly fail to be of interest 
and use to students of Socialism : Mr. Belloc's and Mr. Chester- 
ton's opinions are worthy of notice on both sides of the Atlantic. 



A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM 435 

Catholic tradition and teaching are the same everywhere ; the 
problems of one country are adequately understood only in the 
light of the experience of others. The principal source from 
which this sketch is drawn is a sporadic controversy in the 
New Age, the most forceful and intelligent of English Socialist 
papers, between November, 1907, and May, 1909. 

But here, even at the evident risk of making an untimely 
digression, before proceeding to the actual discussion of the 
root-principle, it is proposed to sketch, as briefly as possible, 
the outline of a novel argument elaborated by G. K. Chester- 
ton in the course of the controversy. It is not of the essence 
of the main argument, but it does bear upon it, and being 
novel is worthy of some notice. 

The peculiar evil affecting England, asserts G. K. Chester- 
ton, is that the government is oligarchical. Socialism can be 
no cure, since the probability is that a Socialist system will 
be oligarchical also. "A small, rich, and generally trusted 
class . . . are the masters of England ; they will prob- 
ably be the masters of any big political reform, including 
Socialism . . . because they will be the paymasters."* 
He sketches the probable course of the establishment of a 
Socialist state. "It will begin with sweeping and really im- 
pressive public schemes which require the handling of large 
sums of money, and the politicians will jolly well handle them. 
It will begin, let us say, with the organization of all employ- 
ment, and the politicians will pay themselves for organizing it. 
It will begin with the state-feeding of all children, and it will 
not be the children who are best fed."f 

Now the first part of the proposition, the statement that 
the peculiar evil affecting England is government by an oli- 
garchy, is not challenged. It would be difficult to do so. 
G. K. Cheste'rton supports the second part, that the Socialist 
state will probably be oligarchical, by an ingenious historic 
parallel. He asserts that ever since it came into being that 
is, ever since the destruction of Catholicism the English oli- 
garchy has managed to retain power by being always on the 
side of progress. " Perhaps you do not exactly know what the 
word means nor do they, nor does anybody. But, in a 
general way, it means this: being in sympathy with that turn 
which books and bookish people, the hypotheses of science, 

* New Age, April 29, 1909. t Ibid. 



436 A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM [Jan., 

the fairly educated hopes and some of the sincere needs of 
the time, are all taking at a given moment. This is the secret 
of the English aristocracy ; they always seize the fashionable 
fad and run it without being faddist. ... It has always 
put itself at the head of every march and made it march 
slow." The lewd and epicurean aristocracy of the sixteenth 
century, he asserts, took up the new intellectual thing which 
was Calvinism, and with its help broke the Stuarts. In the 
nineteenth century they took up Manchester Individualism, 
and with its help crushed the Chartists. To-day they are 
"luxurious, lonely, and utterly anti-social, but they are throw- 
ing themselves into Collectivism because it is the new intel- 
lectual thing and by its help they may break all the brazen 
voices that are beginning to tell them that an ordinary Eng- 
lishman might possibly manage his own affairs."* 

There is the argument. The essence of the evil is the 
rule of an oligarchy. Socialism is no cure, for in a Socialist 
state the oligarchy will probably remain. 

To it there are two replies. It is objected, first, that such 
an idea is inconsistent with the actual schemes of Socialists, 
that Democracy is implicit, if not in their definitions, at least 
in their aspirations.! 

G. K. Chesterton rejoins by denying that Socialists are full 
of democratic feeling. He agrees, however, that if the asser- 
tion means that the Socialist system would be called a democ- 
racy, it is probably true. But he makes a most apposite 
reminder. " There would be no legally established oligarchy 
under Socialism. But there is no legally established oligarchy 
now. [We trust] everything to the Churchills and call it 
Democracy. Why should we not trust everything to the 
Churchills and call it Socialism ?" J The appeal to the dog- 
mas of Socialist societies is beside the point. The argument 
is political, not about "perfect Socialism, but about what is 
likely to happen. " 

The second line of reply to G. K. Chesterton's argument 
is by a parallel drawn from the French Revolution. Where 
*' France in her need found her military commanders," the 
Socialist state will find its industrial commanders, " in the 
fields, the inns, the workrooms of the people." 

G. K. Chesterton retorts that this is no answer at all. His 

* Ibid. f Ibid., March 25, 1909. \Ibid., April 15, 1909. fylbid., April 29, 1909. 



I 



19 io.] A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM 437 

position is " that a very active, plausible, and intriguing group 
will increase its own power under cover of current Socialism." 
The Socialist answer is that this will not happen, because the 
revolt of the people will sweep the oligarchy away. The whole 
point, G. K. Chesterton declares, is, which will happen first? 
" Which [is] the more likely picture of twelve years hence : 
that Winston Churchill will be calling himself a Socialist; or 
that Will Crooks will be wearing a sabre ? The plain fact is 
that the governing class is about two hundred years nearer to 
theoretic Socialism than the people is to practical revolution. 
To get the man in the street to fight will be a very long 
business. But to get the Hon. Tom Noddy to take over (at 
an increased salary) the milk supply as well as the stamp sup- 
ply, will be one of the smoothest and most agreeable businesses 
in the world." 

In a last word Chesterton's opponent shifts his ground. He 
has brought forward, as an example of a change in social organi- 
zation, the French Revolution ; he now declares that he speaks 
of a definite revolt of the poor against the rich, by the ballot- 
box rather than the barricade. But G. K. Chesterton's argu- 
ment is, that at this moment the poor are supposed to be 
revolting against the rich by the ballot-box, and that the only 
result of this gradual progress towards Socialism is the strength- 
ening and extension of the power of the oligarchy. Systems 
come and systems go, but it goes on forever. His opponent 
is ready to admit the validity of this argument as against the 
form of Socialism associated with the Fabian Society and its 
principle of "permeation."* Bat he proclaims a new Socialist 
party, uncompromisingly committed to opposition to all capi- 
talist government and to confiscatory taxation of the incomes 
of the rich. This surely is to give away his case. The ques- 
tion was of Socialism in England, and Socialism in England, 
so far as it exists as a political force, is Fabian Socialism. 
Revolutionary Socialism as a political factor is negligible. 

Here ends this particular argument. It must not be as- 
sumed that the Socialist movement is aristocratic in origin or 
propaganda. One would search in vain through the lists of 
Fabians for the name of a single peer. Lord Lansdowne is 
not merely an alias of George Bernard Shaw. But it is not 
an idle fear that the bitter pilgrimage towards Socialism may 

* Ibid., May 6, 1909. 



438 A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM [Jan., 

lead us back to the mess from which we started. The evil 
spirit we have driven out may return with seven devils worse 
than itself to its swept and garnished home. In the manner 
characteristic of its upholder the argument expresses a thought 
common to many minds, the conviction that through a series 
of experiments, imposed on the people by a handful of theorists 
and politicians, we will arrive at a state of society in which the 
present-day evil dependence of the many shall be extended to 
every quarter of human existence, and the vast majority of the 
population be the comfortable and converted servants of an 
isolated clique of highly-trained officials. Lucan supplies a 
motto for such a system : Humanum paucis vivit genus. It has 
a short name Slavery. 

The argument stands or falls by itself; it is quite inde- 
pendent of the main position, which is the real matter of this 
paper. To come now to that main position. It has already 
been said that when all unessential extravagancies have been 
swept away, on the capital thesis Socialism says "Yes"; and 
the Church says " No." The essential idea of Socialism, that 
by which it is Socialism, is the abolition of private property in 
land and the other means of production, and their transfer to 
the collective ownership of the State. " Private property," 
says Socialism, " is the disease. Here is the cure." 

Now the Church, like Socialism, starts with the assumption 
that the present condition of things is intolerable. "No Com- 
monwealth," said Manning in 1887, "can rest on such founda- 
tions." Leo XIII., in Return Novarum, declared that "A small 
number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teem- 
ing masses of the population a yoke little better than that of 
slavery itself," and that " Some remedy must be found and found 
quickly for the misery and wretchedness pressing so heavily and 
so unjustly at this moment on the vast majority of the work- 
ing classes." These are strong words. On what principle, 
then, does the Church oppose this clear and definite remedy 
Socialism fora condition ot things admittedly intolerably evil? 

It was the capital complaint urged by the late C. S. Devas 
against Socialism, that it was unhistorical. Here is the root of 
its error. We may liken, as does a recent writer in the Month, 
the Catholic Church, at the side of the sick-bed of Europe, to 
an old doctor who has known the patient from its childhood, 
with his old note-books and his medieval and pre-medieval 



19 io.] A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM 439 

memory ; the rival doctors are young and inexperienced, for 
their memory is bounded by the Revolution.* The Catholic 
principle does not grow from any new-made dogma of economic 
science; it derives its sanction from the whole Catholic tradi- 
tion of Europe, its roots are the twisted history of the happi- 
ness of men. The attitude of the Church is founded on this 
immemorial tradition. We look back along the line of years 
and pick out that principle which is the necessary condition of 
a stable and happy state of society. This necessaiy condition, 
this social dogma, is, to use Mr. Belloc's words, that the senti- 
ment of property is normal and necessary to a citizen; that 
"private ownership is the rule and normal desire of historic 
man"; "that no family or other sub-unit of the State can live 
a tolerable life unless it is possessed in private possession of a 
minimum of the means f production." It is a human instinct, 
a perfectly patent fact. Private ownership of land is a con- 
ception which goes back as far as there is any European his- 
tory at all. " It has informed all European law with the pro- 
tection of ownership. It has protected property even when 
such property has fallen into the hands of a tiny fraction of 
the community," as in England to-day. To deny its existence 
is impossible. If it were said, Mr. Chesterton declares, " that 
men do not desire women I don't know what I could reply, 
except that in that case all the men who have blown out their 
brains with pistols or written out their brains in sonnets have 
somewhat mysteriously wasted their time. So, the denial of the 
sentiment of property makes large tracts of experience dark and 
unintelligible; and that is all."f 

Pope Leo XIII., whose encyclicals crystallize the tradi- 
tional Catholic view, asserts and supports by argument this hu- 
man instinct in Rerum Novarum. He declares private prop- 
erty to be a natural right, and bound up with that institution, 
the family, which is the foundation of all Catholic sociology. 
It is laid down first, that, "as the domestic household is ante- 
cedent as well in idea as in fact to the gathering of men into 
a community, the family must necessarily have rights and du- 
ties which are prior to those of the community, and founded 
more immediately in nature" ;f it is declared also that the 

*This is the comparison made by the Rev. R. P. Garrold, S.J., in the Month for April, 
1909. 

t New Age, April 15, 1909. 

\Pope and People. Published by the Catholic Truth Society of England, p. 9. 



440 A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM [Jan., 

ownership of lucrative property is one of the rights; yes, and 
the duties of a man as the head of a family. The typical 
form of wealth is no longer land, but it would be absurd to 
suppose that this human instinct, the desire to own, has con- 
fined itself to land and does not embrace other forms of 
wealth. It is particularly important in this connection to no- 
tice that Pope Leo does not speak merely of the ownership of 
land, but of "lucrative property," as necessary for honorable 
and decent existence. 

We have, therefore, a standard by which to judge pres- 
ent conditions and proffered remedies. Present conditions are 
evil and the Socialist remedy is wrong for the same reason, 
because the sentiment of property is thwarted and destroyed. 
It is not property, " but the negation of property, that the 
Duke of Westminster should own whole streets and squares 
of London; just as it would be the negation of marriage if he 
had all living women in one great harem."* "We are passing 
easily from oligarchical to collectivist ideas, precisely because 
they are so like each other. . . . We are only Bedouins 
pitching another camp in the same inhuman desert, having 
missed the village, which is the home of men."f 

To sum up, the answer of the instinct and tradition of the 
Church to Socialism is the affirmation of the need for private 
ownership which is the denial of the essence of the Socialist 
creed. 

How do Socialists meet this argument ? Their answer is 
this. The existence and force of the instinct is admitted so 
far as it concerns things strictly personal to a man. Furniture, 
boats, books, pipes, and clothes, such things as these they al- 
low the instinct to cover. That is to say, they fall short of 
open folly. A communal toothbrush is madness and they avoid 
it. But further than such things, they will not admit the de- 
sire to extend. " Peasant proprietorship," says one, "is a paper 
demand by brilliant men of letters." This, parenthetically, is a 
doubtful compliment to the whole Irish nation, whose demand 
for peasant proprietorship is now being translated into fact. 
Widely distributed ownership of the other means of production 
is in the same position only more so. "The means of pro- 
duction are engines, machines, furnaces, boilers, things with 

* G. K, Chesterton in New Age, January 4, 1908. 
t Ibid., April 15, 1909. 



I 



A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM 441 

wheels and cogs and gearing. And you cannot impress your 
personality on a gas engine."* 

Mr. Asquith, to justify a political measure, adapted a famous 
phrase of Arthur Young's, and declared that " the magic of 
property is security." This phrase is applied by Socialists not 
only to land, but to the other means of production. "Nine- 
tenths of the desire to own the means of production is simply 
a desire for security," security against the perils of unemploy- 
ment and old age, and this security, it is declared, divorced 
from actual ownership, would be obtained in a Socialist state. 

There is a story, that Herbert Spencer once told Huxley 
he had written a tragedy in his youth. " I know the plot," 
said Huxley, " it was how a beautiful young theory was slain 
by a wicked little fact." Now this Socialist reply is in no way 
negligible. It cannot be denied that the desire for security is 
a component of the desire to own. But it is not all. The 
plain answer to this contention "the wicked little fact" is 
this: that there can be no line drawn between things strictly 
personal and land and the other means of production; that in 
truth the desire to own does embrace these things as well; that 
this desire, though it includes a desire for security, extends 
further. To consider land alone for a moment. It is impos- 
sible to deny that the desire to own, and the interest of an 
owner of land have a meaning and a force quite independently 
of any financial assistance or any material thing whatever. 
You may call it "sentiment," or what you will; it is no met- 
aphysical fiction, it is a definite attitude of mind existing apart 
and distinct from any question of security. The recognition 
of this dim instinct leads an owner of a suburban villa to have 
a quarter of an acre of kitchen garden and grow lettuces and 
celery at double their cost from the greengrocer. It is this 
instinct again which makes so many heirs of heavily encum- 
bered estates cling to their possession, in spite of grave finan- 
cial embarrassment, and occasionally actual want, when they 
might easily sell out and invest the proceeds in enterprises of 
larger profits and quicker returns. 

There is a further thing bound up inextricably with the 
existence of private ownership of land and the other means of 
production, injured by the restriction, in danger of decay, by 
the abolition of this ownership. It also is not susceptible of 

*H. Bland, Fabian, New Age, May 9, 1908. 



442 A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM [Jan., 

mathematical measurement, it has no specific gravity, no quota- 
tion in the Stock Exchange, and for these obvious reasons it 
is often ignored. We may call it personal dignity or personal 
honor; the idea slips through the meshes of definition, but the 
effect on it of the absolute prohibition of private ownership 
in land and the other means of production, may be well seen 
in the words of Mr. Belloc: "Where few own, the mass who 
do not own at all are under a perpetual necessity to abase 
themselves in a number of little details. That is why indus- 
trial societies fight so badly compared with societies of peasant 
proprietors. The mass of the population gets trained to the 
sacrifice of honor; it gets used to being ordered about by the 
capitalist and partially loses its manhood. If there were but 
one capitalist, the State, this evil would certainly be exagger- 
ated. Men might be better fed, better clothed, and materially 
much happier; they might be brighter in spirits, better com- 
panions, and healthier men all round, but they would neces- 
sarily have lost all power of expression for the sentiment known 
as personal honor; they would have one absolute master, all 
forms of personal seclusion from whom would be impossible. 
. . . Those who have passed by compulsion from a higher 
to a lower standard of personal honor can testify how vital a 
point is that honor in the scheme of human happiness."* 

But the plain fact is that in this matter those who uphold, 
and those who oppose, Socialism have come to a point where 
controversy is almost useless. There is a difference in what, 
in the discussion, is equivalent to a First Principle. On one 
side it is asserted that the sentiment of private possession, the 
desire to own, extends to land and the other means of pro- 
duction. On the other it is denied that the desire does so 
extend. There it ends. 

Socialists, however, naturally are not content to stop here. 
"Granting for a moment," they say, "that, theoretically, our 
scheme is vitiated because it disregards this instinct of owner- 
ship, what about yours?" 

To translate this instinct into a formal proposition, it may 
be said that the Catholic ideal is " a system in which the legal 
control of the means of production shall be as widely dis- 
tributed as possible." Such a system, it is argued, would be 
unstable and could not endure. Parenthetically it ought to be 

* Catholic Truth Society Tract, Examination of Socialism, by H. Belloc, p. 13. 



1910.] A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM 443 

said that there is no necessity for a return to the exact me- 
dieval ideal. The principal is consistent with modern condi- 
tions of industry. The ideal is the "large industry with small 
proprietors." Socialist criticism, so far as it is reasoned and 
not built merely on the word "inevitable," is based on the 
effects of the different degrees of value of land and individual 
ability. 

As regards land this example is given. Suppose, the So- 
cialist critic suggests, that after a revolution in England, at 
the end of the eighteenth century, the great estates had been 
broken up and divided among the people, and that his (the 
critic's) ancestors had obtained a market garden in the out- 
skirts of the village of Kensington, while Mr. Belloc's had a 
farm in Sussex. He asks what would be the state of things 
now, and asserts that he, or some purchaser, would be drawing 
a handsome, unearned income from the ground rents of shops, 
while even his tenants would be making ten times as much 
as Mr. Belloc on his Sussex farm.* 

As regards the effect of differences in ability, this means 
that owing to differences of skill or strength of character, or 
luck, some would gain, others lose. There would be borrowers 
and lenders, some with ^oney to employ others glad to sell 
the labor of their bodies for food and shelter. The combina- 
tion of these causes would create again a propertied class and 
a propertyless class; in fact, the capitalist system. 

Now, in reply, it must be urged that we are discussing a 
principle not a code of laws, that under any system there 
must always be some who either by choice or misfortune will 
stand outside the social scheme, that it is not proposed to 
attempt any universal equality or abolish the system of master 
and workman, but to ensure, as widely as may be, a minimum 
of consuming power, of freedom, of security, that the objection 
disregards the revival of a personal interest and affection for 
land which would be the result of the diffusion of its owner- 

^ 

ship, the effect of a system of co-operative organizations, and 
the probable imposition of obstacles in the way of any merely 
speculative enterprise. Above all, those who argue against the 
stability of such a social organization forget that, " as a matter 
of fact, in the past when property was thus well divided, it 
did not drift [into a state of congestion], but that the highly 

* New Age, April 22, 1909. 



444 A CATHOLIC PRINCIPLE AND SOCIALISM [Jan. 

divided state of property was kept secure for centuries by 
public opinion, translating itself into laws and customs, by a 
method of guilds, of mutual societies, by an almost religious 
feeling of the obligation not to transgress certain limits of 
competition." * 

This is the end of the discussion. It is worthy of notice 
by students of the phenomenon of Socialism, because it is 
honest controversy, unmixed with abuse, untainted with self- 
interest; it is especially worthy of Catholic notice, because the 
criticism of Socialism is based on the teaching of Catholic in- 
stinct and tradition. 

A note was struck by Mr. Chesterton at the very outset 
which may well be repeated here. It has a reminder which 
might well be repeated in any discussion bearing on Catholic 
social effort. He refused to " plank down " a Utopia, because 
a Utopia is a thing uninteresting to a thinking man ; it assumes 
that all evils come from outside the citizen and none from inside 
him. " Sin maketh nations miserable." It was the express 
declaration of Leo XIII. in the Encyclical Graves de Communi 
that the social question is not economic only but primarily 
moral and religious, to be met principally by moral and relig- 
ious forces. To forget this is to forget the one thing needful. 
For the first and greatest of the Commandments is "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God"; the second, "like to the 
first," is really its result : " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." " The Church, amid externals of which almost every 
feature has changed, repeats the same message that she deliv- 
ered by the voice of Paul or Chrysostom; proclaims the all- 
importance ot the spiritual life of man ; bids us first seek the 
Kingdom of God and His Justice, and then that all things 
else shall be added to us; stands as the peacemaker between 
warring classes, between the embittered slaves and irresponsi- 
ble masters of the Roman Empire, between the burghers and 
nobles of the Italian Republics, and then again between the 
higher burghers and humbler citizens of the Italian cities; and 
once more between employers and employed in the great in- 
dustrial centres of our own day; urging again and again, amid 
chronic back-sliding, the renovation of Society by the reign 
of Christ." f 

Examination of Socialism. By H. Belloc. 

t C. S. Devas. Key to the World's Progress. Part II., Chap. V. 




THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY. 

BY CHARLES PHILLIPS. 

|HE Catholic spirit must, perforce, appeal to the 
poet, no matter what his creed, no matter how 
pagan he may be. It has so appealed through- 
out the history of Christian literature. In Eng- 
lish literature it has so appealed, despite that 
strong current of anti- Catholic feeling which Cardinal "Newman 
has so clearly defined as having had its birth in the " Refor- 
mation"; and so it has colored and beautified our American 
literature. But American Catholic poets, or American poets 
who are Catholics, have been few. However, they are increas- 
ing in numbers. The race did not die with John Boyle 
O'Reilly a new edition of whose poems, by the way, was pub- 
lished in 1909. The eight volumes considered in this article 
give a fair idea of what our Catholic poets have been produc- 
ing of late. 

Charles J. O'Malley, editor of The New World, of Chicago, 
is a Catholic poet of high stature. It is a pity that all that 
is at hand from him for the purpose of this review is a very 
slender volume, Tkistledrijt t which is mostly prose, albeit it is 
exquisite and poetic prose. There are hardly a dozen poems 
in the book. But they are of a pure and lofty order. Here 
is contained that little exquisite, " At Easter," which has worth- 
ily been put for perpetuation into the American Book Com- 
pany's new series of Catholic school readers: 

"In April, when the ash- trees bloom, 
The doves at Easter coo and sing 
Amid the golden poplar cups 
Brimmed with the melodies of spring; 
The lilac's purple thuribles 
Pour fragrant odors born of pain ; 
Sweet nuns, the glad white roses bow 
'Neath alleluias of the rain." 



446 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

There is a riot of warm Southern blood in all 'of O'Mal- 
ley's poetry he is a Kentuckian ; and the growing years can- 
not cool that glowing ardor, though an added strain of sad- 
ness, which at once we resist and love, cries through his later 
poetry. 

Masterfully has O'Malley voiced the 'poet's soul in " The 
Uncharted Quest": 

" Whether on land or sea, 

Alone afield, or where great throngs abide, 
Always unquiet stirs where'er I be, 
Always the hound, Unrest, pursueth me; 

I go unsatisfied. 
>>. 

" Gulfs of heaven's blue space, 

The eyes of children, deep poetic dreams, 
Most give me peace ; yet these full soon lose space ; 
Again my soul would on to loftier place 

Would out to stiller streams." 

Dr. O'Malley is a musician as well as a poet, and some of 
his finest work gives expression in words to the great harmo- 
nies of the masters his " Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata " 
would have thrilled the soul of the great composer. It is 
moonlight itself in all its beauty and mystery; and who had 
thought that so beautiful and so mysterious an element could 
ever have been translated into music or words ? " Chopin's 
Etude Revolutionaire " is an equal inspiration, all [the voice 
and rage of battle, swept to an exultant climax. 

There is more than the hot blood and the sweet perfume 
of the South in this poet's utterance. His voice is large ; it 
possesses a universal amplitude, as in these lines : 

"O Purpose, Purpose! thou strong god! 
Lo ! I have crouched beneath thy rod 
Like a gyved slave. Eternity, 
Ever upon a mobile sea 
Thqnged taut, and whirled refluently, 
I have kept hungry eyes on thee ! 
And now the strong winds press at last, 
And all the white flags, nailed a- mast, 
Flutter and sing : Sail fast ! Sail fast ! " 



i9io.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 447 

The Catholic spirit breathes through all O'Malley's work. 
It could not be otherwise, for he is not only a Catholic poet 
but a fervent Catholic. He sees the splendors of divine ser- 
vice in the beauties of earth and sky. The Mass, the Sacra- 
ments, the singing of choirs, vespers, litanies, rosaries, and 
prayers are in the dawns and sunsets, in the dewdrop and the 
sea. He is, in fact, not only a poet, but a great Catholic 
poet Maurice Francis Egan says " our greatest." And he 
has in store a fund of noble achievements, which but await the 
publisher. His Lincoln Ode, written for the Lincoln centenary, 
is worthy of a place in our national literature. 

The close of the year brings a notable addition to the sea- 
son's Catholic poetry, a volume from the pen of Louise Imogen 
Guiney, one of the world's best-known writers. Miss Guiney 
has been living in England for some years past, a willing exile, 
but now she returns to her native land with new harvests gar- 
nered, her undeniably great gifts ripened to still greater ful- 
fillment. " Happy Endings " is the title that Miss Guiney 
happily gives her new book of poems. It contains her "best 
poems," say her publishers. But this Catholic poet of true 
distinction has never produced anything that could not rank 
with the best. She is a stylist of the first water, a disciple of 
Sidney and Spencer and Shelley, of Matthew Arnold and 
Wordsworth ; a student of the lyrists of the time of Charles 
the First. She has mastered Old English, till her "Tryste 
Noel" has become a classic. Her poetry is like spun- glass; 
and it suggests, too, the fire that refines and crystallizes. As 
Henry Coyle once wrote of her, "her forms are new, the col- 
ors irradiating them are fresh. Sustained dramatic power is 
hers ; she individualizes words 'and gives to them a tone, a 
harmony, that no other has given. The play and gleam of 
light and color, the subtle shades of thought and emotion, the 
divine radiance of pure passion, the rapture and enthusiasm of 
faith and devotion, are all within her range." Her new book 
confirms every word of this. No wonder Louise Imogen 
Guiney has an international fame ! She is Catholic always, 
highly and devotedly so, and in no expression more so than in 
"Beati Mortui " : 

" Blessed the dead iri spirit, our brave dead 
Not passed, but perfected : 



448 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

Who tower up to mystical full bloom 

From self, as from a known alchemic tomb ; 

Who out of wrong, 

Run forth with laughter and a broken thong; 

Who win from pain their strange and flawless grant 

Of peace anticipant; 

Who late wore cerements of sin, but now, 

Unbound from foot to brow, 

Gleam in and out of cities, beautiful." 

This exquisite poem ends with a cry of wonderful beauty 
to those "blessed dead": 

" Turn not, too fugitive ; 

But hastening towards us, hallow the foul street, 
And sit with us at meat ; 
And of your courtesy, on us unwise 
Fix oft those purer eyes, 
Till in ourselves who love them, dwell 
The same sure light ineffable; 
Till they who walk with us in after years, 
Forgetting time and tears 
(As we with you), shall sing all day instead : 
'How blessed are the dead 1 ' " 

The same happy spirit of unconquerable optimism swings 
through all these poems. They are, indeed, elegant and of the 
loftiest nature always ; yet forever sane. These are not dead 
rhymes, but living poems, that sing and move and flash. This 
book is, I believe, the twelfth from the same pen ; yet the sure 
chord of the earliest never has faltered, but resounds now more 
sure and clear than ever. What a joyance beats through the 
lines of "St. Ives": 

"St. Ives hangs over a rowdy sea, 
Busied in spindrift up to the knee, 
Thousands of gulls there follow their lives, 
For out of all measure they love St. Ives." 

It is reminiscent of Miss Guiney's " Gloucester Harbor," 
first published a good many years ago, though wholly differ- 



1 9io.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 449 

ent. The same voice is singing; and there seems nothing lack- 
ing in resonance, purity of tone, absolute and complete self- 
possession. The same perfect assurance, tempered with a plain- 
tive note, is in her " Wood- Doves." 

" Perfection absolute self-possession " this is saying a good 
deal, but the poet's work compels the tribute. One wonders 
what hours of study and preparation have been spent to build 
the firm structure of this genius! And one can well believe 
Miss Guiney's literary creed, given in the November CATHOLIC 
WORLD, that writing is not a mere pleasant pastime, nor even 
a hobby ; but a deeply responsible vocation. There is more 
than pure delight for the reader in Miss Guiney's poems; there 
is an inspiring lesson for other Catholic poets. 

The Prison Ships ; and Other Poems, by Thomas Walsh, is, 
I believe, the first collection made of this poet's work. Yet 
his name has been known for years, he has contributed to the 
best periodicals in the country. His work is a stride ahead of 
the common purring poetry of the day. It possesses not only 
beauty, but strength. There are force and attack in his music, 
but it is even and harmonious. The poem that gives his book 
its title is a very fine ode, full of impassioned patriotism. It 
commemorates the prison-ship martyrs of the Revolution, to 
whom a monument has been erected at Fort Green, Brooklyn. 
The ode is highly poetic: it awakens the imagination and stirs 
the feeling. It shows the poet as the possessor of an ample 
vocabulary, sonorous and with a drum- beat in it that is pure 
inspiration. 

The characteristics of Thomas Walsh's poetry are a certain 
cosmopolitan scope of thought and expression he sings in the 
snows of Russia and in the sunshine of Spain, and is equally 
at home; a very fine and sometimes fragile delicacy of imagery, 
and an undertone of terror that even the universal poet's gift 
of sadness and tenderness does/not wholly temper. In "The 
Blind," for instance, he conjures up a striking picture of the 
sun gone dead : 

" At midnight, through my dreams the signals dread 
From star to star, brought word the sun was dead." 

And in the awful hush that he makes fearfully real f when 

"... the townsfolk crept 
In silence to their roof tops." 
VOL. xc. 29 



450 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

and 

"... a wail 

Despairing swept across the roofs, a sigh 
O'er land and sea, as slowly on the sky 
The sun's black bulk between the stars uprose " 

in that dreadful hush and shadow he puts the most pitiful of 
all imaginable objects : 

"A blind man crouched an<J stretched his empty palms 
Into the darkness, and moaned : ' Alms ! Alms ! ' " 

The Italian and Spanish poems are vibrant with the pulse 
of the south. The poet weds the soft words of the sunny 
Latin lands to the sybillant English and produces an alluring 
music. We feel the heat and passion of love breathed forth in 
the Alhambra moonlight or in the Sevillian serenade ; we rest 
at a gate- stone in Granada; we hearken to a nightingale at 
Amalfi, or travel the storied road from Avignon to Tarascon; 
we pause in the cloister at San Juan ; or from the Piazza di 
Spagna, at Rome, we gaze upon 

" the marble balustrade 

That winds unto the Pincian with its shade 
Of cypress and of ilex, file on file, 
Beyond the cross-crowned needle from the Nile." 

And yet again we are riding with Hugo, the Uhlan, or 
barkening to a strange spring-song of Minaiev's, in Russia; we 
pass from Moscow to a Moorish garden; frcm St. Anne de 
Chicoutimi, Quebec, to the Cathedral at Burgos. From New 
York harbor, through the poet's vision, watching the sea-gulls 
among the shipping, we see the far crags of the briny North. 
We pause at Gettysburg, then pass to read "The Epitaph of 
a Butterfly"; from the world's great highways we pass down 
" Little Pathways " : 

" Lone ways that only humble footsteps know . . . 
See, here anon and there the ways divide 
Some to the brook, some to the pasture side . . . 
'Tis ours, old friend, to treasure signs like these, 
Wherein are written rarer histories 



J9io.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 451 

Than chronicles of kings and empires tell ; 
For on the scrolling of the hill and dell 
Life with a finger delicate and sure 
Sets for our eyes its heart's own signature." 

One would not need to be told that Thomas Walsh is a 
Catholic. He shows his faith in his poems, in his apprecia- 
tion of the world's beauties hallowed by religion, and most of 
all in his spiritual optimism. And when he sings of Christmas- 
time, of Bethlehem and Nazareth, he wins the heart with the 
childlike simplicity of his love. A most sweet thought is ex- 
pressed in the story of the lamb which the shepherds bore to 
Bethlehem the first Christmas morn; and "At Nazareth," pic- 
turing the Divine Child on His seventh birthday, reminding 
His Mother of the gifts the kings once had brought Him, is 
thrilling and deeply pathetic. 

The literary workmanship of Thomas Walsh's poems is 
of a high order. But the polish of his craftsmanship does not 
dull the fire of his soul's expression, nor muffle the beat of 
his music. It is easy to understand that this poet was a close 
friend of Charles Warren Stoddard; like Stoddard, he is a 
master of the word, and his poetry breathes much of the 
same passion and warmth. He has not traveled the world 
over for naught ; yet he remains always an American poet. 
He has refined all the treasures gathered under distant suns in 
the alembic of his native art. And all this his dear teacher, 
Stoddard, did, as no one else has done. To that friend and 
teacher, now dead, he addresses one of the most beautiful 
sonnets in the book : 

" Thine exile ended O beloved seer 

Thou turnest homeward to thine isles of light, 
Thy reefs of silver, and palmetto height ! 

Yea, down thy vales sonorous thou wouldst hear 

Again the cataracts that white and clear 

Called from young days Oh, with what loving might! 
That from our arms and this embattled night 

Thou break'st away and leav'st us weeping here. 

Vain the laudation ! What are crowns and praise 
To thee whom Youth anointed on the eyes ? 
We have but known the lesser heart of thee 






452 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

Whose spirit bloomed in lilies down the ways 
Of Padua; whose voice perpetual sighs 
On Molokai in tides of melody." 

If we have not yet, in this country, developed a Catholic 
Poetry Cult, we have, beyond a doubt, a Francis Thompson 
Cult. No need to say more of that unhappy genius here than 
to remark that some do not fancy his poetry, mystic and 
strange, while others rave over him hence a cult. But 
Charles Hanson Towne, one of our best-known Catholic poets, 
has done something far more valuable than raving over Fran- 
cis Thompson; he has sung of him, and sung worthily. Mr. 
Towne's contribution to the year's Catholic poetry is The 
Quiet Singer; and Other Poems the "quiet singer" being 
Thompson. Mr. Towne does not rave; he sings. And the 
title poem of his book is a good measure by which to gauge 
his powers. The same Catholic spirit that we look for in all 
Catholic poets' work beautifies these poems. There is one 
alone that is unforgettably beautiful, telling the story of a 
dream dreamed by the Blessed Virgin, a dream wherein she 
sees the Divine Babe dead; and the waking of our Lady from 
that dream is pictured with such a thrill of happiness that 
one's heart is filled. 

There is nothing commonplace in the poetry of Charles 
Hanson Towne. Sometimes it is clever; and cleverness is not 
always poetry; but always, it is well done. When his heart 
sings he captures us. There are times when he seems almost 
to reach the heights that inspired "The Hound of Heaven"; 
times when " the teeming wonder of his words" (as he himself 
sings of Thompson) brings " tears and the peace thereof." It 
is then that we feel in a measure of him, as he of Thompson, 
that 

" ... if the springs long past 

Seemed wonderful before I heard his voice, 

I tremble at the beauty I shall see 

In seasons still to be, 

Now that his songs are mine while life shall last." 

William Winter, one of America's ablest critics and one 
whose poems, as well as critical writings, reveal a deep appre- 
ciation of the Catholic spirit said this of John S. McGroarty's 



1 9 io.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 453 

Wander Songs: "No one will read these poems without an 
emotion of mingled sadness and pleasure, or without a feel- 
ing that the author is a genuine singer of beauty, tenderness, 
sentiment, and grace. " Mr. Winter is right. Mr. McGroarty's 
poems are all that the venerable critic says. They are 
simple songs; their beauty lies in their simplicity. This 
poet's voice is not so much commanding as appealing, with 
a tenderness that is touching. His poems are the kind that 
some love to keep in old scrap-books, and to read over and 
over again. 

Mr. McGroarty is a California poet. His name is new be- 
yond the Great Divide, for it is in the land of the Old Mis- 
sions that he has found his development. But his songs are 
truly "Wander Songs," for they sing of varied climes, yet all 
voice the same longing for 

" My land, mine own land, the fairest and the best 
Of all the lands in all the world, or go you east or west." 

This is the predominant strain in Mr. McGroarty's collection 
of poems. However, he sings of more than heimweh. "The 
Dead Gunmaker" is entirely original in thought, as is another 
powerful spring poem, "The Ransom," which tells the sacri- 
fice made by one living for one dead. 

The dead, and the memory of the dead, are often with this 
poet; and, in all, the Catholic spirit breathes and sustains; one 
can believe that he is truly devoted to the suffering souls in Pur- 
gatory. There is a deep religious feeling throughout his work ; of 
Easter he sings triumphantly, and of Christmas most tenderly. 

He sings of California, calling, forever calling, to the peo- 
ples of the world, and of how, in '49, 

" They came, and she dowered with spendthrift hands 

The hopes of their wildest dreams, 
And she flung at their feet the golden sands 
That slept in her shining streams." 

The voice of the sea is strong in his poems; it is well ex- 
pressed in "The Pathway of the Seas," which begins: 

" Old was the pathway of the seas 
When, from the land-worn trail, 



454 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

The swart Phoenician to the breeze] 

First flung his magic sail; 
Old was the moon-drawn tide's desire 

With lure of harbors won, 
Before the ships were sped from Tyre 

With spoils of Babylon." 

There is not much of the " old-fashioned " simple poetry 
written nowadays. There are to-day too few " people's 
poems." But A Round of Rimes, by Denis A. McCarthy, is 
a book of people's poems. 

Mr. McCarthy strikes the heart-chord in many of his verses, 
and his lines sing and swing like the good old songs of " other 
days." There is the lilt of Celtic music in his songs, and also 
"the tear and the smile." His American poems are not so 
appealing, though they have a militant air that one cannot 
miss. However, in none of them no matter how ringing the 
strains of "A Song for the Flag," " The Veterans," " The 
Child-Workers," "Give Them a Place to Play," and others of 
like thought in none of these does the author seem quite 
himself; or, rather, so wholly himself as in the Irish songs. 
Take, for instance, "The Fields of Ballycare": 

" I've known the Spring in England 

And, oh, 'tis pleasant there 
When all the buds are breaking 

And all the land is fair 1 
But all the time the heart of me, 
The better, sweeter part of me, 

Was sobbin* for the robin 

In the fields o 1 Ballyclare!" 

And "Ah, Sweet is Tipperary," is a tuneful lyric. 

But there are more than Irish lyrics and militant American 
songs in A Round of Rimes ; there are some heart-poems of 
universal appeal poems that suggest Longfellow and John 
Boyle O'Reilly in their simplicity and directness. 

In "The Poet" he declares: 

" The poet may not follow others' lead 
And lightly write what some may lightly read." 



19 io.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 455 

There are some beautiful religious poems in this volume, 
and none more touching than " The May Procession " and the 
"Rosa Mystica." 

Taken all in all, A Round of Rimes is one of the year's 
best books of poety. True, it does not voice the high, far 
cry of stars, the echoing beauty of those illimitable spaces 
wherein some poets find sole utterance; but it possesses a 
sweet and endearing beauty, for it strikes the heart- cord; and 
is not this the first province of poetry ? James Riley, one of 
Mr. McCarthy's senior Boston comrades-in-song, and one whose 
dictum is worth accepting, has said: "McCarthy is a poet"; 
and this book proves it. 

Thomas A. Daly will be remembered for his Canzoni, which 
made the author famous. Mr. Daly enjoys the distinction of 
having invented something new in poetry; that is, he has 
voiced, in living song, a heart that had not found utterance 
until he came to give it freedom the Italian in America, 
" the Dagoman." Canzoni struck a responsive note, for it ran 
into several editions, and now comes Carmina, inimitable songs, 
this author's latest and best work. The volume is divided 
thus: "Italice," the Italian dialect songs: " Hibernice," 
Irish poems; "Anglice," songs in plain English; and "Songs 
of the Months." The Italian dialect poems are full of fun and 
fire, and they voice a plaintive cry. "Da Sweeta Soil" voices 
a big truth that is summed up in its final verses : 

" Oh, eef you weesh da Dagoman, 

Dat com' for leeve with you, 
To be da gooda 'Merican 

An* love dees countra, too, 
I ask you tak' heem by da hand 

Away from ceety street, 
An' show heem first dees granda land 

Where eet es pure an* sweet." 

Daly's Irish poems are well-nigh perfect. If ever tears and 
laughter were put into songs, they are here. It is in this 
book, Carmina, that we find the song of "The Irish National 
Bird," which is already widely known. 

It is worth while to become acquainted with Mr. Daly's 
"Cornaylius Ha-Ha-Ha-Hannigan," " Cordaylia o' the Alley," 






456 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

"Heartless Sheila Shea," "The Ould Apple Woman," and 
" Phelim McKeone" the titles reveal their nature. And then 
there is " The Mourner," God bless her ! the poor old heart 
that never missed a funeral, and never forgot to pray for the 
souls departed ; the poor old woman whose own funeral was 
bare and lonely: 

" Ah, 'tis well to believe that the prayers that she prayed 

Fur the many before her who shared of her dole, 
They have gathered together an* woven an* made 
As a ladder o' light fur ould Mary McCroal. 
May the Lord rest her soul ! " 

The songs "in plain English" and the "Songs of the 
Months " that follow are poems with all the heart and fire and 
beauty of true poetry. It is not only the felicitous phrase, 
the filigree word, the lyric purity of metre and rhyme; there 
is a soul behind it all, genial, brave, loving the beautiful and 
true, manly and tender, a soul that breathes life into these 
poems, so that they ring true. Mr. Daly is more than a mere 
" newspaper poet " ; as also is J. N. Foley, who has not, I 
think, yet published any book of poems, but who is a graceful 
and thoughtful singer as well as a writer of good verse. As 
for Mr. Daly's work, there are few May-poems more buoyantly 
tuneful with the joy and pulse of spring than this "Song for 
May": 

" Awake 1 arise ! grey dreams and slumber scorning, 

For every dormer looking on the east 
Is portal to the banquet hall this morning 

Where May hath called her lovers to her feast. 
Lo ! as it were a pledging goblet, glowing 

In her rose fingers over which do run 
The golden bubbles poured to overflowing, 

Up, up, she lifts the sun ! 
Oh, drink with her this airy wine of spring, 
And from her hands her winged breezes bring, 

Sweet philter for all hearts on earth that be! 
Hark! how the birds are drunk with it and sing; 

Mark, where the flush winds spill it on the sea, 
How, lapping it, the waves go carolling; 



ipio.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 457 

See how dull earth, meek flower and stately tree, 
Whe'er the breezes haste it, 
Rejoice that they may taste it. 
Shall we, then, slumb'ring, waste it 
This draught of ecstacy ? 

lovers all, in this sweet wine 

1 pledge you and your loves and mine 

A cup with you ! 
Up ! up ! with you ! 

And drink the May with me ! " 

Canada is building up a literature of her own, and Catholic 
writers are taking their place in the first ranks of that litera- 
ture. Of course, this is not news, for since the days when 
Mrs. Sadlier wrote, and Montreal was a centre of letters, the 
Catholic pen has been ably wielded in Canada. But to-day 
that pen is producing work that daily grows more national, 
more distinctly Canadian. We need but mention the names of 
Dr. O'Hagan, Father Bollard (" Sliv-na-mon"), Dr. Roche, 
Dr. Fischer, Margaret Lillis Hart, and others. From the pen 
of one of these, Dr. William J. Fischer, who edits " The Book- 
worm " in The Register, comes a volume of tasteful poems en- 
titled: The Toiler. The keynote of these poems is struck in 
the introduction by Dr. Charles J. O'Malley : 

" I gather my poems out of the heart of the clover, 
Out of the wayside weeds, out of the meadows about me." 

They are all of the sweet and simple things of earth, of 
the beauties of friendship, the loveliness of nature, the joys 
and sorrows of life as we live it every day. 

Dr. Fischer is at his best in country lanes and meadows, 
be it June or January. There is something very Canadian in 
his sonnet to autumn, which tells of 

"The maple trees in crimson, yellow, red, 
The asters and the princely golden-rod, 

The clust'ring vines, near by the cottage door, 
The dying willow bending her proud head 
All, all so meekly to the twilight nod 

And, lo ! the woodman's axe resounds no more!" 



458 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

Of equal beauty is " Autumn in the Muskoka Woods " ; 
while "In Old Quebec" tells a pretty story of "Bertille" and 
" Bateese " : 

" Bertille, the milkmaid, sang her song 

In fields across the way, 
And soon the lowing herds came home 

Fresh from the dewy grass; 
Bateese, the plough-boy, urged them on; 

Bertille, she saw him pass ! " 

Dr. Fischer is a poet of whom Canada may be proud. It 
is gratifying to see that his work, infused with the true Catho- 
lic spirit, is receiving wide recognition in his own land. 

This is some of the Catholic poetry of the year 1909. It 
can be taken as representative, and not without pride, even 
though there be no great epics, no immortal dramas, in the 
little catalogue. Much of this poetry by Catholic poets in the 
year 1909 sings sweetly, even sonorously at times. But what 
we want are larger things and a deeper utterance. We can 
produce it: witness J. I. C. Clarke's Hudson-Fulton ode, "Man- 
anhattan "; O'Malley's " Lincoln" ; James Riley's " Ode to the 
Massachusetts' Battle Flags"; and there have been other odes 
published during the year by Denis A. McCarthy, Dr. Galla- 
gher; and Towne's and Walsh's, here considered. Charles L. 
O'Donnell, whose work appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and 
other literary magazines during 1909, gave some of this deeper 
utterance we desire, with a strikingly artistic finesse. Let us 
embody some of our Catholic philosophy in our poetry, to 
strengthen and infuse it with the element of solidity, with san- 
ity and optimism, and we will bring forth the larger things, 
the deeper utterance. It is not " the philosophy that would 
clip an angel's wings " ; it is the philosophy that will make 
our poetry transcendantly great and beautiful. If we can strike 
so deep and thoughtful a chord as Charles J. O'Malley does 
in these lines: 

" Spade that shall dig my grave, 

Outside the door of life art thou waiting? 
And art thou sharpened now by some knave 
While I hear the birds of springtime mating?" 



i9io.] THE DEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 459 

if we can strike so deep a note, so also can we make the 
soul reverberate with Louise Imogen Guiney's triumphant 

"How blessed are the dead!" 

Those words have a poignant meaning to-day, in writing 
of the Catholic poets of the year; for one of their most gifted 
leaders has passed, since the writing of this little review be- 
gan, to that bourne where in truth is known " how blessed are 
the dead ! " In :the death of Father Tabb John Bannister 
Tabb America's literature has suffered a heavy loss. His work 
was ever of the exquisite order, the dry-point etching of poetry, 
and it was witty ; he was pre-eminently an epigrammatist. He 
was a poet, for he sang; and he sang because he was a poet. 
His literary production during 1909 was, judging at a glance, 
the most prolific of any single year of his career. And this, 
despite the fact that for over a year he was totally blind. He 
was a priest, and a Catholic poet ; yet he wrote comparatively 
little so-called "devotional" poetry, although he was really at 
his best in expressing religious devotion, especially devotion to 
the Blessed Virgin. One of his best, though not best-known, 
books is The Rosary in Rhyme. Indeed, Father Tabb had 
a strong opinion, Dr. O'Malley tells us, that there was com- 
paratively no chance in our literature for the exclusively 
" Catholic " poet. The late Charles Warren Stoddard dis- 
agreed with Father Tabb on this point, and they had some in- 
teresting correspondence on the question. But it must be 
noted that neither did Stoddard write much " Catholic " lit- 
erature, although some of his best work was religious. Like 
Tabb he wrote, generally, for the general public. 

To return to our needs and our possibilities what a wealth 
of romance and legend have we here in our own country to 
inspire our poets ! There is an epic in California Serra and 
his friar-brothers carrying the cross into the wilderness. Har- 
rison Conrard has imprisoned some of the glowing beauty of 
that theme in his Quivira. We can range the continent from 
the Laurentian Hills to Oregon, from Nome to Santa Fe, and 
find inexhaustible treasures for lyric and sonnet, drama and 
epic, all glorified with the splendor and beauty of our Catho- 
lic Faith. We have the material; let us produce more than 
jingles. Far more than mere jingles is this poetry we have 



460 THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY [Jan., 

reviewed ; but does it wholly satisfy ? We want more, we 
need more ! And Catholic poets need not, to merit such an 
honorable title, confine themselves to strictly Catholic or re- 
ligious themes; far from it though let it be said the year 
has produced some worthy devotional poetry, chiefly, Father 
A. B. O'Neil's cycle of Marian verse; The Book of the Lily 
(by a Sister of the Holy Cross). George Mark Jameson's 
Garden of Pansies, too, comes under this heading. But, no; 
it is not demanded that Catholic poets write "holy" poetry. 
Only let their Faith add color and beauty to all their work, and 
they will be worthy of the high places awaiting them. 

We should have more Catholic poetry. Father Tabb is 
dead, and his friend and old-time pupil, Father Crowley, who 
enjoyed a widespread fame as " Dunboy," rarely ventures into 
print any more; he is preoccupied with the work of "saving 
the boy " doing Father Drumgoole's work on the Pacific 
Coast. Yet he could write such a poem as "The Exile's Re- 
turn," such a perfect little octave as " Law and Liberty " : 

" O Law, thou shield of Liberty, 

God's light is on thy brow; 
O Liberty, thou life of Law, 

God's very self art thou ; 
Twin daughters of the bleeding past, 

The hope the prophets saw ; 
God give us Law in Liberty, 

And Liberty in Law." 

A nephew of this poet, the Rev. Timothy L. Crowley, O.P., 
was among the poetic contributors to the literature of 1909; 
he is a sonneteer of high accomplishments. 

Daniel J. Donohoe is writing still, but he is devoting his 
time to the translation of the ancient Latin hymns. His con- 
tribution to the year's output is a valuable volume of Early 
Christian Hymns; but that is hymnology rather than poetry. 
We want new books from Bishop Spalding, Maurice Francis 
Egan, who lives now in the charmed land of Hamlet, as his 
sonorous sonnet on "Elsinore," published in Collier's in 1909, 
beautifully reminded us; from Eleanor C. Donnelly whose 
Secret of the Statue, brought out two years ago, was thought- 
ful and beautiful ; from Katherine E. Conway both of Miss 



ig io.] THE YEAR'S CATHOLIC POETRY 461 

Conway's new books are prose. Harrison Conrard has scarcely 
appeared in print since his excellent Quivira of two years ago. 
James Riley has given us no book of poems since his Songs 
of Two Peoples, though he has published two or three novels; 
nor Henry Coyle, since his Promise of Morning, both published 
ten years ago. Conde B. Fallen is devoted wholly to the 
Catholic Encyclopedia now, and he publishes no more poetry ; 
while Mrs. Henry-Ruffin, whose "John Gildart " was one of the 
best narrative poems of the Civil War ever produced, gives 
all her time to the novel. P. J. Coleman, Caroline D. Swan, 
Susan L. Emery, Mary M. Redmond, Mary E. Mannix, S. M. 
O'Malley, Marcella A, Fitzgerald, Amadeus, O.S.F., "Max 
Walter Mannix" (Rev. P. T. O'Reilly, D.D.) all these names, 
and many others, should be in the year's catalogue. Sister 
Anthony, a nun of Notre Dame, San Jose, California who 
writes with a fire and force that are sometimes more mas- 
culine than nun-like should be on the book- list, too. Theo- 
dosia Garrison and Edith M. Thomas are two poets very 
popular among Catholic readers, and their work is worthy of 
the name Catholic. They have both published books this year. 
But they are not, I think, Catholics. Coletta Ryan, of Boston, 
whose Sun Garden won high favor a few years ago, will soon 
publish a new book. Scharmel Iris, a gifted Florentine-Chicagoan, 
whose work is genuinely beautiful, has not yet appeared 'twixt 
covers. Agnes Tobin, who gave Petrarch his truest and most 
sympathetic interpretation in English, has fled to London 
again, and has published nothing for two or three years, 
although we are promised Phedre from her; while her English 
friend, Alice Meynell, has published only essays lately; but one 
short poem of hers, " The Watershed," appeared in America 
during the year. We want more Catholic poetry. The possi- 
bilities are vast, beyond computation. 





HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE APRON. 

had troubled Lady Eugenia's honorable mind the 
question of whether Miss Mason was a fit and 
proper person to have charge of little Jim Moore. 
Yet, after all, what had she to allege against 
her ? That she and Maurice had known each 
other before Miss Mason came to Outwood? It hardly seemed 
a sufficient reason. 

If Maurice had not been very much absorbed in his own 
affairs at this time, he must have noticed the coldness of his 
mother's manner towards him. She was bitterly hurt at his 
deceiving her. But the last thing Maurice could have imagined 
would be that his beloved mother was cold. He saw that she 
was very much taken up with Mary in these days and with 
the preparations for the move to town. But, of course, Mother 
was always the same; and he was thinking too much of the 
change in Estelle's manner towards him to be very observant. 

Her manner had been different from that day when she and 
Lady Eugenia had met. He had gone to Outwood the next 
day, eager to see Estelle and to discover from her the manner 
in which they had met. But Estelle, being no more sensible 
than other young women of her age, had entrenched herself 
behind dignity, and an apron ! 

She had an apron among her personal belongings, a pretty 
flounced and lacy thing. When Lady Eugenia and Miss Beau- 
mont had left she went and put it on. If she was considered 
by these visitors to the house to be a servant, she might as 
well wear the badge of servitude. She made a wry mouth in 
the glass at her own image as she pinned up the bib of the 
apron with its pink ribbon rosettes. 

Foolish girl ! Badge of servitude, indeed ! They might 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 463 

have worn such badges of servitude in Arcadia or at the Little 
Trianon; but the thing was too airy for real life. She might 
have been warned by Jim, who cried out at her prettiness, and 
would have his father admire her, too. 

Maurice raced upstairs as usual to Jim's room, to find it 
occupied only by Miss Mason. She was sitting in a low chair 
by the window, with a basket of mending beside her and a 
stocking in the act of being darned extended on her hand and 
arm. The door into the inner room stood open. 

" Hush ! " she said, lifting the needle by way of warning. 
"Jim is asleep. Please don't wake him." 

She had an impulse to stand up to speak to him, as a ser- 
vant might; and she obeyed it in so far as she did stand up. 
She had meant to be very cold and unfriendly; but he was 
looking at her with such an air of humble admiration that she 
was constrained to blush and lower her eyes before his gaze. 

"By Jove!" he said, "what a jolly thing you are wearing ! 
Why don't women always wear them ? They look so so 
domestic. Darling! that is the word. Ah, forgive me. It is 
the fault of the apron, is it ? " 

He had caught her in his arms and kissed her lips. But 
it was only for a second. Then she pushed him away. 

" You should not you should not !." she said, in a heart- 
broken voice. She was red as a rose, but she looked at him 
with such an expression of reproach that the chivalrous boy- 
hood in him was startled and ashamed. To be sure he had 
lost his head over the apron. But, after all, he had only hur- 
ried things. She must know that he loved her. If only she 
loved him, and he was sure she loved him, he was prepared 
for the unpleasant business of getting it over with his father 
and his mother. He knew it was going to be a bit of a tussle 
with his father. Perhaps with his mother, too; and he would 
find it hard to be in opposition to them, especially to her. 
Yet, when she knew how he loved Estelle, she would not op- 
pose what was for his happiness. 

"Why should I not?" he asked, standing a little away 
from her, flushed and audacious. He looked as if he might 
repeat his indiscretion ; so much so that she somewhat pre- 
cipitately retired behind the shelter of her chair. " Why should 
I not when I love you ? I have loved you ever since I first 
saw your golden head like a flame in the murky street. My 



464 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan., 

Fiammetta. I remember how the wind blew your hair about 
your face. My dear, you are not going to be cold to me ? 
You are not afraid of me ? " 

She had put out both hands as though to keep him off; 
and now that she had recovered her self-possession she looked 
as though she meant it. 

" Mr. Grantley," she said, and her face was very proud, " you 
must please not act towards me in that way again; not to think 
of me in that way. I am not your social equal. Your mother 
or your cousin would corroborate me in that." 

" My dear, what rubbish ! " he said indignantly. " You are 
the sweetest and loveliest lady in the world; and no one can 
be more than that." 

" Thank you," she said. " I believe that you believe what 
you say at this moment; but, I am only Mr. Moore's paid ser- 
vant. When your mother can think of me as an equal " 
An expression he could not understand came into her eyes; 
it was part despairing, part humorous; she was thinking what 
equality there could be between Lady Eugenia Grantley and 
the girl who had been brought up in Shepherd's Buildings. 
" It is not likely that she ever will. But till she can " 

He would have broken out into protestations; but at that 
moment Jim made his appearance, hugely pleased to find his 
best friend with his beloved Miss Mason. And so Maurice's 
opportunity was gone. He did not again have an opportunity 
of seeing her alone; and he went away baffled, angry, and yet 
triumphant, for he had kissed her;, and for a second she had 
yielded; and the touch of her soft lips was something that could 
not be taken from him. 

He needed such comfort as he could get from the memory 
in the days that followed. It could not but happen that Es- 
telle, constantly out-of-doors with her charge, should meet in 
the lanes and roads with Lady Eugenia and Miss Beaumont, 
walking or driving. Their greetings to Jim were of the most 
affectionate. Every one loved Jim. Their recognition of the 
girl accompanying him was of the slightest. Lady Eugenia 
was naturally a just and a kind woman, but few women are 
above blaming the woman in the case when a man they love 
is implicated. 

After these meetings Estelle would be sorely put to it to 
conceal her tears from Jim. She would pull down her veil and 



ig io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 465 

keep silent for quite a long time, not daring to speak lest she 
should break down ignominiously. And Jim was not deceived. 
The boy had too fine a sympathy not to understand that there 
was something wrong between his friends; but he said nothing, 
only looked grave and sad over the vagaries of his elders. 

And of course Estelle visited these offences of his mother 
and cousin upon the unfortunate young man who had the au- 
dacity to be in love with her. When she could elude him no 
longer, when he pushed her into a corner and would have her 
listen to him on the eve of his departure for London, she was 
cold and angry with him. 

" I am very happy here where I am," she said, " and I am 
useful. I have found a little niche in the world which fits me 
and I love it. You will drive me out of it. I assure you, Mr. 
Grantley, that if you speak to me again in this way I shall go 
out into the world. No, no, no ; I will not listen to you." 

She held out her hands as though she were afraid of him 
or of herself. She averted her eyes from his bonny face. 

" But, why ? " he asked in stupefaction. " Why ? Why 
cannot you love me, Estelle?" 

Her heart leaped up at her name on his lips. If only she 
might have listened to him ! But she would not look at him. 
" Leave me in peace," she said. " If you do not want to 
drive me out of this place I have learnt to love. You perse- 
cute me. Indeed you do." 

She had said perhaps more than she intended. He went 
darkly red, as though she had struck him. 

" I should be sorry to do that," he said ; and his voice was 
as bitter as her own. 

"Seeing that I am a dependant here "she began, already 
half- sorry for the effect she had created. 

" Please say no more," he returned. " I shall not trouble 
you again." 



VOL. xc. 30 



466 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan., 

CHAPTER XIV. 

COUSINS. 

In August, for the first time since his wife died, Stephen 
Moore took a holiday. He removed himself and the boy, with 
a portion of the household and of course the invaluable Miss 
Mason, to a house on the cliffs near Dover, where the Channel 
spread out before them blue and sparkling and the ships of 
the world went up and down all day long. It was a steep 
descent into the little bay to the sea, but Jim was a light 
weight for the man-servants to carry up or down for the sea- 
bathing the doctors had ordered ; and he throve in the fresh, 
bracing air, throve miraculously. All day, when the weather 
permitted, they were out of doors, on the cliffs, amid the 
sweet-smelling, sun-warmed pines. After a few weeks of it the 
boy's general health was so much improved that his father be- 
gan to talk hopefully of a time when Jim might walk. And 
it had all come about since the fortunate day wnen Miss Mason 
had come to take the place of Jim's old, affectionate, but ob- 
stinate and ignorant nurse. Miss Mason had put new life and 
heart into them all, Stephen Moore said, with an expression 
in his eyes as he turned them on Stella which touched her deeply. 

For a whole fortnight Stephen Moore never left his son. 
That was when Miss Mason had a brief holiday with her 
mother. 

When she was going Stephen Moore had pressed on her 
acceptance a ten-pound note over and above her salary. 

" I want you to accept this as a little gift from Jim and 
me," he said. "It is to take your mother to the sea or the 
country during your holiday." 

But to his amazement she flushed deeply, and gently but 
firmly declined the gift. 

" I have plenty for that purpose," she said, " out of the 
splendid salary you give me." 

" My dear Miss Mason," he said in distress, " why be so 
proud with us, with Jim and me ? See all that you have done 
for us ! And you have not been looking well. You have been 
doing too much. It has been a grief to us that you are not 
looking well." 



19 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 467 

He pushed the ten-pound note towards her tentatively; 
but she pushed it back again, and her soft, pale- red lips took 
the unrelenting line with which they had sent Maurice Grant- 
ley packing. 

" Forgive me," she said. " It is very kind of you and 
Jim ; but I really could not take it." 

" Well -if you won't, you won't. But come back looking 
better than you go. Get a little more flesh. You have been 
growing thin of late." 

She had been fretting. Her pride had upheld her to send 
Maurice Grantley away; but as the days and the weeks grew 
to months, and there was no word of him, she began to real- 
ize what a space he had occupied in her thoughts. She said 
to herself that he had never been anything but kind and ser- 
viceable to her. Why should she have punished him for what 
others had done to her ? She had been detestable to him ; 
and his only fault had been that he had loved her. 

She had not known how much it was going to cost her. 
She reminded herself fiercely that she was no mate for Maurice 
Grantley; that she was his social inferior, a girl brought up 
in the slums of London ; older than he by some years ; what 
could she bring to him that would bridge over the distance be- 
tween them ? 

Her inheritance, when it could be proved ? well, in that 
matter of the inheritance, she had been feeling of late that per- 
haps, after all, the claims never would be proved. It was 
Quixotic folly, of course; but, if the old business was to be 
raked up, there would be a deal of mud scattered. It must 
end in one of two ways; either Stephen Moore would be 
covered with disgrace and his dead brother with him, or she 
would be beaten. And, was there any document that con- 
tained particulars of the implied trust (for such it must have 
been) now in existence ? Very probably there was not. And 
if there was not, and he chose to deny her claim, Stephen 
Moore was in an invulnerable position. 

And after all, was she anxious to dispossess him and Jim 
if she could ? She thought not. She had been brought up by 
an unworldly mother and unworldly teachers. Every influence 
that had been about her all her days was unworldly. Her 
mother, Mother Margaret, Sister Placide, the Signer they 
had all held the world well lost for one ideal or another. 



468 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER IJan., 

She had not thought to grow so endeared to this father 
and son, who were so near to her in blood. In fact she had 
said to herself when she came that only hatred of her uncle 
and the resolve to see her mother righted could excuse her 
for entering Outwood as she did. Well, almost from the be- 
ginning, the delicate boy had drawn her love and her pro- 
tecting tenderness to him. 

She had vowed in those first days that she never could be 
won to forgive Stephen Moore, to have any ruth for him, see- 
ing how he had treated her mother. But how was one to 
hate this man, with the pathetic devotion to his one child, with 
the deep furrows in his face where the ploughshare of suffer- 
ing had passed over it ? Also, she remembered that her 
mother had said that Stephen was a pawn in 'his brother's 
hands no deliberate villain, but dominated by a stronger per- 
sonality than his own. 

She took her mother away to the Hampshire coast, where 
they had sea and country together, where the New Forest ran 
almost to the water's edge. They found a little cottage there, 
exquisitely clean, sitting in its own cottage garden, where sea- 
pinks thrust up their heads among the poppies and roses, and 
magnificent hollyhocks were as high as the house- wall. There 
was a kind woman who had compassion on the London ladies 
and would feed them with simple dainties and wholesome, sweet 
food. 

Mother and daughter were distressed about each other: the 
daughter because the mother, who had been through the hot 
weather in London, looked faded and dusty ; the mother 
because the daughter was quieter than of old, and had rings 
about her eyes as though she did not sleep of nights; and 
Stella did not, although their little upper chamber was like the 
deck of a ship, so open was it and swept by the soft sea- 
breezes, so overlooking the floor of the sea. The tame pigeons 
that crooned outside the window when the sweet morning came 
might have been makers of thunder so instantly did the girl 
awake from her brief sleep when they began. She blamed the 
pigeons as she blamed the noise of the pebbles sucked up by 
the undertow of the waves and cast out again with a prodi- 
gious rattling. 

" Why, child," said the mother, ' the noises of London 
never awoke you." 



i9io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 469 

" Ah, but those were familiar noises," the girl protested 
with a smile. 

She talked to her mother much about Outwood and the boy 
and the boy's father. Of Maurice Grantley little. She had 
told her mother of the first meeting with him, before she had 
known anything of who he was. Now she shrank from talk- 
ing about him or his. 

It was her mother who broached the subject at last. 

"You have never told me," she said, "in your letters, 
although I have looked for it, if you heard anything of Lord 
Mount-Eden and his daughter, Lady Eugenia Capel. Their 
house is a few miles from Outwood. I suppose she married. 
She was a charming woman. Living as I have done I have 
heard nothing of her all those years." 

" I have seen her," Stella answered looking away out to sea. 
" She is Lady Eugenia Grantley now." 

" Grantley ! Is it possible she married Godfrey ? Poor 
Godfrey; he was head-over-ears in love with her. I thought 
Godfrey was dead years and years ago. I found it on an old 
piece of newspaper, which came in round a parcel, that he 
had been dangerously wounded. You are sure the name is 
Grantley ? " 

"Quite sure. And Captain Grantley's name is Godfrey." 

" I think I must have been mad in those years, because of 
your father's death and all that followed it. I did not seem 
to mind even when I thought Godfrey was dead. Poor God- 
frey, I am glad he lived and had his heart's desire. What is 
Godfrey like now, Stella ? You have seen him ? " 

" I have seen him, but not to speak to. He is wonder- 
fully young-looking and handsome for the father of a grown- 
up son." 

She hesitated over the words. 

"They have a son? I am glad Godfrey has a son. What 
is he like, Stella ? " 

"Like his father, but taller. Something of his mother, too. 
He" 

She was about to tell her mother that she had seen Maurice 
Grantley. If she had not told her before it was from no dis- 
ingenuousness. But Mrs. Moore broke in. 

" How I should like to see them all, without their seeing 
me. To think of Godfrey being alive and with a son ! I 



470 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan., 

might have married Godfrey once, if it had not been for your 
father." 

"Mother " said the girl, with a little gasp. "Was Cap- 
tain Grantley the one you told me about, your cousin?" 

"Yes, Stella. Godfrey is my cousin. To think of him 
being alive after all those years, during which I have thought 
him dead ! I used to think that I would have asked him to 
right me if he had been alive'" 

" Then we are cousins ? " 

" To be sure. His boy would be your third cousin." 



CHAPTER XV. 

JA SUMMER DAY. 

Cards of invitation for this, that, and the other function 
rained upon the little house in Green Street as soon as it was 
known that Lady Eugenia Grantley and Miss Beaumont were 
come up for the season. It was an early summer, with June 
weather in May, and it promised to be a brilliant season. 
There was a Royal wedding somewhere mid-way of it; and 
most of the great hostesses were entertaining. 

Nobody could have been better than Maurice as an escort 
for his mother and Mary. When they wanted him he was 
always in attendance. When they did not want him, and that 
sometimes happened when there were new frocks to be bought 
or visits to a milliner to be made, he could always find some- 
thing to do. There were plenty of people ready to entertain 
him and keep time from hanging too heavily on his hands. 
A good many young ladies found him the more attractive 
because of the new slight shadow which hung upon him. One 
young lady from over the seas, who had chattered with Mau- 
rice Grantley a year earlier, put the general opinion very 
neatly when she remarked: "Seems to me, Mr. Grantley, that 
since you and I last met, you're sort of grown-up." 

Maurice had grown-up, from a gay, insouciant boy to a man 
with a man's seriousness. He had developed a new liking for 
the company of his own thoughts, and had a way of losing 
himself in them even on the lawns at Hurlingham or the en- 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 471 

closure at Ascot on a Cup Day, which could hardly pass un- 
noticed. The shade of unhappiness on the young face in those 
moments of abstraction added to its attractiveness, " I'm 
downright stuck on your cousin," said the frank daughter of 
America to Mary Beaumont, "since he's been crossed in love." 

Mary smiled faintly; and the American girl wondered if 
Mr. Grantley was in love with his cousin. Mary had come 
back to her mood of perfect reasonableness, from which indeed 
she had only departed for a very short period. She was 
most charming. Her somewhat limited dress allowance had 
this season been generously augmented by Lady Eugenia. 
Mary's bronze- brown hair, and eyes the same color, her brown 
skin and supple figure, were at their best in a rose- colored 
frock by Doucet, which was a stroke of genius. 

She had repented her acerbity with her cousin almost as 
soon as it was over. For a short time the rift in their old 
cousinly friendship gaped wide. Then she resolved to make 
an effort to close it. 

It was on a day when Lady Eugenia was prostrated by 
sick headache, and the cousins were left to their own devices. 
They had their choice of entertainments a garden-party, an 
afternoon on a house-boat, a concert where Melba was to sing. 
In the evening they were engaged three-deep. 

Mary settled the sufferer in a darkened room, with eau de 
cologne at hand and an injunction to sleep. Her manner with 
Lady Eugenia had a delightful air of daughterliness which 
made many observant people suppose that sooner or later Miss 
Beaumont would marry her cousin. 

"And what will you do B " Lady Eugenia asked. 

" I thought Maurice seems a bit off color supposing we 
drop all the engagements and get out into the country some- 
where for a rustic day. That is if Maurice consents. It will 
freshen my complexion for the ball to-night." 

" Ideal ! the boy will be delighted. Go, and don't think of 
me till dinner-time. I can ring for Curtis if I want anything." 

Mary went down to the drawing-room, where a young man 
with a rather weary air was awaiting her. His face brightened 
at her suggestion and he assented eagerly. 

" Poor Maurice ! " she said, " it is too bad that we should 
keep you in town all these weeks." 

She touched his forehead with the tips of her fingers, and 



472 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan., 

he felt vaguely gratified. He had been feeling rather in need 
of comfort; and the unaccustomed caresss from a charming 
girl like Mary one very chary of demonstrations, too made 
him feel absurdly grateful to her. 

"I shan't be five minutes," she said; and she was not 
more. She had a delightfully rustical air when she returned, 
wearing a wide brown hat trimmed with roses and a tussore 
dust-cloak over a pink cambric frock. She had a rose in her 
bosom, and the fragrance of it floated to his nostrils. 

He felt it like an escape, an adventure, when they got into 
a hansom and he told the driver to drive to Paddington. 

"Where shall we go to?" he asked as they sat side by 
side in a pleasant proximity. 

"Let us dip in the lucky-bag," she said gaily, "and take 
the first train we find at Paddington. We can get off at any 
place we have the fancy to, saunter along till we find an inn, 
lunch, sit in the inn-garden, and after a day in Arcadia come 
back to town wonderfully refreshed." 

" What a delightful plan ! " he said. " You delightful girl 
to have thought of it ! " 

A color came in her cheek. After all, if one had to marry, 
there might be less agreeable suitors than Maurice old roues, 
for instance, with bursting money-bags, ready to buy hand- 
some, portionless girls in the marriage market, as though they 
were creatures without souls and without hearts. Indeed, 
Maurice was a very creditable escort for a young woman on 
this bright summer day, to say nothing of a life-long com- 
panionship; and a good many girls might have envied Mary 
Beaumont. 

People stared at them as they walked down the platform 
at Paddington both so well-dressed, so young and handsome 
and cheerful. Here and there tired eyes brightened as they 
passed by, or a smile came to a faded face. They were taken 
for lovers ; and the guard somewhat ostentatiously locked them 
in ; while other people traveling by the same train came and 
glanced in at the window and retired to a carnage where 
their presence would be less of an intrusion. 

One old gentleman popped his head in at the carriage 
window, and then said, in a tremendous hurry: "I beg your 
pardon." 

Maurice smiled half-shyly at Miss Beaumont. 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 473 

" I believe he takes us for a honeymooning couple," he 
said. 

To his astonishment she blushed. 

" It is because you are so very smart," she said, recover- 
ing herself. 

" And you. I wonder how we should feel if we really 
were, Mary ? " 

Her blush had moved him to the audacity, that and his 
own spirits, which mounted as the train bore them past the 
grimy houses and the red- brick suburbs into open country. 

She caught the ball and threw it back to him gaily, although 
the color still fluttered on her cheek. 

"I know how I should feel, that I was going away with- 
out a maid and without any traveling trunks." 

"And I I should feel immensely proud of you; and that 
all the men in the world were envying me my prize." 

The train was not a main-line train. It plunged them un- 
expectedly soon into wide spaces of green country, dotted 
here and there by a village, a church-spire against a back- 
ground of woods, or a handful of red- roofed gabled cottages. 

They drew up at a station where the name was outlined 
in forget-me-nots in a garden-bed by the platform. There were 
many bushes heavy with roses and a yellow climbirrg rose 
nearly covered the wall of the station-master's house. 

"I vote for this," she said. "What delightful deep coun- 
try ! Look at the woods ! And the very name of it in 
flowers! Could one imagine anything more romantic?" 

They alighted, and the station-master directed them to the 
Water-Wheel Inn, " about a mile up the road." They went 
off to look for it, happy as children. For this day Maurice 
had thrown off the gloom that possessed him. He was no 
stoic to be out on a June day with a girl, pretty and kind, 
making an idyllic holiday, that he should be gloomy. He as- 
sured her that the Water-Wheel would prove a wretched "pub.," 
where the utmost they could hope for in the way of food 
would be stale biscuits and staler cheese. And he was keenly 
hungry, So was she ; but she was certain the Water-Wheel 
would prove worthy its name and its setting. 

It did. They ate their food out-of-doors in a riverside 
garden, within sound of th6 wheel that gave the inn its name. 
The garden was full of fruit and vegetables, with clumps of 



474 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan., 

lavender and many old-fashioned flowers between. Every- 
where about them was deep rest and shade of magnificent 
woods. The food was excellent ; for one day they were in 
Arcadia and nothing could have been better than the cold 
roast beef and salad, the gooseberry tart with cream. They 
picked their dessert from the bushes, while the comfortable 
old landlady came out and smiled on them; and the inn dogs 
followed them with gratifying friendliness. 

After lunch they strolled through the wood, down the green 
highways and avenues, only trodden of gamekeepers and pheas- 
ants and the wood's wild creatures. And there Mary made 
her amende. She had been hateful to Maurice and she had 
repented it ever since. Would he forgive her ? 

" Never mind, dear ! " he said, glancing at her averted face. 
Was it possible Mary cared? "We will forget about it. She 
wouldn't look at me; so there is an end of it." 

He took up her hand and kissed it. 

When they came back to town the gloom had lifted from 
his face. Lady Eugenia saw and rejoiced at it; wrote impul- 
sively to her husband that things were going well between 
Maurice and Mary. Captain Grantley, making a flying visit 
home in the intervals of his yachting, met with Stephen Moore 
and mentioned casually that there was likely soon to be a 
wedding. And so the news came round to Stella, and awaited 
her when she came back from that August holiday. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FLIGHT. 

She came back to a joyous welcome, to find a flower- 
decked table, and a fine bouquet lying in her place. Every 
one at Outwood seemed delighted to welcome her back ; she 
might have been a long, long while away to judge by the 
manifestations of pleasure at her return. From William, the 
young footman, who touched his hat with a smile on his 
broad country face as he received her bag at the railway- 
station, down to the least of the under-gardeners, the servants 
seemed the happier for her return. Stephen Moore stood by, 
smiling his odd, contorted smile, while Jim pointed to the 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 475 

great bouquet of flowers which he himself had arranged for 
her. She had arrived just about the lunch-hour and Jim had 
insisted on being driven to the station to meet her. 

She was not Stella to remain untouched by the generous 
warmth. For the first day it kept her happy enough. She 
had to go all round the gardens and stables and sheds with Jim 
in his wheeled chair, to see all the wonderful things that had 
happened since she went away. The flowers that had come 
into bloom, the broods that had been hatched, the new litter 
of puppies, the little new calf; she had to see them all; and 
note as well the progress of all those which had been there 
before she went away. Jim seemed to think that she had 
been gone a great length of time; and was rather surprised 
that so few new things had happened in her absence. 

She had to tell him all she had been doing. A wonderful 
intimacy had grown up between them. He was almost un- 
naturally sympathetic, full of quick intuitions and understand- 
ings. He liked to hear about Miss Mason's mother mothers 
had a fascination for him. His father often talked to him 
about the mother who had left them ; and he had thought 
much in his solitude before Stella came. 

" And your mother delighted in that sweet, pretty place ? " 
he said. 

Stella cast a longing eye over the green, velvety lawns. 
Against the darkness of a fine hedge of yew red roses burnt 
like lamps. The long shadows of the trees lay on the grass. 
Away amid the trees wood-doves were softly crooning. She 
thought of her mother back in Shepherd's Buildings; and the 
thought made her sigh. 

" She loved it, poor little mother," she said. " Only you 
see, Jim, she had to go back to town. She will work at her 
music lessons so hard ; and it all begins again in September. 
She misses her daughter so much." 

"What a pity she doesn't live here near you," he said. 
"Wouldn't it be nice if you could see her every day? Sup- 
posing that when you and I went out driving we could call 
for her and take her with us ? Wouldn't that be nice ? She 
would be much happier in the country, wouldn't she?" 

" Oh, indeed she would, dear Jim. But it is no use talk- 
ing about it. It is one of the things that are too good|lo 
happen. It spoils all the joy of this for me to think of her 



476 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan., 

in the dusty streets. You can't imagine how dusty they are 
if you haven't lived in them. And the winter is coming, with 
fog and rain and slush and darkness ; and she trudging up and 
down the winter streets, and wanting me so dreadfully in the 
evenings; and having no one to take care of her when I 
am not there. I often wonder if she will think of changing 
her wet things when she comes in. She will hardly trouble 
to prepare hot food for herself. I always had the lamp and 
the fire lit and her slippers warming in the fender when she 
came home." 

Her eyes had a distant look, and Jim's watching her wore 
an expression of most unchildlike concern. 

Later when he and his father were alone he spoke of what 
was in his thoughts. 

" I want you to do something, Daddy," he said. 

"For yourself, Jim? You never ask for yourself." 

" Because you give me so much. It is for Miss Mason." 

" Anything I can I will do for Miss Mason. You and I 
owe her a debt, laddie. What is it?" 

" Her mother is working hard up in London, teaching 
music. She has no one to take care of her and comfort her 
as I do you ; and Miss Mason is sad about it." 

" Ah, a good daughter. I have noticed that she looks sad. 
What am I to do for her?" 

" Bring her here, to be near us. Miss Mason told me she 
used to say that she would rather live in a little country 
cottage than in a palace in town." 

" And you want me to provide the cottage ? " 

" If you please, Daddy." 

"Then I must think about it. Not a word to Miss Mason 
till I have thought about it." 

A day later he sent for Stella to come to see him in the 
room where he transacted his business. She came at once and 
he looked up to see her standing with a startled air in the 
doorway of the room. The sun-lit corridor was behind her, 
and her hair flamed in the light. For the twentieth time he 
seemed to have some memory of just such a thing. Of whom 
did she remind him ? In what shadowy and misty world of 
the past had there been some one with her eyes, her hair, like, 
yet unlike? 

He rose and set a chair for her with careful courtesy. He 



i9io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 477 

was very different from the gauche savage of long ago. His 
brief married life had civilized him. 

She took the chair and sat down, looking at him expect- 
antly, her lips a little apart. 

" My boy has been talking to me about you, Miss Mason," 
he said. "He has a very tender little heart; and he thinks 
you feel the separation from your mother, and it grieves him." 

" I do feel it," she said ; and suddenly hung her head. 
" In fact, Mr. Moore I am so grieved to say it I am afraid 
I shall have to leave you." 

"To leave us? Good heavens 1 you can't leave us. Why 
it would break the boy's heart." 

"I have thought about it," she said, and her eyes suddenly 
filled with tears. " It breaks my heart to think of leaving 
him. But there are reasons why I must go. I ought never 
to have come. If you knew, you would say it was right for 
me to go. Jim will forget me. You must find some one else 
for him, young, who will love him. Indeed, I don't know how 
any one could fail to love him." 

" You are talking nonsense now. No one could comfort 
him for you. You don't know what a heart he has. Girl, 
you won't dare leave him." 

He put his hand on her shoulder and in his excitement 
shook her roughly. 

" You can't go, I tell you," he said. " I sent for you to 
propose a plan by which you and your mother should be to- 
gether. There is that little cottage over at Valley outside the 
mills. She shall have that. Let her go in as my caretaker if 
she will. The old woman who is there is too old. I am al- 
ways afraid she may get burnt to death. Let your mother 
have the cottage and fifty pounds a year. She shall have 
coals and light and there are plenty of vegetables and fruit in 
the garden. She would have the place to herself; no one 
would disturb her. You could see as much of each other as 
you liked." 

She stared at him in a bewildered way. 

"Bring my mother down here?" she said. "She would 
not come. She is a recluse unaccustomed to see people. 
She is accustomed to her own little fiat. She would not leave 
it without me. I am quite sure she would not come." 

"She need see no one in the cottage. I shall not intrude 



478 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Jan. 

on her. You may be sure of that. And no one else will. 
She may lock her door against the world if she will. Let me 
hear no more of this talk about leaving us." 

" I am quite sure she will not come and I ought to be 
with her. If I died or or married, you would have to do 
without me, Mr. Moore. Better let me go. God knows I 
would not leave Jim if I could help it." 

The sincerity in her voice struck Stephen Moore with a 
sudden sense of his helplessness. Supposing she would go, he 
had no power to prevent her. And Jim would take it badly. 
He was quite sure Jim would take it badly. 

"You can't go," he said in a sullen rage. "It would injure 
the boy's health. Do you want to kill him ? You do not 
know what he was like before you came." 

"Jim would be more reasonable than you are," she said 
quietly. " If he knew I ought to go he would let me go. He 
is wise and reasonable beyond his years." 

" Go, then, go," he said in a blind fury. He had been 
making plans for her happiness at Jim's instigation; and here 
she was, coldly and hardly, going to leave the child when she 
had won his heart. She was no better than the rest of them, 
though he had thought her different from the race of hirelings. 
" Go," he said, " go ! We shall learn to do without you." 

(TO BE CONTINUED.) 




A VISIT TO MEXICO. 

BY THOMAS P. McLOUGHLIN. 

[VERY one who has studied geography will recall 
the great difficulty experienced in trying to pro- 
nounce the names of those twin snow-capped 
mountains of Mexico, Popocatepetl and Ixtacci- 
huatl, and even to-day, when traveling through 
that enchanted land, one has to repeat the names very often 
before he can pronounce them trippingly on the tongue. It 
seems- strange to one who has traveled over all parts of Europe, 
and whose footsteps have led him eastward as far as Jerusalem 
and westward as far as Honolulu, to think how many traveled 
Americans there are who have never visited that country next 
to our own borders, which ought to be as replete with interest 
to those born in the United States as any country of Europe, if 
not more so. 

We shall never forget our first view of the land of the 
Aztecs. As the steamer approached the low-lying coast at 
Vera Cruz, off in the distance, its snow-covered top shining in 
the morning sun, appeared the huge mountain of Orizaba, 
equally imposing as Popocatepetl, although we have no recol- 
lection of hearing of it in the days when we studied geography. 
At its feet lay immense plantations, rich in varied fruits and 
flowers, while nearer to the coast the rays of the tropical sun 
had dried up all vegetation. 

Interest in the journey and in the scenery was enhanced 
by the reading of Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. For many 
years we had seen on library shelves those three formidable 
.volumes, which we never attempted even to open, perhaps 
owing to the fact that we took no interest in Mexico ; or 
perhaps because we had heard from orthodox critics that Pres- 
cott was a bigot. The word bigot should not be lightly ap- 
plied to any man, and from a reading of Mr. Prescott's work on 
Mexico, I am very much inclined to think that he was strongly 
prejudiced along certain lines because of his early training and 
the teachings of his parents and professors. But, certainly, no 
one could ever give greater or more just praise to the ministers 



480 A VISIT TO MEXICO [Jan., 

of the Catholic religion than that given by Prescott to the 
Franciscan Fathers, notably to Father Toribio, one of the 
twelve apostles of Mexico. No one could give a better ap- 
preciation of their influence for good on the Spaniards and on 
the conquered Mexicans than this same fascinating writer. To 
one who is fond of romance, we may say that we have never 
read a more entrancingly interesting book than the Conquest 
of Mexico. No hero in a dime novel was ever represented as 
leading a more charmed life than Cortez, the great conqueror. 
Hence, we approached Mexico with our minds and hearts 
dwelling in the past and were prepared to honor and respect 
the people who were the humble descendants of that noble 
but vacillating prince, Montezuma. 

We made our visit to Mexico with a double purpose : first, 
to see the country and its inhabitants and its works of art; 
and, secondly, to study the actual condition of the Catholic 
Church within its borders. We had read in the accounts of 
various travelers of the sad condition of religion among the 
Mexicans. Their worship was represented as a mass of idle 
superstitions; their priests were pictured as grossly immoral; 
their children, for the most part, were represented as densely 
ignorant. To test the truth or falsehood of these statements, 
we visited several prominent clergymen, notably two American- 
born priests who had no reason to misrepresent the actual 
state of affairs. 

Our train left Vera Cruz at seven o'clock in the evening 
and our destination was the city of Orizaba. We rushed along 
at a rapid rate through the warm night air, laden with op- 
pressive odors of tropical vegetation. Gradually we began to 
ascend the foothills and as we mounted up, the night air be- 
came so cold we were forced to don our overcoats. At a 
quarter to twelve, on that Saturday night, after a short ride in 
a tramcar drawn by two mules, we arrived in the courtyard of 
the Grand Hotel de France, and what a beautiful courtyard it 
was. Its Doric columns, supporting numerous Roman arches, 
were covered with clinging vines of the brightest green and 
flowers of the richest purple, red and yellow. We mounted the 
broad stone stairway, and as we passed along an outer balcony 
to our rooms, there, towering above us, gorgeous in the silver 
moonlight, stood one of God's everlasting hills, beautiful Ori- 
zaba. 



A VISIT TO MEXICO 481 

We could have remained there, gazing at the sight, en- 
raptured, for hours, but, as we were fatigued after the railway 
ride in the uncomfortable cars, we retired quickly and were 
soon fast asleep. The sunlight, gleaming through the shutters, 
roused us early in the morning from slumber, and as we looked 
out of our windows, there was Orizaba once more, dazzling in 
the rays of the morning sun. 

How glad I am to have received my first vivid impressions 
of Mexico on a Sunday morning. As we walked along through 
its quiet streets there was an air of a Christain Sabbath about 
the town. We met, for the first time, several of the Mexican 
Indians; some going to church, some carrying milk and other 
commodities to their customers. For the most part these Indians 
wore very primitive sandals of common leather, attached to the 
feet by thongs which crossed the instep and were fastened 
around the ankle. Later on we saw how the Mexican shoe- 
maker makes a pair of these simple sandals for a customer. 
The would-be purchaser places his foot on a square of leather; 
the merchant, with a piece of chalk, marks the shape and size 
of the foot, allowing about an inch all around ; then with a 
sharp instrument he punches six holes in the leather, cuts it 
along the lines of the chalk mark, and within five minutes, if 
we may believe the testimony of an eminent Passionist Father, 
he has made to order the most comfortable foot-gear that a 
man can wear. 

Ten minutes' walk brought us to the church called " Dolores," 
the church of the Seven Sorrows of our Lady, and as we en- 
tered, we saw a sight fit for the brush of an artist. A Mexi- 
can, clad in ragged garments, with his peculiar shoulder cover- 
ing which strongly resembled in shape a priest's chasuble, his 
tall-peaked Mexican hat on the ground beside him, his scapu- 
lar of Mt. Carmel hanging outside his clothing, knelt near the 
door, and with outstretched hands and eyes directed towards 
the tabernacle, devoutly said his prayers, paying no attention 
to those who passed in or out. As we stood there for a 
moment in admiration at the simple, prayerful attitude of this 
publican, we saw a woman, with her baby strapped to her back, 
as is their custom, enter the church, devoutly cross herself 
with holy water, and dexterously reach her right hand over 
her left shoulder to sprinkle her little baby with the same. 

It was only a step from the waterspout to the statue of 
VOL. xc. 31 



482 A VISIT TO MEXICO [Jan., 

the Adolorata Pieta, the weeping mother with her Divine Son 
dead, His head resting in her lap. The woman reverently 
kissed the feet of the dead Christ, and then, turning her back 
on the image, the little baby of his own accord reached out 
his tiny hands and, as she lowered her body, he also leaned 
over and kissed the Savior's feet. 

The church was very bright and cheerful and clean, the 
priest in charge most hospitable, the altar linen immaculately 
white, the chalice and paten perfectly polished, the tabernacle, 
with its draperies, bespoke a real living faith in the Blessed 
Sacrament. Incidentally, I would remark that I have offered 
Mass in churches in other lands, where I could not bestow the 
same unstinted praise regarding cleanliness. The congregation 
was composed, for the most part, of women; poorly clad, it is 
true, but most devout. 

After breakfast we went through another section of the city, 
and visiting a Jesuit church, witnessed a scene that few trav- 
elers have recorded. In one part of the church a large cate- 
chism class of little Mexican boys sat on the ground, bare- 
footed of course, not even the traditional sandal adorning their 
chubby little feet; their eyes bright and full of intelligence; 
their hair unkempt; their hands and faces, in some instances 
at least, manifesting the utter absence of the use of soap and 
water; but their hearts, like those of their parents, were in the 
right place. Their sisters on the opposite side of the church 
sat on little benches, and their Sunday-School teachers, just 
like our own, were seated with catechism in hand, and made 
the pupils repeat after them the answers to the questions; the 
most profound that can be proposed to the human mind. 

When the lesson was over one of the Fathers ascended the 
pulpit and all the children, standing, said the morning prayers, 
after which he put them through a series of catechetical gym- 
nastics on the five principal mysteries of religion and on the ten 
commandments, all of which they recited in chorus. The session 
ended with the singing of a hymn, and while the voices of the 
children lacked that quality which we find among white people 
and gave the impression that they were singing, for the most 
part, through a piece of tissue paper over a comb, nevertheless 
the hymn was appealingly sung. 

From this church we wended our way to the principal 
square of the city, a beautiful park or alameda alongside of the 



19 io.] A VISIT TO MEXICO 483 

cathedral-like structure known as the parish church. Entering 
this edifice, which is capable of seating at least three thousand 
people, we found it filled with devout worshipers who were at- 
tending the Forty-Hours' Adoration. Noting that the wor- 
shipers were nearly all women and children I said to my com- 
panion : " The Mexicans, as far as the devout female sex is 
concerned, are certainly faithful in their attendance at Sunday 
Mass; but where are the men?" 

One thing noticeable in this, as in all the Mexican churches, 
is the large number of crude statues, chief among which one 
always finds a frightfully realistic representation of our Divine 
Lord seated on a block after He had been scourged. The rude 
artist succeeded in making the representation so revolting that 
one's blood runs cold in looking upon it. A favorite shrine is 
that of the Archangel Michael, with a rather effeminate face 
and blond curls, dressed in pink and adorned with much lace. 

The devotion of the people was remarkable. During the 
low Mass they knelt on the hard stone floors throughout the 
service, not even standing at the reading of the Gospel. What 
mattered it that nearly every one of the married women car- 
ried a baby strapped to her back ? What harm was it that 
several of these little ones cried or chirped from time to time ? 
They were in the presence of that same loving Christ who, 
centuries before, rebuked the Apostles when they tried to 
drive the noisy little children from Him. The Mexicans feel 
that they are in their Father's house when they enter a 
church and they know that Jesus was poor like themselves and 
that He had a most sympathetic heart. 

After Mass was finished we took a walk to the market place, 
where all was bustle and life. Laborers from the surrounding 
country, who are obliged to work all the week from sunrise to 
sunset, make use of this, their only free day, to come to the 
town and do their marketing. Stall after stall, booth after 
booth, was filled with all varieties of vegetables and fruits and 
exquisite flowers and meats and household utensils and wear- 
ing apparel. Here in one booth might be seen the hatter with 
a large assortment of the peculiar cone-shaped hats affected by 
the Indians. At another angle a primitive shoemaker was 
busy measuring the stain- traveled feet of a mountaineer for 
a pair of sandals. We approached one of the flower booths 
and selected a large bunch of violets and another of sweet- 



484 A VISIT TO MEXICO [Jan., 

scented, waxen camelias, and when I wanted to pay the girl I 
found that I had nothing but American gold, which she would 
not accept, Not understanding very well the language which 
she spoke, I managed to gather from her gestures that I could 
keep the flowers and pay her the following day. I told her 
in broken Spanish to send a little boy to the hotel in the 
morning, which she did. 

From the market place we meandered back to the parish 
church, and found the park near the church filled with people. 
The great bell in the tower rang out the Angelus. Instantly 
there was a hush and every man and boy removed his som- 
brero and crossing himself recited the prayer. 

At half-past twelve, as we were still sitting in the park 
looking towards the parish church, what was my delight when 
I saw issuing from its immense portals, hundreds upon hun- 
dreds of men, no women mingling with them, and I learned 
from the parish priest that the twelve o'clock Mass was for the 
men only and that the attendance was always large. Mentally I 
said to myself: "Let no one in future tell me that the Mexi- 
cans in general are an irreligious people. Let no one venture 
to assert that the priests as a rule are not men of godly lives." 
If the old saying be true: "As the priest, so the people," 
then would I conclude as far as my observation went in Ori- 
zaba, that that city must be blessed with a band of zealous, 
untiring priests. 

The Catholic idea of the proper observation of the Sabbath 
does not forbid participation in innocent amusement. The 
chief amusement of the Mexicans on a Sunday afternoon (I 
speak now of the male contingent) is to attend the bullfight, 
I do not intend for a moment to call this an innocent amuse- 
ment. Orizaba is a city of sufficient importance to have a 
bull- ring of its own, and as curiosity got the better of me I 
attended this brutal performance; but, after witnessing the 
slaughter of a bull, I said: "One is sufficient for me." The 
entertainment certainly was very interesting, and at times 
intensely exciting, the only repulsive and disgusting feature of 
it all being when the picadores, mounted on blindfolded 
horses, that were really fit for nothing but the boneyard, ap- 
proached the bull to annoy him. The gored, disemboweled 
horses were quickly dragged off the field. The marvelous 
skill of the banderillos in sticking arrows into the neck of the 



1 9 io.] A VISIT TO MEXICO 485 

bull was an exhibition of agility that would be hard to equal. 
The work of the Matador, who came into the arena last of 
all with a naked sword, seemed comparatively easy, for by 
this time the poor bull was almost completely winded and 
stood in the centre of the arena eying his executioner and 
apparently hypnotized. With a skillful thrust through the 
neck of the bull into his heart, the animal fell dead, and was 
quickly dragged out of the arena. This was supposed to be a 
triumph of man's skill over brute force, but it is well to note 
that it took the combined efforts of about twelve men to kill 
one bull. Sometimes, as happened even last winter, the bull 
gets his innings and manages to gore at least one of his per- 
secutors. Bullfighting has been condemned, not only by the 
local Church authorities, but even by Papal documents, mainly 
on account of its cruelty. 

On Sunday evening we had a real treat in store for us ; 
namely, the band concert given in the principal square of the 
city. The electric lights turned night into day, the outlines 
of the parish church formed an exquisite stage-setting, while 
the full moon shining through the palm trees and the foliage 
made the picture all the more romantic. Hundreds of Mexi- 
cans, many of them clad in brilliant red mantillas, stood lis- 
tening to the music of Strauss and Wagner and Verdi, and 
when a selection was finished they walked gravely up and 
down talking together. A large sprinkling of Spaniards gay 
young women dressed in the latest French creations, and their 
male escorts kept moving, laughing and chatting all the 
while. The whole scene was full of life and color and gayety. 

On Monday morning I offered Mass in the Jesuit church, 
and was astonished to see upwards of one hundred young 
women approaching Holy Communion; and on asking the 
father in charge what was the meaning of this on a Monday 
morning, he explained to me that this was the Sodality of the 
Children of Mary, and that they were making a Novena of 
Holy Communions in preparation for the first celebration of 
the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in Mexico. 

I found out later, in a conversation with one of the secular 
clergy, the real explanation of all the devotion which I had 
witnessed in various parts of the Republic. An atheistic Ma- 
sonic government, which hates the Church, has persecuted the 
religious orders of men and women and driven them out into 



486 A VISIT TO MEXICO [Jan., 

an unsympathetic world. Their convents and monasteries and 
colleges and churches and schools have been confiscated and 
declared government property. After the manner of the French 
Republic, the government kindly consented to allow those 
whom they had robbed to buy back their own property; and 
as many of the wealthy Spaniards and Mexicans availed them- 
selves of this privilege, the result is that several churches in 
the larger towns are open for Christian worship. The govern- 
ment strictly forbids the clergy to appear on the streets with 
their soutanes visible, hence the custom of wearing long black 
cloaks. 

The present tyrannical government has strictly forbidden all 
ecclesiastical processions in the streets, even in towns where 
the entire population is in favor of them. On the other hand, 
it allows carnival processions, not only during the ten days 
preceding Ash Wednesday, but on all the Sundays during 
Lent, and in these processions, indecency of costume as well 
as of action is not only not frowned upon, but receives the full- 
est sanction of the government. As if to emphasize more fully 
the determination of the minority in power, after closing up 
all the churches, they are erecting at public expense, out of 
the blood and sweat of an oppressed people, what is supposed 
to be the largest theatre in the world, where the ballet and 
vaudeville and light comedy will be offered to the people. 
" They that sow the wind reap the whirlwind," and so it will 
be in Mexico. The good padres used all their influence for 
upholding the hands of the secular government; the unwise 
legislators under that most absolute of dictators, President 
Diaz, have rejected the aid of Holy Church, with the result 
that Socialism is fast making itself a power throughout the 
land. Even now leaders in the army are plotting a revolution 
against Diaz and his chosen friends. 

Throughout Mexico the same infamous methods are in 
vogue that have disgraced the French government. Sisters 
and brothers and priests are not allowed to teach in the 
schools; in the hospitals and industrial homes and reforma- 
tories, where these noble men and women exercised such a 
power for good, it is strictly forbidden to mention the name 
of God ; there must be absolutely no religious training what- 
ever for the children ; the sacred emblems of the crucifix and 
the images of the saints have been ruthlessly torn down and 



19 io.] A VISIT TO MEXICO 487 

removed ; many of the churches are rented by the govern- 
ment for storehouses for grain and liquor, or as stabling 
places for horses and wagons ; yet, for all that, the large ma- 
jority of the Mexicans are devoted children of Holy Mother 
Church. 

" How do you support your churches ? " I asked one of 
the priests, " and what supports you ? " He answered that 
they were dependent entirely upon the alms of the faithful ; 
the poor laborers, out of their paltry wages, contributing 
generously to the support of religion. " I have been told," 
said I, "that there exists an immense number of common-law 
marriages or concubinages in Mexico because of the excessive 
fees charged." His answer was to bring me to his office and 
show me his marriage register. The regular fee for marriages 
for those that can afford it is eighteen dollars (Mexican money), 
which corresponds to nine dollars in our money. The good 
father passed his finger down the page and asked me to count 
the number of marriages after which appeared the word 
" gratis." After others were written, " paid six dollars " ; 
"paid four dollars"; etc. For baptisms the fee is three dol- 
lars, or one dollar and a half in our money. The stipend 
usually offered for Masses is fifty cents of our money. 

While I was standing there talking to this priest two peons, 
or laboring men, came into the vestry and one of them slipped 
a large leather belt from his waist and said to the padre : " I 
want a Mass said on next Friday at five o'clock in honor of 
St. Anthony, that God may bless my little farm." He lifted 
the belt in the air until he had shaken out a Mexican dollar 
and handed it to the priest and waited for his receipt. "That 
poor fellow," said the priest, "lives about six miles away, and 
will be here bright and early on Friday morning before the 
church is opened to be present at the Mass." The reason, 
therefore, of the great piety of the Mexicans and their devo- 
tion to the Church is that they are suffering persecution for 
justice* sake. 

The government has a law on its statute books saying : 
" All children up to the age of twelve must be compelled to 
go to school." The law is simply farcical. The municipal 
schools in Mexico are very few and far between, and hence 
the law cannot be enforced. It strikes the casual observer that 
the real object of the government is to keep the people in 



488 A VISIT TO MEXICO [Jan., 

ignorance, for woe betide that arrogant minority if the bulk 
of the Mexicans learned to read and write. In all their de- 
gradation and poverty, with their spirits crushed within them, 
they have still that inherent pride of the Aztec. They glory 
in the history of their ancestors; they look with reverential 
awe upon the statues of Montezuma and Guatamozin which 
adorn their public squares ; and to one who has learned by a 
careful reading of history that " the mills of God grind slowly," 
there comes the firm conviction that one day these faithful 
people will come into their own. 

Delighted with what I saw and heard, I asked the Jesuit 
father in Orizaba if I might take that city as a fair example 
in religious matters of the cities of Mexico. He shook his 
head sadly and answered: "No; I am sorry to say," he con- 
tinued, " that Vera Cruz and nearly all the seacoast towns are 
very irreligious ; few of the people go to church at all ; and," 
he added significantly, " I leave it to you to judge the real 
cause of this." "How about the city of Mexico itself?" 
I queried. " As for Mexico," said he, " I will only answer for 
our own parish. During Lent we have a four weeks' retreat: 
the first for the women servants, the second for the men 
servants, the third for the ladies, and the fourth for the 
gentlemen of the parish; and our Church is crowded during 
those four weeks. During the last week we have between 
eight hundred and a thousand men who go to confession and 
receive Holy Communion ; but I regret to say that, for the 
rest of the year, the great majority of the men never cross 
the threshold of the church." Who will explain this con- 
tradiction ? 

In the cathedral of Mexico, at the reception given to the 
new archbishop, we had the pleasure of seeing his Grace pass 
through crowds of kneeling men and women, many richly 
dressed, while side by side knelt the humble, barefooted, 
ragged Mexican men, women, and children, all eager to kiss 
the hand of the bishop and to receive his blessing. 

Many of the churches are so large that it is a common 
sight to see a father and mother and family kneeling on the 
floor at a favorite shrine and reciting aloud the rosary. 

I might tell of my further journeys through Mexico, but I 
prefer to limit myself to an account of a couple of days spent 
in the very pretty town of Cordova, a few miles distant from 



1 9 io.] A VISIT TO MEXICO 489 

Orizaba, and resembling it very much from a spiritual stand- 
point. 

The town is approached from the railroad by a wretched 
one-mule tramcar like that in Orizaba. You would imagine 
that the tracks, rolling-stock, mules, and barn could be bought 
for a few hundred dollars, but we found out afterwards that it 
was a close corporation, that three or four men owned all the 
stock, and that one individual at least, who had five thousand 
dollars invested in it, received a dividend of ten per cent 
twice a year. The owners are wealthy coffee planters. 

Entering the venerable church which stood fronting a large, 
well-kept park, we wandered into the vestry, and seeing a 
priest seated at a table I spoke to him in Italian, saying that 
I wished to offer Mass there the following morning. The good 
man smiled and, with a broad United States accent, said : 
" Certainly, Father. You are an American, I presume." Father 
Krill, for that was the priest's name, was born in Pittsburg 
and his father, coming to Mexico on business, settled there. 
After some years the young man was ordained for the dio- 
cese of Mexico, and accomplished such splendid work there 
that when his pastor was made bishop, he insisted that Father 
Krill should go with him to his new diocese and thus, filled 
with the spirit of apostolic zeal, he went into an unknown 
territory. 

Cordova, after the expulsion of its priests and nuns, had 
grown careless. The people fell away from Church and from 
God, because there was none to minister to them. A once 
worthy flock had become indifferent. 

The wonderful results brought about during the six years 
of Father Krill's administration show to us very clearly why 
Christ was content to use only twelve Apostles for the conver- 
sion of the world. In Cordova and its environments there are 
some four or five secondary chapels, which it is unnecessary 
to say were in very poor condition. The bishop appointed 
Father Krill pastor, not only of the cathedral but of the out- 
lying parishes, and five priests were appointed to assist him 
in his work. Knowing the results of a different system, he 
insisted on the bishop's commanding these five priests to live 
under the same parochial roof with himself. Each priest takes 
charge of a certain mission and is responsible for it to the pas- 
tor. All the stipends, even the offerings for Masses, are handed 



490 A VISIT TO MEXICO [Jan., 

over to him, while he in turn provides his community with a 
Mass stipend for every day and their board and lodging and 
their meagre salary of about ten dollars a month. 

To give some idea of the apostolic journeyings of the pas- 
tor himself, it is enough to state that four times in the year 
he takes the train to Vera Cruz, some sixty miles away, then 
goes on horseback thirty-nine miles each way over the moun- 
tain trails, to hear the confessions of an English-speaking 
colony at one of the sea-coast towns. As the roads are few 
and far between in the mountain districts, most of his sick-call 
work must be done on horseback, or rather on muleback; and 
here again let us note the deep-seated religious sentiments of 
the native Mexicans. Up the side of the mountain, some nine 
miles away from the city, live nearly nine hundred farm laborers 
and their families. Father Krill assured me that, except in 
case of sickness, not one of these people would think of miss- 
ing Mass on Sunday. Down the mountain slope they trudge 
nine miles, and after Mass, back they climb nine miles again 
to their wretched, straw-covered huts. 

In the cathedral church Father Krill has established a so- 
ciety of perpetual adoration. When the church opens in the 
morning the members of the Guard of Honor begin their lov- 
ing task, and bands of six or more women succeed each other 
during the day. When the Angelus rings in the evening at 
six,*the men come in large numbers and remain on guard like 
so many statues, gazing steadfastly at the tabernacle until the 
church is closed about nine o'clock. On Thursday evenings 
throughout the year over five hundred people attend the Holy 
Hour of Adoration. Daily Communion is constantly on the 
increase, particularly among the Sodalities of our Lady and 
the League of the Holy Eucharist. The church itself has been 
re-decorated and fittingly restored. 

I have tried to describe in simple language some of the 
things I saw and heard during my brief sojourn in the land 
of the Aztecs. The idea that some Americans entertain of the 
Indian question appears to be summed up in the oft- quoted 
sentence: "There is no good Indian but a dead one"; and 
so, in many instances in our own history, the settlers fell upon 
the Indians and drove them off their lands and out of their 
homes, and killed them if they resisted. Helen Hunt Jackson, 
in her story of Ramona, which may be considered one of the 



1 9 io.] A VISIT TO MEXICO 491 

finest American stories ever written, gives us a thrilling account 
of the frightful injustice committed against the native Indians 
of California. As a result of our treatment of the American 
Indians, they are fast disappearing from our land. 

In Mexico, however, under the guidance of the Franciscans 
and other loyal sons of Holy Church, they are still living the 
same life of civilization that was taught them by the Spanish 
Fathers. There are millions of them still dwelling and toiling 
in the land of their ancestors and still pursuing, even in dire 
poverty, the arts of peace. 

As we left Vera Cruz, in the latter part of February on a 
very hot day and looked back towards the land, we saw once 
again in the light of the setting sun the glorious snow-capped 
peak of Orizaba, standing like a sentinel, as it has stood for 
countless ages, a witness to the wonderful triumphs of the 
Aztecs and their conquerors, the Spaniards. It looks down 
upon the modern railways and viaducts with the same com- 
placency as it looks upon the remains of the pyramids that 
thousands of years ago outrivaled those of ancient Egypt. 
How infinitesimally small and transient the works of man ap- 
pear when placed side by side with one of God's eternal 
mountains? Let us hope that, as the noon-day sun melts the 
snow of Orizaba and sends it down in life-giving streams to 
irrigate the valleys below, so may the faithful prayers of the 
devout Mexican Catholics serve to convert the hearts of the 
public enemies of religion and bring down God's continued 
blessings upon the people of Mexico. 



THE SHEPHERD. 

BY HUGH F, BLUNT. 

DOWN from the heights of the mountain steep 

The torrents rush with a mighty sweep, 

And cavernous rocks are gaping wide 

As they sullenly roar in the rumbling tide ; 

Barren are fields in the biting cold, 

And a lone lamb bleats for the distant fold. 

Who is it comes in the wintry night, 

Far from the glow of his hearthstone bright, 

Braving the wrath of the angry flood, 

Staining the rugged rocks with blood, 

Tuning his ear for a bleating cry 

Of the lamb that has laid it down to die ? 

Who but the Shepherd Who loves his own 
(Not of the hireling heart of stone), 
Who rests not happy with all his flocks 
While e'en one wanders amid the rocks. 
What is a lamb to be loved so well? 
'Tis only the Shepherd's heart can tell. 

O Shepherd, Thou Who art called the Good, 

Who watching over Thy sheep hast stood; 

Safe are they ever beneath Thine eye, 

But out of the distance comes the cry 

Of wandering sheep that have missed the fold, 

And starve and freeze in the winter's cold. 

"Other sheep" yet the sheep are Thine, 

O I/amb of God with the ninety-nine; 

Far in the wilderness sad they roam, 

But, Shepherd Good, Thou shalt lead them home, 

To follow Thee in at the sheepfold's door, 

One fold, one Shepherd, forevermore. 




A POET AND A DIPLOMAT. 

BY WALTER SARGENT. 

is lamentable, but at the same time true, that 
the works of some of the best novelists of the 
nineteenth century are no longer read to any 
large extent. Wonderful as it seems, even the 
immortal Sir Walter Scott has ceased to be a 
favorite, and boys are now growing up who have never even 
heard of Ivanhoe, Rebecca, Brian de Bois Gilbert, Guy Man- 
nering, Jeanie Deans, and the other heroes and heroines that 
delighted past generations. And if Scott is thus treated, we 
can scarcely wonder at the neglect which has fallen upon such 
classical authors as Bulwer, Trollope, Charles Reade, and even 
upon such glowing lights as Dickens and Thackeray. 

But if Bulwer Lytton is so much less read than he was 
thirty years ago, the diplomatic career of his still more distin- 
guished son, the first Earl Lytton, has been kept green among 
English readers by sundry books, of which one of the most 
interesting is the two volumes of his Personal and Literary 
Letters , edited by his daughter Lady Betty Balfour.* 

Robert Lytton was in many ways a fascinating figure. He 
entered the world with the prestige of a great name, for Bul- 
wer, afterwards the first Baron Lytton, was already a distin- 
guished novelist when his only son was born. Unhappily the 
boy never knew a mother's care after his fifth year, for .in 
April, 1836, his parents were separated on the ground of in- 
compatibility of temper, and Robert Lytton and his sister were 
confided to the care of a woman who, though kind and prudent, 
was in no way related to them. 

At the age of eighteen he entered the Diplomatic Service 
under his uncle, Sir Henry Bulwer, and as his talents devel- 
oped it was clearly seen that he was exceptionally fitted for 
a diplomatic career. But, ' e well placed though he was, the 
prospect had no charm for him. From his earliest boyhood he 
had been conscious of those strong intellectual and aesthetic 

*Personal and Literary Letters. By Lady Betty Balfour. New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 



494 A POET AND A DIPLOMAT [Jan., 

cravings which denote the true poet. Both in America and 
during his previous residence in Italy, he had written verses, 
but the time came when the longing, not only to write, but 
to publish, became so insistent, that to suppress it appeared to 
him " equivalent to the suicide of his own identity." He was 
encouraged in his ambition by his life-long friend, John Fors- 
ter, and at last, with some trepidation, the plan was confided 
to the elder Lytton. 

Robert Lytton naturally felt some diffidence about publish- 
ing poems under a name already made famous by his father. 
He was not the first writer who has felt himself overshadowed 
by a great reputation, and so when his first poems saw the 
light they bore on their title page the pseudonym of "Owen 
Meredith." The great man's verdict on his son's work was 
unexpectedly favorable. 

" I have just read ' Clytemnestra,' " he writes, " with very 
great admiration and I own with surprise. Your improvement 
has been immense. I see for the first time originality. There 
is no mistake now that you have the vivida vis that you are 
a real poet, and of a genus, too, that will be practical, and 
sooner or later popular." 

This was certainly high and heartening praise for a young 
man of twenty-two to receive from one of the foremost writ- 
ers oi the day, even when full allowance had been made for a 
father's partiality. And, indeed, as other letters in these vol 
umes clearly show, Bulwer Lytton, when criticising his son's 
poems, did not allow that partiality to blunt the edge of his 
frequently caustic judgment. The encouragement bestowed on 
Lytton's poetical ambition by his father and by Forster added 
fuel to the already burning desire that consumed him to de- 
vote the whole of his life to the cultivation of the muse. He 
was at an age when a man has to decide the question of his 
future, and if he had at this time been left to himself there is 
no doubt that the world would have heard nothing of Lytton 
the Diplomatist and Viceroy, and it is nearly as certain that 
his name would have been handed down to posterity as that 
of a great English poet. His longing to devote himself to 
literature made his life as an attache mawkish and flavorless 
to him. In collecting facts for dispatches, in docketing and 
answering letters, he had no zest whatever, and though after 
events proved that his talents for diplomacy were exception- 



1910.] A POET AND A DIPLOMAT 495 

ally great, Lytton was set with all his heart, as a young man, 
upon giving up his career and adopting a literary life. 

In his graphic and vivid style he assures his father that 
"all those great and brilliant prizes which allure others would, 
even were I to obtain them, greatly diminish rather than in- 
crease my happiness. . . . Even Uncle Henry,* despite his 
many noble achievements . and his costly successes, and his 
great position and reputation, the confidence of ministers, the 
envy of all his colleagues, and the Grand Cross oi the Bath, 
is an example that makes me shudder. I would rather, for 
my part, have been Burns at the Scotch alehouse, than Uncle 
Henry in a ship of war, going out to his post with the Red 
Ribbon on. As I once said to you when we walked along 
the streets of London by night, and you made me proud and 
happy by asking me the question, my ambition has ever been 
for fame rather than power." 

Here surely was no ordinary young man. But the detach- 
ment shown in this letter must have alarmed rather than 
pleased his father. Literature for its own sake is no doubt a 
noble pursuit, but when it involves the abandonment of a cer- 
tain and probably successful career, coupled with a lofty con- 
tempt for the highest prizes which that career has to offer, it 
is not to be wondered at that an anxious father should view 
such a bent of mind with a good deal of fear. 

Bulwer Lytton's reply was discouraging in the extreme, and 
what was even more galling to his son, gave him the impres- 
sion of jealousy and a certain suspicion. Judging it at this 
time, however, when its wisdom has been so fully justified by 
events, it is a little difficult to see how Robert Lytton could 
have read into it anything but the natural alarm of a father 
at seeing a young man wishing to give up a certainty for 
what might be nothing better than a mirage. 

"I don't think," writes Sir Edward, "whatever your merit, 
the world would allow two of the same name to have both a 
permanent reputation in literature. You would soon come to 
grudge me my life, and feel a guilty thrill every time you 
heard I was ill. . . . No; stick close to your profession, 
take every occasion to rise in it, plenty of time is left to cul- 
tivate the mind and write verse or prose at due intervals. As 
to your allowance, I should never increase it till you get a 

* Sir Henry Bulwer, afterwards Lord Balling, his chief at Washington. 



496 A POET AND A DIPLOMAT [Jan., 

step. I help the man who helps himself. What in your letters 
you suggest as the road to fame, is only the lazy saunter into 
a relaxed effeminate air of pleasure and egotism. It is the 
Epicurean looking into his rose garden, and declaring that he 
is cultivating philosophy. All great natures must have some 
little dash of the firmer Stoic ; all must do what they don't 
like for every true duty is some restraint on the inclination. 
Were it not for that, do you think I should be toiling here ? 
Oh, no under the orange groves of Nice writing new King 
Arthurs, which none save an affectionate son would read." 

The letter of Robert Lytton which I have quoted above 
proved that he was something a great deal better and worthier 
of consideration than a young man who was merely anxious 
to throw up his profession for the purpose of entering a lazy 
dreamland of poetry. Even his father was satisfied that he 
possessed the divine afflatus, though he regarded it as a dan- 
gerous and enervating atmosphere to be breathed exclusively. 
Robert, therefore, stuck to his profession, and his first bock 
of poems was published with his father's consent, on condition 
that he should write nothing more for two years. His pseu- 
donym, " Owen Meredith," was derived from a traditional an- 
cestor who bore that name. It is interesting to find Robert 
Lytton writing some years later that there was " a real Mr. 
Meredith," who was publishing at the same firm, and who was 
much annoyed at the assumption of his name. This of course 
was the George Meredith, whose death last summer deprived 
England of one of the foremost literary men of the Victorian 
era. Robert Lytton was faced at the prime of life with a di- 
lemma which, if not unique, is assuredly uncommon. His sen- 
timents as to the highest prizes in the diplomatic profession, 
which I have already cited, are the very reverse of those which 
boys of eighteen usually hold. But his condition of mind at 
thirty, though in itself less striking, is, on account of the 
maturity of his intellect, even more remarkable. It is the delib- 
erate judgment of a cultivated man, who was no mere pessimist 
or dilettante. 

But his views must be given in his own words: " I am too 
clever," he writes candidly to his father, "at least, have too 
great a sympathy with intellect, to be quite content to eat the 
fruit of the earth as an ordinary young man, yet not clever 
enough to be ever a great man, so that I remain, like Moham- 



19 io.] A POET AND A DIPLOMAT 497 

med's coffin, suspended between heaven and earth, missing the 
happiness of both, and neither trust nor am satisfied with my- 
self. A little more or a little less of whatever ability I inherit 
from you would have made me a complete and more cheerful 
man." 

The real fact is that his sympathies were at the same time 
so abundant in quality and, so wide in scope, that they pre- 
vented that concentration without which the highest greatness 
does not exist. But it may be questioned whether a certain 
diffusiveness of sympathy and taste is not more likely to lead 
to happiness, while it is certain that the friends of the man of 
wide sympathies gain from him incomparably more pleasure 
than they could from a man of greater concentration. 

Mr. Wilfrid Ward, in his able essay on Robert Lytton * 
points out that the poet is a man who can never reach the 
height of his ideal, and the greater the poet the truer this is. 
No success, however brilliant, can really satisfy his cravings 
after something higher and nobler, for, in an art so vast and 
lofty, so nearly infinite in its possibilities, the intellectual ideals 
can never be fully and adequately brought down to the ex- 
pression of mere words. 

Alexander the Great wept because there were no more 
worlds to conquer. But the very essence of his grief consisted 
in physical limitations, whereas the "divine despair "of a poet 
springs from the precise opposite namely, the limitless nature 
of what is intellectual and abstract. 

This is only another way of saying that a man whose am- 
bitions are narrow is happier, with the happiness of this world, 
than is he who aspires to more exalted achievements. A pros- 
perous grocer, who has guarded his future and that of his 
family against anxiety by judicious investments, is probably a 
far happier man than a genius whose works or discoveries will 
live to the end of time. Indeed, it is doubtful if a genius can 
ever be what is understood as a happy, in the sense of a sat- 
isfied, man. 

Mr. Ward recalls the passage in Rasselas which tells us that 
the gifts of life are distributed on path;s which lie parallel to 
our careers and on each side of them. Our choice lies between 
the two sets of gifts, but if we try to grasp both, we shall 
miss both. 

* Ten Personal Studies. By Wilfrid Ward. New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 
VOL. XC. 32 



498 A POET AND A DIPLOMAT . [Jan., 

Such was precisely what Lytton was sometimes tempted to 
feel was his own fate. Fame in letters and achievements in 
diplomacy had alike been within his grasp. In trying to real- 
ize both, he had, he considered, failed in securing greatness in 
either. 

Writing to his daughter, the editor of the volumes before 
us, he quotes Schopenhauer's dictum that a man can thrive 
only in the element congenial to his nature, and from this 
he deduces the axiom that he should resolutely eschew things 
in themselves good and attractive that are not thoroughly con- 
gruent to his character and disposition, just as the bird eschews 
the sparkling water, cool and refreshing, because it is death 
to him, though for the fish it is the only life. The man who 
covets prizes for which he is not fitted, because he sees them 
possessed and enjoyed by others, secures for himself disap- 
pointment and chagrin. 

" My physical temperament," writes Lytton, " has a great 
tendency to beget blue devils, and when those imps lay siege 
to my soul they recall those words of Schopenhauer's and say 
tome: 'Thou art the man." And this, though only a mood, 
inasmuch as it represented the promptings of blue devils, was 
somehow a prevailing feeling with Lytton, and it may have 
been sent him as a salutary check to too much self -congratu- 
lation ; for it must be owned that a man who not only made a 
distinct mark in literature, but rose also to the greatest pro- 
consulship in the world, must be reckoned among the suc- 
cesses and not the failures of life. 

And in other moods he was inclined to take a less gloomy 
and more reasonable view. "When my blue devils are cast 
out," he continues, still writing to his daughter, " and I re- 
cover sanity of spirits, then I say to myself just what you, 
dear, say to me in your letter that the main thing is not to 
do but to be; that the work of a man is rather in what he is 
than in what he does; that one may be a very fine poet yet 
a very poor creature; that my life has at least been a very 
full one, rich in varied experiences, touching the world at 
many points ; that had I devoted it exclusively to the culti- 
vation of one gift, though that the best, I might have become 
a poet as great at least as any of my contemporaries, but that 
this is by no means certain to me, for my natural disinclina- 
tion to, and unfitness for, all the practical side of life are so 
great that I might just as likely have lapsed into a mere 



i9io.] A POET AND A DIPLOMAT 499 

dreamer; that the discipline of active life and forced contact 
with the world has been specially good for me, perhaps prov- 
idential, and that what I have gained from it as a man may 
be more than compensation of [sic\ whatever I may have lost 
by it as an artist." 

Lytton had a peculiar faculty for subjective and objective 
description. His introspective criticism is always arresting, 
while his pictures of external events glow with animation and 
color. His letters to friends, of whom he had a delightful se- 
lection, are wealthy in detail and pregnant in observation afcd 
description. The sympathy of his heart is well brought out 
in his correspondence with Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, with whom he 
was on terms of the pleasantest intimacy. He had, as Mr. 
Ward remarks, a genius for friendship, and his friends belonged 
to very various schools of thought. But the scantiest estimate 
of his manifold character would be utterly incomplete if noth- 
ing were said about his religious views, and the volumes edited 
by his daughter supply us with interesting testimony as to these. 

In 1871 the death of a son of tender age, after an illness 
of a peculiarly painful and distressing character, had the un- 
happy effect of loosening his hold upon the teachings of 
Christianity. It made the idea of an omnipotent, and at the 
same time an all- good God, an insuperable difficulty to him. 
In a letter of melancholy tone but of extraordinary power, he 
describes his state of mind to his father. The eight days of 
anguish at the bed of his dying son has brought him to the 
conclusion that God, his loving and beneficent Father, is not 
omnipotent, and that he himself, as man, is called upon to 
help God, while looking to God to help him. This is, after 
all, Manichasism, pure and simple, and it supplies one more 
illustration of the tangled web of inconsistencies in which the 
human mind becomes enmeshed when deprived of the guidance 
of an infallible teacher. 

As Mr. Ward very truly remarks, how far Lord Lytton's 
" attitude towards Christianity was determined by the form in 
which it had been presented to him in youth, and how far his 
deep reverence for Christian ethics presupposed a creed latently, 
if not explicitly, believed in, we have not material to learn 
with any certainty." What we do know is that he never had 
the blessing of Catholic training, and when confronted by the 
dilemmas caused by the various events and sorrows of life, the 
ship of his soul was found rudderless in the storm. Perhaps 



500 A POET AND A DIPLOMAT [Jan., 

it is scarcely a paradox to say that the cleverer a man is, 
and the more deeply he speculates on the great problems of 
life, death, and the future of those who pass beyond the veil, 
the more hopelessly will he become perplexed and puzzled by 
the multiplicity of mysteries which such a study represents, 
unless he is guided by the infallible voice of the Church. 

Towards the end of his life, while he was English Ambas- 
sador at Paris, he had just recently read and reread the account 
of the part taken by William George Ward in the Oxford 
Movement, that great upheavel which, though before his time, 
affected him in common with all other educated men. Writing 
to a friend, he speaks of the contrast between the Anglican 
Establishment and the Catholic Church, and adds : 

" To my mind it is not only in her liturgy and her ritual, 
but far more in her real catholicity, her vast humanity, her 
organization, so flexible and yet so firm, so sympathetically 
and sagaciously adapted to the idiosyncrasies of all her chil- 
dren, that the Catholic Church transcends all others, Greek or 
Protestant, and justifies her proud title of the Church Catho- 
lic. . . . For all sorts of reasons I shall never become a 
Catholic. But a Catholic I should certainly be if I could get 
over the initial difficulties of belief common to all the churches. 
Perhaps the main reason why I shall never get over those dif- 
ficulties is that I have no inclination to get over them, no 
'wish to believe' in that particular sense." Placing himself 
face to face with the real difficulties of life and the abiding ques- 
tions of the human soul, Lord Lytton assumes an attitude of 
"semi-agnosticism," as Mr. Ward not inaptly calls it, "half-way 
between the agnosticism of all Christians who realize that God 
is inscrutable, and that of the more or less aggressive agnostics 
of the school of the late Professor Tyndall." 

A more pleasant aspect of Lord Lytton's mind, and one 
that shows his extraordinarily vivid power of poetical expres- 
sion, is supplied by a letter giving his thoughts on spring, 
that favorite theme of poets. By common agreement, winter 
has been taken as typical of death; whereas spring, with its 
renewal of life, vegetable and animal, has been likened to the 
vigor of youth. Not thus, however, did these seasons strike 
Lord Lytton ; and his thoughts on the subject, in their beauty 
and their originality, are well worthy of quotation. 

" O spring ! spring ! the ever new ! how I bless God for 



1 9 io.] A POET AND A DIPLOMAT 

thy sake! Strange! I cannot conceive, dear Forster, why men 
have so universally taken winter for the death-picture and 
spring for the life-picture in nature. It strikes me quite other- 
wise. In winter I see, everywhere, life as it is: the life of use 
and wont, and apathetic habit; the enduring need; the painful 
struggle with difficulty; the cramped energy; the long im- 
prisonment; the want of warmth. That is life. But spring! 
No ; all that boundless emancipation, the deep, deep exultation 
and triumph, the wonder, the novelty, the surprise of every mo- 
ment, the fresh beginning of untried things the escape from 
the staled and the spoiled experience, the joy, the freedom, 
the confident impulse, the leaping entrance into the realm of 
limitless possibility, surely all this is death or else there is 
no God in heaven ; and under the heaven of spring who could 
help being sure of the goodness of God ? I send you the first 
primrose I have seen this year. I hailed it as the star of 
how many pleasant hopes! Here is a fine red beetle crawling 
over my letter. He has put on his holiday coat obviously 
quite new, a splendid vest of scarlet slashed with black all 
to do honor to spring." 

This quotation is surely a beautiful illustration of the aphor- 
ism " Mors janua vita" It is not to be wondered at that, as 
English Ambassador to Paris, Lord Lytton was most popular. 
He was thoroughly at home in that capital, speaking French 
as easily as his native tongue. 

A very trivial but none the less amusing incident is told in 
connection with his sojourn in India. It relates not to his 
Imperial, but to his domestic government. His little boy was 
brought one morning to his study in charge of the nurse, ac- 
cused of having thrown his sister's favorite doll from the nurs- 
ery-window. " Now," said the father, " I will treat you in the 
same way. Go and fetch me the thing you are most fond of, 
and I will throw it out of the window!" The boy hesitated. 
"Run along and do as I tell you," said Lytton sternly. "All 
right, Papa," replied this worthy son of a diplomatic father, 
"I was only thinking which of my sisters I liked best!" The 
two volumes of her father's Letters, which Lady Betty Balfour 
has published, and her work dealing with his Indian Adminis- 
tration, give one a delightful . view of a fascinating personality 
who was at once an accomplished official, a poet, a literary 
man, and, above all, a friend full of human sympathies. 




THE WAITING. 

BY N. F. DEGIDON. 

| HE cottage is roofless now. The roses and honey- 
suckle and sweet-scented briar are dead. The 
unglazed windows gaze across the glen like 
sightless eyes. The yellow walls resemble a 
tear-stained face from trickling moisture of mold- 
ering thatch. Grass rank and sodden grows on the thresh- 
old and adown the winding avenue to the river's bank. Weeds 
have choked life from the shy pansies and tender violets. The 
once neatly-clipped hawthorn hedge is prickly and unkempt; 
The garden is a wilderness. Desolation meets one at every 
turn desolation and sorrow, and the mute reproach of dead 
things, as if the very walls nature even mourned for her 
who once walked there, and now is no more. 

Fair to the eye she was, and fair of soul, too. Soft were 
her eyes of hazel, beseeching as a collie's, tender as moonlight 
on a balmy September night. Slender and stately her figure; 
gentle her face, shaded with soft, nut-brown curls gentle and 
softly rounded as a child's, albeit twenty summers had passed 
over her head. Sweet and gracious in the glory of her dawn- 
ing womanhood ; sweet as the roses she touched so tenderly, 
so Dan Clune first saw her as he was passing by the way and 
stood transfixed at the sight, even as a hero of the Fiana 
might have been at first sight of the woman of his dreams. 

In the neighborhood of the cottage Mrs. Grundy had not 
as yet ever been heard of. Formal etiquette had not yet taken 
the place of kindly hospitality. Suspicion of the stranger 
would be refused a place in those hearts of rare metal. If Kate 
blushed as she looked up from her flowers on hearing the 
handsome stranger's : " God save you, Miss ! " it was merely 
the blush of innocent youth prompted by kindly thought. 

" God save you kindly ! " she answered modestly. 

"The day is hot," Dan affirmed, thirst in his eyes thirst 
of the soul, which no nectar compounded by human hands 
could satisfy. 



1 9 io.] THE WAITING 503 

" It is surely. You will take a bowl of milk goat's milk 
only have we, but it is rich and thirst-satisfying," she said 
simply. 

"Thank you kindly, Miss," Dan replied, taking a step 
nearer the river's edge. 

" Maybe you will come in and rest while you drink/' the 
girl went on, noting the stranger's fine, manly figure and 
measure of good looks, as girls will do, and have done ever 
since Eve stood entranced at the sight of her mate aeons 
agone in the garden of Paradise. 

I would be more than thankful, Miss," Dan answered, dof- 
fing his cap involuntarily, and tripping lightly over the step- 
ping stones to the girl's side. 

As he stooped his broad shoulders to enter the cottage, a 
woman old and feeble, with snowy hair and snowy lace cap 
bade him welcome, but her looks belied her words. Her 
face was tense, her eyes eager with suspicion. Kate was her 
only daughter, the child of many prayers. Alone, the twain 
had lived together since the fever had untimely carried off a 
husband and a son many years before. Handsome young 
strangers found no more favor with her than the susceptible 
young farmers around, who sighed at a glance from Kate's 
soft eyes, and mooned along the river's bank on summer even- 
ings in the hope of a nod or a " God save you ! " from her ripe 
young lips. 

"Thank you, ma'am; and God save all in this house!" 
Dan replied as he seated himself on a creepy stool, which 
always stood in the rose- embowered porch. 

"Have you come far?" the widow queried, anxiety in her 
tone. 

" Over the hill, ma'am, from S ," Dan replied, meekly 

endeavoring to keep his eyes from straying from her wrinkled 
face to the young vision who stood obediently beside her 
mother's chair. 

" Ah ! " she ejaculated with a sigh of relief. Suspicion 

was dying. S was a long way off many leagues. If this 

too-frankly admiring stranger abode there, he would trouble 
neither the cottage nor its inmates often. 

" It is a hot day," he affirmed, hoping to gain her attention. 

"You do not walk so far often?" she queried irrelevantly. 

" I have never been in these parts before, and I may never 



504 THE WAITING [Jan., 

have an excuse to come here again," he replied, looking at 
Kate, in hopes that she would assist him in solving a riddle 
created almost in that instant within his own brain to wit, on 
what pretext could he renew a visit to the cottage. Slowly he 
sipped his milk. Quickly, to him, the bowl was emptied. Un- 
willingly he departed, leaving his blessing and his thanks. 

Bat, within a brief spell, Dan solved the riddle. He came 
again not once, but often. On one pretext or another his 
tall form darkened the doorway of the cottage almost weekly. 
To day it was a straying heifer he sought. The next week a 
distant relative, lately discovered, lay ill a league beyond. In 
time he gave no excuse, and suspicion took up a permanent 
abode in the widow's eyes. Sometimes he rode a mountain 
pony; oftener he came on foot, on which occasions he tarried 
long too long for the widow's peace of mind. 

In those bygone times afternoon tea had not yet come 
into fashion, but there was abundance of buttermilk and laugh- 
ing potatoes, and oaten bread and fancy griddle cakes made by 
Kate's own delicate hands at least Dan thought them delicate, 
because they were so white and soft and slender; but, in real- 
ity, they were strong, capable, and willing. The neat aspect 
of the cottage, both inside and outside, was traceable to their 
tireless industry. Neither the edibles in the garden nor the 
flowers peeping through the hedges, clinging to the cottage 
walls, or clustering around the porch, would have arrived at 
such luxuriant growth were it not for her energetic weeding 
and hoeing and training. Dan never saw her at work, for the 
very simple reason that while still very young she had learnt 
the art of good housewifery or, perhaps, she was a born 
housewife. The sun and she were on the best of terms, and 
directly that luminary peeped in at her uncurtained window 
every morning, the girl was wont to jump out of bed so as to 
keep pace with him. In this wise she had her day's work 
finished and her second toilet made about eleven A. M., a line 
of action many housewives in Ireland to- day might copy with 
advantage. If Dan called early in the day, Kate had always 
leisure to devote to him. If the afternoon witnessed his long, 
swinging, eager stride adown the winding road, she was never 
too busy with her flowers to note his coming, even while yet 
some distance away. Although he had not yet dared to voice 
his love, the gladness in her eyes and the soft blush mantling 



THE WAITING 505 

her cheeks told their own tale, to the joy of the man's heart 
and the sorrow of the mother's. 

Thus the months went galloping by, drawn by love's chariot, 
until Dan could possess his soul no longer, and was perforce 
obliged to lay his hopes and wishes before the widow and her 
daughter. Kate's heart was singing a glad song. Almost from 
the first she had known what was in her lover's mind, and had 
but awaited his words to voice their reciprocation; but, for the 
widow, the tale had a very different significance. To her it 
meant loneliness and sorrow the severance of the one tie left 
to her on earth. Dan was a younger son, and beyond what 
he could make by what is locally called "jobbing," /. e. t buying 
cattle and selling them at a profit, he had no visible means 
wherewith to keep a wife not to mention such a trifle as a 
house to shelter her. If he married her daughter a severance 
was bound to follow, as she had no intention of sharing the 
cottage with a son-in-law. A half-spoken wish of Kate's, anent 
the latter solution of the difficulty, was flouted angrily. 

"A man should work for his wife and shelter her, too," 
she said fiercely, tapping her stick on the earthen floor to em- 
phasize her words. 

"An' that I'll do, too, without a doubt. All I'm wantin' 
is Kate's promise to wait for me while I'm workin* for the 
home," Dan retorted with equal spirit. 

" Oh, I'll wait for sure, Dan ! Don't be frettin* at all about 
that," put in Kate. 

" And where and how may you be intendin' to work for 
my Kate ? " interpolated the widow. 

Dan looked at the twain, the embodiment of perplexity. 
Although for weeks his mind could hold no thought save mar- 
riage with Kate, the need to find a house to tarry in after that 
happy event had not troubled him at all. With the widow's 
eyes looking fiercely into his, a speedy decision on the matter 
was necessary. 

" I'd better try America. There isn't much chance for a 
man in this country," he replied weakly, discerning economic 
salvation no nearer than the other side of the globe, like many 
an Irishman before and since. 

" But you'll come back, Dan ? " The voice was strange, 
Kate's voice strung up to a note of wild misery, with the sud- 
den fear that she and Dan might part to meet no more. 



5o6 THE WAITING [Jan., 

" Ah ! he'll come back," chimed in the widow sarcastically. 
Her faith in men was not of the strongest. 

" I give you my word my oath that I'll come back when 
I've earned enough to keep Kate in the style she has every 
right to expect," he said humbly; but there was anger in his 
heart, which he suppressed for Kate's sake. He was not of 
the men who make promises to break them. 

" I take your word, Dan Clune, and Kate will wait till you 
come for her on one condition," said the widow. 

"An* that condition, ma'am?" 

"That ye have no letters coming backward and forward be- 
tween ye. You'll be giving your mind all the better to your 
bit of work if the longing to see Kate is always always in 
your heart, and there is no way of satisfying it but bringing 
the money home for the wedding." 

" It is a hard condition, ma'am." 

" Take it or leave it, my son." 

"Mother! Mother," wailed Kate, wringing her hands in 
anguish. 

" There be men with the gay laugh and light heart who 
kiss a maiden and forget, and there be men ;with the deep 
heart who remember always. If your Dan is one of the last, 
you won't have to wait, asthoreen. A mother's right is to 
save her child from sorrow," the widow answered unmoved. 

So the lovers parted, for prayers, entreaties, and tears were 
all in vain. Mrs. Casey was adamant. The next week Dan 
sailed, and half a small silver coin suspended from her slender 
white neck by a plaited string of gray worsted, was all the 
visible token Kate Casey had of Dan Clune's love. 

Dan got a job the day he touched American soil, but he 
was used to farm-work only, and soon left the city for the 
wild west, where cattle ranged and oxen ploughed, and men 
worked like slaves half the year and froze the other half* 
His wages were high, but so were his expenses ; and, with the 
utmost frugality, each year-end found him so ill- equipped in 
a monetary sense, to return to his love, that he put it off yet 
another year. At first he was sorely tempted to break his 
word to the widow, but in time self-restraint became a set 
habit, and, although his love abated not a whit, Kate began in 
some strange way to recede from him as the long silence closed 



i9io.] THE WAITING 507 

around his heart. It was like being in some strange, dark 
prison, although the prairie breezes blew around him this 
ceaseless longing for the news of her he dared not ask for, 
until, by imperceptible degrees, she became less and less human 
and more and more a dream- maiden. As Beatrice was to Dante, 
so Kate Casey was to Dan Clune a vision leading him to 
better things, forever purifying his path with a tender bond 
of a sweet memory, but as far from him as the stars. As the 
years went by he ceased to long as mortal men long when 
they love, although he thought of Kate always, and other wo- 
men were to him as if they were not. Gray threads began to 
mingle with his raven locks, crows' feet left a net-work of 
wrinkles around the once merry eyes, the mobile mouth be- 
came set in stern lines, the shoulders drooped with the weight 
of an indefinite sorrow ; still he worked, and he said each year 
to his own heart : " For sure I will see her next year " ; but 
the next year came and went even as the last, for the red gold 
(that was to make a rainbow bridge across the Atlantic on 
which to journey to the land of love and happiness) accumu- 
lated slowly, slowly. 

He was approaching middle age and still dreaming of a 
cottage embowered in roses, and a slim, youthful maiden, who 
was now half-saint, half -woman, when the unexpected happened. 
The master, whom he had served so well and faithfully, died 
in the fullness of time, leaving Dan a large share of his world- 
ly possessions. On hearing the good news he felt as dazed as 
Rip Van Winkle after his twenty years' nap. Then he woke 
up from his dreams, and the years were but as one since the 
day he left the cottage, vowing eternal fidelity to Kate Casey. 
Age suddenly fell from him like a worn-out garment and he 
felt as light-hearted and giddy as a boy in his teens. The 
next week the angry waves of the herring-pond were seething 
and boiling around the gallant ship that bore him back to love 
and life. Too eager to get to his journey's end, he tarried not 
a moment when he landed at Queenstown, and chafed much at 
the cross-country journey, which necessitated so many changes 
that he said to himself he would have made Gurthiniska in less 
time had he essayed to walk it. Arriving at the wayside 
station as the shadows were lengthening, he charted the only 
jaunting car plying for hire there. 

" Mrs. Casey's the widow Casey's, of Gurthiniska," he said. 



5o8 THE WAITING [Jan., 

" Casey ? Never heard the name, sir," the jarvey answered, 
rubbing his poll in some perplexity. 

" Gurthiniska up by Thobair. Surely you know that 
way ? " 

" Ach ! I know the way right enough. 'Tis the name I'm 
tryin' to call to memory, sir." 

" Never mind the name, then, but jog along. I'll soon find 
the place I want," Dan said with a proud smile, a mental 
picture of Kate standing by the river or under the flower- 
festooned porch in all her youthful grace presenting itself to 
his inward vision. 

"Yes, up that road; the cottage is just by the river. The 
garden runs down to the water's edge, and the avenue " Dan 
began. 

"You must be makin* a mistake, sir. There is an ould 
fallen house where you say, sir ; but naither a garden nor yet 
an avenue," interrupted the jarvey. 

"Drive on, man," said Dan testily, feeling, but refusing to 
believe, that he had just had a severe nervous shock. 

" I tould you so, sir," the jarvey began apologetically. He 
was dimly aware that his fare was suffering some sort of tor- 
ture by the strange convulsive workings of his face. 

An old woman, hobbling along with the aid of a stout 
stick, stopped to eye the stranger and incidently glean any 
stray bit of news. 

"'Tis Miss Casey Miss Kate Casey. She lived a short 
time ago with her mother the widow Casey," Dan said, half- 
interrogatively, half in monologue, his face ashen white. 

" Ah ! sir, maybe you bees the young man that left here 
years back, with a promise to make money an* marry Kate?" 
she queried. 

" Yes, woman ; my name is Dan Clune. I have been away 
but a little while just a few years. Where is Kate .Casey ? 
Why did she leave the cottage?" he said impatiently. 

" Wisha asthore ! an* you never knew, I suppose. The 
mother ailed the spring afther you went, an* that year it was 
God's will to take her, leavin' poor Kate alone an' " 

" But, woman, where is she ? " he interrupted. 

"Ah, wisha 1 wasn't I tellin' you. As I was sayin', the 
mother died an* the poor girl wouldn't leave the ould place, 
but she was gettin* poorer and poorer, an' the neighbors ud be 



19 io.] THE WAITING 509 

helpin* her a bit kind they were but sure we're all poor 
around here an' " 

" But, my good woman, I don't want all this history. Tell 
me straight where Kate Casey lives at present, and " 

" Oh, wisha ! God be good to you, poor man ! She used 
to talk about you an* say you wor comin' back an* the big 
bag of gold at you," she interrupted again. 

""I have come back. In pity, tell me where is she?" 

" Oh ! God help him ! She is above the stars, asthore, 
asthore above the stars these nine years. She'd be smilin' in 
her pretty way when the consumption first attacked her, an* 
when the gray hairs began comin' she'd be pluckin' them out, 
saying she would not be an ould woman when Dan came back, 
an'" 

The crack of the jarvey's whip startled the gossip to silence. 
Looking around she saw that he was driving back alone. The 
returned exile had disappeared whither she knew not; but, 
had she not feared the ghost with which popular superstition 
tenanted the ruin, she might have seen a man, bowed in agony, 
on the grass-grown flags of the porch where he had spent so 
many happy summer days more than a quarter of a century 
before. 

" I kept my word to the very letter," he sobbed brokenly 
to the silence. 

But the sun hid his light in sympathy, and the shadows of 
night spread gossamer wings of pity over him, and the stars 
came out and blinked their sorrow; and in the stillness he 
thought he heard a rush of gentle wings and a voice afar 
murmuring: "One above alone can give you back what you 
lost in striving to gain"; and a peace stole over his soul a 
peace which was neither of to-day nor to-morrow, but of 
eternal years. 




FRANCIS THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS." 

BY WILFRID WILBERFORCE. 

JINCE the death of Chatterton there has been no 
figure in literature more romantic, and in some 
senses more sad, than that of Francis Thompson. 
The deathbeds of the two men were happily as 
wide apart in their surroundings as they could 
possibly be the one, the wondrous boy, " who perished in his 
pride," dying by his own hand, despairing of succor when, all 
unknown to him, succor was close at hand the other, breath- 
ing his last full of hope, after a life of unrecognized genius 
with its black periods of privation, tended by the unremitting 
kindness of nuns, whose love and service no money could buy, 
and sped heavenwards by the coveted absolution of a son of 
the great saint and patriarch, whose life Francis Thompson 
had unknown to the world recorded in language all his 
own. 

Thompson died in November, 1907, the light of his well- 
earned rest coming to him in London's gloomiest month. It 
was not until the spring of 1908 that the world knew that 
Messrs. Burns & Gates possessed in their strong room the MS. 
of a Life of St. Ignatius by the dead poet, and since then every 
reader of his verse has been hoping to see what was known 
beforehand to be a treasure. On the loth of December last 
the book * tor the first time, saw the light, and through the 
courtesy of Mr. Wilfrid Meynell, Thompson's literary executor, 
I am able to send this slight appreciation in time for the Janu- 
ary issue of THE CATHOLIC WORLD. 

The book was written to satisfy a commission, though its 
pleasant, easy grace gives no suggestion whatever of the set 
task. The author's love of the, great saint, indeed, made the 
work one of love as well as of duty. " Original research," 
as Mr. Meynell tells us, " was beside his plan ; he purposed to 
tell if he could, to tell better a story thrice told by others. 
A familiar figure in the Library of the British Museum he ac- 

* St. Ignatius Loyola. By Francis Thompson. Edited by John Hungerford Pollen, S. J. 
With loo Illustrations by H. W. Brewer and others. London : Burns & Gates. 



igio.] THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" 511 

cordingly became; and Oxford Street was meditatively paced 
by him many a night with some Ignatian volume the ' Life ' 
by Stewart Rose for choice tucked tight beneath his arm." 
And, considering his oft-repeated hunger and poverty, one is 
reminded of De Quincey, who used to pace long nights away 
on the pavements of that self- same Oxford Street, the " stony- 
hearted stepmother." But Thompson, with all his poverty, was 
brighter than the opium-eater and more informed with hope. 
He probably loved to picture himself as walking with St. Igna- 
tius rather than with De Quincey his poet's fancy transform- 
ing the dingy prose of London into the fruit-decked streets, 
Moorish towers, and Gothic doorways of Barcelona, his mind 
redolent with the early wanderings of his hero. 

The story of the great Spanish nobleman who became " a 
fool for Christ's sake," has been told over and over again ; 
and nothing new could be looked for in Francis Thompson's 
book, except the form in which the well-known events would 
be clothed. Of a succes cTcstime, limited no doubt to the initi- 
ated, any work of his was assured beforehand at least, that 
was true of his later years, when his worth had been made 
known by Mr. Wilfrid Meynell. 

As was to be expected, in this narrative of St. Ignatius not 
a shred of its romance and poetry has escaped the singer of 
" The Hound of Heaven." With a wealth of imagery, which 
sometimes even usurps the functions of poetry, he carries us 
smoothly on from one event of Ignatian history to another, 
scarcely giving us time for pause. We have not fully basked 
in the sunshine of some bright sketch, or fully tasted its fresh- 
ness, before we pass on to be greeted by another. 

The book begins by showing us the facsimile of the saint's 
autograph when he altered his name from Inigo to that of 
Ignatius, which he adopted after the Hound of Heaven had 
laid him low at the siege of Pampeluna, as a prelude to mak 
ing him His willing prey. 

" Hesitancy was past ; he had made the ' grand refusal,' 
which was equally the grand acceptance, and the whole trend 
of his affections changed with a swift completion possible only 
to a soul at once so eager and decisive. The adamantine vo- 
lition which singly had nerved the faltering garrison of Pam- 
peluna, which had cut its way into rebel Najera, which had 
elected the fracturing bar, the saw, the rack of the surgeons, 



512 THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" [Jan., 

was now set Godward, and it made no stays. He cared no 
longer for aught without a relish of divinity." 

Henceforward he was the saint ambitious still, but am- 
bitious of nothing less than heaven ; burning with love still, 
but in love only with what was divine; a soldier still, but the 
captain of the mightiest army in the world no longer the 
leader of men who would "strike down gigantic soldans," or 
lay at the feet of a queen " the keys of Moorish castles and 
the jewelled turbans of Asiatic kings," but of an invincible 
army of knights-errant of the Spouse of Christ, who " would 
smite the Great Red Dragon . . . and be the champion 
of the Woman clothed with the Sun.* " 

On the eve of the Annunciation, 1522, at the age of thirty- 
one, Ignatius, after giving away his fine clothes to a beggar, and 
girding himself round with a gown of sackcloth, hung up his 
sword and dagger before the statue of our Lady, and through- 
out the night watched, his armor on his knees, or leaning 
from very extreme of fatigue upon his staff. "On that night, 
one may say, was born (though yet its founder dreamed not 
of it) the Company of Jesus, the Free- Lances of the Church. "f 

To this followed the sojourn in Manresa that wonderful 
experience of solitude, opening at first with sweetness unutter- 
able, which made every hardship easy and sweetened the pros- 
pect of the most exacting service. Thus does the Great Cap- 
tain lure all beginners to His standard, chastening and testing 
them later with the fires of aridity and apparent desertion. 
Into this latter phase Ignatius was plunged. One day, when 
in prayer, the doubt was presented to his mind whether he 
could endure such a life for the two-score years that he might 
still hope to live. This was the first announcement of the 
enemy's coming; and though it was instantly repelled, it 
proved but the beginning of the great struggle. " Sudden 
glooms now fell upon him, profound sadnesses, utter aridity." 
But then "joy returned with like abruptness, again to be 
swallowed up in darkness. These violent oscillations took him 
with a dreadful amaze ; it was like the putting off of one 
garment and the putting on of another."! In these intervals 
of darkness all joy in prayer left him, and his will seemed 
paralyzed for future effort. Physical pain succeeded that of 

* Macaulay's Essay on " Ranke's History of the Popes." 
\Life of St. Ignatius, p. 18. \lbid., p. 20. 



19 io.] THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" 513 

the soul. His austerities brought him to the gates of death. 
Among the Friars Preachers of St. Dominic, to whose convent 
he had been carried in a protracted swoon, he lay, dying as 
he believed, and here he was assailed by a temptation to 
spiritual pride which lasted for two years. 

An even worse trial was at hand ; a malady of the soul 
which he had to go through before he, and, actuated by his 
spirit, his religious children, could become the doctors and con- 
solers of other sufferers. The great soul of Ignatius, equipped 
as it was in the order of nature with a will of adamant, and 
enlightened by extraordinary graces and favors in the order 
of grace, fell a prey to "the searing ordeal of scrupulosity." 

As Francis Thompson graphically describes it: "For him, 
therefore, as final and most dread test, [came] the hot plough- 
shares " of this most soul- subduing disease. 

Once more his health failed. Once more the Dominicans 
tended him through the malady of body and mind for this 
spiritual trial persisted, bringing with it a temptation to 
suicide. At length the battle was won. "The thick fog of 
scrupulosity drew off as suddenly as it had come, and with it 
went his miseries. He had conquered simply by clinging and 
resisting to the last ; and relief had finally come, the relief of 
' the rhythm of life,' not through any wisdom of his own or 
others. It was the close of the agonizing probation, the 
searching preparation, which had lasted for ten months in the 
lonely cave of Manresa."* 

But just as the Great Temptation ended in the ministra- 
tion of angels, so there came to Ignatius revelations such as 
the holiest soul cannot look for until heaven is attained. He 
frequently beheld the Sacred Humanity of our Divine Lord, 
and, while reciting the Little Office on the steps of the Do- 
minican Church, the Mystery of the Ever-Blessed Trinity was 
suddenly and clearly revealed to him, making him weep for joy. 
Our Blessed Lady descended to speak with him ; and at Mass, on 
one occasion, he saw Transubstantiation taking place. These 
surely were rewards which could scarcely be bought too highly, 
even at the price of those months of anguish and desolation. 

It was after "watching his armor" in Our Lady's Church 
at Montserrat, that the future society was decided upon, though 
its scheme was not made clear till later. The Holy Land was 

* Ibid., p. 26. 

VOL. XC.-33 



514 THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" [Jan., 

to be the scene of its labors. The longing which fired St. 
Francis and St. Teresa lay deep also in the heart of the Span- 
ish warrior. "Ignatius," writes our author, "half-captain, 
half-knight-at-arms, might well . . . think of those mili- 
tary orders which took their rise in Palestine, and deem that 
he was about to launch against the infidel a new Order of the 
Temple with subtler arms. He was not awaie of the religious 
war up- blazing in the West, nor that his crusade awaited him 
in Europe." 

The "Free Companions" were still to fight as an organized 
army, for the cause of Christ, under the command of His 
Vicar, but the wide world, not Palestine, was to be the battle- 
ground. The Reformation was on the eve of throwing its 
baneful blight over some of the fairest nations of Europe. 
And Ignatius and his companions were to sow the good seed 
which Lather was to try to choke with the tares of heresy. 

Mr. Thompson opens his second chapter with a striking 
simile. " The Excalibur of Ignatius was now forged," he 
writes, "The Spiritual Exercises which he had evolved from 
his own experience at Manresa a graduated process of relig- 
ious preparation based on subtle spiritual psychology a turn- 
stile through which only the fit and few could pass." 

With difficulty Ignatius made the dangerous journey to 
Rome, where from Adrian VI. he obtained his pilgrim's license 
for the Holy Land, which he reached at the end of August, 
1523. From the Franciscans at Jerusalem, who gave him a 
kindly welcome, he nevertheless learned that the work of his 
new society was not to be in Palestine. The Provincial's de- 
cision was based upon the obvious certainty that a man of 
Ignatius' ardent nature would very soon embroil the Friars and 
himself with the Turks, and when the Spaniard persisted in 
his request to remain, the Provincial assured him that his dis- 
obedience would offend God. Ignatius was persuaded, humbly 
submitting to the Provincial's decree, nor would he so much 
as look at the Papal Bull which gave authority to the Fran- 
ciscan Superior to bid visitors go or stay. 

On his homeward journey Ignatius tarried at Venice, where 
(it may comfort invalids of this softer age to note) his host 
gave him "a piece of cloth to double round him because of 
his weak stomach (for the Manresan penances had left Igna- 
tius, too, one of the world's great dyspeptics)."* 

* Ibid., p. 41. 



i9io.] THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" 515 

It was during this homeward journey that the heroic Span- 
iard came to two notable conclusions. He already understood 
that his work was not to be in the Holy Land, and he now 
began to realize that with the education he had his efforts 
would be unavailing. He therefore determined a man who 
had passed his thirtieth year to put himself to school. With 
an act of will equal to that which had caused him to have his 
wounded leg re-broken and re-set, he carried out his plan, 
humbly taking his place in the Barcelona school among the 
innocent children, and sharing their tasks. There, for two 
years he sat like any student his chief trouble being that his 
attention to Latin was disturbed "by the religious raptures 
and sweetnesses which overtook him in his tasks." He very 
soon found that these raptures were nothing but a trap, for at 
study time only did he experience them, at all other hours 
suffering from aridity. He therefore confessed to the master 
that he had yielded to these distractions, begging him " hence- 
forth publicly to chasten him for such inattention." Juan 
Pascual used to love, years afterwards, to speak of this time 
of the great Spaniard's obscurity and mortification, telling his 
children that they ought to kiss the walls that had sheltered 
so great a saint. 

At the end of the two years' study, and an examination 
by a theologian, Ignatius was pronounced fit for the higher 
studies. These he commenced at the University of Alcala, on 
funds supplied by the founder, Cardinal Ximenes, for the 
benefit of poor students. It was at Alcala that he began for 
the first time to give the Spiritual Exercises to those who con- 
sulted him about their souls. This wonderful book, of which 
St. Francis de Sales declared that it had converted as many 
sinners as it contained letters, had been written in the solitude 
of Manresa, at a time when the heroic soul of its author had 
been alternately buffeted by temptation and sustained by divine 
grace. 

Like all who work for God and the salvation of their 
neighbor, Ignatius began to be exposed to persecution and 
slander. Even heresy was imputed to him ; but on this point 
his innocence was proved even before men. But his position 
at Alcala was no longer tolerable, and he was advised to go 
to the University of Salamanca. Here again his zeal in God's 
service brought trouble upon him, and he was arrested and 
thrown into prison. As he was being led along the streets 



5i6 THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" [Jan., 

meek and uncomplaining, after the example of his Divine 
Master he was met by the retinue of a distinguished marquis. 
The holder of the title was then a youth of seventeen, who 
gazed with curiosity at the gentle mien and emaciated counte- 
nance of the prisoner, and wondered how it was that one so 
apparently noble and good should have been sent to prison. 
The Marquis de Lombay, who thus saw Ignatius for the first 
time, was destined, years afterwards, as Duke of Gandia, to 
throw himself at the feet of the captive of Salamanca, and to 
beg admission to the Society of Jesus. He was destined, 
too, to rule the society as its third General, and to be raised 
at last to the altar of God under the name of St. Francis of 
Borgia described aptly enough by Francis Thompson as "the 
long Quixote-faced man, with the great hooked nose," for so 
has he come down to us in his portraits. 

From Salamanca Ignatius, in February, 1528, proceeded to 
Paris, where God had told "him that the real work of his life 
was to begin. Here, too, while pursuing his studies at the 
university, he led a life of penance and austerity; and here, 
too, persecution befell him, From Paris the saint came to 
England, begging for alms for his future work. If this was in 
1532, London must have seen him when the city was on the 
eve of the dark day when Henry VIII. broke away from the 
centre of unity and plunged the country into that heresy, one 
of the characteristics of which was to be an insane hatred for 
the name of Ignatius himself and for his spiritual children. 

We have thus far followed Mr. Francis Thompson through 
his narrative of the training and preparation searching and 
tremendous as the furnace which refines the gold through 
which the great founder and patriarch passed. In vivid lan- 
guage, and with an unswerving distinction of style, the author 
narrates the remainder of that wonderful life which has so af- 
fected the Christian world. 

The description of Ignatius himself, striking and beautiful 
as it is, is likely to impress upon us the features and character 
of the great reformer in a new and profitable way. The whole 
book for it can be regarded as nothing short of a classic 
will serve to bring the genius of Thompson before thousands 
to whom his poems are a sealed book. His greatness, indeed, 
has already been recognized since his death, in a way that he 
could never have expected, through his famous essay on Shel- 
ley ; but even this may be said to be " caviare to the general," 



19 io.] THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" 517 

for how many readers out of any given thousand, care for 
Shelley ? While the very subject of the essay wealthy as is 
the style in poetic imagery, is necessarily charged with techni- 
calities which can appeal only to the technical. With the 
Life of St. Ignatius the case is very different. There lives not 
a single educated Catholic who has not heard at least the out- 
lines of that marvelous career and of the part which it played 
in resisting the onslaught of heresy in the sixteenth century. 
And to find that career depicted in the chastened and vivid 
English of a genius and a poet, who is, moreover, a master of 
prose, is surely one of the delights of a lifetime. The get-up 
of the book is eminently attractive, while the hundred illustra- 
tions and maps which adorn it are an excellent help and 
guidance to the text. 

I have said that Thompson's essay on Shelley had already 
brought him fame as a writer, but the [history of the work is 
so remarkable that I must not omit to record it. The essay 
was written at the suggestion of Bishop, afterwards Cardinal, 
Vaughan, in 1889, and was sent to the Dublin Review. The 
choice of subject was, perhaps, scarcely happy, for at that time 
much more than now the Review was ecclesiastical rather 
than literary. The essay was returned, and its MS. lay for 
nearly twenty years in the poet's desk. 

A year after its author's death it was found by Mr. Meynell, 
who generously offered the Dublin the opportunity of redeem- 
ing its former lack of appreciation. This time the essay ap- 
peared, with the astounding result (if only Thompson could 
have lived to see it) that the Review, for the first and only 
time in its history, leapt into a second edition. Yet a third 
would have been called for if Messrs. Burns & Gates had not 
produced the essay as a handsome book, with an appreciative 
preface by the Right Hon. George Wyndham. A little jewel 
embedded in this book is a page of facsimile. For this the 
editor has wisely chosen a passage of quite extraordinary 
beauty, a passage in which the author seems absolutely to rol- 
lic and revel in the imagery of the spheres and of nature. 
Speaking of Shelley's poetry, in which he discovers "the child's 
faculty of make-believe raised to the th power," he con- 
tinues: "The universe is his box of toys. He dabbles his 
fingers in the day-fall. He is gold-dusty with tumbling amid 
the stars. He makes bright mischief with the moon. The 
meteors nuzzle their noses in his hand. He teazes into growl- 



5i8 THOMPSON'S "LIFE OF ST. IGNATIUS" [Jan. 

ing the kenneled thunder, and laughs at the shaking of its 
fiery chain. He dances in and out of the gates of heaven ; its 
floor is littered with his broken fancies. He runs wild over 
the fields of ether. He chases the rolling world." 

Where was the editor's heart, where were his eyes, where 
his fancy, that he could refuse a home in his Review, however 
ecclesiastical, to thoughts and metaphors so exquisite, so abso- 
lutely irresistible as these? But so it was, and Thompson's 
" Shelley " lay in cold obstruction amid other treasures, until it 
was rescued from obscurity and given, through the repentant 
leaves of its original rejecter, to a wondering world. 

The life of Thompson has been likened to that of De 
Quincey, and in one respect the London wanderings the re- 
semblance is obvious ; but unappreciated as he lived and died, 
Thompson was really a happier man then De Quincey, in- 
asmuch as he was sustained and comforted by the Catholic 
faith. Born at Preston, in 1859, he had the immense advan- 
tage of an Ushaw education, which invariably steeps its sub- 
jects in the spirit of Catholicism. The son of a physician, it 
was intended that Francis should follow his father's profession, 
but, as Mr. Meynell characteristically tells us, " his powers of 
prescribing and healing lay elsewhere than in the consulting 
room. He walked to London in search of a living, finding, 
indeed, a prolonged near approach to death in its streets." 
With the eyes of his soul fixed upon the higher realities, 
those eyes upon which shone 

". . . the traffic of Jacob's ladder 
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross," 

he was instant in watching for the stray pence which were to 
save him from starvation. The tabernacle which retained that 
wondrous poet-soul was enabled to hold its treasure against 
the clamorous claims of hunger through guerdons earned by 
holding the rein of a horse or hailing a cab ! It was for a 
time a sad and perilous life grotesquely unsuited to "this 
aloof moth of a man," whose health was ever fragile. But for 
friends who came forward in time to save him, the world 
would have known nothing of his genius. Among the most 
prominent of these was his discoverer, who not merely pro- 
longed that delicate life, but secured for its possessor immor- 
tality among the gods of poetry and literature. 




ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS. 

BY THOMAS F. MEEHAN. 

[URING the year that has just closed many cele- 
brations in various sections of the United States 
have gone far in answering the charge that 
Catholics here are strangely unmindful of the 
precious value of early historic Church records. 
Of those commemorations none was more notable or interest- 
ing than the centenary memorial of the founding, at Emmits- 
burg, Md., in 1809, of the American branch of the Sisters of 
Charity of St. Vincent de Paul by Elizabeth Ann Bayley 
Seton. The present generation, whose boast it is that it honors 
and appreciates people who " do things," should therefore 
show more than a passing interest in the canonization of this 
really great and saintly woman, whose character and accom- 
plishments epitomize all those features that modern criticism 
expects in the recipients of popular plaudits and approval, not 
to mention at all the spiritual perfection that so many con- 
sider to merit in her case the honors of the altar. 

Her Sisters, pioneers in the work of the parochial schools, 
may be set down as the founders of our present system in this 
field of education, in which to-day they have charge of one 
hundred and fifty thousand children. In her normal course 
of studies, her ideals, although a century old, correspond with 
what is .'considered the most up-to-date of our modern educa- 
tional institutions. Hundreds of homes, asylums, hospitals, and 
other charitable foundations throughout the land, testify to the 
practical results of her aims in the philanthropic endeavor to 
ameliorate the condition of all in need and distress. Educa- 
tion and philanthropy are the watchwords of the humanitarian 
cult of the day; here is, a type of genuine American woman- 
hood who showed herself pre-eminent in both, and, in addition, 
made this success accessory to an ideal of conventual per- 
fection. 

Born in New York City on August 28, 1774, her father 
was Dr. Richard Bayley, a successful physician of good Eng- 



520 . ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS [Jan., 

lish family, and her mother Catharine Charlton, daughter 
of the Episcopalian rector of St. Ann's Church, Richmond, 
Staten Island. Her mother died while Elizabeth was a child, 
and she grew to womanhood under the watchful care and in- 
struction of her father, a man of strong common sense and 
soundly versed in the serious learning of the day, but, like so 
many others of that era, his naturally religious mind was 
warped by the prevalent infidel French philosophy. In this 
his daughter shared somewhat, for, in spite of the devout 
Episcopalianism of her family environment and her own reli- 
gious practice, we find her admitting an occasional recourse to 
Voltaire and Rousseau for mental diversion, but they had no 
permanent attraction for her. She was very fond of reading 
and spent much of her time with books, her accomplishments 
including French, music, drawing, and the needlework and 
housekeeping that were then considered essential to the proper 
training of a gentlewoman. 

Dr. Bayley was the first Health- Officer of the port of New 
York, and as such established the Quarantine Station on 
Staten Island. Here he was indefatigable in his efforts to 
guard the public health and serve the cause of humanity. 
In the discharge of his important trust he fell a victim to an 
attack of yellow fever on August 17, 1801, in his fifty-sixth 
year. As the sexton of the church and the people of the 
place were afraid to touch the coffin, it was placed in a grave 
in the old Richmond churchyard by the Rev. Dr. Richard 
Channing Moore, later the Protestant Episcopal bishop of 
Virginia, after Dr. Bayley's faithful boatmen had carried the 
body in his barge from his residence to a spot within half a 
mile of the churchyard. One of these boatmen said : " I got 
out of my sick-bed to row that last row around the island, 
for, thought I : ' Here goes the poor man's friend never mind if 
the row is too much for me.' " It was a great consolation to 
his daughter to have Dr. Bayley, when his professional knowl- 
edge made clear to him that he was stricken mortally, ex- 
claim frequently in his last moments : " The hand of God is 
in it Christ Jesus have mercy on me ! " It was the first 
time, she tells us, she had ever heard him pronounce the 
Sacred Name, or in fact give any pronounced evidence of 
positive Christianity. 
. Elizabeth was married, on January 25, 1794, in John Street, 



1 9 io.] ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS 521 

New York, by Bishop Provost, of Trinity Church, to William 
Magee Seton, the eldest son of William Seton, a merchant, and 
in his later years cashier of the old Bank of New York, of 
which ex-President Roosevelt's grandfather was president. He 
lived at 65 Stone Street, where the young couple went first 
to reside. In the fall of the same year they moved to 8 State 
Street, the house in which, on May 3, 1795, Anna the eldest 
of their five children, two boys and three girls was born. 
The Setons had a country house called " Craigdon," on a neck 
of land that is now Forty-third Street, between Eleventh Ave- 
nue and the river. It fronted the Hudson and had access to 
the old Bloomingdale road by Norton's Lane. In 1799 they 
were living at 67 Wall Street, for Elizabeth, writing from there 
in December of that year, says : " My first letter was written 
from Wall Street, from which we were driven by the yellow 
fever. . . . My William was the only one of the family who 
suffered in the least: which, as it is so numerous, was almost 
a miracle. We did not dare venture to town as inhabitants 
until the first of November, when we removed immediately to 
the family house in Stone Street." 

William Magee Seton was in business as an importer with 
a man named Maitland, and failed in 1800, owing to losses by 
shipwreck of valuable cargoes and commercial depression occa- 
sioned by the French embargo. For several years his affairs 
were in much confusion, and then consumption developed in 
his lungs. As a hope that its inroads might be checked he 
sailed for Leghorn, Italy, with his wife and daughter Anna, 
in October, 1803, but scarcely survived the trip, as he died after 
landing on December 27 following. The widow and her child, 
helpless and penniless in a strange land, were taken in and 
cared for in the kindest and most affectionate manner by Philip 
and Anthony Filicchi, brothers and leading merchants of Leg- 
horn. Philip, the elder, had traveled in the United States 
during the years 1785-86, and had made the acquaintance of 
the elder William Seton in New York. He had married an 
American, a Miss Cowper, and had been appointed United 
States Consul at Leghorn. William Magee Seton, before his 
marriage, made a tour of Italy and had visited at the homes 
of these merchants who now showed a brotherly charity to his 
widow and child, after they had buried the remains of the hus- 
band in the Protestant cemetery at Leghorn. " My husband's 



522 ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS [Jan., 

sufferings and death," she wrote to her sister, on January 3, 
1804, "have interested so many persons here, that I am as 
kindly treated and as much attended to as if I were in New 
York." 

Mrs. Seton remained with the Filicchis until the following 
April, when Anthony set sail with her for New York. The 
simple and sincere piety of the Filicchis greatly impressed her, 
and the Catholic atmosphere in which she lived filled her with 
longings for the true Faith. " My sister dear," she writes, on 
February 18, in her Journal, "how happy we would be if we 
believed what these good souls believe, that they possess God 
in the Sacrament, and that He remains in their churches and 
is carried to them when they are sick. Ah, me ! when they 
carry the Blessed Sacrament under my window, while I feel 
the full loneliness and sadness of my case, I cannot stop the 
tears at the thought." The Filicchis never took the least ad- 
vantage of her situation and frame of mind, but gave the effi- 
cacious lesson of an example that could not fail to arrest the at- 
tention of a person of Mrs. Seton's intelligence and sentiment. 

"I am hard pushed by these charitable Romans, who wish 
that so much goodness should be improved by a conversion," 
we find her writing to her sister, "(I once overheard, 'if she 
were not a heretic, she would be a saint'); which to effect 
they have even taken the trouble to bring me their best in- 
formed priest, Abbe Plunkett, who is an Irishman." One of 
the friends of the Filicchi family was Canon Joseph Pecci, of 
Gubbio, who later became bishop of his native place; to him 
Philip Filicchi went for the proper answers to all the doubts 
and questions Mrs. Seton expressed in her conversations and 
letters, and he shared with the brothers the interest taken in 
her conversion. As she sailed for New York he drew up for 
her reading on the voyage a concise and comprehensive state- 
ment of Catholic beliefs. Little Anna also shared her mother's 
Catholic inclinations, for, when she heard that they were going 
back to New York, she asked : " Ma, are there no Catholics 
in America ? Won't we go to the Catholic Church when we 
go home ?" 

The voyage to New York lasted until the first days of 
June, and during its progress Mrs. Seton employed her time 
with the books her friends in Italy had given her, and in oral 
lessons from Anthony Filicchi on the faith and practices of the 



19 io.] ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS 523 

Church. From the time she landed until her final reception in 
St. Peter's Church, Barclay Street, on March 14, 1805, she was 
neither Protestant nor Catholic, but in that painful state of 
transition from error to truth which converts experience. 
Writing on August 28, 1804, to Anthony Filicchi's wife, she 
says he " would not have been well pleased to see me in St. 
Paul's Church [Broadway and Vesey Street] to-day. . . . 
I got into a side pew, which turned my face towards the 
Catholic Church in the next street, and twenty times found 
myself speaking to the Blessed Sacrament there, instead of look- 
ing at the naked altar before me or minding the routine of 
prayers." 

Her Protestant friends and associates tried their best to per- 
suade her against the inevitable end of her Catholic aspirations, 
which Anthony Filicchi endeavored to foster in every way by 
introducing her to the then Fathers Cheverus, of Boston, and 
Tisserant, and by sending her letters of inquiry to Bishop John 
Carroll, of Baltimore. 

" I have tried so many ways to see Dr. O'Brien, who they 
say is the only Catholic priest in New York," she confides in 
a letter of January, 1805, to Mrs. Anthony Filicchi, "where 
they say, too, Catholics are the off- scouring of the people; 
indeed, somebody even said their congregation was ' a public 
nuisance'; but that troubles me not. The congregation of a 
city may be very shabby, yet very pleasing to God. . . . 
I seek but God and His Church and expect to find my peace 
in them, not in the people." She resolved then to become a 
Catholic, and on March 14 went " to the Church of St. Peter, 
which has a cross on the top instead of a weathercock to 
what is called here among so many churches the Catholic 
Church," and there Father Mathew O'Brien received her pro- 
fession of faith. 

Estrangement of friends and kindred followed her conver- 
sion. She tried to support herself and her children by teach- 
ing a school and by taking " boarders from the curate of St. 
Mark's who has ten or twelve scholars and lives in the vicinity 
of the city." The location of her house, she tells her friend, 
Julia Scott (November 20, 1805), was "a pleasant dwelling two 
miles from the city." She was to receive three dollars a week 
for each child. In another letter she gives Mrs. Scott this di- 
rection how to visit her : " Stuyvesant's Lane, Bowery, near 



524 ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS [Jan., 

St. Mark's Church, two little white houses joined, left hand; 
children the sign of the dwelling; no number." But prejudice 
and opposition made these ventures a failure. " The next in- 
vitation of grace," says Bishop Brute, "was to give herself 
entirely to the service of God. Happy was it for her that, 
like the glorious widows who preceded her, Saints Brigid, 
Frances of Rome, Jane de Chantal, and the Venerable Madame 
Le Gras, she listened attentively and dedicated herself wholly 
to the glory of God." Her new friends and counsellors were 
Fathers Tisserant, Matignon, Cheverus, Dubourg, Dubois, and 
Bishop Carroll. The Filicchis invited her to go to Italy and 
make her home with them, but she declined. They then settled 
an annuity of $600 on her for her support. At first she 
thought of going to Canada to enter a convent there, but at 
the suggestion of Father Dubourg she went to Baltimore, where 
a small house on Paca Street, near St. Mary's Seminary, was 
taken, and in this she opened a school for girls. The rent 
paid was $250 a year. This was in June, 1808, and the school 
was formally opened in September. The pupils, who ranged from 
twelve years of age upward, were taught the English rudiments, 
French, catechism, sewing, and music. Mrs. Seton was assisted 
in her work by her daughter Anna and a Miss Cecilia O'Con- 
way, the daughter of an eccentric but learned Irish school- 
master, Mathias James O'Conway, " philologist, lexicographer, 
and interpreter of languages," as he styled himself, who was 
a local character in the first half of the last century in 
Pittsburg and Philadelphia. She was Miss Seton's first sub- 
ject for her new community, but she did not remain in it. 
After a time she sought the severer cloistered life of the 
Ursulines. 

For several years Fathers Cheverus, Matignon, Dubourg, 
and Tisserant, who might be styled the leaders of the zealous, 
far-seeing French emigre priests, who toiled so successfully in 
laying the foundations of the Church in that constructive 
period, had contemplated the formation oi a religious com- 
munity of women to care for the young in schools, asylums, 
and similar institutions. In Mrs. Seton they believed they had 
found the proper head for the undertaking. She took up the 
work at once and associated with herself several other pious 
women intent on their own spiritual advancement and de- 
sirous of serving the poor. They assumed a semi-religious 



19 io.] ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS 525 

dress, a plain black gown with a cap of the same color, hav- 
ing a plaited border, and pendant from a belt they wore a^ rosary. 
From Bishop Carroll Mrs. Seton took the three simple vows of 
religion binding for a year. It was soon seen that the Balti- 
more house was not suitable for the little community, and the 
fortunate gift of a sum of money by another convert, Samuel 
Cooper, a seminarian studying at Baltimore, made possible the 
purchase of a tract of land at Emmitsburg, a village in the north- 
ern section of Maryland. In June Mrs. Seton, her two sisters- 
in-law, Harriet and Cecilia Seton, her daughter Anna, and 
one of the pious ladies associated with her in the Baltimore 
house, set out for Emmitsburg, a long and tiresome journey, 
made partly on foot and partly in one of the curious canvas- 
covered wagons then in use in country districts. The expenses 
of the trip amounted to fifty dollars. 

On arriving at the village they found the building on the 
property unsuitable for occupation, so they located in a Jog- 
house that the Rev. John Dubois, the head of Mount St. 
Mary's College, nearby, put at their service, while he moved 
into new buildings intended for the college. Here, with her 
associates, she formally began her religious life on July 31, 
1809. On August io the first Mass was said in the house. 
The women entered at once on their mission of teaching poor 
children in a free school in the village, visiting the sick and 
providing for their necessities. Mrs. Seton's three daughters 
lived with her in the convent; her two sons were placed in 
Mount St. Mary's College, and walked over once a week to 
visit their mother and sisters. It was intended to conform the 
new community to the Rules and Constitution of the Sisters of 
Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and Father Flaget, who went 
to France in 1810, was commissioned to arrange to have some 
of the French Sisters come to the United States to instruct 
the Emmitsburg community in the rules and spirit of the 
French Institute. The interference of Napoleon's' government, 
however, prevented this, and a modified form of the Rule was 
adopted and, with the approval of Archbishop Carroll, the 
community was regularly organized as the Sisters of St. Jos- 
eph. This name was later changed to that of the Sisters of 
Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and in 1850 the Emmitsburg 
community was received under the jurisdiction of the Superior- 
General of the Sisters of Charity in France and assumed the 



426 ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS [Jan., 

French habit and St. Vincent's Rule in its entirety. The dress 
is that of peasant women of the neighborhood of Paris in 1634 
a gray dress with wide sleeves and a long gray apron, with a 
white linen cornette as a headdress. It was this peculiar cap that 
made the Turks whom the Sisters nursed on the battlefields of 
the Crimea call them " the white-swallows of Allah." Although 
various Popes have granted numerous privileges to the Sisters 
of Charity, no approbation of their Institute has ever been 
asked from the Holy See/because St. Vincent wished them to 
be a lay community with only private vows. 

Mrs. Seton was elected the first Superior of the Emmits- 
burg community, an office she filled mildly but firmly till her 
death, which took place at the convent on January 4, 1821. 
Her sisters-in-law, Cecilia and Harriet Seton, both became 
converts and died, members of her community, in 1810. Her 
daughters, Anna and Rebecca, also had the same happiness, 
the former dying in 1812 and the latter in 1816. The third 
daughter, Catherine, became a Sister of Mercy ; Richard, her 
son, died at sea, June 26, 1823, en route home from Liberia, 
where he had been United States agent at Monrovia. William, 
the other son, died in New York in 1868. All five are buried 
at Emmitsburg. 

When Mother Seton died the community numbered fifty; 
it now has 1,700 members, with houses in the Archdioceses of 
Baltimore, St. Louis, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, New Orleans, 
Philadelphia, and San Francisco, and in the Dioceses of Albany, 
Alton, Buffalo, Dallas, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Harrisburg, Hart- 
ford, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Mobile, Monterey, Nashville, 
Natchez, Richmond, Rochester, St. Joseph, San Antonio, Syra- 
cuse, Wilmington, Porto Rico, and the Vicariate of North Caro- 
lina. In all they have charge of 4 academies; 38 hospitals; 
28 orphanages; 14 infant asylums ; 5 industrial schools; 33 
parochial schools; 6 asylums and schools; and 5 insane asy- 
lums. 

To Philadelphia was accorded the honor of having the first 
foundation sent out by the new Emmitsburg community. In 
September, 1814, Mother Seton chose some of her best beloved 
daughters to go there to care for the orphans who had been 
gathered together in the first Philadelphia Catholic asylum. 
Among those selected to form this new branch was Sister Rose 
White, Mother Seton's successor as head of the Emmitsburg 



1 9 io.] ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS 527 

community, and another, of whom she wrote from Emmits- 
burg, on December i, 1814, to her dear friend Julia Scott: 

"There is one of the dearest souls gone to Philadelphia 
from this house, who has lived in my very heart, and has been 
more than an own sister to me ever since I have been here. 
. . . She has the care of the poor orphans belonging to our 
Church with our good Sister White, who has the little institu- 
tion in her charge. If ever you have a wish to find a piece 
of myself, it will be in this dear Susan Clofsey, who is one of 
the assistants. If you ever see them, love them for me ; for 
they love me most tenderly, as I justly do them." 

For a similar purpose Sister Rose White was sent to New 
York, three years later, with Sisters Elizabeth Boyle and Cecilia 
O'Conway. They arrived from Maryland on June 28, 1817, 
after a trying journey of eight days, and were located in a 
small frame building at the junction of Prince and Mott Streets. 
The first Catholic society incorporated in New York State was 
The Roman Catholic Benevolent Society, which obtained its 
charter from the Legislature on April 15, 1817, for the purpose 
of caring for destitute orphan children. It was this Society, 
and the trustees of old St. Patrick's Cathedral, that carried on 
the negotiations for the securing of the Sisters under the pecu- 
liar system in vogue in those days concerning parish tempor- 
alities, and which occasioned so much trouble wherever it had 
fastened itself on the Church. We can see its curious ramifica- 
tions in the following extract from a letter written at Emmits- 
burg, July 24, 1817, by the Rev. John Dubois, then spiritual 
director of the Sisters, to Bishop Connolly, of New York, stat- 
ing that these Sisters would be sent from Emmitsburg provided 
that the same, or nearly the same, regulations were accepted, 
concerning their life and government, as were then in force in 
Philadelphia. These stipulations were : 

I. That leaving to the trustees the whole management of the 
money, to whom they will render regularly an account of the expendi- 
tures, money received from the trustees, and donations from strangers ; 
they will be permitted to manage the interior of the house in their 
own way and according to their own rules. 

II. That an association will be formed before or after their arrival 
under the name of Ladies of Charity, who will assist the Sisters in the 
endeavors to forward the institution, and with whom the Sisters will 
keep a freer intercourse than with the gentlemen. To these ladies 



528 ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS I Jan., 

the Sisters will hare no objection to give a free access to the interior 
of the house whenever it will be necessary. 

III." That, to remove the smallest suspicion of self-interest in the 
collections the Sisters may make for the poor orphans or other people 
in distress, a certain sum annually shall be allotted to the Superior 
of the Sisters in New York for her and her Sisters' clothing, which 
they will apply as they please, and for which she shall be accountable 
only to the Mother here. We have tried in Philadelphia the small 
sum of thirty-six dollars per year for each Sister; if we find it suffi- 
cient we will be contented with it, if not, we will state our deficiency 
and claim a further allowance. 

IV. That in the number of the orphans, the admission, or removal, 
the head Sister will be consulted, so that no further burden be im- 
posed upon them than they can bear. 

V. That their traveling expenses from here to New York should be 
defrayed by the trustees, and, from New York here, back again, 
whenever any said Sister will be recalled for the good of your institu- 
tion ; as, for example, in case of sickness or such cause as would ren- 
der them less serviceable to you. But if the recall of any of them is 
only for our convenience here, or for the extension of the benefits of 
our institution to another place, then the traveling expenses must be 
at our expense, or at that of the institution for which the recalled 
Sister is destined. 

The difference between this and what would be said now 
under similar circumstances tells the whole story of the down- 
fall of trusteeism. The little house in which the Sisters were 
lodged was then the only one on the south side of Prince 
Street between Broadway and the Bowery. It was there that 
the great local community, whose centre of activity is now 
the extensive convent and school of Mount St. Vincent-on- 
Hudson, began, and it was there that the work, that later led 
to the separation of the New York community from the 
Emmitsburg foundation, commenced. Round it are clustered 
many of the most interesting memories, religious and social, 
of New York's Catholic community. Among the methods de- 
vised for the support of the asylum was an annual " Orphans' 
Benefit," to which the theatrical companies playing in the 
city contributed some part. The first benefit was an oratorio 
concert given in St. Patrick's Cathedral, on the afternoon of 
June 22, 1826, by members of the first Italian opera company 
ever heard in New York. This was the troupe directed by 
Manuel Garcia, the famous tenor, for whom Mozart wrote 
"Don Giovanni" and "La Nozze di Figaro." They had been 



i9io.] ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS 529 

brought to New York by the Catholic merchant, Dominick 
Lynch, and were then singing their initial engagement at the 
old Park Theatre, which stood opposite the site of the present 
Post Office. The prima donna of the benefit was Garcia's 
daughter, Maria Felicita, who later, as Madame Malibran, be- 
came the most famous singer of her time in Europe. In 
addition to the benefit there was also an " Orphans' Ball " 
every winter, a great social function, to which the grand- 
parents of the present generation look back with many agreeable 
recollections. These gatherings, in addition to their charitable 
character, were events that were anticipated as the culmination 
of the season's enjoyment. 

Under such encouragement the charitable work of the 
Sisters grew steadily, as did also their efforts in the direction 
of sound Catholic education, the other special object of their 
organization. Free schools for the children of the poor, and 
more advanced classes for those who could afford to pay for 
an extended training, were opened in several sections of the 
city and conducted with marked success. In the meantime, 
the community of the mother-house at Emmitsburg had begun 
the negotiations looking to an affiliation with the Institute of 
the Daughters of Charity founded by St. Vincent de Paul in 
France in 1633. They had up to this, as has been stated, been 
following the French rule in a modified form. The new affili- 
ation involved changes in discipline and methods that would 
have threatened the very existence of the New York Orphan 
Asylum the French rule requiring that the Sisters in charge 
of boys' asylums should be withdrawn and embarrassed the 
project of a much-needed hospital, the present St. Vincent's. 
These and other details of administration occasioned a corre- 
spondence between Bishop Hughes and Father Deluol, S.S., 
the director of the Emmitsburg community, which resulted in 
the recall of all the Sisters from New York in July, 1846. 
This proved the necessity of the establishment of a separate 
community in New York. Bishop Hughes made a proposition 
to that effect and the matter was amicably arranged. Those 
Sisters who wished to remain in New York were dispensed 
from their obligation of obedience to the Emmitsburg superior ; 
and, of the forty-five then resident here, thirty-five remained 
and continued their work. 

A new community was formed and in the little chapel of 
VOL. xc. 34 



530 ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS [Jan., 

the old Prince Street asylum Sister Elizabeth Boyle was chosen, 
on December 31, 1846, its first Mother Superior. The novi- 
tiate was opened at St. Joseph's Academy, 35 East Broadway, 
but in the following year it was removed to the new mother- 
house, a frame farmhouse at " McGown's Pass," an historic spot 
of Revolutionary memories now included in that part of Cen- 
tral Park near One Hundred and Seventh Street and Fifth 
Avenue. Here, in one of the small rooms, arranged as a 
chapel, Bishop Hughes, on May 2, 1847, offered Mass and for- 
mally dedicated the house to its new purpose, the Convent 
and Academy of Mount St. Vincent. The house stood on a 
hill where there had been a bastion in the war-time, and a 
record of the year 1847 states that "the villages of Harlem, 
Yorkville, and Manhattanville formed a kind of cordon around 
the base of the majestic height." When Central Park was 
laid out by the city this property was included within its 
limits and condemned. The old convent buildings still remain 
there in use for park purposes. As a site for a new convent 
the Sisters next purchased, on December 20, 1856, Fonthill 
Castle, the beautiful estate of fifty- five acres on the bank of 
the Hudson below Yonkers belonging to Edwin Forest, the 
famous actor. Here the "new Mount" was opened in the sum- 
mer of 1858. 

Since then the community has multiplied many hundred 
times in number. Mother Boyle has had eight successors in 
the office of superior, the present incumbent of which governs 
some 1,400 members, who conduct 80 missions in the Arch- 
diocese of New York and the Dioceses of Brooklyn, Albany, 
and Harrisburg. These establishments comprise 20 academies, 
78 parochial schools, with about 50,000 pupils ; 5 asylums, 
with i, 800 orphans; 8 high schools affiliated with the Regents 
of the State University; several homes, containing 600 children; 
ii hospitals, in which an average of 18,000 patients are treated 
yearly; a home accomodating 270 aged poor; an Industrial 
School and Protectory, with 1,800 girls; a Foundling Asylum, 
with 3,870 children and 612 needy mothers on its roll, and in 
which, since it was opened in 1869, 50,000 abandoned and 
needy children have been cared for; 2 day nurseries, with 172 
little ones; and a retreat for the insane, with 150 patients. 
These Sisters retain the black cap and religious dress adopted 
by Mother Seton when she founded the American Sisters of 



19 io.] ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS 531 

Charity, and which she took from the habit of some Italian 
nuns she saw while living abroad. They follow the rule of 
the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, with slight 
modifications. On June 20, 1847, * ne Holy See extended to 
them all the privileges and spiritual graces granted to the 
community at Emmitsburg. Their superior-general is the 
Archbishop of New York, , and the community is governed by 
a council made up of the Mother Superior and three assist- 
ants, who reside at the mother-house. 

Seven of the Sisters from Emmitsburg started a community 
in Cincinnati, in 1829, and remained in active union with the 
Maryland institution until 1850. Then, as in New York, it 
was found that the rules governing the French Institute under 
the new affiliation, would impose limitations regarding the 
works of charity the community might undertake, and, under 
the direction of Archbishop Purcell, these Sisters, like those 
of New York, elected to retain Mother Seton's original rules, 
traditions, constitutions, and costume, and form a separate or- 
ganization. 

Since 1854, when the civil and ecclesiastical obligations at- 
tendent on the separation from the Emmitsburg authorities 
were complied with, these religious have been known under 
the corporate title of The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, 
Ohio. The mother-house is at Mount St. Joseph, Hamilton 
County, and the Sisters, who now number about seven-hundred, 
conduct sixty-eight homes in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Col- 
orado, and Missouri. Most of these have parochial schools 
under their care, with a total attendance of 22,000 children. A 
branch of these Sisters, in 1870, began another foundation at 
Greensburg, Pa., and its present working force numbers more 
than 300, conducting 23 establishments in the Dioceses of Pitts- 
burg and Altoona. There are 10,000 children in their schools. 

Still another offshoot from Cincinnati is the mother-house 
located at Leavenworth, Kan., the Sisters of which commun- 
ity number more than 500 working in that diocese and in the 
jurisdictions of Santa Fe, Denver, Great Falls, and Helena. 
They have 5,000 pupils in their schools. 

New York, in 1859, supplied to the Diocese of Newark, at 
the request of Bishop Bayley, Sisters of Charity for a separate 
community, which was opened at Newark on September 29 of 
that year. The habit and constitutions of the New York Sis- 



532 ONE HUNDRED FRUITFUL YEARS [Jan. 

ters were retained until 1874, when a white cap with a black 
veil was substituted for the black cap of the headdress adopted 
by Mother Seton. The mother-house is near Madison, N. J., 
and the 1,100 Sisters under its direction conduct a college; 
6 academies; a preparatory school for boys; 67 parochial 
schools, with 41,000 pupils; 5 orphanages; 5 hospitals; a 
home for incurables; a home for the aged ; a foundling asylum; 
and two day nurseries in the Dioceses of Newark, Trenton, and 
Hartford, and in the Archdioceses of Boston and New York. 
Their college for the higher education of women, the first 
Catholic women's college in the United States, was founded in 
1899, and is chartered by the State to confer the usual aca- 
demic degrees. 

The Sisters of Charity at Halifax, N. S., are a foundation 
from Mount St. Vincent, New York, which also sends its Sisters 
to care for the schools and missions in the Bahamas. 

In all, there are to-day nearly six thousand of Mother 
Seton's spiritual daughters laboring in the United States, with 
undaunted purpose and generous zeal, to accomplish the plans 
of the saintly founder of their Institute for charity, education, 
and the spread of the Faith. Separate in administration, all 
four branches are as one in their unselfish and devoted co- 
operation in the all-encompassing scope of the spirit their 
founder inspires in their lives of usefulness. They were all re- 
presented at the elaborate celebration in New York on Decem- 
ber 1-2, of the centenary of the foundation ; and all are piously 
and zealously joined in the promotion of the investigation, by 
the officials of the Holy See, into the records of the holy life 
and heroic virtues of Mother Seton, which they confidently 
hope will lead to her early beatification. 



flew Books. 

Two new volumes* of the English 

HISTORY OF THE GERMAN translation of Janssen's great his- 

PEOPLE. tory have been published recently. 

They deal with the culture and 

civilization of the German people from the close of the Middle 
Ages to the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. A brief intro- 
ductory sketch of the many-sided, widespread, vigorous, earn- 
est, and promising intellectual life of Germany in the second 
half of the fifteenth century, helps us to realize how truly the 
terms "collapse" and "decay" describe the conditions which 
followed swiftly after Luther's revolt from the Church. 

The fact that there was a deplorable falling-off in the na- 
tional schools and universities,, the causes which led to that 
disaster, and the efforts made to remedy the evil, are fully 
stated and described by numerous witnesses of the time, whose 
testimony cannot be rejected, because the evidence they give is 
damaging to themselves and their cause. That the people in 
general had become suddenly indifferent to scholarly education, 
that those in authority paid little attention to the schools and 
were very stingy in providing for them, that religious dissensions, 
cruelty, and bad example on the part of teachers, with insub- 
ordination, drinking, quarreling, rioting, and immorality among 
the students were widely prevalent and long defied correction 
both in the schools and universities, is shown at great but just 
sufficient length. Over three hundred pages of the thirteenth 
volume are devoted to these matters. Separate chapters deal 
with the study of the classics, law and jurisprudence, the writ- 
ing of history, mathematics and astronomy, mineralogy and 
botany, giving us valuable information about the men engaged 
in these studies, their methods and the value of their works. 

The fourteenth volume deals with the study and practice 
of medicine, the philosophical and theological labors of Catho- 
lics and Protestants, translations of the Bible into German, 
Scripture exegesis, preaching, the censorship, printing, and sell- 
ing of books and early newspapers. 

Dr. Ludwig Pastor, Janssen's literary heir and executor, 
played a great part in the preparation ot the original edition 

* History of the German People. By Johannes Janssen. Vol. XIII. and XIV. Translated 
by A. M, Christie from the Sixteenth German Edition. St. Louis, Mo. : B. Herder. 



534 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

of this part of the history. Utilizing his dead friend's notes, 
and following his plans, he wrote most of the chapters con- 
tained in the fourteenth volume. Since then he has greatly 
enlarged and remodeled the chapter on " Philosophy and 
Theology Among the Protestants." 

The method followed in this history that of allowing the 
past to speak for itself, so far as is practicable is not only 
the best and most convincing, but also the most interesting 
and satisfactory. No one with the instincts of a scholar will 
tire of reading these volumes, or wish that the matter in them 
had been more condensed. The difficulty is in laying them 
down for a while at the call of duty. 

In the rough draft of a preface, found among his papers, 
Janssen asserts that he has had no thought of stirring up 
sectarian feeling. One cannot read far without concluding that 
his sole purpose is to tell the truth without fear or favor, and 
that he lives up to that high and holy standard. When the 
occasion calls for it, he tells frankly and fully the facts that 
are not pleasant for Catholic ears. 

This work, however, has a controversial value. Facts and 
truths are always the best arguments. This book is well stored 
with both. It shows most convincingly and unanswerably that 
the movement to which Luther gave shape, strength, and direc- 
tion had a pernicious effect on society, both intellectually and 
morally. Credit is given to Luther, to Melancthon, and to other 
prominent leaders for continued and vehement efforts to foster 
a love of learning, but it is shown that their religious doctrines 
dried up the fountains of charity which had previously nourished 
the schools, led the people to cast away a motive which is in 
itself a powerful incentive to study as to other good works, 
and broke down discipline, without which school work bears 
little fruit. It is shown, furthermore, that many of the infer- 
ior Protestant clergy were decidedly opposed to the spread of 
culture. The cowardice of Calvin and his associates during the 
plague which scourged Geneva in 1542, the heartlessness with 
which the sick were treated in Protestant communities during 
the frightful epidemics that raged all over Germany for many 
years towards the middle of the sixteenth century, the abject 
terror of the people in those seasons of sore trial, do not show 
up well in comparison with the self-sacrificing zeal of Catholic 
bishops, priests, and monks, the indefatigable charity manifested 



igio.] NEW BOOKS 535 

everywhere and by all the Catholic people, and their calm 
resignation in the face of danger. The contrast between 
Catholic and Protestant schools as regards discipline, the ex- 
ample of the teachers, the behavior of the students, the moral- 
ity of the plays produced in them, likewise tell heavily against 
the new religion. The information given us about Catholic 
translations of the Bible into German before Luther's time, and 
about that reformer's way of handling the Scriptures, not only 
disposes of many of the oft-refuted calumnies that were so long 
the favorite weapon of the Protestant controversialist, but also 
displays the Father of Protestantism in a rather discreditable 
light. But why go on with this enumeration ? Let it be 
enough to say that this history, like every other storehouse of 
truth, is an armory wherein the Catholic controversialist may 
find many a keen weapon for his holy warfare. 

Our sense of the fitness of things 
CALIFORNIA MISSIONS, is not always so satisfied by facts 

as it is when we find that the 

task of writing the history of the missions of California has 
fallen to a Franciscan pen.* For, although both Jesuit and 
Dominican, at two separate periods, toiled nobly in that land, 
still it is the Sons of St. Francis who loom largest in the 
retrospect of the evangelization of California, and are chiefly 
identified in the popular imagination, with the land whose 
greatest city perpetuates, however incongruously, the name of 
the lowly Francis. The first volume of this history is a sub- 
stantial book of over six hundred pages. Its division follows 
the well-marked changes in the course of events, about forty 
pages consist of an account of the discovery of California ; the 
first missionary ventures of the Franciscans and Carmelites; 
the withdrawal of these and the substitution of the Jesuits by 
the action of the secular authorities at the end of the seven- 
teeatti century. The second part relates the history of the 
Jesuit mission down to the day when, as a consequence of the 
suppression of the order throughout the Spanish dominions, the 
Jesuit Fathers were cruelly expelled from California. Finally, 
the third part covers the period from the introduction of the 
Dominicans till the ruin of the missions through the iniquitous 
secularization of the country by the government of Mexico. 

* The Missions and Missionaries of California. By Father Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M. 
Vol. I. Lower California. Sari Francisco: The James H. Barry Company. 



536 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

The close relation between Church and State in the Span- 
ish Empire imposes on the religious historian the obligation 
of taking cognizance of civil and military affairs almost to 
the same extent as if secular history were his proper task. 
How far the State overrode the Church in Californian affairs 
will be a subject of wonder to any who have not read the 
same lesson elsewhere in the history of Spanish domination ; 
and the immensity of the evils, which, with some beneficent 
results, flowed from that union, is eloquently set forth in Father 
Engelhardt's work. 

To say that Father Engelhardt's pages are eloquent must be 
understood to mean with the eloquence of facts. He makes 
no pretense to picturesque or fine writing, and is indifferent 
to the graces of style. In compensation, he is a faithful, la- 
borious seeker of well- authenticated facts whether he is en- 
gaged in relating the intrigues of leaders, the character of the 
Indians, or the successes and failures of the missionaries, or 
the clash of interests between the different orders themselves. 
He is thoroughly scientific in his conscientious references to 
sources for his statements, and almost prodigal in his docu- 
mentation. In many instances he provides a refutation of 
Bancroft's slipshod misrepresentations. 

There is need of constant and 

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S most painstaking caution in trying 
GIRLHOOD. to extract historical truth from 

private or official correspondence. 

The character of the different writers must be known and taken 
into account. Were they well-balanced or emotional, deliber- 
ate or hasty, impartial or biassed ? The answers to questions 
like these are plainly of tremendous importance in determin- 
ing a writer's reliability as a witness, or discernment as a 
judge. Motives also have to be reckoned with. At times the 
writer of a letter will suppress truths that ought to be told, 
or will lie brazenly to gratify vanity, to secure an advantage, 
to mislead a correspondent, or perhaps to deceive an enemy 
into whose hands he expects his letter to fall. Frankness no 
more characterizes the written than the spoken word. The 
sources of the writer's information must likewise be examined. 
Gossip, or the shrewd suggestions of clever opponents, or the 
interested reports of unscrupulous spies, may have furnished 



1 9io.] NEW BOOKS 537 

the material for the weaving of his hopes, his fears, or his 
judgments. 

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, it is a pleasure and 
an advantage to have such documents. They enable us to put 
off the historian's yoke, to look into the minds and hearts of 
historical personages with our own eyes, to see and feel for 
ourselves the play of beliefs, emotions, desires, and fears, which 
even the best historians may have undervalued or failed to 
describe fittingly. 

For these reasons we welcome the volume of letters that 
deal with the early life of Queen Elizabeth.* The editor seems 
to have made a wise and adequate selection, unhampered by 
any partisan bias. Different parties and different points of view 
are fully represented by many different witnesses. The dangers 
and difficulties, the plots and counterplots, the schemes and 
hopes of which she was the centre, are pictured for us by the 
leading actors in the play. Numerous notes serve as hinges 
in the narrative, and also to correct errors made by various 
writers. The volume is enriched with several excellent por- 
traits, a fac-simile of a letter from Elizabeth to her sister, 
Queen Mary, and a thorough index. 

Mr. George Haven Putnam has 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. made for himself so familiar a 
By G. H. Putnam. p i ace j n the mind of the present 

generation as a learned author of 

books about books that it comes as a surprise to find that he 
is all the while Major Putnam, a Civil War Veteran. Some 
such fact might have been inferred by any one who happened 
to know his age and his ancestry, for no man with the blood 
of Israel Putnam in his veins could have remained inactive if 
he was able to shoulder a gun, when the call of freedom and 
patriotism reached his ears. This may seem a roundabout way 
of approaching the statement that Mr. Putnam has written a 
new book f on Abraham Lincoln, but in point of fact it is 
much to the matter. In his preface the author remarks that, 
on the occasion of the centenary celebration in New York in 
honor of Lincoln, of forty-six speakers " only four had ever 
seen the hero whose life and character they were describing." 

* TAe Girlhood of Queen Elizabeth. A narrative in contemporary letters. Edited by 
Frank A. Mumby. Boston and New York : Houghton Mifflin Company. 

t Abraham Lincoln, the People's Leader in the Struggle Jor National Existence. By George 
Haven Putnam. Litt.D. New York & London : G P. Putnam's Sons. 



NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

His own address on that occasion, which he afterwards 
undertook to commit to writing, " primarily for the informa- 
tion of children and grandchildren," has grown to this 300- 
page monograph as he wrote. It is well that it is so, for 
Lincoln is going to grow into a greater and greater figure in 
the minds of peoples and historians, and future generations 
will be glad to hear every possible light upon this greatness 
of character which baffles understanding by its very simplicity. 
It is an easy prophecy that at a date when Mr. Putnam's ex- 
cellent English shall have become archaic, some American 
novelist will use his narrative, " written for children and grand- 
children," as the basis of an autobiographical romance, of 
which Lincoln shall be the hero. It will have more of George 
Haven Putnam in it than that author himself allows to becorre 
evident in the present work, but that will be as things 
should be. 

To come back from the future romance to the present his- 
tory, it is sufficient to say that it is an excellent appreciation 
of the man and his times. Naturally, but little is added to 
our knowledge of the main facts of his life that field has 
been too well reaped. There are a few gleanings, however, 
as, for instance, some interesting reminiscences of Mr. Hewitt's, 
and also an account of the voting on the Presidential canci- 
dates in 1864 by the captives in Libby Prison, of whom Mr. 
Putnam was one. His estimates of character are well expressed 
and, in the main, judicial and fair, but we cannot subscribe to 
his appreciation, or rather censure, of General McClellan 

A valuable feature to the work, as a contribution to history, 
is the inclusion as an Appendix of Lincoln's lamcm Cooper 
Union speech (February, 1860) which was a large factor in 
the securing of his first nomination to the Presidency. The 
speech is reprinted from a pamphlet containing it which was 
published that same year. With it are valuable hist cm a notes 
on the topics discussed, written at the time by Cephas Brain- 
erd and Charles C. Nott. 

The making of text books- is a 

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, special gift, and it is a j>ift which 

Father Coppens posse^s-es in a 

marked degree. His works ol this kind in the fields of rhet< ric 
and philosophy are in use in many institutions <M learning. 
He now turns his attention to the history of Puiosopny, and pre- 



19 io.] NEW BOOKS 539 

sents in a work* of 140 pages a compendium of philosophical 
systems from Brahmanism down to the latest creations of the 
human intellect. The treatment of these systems is necessarily 
brief, but Father Coppens has a sure eye for what is essential 
in a body of doctrine, and the reader will find the main ele- 
ments of the various theories clearly outlined. The work is 
brief and clear but not simple. Nobody can make philosophy 
simple, in the sense of being obvious and easy. It is the 
business of the philosopher to go beyond the obvious view of 
things. If he does not go deep, he is no philosopher. And 
patient study is necessary to follow him. " Metaphysics," says 
James, " is an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly." 
This work is not, therefore, one to be picked up by the casual 
reader who wishes to glean information in a leisure hour. Its 
main value will be for the student of philosophy, or for one 
who wishes to refresh his mind on points formerly studied, 
which are becoming obliterated in the palimsest of memory. 

Where the wonder is that so much matter has been pre- 
sented in such brief space, it would be ungenerous to suggest 
omissions. However, a few lines on Pragmatism would have 
rounded out the account of American contributions to phil- 
osophy. The appreciations of men and systems are admirable, 
but we think that those relating to the two great Franciscans, 
Roger Bacon and Duns Scotus. accentuate too strongly their 
defects. In the case of Roger Bacon, especially, his failure to 
influence his age was due less to his own deficiencies than to 
the over-devotion of the times to our department of thought. 
Opinions may differ on such isolated points, but not on the 
main fact, that this is an excellent little book. 

The three surest tests that the 

THE SACRAMENT OF DUTY. Church has become thoroughly at 
By McSorley. home in any country are: native 

vocations to the priesthood, a na- 
tive religious literature, and native saints. So long as the 
main stock of preachers and ideals of holiness must be brought 
from afar, the country is a missionary one. The Holy See 
has lately paid us the compliment of ranking us among the 
fair sisterhood of full-grown churches which dwell in unity 

* A Brief History of Philosophy . By Rev. Charles Coppens, S.J. New York : Schwartz, 
Kirwin & Fauss. 



540 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

under the Mother Church of Christendom. In some ways we 
have earned the praise ; we have, indeed, no canonized saints 
as yet, but we have a vigorous Catholic life under the guidance 
of a native clergy, and we are beginning to create a religious 
literature which shall express our Catholic ideals to the mind 
of our contemporaries. The production of a saint will be our 
great test; a saint who will show forth the result of the 
Catholic faith working in the best type of national character 
what Columbkille is to the Irish, or Bernard to the French, or 
Loyola to the Spanish. When we have succeeded in this, we 
may hope to make the United States a Catholic country. 
Meanwhile, we welcome the slowly growing literature which 
acts as interpreter between the Catholic and the American spirit. 

This may seem a disproportionate introduction to a review 
of a small volume* of religious essays, but the reviewer (a 
diocesan priest who tries to keep in touch with men and books) 
is convinced that since the days of Father Hecker there have 
been few more remarkable contributions to the work of inter- 
pretation. This does not mean that Father McSorley treats 
professedly of the points of contact or of divergence between 
Catholicity and national life. He never refers to them but 
he presents the Catholic ideals of life and character in a way 
which will appeal to every aspiring soul in the republic. 

The type of character which he admires is depicted in the 
preface: "To be cheerful, humble, honest, brave, constant, 
reverent; to wage ceaseless war against the myriad forms of 
selfishness which obstruct the path to the higher life; to care 
fervently for the Blessed Christ and seek an ever closer com- 
munion with the indwelling Divine Spirit." 

As this summary already suggests, there are two main 
lines of interest in the book: religion and character. The 
presentation of religion reveals a man whose heart is attuned 
to all of God's creation, and to God in nature, in revelation, 
in the heart itself. He has meditated deeply on life and on 
religion and has manfully faced the difficulties which faith 
must meet. Quotations from the Sacred Writings and Church 
pronouncements, from theologians and philosophers, saints and 
poets, reveal the wide range of his study; but the dominant 
tone of the book is a personal one, that here we have a man 

* The Sacrament of Duty. By Joseph McSorley, Paulist. New York : The Columbus 
Press. 



NEW BOOKS 541 

who has explored many fields of thought, only to be deepened 
in his conviction that faith has the answer to all the riddles of 
existence. 

His method of leading the mind to an appreciation of the 
religious element in life may be best illustrated from the chapter 
on "Soul-Blindness." He arrests attention from the start by 
a description of the "psychic blindness" produced in animals 
by a well-known physiological experiment. He further makes 
use of psychology to treat of the undeveloped powers which 
exist in every man. Following this clue, he gradually de- 
velops his subject on and on through various degrees of noble- 
ness of view till he leads to his point blindness to the Beauty 
and Truth that is God. What charms and holds is the writer's 
breadth of sympathy with every form of human striving for the 
noble and the true. The scientist and the man of culture, whose 
eyes may have been closed to the light of religion, will not 
say: "Behold! the preacher preacheth"; but he will exclaim: 
" Here is one who sees where I see, enjoys where I enjoy, but 
whose eyes are open to a world to which I am blind ; not a 
narrower man than I, as I had thought religious persons to be, 
but one of larger outlook and keener vision ; it must be I 
who am narrow, I who am blind. " 

The passages in which he reveals the view of the world 
and of life of those who see God in it all are of surpassing 
insight and beauty. It is breaking jewels from their clusters 
to quote bits here and there, but there is not space for the 
whole. " His and His alone is the peace-compelling dawn and 
the blaze of sunset glory, the softened colors of twilight and 
the throbbing evening star." " From Him are life and strength 
and love and length of days; from Him come penitence and 
hope and holiness and the glad assurance of eternal rest." " It 
is His mind that has planned, His will that has fashioned all. 
The senses perceive the moon's chaste light and the violet's 
fragrance, the falling waters, the lark that soars and sings; 
and at once the mind recalls how each of these shows forth 
the measureless goodness and love of God, for by grace divine 
it has succeeded in linking the thought of Him with every 
common object and every experience of daily life. By this 
means has the curse of blindness^ been charmed away ; God 
has been brought again to reign visibly in His heaven ; and 
all has been made right with the world." 



542 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

There is another phase of the work, in which the poetical 
and mystical type revealed in the foregoing passages is merged 
into that of the psychologist and moralist, as in the essays on 
" Open-Mindedness" and "On Being Cheerful." In these he 
shows a deep knowledge of the human soul. His ideals are 
still pitched high, but his view of the conditions of life is 
balanced and sane, with a shrewd though kindly analysis of 
character and foibles, and a gentle searching humor which 
never lets itself be caustic or depressing. The even balance 
of his judgment is shown, not only in his selection of "Open- 
Mindedness" for treatment, but in the handling of it from 
three points of view: in our attitude towards our faults of 
character, in the attitude of Catholics towards new truths, and 
in that of possible converts towards the Church. 

In all his essays Father McSorley is always at high- water 
mark. The book has no padding. It is never dull or common- 
place. Work such as this is not done in a day. It is a result 
of long reflection. It must have been gone over again and 
again. And the final revision must have been made with a 
ruthless excision of every thought or sentence which fell be- 
low a high standard of excellence. The result is a series of 
essays which, treating as they do of the abiding things God 
and human souls will live in Catholic literature. 

The most venerable figure in the 
METHODS OF APOLOGETICS, hierarchy of the Church to- day is 

Cardinal Capecelatro, Archbishop 

of Capua. The biographer of St. Philip Neri, the friend and 
admirer of his fellow- Oratorian and fellow- Cardinal, John Henry 
Newman, his life reflects the cheerful piety of the one, and his 
mind the serene devotion to truth of the other. The present 
little work * is an evidence of both qualities, especially of the 
latter. It belongs to that department of theology called 
Apologetics, which, on account of the many- sided attack on 
fundamental religious truths, has attained such a remarkable 
development in our own times. The learned Cardinal accentu- 
ates the newness of matter and methods in two titles which indi- 
cate the scope of his work: "The need of a Newer Method in 
Theology " ; and " A New Apologia for Christianity in Rela- 
tion to the Social Question." 

* Christ, the Church, and Man. By~Cardinal Capecelatro. London : Burns & Dates ; 
St. Louis : B. Herder. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 543 

The ground of an eight- day private 

THE ANNUAL RETREAT, retreat is covered by the medita- 
By Rev. G. Bouffier, S J. tions of Father Bouffier's manual.* 

Four meditations and one confer- 
ence are assigned to each day. The translator has added a 
number of notes chiefly to indicate a selection of spiritual read- 
ings for the employment of free time. To those acquainted 
with Madame Cecilia's own works, her name as translator is a 
guarantee that the book is free from the excesses of sentimen- 
tality and emotion which, for northern people, lessens the value 
of miny otherwise admirable books of French piety. 

To apply to this book f the over- 

THE CEREMONIES OF worked epithet, popular, might do 
THE MASS. it an injustice; for that term seems 

to convey the idea that depth or 

accuracy is sacrificed to attractive or easy exposition. Here, 
however, we have the complex and deep subject of the sym- 
bolism of the Mass, tvhether in the prayers, vestments, cere- 
monies, and other adjuncts, treated in a manner at once attrac- 
tive, simple, concise, and accurate, profound and complete. 
The author has not undertaken an historical study to trace 
development; though he sometimes makes an observation to 
draw attention to the gradual growth of symbol or significance. 
His purpose is to explain " the hidden meaning of the Holy 
Sacrifice and its ceremonies as they are now found in our 
worship ; a meaning which has often been given to them quite 
independently of their historical origin." Nor does he lay much 
stress on the opinions of individual authorities, when such 
opinions are not ratified by general acceptance. He also does 
not approve the methods of some writers who provide a Scrip- 
ture text for almost every interpretation which they advance ; 
for often, he observes, passages from Scripture are rather ar- 
bitrarily quoted to bear out considerations which are undoubt- 
edly pious. While Father Nieuwbarn writes with an eye to 
the demands of scholarship, his main purpose is edification. 
The promise of a preface is not always realized in the tenor 

* The Annual Retreat. By Rev. Gabriel Bouffier, SJ. Translated from the French by 
Madame Cecilia. St. Louis : B. Herder. 

t The Holy Sacrifice and Its Ceremonies. An Explanation of its Mystical and Liturgical 
Meaning. By M. C. Nieuwbarn, O.P., S.T.L. Translated from the Revised Edition by 
L. M. Bouman. New York: Benziger Brothers. 



544 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

of a book. Here, however, promise and execution run together 
so harmoniously that the words in which the scope of the work 
is announced may be accepted as expressing its spirit too : 

My ardent wish is to increase man's love for the Holy 
Sacrifice by a better understanding of its mysteries ; to reveal 
something of the unsearchable riches of Christ, of which St. 
Paul speaks (Eph. iii. 8) and to open out a new field for the 
mind, so that devotion of the heart may gather more abun- 
dant fruit, were it only in the souls of a few. My earnest 
hope is to be of service to many, to the simple and the 
learned, to both young and old, that all may realize better 
the deep love of Jesus Christ which daily flows in endless 
streams from the Divine Sacrifice of our altars. 

The hope of the author has already been fulfilled in Hol- 
land where, within a short period of its first appearance, a 
second edition of the original has been called for. We trust 
that an equally wide welcome awaits the English translation* 

These are indeed good days in 

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, which to be a little child. (And 
By Wiggin and Smith. yet, if you ask me when it was 

not good, I should not know when 

that time was, unless, perhaps, in the days of Herod of the 
sword.) For some years past our artists and our printers have 
formed a holy alliance, and set themselves the task of enclosing 
radiant bits of fairyland between the covers of the child's Christ- 
mas book. We have had Stevenson's Child's Garden of Verses 
and Eugene Field's Poems of Childhood. This year Miss Kate 
Douglas Wiggin and Mrs. Nora A. Smith have conspired with 
Maxfield Parrish to give us a book of The Arabian Nights 
which makes one wish he were a child again. 

Mr. Parrish's contribution to the volume,* in addition to a 
cover design and title-page, consists of twelve drawings in 
color, illustrating passages in the text. They have about them 
all the witchery and wonder of the East itself, as seen through 
the prism of a child's imagination. There is the Fisherman of 
the wondrous copper vessel, and Aladdin of the lamp; Prince 
Agib of the hundred closets, and AH Baba of the boiling oil. 

* The Arabian Nights: Their Best-Known Tales. Edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and 
Nora A. Smith. Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 545 

The stories in this collection number ten and include the 
best-known of the tales. The original text has been altered 
somewhat, but the changes have been almost wholly confined 
to an omission of details and repetitions. Miss Wiggin, who 
writes the introduction, quotes a passage from a work of 
Edouard Laboulaye's in which he says : 

"Nothing affrights me so much as the reasonable, practical 
child who believes in nothing that he cannot touch." And, 
indeed, the same may be said of his elders of a like mind. 

After all, this capacity for faith in untouched things, 
whether in man or child, is all of a piece. The child is 
spiritually dwarfed who does not build a thousand worlds cut 
of sheer delight, or who will not enter with a glad heart one 
so magically fashioned as The Arabian Nights. A joy in these 
creations, that cast at once a spell of beauty, of power, and of 
awe, is the child's first hunger for the things that the eye of 
man hath not seen. 

The beautiful, clear type in which this volume is printed 
deserves a special word of praise. 

If any one offers you a book, say- 

SAN CELESTINO. ing : " Here is the life of a canon- 

By John Ayscough. ized saint done into a novel," do 

not follow your first impulse to 

send it to the Sunday. School library. Read it, for it is well 
worth while. It is the story of a soul, the psychology of a 
saint. John Ayscough takes as his theme * the story of the 
eremite saint who was drawn from his mountain solitudes to 
bear, for a few bitter months, the weight of the Papal crown. 
This was Peter, known as Celestine V., whom Dante placed in 
hell on account of // gran rifiuto, but whom the Church 
honors as a saint in heaven. The closing phase of his life 
makes sad reading. The book is most attractive in the earlier 
chapters, which describe the life on the mountain farm and in 
the University of Salerno, setting off the holy youth's ideals 
of life in contrast to those of his various companions. The 
tale is beautifully and impressively handled. It will be sure 
to create, even in the most unsympathetic mind, an attitude of 
at least tolerance for the ideals of the contemplative life. 

* San Celestino. By John Ayscough. New York and London : G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

VOL. xc. 35 



546 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

This is a collection * of stories 

THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH, and verse bearing mainly on 
By W. W. Harney. Southern life. The writer gives 

a short sketch of his own career 

by way of preface, from which we cite one sentence which will 
introduce him favorably to the Catholic reader. As a young 
man he was a school principal in Louisville, Ky., but " after 
two successful sessions, the singular political insanity, Know- 
nothingism, swept the city and elected a new board of trus- 
tees, who supplanted Mr. Harney by a successor who knew 
little enough to satisfy^the principles of his party." That is 
rather neatly put by thelway of a start. The promise it gives 
is not quite kept up in the prose section, as the style of the 
stories is rather labored. But the poems are delightful gra- 
cious and pure in sentiment, and with a lyric lilt that makes 
them sing themselves. 

Katherine Conway's little volume f 

THE WOMAN WHO NEVER of stories is sure of a generous 

DID WRONG. reception. They are pictures of 

By Katherine E. Conway. the fine, simple, Catholic life of 

our people in this generation, a 

life that is not sufficiently sensational to attract the yellow 
journalists and novelists of to-day, but which will be a theme 
of historical interest in a long to-morrow, when its solid worth 
shall have won victories. Domestic and parish life, vocation, 
conversion, love and tragedy are her themes. Her touch is 
sure and graceful, her ^'perceptions sympathetic and gracious. 

When Father Benson turns aside 

THE NECROMANCERS. from the historical themes which 
By R. H. Benson. first made him known as a novel- 

ist, he displays an attraction for 

the eerie. His latest story j is a venture in the dim regions 
of spiritism. A young man, a half-baked convert to the faith, 
takes up with spiritism^after the loss of his sweetheart. The 
story shows the, danger *of meddling with this sort of thing, 
and the final escape of the victim. 

' The Spirit f the South. By Will Wallace Harney. Boston: R. G. Badger. 

t The Woman Who Never Did Wrong. By^Katherine E. Conway. Boston : Thomas 
J. Flynn & Co. 

\ The Necromancers. By Rev R. H. Benson.' St; Louis ; B. Herder. 



1 9 io.] NEW BOOKS 547 

Giannella* is a charming tale of 

GIANNELLA. Italian life by Mrs. Hugh Frazer. 

By Mrs. Frazer. It brings one into the company 

of delightful people. There is a 

fine old Cardinal whom Henry Harland would have liked to 
know, and a beautifully simple old sacristan, who is a real crea- 
tion. Mrs. Frazer is evidently familiar with life in Italy, and 
has the gift of imparting its charm to her pages. 

Mr. Hall Caine has selected for 

THE WHITE PROPHET, his latest novel three of the mighti- 
By Hall Caine. est of human interests : religion, 

love, and empery. He selects for 

his scene Egypt, the land of mystery, but the plot reflects the 
influence on his mind of the present demand for popular gov- 
ernment in India. The main characters are a British Consul 
General of the Cromer type ; his son, an idealist and reformer 
like General Gordon ; the fiancee of the latter ; and a Moham- 
medan preacher from the desert, whose popular title gives its 
name to the book.f In the preaching, and, to a much less ex- 
tent, in the history of The White Prophet, there are resemblances 
to the Founder of Christianity, but not, we think, to the extent 
of being irreverent. The conception of the story is on large 
lines, but Hall Caine has fallen short of producing a great 
novel. True, he has moderated the hysterical attitude towards 
the passions which disgusted the judicious in his earlier work. 
But it still leads him astray. For the sake of a new love-inter- 
est he reduces his preacher of righteousness to a figure of pity, 
almost of scorn. His sympathies are with Christian ideals of 
peace and justice, but his presentation of the case for the ex- 
tension of self-government would do little to convert to his 
views men who actually bear the responsibilities of rule. 

In Big John Baldwin \ we have a 

BIG JOHN BALDWIN. return to the field of romance in 

the first person singular. It re- 
flects the influence of Lorna Doone and Micah Clarke. The 

Giannella. By Mrs. Hugh Frazer. S. Louis : B. Herder. 

t The White Prophet. By Hall Caine. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

\ Big John Baldwin. Extracts from the journal of an officer of Cromwell's Army, record- 
ing some of his experiences at the Court of Charles I., and subsequently at that of the Lord 
Protector, and on the fields of Love and War, and, finally in the Colony of Virginia. Edited, 
with a sparing hand, by Wilson Vance. New York : Henry Holt & Co. 



548 NEW BOOKS [Jan., 

hero stands, like Saul, "above all the people." A Puritan and 
an enemy of Papistry, he is at heart better than his creed. 
He wins by strength of sinew and even more by honesty and 
simplicity of heart. The type has been made familiar by other 
writers, but it is a good type, and there is room for Mr. 
Vance's addition to its representatives. The story will stand 
comparison with others of its kind, except Blackmore's peerless 
work. And this is no mean praise. 

It has become almost a custom for 

THE GREATER POWER, our novelists nowadays to stake 
By H. Bindloss. out claims in a chosen portion of 

the fields of time and space. Mr. 

Harold Bindloss has pre-empted a comparatively new field for 
working in the newly-settled region of British Columbia. His 
recent novel* is a story of love, business intrigue, and adven- 
ture by flood and fell, after a manner familiar to readers of 
his Alton of Somasco. 

A book that is decidedly oppor- 
THE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS, tune for the holiday season is The 

Book of Christmas.^ The preface, 

by H. W. Mabie, is inspired by the right spirit, and may it 
be, in its measure, effective in bringing back many to the real 
spirit of Christmas, for that spirit is often very small and ut- 
terly inadequate when we realize that the day commemorates 
the birth of the God-Man Who redeemed humanity. Yet, 
looking on things in the brighter way, such a volume as this 
when we think of the non-Catholic world of fifty or even twenty- 
five years ago is a glad and promising harbinger. It will set 
many on the right road and teach them that the " real busi- 
ness of the race is not to make money"; and convert others 
who "have fallen under the delusion that action is the only 
form of effective expression and that to be useful one must 
rush along the road, with the ruthless speed of an automobile, 
forgetting that action is only a path to being, and that the 
joy of life is largely found by the way." 

The book itself includes a choice selection of poetry and of 
prose, of early and late date, the tributes of centuries to the 
spirit of Christmas, and a number of illustrations from the great 
masters. 

*The Greater Power. By Harold Bindloss. New York : F. A. Stokes Company, 
t TkeBtok of Christmas. New York : The Macmillan Company, 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 549 

Undeniable evidence is not lacking to show that the real 
thinkers of even the non- Catholic world are making amends to 
the Middle Age for the many and long-enduring misrepresen- 
tations which it has suffered. 

Among such evidences we may mention a small volume is- 
sued by the Century Company of New York, and entitled 
Great Hymns of the Middle Ages. The volume is compiled by 
Eveline Warner Brainerd. In her introduction she says; 
"Whether written by burdened ruler, or humble monk, or 
learned bishop, these scattered poems have that without which 
any literature must be found wanting. In rude and anxious 
and disheartened days they held with unfaltering assurance to 
a noble ideal, to a reverence for the beautiful on earth, and 
to the struggle for a greater life to come." 

The collection includes translations of those great hymns 
which all of us know and with which all of us ought to be 
very familiar, such as: "Vexilla Regis Prodeunt," "Pange 
Lingua/' "Veni Creator," "Jesu Dulcis Memoria," " Veni 
Sancte Spiritus," "Dies Irae," "Stabat Mater," "Canticle of 
the Creatures," translated by Mrs. Oliphant and Matthew 
Arnold. 

It is a precious little volume, charmingly presented, ap- 
propriate as a gift-book, or a delightful treasure that one may 
easily carry when traveling. 

The mission of The Calendar oj the Blessed Sacrament, pub- 
lished by the Sentinel Press, 185 East 76th Street, New York, 
is to foster Eucharistic devotion and to be a daily reminder 
in every home of the adorable Presence. The cost of this 
calendar is 25 cents. 

The Garden Calendar, which we have received from the 
Franklin Printing Co., Philadelphia, Pa., gives seasonable, timely 
and helpful hints for gardens and house plants for every day 
of the year. It is ornamented with a reproduction, in colors, 
of an attractive garden scene. The price of the calendar is $i 



jForeicjn ipetiobicals, 

The Tablet (20 Nov.): The action of the House of Lords in 
forcing a reference of the Finance Bill to the people is 

considered editorially. The case of the Nymphsfield 

School Is given as an example of the Government's 

discrimination against Catholic institutions. Extended 

notice of Francis Thompson's posthumous life of St. 

Ignatius. Text of Abbe' Bremond's submission to the 

Holy See. Work of " The Crusade of Rescue." This 

organization aids helpless children until they can become 

self-supporting. Celebration of the seventh centenary 

of the Franciscans at Oxford. 

(27 Nov.): "The Coming Election " discusses the action 

of the House of Lords regarding the Finance Bill. 

The Temps after examining the text-books against which 
the French bishops protested, thinks that some of them 
violate religious neutrality. - Rev. John Rickaby, S.J., 
writing on " The Christian Use of Natural Ethics," con- 
trasts pagan ethics with the Christian ideal, though ac- 
knowledging the humanizing influence of the classics 

during the Renaissance. Letter from the Belgian 

bishops thanking the Archbishop of Westminster for his 
attitude on the Congo. The Archbishop's address on 
this question before the Old Xaverian's Athletic Asso- 
ciation of Liverpool. The Roman Correspondent de- 
scribes the quiet celebration of our Holy Father's 

episcopal jubilee. The Holy Father's words on the 

persecution in France to a pilgrimage of three hundred 

French men and women. " St. Francis and Poverty," 

by Rev. Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C. 

The Month (Dec.): The Rev. Sydney F. Smith thinks, with 
Professor Michael Sadler, that present tendencies are 
unfavorable to "The Future of Religious Education." 
Still, religious influence, in the broad sense, cannot be 
excluded from school training; religion cannot " be ex- 
tracted from the syllabus without affecting the subjects 
that remain in it"; and a teacher must be free to teach 

what his heart believes. Virginia M. Crawford pleads 

for a study of non-Catholic contributions to social im- 
provement and praises the work of inquiry, investiga- 



ig io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 551 

tion, and classification done during fifteen years by the 
Women's Industrial Council to promote the industrial 

betterment of women workers. " What are the limits 

of helpful interference ? " asks J. K., on the part of 
" Our Grandmother the State." He discusses educa- 
tion, Poor Law Reform, and religion ; and concludes 
that only Mother Church, whose sway has been lost for 
three centuries, can restore the State to vigor, and 
remedy her well-meant blunders. 

The Dublin Review (Oct.): Father Thurston, S.J., writing on 
the bill introduced in Parliament last May, to abolish 
the Coronation Oath, shows how easy it would be to 
secure the Protestant succession without recourse to a 

formula so offensive to Catholics. Apropos of the 

new Budget's proposed taxation of economic rent (" site 
value "), Hilaire Belloc examines the theory of Ri- 
cardian Rent, and, apart from the ethics of the case, 
decides against the suggested measure on strictly prac- 
tical grounds. Wilfrid Ward writes on the centenary 

of Tennyson. Mgr. Moyes concludes his article on 

St. Anselm of Canterbury. " A Medieval Princess," by 

Mrs. Maxwell Scott, sketches the life of Madame Loyse 

de Savoye, niece of Louis XI. of France. Father 

Benson sympathetically examines current theories of 
spiritistic phenomena and explains clearly why the 
Church is opposed to " Spiritualism." 

Htudes (20 Nov.) : Jules Grivet criticizes unfavorably the state- 
ments of Henri Bergson with regard to the relations of 

spirit and matter. M. Lemozin takes up the question 

of family life. He insists upon the great influence the 
home surroundings have upon life and character. Every 
workingman's home should be provided with hot and 
cold baths, laundry, drying room -and a garden where 
the children can play, and the adults find rest. 

Revue du Clerge Franfais (i Nov.): Fernand Cabrol, writing of 
"The Feast of the Dead and of All Saints," examines 
the theories of Dr. Frazer and others, who assign a pagan 
origin to these feasts. He presents facts to prove that 
these two feasts, although analogous to certain pagan 

festivals, are nevertheless of Christian origin. E. Man- 

genot concludes his exposition of "The Paulinism of 



352 FOKEIGN PERIODICALS [Jan., 

Mark " with a criticism of the view of M. Loisy. He 
analyzes the latter's arguments, in order to show that 
the greater number of M. Loisy's reasons depend on his 
personal opinion of the [primitive tradition of the gos- 
pels and the processes of formation of the second Gospel. 

J. Riviere treats of the Theological Principles of St. 

Augustine " On the Harmony of the Evangelists." 

In the " Artistic JChronicle " F. Martin reviews a 

new collection of essays by M. Gaultier, entitled Re- 
flections of History. The reviewer examines the work 
chiefly in regard to the light shed by the art of any 

particular country on its history. " A Critical Review 

of Morality," by G. Michelet, is an examination of two 
new books, one, Natural Morality, by M. de Lanessan, 
who considers morality as merely the outgrowth of evo- 
lution ; the other by M. Bayet, entitled The Idea of Good, 
opposing the Neo-Comtist and empirical notion of "sci- 
entific morality." "On Anti-Conceptional Practices," 

is a print of certain instructions of the bishops of Bel- 
gium to their clergy. 

(i Dec.): P. Batiffol answers " the objection put forward 
by both M. Reville and M. Holtzmann, that the Epistle 
to the Hebrews knows no other sacrifice than that which 
Christ offered on the Cross." He further draws proofs 
of belief in Transubstantiation from the liturgy of St. 
Mark, the Sacramentary of Serapion, and especially from 
a homily of Bishop Faustus of Provence, thus pushing 
back the date of documentary proofs from the ninth to 

the fifth century. "The History of France," by MM. 

Aulard and Debidour, is examined in detail by J. 
Bricout to show its falsehoods and misrepresentations 
and to justify its condemnation by the French bishops. 

Gabriel Planque pictures the Anglican civil war as 

to the nature and value of the Sacraments. Religion 

as studied in the comparative method, especially by Fra- 
zer, and in the sociological method, by Durkheim and 
Hubert and Mauss, is the subject of an article by A. 

Bros and O. Habert. Georges Michelet examines the 

moral theories of Fouillee, Leclere, and Gaultier. 

G. G. Lapeyre's expose of the Haeckel-Brass case and 
the slight regard for truth exhibited by monist scientists 
is quoted. 



1 9 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 553 

Revue Pratique d* Apologetique (i Nov.): E. Mangenot con- 
cludes his argument against M. Loisy and in favor of 
the real corporeal "Resurrection of Jesus Christ." 
"An Essay in Religious Psychology," by Amaury de 
Cibaix, is concluded. Its purpose has been to show 
that Christianity solves the enigmas of the soul as phil- 
osophy cannot do, especially that of the relations of the 
finite to the Infinite, and thus to prepare the way for 

an historical religious apologetic. H. Lesetre says 

that the "Commemoration of the Dead," dating even 
from pre-Christian times, was appointed for November 2 
by St. Odilon, Abbot of Cluny, in 998. He states that 
the Catholic doctrine concerning Purgatory explains the 
. "heroic act" and the Church's instructions to the living 

by means of the liturgy for the dead. Jean Guiraud 

gives an extensive review of a History of the Inquisition 
in France praising its learning, but advising caution in 
its use. The author is M. de Cauzons, who so far has 
published only the first of three volumes. The Re- 
view promises a series of articles dealing with the latest 
response of the Biblical Commission. 

Le Correspondant (io Nov.): "The Ethiopian Question." The 
death of Menelek, terminating the history of a wise and 
resolute ruler, ushers in an era of uncertainty regarding 
the destiny of the peoples he governed so well. Them- 
selves pacific, they are surrounded with danger from 
without, owing to the presence of Europeans. Mene- 
lek's success has been due to personal diplomacy. Will 

it survive him? Emile Faguet, writing of Charlotte 

Stieglitz, gives us a short history of "the heroine of 
the most authentic and most pitiful novel of the world." 

" Aviation, the Machines and Their Pilots," by 

Emile Lessard, pleads for government construction [of 
aeroplanes. 

(25 Nov.) : " The Power of Islam " is said to be due to 
religious confraternities, many of these of ancient origin. 
They are largely independent of the Kaliph, and their 
power is underestimated by the three interested Euro 
pean nations, England, France, and Russia. The hos- 
tility of the Young Turks to religion predicts, says the 

author, their downfall. " Barbey d'Aurevilly," one of 

the most marvelous of the writers of the nineteenth 



554 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Jan., 

century, according to Gabriel Aubray, was praised but 
not read. This article is an effort to explain his passion- 
ate and proud temperament, his sufferings, and thus 
somewhat to rehabilitate his fame. 

Biblische Zeitschrift (III., IV.): "The Biblical Authors and 
Their Sources," by Dr. Alfons Schulz, Braunsberg. The 
writer discusses the question whether the passages of 
Holy Scripture that are mentioned as quotations from 
other uninspired writings are or are not of the same 
authority as the author's own narrative, and decides that 
the holy authors, when embodying into their own writ- 
ing such quotations, take upon themselves full respon- 
sibility, except when they expressly disapprove. " The 

Bible-Canon of Flavius Josephus," by Dr. Fell, Munster. 
Although Josephus knew that the deutero-canonical 
books, from which he quotes on several occasions, were 
accepted by the Hellenistic Jews as canonical, he does 
not mention them in his list of sacred books, since he 
writes from the viewpoint of the Palestinian Jews yet 
he formulated his account of them in a manner that 

would not offend the Hellenists. "Artful Use of 

Rhyme in Psalm 29," by P. Zorell, S.J., Valkenburg. 
It seems probable that the Hebrews occasionally applied 

rhyme in their poetry. Dr. Vincenz Hartl, St. Florian, 

concludes his paper on " The Genealogy of Jesus Ac- 
cording to St. Luke." This genealogy is that of Mary 
and not Joseph, whom St. Luke expressly mentions as 

only the apparent father. " The Owner of the Field 

of Blood," by P. Pfaettisch, O.S.B., Ettal. There is no 
contradiction in the accounts about the end of the traitor 

Judas as given by St. Matthew and in the Acts. 

" Aretas IV., King of the Nabataeans," continued by 
Dr. Alfons Steinmann, Braunsberg. Aretas received the 
city of Damascus as a present from Emperor Gajus in 
the year 37 A. D. He appointed an Arabian sheik as 
governor, who was moved by* the Jews to persecute St. 
Paul. Since Aretas' reign lasted only to 40 A. D., St. 
Paul's flight from Damascus must have taken place be- 
tween 37 and 40 A. D. Taking into consideration the 
fact that the persecution in Judea could begin only after 
35 A. D., when Pilate had left Palestine, the date of St. 
Paul's conversion may be fixed as between 35 and 37 



19 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 555 

A. D. "Beginning and End of the Title 'Son of 

Man/" by Dr. Vincenz Hartl. This title was in the 
mouth of Jesus an eminently pedagogical term to lead 
the people who believed firmly in the heavenly power 
of their expected Messias to grasp the idea of a suffer- 
ing and dying Messias. The effect ceases with the cause, 
and thus after Christ's Messiahship was openly preached 
throughout the world there was no more need for the 
obscure title. 

La Civilta Cattolica (20 Nov.) : " Galileo Galilei and the Coperni- 
can System." Yet another work has come out on this 
much- written subject, by Father Adolph MtUler, S.J., 
Professor of Astronomy in the Gregorian University. 
Notwithstanding the vast amount of literature on Galileo, 
it is said that this book of Father Miiller's is a most 

valuable addition. " The Third Italian Philosophical 

Congress at Rome," was conspicuous for the fact that it 
was attended solely by anti-Christian laymen, supporters 
of Neo-Hegelianism or Neo- Kantianism, or Postivism. 
"St. Charles Borromeo," gives a short but compre- 
hensive history of the life of the great saint and Arch- 
bishop of Milan, and of his work in the restoration of 

Catholicity. "Monks of Ancient France" reviews a 

book by Dom Besse, which shows what a substantial 
part of the Church monasticism formed ; what valuable 
services the civil government derived from the monks 
of the Church; all of which is not remembered to-day 
in France when a concentrated and vigorous action, 
such as characterized the Crusades, is needed to deliver 

the Church from her enemies. " The Christ of The- 

osophy " reviews Mrs. Anna Besant's book, Isis Un- 
veiled, wherein she gives the theosophist idea of Christ. 
Theosophy holds that Christ was a false Messias, a de- 
stroyer of the ancient orthodox religion ; and that Chris- 
tianity sprang from Buddhism. 

La Scuola Cattolica (Nov.): Father Augustine Gemelli, O.F.M., 
treats "The Obsequies of a Man and of a Doctrine." 
The man was Cesare Lombroso. The doctrine was that 
genius and degeneracy could both be explained by ab- 
normal anatomical characteristics, by a naturalistic concept 
of man's intimate dependence upon his ancestors and 
upon all other living creatures. Lombroso, he says, 



556 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Jan. 

would have turned the world into a giganic lunatic 

asylum. F. S. further answers the attacks of M. Loisy 

upon the testimony of St. Irenaeus to the Fourth Gos- 
pel and upon the value of the historical and traditional 
arguments. C. Romualdo Paste contributes some " In- 
timate Pages of St. Anselm " from his letters, showing 
the vehemence of his affections and the strength of his 
endurance under trial. 

Razon y Fe (Dec.) : Different people have different conceptions 
of what representative government means, says F. Lopez 
del Vallado, though all affirm it to be the best modern 
form. Only six European nations have equal and uni- 
versal suffrage. The author pleads for the " plural vote " 
to be given to the wisest, best, and most socially in- 
clined citizens. L. Murillo maintains that there is no 

insuperable or even grave difficulty in defending the ex- 
act historical character of the first three chapters of 
Genesis. He attacks the thesis of P. Lagrange, which 
he presents as affirming only "the vague record of a 
transgression " not inspired as to its present detailed 

form. M. Cuevas praises the organization, aims, and 

spirit of the American Federation of Catholic Societies. 
C. Gomez Rodeles continues the description of an- 
cient Jesuit printing houses in Austria, Germany, Poland, 

Russia, and France. Enrique Asunce begins a series 

of articles on " The Conquest of the Air," with illustra- 
tions. A. P. Goyena reviews at length the judicial 

proceedings in the Ferrer trial. 

Espana y America (15 Nov.): P. M. Coco concludes his series of 
articles on " Biblical Exegesis and Modern Criticism," at- 
tacking Loisy's assertion that our Lord was buried by His 
enemies in a common trench. This example of Loisy's 
criticism rests upon the fact that only St. John, and not the 
Synoptists or St. Paul, mentions the part played by 
Nicodemus in taking down the Sacred Body, a detail 
which Loisy considers so essential as to invalidate, by 
its absence, not only the inspiration but also the historic 
truthfulness of the New Testament. Two Protestant 

writers are quoted who call Loisy the new Renan. 

P. B. Martinez prophesies the ruin of France because of 
its race suicide. 



Current Events. 



M. Briand's position is so well- 
France, assured, for the time being at all 

events, that he can attain his ends 

by the mere threat of resignation. Electoral reform has be- 
come a question in which the whole country is interested. 
The chambers, after a long bebate, voted by a large majority 
in favor of the substitution of scrutin de liste for scrutin d'ar- 
rondissement, as well as for a method of securing the better 
representation of minorities by proportional representation. 
M. Briand, although himself in favor of the change, felt that 
there was no time, before the end of the present Chamber's 
life, to carry out so great a reform. If the discussion was 
to continue, he declared that he would resign. The Cham- 
ber, although by so doing they took back what they had said 
only a few hours before, reversed its vote, and thereupon the 
Premier consented to retain office. 

The reform, however so far, at all events, as scrutin de liste 
is concerned seems certain of being made, as both inside the 
Chambers and outside the desirability of the change seems to 
be recognized. The chief motive for its adoption seems to 
be, by widening the constituency of each member, to free him 
from the domination of local interests a domination which 
has militated seriously against the well-being of the country 
at large. More doubts, however, are expressed with reference 
to the proposal to give to minorities a larger voice in the 
legislature a proposal of which M. Combes, the late Prime 
Minister, is an ardent supporter. To outsiders, like ourselves, 
the number of parties into which the legislative bodies on the 
Continent are divided is an evil rather to be abated than fur- 
thered ; and it seems likely that proportional representation 
would tend in that direction. It has been condemned for an- 
other reason by M. Hanotaux, a former Foreign Minister and 
the author of a history of the Third Republic. Proportional 
representation, he says, would throw all the political institu- 
tions of France once more into the melting-pot. " By your 
reform, if it passes, you will, destroy, pulverize, and annihilate 
the only principles on which the political and social order of 
our country rests." That principle he declares to be the prin- 



558 CURRENT EVENTS [Jan., 

ciple of majorities and of the necessity of bowing to them. 
Reviewing the history of France, he endeavors to show that 
whatever of stability its institutions in the nineteenth century 
had, and, more recently, the greater stability of Cabinets, is 
due to the government by absolute majorities. The logical 
outcome of listening to a minority he finds in the liberum veto 
of the old Polish Diet, which led to a tyranny of anarchy far 
worse than the so-called tyranny of majorities. 

Sometimes we are able to see the good which comes out 
of evil, and so, in consequence of the unspeakable loathesome- 
ness of the Steinheil trial, there is reason to look forward to 
a much-needed reform in the judicial methods of France, sur- 
vivals as they are of an age characterized by harsh and arbi- 
trary proceedings against the accused. In this case the judge 
was so severe in his examination of the prisoner, that he not 
only caused an extension of almost universal sympathy towards 
her, but led many to doubt the wisdom of allowing a judge, 
whose office it is to be impartial and judicial, to act the part 
of cross-examiner as well. The manifestation of this feeling 
was so strong that the Minister of Justice recognized that a 
reform was urgent and necessary, and he has accordingly ap- 
pointed a Commission for the study of the whole question. 
French judicial procedure, he pointed out to the President, 
was out-of-date, unnecessarily complicated, and ill- adapted for 
the impartial discovery of truth. Its slow progress, the con- 
tradictions and the dangers of a method which is neither public 
nor secret, the inadequacy of its procedure, its want of cor- 
respondence with the necessities of criminal justice have be- 
come, he says, more and more obvious. The Commission, 
therefore, is instructed to prepare a Bill for the reform of 
these evils. Of the Commission M. Ribot is one of the Vice- 
Presidents. 

Another question which was raised by the Steinheil trial 
was how far this woman and her family might be considered 
as representative of French life. A common impression is that 
the French are both wicked and frivolous. But as in the for- 
mer case, so in this, the discussion has led to the bringing out 
of the truth. In the words of M. Jules Claretie, "the type 
which is common in our midst is that of simple devotion, of 
obscure toil. The type of a mother of a family who goes 
with a smile of resignation from the cradle of her infant to 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 

the office or the workshop of her husband, . . . who in- 
spires him with fresh courage, and shares his too-frequent 
sorrows and his too-brief joys." And as to frivolity, there 
are English observers who recognize that the reason why the 
French are the best entertainers in the world, is because they 
do their work so well that the result is the perfect delight of 
others. " The foreigners' pleasure is the Frenchman's business." 
Paris is supreme because Parisians never relax their efforts to 
maintain its efficiency. 

France has to endure, with most of the other European na- 
tions, still further additions to the load of taxation under 
which she groans. Some of the French people, patriotic though 
they are, relish as little as the rest of the world, the payment 
of this taxation. The long-talked-of plan for the imposition 
of an income tax, so much dreaded by the wealthier classes, 
has been postponed by M, Caillaux' successor; but in its place 
other ways had to be found. Alcohol and tobacco, it was pro- 
posed, should be subjected to heavier imposts. In opposition 
to these taxes, which are keenly felt by the masses of the 
people, members of the Extreme Right and of the Extreme 
Left, together with some of the Radical supporters of the 
government, joined hands, and there was every appearance 
that a ministerial crisis was imminent, or that M. Cochery, the 
Minister for Finance, would be forced to resign. M. Briand, 
however, proved his power once more. His intervention saved 
the situation. He made an appeal to the dignity of the Cham- 
ber that, as it had voted for expenditure for worthy objects, 
such as the relief of the working classes, it should be willing 
to pay for what it had itself voted. As a result of this appeal 
the prejudicial motions were all withdrawn, and another victory 
was won by the Cabinet. 

The question of the schools is, of course, that in which the 
most interest is felt by Catholics in other parts of the world. 
All the schools which are supported by the State in France 
are what are called free schools free, that is, from all religious 
influences. They are also called lay schools, in order to indi- 
cate that the Church has no control of them in any shape or 
form. Neutral schools is another name that has been given, to 
signify that they are neither for nor against the belief or prac- 
tice of any religion. The latter position it is impossible to 
hold. " He that is not with Me is against Me." There have 



56o CURRENT EVENTS [Jan., 

been many instances of the violation of this professed neutral- 
ity, both on the part of the teachers and by means of the 
text- books which have been adopted. This departure from 
neutrality is admitted more or less fully by defenders of the 
existent school system, such as M. Steeg, the reporter of the 
Budget of Public Instruction. M. Steeg warns the supporters 
of the State system against excessive zeal; he tells them not 
to furnish any pretext for an attack on the schools. He recog- 
nizes that the associations of parents which have been formed 
for the protection of the children are quite lawful. The text- 
books are not so bad as has been asserted, but they are not 
all of them in accordance with the recognized ideal. " Let there 
be no veiled proselytism supported by ingenious distortions of 
fact or interpretations with an object." Such is the admonition 
given by M. Steeg, an admonition which shows that in some 
cases, at all events, there exists the evil against which the 
Bishops have protested and which justifies them out of the 
mouth of an opponent in making that protest. It is, in fact, 
the Bishops who are the defenders of the law of a law, indeed, 
of which they cannot but disapprove but which, when such 
violation is to the detriment of religion, its authors do not 
themselves find any scruple in making. The conflict will be 
bitter and its issue is doubtful, especially as supporters who 
are more likely to do harm than good are proffering to the 
defenders of religious education their unsought-for help. The 
defenders of secular education, on the other hand, are trying 
to stigmatize every effort to save the schools from irreligious 
domination as unpatriotic, and as an attempt to destroy the 
institutions of the Republic. The neutral school, M. Briand 
declares, is of the very essence of the Republic, and the moral 
safeguard of France. M. Paul Deschanel declares that the 
school system is the characteristic work of the Republic, to be 
defended above every other. More consistent than others, he 
enumerates the right to believe among the liberties which the 
school is to secure ; the religious faith of a Pasteur is as legit 
imate as the rationalism of a Littre. M. Deschanel ought to 
be on the side of the Bishops. To the same side should M. 
Raymond Poincare, one of the most distinguished members of 
the Republican party, who has just been elected to the Acad- 
emy, lend his influence. For, while he declares the schools to 
be the foyer of the Republic, he recognizes that regrettable ex- 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 561 

pressions are to be found in the text-books used in the schools, 
and that certain teachers have violated the principle of neu- 
trality. The school is not, he says, to be a centre of prosely- 
tism either for or against religion. It is bound scrupulously 
to respect all beliefs. To a certain extent, therefore, leading 
public men in France justify the campaign which the French 
Bishops, in view of the coming general election, are entering 
upon. Perfect union, however, does not seem to exist as to 
the way in which the campaign is to be carried on. 

Labor questions in France have not been so acute and have 
not given cause for so much anxiety as in the earlier part of the 
year. There has not been, however, perfect peace, and grounds 
for apprehension exist that the troubles may be renewed. A new 
confederation of trade unions has come upon the scene. There 
have been for some time " Red " unions, representing the ideas 
of those who have no respect for parliamentary methods and 
would overturn by violence, and by what is called direct action, 
the existing capitalistic organization; and "Yellow" unions, 
who have the same ultimate aim of destruction, but who are 
willing to make use of gentler means, even Parliament itself, 
to secure their object. The new confederation, to which has 
been given the name of " Greens," is of a more moderate 
character, with less subversive aims. While aiming at securing 
for the working people due recompense for their services, they 
give to their employers a more ample recognition of their 
rights than is done by the Reds and the Yellows. But, to the 
disappointment of many of the supporters of the Greens, in a 
recent dispute in the north of France they joined their forces 
in an alliance with the more radical unions. 

A cause of greater anxiety, however, is the action of a very 
large number of the members of the Civil Servants who repre- 
sent the State in the practical administration of the government 
of the country. These Civil Servants have some twenty legally 
organized associations of employes of the Post-Office and the State 
mint, of tax collectors, Custom House officials, Lycee professors, 
and so forth. These associations are recognized as legitimate. 
They have, however, taken a step which is declared by good 
authorities to be an act of rebellion, an attempt to form a 
State within the State. They have made a National Federation 
of these already existing Associations. They appeal to certain 
laws to justify them in this action ; and give a long list of 
VOL. xc. 36 



562 CURRENT EVENTS [Jan., 

grievances from which they suffer and for which they hope to 
secure a remedy. These grievances are due, they say, to the 
survival under the republic of monarchical methods of adminis- 
tration. The adaptation of those methods to the conditions of 
a modern Republican society is the fundamental end which 
they have in view. They have the excuse, too, that the 
government has not fulfilled the promise made during the re- 
cent crisis in the spring, to introduce a bill defining the rights 
of .the Civil Servants. 

The relations of France with foreign powers, if changed at 
all, have changed for the better. The German Emperor went 
out of his way in his speech at the opening of the session of 
the Reichstag to express his satisfaction at the way in which the 
agreement with the French government regarding Morocco was 
being carried out, as being in a spirit which thoroughly an- 
swered the purpose of adjusting mutual interests. On its part, 
France is satisfied with the way in which the German govern- 
ment has fulfilled its part. The fall of Senor Maura's ministry 
in Spain, and the virtual conclusion of the operations against 
the Riffs, have relieved the anxiety which was being felt in 
France as to Spain's ulterior aims. France is left a free hand 
to deal with the Sultan of Morocco. This is not an easy task. 
He does not like paying the bills which have been incurred for 
the chastisement of his unruly subjects bills which amount to 
a sum of about thirty-five millions of dollars and has been 
interposing so many obstacles that he has had to be warned 
that the patience of France is nearly exhausted, and that ef- 
ficacious steps will be taken to secure payment in the event 
of further attempts to delay. The peaceful penetration of 
Morocco by France is beginning to be talked about again. 

During the parliamentary recess 
Germany. verv little was said or done in 

Germany to call for remark. The 

new Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, disappointed 
those who were desirous of learning his policy by saying so 
little that he has already had an epithet bestowed upon him 
that of the silent Chancellor. The extensive robberies that 
have taken place from the government stores at Kiel show not 
only that the business management of a department of State 
is not so perfect as the world has generally thought it to be, 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 563 

but also that the virtue of honesty is as great a desideratum 
in highly disciplined Germany as it is in less advanced countries. 

At the opening of the Reichstag the German Emperor made 
a speech, or at least he read the speech which was handed to 
him by the Chancellor. This speech largely dealt with the 
remedies which it is proposed to adopt for social evils. The 
Imperial Insurance Laws are to be completed, the existing sys- 
te.ii of State insurance against sickness is to be extended to 
larger sections of the people, and a system of life insurance for 
the benefit of surviving relatives is to be introduced. A spe- 
cial law to regulate the conditions of home work is announced. 
In these proposals may, perhaps, be discerned the hand of the 
new Chancellor, for his work in the past has manifested the 
interest which has been taken by him in subjects of this kind. 

The consolidation of peaceful relations with all foreign 
powers is declared by the Emperor to be his constant endeavor. 
Confidence is expressed that the Triple Alliance will continue 
to hold together. About the alliance between Austria and 
Germany, and its strength, no reasonable doubt can be felt. In 
fact, it seems to be growing stronger. It is said that there 
have been no fewer than five exchanges of visits between the 
Heir-apparent of the Dual Monarchy and the German Emperor 
in the course of the present year. But recent events in Italy 
make it reasonable to doubt whether the feeling there in favor 
of the alliance has not grown much weaker. 

Perhaps the German Emperor's speech was as remarkable 
for what it did not say as for what it did. There was not a 
word about the Navy or about the necessity for its further 
increase. This may be due to the fact that no further pro- 
vision is necessary, ample having been already made. It may, 
perhaps, be due to a wish not to call public attention to a 
matter which has already attracted so large a measure of that 
attention. It is certainly not due to the relaxation of the ef- 
forts to increase its strength. A few days before the Reichstag 
met there was launched a seventh Dreadnought, destined, as 
was said in the speech made upon the occasion by the Duke 
of Saxe-Altenburg, to be a powerful weapon of an aspiring 
people. But, as Prince Eitel, the Emperor's second son, said, 
at the banquet held in honor of the launching, that the duty 
of the new ship would be the protecting of the coasts of the 
Fatherland and of preserving peace, no apprehension should be 



564 CURRENT EVENTS [Jan., 

felt by any other power, tor not one of them has warlike 
designs upon Germany. It is, however, somewhat difficult not 
to be suspicious of these oft-repeated expressions of peaceful 
ends. 

Prince Bulow's bloc having come to a not undeserved end, 
what the new Chancellor will lean upon becomes a matter of 
lively conjecture. The Prince's defeat having been due to the 
co-operation of the Catholic Centre with the Conservatives, a 
blue-black bloc might, it is thought, possibly be formed to lend 
him the support of which he will stand in need. The fact 
that of the new sessions of the Reichstag a Conservative has 
been elected the President, and that the first Vice-Presidency 
has reverted to a member of the Centre Dr. Spahu as in the 
days before Prince Bulow's attempt to deprive the Centre of 
all influence, lends countenance to this view. That the Social 
Democrats voted in support of the Catholic candidate, while 
the Radicals and National Liberals abstained from voting, may 
perhaps give an indication of the new alignment of forces. 
Enemies of the Church in Germany have tried to make out 
that the Centre Party has no other object except the strength- 
ening of the position of the Church, and that, therefore, it can- 
not be truly patriotic. In self-defence a pronouncement has 
been made that the Centre is fundamentally a non-denomi- 
national party, which will guard, indeed, the civil rights of the 
Catholic minority, but which takes its stand upon the Consti- 
tution in fulfilling its duty to the Fatherland. 

Dr. Wekerle has been the retiring 

Austria-Hungary. Premier of the Hungarian Coali- 

tion ever since last May, and al- 
though repeated efforts have been made to find a successor 
for him and his Cabinet, these efforts so far have been unsuc- 
cessful. The strongest party wants concessions which the Crown 
will not grant, and within the ranks of this party differences 
have arisen. M. Justh, a prominent member, is making de- 
mands which M. Francis Kossuth, the son of the celebrated 
Louis Kossuth, who has hitherto been the leader of the party, 
considers to be too extreme. To M. Kossuth's surprise, the 
followers of M. Justh were found to be the more numerous. 
This dissension complicates still more an already complicated 
situation, and no solution seems to be in sight. 



19 to.] CURRENT EVENTS 565 

Light is being thrown upon the dark places of diplomacy 
by the controversy which has arisen between Count Aehrenthal 
and M. Isvolsky concerning Austria's action in the annexation 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Space will not allow us to go into 
all tne details, but it seems clear that it is but one more in- 
stance in which the public at large has been deceived by its 
servants. There was a secret treaty between Russia and Aus- 
tria by which Russia gave her consent to the ultimate annexa- 
tion of the two provinces in return for concessions as to the 
Dardanelles ; but Russia seems to have been deceived as to the 
time when the annexation was to take place. The most inter- 
esting point brought out is that Count Aehrenthal was deeply 
disappointed by the agreement which was made between Eng- 
land and Russia, as he had formed plans for an alliance of the 
three Emperors of Germany, Austria, and Russia, hoping thereby 
to establish for them a dominating influence in Europe. This 
plan failed by reason of the agreement made between England 
and Russia. Diplomats do not often speak their full mind, and 
so the extent of the ill-feeling entertained by Russia towards 
Austria at the present time may be estimated by recent utter- 
ances of the representative of the Tsar at Constantinople. He 
is reported to have said that faithlessness was an Austrian 
characteristic, that Austro- Russian differences were not suscept- 
ible of conciliation, and that the route of the Tsar's journey 
to Italy was a striking protest against Austria- Hungary and 
corresponded to the conviction of the Tsar and the Russian 
people. Later on we shall refer to the utterances of the Italian, 
General Asinari, which indicate the feelings of an increasing 
number of people in Italy. The trial of Dr. Friedjung, the 
well-known Austrian historian, on charges of libel is expected 
to throw still further light upon what took place before the 
annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

After having held office since May, 
Italy. 1906, Signer Giolitti's ministry 

has fallen and has been succeeded 

by one of a more conservative character, at the head of which 
is Baron Sonnino. Signor Giolitti and his colleagues never 
received enthusiastic support,, nor did they realize the expec- 
tations of even their friends. A disaster was averted a few 
months ago by undignified surrender, and a reversal of policy 



566 CURRENT EVENTS [Jan., 

on a question involving the giving of a monopoly to the Italian 
Lloyd Steamship Co. The defeat, however, was due to the 
vote appointing the Committee to consider the taxation for 
the ensuing year. This was of a distinctly democratic char- 
acter, for it involved a reduction of the tax and duties on 
sugar and an increase of the death duties and of the taxes 
levied on landlords and owners of houses. It is too soon as 
yet to indicate what will be the policy of the new Ministry. 

The general in command of one of the Italian Army Corps 
made a speech which contained an " irredentist" allusion of a 
somewhat pronounced character, the exact terms of which we 
have not learned. It caused a considerable sensation, and 
without delay the government spontaneously relieved him of 
his duties. This forms one among other indications that the 
Triple Alliance is not becoming more popular in Italy. 

The revolution or reformation 

Greece. which is being made in Greece 

is one of the most noteworthy 

that has ever taken place. It is being effected by a League 
of army and navy officers ; yet they have not taken power 
into their own hands, but have been content, so far, at all 
events, to let the constituted authorities devise remedies by 
legal methods for the ills of the body politic. These ills are 
inveterate and seem to permeate parliament and people alike, 
even the judges being corrupt. But as there seems to be a 
general recognition of the necessity for reform and a willing- 
ness to accept it, under the constraint exercised by the League, 
there is hope for a better future. The King has acted in a 
noble spirit of self-sacrifice. He has remained at his post, and 
not abdicated, as it is said it was his personal wish to do, and 
has been willing to co-operate with the League in all its pro- 
posals for the good of the country, not standing on his dignity 
or thinking that nothing could be good except it was done by 
himself. The future, however, is still doubtful. All the author- 
ity of the League has been usurped. Examples of this kind are 
contagious. The Navy Mutiny was quelled in a few hours, but 
it is said that there are within the ranks of the League itself 
insubordinate elements. Even the clergy are infected, and a 
Bishop has set at naught the authority of his Metropolitan. 
Success, too, has hardened the hearts of the League, for there 



19 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 567 

was the expectation that a policy of proscription might be in- 
augurated, and that a list of some two hundred officials, looked 
upon as deserving of punishment, would be published. It has, 
as a matter of fact, had the audacity to bring to light alleged 
evil doings on the part of a leading man of science, if such an 
archaeologist may be called. 



The experiment of constitutional 
Turkey. government in Turkey seems in a 

fair way to succeed. The same 

Cabinet remains in power, with one or two changes, as was 
appointed just after Abdul Hamid's depositon. On not im- 
moderate terms a loan has been issued ; and a few schemes 
have been inaugurated for the development of the resources of 
the country. The Baghdad railway is to be continued through 
the Euphrates valley, and a line connecting it with a Mediter- 
ranean port is to be built. Its external relations are satis- 
factory, although the visits paid by that astute monarch, King 
Ferdinand of Bulgaria, to the King of Servia have caused appre- 
hension that some unpleasant step is in contemplation. 



The prospects of success in the 
Persia. constitutional government of Persia 

are not so bright as they are in 

Turkey. The depth of degeneration to which it has sunk 
under despotic rule is so great that only an optimist can look 
forward with confidence to its ever emerging. The govern- 
ment has no troops and no money. In all parts of the coun- 
try there are uprisings and disturbances, to cope with which 
there is need of both. Russian troops are still upon its soil; 
although some have returned to their own country, and there 
is good reason to expect the withdrawal of the rest. Such 
parties as exist are so curiously divided that it is impossible 
for an outsider to understand their various standpoints. The 
second Parliament, however, has met ; and a new Ministry has 
has been formed, with the man at its head who commands the 
greatest degree of confidence. The monarch is a boy of ten, 
and is not likely to give much trouble. There may, therefore, 
still be ground for hope for eventual success. 



568 RECENT EVENTS IN BARCELONA [Jan., 

The much-needed reforms in the 
The Congo. administration of the Congo which 

have been introduced into the 

Belgian Parliament are looked forward to with hope by many 
who have long recognized the necessity for them. They are 
not so satisfactory to some who have been the most ardent of 
the advocates of reform. But there is reason to think that 
the public opinion of the Belgians, as well as their amour pro- 
pre, has been thoroughly aroused. The chief obstacle, too, 
has been removed. Therefore, the future may be looked for- 
ward to with a greater degree of confidence. 



RECENT EVENTS IN BARCELONA. 

The execution in Spain of the anarchist Ferrer, has elicited such world-wide comment 
and so many false and misleading statements in the public press, that we have deemed it 
advisable to publish the following reliable data concerning the matter furnished us by our own 
special correspondent in Barcelona. [EDITOR.] 

H wish to review briefly for THE CATHOUC WORLD 
events in Barcelona that occurred just previous to 
the execution of Ferrer, when it was found necessary 
for the Spanish Government to send troops to Melila 
to suppress the attacks of the Moors upon the Spanish 
workmen there, and to punish the offenders. The 
forwarding of forces was actively opposed and hindered by the 
Socialists, by some of the papers in Barcelona especially the Pro- 
%reso and other sheets but little known, which said that the only 
purpose of the Government was to shelter, at the cost of the blood 
of the townspeople, several capitalists who owned mines in Africa 
claimed by the Moors. A general strike was declared in Barcelona 
on July 26 to protest against the movement of troops, and the strike 
spread throughout the lour Catalan provinces. It was feared that 
there would be much public disturbance and rioting ; therefore it 
was declared by order of the Minister of the Interior, at a meeting 




i9io.] RECENT EVENTS IN BARCELONA 569 

of the authorities held in Barcelona, that the Civil Governor should 
resign and turn his command over to the " Captain General." The 
latter, unfortunately, had but few troops to resist the strikers, who 
had recourse to physical violence ; and all sorts of outrages were 
committed by them. 

To mention but briefly some of these outrages : they burned 
seventeen churches and chapels, thirty-two convents, four asylums, 
eight colleges, in some of which were magnificent libraries. Many 
of these edifices were sacked and robbed. They killed one Capuchin 
Monk, a Marist brother, one friar, one priest, and wounded one mis- 
sionary. One nun was exposed to vile public ridicule. Other nuns 
suffered grave insult; graves were desecrated and the dead were 
carried through the streets in indecent procession. There were 
loud shouts of " Long live the Republic " ; and in some towns, re- 
volutionary congresses were formed, and became active. The 
government troops were delayed in reaching these towns by the de- 
struction of the railroads. 

In Barcelona barricades were erected, and from these and the 
housetops the rebels fired upon the soldiers. Street me'le'es and 
fights with the rebels resulted in the following casualties : Town 
watchmen, 10 ; Police, 24; Civil Guard, 51; and, of the military, 
47. Of these there were 8 killed, 52 seriously wounded, and 72 
slightly injured; making a total of 132. The telephone and tele- 
graph lines were destroyed, so that Barcelona was practically cut off 
from the outer world. The pavements of the city were torn up to 
make barricades ; the street cars were burned, and the street-car em- 
ployees and other workmen were compelled to join the ranks of the 
rebels. The strikers killed one workman and wounded others who 
refused to follow them, dynamited a public bridge, and drove from 
their asylums a multitude of the aged, the sick, and children. 104 
died in the street battle and 296 were wounded ; a total of 400. 

It will be most evident that there was drastic necessity to en- 
force the law and punish the instigators of the uprising. For this 
purpose courts were constituted under the Spanish Code to take 
charge of such cases, one of which sentenced to death Francisco Fer- 
rer Guardia, of whom we deem it proper to speak separately in order 
to refute the dreadful calumnies, which many, to further their own 
purposes, have spread abroad against the Spaniards. 

The details of the whole Ferrer case have been published in a 
little book of 69 pages, so that everybody may be familiar with it. 
It contains the charge of the District Attorney, the opinion of the 
council's legal adviser, the court's sentence, the opinion of the 
General Auditor, the decree of the Field Marshal, and the proceed- 
ings shown in the Military Code of Justice. 



570 RECENT EVENTS IN BARCELONA [Jan. 

In these papers a complete history of Ferrer's political life 
is given. They include also an autobiography and various manu- 
scripts written by his own hand, in which, among other things, it is 
said : " We wish to, and we must, destroy all existing laws ; expel 
and exterminate all religious orders ; overthrow all churches ; and 
confiscate all banks and railroads. 

In addition, he was a friend of, and connected with, such well- 
known anarchists as Malato, Kropotkine, Tainda, Malatesta, Reclus, 
and was affiliated with various Masonic lodges. 

Nobody, therefore, was surprised when the proceedings proved 
that he participated in the riots at Barcelona. Seventy witnesses, 
many of them republicans, and some of them radicals who were par- 
ticipants in the bloody events, some others soldiers, only one Catho- 
lic representative, and none of the clergy, testified against Ferrer. 

The law of Spain says that the leader of the revolution is one 
who goes among the people, arouses and directs them, excites them 
to rebellion, and furnishes and distributes supplies and means neces- 
sary for revolution. It was proved that all this was done by Ferrer. 
In consequence, under the provisions of Section i of Article 238 of 
the Military Judicial Code, he deserved the death penalty. The 
Court was composed of a Colonel and six Captains, before whom 
Ferrer might have pleaded, but this he did not do. A lawyer was 
assigned to his defence, and he was allowed to summon whatever 
witnesses he wished. The plea of the Prosecuting Attorney was 
unanimously acquiesced in by the Council's counsellor, all of the 
court, the General Auditor, and the Field Marshal. The Council 
of Ministers who reviewed the sentence found no extenuating cir- 
cumstances to warrant a recommendation to the King for pardon, 
and Ferrer was, therefore, executed. 

No point was made by the Prosecuting Attorney of Ferrer's 
principles. He was condemned simply for his participation in the 
revolts in Barcelona. Of course the judge referred to Ferrer's work 
in the Modern (Atheistic) School, so as to bring out with more force 
his guilt. Ferrer saw that the revolution could not be carried out 
by sudden and violent steps, and he therefore decided to establish a 
school for the purpose of educating and making revolutionists. The 
money needed for its establishment was furnished by Ernestina 
Meunie. By means of various ideas of philanthropy, and promise of 
succor to the helpless, he secured the sum of 10,000 francs annually 
for the sustenance of an Asylum School, which he converted into the 
Modern School, wherein he taught both atheism and anarchy. 



IN the Christmas numbers ,of the popular magazines the absence of 
anything like a real and robust Christmas spirit must be evident 
even to the casual reader. What little spirit they show is pale and 
bloodless indeed. For the most part it is a thoroughly humanized 
Christmas ; and when man humanizes he never gets beyond his own 
small self. To some it may appear that we ought to be grateful 
that the magazines give us anything at all of Christian truth, or 
even faint shadows of that truth. But the faith that has civilized 
the world, and given to man the only abiding message of hope, is 
surely worthy of thoughtful and capable treatment. Some of the 
secular magazines throw together a number of truths, half-truths, 
no truth at all, jumble them with a mixture of pleasing words and 
meaningless phrases, and serve them up to the public with the 
studied intention of trying to please faithful Catholics ; the believing 
Protestants who still have a dislike for Rome ; and the unbelievers 
who will not relish any dogmatic statement and to whom Christimas 
is not as definite as the Fourth of July. With such a cringing atti- 
tude, even the man with only a solid, true literary taste must grow 
impatient. 

For example, there appeared in Scribner*s magazine for Decem- 
ber an article on the saints. The keynote of the article are the 
humanizing words of Pater: " Nothing which has ever interested 
living men and women can wholly lose its vitality." The article 
contains many truths, and if it inspires any one to turn back to the 
saints, as we hope it will, and study the true secret of their sanc- 
tity, we are ready to forgive all else. But it contains many state- 
ments that are not true, and in itself gives not even a hint of the 
faith, the hope, and the charity that produced saints and that are 
still necessary if we are to turn back to them in any way other than 
an imaginative and romantic one. For example, to quote some of 
its superficial generalities : "It was not the Church that made the 
saints ; but the saints, in a very real sense, who made the Church." 
" Christianity has always been the religion of the individual, and 
its power from the very beginning lay in its appeal to personality." 
" Before the Catholic Church split into two bodies, the Greek 
and the Roman, or the Eastern and the Western, as they are 
called. . . ." Of the Bollandists after some words of praise 
we are told of the great work ot these men : ' ' There is so much 
gloom and grotesqueness, such verbosity and repetition, that one 



572 WITH OUR READERS [Jan. 

feels sorry for the joyous, lovable, and interesting saints whose 
individuality has been enveloped and concealed by priestly vener- 
ation. Their (the saints) figures stand out especially in what are 
called the ' Dark Ages ' as light-houses on that black sea of exist- 
ence." The article also speaks of St. Bridget consecrating " her 

fermented spirits to the service of God." 

* * 

AGAIN in the December magazine number of the Outlook another 
writer is allowed to insult gratuitously the old monasteries. 
Speaking of the works to be found in The Treasure Room of the 
Harvard Library, he writes of a " thick, rugged volume of monastic 
manuscripts on various religious subjects, severely bound in covers 
of ancient oak, with uncouth pigskin back, and attached to it a 
clanking iron chain. It still seems to carry with it something of the 
chill of the dark, dismal monastery from which many, many years 
ago it first emerged into the free air and light of the open world." 
The "clanking" and the "chill" are, we fear, mere creatures of 
the writer's imagination. H. Addington Bruce might not have 
written it had he a fairer mind a little wider reading, and had he 
given a little more thought to his own opening sentences, particu- 
larly to one wherein he writes that up to two years ago this same 
book was locked up in a closet for safe- keeping. Even now the free 
air and light of the open world are confined to this Treasure Room 

and to special days when it is open to the public. 

* * # 

SOME of the opinions which the Cosmopolitan magazine asserted 
are taught in our American universities, reappear in McClurSs 
magazine for December. The article containing them, entitled ' ' Di- 
vorce and Public Welfare," is from the pen of George Elliot How- 
ard, Professor of Political Science and Sociology in the University 
of Nebraska. His article is quite impossible of analysis. The fol- 
lowing sentences, however, with the comments on them, may be 
fairly taken as a sample of how any commentary on the whole arti- 
cle would read. 

The Professor first characterizes the rapid spread of divorce as 
" a moral paradox absolutely unique." If the professor uses words 
in the ordinary sense, there is no paradox here. There is either 
moral degeneracy or moral regeneration, as the professor elects to 
hold. Sane men have their own opinion about which of the^two 
terms should be used, but the professor has the privilege, of course, 
of selecting either. Is not a man free to think as he will ? So the 
professor selects both. In proof of which is Exhibit A : "As- 
suredly it signifies somewhere the action of sinister forces, vast and 
perilous. Doubtless here we are face to face with an evil which seri- 
ously threatens the social order, that menaces human happiness." 



i9io.] WITH OUR READERS 573 

Now for Exhibit B : " Divorce is a sign ot the mighty process of 
spiritual liberation." " In its origin the prevailing modern doctrine 
of divorce was shaped by the brain of Martin Luther. It was a 
righteous revolt against the absurdity, cruelty, and wickedness of 
canon-law theory and practice in matrimonial cases." 

A little after he grows virtuously indignant about the causes of 
this " spiritual liberation," and becomes a decadent slave of domes- 
ticity. Exhibit C : "Just think of it," he exclaims, " more than 
180,000 marriages dissolved and homes destroyed by the drink 
curse." Exhibit D: He declares that "the ever-growing list of 
legal causes of divorce . . . does in effect give expression to 
the new ideal of moral fitness, of social justice, of conjugal rights." 

It is difficult to see how a remedy gives expression to an ideal 
it is commonly thought to give assistance to a diseased condition ; 
as, for example, a social wrong. Further on the professor does in 
fact reach this conclusion. We shall call it Exhibit E : " No one 
favors divorce for its own sake, but merely as a remedy for social 
wrong." But surely one should favor for its own sake "the ex- 
pression of a new ideal." The professor next takes the clergy to 
task. "There is crying need of a higher ideal of the marriage re- 
lations of man, careful selection in wedlock," he says. "This the 
clergy should give and do not." The clergy may well ask : " Do 
you know of any better way to give a high ideal of the marriage tie 
than to insist on its finality and irrevocability ? Once done, forever 
done ! Can you improve on the solemnity of that ? And what pos- 
sible lower ideal can you excogitate of the marriage contract, than 
one which allows it to be made and loosed more easily than a prom- 
ise in the betting ring ? " 

The author next scores Cardinal Gibbons for declaring : " But 
now, turning from Pagan to medieval Christian Europe, to the much 
misrepresented, ill-understood, so-called ' Dark Ages,' which were 
really intensely the Ages of Faith, one would search far and wide 
for examples of divorce, sanctioned by either Church or State, or, in- 
deed, even connived at by Christian men and women of those days." 

The taking to task is done with such a wilderness of gratui- 
tous assertion, irrelevant questions, and digressions, that a book 
might be written on the lack of logic, the inconsequential facts, 
and the misstatements of this section alone. 

" Shall the canon- law dogma of indissoluble wedlock determine 
the rules of modern social conduct ? ' ' says the author with some 
presumably hazy-minded idea that this query refutes the statement 
of Cardinal Gibbons just quoted. It is a fair sample of the argu- 
ment of the whole section. What has "canon-law dogma " to do 
with the truth or untruth of the Cardinal's assertion ? 



574 WITH OUR READERS [Jan., 

We will confine our attention to the question as a question, and 
will first eliminate two wholly impertinent adjectives. Indissoluble 
marriage is not a " canon-law " dogma. There are no " canon-law" 
dogmas, known to the writer in the Catholic Church. Next, 
''modern" may be omitted. Social conduct is neither modern nor 
ancient. Time is the merest accident of accidents in the relations of 
man to man and man to woman, known as social conduct. Thus 
the question reads : " Shall the dogma -of indissoluble marriage de- 
termine the rules of social conduct?" The answer to that is 
simple. It will, 'since the " dogma " is Christ's pronouncement, un- 
less men are in utter rebellion against Him. The words of Christ 
are absolutely clear : ' ' Whoever shall put away his wife and marry 
another, committeth adultery against her" (Mark x. n). 

Is the question answered ? The rest of the contention against 
the Cardinal's assertion would need to be taken in the same 
manner, sentence by sentence, for it is an incoherent, heterogeneous 
mass of unproved assertions, individual opinions, raised to the 
dignity of historic deductions and falsehoods, e. g. : "Before the 
Reformation it (divorce) had become an intolerable scandal to 
Christendom." This in the face of the fact that England was lost 
to the Catholic Church because Henry VIII. could not force the 
Pope to dissolve his marriage with Catherine, and leave him free to 
marry Anne, his paramour ! Gairdner's Lollatdy and the English 
Reformation will furnish the last word to the professor on this point. 
"No wonder," he continues, "that Luther and his followers re- 
pudiated the sacramental dogma ! " 

The whole article leaves upon us a most unfavorable im- 
pression. For it begins with a frank statement of the enormous pro- 
portions of the divorce evil, continuing and concluding with the 
insinuation that divorce is, after all, the best thing which can 
happen. In plain words, this means that evil is the best we can 
look for in this world. 

* * * 

AN interesting feature of the Outlook for December 18 and last 
among the series of great representative poems was Crashaw's 
beautiful " Hymn of the Nativity." Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie con- 
tributed a brief introduction, appreciative and discerning after his 
wont, if at moments incompletely sensitive to that rapturous in- 
tensity which was the poet's birthright. It is easy to forget the 
" exteriorness " of literary conventions in any age ; and difficult to 
remember that beneath some strained and fanciful " conceit " may 
be imprisoned a most authentic heart-beat in the case of Richard 
Crashaw even the aspirations of a passionate spirituality. The 
exiled Catholic poet had drunk deep of the bitter waters, but upon 



19 io.] WITH OUR READERS 

his lips they turned to song ; and in the old, high-hearted way he 
tuned his song to victory and to praise. This curious and resur- 
gent joy would seem to mark the very abandonment ol the contem- 
plative soul : 

" A hundred thousand goods, glories, and graces, 
And many a mystic thing 

For which it is no shame 
That dull mortality must not know a name." 

As a poetic craftsman, Crashaw stood with the best ot the Caro- 
linians, sharing their merits and excesses. As a mystic his affinities 
were with St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross and further back, 

with the last of the real Pre-Raphaelites. 

* * * 

To the Editor of the Catholic World : 

With your permission, I would enter a courteous protest against 
Mr. T, F. Meehan's misreading (CATHOLIC WORLD, December, 1909, 
pp. 430-31) of a passage in my article printed in the November 
number. I am sorry indeed that an assertion of mine, under a 
" nautical figure " or otherwise, should be translated into attempted 
disparagement of the Catholic Encyclopedia. But in the very ex- 
cerpt which Mr. Meehan quotes, I have called it (surely in the sin- 
cere accents of one who is intensely proud of it ?) " our own great 
new venture." And as in the foregoing phrase the subject-matter 
is " better pens," and as in the phrase following, there is mention 
of the fewness of our " trained craftsmen in prose or verse," the con- 
text must make it plain as a pikestaff to every reader except Mr. 
Meehan .that scholarship, not organization, was what I was talking 
about ! ' ' The fact must not be obscured that we owe the Encyclo- 
pedia to purely American enterprise and direction." Is not all this, 
under claim of " historical accuracy," just : 

" Saying the undisputed thing 
,In such a solemn way " ? 

Who does not recognize the magnificent editorial work, and the 
energy, generosity, and public spirit of the American Catholic body, 
in the upkeep of the Encyclopedia ? Yet we are getting, and must 
get, foreign scholars (very notably, in proportion to their small num- 
ber, our English co-religionists) to write our more important articles 
for us. That was my point. There it stands, with Mr. Meehan's 
" dissent " quite wasted on it, or on what he takes to be it. Let us 
be honest, if we cannot be humble. We are a nation of doers, not 
of thinkers, so far. 

Very faithfully yours, LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY. 



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THE 

CATHOLIC WORLD. 

VOL. XC. FEBRUARY, 1910. No. 539. 

FATHER TABB. 

BY ALICE MEYNELL. 

!HE expectation of America for her poets seems 
to have set in promptly after the nation was 
made one, and the old race secured on the new 
or newly- stated, newly- grouped, newly-condi- 
tioned customs of a great Western civilization. 
After institutions are instituted comes the desire for that 
which cannot be instituted ; and in the case of America this de- 
sire was conscious, eager, and boldly prophetic. If I may haz- 
ard, in the ears of the nation that bore him, an alien opinion 
on the disputed question as to the powers and productions of 
Walt Whitman (a writer for whom, I should confess at the out- 
set, I have no admiration) I should wish to say that he seems 
to me to have arisen more properly to have raised himself 
up in order to answer an expectation, to reward a hope, to 
fulfill a prophecy. That prophecy, unlike the divine prophecies 
of a divine advent, had not been the vaticination of fore- 
knowledge ; it had been the prophecy of rash conclusions, and 
not of foreknowledge; the conclusions of men of normal aver- 
age size, proud to be in a country of exceptionally large acre- 
age, and rashly concluding that their poet should prove to be 
on their country's scale. Whitman thus came ready-made, and 
the ready-made is always the mediocre, the commonplace. 
This is why albeit I hesitate to put my opinion on American 
record I dare to think Walt Whitman the poet of mediocrity, 
the poet who was clamorous, not thunderous; ^who was less 

Copyright. 1909. THB MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THB APOSTLS 

IN THB STATB OF NEW YORK. 
VOL. XC. 37 



578 FATHER TABB [Feb., 

than he seemed; who professed what he could not perform,* 
and yet thought he performed fully ; who was but an ordinary 
man hugely puffed up and made inordinate ; who was created 
by a common ignorance and a common ambition and a whole- 
sale average kind of hope; who, in a word, announced himself 
so that a vulgar prophecy might be fulfilled. Not large enough 
since he intended to be large; not wild enough, since he 
would be wild; the poet (again in a word) who offends, not by 
excess, as his critics will have it, but (inasmuch as he intended 
excess he shall be judged by his intention) by defect. 

In all the perfect comedy of Shakespeare's Falstaff there 
are no two words that carry the character more fortunately 
than these " Us youth." They are the two words that sign, 
for me, the Whitman legend. Walt Whitman was no younger 
than Falstaff. 

And yet the national expectation of a poet had been a 
noble one. It had been an honoring and an honorable hope. 
But it erred by defining itself, whereas in human things it is 
the unexpected that happens ; and I think it erred also by 
confining itself. The national desire for national poets was to 
be answered, beyond hope, beyond thought, but not by one 
man by divers men; not by one kind of man by several 
and sundry manners of men; not by the blast alone but by 
the blast and the bird-voice ; and, here is perhaps an unde- 
ception not easy to bear, not always or often by a voice dis- 
tinctively American. The poetry of the nation was not, as it 
proved, to be strikingly national. Carrying to new lands a 
language charged with old poems, the American could not 
easily discharge it; he must teach the forest grown old in the 
transatlantic solitude (rather than be taught by it), and teach 
it the language grown old in the European multitude. Scattered, 
unlike, unlooked-for, original, derivative, fresh, antique was the 
many- noted genius that did, indeed, come to pass in its own 
time its several times ; in its own way its various ways. Old 
romance was to be not only remembered but raised up to life ; 
and Greece to shine again, and the seventeenth-century Eng- 
land to glow again, in the West. A great novelty, neverthe- 

* In one place Walt Whitman protests that he includes that he is all men, all things, 
all diseased, all criminals, and then shivers on the brink of such a plunge, and tells us that 
he cannot so much as tolerate a hypocrite. Now, as the proverb says, a miss is as good as a 
mile ; and if this is true of ordinary sport and sportsmen, how absolutely true it is of one who 
has aimed at the universal target I One failure, and the failure is universal and final. 



19 io.] FATHER TABB 579 

less, was to have its place, and this novelty was to be not in 
the suggested Whitman but in the unsuggested Emerson. 
Assuredly Emerson was to be the one conspicuous greatness 
of American poetry; and, apart from that master- character, 
the most conspicuous of American characters was to be ex- 
quisiteness. In prose, in poetry, in the sensitive and delicate 
modern art of criticism, in the intensive modern art of fiction, 
the close, the tender, the vigilant, thought, the conscious and 
deliberate style have been American. And our common lan- 
guage has had, in the centuries that include George Herbert 
and John Tabb, nothing quite like these two for simplicity 
and for security, if I may give that name to the lovely con- 
fidence of a poet in his own dignity, needing no effort, ad- 
mitting no pretence, not anxious even to conceal art nay, 
confessing it with exquisite pleasure in the success of thought, 
in the success of style. 

Success of thought: here, I think, we have lighted upon 
the peculiar perfection of Father Tabb's complete poems 
making, appropriately, our own little success of appreciation. 
It is not without cause that those complete poems are so 
brief. Sudden flights of song are they, and swift and far, but 
quickly closed, all-content. Their end was implied in their 
fortunate beginning. They are, each and all, so many sur- 
prises. And though one may be loth to adopt the too- preva- 
lent practice of illustrating one art by means of another, or 
of describing one in the terms of another, we may find an 
analogy in music that is, in that character of music which 
we call melody. The ear-enchanting and heart-delighting 
melody of Mozart let us say " Batti, batti " could not be 
other than brief ; its close, too, is implied in its beginning. 
What a pity it is that none of us can remember the first time 
of hearing it ! We were children, probably, and heard it al- 
most unconsciously, and we grew to the age of reason know- 
ing its close. But if we had heard it for the first time yes- 
terday, with what surprise of pleasure should we have heard 
that successful close! It could not be other than it is, for 
every one of all the few notes from the beginning expected 
it; and yet though those notes foretold it, the listening ear 
did not know it until it came. So it is with Father Tabb's 
entire and perfect stanza. 

To a form so light, so frail, so small as that of his verse 



580 FATHER TABB [Feb., 

it might have been expected that he would commit the lighter 
freights of epigram in thought, and of visible and material 
similitudes in imagery ; in a word, that his poetry would be 
the poetry of the fancy rather than the poetry of the imagi- 
nation. But something less than half of his poems are merely 
fanciful; the greater part are greatly imaginative. And so im- 
portant, so momentous, and so significant is Father Tabb's 
finer imagery, that it is at once the matter and the form and 
the substance of the poem. There is none of the indirectness 
of "as" or "like" or "even as" in his similitudes; he does 
not merely illustrate. Let us take as an example the two lovely 
stanzas from the second book, the Lyrics of 1897 "The Young 
Tenor": 

I woke ; the harbored melody 
Had crossed the slumber bar, 

And out upon the open sea 
Of consciousness, afar 

Swept onward with a fainter strain, 

As echoing the dream again. 

So soft the silver sound, and clear, 

Outpoured upon the night, 
That Silence seemed a listener 

O'erleaning with delight 
The slender moon, a finger-tip 
Upon the portal of her lip. 

And another poem, from Later Lyrics, dealing also with si- 
lence and sound "To Silence": 

Why the warning finger-tip 
Pressed forever on thy lip ? 
" To remind the pilgrim Sound 
That it moves on holy ground, 
In a breathing-space to be 
Hushed for all eternity." 

And another yet, that perfect poem "The Mist": 

Eurydice eludes the dark 
To follow Orpheus, the Lark 
That leads her to the dawn 



i9io.] FATHER TABB 581 

With rhapsodies of star delight, 
Till, looking backward in his flight, 
He finds that she is gone. 

It is by no means Father Tabb's invariable practice to as- 
sign the play of his fancy to little themes, and to keep the 
drama of his imagination for great ones. One of the peculiar 
charms of his poetry is to be found in the slight paradox of 
interplay and counterchange. It is, perhaps, this character that 
he shares with George Herbert, so as in spite of some ex- 
treme unlikenesses to remind us so often of the seventeenth- 
century wit and worshipper. 

It is Father Tabb's delightful will to devote a majestic 
image and thought to the little flower mignonette, and to award 
a light, familiar, or daily image and fancy to the Incarnation, 
or even, at very solemn play, to the Crucifixion, or to the 
tragic griefs of human life. But when there comes to pass the 
union of his mere fancy with little things, then also we are as 
much delighted, albeit less surprised. His gaiety is extraordi- 
narily touching, as beauty is affecting, and courage moving, and 
the little blue and white horse led by a child with a string pa- 
thetic to the heart of manhood. The gipsy winds that wander 
prophesying rain; the green tide of the sap at flood in forests; 
those toys of God, the rainbow and the bubble of sky ; the 
mystic Three in the violin string, bow, and music; the dark- 
ness of his blindness in age welcomed as the black face of his 
dear negro nurse in childhood ; those heroes, the champion 
glow-worm raising a spear against the night, and the slender- 
est shade bearing a sword against the noon ; the shepherd stars 
keeping their watch before the birth of the "manchild, Morn "; 
the cry of Easter lambs; and, perhaps most beautiful of all, 
the fancy of the poem on the Assumption, in which the Holy 
Virgin is figured as the mother bird that hears the voice of 
her Fledgeling, for Whom her bosom had warmed the nest of 
old, and Who from a loftier tree now calls her home; then the 
light epigram about the Painter, Youth, and the Sculptor, Age ; 
all these and some hundreds more are examples of the poetry 
that thinks and feels in imagery. " Hundreds " is not here a 
word of hyperbole; Father Tabb has produced some hundreds 
of poems in a few slender volumes, and every poem harbors 
or rather is a separate thought, and a thought "accepted of 



582 FATHER TABS [Feb. 

song." This is fertility of a most unusual kind ; it is not only 
quality in a little space, but more remarkably quantity in a 
little space. For Father Tabb's admirable things are not 
merely to be weighed ; they are, most emphatically, to be 
counted. They are many. Nay, they are so many that I doubt 
whether one of the voluminous poets, even the great ones, 
would easily make up such a sum. Multnm, non Multa has 
been said in praise of others. But that praise in no wise suits 
Father Tabb. It is for abundance that we must praise him 
the several, separate, distinct, discrete abundance of entire brief 
lyrics. Would a slower or longer-witted poet have made of 
each of these thoughts, these fancies, these images, a longer 
poem ? I cannot tell, but I think the longer-witted one would 
not have had these thoughts. Father Tabb conceives them at 
once in their perfection ; and one cannot think of them other- 
wise than as bearing their own true shape in his exquisitely 
shaped stanza. 

The poetry of the senses is in our day greatly prized, and 
perhaps it can hardly be prized too greatly if it is prized also 
rightly. For it is not the sensual poet or the poet of violence 
who is the right poet of the senses; their hero and champion 
is the poet of exalted senses; who hears, feels, touches, with an 
ecstatic spirituality. Spiritual senses are the poet's heavenly 
privilege. And though I will not claim for Father Tabb such 
rapturous senses as those of Coleridge, for example, I find in 
him the extreme sensitiveness of poetry, the apprehension of 
external nature, a nature of his own that is explored by the 
keenness of natural beauty; I perceive in him the pierced and 
contrite heart of the poet. 

Such is one, and not the least, assuredly not to be the last, 
of the poets of America. That great nation has looked ardently 
for her poets. She has found them in places unransacked. 
She must have been much amazed to find one of them here, in the 
less literary South, in the person of a Catholic priest, in the se- 
clusion of an ecclesiastical college, and, finally, in one of the 
deprived and afflicted of this troublous life, a man blind for his 
few last years but alight within, who has now gone down 
quietly to an illustrious grave. 



HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A HOME-COMING. 




was she to do? It had been borne in on 
her irresistibly that she could not stay where 
she was. She had come to dispossess her uncle 
and his boy, a dispossession which must in- 
volve Stephen Moore in something of disgrace. 
People do not arise from the dead and push others out of the 
place they have taken without something of a nine days' wonder 
and a clatter of tongues. She had come with no friendly ideas 
towards them, prepared to fight for her mother's rights and 
her own and what had happened ? They had taken her into 
their lives and made much of her. The child had laid soft 
and strong fetters about her heart. She could no more have 
hurt or injured Jim than she could a dear brother of her own ; 
and Jim adored his father. She ought never to have come. 
She saw plainly now that she ought never to have come. To 
her agitated mind her entering her uncle's house in the way 
she had done took on an aspect of treachery and deceit. If 
she had wanted to push him from his stool she should have 
come openly as an enemy, not with the mask of a friend. 

" You will go, then," Stephen Moore said, glowering at 
her, " when you like, and the sooner the better. But you are 
not to see Jim. I will comfort him for your absence." 

The ugly face that had been friendly was distorted now 
with malice towards her. For the first time she felt that she 
might fear her uncle. 

"You will let me see him once, to say good-bye?" she 
pleaded humbly. 

"You shall not see him," he answered. "He is asleep 
now. When he wakes I will tell him that you are gone. 
When he knows that you were so ready to be gone he will 



584 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

not grieve long. It is only that he has thought you some- 
thing you are not." 

He seemed as though he never would get rid of her. He 
ordered a carriage to meet the 5:15 to London, the same 
train by which she had gone that first day of early spring. 
He scribbled her a check for six months' salary, which she 
tore across and left in her room in an envelope addressed to 
him. He hustled her out of the house as though she had 
been discovered in the act of robbing his safe. Before the 
household was aware that she was going she had gone. 

She did not protest against her enforced departure. She 
was too unhappy to care very much. At lunch they had been 
together in perfect friendliness. Now it was not five o'clock, 
and she was being driven away from the door, with not a 
soul to wish her God-speed. She felt rather than knew that 
her uncle was with Jim telling him that she had left him. It 
was heart-breaking that he must think that she had gone coldly. 
But she could not explain. She was going back to the dead 
from whom she had come. So far as Outward Manor and the 
Moores were concerned she was dead henceforth and forever. 

On the way up to London she sat in her corner of the 
carriage, very cold and miserable, with her veil down, trying 
to warm her chilly heart with the thought of what her home- 
coming would mean to her mother. They would be together 
for a little while; but she must not be long idle. There had 
been a month's salary due to her, and that was gone with 
the torn-up cheque. There was very little in her purse. The 
summer holiday had left it all but empty. What matter? She 
would get something through the Signer or the nuns soon. 
She was not going to burden the slender resources for long. 

It was a golden autumn afternoon, but she had no heart to 
delight in the scenes of beauty that passed by her window. 
At Althorne, a junction, there was a stop of fifteen minutes, 
and she decided that she might have a cup of tea. One had 
been brought to her; and she was sipping its rank bitterness 
in the corner of the comfortless, third-class carriage when a 
train came in side by side with hers. 

It was going in the opposite direction towards all that she 
had left behind, and she looked at it with something of desire 
in her eyes. Her carriage was window by window with a first- 
class carriage of the other train. She glanced listlessly at the 



19 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 585 

occupants then she drew back into her corner and praised 
heaven that she had thought of the veil. 

Lady Eugenia Grantley was sitting so close to her that she 
could read the page of the magazine which engaged the lady's 
attention. The other two occupants of the carriage were 
Maurice Grantley and a, lady his cousin, of course. They 
were at the other end of the carriage, with the light from the 
carriage-window full upon them. His head was turned towards 
Miss Beaumont. He was talking to her, and he held care- 
lessly between his fingers an end of the exquisite scarf of 
chiffon that was around her neck. Nothing could have been 
more intimate than the aspect they presented. 

The train quivered throughout its length preparatory to 
moving. As though he had a revelation, the young man sud- 
denly stood up and coming to the end of the carriage sat 
down in the seat opposite to his mother and looked almost in 
Stella's face. 

She drew back behind the dusty and smoky curtain. Her 
train began to move. They looked almost in each other's 
eyes. She was certain he knew her through her veil. 

So that was the end of it. He was not grieving for her; 
he had forgotten her. Those three in the carriage there, a 
world away, were kin of hers, but she would never claim them 
any more than she would claim the fortune that ought to be 
hers or the love that had been offered her. It was all over 
and done with. She was going back to Shepherd's Buildings 
and to a working life. Let all the rest be as though it had 
never been. 

The dusk was down over London when she reached it. It 
was spangled with a million lamp-lights ; and the purlieus of 
the Euston Road had the old familiar fried-fish smell she re- 
membered and detested. A four-wheeler took her and her 
small luggage to Shepherd's Buildings. A lad who loafed by 
the door, whom she remembered since childhood, carried up 
her trunk and deposited it outside the door of the flat. 

She gave him one of her last remaining sixpences and 
waited while his clumsy feet went down the stone staircase 
where the gas flared unshaded as she remembered it. The 
walls were as dirty as ever: the floor as unswept. A sullen 
hum of life arose from the crowded flats below: a smell of 
coakery, a reek of onions, and something in the spirituous way. 



586 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

It had been the same during all the years of her childhood 
and girlhood. There was the shrill crying of a child. At 
Outwood how green the lawns were! how sweet the autumn's 
second crop of roses ! Roses and honeysuckle scented the air. 
There was no sound but the singing of the little river in the 
darkness. The contrast gave her a sharp sense as of physical 
pain. 

She was about to knock at the door when it yielded to her 
touch. She went in and found the room unoccupied. She 
looked into the bedrooms. There was no one in the flat. The 
lamp was turned low. There was a fire set in the grate, but it 
was unlit. A solitary cup and saucer stood by the lamp ; an 
uninviting end of a loaf; nothing else. 

Stella was not alarmed. Her mother had been called down 
to some of the neighbors. She remembered the crying child. 
Ah, that was it. The mothers in the buildings would run first 
for Mrs. Mason when a child was ailing. 

She turned up the lamp, and, finding a box of matches in 
the place she knew, she set light to the fire. She shook her 
head over the end of loaf on the table. Then she went to the 
cupboard and looked in. It was as bare as Mother Hubbard's. 
It was quite time she came. 

Well, to-night they should feast, if to-morrow they should 
go hungry ! She ran down the stairs of the buildings, glancing 
at the half-open door of the flat where the child was crying. 
The crying was quieter now, and she thought she heard her 
mother's voice. 

She ran round to the shops and made her few purchases 
just before closing time eggs, a pat of butter, a little cream, 
a tea-cake, a bunch of violets. 

When she got back the fire had burnt up brightly. She 
set the table for two, spreading out her purchases invitingly. 
She put the eggs in a saucepan ready to be cooked, the kettle 
on the fire, and began to make the toast. She was all but 
ready when she heard her mother's foot ascending the staircase, 
slowly and wearily. 

She heard her sigh on the threshold. They would send for 
her in the buildings if but a child's finger ached; and she al- 
ways came home so tired from her tuitions. 

She came into the room. Stella dropped the piece of bread 
she was toasting and ran to her. 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 587 

" Darling," said the poor woman, " I was longing for you. 
And how warm and bright it is ! You don't know how lonely 
it is here in the flat without you. And I am so tired." 

"You are not going to be tired any more," the daughter 
said, putting her into the chair by the fire, kneeling down by 
her, and chafing her cold .hands. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A FLITTING. 

"There, eat," she said. "I can see you have been starv- 
ing yourself. Afterwards we shall talk." 

"It is good to have you here; but why have you come?" 

" I shall tell you presently. I am not going to leave you 
any more. I must get something in the way of daily work, so 
that we may be together. Supposing you had been ill?" 

" I used to think of that. Supposing I had been ill. I have 
felt ill sometimes. Do you see what I have nailed up there ? " 

She pointed to a card above the mantelpiece: "In case of 
my illness, send to Miss Mason, Outwood Manor, Burbridge, 
Loamshire." 

" Poor little mother ; you had those fears and you never 
told me." 

She fed her mother tenderly, as one coaxes a child to eat, 
eating little herself. The hot, freshly- made tea and the food 
seemed to revive the tired woman. The color came to her 
cheeks. She spread out her hands to the fire, seeming to feel 
the comfort of it. 

Stella sat down on the footstool and took her mother's feet 
into her lap as she had done many a time before. They looked 
into each other's eyes. No matter what happened, it was good 
to be together. 

"Well," she began, "little mother, what will you say to 
me when I tell you that I have failed, that I could not go 
through with it?" 

" I felt you would fail. You were so brave, darling But 
I dreaded for you a task I should never have dared to un- 
dertake for myself. You were afraid of them, as I was ? " 

" Not afraid, mother ; never for one moment afraid. A few 



$88 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

hours ago Uncle Stephen " Mrs. Mason started at the name 
and looked half-fearfully about her as though something lurked 
in the shadows beyond the fire and the lamplight " Uncle 
Stephen was furious with me. He drove me out with injustice 
and unkindness. But I was never for one moment afraid of 
him. I was only bitterly grieved that I must seem cold and 
careless of his kindness to me, and the love of my darling 
Jim." 

" You told me you liked the child," the mother said with 
an air of stupefaction. " Well, that is quite natural. One 
does not blame children for the sins of their elders. But that 
you could like Stephen Moore i I thought you must hate and 
dread him as I did." 

" I meant to hate him indeed but his child adores him ; 
and, apart from that, I pity him. He looks as though he had 
suffered so much. From the beginning I could not hate him. 
Then and I struggled against it, because I thought it was like 
a treachery to you I began to like him. He trusted me so 
entirely. They he and Jim thought there was no one like 
me" 

" But he drove you out as he drove me out he and his 
brother." 

" Because I would not stay. Because his last kindness was 
the last straw. Remember, we are strangers to him. He has 
no idea that we are who we are. He wanted us to live to- 
gether. It was my darling Jim's discovery that I fretted for 
you, as I did. He wanted you to have the cottage in its gar- 
den outside the mills. Why, now I come to think of it, all it 
contains is yours. He wanted you to accept an income from 
him, to be happy there, untroubled by him or any one else. 
Remember we were strangers to him. He thought I had done 
so much for Jim. Any woman of common kindness and com- 
mon intelligence would have done as much. Any woman must 
have loved him my Jim. His room had a sort of heavenly 
brightness about it. He was like a light in the house " 

Her tears suddenly overflowed. 

" And you left him ? " the mother said wonderingly. 

"Because I couldn't stay, with the thought always in the 
background that I was the real owner of all they possessed. 
We have done very well without riches, mother; we can do 
without them till the end. I felt I deserved Mr. Moore's 



19 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 589 

wrath. How could I have the heart to leave Jim ? Of course 
he didn't know. Jim will miss me dreadfully ; but any woman 
must love Jim and be good to him." 

" And he wanted me to have the cottage ? If you were to 
know what memories it has for me! I was nearly drowned 
there once in the river that flows by the end of the garden. 
Your father had it railed in afterwards. He was wild with 
terror about me. He " 

She broke off suddenly. The memories were too poignant. 
She remembered how her husband's illness had begun from 
that plunge in the river. 

" He saved me," she went on, after a breath that was like 
a sob. " You had fallen in first. I sprang in after you " 

" Did Father save me, too ? " 

"Your Uncle Richard saved you." 

"Then he could not have wholly hated us." 

The mother said nothing. There were things with which 
she could not darken the girl's mind. In those years she had 
prayed to forgive her enemies, and she had forgiven them. 
She had forgiven Richard and Stephen Moore as she hoped to 
be forgiven. 

" Mother," the girl said, leaning forward and placing her 
folded arms upon her mother's knees, " let us leave this. I 
do not want any one to come looking for me here. Let us 
leave the Moores in peace. I have taken my shadow off their 
threshold." 

" Child, where would you go ? " 

" We need not go far. Any other rookery but this would 
hide us. It is the easiest thing in the world to hide in London, 
you know." 

" And we ought to have something cheaper. The money 
I hare had to fall back upon all those years it was a gift 
from my great aunt, Sophia Grantley. I remember how your 
father wanted me to buy a jewel with it is all but spent. 
And and what should I do if some day, when I was alone, 
Stephen Moore should come to my door. I should die of fear." 

Stella flung her arms about her mother. 

"You will never be afraid while you have me," she said. 
" Why, I believe you have always been afraid of your own 
shadow. But now you have a grown-up daughter to take 
care of you. We shall go out to-morrow morning and find a 



590 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

new abode. And we can pay a week's rent and clear out at 
once ; so that if any one comes knocking at our door he will 
find us flown." 

" Why, you are in as great a hurry to be gone as I," the 
mother said wonderingly. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

A VAIN SEARCH. 

There were times when Maurice Grantley was not to be 
consoled for the loss of the girl he had fallen so strangely and 
completely in love with, times when he raged as any forest 
creature might for the loss of its mate ; when he felt that all 
the barriers in the world, including the barrier of her own will, 
must fall down before the strength and energy of his love. 

One of those fits came upon him after his train had passed 
hers. He had known her through the veil; and he was furi- 
ous with himself afterwards that he had let her go. Why, he 
could have passed from one carriage to the other with the 
greatest ease. He had obeyed the conventions, which are 
strong upon all of us, and in the result he had lost her. 

When his train had gone on its way a gloom fell over his 
gaiety. Lady Eugenia, absorbed in her book, noticed nothing, 
but Mary, who, of late, had grown to understand his moods 
and to humor them, saw that something had dulled him. She 
had the wit to let him be ; of late she had learned many ways 
of wisdom with her cousin. 

He had no fear but that Stella's journey up to town im- 
plied her return. When he went to see his friend, Jim, the fol- 
lowing day and found that she was gone altogether he did not 
know how to contain himself. Only the sight of the child, 
with his air of sad patience, made him put constraint on him- 
self to speak in his natural and accustomed manner. Jim 
could only tell him that Miss Mason was gone and that his 
father was very angry with her and had forbidden him to 
speak of her. " But I must think of her," said the poor little 
lad. " I think of her all day. I was so lonely before she 
came; and now the loneliness has come back again." 

Maurice Grantley knelt down by the sofa and whispered in 
the boy's ear. 



19 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 591 

" Shall I go and look for her and fetch her back, Jim ? " 
he asked. His face was flushed and excited. 

" If you only could ! " cried Jim, with a joyous hopefulness, 
followed too soon by an overclouding of his face. " But she 
will never come back. Father said she never would." 

"I shall try to bring her; and perhaps your father will 
forgive her," he said; and repented afterwards of the hope he 
had given the child. 

He succeeded in obtaining her address by arts he blushed 
to think of from the old village- postmistress, who was a great 
iriend of his. He had not dared to ask it of Stephen Moore, 
who was raving against her. What excuse could he give for 
wanting Miss Mason's address ? But, leading Mrs. Quelch on 
to talk of one thing and another, he discovered the secret at 
last, without giving the excellent woman any cause for won- 
der. 

A day or two passed, during which one thing or another 
held him while he chafed against his fetters. The third day 
he was free. 

He found his way to Shepherd's Buildings without very 
much difficulty. Their size and height made them a landmark 
in the crowded district. He fretted within himself while he 
traversed the sordid and noisy streets. Good heavens ! was it 
here his flower had grown, while he had the beauty ol the 
sleek countryside about him, the dappled gardens, the deep 
shadows of woods, and all the circumstances of refinement and 
charm that could make life worth living ? As he sprang out 
of the cab at the door of No. 4 he looked up at the towering 
buildings above him. The street was a mere dingy well at 
the bottom of them. Was it here that she had gone to and 
fro, lighting the dreariness with her heavenly face ? 

A slatternly woman stood in the doorway of No. 4. He 
glanced past her up the dirty staircase. He could see no in- 
dication of the names of those who inhabited this swarming 
hive. 

"Could you tell me on which floor Mrs. Mason lives?" he 
asked, lifting his hat. 

The woman felt vaguely warmed by his courtesy, by the 
unwonted presence of youth and evident gentleness. 

" I'd be glad to oblige you," she said, " but Mrs. Mason 
don't live 'ere no longer. She did occupy the top floor for 



592 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

more years than I can count. But abaht two days ago she and 
the young lydy flitted. I don't suppose as any one in the build- 
in's knows where they're a-gone to." 

His heart fell with a sudden drop. He had been thinking 
that he should see her. Perhaps a few minutes more and they 
should be face to face. And now 

" But some one must know," he said. " People can't walk 
out of a house, with all their belongings, and no one know 
where they have gone to." 

" Bless yer 'eart, that's all you knows abaht it ! " the wo- 
man said compassionately. " W'y, many a one goes out o* 
this 'ere buildin* as is never 'card of again. An' Mrs. Mason 
she kep' 'erself to 'erself. We never know'd nothink of 'er 
affairs, we didn't. It was only this morning as Mrs. Byles, on 
the fifth floor, was a-tellin* me as Mrs. Mason 'ad flitted. I'll 
make inquiries of some o' the lydies in the buildin's if it'll 
satisfy you; but, bless your 'eart, it ain't no use." 

Under the good-natured woman's escort he mounted to the 
little flat which for so many years had housed Stella and her 
mother. It stood bare and empty, waiting for its next occu- 
pant, showing so clean in its bareness that the fact in itself 
would have indicated a different class from that which usually 
occupied the buildings. 

She left him in the bare rooms, which were open for the 
inspection of any intending tenant, while she went up and down 
the stairs, seeking for some crumb of information which might 
guide him in his quest. He stood looking out over the chimney- 
pots to the yellow sky of smoke, the towers and steeples stand- 
ing against it, and tried to picture Estelle as she had grown 
up here ;from childhood to womanhood. The injustice of it 
smote him sharply again that this narrow plot of earth should 
have sufficed for her beauty, while he had had the wide world 
for his inheritance. His heart ached and swelled with a gener- 
ous pity for her, that he might atone to her, that he might 
give her the world to make up. 

The puffing and panting of the friendly woman ascending 
the last little staircase brought him back from his dreams. 
There was no definite news of where Estelle had flown to. 
But there was a clue. Mrs. Murphy, the lady who took in 
washing, on the third floor, had been able to impart the in- 
formation that Miss Mason was a great friend of the Sisters at 



i9io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 593 

the Convent in Sanctuary Square. The Sisters might know 
where they had flitted to. 

It was a clue; and he followed it up gratefully, having be- 
stowed on the helpful woman a reward which provided high 
feasting for her family for a day or two. He left the little 
bare, white- painted flat with a feeling as though it had been 
holy ground, and drove away from the buildings, followed by 
the blessings of the slatternly woman and the open-mouthed 
admiration of the young persons whose playground was the 
street, to whom such a well groomed, well dressed young 
gentleman was like a being from another sphere. 

Within the convent he began to recognize the atmosphere 
amid which Estelle had grown up. The bare, austere room 
with the crucifix and a few ancient pictures on the walls, a 
row of straight- backed chairs, and a long polished table for all 
furnishing held within it the spiritual atmosphere. He looked 
from the deep windows, and saw the enclosed garden with the 
school children and the nuns walking in couples and groups. 
The room was polished and beeswaxed to the utmost point of 
perfection. A slender, brown-eyed nun, the only" English nun 
in the house, came in to inquire his business. She was grace- 
ful in her narraw robe and her eyes were wells of spiritual 
peace. She told him she was Mother Margaret. 

He asked her if she could tell him Miss Mason's new ad- 
dress. Plainly she had not known that they had left the old 
one. 

" But I shall know in time," she said. " Mrs. Mason often 
comes to see us on Sunday. Shall I say that a friend wishes 
to know ?" 

He blushed hotly. 

" Say to Miss Mason that Maurice Grantley wishes to see 
her," he said. Than, emboldened by something in the nun's 
kind face, he was moved to confidence. 

" More than a friend," he said. " She would not listen to 
me but she knows." 

" I shall tell her," the nun said. Ever afterwards Maurice 
Grantley had a memory of her as of something exquisite. 
The severe, austere air ot the convent seemed her aura, the 
atmosphere in which she moved as in light. " I shall tell her," 
she said. " She is a dear child. She has grown up with us 
here. You will take care of her, if it is God's will that ycu 
VOL. xc, 38 



594 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

should marry her ? We have kept her, God has kept her, un- 
spotted from the world." 

"You may trust me," he said fervently. "If only she will 
give me the chance." 

He wanted to kiss the nun's hand or her beads, but he did 
not know if it was permissible. He felt as though he was in 
the presence of a saint who was also an exquisite woman. 

" I understand now," he said, " how Estelle has that air, 
different from all other women I have ever known. You taught 
it to her." 

" She is a dear child. We had very little to teach her," 
the nun said smiling. " And I will let you know, if I may, 
when I have Estelle's address." 

" Wish me God-speed ! " he said impulsively. 

" If God will," she answered. 



CHAPTER XX. 

LOVERS' MEETING. 

He left Mother Margaret with hope that day; but the hope 
had no fruition. A letter in a slender, delicate handwriting, a 
little later, informed him that Miss Mason wished her address 
to remain unknown, and the writer was his " very sincerely in 
Jesus Christ, Mary Margaret." 

He had a feeling that she had been his friend and would 
have sent him a less unkindly message if it had been pos- 
sible. So the girl would have none of him. In his first anger 
he swore to forget her. Pheasant-shooting had begun, and 
there were half-a-dozen country-houses where he had been 
invited to make one of the guns. 

It ought to have been easy to forget the face which had 
been so much in his thoughts, so little in his actual life. His 
father and mother were at Burnham Dene, the country-house 
on which he finally decided, and so also was Miss Beaumont. 
Life was uncommonly pleasant there those autumn days: out 
shooting all day in the woods and over the stubble, coming 
home healthily tired, when the dusk fell, to tea in the beauti- 
ful hall for which Burnham was famous, and to an evening of 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 595 

pleasant loafing when one did pretty well what one would after 
dinner: played cards, or billiards, or listened to the music; 
or danced if one felt equal to it and there was dancing afoot ; 
and retired with commendable earliness to bed. 

For all the pleasantness of the time he was out of sorts; 
obviously, to the least observant, he was silent and out of 
spirits; not as good a comrade as he was wont to be. Why, 
his father was twice the jolly sportsman and good fellow his 
son was, some of the elderly gentlemen remarked. 

It was a beautiful autumn, mild and sunny, and very often 
the ladies joined the men at lunch in the woods. Mary Beau- 
mont attracted a deal of admiration from the men of the 
house-party, not only for her bright eyes, wholesome color, 
and fine figure all of which testified to her love for the life 
of out-of-doors but for her unvarying good temper and 
cheerfulness, which did something to cover up her cousin's 
gloom. 

One day an old gentleman who had spent the morning 
tramping the moors at Mary's side instead of doing his duty 
by the pheasants congratulated Maurice on his luck. 

Maurice turned very red and made a confused answer, to 
which the old gentleman responded soothingly that of course 
such things never were spoken of till the lady had said yes, 
and he was sorry to have intruded; but that every one saw 
how things were tending. 

At first the thing annoyed Maurice intensely. Then, after 
a time, he grew accustomed to every one's giving way for him 
with Mary. If she had shown the least sign of consciousness 
he would probably have fled from the danger. As it was, 
her unvarying cheerful, cousinly kindness persuaded him that 
she at least took the sensible view of things whatever the rest 
of the world did. 

There was a round of visits to friends and kinsfolk, which 
took up the weeks till the New Year. After the New Year 
they were going home; and Captain Grantley was looking 
forward to the hunting as keenly as Maurice would have been 
if he had been himself. 

" My dear Maurice," his mother said, taking him apart 
one day for a private consultation Mary was supposed to be 
sleeping off a headache. Lady Eugenia was pale, and her 
eyes were full of trouble. "What will you think when I tell 



596 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb., 

you that Mary has had a letter from Sir Courtney Blakeney 
asking her, for at least the tenth time, to marry him." 

"The old miscreant!" said Maurice in disgust. "I sup- 
pose she put his letter in the fire?" 

" That is just what she did not do. I think her father has 
been pressing her. What a bad egg Pulteney is ! The poor 
girl is leaving us. Pulteney is in London, and summons her 
to his side. He has been borrowing from Sir Courtney Blake- 
ney most probably they are a pretty pair. I believe Mary 
will marry him." 

" Impossible ! " Maurice broke out hotly. " It would be a 
profanation. If it is a question of money we must find it. 
Mary shall not be sacrificed." 

"My dear boy," Lady Eugenia sighed. "You have no idea 
how obstinate she can be ! There is something the matter with 
Mary, something which is driving her into this distasteful 
marriage." 

She looked wistfully at him; and without a word he turned 
and left her. 

After a time he found himself alone with his cousin. He 
did very often so find himself these days. People were so kind 
in making opportunities for them. 

She bore traces of her headache, or heartache. She had a 
dulled look, and there were shadows about her eyes. All of 
a sudden she looked her age, which was not far short of 
thirty. 

He felt such a compassion for her that for the moment it 
was almost as warm as love. 

"Mary," he said, taking her hand in his, "won't you 
trust me ? Let me get you out of your trouble, whatever it 
is. Don't you think I'd make a better husband than old 
Blakeney?" 

" Maurice ! " The color rushed to her cheeks, but her hand 
was yet cold in his. " Why should you say such a thing ? 
You do not care for me. Not in that way." 

" I believe I care for you very much, Mary," he said, and 
kissed her. 

He felt afterwards that it was a tame wooing ; but it seemed 
to satisfy most of those in whom he was interested. His mother 
was enchanted. His father was almost equally pleased. He 
was overwhelmed with congratulations on every side; so that 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 597 

he felt he had never known before how popular a girl Mary 
was. For a day or two his Quixotism satisfied him. Long 
after the day or two had passed by he refused to acknowledge 
to himself that he was not, as every one said he was, the 
luckiest fellow in the world. He was determined to forget 
Estelle. Let her be as though she had never been, the girl 
who had first come into his life, standing erect and willowy, 
bright as a flame, at a London crossing. Let her fade again 
into the darkness from which she had emerged Fiammetta ! 

He said it bravely, but it was not so easy to forget. Mary 
and he had now parted for a time. She was with her father 
in London, being made much of ; his mother and father were 
with Lord Mount-Eden in the North. Presently they would 
all meet at Mount-Eden and stay there for the remainder of 
the hunting season. 

He had been at home for a week, and, growing tired of 
his solitude, he had run up to London. To be sure he ought 
to have flown to Mary, and he hated himself for his unwilling- 
ness. She was charming in her new relationship so gentle, 
so kind, so unexacting. Perhaps he could not have borne it if 
she had been more exacting, yet he felt her reasonableness as 
something of a grievance. He had flown to her rescue like a 
knight-errant, yet after the first he had no sense that her de- 
liverance was so great a thing as he had thought. With her 
arms about his neck she might have won him through the fire 
of his own generosity ; but there was very little more ardor 
between them than there had been in the old brotherly and 
sisterly relations ! 

London in January, murky and drizzly, seemed to bring 
Estelle back to him vividly. He had to fight against an im- 
pulse to go to Mother Margaret, in Sanctuary Square, and ask 
for word of her. That was a door that was closed in his face 
forever, he reminded himself. And he ought to forget her ; 
she had been cruel to them all. 

He was walking along, with his head bent, in the teeth ot 
the wind and the rain. He did not look at all a happy per- 
son, despite his youth and his smart clothes and the flower in 
his coat. Some time or other he must arrive at the decorous 
lodgings in the quiet street north of Oxford Street, where the 
Hon. Pulteney Beaumont pitched his tent when he was in town, 
where he should find Mary ready to respond gently to his em- 



598 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Feb. 

brace and to give him a cup of tea. As a matter of fact, in 
his abstraction he had left it behind, and had got into a maze 
of streets and squares further East. 

Suddenly he came out of his abstraction with a shock of 
gladness. There she was, the girl of whom he had been think- 
ing, coming towards him, virginal, flower-like, flame-like, in 
the dreary winter street. They were face to face before she 
saw him ; and as they stopped a wave of coldness seemed to 
come upon his heart. There was something he had to tell 
her. He had to tell her the cruel thing she had done, the trou- 
ble she had left behind her when she had gone away. She was 
looking at him, half in fear, as though she would fly Irom him. 

He laid a detaining hand upon her coat-sleeve, noticing at 
the same time that it was thin and soaked with rain. She was 
carrying a roll of music in her hand. 

" You ought not to be out," he said roughly, " in such 
weather as this and do you know that your going has nearly 
killed Jim ? Nearly killed him ! Why the doctors say they 
have little hope of him !" 

"Jim! My darling Jim!" she cried, looking at him with 
such a shocked grief in her face, that for pity he could think 
only of her. 

(TO BE CONCLUDED.) 




RELIGION AND HEALTH. 

BY JAMES J. WALSH, M.D., PH.D., LL.D. 

JO find the value of an unknown quantity in mathe- 
matics you must eliminate all the other unknown 
quantities but one from the equation and get 
the value of the desired factor stated in terms 
of the known. Nature sometimes takes a very 
different yet suggestively analogous way in physiology, and 
above all in pathology. She eliminates an unknown factor as 
an organ or a function, and then by the difference readily to 
be seen in the health equation demonstrates its value. The 
significance of a good many organs and tissues has been dis- 
covered only after their elimination by disease or injury. For 
instance, it would have been very difficult to learn by any 
direct method that heat and cold were in psychics quite dif- 
ferent sensations and not merely degrees of each other as they 
are in physics, had not certain diseases, by suppressing one of 
them and leaving the other, showed that they were two entire- 
ly different sets of nervous impulses. The same has been found 
to be true with regard to many other nerve functions. When 
a man has lost the sense of bringing together the various sen- 
sations, so as to be able to recognize objects by touch/ we 
know that he has a tumor or some serious lesion in the cortical 
region of his brain. We say that he is suffering from aster- 
eognosis, that is from the incapacity to recognize solid objects. 
We did not know that this was a separate sense until we found 
that it was absent in certain cases where men could feel heat 
and cold and pressure and weight and contact very well, yet 
were unable with the eyes closed to tell the difference be- 
tween a penholder and a penknife, or between a button and a 
coin. They had lost their faculty for associating sensations. 
Nature had eliminated a special sense and shown us thereby 
its existence and its value. 

In like manner it might be proved that the elimination by 
disease of a supposedly useless organ has made us realize in 
every case just how useful the organ was, and has taken us 



6oo RELIGION AND HEALTH [Feb., 

away entirely from the idea of there being anything useless in 
the human body. Physicians who still talk about the useless- 
ness of the appendix do not realize the strides that are being 
made in our knowledge of physiology in recent years. 

Elimination serves a like purpose in revealing to us the 
physical usefulness of certain moral as well as physical factors 
in life. A typical example of this is to be noted with regard 
to religion. In recent years men have come to eliminate reli- 
gion to a very great extent from their lives. As a consequence, 
physicians in many parts of the world have come to appre- 
ciate the value of religion for health of body and mind as they 
never did before. It used to be quite customary to say that 
religion was responsible for certain exaggerated manifestations 
of emotion and that it disturbed the minds of many people. 
There grew up a tradition, for the origin of which physicians 
were largely responsible, that religion was a contributing cause, 
or at least a rather common occasion, of insanity. Undoubted- 
ly many people, who eventually find their way to insane asylums, 
exhibit the first manifestations of insanity with regard to re- 
ligious subjects. A good deal, therefore, has been said about 
the evil caused by religion, because of its tendency to excite 
certain minds. Moreover some of the religious practices that 
involve self-denial and mortification have been proclaimed as 
at least contributory to, if not sometimes directly causative of, 
serious injury to health. 

But all this has been changed. There is now a very general 
recognition on the part of physicians, especially those who are 
occupied with nervous patients, of the soothing influence that 
religion exerts. Medical authorities in many parts of the world 
have, in the last few years, declared that probably nothing 
contributes so much to lessen the sum of human suffering as 
a deep and abiding sense of religion. By this is not meant 
any mere emotional manifestations of attachment to a particu- 
lar sect or to certain external religious observances. What the 
psychiatrists insist on is that a profound conviction that a Pro- 
vidence exists, a Providence which foresees and oversees every- 
thing that happens, and somehow orders all for its own great 
purposes, even though these purposes may be hidden from 
mere human observation, is the best possible auxiliary for the 
relief of pain and suffering. 

When one feels that his sufferings are quite without pur- 



19 io.] RELIGION AND HEALTH 60 1 

pose, and must be endured under a blind necessity of nature, 
while nature herself remains an inscrutable mystery, he bears 
pain with much less equanimity than if he believed in a per- 
sonal God. As we shall see, prayer has been praised by many 
specialists in nervous and mental diseases as an excellent remedy 
for their patients. What they mean by prayer is not a mere 
repetition of wordy formulae, but a raising up of the mind to 
the Creator; a submission of oneself to His will; a begging, 
perhaps, that suffering should pass; but still more that capacity 
may be granted to bear with proper patience the trials and suf- 
ferings ordained by Providence. 

Such ideas in medicine will, no doubt, seem startlingly 
novel to many. They represent, however, the attitude of mind 
of a large number of our distinguished investigators in nervous 
and mental diseases. An exposition of this revolutionary change 
in physicians' ideas will surely be of interest to all classes of 
readers. I was very glad, therefore, to accept the suggestion 
of the editor of THE CATHOLIC WORLD that this newer medi- 
cine should be set forth. 

One of the most striking recent expressions of the intimate 
relation of religion to health, and, at the same time, one of 
the most significant tributes to the power of firmly-rooted re- 
ligious ideas comes to us from Dr. John K. Mitchell, of Phila- 
delphia, in his Self -Help for Nervous "Women* This book 
contains a "Series of Talks on Economy in Nervous Ex- 
penditure." Dr. Mitchell represents the third generation of a 
family of distinguished physicians, and his opinion, therefore, 
is all the more valuable. Moreover, his opinion should prob- 
ably be taken as representing the Philadelphia School of 
Neurology, which is favorably known throughout the world 
for its accurate observation and conservative thinking. Far 
from considering that religion adds to peoples' worries or cares, 
or disturbs their minds in any way, Dr. Mitchell is sure that 
the more severe and formal types of religion, especially those 
which beget a deep, abiding sense of intimate relationship with 
God, which prescribe many duties requiring self-denial and 
frequent prayer, are especially likely to be helpful to nervous 
and suffering people. He says: 

Although it is a mere impression, and one, from the nature 
of the case, not capable of documentary or statistical proof, I 

* Philadelphia : Lippincott, 1909. 



602 RELIGION AND HEALTH [Feb., 

am inclined to think that those communions in which cere- 
monial observances are strictly enforced, with hours for 
prayer, set times for meditation, and so on, furnish less than 
their due quota of nervous patients. According to one's indi- 
vidual belief this may be considered as an effect of religion 
or may be attributed to the fact that, as a consequence of the 
necessity for carrying out these duties at exact moments, 
there is a sort of approach to the schedule plan of life I have 
recommended for the nervous, with a resulting improved 
mental and moral equilibrium. It is certainly true that, con- 
sidering as examples two such widely separated forms of 
religious belief as the Orthodox Jews and the strict Roman 
Catholics, one does not see as many patients from them as 
from their numbers might be expected, especially when it is 
remembered that Jews as a whole are a very nervous people 
and that the Roman Church in this country includes among 
its members numbers of the most emotional race in the world. 
Of only one sect can I recall no example. It is not in my 
memory that a professing Quaker ever came into my hands to 
be treated for nervousness. If the opinion I have already 
stated so often is correct, namely, that want of control of the 
emotions and the over-expression of the feelings are prime 
causes of nervousness, then the fact that discipline of the 
emotions is a lesson early and constantly taught by Friends, 
would help to account for the infrequency of this disorder 
among them and add emphasis to the belief in such a 
causation. 

Even those authorities in nervous diseases who are them- 
selves without any religious belief and who, indeed, affect to 
despise it, often cannot help but realize to what an extent 
religion enables many to withstand patiently, and, therefore, 
with less reactive disturbance for their general system, the 
trials and sufferings of life. Dubois, for instance, who has 
written on The Psychic Treatment of Nervous Diseases, * cannot 
but praise the patience with which true Christians withstand 
the difficulties of life. He says: 

In this state of mind, that of true Christian stoicism, which 
is, alas ! so rare in the thinking world now, man becomes in- 
vulnerable. Feeling himself upheld by God, he fears neither 

* Translation by Professor Jelliffe, of Fordham University School of Medicine. New 
York: Funk & Wagnalls. 



1 9 io.] RELIGION AND HEALTH 603 

sickness nor death. He may succumb under the attacks of 
physical disease, but morally he remains unshaken in the 
midst of his sufferings and is inaccessible to the cowardly 
emotions of most nervous people. 

Dubois even goes so .far as to suggest that a physician 
who is himself a freethinker, in which class he does not hesi- 
tate to place himself, is justified in appealing to the religious 
convictions of his patients, that his patients may receive aid 
therefrom. 

Professor Oppenheim, the distinguished Berlin specialist in 
nervous and mental diseases, whose text-book on this subject 
is recognized as one of the best published in recent years, has 
expressed himself very emphatically on the subject. Professor 
Oppenheim is himself a Jew. He does not hesitate to declare 
that for many nervous diseases, especially those that are either 
incurable or are accompanied by great solicitude of mind, noth- 
ing is more valuable as a therapeutic adjuvant than a belief in 
an over-ruling Providence a readiness to recognize that in 
the moral world suffering has a definite and reasonable pur- 
pose. If suffering is looked upon only as an incident in the 
physical world, then its inevitableness is a tragedy without 
consolation of any kind. In the moral order, however, it takes 
on quite a different significance, and therefore deeply religious 
souls have a fountain of consolation within themselves which 
is very helpful to the physician. 

A distinguished authority in England, who was selected as 
the President of the section of the British Medical Association 
devoted to the study of mental diseases, in his Inaugural Ad- 
dress as President, four years ago, stated very explicitly his 
experience with regard to prayer. Far from thinking or find- 
ing that religion or its personal manifestations hurt his patients 
(and this man had been for many years the head of a large 
asylum in England), his observation had shown him that those 
who prayed fervently bore up under the hardest trials of life 
much better than those who had not prayed. He stated that, 
occasionally, sincerely religious persons did go insane, but the 
worst forms of insanity manifested themselves in the irreligious, 
or rather the unreligious. And when his patients began to 
pray, not loudly, but quietly and in solitude, then he always 
knew that a distinct sign of improvement had come, and that 



604 RELIGION AND HEALTH [Feb., 

it would not be long before further decided amelioration might 
be looked for. 

I have quoted from leaders of thought in this country and 
in Germany, France, and England, where the decadence of 
religion has made the absence of its influence felt upon the 
people in general. Thus the statement made at the beginning 
of this article is confirmed. 

There is one place where religion and religious motives and 
consolations are supremely needed in medicine, and that is 
with regard to incurable disease. If all diseases were curable, 
and if death were not inevitable, then the ordinary consola- 
tions of life and the auxiliaries of human motives might be 
sufficient. But suffering is inevitable; death is certain; and to 
many it comes in a way that involves much pain. When one 
suffers from Bright's Disease and knows it, and is sure that a 
fatal termination is not far off, when in addition there are 
physical ills that must be borne, many obligations that must be 
put aside, then the motives to be drawn from religion are the 
only oies that serve the purpose of uplifting one so tried. 

In recent years there has been a noteworthy increase in the 
number of cases of cancer. For these sufferers the consolations 
of religion are particularly helpful. Without a conviction that 
suffering is not in vain, it becomes almost intolerable. Much 
is said about euthanasia the right of the physician and of the 
patient himself to shorten life so as to avoid incurable pain. As 
a matter of fact, pain is such a discipline that, except in the 
young and in the very impatient, it nerves patients to stand 
discomfort, and there is very seldom any real desire to shorten 
life. Of any deliberate shortening of life there can, of course, 
be no question. The prolonged suffering of many patients is 
not the drawn-out tragedy that it might seem to be, because 
they feel that somehow the Providence that afflicts them, also 
cares for them, and that their suffering has a meaning even 
though that meaning be not clear. Religion, that is an abiding 
trust in the God of all consolation, is the only ultimate re- 
source of these poor sufferers. 

Continued pain is the lot of the very few. Probably more 
of the discomfort of life is due to fear of pain than to ac- 
tual pain itself. Many nervous persons are almost constantly 
in a state of dread lest something unfavorable be about to 
happen. Some hesitate in opening a letter, lest it should 



1 9 io.] RELIGION AND HEALTH 605 

contain unpleasant news. Others are quite sure that they are 
the victims of an unhappy fate. Is there a succession of very 
favorable happenings ? Then there surely must be some seri- 
ous evil impending to balance things. For this ever-misgiving 
state of mind nothing is so beneficial as the conviction that 
" God's in His heaven, all's right with the world." Belief in 
an all-ruling Providence lifts the premonition of ill and dissi- 
pates fear of evil. 

It is frequently maintained that religion by taking many of 
the pleasures out of life makes it much harder to bear. Re- 
ligion does, of course, take us away from many of the stormy 
pleasures of life. It is not in the violence of passion, how- 
ever, that any real satisfaction or happiness is experienced. 
Such pleasure is, at most, momentary and is usually followed 
by feelings of discomfort, physical as well as moral, that more 
than exceed the pleasure. Many seem to think that without 
pleasures that contain at least a spice of the forbidden, life 
would be very dull and colorless. As a matter of fact, they 
win the most from life who follow conscience and, as a con- 
sequence, have leisure to cultivate the best that is in them. 

It has been very well said that what our generation needs 
is less pleasure and more joys. While we seek its pleasures, 
we are missing, especially in our large cities, the joys of life. 
The joys of home are now but seldom experienced, ard the 
gathering of generations of the family around the hospitable 
board on the great festivals of the year is rare. The joy of 
doing good to our fellows, not through the mediation of others, 
but by direct contact, is now seldom experienced. The joy 
of the country in the springtime, of simple friendly intercourse 
and neighborly sympathy, most of this is gone, and, instead, 
we have the sophisticated pleasures of the modern time. Any 
one, who has seen how profoundly miserable they can be who 
apparently have the fullest opportunity to enjoy these pleasures, 
well knows how little there is in pleasure compared to the 
joys of life. Pleasure is sometimes forbidden. Joy is always 
allowable. The most joyous people in the world are those 
who are profoundly religious. 

There is another aspect of religion and health that might 
well be expressed in Francis Thompson's phrase, Health and 
Holiness. Saints are usually not supposed to get very much 
out of life, but that is due to the mistaken popular notion as 



606 RELIGION AND HEALTH [Feb., 

to what a saint is. Probably the best definition oi a saint, 
and certainly the most complete brief one that I know of, is 
that a saint is a person who thinks first of other people and 
only secondly of self. Forgetfulness of sell might be sup- 
posed to be the last thing in the world which would con- 
tribute to health, since health is thought to be the result of 
care and attention to all the details of the physical life. But 
it has become extremely clear in the modern development of 
psychology, and in the application of its principles to medi- 
cine, known as psychotherapeutics, that the source of many ail- 
ments is really over-attention to self, and that the best possible 
cure is forgetfulness of self. No ailment, no matter how bad 
it may be, is ever quite as bad as thinking makes it. Not that 
ills are imaginary, but that symptoms are always exaggerated 
by dwelling on them. 

The capacity to bear pain without being disturbed by it, 
and to withstand physical ills without complaint, is supposed to 
be one of the highest qualities of the saint. It is also, how- 
ever, one of the supreme qualities of good health. The per- 
fectly sane, healthy man can stand pain with equanimity. 
Training in the bearing of pain without disturbance of mind is 
one of the most precious forms of discipline for health as well 
as for holiness. Suffering will inevitably come to all of us. 
To allow it to incapacitate us, to live in constant dread of it, 
to murmur under it, all this is the sign of a certain lack of 
physical as well as mental equilibrium. Indeed, what is pain 
for the unhealthy is often only a joyous exercise of function 
for the perfectly healthy. The man unused to exercise suffers 
aches and pains if he takes considerable exercise; while to the 
man of well-developed muscles exercise is a pleasure. In a 
word, pain is a very relative thing. What is almost unbear- 
able pain to sensitive people, may be scarcely more than an 
inconvenience to other and healthier people. 

As a rule it may be said that those who have accepted and 
who live by great religious truths, are much less disturbed by 
the discomforts of life than those who have no religious belief. 
The former know that their suffering has a meaning in the 
scheme of creation. The latter are weighed down by fatalism, 
and fatalism adds to their suffering. They are not able to 
throw it off. They feel their helplessness and have no con- 
solation. But the genuinely religious can and do occupy them- 



19 io.] RELIGION AND HEALTH 607 

selves with the meaning of human life and human suffering, 
and such occupation diverts their attention from their own suffer- 
ing and makes it much less. It is all the difference between 
having nothing else to think about than one's own pain and 
discomfort, and having all the significance of the universe with 
its mystery and the consciousness of union with its personal 
Ruler. 

We all know that even severe pain can be greatly helped, 
and, indeed, made quite tolerable, by preoccupation of mind. In 
battle men suffer severe, even mortal, wounds, yet do not know 
it until they fall from weakness. In every big theatre fire of 
the last half century some people who have escaped have had 
severe injuries, such as the breaking of an arm or the loss of an 
ear, or a serious dislocation, and have known nothing about it 
until they were out of the theatre. Such preoccupation of mind 
cannot be looked for under ordinary circumstances. Lesser de- 
grees of it, however, are very helpful. A headache may bother 
one very little while he is with pleasant friends. A toothache 
may be quite bearable while one is at some agreeable occu- 
pation. Neither may become intolerable until one is alone and 
has nothing else to think of. The serious preoccupation of 
mind with the Creator and the meaning of life and the sig- 
nificance of pain, and the acts of resignation that are likely to 
accompany such considerations, may act as effective, even 
though not complete, anodynes in cases of discomfort. 

This is particularly likely to be the case when there is ques- 
tion of mental pain. Mental states are the hardest for the phy- 
sician to cope with. It is in these, particularly, that he feels the 
need of the help of religion for his patients. They may have 
a serious physical ailment of which their mental state is a com- 
plication; or their physical ill may be trifling and the mental 
state seriously affected. In either case religion makes one of 
the best adjuvants. This is now a universal experience on the 
part of physicians who have seriously tried it. It forms the 
basis of the success of the medico-religious movement of recent 
years. 

In recent years teachers have come to realize the sad lack 
in our modern education of proper training for the will and 
the serious consequences of such an omission. A popular 
French book, written by Professor Jules Payot, is called in its 
English translation The Education of the Will. An idea of its 



608 RELIGION AND HEALTH [Feb., 

popularity in France can be gathered from the fact that the 
English translation, made by Professor Jelliffe, of Fordham Uni- 
versity School of Medicine, is from the thirtieth French edi- 
tion. M. Payot recognizes that there were many methods 
connected with religious training in the past which are seriously 
missed at the present time, and he has endeavored to supply 
them by suggestions for the training of the will. Nearly all of 
the practices, judged in recent times to be old-fashioned, are rec- 
ommended by him as helpful in making life more significant 
and in increasing our power for work. He says: 

. . . there are certain helpful methods by which our reflec- 
tions are enabled to produce their effects. The greatest 
leaders of the Catholic faith, rich in the experience of their 
predecessors and their own personal observations which they 
have increasingly gathered from the confessional, have made 
many arrangements by which people are enabled to make 
more out of their lives. 

He then describes the method of making meditations, exami- 
nations of conscience, and suggests the necessity for times of 
retreat. No reference to religion or to God is made; the 
recommendations are made simply with the idea of helping 
one to think more deeply and of realizing more thoroughly 
what life means. 

Another very interesting change has taken place in the at- 
titude of physicians in general towards the office of another 
phase of religion in helping men even in this life. After hav- 
ing for many years argued that in the olden time, and espe- 
cially during the Middle Age, men occupied themselves over 
much with the next world, many have now come to recognize 
that too great solicitude with regard to this tvorld makes for 
the bitterest kind of unhappiness. It was argued that religion, 
by counselling fasts, abstinences, and mortifications of various 
kinds, had a tendency to disturb health. Now there is a very 
general realization that many of the religious practices and 
regulations in these matters were excellent auxiliaries for the 
preservation of health, and that fasts and mortifications are not 
only good in themselves for a great many persons, but are also 
excellent means of making us realize that it is possible to eat 
much less than we are accustomed to. The discipline of reli- 



i9io.] RELIGION AND HEALTH 609 

gion fosters self-discipline and control, making life much more 
reasonable. 

Of course it would be too bad, as Professor Munsterberg 
insists in his book on psychotherapeutics, if religion should be 
used only to salve the little ills or even the greater physical 
trials of life. He insists that " the meaning of religion in life 
is entirely too deep that it should be employed merely for the 
purpose of lessening the pains and aches of humanity ai ri the 
dreads that are so often more imaginary than real." " This," 
he emphatically continues, "would be only to diminish the real 
significance of religion." " It cheapens religion by putting the 
accent of its meaning in life on personal comfort and absence 
of pain." He adds: "If there is one power in life which 
ought to develop in us a conviction that pleasure is not the 
highest goal, and that pain is not the worst evil, then it ought 
to be philosophy and religion." It will be readily understood, 
then, that present-day religious therapeutic movements, or those 
which make of religion a force for rendering life more com- 
fortable, subordinate religion to worldliness, and empty reli- 
gion of that other-worldliness which is its very heart. 

These present-day movements, that exaggerate the influence 
of religious belief over physical nature, are in no way new in 
the world's history. Originally medicine was quite subordinate 
to religion and the first physicians were priests. A recurrent 
tendency to re-assume this relation has frequently shown itself. 
But the result has always been unfortunate for both religion 
and medicine. It has taken much of the spirituality out of 
religion and much of the science out of medicine. Professor 
Munsterberg calls attention to the work of Pastor Gassner in 
Southern Germany in the eighteenth century, because it repre- 
sents certain similar movements of our own time. Father Gass- 
ner believed that a great many nervous diseases were from 
the devil, and he cured them by various religious means. The 
Catholic Church did not, however, approve of the exaggeration 
of his ideas in this regard, and so Father Gassner died in 
obscurity, though not before he had influenced Mesmer very 
materially and so led to a new medical movement. 

Religion and medicine are intimately related. Each has 
its own definite limits in life. They are co-ordinate factors 
for happiness here, for there can be no happiness without 
VOL. xc.39 



6 io RELIGION AND HEALTH [Feb. 

health, and for pain and suffering help and strength from above 
are needed. These necessities are given by the two co-ordinate 
factors religion and medicine, but each must be kept in its 
own place. Whenever two such intimately related factors ex- 
ist, there is apt to be mutual invasion of the other's domain. 
Medicine for a time promised to make life so much happier 
and so much longer that men forgot how essential religion is 
in enabling them to withstand the trials of life. There is 
danger now of a reaction in which religion, in turn exaggerat- 
ing its importance, will invade the domain of medicine and 
most likely do much harm. In the midst of all such agitation 
it is important to realize that the Catholic Church has been 
quite unmoved. As she was the main barrier against the in- 
fidelity that came from over-confidence in science, she now 
sanely places spirit and matter each in its proper place ; shows 
us how other-worldliness may make for happiness even in this 
world; how confidence in God may lessen tribulation; how 
self-denial may lead to happiness; and, above all, how prayer 
and confidence in Providence may give that placidity which 
robs suffering of its terrors. 




THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE. 

BY MARIA LDNGWORTH STORER. 
" See that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God " (Je. it. 29). 

[HE Catholic bishops of France, in the early autumn 
of the year 1909, issued a manifesto, warning 
Catholic parents against certain books used in 
the public schools (called "neutral ") and for- 
bade that [these books should be placed in the 
hands of Catholic pupils. This step toward protecting the 
Catholic children of France from the aggressive teaching of 
positive atheism, roused the most bitter antagonism of a radi- 
cal governing power, which has been carrying on a war of 
extermination against any and every form of religious faith. 
The whole aim and end of the teaching in the " neutral " 
schools is to establish the reign of the Deesse de la Raison, 
which means self-love and self-worship the apotheosis of hu- 
man conceit. 

To achieve this, God must first be left out entirely. Each 
child's soul becomes a little hot-bed of atheism; so that the 
evil which is planted may grow and flourish, and when the 
child becomes a man he will propagate his unfaith, and so it 
shall spread far and wide, until it covers the whole earth. 

The Ligue de V Enseignement and La Francmafonnerie have 
undertaken this gigantic task and they are the rulers in 
France to-day, against whom what is called a " religious major- 
ity " has been powerless, and has done nothing, except to pro- 
test in words. Petty political differences of opinion have 
hitherto kept the Catholic population from uniting in a great 
and powerful army, which shall fight for God and for France ; 
for their altars and their fires. The enemy is a united body. 
To give a clear idea of these two great forces of evil, which 
act as one power, I cannot do better than quote from a letter 
written to the London Times, by Eugene Tavernier, published 
on November 6 and 7, 1909. I shall explain first the origin of 
the League. 



612 THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE [Feb., 

An Alsatian schoolmaster, named Jean Mace, started the 
Ligue de V Enseignement in 1870. After the battle of Sadowa 
the cry went up and was repeated everywhere : " It was the 
German schoolmaster who won the battle of Sadowa." Jean 
Mace and others profited by this popular outcry to start a 
league which should multiply the number of public schools in 
France, and change the character of the instruction given there. 
It was announced to be only a patriotic movement and thus en- 
listed all the sympathies of a people suffering from the results 
of a disastrous war. 

Jean Mace" and his league declared themselves at first to be 
neutral towards religion that is to say, indifferent. But by 
degrees this neutrality became a definite and passionate hos- 
tility. In 1 88 1, after the annual congress of the league, the 
wary and courageous propagandist emphasized his attitude. 
He proclaimed that the true neutrality, whether in politics or 
religion, is that which "dominates all." From that moment 
the league was in open conflict with Christian belief. It or- 
ganized gigantic petitions, it urged on Senators and Deputies, 
it resorted to agitation throughout the country, and exercised 
a definite influence upon the framing of those laws which in- 
troduced the spirit of unbelief in the schools. 

Simultaneously a still more powerful association that of 
Freemasonry was actively exciting anti-religious passions in 
the name of liberty and tolerance. The league and Free- 
masonry went hand in hand ; Jean Mace" himself said so. 
They pursued the same object together, but each by its own 
methods. The league gently attracted the liberals, the in- 
different, and the moderates, and persuaded them to share in 
the combat. Freemasonry excited the extremists. Four 
hundred lodges every month, and the great Masonic Conven- 
tion every year, set before the Chambers the rules necessary 
for the struggle against religion, and the rules were estab- 
lished by vote. There are still many such in preparation, and 
held in reserve for future use. It is well known that on Sep- 
tember i, 1877, the Grand Orient of France eliminated from 
its constitution the ancient formula : ' ' To the Glory of the 
Great Architect of the Universe ' ' ; and since then the lodges 
have shown a marked zeal against religion. Proofs could be 
produced from every page of the official publications of the 
Masons. 

This, then, is the great plan to be carried out by these two 



i9io.] THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE 613 

arbitrary powers. The Lanterne of May 19, 1908, expressed 
it as follows : 

Lay education, no matter what form it may assume, is the 
strongest power everywhere to combat the religious spirit. 
Lay education must spread and extend itself in all directions. 
We must drive out Religion from each and every position to 
which she may cling as a refuge. 

Many years ago in 1883 Paul Bert expressed his fear 
that after the death of the Comte de Chambord the Catholics 
of France would become republicans. Paul Bert, and all those 
who agreed with him, did not want a republic which would 
not be the bitter enemy of religion. He asserted that "re- 
ligions are not qualified to speak of morality, for they are 
based on false foundations, upon unjustifiable hypotheses, upon 
conceptions that are inimical to man's nature and to the part 
he must play in society and the physical world, and if they 
speak rightly of morality, it is because they have borrowed 
divine and eternal precepts from the universal conscience of 
all time and all peoples." 

Some Catholics have (and it was thought that many more 
should have) rallied to the republic. But the Freethinkers 
would have prevented this. Their leaders openly asserted that 
they would not allow religion to have any voice in the govern* 
ment of France. Behold the result in twentieth century his- 
tory ! 

In 1905 a Republican Catechism was circulated gratis (as a 
gift to its adherents) by the Society of French school-teachers. 
The preface to this catechism announced its dominating idea 
and object in these words: "There shall be no God! It is 
not only the Church that we must destroy we must kill God ! " 
(Ah! plus de Dieu, Ce n'est pas settlement V Eglise qu'il faut 
abbattre. II faut tuer Dieu!) 

All this is madness, but with a great deal of method in it, 
and with the power to ruin a whole country. 

The extremes meet. The acme of mental cleverness melts 
into folly, and they blend. The fool who says in his heart : 
"There is no God," behold him incarnate to-day in Cle"men- 
ceau, in Jaures, in Viviani those men of great btains ! Could 
a cap and bells flutter with more unwisdom, than the jingle 
of their glib blasphemies ? Were these men not political powers, 



614 THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE [Feb., 

with a madman's dangerous strength, we might only laugh at 
their fantastic defiance of the Most High ! Clemenceau in Le 
Grand Pan, calls man a " Titanesque atom " who is destined 
to become the true God! Listen to this raving: 

Let us respond to the hard blows of fate with renewed effort ; 
and having no need of the lying promises of religion, we will 
go into the Great Repose with resignation, content to have 
lived, and proud of having at least attempted the sublime 
scaling of the heavens (page 320). 

Viviani, the Minister of Labor, made a speech in the 
Chamber of Deputies, on December 8, 1906, which was after- 
ward printed and distributed gratis, by order of the Government, 
throughout the 36,000 communes of France. One passage has 
been widely quoted, both in French and in English : 

The French Revolution let loose all the audacity of men's 
minds and the ambition of their hearts. But this was not 
enough. The Revolution of 1848 gave men the suffrage and 
raised the workingman, bent by his task, and made the 
humblest the political equal of those in power. But this was 
not enough. The Third Republic summoned round her the 
children of the peasant and the workingman, and into their 
obscure minds, their unenlightened intelligences, she poured 
little by little the revolutionary germ of education. But this 
was not enough. With one consent, with our fathers, our 
elders, and our fellows, we have bound ourselves throughout 
the past to a work of anti- clericalism and irreligion. We have 
torn the minds of men from religious faith. The wretched 
workman, who, weary with the weight of his day's work, once 
bent his knee, we now have raised up. We have told him 
that behind the clouds were only chimeras. Together, and 
with a majestic gesture, we have put out in the heavens the 
lights that will never be lit again. 

Jaures, the distinguished Socialist leader, proclaims the 
greatness of the "Titanesque atom" in eloquent words: 

The idea that must be safeguarded before everything is 
that there is no sacred truth ; the idea that no power, no dog- 
ma, must limit the perpetual effort, the perpetual aspiration 
of the human race, humanity resembling a great commission 
of inquiry (!) with unlimited power ; the idea that all truth 



1 9 io.] THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE 615 

which does not come from us is a lie ; the idea that whilst we 
adhere faithfully to this truth the critical spirit must be ever 
awake and watchful. ... If God Himself arose before 
the people in a palpable form, the first duty of man would be 
to refuse Him obedience, and to consider Him the equal of 
whoever holds Him in debate, not as the Master to Whom he 
must submit. 

He ends his remarks by the following assertion : " In this 
consists the beauty of our neutral teaching." These are the 
declarations of the leaders in the Government of France to- 
day. These are the men and a multitude of others like them 
who have helped the Ligue de V Enseignement to drive out of 
the French "neutral" schools all belief in prayer, in a future 
life, and in God Himself ! To accomplish this massacre of re- 
ligion, they have revised all the old schoolbo'oks, eliminating 
every allusion to God, and they have garbled and mutilated 
history. 

In a manual of history by Monsieur Calvet, censor of the 
College Michelet, six lines are considered sufficient for the 
Thirty Years' War, and two pages for the military achieve- 
ments of Louis XIV. Robert the Pious and William the Con- 
queror are suppressed altogether, which of course obliterates 
also the battles of Tolbiac and of Hastings. The French 
Revolution is described as the great humane uprising to help 
humanity. There was no lawlessness, no guillotine, no Reign 
of Terror. The child is taught, in the " neutral " schools, to 
believe that religion means cruelty and persecution, and that 
tolerance, fraternity, and morality must be founded on reason, 
alone. 

Payot in his book La Morale, page 190, speaking of re- 
ligious dissensions, says: 

The three great religions to which the majority of men belong 
buddhism, Christianity, and islamism are in disaccord. 
In the bosom of Christianity itself, sects are mutually excom- 
municating each other. Protestantism and Catholicism are, 
besides, torn by internal strife. What does all this mean? 
Unless that not one of these religions possesses any truth suffi- 
ciently universal to unite in it all believers. Happily for us, 
moral ideas, independent of metaphysical hypotheses or re- 
ligious beliefs, are unshaken by the ruin of these systems. 

Christianity seems, not in theory but in practice, to have 



616 THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE [Feb., 

limited its efforts to a struggle against pride and sensuality. 
It has condemned neither war nor slavery. It has shed oceans 
of blood, in its atrocious persecutions and in its religious wars. 
Its holy scriptures, written by a war-like people, have famil- 
iarized the faithful with deeds of violence. Jehovah has all 
the characteristics of a cruel and vindictive despot.* 

Monsieur Aulard, Professor at the Sorbonne, the author of 
a special history for primary schools, of the Revolution has 
spoken out frankly in the Annales de la Jeunesse Laique 
(August, 1904, p. 86). He says: "Away with temporizing! 
(' Point d* equivoque I ') Let us not say any longer: 'We don't 
wish to destroy religion.' Let us say on the contrary: 'We 
mean to destroy religion ! ' " 

I shall give a few examples from two schoolbooks in gen- 
eral use for many years : a grammar by Larive and Fleury, 
and the Tour of France by Two Children^ written by G. Bruno, 
Laureate of the French Academy. 

Every mention of God or of religion has been cut out of 
the grammar since 1902. There are very many. It is enough 
to point out a few. 

On page 7, " God is great " has been changed into " Paris 
is great." Page 9 : " Man excites himself, God leads him," is 
now "The lightning flashes, the thunder roars." Page 99: In 
the place of " God is," we find, " I think, therefore I am." 
Even ancient history is wiped out. In a list of proper names 
Adam and Eve have given place to "Robert" and "Julie." 
Finally (for I have given enough examples) I find on page 
130, in the old editions: "If you transgress the command- 
ments of God, you will never fulfill the purpose for which you 
were put into the world." In the new editions: "If you 
transgress the laws of Nature, as to hygiene, you cannot do 
so with impunity." 

The Tour of France is a charming story of two little Alsa- 
tian boys, left orphans after the war of 1870 (it has reached 
its 326th edition). Their father, on his death-bed, asks the 
children to go to France. He prays to God to protect them 
and commits them to His care* In the revised editions (since 
1904) this prayer is left out, and afterward every allusion to 

Court dt Morale, par Jules Payot, Agregfc de Philosophic, Docteur es Lettres, page 193. 
Paris : Librairie Armand Colin, 5 rue de^ 



i9io.] THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE 617 

prayer or to God is effaced. In the course of their travels 
they see some beautiful churches, which make a great impres- 
sion upon them: Notre Dame de la Garde at Fourviere; 
Notre Dame in Paris; the Cathedral of Rheims. All mention 
of these is stricken out in the revised editions, and even an 
illustration of the Rheims cathedral gives place to a map of 
Champagne ! There is no God in heaven ; there are no 
churches on the earth. 

Another neutral schoolbook is called Lectures Courantes, by 
Guyan. The revised editions of this book (changed since 1902) 
have eliminated three poems by Victor Hugo and de Musset, 
and a sentence from Voltaire! Voltaire spoke of the soul; 
de Musset's poem was L'espoir en Dieu ; and Victor Hugo's 
was a wail over Metz and Strasburg and their altars! The 
mention of these latter made it obnoxious. I translate in prose 
the objectionable lines : " Honor, right, the altars where we 
kneel in prayer ; Lorraine and Alsace; all, all belong to thee, 
eternal France ! " 

The French Government has, indeed, degraded France. Even 
Victor Hugo, were he alive to-day, might think that Alsace 
and Lorraine are to be congratulated that they belong to Ger- 
many ; for churches and altars flourish on German soil, and 
not one stone will be left upon another in France, if the Radi- 
cal-Socialist power be at liberty to carry out to the end their 
work of destruction. Where there is no God there shall be no 
church and no altar ! 

That this war against God must end in the ruin of the 
country morally and politically there can be no doubt. 

Not long ago some anarchists were brought before the 
court of assizes in Paris, accused of being such. One of them 
said to the President of the Court, who was calling them to 
account severely for their doctrines and deeds : " But, Monsieur 
le President, these doctrines were taught us in our schoolbooks 
when we sat on the benches at school," and he recited from 
memory whole pages from the books introduced into the neutral 
schools by the Ligue de VEnseignement. 

When the anarchist Ferrer was shot, members of the French 
Ministry cried aloud: "He was our friend, he preached our 
doctrines." The French Government sympathized with a " dem- 
onstration " of Socialists and Anarchists, one of the leaders of 
which was a deputy wearing his official scarf. It was a meet- 



618 THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE [Feb., 

ing to protest against the execution of Ferrer. The mob 
threatened to attack the Spanish Embassy. When the police 
force opposed them, Monsieur Lepine, the prefect of police, 
was fired upon, one sergeant was killed and two seriously 
wounded. The following Sunday, a procession of from sixty to 
eighty thousand Socialists, Anarchists, and Revolutionaries 
marched through the streets of Paris. Although there is a law 
forbidding such public processions, and any religious demon- 
stration would be speedily repressed, the French troops called 
out to "keep order" marched with the procession, apparently 
in active sympathy with it. 

The Paris Daily Mail gave, the following day, an account 
of the procession from which I quote, as it mentions an " anti- 
religious" outburst, which came near to being very serious, and 
which shows that all this smoldering hatred may leap into a 
flame at any moment : 

jinking arms, they walked along shouting the " Carmag- 
nole," the "Internationale," and other revolutionary songs, 
punctuated with cries of "Vive Ferrer! " and even "Death 
to Alfonso XIII." There must have been at least one 
hundred thousand spectators in the streets. Everybody in 
Paris makes holiday on Sunday afternoon, and the people, 
having nothing better to do, flocked in thousands to see the 
soldiers and the procession. 

The most exciting incident of the day was a brief scrim- 
mage in the Tuileries Gardens, where a gang of young roughs 
made a wanton attack on an unoffending priest, who was 
peacefully taking the air. Some passers-by came to the 
priest's assistance, but not before the coat had been torn from 
his back, and a nervous citizen had fired two revolver shots, 
which brought up the mounted guards, who drew their 
sabres and promptly cleared the ground. 

In the morning six thousand Socialists, Anarchists, and 
Nihilists, held a mass meeting at Tivoli-Vauxhall, and made 
incendiary speeches against the Spanish Government and 
King Alfonso. The proceedings terminated with shouts of 
" A bas les Tyrans ! " and " Vive la Revolution Sociale ! " 

The members of the Paris police force have protested against 
the decision of the Municipal Council to adopt and bring up 
the grandchildren of Senor Ferrer, while they have done 
nothing for the families of the men who were shot during the 
riots last Wednesday evening. 



19 io.] THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE 619 

At a people's theatre in a rough and disorderly quarter of 
Paris, a play was put upon the stage three weeks after Ferrer's 
execution. Ferrer was the hero, and his trial and death were 
the events. At the end of the play there was a scene, where 
thirty or forty persons were brought upon the stage, dressed 
as Catholic priests and were ranged against a wall and shot, 
amid the frenzied delight of the audience. No one who re- 
members past horrors in France but must shudder at the dan- 
gerous possibilities of the future, seeing how history may re- 
peat itself. In one of the neutral schoolbooks the author says: 
" It is our duty to see that our country continues to radiate 
its enlightenment over the whole world, and that it shall spread 
abroad everywhere the generous and beneficent ideas of the 
Revolution." 

Fouquier-Tinville one day demanded of the Revolutionary 
tribunal the heads of the Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne. His 
request was granted. Their crime was "fanaticism." The 
Mother Superior said to him : " What do you mean by fana- 
ticism ? " He answered her: "Fanaticism is your attachment to 
the Catholic religion." 

These are, in a few words, some of the political dangers of 
the situation. It may not take a long time for a government 
whose army is badly demoralized, and whose working classes 
have been incited to lawlessness, to drift away to hopeless and 
dangerous anarchy. 

In speaking of the Radical rule during the last ten years, 
Monsieur Ernest Judet, whom the London Times calls " the 
most brilliant of French journalists," wrote recently in his 
paper, the Eclair: 

In 1909, as we look back upon the ravages which have been 
committed by the unbridled dictatorship of Radicalism let 
loose in all the Government services, we can measure all the 
ground that we have lost since July 14, 1898. The evil is so 
deep-seated that remedy can no longer be awaited from a 
mere return to the men whose fall was the signal for all these 
demagogic eccentricities. Whatever constitutional changes 
may be deemed imperative in order to establish the equilib- 
rium of the country, our first concern, our first duty, is to 
expel from Parliament that Radicalism which has been able 
to govern only by giving hostages to Collectivism and by 
lowering France in the eyes of the world to such a degree that 



620 THE WAR AGAINST RELIGION IN FRANCE [Feb. 

it the process were continued the day would inevitably arrive 
when she would be overwhelmed in a European cataclysm. 

If the next elections have any object or significance they 
must serve to complete the Radical defeat. Twelve years of 
a rl%ime of this kind are enough to make one sick. Let 
Radicalism be abolished forever, as it already is forever de- 
spised and discredited. 

Monsieur Judet is trying to save his country. The Bishops 
of France are trying to save the souls of the Catholic children 
of France from corruption. It is such men as these who are 
the only true patriots. 

The manifesto of the Bishops demanded that the public 
schools of France should be really neutral, and pointed out 
certain books as unfit to be put into the hands of Catholic chil- 
dren. The letter was written to Catholic parents urging upon 
them the duty to see that their children should have assured 
to them a Christian education, either in the school or outside 
of it, and to exact that this Christian education should not be 
condemned or set at naught by the oral teaching of instructors 
in the public schools or by books put into the hands of the 
children. 

Monseigneur Amette, Archbishop of Paris, has written to 
the parish priests of his diocese, a letter which concludes in 
these most significant terms: 

We are making no war upon the Republic. To assert that 
we cannot denounce a school of anti-religion without attack- 
ing the Republic, would be to declare that this rtgime has 
identified itself with impiety and atheism. We refuse to 
admit this, and we demand that the Republic shall apply in 
her schools one of the principles which she proclaims so loud- 
ly, namely, respect for liberty of conscience., 

The decadence of France under the present rule admits of 
no denial. The only thing that can save her from shipwreck 
is : that some influence, some power, may turn the tide at the 
next elections. She must surely drift toward anarchy if she 
keeps at her helm these men without compass or rudder, the 
mad fools who have proclaimed aloud : " There is no God ! " 




THE PROPHET'S MANTLE. 

BY HELEN HAINES. 
I. 

ILLYER knew it was but a step through the old 
turnstile in his ragged cypress hedge to the 
wider, more orderly spaces of the Fremleighs' 
grounds. And, as well as though he could see 
them, through all the intervening green tangle, 
that on the great southwest gallery, facing his smaller one, 
Archer and his wife would be seated now in the languorous 
Southern spring evening with their guest, Mrs. Grantham. 

He knew that Blaylock, ever loyal to a friend's friend, had 
taken the radiant creature to its tolerant heart even as it had 
tried to take him on his return last September for he had 
seen her flashing through its quiet streets like some brilliant 
bird startling the shadows of a forest. 

Yet an almost prophetic hesitancy had detained him, had 
kept him deferring his duty to dear Lucy Fremleigh's old 
school-friend. 

Even now, as Hillyer decided that to-night must "end it," 
he lingered finding comfort in the reflection that somehow 
Blaylock had always understood. This short walk of his, too, 
in the after-supper twilight, with a long black cigar, had as- 
sumed the proportions of a habit, even when it was not to 
serve as preface to a long night of work at his desk. As he 
walked, his thin fingers interlaced behind him, his clear cut 
scholar's face began to glow again with the peace of his inner 
communing. 

Back and forth he paced over the worn brick path, which 
wandered with decorous unevenness from the front gate where 
one end of the small stucco house parted the street wall ran 
past its galleried side-entrance, disappeared back among the 
forsythia and lilac bushes, and crept out drowsily in moss- 
covered patches on the other side of the house, to find the 



622 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

glory of the garden a great red rose tree propped up by a 
dilapidated arbor. 

The house had once been an office for some Colonial Frem- 
leigh, whose stately dame had resented any closer contamina- 
tion of her husband's dealings in tobacco. It had suited the 
tobacco-enriched Colonial, and, by a series of interior transi- 
tions, now suited Blair Hillyer, over two centuries later, be- 
cause he was carrying on the work of Professor Edward 
Thorndyke, and because of its proximity to the University of 
Blaylock and Hillyer's classes. 

Indeed it had become all a part of the literary legacy Blair 
Hillyer had found awaiting him, upon his arrival from long 
months of study abroad. He had returned to deliver the lec- 
tures on Psychical Research in the Glade Foundation at a 
great Northern college. It had meant crowded courses, in- 
creasing reputation, a widening influence for outside of Hill- 
yer's work on psychology, widely used as a text-book, it was 
known, by his contributions to recent periodical literature, that 
he had been dipping deeply in certain foreign pools. 

Instead he had turned his back upon all this, and had 
traveled south to his sedate old Alma Mater, because, on the 
day he had sailed from Liverpool, his dying friend and pro- 
fessor had scrawled a few lines to reach him at New York. 

"The drops have lost out," Edward Thorndyke had pain- 
fully written, " and I am going my task undone. It becomes 
yours." 

There had followed directions which Archer Fremleigh, 
Hillyer's classmate, and now Blaylock's Professor of Biology, 
had carried out; and then Hillyer had come, bearing with him, 
from Baltimore, Edward Thorndyke's ashes, and had himself 
deposited them, as was his old friend's wish, under the red rose 
tree, where for years the professor had worked and studied. 

Yet now Hillyer was not thinking of these grimmer details, 
nor of the great unfinished treatise he was pledged to, nor of 
the professor's classes in psychology, which in response to the 
university's anxious query he had temporarily undertaken but 
of a last broken line in the letter. 

It was for this that he had withdrawn from Blaylock's fes- 
tivities, and in an attitude of hushed expectancy had watched 
the fall and winter pass and spring come again had waited, 
had watched for what? He scarcely knew. 



19 io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 623 

Yet if Edward Thorndyke's words had meant anything 
they were the assurance of his future precious co-operation, 
some manifestation of his continuing personality after death. 

"Be watching," the letter had warned in closing. "If, 
afterwards, I am /, and I am potent, some message shall come 
to you." 

This was no promise of a pallid individuality, for the pro- 
fessor's had been a puissant soul imprisoned in a refractory 
body an affection of the heart causing him through life the 
greatest suffering. 

His last words, then, had not only set Blair Hillyer's thought 
soaring speculatively to the future, but had also forced it into 
a tender retrospect of their former relations. 

As an undergraduate, Hillyer had been slow to perceive 
his attraction to Edward Thorndyke, for the professor's soul 
never lost the power of flight, in spite of his body's humilia- 
tions, and dwelt in starry heights, apparently far removed from 
the wholesome energies of college life. 

In those earlier days it had seemed to the boy that it was 
the mystery surrounding a man who walked the world with 
death, that had challenged his own blunter chivalry. The 
very prelude to Thorndyke's lectures was an explanation of 
the use his hearers must make of the drug he carried always 
in case of need. " So," he would say, with a contented smile, 
to the strong, full-breathing youths before him. "So, I buy 
my life by the drop." Hillyer could recall even now the 
tense silence that followed his remarks, and the relief they all 
experienced when he turned to the subject for the day. 

Often they read agony in the mute, eloquent eyes, there 
were periods of enforced absence from the class room, and 
there came a terrible day when the drops were needed and 
when, in spite of them, he was carried home. 

But it was not until near the close of Hillyer's senior year, 
with the sudden death of his father, that the explanation 
came. His stricken mother demanded her boy's immediate re- 
turn to her. In his misery at the loss of his coveted honors 
the studious lad had fled from his books, from Fremleigh's well- 
meant advice, and had sought Edward Thorndyke. Hillyer 
would never forget that afternoon they spent together in the 
old rose arbor, the red blossoms swaying overhead in the soft 
breeze; for there, bewildered by life's first divided duty, he 



624 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

had plunged his head in his hands and wished he had never 
been born. 

The professor had offered no advice, but after a moment 
said gently : " You are young, Hillyer, to have merited the 
sweet franchise of suffering. You have crossed the threshold 
of experience." The youth raised his eyes wonderingly ; the 
elder man's dauntless spirit signalled from his own. " An im- 
mortal soul must take blithely its privilege of living. Any- 
where serves," he added. 

And then he impressed upon his listener the boundless sig- 
nificance of all natural things, the far effect of our thoughts 
and actions and their power to echo on through future gener- 
ations in the heart of man. 

As he spoke, Hillyer's consciousness awakened to the 
splendor of the shining day, to the insistent peace of the quiet 
garden, with its myriads of tiny lives, its odors, its voices. 
He felt one of that elemental brotherhood, and with this sud- 
den perception of life's responsibilities, strong in the primitive 
bond between nature and all humanity. 

Hillyer gave up his graduation, and returned to his home 
in the Virginia valley, to sit for months by the bedside of a 
dying woman. When, afterwards, he returned to Blaylock for 
his degree, he was a man, with a full comprehension of that 
debt second only to the parental one for he knew that Ed- 
ward Thorndyke had taught him how to think; that it was he 
who had marshaled his vague distrusts, chaotic impulses, and 
hazy aspirations, so that now they trooped in brave, disciplined 
array; that to him he owed that inner detachment from every- 
day exigencies, that clear vision of the unum necessarium % 
without which all life becomes blurred and purposeless. 

A scattering of the ash from his dead cigar arrested Hill- 
yer in his walk, and aroused him to the realization that his 
visit was still unpaid. He flicked his coat, tossing away the 
cigar, and with a sigh of resignation walked through the hedge. 

Darkness had descended from the shrouded stars, and the 
night was filled with the sweetness of earth's renewal. 

On the wide veranda, in the hospitable glow that streamed 
from open doors and windows, he could see now the three 
figures as he had pictured them. 

Fremleigh came part way down the steps to meet him, an 
exclamation of reproach withering on his lips at Hillyer's 



i9io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 625 

disarming allusion to his preoccupation, as Mrs. Fremleigh 
rose to greet him. 

" I have come from a far country, Lucy, to make a new 
friend," he said. 

Lucy Fremleigh laughed. " If I did not know the distance, 
Blair, I should chide you with being a trifle behind the rest 
of Blaylock." She presented him to her guest. 

Ada Grantham gave him her hand with a sinuous inclina- 
tion of her shapely head. Hillyer thought of the movement 
of a beautiful serpent; but the idea repelled him, when she 
raised her frank, gray eyes. 

"If it's to be a friendship, Professor Hillyer," she said 
graciously, "nothing can ever console us for the loss of all 
these days." 

Archer placed his friend in his own big wicker porch chair, 
and Hillyer, warming to his gentle welcome, leaned back 
gratefully, his eyes resting on Mrs. Grantham with the imper- 
sonal appreciation he would accord to any beautiful picture. 
Her slim hands idled in her lap her arms and shoulders 
gleaming white through misty chiffons, all her vivid beauty 
glowing, as the soft light from the house stole over her caress- 
ingly. 

" I don't know, Ada," Archer had stopped before her to 
say, " why Blair's intervals of aberration should ever surprise 
Lucy or me." Then Professor Fremleigh turned to glower 
threateningly over him. " If this is the way you're going on, 
what becomes of the restoration of our dear old companion- 
ship?" 

Blair smiled up at him with grave tolerance. "After all, 
Archer, the great fact is that I am here. You scientists beg 
us to stick to facts." 

" If you'd stick only to psychology," groaned Archer, 
drawing up another chair and sitting. 

"Ah! what's this?" 

"Archer's jealousy, Blair, of your newer interest psychical 
research " Lucy suggested. 

Mrs. Grantham now leaned forward vivaciously. "You see, 
Professor Hillyer, Archer has been moaning over your absorp- 
tion in your work. Your arrival has refuted some of his state- 
ments. He hasn't recovered yet, nor " she added confidentially 
"have we." 

VOL. xc. 40 



626 THE PROPHET'S MANTLED [Feb., 

"And what did Archer say, Mrs. Grantham ?" was Hillyer's 
half-amused query. 

She had bent her head to the violets in her bosom, and, 
as Hillyer watched her, he thought of a preening swan dip- 
ping to its white breast. This analogy better satisfied him. 

" Tell him, Lucy," she demanded brightly, " you can re- 
member all those big words." 

Archer grumbled. "Oh, come, girls, I am merely fearful 
that Blair's overworking." 

"Tell Professor Hillyer, Lucy," teased Ada. 

Lucy acquiesced. " Archer's contention is always the same, 
Blair that no specialist should take up even a cognate branch, 
unless he can deduce from it some beneficent result for the 
use of mankind." 

Hillyer was mildly enjoying Fremleigh's discomfiture. "But 
how do you all know I won't ? " he asked, looking from one 
to the other. 

" Well, I know Archer won't," laughed Mrs. Grantham. 
" His ' cognate branch ' has led him to experiment for months 
to change the colors of some of Lucy's plants, by pouring 
things he calls nitrates solutions of this or that chemical at 
their roots." 

" And what has been the beneficent result, Archer ? " Hill- 
yer asked dryly. 

" It has given Ada amusement," his host retorted; "though 
I confess I had hoped she would absorb a little information." 

Mrs. Grantham's red lips parted into laughter. " Oh, I 
acknowledge I have no role to play among learned folk. One 
either must know or love to know." A beguiling gesture of 
her open palms softened her attack. " I don't know and I 
hate information ! " 

Lucy sighed playfully. " You have no imagination Ada. 
Think of the new aesthetic possibilities a red lawn, perhaps, 
with a border of green violets." 

" Oh, but I have thought 1 It's all their sacrifice ! " her 
friend exclaimed. " The poor things ask only to be fed in 
the usual way the rain, the dew and a little light from 
heaven." 

A note of sweet pity in her voice smote Hillyer's sensi- 
tive spirit and sent it vibrating. " A little light from heaven," 
he echoed. "That is all any of us need, Mrs. Grantham." 



I9io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 627 

His thought sped off to the professor's promise, his work call- 
ing him irresistibly, and he rose to go. 

Fremleigh linked his arm in his friend's and sauntered off 
with him, murmuring in his ear practical advice on the folly 
of candle-burning at both ends. " And Blair," he said, " we 
must see something of you before you flit to wider reaches." 

Safe in the shelter of his own pure secret, Hillyer smiled 
to himself in the darkness. "Why do you think I will go? 
There is work to be done in Blaylock." 

" Oh, you belong to the big world," fretted Archer. " Blay- 
lock can't help you." 

" It has kept you " 

" Can you fancy the university without a Fremleigh ? My 
tendrils are too deep to be uprooted anyway till the boy 
grows up." 

They had entered Hillyer's study. He looked towards an 
old mahogany escritoire, its open desk-lid strewn with papers. 
" It kept Aim," he suggested reverently. " If a man has any- 
thing to say, Archer, he will be heard from Blaylock." 

Fremleigh was soothed by this allegiance. He nodded 
towards Hillyer's desk. 

"How much more is there? How are you getting on?" 

Blair pushed up the lid and pulled out one after another 
three deep drawers underneath. As he did so, a peculiar pun- 
gent odor escaped into the room. 

Archer knelt beside his friend, looking over the pages of 
the new manuscript, the neat, indexed packages of notes which 
the drawers contained. 

" I'm beginning to see the end," Hillyer said quietly. 

"You've done wonders wonders!" was Fremleigh's com- 
ment. "Oh you must be the right man for it! Thorndyke 
knew. Archer stood erect again as Hillyer closed the drawers. 
" How the odor of that drug he used impregnates everything, 
Blair. Poor chap ! towards the last it was blood, and bone, 
and muscle to him." 

" Ah ! he must have longed to finish ! " Hillyer replied, fol- 
lowing his friend out on the gallery. 

A few fugitive drops scattering on the roof hurried Frem- 
leigh away. 

Hillyer came inside, unlocked the glass doors of the escri- 
toire over the desk, and, drawing from the shelves a reference 
book, arranged his light and his papers for work. 



628 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

The night was intensely still, all nature awaiting with long- 
ing receptivity the tranquil rain. 

Hillyer crossed the room to look out for an instant's in- 
spiration towards the rose tree where his master's ashes lay. 
"Just a little light from heaven," he repeated slowly, returning 
to his desk. Then he sat there to work far into the night, to 
the comforting patter of raindrops outside. 

II. 

Sheer fatigue the following morning forced Hillyer, on his 
way to his classes, to consider his friend's admonition. Perhaps 
Fremleigh was right, and he had been scrupulously overzeal- 
ous. He acknowledged that the little visit of the evening be- 
fore had been recreative, and for the first time began to ques- 
tion the wisdom of his isolation; his neglect of all the social 
endearments of a community where the joy or sorrow of the 
individual is the sorrow or joy of the sympathetic whole. 

He compared his consuming greed for work with Edward 
Thorndyke's careful conservation of a feebler manhood that 
had made him so effectual. 

Here, too, with one old servant, had the professor lived 
alone as Hillyer now was doing but of all men had been the 
least forlorn. Denied by his frail body many normal diver- 
sions, he had so keen a consciousness of species, so sweet an 
apprehension of all life and endeavor, that every smallest thing 
was attuned to this rare sympathy. All nature spoke to him 
in friendliest intercourse: the great, the humble, even little chil- 
dren, were his friends, and the most casual student of his sub- 
ject found time to bring to him the latest undergraduate news. 

The comparison so disadvantaged Hillyer, that he reached 
the university with a resolve to descend a little from his de- 
corous levels; to relinquish his contemplative early evening 
stroll ; to compromise with Archer by smoking their cigars to- 
gether, before Blaylock's social demands should encroach upon 
their fellowship. 

This concession Archer proclaimed to his wife some even- 
ings afterwards as his victory. 

Lucy was tucking in her boy for the night. "But I don't 
see why you insisted so just now, Archer." 

From the foot of the child's crib Fremleigh commiserated 
her density. "Because just now we've a big counter-attrac- 
tion to Blair's work the interruption he needs. If you real- 



19 io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 629 

ized all he's accomplished! Yes"; he added complacently, 
"we're offering him a big diversion, when we offer Ada 
Grantham." 

Lucy's clear brow wrinkled. " Oh ! Ada as a diversion / 
But, my dear, what will Blair be for Ada?" 

Fremleigh, a trifle disconcerted, kissed the boy and made off 
down stairs rather abruptly. This little wife of his, with her 
prompt irrelevances, had a way of surprising his boundaries, 
which all his years of microscopic fidelity to life's lower organ- 
isms had never seemed to widen. 

But though Archer shrugged as he left her, in his heart 
there sounded a vague alarm, when he saw his friend and his 
wife's guest wandering together in the garden. Briefly reviewing 
Blair's other little evenings, he found that, somehow, Ada had 
dominated them all. With her vitalizing touch an animated 
word here or a sparkling jest there she had wrought her 
values. 

And now, as they strolled towards him from out the bud- 
ding bushes, he could hear Blair talking of his work. " You 
must remember, Mrs. Grantham," he heard his friend say, " that 
Archer, as a biologist, or indeed any scientist, has the advan- 
tage over us. He controls the conditions under which he works, 
while the element we deal with is evanescent, uncontrollable." 

"I suppose, Professor Hillyer," was her light reply, "there 
is no counting upon how a thought may misbehave in one's 
absence." 

They stood beside Archer now, Hillyer smiling. "No; it 
may even escape altogether as those I left just now." He 
gave a half-regretful sigh, turning towards his friend to accept 
a cigar and a light. 

Fremleigh considered a moment, as Lucy appeared and they 
all disposed themselves on the gallery. If Ada would span 
such openings with her trivial threads the chasm must be 
widened. She must be shown how alien were Blair's real con- 
cerns. "You'll find your thoughts and more, I fancy, Blair, in 
the professor's notes," he comforted. 

Hillyer grew serious. He left Mrs. Grantham's side and 
leaned against the railing. " They are wonderful, Archer ; so vo- 
luminous, yet so clear; and then again, with beautiful generosity, 
he has merely indicated the trend hoping that I may bring 
some new light to the variants." 



630 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

t It was Lucy who asked then whether Professor Thorndyke 
had chosen the same elusive subject. 

"The same subject, but is it so elusive?" Hillyer asked 
quickly "this 'Triumph of Personality,' as the work is to be 
called?" Then he turned to include Mrs. Grantham : "The 
triumph of personality over death you understand. It is what 
you would call my ' cognate branch.' " He smiled as he spoke, 
although he became acutely aware of a change in her whole 
harmonious attitude; but a remark of Lucy's claimed him. 

"We know that it does triumph," she said. 

" Certainly that has been our whole religious teaching ; but 
psychical research is trying to prove it." He was walking slow- 
ly up and down now, his fine eyes alight, and talking with all 
the fervor of an apostle. " You've all followed what has been 
done, you are familiar with me in print, how fairly I've tried 
to represent all the aspects of the telepathic, the spiritistic 
theories their claims to authenticated evidence." 

Fremleigh's interest was now thoroughly aroused. He had 
entirely forgotten Mrs. Grantham. " Yes, Hillyer " ; he an- 
swered. " But I think we should know just how you stand 
now." 

Hillyer paused. "It is like tuning one stringed instrument 
to another. There can be no consonance without. Then, too, 
there is the possibility that an enthusiast may explain as a 
message from the other world what to another would be expli- 
cable by some other cause." He was silent a moment. " But 
I do firmly believe this, Archer that if by exceptional purity 
in this life a departed soul has earned the right to pierce the 
veil, it could never need the intervention of tranced humanity." 

" And Professor Thorndyke ? " 

"He goes even further," Hillyer went on. "Recognizing 
the indissoluble union between man and nature, he suggests 
that the manifestations may frequently do occur in some na- 
ture change, are indeed waiting there for us, if only our souls 
are open to receive are in tune." 

Hillyer's voice died away, his thought with his dead friend's 
promise. He walked back and forth the whole long gallery. 

A servant came and went, handing to Professor Fremleigh 
the cards of visiting students. 

He glanced at them absently, rising as he did so. "But, 
Hillyer, that's getting back to pantheism. The question is how 



i9io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 631 

such manifestations concern us you, I, Ada, Lucy all hu- 
manity ? " 

" Why, we have a tremendous concern with them," Hillyer 
paused to answer with enthusiasm, but realizing that he was 
pressing his point chiefly because of Mrs. Grantham's persistent 
silence. " The scientific assurance of immortality will stop this 
creeping paralysis of materialism. It will be the proof of faith " 

" Ah, Blair," protested Lucy, " if you reduce faith to a 
scientific fact, it becomes a material, not a spiritual asset." 

Archer walked off with a laugh. " I've always thought," 
he wheeled about to say, " that if the three wise men had 
been three wise women^ the history of Christian evidence would 
have been made more convincing." 

"Archer!" expostulated his wife to his retreating back. 

Mrs. Grantham, smilingly silent, had leaned back in her 
chair with closed eyes. Hillyer was filled with an intense de- 
sire to penetrate this defense. " Pardon me, Mrs. Grantham," 
he said with gentle deference, as he sat beside her, " but you 
have said nothing." 

She opened her eyes, and they rested upon him inscrutably. 
"It is because I have nothing to say. It all seems so so 
unimportant to me, for what I want is life life/" She re- 
peated the words in a low intense voice. 

" You ! " he cried involuntarily. 

" And why not ? " she asked sitting upright, her beauty 
accentuated by her seriousness. " You, Professor Hillyer, have 
these thoughts they absorb you. It is your work, your life. 
Archer has his microscope, his experiments, Lucy, the boy. 
Lucy has the home, the boy, Archer." There was a moment's 
silence. " Oh, Lucy ! " she cried, " you and Archer have too 
much ! " 

Little Mrs. Fremleigh rustled happily. " Perhaps we have, 
Ada," she said with deep content. 

" Fie, Mrs, Grantham ! " exclaimed Hillyer, thoroughly 
aroused ; " life, forsooth ! with youth, beauty, possessions, and 
the tender memories surrounding your husband's " 

" I bear his name," she corrected coldly. " But I have no 
memories; unless they be of a little orphaned girl, nurtured 
by schools and paid attendants, and married to her dying 
guardian because he advised the protection of his name and 
fortune. If that is life I have lived." 



632 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

From overhead came the clamorous crying of Lucy's child. 
But the mother paused to hover tenderly at her friend's side. 
"No, dear Ada"; she said, "that isn't life." 

Mrs. Grantham and Hillyer sat silently on, listening to the 
mother's cooing lullaby above, to the contented answering 
crooning of the little one. They watched all the familiar gar- 
den stretches retreat mysteriously, enfolded by the quick gath- 
ering dusk of the South the sudden silvering of tree plumes, 
the gradual return of the garden robbed of its sombre pall, as 
the moon climbed up over the house. 

Blair's voice sounded strange and unfamiliar, as it woke 
the stillness. "Are you not rather ignoring opportunity, Mrs. 
Grantham ? " 

" Oh, I know you cannot agree with me," she despaired. 
Her slender fingers wreathed her knees, her voice was appeal- 
ing, as she leaned towards him. "But I thought you might 
understand." 

" Tell me and I will try," he answered submissively though 
you have been warned by this time of my remoteness." 

" While I am merely suburban." She tried to laugh with 
all her gay assurance, but it faded before the warmth of her 
earnestness. " There lies my complaint. My chances mock 
me. I come so near to being, to tread forever the outskirts. 
I only peep in upon others' happiness full, full lives like 
Archer's and Lucy's " 

Mrs. Grantham paused a moment, but all Hillyer's ready 
arguments seemed to desert him. 

" Yet I have an infinite capacity for joy," she pursued ; 
" a boundless desire to feel. Oh, believe me ! " she cried from 
her deepest heart, " I have faith enough, love enough, belief 
enough, to suffer if need be, for the sake of the experience." 

" But not for its deeper lesson ? " he philosophized. 

Mrs. Grantham shivered and drew back. "Don't prate to 
me of renunciation." 

" There life begins," was his grave reply. 

She regarded him bitterly. "And you mean to tell me, 
then, that I am living ? " 

Hillyer returned home strangely troubled. He understood, 
with all the ardor of the studious recluse, the mystical sweet- 
ness of life as a preparation, life to be suffered for its incom- 
parable future splendor. But Hie, tempest-tossed, suffering, its 



i9io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 633 

sole reward in the tempest, in the suffering, clashed with all 
his finer theories. 

He bent again over his notes, expecting to write far into 
the night, but between him and his deeper thought there hung 
a filmy barrier. The merest gossamer it seemed, as he thought 
in the ensuing days to disperse it by some glistening argument, 
but the fabric spread, spun of all the fine enchantments of a 
woman's weaving. Once in a dream he saw it a cobweb built 
of her laughter, but all the dewy drops it had ensnared were 
tears. 

What was, at first, his reason's pity for her poor philosophy, 
grew to be a wonderment whether all his beliefs were but 
dear prejudices, which further contact with hers might dissi- 
pate. If his truths were truths, he knew they must serenely 
conquer but this humble- mindedness became his fair excuse 
to watch for the accidental meeting, the lambent glance, the 
intimate word, that hushed the dread whispering of his own 
reproach, the silent eloquence of his unfertile desk, and so en- 
shrined this friendship. 

All these little intervals converged towards one perfect day, 
when Hillyer, chancing by the Fremleighs' on his way to din- 
ner, met Mrs. Grantham arriving from some festivity in Lucy's 
carriage. 

Blaylock was all ablush with roses now, transformed as is 
a plain woman at her lover's approach. 

Ada, coming down the narrow street, sat enthroned in the 
old-fashioned vehicle, a festal, diaphanously garbed goddess, on 
whom the bright, high sun seemed glad to shine. 

Hillyer paused, as he said, to offer incense; but she be- 
sought permission to return to earth, and he gave her his hand 
with a bantering word upon her pleasure quest 

"Shall I tell you a secret Blaylock's secret?" she gaily 
whispered, stepping down beside him. 

He bent a discreet ear. 

" I've been made the pretext for Blayloctfs own frivolity." 

He lowered his voice, catching her mood. "I believe you, 
Mrs. Grantham. I had to bar my door. There is no other 
way." 

" Oh, yes there is " ; was her sprightly answer. " I am go- 
ing away." 

Like a puff of thistledown the airy tissue vanished. Hill- 
yer ceased to think, borne on by the sweet, sentient blue that 



634 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

spread through every fibre of his being. " But you must have 
more to tell me ? " 

The color surged up from her white throat, flushing the 
blue-veined temples and tiny ears. He watched it with a fine 
perception of his own technique, wondering vaguely at his 
skill. 

Her white lids trembled and lifted, disclosing her eyes that 
deepened now to his. "Why?" she asked, "since now you 
understand." 

Wise Lucy, watching this little episode from the nursery 
windows, shook her head gravely at her husband over the fluffy, 
bobbing curls of her baby boy. Archer always arranged his 
home-coming before their two o'clock dinner, to marvel freshly 
each day over the pair the child dewy-eyed, awake from his 
long morning nap their confidences, their tender unanimity, 
the certain deftness with which this dimpled, active little per- 
son was fetchingly arrayed. Each day Archer wondered how 
Lucy had attained this maternal dexterity but the superlative 
moment for the father was when she held the boy at arm's 
length and surveyed him with misty eyes, and then, gathering 
all her sweet handiwork, crushed it rapturously to her breast. 

The performance for the day was over. From this em- 
brace the child had strugglingly emerged, and with gay bab- 
blings had disappeared with his nurse and Lucy had smoothed 
with her neat touch the great, sunny, happy room. 

Fremleigh put his arm about her, as they prepared to join 
their guest. " Why did you shake your head, little woman ? " 
he asked of her. 

" Oh," she answered, " it would never do 1 " Then she 
added regretfully : " And each is separately so fine ! " 

" Then, together" began Archer laughing, " by all laws " 

" Laws I " Why, Archer dear, Blair and Ada are people." 

III. 

But Hillyer and Mrs. Grantham seemed to want for noth- 
ing, when they met that evening, too close they seemed, as 
Ada had said, for need of further revelations. She asked 
neither protestations nor avowals, content to sip the froth of 
her joy. And Hillyer, walking by her side in the moonlit 
garden, was strangely satisfied, stirred by her near presence to 
forget the haunting consciousness of his awful eternal self, that 
ever in his loneliness beckoned to his abandoned work. 



19 io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 635 

They had come to the limits of the garden, to the hedge 
that marked the boundary. " Ah," said Ada pausing with an 
exultant sigh, " life, life at last ! " 

He folded her hands in his, and looked into her eyes. 
" Poets call it by another name," he smiled. 

"The poor things must consider their metre," she rippled, 
safe in the embrace of this tender shore. Then she glided out 
to deeper currents. " Whatever comes, we have lived all this 
together." 

He did not answer, thrilled into silence by all her warm 
beauty. In the simplicity of Lucy's old-fashioned garden she 
was like some exotic bloom exhaling all the mysterious witch- 
ery of the night. 

A shred of laughter, floating between voices, was borne out 
to them on the night air. 

Ada withdrew her hands. " Those dear people have come 
to say good bye I leave in the morning." She lingered near 
him with shy eyes upraised. " When will you follow ? " 

"You forget," he answered wearily, "that I have a great 
task here." 

"Here! in Blaylock?" she rallied him. "What? Dine all 
one's life at two o'clock ? " Then, startled by his apathy, she 
stumbled on : " Why, you can finish as well anywhere after- 
wards with me ! " She clasped her hands, struggling against 
a vague foreboding. " A great wise world is waiting for you 
outside, and there in your fame I, too, will find light and 
warmth." 

Hillyer folded his fingers behind him, regarding her im- 
passively. Mrs. Grantham grew pitiful. " No dead man's 
wishes should interfere with the living " 

It stung him to loyal speech. "He would be the last to 
ask it." 

She drew closet to him. " But now everything's changed" 
she reminded him pleadingly ; " and and you would owe it 
to me to make me happy. 

" Yes " ; he murmured after her, trance-like. " I would owe 
it to you to make you happy." 

"Then, go," she cried imperiously, "set about you prepara- 
tions, pack your notes, your books Blaylock casts a spell upon 
you, leave it come with me." 

He started apart from her as one roughly awakened. 
" To-morrow ? " 



636 THE PROPHET'S MANTLE [Feb., 

She walked a little way from him, but returned such 
patience must she show to this dear dreamer. A tiny time- 
piece, fashioned like a pearl heart, hung from a chain of pearls 
about her neck. She held it towards him now in the moon- 
light, pointing to the hands. " In a little while the others will 
be gone; but if you are not here in an hour," she warned 
playfully, " I'll know " she faltered, his silent, pale face stay- 
ing her speech ; and summoning all her pride, she turned and 
left him. 

Hillyer, dazed, stood looking after her as she slipped away, 
a mere thread of white now off among the roses. He tried to 
call, but he was a poor dumb thing, standing silent with out- 
stretched, empty hands, all his pent thought struggling to be 
free. In this love, a fettering thing, must he trail his high 
emprise through the dust of her triumphal marches; but so 
desolate he seemed now in the garish light, that he started to do 
her bidding, to hurry it and then to find her again in an hour. 

He entered the study and opened his neglected desk. 
From it there came the breath of the imprisoned odor. It 
carried him back to that day when life first took him by the 
hand, through all his years of preparation, to these later 
months of work, to the calm of his great awaiting. 

Then, with a great onrushing, came the thought of Ada 
bearing away all duty, all thought, his innermost self in its 
molten flood. 

Hillyer closed the desk and sought again the outer cool- 
ness, following mechanically the old path to the arbor. He 
reflected hazily that the roses would be blooming now over 
Edward Thorndyke's resting-place. He had not visited the 
hallowed spot since that evening when the twigs were tipping 
green when he had first met her. "Just a little light from 
heaven," she had said ; but the light he had looked for had 
been withheld. Hillyer paused suddenly. What if the profes- 
sor had sent his message, and his soul had been untuned ! 
The idea filled him with a deep sense of his unworthiness. 
With a groan he raised his head as if to compel some sign 
from out the radiant night and then he saw that the rose 
tree was, indeed, in flower, but that every bloom was white. 

A deep peace enveloped him as with a garment, and he 
entered the old arbor. 

The song birds were calling in the dews of morning when 
he awoke from his vigil. 



19 io.] THE PROPHET'S MANTLE 637 

IV. 

Mrs. Grantham went as she had come, gaily Blaylock 
paying tribute as far as the railway station and only Lucy 
guessing the secret of the wistful shadows in her eyes. 

Fremleigh and his wife, returning home, parted from the 
other friends at their own quiet street. " After all," he re- 
flected, "it will be pleasant to settle down to work again." 
The sun was high and hot, and he clasped his fingers over 
Lucy's on the handle of her parasol, raising it a little to 
shade them both. "Blair must have had a class. I noted he 
.wasn't down." 

" No "; answered Lucy, "poor Ada." 

Her husband glanced down at her wondering, but she of- 
fered him no light. At Hillyer's wall she left his side, paus- 
ing suddenly, and called: "Why, Archer, what could have 
happened to the old rose tree where Professor Thorndyke's 
ashes lie. See, the roses are all white ! " 

Fremleigh turned back, curious, puzzled. Then they walked 
on together slowly, past Hillyer's house, with its street eyes 
shut against the glare, past his gate and other garden strip, 
to the wall that fronted their own grounds. 

Then Archer's face cleared. " My dear girl," he said de- 
lightedly, speaking in the authoritative way he had when on 
his own subject, " that rose change is but another proof of 
my experiments with plant colorings. If only we had not 
driven to the station and Ada could have seen this! Thorn- 
dyke's heart stimulant has so permeated his whole system 
that its chemical constituents, left in his ashes, have wrought 
the change." 

"You will have to write a paper, dear," said Lucy absently. 

They entered their front gate and found the boy playing 
with his nurse among the flowers. He toddled towards them, 
offering wilted tributes. His father tossed him high and 
perched him, crowing happily, upon his shoulder. 

Lucy's heart warmed to the joy of all her precious posses- 
sions, to pity for those who held no keys to life's mysteries. 
"Oh, Archer," she cried, "how simple all life is just love 
and faith and work." 

With their boy in his arms, he stooped and kissed her. 




AN INSTITUTION ALONG NEW LINES. 

UR large cities have grown and are growing stead- 
ily, and with that growth the population has 
become more and more cosmopolitan. Cities 
like New York have districts to which are 
drawn separate nationalities, and soon each dis- 
trict becomes identified with the nationality that populates it. 
This is seen in the great Jewish section of the East Side, the 
Italian districts of the lower East Side and Upper Harlem, 
the Syrian settlement in lower Manhattan, and in the French 
section in the middle West Side. As the process of assimila- 
tion progresses, these people become more and more imbued 
with the American spirit. They spread out, and the national- 
istic lines become more and more loosely drawn, as is seen 
in the case of the Irish and Germans who have practically 
drifted away from the " district " idea. Here is an evidence 
of the broadening American spirit, offering freedom of life 
and effort to all alike ; the spirit of democracy welcoming the 
alien, and by its beneficent influence building up a new race 
a composite of the types of the world. The great public 
and parochial school systems have done much to mold together 
all these different elements, by educating the children of these 
peoples, and bringing into the family homes the ideals of 
democracy. The training and education of the young has, 
therefore, played an important part in the molding process. 

With such a composite population there exists a greater 
need of institutions for the care of the young, the less fortu- 
nate offspring of those weaker ones who have fallen behind 
in the march of progress. As a result we have orphanages 
and various correctional or disciplinary institutions. Hereto- 
fore, the institution has limited its usefulness to the physical 
and moral well-being of the child and has made no pronounced 
effort to specialize, as it were, and to develop it on individ- 
ualistic lines, or for special pursuits in life. What we say 
here is not said in any way for the purpose of criticism, since 
we all know that the records of our institutions deserve to be 



19 io.] AN INSTITUTION ALONG NEW LINES 639 

blazoned out in brilliant letters of gold, but it is simply a 
statement of the change in ideals and of the trend of the times 
towards a more enlightened policy in the educational training 
of the dependent child. 

The old method of caring for large groups of children, of 
feeding, clothing, and teaching them the three " R's," though 
eminently practical and economical as regards expense, has 
hardly met the problem in the true American spirit. There 
has been something lacking, and that something has been the 
inability to reach the individual. 

All men agree that the ideal condition and environment 
for the child is the home, surrounded by the safeguards that 
only parental love and affection know so well how to provide. 
Here we find the individualistic training in its fullest and 
highest development, as a consequence of which the child 
grows and develops in the ways nature intended it should. 
The greatest and best of all institutions, therefore, is the home. 
Now, what is the nearest substitute to that home ? 

The Catholic Institutions and their managers are alive to 
the needs of the times in the care and development of the 
children entrusted to them, and this is shown in the inaugu- 
ration of the new Lincoln Agricultural School at Lincolndale, 
Westchester County, New York the outcome of a long and 
most careful consideration of the best and most enlightened 
methods of child-caring and child-training. The Board of 
Managers of this School, all of whom are prominent Catholic 
gentlemen of New York, have given over the direction of the 
new work to the Christian Brothers, whose success in the 
education of youth all the world acknowledges, and here a 
practical working demonstration of the new idea of training 
children in small or family groups will be given. 

Here the individual will be the first consideration. He will 
be the object of personal study. The child can no longer be 
considered a cog in the machinery, but must be reckoned with 
as a world within himself a great power for good or evil. 
What, then, is the first step to get on a working basis? It is 
small numbers of children. This will permit those who are oc- 
cupying the place of the parents to know the child personally 
and individually to be informed as to its parental history, its 
early environment, and the immediaie cause of its dependency. 
With this knowledge, one is able to be in close touch with 



640 AN INSTITUTION ALONG NEW LINES [Feb., 

the child's strength, its weakness, its capabilities, and its limi- 
tations, and the knowledge will enable those who have the 
child in their care to guide and start it aright in life, properly 
prepared to meet the exigencies that must arise daily and to 
cope with them intelligently and courageously. 

The time to help the child, then, is during childhood. 
That is the formative period of its life, when the foundation 
of character and individuality is to be laid. Childhood is the 
time to teach it high ideals, and above all, to be near enough 
to it to create an atmosphere of love and affection. This done, 
the child is on a par with the more fortunate one who has 
never been deprived of parental care and guidance. 

As individual development is in this new departure the de- 
sideratum towards which all energies are to be directed, so in 
its growth, the numbers of children to be cared for will con- 
tinue to be limited to the capacity which the organization 
possesses to reach and hold the individual whether the num- 
bers bring the children into one group or into separate groups 
or units, does not matter, provided the principle be adhered 
to. The real home environment will thus be preserved and 
the child can grow up under as nearly normal home influences 
as can possibly be attained. There are no walls about the 
home, so in the new method of dealing with the dependent 
child, the idea of confinement must be eradicated, and the 
child must be led to see that it is here for education and 
training rather than for humiliating discipline. The dietary 
must not be too religiously or painfully regular; it should be 
ever changing, plentiful, and served in real home fashion. 
This entails greater expense, but in the end it pays hand- 
somely in the development of the child, physically and men- 
tally. In the class-room, small numbers should again prevail, 
so that each pupil may receive the attention it needs. (This 
is a most important feature, for it is a sad fact that many 
children coming to institutions have been much neglected in 
their early training, and so require more attention than the 
child that has never left its own home). 

In the vocational training, the specialized efforts of the new 
departure, the Agricultural Department, practical farming and 
model dairying are taught systematically and efficiently, so 
that every boy may be equipped with an occupation which 
will be a life- work for him. 



1 9 io.] AN INSTITUTION ALONG NEW LINES 641 

The question may be asked : What becomes of the boy 
after he has thus been built up physically, received a good 
common school education, after he has been provided with an 
industrial training, and been a practical farmer and dairyman, 
is he then left to shift for himself ? By no means. A special 
bureau is maintained, the work of which is to provide homes 
and positions for every one of these boys. Catholic families 
in the rural districts are only too willing to welcome capable 
and trained workers, and not only to pay them fair wages 
from the beginning, but also to receive them into their house- 
holds as members of the family. 

To put the matter even more briefly than we have put it, 
the new idea means the normalizing of the child developing 
the individual by cultivating the good and repressing the evil; 
showing the value and advantage of home life by actually liv- 
ing it; educating the child's mind and hands to be useful to 
be self-respecting, self-supporting, to be just the ordinary citi- 
zen who respects himself, his home, his neighbor, and his 
country. 



VOL, xc. 41 




SrONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS. 

BY DOM BEDE CAMM, O.S.B. 

[ERTAINLY for a place of pilgrimage it would be 
difficult to imagine a spot more beautiful and 
romantic than Stonor Park, the seat of Lord 
Camoys, head of the great Catholic family of 
Stonor. 

It is situated some five miles north of the famous riverside 
town, Henley-on-Thames, and lies in Oxfordshire, indeed, but 
so close to the Buckinghamshire border that the boundary line 
on the south and east runs along the outskirts of the woods 
that crown the heights above the house. 

It is attractive for more reasons than one ; for its own 
picturesque beauty, for the long and honorable descent of the 
family that has owned it since the Norman conquest, and for 
the fact that it has ever remained Catholic, boasts of a chapel 
in which the Protestant service has never once been said, and 
has been the home of one illustrious martyr, and, in time of 
bitter persecution, the refuge of another yet more famous. 

It was, therefore, with feelings of unusual joy that the 
pilgrim found himself one bright autumn day making his way 
to Stonor. Would he not have the privilege of offering the Holy 
Sacrifice within walls seven centuries old, beneath a roof that 
had never echoed to any other sounds but the solemn chants 
and sacred words of the Latin liturgy ? Was he not to see a 
place which had been so dear a home to the Blessed Adrian 
Fortescue, Knight of St. John and martyr for the faith, and as 
sure a refuge to the Blessed Edmund Campion, the glory of 
Oxford and of the Society of Jesus ? 

So, with glad heart, he leaves behind him the fair wide 
river, gleaming bright in the sunshine, and drives quickly down 
the stately avenue, well called "The Fair Mile," that stretches 
straight as a dart, northward from the town. The five-mile 
drive seems long until the little village is reached at last, and 
the carriage pauses at the park gates. And then the beauties 



1 9 io.] STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 643 

of the park unfold themselves. The drive curves round to the 
left and the great house lies before us. 

Very fair and stately it looks, stretching out before us on 
the hillside, built in the form of an E, with the Church ad- 
joining the eastern wing. And yet there was a dash of dis- 
appointment in the view. The house, though undoubtedly 
ancient, has been sadly modernized in the dark days of the 
eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The picturesque gables 
have gone, gone are the mullioned windows, gone the old 
front of timber, brick, and flint which Leland saw. Ugly 
modern sash windows, more suitable for a factory than for 
such a mansion, deface the fa9ade, and there is little left to 
tell of antiquity but the general outline of the building, and 
the porch with its carving and statuary. And here, indeed, 
as we drive nearer, and pass from the deer-park into the en- 
closure of lawn and garden which surrounds the front of the 
house, we see something that almost compensates for all the 
rest. For in the gable over the porch is still seen the stone 
image of our Blessed Lady keeping watch over the house. 
She stands upon the crescent-moon, and her hands are folded 
in prayer. She has stood there through the bright days and 
the dark, and, as a member of the family said "we hope 
we are under her special protection." As we gazed on this 
glad symbol of faith, we thought of Blessed Edmund Campion, 
drawn on his hurdle towards Tyburn, and striving with his 
fettered hands to make obeisance to the image of our Lady 
of Newgate, which still stood above the arch under which he 
passed. How his brave heart must have been cheered and 
gladdened by the sight of our Lady of Stonor, how often 
must he have bared his head to greet her during those secret, 
breathless months, while the printing-press, hidden under the 
.gables, was laboring out the burning words which were to put 
the adversary to silence and to shame ! 

And there again to the right of us is the little Church of 
the Most Holy Trinity and St. Amand, which has stood there 
since the days of the third Edward, and now, under the seventh 
Edward, is still the abode of the Most Holy. Happy little 
church, more happy than any of the great cathedrals which 
make England so famous ! Here then, where Mary has lin- 
gered, almost alone in all this desolate land, here where Jesus 
in His Blessed Sacrament has deigned to dwell through seven 



644 STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS [Feb., 

centuries of sunshine and of storm, who can distress himself 
about mere antiquarian details, or fret over the loss of ex- 
ternals when the essential has been preserved ? 

Still, it must be acknowledged that it is with a pang that 
the eager pilgrim first enters the little Church of the Most 
Holy Trinity of Stonor. For think what it might have been ! 
Of course reflection should have warned him not to expect too 
much. In the perilous days of Elizabeth and James and Crom- 
well, how could it be possible that a papist chapel should pre- 
serve the splendors of its past intact ? Who could expect to 
find the sacred pyx still hanging under its canopy before the 
fourteenth century altar; the statues set up in 1349 still smil- 
ing from their niches in 1909; the screen^ with the Holy Rood 
and Mary and John still spanning the sanctuary as of yore; 
the storied glass unbroken ; the frescoes undefaced ? 

Alas ! the whole sad truth must be told there is absolutely 
nothing left ! The very tracery is gone from the windows, the 
tesselated pavement has been torn up, not a fragment of ancient 
glass, not a trace of medieval fresco, not a piscina, not an 
altar, not a statue, not a wreck or a fragment remains from 
the ages of faith. The new broom of a drastic restoration has 
swept away every trace of antiquity left by the heretical foe; 
and the lovers of the past have to mourn a loss irreparable. 

And it is still more sad when we realize that all this was 
done, with the. best intentions, by the faithful not by the foe. 
But these regrets are vain ; Stonor has its consolations that 
nothing can ever destroy. 

It should be explained, before we describe the house, that 
the East wing, apparently the oldest portion of the house, has 
been partly cut off, and turned into a residence for the chap- 
lain. There is, however, communication on the upper story 
between the main part of the house and a tribune in the church, 
which is reserved for the family and their friends. The porch 
is the most attractive part of the modernized house. On either 
side of the sixteenth-century doorway are two curious figures, 
with an enigmatical inscription below them, which has com- 
pletely baffled the antiquaries. The inscription runs, 

on the left, on the right, 



OMNIBUS JUDICIO 
AEQUE TAMEN 



MEMET SINE 

COGNOSCO FRAUDE 



1910.] STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 645 

which seems to mean : " In all things justly, yet with judg- 
ment, I know myself to be without fraud." But what this re- 
fers to, or what the two pairs of figures mean, is a complete 
enigma. The house faces south and is built against the side 
of a hill, so that what is the first floor in the front of the house 
is the ground-floor at the back, and opens on to the garden. 
The interior has been modernized at the same melancholy time 
as the front and the chapel, and the great hall has been cut 
up into rooms and disfigured by a staircase. 

The most interesting features of the house to the pilgrim 
are naturally the secret passages and hiding-places which the 
zeal of the Stonor family for the ancient religion made neces- 
sary. From the butler's pantry a secret underground passage 
used to run into the hill and emerge in a clump of trees in 
the park. It was in this tangled dell, amid shrubs and bracken, 
that the secret printing press of Blessed Edmund Campion was 
set up. At least so we were told by Lord Camoys. Another 
tradition has it that the press was concealed amid the labyrinth 
of attics and passages underneath the roof. At any rate, the 
passage referred to was used by the martyr and his assistants 
to convey their books and materials in and out of the house. 
The passage has now fallen in, and has become impassable, 
and the entrance from the pantry, long concealed by a cup- 
board, is now bricked up. 

There is also a secret passage in the roof of the house and 
a hidden place where holy Mass was offered during the days 
of persecution. This is entered from a room over the porch, 
the room which is guarded by the image of our Lady that 
stands outside it. In this room stands a wardrobe, which, being 
pushed aside, discloses a concealed door, opening into a small 
room beyond. In this room a triangular piece of the partition 
lifts up, and thus a hole is made through which a man of aver- 
age size can just creep. 

From this hiding-place, which is small and dark, a rough 
ladder leads up into the roof of the central gable of the house, 
and another leads down from thence into a large attic under 
the roof of the main building. 

The religious history of Stonor begins (so far as public 
documents are concerned) with a license of mortmain granted 
by King Edward III. to Sir John de Stonore in 1349. This 
document grants the royal leave to " give and assign a certain 



646 STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS [Feb., 

suitable place within his manor of Stonor for the sojourn and 
dwelling-place of six chaplains, regular or secular, to celebrate 
divine service forever, in a certain chapel, founded within the 
said manor, in honor of the most Holy Trinity, for the good estate 
of Us and of the said John himself, during our lives, and for 
our souls after that we have departed out of this life, and for 
the souls of our progenitors and successors and the ancestors 
and heirs of the said John de Stonore, and of all the faithful 
departed." 

When the time came for the family to prove their attach- 
ment to the old religion, they were not found wanting. The 
first sufferer for the faith who was connected with Stonor, was 
not indeed a member of the family by birth but by alliance. 
Sir Adrian Fortescue, Knight of St. John, now numbered 
among the Blessed Martyrs of England, was married to Anne, 
daughter of Sir William Stonor by the latter's wife Anne, 
daughter of John Neville, Marquis Montagu, and co-heir of 
her brother, George Neville, Duke of Bedford. 

Sir Adrian Fortescue was born in 1486. He came of an 
illustrious house, which owed its origin, it is said, to the Battle 
of Hastings, where Richard le Fort having saved the Conquer- 
or's life by the shelter of his " Strong Shield, " was henceforth 
known as Fort-Escue. In reference to this tradition his de- 
scendants took for their motto, Forte scutum salus ducum, " a 
strong shield the safety of leaders." Our martyr's father, Sir 
John, held important posts at Court, and fought on the side of 
Richmond on Bosworth field. He married Alice Boleyn, and 
thus Sir Adrian was cousin to that unhappy woman whose rise 
was to bring about the fall of the old religion in England, and 
the shedding of rivers of innocent blood besides that of hei 
kinsman. 

Sir Adrian is first mentioned in 1499, when he was already 
married. He was doubly connected with the Stonors, for in 
1495 his wife's brother, John Stonor, married his sister, Mary 
Fortescue. On the death of her brother John, Lady Fortescue 
inherited Stonor, but her right to it was disputed by her uncle, 
Sir Thomas, and, after his death, by her cousin, Sir Walter. 
Stonor Park was, however, retained by Sir Adrian Fortescue 
till Michaelmas, 1534. 

Lady Fortescue died in 1518, and in April, 1534, the con- 
clusion of his long lawsuit with the Stonors is recorded by the 



i9io.] STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 647 

martyr in his book of accounts. His own plea was that, "by 
the courtesy of England," he was entitled to his wife's prop- 
erty for his life and her children after him. He waited on 
the King at Greenwich, but he was already suspected as "evil 
in religion," and before the summer was out, not only had he 
lost Stonor and all its broad lands, but was himself committed 
a prisoner to the Marshalsea Prison. He was released some- 
time in 1535, and returned home, but no longer to the "fair 
park" of Stonor, for Stonor was his no more. Nor had he a 
long respite of freedom. Arrested once more in February, 
1539, he was attainted for having "most traitorously refused 
his duty of allegiance" to the King's Highness, or, in other 
words, of having refused to recognize his title of Supreme 
Head of the Church of England. For this "crime" (of which 
he was certainly guilty) he was condemned without trial, and 
beheaded on Tower Hill on July the 9th, 1539. 

He has left an imperishable name behind him, and in 1895 
he was numbered among the Blessed Martyrs who have made 
England glorious. And Stonor, his home for more than twenty 
happy years, is irradiated with the glory of his aureola. 

In the church at Husband's Bosworth is preserved Blessed 
Adrian's book of Hours, on the fly-leaf of which he has writ- 
ten and signed with his own hand a series of maxims or rules 
of the spiritual life, of which we may quote a few : 

Above all things love God with thy heart. 

Desire His honor more than the health of thine own soul. 

Take heed with all diligence to purge and cleanse thy mind 
with oft confession, and raise thy desire or lust from earthly 
things. 

Resort to God every hour. 

Be pityful unto poor folk and help them to thy power, for 
there you shall greatly please God. 

In prosperity be meek of heart and in adversity patient. 

And pray continually to God that you may do all that is 
His pleasure. 

If by chance you fall into sin, despair not ; and if you keep 
these precepts, the Holy Ghost will strengthen thee in all 
other things necessary, and this doing you shall be with 
Christ in Heaven, to Whom be given laud, praise, and honor 
everlasting. ADRYAN FORTISCUE. 

We must now pass over more than forty years, to find our- 



648 STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS [Feb., 

selves in the midst of the reign of Elizabeth, in the very thick 
of the persecution. Stonor was now to be glorified as the 
abode of a martyr even more illustrious than the Knight of 
St. John. The Blessed Edmund Campion was in the midst of 
his romantic mission, risking his life many times a day and all 
day long for the sake of the souls for whom he burned and 
hungered. 

At this time Stonor was in the hands of a lady, Dame 
Cecily^ widow of Sir Francis Stonor,* who was the nephew 
and heir of the Sir Walter who had dispossessed Sir Adrian 
Fortescue. Though the martyr had had to give up his be- 
loved home, it seemed that his spirit yet lingered there, and 
that there was something in the very air of Stonor which 
gave, not only men but women, courage to risk goods and 
lands and life in the cause of Christ. 

It was Dame Cecily's privilege to grant a shelter to the 
hunted priests of God, and not only that, but to give to the 
great Jesuit martyr the opportunity he needed for launching 
against triumphant heresy a thunderbolt of God which shook 
it to its very foundations. For his little book, the Rationes 
Decem or Ten Reasons for the faith which was in him, ad- 
dressed to the great University of Oxford, which was printed 
with infinite trouble and infinite risk in the shelter of Stonor 
Park, did perhaps more for the cause he had at heart than 
any book which has ever been printed in England. It was 
printed in the life-blood of martyrs, for not only its writer, 
but one at least of its printers owed to it his crown and palm. 

I suppose in the effect it had, first at Oxford and then 
throughout the country, it can only be compared with that 
caused by Newman's Essay on Development. And Stonor is 
immortalized, if only that it gave birth to the ripest fruit of 
Campion's genius, a work of which grave men judged that it 
was "a truly golden book written with the finger of God." 
Father J. H. Pollen, S.J., in a valuable article in the Month 
(January, 1905), has given at length the history of the secret 
press at Stonor. We cannot do better here than epitomize 
his story. 

Campion was asked in November, 1580, to "write some- 
thing in Latin to the Universities," and especially to Oxford 
men, of whom he had been the idol. And he proposed very 

* He had died in August, 1550. 



STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 649 

characteristically to choose as his theme " Heresy in Despair." 
When his friends laughed at choosing a title so wildly inap- 
propriate at a time when heresy was flourishing as it had never 
done before, he answered, that the very cruelty of the perse- 
cution evidently proceeded from despair, for if the heretics 
had any confidence at all in the truth of their cause, they 
would never proceed in such a way. 

Campion was just about to start on an arduous missionary 
journey through the Midlands to Derbyshire and Lancashire. 
How was he to get time for writing, still less for study, amid 
labors so manifold and perils so tremendous? His days were 
spent on horseback, his nights in preaching and administering 
the Sacraments. Death dogged him at every step, and the 
need of being ever on the alert must have been a continual 
distraction. Books he could not carry with him his task 
seemed an impossible one. Yet he persisted in it, and over- 
came the difficulties triumphantly. Within a very few weeks, 
in February and March (1581), he had written the noble book 
which was to set England on fire. Circumstances, fresh at- 
tacks and fresh needs, led him to alter and improve his origi- 
nal plan. 

He resolved "to render to the universities the 'Ten 
Reasons,' relying upon which he had offered disputation to 
his adversaries in the cause of Faith." In the introduction, 
however, he deals with his original theme, " Heresy in Despair." 
The present writer can never forget the delight with which he 
first came across a copy of this famous book. It was in the 
old monastic library of the great Abbey of Monte Cassino 
that he found it, and having found it, eagerly devoured it. 
The glow of Campion's eloquence, the romantic history of the 
book, the fame of its author, but recently raised to the altars 
of the Church, its dedication to the Oxford men of a by- gone 
day, were enough to inspire interest in a modern Oxford con- 
vert; 'and, as he read, interest quickened into enthusiasm. 
Surely never man wrote like this! 

The wit and eloquence of the book are so amazing, the 
extraordinary dexterity with which he wields his rapier, pierc- 
ing the adversary first in one point then in another, with in- 
exorable skill, with bewildering dash and rapidity, with inimi- 
table art. Eloquence clothed in the [most majestic Latin, for 
Campion was a master of style; humor and sarcasm mingled 



650 STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS [Feb., 

with passionate pleading, fierce indignation against the false- 
hoods and blasphemies of heresy, melting into cries of anguished 
love which recall the plaints of One Who wept over Jerusalem 
all these and how much more are here. 

The "Ten Reasons" include Holy Scripture, the notes of 
the Church, the (Ecumenical Councils, the Fathers, History, 
the paradoxes, sophisms, and crimes of the Reformers; and 
they are all put forth with vigor, logic, and conviction. But 
what perhaps most amazes the reader is the extraordinary 
learning displayed. The martyr ha.s the controversy at his 
fingers' ends, the quotations from the Fathers he has by heart, 
the infamies of Luther and his followers are quoted by one who 
knows of what he speaks. How was it possible to write such 
a book under such circumstances. We can only reverently re- 
peat : " the finger of God " Digitus Dei hie. This burning 
stream of controversy is poured out, from & the furnace of a 
heart white-hot with the love of God, even now after these 
centuries. The book is alive, it is afire; it enkindles and in- 
flames. It is twelve years and more since I read it, but it 
lives with me still, and still I feel the glow. 

Well might Father Persons be amazed when he received it, 
some time before Easter, and saw the multitude of quotations 
with which it bristled.* His prudence would not, however, 
allow him to publish it to the world without having the cita- 
tions verified, well-knowing how every slip would be seized 
upon by the adversary. Some young laymen, who had devoted 
themselves to helping the apostolic work of the Fathers, and had 
given up their wealth, their time, and their all to this noble cause, 
were glad to undertake this task. The most diligent of these 
was Thomas Fitzherbert, of Norbury in Derbyshire, the repre- 
sentative of an illustrious house which has given martyrs to 
the Church, and still flourishes among the noblest Catholic 
families of England. He was then just married, but after his 
wife's death he became himself a Jesuit, and a most dis- 
tinguished member of the order. " At Persons' request," 
writes Father Bombino, "he visited the London libraries, for 
being a good man and a noted scholar, he could do so in 
safety. In fine, having found that all was quite accurate, he 
brought the good news to Persons, and urged on the publica- 
tion of the work." 

Campion was now sent for to see his book through the 



1 9 io.] S TON OR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 651 

press. And now new difficulties came in crowds. Mr. Stephen 
Brinkley was the name of the devoted Catholic gentleman who 
had given himself to the printer's trade for the love of God, 
and he had already, at the most deadly risk, printed off three 
little books for Father Persons. But the old house near Lon- 
don was no longer safe, and it was necessary to find a surer 
hiding place. And now another member of the gallant little 
band of laymen came forward with help. This was John, sec- 
ond son of Lady Stonor, and as devoted a Catholic as his 
mother. He suggested that Stonor would be a safe place, and 
convenient, being hidden in woods, near the river, and within 
reach of Oxford and London. Both he and his mother well 
knew the risk that they were running by this generous action 
the risk of a cruel death for themselves and absolute ruin 
for their family. But no such fears could shake the resolution 
of these brave hearts. Lady Stonor's quality may be gauged 
from her answer to her judges when she was " convented " 
before them. Having been reproved for her constancy in the 
Catholic religion, she replied : " I was born in such a time 
when Holy Mass was in great reverence and brought up in 
the same faith. For King Edward's time this reverence was 
neglected and reproved by such as governed. In Queen Mary's 
it was restored with much applause, and now in this time it 
pleaseth the State to question them, as now they do me, who 
continue in this Catholic profession. The State would have 
these several changes, which I have seen with my eyes, good 
and laudable whether it can be so, I refer it to your Lord- 
ships' consideration." 

This brave widow then was not likely to shrink from the 
danger of harboring priests and assisting in their great work. 
She gladly gave up her house to the Jesuit Fathers and their 
assistants, among whom John Stonor was proud to be reckoned. 
And so to Stonor " were taken all the things necessary, that 
is, type, press, paper, etc., though not without many risks. Mr. 
Stephen Brinkley, a gentleman of high attainments both in 
literature and in virtue, superintended the printing. Father 
Campion went at once to the house in the wood, where the 
book was printed and eventually published." So far Father 
Persons. 

There was grave risk of discovery from the number of extra 
men about the house, of whose fidelity it was not always 



652 STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS [Feb., 

possible to be absolutely sure. Traitors, indeed, there were 
about them, and one of them during this time caused the loss 
of all Persons' papers and other effects in London, and the 
apprehension of the Blessed Martyr Alexander Briant. But 
the work at Stonor went on safely. It was begun late in April 
and finished about the end of June, 1581. The time taken to 
print so small a book (it consisted of only about 10,000 words) 
seems surprising at first sight, but Father Pollen has shown, 
very ingeniously from intrinsic evidence, that the stock of type 
was very small. "The printers had to set up a few pages at 
a time, to correct them at once, and to print off, before they 
could go any further. Then they distributed the type and 
began again. When all was finished they rapidly stabbed and 
bound their sheets." There were only seven workmen at most, 
of whom five, including Stephen Brinkley, were subsequently 
arrested. Another was the Venerable William Hartley, after- 
wards a glorious martyr for the faith. 

For many years it was supposed that no copy of the edition 
printed by the martyrs was still in existence. Now, however, 
two copies are known, of which one was given to Stonyhurst 
College by the late Marquis of Bute. Father Pollen shows 
that the printing-frame was so small that it would have been 
covered by half a folio sheet, 9 by 13 inches. Each little 
sheet had to be printed off by itself. They had no Greek 
font, and though the book was printed in the new " Roman " 
type, they had to use the query-sign which belonged to the 
old English black-letter font. Their stock of diphthongs was 
also but a small one, and, as the text shows, soon gave out. 
Otherwise the little volume is distinctly well gotten up. There 
is nothing, indeed, at first sight to indicate the peculiar cir- 
cumstances under which it was printed. 

Meanwhile Campion was not content to spend all the pre- 
cious time at Stonor. Father Persons tells us that " he preached 
unweariedly, sometimes in London, sometimes making excursions. 
There was one place whither we often went, about five miles 
from London, called Harrow Hill. In going thither we had to 
pass through Tyburn. But .Campion would always pass bare- 
headed, both because of the sign of the Cross, and in honor 
of some martyrs who had suffered there, and also because he 
used to say that he would have his combat there." The hour 
of that combat was, indeed, soon to sound. 



1 9 io.] STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 653 

The book was finished in time to be distributed at Oxford 
at Commemoration. On Tuesday, the 27th of June, the con- 
gregation who assembled in St. Mary's Church to hear the 
responses of the students, found the benches strewed with the 
little books, hot from the press at Stonor. Four hundred 
copies had been brought post-haste to Oxford by the Vener- 
able William Hartley, who had disposed of them partly in this 
way, and partly in gifts to various persons. The audience 
seized upon them with avidity, and the disputations of the 
students passed unnoticed, so absorbed were all in reading 
Campion's burning words. " Some were furious, some amused, 
some frightened, some perplexed ; but all," says Simpson, 
" agreed that the essay was a model of eloquence, elegance, 
and good taste." 

Three weeks later Campion was captured at Lyford, and 
led in triumph to London. It was probably the crowd of 
Oxford students, who had journeyed to Lyford to hear him 
preach, that did most to bring about his apprehension. For 
he had done his work, and the heart of Oxford was moved to 
its very depths. He had now but to seal the work with his 
blood. 

When William Hartley, in his turn, won his reward at Ty- 
burn, in 1588, his mother, we are told, made a great feast to 
which she called her neighbors and friends as to a marriage, 
bidding them rejoice with her, for she was the mother of a 
martyr of God. So St. Felicitas and the Blessed Mother of 
the seven Macchabees had worthy followers in Elizabethan 
England. 

Campion was arrested July 17, 1581, and by the 2d of 
August the Council was in possession of information which 
enabled them to seize the little colony at Stonor. They wrote 
to Sir Henry Neville, at Billingbeare, and ordered him "to 
repair unto the Lady Stonor's house and to search for certain 
Latin books dispersed already in Oxford at the last commence- 
ment, which . . . have been there printed in a wood. And 
also for such English books as of late have been published for 
the maintenance of Popery, printed also there, as is thought, 
by one Persons, a Jesuit, and others. And further for the 
press and other instruments of printing, thought also to be 
there remaining." 

And so, two days before the Feast of our Lady's Assump- 



654 STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS [Feb., 

tion, the Madonna who looks down on Stonor might have seen 
a sad sight. A night raid by armed men upon that peaceful 
park, torches gleaming in the darkness, fierce battering down 
of doors and wainscot, triumphant arrest of the little band of 
faithful men. But they, like Campion himself, had done their 
work, and no more could it be undone. The press was seized, 
the books and papers, and a large quantity of " massing-stuff," 
chalices, vestments, altar- stones, all sancitfied by a martyr's 
use. The council ordered that the " massing- stuff " should be 
defaced, and the proceeds given to the poor, and the press, 
books, and papers were despatched to London. 

John Stoner was lodged in the Tower, and it is strange 
that his life was spared. One of the most romantic episodes 
of that strange time is connected with his name. Cecily, 
daughter of Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower, saw 
her father's prisoner and fell in love with him. Whether or 
not he returned her affection, he succeeded in converting her 
to the faith for which he was suffering. Henceforth, while her 
father's rule lasted, she was ever ready to give her secret as- 
sistance to the Catholic prisoners. In 1584 she was denounced 
to the Government as conveying " letters and messages be- 
tween the prisoners in the Tower and the Marshalsea," and 
her conversion and active ministry to the prisoners of Christ 
became the principal cause of her father's subsequent disgrace. 
John Stonor afterwards gained his freedom and went abroad, 
where he served in the army of the Prince of Parma. 

There would be much to add about the sufferings of the 
Stonors for the religion to which they clung so faithfully, but 
our space does not permit. 

In later times the family have given distinguished prelates 
to the Church. One of the best- known of the Vicars Apos- 
tolic who ruled the Church in the eighteenth century was John 
Talbot Stonor, Bishop of Thespia, who died in 1756. And 
there are few to whom the name of Stonor does not recall a 
venerable prelate, the titular Archbishop of Trebizond, still 
happily living at Rome, and so well known for his kindness 
to all English pilgrims to the Holy City. 

Such then are the thoughts which Stonor Park suggests. 
And yet how little, in these days of freedom, can we even 
imagine what the grinding tyranny of that century and a half 
of persecution meant to the faithful few. To be branded as 



STONOR PARK AND ITS MARTYRS 655 

traitors for fidelity to conscience, must have been keenest pain 
to descendants of the heroes of Crecy and Agincourt. " Un- 
less they will forget God," writes one, " and profess the errors 
which are here established, they will not only lose lands, lib- 
erty, and perhaps life, but, through these laws now passed 
through Parliament, they may leave tainted names to their 
children." 

" It is small wonder," says Falkner, in his County History, 
" that the Romanist creed was gradually battered out of Ox- 
fordshire under such assaults as these. And yet there were 
some who dared to profess it in face of all, and the ' recusants ' 
were duly registered by the Protestant rectors in each town 
and village. There is a list of eighty-eight such returns made 
by the parsons in Oxfordshire, preserved in the library at 
Stonyhurst. . . . 

" Many of the recusants were in humble life, and quite un- 
able to pay the fine, and in the case of those who could pay 
it, it is to be hoped that it was sometimes not exacted. But, 
although the Catholic gentleman was left very largely to him- 
self, except in time of popular excitement, he was a pariah 
for more than two centuries, cut off from his fellow-squires 
and looked on with a mixture of dislike and fear, exiled from 
the bench of magistrates, from all office and from public life 
in general, debarred from sending his sons to public school or 
university." 

But Catholic families, like the Stonors of Stonor, had taken 
for their motto the words of David : Elegi abjectus esse in domo 
Dei mei, magis quam habitare in tabernaculis peccatorum. Out- 
casts and abjects they may have been in the eyes of their 
fellow-countrymen, but how dear and how noble to God and 
His angels ! 



RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN. 




BY A. J. SHIPMAN. 
BARCELONA. 

into Barcelona by train from the North is 
like coming into Pittsburg or Sheffield, except 
that the smoke is not so dense, nor are the 
factories quite so close together. There are tall 
chimneys soaring aloft, ugly factory buildings, 
plain angularities, and the sight of workmen hurrying in or 
out, as the train approaches the city and stops for a brief 
interval at the suburban stations. Finally we glide in near the 
Barceloneta, a quarter near the sea, and almost in the shadow of 
the large bull- ring, and we alight in the old-fashioned Estacion 
de Francia, and shortly after are settled in our hotel. On our 
way we drove through the fine Paseo de Colon, which ends 
where the magnificent monument to Columbus stands, and 
through the Rambla, which is the Broadway, the Strand, or 
the Corso of Barcelona, just as one may feel inclined to com- 
pare it with other cities. We found it as gay and uncon- 
cerned as New York can be, all the time that we were there, 
and in comparison with other European cities, were struck by 
the absence of soldiery upon the streets. 

Barcelona is very old and at the same time is the newest 
of the new much later and up-to-date, after a French fashion, 
than we of the United States have ever dared to be. We have 
only gazed through show windows at I'art nouveau, seen its 
sinuous, writhing windings applied to the silversmith's wares 
or the electrician's furnishings, and have considered it as some- 
thing dedicated to minor appliances of comfort and decorative 
art. But Barcelona has fallen down and worshipped the new 
art and has become its most earnest devotee. Straight lines 
and pure curves, Gothic arches and slender tracery, alike have 
been superseded by the ribbon-like windings of the new art 
in blocks of new buildings and even in suburban villas. It 
seems almost beyond imagination to conjure up the picture of 



19 io.] RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 657 

a large apartment house or a vast hotel all built in the New 
Art style of architecture, but Barcelona has accomplished it. 
A new church on the summit of Tibidabo, now half-finished, 
is a curious mixture of its adaptation. Even the angular street 
corner is a thing of the past there; for the corners are either 
rounded or lopped off, leaving the block in a strange sort of 
octagonal shape. But this is all in the newer part of the 
city. In the old city the Barcelona of the Middle Ages 
there are still the narrow, angular streets, which run in every 
direction, criss-crossing one another in the fashion ol the older 
Spanish towns, where the quaintness of old Spain is mingled 
with the commonplace of the new. In the heart of this maze 
the venerable cathedral of Barcelona is situated, hemmed in by 
narrow streets, through which a carriage can scarcely be driven, 
and with no point of vantage from which it can be viewed. 
But dynamite and the pickax are making inroads upon this 
labyrinth, the house-wrecker is much in evidence, and in a 
few years some three or four broad streets will be driven 
through this part of town. A plaza will be made in front of 
the cathedral (when that is finished, for workmen are still busy 
on the spires), and old Barcelona will be a somewhat dingy 
replica of the newer avenues and promenades. 

Of course the chief street is the Rambla, which divides the 
old city into two unequal halves. One would hardly recognize 
the Arabic Ramleh in its Spanish guise. The Rambla changes 
its name about every two blocks, so that we have the Rambla 
Santa Monica, Rambla del Centro, Rambla San Jose, Rambla 
de Estudios, and so on. But it is the same Rambla, and only 
the natives know where one name finishes and the other be- 
gins. It is a wide street, and the reverse of our streets. The 
pedestrians go in the centre of the broad avenue, while the 
carriages and electric cars go at the sides. There are also two 
narrow sidewalks beside the shops. While it is gay and well 
filled in the daytime, it really begins to have its life in the 
late evening and about dusk. It is lighted by myriads of huge 
electric lamps, and is lined on either side by newstands, flower- 
booths, and bird-sellers, and is thronged by an animated crowd 
ceaselessly moving up and down its length. Friends meet one 
another, persons go to see and be seen, and all Barcelona seems 
to be passing by. 

Towards the newer pa^t of Barcelona the streets are laid 
VOL. xc. 42 



6s 8 RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN [Feb., 

out upon the rectangular plan, but with the corners we have 
described, and are wide and splendidly planned, with double 
rows of plane-trees, and numerous stone benches under them. 
It is along these streets that the buildings of the New Art 
have their abiding place. And like New York, with its Broad- 
way, there is a street which cuts across all others the Gran 
Via Diagonal -which has the apartment- house epidemic as 
badly as upper Broadway; and although they are neither so large 
nor so costly, they appear to cover nearly as much ground. 

Barcelona is the capital of the province of Catalonia and is 
the principal city of Spain. It has nearly 700,000 inhabitants, 
and is both a great seaport and a great manufacturing town. 
Catalonia for centuries has been the discontented child in Spain, 
has always had a feeling of separatism, and feels its importance 
in the national life and economy in every way. As a rule they 
try to avoid speaking Spanish if they can, in order to foster 
the idea of their separate individuality. Necessarily business 
and society life must go on in Spanish, but otherwise the per- 
sistent Barcelonese avoids Spanish if he gets a chance. They 
cling to their native dialect, the Catalan, which can best be 
described as a syncopated Latin, or something closely resem- 
bling the Provencal. There are two or three newspapers pub- 
lished in it in Barcelona ; plays, novels and poetry are written 
in it; and there is a special theatre in Barcelona where only 
Catalan is used as the language of the stage. Exaggerated 
local patriotism has seized upon this language, and appeals 
are made in it in political matters as against the rest of Spain. 
Even Spanish posters on the walls have an accompanying trans- 
lation in Catalan. 

Owing to its holding so large a place in the commerce and 
revenues of Spain, Barcelona desires also a preponderating voice 
in the management of the kingdom. It is needless to say that 
this does not meet with the acquiescence of the other parts of 
the kingdom. The constant struggle on this account has kept 
the Barcelonese in a chronic state of latent discontent, and 
sometimes it needed only a sharp political question to fan it 
into flame. There has also been an element in the great fac- 
tories which led to unrest the importation or settlement of 
numbers of men from France, many of whom left their coun- 
try for its good, but who found Barcelona a congenial place 
in which to plant their views of social disorder among the labor 



RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 659 

element of the populous city. As the volume of business of 
Barcelona grew, this element grew with it. It was added to 
by organized apostles of anarchy from Paris and Marseilles, 
who found the soil thus better prepared for their doctrines. 

While we were in Barcelona we saw many of the numerous 
churches, convents, and schools which had been pillaged, burned, 
and destroyed in the riots of last July. It was just before our 
coming that Ferrer, one of those condemned to death, had 
been executed, and we could scarcely credit the statement of 
the wild outbreaks and savage protests which his execution 
produced in other countries. But the sight of the blackened, 
dismantled, and ruined buildings gave one an idea of the de- 
structiveness of the rabid mob, during the four days of that 
awful week, when nearly five hundred persons, dead or wound- 
ed, were the results of the pillage, murder, arson, and conflict 
with the troops. 

It has been said in many papers and in some leading arti- 
cles that the outbreak was primarily against the Church, and 
was an expression of the hatred of the Barcelonese for clerical 
rule. It was only secondarily so, because the riots were sim- 
ply an outbreak of mad, red anarchy uprising against every- 
thing, like the Commune of Paris in 1870, in which the torch 
and the kerosene can, accompanied by the bomb, played the prin- 
cipal part. There was an exhibition of intense hatred against 
the Church and its institutions, but it was the incidental effect 
of baffled efforts in other directions. Again it has been said 
it was a mighty protest in favor of the Modern School (La 
Escuela Moderna) at the hands of the masses who were hunger- 
ing and thirsting for education. There is no reason whatever 
for this view, because the riotous mob destroyed more schools 
in two days than the apostles of the modern school were able 
to erect in a decade. 

As has been said, the Barcelonese have always been politi- 
cally rebellious in regard to the rest of Spain. When, there- 
fore, the war broke out in Africa, where Spanish mining com- 
panies, chiefly from Madrid and Bilbao, were exploiting the 
Moroccan iron mines for the benefit of German iron and steel 
foundries, until stopped by the warlike RifBans, the Catalcnians 
and, in particular, the Barcelonese did not feel that they 
were vitally interested. The call came for more troops at the 
front, and a royal proclamation was issued calling the reserves 



660 RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN [Feb., 

to the colors. Barcelona viewed with dismay the taking of so 
many of her inhabitants to the war and the consequent debt 
which would result, which meant increased taxation for her. 
Meetings were called and ^fiery political speeches were made 
against the war. 

Popular sentiment was arrayed against what they called a 
useless war, and feeling ran high. Political discussion grew 
more frequent and all sorts of orators harangued the various 
assemblies. It was then the anarchist propagandist found his 
opportunity, and he, too, took part in stirring up all the slum- 
bering passions and hatreds. A skillful campaign brought the 
workingmen's unions into play, and on the day the reserve 
troops embarked for Africa July 22 a general strike in pro- 
test was ordered./ This stopped every factory and every mill 
in and around Barcelona, and threw thousands of discontented 
workmen out upon the streets. 

It was then that the disturbers of social order began their 
work of revolt. Meetings were constantly held, and bodies of 
strikers began to parade the streets. To appreciate better what 
was done before the actual outbreak came, and to understand 
the appeals that were made to these restless minds, I cannot 
do better than translate one of the circulars that were dis- 
tributed : 

Comrades, Brothers in degradation, misery, and ignominy, 
it you are men, listen. Away from the bourgeois who calcu- 
late what advantages, what usury, what venomous things will 
be most profitable to them. Away from the politicians, with 
their platforms of every political faith, for they only exploit 
us. Away from the merchants who tell you they save the 
country a hundred millions, and yet pay (at our expense) 
the clergy and the army, so as to safeguard their robberies 
and their frauds. 

Those merchants, those politicians, all the bourgeois, are 
no more than our torment. We are more and greater ; but 
they exploit us, sacrifice us, kill us, and dishonor us, because 
we are not men and do not act like men. They consider us a 
common herd of silly sheep ; and they are nearly right, be- 
cause we submit to it all. 

But now, fortunately, the hour draws nigh to demonstrate 
to the world that we will not go on being exploited. 

Comrades, be men ! In the moment when the revolution is 
at hand, triumph over the infamous bourgeois and their pro- 



igio.] RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 661 

grammes. Before building up, we must lay everything in 
ruins. If among those in political life there be any man 
worthy of respect, any citizen who enjoys a just or unjust 
popularity, you will see him ready to restrain you at the 
critical moment, to extinguish the flame you have lighted, 
under the pretext of humanity and generous sentiments. 
But do not give way to them, triumph over them, slay them 
if it be necessary. Peradventure, they will be reminded of 
the generosity or the humanity displayed when Portas tor- 
tured in Montjuich, when Polavieja assassinated in Manila, 
when Weyler was red with the defenceless victims of Cuba ! 

I^et the revolution come, because it is as inevitable as 
bankruptcy ; but be not left in the hands of a bourgeois so 
hateful and reactionary. And do not rest until you have pro- 
duced all the results of a revolution, which without you will 
be as shameful as it will be sterile. 

PROGRAMME : 

Abolition of all the existing laws. 

Expulsion or extermination of religious communities. 

Dissolution of the magistracy, of the army, and of the navy. 

Down with the churches. 

Confiscation of the Bank of Spain, and of all the property 
of such civil or military persons who have held office in Spain 
or its colonies, now lost. 

Immediate imprisonment for all of them, until they prove 
innocence or are executed. 

Absolute prohibition against all who have filled any public 
office from leaving the province, even without property. 

Confiscation of the railroads and all banks, wrongfully 
called banks of credit. 

For the accomplishment of these prime measures there will 
be formed a delegation of three ministers : Interior, Foreign 
Office, and Home Office. They will be elected by a popular 
vote, and no lawyer can be eligible, and they will be jointly 
responsible to the people. 

I^ong live the Revolution ! 
Extermination to all the exploiters ! 

I,ong live the Revolution ! 
The Avenger of every injustice ! 

Another circular launches diatribes of every sort against 
militarism, clericalism, and capitalism, and calls upon them to 



662 RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN [Feb., 

cut off the heads of these monsters, and winds up with these 
words : " Workmen, prepare yourselves, the hour is at hand ! 
Annexed hereto is a recipe for the manufacture of dynamite." 
Still another circular advised the formation of revolutionary 
committees and advocated a general strike so as " to be solid 
with the working classes " (tener relaciones con el partido obrero) 
and closed with these fiery words: 

To you, the earliest on the field, will be the glory of being 
the initiators and of dying the first for the cause ; death is a 
thousand times more honorable than living under the shame- 
ful oppression of a band of thieves headed by a foreigner and 
supported by the clergy and by the exploiters. Up, then, 
noble and valiant hearts, sons of the Cid ! Do not forget that 
Spanish blood runs through your veins ! Viva la revolution ! 
Viva la dinamita ! 

The atmosphere grew more heated. Under the pretext of 
inveighing against the uselessness and expense of the war El 
Progreso, a radical journal supporting Lerroux, published daily 
ferocious and unpatriotic articles, while the nationalist, El 
Poble Catald, which always urged separation from the rest of 
the kingdom, followed suit in the Catalan tongue, almost to 
the point of resistance to the government. When leading 
political journals were thus inflaming the popular minds in a 
manner comparable only to the times preceding our Civil War, 
it was small wonder that the anarchist press and leaders 
found their way smoothed, and an agitation already at hand 
which they could utilize for their own ends. Street meetings 
grew fiercer every day, and after the general strike, bands 
of idle workmen and boys paraded the streets, moving from 
point to point, and were frequently increased by more hangers- 
on as they passed along. Their boldness increased, they in- 
sulted inoffensive persons, began the use of fire-arms, and defied 
the police to keep them in order. Then the Civil Governor, 
Don Angel Ossorio y Gallardo, issued the following proclama- 
tion: 

For the past three days certain professional inciters of tur- 
bulence and disorder have undertaken to foment illegal mani- 
festations and breaches of the peace. The police, with 
extraordinary patience, have merely dispersed the gatherings 
without recourse to violence and by using simply the require- 
ments of courteous persuasion. 



19 io.] RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 663 

But last night a group of disorderly persons took the offen- 
sive and fired several shots at two guardians of the peace and 
wounded one of them. 

In such a situation of affairs it becomes necessary to take 
rigorous steps, which I have desired to avoid until now ; and 
I therefore warn the public that the assemblage of crowds 
upon the public streets is prohibited for the time being, and 
that the police and civil guard will take the necessary steps 
to disperse the same wherever they may be formed and have 
refused to disperse on being notified to do so, according to 
law. 

This proclamation was posted on Friday, July 23, and it 
corresponds very much to the Riot Act reading in England. 
Nevertheless, crowds continued to be formed in the suburbs, 
where there were but few police, and incendiary speeches and 
inflammatory newspaper articles continued to appear. Some- 
body came to Barcelona with a draft for 50,000 pesetas, which 
was drawn in cash from the Credit Lyonnais on the Rarubla 
the very next day, and it is said to have been deposited in 
the Casa del Pueblo the Ferrerist organization at once. The 
two days' sympathetic strike, organized just after the departure 
of the troops for Africa, was coming to an end ; and with the 
minds of every one excited to fever heat the leaders of the 
anarchist and revolutionary movement decided that something 
must be done. 

This brings us down to the morning of Monday, July 26, 
and the beginning of the active disorders. Yet when the 
organizers of the movement undertook active work in the 
streets, and explained to their followers that it was necessary 
to begin by cutting the water and gas pipes, by preventing 
supplies from reaching the public markets, and interrupting all 
railroad, street-car, telegraph, and telephone communication, 
the true workingmen and citizens were horrified and withdrew, 
but were reduced to neutrality by threats against them and 
their families unless they stayed within doors, and were induced 
to keep up the strike on the sole condition that the factories 
where they were to earn their bread would be left unharmed. 

The situation in general was very difficult. There were only 
fourteen hundred soldiers and guards in the city, and after 
placing guards around the barracks, customhouse, courthouse, 
art galleries, railway stations, banks, post-office, and other public 
buildings in every part of the city, there remained less than 



664 RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN [Feb., 

eight hundred available for duty in the streets. The first 
thought of the authorities, beyond that of protection, was to 
avoid bloodshed and prevent serious damage; and they there- 
fore contented themselves with occupying various strategic 
points and keeping small squads under cover in different places. 
Street fights and various disorders took place all during Men- 
day, July 26. In Calle de Salmeron several crowds were dis- 
persed after firing several shots. In the Paseo de Gracia the 
conflicts were frequent and the street-cars were prevented from 
running. Towards evening all the street-cars of Horta, San 
Andres, Badalona, and Sarria were stopped, the crowd smashing 
their windows with stones and building barricades across the 
tracks. In Pueblo Nuevo the police were shot at several times 
while protecting the street-cars. In Sabadell the rioters tore 
up the local railway tracks and cut the telegraph wires, so 
that no suburban trains could run. At Tarrasa a railroad 
bridge was set on fire and a captain of police and the fire chief 
were shot and seriously wounded by the strikers as they en- 
deavored to extinguish the fire. The afternoon papers were 
obliged to suspend publication, for the telegraph and telephone 
wires were cut. In several places the gas and electric lights 
were rendered useless, although the night, aside from several 
skirmishes between the police and rioters, remained compara- 
tively tranquil. 

But the authorities were now thoroughly alarmed, and dur- 
ing the night they utilized the few remaining telegraph wires, 
and laid the matter before the King and his cabinet. As a re- 
sult, they were ordered to declare the city in a state of siege 
and turn over their powers at once to the military authority, 
and a proclamation was at once issued to that effect. The 
Captain General, Don Luis de Santiago Manescan also issued 
this address: 

Barcelonese : Having assumed for the first time the com- 
mand of this province, I am resolved to maintain public order 
in it and in this beautiful capital ; relying upon your good sense 
and co-operation for that end, and with the understanding 
that I shall suppress with great severity and energy any dis- 
order that may occur, I notify all peaceable citizens to with- 
draw from public places whenever the moment to apply force 
arrives, lest they should suffer otherwise sad but inevitable 
consequences therefrom. 



1 9 io.] RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 665 

The proclamation and this address were posted on the 
morning of the 27th, but that day the storm broke. The rev- 
olutionist programme had been to loot the banks, the principal 
stores, and the public buildings; but they were too well 
guarded, with cordons of police around them and well-equipped 
employees to defend them. On several occasions during the 
earlier part of the day attempts were made to pillage and rob, 
but the rioters were driven off by the police and made to keep 
moving. During the morning all the telegraph and telephone 
and trolley and electric light wires were cut and the city com- 
pletely paralyzed in regard to communications. The crowds and 
the mob were kept moving everywhere near the centre of the 
city, where the greatest wealth, commerce, and public buildings 
were, and later in the day they began to rip up the paving 
stones and build barricades across the streets to impede police 
activity. No one, however, had thought even of guarding 
the churches and convents and allied institutions. It was not 
thought that an attack would be made upon them: and it is 
doubtful if the authorities could have spared police and troops 
to guard them in any event. It was supposed their sacred 
character was enough to assure their security, and had the au- 
thorities even foreseen the turn events would have taken, their 
security could only have been purchased at the risk of leaving 
other portions of the city more vulnerable. 

At two o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, July 27, a lively 
exchange of shots took place on the Calle Mayor between the 
police and the rioters. Shortly afterwards the crowd broke into 
an armory on Calle Torrente de la Olla and sacked it of all 
its arms. Patrols of cavalry passed through the streets dispers- 
ing crowds, which fled before them, reforming again in side 
streets as soon as they had left. A mob of young hooligans 
broke into a church in the suburbs, plundered everything that 
was upon the altar and in the sacristy, set fire to the church, 
and went howling out upon the streets with their booty. 
This supplied what was lacking to the rioters and revolution- 
ists. The churches and convents were not guarded at all, and 
there would be plunder enough to go around for all. The 
rioters now had an object in view, a definite plan to carry out, 
and they proceeded to carry it out with all the brutality and 
savagery of which they were capable. 

The Church of San Pablo, an architectural monument dating 



666 RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN [Feb., 

back to the Crusades, was burned and plundered. Then the 
mob proceeded to the Escolapios (Pious Schools), at the corner 
of Calle San Antonio and Ronda San Pablo, where they broke in 
the doors, threw kerosene over the wood-work of the college, 
set fire to it, climbed up the walls upon ladders, entered the 
buildings, and wrought destruction everywhere. They rushed 
through the great buildings, driving out the inmates, looting 
every object they could lay their hands upon, throwing large 
and valuable articles out of the windows, and setting fire every- 
where. In these schools they found the paper school notes 
(like those used in our business schools) for teaching banking, 
etc., and carrying handfuls of it with them, cried out that the 
brothers were counterfeiters, because they had quantities of 
paper money there, and thus provoked a further onslaught. 
Directly opposite, across the Calle de San Antonio, was the 
Convent of the Jeronimas, occupied by some thirty or forty 
nuns, whom they drove into the street with insults and bru- 
talities, while they burned and looted every available object. 
From there they went on to other convents and churches, 
which they burned, looted, and plundered. 

The day of July 27 was a ghastly one, filled with smoke, 
murder, and terror ; and before midnight the mob had attacked 
and burned some twenty-two institutions in the outer circle of 
Barcelona and its suburbs. Yet they were cowardly. The po- 
lice and soldiers, as fast as they could learn of these outrages 
for there was neither telephone nor telegraph service, and 
the streets were often barricaded pursued the rioters from one 
place to another. Then the revolutionists divided up into sec- 
tions, often attacking churches, schools, and houses simultane- 
ously at remote distances from one another. This constant 
fleeing and division into smaller bodies made the work of the 
troops and police often ineffectual. When they undertook to 
attack the great Jesuit house and church on Calle de Caspe a 
few shots from some of the parishioners, hastily gathered in 
defence, made the mob scatter ; and when next day they tried 
it again the quick succession of rapid shots from there made 
them retreat and spread the report that that church had mounted 
a machine gun. In another case they were scared away by 
the gardener of the convent, assisted by two soldiers. 

By nightfall of Tuesday, the 27th, the authorities of Barce- 
lona communicated the frightful turn of events by cable (the 



1 9io.] RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 667 

only telegraph line working) to the central government; the 
matter was again at once taken up by the Council of Minis- 
ters, and by Royal Decree the constitutional guarantees were 
suspended in the province of Barcelona and the adjoining prov- 
inces, thus putting the entire responsibility for the maintenance 
of order in the hands of, the military. The decree runs as 
follows : 

Upon the advice of my Council of Ministers, and in pursu- 
ance of the power conferred on me by Article 17 of the Con- 
stitution, I have decreed as follows : 

Article I. In the provinces of Barcelona, Gerona, and 
Tarragona the guarantees set forth in Articles 4, 5, 6, and 9, 
and in paragraphs 1,2, and 3 of Article 13 of the Constitution, 
are temporarily suspended.* 

Article II. The government will render an account of this 
Royal Decree to the Cortes when it assembles again. 
Given at San Sebastian, July 27, 1909. 

ALFONSO. 

President of the Council of Ministers, 
Antonio [Maura y Montaner. 

By the morning of July 28 the Royal Decree was posted 
in the available places in Barcelona, and the military then be- 
gan its warlike task of repressing the revolt. During all this 
day the burning and destruction of convents, schools, and 
churches went on; but by nightfall the troops had broken some 
of the barricades by cannon and subdued some of the worst 
bodies of rioters by machine guns; and upon Thursday, July 

29, they had the rioting under control. No further depreda- 
tions of great moment occurred after that; and on Friday, July 

30, the moving of roving bands of rioters from point to point 
was entirely stopped. On Saturday some of the street cars 
began to run again, and citizens once more took heart and 
business was resumed. On Sunday, August i, women, children, 
and carriages came out once more upon the streets ; and from 

* The constitutional guarantees thus suspended were : (i) that no ' Spandiard should be 
arrested without a proper warrant previously issued ; (2) that an examination into the cause 
of his arrest should be had within seventy-two hours thereafter ; (3) that his residence 
should not be entered without a formal search warrant ; (4) that change of domicile cannot be 
required except by decree of court ; and (5) that every Spanish subject has the right to (a) 
freedom of speech or press ; (b) freedom of voluntary assembly ; and (c) freedom to form 
associations. It is somewhat analogous to our suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in this 
country. 



668 RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN [Feb., 

thenceforth Barcelona began to hide the hideous scars of the 
conflict and come back to its normal life. 

The rioting and revolution were of almost unparalleled 
savagery. During the three days of burning, robbing, and blood- 
shed, one hundred and two persons were killed and three hun- 
dred and twelve persons grievously wounded. Four of the 
clergy were killed defending the altars in their churches; four 
laymen, at the workingmen's school in San Jose, were slain 
defending the building from arson; two nuns and two lay- 
women were slain in escaping from the convents and schools, 
while scores were severely wounded ; and neither religious nor 
lay-women escaped insult. One aged nun was stripped of her 
clothing, in the search for money or valuable reliquaries, and 
stabbed to death. Many were taken to worse than death. 
Even five school children were killed, and there lies before me 
a list of twenty- four children, all fifteen years or under, who 
were seriously wounded by the rioters. One Christian Brother 
was stripped naked and forced to run the gauntlet down the 
middle of the street, whilst another, also stripped, was laden 
with a cross made of two railroad ties and was compelled to 
drag it around the streets while urged on with blows and ribald 
cries. Even the dead did not escape. In the convents of the 
Magdalenas, the Jeronimas, and the Capuchinas, the mob broke 
into the crypts and cemeteries where the nuns were buried, 
exhumed the bodies of some fourteen of them in the first, twelve 
in the second, and twelve in the third convent, and paraded 
them around the streets, made bonfires in which they were 
burned, and threw them by the wayside. 

Leaving out the damage inflicted on churches and convents 
some of the most beautiful architectural monuments of Bar- 
celona, like San Pablo del Campo and San Pedro de las Puellas, 
were destroyed the mob annihilated more educational estab- 
lishments than can be reared again in many years. If the re- 
volt was intended in any possible sense as a movement in favor 
of popular education, as has been asserted more than once, it 
certainly achieved the very opposite result. These are some of 
the educational institutions destroyed, and the number of pupils 
which were educated in them : Pious Schools (Escolapios), 500 
scholars, 200 of them free; San Andres Asylum, 156 children 
of workingmen, free; Asylum-Nursery of the Holy Family, 
kindergarten for 80 children and 500 girls, free ; College of St. 



igio.] RECENT IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN 669 

Peter Claver, 400 scholars, day and night schools, free; Con- 
vent of Loreto, 150 girls, boarders; Franciscan Nuns, 150 girls, 
free, and 250 in Sunday-Schools; Immaculate Conception, 250 
girls, boarders; Girls' College of Salesian Sisters, 300 students, 
70 night students, free; Convent of the Adoration, 80 girl stu- 
dents; Working Women's Free Schools at San Andres, 600 
workingwomen scholars, free ; Boy's College at San Jose, 250 
students ; Workingmen's Institute at Pueblo Nuevo, 200 pupils, 
free; Catholic Club at Pekin, 80 fishermen's children, free; 
Manual Training School at Las Corts, 100 boys, free ; Asylum 
in Aldeva Street, 800 children of workingmen, educated free ; 
Dominican Nuns, 150 girl students. It has become incumbent 
upon the city of Barcelona to supply provision for the three 
thousand to four thousand of its school children, who were thus 
summarily deprived of their right to education. 

Barcelona and her citizens feel keenly the mad hand of an- 
archy which has undone the work of years in their beautiful 
city. Once they hoped that she would rival Nice and Mentone 
as a Mediterranean resort, as a delightful capital to welcome 
the tourist and the seeker for rest in delightful surroundings ; 
but when anarchy, arson, and riot hold sway there, the stranger 
cannot be tempted to tarry long. Barcelona's people hope now 
for a period of rest and quiet, a period of convalescence and 
upbuilding, a period of right thinking and orderly life, so as 
to convince the outside world that peace and harmony reign 
there once more. 




THE WAY OF HAPPINESS. 

BY GERTRUDE E. MAcQUIGG. 

|H[E gate swung back noiselessly, and before she 
realized it, the child was in the garden. She 
touched the roses caressingly, almost ecstatically 
brushing them slowly against her flushed 
cheeks, her eyes, her full red lips whispering 
to them in a babyish monotone of tenderness. From his open 
door the Grouchy Man regarded her quietly. Oh, the pathetic 
eagerness of her little brown hands ! He thrilled responsively, 
and, misunderstanding both cause and effect, said aloud: "It 
seems we are all cursed with unsatisfied longing." 

She dropped her lunch pail with a clatter when she saw 
him coming toward her. 

" Don't look so scared," he added gruffly. 

"You you have such beautiful flowers," she faltered. "I 
just love flowers." 

" Oh, you do ? " And all at once he smiled, a smile so 
transfiguring that the child caught her breath. 

''What is it?" he asked. 

"When you laugh I'm not afraid of you." 

" Why should you be afraid of me ? " he demanded, look- 
ing at his thin, white hands. 

"Because you're the Grouchy Man." 

He reached down and stilled the nervous whirling of her 
sunbonnet. 

" Come here," he said deliberately, leading the child to a 
seat under the pepper trees. " Is that what they call me in 
this valley of toil?" 

She looked up at him, reclaiming her hand. After all he 
seemed more sad than grouchy. 

"What is a valley of toil?" she asked shyly. 

He looked across the roses to the mountains blue in the 
distance. 

" It's a place of empty hands and hearts that are never 
filled, a region of striving and working, of petty struggle, 
where " 



i9io.] THE WAY OF HAPPINESS 671 

" But taking care of flowers is such beautiful work," she 
interrupted, " and that's all you have to do." 

"That's just it, little girl," he said quietly. "It's all I 
have to do ! " 

"I don't see," she murmured. 

" Some day you will see," he answered. " In the meantime, 
we go on working until we're tired enough to sleep you for 
something to eat; I to forget." 

She leaned forward and touched him. " Do you know 
what I do when I want to forget ? " 

"You, child? Do you have things to forget?" His tone 
was condescendingly humorous. 

"Oh, yes"; she answered, smiling, "sometimes I'm lonely 
and then there's the mortgage. I don't know what it is, 
but it's something dreadful, mother says." 

"And what do you do?" 

" I go to the country across the blue mountains not really 
truly," she explained hesitatingly, "but I'm sure it is there 
and every one does what he loves best to do, and lives in a 
beautiful house, and smiles all the time, and " She stopped 
suddenly, a great shyness creeping over her. "You can't 
catch me," she cried ; and the Grouchy Man chased her in 
and out among the roses, and through the long grass under 
the peppers, until they both sank panting into the greenness. 
She was tossed and tumbled, laughing till the tears ran down 
her freckled cheeks, and her short pig-tail shook up and down. 

A shade fell over the garden, softening the colors and 
gathering them into a mass. The sun had passed behind the 
mountains of Romance Land. 

" I must be going," she said wistfully. 

" But you'll come again, won't you, and tell me of your 
land beyond the sunset?" 

"It's not a real country," she reminded him. "It's just 
make-believe." 

" It's the only real country, child," he assured her. " I've 
caught glimpses of it. Hold out your dress," he added some- 
what gruffly, and slipped an armful of roses into it. 

"Oh!" she cried opening her eyes very wide. He turned 
and strode toward the house. 

" Good-bye " ; he said when she reached the gate. 

" Good-bye " ; she called. " I'm coming again some day." 



672 THE WAY OF HAPPINESS [Feb., 

" That I may watch your dreams die ? " He shivered in 
the chill that crept through the garden. For a few moments 
he paused; then went in and carefully shut the door. 

It was indeed a valley of toil to which ill-health had 
brought the Grouchy Man. In a few scattered cottages were 
men and women, strong, undemonstrative, born of those who 
fought their way from the far East to seek a home and sus- 
tenance in a new country. Between these toilers and a disap- 
pointed exile tending roses, there must inevitably lie a path- 
less desert. 

And so, in his infinite wisdom, the dream-god gave the 
Grouchy Man and the child each other. 

Sometimes, in response to her youth, the Grouchy Man 
romped with her or wove a fairy fabric of ever-changing won- 
der from marvelous facts. Often he was very gruff and closed 
his door against all entreaties; but the child had learned that 
gruffness more often means sorrow than ill-humor. Thus their 
friendship grew, slowly perhaps, because unconsciously. 

There came a day when she found him with his face on his 
arms, lying in the grass under the pepper trees. She paused 
for a moment in surprise, then sat down beside him touching 
him shyly. 

" I know what you're thinking of," she whispered. 

He raised his head, his face almost gray in the shadow. 

"Oh, you poor Grouchy Man !" she cried reaching out to 
him with the mother-instinct of a little girl. 

" Go home, child. I cannot play to-day." But he caught 
her brown hands and held them close against him. 

She sat quite still for a long time. Mother said the Grouchy 
Man was very sick. She leaned forward and kissed him, a 
moist little kiss, somewhere near his ear. 

" I know " she waited a moment " you're thinking of 
the time when you saw the Wonderland; aren't you?" 

"Yes"; he answered. 

" Tell me about it," she pleaded. 

"Well," he began wearily, the words a cloak for his pain, 
" in the Wonderland I saw Success. I worked day and night, 
from year to year, until my goal was almost reached ; and 
then" his [voice faltered "you cannot understand, childie; 
but it's the greatest thing in the world it's happiness." 

She looked at him doubtfully. " I don't believe it ! " 



19 io.] THE WAY OF HAPPINESS 673 

For a few moments they were silent. She noticed that his 
mouth quivered, and remembered how her own red lips trem- 
bled when she wanted to cry. The need of saying something 
came to her. 

"When father broke his leg last spring," she said soberly, 
"he said he did not care to live, if he could not go on woik- 
ing for mother and me." 

" For mother and you? " he repeated, a subtle change com- 
ing over his face, softening the lines about his mouth. He 
raised himself and drew her to her feet. "Come, little child," 
he said huskily, leading her through the flowers to the gate. 

" But I don't want to go," she pleaded, lifting her arms to 
him. " Don't you wish you had a little girl like me ? Wouldn't 
it make you happy ? " 

The words were childishly appealing. He unclasped her 
hands and held them in his own. " I don't know what I wish 
to day." 

Then she left him. The next day she paused by the gate 
on her way to the store. The Grouchy Man was working 
among his roses, singing the chorus of an old college song. 

" Holloa, little girl"; he called merrily, "going to school?" 

"No, you foolish Grouchy Man; it's a holiday." 

" That's fine ! " he cried. " Come and have lunch in Ro- 
mance Land." 

" Oh ! " she exclaimed, swinging on the gate. " I'd just 
love to. Shall I come early and help set the table?" 

" Not too early, or I won't have any work done," he re- 
plied sharply, continuing his digging. 

The child hurried along to the cottage near the summit of 
the hill. 

"What do you think?" she called as she opened the door 
and ran into the kitchen to her mother. " The Grouchy Man 
wants me to come to lunch to-day. We're going to have a 
party." 

The woman looked down thoughtfully. " I don't know 
whether I want you to go," she said. " I'll not have you 
crying yourself to sleep again because of him." 

"Oh, Mother!" she begged, "he's almost well to-day; he 
was singing when I came along." 

"Well, he has helped you with your lessons; and it's net 
VOL. xc. 43 



674 THE WAY OF HAPPINESS [Feb 

for me to keep a little pleasure from one so near dying; so 
put away the things, and you'd better wear a clean dress." 

" May I put on my blue one ? " She drew her mother 
down to her and kissed her. 

"And your blue hair -ribbon, too, if you like." 

"Oh, Mother!" 

The child untied the packages from the store and poured 
the sugar into the crock, wondering if the snow on the moun- 
tains was as white and glistening, and wishing that the beans 
which she let slip through her fingers were great pearls, so 
that she might have a necklace to wear at the Grouchy Man's 
party ! The butter she laid in the cooler was there gold as 
bright in her Country of Dreams ? 

At last she was standing among the roses, and the Grouchy 
Man was laughing at her. 

"Where shall we set the table?" he asked, carrying it out 
of the house. 

" Under the pepper trees, where we can't see anything but 
the flowers and the mountains." 

Her conscious flinging aside of the sordid actual touched 
him keenly. " You child," he said softly, and then he smiled, 
" to-day we live in the Country o' Dreams." 

" You know I'm a Duchess," she told him while she ar- 
ranged the dishes and he brought out the most tempting things 
to eat. " And I have beautiful curls, and " 

"So I see," he laughed, catching hold of her straight pig-, 
tail and giving it a tweak. 

" Can't you play make-believe ? " she cried indignantly. 
" The ladies in Wonderland always wear curls." 

"How do you know?" 

"Because they are beautiful," she answered, watching him 
as he passed her a plate heaping with goodies. 

"The ladies or the curls?" 

She looked at him from the golden heights of her imagina- 
tion in a half-pitying, half-condescending way. " Your coat is 
of satin, you Grouchy Man, just the color of the snow on the 
mountains at sunset." 

"And how does my rosy-hued garment become me?" he 
said, giving a pat here and there to his khaki coat. She paused 
to consider, a piece of bread and jam raised to her lips. 



i9io.] THE WAY OF HAPPINESS 675 

"You look like a king," she decided critically, "and you're 
big and strong and well," she added, emphasizing each word. 

"Let us live always in the Land of Make- Believe," he said. 
She felt the bitterness in his voice, and stretched out her hand 
to him across the table. There was strawberry jam on the 
fingers, but he grasped them unheedingly. 

"Some day we're going to Wonderland together, aren't 
we, where we won't have to make-believe?" 

"Yes, yes"; he said, bringing a box out of his pocket; 
" here's something from across the mountains, for the lady 
with beautiful curls." 

" Really and truly ? " she demanded. " Cross your heart ? " 
And then came an excited whisper: "Oh!" And another 
softer: " M-m-m-m ! " as she laid back the tissue paper and 
disclosed the bright rows of many-colored candies. 

"Aren't they beautiful? Oh, don't you think this one 
lovely ? " 

" Oh, childie, I do ! " he agreed. 

" It's just the color of your eyes," she murmured thought- 
fully. 

" Do you really think it ? " 

" See ! " she exclaimed triumphantly, holding it up where 
the sun could brighten it. 

" Can't something be done ? " 

"Yes"; and laughing with a childish abandon of gaiety 
she ate it. 

" I want another piece of cake," she said presently. " I 
just love cake with frosting," and she pressed each brown 
finger between her lips. " Mother never buys cake with frost- 
ing; but once when I was sick, she baked a tiny cake all shiny 
white on top." 

Soon the golden hours passed : the stories of the Wonder- 
land were finished, the romp among the roses, and the happy 
idle moments in the grass, listening to the Grouchy Man, 
watching him with eyes blue as the heavens and wide, were 
now a memory. 

The Grouchy Man stood on the steps of the hill cottage. 
He was breathing hard, and in the sunlight that slanted low 
over the mountains he looked tired and old. For two days 
he had watched and waited, for two days he had worked 



676 THE WAY OF HAPPINESS [Feb., 

among his flowers, restless and alone. Now with his arms full 
pf roses he had come to seek the child. It was the first time 
he had approached the place she called home, and its bleak 
cleanliness chilled him. Through the open door came the 
sound of voices, and something in the tenderness of the low 
tones seemed to make more insistent the Why within him. 

"Mother, isn't it fine?" 

" What, darling ? " 

And then the answer, each word sweet with content and 
child-love. "Just being here with you, with your arms around 
me." 

" Mother's dearie ! " 

A long pause, a silence golden held them. A rose slipped 
to the doorstep, but the man did not notice it. 

"Mother, what is happiness?" 

" Well, little one," came the answer, " I reckon it's the 
having what you choose above all else." 

" I know what you choose," was the eager response, " just 
having father and me." 

" I guess you're right, dearie." 

"But you work so hard," the child reasoned tenderly; 
"and you're all tired out, and sometimes sick." 

"Yes, girlie." 

There was a quick sob, and very slowly the child spoke. 
Each word was uttered with a pitiful distinctness: "Then 
happiness is pain." 

The old man rather felt than heard the sudden impulsive 
movement of her body as she clung to the woman. 

" And the Wonderland beyond the mountains oh, my poor 
Grouchy Man ! " 

The man without stooped and laid the roses with uncon- 
scious tenderness on the doorstep. 

" Dearest," he heard the young voice exclaim, " you're 
crying, your eyes are shining bright. I'm going to tell the 
dear Grouchy Man, there's something better than a City of 
Dreams." 

"What, darling?" 

The man leaned forward. 

"Just this, Mother." 

He turned away, walking slowly across the yard and down 
the hill, through the warm glow that spread over the brown 



ig to.] THE WAY OF HAPPINESS 677 

earth. At first he was conscious only of surprise, an aston- 
ishment in which every sense seemed suspended. Fear un- 
reasoning came to him with its passion of pain. Mechanically 
he walked along the road between the scrubby rows of dusty 
eucalyptus trees. Fear of the change within him made him 
shrink from the awakening instincts that had lain dormant all 
his life, a human longing for love and companionship. Some- 
how the sorrow he had treasured in his heart, ennobled by 
the anguish of resignation, kept perpetually upon the altar of 
his devotion, had become a thing of impotence, inadequate to 
the best that was in him. It was not that his ideal had be- 
come ignoble ; for the success that he coveted in the scien- 
tific world was worthy of human effort; but he no longer 
thought its accomplishment the greatest happiness, nor felt its 
loss the deepest pain. 

Through the long years thought Jed him pitilessly. As one 
apart, he saw the lonely enthusiasm of his boyhood, when he 
had looked forward to a great attainment; the joy of the days 
when he had felt it almost within his grasp; the time, six years 
ago, when death first became his companion. From this far- 
away valley he had watched the strides of men, not abler than 
he, but physically stronger. He had seen them near the fulfill- 
ment of his ideal. He had seen them fail where he might have 
succeeded. He envied them opportunity. The bitterness was 
sometimes deadened by physical pain, but he became indiffer- 
ent in his happier moments, defiant in his darker days. 

The man stopped and looked across the valley to the cot- 
tage in the sunset light. 

" Then happiness is pain," he repeated wearily. Ah, what 
was his endurance of grief, his bravery of submission, to the 
power of this woman who had found happiness the wonder of 
this little child who accepted it as the highest and best ? He 
walked on rather quickly. Anger took possession of him. 
Why could. he not have gone on quietly to the end, cherishing 
his sorrow, his disappointed ambitions ? The time was close at 
hand. Oh, that he should have to learn from these unlettered 
people, that he had failed, failed in his fundamental percep- 
tions. There is a higher motive for human effort than ambi- 
tion to succeed. His anger died away as suddenly as it had 
come. He opened his gate and going in, closed it with his 
accustomed care. He walked among the roses, which caught 



678 THE WAY OF HAPPINESS [Feb., 

at his garments as he passed. He reached out and touched 
those nearest him with cold, sensitive fingers. They were a 
very intimate part of his life, these silent witnesses to his daily 
work, his monotonous struggles, and, in a few golden moments, to 
his romps with a child who had led him laughing along the 
dream paths of a youth he had never known. 

Far away the sunset glowed and burned into the snow of 
the mountains, and the man gazed deep into the distant glory, 
his eyes wide open, his brow strained and contracted. He 
smiled, and for a moment the lines of mental agony softened; 
his mouth became tender, boyish, for he remembered that once 
in the Romance Country he had worn a coat of just that color, 
and a Duchess had shaken her curls while she chatted merrily 
over the teacups. Oh, golden curls, and rose-colored satin 
coat! 

The brief Western twilight gathered the Valley of Toil into 
the peace of its darkness, and, as if in greeting of night, the 
roses sent upward to meet it a myriad of subtle breaths of fra- 
grance. The Grouchy Man approached his cabin and paused at 
the door as he had often done in the long ago. It was long ago, 
the time before the child's coming, for a word, a thought can 
separate hour from hour by an aeon of feeling. He was con- 
scious of clenching his hands, of holding his breath, of the tense 
rigidity of his entire body. He entered the house and built a 
fire on the rough stone hearth deliberately, needfully, as he 
did everything and fanned it until the room was aglow with 
light. Taking a box from the table he sat down by the fire, 
and unlocking it, selected a large document from its contents. 
This he spread out upon his knees and read through carefully. 
It was very short, a last will and testament, bequeathing all he 
had to the scientific institution to whose work he had sacri- 
ficed his health. Suddenly, determination making his face stern, 
he held the paper to the flames and watched it burn until only 
a few charred fragments remained. 

For a long time he sat motionless, his face resting on his 
tightly clasped hands. In the faint glow of the dying fire 
his figure looked strangely boyish. With the instinct of primi- 
tive man he reached out into the pitiless stillness for help. 
Characteristic of himself, it was not relief he prayed for, but 
the strength to endure. 

Darkness, silence, and solitude surrounded him. Like the 



19 io.] THE WAY OF HAPPINESS 679 

sweep of ocean over rocks and shore, grief seized him, rising 
over his resistance, drawing him into its passion, lifting his soul, 
broadening his mind, as it deepened his anguish. His nerves 
relaxed their tension, his white, slender hands unclenched, his 
'shoulders trembled with the force of his emotion, and he sob- 
bed, the hard, dry sobs that wring the soul. Gradually, as time 
passed, the little, wild, insistent voices of the country made 
themselves heard and filled the night with their murmurs. A 
radiance of mist brightened the little room, and fell luminous 
about the stooping figure. The man raised himself slowly, 
stretched out his hand to the table, rested a moment against a 
chair, and finally, stood by the window. The moon had risen 
from the heart of Romance Land, and above the blue mountains 
was shining down upon the Valley of Toil, asleep in the hollow 
of the hills. In the distance rose the eucalyptus trees, straight 
and tall, hiding the child's home within their shadow. 

And the Grouchy Man saw her future as his desire would 
build it, a radiant future, into which she carried the white 
wisdom of her childhood. Some day he would plan out the 
details, when he was not so tired, and to-morrow he would 
make a new will, against the time when his guardianship would 
cease. 

As he turned from the window, a rare, transfiguring smile 
illumined his face, and its radiance still lingered about his boy- 
ish mouth when they found him in the morning, mercifully be- 
fore the coming of the child. 

And her future? Surely the dream-god would not close 
the gates upon the Way of Happiness! 



Boohs. 

Mrs. Wilfrid Ward's first novel, 

GREAT POSSESSIONS. One Poor Scruple, was an event in 
By Mrs. Wilfrid Ward. Catholic literature and a surprise. 

A story from her pen is still an 

event, though no longer a surprise. She never had to serve 
the usual apprenticeship in the craft of fiction-writing; her first 
effort was a password which admitted her among the masters. 
Her Catholic problem- novels have added to her fame. The 
present book* does not attempt to handle the larger issues. 
It deals with society and souls. The general outlines of the 
story are easily drawn. By mistake the will of an English 
General, killed in the Boer War, is sent to the wrong woman 
a very wrong woman who takes advantage of the possession 
of it to inherit under the terms of a previous will, to the hurt 
and confusion of the General's wife. Molly Carew, the daughter 
of the fraudulent legatee, falls heir to the property, at first in 
good faith. Molly is, in old-fashioned parlance, though not in 
old-fashioned style, the villain and the heroine of the story. 
That is as much of the plot as it is fair for a reviewer to dis- 
close. At any rate, the interest in the plot is subordinate to 
the portrayal and development of character. It is in the latter 
field that Mrs. Ward's genius shows itself most in this work. 
The characters are drawn with insight and delicacy. The ma- 
jority of them are non-Catholic, but a Catholic atmosphere 
pervades the work, which grows finally and naturally into a 
manifestation of the strength of the Catholic faith and ideals 
ot life. The priests are fine types, depicted as if from life. 
Father Mark Molyneux is a delightful figure, and the same 
may be said of his friend, the old blind Canon, 

The collected poems of Miss 

MISS GUINEY'S COLLECTED Louise Imogen Guiney,f which 

POEMS. are but freshly come from the 

press, may be reckoned an event 

in letters. It is not a little matter that from our great but 

* Great Possessions. By Mrs. Wilfrid Ward. New York and London : G. P. Putnam's 
Sons. 

\Happy Ending. The Collected Lyrics of Louise Imogen Guiney. Boston & New 
York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 68 1 

scarcely critical country, and from our own faithful but not 
yet literary people, should come this poet of rare distinction. 
The culture of the Older World all the heritage of a gracious 
and brooding past have entered into Miss Guiney's spirit; 
and, withal, that high courage which breathes from her own 
St. George: 

" Oh, give my youth, my faith, my sword, 

Choice of the heart's desire : 
A short life in the saddle, Lord ! 
Not long life by the fire ! " 

Happy Ending contains lyrics from several previous vol- 
umes, with additional poems of recent years. " The Kings," a 
poem of noble spirit and music, is given the opening pages 
followed by a Nature piece of compelling imaginative power. 
There are five exquisite and heart-reaching little carols for 
Christmastide (one of which, "Gifts," appeared recently in THE 
CATHOLIC WORLD), a series of sonnets upon London and Ox- 
ford, a Franciscan lyric of most tender beauty, the ever lovely 
" Song of the Lilac," and a variety of poems upon many themes. 

There is about Miss Guiney's work a subtle swiftness of 
thought and feeling which is akin to our lost Lionel Johnson. 
There is a most inviolate service of Truth in Beauty, and that 
" frugal closeness of style " (as Pater has called it !) which is 
the hall-mark of the artist who is at the self same time a 
scholar. Her volume should be welcomed by all those who 
prize the best in modern Catholic literature. 

The Catholic Encyclopedia * scores 
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, another success. That dictum 

sounds like a newspaper headline, 

but one's opinions of the work demand a large-type style of 
expression as one realizes, in going through it, the vast nature 
of the task and the ability with which it is being carried out. 
If there be any pious depressionists who are afflicted with the 
feeling that Catholicity is aloof from the onward spirit of the 
times, the continuous success of this large project should give 
them a cheerful disappointment. 

* The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. VI. Fathers Gregory. New York: Robert Appleton 
Company. 



682 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

Looking at this volume, first from the viewpoint of mere 
figures, we have 1,600 closely printed columns of well-digested 
matter, with 26 full-page illustrations, including three in color, 
hundreds of smaller photogravures, and maps of France, Ger- 
many, Palestine (in the Old Testament period and also in the 
time of Christ), and Fra Mauro's remarkable map of the world 
drawn in 1459, the last in illustration of a fine article on 
" Geography and the Church," by Otto Hartig, of the Royal 
Library, Munich. 

On glancing over the variety "of subjects treated history, 
biography, hagiology, theology, ethics, biblical topics, canon 
law, philosophy, the sciences, painting, sculpture, architecture, 
music one is reminded of Mr. Chesterton's answer to the 
bigots who said that there was a conspiracy among literary 
men to give prominence to the Catholic Church. It is impos- 
sible, as he says, to talk about the activities of humanity in 
Western civilization without giving prominence to the Catholic 
Church; it might be said with more plausability that there is 
a conspiracy among writers to make mention of the continent 
of America. 

The present volume opens with an article by Dom John 
Chapman on the " Fathers of the Church," which is one of the 
best articles ever contributed to a general encyclopedia. In 
selection of matter, mode of treatment, and clearness of pre- 
sentation, it is a model for others of its kind. Dom Chapman 
moves over the vast field of patristic learning with a seeming 
leisure, but he covers the ground. He presents excellent sum- 
maries of periods and schools, and analyses of specially impor- 
tant theories, notably that of St. Vincent of Lerins. 

The two most important theological articles are those on 
" God," by Dr. Toner, and on " Grace," by Dr. Pohle. Both 
topics are amply treated from the historical as well as the 
argumentative side. Father Maher's article on " Free Will," 
in the section of it devoted to the theological controversies on 
this question, is a good supplement to Dr. Pohle's dissertation. 
Father Maher, in his whole treatment of the subject, historical, 
theological, and philosophical, is, as might be expected, lucid and 
convincing, though more space might have been devoted to the 
proofs for freedom. Dr. Arendzen's article on " Gnosticism " is 
full of information. The numerous contributions by Kirsch on 
" Early Popes and Martyrs " are .scholarly and accurate. The 



1910.] NEW BOOKS 683 

same praise is merited by the work of Adrian Fortescue on the 
" Gradual," " Greece," and other topics. There are several 
good articles under the general rubric " Geography." Souvay's 
article on " Biblical Geography " contains an exhaustive dic- 
tionary of places connected with Holy Writ, a fact which it is 
well to remember in consulting the cyclopedia for information 
along this line. " Geography and the Church," by Hartig," is 
a splendid survey of the debt that geographical science owes 
to Catholics. Especially noteworthy among the numerous bio- 
logical articles are "Galileo," by Father John Gerard, S.J. a 
competent and honest handling of a difficult theme; and "St. 
Francis of Assisi," by Paschal Robinson, O.F M. a charming 
treatment of a charming character. The space given to St. 
Francis Xavier is too brief; a presentation of the evidence for 
his miracles should have found place in such a work of refer- 
ence as this. Deserving of note are the articles on " Friars 
Minor," by Rev. Michael Bihl, and on "Gothic Art" (very 
well illustrated), by Ralph Adams Cram. In this volume are 
also general articles on " France " and " Germany." The names 
of the authors, Georges Goyau and Martin Spahn, vouch for 
their excellence. Professor Remy handles, with his usual 
mastership, the topic of " German Literature." Useful and in- 
forming contributions are those on " French and German 
Catholics in the United States"; also one on "Greek Churches 
in this Country," by Andrew Shipman ; and one on the " Greek 
Churches in General," by S. Vailhe. 

When in the early " sixties " Gari- 

GARIBALDI AND THE baldi visited England, he met in 

THOUSAND. some quarters with a reception 

By G. M. Trevelyan. t h a t was enthusiastic to the point 

of extravagance. Crowds lined the 

streets to welcome him as " an uncrowned king," Cabinet 
Ministers entertained him, ladies were said to have knelt be- 
fore him as the Apostle of Freedom. Queen Victoria and 
Disraeli, on the other hand, were conspicuously opposed to 
these demonstrations; and a letter of Cardinal Manning's af- 
firms that "Her Majesty acted like a queen and a woman in 
putting a stop to all this seditious tomfoolery about Garibaldi." 
Newman, in a sermon, had already characterized the Piedmon- 
tese army as "a band of sacrilegious robbers." Cardinal Wise- 



684 NEW BOOKS [Feb , 

man made the Garibaldi reception the occasion of an indig- 
nant pastoral, in which he called attention to the fact that the 
Anglican Hierarchy had been at pains to pay extraordinary 
public honor to a self-proclaimed representative of infidelity 
and disloyalty, and incidentally he exacted a retractation from 
The Times when it questioned the accuracy of his description 
of Garibaldi. 

These things serve to remind us of the significance which 
the person of the red-shirted hero has ever had for the sup- 
porters and the opponents of the Papacy ; and they lead us to 
expect that a man so pronounced in his political and religious 
sympathies as Mr. Trevelyan will hardly write about Garibaldi 
with a single eye to the portrayal of his subject and with no 
display of deep-rooted prejudices and masterful prepossessions. 
Any one who recalls the strong anti-clerical bias manifested 
in the fourth and fifth chapters of Mr. Trevelyan's Eng- 
land in the Age of Wycliffe, will be prepared to encounter 
in the new volume a display of the same characteristics. 
Again, Mr. Trevelyan as The Spectator has warned him is 
exuberant and poetical in disposition rather than classical and 
restrained. It is literature he is making, not mere facts that 
he is recording. We may, then, anticipate rather an impres- 
sionistic treatment^ of a subject that lends itself so easily to 
the romantic imagination and the heroic style as the epic of 
Garibaldi's raid into Sicily.* Priests and conservatives, under 
the stress of dramatic requirements, are apt to figure there as 
villains and tyrants; revolutionaries and filibusters as heroes 
and patriots. But a very different sort of impression could be 
conveyed by an artist disposed to subject the same details to 
another kind of treatment. Hence, without denying the care 
and accuracy with which our author has examined into and 
recorded actual incidents, we are convinced that he does not 
help the reader toward the formation of a just judgment with 
regard to the larger issues involved in the movements that 
made the Dictator of the Two Sicilies so picturesquely famous. 
By way of instance : 

The rest of Italy outside of Piedmont, he says, "was ex- 
posed to the absolute power of priests, of foreigners, of native 
despots, bound together in a close triple alliance against the 

* Garibaldi and the Thousand. By George Macaulay Trevelyan. New York : Long- 
mans, Green & Co. 



19 io.] NEW BOOKS 685 

rights of the laity, personal freedom, and Italian independence*' 
(p. i). The making of Italy was "the dismemberment of the 
most ancient and terrible Theocracy of the Western world " 
(p. 3). He speaks of a conspiracy " formed by Naples, the 
Pope, Austria, and the expelled rulers of Modena and Parma " 
(p. 138); and says that it Became "the urgent duty of the 
rulers of Piedmont, in self-defence, if for no .other reason, to 
destroy the Papal and Neapolitan Kingdoms" (p. 138). 

We present these passages to illustrate our affirmation that 
the author is doing the work of a painter, not of a photogra- 
pher ; and we add the following description of Garibaldi 
rather too highly colored for the pen of a mere historian: 
"The fond simplicity of a child, the sensitive, tender humanity 
of a woman, the steady valor of a soldier, the good-hearted- 
ness and hardihood of a sailor, the imposing majesty of a king 
like Charlemagne, the brotherliness and universal sympathy of 
a democrat like Walt Whitman, the spiritual depth and fire of 
a poet, and an Olympian calm that was personal to himself, 
all plainly marked in his port and presence, his voice and eyes, 
made him not the greatest, but the most unique figure of the 
age" (p. 36). 

With the freedom bestowed upon him by his sympathies 
and his poetic gift, the author has made a delightfully enter- 
taining book out of the romantic adventures of that favored 
son of fortune who, as a matter of history, really did achieve 
successes that seem to surpass anything else recorded in the 
annals of modern warfare. Documents, letters, conversations 
with veterans, personal visits to battlefields, searches in libra- 
ries and letter-files have put the writer in possession of a mass 
of details, out of which he has been able to construct a tale 
of most extraordinary charm. The times, the land, the people, 
the sudden caprices of chance, the amazing coincidences, the 
desperate risks, the cunning treacheries, and the incredible 
blunders, all combine into a romance not easily credited and 
yet actually true. Little wonder that imaginative Italians have 
sometimes magnified the hero of this drama into a sort of 
demigod. Little wonder that a writer of Mr. Trevelyan's 
strength and fervor has woven the facts into one of the most 
entertaining of books. 



686 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

Nearly a century ago a foreign 

THE GREAT WHITE PLAGUE, critic wrote : " What they call ' con- 
By Dr. Otis. sumption ' kills the Americans as 

if they were perpetually in battle; 

but they speak of it as if it were in no way their concern, 
rather as if God sent it for some reason of His own." To be 
impressed with the contrast between the spirit above described 
and that beginning to prevail at the present day, and to real- 
ize why and by what means the transformation has been brought 
about, one has but to glance at a new volume,* written by the 
Director of the National Tuberculosis Association. And most 
of this striking transformation, be it said, has been effected 
within the last fifteen years. 

The anti-tuberculosis movement may be very properly de- 
scribed as a great humane crusade against one of the most 
dreaded agents of suffering and of death. The gradual en- 
lightenment first of the medical fraternity and then of the masses 
as to the origin and the nature of the terrible disease, the suc- 
cess attending the patient search for preventive and remedial 
methods of treatment, the campaign to organize a world-wide 
attack upon the common causes of the disease, these are sec- 
ondary topics of interest in Dr. Otis' volume, which has as its 
chief aim and its principal utility the imparting of simple and 
thorough information to the reader concerning the ordinary but 
indispensable measures upon which the fate of millions of threat- 
ened consumptives will depend. 

The book is nicely divided and readily intelligible. An 
index would have been an improvement. 

Another book,f which embodies 

HOW TWO HUNDRED CHIL- matter previously published in the 

DREN LIVE AND LEARN, magazine now known as The Sur- 

By R. R. Reeder. ve y t { s Dr. Reeder's description of 

the method of education which 

obtains among the two hundred orphans of whom he has charge. 
As pictured in these pages, the orphanage in question is a 
strong instrument for good and is in the hands of a man pos- 
sessed of much common sense. The chapters include " Punish- 

* The Great White Plague: Tuberculosis. By Edward O. Otis, M.D. New York: 
Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 

\-How Two Hundred Children Live and Learn. By Rudolph R. Reeder. New York : 
Charities Publication Committee. 



NEW BOOKS 687 

merit," " Moral Training," and " Religious Instruction." The 
author sets down his conviction that the attempt to impart 
moral instruction without religious training is practically hope- 
less, and that for the state to go blindly ahead with a great 
system of public education, while making no provision what- 
ever for religious instruction, is " to maintain an enterprise at 
great cost with no assurance of safe returns on the investment." 
He suggests that most Sunday-Schools would be improved 
greatly if some plan were adopted by which they migh't make 
use of the splendid public education plant. 

Much enthusiasm and a very prac- 

SOCIAL FORCES. tical type of wisdom combine to 

By E. T. Devine, Ph.D. make Dr. Devine's utterances at 

once attractive and valuable. For 

the past three years he has been sending forth very steadily 
a series of editorials upon significant social facts of the present 
time. Twenty-five of these gathered together make up the 
handsomely printed little volume that has just issued from the 
press.* The author is a characteristically careful writer, and 
advocates unquestionable truths with convincing arguments. 
He displays in an admirable degree the spirit which will unite 
varied interests in a strong, united effort against a common 
foe. The poor, the sick, the prisoner, will have much to be 
thankful for in the spread of Dr. Devine's teaching. 

In a romance which is twined about 

THE GOD OF LOVE. the immortal figure of Dante by a 
By J. H. McCarthy. highly imaginative and resourceful 

artist we may look for something 

more than an ordinary novel. And so, indeed, The God of 
Love,^ proves to be. True, a tale of the sort can never be 
wholly satisfying, and liberties taken with the facts recorded 
by Dante himself in the Vita Nuova will, of course, chill the 
enthusiasm of the discriminating reader. Yet there is so much 
to interest and even fascinate in the style of writing, so lively 
a sketch of familiar types and places, so serene and lofty an 
idealism shining out in the story of the great love of the 

* Social Forces. By Edward T. Devine, Ph.D. New York: Charities Publication Com- 
mittee. 

The God of Love, By Justin Huntly McCarthy. New York and London : Harper & 
Brothers. 



688 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

world's great poet, that the time devoted to this quaint narra- 
tive, which " claims to set forth, in something like narrative 
form, an account of the loves of Dante and Beatrice," is profit- 
ably spent. 

The Crime Problem * contains prac- 

THE CRIME PROBLEM, tical discussions of very pertinent 

questions connected with our penal 

system. Written by a man unmistakably experienced and deeply 
interested in the improvement of existing conditions, the book 
affords the thoughtful reader much matter for careful reflection. 
A gieat many instructive facts are noted and useful compari- 
sons made between different systems of discipline. The ear- 
nestness of the author seems to be intense ; his literary style is 
preposterous. 

It is several years since the pres- 
SERMONS. ent Holy Pontiff issued his Ency- 

clical on Christian Doctrine, De 

Christiana Doctrina Tradenda^\ and insisted upon the use of the 
Catechism of the Council of Trent as a text-book for cateche- 
tical instruction throughout the world. It is true there was no 
lack of books in English devoted to the explanation of the 
catechism and Catholic teaching: the works of Bishop Hagan, 
of Fathers Power and Howe, are familiar to all catechistF. But 
these books aimed at supplying outlines of material for in- 
struction. What was now desired was a book that would mold 
and cast that material into suitable shape and supply some- 
thing practical, familiar, .and adapted to the needs and capaci- 
ties of the ordinary congregation ; there was need of a manual 
that would apply the material already at hand in the Catechism 
of the Council of Trent to a course of plain, simple, effective, 
instructions. 

Such a work already existed in Italian, the Catechetical In- 
structions of the Very Rev. Angelo Raineri. From the early 
days of his priesthood, this zealous priest had devoted himself 
to this work. Week after week thousands thronged to the 
cathedral of Milan attracted by his clear, orderly, pious, and 
impressive instructions on the Roman catechism. Forty-five 

* The Crime Problem : What to Do About It. How to Do It. By Colonel Vincent Myron 
Masten. Elmira, N. Y, : Star-Gazette Company. 

\A Compendium of Catechetical Instructions. The Commandments Raineri-Hagan, 
New York : Benziger Brothers. 



19 io.] NEW BOOKS 689 

years were devoted to the scrupulous preparation and correction 
of these instructions. It is an adaptation of these instructions 
that Rev. John Hagan, Vice-Rector of the Irish College in 
Rome, now presents to English readers. The present volumes 
treat of the Commandments. Besides giving us Father Raineri's 
work in English dress, they also embody a new translation of 
the Catechism of the Council of Trent and a translation of the 
Catechism of Pope Pius X. English readers will be struck by 
the clearness of exposition, the orderly treatment, the frequent 
and appropriate use of Holy Scripture. 

This is not a new book,* but it 

THE ART OF LIFE. is probably new to many of our 
By F. C. Kolbe, D.D. readers, and it ought not to be 

so, at least to the thoughtful. In 

the first place, it is written by a man whose life-story is suffi- 
cient to interest one in his work. He was born over half a 
century ago, the son of a Dutch Reformed minister. He went 
from South Africa to study at Oxford, and there found the 
faith. From Oxford he went to Rome, and after a brilliant 
course in theology, returned to South Africa a priest. " In 
Cape Town," says the English Catholic Who's Who, "this de- 
voted son and his father for some years occupied the same 
district, the one as a priest, the other as a Protestant clergy- 
man of the Rhenish Missionary Society." A Catholic editor, 
a strong pro-Boer, an educator and scientist, he has occupied 
a prominent place in the life of his country. 

The present reviewer read the book on its first appearance 
in 1902, and the fresh reading of it now only deepens its charm. 
It is an exposition of the Catholic view of life, and at the 
same time an apologia for religion along lines which Cardinal 
Capecelatro advocates in his recent work. It is the mature 
product of one who is both a reader and a thinker. The title 
is borrowed from John Stuart Mill; the framework is Aris- 
totle's theory of forms; the ideal of the Perfect Beauty is from 
Plato, or rather from Plato through St. Augustine; the esti- 
mate of life is from Christ, interpreted by His saints and the 
manifold interests of the historical Church. The Catholic ideals 
of life and means of perfection are explained by a sustained 

The Art of Life: An Essay. By F. C. Kolbe, D.D., C. T. S., of Ireland: New York : 
Benziger Brothers. 

VOL. XC. 44 



690 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

analogy with the principles of art. The result is a work of 
noble thoughts and wise suggestions written in a way that will 
make the modern man stop and listen and admire. 

The symposium is becoming quite 

THE CITY OF PEACE. the thing in literature nowadays. 

The great encyclopedias and re- 
ports of learned gatherings are no doubt responsible for it. 
And Mr. Raupert, in compiling Roads to Rome, showed that 
the idea is a good one in controversal literature. The indi- 
vidual converts mass their forces on a common point and thus 
produce more effect. That volume has been followed by Miss 
Curtis' Some Roads to Rome in America, and now by this Irish 
publication The City of Peace* It contains the autobiographi- 
cal story of the conversions of Dom Bede Camm, O.S.B.; 
Alice Wilmot Chetwode; Rev. Joseph Darlington, S.J.; Mrs. 
Bartle Teeling ; Susie Teresa Swift, formerly captain in the 
Salvation Army, now a Dominican Sister ; Rev. Henry Browne, 
S.J.; and a person whose name is not given. The impression 
left on one by reading the volume is that here we find a num- 
ber of people differing in circumstances of life and kinds of 
belief who have all found peace in the Catholic faith by fol- 
lowing prayerfully their desire for the highest and the truest. 
The conclusion may be, with equal truth, either of the appar- 
ently contradictory propositions: ".All roads lead to Rome" 
or "One road leads to Rome." 

The Holy Mountain^ by Stephen 

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN. Reynolds, is a combination of very 
By 8. Reynolds. un-idyllic pastoral and satirical 

events. The sub-title is " A Satire 

on English Life." Domestic life and the methods of dealing 
with fallen women come in for a share in the satire, but the main 
attack is on the commercializing of the press and religion. The 
plot is a fantastic one. A vacuous youth living in the Wiltshire 
Downs wishes that a neighboring hill be transferred to the part 
of London where he is to take up his residence. His faith 
moves the mountain. The matter is taken up by an enterpris- 
ing newspaper proprietor, who secures possession of "The 

* The City of Peace, Irish Catholic Truth Society. Dublin : Sealy, Bryan & Walker, 
t The Holy Mountain. By Stephen Reynolds. New York : John Lane & Co. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 691 

Holy Mountain," ostensibly for a National Temple in which all 
religions may worship. The disagreement of the sects throw 
it back on his hands as he had expected, and he turns the 
temple into a music-hall. The Catholics are treated as having 
a sense of dignity lacking in others. One little touch we can 
all appreciate and enjoy. At the opening of the temple, in 
the chapel assigned to Catholics (but which they failed to oc- 
cupy), there was " a large array of polychrome saints and Holy 
Families, placed on sale by a firm of monumental sculptors 
named Isaac Cohen & Co." 

A student of social facts once saw 

AS OTHERS SEE US. three college girls on the boat 
By John G. Brooks. plying between Richmond and Old 

Point Comfort. 

One was reading a novel by Daudet, the second was ab- 
sorbed in the last story by Mrs. Humphrey Ward, and the 
third by something quite as unrelated to the opportunities of 
the day. They were on their first trip upon this most inter- 
esting river in America. Not a sweeping curve of it that is 
not rich with memorable events. John Fiske's Virginia and 
Her Neighbors or one of James Rhodes' sterling volumes give 
new and fascinating meaning to every mile of that journey. 
Think of a college girl passing Jamestown for the first time, 
dazed by a French novel. If romance were a necessity, one 
would think that the local color in stories, like those of Ellen 
Glasgow, or Miss Johnson, or Thomas Nelson Page, might 
meet the need. 

The feeling with which John Graham Brooks regarded those 
heedless young women is reflected in the pages of his present 
book.* He finds his native country to be an absorbing sub- 
ject of interest; he reads with intense delight whatever has 
been written about it by intelligent observers; he collects 
assiduously volumes upon American life and manners; and he 
has summed up, classified, and commented upon a century of 
criticism, thus making a book of his own which is of peculiar 
and permanent interest. Our boastfulness, our sensitiveness, 
our wit, are discussed from different points of view by many 
observers whose words are here set before us, sometimes for 

* As Others See Us, A Study of Progress in the United States. By John Graham Brooks. 
New York : The Macmillan Company. 



692 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

edification and instruction and sometimes for mere amusement. 
A most convenient opportunity is thereby afforded us of com- 
paring past with present and one type of reviewer with an- 
other. Clearly put is the lesson that we may profit much by 
heeding intelligent censure of our faults. Most instructive and 
encouraging is the conclusion in words quoted from a critic 
of twenty years ago. 

It the American should once become possessed of a little 
genuine humility, a humility without loss of courage or self- 
respect ; if he lost a little hardness in his self-confidence, and 
became more teachable, his mastery in self-government would 
easily lead the world. 

An interesting course of reading might be planned on the 
basis of Mr. Brooks' bibliography of seventy-five volumes of 
English, French, and German critics of the United States. 
The full index of the volume deserves to be noted. 

Charmingly written, artistically 

FELICITA. printed and bound, beautifully il- 

By Christopher Hare. lustrated with well- chosen pictures 

it does not seem an extravagant 

qualification of Christopher Hare's contribution to the Series of 
Little Novels of Famous Cities.* The book will be especially 
welcomed by those who longingly recall such a scene as that 
with which the story opens : 

The magic spell of a Tuscan May-day rested upon the 
land, and flooded it with slumbrous sunlight, like the touch 
of a silent benediction. 

Gentle- crested hills and undulating valleys rose and fell 
around, till they lost themselves in the dim blue range of 
mountains which bounded the horizon, while, near at hand, 
a trembling sea of olive leaves, young and silvery, was broken 
by sober ranks of dark cypresses and clustered groves of ilex- 
trees. 

Away to the east, where the morning sun still lingered, 
there rose through a shadowy haze the gray towers and em- 
battled walls of Siena, crowned by her stately Duomo, then in 
all its pristine beauty. 

If one cannot at will revisit those enchanted spots and gaze 

* Felicita. A Romance of Old Siena. By Christopher Hare. New York : Frederick A. 
Stokes Company. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 693 

at San Domenico and the Palazzo Tolomei and the wondrous 
tower of the Palazzo Publico, almost the next best thing is to 
have in one's hands a book so delicately and feelingly made 
as the precious little volume before us. 

A pertinent and useful volume is 

CHRISTIAN PEDAGOGY, that in which Father Halpin lets 
By Rev. P. A. Halpin. the reader know what the Catho- 
lic Church has to say upon a great 

many topics commonly considered and discussed at the present 
day. All have to do, in more or less direct fashion, with edu- 
cation, and from this fact the volume takes its title.* It em- 
bodies enlightened and just consideration of the progress that 
has been made in the science of pedagogy, and at the same 
time contains many admonitions as to the easily absorbed 
errors that lie around the field of scientific education in such 
distressing abundance. Christian pedagogy is the only true 
and saving pedagogy. It recalls principles which, when for- 
gotten, are replaced by teachings prolific of cruelty, unclean- 
ness, and disorder. It sets minor truths in their proper place, 
as adjuncts to the things of supreme interest. Giving instruc- 
tion about such matters in his own clear and impressive way, 
Father Halpin has written a useful book. 

Dr. Kerley writes for the instruc- 

SHORT TALKS WITH YOUNG tion of mothers with regard to the 

MOTHERS. care of infants and young children. 

By C. G. Kerley, M.D. One good point about his bookf 

is that it contains fewer technical 

terms than the average volume of the same class; and wher- 
ever such terms are introduced they are explained immediately. 
About one-half of the text is concerned with the ailments of 
childhood, and the suggestion of other remedies than medica- 
tion make these chapters of the book its best and most useful 
part. The question of food covers less than one-fourth of the 
contents. A long talk on maternal nursing contradicts some of 
the usually accepted notions on the subject. The index is com- 
prehensive and well-arranged. 

* Christian Pedagogy ; or, The Instruction and Moral Training of Youth. By Rev. P. A. 
Halpin. New York : Joseph F. Wagner. 

\Short Talks With Young Mothers. By Charles Gilmore Kerley, M.D. New York: 
G. P. Putnam's Sons. 



694 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

A thing not to be forgotten is that books on such matters 
are largely dependent for usefulness on the preceding educa- 
tion of the mothers for whose instruction they are intended. 
And then, supposing that there has been the proper sort of 
education which we maintain should include all the domestic 
sciences the mother must be possessed of such income as shall 
enable her to have much of the household work performed by 
paid helpers within or outside of the home. Libraries might 
be filled with well-written volumes, containing thorough scien- 
tific instruction on all possible points, and yet little will be 
accomplished [for the improvement of actual conditions unless 
the mother has the time and the strength to do what is nec- 
essary for the well-being of her children. For this reason 
volumes like the present always raise economic problems that 
are not easily solved. 

Stradella, * which is perhaps the 

STRADELLA. most delicately wrought of Craw- 

By F. Marion Crawford. ford ' s i ater wor ks, will appeal to 

varied interests. Of the beautiful 

niece and betrothed of a haughty Venetian senator and her 
elopement with her lowly-born music-master, of the btavi and 
their well-paid oaths to deliver the dead body of Stradella to 
the above-mentioned noble, and at the same time to deliver 
him unharmed into the keeping of a certain enamored Vene- 
tian lady of these and numberless by-ways of adventure 
Crawford writes to the satisfaction of all lovers. Dabblers in 
the historical will carry away definite, if not always pleasing, 
pictures of the Roman court, of the strong-minded Swedish 
Queen Christine and her eccentricities, of intrigues almost under 
the eyes of the Sovereign Pontiff, of high ecclesiastics and 
vengeful devotees, all done with the loving but at times almost 
too-realistically presumptuous touch familiar to friends of the 
author. Lovers of music, especially those to whom Donizetti's 
"Spirito Gentil " is reminiscent of the Roman Singer, will welcome 
a companion picture in Stradella, for the limning of which the 
whole narrative seems but a blending of colors the vast throne 
room, the white- clad Pontiff, and the slender youth, pouring 
forth his soul in that song beloved of all singers " Pieta 
Signore." The present volume is, presumably, the last of Mr. 
Crawford's work. 

* Stradella. By F. Marion Crawford. New York : The Macmillan Company. 



19 io.] NEW BOOKS 

The humorous cover design of this 

FARMING IT. volume* holds forth an alluring in- 

By Henry A. Shute. vitation to examine its contents ; 

and he who accepts, finds within a 

realistic, delightful narrative, brimful of unbounded optimism. 
The experiences here related are those of a city lawyer, whose 
long-dominant desire to have a small farm finds gratification 
in the purchase of a two-and-a-half-acre place on the outskirts 
of the town. The purchase, the buying of live stock, the ex- 
pectations, the setbacks in a word, the experiences resulting 
from the enterprise make up a story highly pleasing and amus- 
ing one that will inspire the faint-hearted and that will be 
useful, as the author suggests, in tempting many back to the 
soil, prepared for hard work, without which there is no real 
success. The pen and ink sketches are excellently done. 

The title of Lyman Abbott's lat- 

THE TEMPLE. est book f of instructions is taken 

By Lyman Abbott. from the text " know ye not that 

your body is a temple ? etc." 

The work consists of fourteen moral discourses based on the 
physical and mental powers of man ; the various senses and 
members the appetites, the passions, imagination, conscience, 
intuition, reason, and love. The talks are clear and straight- 
forward, with sentences short and periods few. The ethical 
message delivered does not contain anything very new or start- 
ling but it is none the worse for that. There is the usual 
American Protestant accentuation of the hygienic element as an 
aid to right living healthy surroundings, good cooking, good 
digestion, etc. This is all very well in its way, and Catholic 
moralists of to-day do not neglect it, but if a Catholic takes 
up these themes (which really offer excellent matter for dis- 
courses) his treatment will be more pronouncedly supernatural. 
Some one has said that Congregationalism is the apotheosis of 
common sense in religion. " Common sense " is a quality as 
precious as it is uncommon, but we should not feel pleased, 
as Catholics, if our religion were defined as that. 

It would not be fair, however, to urge this point too far. 
Dr. Abbott's book does not aim at being a manual of ascetical 

* Farming It. By Henry A. Shute. Illustrated. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.' 
t The Temple. By Lyman Abbott. New York : The Macmillan Company. 



696 NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

theology. It is a guide to Christian living for plain people. 
As such, there is little that a Catholic can object to. We enter 
a demurrer, however, against the author's view of faith, and 
against such a statement as " Christianity affords no justification 
for asceticism." What would St. Paul say to that? 

One of the noteworthy points in the work is its wide range 
of citation. The author uses Huxley, Mill, Carlyle, Dickens, 
Thackeray, and the poets. But, after the Bible, the deep, wise 
sayings of Thomas a Kempis hold first place. 

With an insight born of keen intelligence, long experience, 
and profound sympathy, Miss Addams presents in her latest 
book * several studies of the dangers and hardships which en- 
viron the city boys and girls of the humbler classes, and of 
curious manifestations of the eternally interesting spirit of 
youth. What strikes one most forcibly in the book is the 
author's remarkable gift for penetrating into the secret springs 
of action and revealing the circumstances which extenuate 
much that seems to the ordinary observer merely sordid or 
wholly sinful. What she describes will help the ordinary 
reader to appreciate the nature of the problems confronting all 
who are laboring to help the less fortunate of their brethren, 
and what she advises or suggests will lighten the way toward 
a generous and practical movement to lessen prevalent social 
evils. Her pages are all interesting, and, but for a certain 
characteristic aloofness from some principles dear to the Cath- 
olic heart, are wholly acceptable. 

Writing the Short Story. By J. Berg Esenwein. Hinds, 
Noble & Eldridge, New York. As the title suggests, this vol- 
ume is a practical handbook on the structure, writing, and sale 
of the modern short story. The volume is particularly useful 
for the aspiring short story writer, because the author has been 
guided by his own long experience in the editorial chair. 

The Land oj Long Ago. By Eliza Calvert Hall. Little 
Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. This story will find for itself many 
friends. Aunt Jane, a character well known to the readers of 
later day fiction, recalls the experiences of a long life a life 

The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. By Jane Addams. New York : The Mac- 
millan Company. 



ip io.] NEW BOOKS 697 

blessed by the happy spirit of optimism, of sweetness, and sin- 
cerity. The ideals of the story are high and it will receive a 
warm welcome from all lovers of the simple in fiction. 

The author of a small booklet, Do It To A Finish, by Orison 
S. Marden, writes well upon the evils of carelessness, of indif- 
ferences, of lack of thoroughness, of dishonest work. His pages 
are addressed particularly to young men and young women in 
the business world. The booklet is tastefully issued by Thomas 
Y. Crowell & Co., New York. 

The fact that The Roman Hymnal, compiled by the Rever- 
end J. B. Young, S.J., has reached its twenty- second edition 
speaks well for its practical usefulness. It is a complete man- 
ual of Latin hymns and chants for the use of congregations, 
schools, colleges, and choirs, and may be obtained from the pub- 
lishers, Fr. Pustet & Co., New York City. 

The same publishers issue a handy sodality manual and a 
prayer-book a pocket manual it might be called. Its one 
hundred and fifty pages are very complete, and the booklet 
should be of service to members of sodalities. 

A brief Life of St. Vincent de Paul, translated from the 
French, is published by The Christian Press Association, New 
York. This work has been abridged from the more voluminous 
work by Rev. Peter Collett. The substance and spirit of the 
original have been accurately retained and the small volume 
is published at a low price. 

The problem of selecting the best 

JUVENILES. books for children is getting to be 

more and more of a difficulty, so 

varied and so numerous are the juvenile volumes issuing from 
the press. One volume, in particular, we take pleasure in rec- 
ommending to those interested in juvenile literature The Ad- 
ventures of Little Knight Brave, by Frances B. Rees. D. Ap- 
pleton & Co., New York. 

It is a long time since we have had the pleasure of read- 
ing such a thoroughly delightful fairy tale. The author merits 
high praise for her work. Her story has freshness, charm, and 



6gB NEW BOOKS [Feb., 

originality. Those of us who have retained something of the 
child spirit, who can still appreciate the allurements of "make- 
believe," will find a well-spring of pleasure in the volume. 

Louisa May Alcott occupies a warm place in the hearts of 
American girls; and the boys, too, have found a world of 
pleasure in her stories. The record of her life has recently 
been written in a capable way by Belle Moses. The volume 
is published by D. Appleton & Co., New York. It is the story 
of Miss Alcott's power of achievement. Boys and girls will 
derive almost as much pleasure from this well-written life- 
story as they will from the many volumes which go to make 
up the Alcott series. 

Tales of the Red Children, by A. F. Brown and J. M. Bell, 
embraces eleven stories of Indian tradition. The Red Children 
have heard them while sitting about the camp-fires in the long 
winter evenings, and the authors have retold them for the 
White Children to read. The boys and girls of America are 
sure to enjoy these delightful tales of the first Americans. 
The volume is fully illustrated, and is published by D. Apple- 
ton & Co., New York. 

Little People Everywhere is a series of new publications pub- 
lished by Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. There are 
twelve volumes in all. The four that we have received em- 
brace Kathleen in Ireland; Ume San in Japan ; Manuel in 
Mexico ; and Rafael in Italy. Children may learn much of the 
life of the peoples of these respective countries by reading the 
stories of their simple, daily life as given in these volumes. 
They are beautifully illustrated, attractive in design, and pic- 
ture foreign life for American children in a fascinating way. 

It is always well for us in America to know the story of 
Revolutionary times. Boys and Girls of Seventy- Seven, by Mary 
P. Wells Smith, is, as the author says, a " true story." It 
aims to bring home to young readers the high courage, patriot- 
ism, and self-sacrifice which inspired our forefathers. Half- 
tone illustrations and a useful appendix add to the value of a 
worthy, historical tale. This work is published by Little, 
Brown & Co., of Boston. 



1910.] NEW BOOKS 699 

The latest juvenile publication from the pen of Mary F. 
Nixon-Roulet is published by Benziger Brothers, New York. 
It is entitled Seven Little Marshall*, and has to do with the 
good times and experiences of a family of seven. 

What boy or girl does not wish to read about Mary's ad- 
ventures on the night when she saw a flight of silver stairs 
reaching from her bedroom window to the moon, and at first 
timidly and then boldly went right up and up and up, until 
she got upon the moon and became maid- servant in the cabin 
of the old gray cat with white apron and gold-rimmed specta- 
cles ? What a queer time Mary had with the lamb and the 
rooster and the monkey and the bulldog ! 

And what do you think her father said when she got home 
again ? Why, he did not believe her story at all. But then, 
there are the pictures in the book to prove that everything 
happened just as Mary said. 

Mary's Adventures on the Moon is written by A. Stowell 
Worth, and published by the Gorham Press, Boston, Mass. 

The House of the Heart and Other Plays for Children. 
Designed for use in the schools. By Constance D'Arcy Mackay. 
Henry Holt & Co., New York. Constance D'Arcy Mackay 
makes a useful little volume of a series of one-act plays which 
she previously published in St. Nicholas and other magazines. 
They are simple, instructive, and easy of representation on the 
school stage. Complete directions for costume and staging are 
given with every play and the book thus becomes a useful 
tool to the teacher and the holiday fun maker. 

The Romance of the Silver Shoon. A Story of the Sixteenth 
Century. By Rev. David Bearne, SJ. Benziger Brothers, 
New York, Cincinnati, Chicago. Father Bearne, who wrote 
those delightful Ridingdale stories, tells now of Prince Olaf and 
his love for the poor, and Queen Marabout with her bad tem- 
per and how her Christmas ball-dress of singing-birds' plum- 
age was really made out of goose feathers and turkey feathers ; 
and how wicked Sir Joel, who tried to introduce the Lutheran 
heresy into a Catholic country, got himself hung on a high 
gallows; and how King Hermann finally married the Lady 
Elizabeth and they all lived happily thereafter. 



^foreign jperiobicals, 

The Tablet (n Dec.): Canon Wyndham discusses the alleged 
abjuration of Joan of Arc. Review of Francis Thomp- 
son's Life of St. Ignatius. Dedication of the Newman 

Memorial Church at Birmingham. Account of the 

Thanksgiving Celebration at St. Patrick's in Washington, 
which President Taft and representatives of the Latin- 
American Republics attended. The Abbot of Down- 
side explains that the "Benedictine Order Gold Loan of 
1909," being negotiated by the Benedictines of Brazil, 
can have for security only the property of the com- 
munities in Brazil. 

(18 Dec.): The Decision of the Court of Appeal that an 
Anglican clergyman must give communion to one who 
has married his deceased wife's sister is considered edi- 
torially. Situation in regard to English religious 

schools. Complete text of Father Joseph Rickaby's 
sermon at the dedication of the Newman Memorial 
Church at Edgbaston. 

(25 Dec.): Editorial on the dilemma facing the Ang- 
lican Church regarding the " deceased wife's sister." 

"'Liberal* Treatment for Our Schools" reviews 

the last four bills by which the Liberal Government has 

attempted to discriminate against Catholic schools. 

Account of " Mariavity," a new Polish sect founded by 
Mother Maria Francisca, who is described as a Polish 

Mrs. Eddy. Extensive letter of Mr. Godfrey Raupert, 

describing his American experiences while lecturing on 

spiritism. Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J., discusses 

Christian Science seriously. He calls it " one more wit- 
ness and appeal to man's need of some kind of religion." 
(i Jan.): "The Bishops and the Coming Election" deals 

editorially with the school question. D. Moncrieff 

O'Connor contributes the first of two articles on " Fer- 
dinand Brunetiere's Road to Rome." Rev. Thomas 

Wright, in " A Plea for a Catholic Academy," is of the 
opinion that both society and the Church need such an 
institution. He outlines his idea of what it should be. 
"Our Duty to the Church," Advent Pastoral of the 



19 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 701 

Bishop of Newport. "Godless Teaching, a Century's 

Experience," connects criminal statistics of the past cen- 
tury in France with the policy of non-religious schools. 

The Month (Jan.): The Rev. Herbert Thurston, after a care- 
ful study of Christian Science, finds it to be identical 
with Mrs. Eddy, whom he judges to be " neurotic, self- 
centred, and self-deluded," and extremely illiterate under 
a ridiculously solemn show of erudition. Social Prog- 
ress in 1909," reviewed by C. S. G., includes the fol- 
lowing measures : The Trade-Boards Act, Labor Ex- 
change Act, Housing and Town-Planning Bill, publication 
of the report on Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, in- 
creased temperance agitation, and the Tuberculosis Ex- 
hibition. P. A. Sillard pronounces "The Voice of 

Longfellow" to be more nearly universal in its appeal 

than that of any other American poet. James Dwyer 

describes some of " the magnificent array of pictures 
now being exhibited at the Grafton Galleries in aid of 
the National Gallery Fund." " Blessed Edmund Cam- 
pion's ' Challenge ' " ; or, Letter to the Privy Council, 
says J. H. Pollen, confirmed the Catholic reaction and 
was a presage of future victory. Unfortunately " its 
premature publication occasioned faulty ideas of the 
Jesuit mission in the minds of some." 

The International Journal of Ethics (Jan.): "The Ethical As- 
pect of the New Theology, by J. H. Muirhead. "What, 
on this view of God " (as maintained by the New The- 
ology), ask conservative critics, " becomes of human free- 
dom and the deepest of all distinctions, the good and 
the evil?" The writer indicates what seems to him to 
be "the primary and essential condition of a satisfying 

answer to the problems that are raised." Thorstein 

Veblen says of " Christian Morals and the Competitive 
System," that " both these principles or codes of con- 
duct are actively present throughout life in any modern 
community. For all the shrewd adaptation to which 
they may be subject in the casuistry of individual prac- 
tice, they will not have fallen into abeyance so long as 

the current scheme of life is not radically altered." 

Thomas Jones, in "Pauperism: Facts and Theories," 
quotes at length from the Scottish Report, "because it 



702 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Feb., 

speaks with less uncertain voice than the English Re- 
port, and because the Scottish system has so often been 
held up to our approbation." He compares the theories 
of the " Majority " and the " Minority." James F. 
Tufts contributes " The Present Task of Ethical Theory." 
W. R. Sorley writes on "The Philosophical Atti- 
tude." And C. W. Super shows "The Relation of 

Languages to Ethics." 

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record (Dec.): Dr. J. F. Hogan re- 
views and commends Dr. M. Caffrey's History of the 

Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century. P. Coffey 

continues his discussion of "'The New Knowledge* and 

its Limitations." " The Rehabilitation of Joan of 

Arc," by R. Barry O'Brien, gives extracts from the 
testimony of the principal witnesses before the tribunal 
which annulled the previous sentence pronounced against 

her. Rev. S. Wigmore, C.C., under "Sir Robert Kane 

and the Industrial Question," gives a short biographical 
sketch of this great nineteenth- century Irishman, and a 
resume of his principal work, The Industrial Resources 

of Ireland. In an "Editorial Note on Macaulay's 

Speech on the Maynooth Grant," Dr. J. F. Hogan cor- 
rects the erroneous extracts from this speech given in a 
previous number. He gives also Gladstone's stand on 
State support of religion, and Macaulay's criticism of it. 

Gerald Nolan, M.A., B.D., contributes a Latin 

Christmas hymn. 

Le Correspondant (10 Dec.): Jean Brunhes investigates, in 
"The Limits of Our Cage," the extent of the world 
inhabitable for man with the possibilities in the air and 
in the bowels of the earth. He concludes that the pres- 
ent limits are the final ones and that the progress of 
scientific knowledge is rather of a thought triumph than 
an extension of physical well-being. The second in- 
stallment of "The Power of Islam" traces the institu- 
tion and doctrines of the five great religious confrater- 
nities, especially that founded by Sheikh Senoussi about 
1835, whose aim is Pan-Islamism and hatred alike of 
Turks and Christians. . Its organization and power is 
described as magnificent and unsuspected. ^Henry de 
Laregle asks why the old age pensions for laborers, so 



1 9 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 703 

long promised, are not granted in France as they are in 
other European countries ? In England and New Zea- 
land the tax payers supply these; in Belgium and Italy 
the governments aid those who strive for a retiring 
competency ; in Germany the workmen and employers 
are taxed and the government also gives aid. 
(25 Dec.) : " The House of Lords." The article is prac- 
tically a review of the origin and development of the 
English Parliament. The first period lasted from Wil- 
liam the Conqueror to the date of the Magna Charta, 
wherein the " Commune Concilium Regi," the beginning 
of the modern system, was for the first time officially 
defined. The date when the " Commons " separated 
from temporal and spiritual Lords is not known, but 
the fact is first mentioned in a document of 1332. 
From this forward the Commons gradually received 
special rights. The author then considers the fiscal 
privileges and immense properties which give to the 
Lords such power. The present controversy in the 

House is mentioned. "Depopulation and Infantile 

Mortality," by Dr. Robert Simon. If 28,000 people 
were to perish suddenly by some catastrophe, France 
would be in mourning. Yet this is the death record for 
the first six months of 1909, and no notice is taken of 
it. Various reasons are assigned for this high death 
rate, e. g, t high state of civilization, general abasement 
of moral, religious, and political ideals, alcoholism, etc. 
90,000 of the 120,000 children of one year and under 
have some sort of sickness that, with care, can be cured. 
The author compares the efforts made in Paris and in 
New York, and favorably to the latter. " The Reli- 
gious Music of Berlioz," by Adolphe Boschot. After a 
few words on Berlioz's life, M. Boschot considers in 
detail Berlioz's "Te Deum " and "Infancy of Christ." 
Annales de Philosophic Chretienne (Dec.) : Henri Bremond be- 
gins a defence of Fenelon against what he considers the 
prejudiced Bossuetism of M. Crousle. However, this de- 
fence of Fenelon is not intended as an attack on Bossuet. 

The article deals with Mme. Guyon and Quietism. 

Testis defends the Catholic social workers of Bordeaux 
from the charge of " minimizing " Catholic doctrine, in 



704 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Feb., 

the matter of man's power to know God's existence 
through reason alone and of being immanentists as to 

man's natural aptitude for Christianity. L. Laber- 

thonniere, in " Dogma and Theology," attacks the view 
that " faith is only adhesion to a formula of inaccessible 
truth imposing itself entirely from without," and that 
faith and knowledge are mutually exclusive. In another 
paper he will consider the view of St. Augustine that 
knowledge and faith are alike demanded in the same 
supernatural order. 

Revue du Monde Catholique (15 Dec.): The work of the Con- 
troversialist, Rev. Jean Adam, S.J., is composed of three 
parts, says Eugene Griselle. The first part shows that 
the Fathers of the Pretended Reformation, following out 
their own principals, must confess that their doctrines 
lack the solid foundation of the true religion. The 
second part of the work treats of the Blessed Eucharist. 
And the third proves that Calvin and his adherents are 
unjust usurpers of the doctrine of St. Augustine con- 
cerning Grace and Predestination. " There was want- 
ing to the French clergy of former times no glory, not 
even that of martyrdom," says M. Sicard in the first 
Conference of " Historical Synthesis." 

Revue du Clerge Franfais (15 Dec.): H. Lesetre writes of 
"The Biblical Commission." He begins with a brief ac- 
count of its institution by Leo XIII. and its confirma- 
tion by Pius X.; then he treats of its authority; and he 
concludes by citing a number of its decisions on the 
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, with brief com- 
ments on the bearing of each. L. Desers continues 

the articles on "The Parochial Ministry." His present 
theme is " Our Ministry of Edification and of Charity," 
in which he considers the becoming disposition and con- 
duct of the priest in offering Mass, in administering the 

Sacraments, and in attending the poor and the sick. 

"What the Children are Taught in our Public Schools" 
is a discussion by J. Bricout of two manuals of morality, 
one the work of M. Payot, the other of M. Bayet. The 
writer cites numerous passages from both works to show 
that the authors, under pretence of leaving the religious 
notions of the pupils unmolested, are in reality positive- 



i9i o.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 705 

ly aiming, by a specious pretext of tolerance and rever- 
ence, to destroy all spiritual conviction and all religious 
belief. 

Revue Thomiste (Nov.-Dec.) : A. Viel discusses the Divine 
Comedy; behind its mere literary mask are theological 
design and hidden , moral meaning. Dante's poetical 
ideal is that of the Bible. Beatrice symbolizes the 
science of theology, the highest poetry, " the true praise 

of God." " The Mystery of the Redemption," by R. 

P. Hugon, is partly historical, dealing with opinions of 
the Fathers respecting that doctrine; and partly meta- 
physical, proving the thesis of St. Thomas, that the In- 
carnation was necessary in order to give full satisfaction 
to an offended Deity. R. P. Mandonnet, as a comple- 
ment to his articles on the authentic writings of St. 
Thomas, gives two lists, one containing the genuine 
writings and the other those wrongly attributed 'to St. 

Thomas. "The Development of Dogma According to 

Vincent of Lerins," contains suggestions by R. P. Dausse 
as to the course to be followed in reconciling the teach- 
ing of the Church. 

Stimmen aus Maria- Laach (i Jan): " The Catholic Church and 
Modern Literature," by A. Baumgartner, S.J., states 
that Catholic ideals form the inspiration of not only a 
great Catholic literature, but also pervade most of the 

classical non- Catholic literature. "Relative Truth." 

A. Deneffe, S.J., treats of Psychologism, Transformism, 
Space-and-Time-Relativism, and Pragmatism. " Im- 
perialism, Continentalism, Internationalism." H. Pesch, 
S.J., discusses the problem of the strife for commercial 
world-power. The whole development of social, politi- 
cal, and commercial conditions tends toward an epoch 
of peaceful internationalism. Alois Stockmann, S.J., 
writes on " Characters and Aims in Modern Fiction." 

" Klemens Maria Hoffbauer," by M. Meschler, S.J., 

is a sketch of the life of the saint. 

Theologisch-Praktische Quartalschrift (Jan.): "What is Modern- 
ism and What Deserves to be Called by that Name?" by 
Professor Albert M. Weiss, O.P. That modern view of 
the world, which denies sin, redemption, and the super- 
natural, is contrary to Christianity. " Contributions 
VOL. xc. 45 



706 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Feb. 

to the History of the Veneration of the Dolors of the 
Blessed Virgin," by P. G. M. Zinkl, O.S.M. "Pros- 
titution," by J. Franz, S.J. The author is ot the opin- 
ion that official toleration and supervision of public 

brothels serve to lower public morality. "A Modern 

City Apostolate: the Sanation of Concubinage," by A. 
Boetsch, S.J. This article gives a detailed view of the 
work of a society of Catholic women in Vienna, and 
urges the organization of similar societies in other cities. 

La Civilta Cattolica (Dec.) : " The Persecutors and the Perse- 
cuted in France." This article traces the history of the 
policy of the anti-clerical persecutors from its inception, 
by M. Waldeck-Rousseau, revived and continued under 
M. Combes, down to the passing of the Briand law in 
1906, and from thence to the present hour. The cry of 
anti- clericalism is made use of for mere selfish party 
purposes, and the cynical injustice and the violation of 
the rights of Catholics is supported by the flimsiest of 

sophistries. "The Pontificate of Pope Paul III." This 

article is a review of Ludwig Pastor's latest volume 
The Story oj the Popes. Paul III. convoked the Council 
of Trent, removed innumerable abuses, raised the dignity 
of the Sacred College with men of sound doctrine and 
spotless lives, and endeavored to further the fine arts 

and sciences. " Liberty of Conscience and of Science " 

is a review of the historico-constitutional work of M. 
Luigi Luzzatti, professor of the University of Rome. 

Espana y America (15 Dec.): P. R. Requeijo treats "The Re- 
forms in the Mexican Banking Law " made by D. Jose 

Limantour in 1908. P. A. Blanco asserts that Spanish 

Masonic lodges have imitated their French brethren in 
favoring an anti- military policy in order to free human 

society from all moral restraint. The Indo-Spanish 

poems of Santos Chocano, continues P. R. del Campo, 
are sometimes harsh and defective in form and incom- 
plete in execution. P. Aurelis Martinez expounds 

briefly the pragmatism of James and the idea-forces of 

Fouillee. Continuing his notes on Salamanca, A. de 

Segovia y Perez pays a tribute to the poet Galan, the 
criminologist Montero, and urges the founding of a Span- 
ish American University. 



Current Events. 

The new year opened with brighter 
Prospects of the New Year, prospects for the preservation of 

peace upon the continent of Eu- 
rope than did the previous year. As may be remembered, 
when 1909 began, the gravest doubts existed as to whether 
war would not break out in the Balkans as a consequence of 
the aggression of Austria-Hungary. At the present time it is 
only those who think that they can see a long way ahead that 
are apprehensive of an outbreak. The war between Great Britain 
and Germany, which some look upon as certain, and which all 
who have given attention to the subject cannot but fear to be 
unavoidable, is not likely to take place until Germany thinks 
that her fleet is strong enough to cope with the British. France 
and Germany are on better terms than they have been for 
many years. The agreement made with reference to Morocco 
is being observed with strict fidelity, although a certain section 
of the business community in Germany has been making an 
attempt to drive from office the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 
because he has failed to lend the support of the German gov- 
ernment to claims made in Morocco by a firm of brothers who 
have secured mining concessions from the Sultan concessions 
alleged to have been made contrary to the provisions of the 
Algeciras Act. With all the other powers also France is upon 
the best of terms and has enlarged the borders of her under- 
standings. There is reason for thinking that since the visit of 
the Tsar to the King of Italy the triple entente has become 
quadruple, and that it embraces Italy as well as France, Rus- 
sia, and Great Britain. What seemed to be growing into a 
disagreement with Spain, on account of the latter's campaign 
against the Riffs, has been removed by the fall of Senor Maura. 
Doubt still exists as to the settlement of the questions which 
have arisen between France and Morocco. The Sultan, Mulai 
Hafid, seems to have deteriorated more quickly than is usual 
even with absolute rulers, and to have evinced an unwillingness 
to keep his word. But at last an agreement has been reached 
in accordance with which a loan is to be raised to pay the 



7o8 CURRENT EVENTS [Feb., 

claims of foreign creditors and to reimburse France for the 
expense to which she has been put in preserving order. 

Germany and Austria-Hungary are as closely united as it 
is possible for two distinct nations to be, but whether Italy is 
satisfied with the Triple Alliance and her place in it, there is 
room to question. The assertion, however, is still made that 
the Triple Alliance is unimpaired. What are the relations be- 
tween Germany and Russia it is not easy to say, but as there 
is no doubt that the latter country is highly incensed with 
Austria, Germany's close ally, there is reason to think that 
these relations are not what Bismarck wished them to be. The 
Balkans still form the chief source of anxiety. Although there 
has been an apparent settlement of some of the questions at 
issue, even an optimist cannot dismiss some degree of un- 
easiness from his mind. All such a one can do is to hope for 
the best, and when he considers the many diverse and opposed 
interests which are involved, this hope seems almost desper- 
ate. Russia and Austria, Italy and Turkey, Greece, Servia, 
and Bulgaria, all are interested and all are more or less op- 
posed ; and the fact that King Ferdinand of Bulgaria has been 
traveling about gives reason to apprehend a disturbance sooner 
or later. The failure of constitutional government in Greece, 
which has resulted in the impotence of the country, whether 
for good or evil, makes the prospect of peace more hopeful. 
Had Greece been strong enough she would not have allowed 
Bulgaria to have become a kingdom without seeking, even at 
the expense of war, some compensation. There have been of 
late assertions made that a war between Russia and Japan is 
not far distant, but the probability is that those assertions are 
the invention of penny-a-liners. 



The dissatisfaction with the exist- 

France. ing organization which is felt by a 

considerable number of French 

workingmen, and which led to the strike of last year, has 
not made any very serious manifestation of itself. Perhaps 
the gentler attitude of M. Millerand, offering as it does a con- 
trast to the more severe methods of M. Clemenceau, may 
account for the quiet that has reigned. One incident, how- 
ever, shows that there is more beneath than appears on the 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 709 

surface. The Civil Servants are allowed, by the existing law, 
to organize themselves into associations for the defence of their 
respective interests; but these associations are not allowed to 
extend this right of combination so as to enter into a General 
Federation. In defiance of this prohibition, however, some 
twenty associations of Civil Servants, including Post- Office 
employees, tax collectors, Custom House officials, primary school 
teachers, lycee professors, and others, have formed the National 
Federation of State Employees, and have drawn up a body of 
Statutes for its regulation. They declare, however, that they 
have no intention to enter upon a strike, nor to join the no- 
torious General Confederation of Labor, which has for its ob- 
ject the overthrow of the existing capitalist regime by that 
means. This proceeding of the State Officers is declared, by 
journals holding moderate views, to be an attempt to form a 
state within the state, a revolutionary act of rebellion against 
the law, and the government is called upon to take a firm 
stand and to suppress the movement. Perhaps it would be 
better if the government would redeem the promise made in 
the spring of last year to bring in a Bill to regulate in a more 
liberal manner the relations of the State to its servants. In 
fact, very little progress is made in the carrying out of pro- 
jects foj. social improvement. The Assembly has adjourned and 
has not passed the Old Age Pensions Bill, which has been before 
it for so many years, while the Income Tax Bill, of which so 
much was heard as a means of lightening the burden borne by 
the poorer classes, has been put upon the shelf with but little 
prospect of its ever being taken off. 

While the Chamber is slow in manifesting its sympathy with 
the claims of those who do the hard work of the State, the 
Archbishop of Paris has hastened to extend a helping hand 
to the toilers. The bakers of Paris have long been the 
victims of a sweating system, and under the auspices of the 
General Confederation of Labor, the Bakers' Union has entered 
upon a campaign for the abolition of night work in the bakeries. 
The Archbishop not only addressed a letter urging the faith- 
ful to join in this campaign, but took part in one of the meet- 
ings held in support of it. His Grace made a speech express- 
ing the fullest approbation of the movement, giving his bene- 
diction to those who were taking part in it, and bestowing 
praise upon " the great friend of God and the people/' Comte 



;io CURRENT EVENTS [Feb., 

de Mun, who had been the first to arouse their hearts to the 
suffering of the bakers. One of the speakers at the meeting 
expressed his delight at the Archbishop's presence, as being 
an evidence that Catholics were taking the lead in the social 
movements of the day, and thereby dispelling the hostility of 
the working classes an hostility which in some degree was 
due to the fact that there have been among Catholics some 
who have voted against improvements of the law, and by so 
doing have shown their incapacity to understand the tendencies 
of the time. A few weeks later the Archbishop expressed his 
hearty approval of the workingmen's clubs, which have been 
organized in large numbers throughout France by the Comte 
de Mun. It was a movement, he said, which was inspired by 
the ancient tradition of the Church. These clubs were a pro- 
paganda of the faith ; they would, like leaven, make the Chris- 
tian faith arise in the souls of their comrades, and would make 
the Church popular, nor would she abandon them. 

We have already referred to the relations held by France 
to the rest of Europe. General confidence is felt in the For- 
eign Minister, M. Pichon, who retains his post in the new min- 
istry, and has now held it for three years. He has shown 
firmness and determination in his conduct of affairs, and a sense 
of continuity which inspires, trust. It is true that for ^ie first 
time for many years the question of Alsace-Lorraine has been 
the subject of some discussion, owing to the reference made to 
it by the German Chancellor, but with the exception of M. 
Deroulede, no one was greatly moved. 

Not that France has receded from the stand that it has 
always taken any more than has Germany : both nations hold 
quietly, although firmly, to their respective positions. Between 
the two there is, however, a somewhat curious form of rap- 
prochement. France is the richest country in the world, and 
Germany stands in need of money for industrial enterprises, 
of which the Baghdad Railway is the most important. Great 
efforts are being made by German financiers to get hold of 
French money, for this and other enterprises. Hungary, also, 
it is said, having to raise a hundred millions of dollars, has 
tried to do so in France. Some, however, think it incongruous 
that the latter should provide funds to help to strengthen one 
of the Powers of the Triple Alliance. 



1 9 1 o. ] CURRENT E VENTS 7 1 1 

There is every reason to hope 
Belgium. that the new King who has suc- 

ceeded to the throne will inaugu- 
rate a new era for Belgium, and especially for the Congo. All 
through his life he has been remarkable for the sympathy which 
he has shown for those who most need it. He has gone so 
far as to associate with them, and even to take part in their 
toilsome tasks, having worked for a time in a mine and acted 
as an engineer on a locomotive. Moreover, he insisted upon 
visiting the Congo, and has gone through every district. His 
first public act has been to accept the resignation of all the 
officers of the late King's Civil and Military Households, among 
whom was Baron Wahis, Governor-General of the Congo. It 
is satisfactory to learn that this acceptance has produced 
throughout Belgium an excellent impression. 



Rumors have been circulated that 
Germany. negotiations have been opened 

with Great Britain with a view 

to limit armaments ; but we fear that they have not the slight- 
est foundation. The Social Democrats, indeed, who form 
the largest party in the Reichstag, have given the most ample 
assurances that they will vote against every further increase 
in the estimates for the Navy, but their opposition is not 
strong enough to overbalance the votes of all the other parties, 
upon whose support the government can always rely. The 
Navy League, at the beginning of the new year, issued an ap- 
peal to the German people, calling upon them not to be di- 
vided by any consideration from naval expansion. Storm- 
clouds, it asserts, are black upon the horizon. England is 
accused of having agitated against Germany, even outside 
Europe. Attempts on her part at conciliation are called siren- 
songs meant to lure the statesmen of Germany from their 
course. It declares, we fear only too truly, that the hope of 
doing away with the antagonism is vain, for this antagonism lies 
in the conditions of existence of the two peoples, As of old, so 
now, Germany has a redundance of population, and must find 
an outlet. The possessions of Great Britain offer the most 
promising settling places for this surplus population, hence the 



712 CURRENT EVENTS [Feb., 

necessity for a conflict. To their credit it must be said that 
the working-classes in both countries are opposed to a war. 
But it is no virtue to be blind to facts ; and one of the most 
prominent of the leaders of the working classes in England, 
Robert Blatchford, the editor of the Clarion, has become one 
of the most earnest in warning his fellow-countrymen of the 
danger ahead. The German Navy League is a very influential 
body. While that of Great Britain is less in number than a 
hundred thousand, the German has very nearly a million 
members. 

It may be remembered that Prince Billow's last govern- 
ment rested upon a bloc made up of parties of opposed politi- 
cal principles and ideals. Their bond of union was a so-called 
National policy in opposition to the Catholic Centre and the 
Social Democrats. Owing to failure to agree upon the pro- 
posals for taxation made by the government, the bloc went to 
pieces and Prince Biilow fell. The new Chancellor, appointed, 
of course, by the direct authority of the Kaiser, irrespective of 
parliamentary support, has, in order to pass the measures 
which are desired by the government, to find or to make a 
majority. With a certain degree of audacity, however, in view 
of recent events, Herr von Bethmann Hollweg, in his first 
speech as Chancellor, declared that separate parties have ever 
refused, and still refuse, to be government parties, and in the 
same way no Government in Germany would ever be a party 
government. This statement produced, as well it might, uproar 
on the Left. The Chancellor declined to lay any programme be- 
fore the Parliament except the business-like and practical legisla- 
tion which had been mentioned in the Speech from the Throne. 
This he called a policy of continuity and stability at home and 
abroad, and it is an endeavor to place the government above all 
parties. Others describe it as destined to bring about more 
stagnation and muddling later on. In financial matters economy 
is to be the dominant consideration. The increase in revenue, 
which has taken place for the eight months beginning with 
April i, last, will, of course, tend to diminish the amount of the 
annual deficit. The Parliamentary position has been somewhat 
simplified by the fact that three Radical groups, the Radical 
People's Party, the Radical Union, and the German People's 
Party, have been united into one, to be called the German 






i9io.] CURRENT EVENTS 713 

Radical People's Party. The Pan- Germans are somewhat 
under a shadow at the present time. The close co-operation 
with Austria, which is now the order of the day, stands in the 
way of the ardent and active propagation of the union of all 
Germans under the German Imperial Flag. The repudiation of 
certain other of their ideas made by Count Bernstorff, the 
Ambassador to this country, at Philadelphia some time ago, has 
called forth considerable controversy. In the Reichstag Baron 
von Schoen, the Foreign Minister, while not holding the League 
responsible for all the utterances of its members, yet warned 
them that it was out of its literature that the anti-German 
Press equipped itself in its attacks upon the policy of the gov- 
ernment. The Baron took care, however, not to condemn ab- 
solutely so patriotic a body of men. 

As we have said before, the question of Alsace-Lorraine 
has been brought up for the first time for several years. The 
cry has been raised: "Alsace-Lorraine for the Alsace- Lor- 
rainers." This cry Herr von Bethmann Hollweg declared to 
be in part attractive and in part just, but its realization was 
delayed by attempts which were being made to Latinize this 
German Province. What the Chancellor meant was that au- 
tonomy would not be given until all sympathy with France 
had died out. On this condition Alsace-Lorraine may look 
forward to being made one of the family of German States and 
cease to be a mere province of the Empire. 

The Baghdad Railway project, which has been suspended 
for some time, is to be recommenced. The part completed 
reaches nearly to the Taurus range. The second part to pene- 
trate that range is to be undertaken at once. The question, 
however, as to the control of this railway is an important 
one. The Powers do not love one another well enough to al- 
low its exclusive control to be entrusted to any single Power. 
Germany has the honor of being the most active in the matter, 
but stands in need of funds. France has been appealed to 
to supply those funds by German capitalists, but is unwilling 
to do so unless the Railway is internationalized and Great 
Britain and Russia allowed to share in the enterprize on equal 
terms with Germany. The question is still a matter of dis- 
cussion; but the eventual making of the Railway may be looked 
upon as settled. 



7 14 CURRENT EVENTS [Feb., 

The relations with her neighbors 

Austria-Hungary. having been more or less satisfac- 

torily adjusted, the conflicts within 

her own borders have begun, and with an increase of virulence 
due to the period of quietude. Obstruction has prevented any 
work being done by the Reichsrath. One session lasted three 
days and a half without a break on account of this brutal 
method, which supersedes discussion by mere physical endur- 
ance. This passed the limit of toleration, and rules have been 
adopted which will enable the President to thwart all such 
efforts in the future. The German Liberal parties left the 
house and did not vote, fearing that this blow to obstruction 
might weaken their position in the future. 

Dr. Wekerle has at last definitely ceased to be Premier of 
the Hungarian ministry; but the end of the long-drawn-out 
crisis has not arrived. After several efforts to escape, the duty 
of forming a ministry was imposed upon Dr. de Lukacs. After 
considerable effort, he was able to form a Cabinet; but after 
it had held a single sitting it resigned, and the task has now 
been entrusted to Count Khuen Hedervary. He has had a 
distinguished career and has achieved remarkable success in 
dealing with the discordant elements that dwell upon the Hun- 
garian territories. If he succeeds this time he will have ac 
complished the most difficult task ever set before him 

For what looks like complete demoralization seems to b^ve 
set in. The Coalition Ministry, which has taken so long a time 
to fall, made no real effort to do the one thing for which it 
was called into existence the reform of the franchise by placing 
it on the basis of universal suffrage. The reason for this was 
that the fulfillment of their promise in any honest way would 
have involved on the part of the Magyars the sacrifice of the un- 
just domination which it is their constant endeavor to exercise 
over the Slavs, by whom they are surrounded. The constant aim 
of the Magyars is to assimilate the other races to themselves, 
and as these races, although more numerous as a whole, are 
divided one from the other, the effort is not hopeless Not 
content, however, with not having given what was promised, 
during the last three or four years &a unjust and tyrannical 
rule has been maintained over the Croats, by the Ban who 
holds the place of governor over Croatia. To offer the best 
resistance in their power to these proceedings the Croats and 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 715 

the Serbs, who dwell in Hungarian territory, formed a coalition. 
To crush this the Austrian government for once worked hand 
in hand with the Magyars. According to its wont spies were 
employed and an accusation of treasonable correspondence with 
the Serbs in Servia was brought. For spies must do some- 
thing for their money, and their employers do not like to spend 
money for nothing. Documents were forged and although the 
forgery was of the most clumsy character, and quite easy to 
detect, it imposed upon Count Aehrenthal. He employed no 
mere journalist or partisan politician, but a somewhat distin- 
guished historian Dr. Friedjung to bring the accusation of 
treason against members of the Croatian Diet, who also were 
supporters of the Serbo-Croatian Coalition. These took the 
only remedy in their power and brought an action for libel 
against the historian and his coadjutors. At this trial the 
forgery of the principal documents was made as clear as day; 
and on Dr. Friedjung's rather inadequate withdrawal of the 
accusations which he had made, the prosecution was withdrawn. 
One reason for not insisting upon a verdict was that it was 
feared and even fully expected that for reasons of state, not- 
withstanding the clearness of the evidence, there would have 
been an acquittal. One good result of the trial is that the 
Croats have fully established their loyalty and that there is, 
therefore, reason to hope that the oppression to which they 
have been subjected will come to a speedy end. 

It is still doubtful what shape 

Greece. things will permanently take in 

Greece, especially whether it will 

ever return to a real and not merely apparent constitutional 
form of government. It cannot be denied that every effort has 
been made to preserve the external appearance of the due su- 
premacy of the civil law as opposed to military rule, or that 
of a dictator, but the veil is very thin. The worst of it is 
that the politicians of Greece have been as corrupt and as in- 
efficient as ever existed, and it seems pretty certain that the 
people of Greece prefer the rule of the Military League to that 
of the members of the Chamber chosen by themselves. The 
League in fact is all too conscious of their popularity, and this 
consciousness nearly led to the frustration of the efforts all are 
making to preserve the present system. The War Minister, in 



716 CURRENT EVENTS [Feb. 

introducing a Bill for the reorganization of the Army, said that 
he had found it, on entering into office, in a ruinous condition ; 
a statement which was received with applause by the people 
in the galleries. The followers of a former Prime Minister, the 
most numerous of the parties which had accorded support to 
the League, were so incensed that they left the Chamber and 
refused to co-operate any longer, unless the War Minister re- 
signed. This he refused at first to do, and was supported in 
his refusal by the League. The end of the Constitutionel re- 
gime seemed to have arrived; for the League called upon the 
King to accept a Cabinet a" affairs, and this would have been a 
dictatorship in reality. 

The King saved the situation. He refused to accept the 
proposal of the League. The War Minister at his request re- 
tired; the League thus meeting with their first rebuff. They 
soon took strong measures to recover their lost prestige. More 
than a hundred bills were presented to the Parliament for it to 
pass, a thing which, in all docility, it proceeded to do. One 
of the Cabinet was called upon to resign, a request to which 
he acceded. Four of the diplomatic representatives of Greece 
to foreign powers were not pleasing to the League; these are 
to be retired in obedience to its behests. All those proceed- 
ings show that constitutional government is not always and 
everywhere so successful as it deserves to be. 

The year and a half during which 
Turkey. Turkey has known constitutional 

government is too short a time to 

enable a judgment to be formed as to the probability of its suc- 
cess. In fact it may be doubted whether it has yet really begun 
to exist. The real rulers seem not to be either the Sultan or the 
Parliament or the Cabinet, but certain members of the Com- 
mittee of Union and Progress. The Grand Vizier who took 
office shortly after the deposition of Abdul Hamid has had to 
resign for no other apparent reason except that he was not 
pleasing to the Committee. His successor has had to submit 
each of the proposed members of his Cabinet, one by one, to 
the approval of the same Committee. This is better, indeed, 
than absolutism, but it is not constitutional government. 



With Our Readers 

WE have received numerous requests from our readers asking for 
a reprint of the sermon delivered by the Reverend Joseph Rick- 
aby, S.J., on the occasion of the opening of the Newman Memorial 
Church at Edgbaston, England. The space at our disposal does not 
permit us to print the full text, but we give the following extracts : 

" Rather more than nineteen years ago you carried out from hence to their 
resting place the mortal remains of John Henry Cardinal Newman. When 
a man is just dead, and his soul has but recently passed into the presence of 
the Judge, his praises, as they rise to our lips, are checked by the thought 
that his sentence is fresh recorded in heaven, and his soul may haply be lying 
in a condition which calls for our prayers and intercessions rather than for 
our eulogiums. But purgatory is unlike hell in this, that every day in pur- 
gatory brings increase of hope. Many days have gone by since August u, 
1890 ; and the sum of those days mounting up engenders in our hearts a firm 
confidence that by this time the soul of John Henry Newman has ascended to 
his place among the Doctors and Princes of the Church Triumphant. 
Thence as he looks down, may it be an access to his joy to behold this day's 
celebration and this splendid basilica, or, as I may call it, his new Cardinal's 
titular church, built for him here where he lived and died, to enshrine his 
memory and may we hope? his mortal remains for all time. 

"How come I to have the confidence, the audacity, to address you on 
this occasion? I answer, love makes bold. Because I do love John Henry 
Newman, am enthusiastic on his behalf, and jealous of his honor because 
for years I have made him one of my private patrons with God, and have daily 
invoked his intercession because to me he is as a Father and Doctor of the 
Church, raised up by God to perpetuate the line of Fathers and Doctors in 
these latter times, therefore have I made bold to set aside all considerations 
of capacity or incapacity, and to speak his praises with the confidence of love. 
.It is much to be in sympathy with your subject, and, thank God, that merit 
at least I can claim. But love should be born out by knowledge. My per- 
sonal knowledge ef the Cardinal was limited to an audience of ten minutes, 
during which he struck me as singularly child-like, warm-hearted, simple, 
and truthful. But I have read his writings nearly all through, I have cop- 
ied him out and written about him; I have meditated on him and endea- 
vored to imbibe his spirit ; and^I have been told by those who long enjoyed his 
familiarity that I have not altogether misunderstood him. Again, one might 
be glad to see here represented what the author of the Apologia fondly calls 
< my own university,' or at least the hundred Catholics in residence there 
where he made such efforts in his later years to raise the standard of Cath- 
olic academical education, so happily set up since his death. I see Oxford 
graduates present, notably one, once a boy at the Oratory School, now fellow 
of his college. There remains further a certain propriety in the University of 
Oxford, furnishing some one, even the least and most insignificant of heralum- 
ni, to testify Alma Mater's abiding interest in her great and glorious son." 



;i8 WITH OUR READERS [Feb., 

After indicating the salient points in John Henry Newman's 
character a keen, sympathetic interpretation Father Rickaby con- 
cluded thus : 

"It was God's will that the prizes of life should ultimately fall to John 
Henry Newman. After a stormy mid-day, his sun went down in the crimson 
splendor of the Roman Cardinalate, in the full radiance of Papal favor, with 
the gaze of admiring England fixed upon him, recognized and restored in 
regions whence he had been cast out. Was he then an exception to his own 
rule, that 'the time for reaping what we have sown is hereafter, not here; 
that here there is no great visible fruit in any one man's lifetime '? I might 
reply that these prizes of life were not the fruit that Newman looked for to 
crown his labors. But I have another reply, and it is furnished by this 
Memorial Church in which we are assembled. What shall be the success of 
this church? I augur that, 'spiritually examined,' as St. Paul says (I. Cor. 
ii. 13), it shall be a great success. I augur that from this, Cardinal New- 
man's Memorial ^Church, from this his Oratory of St. Philip, from this his 
Oratory School, and from these the many volumes of his writings, from these 
four sources as from four rivers of Paradise, good shall flow, greater than the 
good that he was able to accomplish in his mortal life. I augur that in and 
about this church, in this city and diocese of Birmingham, at Oscott, and 
even in far-off Oxford, there shall grow up and be perpetuated a school of 
Newman's thought, so far as that thought is the thought of the Catholic 
Church and the mind of Christ,' for not otherwise would he ever have wished 
it to go forth. I augur that from this spot, the central city of our isle, shall 
be wrought out, not perhaps the conversion of England, but what the Car- 
dinal, with his distrust of a popular religion, loved rather to contemplate, 
the^conversion of Englishmen. I augur that Catholics, sore tempted in faith, 
shall here be strengthened in the same, first by prayer and Mass and Sacra- 
ments, then by what I have long considered the best philosophy for an Eng- 
lish Catholic layman, the teaching of John Henry Newman, taken as a whole; 
I say, ' taken as a whole,' the whole gist and spirit and mind of the man. 

"And thus shall be accomplished the words of my text; IJquote them 
this time as you may read them on the monument in the north wall of Little- 
more Church; he chose them for the epitaph of his mother; the prayer 
which, put by him in the mouth of his dead mother, was eminently for him- 
self: ' Cast me not off in the time of age, forsake me not when my strength 
faileth me, until I have shown Thy strength to this generation, and Thy 
power to all them that are yet for to come.' Such the prayer put up in 
1836. For nine years" John Henry Newman went on showing the Strength of 
God to the generation that then was at Oxford, first by word in St. Mary's 
Church, then by example in retirement at Littlemore. Then came the 
change, and ' he was found no more ' at Littlemore nor at Oxford, ' because 
God translated him' (Gen. v. 24; Heb. xi. 5). So it came about that in 
ways unforseen, elsewhere, he still went on showing God's power to other 
men and to others that were yet for to come, ' even to old age and eld ' 
(Psalm Ixx. 18). You, my Fathers of the Oratory are witnesses and more 
than witnesses, your affectionate care secured it, that the venerable Cardinal 
was not cast off in the time of age, nor forsaken when his strength failed 



i9io.] WITH OUR READERS 719 

him. You bore him up, and a generation of boys grew around the old man, 
looked into his face, and loved him. And further, and further still, in this 
Church and Oratory, to every generation that is for to come shall be told 
the might of God's arm revealed in John Henry Newman, his wonderful 
conversion, the power of his preaching and writings, the example of his long, 
laborious, and holy life. And not in vain shall it be told, but as Samson's 
dying feat was to the destruction of the Philistines, so shall the memory and 
the word of Newman be to the conversion of Englishmen; dead, he shall 
bring more souls to the faith than he converted in the days when he wrought 
the deeds of a strong man in Israel. Amen." 

* * * 

IN each of the four issues ot the Dublin Review for the present year 
there will appear a new poem by the late Francis Thompson. 

* 

T^HK American Numismatic Society has been commissioned to 
1 design and issue a medal in commemoration of the one hun- 
dredth anniversary of the New York archdiocese, celebrated in the 
city of New York in 1908. The obverse of the medal shows six por- 
traits of the former Bishops and Archbishops of New York surround- 
ing the profile of his Grace the present Archbishop. The reverse 
of the medal gives a faithful reproduction of St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
New York. On the left of the Cathedral is old St. Peter's of 1808 ; 
and on the right old St. Patrick's of 1815. Special issues of this 
medal will be presented to his Holiness Pope Pius X., and to his 
Grace the Archbishop of New York. Copies of the medal will be 
distributed to the various religious and civic organizations that par- 
ticipated in the celebration of a year ago. 

* * * 

'TVHE 1910 issue of the English Who^s Who includes six hundred 
1 new names. This Roll- Call of the noted Catholics of England, 
Ireland, and Scotland, with a few Americans, is an interesting and 

useful volume. 

* * * 

ON the night of January 19 there was produced at the Manhattan 
Opera House, for the first time in this country, Massenet's 
" Griseldis," a conte lyrigue, in a prologue and three acts. Like the 
same composer's Le Jongleur de Notre Dame, this opera is a medieval 
mystery or miracle play set to music. 

The scene is cast in the chateau of the Marquis de Saluces, who 
has gone forth to battle against the Saracens. The faithful wife, 
Griseldis, like another Penelope, is tempted, this time by the devil, 
who, with his wife Fiamina, takes bodily form. Spurned by Gris- 
eldis, the fiend siezes her little boy, Loys, and vanishes. The dis- 
tracted mother turns to the oratory of St. Agnes ; and, lo ! the statue 
of the saint has disappeared. At this point the Marquis returns from 



720 BOOKS RECEIVED [Feb., 1910.] 

the war, and realizing that It can be only the fiend who has wrought 
such misery, declares to Griseldis that prayer alone can help them. 
Accordingly they pray before the altar, and suddenly it is illumin- 
ated with a wonderful light, and there appears St. Agnes, not with 
the lamb, as before, but with the little boy, lyoys. 

This legend, woven of simple faith and devotion, dates back to 
Boccaccio. Petrarch translated it into Latin; in Paris, in 1393, it 
was given as a mystery play : Le Mysfere de Griseldis ; and Chaucer 
tells it in his Clerke's Tale. Massenet has given the latest touch to 
it, and has set this new-old tale to beautiful music. Modern art has 
lent a new beauty to this pleasure-piece of a far-off time, but it has 
not changed it. 

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BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York : 

Catholic Belief. By the Very Rev. Joseph Fra di Bruno, D.D. Edited by Rev. Louis A. 
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cents. Wings for the Weary. By Mrs. V. McDonnell. Booklet, 20 pages. The Peni- 
tent Instructed. A Course of Instructions on How to Make a Good Confession. By 
Rev. E. A. Selley. Pp. xxii.-ieg. 
CHARITIES PUBLISHING COMPANY, NEW York: 

How Two Hundred Children Live and Learn. By Rudolph R. Reeder, Ph.D. Pp. 247 

Price $1.25. 
JOHN LANE & Co., New York: 

The Ball and the Cross. By G. K. Chesterton. Pp. 400. Price $1.50. 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & Co., New York : 

A New Heaven and a New Earth. By C. B. Patterson. Pp.285. Price $1.25 net. Do 

It To a Finish. By Orison Swett Marden. Pp. 54. Price 35 cents prepaid. 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, New York: 

The Problem of Human Life. By Rudolph Eucken. Translated from the German by 

William S. Hough and W. R. Boyce Gibson. Pp. xxv.-582. Price $3 net. 
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York: 

Old Criticism and New Pragmatism. By J. M. O 'Sullivan. Pp. Ix.-3i5. Price ^s. 6d. 

net. 
E. P. DUTTON & Co., New York: 

Adam Grigson, Deborah of Tods, Catherine's Child, The Lonely Lady of Grosventr Square, 
The Man From America, A Toy Tragedy, The Grey Knight, The Unlucky Family, 
Catherine of Calais, The Tyrant, Arthur's Mother. Eleven Vols. By Mrs. Henry 
de la Pasture. 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, New York: 

Happy Ending. By Louise Imogen Guiney. Price $3 net. 
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, New York: 

The Dublin Book of Irish Verse 1728-1509. Edited by John Cooke. Pp. viii.-8o4- 
RICHARD G. BADGER, Boston, Mass. : 

School Rom Echoes. By Mary C. Burke. Pp. 215. Price $1.50. 
LITTLE BROWN & Co., Boston, Mass. : 

The Up Grade. By Wilder Goodwin. Pp. 321. Price $1.50. Passers By. By Anthony 

Partridge. Pp. 323. Price $1.50. 
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY, Cleveland, Ohio : 

A Documentary History of American Industrial Society, Vols. I . and II. 
B. HERDER, St. Louis, Mo. : 

Bibliotheca Ascetica Mystica. Meditationes IV. De Ponte. Pp. xxxviii.-468. Price $1.45 
net. How To Walk Before God, By Rev. T. F. Vaubert. Pp. 149. Price 40 cents. 
The Convert's Catechism oj Catholic Doctrine. By Rev. Peter Giermann. Pp. no. 
Price 10 cents. 90 cents a dozen. The Chorister's Christmas Eve. By Michael Earls, 
S. J. Pp. 62. Price 25 cents net. The Papacy and the First Councils of the Church. 
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BURNS & OATES, London : 

The Catholic Who's Who and Year Btok for igio. 




THE 

CATHOLIC WORLD. 

VOL. XC. MARCH, 1910. No. 540. 

THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY. 

BY WILLIAM TURNER, PH.D. 

'HEN one begins to single out the forces that have 
contributed to the achievements of man in litera- 
ture, art, and philosophy, it is easier to exag- 
gerate than it is to assign to each country or 
nationality its proper share of credit for what 
has been accomplished. Sir Henry Maine, the distinguished 
historian of Roman law, was certainly overstating the result 
of his study of facts when he wrote : " Except the blind forces 
of Nature, nothing moves in this world which is not Greek." 
Surely he, of all men, should have been the last to overlook 
the importance of those elements and factors in our civiliza- 
tion which are traceable to Rome, to its laws and institutions 
and to its genius for organization. He should not have under- 
estimated the value of what we owe to the Teuton, and the 
seriousness, the spirit of reverence, the appreciation of the 
grandiose and the romantic, with which the Teuton leavened 
the mass of medieval ideas and ideals. Nor should he have 
failed to accord due meed of praise to the spiritual imagina- 
tiveness, the love of freedom, the cultivation of individuality, 
the vivacious intellectual contentiousness, which was and is the 
characteristic contribution of the Celt to medieval and modern 
civilization. Above all, he should not have neglected to men- 
tion the supernatural force of Christianity which dominated, 
co-ordinated, and vivified everything that was Greek, Roman, 
Teuton, and Celtic, and out of a mass of contending and di- 

Copyright. 1910. THB MISSIONARY SOCIETY or ST. PAUL THB APOSTLB 

IN THB STATB OP NEW YORK. 
VOL. xc. 46 



722 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

vergent elements brought a result, harmonious, coherent, and 
unified, namely the intellectual, moral, and spiritual inheritance 
of the whole Western world. Besides the blind forces of na- 
ture there are forces, potent, operative, and in some directions 
decisive, which are not Greek. It is the aim of this paper to 
single out one of these forces the Celtic genius to define it 
as adequately as possible, and, without exaggerating its import- 
ance, to point out how large a part it has played in the de- 
velopment of that department of human activity which we call 
philosophic thought. 

The word "Celtic" is generally used to designate what ap- 
pertains to that large and very much diffused group of Aryans, 
to be found not only in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and 
Cornwall, but also mingled with other races in countries which 
are now set down as Teuton, Anglo-Saxon, or even Latin. 
There are, as is well known, many evidences to show that civ- 
ilizations, literatures, and languages, which are at present counted 
among the non-Celtic divisions, have a Celtic basis, and grew, 
so to speak, out of Celtic soil. But it would be a useless and 
perhaps a thankless task to attempt to discriminate the Celtic 
from the non-Celtic elements in the poetry of Wordsworth, in 
the oratory of Bourdaloue, or in the musical genius of Wag- 
ner. It is wiser, therefore, to confine our attention to nations 
and countries in which the Celtic element is admittedly pre- 
dominant, and speak of the contributions which Irishmen, 
Scotchmen, and Bretons have made to the philosophical, or, 
as they are often called, the metaphysical sciences. 

The Celtic temperament, it should be said at once, is re- 
markably elusive. It is not easily defined. In fact one of its 
characteristics is its unwillingness to be defined. Of the Celt 
it is sometimes sneeringly said: "They all want to be gen- 
erals ; they are not content to be soldiers in the ranks." And 
there is this much truth in the indictment : the typical Celt is* 
above all, an individual, a person ; and he resents being con- 
sidered merely as a sample, as a member of a group. So it is 
with the Celtic temperament itself. If, however, we glance at 
the products of the Celtic mind, we find there certain char- 
acteristics which will help us to delineate, in its broad outlines 
at least, a picture of the mental character of the Celt. The 
literary products come first to hand. There we find at once a 
predominance of the imaginative. By this I do not mean ex- 



19 io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 723 

actly that there is more imaginativeness in the Celtic poet than 
there is, for instance, in the Greek or the German or the Ital- 
ian poet. What I mean is that for the Celt, whether he be a 
poet or not, the heroes and heroines of his imagination are, 
in a sense, more real than the persons of history. He takes 
his mental world seriously. He dwells in it by preference, he 
can see it at any moment, he can see it best when he is most 
moved, when he is profoundly sad, or when he reaches the 
highest ecs'tasy of gladness. The world that he sees with his 
eyes shut is the real world for him. 

But this is only one trait. All Celtic literature is not con- 
cerned with " the stuff that dreams are made of." The Celt 
is not a dreamer merely. He has pre-eminently the power of 
localizing his dream-world. He has the propensity to " give 
to airy nothing a local habitation and a name." His heroes 
and his heroines are associated with the river, the mountain, 
the glen. The great warrior, the poet, the powerful chief, and 
the famous lover or songster of legendary fame must have a 
particular spot associated with his name, and, indeed, in many 
instances half a dozen different burying places are shown : 
"There lies the hero ; there the heroine rests beneath the sod." 
It is this same instinct of localization that has woven into the 
love-songs of Scotland the names of " Maxwellton's braes"; 
"Loch Lomond"; and hundreds of other place-names. Third- 
ly, if we examine the products of the Celtic imagination, we 
find that while they are real for the Celt himself, while, as we 
said, they are to be taken seriously, they are not to be taken 
too seriously. There is a certain playfulness, a whimsicality, 
a light airiness, about it all. The fairies, oh, yes, the good 
people exist ; they are in the " forts," or " raths," inside the 
hill of Slievnamon, or up on the top of Knockfierna ; but no 
one is really impressed by them. They are not sombre, sad, 
grotesque, terrible, like the gnomes and dwarfs and goblins of 
other folklores. They are mischievous; but though they oc- 
casionally do harm, there is nothing heroic or awe-inspiring 
about the whole conception of them. 

Now, when the Celt turned from pursuits which we call 
literary to the task of thinking out a rational explanation of 
the Universe for that is what philosophy is he brought to 
the task the same imaginativeness which characterizes his liter- 
ary products. He took naturally to idealism in philosophy. 



714 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

He was never, not even in ancient pre-Christian times, a ma- 
terialist. He realized that the world of material things, the 
world which we see with our bodily eyes, is not the only real 
world. Beyond it he got a glimpse of another world, the world 
of spiritual entities and spiritual values, which is real; nay, 
more real than the material world. While he was yet a pagan, 
and had to think these questions out for himself, isolated as 
he was from all the philosophies of Greece and the Orient, he 
called that other world the "Land of the ever-young." He- 
roes, he believed, went to it and came back from it; there 
was constant .travel back and forth ; and, as a modern Celt 
beautifully expresses it, " from the half -open door of that other 
world streamed the light that never was on sea or land." It 
is true the Greeks had their Olympus and their under-world, 
but just as soon as they began to think in terms of philosophy 
and science they ceased to believe in the preternatural, and 
confined their attention to the world of nature around them. 
Plato alone held to the vision of a " heaven above the heavens," 
the place of Ideas, a world infinitely more beautiful, more per- 
fect, and more real than the material world the world of sha- 
dows, as he calls it. The other world, that moves in viewless 
majesty above us, is calling us upward and onward, and the 
business of philosophy is to wean us from the material things 
and teach us to fix our minds and hearts on the things of the 
spirit. 

This is why the Celt, as soon as Christianity came, took 
over the Platonic view, and became at once an ardent, and for 
a long time an inveterate, and intransigent, Platonist. Chris- 
tianity gave him heaven in place of the " Land of the ever- 
young." In the Christian literature and the Greek literature, 
which Christianity threw open to him, he satisfied his longing 
for a home of the spirit ; he found a higher, a purer idealism, 
and he took to it with the avidity of an instinct hitherto un- 
satisfied. This is, then, the first characteristic of the Celt as 
a philosopher spiritual imaginativeness, ivhich enables him to 
visualize the world beyond matter, to treat it as real, to make 
it the standard of reality, and to judge the material world, in 
comparison with it, to be less real. This corresponds to the 
imaginativeness of the literary Celt. 

To the tendency of the literary Celt to localize the crea- 
tions of his imagination corresponds an important trait in the 



1 9 10.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 725 

philosophic Celt, his disputatiousness, or, to use a current 
idiom, his " love of argyfying." It is often said that the 
Scotchman would rather argue about metaphysics than eat. 
And from the days of Charlemagne down to the present time 
the Irishman at the Continental schools was famous for his 
elaborate argumentations. Benedict of Aniane in the ninth 
century talks of the "syllogism of delusion," at which the Irish 
were experts. Montesquieu, in his Lettres Persanis, talks about 
the Irishmen who crossed over to France to be educated, and 
adds that they brought with them, as their only means of 
obtaining a livelihood, " a formidable talent for disputation." 
And in our own day a distinguished teacher at the Gregorian 
University in Rome, where the test of proficiency is ability to 
conduct a theological debate, bears witness to the fact that the 
Irish students in Rome at the present time are keeping up to 
the tradition. Cardinal Franzelin is reported to have said to 
Archbishop Croke : "As a professor of theology at Rome for 
many years I had every day opportunities of studying the 
character and mental equipment of various nations, and, though 
in favor of the Germans, I give it as my opinion that the 
Irish, as a race, have the most theological minds of any people."* 
The typical Scotch mind is also theological. And for the same 
reason. Because the Celt is so closely in touch with the world 
of spiritual things, he is under the necessity of clearing up all 
his ideas of the spiritual, the immaterial, and the abstract. 
As soon as a man begins to believe in anything, he must try 
to have a clear idea of it. If, then, the imagination of the 
Celt is directed towards the other world, if the other world 
and by this I mean not merely heaven, the life to come, 
but the whole world of our ideals and spiritual ideas is 
more real to him than this material world, he takes very na- 
turally to the task of trying by argumentation to make his 
ideas about it exact. And here is the root of that talent for 
scientific investigation which, outside the domain of philoso- 
phy proper, has distinguished such men as Tyndal, Kelvin, 
Pasteur, and Ramsay. These are only a few of the Celts who, 
in our own day, have attained high rank as scientists. It is a 
mistake to think that the ideal scientific temperament includes 
merely the talent for painstaking investigation of facts. That 
is necessary. Bat more necessary still is the talent for scienti- 

* Phelan. The Young Priest's Keepsake. Dublin, igog.'p. 77. 



726 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

fie generalization and the formulation of laws and hypotheses. 
And this is a talent that belongs to the imagination. An im- 
agination that combines with extraordinary fertility and re- 
sourcefulness a demand for exactness and localization is a 
quality which must be present in a scientist, if he is to ac- 
complish the best work. 

Finally, the Celt is, perhaps, inclined to develop his talent 
for argument to the point where it ceases to serve the serious 
purposes of philosophy, to the point when it becomes a fault 
and is no longer a virtue. Philosophy should be constructive, 
in the main. When we till the fertile fields of imagination, 
reasoning, and intellectual visualization, as we do in philosophy, 
it is necessary, indeed, to clear away the weeds of false and 
pernicious doctrines. But, to devote all our efforts to uproot- 
ing what others have sown is to neglect the principal for the 
accessory. To destroy, for the sake of destroying, may ex- 
hibit our talent or our ability in that direction; but it can 
serve no useful purpose. Now, there are in the history of 
philosophy examples of Celtic philosophers in whom the de- 
structive talent predominates. They excel in analysis rather 
than synthesis: they are good at pulling down and not so 
successful at building up. They argue for the purpose of show- 
ing the weakness in an opponent's argument, and care less 
than they should about making their own arguments lead to a 
positive conclusion. This is a fault of a good quality. It is 
subtlety and contentiousness carried beyond the point where 
they serve a useful purpose. 

The Celtic philosophical talent is, therefore, summed up in 
the qualities : spiritual imaginativeness, leading to idealism ; de- 
mand for clearness and precision, leading to dialectical dis- 
cussion; and occasional lack of realization of the serious pur- 
pose of argumentation, leading to subtlety and disputatious- 
ness. 

A few concrete instances will serve both to illustrate and, 
in part at least, to justify these generalizations. With regard 
to the Celts before the advent of Christianity, it may be con- 
fessed at once that we know comparatively little about their 
doctrines. From the little that we know, however, we can in- 
fer that the Celtic temperament was then what it is now, 
though, of course, its characteristics were not so strongly 
marked. Julius Caesar, who was a shrewd observer of customs 



19 io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 727 

and institutions as well as a successful general, took the pains 
to describe and transmit to posterity the doctrines that were 
held by the pre-Christian inhabitants of Gaul. The Druids, he 
says, were much occupied with inquiries concerning the stars 
and their movements; they disputed about the size of the 
world, the nature of things in general, and the power and force 
of the immortal gods. These things, too, they taught the 
young men of their country.* This is not very satisfactory in- 
formation, except in so far as one may be inclined to lay 
stress on the fact that the ancient Druids disputed concerning 
the gods. Indeed, we may be justified in concluding that, in 
Gaul at least, the Celts held ideas concerning the gods which 
were no better and no worse than those prevalent among 
pagans elsewhere. There was one point of doctrine, however, 
which they affirmed most emphatically, the immortality of the 
soul. And this commanded the admiration of Caesar and of 
other Romans, among whom the prevalent attitude towards 
this important problem was one of scepticism, or, as we should 
nowadays express it, agnosticism. " On one thing," writes 
Caesar, "they insist, namely, that souls do not perish. "t 
Fomponius Mela bears witness to the same conviction and 
draws attention to its effect on the conduct of the Celts in 
the presence of danger. " One doctrine of the Druids," he 
says, "spread among the people, and made them better fighters, 
namely, that souls are eternal." | Ammonius MarcelHnus 
mentions another characteristic of Druid teaching : " Question- 
ibus occultarum rerum altarumque erecti sunt, et, desfectantes 
kumana, pronuntiant animas immortales" (De Gallis, Lib. XVI.) 
And Silius Italius (Lib. I.) again refers to the effect which 
this belief had in developing courage and a contempt for 
death. 

This belief in a hereafter, this unhesitating affirmation of a 
world beyond the tomb, is in keeping with the Celtic ability 
to realize and visualize the world of spiritual things. It is not 
very remarkable in itself, but it is noteworthy when we re- 
member that, with the exception of the Hindus and perhaps 

* Multa prasterea de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi ac terrarum magnitudine, 
de rerum natura, de deorum immortalium vi ac potestate disputant et juventuti tradunt." 
De Bella Gallico, VI., 14. 

t" Hoc imprimis volunt persuadere, non interire animas. "Ibid. 

\ " Unum ex iis quse praecipiunt, in vulgus effluxit, videlicet, ut forent ad bella meliores, 
aeternas esse animas." Lib, III. Cap. 2. 



728 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

the Egyptians, the peoples of antiquity, not excluding the 
Greeks who devoted much attention to the problem of immor- 
tality, hesitated to affirm in a categorical manner that there is 
a life after death. What, according to the Druids, was the 
precise fate of the disembodied spirit, our authorities do not 
tell us for certain. Some, like Caesar, suspect that the Druids 
taught transmigration of souls; others, like Pomponius Mela, 
attribute to them the doctrine that the souls of the dead enter 
into a world of shades (Manes). It would not, perhaps, be 
far from the mark if we were to conjecture that the Continen- 
tal Druids, like the ancient Irish, believed in a " Land of the 
ever-young," where hero, saint, and sage mingled in a happy 
and joyful company. In any case, it is certain that the Celts 
held the present world to be transitory, and looked forward to 
a great cataclysm in which matter should perish and souls 
and cosmic spirits (damones) and the immortals should hold 
communion together, in the twilight of the gods. One other 
item is furnished by one of our most ancient authorities, Dio- 
genes of Laerte, in his work On the Lives and Opinions of 
Philosophers. " The Druids," he says, " taught philosophy in 
enigmas and in aphoristic sayings." 

With regard to the Celts of ancient Ireland, we are in a 
peculiar condition of uncertainty concerning their notion of 
immortality. Owing to the wholesale destruction of the books 
of ancient Ireland, we have comparatively little left us in the 
way of first-hand information. This much, however, is certain. 
The pagan Irish, lika their kinsmen in Gaul, believed that 
death does not destro7 the soul. King Laegaire, declining to 
accept the message of Christianity as preached by St. Patrick, 
declared that he preferred to be buried, pagan fashion, stand- 
ing in his grave with his armor on his back, so as to be ready 
to meet the day of Erdathe (Doomsday) in the company of the 
Druids. Perhaps, as Dr. Joyce suggests,* this tale has a Chris- 
tian coloring. Nevertheless, the custom to which it refers, the 
pagan mode of burial, must have been a long-established one, 
and must have been based on some kind of belief in the sur- 
vival of the personality of the warrior. In point of fact, 
legends, poems, and myths, which are essentially pagan in 
conception, though possibly influenced in detail by Christian 
ideas, have for their chief incident the return of dead heroes 

* Social History of Ancient Ireland. New York, 1903, I., 297 



1 9 io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 729 

from the other world. But again, the "other world" itself 
was so vivid, so definite and, consequently, so real, to the 
minds of the ancient Irish that no matter how vague their 
idea of the soul was, they must have held the survival of the 
soul to be a matter of certainty. They called that other world 
by various names: Tir-na-hog (the land of the ever-young); 
Tir-nam-beo (the land of the living); Hy-Brazil (Brazil's island); 
and Mag-Mell (the plain of pleasure). It is described as "a 
land wherein there is naught save truth, where there is neither 
age nor decay, nor gloom, nor sadness, nor envy, nor jealousy, 
nor hatred, nor haughtiness." It is the land where everything 
is life and there is no old-age (is not this a sufficiently clear 
conception of immortality?) and if it is called the "Plain of 
Pleasure," the pleasures there are not gross and sinful, but 
pure and noble, such as befitted a world of heroic warriors. 
So true is this that after the introduction of Christianity the 
belief in this "Land of the ever-young" as the abode of the 
fairies continued to exist side by side with the Christian idea 
of heaven. But, the most curious characteristic of the ancient 
Irish belief in a world to come was the tendency to localize 
it in a definite way. Sometimes it was said to be an island 
in the Western Ocean, sometimes it was said to be the inside 
of some hill, like Slievnamon in Tipperary. If we are to believe 
an author quoted by both Plutarch and Procopias, this land of 
the ever-young was believed by the whole Celtic world to be 
the western portion of Great Britain, which was supposed to 
be separated from the eastern portion by an insurmountable 
wall. Usually, in the legends and epics, the entrance to this 
land is through some lake, and in the one instance of Cu- 
chullin it is said to be "an island which one reaches by boat 
from Ireland."* 

The Greeks, no doubt, spoke of the Hesperides as if these 
" Isles of the Blest " had a definite location, and Virgil makes 
the entrance to the underworld to be a certain region in the 
neighborhood of Naples. But, the more reflective the people 
of classic civilization became, the less firmly they held to the 
doctrine of an underworld, and the more they lost sight of its 
definite location. The ancient Irish, on the contrary, held to 
this doctrine even after Christianity had shed its light on the 
problem of the soul's future life, and the intensity of the Celtic 

* De Jubainville, Cycle Mythol. Mandais. Paris, 1884, 231 ff. and 355. 



730 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

belief is betrayed in the Celtic tendency to give to this as 
well as to other creatures of the imagination a definite name 
and a definite place. 

The advent of Christianity among the ancient Celts, while 
it uprooted many cherished beliefs, and changed the point of 
view of the Celtic outlook on life, hardly broke the continuity 
of Celtic thought along these lines. With Christianity went 
classical literature. And in the highly spiritualistic idealism of 
Plato the Celt found congenial matter for speculation. Plato, 
not the pagan Plato, but a Christianized Plato, a Plato fresh- 
ened into warmer color by the infusion of Christian ideas, was 
at home from the beginning among the philosophers and theo- 
logians of Ireland. Unfortunately, owing once more to the 
wholesale destruction of ancient books, we know little, except 
by way of inference, concerning what was taught in the Irish 
schools from the days of St. Patrick down to those of Charle- 
magne. We have ample evidence to show that those four 
centuries were prolific of much learning; but when we inquire 
what was taught in the Irish schools during those centuries, 
we must be content with general descriptions. However, when 
the dispersion of Irish scholars came, and Irish teachers began 
to appear here and there on the Continent, we begin to get 
tangible and definite evidence of the manner of their philoso- 
phizing. Or rather, the literary remains of the Continental 
teachers have reached us, while those of their masters in Ire- 
land have almost all perished. 

Among those who went out from Ireland to spread the 
light of learning abroad, the most eminent, the most learned, 
and, at the same time, the most characteristically Celtic of 
them all was John Scotus Eji^ena, that is, John- the- Scot- 
born in-Ireland. Everything aLout him is mysterious. He 
appears suddenly out of the darkkess of the ninth century; he 
shines for a brief period in the firmament of theological and 
philosophical thought, a star of the first magnitude; and then, 
without waning or declension, he disappears as mysteriously as 
he has come. What we know for certain about his personal 
history could be told in a very few words. However, we have 
ample materials for a picture of the mentality of the man. 
His works, several times condemned, proscribed, and consigned 
to the flames, have come down to us, and in them we see a 
man of very singular, very original, often erroneous, but al- 



i9io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 731 

ways fascinating, views on the nature of the world around us 
and the world above us. Like a true Celt, he depreciates the 
world of material things. For him, the world that most men 
consider to be real is little more than a shadow-world. What- 
ever consistency, whatever permanence, whatever reality it has 
are due to the presence in it of spiritual forces, " intellectual 
qualities/' which are the real forces, and the real substance of 
things. 

Most men and the same is true in our day as well as in 
his consider the body to be more real than the soul. For 
him the body is created by the thinking-power of the soul; we 
have a body only in the sense that we believe we have a body. 
The real world is not around and beneath us ; it is above us. 
In the mind of God exists the world, of which the world 
around us is a mere feeble imitation. There everything exists 
in its better self. There, all is perfection. In that world is 
no littleness, no defect, no evil, no imperfection of any kind. 
The imperfect world that we see with the bodily eyes is a 
derivative from that world above us. It will return again to 
the world above; its imperfections and its faults will be ob- 
literated, and the golden dream of the poet and the philos- 
opher will be realized. 

It is needless to go any deeper into the exposition of 
Erigena's philosophy. From what has just been said one can 
see that John-the-Scot is a true Celt. The other world is 
real for him. His spiritual imagination is so powerful that it 
leads him to extrinsicate and hypostasize his own beautiful 
dreams, to construct out of them an ideal world, and to look 
on that world as more real than the world of our experience. 
He is an optimist; he holds that all evil, pain, and suffering 
will eventually disappear and that more than millenium of per- 
fect happiness will be the lot of every creature. He is an 
ethical idealist. He believes in the amelioration of man by 
showing forth ideals of perfection, and not by imposing and 
enforcing legal restrictions. In all this he is a true Celt, lean- 
ing, as a contemporary of his remarked, too much to the 
Greeks and contemning the Latins. In fact, he did lean too 
much towards the Greeks. Their freedom, their wealth of 
spiritual productivity, their disregard for conventional restraint 
in philosophical speculation, attracted him, while the greater 
accuracy, the stricter sense of system, and the more reverential 



732 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar,, 

spirit of the Latins were irksome to him. In this, too, he 
was true to his Celtic instincts. 

An entirely different aspect of the philosophic talent of 
the Celt is exhibited in the person of Peter Abelard, a Breton, 
who was in the twelfth century what John-the-Scot was in the 
ninth. Abelard tells us that, as a youth he intended to follow 
a military career, but decided on his own initiative to become 
a scholar, choosing, he says, the service of Minerva in prefer- 
ence to that of Mars. But, we may add, though he became a 
scholar by profession he remained a fighter by preference, and 
Mars continued to be the object of his devotion as well as 
Minerva. By one who knew him well, his faults as well as 
his virtues, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, he was styled "a fighter 
from the days of his youth" (Vir bellator ab adolescentia). 
He was, indeed, a fighting philosopher. He lived in an age 
when disputation was the one, all-absorbing pursuit. In the 
twelfth century men's minds were filled with the exploits of 
the dialecticians, as they were called, in much the same way 
as men's minds in our own day are filled with the great 
problems ot agnosticism and evolutionism. In those days 
a teacher of the art of disputation could, if successful, draw a 
crowd of students from every country in Europe and his lis- 
teners often numbered three or four thousand. Into this 
scholastic world of intellectual tilting and dialectical skull- 
smashing Abelard rushed with all the ardor of the fight-loving 
Celt. He spared no antagonist. Against his onslaught neither 
gray hairs nor exalted rank nor reputation for piety nor world- 
wide fame as a scholar was any protection. One after another, 
he met, clashed weapons with, and defeated the great masters 
of his time. Without fear, though not without reproach, he 
played the part of an intellectual knight- errant. 

Yet there is a serious side to Abelard's activity as a dis- 
putant in the schools. The weapons that he fashioned for the 
contest were afterwards modified to serve a less frivolous pur- 
pose, and in the hands of men who, unlike him, preferred truth 
to victory, they became useful instruments in the search for 
truth. When the age of " dialectic madness " had passed 
away, the method of disputation which he did so much to de- 
velop was accepted in all the schools and was adopted by those 
masters of philosophical and theological learning who made the 
thirteenth century the Golden Age of scholasticism. 



1 9 io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 733 

Among these masters one of the most distinguished and 
influential was another Celt, John Duns Scolus. For, whether 
Duns was an Irishman, an Englishman, or a Scotchman it is 
impossible, with the documents at our disposal, to decide which 
he was he was certainly a Celt, and exhibited in his teaching 
and in his writings some of the distinguishing characteristics 
of the Celt. He was a great, original thinker, and whatever 
we may say by way of fault-finding should not detract from 
his pre-eminence as a man of gigantic genius in an age of 
which it may truly be said " There were giants in those days." 
He stands shoulder to shoulder with St. Thomas, Albert the 
Great, St. Bonaventure, and Roger Bacon, and measures well 
up to their intellectual stature. His most dominant character- 
istic, however, is one which, without compensating qualities 
such as he possessed, would diminish his worth as a constructive 
thinker. He excelled above all else in subtlety and its keen- 
ness of critical acumen. 

It is only too true that the Celt is not fitted for what we 
call team work. He is too much of an individualist; he loves 
personal independence and prizes it so highly that he does 
not readily take his place in the ranks and do the work as- 
signed him without asking the reason or looking to the results. 
His love of independence is a virtue; but when it is carried 
so far that he becomes above all else a critic of what others 
are doing, it ceases to be a virtue and becomes a defect. So 
it was with Duns Scotus. Great as he was in his mental en- 
dowment, and important as are his own contributions to spec- 
ulative thought, he is judged more by his destructive than by 
his constructive efforts. He stands out among all his contem- 
poraries as the keen, incisive critic, the man who was readiest 
to see a flaw in another's argument, and so intent on exposing 
the weakness of his opponents' position that, as his admirers 
admit, he sometimes forgot to assume any position of his own. 
His career, though brilliant, was brief and, in a sense, tragic. 
He was much misunderstood. Now, therefore, that his ardent 
admirers and followers are undertaking to rehabilitate him, 
perhaps we had best suspend our judgment, and decline to 
emphasize his faults, except, to say that they were the faults 
of a mind that approached the great problems of thought in 
the truly Celtic spirit. This much we may add, that, whether 
he was an Irishman or an Englishman, it was Irishmen like 



734 THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

O'Hickey, O'Fihely, Hugh Cauwell, and Luke Wadding, that 
kept his writings and his teachings before the learned world 
during the later Middle Ages and down to the dawn of the 
modern era. 

And when the modern era dawned it found the Celt still 
busy with those things of the mind which his forefathers had 
always appreciated. Here and there a Celt like Sir Robert 
Boyle did his share towards the development of the physical 
sciences. But it was the spiritual and the immaterial that ap- 
pealed most strongly to the Celtic temperament, and when the 
floodgates of materialism and scepticism were opened, it was a 
Celt who, in the name of all that the spiritual mind holds 
dear, withstood the tide of innovation and asserted once more 
the supremacy of spiritual ideals. Indeed, George Berkeley, 
Protestant Bishop of Cloyne, did more than refute the attacks 
of the materialists and the "freethinkers" as they were called. 
With a mental courage amounting to audacity he carried the 
war into the enemies' territory, cut off their communications, 
spiked their guns any martial figure of speech will suit as 
long as it conveys the notion that Berkeley, in intention at 
least, put the enemy to utter confusion, and reduced him to 
a state of complete helplessness. 

What he did was this. The materialist asserted that matter 
alone exists; Berkeley undertook to show that there is no 
such thing as matter. He argued, plausibly enough, as some 
think even in our own day, that in any material thing, an 
orange, for instance, there is nothing but the qualities, its color, 
size, shape, weight, and so forth. These are ideas in our minds. 
Besides these, nothing exists. An inert, lifeless, thoughtless, 
material something underlying these qualities is an absurd no- 
tion. Matter is a contradiction in terms ; it cannot possibly 
exist; therefore the materialist has literally no ground to stand 
on. The immaterial alone (God, the human soul, our ideas) 
exists ; the world, which the materialists say is the only world, 
does not exist at all. In his advocacy of this paradox Berke- 
ley is neither vague nor mystical. In a lucid, forceful, agree- 
able style he argues his point, exhibiting "a passion for clear- 
ness and simplicity and a dislike, of what was either pedantic 
on the one side or rhetorical on the other."* 

A very curious episode in Berkeley's life, which though not 

* Arthur J. Balfour in " Introduction " to Works of Berkeley. London, 1897, p. 14. 



1 9 io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 735 

bearing on his doctrine of immaterialism, is worthy of mention 
here, as exhibiting a Celtic trait in his character, is his advo- 
cacy of the Bermuda scheme. He always took a great interest 
in the American Indian, and, having secured a grant from the 
English Government, he set out for the Western world, in- 
tending to establish in the Bermuda islands a great institution 
to which the Indians from the Continent were to flock, and in 
which they were to receive not only the principles of Chris- 
tianity, but a liberal education as well. A more impractical 
scheme could hardly have been dreamt of. To mention only 
one drawback, the islands on which his choice fell are six hun- 
dred miles from the mainland. Needless to say, the scheme 
failed ; Berkeley, though he came to America and spent a 
couple of years at Rhode Island, never saw the Bermudas. 
Yet all his life long his fancy lingered lovingly over the pic- 
ture he had drawn of the forests of cedars and groves of orange 
trees, the cloudless skies and the endless springtime in those 
balmy islands where the Golden Age of humanity was to be 
renewed. In an outburst of prophetic rapture over the pros- 
pect thus created, he penned the lines of which the first, 

Westward the course of empire takes its way, 

is now famous. It is not, perhaps, too much to say that Berkeley 
was recapitulating the thoughts of his Celtic forefathers when he 
located in the Bermudas, the "Land of the ever- young," the 
Hy- Brazil of ancient Irish folklore. 

The group of thinkers who flourished in Scotland during the 
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and are known as the 
Scottish School, are not wanting in those characteristics which 
are singled out as peculiar to the Celt. They added, however, 
a trait which is peculiarly Scotch, the appreciation of hard- 
headed common sense. Indeed, the whole school is sometimes 
known as the Common Sense School of Philosophy. The 
school began with Thomas Reid and ended with James Mc- 
Cosh, who introduced its doctrines to this country. In gen- 
eral it may be said to take its stand on the principles of com- 
mon sense, and in the name of common sense to demand the 
restoration of the ideal, the immaterial, and the spiritual, which 
had been reasoned away by over-subtle psychologists and high- 
soaring transcendental metaphysicians. The Scottish philoso- 



736 I HE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY [Mar., 

phers had largely the same aim as Berkeley, though their 
method was diametrically opposed to his. Like him, they 
had the true Celtic appreciation of the higher needs of human- 
ity; like him, they set proper value on the immaterial and the 
spiritual ; but unlike him, they rested their claim on the legiti- 
mate demands of common sense, and not on fine-spun reason- 
ing and subtle analysis. When, therefore, the later representa- 
tives of philosophy in Scotland, like Sterling, the two Cairds, 
and McTaggart, reverted to transcendental metaphysics, they 
were false, indeed, to the method of their immediate predeces- 
sors, but were true to the most deep-rooted instinct of the 
Celtic mind. If they appreciated, as they did, the mysteries of 
German metaphysical speculation, it was because the Germans, 
with all their mistiness, had more to offer to the spiritually 
inclined than the English empiricist or the English agnostic, 
whose only virtue was clearness. It is always easy to be clear 
if one is content to skim the surface of philosophy and not 
penetrate the depths of human thought. 

What, then, have been the services ot the Celt in this de- 
partment of human endeavor ? How has the Celtic factor in- 
fluenced the history of philosophy ? The Celts have leavened 
the mass of human speculation with a love of idealism, of spir- 
itual values, of the entities and realities which transcend the 
limits of matter. Their influence has been for good. To the 
literature of the world, and to life, of which literature is but 
a picture, the Celt has contributed much that the world cannot 
well dispense with. He has pleased us by the genial play of 
his fancy and amused us by the brilliant flashes of his wit ; 
he has stirred us by his eloquence and played on all our emo- 
tions by the sweet tunefulness of his song. In philosophy he 
has lifted us up by his emphatic assertion of the reality of the 
spiritual world, he has enlivened us by the vivacity and sub- 
tlety of his argumentative powers, and he has saved us from 
the prosaic literalness of the materialist and the empiricist who 
would have us believe only that which we see, and who would 
deny us the right to use the eye of the soul as well as that of 
the body. The Celt stands for lofty speculation ; the matter- 
of-fact materialist stands for minute determination. The Celt 
stands for the morality of ideals; the empiricist stands for the 
restrictive force of law, and grounds all moral principle on ulti- 
mate expediency. The Celt is an optimist: he trusts 



19 io.] THE CELTIC ELEMENT IN PHILOSOPHY 737 

That somehow good 
Will be the final goal oi ill. 

He is superior to commonplace motives of conduct and dis- 
dains the appeal to practical utility. If he has founded no 
enduring state in the republic of philosophy, if he has left no 
school, it is because his talent does not lie in the direction of 
organization. His is the mentality of great spiritual force in 
a condition of high tension. The force is released in one great 
song, one epoch-making speech, one bold flight of the specula- 
tive faculty. It is for others, whose mentality is the inverse of 
his low tension with the power of long-continued effort, to 
found schools and organize systems. He has done and is still 
doing his part. With his rich, spiritual imaginativeness, his 
power of visualizing the unseen, his ability to meet the matter- 
of-fact with brilliant paradox and subtle criticism, his talent 
for picking a flaw in a specious argument,* he has enriched the 
philosophical world with ideas and ideals, without which we 
should be very poor indeed. In this capacity he is always 
needed. The ages to come, as well as those that have gone 
before, may often find him a disturber, a meddlesome critic, a 
dreamer of dreams that jar with the practical and the so-called 
useful. But those who appreciate the things of the spirit will 
welcome the warmth of his influence, sympathize with his ideal- 
istic yearnings, and listen to the lesson which he teaches from 
the fullness of his vision of a supra-mundane world. 

The Catholic University oj America. 



VOL, xc. 47 




HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER. 

BY KATHARINE TYNAN. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

STELLA GOES BACK. 

JHE turned so pale that he repented him of his 
abruptness. He made as though to put out a 
hand to steady her, for she had trembled 
through her slender height, seeming for a sec- 
ond to sway as though she might fall. 

"I never knew," she said. 

" His father has advertised for you in the newspapers." 

" I never read newspapers. The one friend I had who did, 
my old music master, died just before Christmas. I have been 
in grief for him. Tell me more about Jim." 

"There is little more to tell. He fretted from the time 
you left, gently, not giving any one trouble, as is his way. 
He lost all the progress he had made with you and more. I 
had no idea he was so ill till I went down there the other 
day. He had not much to lose and there is only a shadow 
of him as you remember him." 

She made a little sound like a moan and his heart ached 
because he had hurt her. 

"I don't know why you left him, why you left us all," he 
said hopelessly. 

He seemed to speak as though from a great distance. The 
coldness of his manner hurt her even through the pain she 
was feeling about Jim. What had she done ? Nothing. It 
was his mother, his cousin, those terrible people of rank, to 
whom a girl like herself was common clay, who had been in- 
solent and cruel in their pride. Her whole soul rebelled 
against their assumption. They were not better than she was 
through that accident of birth. Though she had grown up in 
Shepherd's Buildings, she said to herself hotly, she was as 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 739 

good as they, even if she had not had as good blood as they 
in her veins, if she had been only what they thought her. 

She turned about as though to leave him. 

" What are you going to do ? " he asked. 

" I am going down there." 

"When?" 

"At once. It is too late to-night. I shall go the first 
thing in the morning. If he has felt my leaving him so much 
my coming back will save him." 

He said nothing to discourage her. She remembered after- 
wards, as a part of his coldness towards her, that he had let 
her go, making no effort to accompany her or even asking her 
where she had been hiding. 

She was not so far from home. They had not been able 
to find anything quite so satisfactory as the little flat at the 
top of Shepherd's Buildings, where they had had an enviable 
privacy and seclusion all those years. Their new lodging was 
in a dreary little terrace in the St. Fancras district. Opposite 
their windows was an ugly church surrounded by a hideous 
city graveyard. The new landlady had insisted on the open 
situation as one of the advantages she offered to her tenants. 
There was a bare tree trunk or two in the graveyard. One 
could no more associate leafage with them than one could 
think of the graveyard, infested by marauding cats, as a God's 
Acre. The lodgings were cheap, and for the time they served ; 
and there were no other lodgers, which was something to be 
grateful for. 

One passed under a wide railway arch to enter the Square. 
Usually Stella was a little nervous as she plunged into the 
darkness, somewhat relieved as she emerged into the bright 
lights of the public-house at the corner of the Square. But 
to-night she was unconscious of traversing the dark passage. 

She came in, looking so disturbed as she stood in the 
lamplight that the mother cried out in alarm. 

"There is nothing wrong with me," the girl said. "But Jim 
is ill. I am going down there the first thing in the morning." 

"To stay?" 

"If they will have me. I should never have left him. I 
am going to tell the truth. Uncle Stephen can do what he 
likes. I ask nothing at his hands." 

"You are going to tell him who you are?" 



740 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar., 

The mother looked at her with a pale terror. 

" I am going to tell him who I am. Are you so fright- 
ened, even with me ? Little mother, why have you always 
been so afraid ? " 

" I am terrified of seeing Stephen Moore again." 

"He looked his fiercest at me and I had no fear of him. 
You will not fear him when you see him as he is now." 

" I should always fear him." 

Stella was restless, fretted that the night must pass before 
she could make her journey, could not eat, could not keep 
still, plainly was not going to sleep. There was not much 
sleep that night for either; and both were glad when the gray 
dawn crept into the room and it was time for them to rise. 

Some time before noon of the following day Stella arrived 
at Outwood Manor. A stranger opened the door to her. 

" How is Master Jim ? " she asked, entering, as though she 
had the right. 

" Pretty much the same this morning, Miss," the man re- 
plied, "he don't seem to change much from day to day." 

"You need not announce me," she said. "I know the way." 

Before he could say anything she was half-way up the 
stairs. As she hurried along the familiar corridor she was 
struck by the silence of the house, which the singing of a 
canary somewhere made like a thing that could be felt. She 
had an odd thought that it was like a pause before something 
before death was it ? before life ? 

She turned the handle of the door and walked in. The 
room was empty except for the little boy who lay sleeping on 
a couch near the window. The nurse who was in charge had 
drawn the screen about him and had gone down to her eleven 
o'clock light refreshment in the servants' hall. 

She went over noiselessly and knelt down by the sleeping 
child. The months of her absence had made ravages in him. 
He was, indeed, as Maurice Grantley had said, but a shadow. 
He had grown terribly thin, with hollows at the temples and 
behind the ears. The small bands stretched out upon the 
coverlet had a claw-like leanness. They trembled lying there; 
and the something that indicated fever and weakness in their 
movements was like a sword in Stella's heart. 

" My little boy who loved me," she whispered with a pas- 
sionate mother-tenderness, " how could I ever have left you ? 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 741 

Get well, my darling, get well, and I will never leave you any 
more." 

The burning tears filled her eyes and began to roll down 
her cheeks. She pressed her hands against her breast, trying 
to keep down the sobs that rose and shook her. If Jim did 
not get well she was never going to be happy again in this 
world. And already he looked as though he were dead. 

There was not a sound in the room except the ticking of 
the clock, and the little purring of the fire in the grate. 
Something was licking her hands softly in a warm ecstasy. 
She looked down and saw Jim's little dog Trust, which had 
followed her into the room. The noiseless welcome touched 
her oddly, and she took up the little creature and hugged it, 
while her tears fell down on the silky gray head. 

And suddenly she became aware that Jim's eyes were 
open and he was looking at her with an amazed unbelief. 

" It isn't you, dear," he said, " not really ? I have dreamt 
so often that you had come back ; and it was never true when 
I awoke. Why, it is really you. Trust knows you. Dear, 
what are you crying about ? Now you have come back every- 
thing is going to be happy again." 

" I shall never leave you as long as I live," she said rashly. 
" Even if your father tells me to go, or you tell me to go, I 
shall not. I shall stay in spite of you." 

In token of her resolution, as soon as she could free her- 
self from his weak, joyous embraces, she began to take off her 
out-door things, still sitting on the floor, while Trust bounded 
on her, barking joyfully, now that he saw bis master was 
awake and happy as he had not known him for long, 

" Dear me," said the new nurse bustling in, " whoever 
let that dog in? I've brought your soup, my dear. And I 
hope you won't go saying, as you've done for a week past, 
that you can't touch it. Why, whoever have you got here ? " 

Stella looked up at the woman, smiling, although her face 
was wet. 

" I came up unannounced," she said. " I hope you'll forgive 
me. I'm his old governess. And, please, I think he'll take 
the soup for me." 

The nurse's face showed at first indication of offence; then 
she thought better of it, and the dark shade cleared, leaving 
her fresh comeliness pleasant once more. 



742 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar., 

" He has fretted for you," she said. " And as for me, 
don't think of me. There's lots of work waiting for me where 
I'll do my patients more good than I could have done him 
while you stayed away. He is a faithful heart, so he is." 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE OTHER MAN. 

Maurice Grantley stood staring after Stella till the distance 
had swallowed her up. He had to curb his inclination to 
follow her; and when she was gone he reproached himself 
bitterly that he had not offered to go with her wherever she 
was going. He said to himself that she was out of place in a 
London street, with the winter darkness gathering. She was 
too beautiful, too strange. She ought to be tenderly protected 
and watched over. And yet, what right had he ? What right ? 
He had put away from him forever his right to champion 
her, to take care of her. 

He set off walking very fast in the direction from which 
he had come. He would have given anything if he might be 
alone with his thoughts; and if he had been less scrupulous 
he need not have gone to Mary, since she did not know he 
was in town. Yet he felt that he must go to her; the more 
because she was not and never could be the one woman in 
his thoughts. Poor Mary, his Quixotism had made him cheat 
her after all, since the London streets had yielded him once 
again the radiant vision of his Fiammetta. 

He dared not think how it was going to be if she was to 
be at Outwood, where he must meet her as often as he went. 
He would not think of it. He tried to pin his thoughts to 
Mary, to her kindness, her patience with him, her sweet and 
pleasant personality. He was going to her, and perhaps in 
time she would drive out that other face. He remembered 
how once he had had a headache and she had placed her cool 
hands on his head. They had smelt fragrantly of rose-leaves 
when he had kissed them and it was a pleasant memory. Per- 
haps in time she would draw the trouble out of his heart and 
brain. 

He reached the house at last, a white house in a street 
close to Portman Square. The drawing-room windows shone 



i9io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 743 

out rosily behind the balcony, and, crossing from the other 
side of the street, the warmth and glow seemed to give his 
weariness a promise of comfort. He hoped Mary was at home. 
It was not a day when she was likely to be out, although she 
was not expecting him. As he looked up, before crossing the 
road, he was reassured he caught a glimpse of Mary herself. 
She came to the window and looked out and went back again 
into the warmth oi the room. 

The man who opened the door looked at him doubtfully 
when he asked if Miss Beaumont was at home. She was in 
and alone. 

" She expected a gentleman about five o'clock, sir," he said. 

"And it is now four-fifteen. Well, she will see me." 

He felt suddenly cheerful at the prospect as he took off 
his overcoat and left it in the hall. The man still eyed him 
doubtfully, as though he were uncertain about something ; but, 
with an air of allowing himself to be persuaded, preceded the 
visitor upstairs. Maurice's spirits grew higher the nearer he 
got to Mary. He was so glad old Pulteney was not in. He 
did not like Pulteney. And Mary must put off her five 
o'clock visitor, whoever he might be. He did not want any 
one to spoil his afternoon with Mary. 

"Oh, Maurice!" she said when he had entered the room. 
" I didn't know I didn't expect you When did you come 
up ? You haven't had my letter ? " 

She seemed to elude his kiss. Her manner was oddly agi- 
tated. Mary, on whom one could always count, who was never 
fitful or capricious like other women at least hardly ever. 

"I have had no letter," he said, feeling a little repulsed. 
"What was it about, dear? I came back to Mount-Eden on 
Tuesday. It was horribly lonely without you so I made a 
bolt up to town." 

He was aware that she was looking more than usually 
handsome. She was wearing an airy tea-gown of lace and 
chiffon, the color of roses; and she had a shy, tremulous air 
which was something new in her. Perhaps it was the thing she 
had wanted all the time. It certainly enhanced her charm. 
Yet she was paler than usual, and as she seated herself the 
other side of the fireplace and rang the bell he thought the 
curious agitation utterly at variance with his knowledge of her. 

He had no time to ask her any questions before the man 



744 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar., 

was in the room with the tea-tray. But, what was the matter 
with Mary ? When they were alone again she seemed to en- 
trench herself within a bergere chair, which effectually protected 
her from any approach on his part. 

He watched her in wonder as he stirred the sugar in his 
tea. What was the matter with her? 

"What was your letter about?" he asked. 

"Oh! just a letter," she answered lamely; and he noticed 
she glanced at the clock, the hand of which pointed to half- 
past four. 

"You are expecting a visitor at five ? " he said, with a sense 
of constraint. 

"Yes; I am expecting a visitor." 

A strange silence fell between them which held something 
tense in it. Suddenly she pushed back her chair and came 
close to him. 

" Maurice," she said, with an air of agitation, " you do not 
love me." 

" Am I a bad lover, dear ? " 

"No, no; you have been very good to me, very good. 
You have done your best to act as though you loved me." 

He wondered what was coming. She lifted her arms and 
the loose sleeves fell away from them, revealing their beauty 
of form and texture. He thought that she had never been so 
beautiful. Her eyes corroborated the imploring gesture of her 
hands. Was she going to dismiss him ? Had he failed so com- 
pletely as all that? 

" Mary," he began, trying to take her hands. 

" No " ; she said, " no. Listen to me before you say any- 
thing. I have never been so grateful for anything in my life 
as that you do not love me. There is some one else, Maurice. 
There has always been some one else. We said good-bye be- 
cause it seemed impossible for us to marry. He was so poor. 
Now, things are altered. He has inherited money. He came 
flying across the world to me as soon as he knew. I would 
not even see him till I had written to you " 

So the preparations were not for him at all. It was not 
for him she was looking lovely lovely in his eyes for the first 
time. It was not for him the room was a bower scented with 
flowers, warm in fire and lamplight, beautiful because of the 
woman who was so like a light in it. It was not for him. 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 745 

"Ah," he said blankly, "I remember. It is Reggie Dare, 
is it not?" 

"Yes, it is Reggie Dare. There has never been any one 
really but Reggie. I couldn't say it to you only I know you 
do not love me." 

He remembered now how he had wondered in the old days 
over Mary's evident liking for pink and white Reggie Dare, 
with the parting down the centre of his sleek head, his lazy, 
dandyish ways; yet Reggie had done creditable things since 
then. It was no longer possible to despise Reggie. Perhaps 
Mary had known best after all. 

"Don't be afraid of me, dear," he said. "You are worthy 
of the best a man has to offer. I was a presumptuous ass to 
offer you my second best. There, give me ten minutes. I 
don't see why I shouldn't have a second cup of tea. I'm afraid 
I've been drinking Dare's tea. Too bad of me. But I don't 
suppose he'll know whether he has tea or not." 

She laughed in her immense relief at the way he was taking 
it. 

"We were always too fond of each other ever to become 
lovers," she said. " I am so glad you are not vexed with me. 
You must help me with the others. Your mother I mind 
her most of all." 

"She will forgive," he said. "Ah, there is Dare's knock. 
Give me a kiss, Mary. Dare will have so many that he needn't 
grudge this one. Confound the fellow, why must he come be- 
fore his time ? " 

As he went down the stairs the discreet man-servant was 
showing up Reggie Dare. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE DEAD LIVE. 

As Stephen Moore came along the corridor to his boy's 
room, heavily and slowly, he heard a sound which had been 
dumb in the house during all those sad months, the sound of 
the thin laughter that came through the singing of the canaries 
in their glass-domed house at the end of the corridor. 

He stopped and listened with amazement. Who could have 
won Jim to laughter ? During those sad months the most they 
had won from him was a smile, pale as winter sunshine. The 



746 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar., 

cheerful hospital nurse had long since given up her well-meant 
endeavors to win Jim to merriment. Who could have awak- 
ened the long-dumb sound ? 

He pushed open the door and went in. He was hardly 
surprised to find Miss Mason by Jim's sofa, in the midst of one 
of those sedate romps which some happy months ago had been 
the rule. She was wearing one of Nurse Shee's aprons over 
her black dress. Her hair had got loose and some of it had 
fallen about her in a cloudy halo. 

" Father, Father," cried Jim, " Miss Mason has come back. 
She is never going to leave us any more." 

" Unless I am obliged to," the girl said coming forward. 
"You will not send me away again, will you, Mr. Moore? If 
I had known how Jim missed me I could not have stayed 
away." 

" You should have come before," he said harshly, looking 
from her to the shadowy little figure on the sofa. " Have you 
lifted him ? He was making weight when you went away. 
Now he is as light as a feather. You have nearly broken his 
heart and mine." 

"But she has come back, and I am going to be all right 
now," said the boy. 

They stood looking at each other across the little figure. 

" I was just going to put him to sleep when you came in," 
Stella said. "You can sleep now, Jim." 

" If I could be sure of finding you here when I awake, 
dear." 

" Of my own will I will never leave you again." 

The boy, ever docile, lay with closed eyes. After a little 
while Stephen Moore signed to Stella to come with him. He 
led the way softly along the carpeted corridor to that bare, 
ugly little room where he had parted with her in anger nearly 
five months before. He closed the door when she had entered 
and then he turned and faced her. The cold, pale light of the 
January afternoon was on his face. It showed deeper furrows 
of suffering than she remembered. Once again the old ache 
of pity came into her heart for him, only intensified this time. 
He dropped in his chair, putting the table between them, and 
leant his head on his hand, covering his eyes. 

"Well," he said, "you have seen your work now. You 
have all but killed him." 



1 9 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 747 

" I am bitterly sorry. I can only say, though you will not 
understand it, Mr. Moore, that what I did was prompted by 
love for Jim." 

" How could that be ? You had given him new life, and 
your leaving him was his, death-sentence. How could you 
leave him for love of him my poor little boy ? " 

She had an impulse to tell him, but while the words hung 
on her lips he spoke again. 

" I fear you have come back too late." 

"No, no; I should never have a happy hour if that were 
so. Jim will live." 

" I do not think he will live," he said with curious gen- 
tleness. " But I am glad you have come back to make him 
happy for the time he lives." 

" Mr. Moore, he will live, he must live." 

He looked up at the agitation which marred her beauty. 

"Do not grieve about it," he said. "At first I was 
angry, when I told you to go. But the anger burnt itself out. 
It was something that had to be. You were no more than the 
instrument. I have to lose Jim, as I lost his mother, in pun- 
ishment for my sins. Nothing you or any one else can do 
would alter that." 

" No, no " ; she said. " Don't believe such horrible things. 
God is Love and Pity. He will leave you the child. You have 
suffered enough." 

" There was something I promised my brother Dick on his 
death-bed to set right. Well I have never had a chance to 
set it right. God wills that the wrong shall stand against him 
and shall stand against me till the Judgment Day. I am a 
marked man. Your going was nothing of your doing. It was 
all written out in our sentence. I lost Jim's mother and I 
shall lose Jim. I am the unhappiest man alive." 

He dropped his face on his arms and his shoulders heaved. 
The attitude showed piteously the ugliness of the man. The 
poor bowed shoulders ; the great head set low between them ; 
the shaggy, grizzling hair ; things which might have revolted 
another only stirred his young kinswoman to depths of com- 
passion. She passed round the table and laid her hand on his 
arm. 

He looked up at her and she quailed for a second c before 
the suffering of his bloodshot eyes. 



748 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar., 

"You are like some one who is dead and gone," he said. 
" I have been seeing it ever since I first saw you ; but not so 
clearly as then, not so clearly, because for a second you feared 
me; and she never looked at me without fear. The child was 
pale, an elfish thing, but she had hair the color of yours. 
She was never afraid as her mother was. Her mother never 
looked at us without shrinking and fear in her eyes. Can you 
imagine what it is to men, already marked by nature, when a 
woman looks at them with fear and loathing? There! you do 
not know what I am talking about. You have no clue to it. 
How should you ? Why did you look like the dead at that 
moment the dead, who was ever weak and afraid while she 
lived ? She is strong enough now that she is dead to destroy 
her enemies." 

" She has none. She is the gentlest creature alive. There 
is no thought of revenge in her heart." 

Stephen Moore sprang to his feet and pinned her by the 
wrists. She was not afraid of his roughness. Although she 
was very pale, she looked straight into his eyes. 

" Nesta Moore lives," she said. " I am her daughter." 

" My God ! " he cried. " Do you know what you are say- 
ing ? Are you mad or am I ? Do people come back from the 
dead to give us a last chance?" 

She winced under the tightness of his clasp upon her 
wrists, but her eyes did not flinch. 

" I am living, Uncle Stephen," she said, " and I have come 
back for Jim's sake and yours -because I forgive. 

" And you want your rights ? My God ! is it possible that 
even yet the past may be undone ? Well, you shall have 
them. I only wanted you to have them all these years. It 
was a heavy burden after all. It killed poor Dick, although 
he was the strongest of the two. We hated your mother be- 
cause we loved your father. But, after all, we could not escape 
your father's anger. He had trusted us and we had betrayed 
his trust. Girl, it was only when I loved a woman myself and 
married her that I knew what we had done. I have suffered 
the tortures of hell. Dick died raving of the account he would 
have to render to James." 

He flung away her hands from him and sighed a deep breath. 

"You shall have it all," he said, "every penny of it is 
yours. I shall need very little for myself and my dying boy." 



19 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 749 

"I tell you he will not die. And you shall not leave me; 
you shall stay and you shall take your share and his. I would 
have left it all to you when I came to love the boy and to re- 
joice in your kindness. That is why I went away. What did I 
want with the money ? I could not bear to sit at your hearth 
as Estelle Mason who was really Stella Moore and your niece. 
Uncle Stephen, I forgive you as I hope to be forgiven, as my 
mother has forgiven. Let me stay. Let the past be utterly 
wiped out and the happy times begin ! " 

There was a knock at the door. Stephen Moore went and 
opened it to Nurse Shee's cheerful face. 

" My late patient is awake and asking for Miss Mason/' 
she said. " He can hardly believe the great joy that she is 
come. And I am sure he is really better, Mr. Moore. He 
looks quite bright." 

"We shall both come," said Stella. "We have such won- 
derful good tidings to tell him." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

HAPPINESS. 

The country had grown used to the strange things that had 
happened in the Moore family. To be sure those who had 
known James and Nesta Moore in the old days all avowed 
that they had noticed the strange likeness to them in the girl 
who had come to Outwood Manor as Miss Mason. Stephen 
Moore and Stella and the boy had escaped from the nine days' 
wonder of it all by going abroad for the months of spring. 
Before that came Stephen and Nesta Moore had met. Nesta 
Moore had chosen for her [own the little Mill Cottage, where 
she was now happily established with a couple of servants. 
She still seemed to shrink from the Manor with an odd kind 
of fear. 

" Some day," she said, " I may forget my memories of the 
Manor and cease to be afraid. But till then I am accustomed 
to live like the mouse in its hole let me be quiet at the 
cottage." 

She still turned pale at the sight of Stephen Moore; but 
in time Stella hoped that too would pass. Meanwhile, she was 



750 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar., 

safe in her solitude at the cottage. Stephen Moore seemed as 
glad to let her alone as she was to be left alone. 

The travelers came home about the end of May. There was 
no longer now any anxiety about Jim. He had made a most 
wonderful recovery ; and, thanks to a famous Austrian surgeon 
who broke bodies to remake them, he could even walk a little, 
might walk more in time, to his father's humble and passion- 
ate delight. 

It was the day after the travelers' return. Stella had has- 
tened to her mother. The garden was in full summer glory 
now and Nesta Moore found her delight in working in it. All 
the terrible memories seemed to have passed away. Working 
in her garden beds she felt in peace and happiness with all 
her world living and dead. 

She and Stella walked up and down the path between the 
scarlet-runner beans and hollyhocks, talking over all that had 
happened. She lamented humorously that the county folks 
would not let her be. 

"You see the mother of an heiress is an important per- 
son," she said smiling. "Every afternoon of the week nearly 
my gardening is interrupted by a carriage driving across the 
green. Sometimes the smart ladies will catch a glimpse of 
me and insist on coming out here when I am in my gardening 
gloves and hat and apron." 

"The old friends come?" Stella asked. 

" Those who remain. The Duchess comes often, and God- 
frey Grantley and Lady Eugenia. I always liked her in the 
old days. You know Lord Mount-Eden died when you were 
abroad. The title passes to a distant branch of the family, 
Lady Eugenia is so very kind. She is always wanting to carry 
me off to Mount-Eden, but I tell her I have been so long out 
of the world that I shall stay out of it to the end." 

" And are you happy in your little cottage ? " 

" Happier than I ever thought I should be. It is like a 
nun's cell and it suits me." 

She made an excuse for leaving her daughter, promising to 
return; and Stella sat down on a little seat amid a bower of 
the scarlet-runners and gave herself up to her thoughts. It was 
all warm and sweet about her, with the scent of mignonette 
and the new-mown hay in the fields across the river. She and 
her mother had talked much and she had been listening all the 



19 io.] HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 751 

time for one name which never came, no matter how nearly 
they seemed to approach it. She did not even know if Maurice 
Grantley was at home. She had heard of Mary Beaumont's 
marriage. It had been a subject of amazed comment with 
Stephen Moore, who, in his new, wonderful happiness, had come 
to take an interest in the affairs of his fellow- men. 

There was a step on the gravel and she looked round ex- 
pecting her mother's return. It was Maurice Grantley. He 
stood looking at her for a second, with a quiet passion in his 
gaze. 

" How long you have been away ! " he said. " I don't know 
how I should have endured it if I had not your kind mother 
to come to. She bore with me with wonderful patience. She 
has sent me to you, Stella." 

She was not going to be too facile. She remembered that 
there had been a time when he had belonged to another wo- 
man and not so long ago. She said something a little coldly 
about her mother's absence at the moment and gave him no 
invitation to take the seat beside her, yet he took it auda- 
ciously. 

" If you are going to be cold to me," he said, " I have end- 
less patience to wait till you change your mind." 

"The last time we met," she said with a little flash, "you 
were cold." 

"Because I had to be^ dear; because there were barriers 
between us." 

" Of your setting-up." 

He put an arm about her. 

"Of your setting-up." 

" If there are to be mutual recriminations," she said, and 
her eyes danced merrily. 

" My mother longs to greet her daughter," he said, ap- 
proaching a little nearer. 

" She was so proud and cold. So was your cousin. To be 
sure I was only " 

" You shall not say it," he said ; and took the most effec- 
tual means to silence her. "When you know my mother 
better you will know she is the most unworldly woman alive. 
It was only a misunderstanding. She had reason to believe 
that we knew each other long before we met here. You see, 
dear, I was always sketching your face, from the time you sud- 



752 HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER [Mar. 

denly sprang up at the London crossing, a beautiful, slender 
wild thing, like a flower or a flame. My mother recognized 
the face in the pictures when she saw you and was misled. 
She is the most generous soul alive, and she wants to make up." 

"And Miss Beaumont Mrs. Dare, I should say?" 

"Far be it from me to explain the ways of women. Mary 
never cared for me; I thought she did. There is plenty of 
time to talk about these things. Tell me that you love me." 

" And Jim ? " she said presently when he would let her 
speak. " What about Jim ? I have promised never to leave 
him." 

" I see nothing for it but to do what your uncle has often 
suggested to me, to live under his roof and manage the busi- 
ness for him and Jim. Outwood is big enough to house us all. 
I should always look on Jim as a sacred trust." 

"And I." 

So it was settled. And presently Nesta Moore would come 
to Outwood, where her daughter ruled the happiest of house- 
holds, with the children growing about her knees. And Jim, 
able to move about a little, was the children's friend and dear 
elder brother, and in a sense the light of the house, since to 
his room all brought their troubles and difficulties. There 
was no more any shadow of gloom on the house. The chil- 
dren's voices and the sound of the children's feet had chased 
the ghosts away. 

" I remember when your father said that he saw in this 
house, then a gloomy and moldering great barrack of a place, 
a home," said Nesta Moore. "His vision has come to pass. 
In this very room" it was the bedroom in which she had 
foreseen the tragedy of her life; the room in which James 
Moore had died, and it was now the children's day-nursery 
"in this very room there once congregated ghosts of the past 
and shadows of the future, memories and portents and there 
is nothing here now but the hearth-fires of home. And we 
are at peace with the world." 

" And with our own hearts," Stella said, looking down at 
the child upon her knee. 

(THE END.) 




THE HEART OF A PEOPLE. 

BY F. W. GRAFTON, S.J. 

jT was a gaunt, haggard, bleeding figure of our 
Blessed Lord, of more than ordinary human pro- 
portions, and with all the rude ultra-realism of 
the wayside crucifixes of Tyrol, that was being 
carried through the gaily beflagged streets of the 
Hauptstadt on a bright Sunday afternoon at the close of August 
last. Nailed to a giant cross, supported in an upright position 
on a quadrangular framework of rough timbers, it was borne on 
the shoulders of four sturdy peasants of a build to match their 
burden. Behind followed a throng of men with set, determined, 
weather-beaten faces and a steady light in their eyes. Their 
garb was in most cases the soft leather knee-breeches and 
short loose jacket of the mountains ; but the embroidery of 
breeches and belt, and the bright colors of waistcoat, jacket, 
hat, or hatband, were stained with the rain and weather and 
all faded away to the neutral tints of the earth and the moun- 
tain-side. Ragged and torn too were their clothes, and the 
sturdy- knit frames thrust themselves through the rents as 
though their very bodies cried out after the same freedom as 
did their hearts. 

So they strode silently along, with the bent knees and 
forward-sloping body of the mountaineer, armed with an almost 
grotesque variety of weapons that sheer stress had found or 
fashioned; flintlocks and matchlocks; pikes and halberds and 
partisans; scythes lashed to stout staves; and huge three- 
pronged hayforks with one murderous prong turned by the 
village smith at right angles, so that the weapon would serve 
to strike as well as to thrust; heavy clubs, their heads studded 
with stout nails ; iron flails; and a peculiar, medieval weapon 
termed the "morning star," consisting of a rough iron ball set 
with spikes and slung by a couple of links of strong chain to 
a wooden staff. There were wooden cannon there too, tree- 
trunks split in half, hollowed, and then bound together again 
with iron bands. Then followed the long, narrow, country 

VOL. XC. 48 



754 THE HEART OF A PEOPLE [Mar., 

carts, ramshackle apparently, yet built to stand the rough and 
tumble of the mountain roads. These held the provisions and 
were drawn by oxen, in charge for the most part of sturdy 
young women, who looked to the cooking, cared for the 
wounded, and could handle a gun when need arose. They 
moved through the streets in three bodies, the first headed by 
a Capuchin friar on foot, whose most distinguishing feature was 
a flaming red beard ; the second by a restless, dare-devil figure 
on horseback, a man of some five and thirty years, whose 
fearless and almost fearsome features told of his desperate 
bravery, though not of the almost boyish ruses and tricks that 
he played upon the enemy; and the last by a rather short, 
broad-shouldered man, of something more than forty years of 
age, above whose bushy black beard shone a pair of healthy, 
full- fleshed red cheeks and mild, genial blue eyes, on his head 
a soft felt hat with a gigantic brim, one of the characteristics 
of the national costume of his native Passeiertal. These three 
were they who impersonated the popular leaders of Tyrol's 
uprising a hundred years ago, Haspinger, Speckbacher, and 
Andreas Hofer. Steadily they all marched along through the 
double row of spectators that lined the roadway and filled 
the windows of the houses; and as the giant cross, with its 
prtiful, bleeding figure, came in sight, a sudden hush fell on 
the throng, and remained unbroken almost till the first troop 
had passed only then did the tightened throats of the people 
find voice and breath to cheer; for the prototype of this 
crucifix had been a war-standard against Napoleon's armies. 

To-day in England you would call, it a pageant. But it 
was none of your English pageants ; it was real. The men 
who marched behind that crucifix were the same men in heart 
and mind as their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who 
had marched behind its prototype a hundred years ago, 
marched with those very weapons, and in many cases in the 
selfsame garb family heirlooms both to victory against some 
of Napoleon's best troops and most experienced generals. 
There was still, thank God, in their hearts the same simple 
faith of their forefathers, and inextricably bound up with it 
the same burning love for their Kaiser and their country, the 
same stubborn, unyielding spirit that had poured out so much 
blood in the past for that to them so sacred trinity of God, 
Kaiser, and Fatherland. Witness to this were the more than 



THE HEART OF A PEOPLE 755 

30,000 Schiitzen militia, yeomanry, volunteers, or whatever 
you may attempt to translate it by in English who marched 
before and behind them, come together from the inmost re- 
cesses of every valley in Tyrol to celebrate the deeds of a 
hundred years ago, and to pay to their aged Emperor the 
same whole-hearted homage that had been one of the main- 
springs of the deeds of heroism performed in the days when 
their fathers fought so bravely for their beloved Kaiser Franz. 

More than half their number were clad in the picturesque 
though at times somewhat too gaudy costume of their native 
valleys, by which the expert eye could distinguish from one 
another the dwellers in the different valleys, just as the High- 
land clans are distinguished by their tartans. Others had, alas, 
discarded their gay colors for a semi-military uniform, not 
more becoming than some of our own volunteer uniforms of 
twenty years ago. Yet all were sturdily built men, with char- 
acter and independence written in every line of their strongly- 
marked features, and each carried his rifle over his shoulder 
or in the hollow of his arm with the ease that almost daily 
use had given ; lor shooting is the village sport and there are 
no better shots in the whole of the Austrian Empire than the 
Tyrolese. In front of each company, by the side of the 
standard-bearer many of the standards were in tatters, for 
they had been through the fights of 1809 walked, in memory 
of the part the women had played in the wars of Freedom, a 
vivandicre in her native costume, in this case always tasteful, 
with her minature cask of schnapps slung by a baldric from the 
shoulder; demure maidens, they were chosen by the village 
priest for the occasion, and every one of them during her stay 
in the city was under the charge of two trusty members of the 
village contingent. So they filed along company after company, 
proudly past their Emperor Francis Joseph, and it must have 
done his old, long-suffering heart good to know that, in spite 
of the many discords of his motley, polyglot Empire, he has 
so bright and pure a jewel in his crown as das heilige Land 
Tirol. 

It was at the Peace of Pressburg, in 1805, that Tyrol had 
been given over to Bavaria by that shuffler of kingdoms, 
Napoleon. Naturally the Emperor had given no thought to the 
feelings or traditions of this independent and stubborn-spirited 
race of mountaineers, and though Max Joseph, King of Ba- 



756 THE HEART OF A PEOPLE [Mar., 

varia, did his best to show his love for his new subjects and 
to make himself beloved of them, his ministers, inspired and 
coerced by the policy of their real master, Napoleon, more 
than undid all the good the King could effect. Even without 
this counter- force it was a hard task he had set himself, to 
win over the love of the Tyrolese from Austria to Bavatia. 
An incident of the year 1808 well illustrates this. Max Joseph 
had arranged, in celebration of his birthday, a great shooting 
competition, the form of recreation most dear to the heart of 
the Tiroler, to be held at Innsbruck. From all parts of the 
land the peasants flocked into the town, and one of the chief 
prizes took the form of a Bavarian flag sewn over with gold 
pieces. The face of the proud winner of this trophy shone 
with delight as he received it from the hands of the King 
himself. "Now," said the King to him, "are not the blue 
and white of Bavaria better colors than the black and yellow 
of Austria ? " The peasant's features clouded and became per- 
plexed. "Aye," he answered, "the Bavarian colors are fine 
enough; but" and he stopped to scratch his ear and then 
looked the King straight in the face " but when I hang them 
up in the smoke of my cottage, why, the blue will turn black 
and the white grow yellow! The old colors are faster," he 
concluded. 

This strong natural antipathy to the new rule was further 
increased by the attempt to draw from Tyrol, by conscrip- 
tion, recruits for Napoleon's armies, recruits that might even 
be called upon to fight against Austria. This proved an almost 
ludicrous fiasco. In one typical case, out of more than one 
hundred recruits called out, only three put in an appearance; 
the rest had fled across the Austrian frontier or into the 
mountains, to escape having to don the hated Bavarian uni- 
form. Their love for their own land of Tyrol, too, was cruelly 
wounded by the quite unnecessary abolition of the very name. 
Tyrol was no longer to exist and was to be known henceforth 
as Southern Bavaria. Finally, and this was perhaps the weight- 
iest point, for it was brought home to one and all, old and 
young, their deep-seated love for their religion received a heavy 
blow. Amongst a people brought up in the midst of all the 
tender and daily devotions of the Catholic Church, and with 
many curious, old-world religious customs of their own, an at- 
tempt to prune all this away to the merest minimum of purely 



i9io.] THE HEART OF A PEOPLE 757 

official services soon resulted in what amounted to little less 
than open persecution. Three times a day, for instance, 
throughout the length and breadth of the land, were the simple 
mountain folk reminded of what they had lost, when instinc- 
tively, as the time for the ,Angelus drew near, they listened 
for the sound of -the bell; and then, with bitterness in their 
hearts, recalled that their new masters had forbidden it to ring. 
The native priests, in the large majority of cases, not unnat- 
urally refused to carry out these unwarrantable ordinances of 
a purely secular authority, and so were dispossessed of their 
benefices, often banished from their country, and Bavarian 
clergy inducted in their stead. The Tyrolese refused the 
ministrations of these stranger priests, baptized their own 
infants and buried their dead by night in unconsecrated 
ground; and when episcopal permission was given to the 
banned priests, many of whom were still in the land in hiding, 
to celebrate Mass " in cellars, caves, woods, and, moreover, at 
midnight, and thereby to make use of vessels of glass and 
pewter," all the elements and all the effects of a persecution 
were there. Thus to wafds the close of 1808, when Austria was 
again gathering strength to make another attempt against the 
world conqueror, Archduke Johann of Tyrol, who shared the 
love oi his people equally with Kaiser Franz of Austria, was 
able in the war councils at Vienna to lay stress on the value 
of a popular rising in Tyrol and to give assurances that the 
fuel was all prepared and needed but a spark to set it ablaze. 
It is not intended here, nor is there space, to give any- 
thing in the way of a detailed and consecutive account of the 
rising in Tyrol or rather of the series of risings, for the his- 
toric year 1809 saw in reality three successive ones in the 
brave- hearted little land. The aim is more, by touching on 
certain outstanding features of the war, to throw some light 
on the character of the rising and of the men who fought in 
it. To sum up briefly the history of the three campaigns, 
each culminated in a general engagement in which the Tyrolese 
defended the lower slopes of the mountains on the south side 
of the broad valley of the Inn. The hottest fighting was in 
the centre, which lay upon Berg Isel, a bold, pine-clad bluff 
of the foothills at the point where the narrow Brenner Pass, 
the road south to Italy passing through the very heart of 
Tyrol, opens out opposite the Hauptstadt of Innsbruck. 



758 THE HEART OF A PEOPLE [Mar., 

The French and Bavarian troops held the plain and the 
city. On the first occasion, April 12, the peasants fought 
their way into the town and captured it. But scarcely was 
the month out when Napoleon's victories on the Danube en- 
abled him to throw reinforcements into the land. Again, on 
May 29, was Berg Isel the scene of a fight that in this case, 
as also in that of the last on August 13, was stubbornly con- 
tested from early morning until night without either side gain- 
ing ground to any notable extent; yet in each case were the 
losses of the imperial troops so heavy that their generals found 
it prudent to retire in the following night down the Inn valley 
and to leave the town open to their peasant foe. It was 
Wagram and the armistice arranged on July 12, after the in- 
decisive engagement at Zuaim, of which Napoleon made it a 
condition that all Austrian troops should be withdrawn from 
Tyrol, that laid the land open to the third invasion of their 
enemy, and gave occasion to the last and real popular rising. 
All Tyrol rose as one man, took their fate into their hands, 
and without any help from Austria drove Napoleon's armies 
clean out of their land. They were freed and that by their 
own efforts alone. But, alas ! exactly two months after their 
last brave stand on Berg Isel, a peace was agreed to in Vienna 
by which Tyrol was again separated from Austria. All the 
sacrifices and bloodshed had been in vain i 

The outstanding figure of the whole campaign, especially of 
the latter part of it when the Tyrolese were driven to rely 
entirely on their own resources, is the innkeeper of the little 
village of St. Leonhard in the Passeiertal, Andreas Hofer. We 
have already given some account of his appearance as he was 
impersonated in the centenary celebrations leading the third 
of the contingents above described. His personal character was 
representative of all that was best in the character of his coun- 
trymen. To a sterling and unimpeachable honesty was united 
an almost childlike spirit of piety and unwavering trust in the 
all-ruling providence of God. He had the slowness of thought 
and speech of a man born and bred in the country, but withal 
a fund of plain, homely common sense that led him almost 
instinctively to form sound judgments and decisions. Military 
authorities of the present day declare that his tactics in the 
conduct of operations, under the circumstances, could not have 
been improved upon. Only in his estimate of individuals was 



THE HEART OF A PEOPLE 759 

he too often at fault; his tenderness of heart and his own up- 
right and straightforward character lead him far too easily to 
accept other men at their own valuation, and when he was 
raised by so strange a fortune from innkeeper and horsedealer 
to the position of Governor of all Tyrol there were naturally 
not wanting individuals who sought to impose upon him. Yet, 
though in such men he was often deceived, he was never in 
the least spoilt by flattery nor did he lose any of his native 
simplicity of character. 

It was after the third evacuation of Innsbruck by the im- 
perial troops that in the absence of any Austrian authorities 
Hofer, who had already held an important place amongst the 
leaders of the peasantry, and had won the respect and trust of 
all, was driven by common acclamation to undertake the role 
of Governor; but only, as he clearly and explicitly insisted, as 
representative of his beloved Kaiser Franz. He was forced to 
exercise his authority from the Hofburg, the residence of the 
Archdukes of Tyrol, and there, surrounded by his small staff 
of officers and advisers, mostly men of his own station in life, 
sitting in his shirt-sleeves in the one room he consented to oc- 
cupy, he ruled the land. His meals, ordered in a neighboring 
inn, and of the same simple character as those to which he was 
accustomed, were taken in the same room in company with his 
staff; and any one who happened at the time to be present 
on state business was invited to sit down and share the meal. 
Most of the plaints that were addressed to him were settled 
in patriarchal fashion, on the spot, after he had heard the story. 

Hofer's ordinances for the furtherance of public morality, 
of which he issued two, are deservedly famous as unique state 
documents. They display his deep spirit of piety, his unaf- 
fected appeal to the people from one who, though set above 
them, is yet their fellow, and the simple directness of speech 
of the uncultured countryman. 

The religious spirit of Hofer and his countrymen is most 
strikingly exemplified in the vow made before the second great 
fight on Berg Isel to re-establish in Tyrol the feast of the 
Sacred Heart, which had been suppressed under Bavarian rule. 
This vow is still observed and the feast regarded as a national 
one, the Schiitzen companies turning out on parade for the oc- 
casion and firing a salute outside the village church at the 
Sanctus and Elevation of the Mass. Another instance of the 



760 THE HEART OF A PEOPLE [Mar., 



place God held in the hearts of the mountaineers is the fol- 
lowing. The last general engagement, the one on August 13, 
took place on a Sunday, and the Bavarians believed that the 
pious Tyrolese would refuse to fight on such a day. But they, 
like good militant Christians, first heard their Sunday Mass and 
then immediately, with the strength they had won from God 
by prayer, began their attack. The fighting raged the whole 
day until dusk set in, along a front that stretched right to 
Hall and Volders, some seven or eight miles down the valley. 
Then in the failing evening light, when the last onslaught of 
French and Bavarians had broken and rolled back from the 
mountain-side, with childlike piety Hofer bared his head and 
sank upon his knees to thank God for the victory. His com- 
rades near him did the same, and then troop upon troop 
throughout the whole long line followed suit, and the last rays 
of the setting sun shone on one of the noblest and most mov- 
ing acts of homage that a nation in arms ever paid to God. 

It would be too long to relate in detail the many further ex- 
amples of the piety with which the hearts of these simple peas- 
ants were filled; but one last well-known one must be given. 
It was the custom of Andreas Hofer and his personal staff 
during their sojourn in the Hofburg to keep up the Tyrolese 
family practice of reciting the rosary in common immediately 
after the evening meal before the pipes were lit and the gossip 
bsgan. Hofer himself led the prayers, and whoever present on 
business had been invited to take part in the meal was after- 
wards required, without any acceptance of refusal, to join in 
the evening devotion. " Hast shared our supper with right 
good will," Hofer would say, " and there's no good reason for 
not doing the same by our prayers." 

It was, however, in the terrible misfortunes that turned the 
glories of the year 1809 to the deepest tragedy that the vil- 
lage innkeeper, though not he alone, rose to the greatest 
heights and displayed the characteristics of a hero. Yet he 
sank before he rose and after the Peace of Vienna, when all 
hope of further resistance to the concentrated forces of Na- 
poleon was vain, seemed to lose all his former clearness of 
vision and let himself be led by the less reputable and most 
desperate of his following to renew the struggle. But this 
renewal served only to enhance the sufferings of the now im- 
poverished and downtrodden land. At last all further resis- 



i9io.] THE HEART OF A PEOPLE 761 

tance became impossible, and he was forced amidst the snows 
of winter to take refuge in the mountains; for he had already 
strenuously refused to leave the land he loved so well and 
to accept the opportunity of flight into Austrian territory 
which was offered to him, though it would have allowed him 
to enjoy a life of honor and of ease. High amidst the peaks of 
the Alps for well-nigh two bitter winter months he lay hid in 
a rough log-hut that was occupied ordinarily only in summer 
by the shepherds when they drove their flocks to the moun- 
tians. His wife, his little son, and one true friend remained 
with him. A price had been set on his head and from his 
eyrie he could often see the French patrols or the Italian 
gendarmery as they marched through the valleys in search of 
him. When the snow did not render the mountain-tracks 
altogether impassable, one or the other of the few friends who 
knew where they lay hid brought up food to the sufferers. 
At length, however, towards the end of January, 1810, a 
traitor was found who, prompted by a personal grudge against 
Hofer and spurred on by the thought of the blood-money, 
spied out the patriot's hiding-place and lodged his information. 
The local magistrate, who, in common with nearly all the land 
including most of the officers of the French army of occupation, 
was full of sympathy for the fallen leader of his countrymen, 
refused at first to act on the report. But on Hofer's betrayer 
threatening himself to take his information direct to the 
military authorities, a refusal became no longer possible. 

It was thus that on the night of January 28 Hofer and 
those with him were awakened by the sound of footsteps on 
the frozen snow outside the hut, and going out were met by a 
body of no less than six hundred Italian soldiery, who by two 
different routes had come to effect the capture. All four were 
bound and driven through the snow and the night down the 
mountain side, Hofer himself being cruelly mishandled by the 
soldiers, who were angered at the trouble his capture had 
given them. But this treatment was put an end to by the 
French General, Baraguay d'Hilliers, when Bozen was reached, 
and there the request Hofer had made on his capture was ac- 
ceded to and his wife and son set free. He was then marched 
to Mantua to be judged by court-martial, and it was his con- 
duct on the way thither and in the fortress of the town itself 
that so won for him the sympathy and respect of all, that 



762 THE HEART OF A PEOPLE [Mar., 

even his rough guards came to look upon him with something 
of the awe with which men regard a saint. On the march, for 
instance, when he himself might have escaped, he had preferred 
to save the lives of his goalers. For they had fallen asleep and 
were in danger of being suffocated by the fumes of a charcoal 
stove that they had kindled in the room where they were 
keeping guard over their prisoner; and it was he who woke 
them and warned them of their peril. 

At length Mantua was reached; and of what took place 
there every child in Tyrol could tell you the moving story in 
all its detail. Hofer defended himself before the court-martial 
calmly and with dignity, or rather failed to defend himself in 
his efforts to obtain mercy for his friends and followers. His 
advocate, however, a young Italian lawyer, handled the case 
with such skill that there was danger of the court failing to 
pass the death sentence. News of this was brought to Na- 
poleon, who was at Milan, and the emperor sent posthaste a 
despatch ordering Hofer to be condemned and executed within 
twenty-four hours of the receipt of the message. Unmoved he 
heard his sentence pronounced and passed the last few hours 
of his life on earth in intercourse with his confessor, who after 
the execution wrote of it : " My soul has been filled with 
heavenly consolation and with wonder, for I have found a man 
who in truth trod the path of death like a Christian hero and 
suffered without shrinking as a martyr suffers." Hofer's own 
last words to his wife are also preserved in a letter he wrote 
to her a few hours before his death. The letter closes thus: 
"And so farewell to all in this world until we meet again in 
heaven above and there praise God forever. Let all my friends 
remember me in their prayers, and let the good wife not grieve 
overmuch for me. I will pray God for you all. Adieu ! thou 
miserable world ! So easy do I find it to die that my eyes do 
not even grow moist at the thought." 

Between the rows of his weeping fellow- prisoners, to many 
of whom a measure of freedom within the fortress was al- 
lowed, he went to his death upon the broad bastion that 
flanked the gate. He refused to have his eyes bound, gave 
the last coin he possessed to the corporal of the firing party, 
bade them take good aim, and then, after a short prayer, cried 
with steady voice : " Fire." The first volley brought him to 
his knees, and even after the second he still lived. It was 



THE HEART OF A PEOPLE 763 

only a shot at close range from the corporal's musket that put 
an end to his sufferings. 

On the same day on which Hofer's gentle and noble heart 
ceased to beat, another hero of the year 1809 met his end in 
Bozen. Peter Mayr, he too an innkeeper, was there shot on 
February 20. General Baraguay d'Hilliers was anxious to save 
him, and he might have been acquitted had he affirmed that 
he knew nothing of the decree issued on the I2th of Novem- 
ber ordering all to lay down their arms and threatening all 
further resistance with the death penalty. But, " I read the 
decree for myself," he declared steadfastly, "and I will not 
save my life by a lie." From this resolution all the weeping 
entreaties of his wife and children could not move him. He 
met his death bravely and in Christian wise, even as Hofer 
had done, and if neither lived to see Tyrol once more joyfully 
reunited to Austria four years later, yet they failed too to be 
witness of the misery and mourning that brooded over the ex- 
hausted, impoverished, and depopulated land during those un- 
happy four years. Moreover, it may well be that their sacrifice 
and their prayers before God helped not a little to bring back 
to their country that happiness and freedom for which they 
had so generously striven and so terribly suffered. 




MOTHER MARY VERONICA OF TH POOR CLARES. 

BY WALTER ELLIOTT, C.S.P. 

N the issue of this magazine for June, 1895, ap- 
peared an account of the establishment of a 
colony of Poor Clare nuns in Omaha, Neb., in 
1878. The writer, Father S. B. Hedges, was 
sympathetic in spirit and well-informed of the 
facts, which are an illustration of the Psalmist's axiom, that 
" They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." Two Italian sisters, 
after wandering from point [to point in a very sorrowful pil- 
grimage, from New York to New Orleans, finally gained a quiet 
harbor at Omaha in 1878. Their monastery was built and their 
living made secure by the late J. A. Creighton, whose muni- 
ficent zeal founded and endowed the Jesuit University in the 
same place. 

Father Hecker, an ardent lover of the solitude and silence 
and prayer of a contemplative life, was one of the warmest 
friends of this holy enterprise. He encouraged these pioneers 
of Seraphic seclusion in America with words of hearty cheer. 
At the time of their arrival in our country he was in the first 
era of his long and final illness. But this only cleared his 
vision of the religious future of America. 

" God," he writes, " has clearly taken your affairs into His 
own hands. He leaves you no human respect whatever. Jpse 
faciet. Every door seems shut against you. O blessed ob- 
scurity, which forces the soul to look for light and guidance 
to God alone ! O blessed perplexity, which throws one into 
entire dependence on God. This is the real contemplative 
life." Then, in accordance with his native artlessness of ex- 
pression, he adds : " As often as your mind is disturbed, and 
your heart grows faint, take some pills made in equal parts 
of the following ingredients : Resignation, Patience, and Fidel- 
ity to the Divine Will." 

This letter, and the others that followed it, were written 
two years before these nuns were finally settled and had begun 
their peaceful and secret, yet eventful strife with the agencies 



i9io.] MOTHER MARY VERONICA 765 

of sin in our land. His words, rightly esteemed prophetic by 
the nuns, came exactly true : " The trials and mortifications 
and disappointments which you have received since your ar- 
rival here, have served, I trust, to deepen the conviction in 
your souls of the high vocation to which you have been called, 
and, like that of your holy Foundress, your names will be held 
in benediction in common with hers in the future of the 
Church in our beloved country." 

He also recorded his conviction of the seed of the con- 
templative life among us. The terms he used will strike with 
astonishment those who believed the false accusations made 
against him, one of which was that he was hostile to the cul- 
tivation of the passive virtues : " My most intimate conviction 
is that not only the gift of contemplation is necessary to our 
century, and above all our country, but that God will not fail 
to bestow this grace on certain elect souls in our day and 
precisely among us. It is the only counterweight that can 
keep this headlong activity of our generation from ending in 
irreligion and its own entire destruction." Since then the 
" elect souls " have come to the Omaha monastery in goodly 
numbers, and it has been able to establish a colony in more 
peaceful but hardly more propitious circumstances.* 

But it is not mainly about the Omaha Poor Clares that 
we are now concerned, but rather with their sisters settled in 
Cleveland and Chicago. The coming of both colonies to 
America was almost contemporary, and they met in Cleveland 
under peculiar circumstances, deeply interesting, we trust, to a 
large section of our readers. The event is part of a chronicle 
as interesting as it is artless, telling of a great and saintly 
woman, Mother Mary Veronica. f 

The Cleveland foundation began in 1877, and consisted of 
five German sisters. They were placed in the temporary con- 
vent already occupied by the two Italian Poor Clares, brought 
to that city by the Provincial of the German Franciscans. 
His zealous purpose was to form one community of them all, 

* Our readers will be interested to learn that a good many years previously Father Hecker 
was equally interested in the pioneer establishment in America of the Little Sisters of the Poor. 
He eadeavored strenuously to fix their first house in New York City, and, failing in this, he 
helped place the foundation in Brooklyn, and he was the first one ia this country to give them 
financial aid. 

t A Cloistered 'Life. The Venerable Mother Mary Veronica, Poor Clare Colettine. 
With a history of the two Communities of Poor Clares founded by her at Cleveland, Ohio, 
and Chicago, Illinois. Cleveland, O. : The Catholic Universe Publishing Company. 



766 MOTHER MARY VERONICA [Mar., 

and both parties of the nuns entered heartily into his plan. 
But it failed. There was no division of feeling nor friction of 
sentiment, but the practical differences were found to be in- 
superable, for the Italian nuns were Observantines of the 
original Rule of St. Clare, and the Germans were of the Re- 
form of St. Colette. None of the Germans knew Italian, none 
of the Italians knew German, and the intermediate speech of 
French was possessed by Mother Magdaline and Mother 
Veronica alone. Fair trial resulted in amicable separation. 

Our heroine was born of a noble Westphalian family, in 
1845, being the eldest of eight children. She was a pious 
child, blending the instincts of innocence with the aspirations of 
grace from the very dawn of reason. Those who knew her best 
and first and last, affirmed unhesitatingly that she never sullied 
her baptismal robe with a mortal sin. Her desire to become a 
religious was evidenced in her conversation and in her prayers 
at about twelve years of age, and from the beginning it was the 
standard of holiness which she set up for her daily conduct. 
Yet meanwhile, both as child and as young woman, she was 
sensible and wide-awake, fond of girlish sports, and had a 
strong sense of the humorous. Love of the poor and devoted 
service to them was her chief external religious trait. Love 
of prayerful seclusion and of the Blessed Sacrament was 
her secret joy, deep-flowing and of generous promise. The 
young Baroness Mary von Elmendorff, such was her name 
and title, was expedited towards the goal of her desires 
by the two most fateful events of human life, the death 
of her parents. Her mother, whose influence had always 
been exceedingly religious, died when Mary was but eleven 
years old. The effect of this on the child was profound. 
The next year she made her First Communion, and received 
the first impulse from God towards the cloister. She experi- 
enced it while hearing Mass and afterwards when visiting the 
nuns at a Monastery of Poor Clares. They told her many 
things about their life, all of which " charmed her, particularly 
the midnight office, the perpetual fast, and the bare feet" to 
quote her biographer. She inquired, in all simplicity, whether 
they did not also sleep on the bare ground, wear the celice, 
and take the discipline; this was greeted from within the blank 
and curtained grating with the laughter of the sisters. Curious 
taste this of a child of twelve years, delicately reared and 



i9io.] MOTHER MARY VERONICA 767 

waited on by servants at every turn, to love austerity and to 
look for more of it than even Poor Clares practised. 

At the age of eighteen Mary finished her schooling and 
returned to her father's castle. She was by him installed as 
mistress of its home life. It now seemed that her longings 
for contemplation were to be starved by restriction to the rare 
opportunities for solitude stolen from the cares of a household 
of seven children and many servants, not to mention the solace 
her father expected and received from her company a beauti- 
ful daughter, highly educated, as happy as an angel, and 
overflowing with the joy-making resources of a most affection- 
ate disposition. 

No wonder that he was shocked by the revelation she at 
last made to him that she was called by God to be a nun. 
This happened when she had given him three years of sweet- 
est domestic peace. Her prayer, even when backed by the full 
and free approval of her father confessor, was refused, though 
with deep emotion. No, not during his lifetime could she leave 
him for the convent. Mary was much distressed, of course. 
But only God could see it, for she hid it from all others. 
And He intervened in her behalf ; for her father soon after 
died suddenly, and in two years Mary had arranged all family 
matters satisfactorily and joined the Colettine Poor Clares of 
Dtisseldorf, having, meanwhile, rejected an advantageous offer 
of marriage. 

The peace of heaven then settled upon her soul, never to 
leave it again, though it was not at any time unmingled with 
pain. She had many a hard interior struggle and not a few 
severe external trials to undergo. St. Bonaventure says that 
when St. Francis beheld the Seraph of the crucifixion in the 
high heavens coming to brand him with the wounds of Jesus, 
"joy, mingled with grief and sadness, overwhelmed his soul." 
The same might be said of this gentle disciple of Francis on 
entering his Seraphic Second Order: "She was outwardly 
clothed in the vesture of penance and inwardly marked with 
the ever painful and ever joyous wounds of the Crucified." 

Her entrance was in the spring of 1869. She was clothed 
on June 23, taking the name of Veronica, and professed of the 
first vows the following year, on July 8. With the rigid ex- 
actness of the German temperament she united the mystical 
sweetness equally peculiar to the race, but not so often in 



768 MOTHER MARY VERONICA [Mar., 

evidence. Saintliness is the only word that justly describes her 
career. She took the Gospel literally, as did St. Francis and 
St. Clare and St. Colette. When, in due time, her vows were 
made perpetual, she had spent some years of successful trial 
of the unbroken fast of her Rule, which, however, but feebly 
represented her interior hunger and thirst after justice. Her 
joy in bodily self-restraint never left her. A lady of the no- 
bility by birth and training, wholly untainted with grave sin, 
and of a guileless nature every way, besides being endowed 
with God's choicest graces, she yet became a barefooted peni- 
tent, out of pure sympathy for Jesus crucified. Naturally chatty 
and social, she loved silence as her dearest companion. She 
joined her order more radiant and happy than any young bride 
at the wedding Mass, and so she ever remained. The deep 
running currents of holy joy overflowed the sorrows of a natu- 
rally timid conscience and the anxieties of the many years in 
which she bore the burden of office in her monastery. 

Her loved ones according to the flesh, were cloistered as 
sacredly in her heart as they were rigidly excluded from her 
company. She was joined in outward and inward kinship of 
a heavenly kind with her sisters in religion, those gray-clad 
virgins, whose holy voices sanctify the midnight hours of every 
part of Christendom. We do not intend to do what we are 
not competent to do reveal Mother Veronica's inner life. But 
every part of this interesting biography shows that she enjoyed 
in an extraordinary degree the three higher gifts of prayer. 
" The first," says St. Teresa, " is the perception of the great- 
ness of God, which becomes clearer to us as we witness more 
of it. Secondly, we gain self-knowledge and humility, seeing 
creatures as base as we are in comparison with the Creator 
daring to offend Him in the past, or venture to gaze on Him 
now. The third grace is a contempt for all earthly things, un- 
less they be consecrated to the service of so great a God" 
{Interior Castle, VI. Mansions^ Ch. V.). 

Not many years after her profession, the Poor Clares were 
driven out of their convent at Diisseldorf by Bismark's May 
laws, taking refuge in Holland. This experience of the bitter- 
ness of exile was an eventful incident, but only preparatory 
to a far more eventful one, namely, voluntary exile to the 
United States. For Mother Veronica was appointed leader 
and finally chosen Abbess of the American colony and of the 



19 io.] MOTHER MARY VERONICA 769 

Cleveland foundation, whose singular beginnings' we have already 
noticed. 

Mother Veronica, as Superior or Assistant, bore a heavy 
burden for the rest of her life, nor was she quite free from it 
even during her last lingering illness. The foundation at Cleve- 
land, aided though it was by the continual and generous co- 
operation of the Franciscan Fathers of that city who had pro- 
cured it as well as by the favor of the Bishop of the diocese, 
was beset with the gravest difficulties, such as poverty most 
real and pinching, illness of the sisters sometimes prostrating 
nearly the whole community, unavoidable mistakes about loca- 
tion and neighborhood. More to her, under God, than to any 
other single person, was the final glorious success to be at- 
tributed. 

Without being fretful or hasty or severe in her disposition, 
she was yet a vigilant superior. Absorbed in God, she was 
quite lifted above human motives in the enforcement of her 
austere Rule. She was observant of the faults of others only 
by compulsion of duty and for their own interest, as well as 
out of love for a manner of life which must be strictly followed 
or soon lapse into degeneracy. She communicated her own 
sweetness and sunny cheerfulness to the tone of the monastic 
life. Meanwhile she had excellent business qualities. She man- 
aged the gravest financial matters for many years with surpris- 
ingly few mistakes, and none that were serious. Of the spiri- 
tual life she was an example of observance far more intense 
than belongs to any but very saintly characters. The choir 
service, our highest form of vocal prayer, occupying several 
hours daily, found in her a fervent lover. 

Tauler compares vocal prayer to the straw of the wheat, 
which bears and protects the grain; so does the recitation of 
the divine praises both suggest and guard our thoughts about 
God and divine things. In this function Mother Veronica was 
singularly at home, having a voice remarkable for strength 
and melody. In private conversation on devout subjects its 
tones provoked reverence by a certain virginal purity. If one 
could understand not a word, the lesson of love for God and 
for sinners was yet plainly taught by its tones. The present 
writer conversed with her several times, seeking an interview 
during his missionary travels to solicit her interest in the con- 
version of America. The cloister shut her off from sight be- 

TOL. XC. 49 



770 MOTHER MARY VERONICA [Mar., 

hind its iron grill. The gentle face was not seen. But the 
reader will trust an old confessarius, who has listened to the 
sweet plaints of many thousands of penitents and the tender 
accents of as many lovers of the Divine Spouse; one, too, 
who has heard the human voice in every range of its melody, 
in choir and home, in senate and forum and battle-field. But 
he never heard a song of joy or of triumph so beautiful as 
Mother Veronica's words of hope and encouragement, few and 
slowly spoken, but with the resonance of paradise. This pri- 
vate charm was dispensed constantly among her sisters. Many 
a vocation did she save, sometimes by a short phrase, like 
this, uttered one hot summer's day when the sisters were half- 
stifled by their heavy habit: "Never mind, dear Sisters; our 
sweat is water, His sweat was blood." 

Let no one suppose that the cloister is no place for the 
exercise of the gift of eloquence. " Mother Veronica," says 
our author, " was possessed of a wonderful gift of speaking of 
God and of divine things. Like a gentle stream the words of 
instruction and exhortation flowed from her lips, without ex- 
ertion and without preparation ; and as they came from a 
heart all inflamed with the love of God and her neighbor, 
so did they ever find open hearts ready to receive and follow 
them. Some of the sisters in all simplicity said that it was a 
pity their Mother was not a priest, because of her great gift 
of speech and her ability to impart peace and consolation." 

As to her face, postulants were fascinated by its holy ex- 
pression, saying to themselves: "How beautiful!" "She looks 
like a saint!" "And how truly a mother she seems!" 

As she looked so she lived. The perfection of charity was 
the whole purpose of her life. She was so sympathetic, that 
the bare suspicion of pain in another set her to work in the 
holy offices of comforting the sorrowful. She often rose at 
night to peep into the cells of sisters not quite well, to look 
after their comfort. " In numberless ways," says our narra- 
tive, " she robbed herself for the sake of others." If she 
granted dispensations, .it was done indeed with an outlook for 
observance, but yet " with a delicate charity," while she re- 
minded the sisters that in such exceptions they could practise 
obedience and humility and simplicity in a higher degree than 
by austerities suggested by their own will. Meanwhile she 
was a stalwart champion of strict observance, even if in her later 



i9io.] MOTHER MARY VERONICA 771 

years she seemed to soften in her Rule beyond the line of 
prudence and firmness. " In reality this was not the case. 
When duty required she could proceed with a sharp judgment 
and great decision, as was repeatedly seen when she sent 
away candidates that were unfit for the religious life or cor- 
rected and punished one or other of her subjects. Only the 
tears which flowed from her eyes on such occasions betrayed 
her compassion and interior pain." 

Two events of prime importance were the attempt of the 
Houses of Poor Clares in Germany to reclaim Mother Veronica, 
and her founding of the House in Chicago. It looked for a 
time as if Providence destined her to return to the Father- 
land to deepen and strengthen the virtues of the sisters there ; 
but America, it was soon perceived, was God's appointed field 
for the remainder of her career. Little can be said here about 
the Chicago venture. Let the reader enjoy its curious and at 
one time perilous vicissitudes in this biography. As a foun- 
dress and a superior of such religious institutions, Mother 
Veronica was ideal. She was not only full of love for a poor 
and penitential and silent life of prayer, but she had a native 
aptitude for such new things as were good company for old 
things in religious observance; meanwhile being a steadfast 
" enemy of all comforts and modern improvements." Suffice, 
then, to say that her Chicago foundation was as great a suc- 
cess as her Cleveland one had been. 

Mother Veronica had always blessed God for calling her to 
be a Poor Clare. But there came a time when her gladness 
was heavenly, as she heard the Veni electa Mea calling her to 
the Bridegroom. Then her heart melted with joy for the bare- 
footed life in chilly Cleveland and Chicago, the broken sleep 
for the midnight office, the scanty diet, the grave-like en- 
closure, the desert-like solitude. In the beginning of her vo- 
cation " a feeling of mortal disgust for worldly things took 
possession of her, and her longing for an austere and perfect 
life daily increased." And her love for it increased even unto 
death, a longing, too, for paradise and God, as strong as it 
was tender. The sisters noticed that all her virtues matured 
and mellowed towards the end. Especially did they perceive 
in her an atmosphere of more intense seclusion of spirit. One 
virtue alone became more active and demonstrative, sisterly 
affection. 



772 MOTHER MARY VERONICA [Mar., 

Next to the Divine Presence in the oratory, Mother Veroni- 
ca's room during her long illness was the happiest place in the 
monastery. She seemed as if created (to use her biographer's 
words) for the joy of others, full of the strategems of love and 
the anxieties of sympathy, pouring her soul into the cares and 
troubles of others with overflowing tenderness. On her very 
death-bed she rather gave than received consolation; and this 
she extended by the help of others to her correspondents. 
Indeed all her life she had been, by her letters, an evangel of 
happy contentment for the unfortunate, and of resolute courage 
for the timid. Almost the last letter she wrote was an offer 
to send sisters from Chicago to Cleveland, where the whole 
house was down with the grippe.* 

It was in the spring of 1904 that Mother Veronica received 
the first signal of ;the approach of death. This was a stroke 
of paralysis. It was followed by a partial recovery. But only 
eighteen months more were set apart for her pilgrimage, and 
November 9, 1905, she received all the last sacraments and ex- 
pired. Her biographer has given a remarkably edifying account 
of that event and of the illness that preceded it. We have 
seldom read anything better fitted to teach one how to die a 
holy and happy death. 

And now it may be asked: What have we busy men to do 
with these silent nuns ? Everything. Their solitude is not 
spiritual by any means. Their cloister is no bar to the unity 
of love among the members of God's Church. They are but 
secluded from earthly noise, that they may more attentively 
hearken to God's voice calling on the whole communion of the 
faithful in earth and heaven to love Him and to be His instru- 
ments in saving His straying children. As the angels rejoice 
over the repentance of sinners and the conversion of heretics, 
so also do these contemplatives of the Seraphic order. By their 
intercession with heaven they provide all parish priests and 
missionaries with the most essential aid, namely, the secret in- 
fluences of grace. They pray and fast and watch, that they 

* The present writer enjoyed for many years the privilege of an occasional exchange of 
letters with Mother Veronica on spiritual topics. She wrote English with absolute correct- 
ness, in the beautiful script of educated Germans. She exhibited a peaceful force of convic- 
tion, a gentle urgency of exhortation to virtue, and an unusual gift of inspiring fortitude in 
enduring trials. One could not help feeling under the spell of a master spirit in reading her 
letters. They were never lengthy and yet never too brief. And they plainly showed that 
both humility and sympathy had entered so deeply into her soul as to have become, as it were, 
a trait of nature. 



i9io.] MOTHER MARY VERONICA 773 

may live in absolute and conscious sympathy with all men and 
women actively engaged in God's work, from the Bishop laden 
with the grave responsibility of many thousands of souls, down 
to the humblest parents going the weary round of domestic 
duties. By obtaining the grace of conversion they are the 
foremost convert-makers in America. And what we say of the 
Poor Clares, the same is to be said of all the strictly contem- 
plative orders, such as the Carmelites, the Dominicans, and 
various other orders. Differing in particulars, they are substan- 
tially the same in the characteristics of this vocation, a spare 
and mortified provision for bodily food and clothing, sleep and 
lodging, almost total silence, except in the public saying and 
chanting of the Church's office, and practically total seclusion 
from the world, with large opportunities for private medita- 
tion all for God's Church militant. 

Not all of our readers will be equally affected by this Life, 
kindred spirits of course enjoying it best. But not even an 
atheist could go through this peaceful and yet eventful life 
journey without feeling at once ennobled and humbled by the 
companionship of such lofty souls. The book is perfectly well 
written. It resembles in several ways the monastic Chronicle 
of Jocilyn, made famous by Carlyle's Past and Present. Like 
that writer, too, our authoress is sometimes over candid. We 
fear that some of her sisters have found matter to call forth 
their forgiveness, as well as their praise of her book. 

To the Catholics of America there is a special importance 
and a national interest attached to this biography, for it tells 
of the great servant of God who first founded the Poor Clares 
of the Colettine Reform in this country. To such contempla- 
tive orders, as we have already said, we must look for the 
most essential aid in the active ministry. For over fifty years 
St. Paul of the Cross prayed every day for the conversion of 
England. More than a hundred years after he began, the Pas- 
sionist Father Dominic received Newman into the Church. 
Sometimes soon, sometimes late, but, whether soon or late, the 
prayers of a saint are surely answered. 

"He knows well how to live right who knows rightly how 
to pray well," is a saying of St. Augustine. Now a universal 
union of prayer is established by Christ in His Church, espe- 
cially between the extreme of activity with the extreme of 
quiet in God's vocations. The school of all virtuous living is 



774 MOTHER MARY VERONICA [Mar., 

in the study of prayer, vocal and especially mental. Shall we 
not say the same of all effective preaching, religious publish- 
ing, conversation ? The Christian apostolate really centres in 
the cloisters of the Church, whether they be constituted by 
canonical enclosure, or in separate- individuals by personal 
attrait amid active religious works. We meet with very many 
members of the active communities of women, whose devoted- 
ness to their busy apostolate and their success in it, is to be 
attributed to their peculiar fondness for the most contemplative 
life. And the Rule of every Catholic older set apart for active 
labors specifically inculcates this. The primary Rule of all 
working priests, brothers, and sisters is that they shall strive 
for personal sanctification as the principal aim of their ex- 
istence. St. Alphonsus was once asked by certain cardinals for 
advice on some weighty matters. After thinking the case over 
he gave this counsel: "All that I deem it wise to advise is 
that we should pray a great deal about this affair." To souls 
for whom the interior life is the mainspring of every action, 
and to whom thoughts and motives, aspirations and purposes, 
divine communications and infused guidance, form the principal 
reason of existence, this history of a German baroness trans- 
formed into a contemplative nun in the latter half of the 
most worldly of all centuries, is of absorbing interest. To a 
rightly guided missionary or parish priest there is no help 
so precious as close union of his work with the prayers of a 
community of contemplatives, devoted to him and to his voca- 
tion, and especially sympathetic with his efforts for his own 
personal sanctification. 

It is refreshing to read of souls like Mother Veronica and 
her sisters, whose spiritual ambition is simply limitless for 
whom to be saints is the one passion of life. This does not 
necessarily mean the sanctity that God publicly approves by 
astounding miracles, though this book records some marvels of 
the sort. It means not so much the miracles of sanctity as its 
virtues. Tauler is never tired of saying that the world was 
created for such souls. Under Christ, their merits are its sal- 
vation. Their prayers and sacrifices make them the leaven of 
the whole mass of humanity. 

We have written this little tribute to the memory of Mother 
Veronica, out of gratitude for the incalculable help she and 
her sisters gave to the non- Catholic missions in the United 



i9io.] MOTHER MARY VERONICA 775 

States by their prayers and sacrifices, dating from the begin- 
ning of the American Apostolate. Happy should we be if our 
words should be made God's occasion for the vocation of as 
much as one noble-hearted girl to give up everything for 
Jesus Christ crucified and enter such a cloister. We hope also 
that all who read this article may at least duly venerate that 
lofty ambition of St. Teresa, the greatest modern legislator of 
such a life : aut pati aut mori Either to suffer or to die. 

" Even at this day we are sensible of the truth of what St. 
Francis said, that nothing is more glorious for the regular re- 
ligious state, and nothing more edifying for the whole Church; 
than to see the nuns of St. Clare, who keep the Rule of their 
order without the slightest mitigation, who renounce the pos- 
session of any property whatsoever, whether private or in 
common, who live wholly on alms, and in such a state of rig- 
orous austerity that the stronger sex would find it to be quite 
appalling. And notwithstanding this, in no other monasteries 
is there more harmony, or greater contentment, or greater lib- 
erty of spirit to be found, or more of that joy of which our 
Savior spoke: 'I will see you again, and your heart shall re- 
joice; and your joy no man shall take from you ' " (Chalippe's 
Life of St. Francis of Assist, Book V., p. 191, Oratorian Trans- 
lation). Pere Chalippe wrote thus in the first quarter of the 
degenerate eighteenth century. True then, his words are just 
as true now, and may be applied equally well to all the con- 
templative nuns in Holy Church. 




AS IT HAPPENED. 

BY JEANIE DRAKE. 

fRAGMONT, which was once Santa Fidelia, which 
was once Tallaloa, which was once Iguadzil, 
and so on to a time when she was nameless, 
looks down variably, but always enchantingly 
lovely, on those who discover and re-discover 
and again discover her. Her cliffs, sparkling salt-encrusted, or 
towering sea- splashed and foam-crowned, have watched long, 
sweeping Pacific waves efface from her sands the footprints of 
furtive pre- historic savage, of predatory Indian, of Spanish 
missionary, of Western fortune-seeker, and of gay summer 
visitor with equal unconcern. 

Yet here, on the eve of his wedding-day, was Lieutenant 
Paul Torrance, feeling that nature must be in full sympathy with 
him. He squared his broad shoulders, inhaling long draughts 
of ozone from the sea, held his head aloft, seeking to hide the 
joy dancing in his eyes, and with the touch of his sweetheart's 
lips yet upon his own would have changed with no emperor. 
Settling to his stroke in the rowboat, he sent it with easy 
strength skirting the various coves and inlets in which that 
indented coast abounds; and darting steadily along, now in the 
wide shimmering afternoon glow, now under shadow of over- 
hanging crag or darkly verdant hill, let his eyes rove from the 
leaping green and white billows against the setting sun Japan- 
ward to the noble heights crowning the shore. 

" It is good to be alive," he exulted, " possessing the earth 
and the fullness thereof! Since I mustn't see my dear again 
until to-morrow, this is worlds better than hanging about the 
inn with oppressive eyes upon me. Glad there's no distracting 
city fuss and feathers to be gone through. That's thanks to 
Diana bless her dear heart ! ' Nothing to spoil the sacred- 
ness down at Cragmont villa in the rose garden where we first 
met,' said she. Isn't that their red roof above the tree-tops? 
The ancient mariner, whose boat I borrowed without leave, 
was wrong to croak about the weather. Nothing but a cap 



1910.] As IT HAPPENED 777 

full of wind in that cloud over yonder against the sun. What 
an afternoon ! " He hung on his oars worshipping nature, 
paganwise. "If Pan came piping down that hill with a rabble 
rout of fauns and satyrs about him or if elusive nymphs with 
wind-blown tresses should call me shrill and sweet from below 
that great rock where the seed-weed washes it would seem 
natural enough to a man who once wrote a poem without be- 
ing found out. Well, one more pull upshore, one more look 
at the dear red roof, then back to the inn." 

" There was a bold fisherman 
Set sail from off Barnegat," 

he whistled, pulling away vigorously. 

The Greek chorus which, subdued or strident, accompanies 
life's circumstance and follows death, was busying itself now up 
at the one Cragmoat inn with him and with Diana. This is fla- 
grant abuse of the accident which from the veranda of "The 
Cliffs " had permitted through the trees their glimpsing the 
lovers' parting at the villa beneath. 

" Ah," said an acrimonious voice, " not so absolutely icy 
as one might expect of the superior Diana." 

"Since he," suggested another, "of the crowd cf adorers 
is very definitely accepted " 

" My dear, I can't imagine what they all see in her ! Ab- 
surdly fastidious about a bit of harmless gossip or the tiniest 
joke, you know. Too tall and white, with that mass of auburn 
hair and the pride of well, her maid told mine that Miss 
Farland said Cragmont could never be quite the same Arcadia 
' Harcodious,' Betts called it it had been before this hotel 
was built. We desecrate the formerly exclusive scene of her 
love idyll, don't you perceive ? " 

"Well," said a third, "the bridegroom is a pleasant fellow 
enough and certainly walks on air at present. But since it 
was announced I have been a bit afraid of that desperately 
disappointed suitor, the Englishman. He looks as if setting 
fire to the inn would be congenial sport. One cannot get a 
civil word from him.'* 

"Could one at any time? He has always seemed to regard 
an offer of the cream at breakfast as a deadly insult. Isn't 
that the Honorable Percy down below there now ? What's he 



778 As IT HAPPENED [Mar., 

doing? Going in swimming or coming out, or just strolling 
round in bathing suit to display his muscle ? " She adjusted 
an opera-glass, as though what happened below their hill was 
prearranged for their express benefit. " Seems to be taking 
that vicious horse of his from the groom and into the surf. 
There they go round the Point. Splendid figure. They do 
look fine, man and horse; but if they should be swept away, 
there would be two ill-tempered animals removed. How black 
it is getting, and how the wind whistles ! Ow w 1 See that 
lightning ! Let's go in." 

The landlord, owner of a fishing smack, in which Miss 
Farland as child and girl had often sailed, and with whom she 
was a favorite, looked after these balefully as they retired, 
before he proceeded himself to where banging window blinds 
and loudly creaking, flapping awnings claimed his attention. 

Down at the villa Diana, restless within doors, wandered 
among the catalpas and lingered about her rose-trees. Beside 
the tallest near the gateway she stood long, touching it caress- 
ingly and letting a soft smile of reminiscence curve her lips. 
Past the great gate the Englishman went swinging toward the 
sea. He was compelled to see the slim white form against the 
verdure, so the girl, after imperceptible hesitation, spoke: 

" I hope," she said pleasantly, " that you may enjoy your 
swim," in allusion to the bathing dress which largely displayed 
his athletic figure. The habitual impassiveness of his hand- 
some features changed electrically. 

"I think you know," he replied with undisguised sullen- 
ness, "that I enjoy nothing these days. I was in a Fool's 
Paradise just long enough to have it spoil everything else in 
life." 

" Not everything, I am sure. You are young." 

A flush answered her mistake. " A boy, perhaps you think, 
since the playtime you accorded me counted for nothing." 

Her inclination to offended dignity softened before his evi- 
dent wretchedness. She tried to ignore the intensity of gaze 
dwelling on her face and figure, on her dress and the flowers 
in her hand. " Hear that wind through the trees," she said, 
holding up her hand, "and see those clouds! I must get in. 
But leave with me, in proof of generosity, good wishes for 
myself and Mr. Torrance." 

"For that," he said bitterly, "I am not generous enough." 



1 9 io.] As IT HAPPENED 779 

And checking with violent effort the wild words rushing to his 
lips, he went his way downward. Below around a curve, where 
the steep descent runs into the ocean, came a groom leading 
his horse, glistening wet from the waves. " Give him to me," 
cried the master sharply. "Do you call that a bath?" The 
man ventured a respectful word or two concerning the ap- 
proaching gale, but unheard, for the Englishman had already 
vaulted to the horse's back. He rode the spirited animal into 
the surf, wheeling and dashing this side and that, scattering 
high the spray, the rider finding outlet for the angry humor 
possessing him in the din of the incoming storm. He forced 
him swimming about the Point, into a secluded inlet where 
wind and wave roared between high rock walls. And as 
they splashed and plunged together in the foaming waters, 
hastening for safety there shot into the cove from the further 
side a boat whose oarsman still whistled : " There was a bold 
fisherman." 

" Splendid model for a Centaur ! " was the rower's instant 
thought. Then, coming near enough to see the Englishman's 
frown "but confound him fora bad loser!" 

In this narrow ocean amphitheatre, cut off from human eye 
by its perpendicular rocks, and from human ear by the roaring 
and whistling of the nearby storm, the former rivals must 
needs pass each other closely. 

" May I beg you," called the lieutenant, when near enough 
to be audible, " to hold hard a moment ? He'll swamp my 
boat." 

The animal, excited by the increasing noise, was swimming 
unwillingly, strongly resisting the rein. This struggle, together 
with the unexpected meeting of to-morrow's bridegroom, 
brought the rider's pent-up passion to a climax. 

" I'm not riding an omnibus hack, you see," he answered 
savagely. " It's a horse." 

" Unmannerly cub ! " muttered the officer through his teeth ; 
but held himself in with the reflection that a winner could 
afford to do so. 

" Keep that boat out of his way if you can," continued the 
other, " it annoys him. Don't they teach rowing at Annapolis ? " 

In view of the fact that the cove was now an angry, rush- 
ing swirl of mounting water, whose spray dashing high whitened 
the cliffs overhead, this was hard to bear. 



780 As IT HAPPENED [Mar., 

" They teach us " began the lieutenant impetuously, and 
again restrained himself. A surging roller lifted him high and 
let him down into the whirling vortex, so close to man and 
horse that the latter's flank grazed his gunwale. To avert 
more dangerous impact he pushed the snorting, tossing head 
hard aside. 

" Damn your awkwardness ! " criejj the Englishman. " Take 
your hand off my horse ! " 

Torrance was at the end of his endurance. " I know which 
is the poorer brute of you two ! " he exclaimed. " He may 
not be a hack, but he is ridden by an ass!" 

The waters whirled, the storm darkened and howled, the 
tumbling, frightened beast scattered foam over both men, while 
for a second they glared at each other. Then the rider, slip- 
ping sidewise on his steed's back, gathered the ends of the 
reins and cut Torrance across the face. In Paul Torrance's 
memory it seemed afterwards almost simultaneous his reach- 
ing up, oar in hand, and striking in return with all his force. 
And horror did not at once succeed fury when the rider, 
loosening his hold on the bridle, threw up his arms and fell 
forward, catching at the horse's mane. He hung so but a mo- 
ment, for the animal, now wild with terror, pitched and reared, 
flinging his master across a projecting rock ; then, swimming 
back around the Point, made towards his stable. The lieuten- 
ant urged his boat closer to the rock, clambering over its slip- 
pery surface to draw the unconscious form higher. Then 
threw up his arms in turn. " God ! " he said, stunned, for he 
had been through a war and knew that no living body ever 
hung limp and twisted in just that fashion. He bent over it 
for an agonized instant, and again looked desperately at the 
precipitous, rocky barrier behind them. "The horse will give 
the alarm," he thought; then with dazed idea of fetching the 
surgeon who lived a mile upshore, he caught up and fell to 
his oars again. 

But if entrance to the comparatively sheltered inlet had 
been difficult, leaving it was a mere opportunity to the mad 
winds and waves. In one fierce blast they fell upon his little 
bark and swept it far outward to the tempest's will. In the 
teeth of the rioting squall, through mountainous billows, he 
rose and fell now, hour after hour. Stricken in soul from the 
tragic happening he left behind, yet instinct and habit made 



i9io.] As IT HAPPENED ?8i 

him bend his back and strain his muscle in this new, prolonged 
conflict. Rising and dipping, he strove now, arduously always, 
then desperately, at last hopelessly. Chilled to the bone in 
cold wind and drenching seas, arms and shoulders aching, hands 
bleeding, purpose and heart almost failing, night brought no 
relief, for the gale still raged. About midnight one oar slipped 
and was whirled from his benumbed fingers. " Now it would 
be better to end it all," he thought. "Once overboard, it 
would be quick." But righting the bewildered brain : " No, 
no, not that; not while I keep sane at all." 

Then he dropped exhausted in the boat, mounting and 
tumbling through seas eight feet high, which smothered and 
drenched and turned his clothing to ice upon him. Holding to 
the gunwale, he caught now and then through the utter black- 
ness a glimpse of distant light-house or brilliantly illuminated 
passenger steamer making for port. After a seeming eternity 
of this, there came a slight lulling of the elements, and off 
shore he discerned an ocean tramp, the first craft venturing 
outward. Hope of rescue stung into life the last atom of 
strength. He tied his handkerchief to the remaining oar, sig- 
nalling and hailing; then, as they went on, without heed, he 
laughed weakly and muttered unconnected words until he fell 
oblivious. But from the lumber vessel his little fluttering 
speck of white had been at last perceived ; and in time they 
bore down upon him in the early dawn's pale light, and pres- 
ently drew over the side a man apparently dead. 

When the day shone at last with the mocking splendor it 
wears after a storm, he opened his eyes and struggled to get 
out of the berth. "You don't know" he protested. "It's 
Diana, calling, calling ; and I must dress for the wedding. But 
why should that fellow lie so, all doubled up and clammy ? no 
wonder the horse is frightened " and so rambled. 

" Wild as a loon, and small wonder," said the captain, who 
yet knew but a part. 

At Cragmont, which they were leaving leagues behind, the 
chorus at " The Cliffs' " breakfast table was querulous about the 
past night's tempest. 

" Impossible to sleep," complained one. 

" Oh, as for that, my dear, I sat up the entire time, think- 
ing the roof would be blown off." 

" It's hardly worth while to escape city noise for this 



782 As IT HAPPENED [Mar., 

racket," grumbled another. " Such an uproar and such terror I 
never wish to endure again." 

" You're luckier than some," commented the landlord, grim- 
ly, " Mr. Sydenham he wasn't troubled by the night's noise. 
They brought him in at dark, stone dead, offen the rocks. 
That brute of hisn had kicked him in the head while they 
was a-bathin'." 

"Oh!" "Ah!" "How dreadful!" they murmured, 
shocked into comparative stillness; then recovering: "Wonder 
how Miss Farland will take that after his summer's devotion ! 
I should look upon it as a wretched omen for a wedding day." 

"Oh, my dear, she is thinking right now that fate ar- 
ranged that gale expressly to freshen up the earth for her and 
give her this gorgeous day. No one else is of any real con- 
sequence, unless it is incidently the bridegroom. I wonder, by 
the way, where he is this morning. I haven't seen him round, 
though I can spare him. That poor, rude Englishman was 
really better looking. So is Captain Condor, the best man. 
That's he now going in at the villa gate. Pity those trees hide 
so much of the grounds." 

" Do you think they'll shoot that fiery horse. They ought, 
I think." 

Diana, happily unconscious, explored with light foot her 
storm-beaten garden paths. . " Oh, my poor roses ! " she cried, 
but none the less her eyes shone and she hummed a love-tune, 
gathering surviving buds. 

" Diana, Diana ! " expostulated her mother from the ver- 
anda. " One may be too unconventional. Even for such a quiet 
home wedding as your taste for romance imposed, the bride, 
already dressed, need not be outdoors and waiting." 

" But the glorious day ! And the glorious sea ! And the 
glorious woods ! And the glorious world ! " chanted the girl. 
An officer in glittering, full-dress uniform, who overheard her, 
came quietly up the avenue. " Ah, Captain Condor," she 
greeted him with a pretty blush. " Are you on time ? " 

" A bit too early, perhaps," he said, with a touch of con- 
straint, which the mother noted. "One or two last little ar- 
rangements to discuss with Mrs. Farland, if I may," and the 
bride nodded, resuming her lilt as they went in. 

" I can spare you a moment in private," said the mother, 
"but those pretty young things, her maids, are flying all over 



i9io.] As IT HAPPENED 783 

the place among the flowers, like so many humming birds." 
She did not entirely hide her anxiety. 

" It is nothing at all," said the officer with studied care- 
lessness, " but Torrance must be detained somewhere some- 
how. I thought I might find him here since he is not at 
'The Cliffs.'" 

" You have not seen him this morning ? " 

" He was to come up to town, you know, on the early 
afternoon train, and return to-day with me. They tell me at 
the station that he missed the four o'clock and said he would 
take the next up, two hours later. They are not sure whether 
he did or not. I have telegraphed to his apartment there with- 
out result. His wedding things are in readiness in his room 
here; but it is quite late; and and so it stands." 

" Gracious heaven ! " murmured the woman of the world, 
appalled at the certainty of scandalous tongues. Then, more 
humanly motherly: " Some terrible accident, perhaps my poor 
girl ! " 

The bevy of maids, fluttering impatiently into the flower- 
scented room, stopped short at sight of her disquiet. But 
Captain Condor had eyes only for the slender, shining bride 
who now came under an archway. " If you will go up-stairs 
with your mother," he said very low, "she will explain the 
cause of our our temporary delay." And he carried away with 
him for all time a vision of her, tall and shimmering in silver- 
white, her lovely eyes widening in wonder touched by alarm. 

Some time further he spent at Cragmont in investigation, 
with no discovery, for so many small craft had been torn 
loose to destruction that night of tempest that no significance 
attached to any one boat missing. Then he escaped from the 
curious glances at " The Cliffs," which for her sake he resented, 
to an equally vain search in the city. At Cragmont day after 
day wore on in pain and tortured uncertainty, which made 
Diana shrink from urban streets and scenes. 

Long afterward she received from Captain Condor, now 
transferred to the Atlantic squadron, a letter which contained 
in part these words: "You might have seen all the while that 
I loved you hopelessly myself; though I tried and meant 
always to hide an unaccepted devotion. Now, after this inter- 
val, I dare to offer it and to believe that I could make you 
happy." 



784 As IT HAPPENED [Mar., 

To which she answered in part: "If he be dead, I shall 
mourn him always. Only proof of living disloyalty a thing 
incredible could make me think of another." 

He pondered his answer to this, passing through a de- 
serted card room at the Army and Navy Club ; and came face 
to face with a man, gaunt and haggard, whose clothes hung 
upon him and whose countenance was deeply lined with trace 
of long illness of mind and body. 

" You ! You Paul Torrance ! Is it possible ? " 

"What's left," said the other, forcing a smile. "Blown to 
sea in a cockle-shell ; nearly drowned and frozen ; rescued and 
put down after long sailing in a beastly little South American 
port, where I have lain between life and death ever since with 
fever" 

"Then then " said the older man, his hopes fading. A 
messenger boy handed him a telegram which he opened. 
" Come to me when you can Diana," he read. " Can she 
know ? " he wondered heavily ; then, after reflection, handed 
it to Torrance. "This should be for you," he said. 

The lieutenant's brow contracted. " Though I am again in 
life," he said almost inaudibly, " it is not for marriage. I 
have written her she knows that it is all over. Something 
insurmountable impossible to explain has come between 
us. If you are to be the fortunate man fortunate above all 
others then God bless you and her 1 " 

Captain Condor looked at his friend long and gravely. 
Then he said, with a certain heroism : " Are you very sure that 
it is insurmountable ? I will explain for you if I may if 
you will trust me." 

" I would trust you with my life with my honor most 
precious of all with her. But for this there is no help. I 
have reported and sail for China next week; but you go to 
her, man, go to her ! " 

And with a pressure of the captain's hand he passed down 
the stairs and was gone. 

Several years after this the summer chorus at "The Cliffs," 
with certain changes and additions, still chattered, still buzzed 
its accompaniment. 

" Isn't it delightful that the squadron should be ordered 
down here for target practice?" one began. 

" Re- enforced, too, by a cruiser from the Asiatic side." 



i9io.] As IT HAPPENED 78$ 

" I'm told that the first lieutenant on that one is a man 
who had some sort of adventure right in this place." 

"Oh, yes; Torrance is his name. I was here at the time. 
Blown out to sea on his wedding day picked up by a schooner 
fever after a lot of stuff I never believed a word of it. 
The man concocted it to cover his disappearance; and if you 
knew her you could excuse him. Handsome enough, yes but 
with pride to suit her name. Didn't mourn him long went 
up to town and was a howling belle for a while, and then 
married another officer, who's down here, too. Has been pro- 
moted since, I hear. Rear- Admiral in command of this fleet, 
I believe. I'm told she supervises the invitation list for all 
their affairs aboard ship. She's the sort, you know, that 
wouldn't go to heaven unless she was assured of a private 
box there. Wonder how she likes meeting the lieutenant." 

While these ladies talked, an entertainment to which they 
were not invited was being given out in the bay aboard 
the returned cruiser, Montana. Chinese lanterns and electric 
lights supplemented the peaceful moonlight. The band played 
softly, the marines presented arms, and at the gangway the 
captain and first officer, Torrance, received the Rear- Admiral 
and Mrs. Condor. One of a party of girls, already aboard and 
withdrawing to make room, fluttered near enough to Paul 
Torrance to whisper playfully " Pinafore," in passing. The 
answering smile, lightening for a moment his habitual gravity, 
masked such emotion as she happily could never know. 
Diana's graceful head, held high under her white plumes, her 
level eye-glance passing easily from the captain to him, the 
very sweep of her silken gown, expressed such calm and 
courteous indifference as might have been looking on him for 
the first time. She went forward with the captain, the lieu- 
tenant and her husband following, while the band played an 
old Spanish melody, a favorite of hers in the past. Both 
men's hearts beat hard at memories of sitting out with her in 
just such moonlit scenes while that air was being played, and 
at their inability to find a word now for each other. 

At last the admiral seemed impelled to say : " I have 
tried to make her happy." 

"You have succeeded I am sure. I was not worthy. 
But there have been moments when I have regretted not end- 
ing it all that night." 
VOL. xc.~ 50 



786 As IT HAPPENED [Mar., 

The admiral looked at him narrowly, marking the prema- 
ture gray of the hair and the melancholy of the eyes gazing 
out over the silvered Pacific. 

" There is your work " he hesitated " which you do so 
well, that I am told there is talk of you at headquarters for 
who knows what honor, especially since the last campaign." 

" There is always some duty, thank God 1 " said the lieu- 
tenant, "or fewer people would be sane." Then, as host, he 
was called away to an evening of such heaviness as the sweet 
minor strains of that melody had seldom accompanied. 
Whether in a low word or two to his captain, or in pulling 
down to throw overboard a suddenly ignited lantern which 
threatened a dowager's drapery, or seeing that the chaperons 
were served to their liking, or murmuring complimentary 
nothings to bright-eyed, expectant maidens, or even in glid- 
ing a dance with these, there went with him insistent con- 
sciousness of Diana's presence, in whatever part of the deck she 
sat or walked or talked, stately, charming, unapproachable to 
him always. He was haggard with long strain before the de- 
lighted, chattering company began by boat-loads to leave them 
with laughing, flattering good-nights. Avoiding the helping 
hand which Torrance had extended to all, Diana's foot caught 
in her gown and she would have fallen into the launch if he 
had not caught her. She shrank instantly from his touch and 
passed on without a word. Watching from the side the boat 
which held her disappearing by the light of the low-hanging 
moon around a cape into the darkness of an inlet, at shadow 
of which from afar he shuddered " Lord in heaven ! " he 
breathed, " if she knew ! Well, my penance has been long and 
heavy for an instant's unrestraint." 

All signs of festivity had long disappeared from the vessels 
in the bay by the next noon, when there was business-like 
preparation aboard such as were within the range for gun 
practice. Here and there hung clouds of smoke about the 
harbor; and glasses leveled at "The Cliffs" discerned launches 
and boats which carried an officer hither and thither from this 
ship to that. It interested those who looked, especially to 
reflect that Mrs. Condor, from a seclusion which they resented, 
could, as well as themselves, see Lieutenant Torrance go aboard 
her husband's vessel. 

" I wasn't sure that I should have another chance to see 



19 io.] As IT HAPPENED 787 

you before you go," Admiral Condor was saying, " so I asked 
you to umpire." 

"I appreciate the thought," murmured the lieutenant, his 
glance measuring space between the distant target and the 
great guns. Then he entered the turret. The first pointer 
had fired his string and the second pointer had just fired the 
third of his string. The third shot was being loaded and the 
first half of the charge had been rammed home, when some- 
thing gases, perhaps, from shot previously fired, or parts of 
the cloth cover the newspapers differed and disputed over it 
for months afterwards ignited the powder. There was a sud- 
den report, flames leaped from every part of the turret, and 
almost immediately a second explosion sounded from the 
handling room below, where twelve hundred pounds of powder, 
zeady to be hoisted, had ignited. Instantly, at command 
of the admiral, fire quarters were sounded, and within a few 
seconds the magazines and handling room were being flooded 
with water; and at their officer's call for volunteers every man 
aboard responded, eager to help in rescue. The admiral, un- 
heeding protests from his officers, flung like the others a wet 
handkerchief across his face and plunged into the smoke and 
suffocating fumes of burnt powder. Pushing his way below, 
the first body he stumbled over was the gun umpire's, which he 
lifted and dragged upward stumbling on deck, with the help- 
less body held close. His burden's eyes were shut, his clothing 
hanging in rags, but not having yet entirely entered the tur- 
ret, a few moments of life were still left to him. He opened 
his eyes to see the admiral's compassionate gaze fixed upon 
him. 

" Oh, my poor, poor fellow ! " cried his friend in anguish. 

" No, no ; I am very willing. Only tell her tell my Diana, 
now the reason. Not the Englishman's horse, but I I killed 
him. Not intended no but in anger. Then I couldn't 
claim her and so so am glad to go." 

And then he did go to such peace as life had not given 
him. 




THE SUPREME PROBLEM. 

BY GEORGE M. SEARLE, C.S.P. 

|HE " supreme problem," ably treated in a most 
opportune work just published,* is rightly so 
called for those who have no solid Christian 
faith. For Catholics, of course, it is no problem 
at all; they have the answer to it in the very 
beginning of their catechisms, and all good Catholics are as sure 
of the correctness of this answer as they are of their own ex- 
istence. But very many outside the Church have been trained 
to believe that this answer is incorrect, or that, at any rate, it 
has no solid foundation; and they continually seek for some 
other one. They are, as St. Paul says, " ever learning, and 
never attaining to the knowledge of the truth " ; for the simple 
reason that they reject the truth to begin with. Their position 
is like that of one desiring to learn astronomy, but rejecting 
the law of gravitation as unworthy of attention. 

Problems in general, if no progress is made toward a satis- 
factory solution, are dropped by sensible men; or they are 
content to wait till the increase of knowledge, or the accumu- 
lation of facts, shows the way to such solution. But for this 
problem even those who see no way to solve it will not wait. 
As Mr. Raupert remarks, they persist in returning to it. "In 
a pronouncedly rationalistic and worldly age," he says, " we 
have the remarkable spectacle of an incessant evolution of new 
religions, and of a literature in which the discussion of reli- 
gious problems is the predominating feature." It is really ex- 
traordinary that (to quote his words again) "the most sceptical 
of scientific men cannot leave it alone." 

And yet the reason why they cannot is not so very hard 
to find. It is simply that man necessarily seeks for happiness ; 
and this is impossible, with this problem unsolved. For it is 
the problem of "our duty here, and the destiny of our souls 
hereafter," as the author puts it; the question what are we 
here for, and if we are going elsewhere when we leave here, 

* The Supreme Problem. By J. Godfrey Raupert. Buffalo : Peter Paul & Co. 



1910.] THE SUPREME PROBLEM 789 

where shall we go? It is one that affects our whole life, and 
spoils our interest in anything else. With it once settled, we 
can attend to other things, and let them take the places due 
to their relative importance; but while it is unsettled, our 
whole life is disorder and confusion. 

Of late, many imagine that the key to it is to be found by 
some kind of scientific investigation. As some of the mysteries 
of nature have been cleared up by this, why not, they say, 
this one also ? So the world is interested to know what Sir 
Oliver Lodge, for instance, has to say about it. But, after all, 
it will find that a merely human authority is not enough to 
settle its mind on a matter of such immense personal import- 
ance. It must know not only what his opinion is, but why it 
is his opinion ; it must judge of his reasons. But if it comes 
to this/ few are able to so judge. The question is one in which 
every one is interested, however unlearned or incapable of ar- 
gument he may be. The idea of settling it by means of Sir 
Oliver is like the theory of some High Churchmen, that the 
original Christian doctrine is to be ascertained by studying the 
works of the early Fathers ; but how many have the ability or 
opportunity for such study ? Even the agreement of all scien- 
tists would not suffice in this matter, but they never will agree, 
except in agreeing to differ. The only thing that will answer 
is something which will bring conviction to every individual 
soul. 

It is the seeming possibility of such individual conviction 
that has given the interest to modern spiritism. This professes 
to open a channel of individual information to every one; for 
it is not necessary even to go to a medium ; one may become 
a medium oneself, or probably find one among one's friends. 
And if, in this way, one can be convinced that a departed fa- 
ther or mother, husband or wife, is giving information as to 
what is to come hereafter, and how one should live here to be 
happy there, what more is needed ? 

If every one could in this way obtain the required personal 
conviction, and if the information on which it was based was 
the same for every inquirer, we should certainly have quite a 
satisfactory solution of this " supreme problem." The reality 
of a future life would have a natural proof, and the barrier 
between this world and the next would be quite effectually re- 
moved. But what is the actual state of the case? 



790 THE SUPREME PROBLEM [Mar., 

No one is better able to tell us than our author, who has 
made a special study of the subject, as is very well known. 
But we do not need his word to assure us. We all know that 
no consistent body of doctrine has been deduced from spiritis- 
tic seances. Plenty of informaton there is, indeed; but it is 
absolutely inconsistent, and apparently often given to suit the 
views of those who receive it, or those popular in the country 
in which it is given. What comes from one alleged informant 
is often absolutely contradictory to what is received from an- 
other. If two travelers, who claim to have visited some un- 
known country, entirely disagree in their account of it, we nec- 
essarily conclude that one at least of them is lying; either he 
has not been there, or he does not truly tell us what he has 
seen. 

Now this discordance in spiritistic information is so obvious 
that no one ventures to deny it. We are forced to conclude 
either that those who give it cannot be depended on for truth, 
or that their true communications are so inextricably mixed 
with the personal views of the mediums through which they 
come, that no separation can be made on any point whatever. 
Instead of the desired information as to the unknown country 
in question, we are getting a mixture of statements, some of 
which may come from those who have seen it, but who either 
cannot be trusted to tell what they really have seen, or who 
cannot separate their accounts from the imaginations of those 
who receive or transmit them. 

All, then, that the most ardent adherent of spiritism can 
save out of the wreck, unless he himself arbitrarily determines 
just what to hold and what to reject, is that his departed 
friend still exists, and that some of what purports to come 
from him is true. But of what practical use is that, unless he 
can find out what is true and what is not ? 

And can he reasonably be sure that the departed one is 
really speaking at all ? All spiritists, and all those who wish 
to be, as well as outside observers, realize this difficulty. 
The great effort is to obtain what are called "proofs of iden- 
tity " ; but the proofs are not such as would convince any 
business man, unless he determined to be alsolutely certain 
that no one but the actual person whose identity is to be es- 
tablished could be cognizant of the circumstances which con- 
stitute them. The whole structure of the identity proof falls 



19 io.] THE SUPREME PROBLEM 791 

to the ground if it is once admitted, as spiritists generally do 
admit, that the sub-conscious mind of the medium or of the 
inquirer using the medium, or of some other living person, 
can communicate these circumstances to the alleged informant; 
or that they are down somewhere in black and white, or other 
visible way, so that this informant may know them quite 
naturally. 

All this is brought out most clearly by our author, who is 
thoroughly familiar with the work of recent psychical re- 
searchers. And it is quite clear that the motive which inspires 
this work, at any rate in England and America, is the desire 
to solve the " supreme problem " ; to get some proof that we 
can communicate with the spirits of the departed. On the 
continent of Europe, the mysterious forces which seem to be 
exerted, and the " astral " substances by means of which they 
seem to be produced, excite more interest than the supposed 
communications. There, investigators are more anxious to find 
if a table can really be moved without physical contact, and 
some apparition produced which may be supposed to move it, 
than in anything the apparition may have to say. It does not 
worry them perceptibly to have the spirit behind the scenes 
say that it is not a departed or human spirit, as is recorded 
in a recent number of the Annals tf Psychical Science. They 
do not care what kind of a spirit it is, but merely what kind 
of physical effects it can produce. It looks very much as if 
they had come to the conclusion there that the Church has 
all the information possible on the matter of religion ; or, at 
any rate, that they have discovered that the so-called "con- 
trols" producing the seance phenomena are either unable or 
unwilling to furnish any. 

But our English and American investigators are not yet so 
sure of this. They are still hoping that some scheme of re- 
ligion will emerge from this mass of apparent information, or 
at least that the latter comes from their departed friends and 
relatives and shows that they survive in some sort of way, 
even if it is not clear what the way is. The simple fact of 
their survival would be to them a great piece of news, and 
they imagine that it would be so to every one, not dreaming 
that the vast majority of Christians, even if not r living accord- 
ing to their religion, have no doubt whatever of its truth, es- 
pecially about this point, and would not be at all more sure 



792 THE SUPREME PROBLEM [Mar., 

of it, though one should now rise from the dead. Catholics 
would like, of course, to hear from their departed friends, as 
they would if these friends were living abroad somewhere, on 
this earth; but they have no more idea that they have ceased 
to exist in the former case than in the latter. As was said at 
the outset, the " supreme problem " was solved, for us, long 
ago. 

It is Mr. Raupert's object in his book to show those out- 
side the Church that the only possible solution of the problem 
is the one which Catholics possess, and to show just why 
no other solution can be found except this one in just the 
way that they have found it. It is very important to convince 
them of this; for the line which many of them are now so 
eagerly following, is one which will, in the great majority of 
cases, lead them to more harm than good. 

Now, why is it that our modern researchers (whether 
" psychical " or not) for truth will never arrive at it on the 
lines they are following? The author gives us the funda- 
mental reason in his book. The reason, both for their anxiety, 
and for their failure to remove it, lies in the fact which is at 
the basis of all actual religion, whether true or false ; that is 
to say, the fall of the human race from the state in which it 
was originally created. Many, of course, try to ignore this, 
and please themselves with the idea that man, instead of having 
fallen, is gradually rising from a merely bestial existence into 
higher and higher regions of intelligence and knowledge; but 
their struggle to reach in some way to the God Whom they 
cannot really ignore, shows more and more plainly the wounds 
of the intelligence, as well as of the desires and of the will 
which that fall has caused. Every one finds in himself what 
St. Paul says (Romans vii. 18-24) of himself; education and 
culture do not remove it, though they may change its form. 
The state of things, among those who have rejected the Chris- 
tian revelation, is substantially the same as it was with the 
Greeks and Romans before they received it. They endeavor 
to find out what is the matter with themselves by scientific in- 
quiries and systems of philosophy, and to imagine that the 
cure will ultimately be found by these. But the trouble still 
remains; all that is gained and that not always is a keener 
consciousness of it. They will never obtain any remedy till 
they realize that this disorder of human nature can only be 



19 io.] THE SUPREME PROBLEM 793 

repaired by Him who made it, and begin to inquire whether 
it has not actually been so repaired in those who will come to 
Him for that reparation. 

Our psychical researchers have got as far as to understand, 
or at any rate to suspect/ that the light which they need 
they do not understand that they need strength as well must 
come from outside. Some one must tell them what they can- 
not find out for themselves. They must get some one to give 
them the solution of the supreme problem, or puzzle, for 
which their own heads are too weak. 

The strange thing about it is that they are ready to take 
any answer which seems to come from those who have passed 
through the portal of death. It is one of the strongest proofs 
of the desperate uneasiness which the fall has caused, that they 
are so unwilling to admit that this answer may fail them. 

The totally unscientific attitude of mind which they have 
adopted is really phenomenal. It is quite true that we should, 
on scientific principles, admit no more causes than are needed 
to account for our observations. But if the causes assumed 
fail to account for them, then the case is quite different. 
These very scientists, however, who are so ready to admit and to 
investigate new physical substances and forces, and so prompt 
to suppose them to be used by living or dead human beings, 
are, for the most part, simply deaf to any suggestion that there 
may be other spiritual beings beside human ones, and that 
there may exist the God Whom, in some way, they have to 
acknowledge. 

And yet, if they would not so obstinately shut their eyes 
to this idea, everything seems to point that way. Why should 
there not be intelligences which have never been in bodily 
form, just as well as those which have been ? And why, if so, 
should not some of them be liars and deceivers, just as many 
men are ? Why should they not know the circumstances 
which they bring up as proofs of their truth, and bring them 
up simply in order to have their lies believed in other matters ? 

There seems to be some hope, recently, that the possibility 
of this simple proposition is beginning to be admitted by the 
more advanced investigators. The principal thing which seems 
to stand in their way is the assumption they have become so 
accustomed to, that the Catholic Church is wrong on every 
point. If there be other spirits beside human ones, let us call 



794 THE SUPREME PROBLEM [Mar., 

them " elementals," or some other high-sounding name, which 
may make it seem that we were the first to discover them. 
Not plain "devils"; oh, no! That would be quite too ortho- 
dox and superstitious. 

And yet the truth about their character would seem to be 
clear enough from the consequences of accepting their in- 
fluence and their teachings. We have yet to hear of any one 
who understands moral truth more clearly, or who has more 
moral strength, from anything that these spirits have taught 
him. 

These spirits are so confident in the blindness of poor hu- 
man nature that they are even willing now and then to tell 
the truth about themselves, as in the instance above recorded, 
as well as in others where their dupes have gone so far as to 
get quite in their power. Cases of this latter kind are many, 
and some are given by the author in his book. 

The question has, however, occurred to many, even among 
ourselves, whether, in spite of all this, some good may not 
come out of spiritism, if only the conviction that man does 
survive death (however poor grounds it may give for such a 
conviction), or at any rate that spirit does exist without union 
with a material body. It is possible, of course, that God may 
bring some good out of the evil, but we can hardly be very 
sanguine about it. The only real remedy for the great evils 
inflicted on man by the fall has been already applied by 
the Redemption effected by the Incarnate God. The only 
hope for man lies in his realizing the situation, at any rate 
as existing in the individual case of each one, and in his 
finding that no mere efforts on his part, and no mere knowl- 
edge which he can of himself acquire, will relieve it; and in 
his then turning to the one original source of light and strength, 
and availing himself of it. Great ability or learning is not 
required for this ; it is not necessary to study history in order 
to be convinced of the historical Church which He has founded, 
though such study may help those competent for it. 

To quote the words of Mr. Raupert in the last part of his 
work, on the Restoration of Man : 

"Considering," he says, "all the facts of the case; the 
circumstance of our present helpless moral condition, and at 
the same time the incessant craving of our nature, our demon- 
strated inability to find within the realm of nature and the 



i9io.] THE SUPREME PROBLEM 795 

sphere of the known the remedy for our trouble; considering 
also the conscious limitation of our faculties, in their attempt 
to make connection with the higher powers; the gift to man 
of a revelation above nature and the disclosure of a divine 
remedy becomes not only a conceivable possibility, but a 
veritable necessity indeed we cannot well imagine how such 
a remedy or disclosure could take any other form. 

" Now, it will be readily conceded by all rightly-instructed 
persons that Historical Christianity, as the world received it 
nearly twenty centuries ago, as generations of the best and 
noblest of men have believed it, as the Catholic Church, in her 
historic creed and her formulated teaching, has preserved it, 
not only claims to be that divine remedy and revelation, but 
that it has also, by the universal experience of mankind, 
proved itself to be such." 

This is the great aim and object of the author's work, to 
show to those who do not already know it, the reason for all 
their anxiety, and to warn them not to search for its relief, 
by means that will only aggravate it; but to understand its 
cause as it really is, and to seek for its cure where so many 
millions have already found it, in the divine institution which 
God's goodness has so long ago prepared. 

Let us hope that many who need this help will read his 
book, which we have so inadequately noticed; for they know 
that he is not talking at random, or ignorant of the matters 
of which he treats. And Catholics also will find his words 
profitable, for he is also well acquainted with the theology of 
the subject, and is competent to speak about it in the name 
of the Church, for which he has sacrificed much, and of which 
he is so good a member. 




COVENTRY PATMORE. 

BY KATHERINE BRfiGY. 
I. 

[HE poet, Patmore declared in a moment of lumin- 
ous paradox, " occupies a quite peculiar position 
somewhere between that of a saint and that of 
Balaam's Ass " : and save for the fact that both 
saint and ass are notoriously humble in demeanor, 
it seems impossible that any phrase should more suggestively 
crystalize his own lifelong attitude. With meet dramatic in- 
sight, Mr. John Sargent chose our poet as model for his 
Prophet Ezekiel, and to the sense of friend and foe alike there 
played about him flashes of the untranslatable Vision, echoes 
of the Voice Crying in the Wilderness. From the days of his 
vivid and self-conscious childhood, through that maturity of 
passionate antagonisms and inviolate fealties, into the prophetic 
old age, ominous, aloof, yet strangely tender, Coventry Pat- 
more was at each moment a unique and compelling personality. 
Aristocrat, pessimist, scholar, poet of human love and of tran- 
scendent mysticism, he stood as a rock of offence to the Phil- 
istines of his own and every age. He himself loved and hated 
strongly; and in the eternal justice it has been decreed that 
strongly, too, should he be loved and hated a scandal to the 
timid or unbelieving multitude, a seer to the few who have 
cared to understand. 

From the first, there was a singular interdependence be- 
tween Patmore's life and his literary work; a consistent ab- 
sorption in certain ideals which must always be rare in human 
nature. Not that he was free from vagaries ; but his prejudices 
and perversities even now are " excellently intelligible," and a 
certain proud integrity of soul forbids us to separate the poet 
from the man. Together then, as one single entity, should 
the life record and the art record be studied. 

Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was born at Woodford, 
in Essex, the 23 d of July, 1823. From his mother, an austere 



1 9 1 0. ] CO VENTR Y PA TMORE 797 

woman of Scotch descent, he seems to have received little 
save the gift of life; in his father he found not only the 
inseparable companion, but almost the sole instructor of his 
youth. Peter George Patmore was himself a journalist and 
litterateur, a man of versatile parts, embodying that not un- 
usual combination of strong individuality and feeble character. 
From very childhood Coventry spent hours in his father's 
library; together the two read Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, 
and selections from all the great English classics; while at 
night this not unliberal education was supplemented by visits 
to the best playhouses, or to the homes of " Barry Cornwall " 
and others of the so-called Cockney school. It was doubtless 
a desultory regime, yet it proved more effective than many a 
wiser method. And when, between his twelfth and fifteenth 
years, the boy manifested keen interest in mathematics and 
experimental science, his father with customary indulgence 
and apparently at some pecuniary inconvenience fitted for his 
use a little laboratory. To the end of his life our poet was 
wont to refer zestfully to his investigations there, even assert- 
ing that he had in those early years discovered a new chloride 
of bromine. 

But in the life of so transcendent a thinker, it is the spir- 
itual experiences, however youthful and fugitive, which retain 
permanent interest. The elder Patmore seems to have been 
what is now known as a " reverent agnostic," and Coventry 
naively tells us that until his twelfth year he was an agnostic, 
too ! He had, indeed, received no definite religious instruc- 
tion: but coming at that time upon some little book of de- 
votion he was impressed with a gasp "what an exceedingly 
fine thing it would be if there really were a God," with Whom 
he might live on terms of love and obedience. It was the 
first of those illuminations or angel- visits, of which our poet 
was vaguely conscious all through his youth visits which, as 
yet, left slight impression upon the outer life, but which cast 
upon the things of earth sudden gleams of interpretation, and in 
one memorable instance forced upon him a most intense and last- 
ing apprehension of the supreme worth of personal purity. 

But poetry, that elect lady and predestined passion of his 
life, early claimed some initiative allegiance. From Patmore's 
own account, it was at about the age of sixteen (in "The 
River," and "The Woodman's Daughter ") that he first turned 



798 COVENTRY P ATM ORE [Mar., 

seriously to verse-making ; writing then also a remarkable 
little essay on Macbeth, published later in the Pre-Raphaelite 
Germ. The fact that an original tragedy was also in contem- 
plation would scarcely be worth noting save for the subjective 
experience which it induced. For by another wholly charac- 
teristic illumination, the boy student came to perceive that 
such tragedy as might inspire the highest poetry "ought to 
present the solution, rather than the mere conclusion, by death, 
of the evils and disasters of life." Here, assuredly, was no 
ordinary fruit of youthful speculation, but the basis of that 
philosophic and fundamental simplicity which Patmore was so 
uncommonly to attain. May it not, in truth, be recognized 
as a note of that Divine Wisdom which will neither be with- 
stood nor denied by its chosen vessel ? For in casting about 
for this possible solution of a difficult world, our poet first 
came into definite contact with the Christian idea. The con- 
ception of the God-Man, the Word made Flesh, took imme- 
diate root in an intellect and heart peculiarly open, peculiarly 
sensitive to beauty and to truth. Almost half a century later 
Coventry Patmore declared that this thought of God incarnate 
in Jesus Christ had from that moment remained to him " the 
only reality worth seriously caring for." 

Kindred experiences were more disquieting. A visit to 
relatives in Scotland (devout members of the Free Kirk), much 
" profitable discourse," and an unsuccessful attempt at extem- 
poraneous prayer, sent Coventry back to London in a revul- 
sion of feeling which almost threatened unbelief. But the early 
vision remained intact, and excesses born of much zeal and 
little knowledge gradually made way for a new advance. 

Meanwhile Peter George Patmore's parental pride urged his 
son on to publication, and in 1844 the first little volume, 
Poems, was issued from Moxon's press. The home circle was, 
of course, enthusiastic, and even the literary world took some 
slight notice. " A very interesting young poet has blushed 
into bloom this season," wrote Robert Browning * ; Leigh Hunt 
and the "Cockney" contingent were vastly appreciative; and 
Bulwer Lytton sent a most discerning letter of sincere praise 
and admonition. Several of the reviews were, on the other 
hand, actually abusive, and in his later years Patmore himself 

In an otherwise unpublished letter quoted by Mr. Edmund Gosse: cf. his Coventry 
Patmort. 



1 9 1 0. ] CO VENTR Y PA TMORE 799 

came to regard these early poems with undisguised contempt. 
To the critic of to-day untempered praise and blame seem 
alike superfluous. They were simply experimental verses of 
pathetic and picturesque character, the vigor of their word- 
painting being as undeniable as, upon one side, a certain hectic 
quality, or upon the other, an imperfect sense of rhythm. At 
their best, as for instance in "The River," one seems to de- 
tect a weak solution of " Christabel " : 

Beneath the mossy, ivied bridge 

The River slippeth past: 

The current deep is still as sleep 

And yet so very fast ! 

There's something in its quietness 

That makes the soul aghast," et cetera. 

In 1845, just a year after his son's little triumph, Peter 
George Patmore was overtaken by financial troubles, and pre- 
cipitately left England. It meant a radically new era for Coven- 
try. Practically penniless, he was now left dependent upon 
his own resources ; while the hot-house atmosphere of sympa- 
thetic and uncritical praise was simultaneously withdrawn. So 
the young swimmer made his plunge, and contrived to prove 
that he was not of the sinking sort. None the less, it was a 
year of arduous struggle, Patmore's work for the current re- 
views scarcely sufficing to pay for the humble lodgings which 
he and a younger brother occupied together. " Who is your 
lean young friend with the frayed coat-cuffs ? " inquired Monck- 
ton Milnes one evening of Mrs. Procter, when the impecunious 
poet had been dining at her house. But after reading the early 
verses and learning more of their author, the future Lord 
Houghton made brave reparation for this " heartless flippancy." 
Through his assistance Coventry obtained, in 1846, the post 
of assistant librarian at the British Museum, and the friendship 
thus opened up proved thenceforth of very mutual profit. 

It was during those gray days that Patmore made the ac- 
quaintance of Tennyson then also the occupant of a modest 
apartment " up two or three flights of stairs." Together they 
discussed letters, together they dined, together they walked 
half the nights away ; and although the elder poet had not yet 
attained his full recognition, he was to the devoted Coventry 



8oo COVENTRY PATMORE [Mar., 

a font of perfectness. Years later, when a most regrettable 
breach had withered the intimacy, Patmore's proud and essen- 
tially original spirit used to refer bitterly to the days when he 
had followed Tennyson about "like a dog." But there can 
be little doubt that his understanding sympathy, his mature 
and serene judgment proved, in those early years, distinctly 
helpful. 

But infinitely more potent than any other influence upon 
our poet's youth was that of a woman, Emily Augusta An- 
drews, destined to create for him one of the ideal unions of 
literary history. She became the wife of Coventry Patmore, 
after a brief courtship, in 1847 ( ner twenty-fourth and his 
twenty-fifth year), and to the end the exquisite intimacy and 
dignity of their love served as a veritable initiation into the 
mysteries 'of life. The mingled simplicity and stateliness of 
Emily Patmore, her strange beauty perpetuated by Woolner, 
Millais, and Browning* her selfless devotion, her wit, and 
withal her practical wisdom, come down to us upon the testi- 
mony of nearly all who were privileged to know her. And the 
gentle sway which she exercised over the heart and mind of 
her husband was absolute until her death. " I have been think- 
ing to-day," Coventry wrote in 1860, when the great Shadow 
was already falling across his hearthstone, " of all your patient, 
persistent goodness, your absolutely flawless life, and all your 
amiable, innocent graces." In another place he declares that 
her love revealed to him what was to prove the basic philoso- 
phy of his life and work : 

" The relation of the soul to Christ as his bethrothed wife 
is the key to the feeling with which prayer and love and honor 
should be offered to Him. She showed me what that relation- 
ship involves of heavenly submission and spotless, passionate 

loyalty." t 

A second volume of poems, containing "Tamerton Church 
Tower," "The Yewberry," "The Falcon," et ceteta, was pub- 
lished by Patmore in 1853. Its simplicity bare and at mo- 
ments almost crude was an intentional protest against the wil- 
ful metres just then affected by 'Browning and even Tennyson. 
Its realism may, perhaps, be one fruit of our poet's sympathy 

* " A Face " : Dramatis Persona. 

t For most of these personal details see Mr. Basil Champney's monumental work, 
Memoirs and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore. London : Bell & Co. 1900. 



COVENTRY PATMORE 801 

with the Pre-Raphaelites : although that " last rub which pol- 
ishes the mirror " (a watchword Patmore himself is said to have 
furnished the Brotherhood !) was the quality it most conspicu- 
ously lacked. Yet in spite of much imperfectness and some 
monotony, there are strange, searching gleams of metaphysical 
insight in these romantic pieces ; and with curious premoni- 
tion, the bright particular star was that charming lyric, "Eros." 
But the magnum opus of Patmore's early life was at hand. 
" That New Song," " the first of themes, sung last of all," had 
long been trembling upon his lips: in "The Angel in the 
House " it found its full and perfect utterance. The theme 
daring precisely because it was so simple, so universal, and to 
the vulgar mind so commonplace was a glorification of happy 
nuptial love ! In itself, the graceful and very simple romance 
scarcely justifies repetition. Par la grace infinie, Dieu les 
mit au monde ensemble ; and so, in the surpassing pain and 
joy of love, they woo and wed. There are no memorable ob- 
stacles, no heroic sacrifices; it all passes in the conventional 
shadow of an English deanery; and like the delicious fairy 
tales of old, they live happily ever afterward and have many 
children! But in this quiet domestic idyl one is conscious of 
the first man and the first woman, of the last man and the 
last woman, and of God, in Whom love finds its source. Pat- 
more's rare insight into the elemental human consciousness, 
his reality and delicacy of emotion, form the warp of the 
poem; albeit its woof includes the homeliest details of "sun 
and candlelight." Here is one beautiful fragment, the first 
recognition of love between Felix and Honoria. With the lat- 
ter's sisters, they are seated one summer morning in the shadow 
of the grim Druid rocks : 

That scowled their chill gloom from above, 
Like churls whose stolid wisdom mocks 
The lightness of immortal love. 
And, as we talked, my spirit quaff'd 
The sparkling winds; the candid skies 
At our untruthful strangeness laugh'd; 
I kissed with mine her smiling eyes ; 
And sweet familiarness and awe 
Prevail'd that hour on either part. 
And in the eternal light I saw 
VOL. xc. 51 



802 COVENTRY PATMORE [Mar., 

That she was mine; although my heart 
Could not conceive, nor would confess 
Such contentation ; and there grew 
More form and more fair stateliness 
Than heretofore between us two. 

Our poet's primal love was essentially of the Sacraments; 
and early in his song even while seeking expression for things 
"too simple and too sweet for words" he struck the note of 
his characteristic message : 

This little germ of nuptial love 
Which springs so simply from the sod, 
The root is, as my song shall prove, 
Of all our love to man and God ! 

With this root, indeed, rather than with any potential 
flowering, the poem is mainly concerned. Yet there is an in- 
creasing tendency, notably throughout the preludes, toward a 
mystical interpretation of sexual love. The "pathos of eter- 
nity" has blown across the face of passion: and in the "Vic- 
tories of Love" (as the latter part of the work was known) 
there is even more of this divine pathos than there is of 
nuptial joy. Although the "Angel" was never completed ac- 
cording to Pattnore's original design, few of us will feel that it 
could desirably be longer. The last word is spoken in that 
extraordinary wedding sermon which brings the poem to a 
close. Here, where the claims of body and spirit are recon- 
ciled with so sweet and austere an eloquence, we realize that 
the home of love is no longer upon our humble earth. Out 
from the house of human felicity must the angel now adventure 
out into realms higher and more loving ; although to men 
of good -will the body's bond may still reveal itself as 

All else utterly beyond 

In power of love to actualize 

The soul's bond which it signifies. 

Here, for those who could receive it, was anticipated the 
whole tremendous doctrine of Patmore's future odes ! 

The metrical scheme of the "Angel" an iambic octosyllabic 



1 9 io.] COVENTRY PATMORE 803 

line, rhyming throughout the first part, in quatrains, through- 
out the second in couplets has often been subjected to ridi- 
cule. It is, in fact, a metre trembling perilously upon the 
border of the commonplace, and lending itself with staggering 
ease to parody and perversion. But the poet had chosen it 
deliberately, as the vehicle best suited to a simple and for the 
most part joyous story ; and, in the main, he avoided the pit- 
falls both of his form and his theme to a marvel. There is 
no denying a certain obvious quality in the " Angel in the 
House." But those who find it merely "sweet" or "innocu- 
ous " must have missed the more transcendent message of 
the wedding sermon, and of those interesting preludes which, 
chorus-like, precede and interpret the various cantos. The 
"Spirit's Epochs," "The Daughter of Eve," and many another 
of these lyrics, are of singular beauty and power as, for in- 
stance, this pregnant stanza of "Unthrift": 

Ah, wasteful woman, she who may 
On her sweet self set her own price, 
Knowing man cannot choose but pay, 
How has she cheapen'd paradise; 
How given for nought her priceless gift, 
How spoil'd the bread and spill'd the wine, 
Which, spent with due, respective thrift, 
Had made brutes men, and men divine. 

Doubtless it was this rarer quality, coupled with Fatmore's 
eternally real tenderness, which attracted the immediate ap- 
preciation of the poets themselves. Tennyson believed it 
" One of the very small number of great poems which the 
world has had"; Father Gerard Hopkins (who knew the work 
in a later edition, which his own criticism had helped to per- 
fect) declared that "to dip into it was like opening a basket 
of violets." And Ruskin, both in season and out of season, 
proclaimed that the " Angel " ought to become " one of the 
most blessedly popular" poems in our language. At last, 
after much early neglect, his words were fulfilled. Patmore's 
work became the poetic idol of England ; its coloring of popu- 
lar taste was reflected in Meredith's " Lucile," as in Wool- 
ner's " My Beautiful Lady " ; and before the author's death, 
almost a quarter of a million copies had been sold. 



804 COVENTRY P ATM ORE [Mar., 

In a most real sense, this idyl of domestic love was the 
fruit of our poet's union with Emily Patmore. He himself 
declared that to the " subtlety and severity " of his wife's 
poetic taste the work owed " whatever completeness it has, 
not to mention many of the best thoughts, which stand ver- 
batim as she gave them to me." Just here it may be wise to 
remark that Coventry Patmore was an impressionist in all state- 
ments of fact, that (in the words of his friend Edmund Gosse) 
"he talked habitually in a sort of guarded hyperbole"; hence 
his writings and recorded conversations abound in the most 
excessive appreciation or its opposite ! There seems, how- 
ever, no doubt that Emily Patmore was responsible, not merely 
for the inspiration of the " Angel," but for much of its actual 
form. The seal of her firm, frail little hand is upon its beau- 
ties and its limitations: and without her revelation of human 
tenderness, her prodigal self- sacrifice as wife and mother, the 
poem had scarcely been possible. So about the brief dedica- 
tion of the finished work there hung a double tragedy. It 
was " To the memory of her by whom and for whom I became 
a poet " for she had died one year before its completion. 

In the summer of 1862, after suffering for five years from 
consumption, Patmore's wife passed bravely and peacefully out 
of the little circle which she had made in very truth " a world 
of love shut in, a world of strife shut out." Slight as were 
our poet's means, he had spared no effort that Emily should 
be "as much cared for as any duchess"; and when the break 
at last came, his anguish was acute. The " Azalea " ode, 
which records an experience of this time, vibrates with a 
poignancy almost insufferable. Wakened by the perfume of 
his wife's azalea flower, and momentarily oblivious of his loss, 
the poet suffers a strange repetitional agony : 

At dawn I dream'd, O God ! that she was dead, 

And groaned aloud upon my wretched bed, 

And waked, ah, God ! and did not waken her, 

But lay with eyes still closed, 

Perfectly bless'd in the delicious sphere 

By which I knew so well that she was near, 

My heart to speechless thankfulness composed. 

Till 'gan to stir 

A dizzy somewhat in my troubled head 



1910.] COVENTRY PATMORE 805 

It was the azalea's breath, and she was dead ! 
The warm night had the lingering buds disclosed, 
And I had fall'n asleep with to my breast 
A chance-found letter press'd 
In which she said, 

"So, till to-morrow eve, my Own, adieu ! 
Parting's well-paid with soon again to meet, 
Soon in your arms to feel so small and sweet, 
Sweet to myself that am so sweet to you ! " 

Almost equally pathetic were Patmore's efforts to be 
" mother and father, too," to his six young children his im- 
patience at infantine perversity, and the bitter self-accusings 
which followed. One of the best known among his shorter 
odes, " The Toys," traces its source back to the rocky path 
of those sad days. Rocky enough in all truth it was: yet 
upon its way one flower blossomed into bloom Emily Hon- 
oria, the poet's eldest daughter, rising as best she might to be 
caretaker of the little family, companion and confidante to the 
father himself. 

Coventry Patmore's own health had become so much im-- 
paired by the long strain of anxiety and sorrow that, in 1864, 
he obtained leave of absence from the British Museum for a 
few months' travel in Italy. It was arranged that he should 
join Aubrey de Vere in Rome ; but, on the whole, the be- 
reaved poet seems to have anticipated the trip without en- 
thusiasm. " I expect," he wrote to that wise little Emily 
Honoria, " to be very dull and miserable for the first two or 
three weeks, until I get to Rome; but when I am there I 
shall be all right, for nobody can be dull or miserable where 
Mr. de Vere is." 

A more compelling, though as yet an unacknowledged, 
magnet was drawing Patmore to the Eternal City. For almost 
ten years during which time he stood as a " High " Anglican 
a shadowy but colossal vision of the Church Catholic had 
been looming before his consciousness, alternately claiming and 
repulsing his affections. The Catholic position, he tells us, had 
early been revealed to him as so logically perfect as almost to 
imply an absence of life : while from his reading of St. Thomas 
he discovered two luminous facts: first, the eminent reality of 
Catholic devotional literature; second, that "true poetry and 



806 COVENTRY PATMORE [Mar. 

true theological science have to do with one and the same 
ideal, and that . . . they differ only as the Peak of Tene- 
riffe and the table-land of Central Asia do." Yet the unal- 
terable repugnance of his wife Emily (who was the daughter 
of a Dissenting minister, and all her life " invincibly " preju- 
diced and terrified by some imaginary spectre of Papistry !) 
had long seemed a tenable argument against the momentous 
change. In point of fact, what the poet needed, each day 
more imperiously, was just the gift of faith. And so, pilgrim- 
like, with unerring instinct, he traveled back that old, old road 
which leads to Rome. 

Once in the Papal city, Aubrey de Vere introduced him 
into a Catholic circle of notable grace and distinction ; and 
here, with "deliberate speed, majestic instancy," he continued 
his search after truth. It was not an easy struggle. We have 
the whole story in his little "Autobiography of the Spirit"; 
and it proves that, while the man's reason was soon convinced, 
his will remained faltering and unpersuaded. The further he 
advanced stepping into the battle of truth and error, he calls 
it, instead of being merely a spectator the more vehemently 
'developed his own natural reluctance. After several weeks of 
this ordeal, flesh warring against spirit and reason against con- 
science in the age-old strife of centripetal and centrifugal 
force, it flashed upon our poet that nothing but the definite 
act of submission the experimental and bridge- burning leap 
could effect the reconciliation he sought. It was late at night 
when he reached this decision; but, like the importunate 
widow of the Gospels, Patmore rushed from his hotel to the 
Jesuit monastery, and would be denied neither by Rule nor 
padlock. Father Cardella, the learned and patient priest who 
had been his instructor, refused to permit the great step in 
this precipitate haste. But the neophyte made then and there 
his general confession, and two or three days later he was re- 
ceived into the Holy Roman C/Hiolic and Apostolic Church. 

^' 

(TO BE CONCLUDED.) 




THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL. 

BY THOMAS F. MEEHAN. 

iAITING the day when another archbishop will 
enter into the membership of the Sacred Col- 
lege, the red hat of a Cardinal swings high 
above the sanctuary of the New York Cathe- 
dral. In the crypt below rests the man who 
wore this insignia of his rank. 

John McCloskey, the first native of the State of New York 
to be ordained^a secular priest ; first Bishop of Albany ; second 
Archbishop of New York and first American Cardinal, was born 
in Brooklyn (then a village) just one hundred years ago. 
Brooklyn at the time of his birth was a rambling settlement, 
thoroughly Dutch and Lutheran in its life and social atmos- 
phere. There had been no special inducements for Catho- 
lics to locate in this part of the country until the establish- 
ment there, in 1800, of the United States Navy Yard. Many 
mechanics and workmen were required for the extensive ship- 
building, and a number of natives from Ireland came hither to 
engage in the work. In large part, they were sturdy confes- 
sors of the Faith from the Northern counties, exiles because 
of the consequences of the ill-starred rebellion of 1798. 

Among those who settled in Brooklyn about 1808 were the 
parents of the future American Cardinal, Patrick McCloskey 
and his wife, Elizabeth Harron. They were both natives of 
Derry. The couple had been married a short time before they 
emigrated from Ireland. Their son, John, was born on March 
20, 1810. 

After attending a private school for some years, the future 
Cardinal was sent, in September, 1822, to Mount St. Mary's, 
Emmitsburg, Md. It was during the vacation of 1827 that he 
decided to study for the priesthood. Accordingly, he returned 
to Emmitsburg in the fall of 1827 as an ecclesiastical student. 
Almost from his earliest college days he made it a practice of 
preserving a copy of everything he wrote and of noting down 
his current impressions in a diary. This data has been al- 



8o8 THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL [Mar., 

ready edited in part for the Records and Studies of the United 
States Catholic Historical Society by Archbishop Farley of 
New York, who for twelve years, at the close of the Cardinal's 
life, was his secretary and constant companion. Whatever was 
reminiscent of personal history in their daily conversation, 
the Archbishop tells us, he at once jotted down in his own 
diary. Thus, Archbishop Farley has secured a history of 
Cardinal McCloskey that is largely autobiographical and gives 
a comprehensive and exact picture of the man and the prelate. 

During his theological course at Emmitsburg young Mc- 
Closkey was extraordinarily diligent as a student. He was 
ordained priest in old St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, by 
Bishop Dubois, on January 12, 1834. For a time his work 
was confined to parochial duties in the city of New York. 
Later Bishop Dubois sent Father McCloskey to Nyack-on- 
the- Hudson to take the position of President of a College 
and Seminary which he was building there. " It was a bitterly 
cold day in February," he used to relate, " when I drove up 
to that poor building in an open wagon. There were no 
Catholics in the neighborhood, and the old Dutch settlers in 
the vicinity, as we afterwards learned, not only shunned us 
by day, but feared to quit their houses after dark, less seme- 
thing dreadful should come upon them at the hands of the 
Catholic priest now so nigh; but they soon came to be very 
friendly and did us many kind offices." Father McCloskey's 
health, never very robust, was severely taxed by his woik at 
Nyack, and the college building there soon after being de- 
stroyed by fire, he returned to New York, and with the con- 
sent of the Bishop sailed for Europe, on November 3, 1834, 
to pursue further studies at the Gregorian University, Rome. 
The Journal he kept of his stay abroad is full of the most 
entertaining descriptions of people, places, and events. 

The letters of introduction which Father McCloskey brought 
with him to Rome secured him the immediate friendship of 
prominent ecclesiastics, among whom were Mgr. Angelo, later 
Cardinal and Librarian of the Vatican, Cardinal Weld, Doctor 
Paul Cullen, then Rector of the Irish College, and his associate, 
Doctor Michael O'Connor, afterward first bishop of Pittsburg, 
and the Rector of the College of the Propaganda, Mgr. Reisacb, 
the subsequent Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal and First Pres- 
ident of the Vatican Council. By the advice of these men, he 



i9 io.] THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL 809 

entered himself as a student at the Gregorian University of the 
Jesuits. At this time, in a letter to his sister, he thus de- 
scribes himself: "Imagine that you see me in a high cocked 
hat, cassock, silk mantle or cloak, according to the weather, 
and shoes with buckles, walking through the streets of this 
great city, minding nobody and nobody minding me quite at 
home." Writing of the death of his old friend, Father Kohl- 
mann, S.J., at this time, Father McCloskey said : " I feel his 
death most sensibly, having lost in him so prudent a director, 
so kind a father and a friend." 

The large collection of manuscript notes he has left testifies 
to the close application Father McCloskey gave to his studies. 
His letters home and his diaries are full of the most entertain- 
ing pictures of Roman life and of the great people and notable 
happenings that made up its details. " Each day," he writes, 
" affords new sources of pleasure, and an intellectual banquet, 
of which one can never partake to satiety. . . . Oh, what 
cannot one enjoy who comes to this great classic and holy 
city, with a mind prepared to appreciate its historic and re- 
ligious charms." 

Cardinal Weld and Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's uncle, were 
his special friends. To the French Cardinal he was personally 
introduced by Bishop Brute, who was visiting Rome during 
his second year there. The Cardinal took him to visit Mere 
Letitia, Napoleon's mother. " She was propped up in bed," 
he tells us, " eating breakfast from a little table used by her 
son in St. Helena, the only article of furniture belonging to 
the Emperor she has. She is quite a skeleton, has a good 
deal of a French countenance, the outlines of the face are not 
unlike those of Napoleon when young. She is quite blind. 
How few are now around her ! Cardinal Fesch visits her every 
day." 

A fellow-student and associate at the Sapienza was the 
great Lacordaire, whose father had been a surgeon in Rocham- 
beau's contingent of Washington's army. Bishop Dubois had 
invited the young French Abbe to come to New York, and it 
is said he had accepted and almost taken passage at Havre, 
but Providence decreed that he should rather be one of the 
regenerators of the French Dominicans. Another friend was 
the sculptor Thomas Crawford, also a Brooklynite, and the 
father of F. Marion Crawford, the novelist. 



Sio THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL [Mar., 

It is of interest to note, in view of the present move- 
ment here to establish Houses of Retreat, that the young eccle- 
siastic, in a letter written to Bishop Dubois, from Rome, on 
November 12, 1836, had that idea thus early in mind. He 
had just returned from following the " Exercises " for eight 
days, at St. Eusebius', the house of the Jesuits. " How incal- 
culable," he writes, " I often reflected within myself, would be 
the benefits to the clergy in the United States, could we but 
enjoy the same facilities, nay the same inducements, to with- 
draw for a time from the distractions and cares ot the mission, 
to some retired spot, where we might refresh our spirits, and 
afterwards go forth with increased alacrity and zeal ! And how 
plain it is that nothing will so effectually secure to us these 
great advantages as the establishment of well-regulated sem- 
inaries." 

Archbishop Farley records that the Cardinal one day, in 
answer to the question why he did not present himself as a 
candidate for the degree of Doctor of Divinity, said pleasantly : 
" Well, I did not want to take the trouble "j so without further 
honors he ended his studies in Rome, after a two years' course 
that greatly broadened his character and tastes, and on Feb- 
ruary 10, 1837, started home to New York. En route he vis- 
ited Germany, Belgium, France, England, and Ireland, ar- 
riving at New York in the following summer. " I bade a re- 
luctant adieu to the ' Holy, the Eternal City.' I had spent in 
it just two years," he says in his diary. The bishop then 
assigned him to take charge of St. Joseph's Church, in New 
York City. In this parish a strong, insubordinate trustee- 
spirit was rife. His coming there was bitterly resented. For 
a long time a multitude of annoyances beset him ; but his 
gentleness and patience^finally conquered all opposition and 
turned his former antagonists into warm friends and active 
partisans. When appointed president of the new St. John's 
College, Fordham, in 1841, he retained his charge of St. Joseph's, 
and did not relinquish it even when he was promoted to the 
episcopate as titular Bishop of Axiere and coadjutor, with the 
right of succession, to New York, on March 10, 1844. He 
was then in his thirty-fourth year and owing to the growth 
of the Church in the State of New York, and the infirmities 
of Bishop Hughes, the duties of the coadjutor kept him 
traveling over the state. In 1847 a subdivision of this exten- 



19 io.] THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL 

sive territory created the new dioceses of Albany and Buffalo, 
and he was selected to govern the former see, of which he 
took possession in May of that year. The seventeen years 
that followed he spent in building up the well- equipped, well- 
appointed, and thoroughly organized diocese he transmitted 
to his successor. 

On the death of Archbishop Hughes, January 4, 1864, the 
name of Bishop McCloskey was sent to Rome as the most 
worthy candidate for the succession. His feelings in regard to 
the matter are clearly expressed in the following letter of 
protest to his old friend Cardinal Reisach, which is dated 
Albany, January 26, 1864: 

Your Eminence will pardon me, I trust, if, presuming on the 
kindness and condescension shown to me in the past, I now 
venture to have recourse to you in a moment which, for me, 
is one of deepest anxiety. Your Eminence, as a member of 
the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, will have 
learned most probably before this reaches you that among the 
names commended through the Sacred Congregation to the 
Holy See, to fill the vacancy caused by the much lamented 
death of the illustrious Archbishop of New York, my name, 
unfortunately, is placed first on the list. Now, I write to im- 
plore your Eminence, in case there should be any danger of 
my appointment, or of my being transferred from Albany to 
New York, to aid me in preventing it, and to save me from 
the humiliation and misery of being placed in a position for 
the duties and responsibilities of which I feel myself both 
physically and morally unfit and unequal. If you will bear 
with me, I will state a few of my many, very many grounds 
of objection : 

In the first place, it was by only a majority of one vote my 
name came to be placed first. My own vote was, and still is 
in favor of the Bishop of Buffalo. 

Again when, after having been appointed and consecrated 
coadjutor of the Bishop of New York, with the right of suc- 
cession, I resigned both coadjutorship and right oi succession 
to come to Albany, I then resolved and still hold to the reso- 
lution that, as far as it depended on my free will or consent of 
my own, I should never again return to New York. Having 
been relieved from the prospect of succession, I never thought 
of afterwards aspiring or being called to it. I have accord- 
ingly done nothing to prepare or qualify myself for it. 



8 12 THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL [Mar., 

I speak only from the deepest sincerity of heart, and from 
the strongest conviction of conscience, when I say that I pos- 
sess neither the learning, nor prudence, nor energy, nor firm- 
ness, nor bodily health or strength which are requisite for 
such an arduous and highly responsible office as that of Arch- 
bishop of New York. I recoil from the very thought of it 
with shuddering, and I do most humbly trust that such a 
crushing load will not be placed upon my weak and unworthy 
shoulders. Either the Bishop of L,ouisville, Dr. Spalding, or 
the Bishop of Buffalo, Dr. Timon, would fill the post with 
dignity, efficiency, and honor. 

Your Eminence may, perhaps, be disposed to ask : Why 
not make these representations to Cardinal Barnabo, rather 
than to you ? My answer is : I do not wish to seem as taking 
it for granted that my name will be presented to the Holy 
See. The communications which will be received from the 
several archbishops of the country, and from other sources, 
may change entirely the aspect of the case, and no serious at- 
tention may be paid to the simple fact of my name appearing 
first on the list forwarded from New York. In such an event 
objections and remonstrances on my part made to the Cardinal 
Prefect would not only be out of place, but would seem some- 
what presumptuous and premature. 

It will be for your Eminence to make such use of my com- 
munication- as to your own wisdom and prudence seems best. 
I only wish, if occasion requires it, my feelings and senti- 
ments should be made known to the Cardinal Prefect and 
Sacred Congregation. When once the decision is made, 
when the Holy Father speaks, there remains for me nothing 
but silence. His will is in all things to me a law. 

His old teacher, however, was only the more ardently urged 
by this portrayal of profound humility, and on May 6, 1864, 
Bishop McCloskey became the second Archbishop of New 
York. He was no stranger there and his return was hailed by 
every genuine manifestation of welcome and pleasure. For 
twenty-one years following he governed the see with marvelous 
success. No interest of his great charge was neglected or 
halted for lack of proper encouragement; in its every relation 
the Church kept fully apace with the tremendous temporal, 
commercial, material, and industrial strides of the metropolis 
following the close of the Civil War. Parishes were multiplied, 
schools and institutions were fostered and promoted. Of the 



THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL 813 

many it suffices to mention the Catholic Protectory, the Found- 
ling Asylum, the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin for Homeless 
Boys, and the Mission for the Protection of Immigrant Girls, 
any one of which would in itself be a monument to a success- 
ful administration. He resumed the building operations on the 
new Cathedral of St. Patrick, which was dedicated on May 25, 
1879. In the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, in 1866, 
he was a dominating influence, and at the great Vatican Coun- 
cil, convened by Pope Pius IX. in Rome, December 8, 1869, 
he was an imposing figure, meeting there many of the friends 
and associates of his student days. 

At the Consistory of March 15, 1875, the Holy Father 
crowned Archbishop McCloskey's honorable career by creating 
him a Cardinal-priest. The beretta was imposed on his head 
in old St. Patrick's Cathedral, on April 22, by Archbishop 
Bayley, of Baltimore, acting as Apostolic Delegate. The Car- 
dinal, while pastor of St. Joseph's had received the Archbishop 
into the Church. The ceremony signalizing the high honor the 
Supreme Pontiff paid the Church in the United States was an 
event of national interest and was carried out with the due cere- 
monial of such an unprecedented incident in the history of the 
Republic. His elevation to the Sacred College made no change 
in the life or manner of the Cardinal, who, in 1878, was sum- 
moned to Rome at the death of Pius IX. to attend the Con- 
clave that was to elect his successor. The era of five-day 
ocean voyages had not yet dawned, and Cardinal McCloskey 
did not arrive at the Vatican until just after Leo XIII. had 
been elected. At the first Consistory of the new Pope, March 
15, 1878, he received the final insignia of his rank, the car- 
dinal's hat and ring, and then took formal possession of his 
titular church, Sancta Maria Supra Minervam. His return af- 
forded the occasion of another tribute of affection from the peo- 
ple of New York. 

The Cardinal's health, never very robust, now became more 
feeble, as the palsy, from which he had suffered for a number 
of years, grew pronounced and prevented the active perform- 
ance of his episcopal duties. At his request for a coadjutor, 
Bishop M. A. Corrigan, of Newark, N. J., was promoted to 
that office, with the right of succession, October I, 1880. 
The fiftieth anniversary of the Cardinal's ordination to the 
priesthood, January 12, 1884, was celebrated with general en- 



8 14 THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL [Mar., 

thusiasm and tender filial solicitude. It was the Cardinal's 
last notable appearance in public. On this occasion he spoke 
feelingly, in answer to the address of congratulation, laying 
particular stress on the prosperity and progress of the Church 
in this country. " As to all you have said with regard to the 
promotions that have followed one after another," he con- 
cluded, " I can only say that not one of them was ever sought 
by me." 

The last flicker of the candle was in March, 1884. The 
Italian government, in its scheme of spoliation, attempted to 
seize the property of the American College in Rome. His 
secretary, Mgr. Farley, and Archbishop Corrigan, acting for 
him, at once appealed to President Arthur for the protection of 
this property of American citizens. Secretary of State Fre- 
Hnghuysen notified the American Minister at the Quirinal, 
Mr. W. W. Astor, to protest to the Italian authorities against 
any such action; and it had the desired effect of saving the 
college from the fate of the other ecclesiastical institutions in 
Rome. The Cardinal's health then grew steadily worse, and 
during the last year of his life he was unable to move with- 
out assistance and could see no visitors. He bore his suffer- 
ings with uncomplaining equanimity and resignation, devoutly 
preparing for the end, which came peacefully and painlessly, on 
October 10, 1885. 

In appearance Cardinal McCloskey was slim, tall, straight, 
and dignified. Commanding in his presence, he was modest, 
confiding, frank, and benignant in manner. He had a rooted 
dislike for notoriety and display, and only his official duties 
ever brought him before the public. He never challenged 
public attention nor mingled in public controversy. Such a 
thing as a communication or an interview to a newspaper was 
an impossibility for him, and he did not like to see any of his 
priests indulge in such things. He had a sound appreciation, 
however, of the benefit of a well-directed press and when the 
project of establishing a Catholic daily was laid before him 
he cordially endorsed it and offered to give $10,000, the pro- 
ceeds of a life insurance policy then falling due, to the enter- 
prise. When Father Hecker began the Qitholic Publication 
Society there were some who complained i4 the Cardinal of 
ecclesiastics engaging in business; but he soon made it plain 
to all that he had no sympathy with such narrow and selfish 



1 9 io.] NIGHT IN ASSISI 815 

views. He was thoroughly in accord with the plan to promote 
the apostolate of the press. 

Archbishop Hughes commanded respect and admiration by 
his' aggressiveness ; Cardinal McCloskey was equally potent in 
persuasion by the winning effect and lasting edification of his 
meek and benignant discourses. It has been well said that 
he was better remembered by his contemporaries for his per- 
sonal virtues and purity of character than for the high offices 
and dignities he so worthily held and conspicuously adorned. 



NIGHT IN ASSISI. 

BY AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR. 

SII,BNTI,Y steals the moonlight's cool white feet 

Along the empty street. 

Assisi sleeps what spell constrains her guest 

Whose pillow lies unpressed? 

Not memories of old power and pride and lust 

Mere dust amid the dust 

Those men of blood and fire too long have lain 

Ever to live again. 

We watch to see the slender form pass by 

Of one who cannot die. 

Above him arches like a shrine alight 

The jeweled Umbrian night. 

Ah, tear-dimmed eyes and worn, ecstatic face, 

And hand upraised to trace 

The sign of peace, its sacramental scars 

Kissed by the reverent stars. 



IFlew Boohs* 

Professor Peabody begins his latest 

THE SOCIAL QUESTION, book* with the observation that 

ours is pre-eminently the age of 

the Social Question, which he defines as the question of the 
adjustment of the individual to his fellows in all the relations 
of life. Before any progress can be made toward a solution, 
the question itself must be correctly understood ; but it can 
never be properly understood, unless it is properly approached. 
It can be properly approached only through the comprehensive 
method of philosophy ; that is, through a unified knowledge 
of its fundamental causes and principles. 

Accordingly, the first way of approach is by the methods 
of social science, namely, by observation, analysis, and general- 
ization, applied to the various social facts and relations. This 
exercise would naturally lead one to the philosophy of society, 
which one might expect to find in the current science of soci- 
ology. However, the author rightly observes that sociology is 
still too vague and uncertain to perform that function, or to 
be of much help in the study of the Social Question. In pass- 
ing, it might be observed that the philosophy of society, which 
sociology sometimes ambitiously attempts to formulate, can be 
found correctly conceived only in the Christian philosophy of life. 

In much the same sense as social science, but to a greater 
extent, economics is also an important method of approach, 
for the Social Question has many economic aspects. Indeed, 
the Social Question is conceived by many as a purely economic 
question. But this is an inadequate view. The mechanism is 
economic, but the soul of it and the solution of it are ethical. 
Hence ethics provides the third way of approach. Neverthe- 
less, the author's treatment of this topic is rather unsatisfac- 
tory, since ethics for him includes merely social relations, 
and rests upon principles that seem to be but vaguely and 
uncertainly held. From ethics he passes to a chapter on " Eth- 
ical Idealism," which, he maintains is supremely necessary in 
domestic, industrial, and other social relations. By ethical ideal- 
ism he means, briefly, a willingness to serve rather than to 
dominate, to seek the higher good, moral good, rather than 

* The Approach to the Social Question. By Francis Greenwood Peabody. New York : 
The Macmillan Company. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 817 

material satisfaction. His analysis of this aspect of the Social 
Question is excellent, but his principles are indefinite, too much 
dependent upon sentiment, not sufficiently supported from the 
objective side, nor sufficiently provided with universally valid 
motives and sanctions. 

Finally, he considers the approach through religion, to which 
ethical idealism necessarily leads, and which seems to many to 
be the most direct way of all. For the Social Question is 
largely one of "social service, and the latter is rooted in the 
same soil as religion. On the one hand, many unselfish souls 
approach God through their willingness to serve their fellows ; 
and, on the other, devout servants of God naturally turn to 
the service of their neighbor. While his treatment of the 
precise bearing of religion upon social service and the Social 
Question is somewhat wanting in definiteness, the author does 
emphasize the important facts that religion and right conduct 
are inseparable; that the best social work demands religious 
motives; that the religious life (in the general sense of that 
phrase) includes right relations between the individual and his 
fellows; that "the Church of the Middle Ages . . . ap- 
preciated this comprehensiveness of the religious life, which 
Protestantism has in large part ignored" (p. 201); and that the 
way of religion enables the student to enter into the very heart 
of the Social Question. 

Such is the author's viewpoint and method. If both in- 
volve occasional defects, these are in matters of detail, or are 
quite unimportant when compared with the general trend of 
his work. The Social Question is that of the right relation of 
the individual to his fellows in all departments of conduct; 
only religion can tell us finally what this relation is, and only 
religion can give us the strength and the motives necessary to 
carry this knowledge into practice. The Harvard professor's 
book teaches all these general truths with more or less clear- 
ness, and is therefore worthy of perusal and approbation. 

In this book* a cultivated and 

WHY AMERICAN MAR- observant American woman pre- 

RIAGES FAIL. sents a piquant arraignment of 

some of the defects in our national 

life and character. Various topics are treated, such as conver- 

* Why American Marriages Fat!; and Other Papers. By Anna A. Rogers. Boston and 
New York : Houghton Mifflin Company. 
VOL. XC. 52 



8i8 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

sation, manners, the newspaper press, political apathy, false 
ideals in education, but the strongest portion of the book is 
that indicated by the title. Most of the blame for the failure of 
American marriages the author lays at the door of the members 
of her own sex, and the more ultimate responsibility for their 
defects she places on the false views of life which they get 
from their education. She enumerates three causes for the 
failure of marriages: " (i) Woman's failure to realize that 
marriage is her work in the world; (2) Her growing individ- 
ualism ; (3) Her lost art of giving, replaced by a highly de- 
veloped receptive faculty." It need scarcely be said that she 
is aggressively old-fashioned in her views concerning "woman's 
sphere," and in her insistence that the dominant motive of 
life should be duty and not self. "The rock," she says, 
" on which most of the flower-bedecked marriage barges go to 
pieces is the latter-day cult of individualism; the worship of 
the brazen calf of self." This sentence, by the way, gives a 
taste of the author's quality. Her weapon of attack is a 
sword, not a hat-pin. That her charges have a sufficient ele- 
ment of truth in them few will deny. The only trouble is 
that in her chapter on "Some Faults of American Men," she 
attacks with the button on her foil. The book is one for wo- 
men to read it may irritate, but it will do good. But the 
men should not be allowed to read it. From Adam down, 
men have been only too willing to put the whole blame on 
the women. 

It is the prospective young priest, 

THE YOUNG PRIEST'S or seminarian, who is the bene- 

KEEPSAKE. ficiary of the wise, practical coun- 

By M. J. Phelan, SJ. sel of which this admirable little 

book * is compact. The author, 

an Irish Jesuit, with twenty years' missionary experience at 
home and abroad, offers to young Irish ecclesiastics the fruit 
of his observation in the field, in order to point out to them 
the necessity for cultivating certain qualifications for the min- 
istry which are not always adequately appreciated by the young 
levite; and are, therefore, neglected. "If you question any 
priest of experience and observation, who has lived on the for- 
eign mission, and ask him what constitutes the greatest draw- 

* The Young Priest's Keepsake. By Michael J. Phelan, S.J. New York : Benziger 
Brothers. 



igio.] NEW BOOKS 819 

backs, what seriously impedes the efficiency of our young priests 
abroad, without hesitation he will answer : First, want of social 
culture ; and, second, a defective English education." Ac- 
cordingly, Father Phelan dwells, in his first chapter, upon the 
necessity of cultivating or acquiring the manner of good socie- 
ty ; answering at the same time the arguments or excuses of- 
fered frequently by those who are delinquent in this respect. 
Neither learning nor piety, he says, can dispense with a prac- 
tical knowledge of good manners. Similarly, in a special chap- 
ter, Father Phelan insists upon the need for acquiring a com- 
mand of correct English and the pronunciation of a gentleman ; 
and he adds some good advice as to how these graces are to 
be cultivated. The topic which occupies the rest of his pages 
is preaching. A great deal of what he says here has been 
said before, and with more ample development. But Father 
Phelan has the knack of selecting the essentials, and putting his 
points forcibly. The young preacher will find many valuable 
hints regarding the preparation and delivery of a sermon. 

In a series of conferences * ad- 

MORAL EDUCATION. dressed to Catholic teachers, M. 

1'Abbe Desers insists upon the 

lofty character of the teacher's mission and suggests points to 
be dwelt upon in the moral development of the child. He 
urges, with truth, the great importance of personal affection 
and devotedness as an element of the right kind of education, 
and into the discussion of abstract moral principles continues 
to interject an abundance of sensible advice. 

One who reads these volumesf will 

LIFE OF BISHOP CHAL- surely lay them down with the 
LONER. sense of satisfaction that comes 

from seeing a bit of work well 

done. And in this case there is the additional gratification 
that the work itself was well worth doing. Aside from the 
interest to Catholics which the name of Richard Challoner 
holds, the period in which he lived was almost an unexplored 
field in the history of the Church in England since the National 
Apostasy in the sixteenth century. In the preface to Kirk's 

* L' Education Morale et ses Conditions. Par Le"on Ddsers. Paris: P. Lethielleux. 
t Life and Times of Bishop Ohalloner (1690-1781). By Edwin H. Burton, D.D. In two 
volumes. New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 



820 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

Biographies of English Catholics in the Eighteenth Century , edited 
by the author of the present work, in collaboration with Father 
Pollen, S.J., it is stated : " There is no period of Catholic his- 
tory which is at present more obscure than the eighteenth 
century. We know more, far more, about the thirty years that 
succeeded the landing of Father Campion in England than we 
do about the hundred and forty years that passed between 
King James' flight from Whitehall and the Emancipation Bill. 
. . . The inconspicuous church in the catacombs of the 
eighteenth century has hitherto enkindled but little enthusiasm. 
But the period of neglect is passing away." 

That the period of neglect is passing away is largely due 
to the labors of Dr. Burton. He has delved to good purpose 
in the comparatively unworked fields of eighteenth-century 
English Catholic history, poring over old letters, sermons, in- 
scriptions, college diaries, etc., for facts to illumine the dark 
period. There is something fine in this tribute of the bustling 
present to the suffering past, in the frank recognition by the 
modern scholar of the solid nature of the work which Chal- 
loner was doing in obscurity and difficulty over a hundred 
years ago. 

Dark though the period may be, the one name in it that 
is most familiar to English-speaking Catholics is that of Bishop 
Challoner. We have all found it on our versions of Sacred 
Scripture and the Following of Christ, and it is associated with 
at least the title of the manual of prayers called The Garden 
of the Soul. All of us are, therefore, prepared to be interested 
in the story of the life of one whose very name carries with 
it a waft of grace and solid piety. It is accordingly a pleasure 
to read this biography which presents the man and his times 
not only with the patient accuracy of the historian, but with 
the intimate touch of the admirer who discerns the living 
truth which lies concealed in the dry sources of history. We 
may leave it to Dr. Burton's fellows in the Royal Historical 
Society to descant on the scholarly merits of his two portly 
volumes; the running bibliography which puts us in touch 
with the whole English Catholic history of the period, the 
frequent and excellent illustrations, the sedulous anxiety about 
accuracy of dates, the complete indexes to both volumes. 
What interests us more is the clearly-wrought picture of the 
conditions of the Church in England during these gloomy 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 821 

years. For instance, the work contains a description of the 
English College at Douay, which is practically an epitome of 
the history of English Catholicity at home and abroad during 
this obscure period. Dr. Burton narrates with judicious equa- 
nimity the story of the attack made on Douay by the " unco 
guid," under the guise of zeal against the heresy of the day, 
Jansenism. One is irresistibly reminded of similar outbreaks 
of denunciatory hysteria against institutions in our own day, 
only now the favorite pretense is naturally zeal against Amer- 
icanism or Modernism. 

Several chapters are devoted to the vexed controversy con- 
cerning the relations of regulars to episcopal authority. Here 
again the author judiciously refrains from ex parte statements of 
opinion, and limits himself to the documents in the case, which 
indeed are sufficiently telling. He seems to partake of the 
broad-minded and pacific spirit of the great Pontiff Benedict 
XIV., whose document Apostolicum Ministerium settled the 
question in his own age, and has been a basis for decisions 
which beget peace and amity down to our own times. After 
all, as Dr. Burton suggests, we should not keep up ill-feel- 
ing over such matters in our present state of affairs "wherein 
the old quarrels are nothing more than rapidly fading mem- 
ories." One thing, indeed, that will strike the attentive reader 
of Dr. Burton's work is that his vocabulary, while it seems 
ample for all the varied needs of his history, is yet almost desti- 
tute of opprobrious epithets. He does not shrink from calling 
a spade a spade; but he does not think it necessary to refer 
to it as " a bloody shovel." Facts speak for themselves, in his 
opinion. The Penal Laws are stated when occasion demands, 
but the author does not feel called upon to denounce them. 
So, too, with estimates of character. If actual evil must be 
narrated, here are the facts. If good men fall short of perfec- 
tion, as they generally do, their weak points are indicated 
along with their better ones, in a fine choice of epithets. 

One point in Bishop Challoner's career is of special interest 
to Americans. His spiritual jurisdiction extended to the 
Colonies, and the author mentions, as " a strange and curious 
fact," that in the latter days of Bishop Challoner's life, "his 
jurisdiction over his American priests and people remained the 
only remnant of authority in the hands of an Englishman that 
was still recognized in America." In summing up this portion 



822 NEW BOOKS [Mar,, 

of the Bishop's career, Dr. Burton says : " It was little enough 
he could do, yet who shall say how much of the later harvest 
has been due to the seed of his prayer; and the Catholic 
Church in America, in her strength and her beauty to-day, 
may recall as one of her earlier graces that for more than 
twenty years Bishop Challoner was her sole pastor, and that 
thus she may point to his name on the roll of her former 
bishops and fathers in God." 

The life of St. Sidonius Apollin- 

ST. SIDONIUS APOLLIN- arius,* by Paul Allard, is an his- 
ARIUS. torical sketch of his times, as well 

as a personal study of the cul- 
tured, patriotic, and saintly bishop of Clermont. Born at Lyons 
in 431 or 432, of a noble Gallic family, he received an excel- 
lent education, one in which strenuous athletic exercises were 
judiciously harmonized with the study of literature, history, 
and philosophy. Sidonius early evinced a love of letters, and 
gave proof of decided literary ability. This trait and talent 
characterized him to the end of his life, and have apparently 
done more than his sanctity to perpetuate his name on earth. 
Yet he was a saint. Even in early life, when he seems to 
have cherished political ambitions, and to have taken too keen 
a delight in worldly honors and pleasures, he was a genuine 
Christian, affectionate as a husband and father, genial, hospit- 
able, remarkably pure, and deeply religious. The latter part of 
his life brought out in bold relief other and far rarer virtues, 
devotion to the welfare of others, unworldliness, humility, and 
intense zeal. To set the saint before us clearly, his biographer 
has dwelt at great length on the political and social conditions 
that prevailed in those troubled times. The causes of decay 
in the Roman state, the steady aggressiveness of the barbar- 
ians, the sports of the people, their manner of life, their 
tastes, their characteristics, are graphically sketched for us by 
anecdotes and descriptions which make this volume extremely 
delightful reading. 

The long period of thirty-four 

THE JESUITS IN SPAIN, years, during which Father Aqua- 
viva ruled the Society of Jesus, is 
of extreme importance and interest to the student who wants 

* St. Sidoine Afollinaire. Par Paul Allard, de la collection Les Saints, Paris : Victor 
-iLecoffre. 



19 io.] NEW BOOKS 823 

to know the history of that Institute. Those were years of 
difficulty and danger. Some Dominicans criticised and at- 
tacked the Society because of its vows and because of its 
theories about Grace; the Inquisition showed hostility; Sixtus 
V. for a while entertained doubts and suspicions. Worst of 
all, internal dissensions, with their inevitable accompaniment, 
a lessening of fervor and fidelity, and an undue willingness to 
manage the worldly affairs of prominent people, threatened the 
welfare and permanence of the Order. Yet these were also 
years of prosperity and splendid achievement. The number of 
establishments and members increased greatly; the Fathers of 
the Society began to publish extensively their works, dealing 
chiefly with theological, philosophical, exegetical, and historical 
questions; their missionaries accomplished marvels. In the 
third volume of his history of the Jesuits in Spain,* P. Astrain 
deals fairly, fully, and frankly with what may be called the 
spiritual side of this varied activity. The literary phase and 
the Missions will be treated in a forthcoming volume. The 
comparatively short and peaceful administration ot P. Mercu- 
rian, who preceded Father Aquaviva as General, is also dealt 
with in this volume. 

This is not a character study, but 

CYRUS HALL McCORMICK. an account of the varied external 
By Herbert N. Casson. activities of a man f who had 

much to do with the invention 

and the perfecting of the combined reaper and self-binder, a 
machine that greatly lightened the labors and wonderfully in- 
creased the efficiency of the farmer. The story of his difficul- 
ties, energy, foresight, tenacity, methods, and success is well 
and enthusiastically told by one who ranks him among the 
greatest benefactors of humanity during the nineteenth century. 

Mrs. MulhaH's book, entitled Ex- 

EXPLORERS IN THE NEW plorers in the New World, Before 
WORLD. and After Columbus^ gives the 

By Mrs. Mulhall. reader a great amount of interest- 

ing information about the pirati- 
cal English expeditions which harassed the Spanish colonies 

* Historia de la Gompania de Jesus en la Asistencia de Espana. Por el P. Antonio 
Astrain, de la misma Compania. Madrid : Razon y Fe. 

t Cyrus Hall McCormick. By Herbert N. Casson. Chicago : A. C. McClurg & Co. 

Explorers in the New World, Before and After Columbus. With pre-Columban maps. 
By Mrs. Mulhall. New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 



824 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

in South America during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies, the English privateersmen who scoured those seas in 
the eighteenth century, and particularly about the part played 
by Irishmen and Englishmen in the South American struggle 
for independence. In addition, the opening chapter treats 
briefly and disappointingly the question of pre-Columban dis- 
coveries of the New Yorld, while the final chapter gives a 
succinct account of the bright prospects and the dismal ending 
of the Jesuit Missions in Paraguay. The title of the book, as 
is clear from our brief indication of its contents, is rather mis- 
leading, and might not unwisely be altered in another edition 
of the work. 

It is highly desirable that those 
TRAVELS IN SPAIN. who intend to read Mr. Marden's 

account of his travels in Spain * 

should first of all read his preface to the book very attentive- 
ly. They will then be in a position to weigh both the author 
and his work justly, not blaming the one for failing to do 
what he has no intention of attempting, nor attributing to the 
other an authority which it frankly disclaims. The author does 
not aim at giving us a scientific treatise on Spain, or a study 
of its people. His purpose is to tell us about the places that 
he visited, among them most of the important and famous 
cities. As a rule he does not concern himself with the mater- 
ial side of Spanish life. He is chiefly interested in the relics 
of Roman and Moorish days, the great cathedrals, famous 
monasteries and shrines, and works of art. The narrative is 
steadily entertaining and instructive. Here and there we meet 
with passing comments on the Spanish character. It is easy to 
believe that they are all well-meant, and that the writer was 
fully determined to pass the most favorable judgment he could 
on the people and their institutions. The kindliness of his 
intentions is sometimes offset, however, by his patronizing tone 
and by passing indications that in his inmost heart he cherishes 
some harsh estimates of this little-known, but much-berated 
people. These opinions, he tells us, are not born of his own 
experience, but are borrowed. At times one regrets that he 
did not judge things and people for himself. 

* Travels in Spain. By Philip S. Marden. Boston and New York : Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 825 

This timely and scholarly work * of 

CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. Professor Riviere first appeared in 

the French, under the title Le 
Dogme de la Redemption. Paris: Lecoffre, 1905. 

Coming at a time when the traditional character of the 
dogma was very keenly, attacked on historical grounds, and 
while the Subjectivism of Ritschl, Harnack, and Sabatier was 
being so much insisted upon, the book served the double pur- 
pose of affording a solid answer to the accusations made in 
the name of history, and of giving a critical vindication of the 
Catholic Doctrine. 

The author begins by a brief expose of the dogma in ques- 
tion, endeavoring very carefully to disassociate from it certain 
misconceptions, quite common even among the learned. 

After stating, by way of contrast, the views of the "Neo- 
Protestants," the Abbe undertakes to establish from the Gospel 
data that Christ taught the expiatory character of His death, 
and that the New Testament authors, particularly St. Paul, 
thus understood Him, and so preached. 

Having made clear the continuity between Christ's teaching 
and the views expressed by the New Testament writers, Pro- 
fessor Riviere, following in the footsteps of Petavius and Tho- 
massinus, traces the doctrine through the patristic and scholas- 
tic periods, down to the days of the Angelic Doctor. As a 
result we see that history is by no means the very clear wit- 
ness to the opposition of Latin and Greek Fathers on this 
point that Ritschl and others would have us believe. Rather 
does it become evident that history is our best friend, in mak- 
ing clear that traditional character so essential for a dogma of 
the faith. 

The question of the "Ransom from Satan" is considered 
at some length, and though the widespread influence of this 
view is admitted, it is not conceded as an " exclusive " theory 
with any of the Fathers.] 

Throughout the work, modern positions and theories are 
subjected to searching and intelligent criticism, and the study 
concludes with a succinct summary of the author's contentions. 

The translation is well done and the two volumes afford 
very pleasant as well as learned reading. The value of the 

* The Doctrine of the Atonement. By M. J. Riviere, D.D. Authorized Translation. 2 
vols. : By Luigi Cappadelta. St. Louis : B. Herder. 



826 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

work has been enhanced by the translator's supplying a copi- 
ous Scripture Index to texts upon which the dogma is based. 
The books are printed in an attractive and convenient form, 
and will prove a valuable addition to any up-to-date library. 

In six chatty chapters* an Irish 

DE LIBRIS. parson gives us much wisdom 

about books and their uses. He 

is evidently widely read, as his range of quotation, in English 
literature at least, is very great. In fact, his work is in most 
cases a tessera of quotations with a brief running commentary. 
He is generally interesting in his theme and practical in his 
advice. There is a strong religious note pervading his little 
volume, but it is not partisan in tone. 

One of the needs of the present 

SPIRITUAL LIFE. age in the spiritual life is a brief 

and explicit outline of the true 

Catholic principles of Christian perfection. Such a need is now 
filled by the author of this excellent work.f His object is to 
point out the guiding posts of true perfection, rather giving 
general directions than entering into a multitude of details 
which serve to confuse the reader. The word Ground-work in 
the title is judiciously selected, as it is truly expressive of the 
contents. 

An excellent feature of this book is the summary it gives 
of the chief teachings of such masters of the spiritual life as 
Fathers Rodriguez and Scaramelli. The great majority of those 
desirous of perfection at the present day have neither the time 
nor the inclination to read through the immense volumes on 
Christian perfection. This work being a brief and clear sum- 
mary of those great teachers will be found of service to many. 

Another noteworthy feature of this book is the use made 
of sound theological principles as a basis for the rules of 
spiritual guidance. Many of the chapters, particularly those 
on the virtues, are but a summary of the teaching of St. Thomas 
and the Fathers. Not private ideas on holiness, but the teach- 
ing of the Church, serves as the foundation stone on which 
the spiritual edifice is to be built. 

* De Libris: Six Essays on Books. By Rev. F. J. Grierson, A.M. Dublin: Sealy, 
Brynes & Walker. 

t The Groundwork of Christian Perfection. By Rev. Patrick Ryan. Dublin : Gill & Son ; 
London : Washbourne ; New York : Benziger Brothers. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 827 

In regard to method of presentation, while fault may be 
found with a too rigid adherence to the logical order, yet 
from a pedagogical standpoint the author is to be commended 
for the use of the positive rather than the negative method; 
telling briefly and explicitly what is to be done rather than 
what is not to be done. We bespeak for this excellent little 
work an even greater success than was accorded the author's 
previous effort, Christian Doctrines Explained and Proved, and 
look forward with pleasure to the author's coming publication 
on Culture of the Soul. 

We are in receipt oi two pamph- 
MATERIALISM. lets treating of the present-day 

attack of certain science-philoso- 
phers on the foundations of religious faith. Rev. Dr. Horatio 
Oliver Ladd considers only the attack on the basis of natural 
religion made by Ernst Haeckel and others.* Against them 
he adduces the testimony of Sir Oliver Lodge in his recent 
works, Life and Matter and Science and Immortality. The 
author's mode of treatment is similar to that of Father John 
Gerard, but he lacks the latter's fine touch in controversy. 

Mr. F. Wayland-Smith f covers a wider field, as he considers 
objections to revealed religion. His method of presentation is 
that of quoting pregnant passages which present difficulties or 
the answers to them. The conclusions which seem to be 
aimed at in the pamphlet are that positive religion is essential 
to morality and that belief in a personal devil is a touchstone 
of orthodoxy. 

A shrewdly observing foreigner 
SERMON DELIVERY. has remarked that there is no 

place in the world where a really 

good preacher can more certainly command the presence of a 
large and appreciative audience than in the Catholic pulpit 
in the United States; and that it is therefore strange that we 
have so few first-class preachers. We suppose that similar 
conditions exist, to greater or less degree, in other English- 
speaking countries. The law of supply and demand works in 
this line as well as in any other, and there are indications that 

* The Trend of Scientific Thought Away From Rtltgious Beliefs. By Horatio Oliver 
Ladd, S.T.D. Boston : Richard G. Badger. 

t Materialism and Christianity. By F. Wayland-Smith. Kenwood, N. Y. : Published 
by the Author. 



828 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

many priests and students are beginning to appreciate the need 
of careful preparation for pulpit work. Accordingly, there will 
be, we hope, a good welcome for this excellent little book of 
Father Hitchcock on Sermon Delivery* The work is eminent- 
ly practical. The first part deals with voice- culture, pronun- 
ciation, and delivery ; the second treats of deportment and 
gesture. A great many very practical suggestions are packed 
away in surprisingly small space. The writer has the gift of 
analyzing a difficulty or defect, whether of pronunciation, gait, 
or gesture. Accordingly he does not merely depict the ideal 
of speech or deportment; he indicates exactly how it may be 
attained. 

As the most fitting memento of a 

LORD ARUNDELL OF WAR- noble career devoted to the ser- 
DOUR. vice of Church and country, the 

Dowager Lady Arundell of War- 
dour has issued the speeches and papers f of her distinguished 
husband, whose death three years ago was a great loss to the 
Church in England. Lord Arundell was a man of the best 
type of English noble, interested in all public questions, de- 
voted to his tenantry, and faithful to his religion. The variety 
of his interests and the religious temper of his mind are made 
manifest in these papers, which consist of speeches in the 
House of Lords or on other occasions, notes for speeches, and 
letters, mainly controversial. Even readers who, like the re- 
viewer, are entirely out of sympathy with his insistence on the 
rights of property rather than on the rights of man, and his 
opposition to Irish Home Rule, will be glad to admire this 
great English Catholic layman for his stanchness to principle 
and fidelity to the duties of his station in life. 

In one of his speeches in the House of Lords, on the abo- 
lition of the religious tests in the universities, there is a refer- 
ence to a point in the history of the American Colonies which 
will bear quoting: 

But I cannot leavejthis discussion without pointing to one 

*\Sermon Delivery: A Method for Students. By Rev. G. S. Hitchcock, B.A. London: 
Burns & Gates ; New York : Benziger Brothers. 

t Some Papers of Lord Arundell of Wardour, Twelfth Baron, Count of the Holy Roman 
Empire, etc. With a Preface by the Dowager Lady Arundell of Wardour. With portrait. 
London and New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 






] NEW BOOKS 829 

episode in the History of Persecution, and I do so with some- 
thing of family pride. When the Catholic colony, under L,ord 
Baltimore, left England in the reign of James I., and founded 
the colony of Maryland in America, they established it on the 
principle of political toleration. This is the first instance in 
history of the principle being proclaimed ; and I ask your 
L,ordships, for my information, when it was first proclaimed 
in Protestant communities. 

There is a reference in an earlier speech to what is called, 
no doubt through the mistake of some over-wise compositor, 
the "no nothing" movement in America. 

This work on Eloquence,* which 

THE PRINCIPLES OF ELO- is a translation by Joseph Skellon 
QUENCE. from the German of Nicholas 

Schleiniger, S.J., is deserving of 

attention, if for no other reason than that in it elocution is 
based on a solid scientific foundation. Too frequently our 
books on eloquence offer only a superficial treatment of this 
important field. It is, therefore, a source of real pleasure and 
practical benefit to find at our disposal a work which treats 
the subject in the careful manner of a scientific treatise. The 
chapter devoted to the history of Rhetoric and Eloquence is 
a good example of this. In it the development of these arts 
is traced from Greece and Rome down the ages to our own 
times. Not a mere list of names and subjects, but a critical 
commentary on times and conditions is presented to the 
reader. It is a practical refutation of the charge of the satir- 
ist, that 

"All a rhetorician's rules 
Teach nothing but to name his tools." 

The book resolves itself into two chief divisions. The first 
includes chapters on the means of gathering matter, methods 
of placing this collected material in the proper order, and, 
finally, suggestions on delivery, with rules for style, memory, 
gesture, and pronunciation. The second division, comprising 
about half the book, is devoted to a presentation of extracts 
from famous speeches. Here the work of the author is re- 

* The Principles of Eloquence. By N. Schleiniger, S J. St. Louis: B. Herder. 



830 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

edited and supplemented by the translator, in order to make 
the selections more available for the uses of the English- 
speaking student. Select quotations from Demosthenes, JEs- 
chines, Cicero, Burke, Pitt, O'Connell, and Gladstone, are suc- 
cessively presented to the reader. American orators are not 
neglected; we find the names of Patrick Henry, Webster, 
Seward, Lincoln, etc. Finally we are given a " florilegium " 
from the great pulpit orators: St. John Chrysostom, Bossuet, 
Bourdaloue, Father Burke, Newman, Spalding, Kenrick. 

The Principles 0f Eloquence is a book deserving of high 
commendation for its value both as a statement of principles 
and a manual for practice. It will be found to be of service 
not only to special students of oratory, but also to the gen- 
eral reader who is desirous of a general acquaintance with the 
principles of oratory and their historical applications. In Ger- 
many it has reached its sixth edition. A similar success may 
be prophesied for this English translation, so well rendered by 
Joseph Skellon. 

This is a modestly anonymous 

PEDAGOGY. pamphlet on vitality in teaching. 

It is issued from Mt. Pleasant, 

Liverpool, which, we learn from the Catholic Directory, is 
under the charge of the Sisters of Notre Dame. After reading 
the pamphlet one can easily believe the tribute to education 
in that school which The Tablet gave a few months ago, from 
a volume of recollections by a genial old school inspector, a 
Protestant. Speaking of Liverpool, he says: "If any one 
wants to know what can be done for education, primary, 
secondary, and tertiary, for aught I know, he should go to 
Mt. Pleasant, in that city, and look around him." The book 
deals mainly with the personal qualities required in a good 
teacher besides knowledge of the matter, alertness, humor, 
and good humor, individuality, vitality, in short. Reading it 
may be dispiriting to humdrum souls, but it will be inspiring 
to such as have the root of the matter in them, but have 
never been made to realize the way in which their natural 
powers of mind and character can be brought into play in the 
work of teaching. 

* Quick and Dead. To Teachers. By Two _of Them. New York: Longmans, Green 
& Co. 



i9io.] NEW BOOKS 831 

A new volume * of historical es- 
HISTORICAL ESSAYS. says, by Abbe Vacandard, has just 

been published. It is made up of 

articles that previously appeared in three French magazines. 
One of them, that on the " Origins of Sacramental Confession," 
has undergone considerable revision -since its first publication. 
This is the longest and one of the most important of the essays. 
The subject is studied under seven heads: the antiquity of 
confession; the minister of the sacrament ; the matter of con- 
fession ; the mode ; when absolution was given ; readmission 
to the sacrament after a relapse into sin ; and changes in the 
penitential discipline. Evidence in support of the author's con- 
clusions is presented, and carefully considered. 

Two other essays of importance are : " The Formal Institu- 
tion of the Church by Christ," and " The Nature of the Church's 
Coercive Power." The former is a reply to one of the chal- 
lenges issued by M. Loisy, and criticises his theory of the 
non-historicity of the risen Christ. The latter maintains the 
thesis that the Church, being a spiritual society, has no right 
to exert any other than a moral pressure on her disobedient 
children. Opponents of this theory make much of the encycli- 
cal Quanta Cura, in which Pius IX. formally condemns the 
opinion of those who assert that " the Church has no right to 
coerce violators of her laws by means of temporal punishments." 
M. Vacandard first asks what is the doctrinal value of the en- 
cyclical, and hints plainly that its teaching is neither infallible 
nor final. He then endeavors to show that the declarations of 
Benedict XIV., Pius VI., Pius IX., and the theologians of the 
Vatican Council do not necessarily conflict with the theory that 
moral pressure alone may be rightly exerted by the Church. 
This thesis, needless to say, does not meet with universal ap- 
proval. M. Vacandard's exposition of it was sharply criticised 
by Father Choupin, S.J., in the Nouvelle Revue Theologique of 
April, 1908. He reminds M. Vacandard that "there is a grave 
obligation resting on all the faithful to submit to the decisions 
oi the Holy See, whether those decisions are or are not guar- 
anteed by infallibility." M. Vacandard's interpretation of the 
Pope's words is "neither true, nor probable, nor likely. The 
text, the context, the historical circumstances, all the dicticn- 

* &tudes de Critique et d'Histoire Religieuse, Deuxieme Series. Par E. Vacandard. 
Paris : Victor Lecoffre. 



832 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

aries which have fixed the meaning of the words temporal and 
salutary, the common opinion of theologians and canonists, 
the constant practice of the Church, and sound sense, are against 
it." 

The other topics treated are Military Service and the first 
Christians; The Council of Macon and the Souls of Women; 
and The Albigensian Heresy in the Times of Innocent III. In 
the appendix there are discussions of M. Loisy's views concern- 
ing the Kingdom expected by the Jews, and the Church, the 
Christi ego miles sum and the Pugnare mihi non licet of St. 
Martin, and the relations between Church and State. 

The host of catechists and school- 

THE CATECHISM IN teachers to whom Father Chisholm* , 
EXAMPLES. has become an invaluable friend, 

will find the latest volume of the 

Catechism in Examples * no less useful than those which have 
preceded it. Besides fulfilling the promise of its title, it covers 
also several other sections of the catechism the four .last 
things, the Christian's rule of life, daily exercises, and perse- 
verance. The collection of examples is copious ; and they are 
apt to the point which they are meant to enforce. While the 
language is simple enough to be comprehended by the younger 
children, it is also suitable for the more mature. 

This little manual f is intended for 

RELIGIOUS AND THE religious, and more particularly for 
SACRED HEART. women. It is extracted from the 

large work in five volumes, entitled 

Le Regne du Sacre- Cceur, which has had considerable vogue in 
France. The author, an Oblate Father, based his work on the 
writings of Blessed Margaret Mary and on the life of her which 
was written by her contemporaries. The text largely consists 
of verbatim excerpts from the original writings, to which our 
author supplies sufficient comment, narrative, and explanation 
to bind them into unity. The book is intended for spiritual 
reading and meditation. 

* The Catechism in Examples. By Rev. D. Chisholm. Second Edition. Vol. V. Vir- 
tues and Vices. New York : Benziger Brothers. 

t Religious and the Sacred Heart. Blessed Margaret Mary's Message. Translated from 
the French of F. Alfred Yenveux. New York: Benziger Brothers. 



1910.] NEW BOOKS 833 

The year just closed apparently 
THE POETS' CORNER. marked no diminution in the in- 

dustry of our minor poets, for 

once again a harvest of rhymes comes to us, in neat sheaves, 
from the publishers. With some few notable exceptions, it 
cannot be claimed that the first fruits are of any superlative 
excellence. Distinction of thought, the true singing quality 
(or, contrariwise, the breath of sure dramatic vigor), are rare 
enough ; yet scarcely a volume is without evidence of gracious 
fancy, of authentic emotion, and of an ability, when duly 
chastened and controlled, to produce beautiful lines. 

Miss Edith Thomas' new collection* will be welcomed by 
those already familiar with her graceful and thoughtful muse. 
The immemorial cry of woman the life-bringer and preserver ! 
against War and its heritage of Death rings across more 
than one page. Yet Miss Thomas' real strength would seem 
to lie in brief lyrics of a single delicate fancy, a single poig- 
nant emotion, rather than in the narative or dramatic form. 

From Mary Austin Low come half a dozen touching poems 
of motherhood and human feeling, amid a volume of miscel- 
laneous verses more or less darkened by the fear of death and 
annihilation. There is much of the beauty and the tenderness 
of earth in this little Concessions but not yet any vital appre- 
hension of that supreme Beauty and Love which eye hath not 
seen nor heart understood, but which are eternal realities, none 
the less, to the faithful soul. 

A third volume, Love, Faith and Endeavor t \ betrays a cer- 
tain loyal zeal Pro Ckristo et Literis. The verses are upon 
many themes, often occasional, and of unequal merit, but in 
the main dignified and interesting. 

From Edmund Basel comes a little book of narrative 
poems reaching all the long way from Castle Hapsburg to the 
romance of our own American history. 

* The Guest at the Gate. By Edith M. Thomas. Boston : Richard G. Badger. 

t Confession ; and Other Verses. By Mary Austin Low. Boston : Sherman, French & Co. 

\ Love, Faith, and Endeavor. By Harvey Carson Grumbine. Boston : Sherman, French 
& Co. 

Poems. By Edmund Basel. Farmingdale, L. I.: Nazareth Trade School Printing 
Office. 

VOL. xc. 53 



834 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

In Changing Voices* too, the patriotic note is sounded, 
along with religious, fanciful, and meditative themes. 

And The Silver Lining f brings us verses alternately grave 
and gay, in a wide variety of subject and metre. 

So turns the shuttle, and the woof is formed: while upon 
their far-off hill the Muses watch and wait. 

The story of the Catholic missions in the Far West is a 
glory to the Church in America. The present volume f is a 
biography of a Franciscan friar, Father Catala, who, filled with 
the missionary spirit, left home and country to spread the King- 
dom of God in America. Father Catala was born in Spain, in 
1761, and came, in 1794, to Santa Clara, where he toiled for 
souls for thirty-six years, until his death in 1830. The virtues 
miracles, and prophecies of this man of God are described in 
detail. The volume is cheaply gotten up: the paper is poor, 
the illustrations somewhat better. However, it gives a good 
idea of the mission work that has been done by the religious 
orders in this country. 

Those who read Spanish will find the fourth edition of Fa- 
ther Ferreres' commentary on the Ne Temere, an extremely 
useful and reliable handbook. The author's style is methodical 
and clear. Frequent references to the former law enable the 
reader to see quickly and accurately the bearing and force of 
the new. Considerable attention is given to the question con- 
cerning the validity of private betrothals in foro interne, since 
the new law went into effect. In addition to the usual argu- 
ments, Father Feiieres gives us one based on the old Spanish 
law, in support of the widely accepted conclusion that these 
private betrothals are invalid, even in conscience. The great 
favor with which his work has been everywhere received has 
happily prompted the author to keep on enlarging it, by dis- 
cussions of new questions, as well as by including the latest 
decisions of Roman congregations in this connection. 

* Changing Voices'; and Other Poems. By R. D. Brodie. Boston : R. G. Badger. 

t The Silver Lining; and Other Poems. By Nelson Glazier Morton. Boston : R. G. 
Badger. 

\ The Holy Man of Santa Clara ; or. the Life, Virtues, and Miracles of Father Magin 
Catalci, O.F.M. By Father Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M. San Francisco : James H. Barry 
Company. 

$ Los Espousalesy el Matrimonio. For el R. P. Juan B. Ferreres, S.J. Madrid : Razdn 
y Fe. 



NEW BOOKS 835 

Another excellent book * by the same author, states and 
explains the present-day laws of the Church with reference to 
religious communities of women. The matter is treated urder 
five heads : " Confessors," " The Account of Conscience," " The 
Cloister," " The Vows," and " The Election of Superiors." Like 
the other work that we have just mentioned this treatise is 
clear, orderly, and of high practical value for those who have 
any relations with such communities. 

The tenth volume f of a set of texts and documents designed 
to furnish, in a convenient form, the materials for the historical 
'study of Christianity, gives us the Greek text and on the op- 
posite page a French translation of the Epistle of Clement of 
Rome to the Corinthians, and of the homily which was former- 
ly called his second epistle. The text here reproduced is that 
of the critical edition published by Funk at Tubingen in 1901. 
A good introduction by the editor gives a biographical sketch 
of Clement, analyzes both documents, discusses their authen- 
ticity, the date of their composition, the occasion, end, and 
character of the genuine epistle, its references to various in- 
stitutions and doctrines, the Great Prayer, and the history of 
the text. 

La Theologie de Bellarmin J is a clear, concise, and, we doubt 
not, a faithful summary of the opinions held and proclaimed 
by that greatest of all Catholic controversialists. The work is 
valuable not merely because it sets before us the mind and 
method of Bellarmine, but also because it gives us a compre- 
hensive view of the great religious debates of the sixteenth 
century, together with an analysis of the arguments used by 
the ablest spokesmen of both parties to the conflict. Inasmuch 
as the Scriptural and Patristic arguments employed by the 
Cardinal had been already treated at length in another volume 
belonging to the same series, Father de la Serviere passes 
lightly over them. Since the present work, though bulky, is 
after all only a summary, its usefulness lies chiefly in this, that 
it is well calculated to rouse interest in the works of Bellarmine 
himself, and will prove wonderfully helpful as a guide in the 
study of his writings. 

* Las Religiosas. For el R. P. Juan B. Ferreres, S. J. Madrid : Razda y Fe. 
t Les Peres Apostoliques. II. Cllment de Rome. Par Hippolyte Hemmer. Paris : Al- 
phonse Picard et Fils. 

\ La Theologie de Bellarmin. Par J. de la Serviere, S. J. Paris : Beauchesne et Cie. 



836 NEW BOOKS [Mar., 

A very useful publication for those that are seeking to 
know the Church is one just published by B. Herder, St. 
Louis : The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine , by Rev. 
Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R. It is a booklet of no pages and 
is composed on an entirely new plan. This plan facilitates 
the labor both of the inquirer and the instructor by presentirg 
religious truths in the order of their relative importance to 
the sincere non-Catholic. Because of the great good it will 
do the booklet deserves a wide distribution. 

Faith and Reason Showing How They Agree , by Rev* 
Peter Saurusaitis, is a booklet just issued by the Christian 
Press. A Simple Communion Book, by Mother Mary Loyola is 
published by the International Catholic Truth Society, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. A Complete Index to the contents of The Month, 
published in London, England, has been issued in an attractive 
volume at a cost of 3*. 6d. net. It is a most important 
volume for all interested in Catholic literature and Catholic 
apologetics. 

Following the celebration of the centenary Mother Seton's 
birth, a centennial book entitled Mother Seton, has been pub- 
lished by the Sisters of Charity, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is a his- 
tory of Mother Seton's life and work. 

The value of the De la Salle series of school readers is 
appreciated in the Catholic educational world. An examina- 
tion of the Sixth Reader which we have received confirms our 
opinion that the student who follows faithfully the plan marked 
out by the compiler of the volume will possess a true appre- 
ciation of the best in literature. We have every word of 
praise to offer in commendation of the taste shown in making 
selections from the best authors. 

As a result of the Hudson-Fulton celebration an abundance 
of literature concerning the early history of New York has 
been issued. The latest publication that we have received on 
the subject is one entitled: The Beginnings of New York Old 
Kingston the First State Capital, a booklet of seventy pages, 
written by Mary A. Forsyth, and published by Richard Badger, 
of Boston, Mass. 



19 io.] NEW BOOKS 837 

A Catholic Diary for 1910 is published by the Angelus 
Company, Norwood, London, Canada. It is especially pre- 
pared for English-speaking Catholics and for those who make 
use of a diary it will be found useful. It is a practical little 
book and contains much valuable information. 

It is almost like journeying personally through the country 
to read Guatemala and Her People* The author writes most 
interestingly of places and of people, makes no attempt at a 
deep study of conditions or of problems, but guides the reader 
in a pleasant and interesting way. The volume is remarkably 
well illustrated and admirably gotten up. 

This volumef contains a series of pious Christmas, Epiph- 
any, and Easter stories. Some were written originally for 
The Living Church, The Young Christian Soldier, and The 
Independent. From this fact we surmise that the author is a 
non- Catholic. However, the book contains nothing that a 
Catholic could not write or accept. 

The individual teacher, as a rule, is the best judge of his 
or her own text-books. One that deserves a test from teach- 
ers of English composition is a volume recently published : 
Writing and Speaking, a. Text-Book of Rhetoric, by Charles 
Sears Baldwin, A.M. Good, solid work has gone into the. 
making of the book. It is meant for a practical guide in that 
branch of instruction which concerns the power of expression. 
Longmans, Green & Co., New York, publish the work. 

Pitman's Commercial Dictionary has been prepared as a 
handy volume for those engaged in commercial correspondence. 
Much labor has been expended on its compilation and it can- 
not fail to be of advantage to those for whose use it is pri- 
marily intended. Pitman s Progressive Dictator includes selec- 
tions of original letters relating to different lines oi business, 
arranged with vocabularies and engraved shorthand outlines and 
phrases. In its field it is an excellent text-book. Both volumes 
are published by Isaac Pitman & Sons, New York. 

* Guatemala and Her People. By Nevin O. Winter. Boston : Page & Co. 
t The Shepherd Who Did Not Go to Bethlehem. By S. Alice Raulett. Boston : The Gor- 
ham Press. 



^Foreign periobicals. 

The Tablet (8 Jan.): Conclusion of D. Moncrieff O'Connor's 

paper on Ferdinand Brunetiere. Father F. M. de 

Zuluetta, S.J., describes the confiscation of the French 
Catholic daily La Croix, and of the publishing business 
of La Bonne Press. The Roman Correspondent out- 
lines the plans of Father de Santi, S.J., for making more 
effective the legislation of his Holiness on music. He 
proposes to found " scholae cantorum " and carry on a 
campaign in the press. 

(15 Jan.): Account of the production of Father Benson's 
miracle play "The Nativity," in the Hall of the Clergy 
House at Westminster House. Mgr. Moyes, in a first 
paper on " The Mozarabic Rite and Anglican Orders," 
points out what is necessary to make ordination valid. 
In a subsequent issue he will examine how far this an- 
cient rite fulfills the requirements. Father Thurston, 

S.J., deals with certain imputations cast upon Jesuit mis- 
sionaries at the court of Akbar. They appeared in a 
novel by Mrs. F. A. Steel called A Prince of Dreamers. 
(22 Jan.): "The French Chamber and School Neutral- 
ity," an editorial. 

(29 Jan.): "The Fight for the Children in France " de- 
scribes the debate on school neutrality in the French 

Chamber. Address of Rev. Bernard Vaughan, S.J., 

on the influence of the Catholic Press. Practical sug- 
gestions for its improvement. 

The Month (Feb.): "The Divinity of Christ." The Rev. Syd- 
ney F. Smith offers some comments on the two rival 
arguments against and for the divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, which have been set before English readers in a 
volume entitled Jesus or Christ, recently brought out by 

Mr. L. P. Jacks. "Two Great Modern Frenchmen" 

are brought before us by Ymal Oswin. The first of 
these is Ferdinand Marron of Rouen, " one of the great- 
est of modern iron- workers "; the second is Victor 
Prouve', of Nancy, an artist of genius who has earned 
the title of "The New Leonardo." 



1 9 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 839 

The Church Quarterly Review (Jan.): In "The Christ of His- 
tory" the editor assails the thesis of a marked distinc- 
tion between the Jesus of history and the Christ of wor- 
ship and the ascription of Christian teaching mainly to 

St. Paul. " ^Eneas Silvius : Pope Pius II." is declared 

by Edward Armstrong to be perennially interesting be- 
cause of his impressionable character and literary tastes. 
Madame Goyau's book, In Quest of Joy, is exten- 
sively reviewed. It portrays the despair of pagan souls, 
such as " Marius the Epicurean " and Richard Jefferies 
in The Story of My Heart ; and the joys of Christian 
souls as exemplified by Christina Rossetti, Eugenie de 
Guerin, and St. Catharine of Siena. 

The Dublin Review (Jan.): Canon William Barry describes the 
gigantic energy Bishop Challoner displayed in the dark 

days of English Catholicism. " The Ethics of Strong 

Language," by Wilfrid Ward, discusses the psychology 
of vehement language that still remains parliamentary. 

To Mrs. Meynell, Tennyson is a true poet who " had 

both a style and a manner: a masterly style, a magical 

style, a too dainty manner, nearly a trick." " The 

Oriel Noetics," by Wilfrid Wilberforce. Under the 

caption of " The New Learning," Rev. C. C. Martindale, 

S.J., writes on the Greek spirit. Hilaire Belloc, in 

the first of a series of articles on "The International" 
anarchistic propaganda, gives the true story of the Ferrer 
case. 

The Irish Theological Quarterly (Jan.) : The Rev. J. M. Harty 
traces the main outlines of the " Historical Evolution of 
the Catholic Teaching on Usury," from the closing cen- 
turies of the Middle Ages to the present day. 

The Rev. M. J. O'Donnell gives an historical re- 
view of the " Seal of Confession." From a study of the 
records the writer concludes that "the general principle, 
the obligation to secrecy, was admitted and accepted as 
a rule of conduct by those to whom the Church en- 
trusted the power of the keys." The early teachers and 
confessors did not consider the imposition of public 
penance for secret sins a violation of the Seal. They 
" saw things in a different light and adopted a different 
principle." " A Thirteenth Century Revision Com- 



840 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Mar., 

mittee of the Bible" by the Rev. B. Barrett, O.P. 

The action of the Convocation of Canterbury in offi- 
cially sanctioning the omission of the " minatory clauses " 
of the Athanasian Creed has turned men's thoughts 
once more to the question of " Eternal Punishment." 
This question is discussed by the Rev. G. R. Roche, 
S.J. " The Teaching of the New Testament on Di- 
vorce " is treated by the Rev. J. MacRory. 

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record (Jan.) : Rev. James MacCaffrey 

writes on The "Catholic Church in 1909." "Old 

Criticism and New Pragmatism," " an essay on Kant and 
Hegel," by Dr. J. M. O'Sullivan, is favorably reviewed 

by C. Murphy. The Editor, prompted by the interest 

aroused by his previous articles on " the proceedings of 
the British Parliament relating to Maynooth," shows how 
an old myth " that Maynooth was intended originally 
for the laity as well as for the clergy" was disposed 
of in Parliament, and explains why Mr. Gladstone un- 
dertook to pay off all the arrears of building expenses in 
accordance with the promises of 1845. 

Le Correspondant (10 Jan.): "The First Political Vote of 
Women in Norway." The writer discusses woman's 
position in Norway as being one of " equality." He 
gives us a resume of her public activity, and questions 
whether the result of the 1909 election to the Storthing 
in which the majority of the members who " had power- 
fully contributed to promote the separation with Sweden" 
were defeated, could have produced such results were 
it not for the women who cast their vote " without 

noise and flourish." "The Struggle for the Trans- 

pyrenees," by Lucien Primaube. The question of the 
construction of railroads across the Pyrenees is " one 
which will contribute to a closer bond between France 
and Spain." 

(25 Jan.) : " Leopold II.," by J. Van den Heuvel. "The 
great work of his reign was the endowing of Belgium 
with an important colony in Africa." "With a char- 
acter of steel and a far-seeing intelligence he truly en- 
deavored to make Belgium greater, stronger, and more 

beautiful." "The Political Speeches of Due de Brog- 

lie." Comte de Chabrol discusses de Broglie's struggles 



1 9 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 841 

against Thiers. His speeches were of "the highest po- 
litical philosophy," being founded on the " profound 
convictions" of a man who "enjoyed the respect of all." 

"Honore d'Urfe," by Emile Faguet, the author 

of UAstree, " the greatest novel of the seventeenth 
century, was a charming novelist and a poet who, though 
not of the first rank, did not deserve the scorn which 

Malherbe heaped upon him." " Iron in Lorraine," 

by Jean Tribot-Laspiere. The iron industry of Lor- 
raine, which " was known to the Romans," was 88 per 
cent of that of all France in 1907 and has made Nancy 
the centre of "an extraordinary intellectual activity.'* 
Etudes (5 Jan.): Louis de Mondadon contributes a study on 

St. Augustine as a professor. Andre Bremond, in 

" The Moral Ideas of Samuel Johnson," thinks that a 
true Christian spirit pervaded his life, manifesting itself 

particularly in a filial dependence upon God. J. 

Brucker welcomes the appearance of the French trans- 
lation of another volume of Pastor's History of the 
Popes. He notes the author's various conclusions re- 
garding Leo X,, Adrian VI., and Clement VII. The 

history of some noteworthy events in the French Church 
for the year 1909 are given by Yves de la Briere. He 
refers to the trials of six bishops, and to the condemna- 
tion of four of them, for opposing certain text-books. 
The tenor of the letter of the hierarchy regarding neu- 
tral schools is given, and the consequent organization 

of Catholic parents.- "The Mussulmans in India," by 

S. Mares. 

(20 Jan.): "The Psychology of St. Francis oi Assisi" 
(continued), by Lucien Roure, studies "a type most 
astonishing and most typical of Catholic sanctity." 
Can contemporary psychology account for his life without 
the supernatural, is the problem the author sets himself 

to answer. "Unedited Letters of de Lamennais to 

Chanoine Buzzetti," by Paul Dudon. Among the papers 
of Ventura, placed in the author's hands by T. R. Rag- 
onesi, there were four letters of de Lamennais. An 
attentive examination has led M. Dudon to conclude 
that Ventura was not the recipient of these letters. 



FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Mar., 

Revue du Clergt Franfais (i Jan): T. Venard concludes the 
treatise on "The Teaching Church." J. Bricout con- 
tinues his criticism of "What the Children are Taught 

in the Public Schools." Writing of the " Religious 

Movement in Italy," J. M. Vidal considers the religious 
reforms and the renewal of Catholic Works at Rome. 
His plan is first to trace out the efforts of Pius X. to 
reform the diocese of Rome, to revivify ecclesiastical 
life and discipline, and to reform the parochial ministry 
and Catholic activity ; second, to treat of the work 
already accomplished by the people themselves for edu- 
cation, for religious propaganda, and for social action. 
(15 Jan.): "The Official Care of Apprentices," is a 
sketch by P. Pisani of the origin and growth of Catho- 
lic societies in Paris and other large cities for promot- 
ing the religious and social life of the apprentice classes. 

Leon Desers concludes his articles on the "Parish 

Ministry," with a consideration of the difficulties and 
trials of the priest in his pastoral duties. 

Revue Pratique d* Apologetique (15 Jan.): H. Lesetre begins a 
series on "The Biblical Commission: the Value of Its 
Decisions." He shows that, while one cannot in con- 
science publicly combat the decisions of the Commis- 
sion, they are, nevertheless, subject to modification by 
that body, and a different opinion may be privately 
submitted to the Commission. "The Crisis of Luth- 
eranism," by G. Lapeyre, contains quotations to show 
a state of internal upheaval within that body, as regards 
all dogma. While hoping that the conservatives will 
find ways to stop its rapid march towards paganism, he 
asks if, after all, the Lutheran Church is not reaping 
what it has sown ? 

La Revue du Monde (15 Jan.): In the third conference of 
his historical synthesis, " Yesterday and To-day," M. 
Sicard treats of the Social role of the clergy. This con- 
sists principally, he believes, in liturgical prayer, filial 
piety, and justice tempered and elevated by divine charity. 
"The Feminist Movement." Theodore Joran discus- 
ses in this article, the three leading characteristics of the 
"Militant Feminist." "Around the World," political 



19 io.] FOREIGN PERIODICALS 843 

and literary essays, by Arthur Savaete, ^Continua- 
tion of " The Mysteries of the Success of A. T. Stewart, 
New York Merchant Prince," by Denans d'Artigues. 

Annales de Philosophic Chretienne (Jan.) : Henri Bremond, con- 
tinuing his defence of Fenelon, criticises M. Crousle's 
sources. Bossuet's relations with Madame Guyon and 

his attitude towards Quietism are discussed. "The 

Social Week of Bordeaux," by Testis, treats of the in- 
tellectual and political attitude of social workers towards 
the Church that is resulting in an unchristian spirit. 

Biblische Zeitschtift (Jan.) : Hubert Grimme proposes a textual 
emendation of the Messianic passage in Lamentations iv. 
20, which would then read : " The breath of our life, the 
Anointed of Jahwe, lies captured in a pit and He is 
dead under Whose shadow we thought to live among 

the Gentiles." Dr. W. Wilbrand, writing on " Ambrose 

and Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans," 
wishes to prove that four letters of Ambrose may be 

traced back to the commentary of Origen. "The 

Breaking of Bread in Primitive Christianity," by Dr. 
Theodore Shermann. 

La Civilta Cattolica (Jan.): "Karl Marx and Exchange- 
Value," shows the part Karl Marx played in the de- 
velopment of "scientific" socialism, both in and out of 

Germany. "The Beginners of the Catholic Reform in 

Italy," a review of the recent work The History of the 
Society of Jesus in Italy, by Father Pietro Tacchi- 
Venturi, S.J., is an account of the religious life in Italy 
during the first half of the sixteenth century. " Ac- 
cusations Against the Catechism," shows how bitter 
anti-clericalism is in opposing religious teaching in the 
elementary schools of Italy. This is at present an open 
question, waiting a definite solution in the near future. 

Razon y Fe (Jan.) :Hilarion Gil continues the history of Catho- 
lic missions in Hindustan and Indo- China. Zacarias 

Garcia, considering Tertullian's De Pudicitia, denies that 
its logical conclusion is that Pope Calixtus was the in- 
novator in pardoning adultery, and that Tertullian repre- 
sented tradition, and says also that Tertullian's assertion 
that the Catholics refused absolution to apostates and 



844 FOREIGN PERIODICALS [Mar. 

homicides does not merit acceptance. R. Ruiz Amada 

praises the great material resources of America, but 
pities the moral calamities that are dragging her to the 

abyss. "The Return of Halley's Comet," by M. 

Martinez. 

(Feb.) : A letter from his holiness, Pius X., to the Arch- 
bishop of Toledo on Catholic Social Activity in Spain. 

-In order to check imitation of France, A. Perez 

Goyena describes French depopulation, the ruin of her 

schools and her navy, and the increase of crime. 

The series on " Popular Urban Credit with Unlimited 
Shares," by N. Noguer, is concluded by showing the 
value of such credit to salaried workingmen. 
Espana y America (i Jan.): P. Santiago Garcia, continuing 
" Theological Modernism and Traditional Theology," ex- 
pounds the views of Loisy, Goetz, and Reville on the 

Holy Eucharist. The evil tendencies of " Modernistic 

Poetry," such as that of Verlaine, Anatole France, and 

their imitators, as seen by P. Graciano Martinez. 

"The Japanese Merchant Marine," by P. G. Castrillo. 

P. P. Rodriguez describes briefly the early period 

of the Spanish Church and the records of the life of St. 
James. 



Current Events. 

The gesta per Francos have not 
France. excited so much interest during 

the past month as the action of 

the elements. Nature has shown how capable she is within a 
few days of laying low the highest achievements of science 
and industry. Floods have always been an incident in the life 
of Paris, as its motto indicates ; but instead of becoming less 
frequent with the growth of civilization, the opposite has been 
the case, and the recent flood is the most considerable for nearly 
three centuries. Up to the end of the eighteenth century an 
abnormal rise of the Seine was recorded on an average about 
once, or at most twice, in a hundred years. During the course 
of the last century, however, such a rise took place about a 
dozen times. By some this is attributed to the gradual pro- 
cess of deforestation that has been taking place, and which has 
had its influence upon the watersheds of the great rivers of 
France, and has not been counteracted by the construction of 
adequate agricultural drainage. The present floods have cost, 
it is estimated, no less a sum than two hundred millions, 
merely on account of the destruction of property, and there 
are fears that the seeds have been sown of typhoid fever that 
may result in an epidemic. The government seems not to have 
neglected the duty of providing relief. Cabinet ministers were 
at their posts. The Chamber voted large sums of money. 
Bakers and other purveyors of the necessaries of life, who 
attempted to make profit out of the necessities of their fellow- 
countrymen, were made to feel the full rigor of the law. The 
troops were ordered to shoot at sight both marauders and 
stray dogs. All the world joined together in a practical mani- 
festation of sympathy by subscribing funds for the relief of the 
sufferers. The President of the Republic, accompanied by the 
Prime Minister, visited each day the settlements of refugees 
which had been improvised by the Union of the Ladies of 
France and warmly congratulated them on the great success 
of their work. 

That the clergy were unwearied in their efforts to minister 
to the wants of their flocks need not be stated. The cure of 
one parish for a whole week, it is stated, hardly left the boat 
by which alone access to his parishioners was possible, while 



846 CURRENT EVENTS [Mar., 

the Archbishop of Sens gave up the Cathedral for the recep- 
tion of those who had been driven from their homes. The 
special intercession services, which were held in the churches, 
were crowded throughout the week. The Sisters of Charity 
were engaged in all parts of the city, ministering to those in 
need, and they met everywhere with the warmest welcome. 

The people of this country were, as is their wont, among 
the first to come to the aid of the distressed ; and the Holy 
Father, the Austrian and German Emperors, as well as the 
Kings of Great Britain and Italy, and the Sultan sent condo- 
lences and subscriptions. 

This visitation was not by any means confined to Paris; 
more than half of France, it has been said, was under water ; 
but this seems to have been an exaggeration. Without doubt, 
the destruction has been widespread, whole villages have been 
blotted out, farms devastated, and crops swept away, in nearly 
every part of France. 

With another class of French citizens the government has 
been obliged to deal with severity. In England they have what 
they call hooligans young men addicted to outrages of various 
kinds. The corresponding class in France are called Apaches. 
They seem to be a good deal more ferocious than are the Eng- 
lish hooligans, and at times they do deeds of fiendish atrocity. 
Yet they are punished by being forced to join the army. More 
than eleven thousand of these young men, condemned by the 
Courts, are serving under the colors. Two of these soldier- 
Apaches having recently outrageously murdered a woman in a 
railway carriage, and a policeman having been wantonly mur- 
dered in the streets of Paris, the question has arisen as to the 
propriety of entrusting the safety of the citizens to such cus- 
todians. Although M. Herve eulogized the Apache who killed 
the policeman as a " professor of energy " whose act was " not 
wanting in a certain beauty or in a certain grandeur," whose 
deed had given a good example to the revolutionary parties, 
the government has taken a different view and has brought in 
a bill to enable it to relegate to the troops on the African 
borders the worst malefactors of this kind. M. Herve, too, is 
to be prosecuted. 

The labors of the Committee appointed to investigate into 
the reform of criminal judicial procedure have resulted in the 
introduction of a bill. The new measure proposes to abolish 



19 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 847 

the cross-examination by the judge and to make other changes 
of less importance, all of which are meant to make it easier for 
the public to have a greater confidence in the impartiality of 
trials. The bill has on the whole been well received, although 
there are those who think that it is not sufficiently compre- 
hensive. 

In political matters the year did not open for France in- 
auspiciously. Her foreign relations with her friends were as 
cordial as ever. The proposed Budget, it is true, is not looked 
upon with favor by the traders in other lands, inasmuch as it 
increases many of the existing duties; but of this no one has 
much right to complain, except Great Britain, for the rest of 
the world is merely being treated in the same way as it has 
treated France. Germany, so far as its government's action 
goes, is acting both according to the spirit and the letter of 
the agreement concerning Morocco, and is thereby bringing 
upon itself the severe animadversions of the Germans who are 
interested in the exploitation of Morocco. There are said to 
be certain financiers in France who, without regard to political 
results, are anxious to further industrial projects of Germans 
and even to bring about a closer financial union between the 
two countries. It is doubtful, however, whether they will be 
able to carry with them any large number of their compatriots. 
The supercession of M. Clemenceau by M. Briand has improved 
the prospect of appeasing the discontent among the Civil Ser- 
vants. It is now recognized that they had just grounds and 
good reasons for complaint. The methods which they adopted 
for obtaining redress were, however, incompatible with due 
order and discipline ; and called for the severe treatment meted 
out by M. Clemenceau. Upon the new Prime Minister the 
duty falls of removing all grounds of complaint; a duty which 
it will be easier for him to perform than for M. Clemenceau. 

The French government, of course, together with the peo- 
ple of France, gave their fullest sympathy to the efforts of the 
Young Turks to effect an improvement in the Ottoman Empire. 
This has not prevented a little controversy arising frcm a 
somewhat obscure incident which took place on the borders of 
Tunis and Tripoli. As this dispute has been settled, it is not 
worth while going into details ; but it deserves mention, as it 
shows the spirit by which the Young Turks are animated. 
They are determined not to suffer any encroachment, evtn the 



848 CURRENT EVENTS [Mar., 

smallest, upon the territory of the Empire as it exists at pres- 
ent. They will not, for any consideration, surrender the small- 
est portion. The new Grand Vizier, when asked at what price 
he would allow the union of Crete with Greece, replied : " At 
the price of twenty years' war." And he has behind him in 
support all the Ottomans. 

The Chamber has devoted ten days to a discussion of the 
School Question, and upon the conclusion of the debate passed 
a resolution of confidence in the government by 385 votes to 
137. This resolution expressed the full reliance of the depu- 
ties that the government would defend the ecole la'ique and the 
teachers against all enemies, and promised that the bills to be 
introduced in their defence would be discussed before the end 
of the sessions. Those bills have for their object the placing 
of all private schools under stricter surveillance, bringing them 
more under the control of the state. Yet their promoters 
pride themselves upon their moderation, for there are those 
who would suppress these schools altogether and completely 
abolish the right of private individuals to teach. 

The perusal of the reports of this ten days' debate would, 
without doubt, conduce to a good understanding of the school 
question in France, and of the attitude of the various parties. 
But even leading French papers give but very meagre reports. 
All we can do is to give a few notes of some interest. The 
state schools profess neutrality. But what is neutrality ? The 
president of the Society which promotes the "neutral" schools 
M. Dessoye declared that this neutrality involved the right, 
and not only the right but the duty, of the teacher to teach 
his pupils, as a fundamental principle, that they were free to 
choose their religion, and even to have no religion at all. 
The teacher's neutrality imposed on him the duty of forming 
the conscience of the pupil and of expanding his reason so as 
to make of him a free citizen. It was this freedom which the 
government was called upon to defend ; it was this that con- 
stituted liberty of conscience. This liberty, M. Dessoye went 
on to declare, was violated in the ecoles libres that is to say, 
the Catholic schools for in them it was taught that divorce 
was wrong and that the Catholic religion was divine. He 
called, therefore, for the exercise of a more strict control over 
those schools, a call to which the government and the Cham- 
ber have responded. It is thus made clear that no choice was 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 849 

left to the French bishops but to raise their voices against 
"neutral" schools of such a kind. In the event of the teach- 
ers in the public schools in this country claiming to exercise 
such a right, there is good reason to think that opposition 
would be offered by the ministers of every dencminaticn pro- 
fessing to have a definite Christian belief. 

It ought to be mentioned that the irreligious partisanship 
advocated (and adopted) at present under the name of neutral- 
ity does not represent neutrality as understood by those who 
established the system. This was brought out by M. Grous- 
sau, who is a professor in the Catholic University of Lille. 
He read, in the course of the debate, voluminous extracts from 
the circulars of the Minister of Education, inculcating upon 
school-teachers the strictest impartiality in dealing with pro- 
blems affecting the moral or religious ideas of their pupils. 
He quoted from an instruction of M. Jules Ferry to these 
teachers his summing up of the spirit of these instructions. 
" When you are minded," he said, " to bring forward a pre- 
cept or a maxim, ask yourself whether any father of a family, 
if he chanced to be present, could take any exception to the 
words; and if you think that he could, refrain." These in- 
junctions had not been kept. In truth, it is impossible that 
they should be. Not to take a side, is a most decided way of 
taking the irreligious side. This was made evident by a quo- 
tation from a text-book in use in the so-called neutral schools. 
As a theme for a composition the subject Un Honnete Homme 
was proposed, and the following hints for the essay were of- 
fered : "John is good, just, upright, and so forth. He is 
neither Catholic nor Protestant nor Jewish ; he is virtuous, 
which is enough. I will follow his example." M. Groussau's 
conclusion from this and other evidence which he adduced was 
that the present governments were, of set purpose, striving to 
dechristianize France. It is only fair to say that M. Briand 
warmly denied that he had in view any such object. 

The distinguished Academician and novelist, M. Banes, 
although not classed with the Catholic party in the house, and 
if we may believe M. Jaures, not even a Catholic, supported 
the contention of M. Groussau, and said that the neutrality of 
the schools was either a meaningless expression or a piece of 
hypocrisy. The school-teacher's position, however, was, in the 
opinion of M. Banes, the most anomalous of all. Some years 
TOL, xc. 54 



850 CURRENT EVENTS [Mar., 

ago in London a syllabus of religious teaching was drawn up 
by the County Council and the teachers were called up to ac- 
cept this new kind of authority in Church matters. This they 
refused to do ; but so far as we can gather the French school- 
teachers are called upon to listen to the instructions which they 
receive from the Minister of Education, and as those " com- 
mandments" have been very various the effect upon the 
teachers has been far from beneficial. M. Barres pleaded for 
a release from this subjection, and that the teachers should be 
taught to regard the rights of the families of the school children 
as paramount. 

The speech of M. Barres was animadverted upon by M. 
Jaures, who taunted him with acting the part of the savior 
and protector of the Catholic Church, although he was not a 
believer. To this M. Barres replied that while he acknowledged 
that he was* one of those who had abandoned the quest of final 
causes, he had done so in order to discover scientific laws ; 
and that now experience had revealed to him that Catholicism 
was synonymous with social health, and that it implied the 
most elevated sentiments. That was why he was its respectful 
defender. 

Speeches in defence of religious education were made by M. 
Denys Cochin, the Abbe Gayraud, and M. Piou, while the so- 
called neutrality was defended by M. Briand, M. Doumergue, 
M. Steeg, and others. The result of the debate has been already 
given. The tactics of the government are to represent the 
bishops as assailants of the established order, of an order, too, 
which gives ample means of correcting abuses. The bills which 
are to be introduced to curtail the liberty at present enjoyed 
by the Catholic schools are to be passed before the dissolution. 
This may, perhaps, indicate that the government is afraid of 
an appeal to the country on this question. The bishops, while 
calling upon their flocks not to interfere in politics, are urging 
them to be mindful of the rights of the children to a religious 
education, and to support to the utmost of their power candi- 
dates who will do the most good or the least evil. 

The General Election in Great 
Germany. Britain has excited more interest 

in Germany than even its own in- 
ternal affairs. The Socialists have been hoping for the success 



CURRENT EVENTS 851 

of the defenders of a Budget which is regarded as more favor- 
able to the objects they have in view than any Budget that has 
ever been introduced into a European Parliament. No revolu- 
tion has ever established itself firmly until it has been adopted by 
Great Britain, is a saying attributed to Karl Marx. Hence 
arose the great anxiety of Socialistic Germans for the success 
of the English Liberals. For another reason all Germans, with- 
out distinction, inclined to the same side. It was felt that 
while no party in Great Britain would consciously prove want- 
ing in taking adequate means for securing naval predominance, 
there was yet some slight probability that the Liberal party 
would not be so alert as would be the Unionists. The amour 
propre of the Germans was, however, wounded by the asser- 
tions made during the elections that the main food of Germans 
was black bread and horse-flesh; and as these assertions were 
made by the free-traders, they had the effect of diminishing 
the fervor with which the success of the opponents of |the 
Unionists was desired. 

The new Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, is inspir- 
ing a large degree of trust and confidence. It is felt that he 
has pacific aims and that he is more worthy of trust than was 
the diplomatic Prince Biilow. This has been shown in his 
treatment of the Mannesmann claims. These enterprising 
brothers, in despite of the Algeciras Act, procured from the 
Sultan of Morocco mining concessions extending over about 
ten square miles of territory, and this they did without the 
consent of the Powers as prescribed by the Act. It now ap- 
pears that they were supported by Prince Biilow. The German 
Foreign Office is now being called upon by many Germans to 
continue to give the support given by the Prince. This it has 
refused to do, alleging that the support to the claims given 
by the Prince was not absolute, but conditional. An offer 
has been made by the German Foreign Office to refer to arbi- 
tration the question whether in any respect the Mannesmann 
brothers have any claim to consideration ; a certain Professor 
at Bonn, however, declares that such a course is altogether 
unacceptable to German feeling, that the case involves national 
imponderabilia which a foreign Court of Arbitration could not 
appreciate. Which is the best representative of German feel- 
ing, the Foreign Office or the Professor, we do not know; but 
that the former should take the more conciliatory and moder- 



852 CURRENT EVENTS [Mar., 

ate view augurs well for the maintenance of good relations 
between Germany and France. 

The action of certain Professors with reference to the rela- 
tions between Russia and Finland, commendable though it un- 
doubtedly is, if looked at from the standpoint of justice, is 
not likely to meet with the Tsar's approval, nor perhaps that 
of his Foreign Office. A manifesto has been signed by a large 
number of well-known professors, who claim to represent the 
conviction of the widest German circles. This manifesto de- 
clares that any encroachment upon the political independence 
of Finland would be a breach of solemn promises, and of rights 
recognized for centuries; that the loss of its political inde- 
pendence would cause the lamentable collapse of the civiliza- 
tion of a valued member of modern civilized life; and that it 
is incredible that Russian society can lend itself to the polit- 
ical and intellectual annihilation of a deserving and always 
loyal people. This generous attempt to protect Finnish rights 
deserves success. It is not, however, quite certain that Russia 
has decided to work injustice, nor is it certain that all the 
claims made by Finns are justifiable. 

Yet one more effort is to be made to revise the Prussian 
franchise, a promise having been made to that effect at the 
opening of the Prussian Parliament. The Socialists have taken 
the matter up and have formed a League called the Free Or- 
ganization of the Young of Berlin and District. This League, 
however, has been proclaimed as illegal, being a political asso- 
ciation within the meaning of the recently passed Imperial 
Associations Act. The Socialists dispute this decision, and 
are to carry the matter to the Courts. Meanwhile there have 
been several somewhat serious collisions between the police 
and the advocates of a fairer representation of the people in 
the Prussian Parliament. In Alsace-Lorraine, also, the govern- 
ment has come into conflict with the inhabitants of whom 
it has charge. In this case it is with the bishops. The 
latter thought it their duty to forbid Catholic teachers joining 
the German Teachers' Union, looking upon it as exerting a 
sceptical influence destructive of the faith. The authorities of 
the province protested against the action of the bishops, the 
Statthilter insisting that they had gone outside their province. 
The Germania, the chief organ of the Catholics in Germany, 
goes so far as to say that the Statthalter's action amounts to 



1 9 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 853 

nothing less than a declaration of war with the Church, adding 
that although German Catholics do not desire a Kulturkampf, 
they are not afraid of one. 

With the Poles the government is in a chronic state of con- 
flict, they being ranked by the ruling classes with the Social 
Democrats as enemies of the State. The latest incident in the 
tacit warfare which is always going on sprang from municipal 
elections, which took place recently at Kattowitz. The govern- 
ment issued a command to the State officials not to vote for 
Polish candidates. This order was disobeyed. In punishment 
of this delinquency the officials in question were removed to 
other parts of the country. The question was raised in the 
Prussian Diet. In reply to the criticisms of the Catholic Centre, 
the Radicals, and the Social Democrats, the Minister President 
defended the right of the government to take all measures 
which it deemed fit to prevent officials from acting in a man- 
ner detrimental to the interests of the State, and denied that 
religious consideration had had any influence in the matter. 
It is hard, however, to see that, if freedom to vote is not 
granted, the officials do not become the political vassals of 
the government. 

Loans amounting to about one hundred and twenty millions 
have already been issued this year by the German Empire and 
Prussia, but no sign is shown by the supporters of the increase 
of the Navy that the burden is becoming too heavy. On the 
contrary, in the most influential circles the circles which will 
decide the question of peace or war the cry is ever more in- 
sistent for a still further increase. Anything in the way of 
disarmament, of course, is declared to be impossible. General 
Keim, the somewhat notorious ex-president of the Navy 
League, is very much dissatisfied with the position held by 
Germany in the world. It is no longer listened to as it was 
in Bismarck's time. The word which is spoken at Berlin has 
no weight; it is Paris, London, or St. Petersburg that issues 
decisive edicts. People who said that there would be no more 
wars were lunatics. War would come with England on account 
of antagonistic economic interests, and it would be England 
that would wage the war. These are the views of the General. 
It is some consolation that he finds the German people are in 
need of inward regeneration, for it is an indication that they 
do not share his opinion. The consolation is not great, how- 



854 CURRENT EVENTS [Mar., 

ever, because it is 'not by the people that the war will be 
declared, but by the classes to which General Keim belongs. 

A sudden change has taken place, 
Austria. on the surface at least, in the re- 

lations of Austria- Hungary with 

Germany, and possibly with Russia. To certain utterances of the 
remarkable Count Aehrenthal this change is due. He told the 
representative of the leading Russian newspaper that Germany 
had had nothing to do with the decision of Austria to annex 
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria, he said, was not in the 
habit of seeking advice from Berlin, and was as ready to listen 
to Russia as to Germany. These utterances excited great 
anger in the Berlin Press, and the resignation of the Count was 
declared to be desirable. The thing of greatest importance is 
that there is a probability of an entente being made between 
Austria-Hungary and Russia with reference to the Balkan States. 
An official denial of this being in contemplation has, it is true, 
been made in St. Petersburg; but, such is the state of official 
morality, little account is taken of this denial. The personal 
animosity existing between Count Aehrenthal and M. Isvolsky 
stands perhaps in the way. It was rumored that M. Isvolsky 
had resigned, but this does not seem to be true. It would 
seem that we are upon the eve of serious events. Troops have 
been moved, it has been said although this, too, has been con- 
tradicted by Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria, and the German 
Bourse fell decidedly in consequence. If an entente were 
reached between Austria-Hungary and Russia, it is question- 
able whether it would be to the advantage of the Balkan 
States. 

The Cabinet of Dr. de Lukacs lasted only one week and 
held only one meeting. After some little difficulty, that of 
Count Khuen Hedervary was formed; but when it presented 
itself before the Hungarian Parliament, it was received with 
hooting and jeers, and on the first vote was decisively de- 
feated. Thereupon it offered its resignation to the King, who 
refused to accept it; and gave to the Count the power to 
choose his own time to dissolve the Chamber and to hold a 
general election. This leaves everything in suspense for an in- 
definite period, and the prospects of political peace are very 
doubtful. 



19 io.] CURRENT EVENTS 855 

After making every concession to 
Greece. the demands of the Military 

League, and passing a large num- 
ber of laws for the reformation of the country, hopes were 
entertained that a settlement might be possible. Those hopes 
have been disappointed, for thereupon supervened the most 
radical demand of all. This was for the convocation of a 
National Assembly. The King at first would not listen to this 
demand. In the first place a national assembly would be il- 
legal, unless it was necessary that it should be voted for by two 
Chambers. This involved a general election. A general election 
would raise the question of Crete, and in all probability the 
armed intervention of Turkey; and this would mean war, for 
which Greece was quite unprepared. In the second place, the 
Assembly when called, might throw every institution of 
Greece into the melting pot, make itself into a Constituent 
Assembly, and completely overturn the existing order. Not- 
withstanding these objections, as the less of two evils, the 
King has given his consent, all the political parties urging him 
so to do. A new ministry has been formed, with as reliable a 
man as can be found in Greece at its head. The one com- 
pensation, and if realized a sufficient compensation, is that the 
Military has solemnly promised that it will dissolve itself as 
soon as the Assembly document is called, and thus put an end 
to the military rule which has for the past five months set 
aside the civil authority. 

The expectations expressed in the 
Belgium. last number, that parliamentary 

rule bringing as it does the mat- 
ter before the public opinion of the country would prove 
beneficial to the inhabitants of the Congo, have been realized 
sooner than was expected. At a recent meeting of the Colon- 
ial Council M. Renkin, the Colonial Minister, announced that 
it had been decided to abandon at once any system of forced 
labor. This decision applied not only to the Grand Lacs Rail- 
way, which is now nearing completion, but also to the Ouelle and 
Majumbe lines, which will be begun shortly. The local authori- 
ties are already disbanding the gangs of forced laborers. The 
announcement of this reform has produced in Belgium an ex- 
cellent impression. 



With Our Readers 

FEW celebrations of recent years have aroused so many inspiring 
memories of the [past as the Golden Jubilee of the Paulist 
Fathers, which was commemorated almost simultaneously in New 
York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Winchester, Tenn., 
and Austin, Texas, in all of which cities the Paulists have houses. 

The centre of interest was naturally New York, where the Com- 
munity first began its great labors and where the Mother- House is; 
and it was eminently fitting that the dominating spirit of the entire 
celebration should have been that of devotion and loyalty to the 
high ideals of Father Hecker. 

The religious ceremonies will long be remembered by those who 
witnessed them, and they were made particularly noteworthy by the 
presence of Cardinal Gibbons, the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop 
Farley, and a great number of the clergy and hierarchy, among the 
latter being Bishops Hickey of Rochester, O'Donnell of Brooklyn, 
O'Connor of Newark, and Cusack of New York. The order of ex- 
ercises was as follows : 

CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE, 

COLUMBUS AVENUE AND 6oTH STREET, NEW YORK CITY. 

January 24. 8 p. M. Solemn Vespers in presence of his Emi- 
nence Cardinal Gibbons. Sermon by Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Hickey. 

January 25. 10:30 A. M. Solemn Pontifical Mass in presence 
of his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Celebrant, the Most Rev. 
John M. Farley. Sermon by Rev. Walter Elliott, C.S.P. 

January 25. 8 p. M. Solemn Vespers in presence of his Excel- 
lency the Apostolic Delegate. Sermon by Rev. Thomas F. Burke, 
C.S.P. 

January 26. 8 p. M. Choral Service with Solemn Benediction 
of the Blessed Sacrament. Sermon by Rt. Rev. Mgr. Joseph F. 
Mooney, V.G. 

January 27. 8 p. M. Choral Service with Solemn Benediction. 
Sermon by Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, SJ. 

January 28. 8 p. M. Choral Service with Solemn Benediction. 
Sermon by Rev. E. G. Fitzgerald, O.P. 

January 29. 9 A. M. Children's Mass. Sermon by Rev. 
Joseph Daily, C.SS.R. 

Mass Meeting, under the auspices of the Catholic Laity, ^Febru- 
ary 2, Carnegie Hall, New York City. 

Speaking at the conclusion of the Pontifical High Mass, Janu- 
ary 25, Cardinal Gibbons said : 



i9io.] WITH OUR READERS 857 

" Dearly beloved, I thank you in the name of the bishops, of 
the clergy, and congratulate the Paulist Fathers on the celebration 
to-day of their Golden Jubilee. 

" The first time that I had the privilege and the honor of meet- 
ing the illustrious Father Hecker goes back probably farther than 
most here remember to the year 1854. At that time I was unde- 
cided about my vocation. I was hesitating whether I should go 
into the world, or whether I should join the army of the Lord. 
Those three great men, before the Paulist Order was established, 
gave a mission in a Southern city where I lived. I was deeply 
impressed, and the memory of what they said remains to this day. 
I see with my mind's eye those three, strong, vigorous men : Father 
Hecker, with that smile and genial expression of an innocent and 
upright heart ; the great, tranquil, dignified Father Hewit ; and Fa- 
ther Walworth, whose eloquence reached the hearts of every audi- 
ence. The words spoken on that day remain in my memory, and 
were, I believe, the instruments which prompted me to answer the 
call of God. 

' ' The original Paulists founded the Order inspired by the de^ 
sire to propagate Holy Faith, but, like all religious communities, it 
was founded in view of special needs of the day. St. Dominic, with 
his eloquent preachers, was raised to oppose the heresy of the Albi- 
genses. St. Ignatius Loyola was raised up that he might fight the 
dangers that afflicted the Church in the sixteenth century. Father 
Hecker established this Community that he might endeavor to con- 
vert the American people, whom he knew so well and whom he 
loved so tenderly. That was his ambition. He was to make the 
Catholic Church better known, better loved than it was in this coun- 
try. What a change has taken place in the sentiment of the non- 
Catholics of America within the last fifty years ! At that time they 
were fearful of the Church, afraid to cross even its threshold. Half 
a century ago converts might be numbered b'y the hundreds they 
can now be numbered by the thousands. Much in this change of 
sentiment is due to the labors of this Community founded by Father 
Hecker. He founded THE CATHOLIC WORLD, a magazine whose 
luminous pages have enlightened the Catholics and non-Catholics of 
our times. Through the " Question Box," for this is an institution 
of the Paulists, the missionaries of the Community have endeavored, 
honestly and fairly, to meet all honest and fair inquiries. Above all, 
the practice of giving missions to non- Catholics, and by this means 
explaining the teachings of the Church, has led our[ fellow- citizens 
to know us better, and, consequently, to love us the more. 

" Followers of St. Paul the Apostle, you will endeavor in the 
future, as in the past, to promote your own personal sanctification, 



858 WITH OUR READERS [Mar., 

your own goodness of heart ; to be chaste in body and in mind ; to 
be full of zeal before God in the greatest work of mind and heart 
the ambition to labor for the sanctification of souls. My friends 
and you are my friends above all you will remember to love one 
another with brotherly love ; to be always willing to help one an- 
other, bearing one another's burdens ; in a word, to practice that 
beautiful virtue of charity that great charity which is the mark of 
Catholic perfection, and which will not fail to bring down upon you 
every benediction. And I pray and hope you will answer the special 
call of your Institute ; love your Institute, and endeavor to pro- 
mote its glory always." 

The great Layman's Meeting in Carnegie Hall brought to a 
close the exercises of the Jubilee. It was a magnificent tribute on 
the part of the Catholics of New York City to the labors of the Paul- 
ist Fathers. One of the features of this meeting was the presence on 
the stage of the well-known Paulist Sanctuary Choir, under the di- 
rection of Sir Edmund G. Hurley. The programme was as follows : 

Choir: a. Ecce Sacerdos Magnus, 

b. We sing the Glorious Conquest. Young. 

The meeting will be called to order by Honorable Morgan J. O'Brien. 
Presiding: His Grace, the Archbishop of New York, 

The Most Rev. John M. Farley, D.D. 

Choir : Tu es Vas Electionis, Mendelssohn. 

Address : Reflections of a Paulist Parishioner. 

Honorable Thomas C. O' Sullivan. 

Choir, Ave Maria, Gounod. 

Address : The Conversion of America. Walter George Smith, Esq. 
Choir : Ecce Fidelis, Hurley. 

Address: Father Hecker the Citizen. Hon; W. Bourke Cockran. 
Choir: Halleluiah, Handel. 

Choir: Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. The National Anthem. 

In connection with the Jubilee, a lay committee of prominent 
New York Catholics has been formed for the purpose of raising 
$100,000 for the erection of a new headquarters for the Commu- 
nity. The Committee has met with gratifying success, though much 
still remains to be secured. 

A handsome souvenir booklet of the Jubilee, containing a num- 
ber of fine photographs, has been issued by the Columbus Press. 



Fairbanks incident comes opportunely to add interest to a 
. little volume, just recently published, on Europe and Methodism. 
The author is Bishop William Burt, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, who entered Italy as a missionary in 1886, took full charge 






i9io.] WITH OUR READERS 859 

of the Methodist propaganda a few years later, and erected the im- 
posing buildings in Rome of which his co-religionists are so proud. 
Since 1904, when he was elected bishop, he has had nearly all con- 
tinental Europe for his diocese. His work, then, gives an authori- 
tative but very summary survey of Methodist labors in Europe and 
of their results. 

* * * 

HERE is his story, in brief, of the Italian missions. The first 
Methodist missionary left America lor Italy in June, 1871. He 
studied the language, reconnoitred the field, located at Bologne, and 
after many difficulties procured a hall there and held his first ser- 
vices in June, 1873. A few months later a mission was established 
in Rome which became the headquarters of the work in the year 
following. Their early successes in the city of the Popes are 
vaguely referred to; but soon " a great indifference came over the 
people on religious matters. Then it was seen that much that 
seemed religious was only political, and hence there was a great de- 
crease in enthusiasm and shrinkage in^ numbers." With perse- 
verance, however, they were able, by the year 1881, to count 1,019 
"members and' probationers." They established a theological 
school at Florence in 1889, with Dr. E. S. Stackpole as president ; 
he retired in a few years and the school moved to Rome. The work 
spread and the various missions were visited in 1896 by Bishop 
Goodsell. Apparently he was little satisfied, for " he judged it best 
to make many changes. Thirteen of the ministers were moved." 
The reasons for the drastic measure are left unrevealed. Our 
author, under whose direction these ministers worked, gave an in- 
teresting speech shortly afterwards at the Venice Conference. On 
arriving in Italy, he says, "we were young and full of courage and 
hope. We had dreams of success and visions of victory. . . . 
How little we have accomplished in comparison with what we had 
hoped to do ! How many thorns, how many difficulties, how many 
disillusions, how many sorrows we have found in the way of which 
our youthful enthusiasm had made no account ! " Dr. Burt does 
not delay to explain in detail the reasons of his disappointments. 
Much, however, had been accomplished, at least in a material way, 
as his imposing summary shows. " We now have a theological 
school, a boys' college, an industrial school, two schools for girls, 
six elementary schools, a publishing house, and a fund for worn-out 
ministers, widows, and orphans." 

* * # 

THE results of thirty-five years' labors we give" as taken from 
the (latest) official report of 1907. The " members and proba- 
tioners " number 3,689 ; we are not told how many are probationers. 



860 WITH OUR READERS [Mar., 

There are 1,922 "Sunday-school scholars and teachers." The 
average attendance is unstated. These figures net a total of 5,611 
who may be called converts. Dr. Burt had stated, eleven years be- 
fore, that the missions might, with careful management, become 
self-supporting. Our report shows that the converts contributed 
$459 to the " missionary collections," or an average of about eight 
cents each for the year, and for " self-support" that is, of the 
Italian missions $4,099, which would mean seventy-three cents a 
head for the year. It appears something also is received in fees 
from some children in their schools and colleges, but the amount is 
not given. These sums four thousand dollars and a little more 
go to the support of forty-three ministers, numerous teachers, and 
assistants of various kinds, and to the maintenance of several char- 
ities and institutions churches, schools, colleges, etc. Their 
property is valued at $565,000. If Bishop Burt still hopes that the 
Italian missions will become self-supporting, he is undoubtedly a 
man of unconquerable hope. He does not tell us a fact we should 
like to know we presume it is published somewhere which is, the 
annual cost of supporting those Italian missions. At^any rate, it is 
no cheap task to make an Italian into a Methodist. Whether in the 
process he loses his faith or "superstition," we doubt; but one 
thing is quite clear, he doesn't lose his money. Bishop Burt, who 
lived among this to many most lovable people of the Continent 
for about twenty years, has not one kind word for them in his fifteen 
pages. A softer, more expansive heart is needed to " win Italy to 
God." 

* * 

MEAGRE results, some might think ; but Bishop Burt, who, as 
we have seen, is a man of great hope, expresses his encourage- 
ment. " The present success gives great hope for the future," he 
says. ". . . Italy needs us so much. The Italians on both sides of 
the ocean need us. In view of the past, and in hope of the future, 
Methodism has no more important mission than to Italy." We may 
add that the bishop entertains no high opinion of Roman Catholi- 
cism. While " the Greek Church has become degenerated and cor- 
rupt, . . . pagan in all but name," its evils " are multiplied and 
emphasized in Romanism ; but with this difference, that the latter is 
Jesuitically aggressive." From sundry hints we infer, by the way, 
that the bishop does not like the Jesuits. Another drawback in 
Italy is " an army of intriguing priests, monks, and nuns ' ' who are 
doing their utmost to keep the people in ignorance. 

Under the circumstances one might expect a greater " revival 
of soul-stirring, conscience- awakening, joyous Methodism " than the 
report indicates ; yet we wonder if it has been as great. Dr. Stack- 



19 io.] WITH OUR READERS 86 1 

pole, to whom we referred above, in his book on Four and One-Half 
Years in the Italian Missions, which was reviewed in THE CATHOUC 
WORI/D several years ago, revealed to us the old- time methods of 
rolling up a good Methodist report. As the salaries and grants were 
proportioned to the church membership, the ministers simply doc- 
tored the reports, at least if we are to believe this former president 
of the theological seminary in which Italian Methodist preachers 
were trained. Not having the book within reach, we quote it at 
second-hand from the Sacred Heart Review (Feb. 12). Dr. Stack- 
pole says : " We once asked one of the preachers why he did not cut 
down the statistical Report for the Minutes to actual facts, and he 
replied: ' That would not please the Presiding Elder.' Every 
preacher on the Italian mission knows that all the authorities on 
both sides of the ocean want to see every year in the Reports an 
increase of membership, probationers, conversions, etc., and they are 
accommodating enough to make the desired increase." It appears, 
too, that on the occasion of a visit from the Presiding Elder, the 
ministers would pack the mission, borrowing members from the 
neighboring missions so as to make a good showing ; somewhat if 
an example from a profane source be permitted us after the method 
of practical politicians, who vote " floaters " in different polling 
booths. As the Presiding Elder, on whom this method was prac- 
tised, was our present author, Bishop Burt himself, we cannot expect 
any record of so painful a memory in his little book ; at the same 
time, his reticence does not serve to remove our suspicion that the 
same method of computation is still followed by those who are " win- 
ning Italy to God." 

# * 

POME Catholics are offended that the Methodists should send mis- 
O sionaries to convert our co-religionists ; but we have no reason to 
complain. The report shows that, in 1907, there were four hundred 
and sixty-eight Methodist ministers evangelizing the continent of 
Europe, exclusive of those engaged in Austria, Hungary, Russia, 
and France, whose number is not given. Of these, over four hun- 
dred are striving to convert Protestants to Methodism, which would 
seem to indicate that the Protestants of Europe are judged to be 
about seven times as much in need of Methodism as the Catholics 
and Greeks together. The missions to Protestants are incomparably 
more fruitful ; while they count only eleven hundred Greeks in- 
cluding members, probationers, Sunday-School scholars, and teach- 
ers and fifty-six hundred Catholics, they gained over one hundred 
and sixty-five thousand Protestants, or twenty-four times the given 
number of Greeks and Catholics combined. The value of their 
property in Europe is more than four and a half millions ; the cost 



862 WITH OUR READERS [Mar., 

of supporting their numerous struggling missions must be enormous. 
Do the American Protestants, who supply this money, realize that it 
is expended almost entirely to convert people from one form of Prot- 
estanism to another from tweedle-dum to tweedle-dee ? But Meth- 
odism, as this little book reveals, is very self-confident and may we 
say? Methodistically aggressive; with the only pure, primitive 
Christianity, its contempt for Continental Protestanism is only sur- 
passed by its hatred for " superstition, Greek and Roman." 



generous support which American Protestants give to their 
-i- missions and this Methodist report is only one of very many 
recalls some words of the appeal on behalf of the Negro and Indian 
Missions, just issued by Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Ryan, and 
Archbishop Farley, to the Catholic laity of America. " If Catholics 
of wealth," they say, " are listening to these words, let them pause 
to examine how they acquit themselves of the responsibilities God 
imposed when He endowed them with riches. We trust God will 
inspire many of our wealthy Catholics, as He has already inspired 
some, with a worthy view of their responsibilities and opportunities, 
and with an earnest desire to use their means for the spread of re- 
ligious truth and the salvation of souls ; we trust that many of that 
large and increasing class who, though not wealthy, spend money 
freely and even with sinful extravagance, will remember the claims 
of charity ; and we know that we can rely upon our good Catholic 
poor and our good Catholics of ordinary means, who are the back- 
bone of the Church, to continue their aid to these missions to the 
Indians and Negroes." 

* # * 

THIS appeal is deserving of the most generous response ; but we 
read between the lines an aim wider than its immediate object. 
Our spiritual leaders, if we interpret these words rightly, are re- 
buking the indifference towards important Catholic interests which is 
manifested by many rich Catholics. Comparisons are difficult, yet so 
much seems to be done particularly for educational institutions and 
missions by non-Catholic men of wealth and so little by our own. 
Perhaps these words of the Cardinal and the Archbishops will quick- 
en the conscience of some, and encourage our generous Catholics to 
continue ; they may even reach that class most widespread to-day 
and most difficult to impress the extravagant. 

The cry for missionary workers in this appeal far more insist- 
ent than the cry for funds is one that we feel THE CATHOUC 
WORLD should re-echo, and perhaps carry to some readers destined 
to heed it. Our venerable Prelates, looking again beyond their im- 
mediate object, say : 



IQIO.] WITH OUR READERS 863 

"We all need to kindle within'us the missionary spirit. True, 
it is stirring in our land, more stirring even perhaps than at any 
time in our history. But the Church of America is still far from 
doing her full duty. From all sides cries for more workers reach 
our Bishops and our Religious Orders. Our Sisterhoods are calling 
out for young women who are urgently needed to equip our schools, 
hospitals, asylums, and other institutions; and many a young wo- 
man spends at home, in the school-room, in the office, or in the 
shop, those powers which God intended her to use in His service for 
the salvation of souls. Our Brotherhoods that labor so faithfullj 7 and 
unostentatiously, with so little earthly reward, are always ready to 
welcome young men with signs of a vocation. And many dioceses 
and many communities of priests have abundance of misssionary 
work waiting for young men who come to the priesthood in the spirit 
of zeal. Pray earnestly then that this Pentecost, the [fire that will 
kindle this missionary spirit, may soon descend upon us from on 
high." 

That the spirit of worldliness hinders many young men and 
women from hearing the inner call, we have no doubt ; these earnest 
words, coming from such revered authorities and at this season, 
ought to fall upon heeding ears. 

* * * 

LAST month we gave space in this department to extracts from 
Father Rickaby's sermon preached on the occasion of the open- 
ing of the Newman Memorial Church at Kdgbaston, England. We 
are pleased to announce that Messrs. I/ongmans, Green & Co., New 
York, are about to publish this sermon, together with another by the 
Father Provincial, in pamphlet form. Those interested in the mat- 
ter, therefore, [will be able to secure complete copies of these valuable 

sermons. 

* * * 

IN THE CATHOUC WORLD of October, 1909, we published an arti- 
cle having to do with the Roman Breviary as ' ' A Forgotten 
Book of Devotions." The purpose of this article was to encourage 
the use of the Breviary, in its English translation, among the laity. 
The letters which we received after its publication gave testimony of 
the interest shown in the work by Catholics. In this connection we 
wish to make mention of a valuable booklet just issued : Learning 
the Office. An Introduction to the Roman Breviary, by John T. 
Hendricks, SJ. It is published by Fr. Pustet, New York, and will 
prove of good service to those who read or intend to read the Office 
of the Church, as well as to young ecclesiastics, for whom it is pri- 
marily intended. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 

JOHN LANE & Co., New York: 

A Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend. By Bernard Berenson. Price, $2. 
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York: 

The Warfare of the Soul. Practical Studies in the Life of Temptation. By S. C. Hugh- 
son. Price $1.20 net. Social Relationships in the Light of Christianity. By W. E. 
Chidwick, D.D. The Divine Minstrels. By A. Bailey. The Healthful Spirit. By 
H. N. Bate, M.A. Evolution and the Fall. By Rev. F. I. Hall, D.D. Life of Christ 
for Children. 
E. P. DUTTON & Co., New York: 

Francia's Masterpiece. By Montgomery Carmichael. Price $2 net. 
D. APPLETON & Co., New York. 

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