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MONTHLY MAGAZINE
OF
GENERAL LITERATURE AND SCIENCE
VOL. CXII. MARCH, 1921 No. 672
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PUBLISHED BY
THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE IN
THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
(The Paulist Fathers.)
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1917, authorized October 9, 1918.
CONTENTS.
VOLUME CXIL OCTOBER, 1920, TO MARCH, 1921.
American Music and Musicians.
F. Joseph Kelly, Mas. D., . . 341
An American Catholic's Apostolate.
May Bateman, . . . . 211
An Apostle of Unity. James Louis
Small, 505
Asceticism: An Unpopular Apology.
John Keating Cartwright, D.D., 792
"At the Beautiful Gate of the
Temple." Michael Andrew Chap-
man, 636
Bicentenary of the Passlonist Order,
The. Harold Purcell, C.P., . . 512
Bishops and Our Press* The.
Michael Williams 721
Breaking and Renewing Diplomatic
Relations Between France and the
Holy See. Abbe Felix Klein, . 577
California's Heroine. Michael Wil-
liams, 488
Career of St. Patrick, The. Seumas
MacManus, . 755
Catholic Influence on Early Hun-
garian Literature. F. A. Palmieri,
O.S.A., Ph.D., D.D 217
Catholic Women in Italy. F. A.
Palmieri, O.S.A., Ph.D., D.D., . 362
Centenary of John Keats, The.
Brother Leo, ..... 644
Change of Inauguration Date, The.
Herbert F. Wright, . . .815
Chained Bibles Before and After the
Reformation. John M. Lenhart,
O.M.Cap., 15
Czecho-Slovak Republic and Re-
ligion. Herbert F. Wright, Ph.D., 346
Di-uii Swift, The Enigma of.
Katherine Bregy, Litt.D., . . 52
Defender of Church and State, Leon
Daudet. W. H. Scheifley, Ph.D., 157
Evolution, The Theory of. J. M.
Prendergast, S.J., . . . .205
France and the Holy See. Jules A.
Baisnee, S.S., D.D 1
France and the Holy See, Breaking
and Renewing Diplomatic Rela-
tions Between. Abbe Felix Klein, 577
French-Canadian Prose Writers,
Some. Thomas O'Hagan, Ph.D.,
Litt.D., 465
Great Catholic Author, A. P. D.
Murphy, 86
Guiney, Louise Imogen. Katherine
Bregy, Litt.D., . . . .433
Hilaire Belloc, Initiator. Brother
Leo 182
Holy See, France and the. Jules A.
Baisnee, S.S., D.D., ... 1
Hungarian Literature, Catholic In-
fluence on Early. F. A. Palmieri,
O.S.A., Ph.D., D.D 217
Industrial Equity, A Plan of.
Francis J. Yealy, S.J., . . .354
Interdependence, Relativity or.
John T. Blankart 588
Inauguration Date, The Change in.
Herbert F. Wright, . . .815
In the Wake of Poland's Victory.
Charles Phillips 447
Irish Literature, National Tradition
in. Martin J. Les, B.A., . . 60
Italy, Catholic Women in. F. A.
Palmieri, O.S,A., Ph.D., D.D. , . 362
Keats, The Centenary of John.
Brother Leo 644
Latest Mr. Wells, The. Henry A.
Lappin, Litt.D., . . . .453
Leon Daudet, Defender of Church
and State. W. H. Scheifleg, Ph.D. t 157
Leslie Moore : Artist-Novelist.
Edward F. Carrigan, S.J., . . 746
Lest We Forget. P. W. Browne,
D.D., 331
Life's Work of J. H. Newman, The.
Herbert Lucas, S.J., 171, 303, 413, 660
Louise Imogen Guiney. Katherine
Bregy, Litt.D 433
Mr. Wells, The Latest. Henry A.
Lappin, Litt.D., . . . .453
National Tradition in Irish Litera-
ture. Martin J. Les, B.A., . . 60
Open Window, The. Samuel Fowle
Telfair, Jr., . . . . .733
Passionist Order, The Bicentenary
of. Harold Purcell, C.P., . . 512
Petrel, The Poetry of the. Harriette
Wilbur, 674
Picpus, A Pilgrimage to. James
Louis Small, 35
Plan of Industrial Equity, A.
Francis J. Yealy, S.J 354
Poet of the Supernatural, The. F.
Moynihan, 611
Poetry of the Petrel, The. Har-
riette Wilbur, . . . .674
Poland's Victory, In the Wake of.
Charles Phillips 447
Press, The Bishops and Our.
Michael Williams 721
Puritans, Sebastian Rale and the.
George F. ^O'Dwyer, ... 45
Purpose of the State, The. John A.
Ryan, D.D., 803
Recent Events, 123, 272, 411, 555, 698, 843
Reformation, Chained Bibles Before
and After the. John M. Lenhart,
O.M.Cap., 15
Relativity or Interdependence.
John T. Blankart 588
Sebastian Rale and the Puritans.
George F. O'Dwyer, ... 45
Some French-Canadian Prose
Writers. Thomas O'Hagan, Ph.D.,
Litt.D., 465
Some Novels of the Past Year.
Maurice Francis Egan, . 289, 522
Soul of a Patriot, The. L. Wheaton, 316
State, The Purpose of the. John A.
Ryan, D.D., . . . . .803
St. Patrick, The Career of. Seumas
MacManus, ..... 755
Theory of Evolution, The. /. M.
Prendergast, S.J., . . . .205
Wisdom of Sitting Still, The.
Richardson Wright, ... 30
Women in Italy, Catholic. F. A.
Palmieri, O.S.A., Ph.D., D.D., . 362
Woman Suffrage. /. W. Dawson, 145
STORIES.
Divorced. Esther W. Neill, . . 195
Maragh of the Silent Valley. Mary
Foster 771
Partners. Grace Keon, 74
The Padre Settles Things. A. B.
W. Woods 618
The Loyalist. James Francis Bar-
rett, 93, 228, 374
CONTENTS
in
POEMS.
A Bride of Christ. J. Corson
Miller .85
A Prayer. Lucy Gertrude Clarkin, 34
And Was Made Man. Francis
Carlin, 511
Aspiration. J. Corson Miller, . . 745
Emparadised. Patrick Coleman, . 180
Immaculata, Ora Pro Nobis.
Emily Hickey, . . . .
Jehovah. Julian E. Johnstone, .
Lines on Watt's "Hope" in the Tate
Gallery. M. /.,....
Magdalen. Caroline Giltinan, .
Martyrdom. Harry Lee, .
610
372
486
791
170
The Blind Man. Martin T, O'Con-
nell
The First Christmas Carol. Charles
51
353
J. Quirk, S.J
The Gift of Shamrocks. S. M. E., 802
The Harp That Once Thro' Tara's
Halls. Thomas A. Lahey, C.S.C., 673
The Immaculate Conception. Lilian
E. Selleck 361
The Inn. John Bunker, . . .210
The Presentation. Charles J. Quirk,
S.7., . . . . . . . 635
The Six Wounds. Francis Carlin, 754
To Dame Paula, O.S.B. Theodore
Maynard, ... . 464
WITH OUR READERS.
American Committee for Relief in
Ireland, 864
Anti-American to Condone England, 569
A Tribute to Father Hecker . . 572
Birth Control, . . . . .421
Blackfriars on the Irish Situation, 429
Books for Louvain, .... 575
Christ, the World's Cure, . . 281
Cultivating the Catholic Mind, . 859
Divorce, 716
England's Failure in Ireland, . . 285
Indian Missions, . . . .287
Ireland, 136
Lambeth Conference and Women, . 286
Louise Imogen Guiney, . . . 428
Loving God with Our Minds, . . 710
Paying Tribute to Our Forebears in
Social Service, . . . .719
Reviewers and the Canons of Criti-
cism, 574
"Sex-Stuff" in the Movies, . . 713
Support of Catholic Colleges . . 573
The Catholic University of Tokyo, 574
The Conversion and Death of Mrs.
Catherine S. Hewit, . . .430
The Decline of Religion and Morals, 141
The Nation and Poland, . . . 862
The Sacramental Principle in Art, 138
The Worth of the Soul in Christ, . 566
Unity of Christ, . . . .854
Woman's Suffrage Obligation of, . 133
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
America Enlightening the World,
Abbotscourt, ....
823
258
A Century of Persecution Under
Tudor and Stuart Sovereigns, . 824
A Commentary on the New Code of
Canon Law, . . . . .257
Adventures and Enthusiasms, . . 263
Adventures Perilous, . . . .265
A Handbook of Patrology, . . 539
A History of Penance, . . .689
A History of the United States, . 116
America and the New Era, . . 694
American Boys' Handy Book of
Camp Lore and Woodcraft, . . 697
American World Policies, . . 399
An Awakening and What Followed, 839
An Essay on Mediaeval Economic
Teaching, 109
Animal Husbandry, .... 554
An Irishman Looks at His World, 261
Anne, 407
A Patriot Priest, . . v . .405
A Poor Wise Man, .... 554
A Short Method of Mental Prayer, 840
A Short History of the Atonement, 251
A Short History of Belgium, . . 117
A Tankard of Ale, . . . .406
Beck of Beckford, .... 550
Blessed Oliver Plunket, . . .551
Bobbins of Belgium, . . . 398
Born of the Crucible, . . . 258
Catholic Hymnal, . . . .841
Carleton's Stories of Irish Life, . 395
Caught by the Turks, . . .401
Cesare Borgia, 695
Considerations of Eternity, . . 688
Constantine I. and the Greek People, 691
Dante, 827
Dehydrating Foods, . . . .269
Democracy and Ideals, . . . 400
Democratic Industry, . . . 533
Dionysius the Areopagite on the
Divine Names and the Mystical
Theology, 114
Divorce, 837
En Route, . . . ... 552
Erskine Dale, Pioneer, . . . 552
Ethics, General and Special, . .690
Europe and the Faith, . . . 535
Even Better 270
Everyday Chemistry, . . . 554
Exposition of Christian Doctrine, . 831
Facts of the Faith, . . . .268
Father Tim's Talks With People He
Met, 271
Father William Doyle, S.J., . . 110
Flappers and Philosophers, . . 268
Foreign Publications, . . . 841
France and Ourselves, . . . 119
Franciscans and the Protestant
Revolution in England, . . .115
French Literature of the Great War, 267
From Upton to the Meuse with the
Three 1 Hundred and Seventh, . 116
God in the Thicket, . . . .688
Habits that Handicap, . . . 119
Happy House, 258
Heart Troubles, Their Prevention and
Relief, .410
High Company, . . . ' . .4ft**
Hispanic Anthology, .... 4*42
Historic Christianity and the Apos-
tles' Creed, 687
History of the United States, . .113
In the Onyx Library, . . . 550
IV
CONTENTS
Intimate Letters from Petrograd, . 553
Intimate Pages of Mexican History, 250
Introduction to Economics, . . 402
Ireland a Nation, .... 259
Irish Fairy Tales, . . . .839
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, . . 121
Jesus' Principles of Living, . .257
Joan of Arc, Soldier and Saint, . 398
Labor in Politics, . . . .688
Lady Lilith, 553
Leerie, 408
Les Lettres Provincialles de Blaise
Pascal, . . . . . .540
Lilies of His Love, . . . . 269
Liluli, 408
Limbo, 838
Literature in a Changing Age, . . 829
Love and Mr. Lewisham, . . . 547
Margaret, or Was It Magnetism? . 553
Maria Edgeworth, .... 395
Mass in F, 260
Maureen, ...... 547
Mediaeval Medicine, . . . .112
Medicina Pastoralis, . . . 681
Memories of My Son, Sergeant Joyce
Kilmer, 255
Men and Books and Cities, . . 692
Methods and Materials of Literary
Criticism, 541
Mexico in Revolution, . . . 401
Monographs, . . . . . 409
Moods and Memories, . . . 548
Moral, 696
Napoleon, a Play, . . . . 546
No Defence, 545
October, and Other Poems, . . 837
Old Plymouth Trails, . . .257
O Sacrum Convivium, . . . 259
Pamphlet Publications, . . . 122
People of Destiny, . . . .537
Plays, 408
Points of Friction, . . . .386
Poland and the Minority Races, . 405
Political Economy, .... 409
Potterism, 694
Queen Lucia, ..... 549
Rachel, 409
Red Terror and Green, . . .550
Religion and Health, . . .684
Reynard, the Fox, . . . .253
Rising Above the Ruins in France, 693
Roads to Childhood, . . . .839
Sadlier's Excelsior Geography, . 410
St. Teresa, 114
Selections from Swinburne, . . 696
Short History of the Italian People, 687
Sister Mary of St. Philip, . . 690
Songs and Sonnets, .... 407
Spiritism: The Modern Satanism, . 252
Spiritual Conferences, . . . 693
Studies in American History, . . 410
Summarium Theologise Moralis, . 115
Tahiti Days, 695
The Advancing Hour, . . . 403
The Altar of God, . . . .836
The Art of Interesting, . . . 389
The Bells of Old Quebec, . ... 552
The Black Cardinal, . . .551
The Brides of Christ, . . .121
The Cairn of Stars, . . . .397
The Cathedral of Reims, . . .686
The Catholic Doctrine of Grace, . 387
r rhe Catholic Student, . . .118
'f* Charm of Fine Manners, . . 121
The Chinese Coat, . . . .271
The Christian Faith, . . . .545
The Chronicles of America, . 390, 831
The Class-Room Teacher, . .271
The Cobbler in Willow Street, . 404
The Collegians, 395
The Cross of Ares, and Other
Sketches, 838
The Divine Office, . . . 839
The Doctrine of the Church and
Christian Reunion, . . . 543
The Emperor's Royal Robes, . . 698
The Eve of Pascua, .... 553
The Evolution of Sinn Fein, . . 828
The Five Books of Youth, . . 118
The Foolish Lovers, .... 696
The Girl, Horse, and a Dog, . . 554
The Great Modern American Short
Stories, 270
The Happy Bride, . . . .827
The Happy Shepherd, . . .269
The Harvest Home, . . . .118
The Hidden Sanctuary, . . .263
The January Girl, .... 120
The Junkman, and Other Poems, . 837
The Library of Photius, . . .546
The Light Out of the East, . . 270
The Logic of Lourdes, . . .253
The Lonely House, . . . .111
The Luzumiyat of Abul'1-Ala, . . 269
The Making of America, . . . 388
The Man of Tomorrow, . . . 120
The Meaning of Christianity Accord-
ing to Luther and His Followers
in Germany, ..... 825
The Menace of Spiritualism, . . 252
The Odes and Psalms of Solomon, 397
The Old Freedom, .... 265
The Old Humanities and the New
Science, 250
The Ordeal of Mark Twain, . . 255
The Other Life, .... 54<i
The Path of Humility, . . 840
The Peace Conference Day by Day, 248
The Political and Financial Inde^
pendence of the Vatican, . . 837
The Presence of God, . . . 840
The Problem of Evil, . . .682
The Problem of the Pentateuch, . 683
The Red Conspiracy, . . .262
The Report of the Seyfert Commis-
sion on Spiritualism, . . . 252
The Right Rev. Edward Dominick
Fenwick, O.P., .... 538
The Romance of Madame Tussaud's, 686
The School of Love, . . . .121
The Shaping of Jephson's, . . 551
The Sons O' Cormac, ' . . . 839
The Standard Opera Glass, . . 549
The Story of Hildebrand, St. Greg-
ory VII., 253
The Story of Liberty, . . .271
The Sword of the Spirit, . . .544
The Thread of Flame, . . . 405
The United States, . . . .825
The Way of Beauty, . . . .266
The Way of Wonder, . . .254
The Westminster Version of Sacred
Scriptures, 828
Thought Blossoms, .... 404
Towards the Dawn, . . . .264
Twenty Cures at Lourdes Medically
Discussed, 680
Twenty-five Offertories, . . .259
Ursula Finch, 548
Vitalism and Scholasticism, . . 534
What Father Cuthbert Knew, . . 840
What's the Matter with Ireland? . 396
W T hispers, 121
Wings of the Wind, . . . .552
Wounded Souls, 685
Young Hearts, 268
THE
VOL. CXII.
OCTOBER, 1920
No. 667
FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE.
PROGRESS TOWARD THE RENEWAL OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.
BY JULES A. BAISNEE, S.S., D.D.
PEAKING in the Chamber of Deputies in the
latter days of July, 1919, on the morrow of the
march of the victorious Allied troops through
Paris, M. Clemenceau finely proclaimed: "An
epoch has finished, another epoch has begun
with a new task, with another series of duties. That task is
no less great and no less splendid it is ever France who, in
order to hold her own in the world, needs all her children.
It is another signal test, and one which, above all, needs the
complete cooperation of all our energies. To work therefore!
Let us devote all our energies to the fervent wisdom which will
unite all our wills to action. Only thus shall we bequeath
intact to our sons the gifts of our ancestors' genius, which
makes of our history, as it were, a glorious epitome of the loft-
iest aspirations of humanity." Before that he had issued the
same call in still fewer words: "After having won the vic-
tory over the enemy, France must be victorious over herself."
Here we have, plainly declared, the duty that lay upon
France, if the ravages of the War were to be repaired; work
and unity had won the victory in the War, and work and
union were equally necessary for the time of peace. No
Copyright. 1920. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
VOL. cxu. 1
2 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
country can hope to restore its prosperity unless the strife
of parties gives place to united action for the common weal.
An attempt will be made in the following pages to show
the progress made by France in the realization of her aged
statesman's programme as regards religious peace and the
restoration of normal relations with the Holy See. For the
last quarter of a century, France has been torn by religious
strife, and her open break with the Holy See, followed by the
passing of the Law of Separation, has been the scandal of
Catholics the world over. Even the sympathy she aroused
when she surrendered one-fifth of her territory to be laid
waste by an almost uninterrupted battle of fifty months, and
sacrificed fifteen hundred thousand of her sons to the com-
mon cause; even the admiration she won by the genius of her
military leaders, the courage of her soldiers and the patient
fortitude of her civilian population, failed to remove the stigma
attached to her name as the unfaithful daughter of the Church.
And yet the great lesson of suffering had been learned by her,
and the "Union Sacree," proclaimed by her President in the
first hour of the conflict and heartily accepted by all as the
surest way to victory, had grown too deep-rooted in her soul
to be put aside when the danger was over. France's victory
over herself may not be so complete and so rapid as some of
her impatient sons and friends would have it, but all signs
point to its early attainment.
* * *
The origin of the break and the main episodes of its
consummation are familiar to all. At the beginning of the
pontificate of Pius X., several questions between France and
the Holy See were causing difficulty. M. Combes had carried
against the religious congregations a ruthless application of
the Law of Association, and the visit of President Loubet to
the King of Italy in Rome had elicited from the Vatican a
vigorous protest to the Heads of all Catholic States. Of these
and other circumstances M. Combes, on his own avowal, made
use to force a rupture. His final move was an unfortunate
one, and his violence left the Pope plainly the injured party.
Two French bishops the bishops of Dijon and Laval had
been summoned to Rome to answer grave charges made
against them. But the Government stepped in between them
and the Pope who, in such matters, could not subordinate the
1920.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 3
bishops' submission to the good pleasure of civil authorities.
To have withdrawn his letters to the bishops would have
amounted to an abdication of his Pontifical authority. Ex-
planations and expostulations were of no avail; M. Combes'
only reply was to hand his passports to the Papal Nuncio in
Paris, and to recall the French Ambassador from the Vatican.
It is easy to imagine the effect that the political passions
aroused by such incidents had on the discussion of the Bill
for the Separation of Church and State, which came up in the
following session of the French Parliament. This separation,
if prepared in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, could
have been effected to the mutual satisfaction of the two parties;
but, instead of that, the Law voted in 1905 became an instru-
ment of oppression and spoliation, which fully deserved the
solemn condemnation issued by Pope Pius in his encyclical
of February, 1906, and fully justified the prohibition to form
the "Associations Cultuelles," which followed in August of the
same year. No need to recall here the harrowing scenes which
marked the taking, in the spring, of the inventories of the
Church properties, and, in the winter, the expulsion of the
clergy, bishops, pastors, and seminarians from their resi-
dences which, in the absence of the associations provided by
the bill to take them over, were automatically returning to
the State, whilst the churches were left to the Catholics for the
free exercise of religious worship.
The Church of France had suffered incalculable loss of
properties and resources, the French clergy had been reduced
to a state of destitution, in many cases pitiful; yet, as a com-
pensation for the material losses and for the blow to national
unity and harmony, the Church had gained a degree of inde-
pendence of civil authority never enjoyed before, and her
severe trials seemed only to intensify the loyalty of her faithful,
and to draw to her a large class of Frenchmen till then indif-
ferent, if not hostile. For it is remarkable that the Catholic
revival in art and literature, and the great impetus observed in
the organization of the Catholic forces, which seem to be the
characteristics of France in the first two decades of the twen-
tieth century, coincided with events which many outsiders often
mistook as the signs of France's decay as a Catholic nation.
In time, this Catholic revival, which soon began to mani-
fest its strength, would certainly have forced a reconsideration
4 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
of the religious legislation of the country and a reconciliation
with the Holy See. Even among the parties of the Left,
opinion soon began to turn in that direction. On the eve of
the War, in 1914, a well-known radical, M. Francois Deloncle,
undertook a campaign in favor of a renewal of relations with
the Vatican, and expressed his conviction that, when the time
came for action, he would have a majority for it in the
Chamber. This indeed did not mean that he and those who
thought with him intended to "go to Canossa," by rescinding
the Law of Separation; it meant rather that they had come to
see the pressing need for getting rid of the isolation forced
upon France as a result of the brutal rupture effected ten
years earlier by M. Combes. Difficulties at home were fol-
lowed by increasing difficulties abroad; and, in particular,
France's age-long Protectorate in the East was being dimin-
ished and even lost in some districts.
As a climax to these difficulties came the outbreak of the
Great War, which made the need for a resumption of diplo-
matic relations with the Holy See more imperative and urgent.
After the appointment of a British envoy to Rome, France
alone of the belligerent Powers had no official representative
at the Curia, and it was inevitable that her interests should
suffer. It was in view of this that M. Viviani, in August, 191 4-,
sent to Rome an agent, M. Charles Loiseau, who was officially
attached to the French Embassy to the Quirinal, but actually
charged to represent the French Government at the Vatican.
On special occasions ecclesiastics, like the late Cardinal
Amette, or prominent Catholic laymen, like Baron Denys
Cochin, were given missions to the Holy Father. But such
expedients were unsatisfactory, in spite of the complaisance
shown by the Vatican authorities and the patriotism of those
who accepted such missions. It was felt that France was too
great to be content to enter the Vatican by the back door, and
that what was wanted was a diplomatic representative duly
accredited.
This was recognized by most of those who guided the for-
tunes of France during the great struggle, and considerations
like these led men as widely different in their political
opinions as M. Hanotaux and M. de Monzie to advocate, for
national motives, open and official dealings with the Holy
See, and the adoption of a policy as beneficial to French in-
1920.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 5
terests as it was conformable with French best traditions. In
his book, Rome sans Canossa, M. de Monzie put forth a very
strong plea in favor of that policy, and, in a public debate in
the Chamber, in July, 1919, he elicited from one of the leaders
of the anti-clerical policy in the previous decade, M. Viviani,
the very remarkable admission that he, too, without ever
renouncing his republican ideals, would welcome the restora-
tion, by proper vote of the Chamber, of the diplomatic rela-
tions with the Vatican.
* * *
After the signing of the Treaty of Peace, the country was
to be called to the polls to determine how to meet the great
reconstruction tasks. It soon appeared that a concentration of
all the forces of order against the threatening excesses of
Radicalism and Bolshevism was both a need and a possibility.
In place of the old "Bloc" responsible for most of the legisla-
tion restrictive of religious liberty, and around the same, now
greatly changed leader, M. Clemenceau, a National Bloc was
organized into which Catholics were welcomed, and the
leaders of which pledged themselves and the party to a policy
of respect for religious liberty.
In his famous Strasbourg speech, M. Clemenceau urged
that it was the very principle of the Republican regime that
the secularism of the State should be reconciled with the
rights and liberties of all citizens. Only thus could religious
peace be assured. The misery was that politics and religion
were too often confounded; but the utterances of the accredited
spokesmen of the Church authorized the hope that religious
peace would be secured when the legitimate claims of religious
liberty were no longer burdened with the dead weight of the
old political parties.
M. Millerand made still more explicit declarations. After
having pointed out that it would be calumnious to say that
the soldiers had returned without having forgotten or learned
anything, or that all were not ready to forget smaller matters
in order to seize upon the greater, he, like M. Clemenceau,
declared for the continuance of the separation of Church and
State and the maintenance of the neutral schools. The first,
however, was not a war on religion, but a declaration that
religion was outside the domain of the State. And the second,
the neutral school, was a school which was really neutral and
6 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
not an instrument of war against creeds. Certainly the family
should have the right to bring up its children in its own re-
ligious beliefs. Then, considering the question of religious
congregations, M. Millerand reiterated what he had already
said in 1917: "It appeared morally impossible that, after the
War, the Religious should be led back again to the frontier
which they had recrossed to come and share the dangers of
the battlefield with their countrymen. The lay and neutral
character of the public school is no impediment against asso-
ciations, whether religious or lay, establishing schools accord-
ing to the rules which regulate private education. The Re-
public of victory was the common property of all Frenchmen,
and it had the duty to be at once generous and tolerant."
The result of the November election was a pronounced
shifting of the majority in the Chamber from Left to Right,
and the entrance into Parliament of a solid group of more
than two hundred Catholics representing all professions; suf-
fice it to name here the illustrious General de Castelnau and
Marc Sangnier, the former President of Le Sillon. The sena-
torial election held shortly after did not effect the same rad-
ical transformation in the upper House, due no doubt to the
fact that only one section of the assembly was up for reelec-
tion and that, in France, the Senators are not elected by pop-
ular vote. In January took place the election of the President
of the Republic and, to the surprise of the outside world, but
to the satisfaction of the French Catholics, whose admiration
for M. Clemenceau did not make them forget his old preju-
dices, M. Deschanel carried an almost unanimous vote, and
upon the retirement of the "Father of Victory" from political
life, M. Millerand was appointed Premier.
From then on it was clear that the question of the renewal
of diplomatic relations with the Vatican would be moving
steadily on. Having been called upon to define his policy with
regard to the Holy See, M. Millerand replied: "The national
interests of France will ever be our guides. On the day when
the national interest shall seem to require a resumption of
relations with the Vatican, on that day, openly and publicly,
the Government will lay the matter before the Parliament
with whom the decision will rest."
The Holy Father was closely following the movement
and doing all in his power to assure the return of France to her
1920.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 1
* *
traditional policies. Thus on the occasion of the inauguration
of President Deschanel, he took the friendly initiative of send-
ing a message marked by the most unmistakable cordiality.
"We do not doubt," he said, "that Divine Providence reserves
for your presidential action, with the devoted and sincere
cooperation of all good French citizens, the magnificent and
glorious mission of raising France from her material and
moral ruins, of giving your country religious peace which will
be one of the important factors of her restoration." In reply, M.
Deschanel assured His Holiness "how highly he valued those
good wishes for the happiness of victorious France and for the
accomplishment of her historic destinies which were bound
up with the cause of Justice."
On March 11, 1920, M. Millerand's promise received its
fulfillment. A law was presented to the Chamber asking for
the vote of a credit for the reestablishment of the Embassy to
the Vatican. To it was prefixed a preamble which showed the
completeness of the Premier's conviction that the course pro-
vided for was necessary in the interests of France, on the
ground that French diplomacy must be present where ques-
tions connected with the national interests are being discussed.
It could not remain any longer absent from the seat of a spir-
itual government, at which the greater number of states have
taken care to be represented. The reasons for the adoption
of such a policy were then set forth: the putting in force of
the Peace Treaties, the necessity of avoiding occasions of di-
vision, the alteration of frontiers in Central Europe, the new
situation created in the Near and Middle East and the com-
plexity and delicacy of the questions arising from it, the ques-
tion of the Church in Alsace-Lorraine, and lastly the protec-
tion of the exercise of religion in Morocco.
It was to be expected that a bill evidencing such a reversal
of policy on the part of the French Government would not pass
without opposition, especially from the extremists who had
engineered the rupture of 1904 and the anti-clerical legislation
of the last twenty years. At first, their campaign was carried
on in the underground fashion that has characterized many
of the campaigns directed against the Church. A propaganda
started in the press in the form of inquiries amongst all who
might be thought likely to give assistance. Thus M. Briand
was quoted as saying that the restoration of the Vatican em-
8 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
bassy could not be an easy matter, seeing that it must inevit-
ably arouse jealous suspicions on the part of the Italian Gov-
ernment. Then he confided to the reporters that, whilst it was
desirable to renew relations with the Holy See, it was inop-
portune to raise the question now, and that, in any case, there
should be no talk of an ambassador, but only of a minister.
From M. Combes came a much more definite statement.
"Separation," he said, "must not be touched; and as the State
knows nothing of the churches, there can be no question of
relations with the Catholic Church. . . France without rela-
tions with Rome has all the moral authority she needs, and
other powers have got on very well without dealings with the
Holy See. Sixteen years ago, I said that any one who liked
might go to Canossa, but I never would; and today my advice
to the Republicans is not to go to Canossa."
M. Millerand disregarded that opposition, and the case
was taken up with enthusiastic energy by his supporters. Two
parliamentary commissions, on finance and foreign affairs,
were appointed to take it under consideration and, from the
choice of their secretaries, M. Noblemaire for the Commission
on Finance, and M. Colrat for the Commission on Foreign Af-
fairs, both stanch advocates of the measure, showed that the
omens for the passage of the bill were most favorable. Mean-
while, a Catholic diplomat, M. Doulcet, was dispatched to
Rome, to negotiate various points with the Cardinal Secretary
of State. All went so well and the prospects of an early con-
clusion of the whole affair were so favorable that the name of
the first ambassador was announced, whilst an official mis-
sion, headed by M. Hanotaux, was sent to Rome to attend the
ceremonies of the canonization of Joan of Arc. It was con-
fidently hoped that everything would soon be ready for the
exchange of signatures between the French delegate and the
Papal Secretary. This confidence was made manifest partic-
ularly at the reception in honor of M. Hanotaux at St. Louis-
des-Francais, when the Cardinal Archbishop of Rheims spoke
of the joy with which he saw the happy return of France to
Rome. "France," he said, "returns to Rome, and it is Joan of
Arc who brings her back . . . We love to trace the hand of
Providence in all things, and see in what it has already wrought
an earnest of even greater things to come."
1920.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 9
However, M. Hanotaux left Rome without attaining the
result so confidently announced, and it was felt that something
had occurred to delay the happy termination of the negotia-
tions which had been in progress for the last two months.
This phase is covered in the report presented last July to
the Commission on Finance in terms we have every reason to
accept as accurate, coming as they do from a Catholic of the
highest character and, in part at least, confirmed by the ac-
count of the Roman correspondent of La Croix. Having re-
called that the original object of M. Doulcet's mission was the
purely diplomatic question of the Vatican Embassy, he goes
on to relate how an attempt was made to reach an understand-
ing concerning the legal status of the Church in France and
particularly the thorny question of the "Associations Cul-
tuelles." It would seem that certain eminent Frenchmen, no
less loyal Catholics than earnest patriots, had suggested this
move in the hope of reaching, by the same stroke, the solu-
tion of the problems of internal and external policy.
The Cardinal Secretary of State, says M. Noblemaire, had
in the course of one of the earliest conferences with the French
envoy, and without making it a condition of the agreement,
expressed the wish that in time a legal status be given in
France to Catholic establishments. The French representative,
having from the first ascertained the real attitude of the Holy
See, resolved not to make the modification of French legisla-
tion a condition for the resumption of diplomatic relations.
M. Doulcet replied that, as a matter of fact, it was the Church
who had declined to take advantage of the provisions of the
Law of 1905 safeguarding the rights of the hierarchy, which
provisions had repeatedly been confirmed by the constant
jurisprudence of the "Conseil d'Etat" and of the "Cour de Cas-
sation." The records of the decisions of these two courts were
communicated to the Cardinal Secretary of State, who sub-
mitted them to the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesias-
tical Affairs. The judgment of this Congregation was that
Pope Pius X. had forbidden the creation of "Associations Cul-
tuelles" so long as the rights of the hierarchy would not appear
with certainty to be fully secured, but, on the face of the
evidence in hand, that suspensive condition was now fulfilled,
and, consequently, the ban against the said associations could
be lifted. On the other hand, the French Government gave
10 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
official notice that the jurisprudence by which the two highest
courts had always recognized the necessity for the "Associa-
tions Cultuelles" to accept the hierarchy of the Catholic
Church, was in perfect conformity with the views of the Gov-
ernment of the Republic. Whereupon the negotiators con-
certed the text of letters to be exchanged between the Holy See
and the French Government stating officially that, upon the
above-mentioned conditions, the Holy See would withdraw its
ban against the "Associations Cultuelles."
However, the report continues, it soon became manifest
that the parties interested in the negotiations could not reach
an immediate and unanimous agreement to renounce their
liberty of action with regard to a law which, on that point,
was not binding on them, if they chose not to avail themselves
of its provisions.
What had happened and what had led the Holy See to
renounce an obvious advantage, and let slip an evident oppor-
tunity of settling the question of the legal status of the Church
of France? Here we are left to conjectures, as no absolutely
authentic account of that phase of the negotiations has come
to our notice, and the press reports are either extremely
scanty or more or less biassed. Yet the following seems to be
a substantially correct account of the development. At the
time of the canonization of Joan of Arc, the French Bishops
were informed of the progress of the negotiations and of the
terms of the proposed agreement. They could not but rejoice
at the good will shown on both sides, but, upon examination
of that part of the agreement which regarded the "Associa-
tions Cultuelles," they expressed their apprehensions. The
decisions of the two high courts had, indeed, so far been in
favor of the hierarchy. But the only cases submitted to the
courts had been cases in which notorious schismatics had
tried to organize associations which clearly failed to conform
with the general laws of the Church. Never had they been
called upon to decide upon the working of regularly estab-
lished associations, to judge, for instance, in case of a pastor
backed by his congregation in his refusal to leave the parish
to his regularly appointed successor. As for the official en-
dorsement of the decisions of the courts by the Government,
they argued that such a declaration committed only the present
Cabinet and could hfe disowned by another le$s favorable; the
1920.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 11
only guarantee that could afford a real security would be one
embodied in the text of a law.
The intrinsic value of these objections and the well-nigh
unanimous stand of the French Bishops on the matter im-
pressed the Holy Father and the Cardinal Secretary; hence
the attempt at grafting a reorganization of the French eccle-
siastical status on the purely diplomatic affair of the restora-
tion of the French Embassy at the Vatican was given up, and
the negotiations brought back to their original object led to
the following points of agreement, which we find in the report
of M. Noblemaire :
First. All relations must have a normal and permanent
character and be maintained by a regularly accredited am-
bassador. The principle of diplomatic reciprocity is not
contested. A nuncio shall be sent to Paris, at the latest,
within one year after the arrival at Rome of the French
Ambassador, both Governments having fully agreed upon
the choice of the person and on the best moment for his
coming to France.
Second. France asserts her desire to continue her tra-
ditional policy of protection towards the Catholics in the
Orient, and claims as a natural counterpart the preserva-
tion of all prerogatives and privileges always granted to the
official representatives of France in Palestine, in Syria, at
Constantinople, and throughout the Levant. France
evinces an equal concern about the maintenance of her
rights in the Extreme Orient and, in a general way, wher-
ever her interests concur with the interests of the Holy See.
Third. In Europe, as it stands today, the work of the
Treaties inspired by the ideas of justice and national
autonomy is apt to be strengthened by the pacifying in-
fluence of such a high moral Power as the Pope's. France,
therefore, who evinces her firm wish to maintain an inter-
national peace, at the same time true and lasting, earnestly
hopes the Holy See will use all its influence to assist her in
reaching such a legitimate goal and thereby contribute to
a general pacification.
Fourth. The resumption of relations with the Holy See
shall not carry with it any modifications in the present
French legislation as regards worship, schools and associa-
tions. The French Government, of course, shall lay no claim
to any of the advantages formerly enjoyed by virtue of the
Concordat of 1801. They, however, expect that, as a con-
12 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
sequence of the resumption of relations, the Roman Curia
shall grant to them, so far as the choice of bishops is con-
cerned, a treatment equal to that of the best favored nation
among such as maintain a representative at the Vatican
and are in a condition similar to France's.
Fifth. All possibility of misunderstanding must be dis-
carded for the day when the President of the Republic
shall have to return to the King of Italy the visit paid by
the latter to both the French nation and the French army.
It is only after his call at the Quirinal, and by starting
from the French Embassy to the Holy See, that the Chief
of the French State shall go to the Vatican, thereby fol-
lowing the example given by so many other rulers, and
without this practice implying the least lack of respect
towards the Holy See, to which all legitimate deference
is due.
On each and all of these various points, the report states,
a complete agreement was reached quite easily at the
date of May 28th. On that very day and, one might think,
as a fulfillment of the Vatican's part of the agreement, appeared
the Papal Encyclical on Peace, which contained this passage
bearing on the fifth point: "This Apostolic See has never
wearied of teaching during the War such pardon of offences
and the fraternal reconciliation of the peoples, in conformity
with the most holy law of Jesus Christ and in agreement with
the needs of civil life and human intercourse; nor did we allow
that amid dissension and hate these moral principles should be
forgotten. This concord between civilized nations is main-
tained and fostered by the modern custom of visits and meet-
ings at which the Heads of States and Princes are accustomed
to treat of important matters. So then, considering the
changed circumstances of the times and the dangerous trend
of events, and in order to encourage this concord, we would
not be unwilling to relax in some measure the severity of the
conditions justly laid down by our Predecessors, when the
civil power of the Apostolic See was overthrown, against the
official visits of the Heads of the Catholic States to Rome."
* * *
The diplomatic phase of the preparation for the return of
the French Ambassador to the Vatican had thus come to a
successful termination, but the Government Bill had yet to
confront the dangers of the political discussion. It is known
1920.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 13
that the Commissions appointed to examine the bill contained
a majority openly favorable to the project. But in those
months of June and July, when the international situation was
so grave and demanded the whole attention of the French
Premier, an attempt was made to block the passing of the
measure. It is hard to discern the motives of those who were
responsible for the delay, whether opposition to the contem-
plated reconciliation with the Holy See, or mere opposition
to the Cabinet, or both.
In the midst of a violent press campaign, on June 18th, the
Committee on Finance voted the adjournment of the discus-
sion; on the contrary, ten days later, the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, having been informed that the Government was ready
for the immediate discussion of the bill, accepted the proposi-
tion by a large majority. The Finance Committee, however,
on July 6th, during M. Millerand's absence at Spa, confirmed
their previous vote.
On his return, the Premier asked to be heard by the Com-
mittee on Finance and, having stated again forcibly the mo-
tives that had led him to take the initiative of the resumption
of relations with the Vatican, he urged them to reconsider the
matter and vote at once the necessary credits. He added that,
were the Senate in a position to take up the bill before the
summer recess of Parliament, he would ask for the immediate
discussion, but he would be satisfied to let it go till the autumn
session, provided the two Commissions reached an agreement
before the holidays. He stood firm in his refusal to compro-
mise on the quality of the French representative at the Vatican,
and maintained that the relations must be reciprocal. To the
warning against a revival of "clericalism," proffered by a
member who took offence at the more and more frequent
participation of bishops and clergy with civil authorities in
public ceremonies, he answered that Frenchmen, who had
faced the enemy together and had come to understand and
respect each other whilst they shared the dangers of the
battlefield and the sufferings of trench-life, could without
scandal be seen together in official ceremonies. Finally, he
pledged himself to bring the bill before the Chamber as soon
as it reconvenes in the fall, and to demand a vote of confidence
on the question. The Committee on Finance yielded to the
arguments of M. Millerand and voted the credits.
14 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Oct.,
If one asks now what are the chances of the bill in the
French Houses, one may share the hopes of M. Maurice Barres,
who does not admit a moment's doubt that the Parliament
will vote for the restoration of the Embassy. Writing in the
Echo de Paris, he says: "I hear people on all sides asking
whether it can be safely expected that diplomatic relations
with the Vatican will be reestablished. There is not the
slightest doubt. The law will be passed by a large majority
in the Chamber of Deputies, and without over much trouble in
the Senate.
"France is bent on taking up every card dealt out to her
by passing events. She wishes to defend in the best way pos-
sible her interests in Central Europe, along the Rhine, in
Alsace-Lorraine, in Morocco, in the Togoland, the Cameroun,
the East and the Far East, and also among the Catholics of
the United States. Let us gather up and make use of what-
ever influence favors our cause. From one end of the world
to the other, vast economic forces are gathering and being
concentrated, which would willingly sacrifice us to their in-
terests. It is easily discernible how the three great economic
empires of the world manage to agree at every turn. At any
moment they might be brought to coordinate their interests
even more closely. To offset such material forces, it is
France's duty to summon to her side the whole spiritual order.
Let us group together all those moral forces which our country
is of its nature capable of marshaling. Every people must
play its part in the manner most in keeping with its own
genius, so only will it find an outlet for the vital forces which
it holds in store."
CHAINED BIBLES BEFORE AND AFTER THE REFORMATION.
BY JOHN M. LENHART, O.M.CAP.
HE mediaeval custom of chaining Bibles has often
been made to serve the purpose of bigotry.
Modern authors, ignorant of ancient usages, have
pointed to what once served to spread Bible
knowledge as an odious attempt to restrict the
free circulation of the Scriptures. This error has passed so
long for established fact, and has spread so widely that
many may be surprised to learn that Bibles were chained
both by Catholics and Protestants for over two centuries after
the Reformation, and Protestant English Bibles may still be
seen chained in some churches and libraries of England.
Chaining Bibles, and books in general, was a practice un-
known during the first ten centuries of our era. For the first
seven centuries, at least, learned Christians furnished their
libraries after the fashion of the great pagan libraries of
Rome, modeled on the typical library at Pergamon. The gen-
eral appearance of a pagan Roman library is preserved in the
present Vatican Library fitted up in 1587. It preserves the
main features of a Roman library. No books are visible. They
are contained in plain wooden presses or chests, set round
the piers, and against the walls.
But as Christianity progressed, another class of library,
directly connected with Christian worship, was formed. The
necessary service-books were stored in or near the places where
the Christians met for service. To these volumes works of
devotion, intended for edification or instruction, were gradually
added, and so a library collected consisting largely of copies
of Holy Scripture, liturgical and devotional volumes, besides
records and official correspondence. The introduction of such
libraries is traced back to Origen (230 A. D.) or Bishop Alex-
ander of Jerusalem (d. 250 A. D.). The libraries, which later
in the Middle Ages were attached to cathedrals and collegiate
churches, are the lineal descendants of these purely Christian
church-libraries of the first centuries.
But the historical beginning of both mediaeval and modern
16 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
libraries is not so much to be found in the little cupboardful
of service-books in the apse of the early Christian churches
as in the libraries formed by monastic communities in the
Egyptian deserts. The accumulation of books for the brethren
was one of their special cares.
The origin of these libraries may be traced to very early
times. The Rule of St. Pachomius, written about 325 A. D.,
provides that the books of the House are to be kept in a cup-
board or better, in a recess in the wall closed by a door. With
the later monastic orders of Western Europe book-preserving
was reduced to a system. There was no special apartment for
books in the primitive Benedictine monastery. After the
books became too numerous to be kept in the church, the bulk
of them were transferred into the cloister, there to be pre-
served in armaria, i. e., presses or chests. The book-press was
a recess in the wall, frequently found just outside the church
door in the cloister. Such book-presses were in common use
till the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Later, when the number of books had increased, addi-
tional shelf -space was gained by providing detached wooden
presses throughout the cloister. In the course of time their
ever-increasing number necessitated an arrangement within
the monastery building. By and by, detached wooden presses
were placed near the school, the quarters of the novices and
priests, and in the refectory for reading aloud during meal-
time. The whole monastery became in some sort a large
library. This was the arrangement of the library in the
larger Benedictine Abbeys from the twelfth to the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. There is good reason for believing
that such a library was in use at Westminster Abbey, London,
as late as the year 1591.
The Cistercians developed a different library arrange-
ment. At the beginning of the twelfth century they commenced
to set apart a special room for books. This small chamber
was placed, as a rule, between the chapter-house and the
transept of the church. As time went on, the Cistercian book-
closet developed from a single recess in the wall close to the
church to a pair of more or less spacious rooms, without,
however, discarding the original book-press in the cloister
near the church-door. In exceptional cases the book-press
was placed in the church.
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 17
In these two ways the monastic orders provided for the
safe keeping of their books, till separate libraries were built in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By the end of the fif-
teenth century the larger monasteries became possessed of
many volumes and were obliged to store the books, hitherto
placed in various parts of the building, in a separate apart-
ment. At Citeaux 1,200 books were scattered in ten different
collections over the house in the year 1480. The inconvenience
of such an arrangement is obvious. With the opening of the
fifteenth century the great movement set in for providing spe-
cial rooms in monasteries to contain libraries. These monastic
libraries were usually built over some existing building, some-
times as a detached structure.
Cathedrals and colleges at the universities vied with the
monasteries in the possession of a library, but added no new
feature to the development of library arrangement, as sketched
above. The cathedral libraries were first built in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, but some collegiate libraries are of
earlier date, as those of Merton College, Oxford, built in 1377,
and New College, Oxford, erected in 1380.
Up to the middle of the eleventh century all books with-
out exception, and after that period the greater bulk of them,
were safely locked up in chests and in recesses in the walls
to preserve them from theft or loss, and were intrusted to the
care of special officials. The inmates of the house were not
allowed to handle books as they pleased. This was the privi-
lege of the librarian and sub-librarian who locked and un-
locked the book presses or chests, and counted the books from
time to time to see whether any were missing.
A new variety of library fitting was introduced in the
thirteenth century : the chaining of books to desks. The earliest
document known which mentions chained books is a catalogue
of the library of St. Peter's Monastery at Weissenburg, Alsace,
compiled about the year 1040 A. D. This catalogue registers,
among the one hundred and seventy-one volumes, four "Books
of the Psalms chained in the church." 1 Yet after this date we
do not find any trace of chained books till the beginning of
the thirteenth century. This entry in the Weissenburg cata-
logue records the solitary known instance of chained books
previous to the year 1200 A. D. And, indeed, chaining was
1 Becker, Catalogi bibliothecarnm antiqui. Bonnae, 1885, p. 133.
VOL. cxii. 2
18 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
not a common feature of mediaeval library fittings till the be-
ginning of the fourteenth century.
The earliest library, as far as we know, in which all books
were chained to desks, was that of St. Mark's at Florence, built
in 1441 and the second is the Malatesta Library at Gesena in
Italy, built in 1452 and still existing. Numerous libraries, espe-
cially smaller ones, all through the Middle Ages preserved the
old method of storing the books in locked chests and presses.
The Reformation did not alter the mediaeval conception of
a library in any essential particular. The methods and fittings
of Protestant libraries were identical with those used in pre-
Reformation libraries. Accordingly we find in them chained
books in great numbers. With the rapidly increasing produc-
tion came a correspondingly rapid increase in these collections
of books, so that the original stock of chained books handed
down from the Middle Ages was gradually exceeded by still
larger numbers of new books fastened by chains.
Although chains were no longer part of the appurtenances
of libraries erected in the eighteenth century, they continued
to be used and were ordered in bequests in England down to
the early part of the nineteenth century. As late as the year
1815, John Fells, mariner, gave thirty pounds to found a
theological library in the Church of St. Peter, Liverpool, where
the books were originally fastened to open shelves in the vestry
with rods and chains. This is the last instance on record
where books were ordered to be protected according to the
method of safe-keeping, which began in the thirteenth century
and was maintained with strange persistence to modern times.
Yet the mediaeval usage of chaining books did not become
quite extinct after 1815. The antiquarian spirit which makes
enthusiasts preserve relics of the past, has repeatedly dis-
couraged any deviation from the old system of chaining books.
When, in 1856, a new shelving was made for the library at the
Minster of Wimborne, England, the old boards having become
too rotten, the rods and chains were retained. There is a
collection of about 1,500 chained books at Hereford Cathedral,
England. This collection, formerly in the Lady Chapel, was
removed, chains and all, to the Archives Chamber in 1862, and
in 1897 to the present beautiful structure. One of the very
ancient bookcases possesses in thorough working order the
original system of chaining dating back to the year 1394 A. D.
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 19
This re-chaining of the books at the Cathedral Library of
Hereford, in 1897, will probably remain the last instance of a
library fitted up in mediaeval style.
By the end of the eighteenth century the chains had been
taken off the books in all libraries with a few exceptions. The
Vatican Library led the way in this movement. When the
present Vatican Library was built in 1587> Pope Sixtus V.
followed the plan of the libraries of pagan Rome. Since all the
books were stored away in wooden presses, seven feet high
and two feet deep, chains were not needed as a mode of pro-
tection. During the succeeding century the chains were re-
moved from several libraries, yet, at the same time, many new
libraries were fitted up with books chained to desks. At the
beginning of the eighteenth century well-nigh all libraries of
France, Germany, Italy, and Spain had abandoned chains.
In England, however, this curious old fashion still lingered.
At Eton College the removal of chains began in 1719. At the
Bodleian Library, Oxford, the chains were taken off the books
in 1757; at King's College, Cambridge, the books were un-
chained in 1777; at Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1780, and at
Merton College, Oxford, as late as in 1792. In France, the
library of the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris was,
apparently, the last to abandon the mediaeval system. In 1770
all the books there were still chained to desks. In Holland
the books of the City Library of Amsterdam were unchained
in 1778, and those in the library at Enkhuysen retained their
chains till the year 1839. The last libraries were unchained in
England, namely at Manchester, Jesus Chapel, in 1830, at
Llanbadarn, Glamorganshire, after 1853, and at Cirencester,
Gloucestershire, in 1867.
Hence the library of today with its open shelves and un-
chained books is a very modern invention which became fixed,
as it were, throughout continental Europe by the end of the
seventeenth century, and in England by the end of the eight-
eenth century.
Different systems of chaining were invented and adopted.
In most cases books were chained to reading-desks and shelves.
The libraries first built in the fifteenth century by monasteries
and colleges were narrow, long rooms lighted by rows of equi-
distant windows. The fittings were lecterns of wood. On
these the books were laid on their flat sides, each volume
20 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
being fastened by a chain to a bar usually placed over the desk,
but occasionally, in all probability, in front of it as well as
beneath it. The readers sat on benches immovably fixed
opposite to each window. This system of fittings is called the
"lectern-system." It is the earliest system and was adopted
with various modifications during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries in England, France, Holland, Germany,
and Italy. One example of such fittings may still be seen at
Zutphen, in Holland, in the library attached to the church of
SS. Peter and Walburga, the principal church of the town.
This library was completed in 1563 and was a "public
library." On account of the loss of several books the City
Magistrate ordered the books to be chained early in the seven-
teenth century. There are eighteen bookcases, or desks.
Between each pair of desks there is a seat for the reader.
The books are attached to the desk by chains about twelve
inches long. The last link of each chain is passed through a
piece of metal nailed or riveted to the edge of the stout
wooden board which forms the side of the book. Each volume
must lie on the desk, attached by its chain, like a Bible on a
church-lectern. The smallest number of volumes lying on a
single desk at Zutphen is six, the largest eleven, the total three
hundred and sixteen. Some of these chained books were
printed as late as 1630 A. D. It is obvious that reading was
only convenient as long as the students were few.
The lectern-system was so wasteful of space that, as
books accumulated, some other piece of furniture had to be
devised. The new system was the "stall-system." The
two halves of the desk were separated by a considerable
interval, or broad shelf, with one or more shelves fixed
above it. As the books were now to stand upright on a
shelf, it was necessary to attach the chain in a different man-
ner. A narrow strip of flat brass was passed round the left-
hand board and riveted to it in such a manner as to leave a
loop in front of the edge of the board, wide enough to admit
an iron ring, to which one end of the chain was fastened. The
book was placed on the shelf with the fore-edge turned out-
wards, and the other end of the chain fastened to a second
ring playing along an iron bar. The desk for the reader was
usually attached to the ends of the case by strong hinges.
The stall-system, like the lectern-system, was monastic
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 21
in its origin. It made its first appearance, as far as we know,
at the monastery of Clairvaux about the year 1500. This
library was fitted up according to the stall-system from 1495
till 1503, and the books were still chained in 1709. The stall-
system was popular in England and France during the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries, and is actually still in use at
the Chapter Library in Hereford Cathedral, at Wimborne
Minster, and a few other places in England.
While the "stall-system" was being generally adopted in
England and France, a different plan was being developed in
Italy. It consisted in a return to the "lectern-system," with the
addition of a shelf below the lectern, on which the books lay
on their sides when not wanted; and an ingenious combination
of a seat for the reader with the desk and shelf. The earliest
library fitted up in this manner is at Cesena, Italy. Today it
remains practically as it was in 1452. The books are still at-
tached to the desks by chains. The bar which carries them is
in full view just under the ledge of the desk. The chain is
attached to the book by an iron hook screwed into the lower
edge of the right-hand board near the back.
These fittings are a survival of what was once in general
use in Italy during the latter part of the fifteenth and the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries. The old Vatican Library,
finished in 1481 and replaced by the present one in 1587, was
arranged according to the Cesena system. The normal condi-
tion of a library of this type was that the books, handsomely
bound and protected by numerous bosses of metal, usually
lay upon the desks ready for use, and not on the shelves below.
Books were lent out of the library sometimes with the chain
attached. The present Biblioteca Laurenziana, or Medicean
Library, at Florence, Italy, formally opened June 11, 1571, is
modeled on the plan of Cesena.
While architects . and librarians were still struggling with
the difficulties of adapting mediaeval library rooms and fittings
to the ever-increasing number of volumes, a new system was
initiated which eventually supplanted, during the eighteenth
century, with but rare exceptions, all the old models. It is the
present wall-system, so familiar to us. The first library ever
arranged on this principle was the Library of the Monastery
of Escorial in Spain, begun in 1563 and completed September
13, 1584. This monastic library, which is still in existence, is
22 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
likewise the first library ever fitted up in which there were no
chains. It is the first "modern" library.
Previous to the erection of special structures for housing
books, i. e. t during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
smaller collections of books were chained to desks according
to the lectern-system in various parts of the monastic and col-
legiate buildings. In addition to these collections, which varied
in extent, single volumes, as well as smaller collections, have
always been chained in churches ever since the Benedictines
at Weissenburg introduced this novelty about 1040 A. D.
The books thus chained in churches belonged to various
classes, and were fastened in divers modes. First came Bibles
and parts of the Bible or rather liturgical books, as is attested
by the chaining of four Psalters at Weissenburg about 1040.
To these were added before long theological books at the
centres of education. In the early part of the thirteenth cen-
tury several Bibles and other books were chained to desks
in St. Mary's Chancel and Church, Oxford, for the use of the
"Masters" of Oriel College. When, in the fifteenth century,
the library over the Congregation House was built, they were
taken out and set up with chains in that new building. During
the fourteenth century the clergy commenced to have libraries
chained in the interior of the churches, and at the places of
pilgrimage the life of the respective Saint could be read by the
devout pilgrim in the "Legend" chained in the church. At the
same time the custom originated to chain prayer-books to the
pews in the parish churches. Even secular literature found a
safe resting-place at chains in churches now and then. Thus
the history of the Province of Treves in Germany was chained
in the Cathedral some time before 1512 A. D.
The Protestants adopted all these customs which had
originated in pre-Reformation times. Bibles, theological
tracts, prayer-books, and now and then popular secular books,
were chained by them in churches. In England, English
prayer-books were chained to the pews in many churches for
the use of the poorer parishioners till up to the eighteenth
century. In the parish church at Whitchurch, Little Stanmore,
Middlesex, chains are still hanging on the pews, where, at one
time, people used to pray from chained books. At Leyland,
Lancashire, the Preservative against Popery, by Edmund Gib-
son, printed at London in 1738, can still be seen chained in the
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 23
parish church of the place. However, the chained copy of
Burkitt's Notes on the New Testament, printed as late as 1752,
in the parish church at Grinton, is the latest instance of chain-
ing. In the Protestant parish church at Ecclesfield, Yorkshire,
were chained up to 1860 such Catholic books as the Latin com-
mentaries on the Bible, by Lyra, Denis the Carthusian, and
Prierius.
Grammar schools were another repository for chained
books from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. In 1588
a dictionary was chained in the schoolhouse at Tavistock,
Devonshire, and Bolton Grammar School, Lancashire, founded
in 1641, still preserves a collection of about fifty chained
volumes, one of which was printed as late as 1708.
Indeed the custom of fastening books by chains was com-
mon throughout all Europe for five centuries. 2 We still pos-
sess a print representing the University of Leyden, in Holland,
which was made in 1610. This library, a purely Protestant
foundation, had in 1610 twenty-two bookcases, each containing
from forty to forty-eight chained volumes. Each bookcase
contained a single row of books, chained to a bar in front of
the shelf. Six bookcases contained works of theology, two
works of philosophy, two literature, one mathematics, five
law, two medicine, four history.
Considering that pre-Reformation libraries contained
comparatively small collections of books and that chaining of
entire libraries originated only about the middle of the fif-
teenth century, we can safely assert that more books were
chained during the two centuries succeeding the Reformation
than during the three centuries preceding it.
The Bible was, of course, one of the most common books
in the chained collections. Latin and Greek Bibles, as well as
Scriptures in the vernacular, were fastened by chains in count-
less libraries throughout five centuries. If one would under-
take to gather all the references to chained Bibles from the
hundreds of old library catalogues, the recorded wills of
donors, and the various account-books of monasteries, univer-
sities, and churches, he would compile a stately volume.
However, more valuable than these literary references
are the vestiges of chaining found on shelves and desks which
1 This subject has been specially treated by John Willis Clark in his masterly
volume, The Care of Books (London, 19*01), from which most of the foregoing facts
are taken.
24 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
are still preserved. 8 In England, collections of chained books
are still preserved in the Cathedral Library and the vestry of
All Saints' Parish Church at Hereford, in Wimborne Minster,
Dorsetshire, at Chirburg, Salop, Christchurch, Hants, in the
library over the south porch of the church at Grantham, Lin-
colnshire, in the Grammar School at Bolton, at Gorton, and
in the Parish Church at Turton, Lancashire, in all 2,427
chained books. On the Continent, the Laurentian Library at
Florence, Italy, has probably the largest collection of chained
books in existence, probably over 2,000. There are also
chained volumes at St. Walburg's Church, Zutphen, at the
Malatesta Library in Cesena, Italy, and at Ghent. We can
count a total of over five thousand chained books still pre-
served in eleven Protestant and two Catholic (Florence and
Cesena) libraries.
Naturally we are more interested in the Protestant chained
libraries. They are mostly of modern date. The chained col-
lection at All Saints' Church, Hereford, is the most recent of
all, the books having been chained as late as the year 1715,
when the custom had been abandoned on the Continent. The
chained library at Wimborne Minster, fitted up in 1686, was
founded by the Rev. William Stone, an Anglican minister,
as a parochial library. Likewise an Anglican minister, the
Rev. Francis Trigg, founded the chained library at Grantham
in 1598, and in 1642 Mr. Edward Skipworth, "to encourage the
vicars of Grantham to pursue their studies in the winter-time,
gave fifty shillings to provide firewood for the library fire."
The chained libraries at Bolton and Turton were both estab-
lished by the will of Humphrey Chetham, a wealthy merchant
of Manchester, dated December 16, 1651. The books at Zut-
phen were chained by order of the Protestant Magistrate of
the city at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The
Chapter Library at Hereford is the only Protestant chained
collection which dates back to pre-Reformation times, being
first fitted up in 1394.
In England a strong movement set in during the latter
part of the year 1547 to chain Protestant English Bibles in
places of worship. By the year 1575 the English Bible had
been set up in every parish church throughout the English
realm, and accordingly a copy of the Protestant English Scrip-
3 Ibid., p. 318.
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 25
tares had been chained in many churches by that date. And
these chained Protestant Bibles were kept in these places of
worship during the long span of two centuries, so that from
1575 to 1775 a chained English Bible was seldom missing in the
Anglican parish church.
Fortunately some of these chained Protestant English
Bibles may, even now, be seen occasionally in churches. In
1890, the well-known bibliographer, William Blades, compiled
a list of books now yet in chains in England. 4 A much longer
list of chained books which are now found in parish churches
in England, either singly or in small groups, was published in
1907 by Charles Cox and Alfred Harvey. 5 Yet neither of them
is to be regarded as being absolutely complete. Both of these
lists omit a Book of Homilies chained to a lectern in the parish
church of Alnwick.
The most interesting of all the chained Bibles is the one
at Shorwell. It is a Bible printed in 1541 and is, therefore, one
of the earliest ever set up. Moreover, it has the distinction to
be the only one still remaining from the reign of Henry VIII.
At Chelsea is chained the Vinegar Bible, printed in 1716 and
1717, the latest of all chained Bibles still preserved. However,
this was not to be the last time that the English Bible was
chained in the church. The chained Bible at East Winch has
the following manuscript note on a fly leaf : "This holy volume
(King James' Bible of 1611) I have repaired with my own
hands and fastened with a chain, as was often done when
Bibles were first ordered to be set up. E. J. Alvis, Vicar, Sep-
tember, 1884." Here we have, therefore, an English Bible
chained by an Anglican minister only thirty-six years ago.
It was the custom at Stratford as late as 1890 to read the
lessons on Harvest Festivals from the Bible with attached
chain, which is kept in a cupboard. At other churches there
are still preserved lecterns to which Bibles were chained
formerly, as well as chains, rings, staples which had been
once used in fastening copies of the English Bible. Moreover,
we know that chained English Bibles were removed from
other churches quite recently. There was a chained Bible in
an old church at Evesham in 1881; at Minehead, Somerset, in
1880; at Milton, near Clitheroe, in Lancashire, in 1876, at
4 Books in Chains, New York, 1892, pp. 29-81.
'English Church Furniture, London, 1907, pp. 338-340.
26 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
Minster in Thanet, Kent, four chained Bibles in 1876, and at
Windsor, Berks, St. George's Chapel, in 1857.
Now why were Bibles and books chained? No one now-
a-days would think of chaining books to desks or library
shelves. This practice has so completely gone out of fashion,
that people have even lost sight of its original purpose. It
is common opinion that books were chained to preserve them
from embezzlement. But the major reason was to place them
at the disposal of students in a permanent manner. "Books
borrowed," writes Mr. W. Blades, 6 "have always been pro-
verbial for not coming home to roost, and chaining seemed a
natural way of securing them for general use. This appears to
me more likely to have been the object of chaining than the
prevention of theft"
Books were chained to be used, to be read, or for the
perusal of people. This purpose is expressly stated in count-
less wills bequeathing books from the thirteenth to the eight-
eenth centuries. Moreover, it is attested by the fact that the
monastic and collegiate libraries from the thirteenth to the
latter part of the fifteenth century were divided, as a rule, into
two departments, a lending library and a reference library.
The books most frequently studied by the students were
chained in the library for their common use, a kind of refer-
ence department, while those which were not fit for the library
on account of their battered condition, or of which a sufficient
number of copies already existed, or which were rarely con-
sulted, were loaned to the students. In 1418, for instance,
Peterhouse, Cambridge, had two hundred and twenty volumes
which were chained and one hundred and sixty unchained.
Furthermore, the first public libraries of Europe to which
everybody had free access were the very libraries in which
for the first time every book was fastened with a chain, for
instance, the library to the Dominican Convent of St. Mark at
Florence fitted up in 1442, the Malatesta Library at Cesena
built in 1452, and the older Vatican Library finished in 1481.
Chaining was not thought of and never used, as far as we
know, in the strictly private libraries of kings, princes and
princesses, noblemen, wealthy burghers, and scholars,
although their collections of books were arranged on lecterns,
desks, and shelves like those of the chained libraries.
8 Books in Chains, p. 18.
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 27
The Bible was the first book ever chained and thus placed
within easy reach of poor students. Up to the thirteenth cen-
tury the books of the public libraries of the Middle Ages: the
monastic, collegiate, and cathedral libraries, could only be
used during the day time. In the evening the librarian who
had charge of the books was to collect and count them, and
lock them up in the presses. Books had been loaned from a
very early date to a few privileged persons under a pledge.
Yet only at the beginning of the eleventh century began, in
the monasteries, the loan of books to persons in general on
adequate security.
These restrictions caused great inconvenience to scholars
and students, as well as to the small body of readers in gen-
eral. About 1040 the Benedictines at Weissenburg solved the
vexed problem by chaining the books. It is very significant
that the first books thus chained for common use were Bibles
and, moreover, Bibles fastened in the most accessible edifice,
the church. The extremely conservative spirit which governed
monastic usage would not have tolerated such an innovation,
had there not been a very strong demand for the "open" Bible.
Thirteenth century students duly hailed the chaining of
Bibles and books near their schoolrooms as a great progres-
sive movement, more favorable to the prosecution of their
studies than the time-honored custom of keeping these
volumes locked up in chests or in rooms, the keys of which
could be had only under sufficient pledge. So to bequeath
Bibles and books to be chained for common use was re-
garded as a pious work. In 1474, Frederick, Count Palatine,
bequeathed to the Church of the Holy Ghost at Heidelberg a
Book of Hours under the express stipulation that it "should
be chained in the church and be kept there for common use."
A burgher of the city of Leyden in Holland left by will, in
1462, a Bible in the vernacular, which he directed to be chained
in St. Peter's Church of that city, so that "good and pious
people could read and study it." Thomas, Earl of Ormond,
left the direction by will of 1515 that his Psalter in the vulgar
tongue be chained at his tomb in St. Thomas Aeon on the
north side of the high altar, "there to remain for the service
of God."
The numerous Protestant Bibles chained in Europe during
the two centuries after the Reformation were, like their Cath-
28 CHAINED BIBLES [Oct.,
olic predecessors, for the perusal of the people. The Reforma-
tion did not alter this mode of placing Bibles at the disposal of
people in general. The various Injunctions of Henry VIII.,
Edward VI., and Queen Elizabeth ordering English Bibles to
be set up in churches enjoin at the same time the clergy "to
admonish every parishioner to read these chained Bibles and
they shall discourage no man from reading any part of the
Bible." Certainly this was an innovation, being peculiar to
the English Reformation, to constrain people to buy Bibles.
Ignorance has put the false construction on this
curious practice of by-gone ages, that it served to withhold
the Bible from the laity. Luther never made chaining the
Bible one of his infinite grievances against the Catholic
Church. He tells us repeatedly that he had snatched the
Bible "from under the bench," where it had lain idly for a
long time. The "bench" meant nothing else in those days than
the desk to which the books were attached by chains, and par-
ticularly the shelf below the lectern on which the chained
books lay when not wanted.
Luther's contemporary, George Sabinus (died 1560), is
perhaps the first Protestant who held up to ridicule chained
Catholic books. In one of his Latin poems he writes sneer-
ingly that such nonsensical books deserve to be chained like
prisoners in their libraries. There is no mention made of the
chained Bible; the modern myth was not yet born.
Evidently, chaining of Bibles could not have been re-
garded by Protestants as a prohibitive measure chargeable to
the Church, as long as Protestants chained Bibles or the
memory of this practice was still fresh. In 1676 a Protestant
Bible in Romance was fastened with a chain in a Protestant
church in Switzerland. And in the same year, 1676, the
Protestant scholar, Bartholin, states that he remembers full
well how the books were chained in the Public Library at
Copenhagen, Denmark. Half a century later, in 1728, the
Protestant historian, John George Schelhorn, informs us that
"it had been customary a long time ago to chain books, in
order to prevent theft." Chaining of Bibles had not yet be-
come a reprehensible practice in the eyes of Protestants).
Gradually, however, that curious custom sank into oblivion,
and during the latter part of the eighteenth century the myth
first sprang up in Germany that Bibles were chained in the
1920.] CHAINED BIBLES 29
Middle Ages to withhold them from the laity. In 1817, the ter-
centenary of the Reformation, the Protestant public of Ger-
many was regaled by the harrowing tale of how the Church
had stood in the way of general enlightenment, had taken away
the Scriptures from the laity, and would have hindered for-
ever all lay persons from access to this key of knowledge, if
the valiant Reformer had not discovered the chained Bible
at Erfurt and snatched it from under the bench. It was at that
celebration, in 1817, that the Swiss Protestant historian, Merle
D'Aubigne, conceived the ambition to write the history of the
Reformation, a work which more than anything else has given
currency to this slanderous story.
But in England people never quite forgot that chained
Bibles were very common in Protestant churches and some,
like Blades, 7 regarded the chaining of Bibles in churches as
a genuine Protestant usage which first originated in the Royal
Injunctions given by Henry VIIL, Edward VI., and Elizabeth
for the setting up of English Bibles in churches.
Mr. Ernest A. Savage states in his very sympathetic book
about Old English Libraries: 8 "These chained books (partic-
ularly Bibles) were, in fact, the sign of a glimmer of liberal
thought in the Church (during the Middle Ages). During the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, not only were monastic
books lent to lay people more freely, but many more books
were chained in places of worship than in the sixteenth cen-
tury, when the proclamation for the 'setting-up' of Bibles in
churches was granted unwillingly." It is one of the glories of
the Church that it made the Bible accessible to the laity and
clergy by chaining copies in libraries and churches. The
chained Bibles were those copies which had been used most
extensively, for every Bible chained in the Middle Ages stands
for a group of Bible students who made their studies there-
from.
1 Books in Chains, p. 28. 8 London, 1911, p. 109.
THE WISDOM OF SITTING STILL.
BY RICHARDSON WRIGHT.
MONO the many things for which I have come to
love my little place in the country is that it has
given a new meaning to repose. And yet, never
before did day so teem with activity.
From the first week the spade could go into
the ground until this hour this hour of abundant blossom and
promising fruit there has been no cessation. Hands that were
soft with office work are calloused and browned. We have
learned the swift anger of the hoe and the measured rhythm
of the scythe. War on weeds and pests is steadily pursued.
Where once lay dun fields now range the orderly rows.
Peonies and iris splash their colors along the border. The
shadows lengthen across a velvet lawn, close-cropped and
weeded.
Indoors, the house glistens with fresh paint and the foot
sinks deliciously into new carpets. The ancient farmhouse
walls, cleansed and rejuvenated, look upon new furniture.
The windows are prim with fresh-laundered curtains.
Each day a great deal is done a great deal more than we
thought could be done. Then, as dusk closes down, we stop
amid the chaos of our labors to learn the wisdom of sitting
still.
For sitting still is the first requisite of repose. One gains
strength by it, as Isaiah counsels. So much is accomplished
by sitting down and sitting still the actual, physical act of
sitting. Visualize the Feeding of the Five Thousand the
seething, zealous mob, hungry and tired, the two small loaves
and five small fishes. It may be a far cry from that Gallilean
hillside to this hillside in New England, and yet the miracle
did not happen until the men were made to sit down, and the
miracle of repose was not vouchsafed us until we, too, had
sat down.
I.
Repose is as necessary to the soul as sleep is to the body.
1920.] THE WISDOM OF SITTING STILL 31
Every life, even the busiest, should have its moments of repose;
in fact, the busier the life, the more repose is required.
Some devout souls feel that prayer is repose or meditation
is repose. Neither of these actually is. For it is a practice
insisted on by all spiritual masters that before any form of
spiritual activity is attempted, there must come moments of
composure* So many people rush headlong and breathless
into prayer, come into meditation panting and hot and dirty
the way children, called from play, rush to the table.
Some find repose in the solitary walk along the country
road, others in the walk home through the crowded streets
after a day's work. It is difficult to say in which he is more
alone. Still others must wait until the household quiets down
or the office closes or the church is emptied. Whatever the
time or place, the first requisite for repose is that one be at
least mentally sitting still. Although the body be functioning
subconsciously as in walking the mind must be made to sit
down and sit still.
The second requisite for repose is that one be alone. It
may not be possible to be physically alone, yet by the very act
of will one can close the physical senses and shut out distrac-
tions.
Sitting still tends toward simplicity and simplicity, as
Thomas a Kempis says, doth tend toward God.
It is one thing to imagine ourselves in different surround-
ings from where we happen to be; it is quite a different matter
to engulf ourselves in another and greater Personality. The
one is usually an act of egoism, the other an act of self-abase-
ment. A poor man may imagine himself dwelling in a palace
and derive amusement and consolation from this thought
which shuts out the squalor that surrounds him; but it re-
quires more than an act of the imagination to place one's self
in the presence of God.
There is a class of poetic souls "amateurs of religious
sentiment" someone has called them who are satisfied with
the mere thrill of beauty that comes with sensuous enjoy-
ments a far-stretching panorama, a movement in plucked
strings, the scent of lovely flowers at dawn. And because they
are sensuously aware of this beauty they feel satisfied that they
have reached all that is attainable.
How many of us dangerously approximate even these at
32 THE WISDOM OF SITTING STILL [Oct.,
whom we would indulgently smile! We'vj gotten dependent
upon our surroundings, upon the stimulus of ritual, the color
and action of nature, the soothing of music. When we step
from ecclesiastical grandeur into some monastic chapel, bare
and rigidly simple, we marvel that hearts can be lifted up
amid such poverty. From the very beginning the religious
knew the wisdom of being alone, of cutting himself off from
the stimulus of sensuous beauty, of renouncing normal enjoy-
ments of the eye and ear that he might approximate the
solitary state. It was the wisdom expressed by Hugh of St.
Victor: "He is not solitary with whom is God."
Once this is accomplished, once the soul is shut oif from
the world, then do the windows and doors of the soul's house-
hold gradually open on that more lovely Dayspring as a
housewife, after a storm, flings open the doors and windows to
let in the clean air and fresh sunshine. Then does the Sun of
Righteousness spread across the floor of that being and the
threshold know His footfall for which it has awaited.
This entering in of the Holy Spirit should be the desire of
those who seek repose.
It may be, however, that It will seize a man in the midst
of his busiest endeavors. So it happened to St. Paul. But
almost invariably, as in St. Paul's case, it causes the senses to
stop functioning. Saul is stricken blind. Many have been
struck dumb. Countless mystics have fallen in a swoon. It
would seem as if the Holy Spirit demanded that Its captive sit
down and sit still.
II.
The wisdom of sitting still becomes Divine Wisdom when
we permit the inflowing of the Holy Spirit. We have done our
part: we have sat down and sat still. We have awaited It as
one awaits a guest. The household of the soul is quiet against
His coming. Sursum Cor da! We lift up our hearts. Cor
Cordium! Our heart is flooded with His love!
He has promised that when He came He would make all
things perfect but how unusual the perfection ! No two of us
are perfected alike!
The soul, said St. Bernard, is a capacity for the Infinite.
The fluid of the Holy Spirit accommodates itself to a man's
capacity and fashion. One does not have to be a saint to have
1920.] THE WISDOM OF SITTING STILL 33
It fill one's vessel to the brim, nor rich with spiritual expe-
riences nor learned in matters theological. It stimulates each
man in the manner of his being and work in life.
Thus it was at the first Pentecost. Each Apostle forthwith
spake with a different tongue. To each was given a gift ac-
cording to the work there was for him to do, so that he could
best carry on this work in that land or environment to which
he was sent.
So can come the Divine Wisdom to each man in his
moments of repose. It may not be what he expects or what
at that time he thinks he needs, but It will approach each in
his own fashion, in his own peculiar circle or plane.
Nor indeed may It always stimulate him to religious as-
piration. As if in very abnegation of Himself the Divine
Beauty hides His face from our beholding and turns our eyes
to His handiwork instead the surge of music, the swirl of
crowds, the heave and roll of the sea, the singing of a bird,
the heady odor of grapes in autumn, the tingle of cold air on
a crisp morning even our purpling dusks at the end of the
days' work in the garden. But we must not be satisfied with
these. We must not merely revel in the sensuousness of its
beauty. It is the Spirit and the Spirit quickens!
Repose, then, is a little Pentecost. We rise up from it
galvanized into action the arm is strong again, the eye sees
clearly, there is singing in the heart.
It would be the height of futility to think that repose was
merely an end in itself. We rest but the Divine Stimulus
functions only when we apply It to the next moment's activ-
ities. Perhaps the Holy Spirit can be compared to one of those
high explosives that may be lighted in the hand without
danger, and which exert their force only when confined in the
narrow limits of a gun. Until the Holy Spirit, working through
a man, is confined to the narrow limits of his life, It seems
volatile, to pass off into ether, going, as the wind, where It
listeth. But compact It into the muzzle of an average twenty-
four hour day, and It gains an amazing force.
III.
Once learned, the spirit of repose can be a constant Pente-
cost. The soul is emptied of itself, the personality stripped
bare, the burden laid aside. Into this vacuum, up to the soul's
VOL. cxn. 3
34 A PRAYER [Oct.,
brim, rushes the full tide of Divine Wisdom. The heavy
burden is supplanted by one that is light and for the yoke that
galls is taken His yoke, which is easy.
This changing, this constant flux, is what makes the lives
of saints so fraught with romance and adventure. That is
why they become so rich in experience, even when they are
innocent of the world. Like the multitude that not alone wit-
nessed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, but also ate of
them, so do these simple souls, through repose, both see and
taste the miracle.
Feeling It active within him, the Christian soul hurls him-
self into the next moment's contacts. He is driven by a force
more compelling than any on earth. It sends him if for but
one short moment to the very frontiers of the world. He
sees and we have seen it through the dusk on our New Eng-
land hillside the faint, far horizon of a Celestial Country.
A PRAYER.
BY LUCY GERTRUDE CLARKIN.
LET my dark hours be dark for me alone,
Nor shadow other lives that I hold dear.
Let me in laughter cloak each useless moan,
And make my little world a world of cheer,
Teach me to turn my every hurt and pain
Into white blooms of tenderness for Thee.
Teach me to make each earthly loss a gain,
And, do I fail, be patient, Lord, with me.
A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS.
BY JAMES LOUIS SMALL.
ROM the reclamation of the cemetery of Picpus
at the dawn of the nineteenth century to Inde-
pendence Day, 1917, when the General-in-Chief
of the American Expeditionary Forces stood at
Lafayette's tomb with his memorable "We are
here," stretches a period dramatic in the extreme and replete
with noble purpose and high endeavor. During those years
hard fought battles were waged in the cause of justice and
truth. Sometimes truth triumphed, not seldom injustice.
Brave men, and women too, for that matter, shed their blood
gladly for God, for country and for Holy Church. In the midst
of it all Picpus has stood, a shrine, both of piety and patriot-
ism, to which the steps of many a pilgrim have turned with
varying degrees of reverence.
One brings the twentieth century world along with one as
far as the Rue de Picpus a fairly gay and easy going world
these days, spite of food restrictions, fuel shortage, post-war
regulations and socialistic menace. Paris is gradually setting
her feet in the old ways of mirth, though, truth to tell, they
will perhaps never tread so lightly therein as in more favored
times. Nevertheless, it is a very satisfactory Paris into which
the Captain and I are projected, along with thousands of
others, on a clear, sunshiny, not too warm July afternoon.
Few places are, per se, duller as to surroundings than the
Place de la Nation. The statues of Louis the Saint and Philippe
Auguste gazing inscrutably towards the Vincennes gate, give no
hint of the stirring scenes once enacted at their feet, and it is
difficult to believe that the middle-class, commercial looking
Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, stretching comfortably west-
ward, has been a veritable way of martyrs in days gone by.
If its stones could speak, what horrors would they not cry
fie upon!
But Paris, as I have already remarked, is highly satis-
factory today. Jacques is strolling with his Jeanne, hands
clasped and eyes looking into eyes, oblivious of passing dough-
36 A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS [Oct.,
boy's amused glance, of anything, in fact, but the urging of
youthful life and hope typified by the flower in the lapel of
Jacques' coat and the roses in Jeanne's cheeks. The small
cafes about the square are doing a thriving business. Family
groups surround the tables and discuss questions of mutual
concern over bottles of vin rouge, in placid ignorance of the
fact that less favored countries have legislated these proceed-
ings out of the realm of the innocuous. Children play on the
sidewalks and an occasional dog scuttles between the legs of
an indignant patron. Somewhere in the near distance a band
is playing, and if one's eyes are sharp, one can detect strings
of colored lanterns swung across the narrower streets opening
on the opposite sides of the Place. For it is the eve of Bastille
Day and Paris is to celebrate as she has never celebrated
before.
As we turn the corner into the Rue de Picpus it is as if
we were in a region "by the world forgot." On either side of
the street, which is cobble-paved and barely wide enough to
permit conveyances to pass with safety, there stand rows of
mean looking two and three storied houses. They produce an
odd illusion of jostling against one another, and bending
slightly forward as if to gaze impudently at the khaki-clad
visitors. They remind one, somehow, of the bright-eyed Paris
gamins who infest the boulevards now-a-days and plead strid-
ently for chewing gum and candy.
If we were to keep our eyes even with the street we should
probably pass Picpus by. Gazing upward, however, we dis-
cern, several hundred feet ahead of us, a cross rising above
an irregular pile of drab colored buildings, evidently a con-
vent. Closer inspection is not encouraging. We find ourselves
faced with a ten-foot wall, unbroken throughout its length
save for a heavy oaken door, tightly closed and scarred by
innumerable storms. The Captain shows signs of bolting.
Recognizing the symptoms, I make haste to pull the bell cord
at the right.
Almost instantly the gate swings back, not widely and
hospitably, but quite slowly as if unwilling to admit worldlings
to the hallowed precincts. The caretaker, of middle age and
iad in faded blue, looks us over carefully. He is a bit doubt-
ful ol" the Captain, but when he sights the "K. of C." upon my
cap and sleeve his honest face registers a broad smile of
1920.] A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS 37
welcome. Straightway he trots into his lodge. Then far away
in the building that looms on our right another bell tinkles,
and presently a nun emerges and walks toward us across the
graveled enclosure. The keys at her girdle jingle as she
walks, and as she comes nearer we notice that she wears a
soft white woolen habit with two flaming hearts embroidered
on the front of the scapular. Her cornette is frilled and stands
out from her face like the petals of a flower, an effect enhanced
by the modest glance of inquiry from her clear gray eyes.
In halting French we proffer our request: Might we visit
the tomb of the great Lafayette? Most assuredly. Monsieur
has been here before? No? Very well, she will show us the
way. Past the chapel she leads us a fair-sized and rather
ugly building, flanked on the left by a broad pathway beyond
which lies a small cottage bordered with beds of vivid bloom.
We judge it to be the chaplain's house, for upon our return
a serene looking, bearded priest, in soutane and bands, is
standing in the doorway.
Yes, Picpus is indubitably another world. It is inconceiv-
able that the charming vista which discloses itself to our view
as we reach the rear of the chapel, has part or lot with the
apartment houses and shops that encroach as far as they dare
upon its walled seclusion, or with the noisy holiday making
around the Place de la Nation. Rows of shade trees mingle
their branches above the walks, and decorous, well-kept beds
of flowers and late vegetables bespeak the thrift that never
fails to distinguish the French garden. Here and there a nun
moves about, watering pot in hand, replenishing it from time
to time at the ancient stone-curbed well. For all the world,
one thinks, like Rebecca of old, save in this case the Lover has
already come and the query, "Wilt thou go with this Man?"
has been answered for time and eternity. All along the edges
of the walk there are benches, after the friendly continental
fashion. We should like to avail ourselves of them were it
not for wondering what lies ahead; what more this peaceful,
sun-dappled spot has to offer. The sister who conducted us
has disappeared, after pointing the way and then dropping a
quaint curtsey of farewell.
Ahead of us and a bit to the left, in a sequestered nook,
is a summer house, vine covered, with a table and chairs inside.
It suggests to us an interest, though a secondary one, attaching
38 A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS [Oct.,
to the convent. It was no doubt in just such a place as this
that Fauchelevent and his "brother" held many a colloquy
over pipes and red wine during the six years that Jean Valjean
and the small Gosette spent here, fugitives from the panting,
red-tongued fate that pursued them to the very end. For
tradition says that from this Convent of the Sacred Hearts
Victor Hugo drew, in part at least, the picture he gives us in
Les Miserables of the Benedictines at 62 Rue Picpus. If so,
the picture is drawn passing badly. It would be hard to find
anything more fanciful, not to say grotesque, even in our
modern, highly seasoned literature concerning nuns and con-
vents, than the concluding chapters in Part Two of the famous
novel. They alone, it might reasonably be surmised, could
constitute sufficient ground for its place upon the Index.
I have said that this connection of Picpus with the work
of the French novelist is secondary. Its chief interest centres
around the parcel of ground at the garden's southeast angle,
fenced off from the rest and protected by iron gates. The east
end of this inclosure is in its turn kept apart, and the entire
burial plot, for such it is, is holy ground. We instinctively re-
move our hats as the porter, who has followed us unobserved,
turns his key in the lock and the gate, squeaking upon its
rusty hinges, opens to his touch.
In his Light Invisible, with the chapter entitled "In the
Convent Chapel" as a medium, the late Monsignor Benson has
shown the relation borne by apparently quiescent spiritual
life to the busy world outside. As he pictures lines of power
radiating from the motionless nun praying before the Blessed
Sacrament, so we may imagine links, strong though unseen,
binding silent Picpus to the Paris lying without.
s m %1^'T^ r " r ~
In early June of the year 1794 the merchants of the Rue
St. Honore, the Boulevard Des Italiens of its day, tired of the
constant passing of the tumbrils on their grewsome way to the
Place de la Concorde and having an eye to trade, not unlike
the merchants of other times and lands, petitioned the Com-
mittee of Public Safety (sic.) that the guillotine be removed
to another portion of the city. "Decent, well-to-do people,"
they averred, "shun a street where the carts pass daily bearing
the condemned." So on the fourteenth of June the grim instru-
ment of death was set up in the eastern suburbs, on what is
1920.] A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS 39
now known as the Place de la Nation, but was then called
the Barriere du Trone, because upon that spot Louis XIV.,
when he returned from signing the Treaty of the Pyrenees in
1660, chose to receive his subjects' homage.
There for six weeks the chapter begun at the Place de la
Concorde was written to its close. In that time over thirteen
hundred gave their lives for their religious or political convic-
tions, not infrequently both. Sixty less than that number had
met their fate at the Place de la Concorde during the preced-
ing thirteen months. The "Reign of Terror" only ended with
the arrest of Robespierre on July 27th.
We are indebted to an American lady, Ella J. Bucking-
ham, for an exceedingly well-written sketch of the period. 1
It is of more than passing interest to us, as the writer was for
a time a guest at the convent of Picpus. Hence, although a
non-Catholic, her work has about it something of the intimate
and personal.
Very touching indeed is the roster as given by this Amer-
ican woman of those who died on the scaffold in June and
July, 1794. It is gathered, among other sources, from "a
pamphlet-like, black-bound book, published in 1802, on whose
time-yellowed pages are written down the names of all who
perished at the Barriere du Trone in the six weeks following
the removal of the guillotine (from the Place de la Concorde) ."
It could be said of those days as the poet tells of the plague,
that "wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, the
oppressor." On a single page there appear the names of a
merchant of the street fairs, a market gardener, a domestic, a
laundress, two seamstresses, a workman and a soldier. These,
and others like them, brushed shoulders with ecclesiastics,
courtiers and their ladies, aristocrats and simple rustics. Of
a town in Brittany a toll of lives was exacted for no other
reason than that the villagers had assisted at a Requiem Mass
for Louis XVI. on the anniversary of his death, and had worn
a black cockade on that day instead of the customary tri-color.
A great number of the accused met death bravely, many
even with a smile. One Madame Ste. Amaranthe and her daugh^-
ter were possessed of such bright complexions, made still more
beautiful by the crimson of their blouses, that the color became
1 A Souvenir of Lafayette. A Historical Sketch of the Cemetery of Picpus.
Printed by Herbert Clarke, 338 Rue St. Honored Paris.
40 A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS [Oct.,
fashionable and was taken up, we are told, by the women of
the Faubourg St. Antoine. A little laundress who called "Vive
le Roi" from her window one day, boldly asserted that she had
done it "because it pleased her and that she would repeat the
words," a threat which she made good before the Tribunal
itself. Andre Chenier, the poet, and his friend, Roucher; the
Marquis de Beauharnais, first husband of the Empress Joseph-
ine; Ward, the Irish general; these and many others as famous
appear on the list. An abbe, a friend of the family of Madame
de Lafayette, had promised them long before that, were they
to be brought to the guillotine, he would give them final abso-
lution. Behold him, then, on the day of execution, disguised,
following the tumbrils from the prison gates. Twice he was
recognized by his friends and twice he was pushed aside by
the crowd. When the sad procession reached the Bastille a
violent storm arose and the mob scattered. Then, amid flashes
of lightning and pelting rain, he raised his hand in absolution.
Nor were the gentle inmates of religious houses spared.
The Abbess of the Benedictines, who dwelt on the slopes of
Montmartre, Madame de Montmorency-Laval, over seventy
years of age, blind, feeble from imprisonment, was actually
charged with attempting to escape, when to have done so
would have meant crossing a plank which connected a second
story window with a wall on the other side of the moat! Yet
for this she was beheaded.
The account given by the writer to whom we have pre-
viously referred of the execution of a whole company of
Carmelites, is so graphic that it will bear quoting:
On the seventeenth of July the people of the Faubourg,
who in their turn had grown weary of these daily spectacles,
were moved to fresh interest and came to their doors,
attracted by the unusual sound of the "Te Deum" chanted
by strong, firm voices.
It was the day when sixteen Carmelite nuns from the
convent of Compiegne were to give their lives for refusing
to take an oath of allegiance to this new government, and
for alleged treasonable correspondence with the royalist
emigres . . .
With unfaltering voices they finished the "Te Deum;"
then, gathering around the Mother Superior at the foot of
the scaffold, they began the "Veni Creator"
1920.] A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS 41
As the rule of the order demands implicit obedience to
a recognized head, each nun, when summoned, kneeling,
requested "Permission to die, my mother," until the voices
died away in silence.
On the wall to one side of the grating that opens into the
inner plot of the Picpus cemetery there is a tablet commem-
orating these devoted women. "To the memory," it reads, "of
the sixteen Carmelites of Compiegne. Died for the Faith July
17, 1794. Their bodies rest behind this wall. Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord. Declared Martyrs and Blessed
May 26, 1906."
And what became of the bodies of the thirteen hundred
and more men and women who were led to death at the Bar-
riere du Trone? That was a secret known to but few, and by
that few kept inviolate, unless they also wished to tread in the
footsteps of the martyrs.
Among the many abandoned convents of the neighbor-
hood there was one formerly occupied by some Augustinians.
Little remained of it but a moldly ruin. On the edge of the
once beautiful grounds was a partly worked stone quarry.
This lonely place was selected as most fitting for the purpose,
and to it daily, after nightfall, the bodies were brought and
into it they were cast, with utmost secrecy and without word
of prayer or making of the holy sign. It was well understood
that any attempt on the part of friend or relative to discover
the destination of the death carts would be followed by pun-
ishment, swift and condign. But it was quite inevitable that
now and then a man or woman of more than usual hardihood
would steal along under cover of darkness and learn the secret.
Among these courageous ones was a poor working girl,
whose father had been in the service of the Comte de Brissac,
and whose brother had been one of those doomed by the Tri-
bunal to die at the Barriere du Trone. It was to a German
noblewoman, whose brother also had perished, and who had
been foiled in her repeated attempts to find his grave by the
ignorance, real or pretended, of all to whom she applied, that
the little working girl imparted the information. The princess
bought the bit of ground where the bodies had been thrown,
walled it in and set up a cross to her brother's memory, the
cross that one sees as one looks through the grating. Thus
what is known as the "Cemetery of Victims" became the nu-
42 A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS [Oct.,
cleus of the Picpus cemetery, itself the nucleus of the convent
domain of the Religious of the Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus
and Mary and Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacra-
ment. Founded during the Revolution, the young order must
have appealed to the survivors of those sad days as a fitting
guardian of such a trust.
Poverty made progress slow, for the returning exiles were
poor in purse and some of them, possibly, broken in spirit.
But at last a society was formed for the purchase of the grounds
and ruined buildings. In 1802 the first Napoleon signed a
decree confirming the purchase. The names of his step-chil-
dren, Eugene and Hortense Beauharnais, appear as members
of the society, as do also those of General and Madame de
Lafayette. It was but natural that the relatives of those rest-
ing in the "Cemetery of Victims" should desire burial nearby.
Hence there grew up the Cemetery of Picpus, reserved, how-
ever, as a place of interment for direct descendants, or their
connections to the fourth degree.
If, as someone once said, the cemetery of Pere Lachaise
is a "record of the genius, not only of Paris but of France," it
may be stated with equal truth that the plot at Picpus is an
unstained chronicle of devotion to God and country. One's
pulse quickens as one reads the titles upon the tombs, names
that have figured in the history, not of France alone, but of
our own newer land. There are La Rochefoucauld, Rochefort,
Noailles, Montmorency, Montalembert, author of Monks of the
West, and to Americans, most illustrious of all Lafayette.
In a railed-off space at the southeast corner, where the
Stars and Stripes mingle with the Tri-color, rests all that is
mortal of the great General. The lines upon the marble slab
give the date of his birth, September 6, 1757; of his marriage,
in 1774; and of his death, May 20, 1834. Next to his grave is
that of his wife, member of the aristocratic house of Noailles,
who preceded him to Picpus by twenty-seven years. They lie
here by good right, since no less than five members of Madame
de Lafayette's immediate family were executed at the Barriere
du Trone: her mother, the Duchess d'Ayen; her sister, the
Vicomtesse de Noailles; her grandmother, the Marechale de
Noailles; and her uncle and aunt, the Marechal and Marechale
de Mouchy. It was that de Mouchy who, as he passed from the
hall where sentence had been pronounced, replied to the
1920.] A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS 43
"Courage, MarechaU" of his fellow prisoners: "When nine-
teen years old I fought for my king; at seventy-nine I die for
my God. It has been a life well filled." Assuredly it was an
answer worthy a knight and a gentleman.
One more stopping-place and then we shall leave the little
burial ground behind us and be upon our way. At the western
end of the cemetery, surmounted by a cross, is a tomb whose
inscription is worth reading, both because of its quaint sim-
plicity and also because it breathes the language of love that
has from the beginning animated the guardians of Picpus!
"Most Reverend Mother Henriette Aymer de la Ghevalerie,
Canoness of Malta. Born 1767. In 1797, under the direction
of the Most Reverend Father Marie Joseph Goudrin, she
founded the Congregation of the Religious of the Most Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary and Perpetual Adoration of the
Most Holy Sacrament. Despising the grandeurs and joys of
the world she dedicated herself to a life hidden in God and
crucified with Jesus Christ." There follows a recital of the
various virtues with which this pious nun was adorned and
which earned for her the title of "The Good Mother," as Pere
Coudrin was known as "The Good Father." Then, "After hav-
ing founded eighteen houses she gave up her beautiful soul to
God the twenty-third of September, 1834. Good Mother,
watch daily over the children whom thou hast left in their
sorrow !"
There is pathos in the concluding invocation, for without
doubt the nuns of Picpus have known much sorrow. In the
early thirties of the century past, when the surrounding quar-
ter teemed with disorder, the convent owed its security to
Lafayette, who caused a notice to be posted above the door,
stating that anyone entering there with evil intent incurred
the penalty of death. From time to time attempts were made,
happily with no success, to extend newly-opened thorough-
fares through the grounds. After serving as a hospital during
the Franco-Prussian War, the convent fell into the horrid grip
of the Commune. It was invaded by a foul-mouthed horde of
ruffians, one of whom pressed his sabre against the nun who
stood at the door, threatening her with instant death. There
is characteristic French spirit in her rejoinder: "Just as you
wish, Monsieur!" The intruders sent some of the sisters off
to the St. Lazare prison, and pillaged the premises in search
44 A PILGRIMAGE TO PICPUS [Oct.,
for supposed treasure. The work of sacrilege ended with the
intervention of the Versailles troops.
As we retrace our steps the shadows of late afternoon are
stealing over the garden, but we have time to enter and say a
short prayer in the convent chapel, dedicated to "Our Lady of
Peace." Erected in 1840 upon the site of the ancient chapel
of the Augustinians its dark interior reveals little of note, either
historic or artistic, if we except the famous little statue of Our
Lady of Peace. From the reign of Henry III., when it was in
possession of the family "de Joyeuse," to the present it has
passed through many hands. At one time it stood in the
convent of the Capucines on the Rue St. Honore. There is a
story, perhaps no more than legend, that about it in the black-
ness of the night there circled strains of celestial music. One
likes to think that that were true.
A number of nuns are kneeling before the high altar, ab-
sorbed in adoration, their forms showing vividly amidst the
darkness of the sanctuary. Save for the blood-red mantle,
worn only in chapel, they are arrayed as brides, in white habits
with filmy veils that envelop them from head to foot. Like
their sisters at Tyburn they are making expiation for the sins
of the world, fickle and cruel, that turns upon and rends the
things it has once loved; that on the Place de la Nation, as at
Tyburn, spared neither priest nor consecrated virgin.
Once more we are in the Rue de Picpus. Our visit to the
cemetery and the chapel of Notre Dame de la Paix is over.
Possibly in days to come fancy will love to roam in the fair
regions into which we have been permitted to glimpse. Un-
bidden there come to mind the words of our American poet,
written of a peaceful God's acre in the homeland:
Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and for
ever;
Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy;
Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their
labors;
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their
journey.
SEBASTIAN RALE AND THE PURITANS.
BY GEORGE F. O'DWYER.
MONG the pine trees of Maine, along the sinuous
reaches of the Kennebec, two hundred years ago,
were a few struggling settlements of Irish, Scotch,
and English, some of whom at this particular
period were at odds with their Indian friends on
the easterly side of the river. One of the principal reasons for
the enmity was the action of sundry Puritan traders from
Boston and the northern Massachusetts settlements, who per-
sisted in mixing trade with the State religion something
which the discerning Norridgewocks and Kennebec tribes of
Indians could not reconcile with their ideas. As a result, the
traders from Boston, who came up the Kennebec in their
barks filled with the implements of barter trinkets and rum
found their Indian traders strangely disturbed, and the
exchanges of goods were accompanied with dire sugges-
tions.
In the powwows, held at this period on the clearings on
the easterly side of the river the Puritan ambassadors had
their barks at a convenient point in case of emergency the
main burden of the discussion between the interpreters of the
tradesmen was the advisability of replacing the Catholic spir-
itual adviser of the Norridgewocks Father Sebastian Rale
with one Rev. Joseph Baxter of Massachusetts, who was of
the Puritan state church congregation. The chiefs of the as-
sembled tribes in the clearings saw at once the insidious por-
tent of the plan and, on their own initiative, refused to obey
the Puritan ambassadors who orated in the powwows, which
caused much confusion among the orators on both sides of the
question. The commissioners went back to Boston in their
little barks still loaded with trinkets and rum and reported
the leanings of the Indians to the black-robe Rale and the
French. Thereat there was much excitement in the council
of the Governor and the House of Representatives. And, as the
record indicates,' a price of a thousand pounds was set upon
the head of Father Rale!
46 SEBASTIAN RALE AND THE PURITANS [Oct.,
Now this unusual action only made the neophytes of the
black-robed Jesuit, in the wilds of the Kennebec, stronger in
their profession to the French king and to their spiritual
adviser. The naive honesty of the Indian mind saw the hy-
pocrisy of the Puritan proselyters, consequently they rallied in
greater numbers to repel the advances on their lands and pos-
sessions made by rapacious settlers who were inspired by the
officials at Boston.
The Puritan settlements, at that time, reached from Massa-
chusetts Bay to the original Gorges reservations from the Pis-
cataqua to the Kennebec, and even to the French habitations
beyond the villages of the Abenakis. Forts had been erected
at convenient points along the Kennebec and Androscoggin
Rivers on clearings which the Indians claimed as their own by
right of original possession which the Puritan officials con-
trived to ignore and ridicule. Naturally, the Indian chiefs
felt peeved, and their hot blood was easily aroused at oppor-
tune periods, between the dawn of the eighteenth century and
1720.
For a hundred years previous, the French had been friends
and good counselors to these chiefs, and the black-robed men
of God who dwelt among them saw that their Indian charges
were properly instructed in the virtues of adhering to God and
country. Accordingly, when the little Puritan barks with
soldier-divines and trader-divines on board, sailed into the
clearings along the lower part of the Kennebec in the spring of
1720, the chiefs of the Norridgewocks and Kennebecs were pre-
pared. They received their wily English ambassadors with
politeness (as they were urged to do by Father Rale) until
the emissaries forgot themselves in their ill-advised enthu-
siasm, and insulted the Catholic faith. Then, the Indian cate-
chumens and neophytes, quick to see the malice conveyed
against the religion and the dignity of their tutor, rose in
revolt, and the emissaries from Boston were forced to go
back with their presents of trinkets and strong waters, only
slightly disturbed.
In the summer of 1720, as a result of what they considered
an affront to their religion and dignity, the Massachusetts
Council, at their session in Boston July 21st passed this resolu-
tion:
1920.] SEBASTIAN RALE AND THE PURITANS 47
This House being credibly informed that Mons'r Ralle,
the Jesuit, residing among the Eastern Indians, has not only
on several Occasions of late affronted his Majesty's Gov-
ernment of this Province but also has been the Incendiary
that has instigated & stirr'd up those Indians to treat his
Majesty's Subjects setling there, in the abusive, insolent &
hostile manner that they have done: Resolved, that a Pre-
mium of one hundred pounds be allowed & paid out of the
Publick Treasury to any Person that shall Apprehend the
said Jesuit within any part of this Province & shall bring
him to Boston & Render him to Justice [?]. In Council
Read & Concur'd. 1
On the eighth of November the same year, the Council
resolved :
That it is derogatory to his Majesty's Honour & very
unjurious to this Province That Mons'r Ralle, a French
Jesuit & Missionary, should in Defiance [?] of the Law
Reside in any part of this Province W'ch we are informed
he now does as an Incendiary at Norridgewock among the
Indians and that his Excellency the Governour be requested
with Advice of the Council to take effective Methods for his
Removal.
In order to give strength to the latter resolution, the
solons of the Massachusetts House of Representatives resur-
rected a law passed in 1647, which prohibited Jesuits from
coming into the Massachusetts colony. When one considers
the fact that the Abenakis and Father Rale lived on what was
really French territory at that period, which was theirs by
right of eminent domain, the above outburst seems ridiculous.
But as most all Puritan outbursts of this period had the same
tone of ridicule and conceit for their French neighbors east
and north of the Kennebec, the animus of the above quotation
is easily accounted for.
Nearly a year later, on September 7, 1721, the Massa-
chusetts Council decided at their session in Boston :
That the Government hath Sufficient reason to prosecute
the Eastern Indians for their many Breaches of their Cove-
nants & Treaties and more especially for their open Rebel-
lion Lately Committed at Arowsick. . That One hundred &
1 Legislative Records of Massachusetts Council, vol. xi., p. 25.
48 SEBASTIAN RALE AND THE PURITANS [Oct.,
Fifty Effective Men be added to the Three Hundred & Fifty
already in the Service in the Eastern Settlements. . That
Three Hundred of the said Men at least be sent in Quest
of the said Eastern Indians, And that his Excellency be
desired to Issue out a Proclamation to be sent by the
Comand'g Officer of the Said Forces to be Interpreted to
the said Indians Commanding them upon pain of being
prosecuted with the Utmost Severity to Deliver up the
Jesuits and the other Heads & Fomentors of their Rebellion.
And that Mons'r Rallee or any other French Priezt resid-
ing among ym be Seized & Secured & Sent to Boston and in
Case the Indians Shall forcibly oppose them in their said
Attempt that then they proceed to Repell Force by Force! 2
Now what have we on the other side of the question?
After careful research the writer has found much. But here
will be quoted a translation of a part of a letter written by
Father Rale to his nephew in France on October 15,
1722, one year after the English published the above dire
threat. The translation is by Rev. William I. Kip, M.A.,
corresponding member of the New York Historical Society,
and it is found among other letters by Father Rale translated
by this author in a book entitled Early Jesuit Missionaries in
North America (New York, 1846). Mr. Kip was an Episco-
palian clergyman.
Among other things Father Rale wrote of in the letter
was the following, as translated by Mr. Kip:
"During the more than thirty years that I have passed in
the depths of the forests among the Savages, I have been so
occupied in instructing them and training them in Christian
virtues that I have had scarcely time to write many letters,
even to those who are most dear to me. . . The whole nation
of the Abenakis is Christian and very zealous to preserve their
religion. This attachment to the Catholic faith has reduced
them, even at this time [1722] to prefer our alliance to ad-
vantages that might be derived from an alliance with the
English, who are their neighbors. These advantages would be
of great importance to our Indians . . . the facilities of trad-
ing with the English from whom they are distant but one or two
days' journey, in place of going to Quebec which it is neces-
sary to take more than a fortnight to reach, certainly hold out
2 Records of Massachusetts Council, September, 1721,
1920.] SEBASTIAN RALE AND THE PURITANS 49
great inducements . . . but their faith is infinitely more dear
to them and they believe that if they detach themselves from
our alliance [with the French] they will shortly find them-
selves without a missionary, without sacraments, without a
sacrifice, with scarcely any exercise of their own religion and
in manifest danger of being replunged into their former
heathenism. This is the bond which unites them to the French."
In alluding to the coming of the English settlers on the
confines, and even on Indian lands along the Kennebec,
Father Rale said in the same letter: "The proximity of the
English was, at first, a source of pleasure to the Indians, who
did not perceive the snare that was laid for them. But at
length, seeing themselves surrounded by habitations of the
English, they demanded by what right they thus established
themselves on their lands and even erected their forts there."
In the autumn of 1722, the inroads of the English on the
Indian reservations goaded the latter into open rebellion, and
the Norridgewocks and the other tribes in league with them,
made war among the frontier settlements. Knowing of the
antipathy which the Puritans had for Father Rale, the chief
warriors of the tribes advised him Jo go on to Quebec for a
short interval. Commenting on this action of his Indian pre-
servers, Father Rale, in the letter to his nephew, written October
15, 1722, said: "My neophytes, touched by the peril to which I
found myself exposed in their village, often urged me to
retire, for a time, to Quebec. Rut what will become of the
flock if it be deprived of its shepherd? They have done what
they could to represent to me that in case I should fall into
the hands of our enemies, the least which could possibly
happen to me would be to languish for the rest of my days
in a hard prison. Rut I close their lips with the words of the
Apostle which divine goodness has deeply engraven on my
heart: 'Do not all distress yourselves,' I say to them, 'as to
what concerns me, I do not in the least fear the threats of
those who hate me without cause and I count not my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course and the ministry
which I have received from the Lord Jesus.' "
Retween these lines can be read the wonderful courage
and fidelity of this sturdy pioneer in the Maine vineyard of
the Lord. And it also shows the strong sympathy of the
Indian catechumens and neophytes who were certainly tried in
VOL. CXII. 4
50 SEBASTIAN RALE AND THE PURITANS [Oct.,
their allegiance to their zealous missionary and their king
in that period.
In a letter written to his brother in France from Narant-
sounack, an Abenaki village, on the twelfth of October, 1723,
Father Rale said, commenting on the efforts of the Puritan
Council in Boston to capture him: "These gentlemen [the
English] persuaded with reason that in keeping my Indians
in their attachment to their Catholic faith, I was more and
more strengthening the bonds which united them to the
French, set in operation every kind of wile and artifice to
detach them from me. Neither offers nor promises were
spared to induce the Indians to deliver me into their hands
or at least to send me back to Quebec and take one of their
ministers [Rev. Joseph Baxter] in my place. They made many
attempts to surprise me and carry me off by force; they even
went so far as to promise a thousand pounds sterling to any
one who would bring them my head! You may well believe
me, my dear brother, that these threats are able neither to
intimidate me nor diminish my zeal. I should be only too
happy if I might become their victim, or, if God should judge
me worthy to be loaded with irons and to shed my blood for
the salvation of my dear Indians!"
Here we see the wonderful fortitude and fidelity to his
charges of this zealous apostle. One year later he had his
wish. On August 23, 1724, he was shot down in cold blood
by his English persecutors and assassins at the foot of the
mission cross at Norridgewock.
Sebastian Rale was born in Franche-Comte in 1657. At
the age of thirty-two (1689) he was sent to the American mis-
sions. After spending two years among the Abenakis at the
mouth of the Chaudiere River, Canada, he was sent to Illinois,
where he was successful in making many converts among that
war-like tribe. He spent two years in the Middle West, and
then went to the little Abenaki settlements in Maine. Here
he found his life work. From 1694, until his death in 1724, he
labored among the tribe and found time to make several trips
up and down the wilds of the Penobscot, the Androscoggin,
the Kennebec, and even as far as Quebec, where the "fires of
his apostolic zeal" were kindled and many souls were brought
to the kingdom of God.
Among the Abenakis he labored as one of their own, and
1920.] THE BLIND MAN 51
his leisure hours were few. When he was not instructing the
catechumens and neophytes, he was busy planting, or gather-
ing herbs, or gathering the wax-berry for candles for his altar
in the rude little chapel outside the stockade of the Indian
village, Norridgewock. In the hunting and fishing expeditions
of the tribe, he was as ardent and interested as the most active
braves, and when the Indians went down to the shore near
what is now Kennebunkport to fish for cod and haddock and
to gather mussles, clams, and oysters twice a year, Father
Rale was with them and enjoyed their humble fare. When he
could spare the time he compiled his dictionary of the Abenaki
language. It is now reposing in the library of Harvard College.
The results of the crusade of this sainted man of God are
still in evidence along the banks of the Kennebec yea, even
to the bounds of the St. Groix for the descendants of the early
French and Acadians and Abenakis and their kindred tribes
still practice the faith taught by Father Rale. The inroads of
the English have made but very little difference. The seed
sown by the sainted missionary lives!
THE BLIND MAN.
BY MARTIN T. O'CONNELL.
THE rose is a sachet of velvet
The sun, a soft wind from the south
And the moon and the stars only phrases
He has caught from another's mouth.
Love is the touch of a warm hand
Joy the glad song of a lark:
Beauty is dream-ladened music,
And God flaming Light in the dark!
THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT.
A TABLOID TREATISE.
BY KATHERINE BREGY, LITT.D.
ONATHAN SWIFT, the bitter-sweet dean of St.
Patrick's, Dublin, was the Bernard Shaw-plus-
Gilbert Chesterton of the eighteenth century. To
his own age he was a challenge and a paradox
and in the more important matters, he remains
still an enigma. In England a politician; in Ireland, almost
against his will, a patriot; a voluminous writer who is remem-
bered for a single work; a sentimentalist who made shipwreck
of every love; an ecclesiastic who served as an almost infallible
storm-centre for his co-religionists : he began by asking, in all
good faith, What's Wrong with the World? And he ended a
helpless and ironic prisoner in Heartbreak House.
Something of Swift's congenital perversity, only in more
gossamer texture, hung about his mother, Abigaile Erick
who amused herself during her son's youthful residence in
London by calling at his lodgings anonymously and stealthily,
to the great scandal of his landlady. His father, a cousin to
John Dryden, was the penniless younger son of an old York-
shire family, and had early come fortune-hunting in Ireland.
But at the time of his death, several months before young
Jonathan's birth, he had achieved only a very precarious posi-
tion as steward to the Society of the King's Inns, Dublin. So
when this boy of proud and imperious spirit was born into the
world, on November 30, 1667, it was as a predestined de-
pendent.
At one year old, the child was abducted by a doting nurse
and carried off to England, where his mother permitted him to
remain for five years perhaps because it seemed the easiest
solution to at least one of her problems. Subsequently he re-
turned to school at Kilkenny, and later was sent to Trinity
College, Dublin, upon the rather grudging largess of his uncle,
Godwin Swift. It is perhaps some extenuation of Jonathan's
1920.] THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT 53
thoroughly scandalous career at Trinity to remember that ha
was only fourteen when entered as "pensioner" there. At any
rate, he lost few opportunities to show his hostility toward
both faculty and curriculum. The result was foreordained. His
bachelor of arts degree was first refused ("for dullness and
inefficiency," in his own bitter words), later granted under
protest, and finally revoked by the college after some par-
ticularly blatant acts of rebellion.
So the daring and disgruntled boy left Ireland, and walked
most of the way to his mother's abode in Leicestershire. He
was just twenty-one; and she, poor woman! seems to have
feared that his next imbroglio might involve the heart rather
than the head. So she made shift to secure him a new "pro-
tector" in the person of Sir William Temple, with whose
family she had a certain unexplained intimacy. To this power-
ful diplomat Jonathan went in a secretarial capacity, and at
his home in Moore Park he received his first introduction to
men and affairs of state. He was also spurred on to resume
his neglected studies, to such good effect that in 1692 he was
admitted to the degree of master of arts at Oxford University.
Swift's trenchant wit and originality were already as con-
spicuous as his high temper and passionate love of freedom:
and the thousand suppressions of his daily life had bred in
him not humility, but a sense of injustice. Even at this early
age he was prey to that most poisonous of all obsessions, a
belief that the world was against him. This curious antagon-
ism toward mankind, coupled often with a tender loyalty
toward individuals, merely increased with his years as in-
deed, it was to color his entire literary work.
In 1694, Swift left Sir William Temple, smarting under
some real or imagined lack of advancement; and it was then
that he decided, in order to insure his future, upon taking
orders in the Anglican Church. There seems every evidence
that his was what might be termed a vocation of convenience;
and it is strong proof of the man's inherent idealism that he
tried later on to make it a vocation of consecration even if
the consecration was not unmixed with some scandal and
more contention. At any rate, he was ordained priest of the
Establishment in 1694, and obtained an unimportant prebend
near Belfast which he shortly afterward resigned to return
to the reconciled Sir William. During this second residence
54 THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT [Oct.,
at Moore Park, Swift renewed his friendship with young
Esther Johnson, another pensioner of the household, whose
education he directed with affectionate care and who, as
"Stella," was to play so permanent, if not prominent, a role
in his later life. He also inaugurated his literary work with
The Battle of the Books, a treatise instigated by his benefactor
and designed to whip up the controversy then raging over
ancient and modern learning. The book would be forgotten
today were it not for its admirable and ironic little preface,
where Swift strikes the keynote of his later message by de-
claring : "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do gener-
ally discover everybody's face but their own; which is the
chief reason for that kind of reception it meets with in the
world." About this time he must also have written one of the
most unique and regrettable of all his creations, The Tale of a
Tub, although its publication did not come until 1704. This is
a fantastic allegory of Church history, designed as a piece of
Protestant apologetics: but its apology is as perverse as its
history. For if Swift derides Peter (the Church of Rome), he
cannot resist the temptation to mock Martin (Lutheranism)
and to ridicule Jack (Calvinism) as well. Candidly, it is not
a very sane piece of writing, and its most brilliant moments
are its maddest. Swift's later career in the Anglican Church
suffered much from this reckless work, which seems to have
won unstinted approval from no one save Voltaire!
Those were the days of the patron, so after Temple's
death Swift passed as chaplain to the home of Lord Berkeley
in Ireland. But here another dissillusion awaited the young
cleric, when he found that the deanery of Derry could be his
only upon payment of a hundred pound bribe to his lordship's
secretary! However, his just resentment was partially healed
when he was given three small "livings" not far from Dublin;
and at his own favorite, Laracor, in County Meath, Swift
worked with considerable industry over his rectory, his fish-
pond, and a congregation numbering fifteen souls !
His friend, Esther Johnson, was, at his own request, re-
siding near him at this time (for the ostensible reason that the
High Cost of Living was lower in Ireland), with Mrs. Rebecca
Dingley as companion. And for awhile the turbulent Dr.
Swift seems to have been content with life as a rural clergy-
man. His Letters of a Church of England Man, written during
1920.] THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT 55
these years, are interesting in their statement of his frankly
political fealty to the Anglican communion. "I think it clear,"
he says, "that any great separation from the established wor-
ship, though to a new one that is more pure and perfect, may
be an occasion of endangering the public peace." But that so
merely nominal and official a faith failed to satisfy his own
love of reality, there is abundant evidence in the scathing
sarcasm with which he later wrote his Argument to Prove that
the Abolishing of Christianity in England May, as Things Now
Stand, Be Attended with Some Inconveniences, etc. Of the
Catholic Faith, Swift was as invincibly and hopelessly ignor-
ant as was the England of his day. It was to him a Garden
Enclosed, a mysterious factor of foreign, or conceivably of
domestic politics : although we have on record his classic wish
reechoed by so many of the "separated" ever since! that
when the Pope was weeding out his garden, he would not
throw all the debris over their side of the wall!
In 1710, Dr. Swift was in London as official representative
of the Irish Church (i. e., the Anglican Church in Ireland) in
its effort to obtain the "first fruits," or twentieth-part tax, al-
lowed by Queen Ann to her English, but not to her Irish, clergy.
Immediately, he and his pen became the object of brisk polit-
ical rivalry between the Whigs and Tories: and when Swift
went over to the latter side, he leaped into high favor with
the reigning ministry. Within six months he had gained the
petition of the Irish clergy; but he remained in London as
editor of the government organ, the Examiner. He wrote also
for early copies of the Tatler and Spectator, living in daily
intimacy with the coterie which included Steele, Addison,
Congreve, Atterbury, Arbuthnot, and Pope. From a worldly
standpoint, these years were the most brilliant of Swift's
career, but they left almost nothing of permanent value in his
literary work. For that part of his days which was not occu-
pied by a rather strenuous social life, was filled with a mass of
controversial writing perhaps the most important being his
letter upon The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry,
in Beginning and Carrying on the War. This admirable po-
lemic, a plea for ending the ten years war with France and
Spain, achieved four editions in one week, and did probably
more than any other single thing to show the English public
the uselessness of Marlborough's showy victories. It was one
56 THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT [Oct.,
of Swift's most spectacular triumphs, but the dissensions of
the ministers and the covert disapproval of the Queen held
him back from rising on the crest of his own wave. Not the
most political of ecclesiastical "lobbying" could win anything
higher for himself than the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin,
to which he was finally appointed in 1713. With the death of
Queen Ann the following year, the overthrow of the Tories,
and the hated Hanoverian dynasty at its utmost in George I.,
Swift shook the dust of England from his feet and threw in his
lot permanently with the Other Island.
All the details of those stirring years in London with
Swift's familiar prestige in Court circles, his dinners with
duchesses and conferences at coffee-houses, his political in-
trigues and unobtrusive charities, his disappointments and
ever-recurrent attacks of vertigo are told in the celebrated
Journal to Stella. Sometimes Swift is paternal in correcting
"Stella's" spelling or directing her household expenses; some-
times more than paternal in his hopes that her "dear eyes"
will not suffer from his writing. But the Journal says too
much not to say much more. Beneath its minute candor
there lurks still a disingenuousness, a suspicion that the man
was deliberately shielding himself from possible criticism
or was it from possible responsibility?
The whole problem of Swift's relations with "Stella"
rests, of course, under this same suspicion, and it is not, per-
haps, the affair of posterity to solve a mystery which he was
unwilling and she unable to reveal. The legend of their secret
marriage at Clogher in 1716 has never been satisfactorily
proved nor disproved. But in spite of the Dean's temporary
and tragic entanglement with the other and younger Esther
(Miss Vanhomrigh), there is no doubt of their long and appar-
ently "platonic" devotion. This blustering, bitter-tongued man
would seem to have been a timid philanderer where women were
concerned and, possibly because of his love of liberty, possibly
because of the consciousness of some mental or physical dis-
ability, he was determined to shun marriage. So this peculiar
intimacy with "Stella," grew into acceptance among his clergy
and people in Dublin. And when, in 1728, she died, they
mourned with him the passing of a good woman: one who
had given her best to Jonathan Swift, and to whom he had
given what he could conveniently! But in the entire range
1920.] THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT 57
of his work, there is nothing more simply, searchingly touch-
ing than the fragment On the Death of Mrs. Johnson, which he,
too ill to attend her funeral, finished while the services were in
progress in his nearby cathedral. "It is now nine at night;
and I am removed into another apartment, that I may not see
the light in the church," wrote the cryptic dean. And alone
there with the memories of forty odd years, still guarding at
least the inner seal of his self-imposed reserves, he penned that
discreet yet devoted panegyric of "the truest, most virtuous
and valuable friend that I, or perhaps any other person, was
ever blessed with. . . I knew her from six years old, and had
some share in her education, by directing what books she
should read, and perpetually instructing her in the principles
of honour and virtue; from which she never swerved in any
one action or moment of her life. She . . . was looked upon
as one of the most beautiful, graceful and agreeable young
women in London, only a little too fat. Her hair was blacker
than a raven, and every feature of her face perfection. . .
Never was any of her sex born with better gifts of the mind,
or who more improved them by reading and conversation. . .
All of us who had the happiness of her friendship agreed
unanimously that in an afternoon or evening's conversation,
she never failed, before we parted, of delivering the best thing
that was said in the company. . ."
During "Stella's" life, both she and the dean had, as he
said, "loved Ireland," and grown to detest "the tyranny and
injustice of England in their treatment of this kingdom."
After her death, championship of that unhappy isle became
his chief literary concern. In protest against a law forbidding
the export of Irish woolen goods to any country except Eng-
land, Swift wrote his bold, but very practical, Proposal for
the Universal Use of Irish Manufactures. When Wood's in-
famous copper-coin abuse threatened, he began his notorious
Drapier Letters, urging a boycott of the debased currency and
finally threatening a general expose of conditions in Ireland. A
prize of three hundred pounds was offered by the English
government for the arrest of the letter-writer but the offend-
ing coinage was promptly withdrawn! From that day Swift,
who had come to Ireland in his own words "an exile," re-
mained the idol of its long-suffering people. But the hopeless-
ness of the situation under Hanoverian rule drew from him
58 THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT [Oct.,
finally the bitter and burning irony of his Modest Proposal,
that since the upbringing of the children of the poor in Ire-
land "under the present situation of affairs is utterly im-
possible," they should be killed young and served at table
to those Especially landlords who could afford such a
delicacy !
For verisimilitude of fancy and vigorous satire, this dia-
tribe is surpassed by no work of Swift's save the masterpiece,
Gulliver's Travels. This classic was published in 1726, after
being more than ten years in composition, and from the mass
of his controversial writings, it survives as the one certain font
of immortality. It looms as a giant in the long chain of
imaginary voyages, which include Lucian's True History, Ra-
belais' Pantagruel, More's Utopia, and in our own day, Alice
in Wonderland or Maeterlinck's Blue Bird. That its popularity
should today be chiefly among the young, and because of its
adventurousness, is one of the literary ironies. For Gulliver's
pilgrimage whether he soars as a demigod in Lilliput, shrinks
to a pigmy in Brobdingnag, adventures among the flying island
of Laputa, the infinite projects of Balnibari or those wretched
immortals, the Struldbrugs is obviously Swift's ultimate
satire upon the human race. Its final chapter, where the horse
is seen as the rational ruler and man has sunk into the degen-
erate and obscure Yahoo, is the apotheosis of misanthropy:
probably the most revolting expression in English literature
of "the-more-I-see-of-men-the-better-I-like-my-dog" taunt. But
it is scarcely more than this. And here, as elsewhere
throughout Swift's work, the sometimes incorrigible gross-
ness of imagination must be attributed partially to the custom
of his age, and partially to that morbid mentality, which
was later to bear fruit of such real and even pathological
pathos.
It is as a master of vigorous, virile and vitriolic prose that
Swift will be remembered. But he had considerable facility
in satiric verse of the correct and parabolic Popean school,
and as late as 1731 he penned the vivacious lines anticipating
his own death. . . After that came the lean and lonely years
of increasing senility, when labyrinthine vertigo was merged
at last into paralysis and aphasia. Never was any sentence
of life more mercifully "commuted by death" than his on
October 19, 1745. By his own wish, it was at midnight, and
1920.] THE ENIGMA OF DEAN SWIFT 59
in the grave long occupied by "Stella," that the world-worn
dean was buried. Very much of his own choice, and composi-
tion, too, were the words carved upon his tomb:
HlC DEPOSITUM EST CORPUS
JONATHAN SWIFT, S.T.P.
HUJUS ECCLESI^E CATHEDRALIS
DECANI :
UBI S^VA INDIGNATIO
ULTERIUS COR LACERARE NEQUIT.
ABI, VIATOR,
ET IMITARE, SI POTERIS,
STRENUUM PRO VIRILI LIBERTATIS VINDICEM.
He stands, even today, a Promethean figure in British let-
ters, a disenchanted idealist, a hero and a fighter caught in
narrow ways. Too well did Jonathan Swift prove the truth of
his own bitter aphorism: "We have just enough religion to
make us hate, but not enough to make us love, one
another."
NATIONAL TRADITION IN IRISH LITERATURE.
BY MARTIN J. LES, B.A.
HOSE," said Edmund Burke, "who never look
back to their ancestors, never look forward to
posterity." The outlook of a nation should be
retrospective as well as prospective: its aim
should be to find in the past objects of veneration,
pride and worship, incentives to emulation and sign-posts to
greatness for the future. When national forgetfulness falls
like a distressing nightmare on a country, all notions of public
responsibility disappear, the genius of nationhood becomes
thwarted and helpless while the factors that made for distinc-.
tive nationality serve now as so many jarring forces which
run counter to every movement towards a new national orien-
tation. The ideals and driving-forces of every European coun-
try find their best and most adequate reflection in its past his-
tory. Here the nation finds the fullest embodiment of itself,
a motive and a talisman ever serving as incentives to deeds of
noble daring, ever acting as a check to the "rash lustihood of
youth's powers."
Beneath the melting cloud-land of theory and shadowy
region of abstraction is the solid and immovable framework
of tradition. Tradition is to the nation what memory is to
the individual. It contains the record of a nation's greatness;
it is the foundation and basis of a nation's learning. "All that
the preceding generations have suffered or achieved, all that
dead generations have worshipped, loved, imagined or
dreamed is stored for the future in tradition." A movement
limited to the cultured and addressed only to the cultured is
destined not to survive, for it lacks the essence of permanence,
viz., that it must live in the hearts of the people, otherwise it
cannot claim distinctive nationality. A culture which touches
merely the giants of the people or influences merely the intel-
lectuals of the nation is not founded on tradition: no culture
is possible for a race save that founded on tradition.
Hungary or Poland might be taken as examples of the
influence of national tradition; but the best example seems to
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 61
be Denmark. After the loss of Schleswig-Holstein Denmark
seemed doomed. Ignorance and poverty were rampant and
all hope of their country's resurrection seemed dead in the
mind of the Danes. Grundtvig and Cholb, his colleague, under-
took to handle the situation. They understood that any cheap
sentiment or stereotyped formalism in education remote from
Danish experiences and in discordance with national mental-
ity should be discarded. Having in mind the sagas and
stories of the warrior kings of ancient Denmark, they deter-
mined to build up the future of their country on the ruins of
the past. They established schools in which native fairy lore
and ancient saga should be duly catered for. The old-time
gods and jocins of the ice-bound north were again exhumed,
and in the national tradition of their country the Danes laid
the foundations of culture and future development.
Those schools are today a state institution. They are at-
tended by all grades of society. Together they sing their
country's songs and learn their country's history. Those folk-
schools have led the people to understand that above the per-
sonality of the individual there is the personality or the "Na-
tional Being" of the nation in which all take natural pride,
to further which all are prepared to sink differences. The
Danes began education and statehood upon the only sound
foundation. The superstructure rose strong and immovable.
National apathy and inertia disappeared. The intelligence of .
the people had been sharpened, and a great heart-searching
resulted in a great national awakening. The study of eco-
nomics, commerce, and industrialism found a place in the
programme of the Folk-Schools. A higher standard of life
was sought after with the result that a purer and more refined
life ensued. Social intercourse, the spirit of true citizenship,
harmony of public life, led to a balancing of diversities, a
leveling of inequalities which is the hope and the mainstay of
national efficiency.
What happened in Denmark can happen in Ireland where
even a greater wealth of national tradition is extant. Ireland is
just entering upon a new period of industrial development.
It is well that this movement should emerge before native cul-
ture goes down, and that our country should be saved the loss
of its national soul, so often a consequence of increased pro-
duction.
62 NATIONAL TRADITION [Oct.,
In his work on Irish Polity "A. E." does not seem to have
taken cognizance of this important aspect of national rejuve-
nation. Evidently the force of tradition has no charms for
him. He talks about creating our civilization. "Certainly,"
he says, "we have no national ideals, no principles of progress
peculiar to ourselves in Ireland, which are a common posses-
sion of our people." But, these ideals are not to be created:
they must be and usually are the outcome of a nation's de-
velopment. They march pari passu with intellectual and eco-
nomic progressiveness. They must first exist implicitly in
order to be voiced and made explicit. Moreover, we should
feel chary of saying there are no national ideals peculiar to
Ireland. We have inherent in us and embedded deep in our
nature leanings and tendencies which inspire and ennoble
our common efforts. There is something fundamental in our
character, though feebly expressed, which is goading us for-
ward in the path of national realization, stimulating us in the
molding of the future destinies of Ireland. That harmony
of outlook and cooperation in action which present-day econo-
mists labor so much, might be more naturally attained along
the lines of the new school of Irish tradition.
We have in Ireland special reasons for fidelity to tradi-
tion, for in the past our literature served a purpose which
was the prime factor in molding our national outlook and
-providing an adequate incentive to nation-building. Mrs.
Greene has made it clear that the common national link in
Ireland down through the centuries was literary unity, or a
common connection in literature for all the provinces. In
England the national idea was somehow associated with pol-
itics or the continued existence of a line of kingship. This
literary tradition was free from all traces of dialectal differ-
ences. Then the pride of nation and the pride of art was
strong and took possession of the whole people. Then we
were spiritually "over-souled." Guchullain, the dark, sad man
of our ancient tales, was a being who epitomized all the bards
thought noblest in their race. Oscar, too, was a bard-created
hero, whose half mythical prestige would have been elevated
into the Irish ideal of true chivalry and heroism under the
immunities of a self-determined existence. The eighteenth
century poets shaped for us a maiden of exquisite beauty,
varied plight, but of abiding fidelity amid suffering: this
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 63
maiden was Eire. Chroniclers compiled their volumes from
material drawn from the four corners of the island. The
Brehon code, unlike that of Wales, which was provincial in
its ambit, contains judicial enactments for the country at large.
The archaism and conventionalities of the bards were em-
ployed to insure national scope: to prevent provincialism.
This nationalism in literature was true of our vernacular liter-
ature in all periods of its hard-fought existence. In the dark
days of the eighteenth century when a foreign despotism un-
bridled stalked abroad at noon-day, long-standing configura-
tions of clans and peoples were upset, a number of independ-
ent local dialects became marked off, adhering, however, to
the rules of Irish art and mode of expression.
The Anglo-Irish Revival which gave birth to a new
pride of nation took its rise and depended for its source on
the fund of native literature. So long as it continued to draw
its inspiration from the native fountain, it was embellished
with those qualities of traditional culture which won for it a
well-merited reception and permanence.
The school founded by the celebrated antiquarians
O'Curry and O'Donovan led to an interest in things Irish,
which culminated in the establishment of the Gaelic League.
From this movement also evolved the Anglo-Irish school of
poetry of which we have been speaking, whose interests found
its ablest exponent in Mangan. Schooled under the same pa-
triotic influences which led O'Donovan and his colleagues to
give their monumental works to the public, he drank in
deep draughts, the glamour and romantic coloring of Irish
legend-lore. Those great pioneers toiling in the ancient scribal
school, translating and elucidating our ancient manuscript
literature, provided a great thesaurus of literary material,
which served to mold the muse of poets of after generations.
The Ossianic lays, throwing aside all convention, made way
for spontaneity and medievalism. The personal note, so long
silent, was sounded anew. Those lays loomed large before
such men of European notoriety as Goethe and Lamartine;
for it was an age in which internationalism in literature was at
its zenith. Moore, too, in preceding days, had sung of Tara's
halls and the Red Branch Knights, and the melodies of
ancient Erin reechoed once more in the halls of Europe.
Mangan's translations from the Irish have preserved all the
64 NATIONAL TRADITION [Oct.,
delicacy of form, the richness of sweet-sounding rhythm and
old-world glamour of the native bards. He treads again the
plains of Erin and calls out of the dusk of time forms shrouded
in the dimness of Ossianic days. Ferguson was no less an
antiquarian than a poet, and his famous Canary shed lustre
on the school of Anglo-Irish poetry. Davis, great and high-
souled Irishman that he was, undertook to write a ballad-
poetry of Ireland. It was a truly patriotic task.
These versifiers voiced the patriotic and religious feel-
ings of the Irish people, and were the true exponents of the
mind of the race, the best interpreters of our national taste.
Davis and Mangan, Ferguson and Moore still live in the hearts
of the people and have been accepted as typically Irish.
Ireland whose name is mooted abroad today as the class-
ical example of ideals for which in a material age men are
prepared to die, can hardly be severed from the Ireland that
is gone, can hardly be associated with the materialistic move-
ments of the world of today, nor identified with a literature
which takes no cognizance of Catholic thought or national
sentiment. For the last decade or so Ireland has witnessed a
marked expansion. The opening up of new industrial vistas,
the rise of new schools of poetry, as well as the rising of
Easter Week, 1916, are the all important circumstances which
precipitated thought on new Ireland. Today every aspect of
our national life has its galaxy of eager hands. Ireland is
vibrant with the consciousness of a new energy and bounding
zeal. In spite of this national re-orientation, the literary move-
ment does not seem to find its glamour in the beauteous idea
of neo-Celtism. Mr. Lloyd Morris, speaking of the new move-
ment, says : "Ireland has borne a new thought, a new literature,
a new economy, a new social philosophy, even a new nation
in Ireland." This is the efflorescence of a root idea, and Sinn
Fein is the most direct political outcome of the root idea
which has flowered into the Abbey Theatre, the cooperative
movement, Irish Industrial Revival and the Gaelic League.
The Irish Renaissance, as it has been recently styled, is
a movement round which thought and comment must freely
play. To a Catholic and to a person at all acquainted with
Ireland's evangelizing fame, it sounds strange that this liter-
ature should be so little Catholic, and should manifest so super-
ficially the mind of a people deeply Catholic. Ireland was
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 65
always intensely Catholic at home; but abroad the very men-
tion of our country's name conjured up in the imagination of
a stranger the idea of a land strenuously religious and devout.
Even foreigners have set themselves the task of becoming the
historians of our missionaries. Montalembert has made
known to the world the glories of the monks of the West, and
Shelf el has recounted the wonders of Fridolin and written the
epic of St. Gall. In post and pre-Reformation days Ireland's
loyalty to the Faith was often tested. In later centuries her
missionary efforts prove the maintenance of this peregrinating
zeal. Only the other day in the midst of the ghastly spectre
of war, as it were to redeem the evil of the time, an Irish
college was set on foot to convert the innumerable pagans of
the Far East. Hence it has aroused much comment that a
new school of litterateurs should launch upon an Irish reading
public ideas and strains purely exotic on an Irish soil. How
often do we miss in it the playful tenderness and exquisite
poignacy, the intense passionateness so peculiar to the healthy
and spiritual outlook of the Irish race. Haunting idealism,
brooding melancholy and natural magic flashed across and lit
up with soul-thrilling exuberance, are the most noted charac-
teristics of the vernacular literature. They are warf and woof
of all our native poetry; yet how far removed are those qual-
ities from the spirit that ordinarily animates and pervades
the productions of the Irish Renaissance school.
It may be urged, however, that this literary outburst is
the outcome of international causes, that it is meant for a
world-wide audience or that it is meant to create a literary
aristocracy or that it is necessary for success, that writers of
the New Ireland should break loose from the apron-strings of
tradition. Perhaps, too, it may be said that Catholicism in
Ireland is reduced to the influence of a mere sect. There are
some who hold that the royal road to national efficiency and
civic virtue, must involve a harmony so disinterestedly civic
that all religious influences must be reprobated. This sounds
tentatively new and runs counter to methods that have found
a long standing vogue in Ireland. It is viewing Ireland
through the glasses of a mere sect or literary coterie. "Irish
poetry," says Stopford Rrooke, "if it is to be a power in litera-
ture, must be as Irish as English poetry is English." Its man-
ners and melodies must be its own. It must evoke emotions
VOL. cxn. 5
66 NATIONAL TRADITION [Oct.,
and feelings in the Irish heart. It must be racy of the soil, and
the past must speak to us from out the gulf of time. The river
of Irish poetry rose long ago in our native hills and wrought
its turbulent way down the channeled gorge it carved for its
streams. The fact that Irish poetry should give a grave, a
latitudinous, unimpassioned treatment of the weighty issues of
human life does not mean a hankering after cosmopolitanism,
and is undeniably compatible with nationalism in literature,
so powerfully exemplified in the case of Shakespeare.
Though there be something in the achievement of the
Irish Renaissance which gives it a name and a publicity far
beyond the shores of Ireland, we are of opinion that it will
not long survive its period, that it will be prematurely rele-
gated to the "forgotten graveyard of dead pleasures." We
are strengthened in our point of view when we venture farther
afield and make comparisons with the happenings in other
lands. Burns was a great poet when he essayed the humble
melodies and revealed the lowly ideals of rural Scotland;
but when he ambitioned to become a great English poet
as well, it was nee sutor ultra crepidam. In // Convito, Dante
inveighs against the reactionaries of his time. In spite
of opposition and criticism, he tells us, he decided to
write in the vernacular instead of in Latin. The fact that
Dante's use of the despised speech of the people led to greater
intellectual achievements than would otherwise have been
seen, led to the appearance of a work that contests with Homer
the premier place in the world's literature, should be an in-
spiration to us in our endeavor to bring back the tongue of
the Gaeltacht.
Two hundred years after Dante, who had enthroned ver-
nacular Italian, was laid in the dust, "a shadow beneath the
myrtle's shade," the French tongue was in a torpor. The half
barbaric splendor and joyous vigor of the antique "Romance
of the Rose" had long since died out of the language and the
only literature composed comprised ballads, rondeaux and
"peasant" songs. The position of the French tongue was then
in a like position to Irish in the past century, except that the
primitive epic to which France looked back was not to be
compared to the Irish versatile epic which, for coherent artistic
design and primitive strength, surpassed that of any country
in Europe, even that unified by scholars like Lonnrot into the
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 67
Kalevala the national song of the now independent race of
the Finns.
The awakening in France was due to the exertions of a
group of scholars called Le Pleiade of these the most charm-
ing figure was Pierre de Ronsard, who was nobly seconded by
Joachim du Bellay. The Pleiade proved that to break from the
root of national tradition is often to spell havoc in the litera-
ture of a nation. The work which these men took in hand was
no child's play. Words had to be carpentered, obsolete ex-
pressions adapted and a stilted speech reduced to a medium
of hammered and plastic expression. Thus did brave dream-
ers become in French poetry the mainspring of vigor and
strength, not alone establishing the language, but stimulating
its keenest exponents after a lapse of centuries.
It is to be much wondered at that so great a field of oper-
ation as Anglo-Irish authorship, which embraces men of all
classes and creeds, should not be a more fitting reflection of the
Irish mind. At present the world is curious about Ireland and
is asking for some true exposition of the Irish mind. Oriental
mysticism, later-day theosophy, pagan saga, materialistic phil-
osophy will hardly be accepted by the world of today as a com-
plete revelation of the Irish mind. A literature to be of any
stability must live in the hearts and on the lips of the people;
it must be a faithful mirror of the mind of the people; it
must possess those qualities that make for endurance and
longevity in every literature.
Art and Religion, it may be said, have nothing in common,
and religion should be divorced from art. Still it is true that
all religious people have produced religious art. The art of
Italy is the outward expression of the religion of the people.
The literature of Poland is steeped in Christian feeling, the
songs of the Tyrol are fired with Catholic mysticism and pas-
sionate expression. Pagan tradition can't be offered as a
plea; it has long since been overshadowed by Christian culture
and Catholic love. Neither can unbelief or religious indiffer-
ences be accepted as an accurate expression of the religious
outlook prevailing in Ireland today.
Art, too, is national. Witness Goethe's art as the accur-
ate summing up of the soul of Germany. We have also the
national impress borne deep on the art of Dante and Cer-
vantes. Even Shakespeare, though he wrote for mankind, is
68 NATIONAL TRADITION [Oct.,
English in a sense that Tennyson is not. In fact, all the great
giants in literature wrote at a time when the outlook was so
circumscribed that the spirit of nationality was unique.
Chaucer's power and charm lie in his realistic observations,
his natural shrewdness, his simple yet kindly view of human
life, his fidelity and verisimilitude in the depiction of me-
diaeval England. German literature carries the stamp of
mysticism and Pantheism so peculiar to Germany.
When we speak of Anglo-Irish writers as not exhibiting
truly Irish qualities we do not mean to bring all the writers
in this sphere within the ambit of our charge. Many of these
authors have lent to their art the impress of the religion in
which they believe. Not unfrequently, indeed, we find the
splendid intensity of vision of the great religious poet, a fine
Catholic spiritual utterance. But these traits illumine by
snatches not by sustained passion. In other poems, like the
Playher, we notice the fiery and defiant magnificence, the
motif which lent pathos to the smoke and flames of Easter
Week. As these poets attempt more ambitious themes, the
grande maniere, and as they learn to feel beyond the amateur-
ish stages of their art, it is hoped the ideas which have been
the inspiration of all great minds will find due recognition in
their work. It is inconceivable that even the work of a non-
Catholic author, who takes his material from Irish sources,
who is saturated with Irish feeling and tinged with native
color, should not be influenced by the strongest note of the
Irish Celt Catholicism.
Perhaps the absence of this note may be attributable to
the fact that the output in this school is as yet very sparse
and meagre, generally of the lyric sort, the expression of
minor incidents and personal feeling. Perhaps we have to
wait for the appearance of some great intellectual outpouring
of the national spirit in order to witness those qualities of
deep religiousness and Celtic fervor. As to whether a great
poet will arise in Ireland whose poetry will be the putting into
verbal form of the weird magic and shimmering idealism
of the Irish character, elevated by a majesty born of some of
the fundamental ideas which have been the inspiration of
races; one who will reveal the storm-tossed, long-suffering
Irish soul and its indomitable spirit, a craftsman who will
pierce the heart of life and give us a true image of the finite
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 69
painted against the eternal background of the Infinite, it may
be idle to speculate. For any such outpouring of the mind
some measure of political autonomy must undoubtedly be
presupposed. National harmony and civic responsibility born
of a disinterested desire to labor in the interests of the
"Greater Being" of the nation, would be a sufficient stimulus
to give rise to a great literary fruition in which the ego would
not wholly shine. Our literature manifests beauty, though not
greatness or majesty that greatness or majesty which is the
outcome of the orchestration of humanity by some great
leader. Still, we venture to say that Ireland is destined soon
to see the appearance of a great national poet as a result of
this twentieth century outburst. Great constructive periods
in history have generally produced great poets. Shakespeare
was the child of the Elizabethan golden age. Milton was the
product of the struggling, but always exalted, seventeenth
century. With the extinction of our Middle Age stateships,
disappeared the solidarity of our race to which the nation was
unconsciously groping. The consequent outcome was the
plague of petty individualism. Since then the gods and half-
gods have dwindled down; the poets have dropped out of the
divine procession; they sing a solitary song and inspire nobody
to be great. Still there is some incorruptible atom in us and
while there is, a way to greatness lies ahead; we are in some
relation to the divine order. It is quite true to say that bloody
insurrections even recently enacted had their heroes, and the
aftermath of the Dublin Rising manifested an unanimity and
an united action very hopeful for the future. But when a great
Irish poet emerges, we believe he will touch all the strains on
the gamut of the Irish Catholic heart. It has always been so.
It is by the mind that civilization advances and peoples
become great. "Knowledge is power." Athens, though only a
city state within a small promontory, became great and power-
ful. This was due to a great intellectual movement which
manifested itself in art, architecture and literature. But this
intellectuality was truly Athenian and calculated to further
the interests of one state. The history and glorification of the
{jiaTp { a so inspired its manhood that they gave their bodies for
the commonwealth. The service of the state became the over-
mastering passion of the young Athenian's life. If the litera-
ture, which Irishmen will produce in the future, be of a non-
70 NATIONAL TRADITION [Oct.,
national and colorless stamp, divorced from and unrepre-
sentative of the real life of the people, it may in time to come
form one of the boasts of English literature. Literature like
that of the Irish Renaissance will hardly be accepted as a
national literature, and this is a striking argument in favor of
the Gaelic Revival. If Irishmen love their language they will
in all probability love nationalism in literature.
One of the greatest and clearest thinkers in modern day
Ireland was the high-souled Irishman, Patrick Pearse. Seeing
that Ireland was becoming declinatized in the spacious lap of
the British Dalila, was falling into the Slough of Angliciza-
tion, he determined to do a man's part in wrenching back this
tidal wave. He would have men learn culture by the criteria
found in the olden literature of the Gael, rather than in the
comparatively parvenu and altogether utilitarian make-be-
lieve of the Pale. He saw a wave of foreign ideals was per-
vading the land, that a thinly nurtured nationalism was all
centuries of oppression could offer. He saw that there was
something wrong with Ireland, the scandal of the Cross was
becoming a real scandal indeed, and a mammonite Ireland
obsessed with narrow material interests was arising. He per-
ceived that Ireland must be saved by the perpetuation of the
past in the present, by offering to the youth and savants of
Ireland a literature that would appeal to them, one that would
be, warp and woof, of the Irish mind and heart.
Pearse saw in the old tales of Ireland the primeval tree
of Irish knowledge. Thus he told his boys of the feats and
honor and chivalry of Cuchullain and his companions, of the
batallions of the Fiama, the heroes that won their way through
all difficulties by truth and the strength of their hands. And
from those men of the heroic cycles, he came up the centuries,
and called out of the twilight, 'till the shadows and ghostly
figures of kings and heroes stood as strong, living men before
the kindled eyes of his pupils. All culture must be constructed
on an Irish foundation. The Irish boy must feel that his
country asks from him his homage and service, and the
homage must be given proudly, the service come from the best
that eye and brain can see and give.
Pearse wrote almost as a pioneer in the Irish revival.
He set the fashion in poetry and drama, and his short stories
broke new ground as effectively as he revealed a new world
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 71
of spirituality and moral culture in the wild west. A new
school of writers and thinkers on his lines would mean a
newer Ireland, an Irish Renaissance in the truest sense of the
word. His stories are filled with the emotions of Irish life, its
native beauty, its manners, its speech, its people, its history.
They place us at the open door of the supernatural. He in-
fused the old ideas with the modernity of his own modes of
thought. In his poems we have the old forms, with their full-
sounding assonances and alliterations so beautifully wrought,
while the latter-day enthusiasms and objections never strike
us as intruders. The old divinities and figures of the sagas
are there, the remnants of the old worship, but all is over-
shadowed by the Christian concept. Pearse was the symbol
of the unbroken continuity and permanence of Irish tradition;
in him the tendency of the Irish mind, culture, and love of
country meet. Having undertaken any task, he went heart
and soul into it, a complete foreigner when he entered the
Gaeltacht, he soon became its chief and most skillful inter-
preter. As he touched upon most departments in modern
Irish writing, he sounded all the feelings and passions of the
Irish soul. The deep melancholy, the terrible disconsolate-
ness, the vivid mystic longing of the Gaelic soul all are there.
No doubt there were other paths yet untrod by his many-sided
genius, which would have seen light had fate been more kind
to him.
It has been urged that the true inspiration of the Celtic
genius lies in the pagan past, that the truest outlook of the
Gael has its sources in Celtic tradition not in Christianity.
But whatever may be due to pre-Christian tradition, whatever
sources have their origin in the distant past, the fact remains
that Ireland's Christianity is her most distinct characteristic
and her common label in the world outside. No one will deny
the poetic sources to be found in pagan saga and fairy lore;
but however great its amount may be, there is a still greater
stock of saintly tradition and Christian lore. Whatever still
lingering lack of harmony may exist in the mind of the people
between Christian and pagan ideals, the exploitation of the one
must not mean the exclusion of the other. To do so is to run
counter to Irish national tradition. No one better understood
the incoherency than Pearse, and in his imaginative repre-
sentations we have a proper mediation, a harmonious mingling
72 NATIONAL TRADITION [Oct.,
of both strains. He accurately interpreted the Irish mind, un-
locking the gates of the Irish fairy world with true Celtic
naivete and verve, and Ireland has rewarded him by giving
his works a brilliant reception and shedding tears, salt-bitter,
over his grave.
Father O'Leary is another worker in the cause of Irish
national tradition. He gives us the undiluted patois of the
people. When we read over his beautiful dialogues with the
truly Irish characters taken from the home-life of the Gael-
tacht, we recognize at once how well he has brought the ways
of Irish tradition with him. When we peruse that awful pas-
sage in Seadna, where the music fills the house, dances on the
floor, takes possession of the roof and overpowers mankind,
we linger back in gladsome reminiscence to the weird imagery,
to the intense realization almost supernatural in its unearthli-
ness of the Celtic mind. Perhaps his greatest share in the
labors of the Irish Revival is his beautiful modernization of
old tales.
Dr. Meyer, too, has done mighty work in the cause of
Irish tradition. His region is the elucidating and editing of
ancient and middle Irish texts, a pioneer in a very difficult
and much neglected department of Irish culture. The work
of editing and publishing our ancient tales, sagas, etc., is a
work for which few are qualified, a work which demands the
generosity and helping hand of all Irishmen at home and in
foreign lands. Thousands of early Irish documents are mold-
ering away unread. Dating from the eleventh century, they
contain a literature and poetry, the first in Western Europe.
Our unpublished works reach in quantity beyond that of
other European countries. In the whole course of European
literature, there will be found, perhaps, no study so alluring
where scarcely a path is trodden by more than a solitary
worker, where the latest research points to lines of thought
hitherto unexplored.
We cannot read Meyer's Ancient Irish Poetry without
noticing the miraculous freedom of the Irish from the con-
ventional mediaeval habit of taking nature for granted. The
Irish, at that period, were the only people who could make
poetry out of mere nature and nothing else. The Bards of the
Gael and Gall, from the able pen of Dr. Sigerson, reveals the
brilliant soul-searching of a tradition that, we hope, has not
1920.] NATIONAL TRADITION 73
yet fully vanished. In spite of the course of high-handed
tyranny in the land, literature flourished in every period, and
much has been done since the foundation of the Gaelic League
to make up for the inertia that followed in the wake of famine
days. New Irish authors have arisen, molding the pliant
dialect into crystal and hammered form. Dramatists are pro-
ducing dramas as virile and naive as the Irish character de-
mands. Poets, too, are employing the old bardic technique
and more modern stress accentual forms with equal effect
to that of Keating and Eoghan Ruadh. The short prose story
has most fittingly supplanted the more cumbersome and un-
wieldy romance. Neither are we lacking promising attempts
in the line of the novel. While great energy is expended in
the publication of manuscript material, no efforts are lost in
the adaptation of our language methods to the ways of modern
scholarship. It is to be hoped that with educational matters
in the hands of our own statesmen, a new impulse will be
given to the cultivation of our Irish language and literature.
Such an impulse would give birth to pride of spirit, which
would be content with nothing short of the best that Irish
writers could give Irishmen would learn that there was noth-
ing more hospitable in its exercise than devotion to that true
Irish culture which remained in their hearts, and every effort
would be made to swell the productions in accordance with the
great heritage of Irish tradition.
The greatness of Ireland is to come, a greatness which
grows out of a massiveness of character, a proud sense of
responsibility, a clear foresight, sobriety and breadth of judg-
ment; and these are the virtues of a race that is dowered with
self-government.
The gossamer and languid style of the lyrics of the Pale
is gone, the temple of modern Irish art must be built up on
the ground work of solid Irish tradition. To safeguard our
people from the vile writings of today, the strongest rampart
will be erected by bringing back the Irish mind to Ireland and
to Irish tradition.
PARTNERS.
BY GRACE KEON.
HERE is a kind angel they call him the Angel
of Commonplace Things who guards the destiny
of true lovers; he is wooed by gentle words and
tender deeds. These are his treasures and often
he returns them in odd and divers places. None
can command his service save the ones who have really earned
it. Like as not he makes partners of Sorrow and Joy, Comedy
and Tragedy, Laughter and Tears. Perhaps you yourself have
experienced his ministrations. If so, you will the better ap-
preciate this tale.
Richard Stoddard was tired. The day had been a hard
one. From ten o'clock that morning until five that afternoon
he had been on the rack. He had met one of his largest com-
petitors and bested him. He had been consulted by Matthew
Kendall, the biggest man in his own particular line, and the
prospects looked startling. He had parleyed and baited and
schemed and planned every moment of that strenuous time.
And he was fatigued to the point of exhaustion.
The cosy, sweet-smelling house! The dainty dinner, ex-
cellently cooked, well-served. The air of gentleness, quietness,
peace! What a contrast! He ate slowly, contentedly, Agnes
watching him with satisfaction. Among various other accom-
plishments, she possessed the art of cooking. Her husband
was proof positive of her skill. His digestion was excellent,
his appetite unimpaired, because her forethought and careful
rationing provided for that delicate machinery that keeps the
body up to high test.
After dinner Richard went into the living-room. It had
a festal air, he thought but that was because of the hot and
dusty city he had just left. There were white lilacs in the
vases. A cool breeze stirred the curtains. The lamp cast a
subdued glow. There was his chair, his pipe, his slippers.
Heavens, wasn't it good to be home! He sank into the
1920.] PARTNERS 75
soft cushion! It fitted him comfortably fitted every curve
and hollow. Agnes had seen to that when she bought it. His
feet, released from the cramping shoes of civilization, relaxed
in the smooth brown slippers another contribution to his
ease made by Mrs. Richard.
And Mrs. Richard, standing in the doorway, called to him
gently. "Dick," she said. "I'll gather the dishes while you
run upstairs to look at the babies. Please kiss them gently
I don't want you to waken them."
He yawned. When she came back he was smoking and
had his nose buried in the paper.
"Did you go, dear?"
"Don't ask me! I'm too fagged to move."
"Poor fellow!" She took the paper from him, and put it
on the table. Then she perched on the broad arm of his chair.
"A hard day?"
"Tremendous."
"Want to tell me about it?"
"No."
She waited. He put his pipe down and closed his eyes.
Presently he opened them again and reached for the news-
paper.
"Oh, don't!" said Agnes. "Let us talk a little."
"Yes? What shall we talk about?"
Agnes laughed and her eyes danced with mischief.
"I'm sure I have no idea. Let's pretend."
"What?"
"Oh, make believe. You see I'm your life partner, and
we're putting through a great big scheme. Let's balance up."
"For instance?"
Again Agnes laughed. She had a sense of humor.
"Let me see! I should really like you to pause by the
wayside long enough to tell me that I'm getting prettier all
the time."
He smiled patiently.
"You are, of course."
"You believe it?"
"Positively."
"How lovely! In what way, Dick?"
"Oh . . ." vaguely. "Every way . . . What's the joke,
Agnes?"
76 PARTNERS [Oct.,
"Joke?" She lifted her eyebrows. "My beauty a joke?
Dearest! Please particularize!"
"You're getting silly . . . honestly."
"How lovely!" chuckled Mrs. Dick, again. "I find my
beauty too heavy a topic under the conditions. Very well . . .
we shall discuss something lighter . . . yes? Went to town
this morning."
"Uh-huh . . ."
"I bought the children some new things. My, how prices
have gone up, Dick !"
"Uh-huh . . ."
"I met Mrs. Leland. She is sending her dressmaker over
here . . ." She paused wickedly.
"Uh-huh . . ."
"I told her not to bother we were all going to commit
suicide tonight . . ."
"Yes?" He yawned a little. She laughed out loud.
"How closely you're listening, partner. Did you hear what
I said?"
"Of course I did . . ."
"Now, Dick, you must pay attention. You must. Kath-
arine and your brother, Phil, will be married in a month
and we agreed to furnish that room for them. We promised "
"Agnes," said Dick, reaching for the paper again, "why do
you persist in annoying me? I shall not be bothered with
Phil's wedding. You do the furnishing do whatever you
like but don't expect any help-
Agnes laid her cheek against his hair.
"My dearest! Don't be cross . . . please. I know you're
tired, but I'm tired, too. And you're letting your office swallow
you up. You're getting away from everything, from every
other interest! Come on down and be human, darling! After
a while you'll be nothing but the usual American business
man."
"My heavens!" he said. "If that isn't like a woman!
What would you do if I weren't?"
His wife was silent. Her husband scanned the headlines.
"Dick," she said, then, "I don't like it. It isn't good for
either of us. You're going to be sorry and I " she hesitated.
"Dick, you must listen "
"Agnes," he began, angrily.
1920.] PARTNERS 77
The telephone bell rang.
Agnes rose. She was bitterly hurt. Then she crossed
the room and took up the receiver.
"It is for you," she said, after a moment, listlessly. "Bob
Savage."
"Savage!" Dick bounded out of his chair. "Hello! Bob?
Yes ... You saw Kendall? ... Yes? ... All right . . .
fine. Good, good! You want to see me? Why, of course!
Come along, come along! Not a bit tired who says tired
when there's a job like this on! How soon? Three-quarters
of an hour? Fine! No ... save Kendall till you get here
I want full particulars . . ."
A new man turned from the telephone animated, eager,
full of energy.
"Agnes! Bob thinks we're going to land Kendall. Great,
great there's a fortune in it! Get some of that claret cup
ready, will you and a few of those little seed cakes Bob's
so fond of, eh? He'll be here in a jiffy."
Mrs. Dick Stoddard looked at her husband. Looked at
him from top to toe, with the most contemptuous gaze she
had ever bestowed on a human being in her whole life. Her
lips trembled, quivered, opened . . .
The telephone bell rang.
She choked down the rage that convulsed her and an-
swered it.
"Hello!" she said. "Effie? This is Agnes . . . yes. And
Post? I should say I will! In thirty minutes!"
She hung up the receiver again.
"I'm going out, Dick."
"Where? Where to? Bob's coming ... if the children
wake "
"My dear man, the children are yours . . . and the lady
who is your cook, housekeeper, tailor, nursemaid, and general
servant hereby gives notice. You will be absolutely alone with
the children. I expect you to do your duty like a father."
The words were mocking, scornful. The same words
could have been said in a different tone and created an entirely
different impression. She did not care what impression they
made, but ran out of the room. Soon there was the splashing
of water and then he heard her singing. Darn it! Women
were
78 PARTNERS [Oct.,
"Tell me, pretty maiden, prithee tell me true
If you have a lover . . ."
He lost the rest.
Now Mrs. Dick Stoddard had had a hard day. She had
risen at seven o'clock, an hour before her husband, and set the
machinery of the household in motion. She had swept and
dusted and sewed and mended and shopped in a hot city.
She had given the best of her energies to her two babies,
Junior and Marie. They had drained her of most of her fresh-
ness, for they were the usual type of strong, healthy, vivacious
children. She had directed her small, careless little maid,
who arrived at eight and departed at six, her work finished.
Since her shopping she had prepared her evening meal the
meal Mr. Stoddard had enjoyed far more than she did; her
babies had to be fed and bathed and put to bed, so that she
and Dick might have the evening to themselves. She had
wanted and tried hard to get an hour of pleasant chat with
her partner before going on to the next task. For she was
tired of her work and he was tired of his and a little nonsense
would have helped them both.
She thought of all this as she made herself ready. She
was on fire with anger. But she sang. And her voice was
true and sweet and firm and beware of a woman who sings
when she's in a rage.
"No one that I care for
Gomes a courting, therefore
She was down again, drawing on her gloves, the light notes
flowing from her lips. Her dress, of some filmy, black stuff,
clung to her pretty figure. Her dark-red hair was piled high;
her brown eyes were strangely brilliant, and her skin shone
like polished marble.
"I hear the car," she said. Breaking off her song, she
ran to the door.
"Oh! Mr. Savage Bob! I thought"
"I owe you a thousand apologies," began the newcomer,
without preamble. "Please let these make them for me."
He was tall and fair and good to look at this other mem-
ber of the firm of Stoddard & Savage. Agnes took the huge
bunch of roses in her arm, burying her pretty face in their
sweetness.
1920.] PARTNERS 79
"Oh! Aren't they lovely!"
"How did you know Agnes loved white roses?" demanded
Dick, laughingly, as the two men shook hands.
"I heard her say so often enough," answered Bob. Then
he looked from one to the other. "You're sure . . . you're
sure I'm not intruding
"What nonsense!" smiled Dick. "Come over here and
sit down. Agnes is going out.
"Going out!" repeated Savage in bewilderment. "Why-
why I didn't know "
"Dick's not coming," said Mrs. Stoddard. She selected a
few of the roses and tucked them among the folds of silk.
"Aren't they perfect? Thank you so, so much! Dick, dear!
Be sure to listen for the babies . . . There's Post now!" She
was vivid, splendid, all aglow. Bob Savage could not take
his eyes from her face. Dick and he followed her to the door,
standing there as a long, brown car stole up to the curb.
"But . . . Agnes " began Dick.
"You Post?" A man swung down from the seat, un-
latched the gate and reached the stoop. "Oh, Post, you blessed
boy!"
"Jump it, Agnes!" said a gay voice from the foot of the
steps, and her cousin held out his arms.
"I will not," she laughed. "How can you imagine me
doing anything so undignified! You dear!" she went on,
patting his shoulder as she reached him. "How did you ever
remember me? (Oh . . . good-bye, Dick . . . good-bye, Bob!)
I was ready to scream with pure tiredness when you called
me up. Dinner? But I've had dinner! At the Patrol? Well
. . . It's a temptation. Let's take the long way round for the
ride and an appetite. No, Dick won't come! Dick, poor
fellow, has a business engagement!"
Bob Savage and Dick Stoddard turned away from the
door, and on Bob's face there was something like dismay.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Matter? That's Agnes' cousin, Post Elliott. Jolly as
the dickens they make a great team. The young lady in the
car was Effie Brice, his fiancee."
"But ... I don't understand . . . why should Agnes .
Mrs. Stoddard go out?"
Dick looked at his partner in surprise.
80 PARTNERS [Oct.,
"Come and sit down. Why shouldn't she go out if she
feels like it? What ails you, Bob? Tell me about Kendall."
"Kendall? Kendall can wait. You don't think I came to
see you about Kendall?"
"Bob, you're crazy!"
"Either I am or you are," said Bob, soberly. "Do you
remember an errand you gave me to do for you yesterday?"
Dick looked blank.
"You've you've not been drinking, Bob?" he suggested.
For answer Bob put his hand into his pocket and drew
out a morocco case.
"I forgot to give it to you, Dick," he said, gravely. He
pressed the spring and the case flew open, revealing a beauti-
ful brooch a diamond with three sapphires; Agnes' favorite
stones. "The jeweler said you'd find the catch all right he
put on the patented one as you told him."
But Dick actually howled, as he thrust his hands up to
his head and held it distractedly.
"Oh, ye gods and little fishes! What shall I do?"
He was the picture of despair. Bob stared.
"What's the matter?"
"I forgot. Everything! All about it! Tonight! Our fifth
wedding anniversary! She'll never forgive me! Never, never!
Heavens, man, why didn't you see that I got the thing today?
Why didn't you?"
Bob was nettled.
"Say! It's your anniversary," he said, pointedly.
"Of course it is! If I'm not the blamed The brooch
wouldn't have mattered so much if I had said something
anything. Heavens! And I was as cranky as a bear! As
mean as dirt."
Bob grinned, then. Dick paced the floor, excitedly.
"Laugh ! Go ahead ! Laugh ! You're on the outside look-
ing in, you are ! Wait ! There's a day coming when you won't
laugh! By the Lord Harry, Sherman didn't mean war! He
must have meant married life!"
"I'll take a little of it with a girl like yours," said Bob.
"As far as I can see, it's your party."
"My party? It's my funeral, that's what it is. My party,
indeed . . . party . . . hum . . ." he stood staring at Bob a
moment. "I think ... I see a way out," he said, then.
1920.] PARTNERS 81
"I'm with you."
"I'll get Aunt Mollie." He went to the telephone and
called a number, got it.
"Mrs. Larrabee? Yes? You, Aunt Mollie? This is Dick.
I've got to go out will you come over and stay with the chil-
dren the rest of the night? You will? Bully girl! Yes, at
once. I'm waiting."
Dick was now bringing to bear, on his domestic problem,
the foresight he used in business. He returned to Bob.
"I've a scheme. While I'm dressing, you get it going.
Call up my brother Phil. If he isn't home, find out where he
is wait. Call up the Vances he'll probably be there, and if
we reach Katharine first, we'll save time. Tell him he's got
to get to the Patrol Inn in an hour. Then for the Inn. Engage
a dining-room and the best they have for seven that's Effie,
Post and Agnes, Phil and Katharine, you and myself "
"But"
"Bob," said Dick, solemnly, "if you're my friend as well
as my partner, you've got to help. Agnes and Post are taking
the long road thank heavens, I heard that much! We'll go
the short one, and beat them to it."
"Wait a minute," said Bob. "I want to tell you some-
thing before you start. Matthew Kendall and his niece are
dining at the Patrol tonight and he has two bugs. One is
Eugene Field I marked myself down an ignoramus today
because I knew nothing about him! and the other is that
married people should never quarrel. So if you and Agnes
are going to fight it out tonight, better arrange things so that
Kendall"
"You don't know Agnes!" exclaimed Dick. "There isn't
a situation on earth could upset her nerves when the world is
looking on."
Then Dick was gone, while Bob kept the telephone wires
humming for the next fifteen minutes. Thanks to good guess-
ing, Phil Stoddard was found at Miss Vance's, and the two
promised to obey orders at once. The manager of the Patrol
Inn was complaisant, also. After which Aunt Mollie arrived
to be given a bear's hug, a blessing, and a hurried good-bye
from her nephew as he and Bob plunged down the stoop and
into Bob's car.
"Let 'er out!" said Dick as if Bob needed that!
VOL. GUI. 6
82 PARTNERS [Oct.,
Fortune was with them. They stopped for nothing, and
nothing stopped them. They arrived at Patrol Inn before any
of the others. Dick wiped his forehead, grinned, and the two
shook hands.
"Congratulations, old top!" said Bob. "Let's find the head
waiter."
"No, you don't! Stay here . . . Hello, Phil! Hello,
Katharine!"
Two astonished faces spoke for the newcomers.
"What's it all about, Dick? We're here! What's the"
"Hush! On your life, no questions! Bob!" anxiously.
"Behold! There comes the whole crowd . . . Agnes . . .
Post . . . Effie . . . Kendall . . ."
Bob's mouth opened and shut convulsively. Afterward
Katharine told him, with the privilege of a friend, that he
looked like a fish. Agnes, at the foot of the stairs, chanced to
glance up, and saw her husband. So petrified was she, that
she stopped short, and Mr. Kendall and the pretty young lady
with him reached the group before her.
"How do you do, Mr. Kendall?" Agnes heard Dick say,
very distinctly. "This is indeed a pleasant surprise! We're
having a little dinner tonight our fifth anniversary! Bob,
go and see if our tables are ready. My dear!" to the aston-
ished young woman at the foot of the stairs, "won't you come
up and meet Mr. Kendall?"
Agnes drew a deep breath. Mr. Kendall turned to greet
her. For one flashing, horror-filled, sickening moment Dick
feared the very worst. But she did not flinch. When she
reached them she held out her slim hand.
"My husband has spoken of Mr. Kendall to me," she said.
"This is totally unexpected. I am delighted."
Mr. Kendall bowed. He was a tall, fine-looking man of
sixty-five or thereabouts clever and shrewd.
"My niece, Miss Gerard "
The charming little lady smiled while Agnes, without
speaking, allowed her cool, chilling glance to rest upon her
husband. Sometimes looks can freeze. That one did.
"You'll add your invitation to mine, Agnes " began Dick.
"Why, Mr. Kendall," said Agnes, prettily, "my anniversary
day has been such a perfect one that I feel you will not refuse
to give me this pleasure "
1920.] PARTNERS 83
"I I hardly know"
"Just a family party, Mr. Kendall," added Dick.
"Only ourselves," echoed Agnes and her brown eyes
darted flames at her husband. "Please
"Since you urge me really what do you say, Gecile?"
"Oh, do, Uncle Matthew! It will be great fun! Much
nicer than dining by ourselves!"
"Then we accept and thank you." And the party passed
on. Effie Brice hung back, afraid that she could not control
her giggles. Bob Savage joined them, and took Effie's arm,
urging her forward. Post Elliott seemed dazed.
"What the" he began.
"Shut up!" whispered Bob.
That was a dinner. Agnes played her part to perfection.
She joked with Post and Katharine and Bob. She even tried
her wits on Dick, but the smile on her lips did not reach her
eyes. She charmed Mr. Kendall. She charmed little Cecile
Gerard. It was her party, her anniversary dinner, and she
made the most of it. Before it ended, Mr. Kendall rose to
give a toast.
"I am an old-fashioned man," he began, "and I like old-
fashioned things, even when I find them in new-fashioned sur-
roundings! Now I don't know if any of you read Eugene
Field. He's old-fashioned, too, like me and he liked the
things that I like. Perhaps that's why he knew I'd be standing
here giving a toast and he was good enough to write it for
me."
He held his glass high:
"To Mrs. Stoddard. There's a dame that's truly to my heart.
A tiny little woman, but so quaint and good and smart,
That if you asked me to suggest which one I should prefer
Of all the Stoddard treasures, I should promptly mention her!"
There was laughter and applause, but before it died away,
Agnes was on her feet.
"I can match you, Mr. Kendall," she exclaimed, laughing
gaily and then, in her sweet, fluty tones, she repeated:
"But bless you, Mr. Kendall ! May you live a thousand years !
To sort of keep things lively in this vale of human tears
And may I live a thousand, too a thousand, less a day
For I shouldn't like to be on earth to hear you'd passed away!"
84 PARTNERS [Oct.,
"Well, I'm stunned," said Mr. Kendall, in huge delight.
"I'm I'm ' Actually there was moisture in his eyes. A
woman who knew Field well enough to paraphrase him so
happily, was a woman Mr. Kendall seldom met. He told Dick
so, as he said good-night.
"And," he added, with a significance that did not escape
either partner, "I shall be at your office in the morning."
"But I'm not really the Stoddard treasure," protested Mrs.
Dick, as he shook hands with her. "The genuine Stoddard
treasures are at home. You must come and see them."
"I will," he assented.
Katharine and Phil went off, and Post and Effie. Also
Mr. Kendall and his niece. Bob drove the Stoddards home and
bade them good-night at their door. He was comfortably
aware of the fact that they had not exchanged a single word.
When they reached the hall, Agnes, still silent, turned to go
upstairs. Dick put his hand on her arm.
"Please this way. Only one minute," he said.
She held back, then reluctantly yielded. He led her over
to his own big chair, pushed her into it, and knelt on the floor
beside her.
"Partner," he said, solemnly, "we have a big job on hand,
you and I, and I needed a reminder. I got it." He put the
morocco case on her lap and the jewels gleamed up at her.
"You see? I hadn't forgotten altogether. But the day was so
big that it crowded out the biggest thing of all. Forgive me,
partner?"
And Agnes, being a woman
Thus did the Angel of Commonplace Things, who guards
events for loving hearts, make comedy of tragedy.
A BRIDE OF CHRIST.
BY J. CORSON MILLER.
HER childhood-years were gay and bright,
As many children's are;
Within her heart she kept a light
Brave-burning, as a star.
With Dawn she laughed, and knew the Night
For magic dreams afar.
In maidenhood she grew apace
With Beauty sweet as Heaven;
There was a glory on her face,
Like roses hushed at even.
She lost not sanctifying grace,
Her virtues, they were seven.
And nightly 'round her hallowed bed
The Angels came to sing;
Unknown, they wove about her head
A mystic bridal-ring.
"Her innocence, for veil," they said,
"She wears, to greet her King."
And one spoke : "See, her hands, how still
They lie upon her breast!
From her dear brow we shall distill,
For Virgin-Mary blest,
A lily-bloom whose incense will .
Give some poor sinner rest."
Nay, Womanhood was not for her,
Where Sin and Sorrow 'bide;
She who was long God's chorister,
Gladly took Death for guide.
The day she left, He came for her,
With Love Divine aflame for her
The Bridegroom for His Bride.
A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR.
BY P. D. MURPHY.
N the writings of nearly all Catholic authors there
is a certain quality which, for want of a better
name, is sometimes called the Catholic temper.
Exactly what this quality is it would be difficult
to explain, for it is a thing of the spirit, some-
thing subtle, something elusive, yet something that has the
charm of simplicity and the stamp of sincerity. It is in manner
reverent; in purpose, lofty; in outlook, broad; and in sym-
pathy, deep. It runs through the works of Austin Dobson,
Lionel Johnson, Mrs. Meynell, and Francis Thompson. We
find it in the writings of Padraic Pearse and the other Catholic
authors who have come to be identified with the Irish literary
revival. Now and again we encounter it in writers who do
not belong to the Church, in the non-Catholic Yeats, for
instance, as a result of his long and intimate association with
Father Matthew Russell, and to a still greater degree in the
potential Catholic Chesterton. But more than all does it exist
in the prolific writings of that truly remarkable man, Joseph
Hilaire Pierre Belloc.
In no author now using the English language is Catholic
tradition and Catholic culture more deeply rooted than in Mr.
Belloc. Poet and essayist, novelist and historian, humorist
and military critic, economist and writer of books of travel,
when one thinks of him one casts about for a phrase, and only
in the epitaph which Johnson inscribed on the death of Gold-
smith does one find it:
Qui nullum fere scribendi genus
Non tetigit,
Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit.
1920.] A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR 87
Half English, half French, with Irish blood in him, of
which he is inordinately proud, Mr. Belloc is now in the early
fifties. As a young man he served as a conscript in the French
army, and on his release entered Oxford University, where
he had as contemporaries the present Lord Chancellor of
England, better known perhaps as F. E. Smith, and Mr. C. F. G.
Masterman, an author and critic of repute, who served as an
Under Secretary of State in the administration of which Mr.
Asquith was the head. The army taught him history and
geography, which were to stand him in such good stead in
after years, and of the debt he owes to Oxford he himself
tells us in one of the best known of his poems.
In Mr. Belloc's day the Oxford Union was, as it still is,
the most famous debating society in the University. The
leaders of the debates were Smith and Masterman, the one on
the Conservative or reactionary side, and the other on the
Liberal or progressive side. Mr. Belloc does not appear to
have taken more than a casual interest in these forensic duels,
but a contemporary, whose name cannot now be recalled, has
given us a brief account of at least one of Mr. Belloc's appear-
ances at the Union. Smith and Masterman had each scored a
signal triumph. All through the body of the hall it was whis-
pered that a new Disraeli and a new Gladstone were hovering
on the horizon of public life. For some moments it seemed
as though the last word had been said, and then Mr. Belloc
rose. It is unfortunate that we have no record of what he
said, but, according to the contemporary mentioned above,
after the future author sat down men felt as though Smith
and Masterman had never been. The success of Mr. Belloc
was complete.
Leaving Oxford, where he won high academic honors,
notably in history, he drifted into journalism, writing mostly
for Liberal publications on literary, historical, and political
matters. From Fleet Street to Parliament is but a step, but
it was not until 1906 that that step was taken. In the Liberal
victory of that year he was returned by a substantial margin
as M. P. for Salford, near Manchester. In the Parliament,
of which he was a member, the Liberal Party had one of the
largest majorities ever known in the history of English politics.
The Cabinet of the day, composed as it was of Asquith, Hal-
dane, Grey, Brice, Birrell, Lloyd George, and at least a dozen
88 A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR [Oct.,
others of almost equal eminence, was referred to by friend and
foe as the ministry of all the talents. It was a Parliament in
which reputations could be enhanced rather than made, for
the numerical strength of the party in power gave few oppor-
tunities to the newcomer. But Mr. Belloc availed himself of
such opportunities as came his way. He spoke often and
always effectively. Before long his speeches were reported at
length in the press of both parties. In the phrase, which is
perhaps peculiar to English politics, he had the ear of the
House and was in a fair way to ministerial preferment, when
an event occurred which so disgusted him with English politics
that before long he determined to resign from public life
altogether. This event was in connection with the Eucharistic
Congress held in London some years before the War.
England is not only a non-Catholic country : it is still very
largely an anti-Catholic country. When a Catholic, who hap-
pens to be something more than Catholic in name, desires to
enter Parliament the no-Popery cry is almost certain to be
raised to inflame the worst passions of the mob. At the time
of which we speak the infamous coronation oath, which
branded all Catholics as idolaters, was still in force, and the
monarch had to take this oath on his accession to the throne.
Catholics were, and still are, precluded from holding certain
important offices of State, such as the Lord Chancellorship,
for instance, the Viceroyalty of Ireland, and one or two others.
The Protestant alliance, the Masons, and others regarded the
presence of the Papal Legate as a menace to the might of
England and the Protestant succession. Efforts were made to
prevent the Eucharistic Congress being held, and these efforts
proving abortive, every energy was bent towards getting the
authorities to prohibit the holding of the procession on the
Sunday that was to witness the close of the Congress. In this
the enemies of the Church met with a certain measure of
success. True, the procession was held, but Mr. Asquith, in a
letter to Cardinal (then Archbishop) Bourne, forbade the
carrying of the Host. At the great meeting at the Albert Hall,
at which this letter was read, Mr. Belloc said : "They (the Gov-
ernment) have touched a nerve that will cost them dear." It
did. A short while later there was a succession of by-elections
in the North of England, where the Irish and Catholic vote is
strong and on the whole very well organized. Even the Liberal
1920.] A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR 89
papers admitted afterwards that Asquith's stupid blunder was
the cause of the Government's failure to hold those seats. As
soon as Mr. Belloc got his chance in Parliament, which he did
within a week of the Albert Hall meeting, he launched a bitter
attack on the Government. From this onward it was clear to
all who had eyes to see and ears to hear that Westminster
would soon know Mr. Belloc no more. At the General Election
of 1910, though invited to do so by his old constituents, he
declined to seek reelection.
The Catholic temper, which is so evident in all his writ-
ings, the well-stocked mind which he brings to whatever task
he undertakes, his unruffled spirit, his penetrating insight, his
ripe scholarship these and a score of other qualities endear
him to a wide and discerning public. But there is one quality
of his which stands alone, inherited probably from that Irish
grandmother who was the first to translate Moore's Melodies
into French, that will be admired while red blood flows in the
veins of men. It is his combative spirit. He seeks no quarrel,
but he will never deviate a hair's breadth to avoid one. He
showed this when he stood up to the strongest power in Eng-
land today the political machine. He showed it again when
he declined to contribute to any of the fifty odd journals con-
trolled by Lord Northcliffe, the man who can make and un-
make ministries. And he showed it during the controversy
which raged in England over the execution of Ferrer, when, in
concert with Mr. Chesterton, he fought practically the entire
lay press of the country.
No author of our day has displayed such an amazing
versatility as Mr. Belloc. He is not a novelist who has written
verse as a sort of literary exercise, as Thomas Hardy has done.
Nor is he an historian who seeks relaxation in the lighter
literary forms. His novels are real novels, his poetry real
poetry, his history real history. What branch of literature is
his particular forte it would be difficult to say, but it is safe to
assert that his books of travel are more popular with the gen-
eral public than any of his other works. Excellent as his
novels are, he yet does not seem quite at home in this field of
literary endeavor. Mr. Clutterbuck's Election and Pongo and
the Bull are amusing skits on English politics and politicians.
The Girondin gives us a vivid picture of revolutionary France.
The two former are local in their appeal, while the latter has
90 A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR [Oct.,
an historical background which somehow conveys the idea
that the author started out to write history and then changed
his mind. His poems are all too few to be considered sepa-
rately. They are leaves in the laurel wreath which Mr. Belloc
has won rather than a laurel wreath in themselves. For some
mysterious reason the average man is prejudiced against his-
tory, which is a pity, for it is one of the most fascinating of
studies. How much of the existing prejudice is directly ai-
tributable to the historians probably we shall never know, but
it must be considerable. Gibbon was more concerned with the
grand manner than with the all-important matter. Green's
conception of history never rose higher than a tradesman's
conception of his wares. His history was written to sell, and
one can well imagine people who have read it, laying it aside
with the firm resolve never to open a history book again.
As an historian it is still early to pass judgment on
Mr. Belloc, but this at least can be said, that the reader who
peruses his historical studies will never again say that history
is a dull subject.
His work on the French Revolution began with the publi-
cation in 1899, when the author was still in his twenties, of a
Life of Danton. This is one of the most intimate, as it is
certainly one of the most picturesque, accounts we possess
of the Great Tribune. A book on Robespierre followed, and
after it an introduction to Garlyle's magnum opus. But it was
Marie Antoinette, published some years later, which estab-
lished his reputation as an historian. According to Mr.
Thomas Lecombe, himself a professor of history, a critic of
repute, and a brilliant man of letters, this is one of the best
studies we possess of that tragic figure. "The book really,"
writes this authority, "in its firm blend of the four great prose
qualities of narration, description, exposition, and argumenta-
tion is one of the very best Mr. Belloc has given us. The his-
torical episodes are vivid in the extreme, and the characteriza-
tion is surprising in amplitude, perception, and divination, a
quality in which the author overflows alike in his historical
and topographical work." With three of the central figures of
that epoch thus presented, it only remained for Mr. Belloc
to write the history of the Revolution itself, and the work was
in a sense complete. This book was eventually written for
the Home University Library series, and enjoyed a wide and
1920.] A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR 91
well-deserved popularity. Into a very limited space the author
packs a surprising amount of information and marshals his
facts with the skill of a master. Reading it, one feels
that Mr. Belloc was very close to realities while he was writing
it. The King and Queen, Mirabeau, Necker, Garnot, Lafayette,
and the rest are presented in a light that is a trifle strange to
those whose conception of these figures was gleaned through
the blurred glasses of Carlyle and others who did not possess
the sure vision of Mr. Belloc, his firm grasp of essentials, and
his highly-developed European ^ense.
The Path to Rome is, as it deserves to be, the best known
of all Mr. Belloc's books. It is not, as the title might lead one
to suppose, a new Apologia: it is an account of a journey on
foot to the city of the Popes. If you only know Mr. Belloc,
the historian, you could never imagine him writing such a book
as this. It is overflowing with gentle humor, gay badinage, and
exquisite descriptive matter. Written as it is in a light, easy
style, there are nevertheless passages here and there that
search the roots of history, the foundations of religion and of
civilization. It is admittedly a great book, perhaps the greatest
its author will ever give us, and only a great European could
have written it.
Ever since Mr. Belloc shook the dust of the House of
Commons off his feet, he has been engaged in the writing of
serious books. The Party System, The Servile State, a history
of the early days of the War, an indictment of the English
press, and others have all been published since 1910. He again
strikes a serious vein in a new historical study, Europe and
the Faith, just published in this country by The Paulist Press.
At the moment, and not altogether without reason per-
haps, Europe and things European have fallen from the high
position they once occupied in the estimation of the American
people. Still it must not be forgotten that the old continent,
if not the cradle of civilization, was at all events its nursery,
as it is still the centre of the Catholic world. If only for these
reasons, it must still be considered by the people of the New
World. In Europe and the Faith Mr. Belloc goes to the heart
of many things, the old Roman Empire and what it was and
meant, the Dark and Middle Ages, the so-called Reformation
and evils it brought in its train. The past is made to live
again within the pages of this book, and of the future the
92 A GREAT CATHOLIC AUTHOR [Oct.,
author says that Europe will return to the Faith or she will
perish, for the Faith is Europe and Europe is the Faith.
Much of the ground covered by Mr. Belloc has already
been traversed by Gibbon and other non-Catholic historians.
But these men did not see it as Mr. Belloc sees it, for, as he
rightly says in the introduction to his book, "the Catholic sees
Europe from within," and amplifying this he goes on :
"The Catholic brings to history . . . self-knowledge. As
a man in the confessional accuses himself of what he knows
to be true and what other people cannot judge, so a Catholic,
talking of the united European civilization, when he blames
it, blames it for motives and for acts which are his own. He
himself could have done those things in person. He is not
relatively right in his blame, he is absolutely right. As a man
can testify to his own motive, so can the Catholic testify to
unjust, irrelevant, or ignorant conceptions of the European
story; for he knows why and how it proceeded. Others, not
Catholic, look upon the story of Europe externally as strangers.
They have to deal with something which presents itself
to them partially and disconnectedly, by its phenomena
alone he sees it all from its centre in its essence, and
together."
That is not only Mr. Belloc's attitude towards history:
it is also the Catholic attitude. It is to be hoped that Europe
and the Faith will receive as warm a welcome here
as it is almost certain to enjoy on the other side of the
Atlantic.
THE LOYALIST.
BY JAMES FRANCIS BARRETT.
PART III.
CHAPTER I.
[N one of those wide indentations along the eastern
shore of the Schuylkill there opens out, in tranquil
seclusion, a spacious cove. The waters wander here
to rest, it seems, before resuming their voluminous
descent to the Delaware and the sea. Trees and
saplings wrapped about with close-clinging vines,
hang far over the water's edge like so many silent sentinels on
guard before the spot, their luxuriant foliage weighing their bend-
ing twigs almost to the surface. Green lily-pads and long rib-
boned water grass border the water's curve, and toss gently in the
wind ripples as they glide inwards with just murmur enough to
lull one to quiet and repose.
Into this scene, under the overhanging leaves, stole a small
canoe with motion enough scarcely to ruffle the top of the water.
A paddle noiselessly dipped into the undisturbed surface and as
noiselessly emerged again, leaving behind only a series of minia-
ture eddies. A small white hand, hanging lazily over the forward
side of the tiny craft, played in the limpid water, and made
a furrow along the side of the boat that glistened like so many
strings of sparkling jewels.
The sunlight played on the ripples and the tender foliage
alike; the waters laughed back in a playful mood; the delicately
woven verdure smiled and bowed with complacent and pure de-
light. Nearer to the shore, where the cove curved away from the
river, the sunbeams revealed themselves only at intervals as they
stealthily crept through the interstices of the filigree overhead, and
brought into relief crystal patches on the dark and glassy surface
of the water. All was quiet and peaceful; the murmur of the
breeze among the trees and the purl of the wavelets against the
grassy bank alone interrupting the Sabbath stillness around.
"So you are going away again tomorrow?" Marjorie asked
as she continued to dabble in the water.
She lay partly reclining in the bow of the canoe, her back
supported by a pillow. A meditative silence enshrouded her as
she lay listless, unconcerned to all appearances, as to her where-
94 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
abouls or destination. She gazed steadily at the waters as she
splashed them gently and playfully. Like a caress the silence
of the place descended upon her and brought home to her the full
import of her loneliness.
"In view of what you have disclosed to me, I think it only my
duty," Stephen replied as he lazily stroked the paddle.
Again there was silence.
"I wish you weren't going," she finally murmured.
He looked straight at her, holding his arm motionless for the
space of a moment.
"It is good of you to say that," was the measured reply.
"This has been a delightful day, and I have enjoyed this glimpse
of you."
Raising her eyes she thanked him with a look.
"You must remember that it has been due to no fault of
mine that I have seen so little of you," he continued.
"Nor mine," came back the whisper.
"True," he said. "Events have moved so rapidly during the
past month that I could only keep abreast of them with the great-
est difficulty."
"I daresay we all are proud of your achievement."
"God has been good to us. I must thank you, too."
"Me?" She smiled contemptuously. "I am sure, when the
truth is known, that I shall be found more an instrument of evil
than of good."
"I wish you would not say that."
"I cannot say otherwise; for I know it to be true."
"Do not depreciate your efforts. They have been invaluable
to me. Remember, it was you who greatly confirmed my sus-
picions of Anderson. I did acquire some facts myself; but the
information you imparted to me enabled me to put together
several ambiguous clues."
"Really?"
"And you must remember that it was through your coopera-
tion that my attention was first drawn to General Arnold."
"You suspected him before our conversation. You, yourself,
heard it from his own lips in the garden."
"Yes, I did. But the note!"
"What note?"
"The note you gave me to read."
"Peggy's letter which I found at her house?"
"The same. Have I never told you?"
"Never!" was the slow response. "You know, you returned
it to me without comment."
1920.] THE LOYALIST 95
He was puzzled. For he wondered how he had failed to
acquaint her with so important an item.
"When you allowed me to take that letter you furnished me
with my first clue."
She aroused herself and looked earnestly at him.
"I? . . . Why ... I never read it. What did it contain?
I had supposed it to be a personal letter."
"And so it was apparently. It proved to be a letter from
one of Peggy's New York friends."
"A Mischienza friend, undoubtedly."
"Yes, Captain Cathcart. But it contained more. There was
a cipher message."
"In cipher?" Then after a moment. "Did she know of it?"
"I am inclined to think that she did. Otherwise it would
not have been directed to her."
This was news indeed. No longer did she recline against
the seat of the canoe, but raised herself upright upon it.
"How did you ever discover it?"
"My first reading of the note filled me with suspicion. Its
tone was too impersonal. When I asked for it, I was impelled by
the sole desire to study it the more carefully at my own leisure.
That night I found certain markings over some of the letters.
These I jotted down and rearranged them until I had found the
hidden message."
She gazed at him in wonder.
"It was directed to her, I presume, because of her friendship
with the Military Governor; and carried the suggestion that His
Excellency be interested in the proposed formation of the Regi-
ment. From that moment my energies were directed to one
sole end. I watched Arnold and those whom he was wont to
entertain. Eventually the trail narrowed down to Peggy and
Anderson."
She drew a deep breath, but said nothing.
"The night I played the spy in the park my theory was con-
firmed."
"Yes, you told me of that incident. It was not far from here."
She turned to search the distance behind her.
"No. Just down the shore behind his great house." He
pointed with his finger in the direction of Mount Pleasant.
"And Peggy was a party to the conspiracy!" she exclaimed
with an audible sigh.
"She exercised her influence over Arnold from the start.
She and Anderson were in perfect accord."
"I am sorry. She has disappointed me greatly."
96 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
"She has a very pretty manner and a most winsome expres-
sion; but she is extremely subtle and fully accomplished in all
manner of artifice. She was far too clever for you.
"I never suspected her for an instant."
"It was she who set the trap for Arnold; it was she who
made it possible for Anderson to rise to the heights of favor and
influence; it was she who encouraged her husband in his misuse
of authority; and I venture to say, that it was she who rendered
effective the degree of friendship which began to exist between
yourself and this gentleman."
Marjorie blushed at the irony.
They were drifting about the cove in the slowest manner.
Only occasionally did he dip the paddle into the water to change
the course of the little craft.
"Yes, I think that I ought to leave tomorrow for White
Plains to confer with His Excellency."
"I should be the last to hinder you in the performance of
duty. By all means, go."
"Of course it may be no more than a suspicion, but if you
are sure of what Anderson said, then I think that the matter
should be brought to the attention of the Commander-in-Chief."
"Of course, you understand that Mr. Anderson told me
nothing definite. But he did hint that General Arnold should
be placed in command of a more responsible post in the American
army; and that steps should be taken to have him promoted to
the Second in Command."
"That sounds innocent enough. But you must remember
that events have come to light in the past fortnight which for
months lay concealed in the minds of these two men. Who
knows but that this was included in their nefarious scheme.
I am uneasy about it all, and must see the Chief."
"But you will come back?"
"At once, unless prevented by a detail to a new field. I am
subject at all times to the will of my leader."
Her face fell.
The solemn stillness, the almost noiseless motion of the boat,
the livid shades surrounding the place, all contributed to the mood
of pensiveness and meditation which was rapidly stealing upon
them. The very silence of the cove was infectious. Marjorie
felt it almost immediately, and relaxed without a murmur.
She was living over again the memories of the happy hours
of other days.
Certainly Stephen was as constant as ever. But he was still
an enigma. Never had he been so attentive quite as John Ander-
1920.] THE LOYALIST 97
son, nor so profuse in his protestations, nor so ready with his
apologies. And what was more, she did not expect him to be.
But he was more sincere. He truly possessed the standard to
which, in her estimate, all were obliged to conform. And so he
compelled her admiration.
Her unfortunate acquaintanceship with Mr. Anderson had
seriously disquieted Stephen. And yet she had been profoundly
sincere with herself. Never had she conveyed the impression to
any man that she had given him a second thought. Of the two
men Stephen had, unquestionably, impressed her the more favor-
ably. But he seemed too far removed from her. Friendship re-
quires a certain equality, or at least a feeling of proportion be-
tween those whom it would bind together. And this, she felt,
had not prevailed.
Happily, her enterprise respecting Anderson and his ne-
farious scheme had terminated successfully. Happily, too,
Stephen's misconstruction of the affair had been corrected. No
longer would he doubt her. Their fortunes had approached the
crisis. It came. Anderson had fled town; Arnold and Peggy
were removed from their lives, perhaps for ever. Stephen was
with her now and she experienced a sense of happiness beyond
all human estimation. She wished she could read his mind as
to his feelings. But he was as non-communicative as ever,
absorbed in this terrible business that obsessed him. Her riddle,
she feared, would remain unanswered. Patriotism, it seemed,
was more pressing than love.
The canoe had drifted nearer to the shore. At Stephen's
suggestion she aroused herself from her lethargy and alighted on
the bank. He soon followed, drawing the canoe on to the shore
a little to prevent its wandering away. Marjorie walked through
the grass, stooping to pick here and there a little flower which
lay smiling at her feet.
"Stephen," she asked, as she turned to him and stood for a
moment smiling straight at him, "will you tell me something?"
"Anything you ask. What do you wish to know?"
But she did not inquire further. Her eyes were fixed in
earnest attention upon the flowers which she began to arrange
into a little bouquet.
"Are you still vexed with me?"
There ! It was out. She looked at him coquettishly.
"Marjorie!" he exclaimed. "What ever caused you to say
that?"
"I scarce know," she replied. "I suppose I just thought so,
that was all."
98 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
"Would I be here now? One need not hear a man speak,
to learn his mind."
"Yes. But I thought"
He seized hold of her hand.
"Come," he said. "Won't you sit down while I tell you?"
She accepted his offer and allowed herself to be assisted.
"You thought I was displeased with you an account of John
Anderson," he remarked as he took his place by her side. "Am
I correct?"
She did not answer.
"And you thought, perhaps, that I scorned you?"
"Oh, no! Not that! I did not think that ... I ... I ..."
"Well, then, that I had lost all interest in you?"
She thought for a second. Then she smiled as if she dared
not say what was in her mind.
"Listen. I shall tell you. I did not accuse you of so much
as a fault. I know well that it is next to impossible to be in the
frequent presence of an individual without experiencing at some
time some emotion. He becomes repugnant, or else exceedingly
fascinating. The sentiments of the heart never stand still."
"Yes, I know but . . ."
"I did think that you had been fascinated. I concluded that
you had been charmed by John Anderson's manner. Because I
had no desire of losing your good will, I did ask you to avoid
him, but at the same time, I did not feel free enough to cast
aspersions upon his character and so change your good opinion
of him. The outcome I never doubted, much as I was disturbed
over the whole affair. I felt that eventually you would learn
for yourself."
"But why did you not believe in me? I tried to give you
every assurance that I was loyal . . ."
"The fault lay in my enforced absence from you, and in the
nature of the circumstances which combined against you. I
knew Anderson; but I was unaware of your own thought or
purpose. My business led me on one occasion to your home where
I found you ready to entertain him. The several other times in
which I found you together caused me to think that you, too,
had been impressed by him."
Marjorie sat silent. She was pondering deeply the emotions
that had fought in his heart. She knew very well he was sincere
in his confession and that she had been the victim of circum-
stances; still she thanked God the truth had been revealed.
"Sometimes I feel as if I had been simply a tool in his hands,
and that I had been worsted in the encounter."
1920.] THE LOYALIST 99
"You have no reason to think that. You perhaps uncon-
sciously gave him some information concerning members of our
Faith, their number, their circumstances, their ambitions, but you
must remember, too, that he gave some valuable information to
you in return. The man may have been sincere with you from the
beginning."
"No! I think neither of us was sincere. The memory of it
all is painful; and I regret exceedingly playing the part of the
coquette."
A great silence stole upon them. He looked out over the
river at the wavelets dancing gleefully in the sunlight, as they
ran downstream with the current as if anxious to outstrip it to
the sea. She grew tired of the little flowers and looked about to
gather others. Presently she bethought herself and took from
her bodice what appeared to be a golden locket. Stephen, at-
tracted by her motion, saw the trinket glistening in the sun.
"Have you ever seen this?" she asked as she looked at it
intently.
He extended his hand. She gave it to him.
"Beautiful!" he exclaimed. "How long have you had this?"
"About a year," she replied nonchalantly, and clasped her
hands about her knees.
He leaned forward and continued to study it for the longest
time. He held it near to him and then at arm's length. Then
he looked at her.
"It is beautiful," he repeated. "It is a wonderful likeness,
and yet I should say that it does not half express the winsome-
ness of your countenance." He smiled generously at her blushes
as he returned it to her.
"It was given me by John Anderson," she announced.
"It is a treasure. And it is richly set."
"He painted it himself and brought it to me after that night
at Peggy's."
"I always said that he possessed extraordinary talents. I
should keep that as a commemoration of your daring enterprise."
"Never. I purpose to destroy all memory of him."
"You have lost nothing, and have gained what books cannot
unfold. Observation and experience are prime educators."
"But exceedingly severe."
"Gome," said Stephen. "Let us not allude to him again. It
grieves you. He has passed from your life forever."
"Forever!" she repeated.
And as if by a mighty effort she drew back her arm and
flung the miniature far from her in the direction of the river.
100 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
On a sudden there was a splash, a gulp of the waters, and a little
commotion as they hurriedly came together and folded over their
prey.
"Marjorie!" he shouted making an attempt to restrain her.
It was too late.
"What have you done?" he asked.
She displayed her empty hands and laughed.
"Forever!" she repeated, opening her arms with a telling
gesture. "I never should have accepted it, but I was strangely
fascinated by it, I suppose."
For the moment neither spoke; he felt as if he could not
speak; and she looked like a child, her cheeks aglow with the
exertion, and her eyes alight with merriment. Stephen looked
intently at her, and as she perceived his look, a very curious
change came across her face. He saw it at once, although he did
not think of it until afterwards.
"Marjorie," he said as he moved nearer to her and slipped his
arm very gently about her. "You must have known for the
longest time, from my actions, from my incessant attentions, from
my words, the extent of my feeling for you. It were idle of me to
attempt to give expression to it. It cannot be explained. It must
be perceived; and you, undoubtedly, have perceived it."
There was no response. She remained passive, her eyes on
the ground, scarcely realizing what he was saying.
"I think you know what I am going to say. I am very fond
of you. But you must have felt more; some hidden voice must
have whispered often to you that I love you."
He drew her to him and raised both her hands to his lips.
She remonstrated.
"Stephen!" she said.
He drew back sadly. She became silent, her head lowered,
her eyes downcast, intent upon the hands in her lap. With her
fingers she rubbed away the caress. She was thinking rapidly,
yet her face betrayed no visible emotion, whether of joy, or sur-
prise, or resentment.
"Marjorie," he said gently, "please forgive me. I meant no
harm."
She made a little movement as if to speak.
"I had to tell you," he continued. "I thought you understood."
She buried her face in her hands; her frame shook violently.
Stephen was confused a little; for he thought that she had taken
offence. He attempted to reassure her.
"Marjorie. Please ... I give you my word I shall never
mention this subject again. I am sorry, very sorry."
1920.] THE LOYALIST 101
She dried her eyes and looked at her handkerchief. Then
she stood up.
"Come, let us go," he said after he had assisted her.
They walked together towards the boat.
CHAPTER II.
It has been said with more truth than poetic fancy that the
descent to Avernus is easy. It may be said, too, with equal assur-
ance, that once General Arnold had committed himself to treach-
ery and perfidy, his story becomes sickening, and in the judgment
of his countrymen, devoid of no element of horror both in its
foul beginnings and its wretched end. Once his mind had been
definitely committed to the treacherous purpose, which loomed
like a beacon light before him, shaping his destiny, his descent
was rapid and fatal. The court-martial, with its subsequent
reprimand, was accepted by him with the greatest animosity.
From that hour his thirst for vengeance knew no restraint. One
thing alone was necessary to his evil plans: he must secure an
important command in the Continental Army.
Some time before he had asked for a change of post, or at
least for a grant of land with permission to retire to private life,
but this was under the inspiration of an entirely different motive.
Now he specifically asked for a command in the army, adding
that his leg was quite healed and that he was fit physically for
field duty. In entering this demand, he was actuated by the
motive of George Monk, the Duke of Albemarle, commander-in-
chief of the forces of three kingdoms.
It is true that Washington had been devoted to him and re-
mained faithful to him until the very end. To reprimand his
favorite general was a painful duty, performed with delicacy and
genuine tenderness. His Excellency had promised to do whatever
lay within his power to enable his beloved general to recover
the esteem of his fellowmen, and he was glad to furnish him with
every opportunity of rendering real and lasting service. He wrote
at once offering him leave of absence. Congress then ordered
"That the sum of $25,000 be advanced to Major-General Arnold
on account of his pay." Finally a general order was issued by
the Commander-in-Chief himself appointing General Arnold Com-
mander of the Right Wing of the American Army. The restora-
tion so long awaited was at length achieved.
Arnold at once began to make preparations for his departure
from the city. His privateering ventures had been cleared up,
but with profits barely sufficient to meet his debts. Mount Pleas-
102 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
ant, his sole possession, had already been settled on his wife.
His tenure of office had been ended some time before, and what-
ever documents were destined for preservation had been put in
order pending the arrival of his successor.
The plan for his defection had been evolved by him with
elaborate detail. Never had the time been more opportune for
the execution of a piece of business so nefarious. The country
was without what could be called a stable form of government.
It was deprived of any recognized means of exchange because of
the total depreciation of the Continental currency. The British
had obtained possession of the great city of New York and were
threatening to overrun the country south of the Susquehanna.
Newport was menaced and the entire British fleet was prepared
to move up the Hudson where, at West Point, one poorly equipped
garrison interposed between them and the forces of General Carle-
ton, which were coming down from Canada. Washington was
attempting to defend Philadelphia and watch Clinton closely from
the heights of Morristown, while he threatened the position of the
enemy in New York from West Point. In all, the American Com-
mander had no more than four thousand men, many of whom
were raw recruits, mere boys, whose services had been procured
for nine months for fifteen hundred dollars each. Georgia and
the Carolinas were entirely reduced, and it was only a question
of time before the junction of the two armies might be effected.
Clinton was to attack West Point at once in order to break
down the one barrier which stood between his own army and the
Canadian. Learning, however, of the rapid progress of events on
the American side and more especially of the proposed defection
of General Arnold, he suddenly changed his plan. He determined
to attack Washington as soon as Arnold had been placed in com-
mand of the right wing of the main army. The latter was to
suffer the attack to be made, but at the psychological moment
he was to desert his Commander-in-Chief in the field, and so
effect the total destruction of the entire force.
This was the plan which was being turned over in his mind
as he sat on this June afternoon in the great room of his mansion.
He again looked the warrior of old, clad in his blue and buff and
gold. Care had marked his countenance with her heavy hand,
however, and had left deep furrows across his forehead and down
the sides of his mouth. His eyes, too, had lost their old time
flash and vivacity, his movements were more sluggish, his step
more halting. The past year had left visible tracing upon him.
He sat and stroked his chin, and deliberated. In his hand he
held a letter, a letter without date or address or salutation. It
1920.] THE LOYALIST 103
had been brought that day by messenger from the city. He
understood it perfectly.
He looked at it again.
Knyphausen is in New Jersey [it read], but, understanding
Arnold is about to command the American Army in the field,
Clinton will attack Washington at once. The bearer may be
trusted. ANDERSON.
"It is either Westminster Abbey for me or the gallows," he
remarked to his wife that evening when they were quite alone.
"You have no apprehensions, I hope."
"There's many a slip . . ." he quoted.
"Come! Be an optimist. You have set your heart on it.
So be brave."
"I have never lacked courage. At Saratoga while that scape-
goat Gates sulked in his tent, I burst from the camp on my big
brown horse and rode like a madman to the head of Larned's
brigade, my old command, and we took the hill. Fear? I never
knew what the word meant. Dashing back to the centre, I gal-
loped up and down before the line. We charged twice, and the
enemy broke and fled. Then I turned to the left and ordered
West and Livingston with Morgan's corps to make a general as-
sault along the line. Here we took the key to the enemy's position
and there was nothing for them to do but to retreat. At the same
instant one bullet killed my good brown horse under me and
another entered my leg. But the battle had been won."
"Never mind, my dear, the world yet lies before you."
"I won the war for them, d 'em, in a single battle, and
single handed. Lord North knew it. The Rockingham Whigs
with Burke as their leader knew it and were ready to concede
independence, having been convinced that conciliation was no
longer practicable or possible. Richmond urged the impossibil-
ity of final conquest, and even Gibbon agreed that the American
Colonies had been lost. I accomplished all that, I tell you, and I
received what? a dead horse and a wounded leg."
There was a flash of the old-time general, but only a flash.
It was evident that he was tiring easily.
"Why do you so excite yourself?" Peggy cautioned him.
"The veins are bulging out on your forehead."
"When I think of it, it galls me. But I shall have my re-
venge," he gloated maliciously. "Clinton is going to attack Wash-
ington as soon as I have taken over my command. I shall out-
rival Albemarle yet."
"We may as well prepare to leave, then."
104 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
"There is no need of your immediate departure. You are
not supposed to be acquainted with my designs. You must re-
main here. Later you can join me."
"But you are going at once?"
"Yes, I shall leave very soon now. Let me see." He paused
to think. "It is over a week now since I was appointed. The
appointment was to take effect immediately. I should report for
duty at once."
"And I shall meet you"
"In New York, very probably. It is too early yet to arrange
for that. You will know where I am stationed and can remain
here until I send for you."
While they were still engaged in conversation, a sound be-
came very audible as of a horseman ascending the driveway. A
summons at the door announced a courier from the Commander-
in-Chief to Major-General Arnold. The latter presented himself
and received a packet on which had been stamped the seal of
official business. He took the document and withdrew.
It proved to be an order from His Excellency transferring the
command of Major-General Arnold on account of physical dis-
ability, which would not permit of service in the field, from the
right wing of the American Army to Commander of the fortress
at West Point. He was ordered to report for duty as soon as cir-
cumstances would permit, and was again assured of His Excel-
lency's highest respect and good wishes.
He handed the letter to Peggy without a word. He sat in
deep meditation while she hastily scanned the contents.
"Tricked again," was her sole comment.
He did not answer.
"This looks suspicious. Do you think he knows?"
"No one knows."
"What will you do now? This upsets all your plans."
"I do not know. I shall accept, of course. Later, not now,
we can decide."
"This means that I am going, too."
"I suppose so. I shall have my headquarters there, and
while they may not be as commodious as Mount Pleasant, still
I would rather have you with me. We shall arrange for our
departure accordingly."
"You will, of course, inform Anderson of the change?"
"He will hear of it. The news of the appointment will travel
fast enough you may be sure. Very likely Knyphausen will now
be recalled from New Jersey."
"So perishes your dream of a duchy!" she exclaimed.
1920.] THE LOYALIST 105
"No. West Point is the most important post on the American
side. It is the connecting link between New England and the
rest of the colonies. It was the prize which Johnny Burgoyne
was prevented from obtaining by me. It commands the Hudson
River and opens the way to upper New York and Canada. It is
the most strategic position in America, stored with immense quan-
tities of ammunition and believed to be impregnable. Without
doubt it is the most critical point in the American line."
"Bah! You need an army. Albemarle had an army. Marl-
borough had an army. Of what use is a fortress with a large
force still in the field. It's the army that counts, I tell you.
Territory, forts, cities mean nothing. It's the size of the army
that wins the war."
"I know it, but what can I do?"
He conceded the point.
"Insist on your former post," she advised.
He thought awhile and began to whistle softly to himself as
he tapped his finger tips one against the other.
"Listen," she continued. "There is some reason for this
transfer at the eleventh hour. Are you dense enough not to see it.
Someone has reached Washington's ear and whispered a secret.
Else that order would never have been written."
"Washington believes only what is true. Always has he
trusted and defended me from the vilifications of my enemies,
knowing that these reports only emanated from jealous and un-
scrupulous hearts. My leg has caused this change of command;
I know it."
She looked at him in scorn. She could not believe he could
be so simple.
"Your leg! What has your leg to do with it? Once you are
astride your horse you are safe. And don't you think for one
minute that Clinton is a fool. He does not want you. I daresay
if the truth were known, he has no respect for you either. It is
your command which is of value to him, and the more authority
you can master, the more valuable you become. Then you can
dictate your own terms instead of bargaining them away."
"It would realize nothing to attempt a protest. A soldier asks
no questions. Whatever I may be, I am still a soldier."
"As you will."
She shrugged her shoulders, and folded her arms.
"West Point it is," she observed, "but Colonel Clinton may
reconsider his proposition. I would not be too sure."
"I am sure he will be satisfied with West Point. With that
post he might easily end the war. Anderson will write me soon
106 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
again. I tell you I can dictate to them now. You shall have your
peerage after all."
"I am not so sure."
"Have it your own way. I know what I am about and I
know where I stand. At first it was a question only of my per-
sonal desertion. The betrayal of an army was a later develop-
ment. But I could not become a deserter on a small scale. I
have been accustomed all my life to playing signal roles. If I am
to sell myself at all, it shall be at the highest price, with the great-
est prize. I have only one regret, and that is that I am obliged
to take advantage of the confidence and respect of Washington
to render this at all possible."
"Don't let your heart become softened by tender condolences
at this stage. Your mind has been set; don't swerve."
He looked at her and wondered how she could remain so
imperturbable. Ordinarily she burned with compassion at the
sight of misery and affliction. He could not understand for the
life of him how stoically she maintained her composure. Plainly
her heart was set on one ambition. She would be a duchess.
But she did not know that he had maintained a continual
correspondence with Sir Henry* Clinton or that West Point had
long since been decided upon as a possible contingency. Much
she did know, but most of the details had been concealed from her.
Not that he did not trust her, but he wished her to be no party
to his nefarious work.
So he was not surprised at her genuine disappointment over
his change of command. In fact, he had been prepared for a
more manifest display of disapproval. Perhaps it was due to the
fact that she was at length to accompany him, which caused her
to be more benign in her appreciation of the transfer. For he
knew she detested the city and longed for the day when she
might be far removed from it forever.
"You will, of course, make ready to leave Mount Pleasant?"
he asked her.
"Assuredly. I shall acquaint mother and father with the
prospect this evening. They do not want me to leave. But I am
determined."
"They should be here. It is not early."
"The ride is long. They will come."
The last night spent by the Arnolds and the Shippen families
at Mount Pleasant was a happy one. The entire family was pres-
ent, and the Arnold silver was lavishly displayed for the occasion.
American viands cooked and served in the prevailing American
fashion were offered at table hearty, simple food in great plenty
1920.] THE LOYALIST 107
washed down by quantities of madeira and sherry and other im-
ported beverages.
Toasts and healths were freely drunk. After the more cus-
tomary ones to the "Success of the War," to the "Success of Gen-
eral Washington," to the "Nation" there came the usual healths
to the host and the hostess, and more especially to the "Appoint-
ment of General Arnold." The ceremonies were interspersed
with serious and animated conversation on the political situation
and the chances of the army in the fields.
"Miss Franks would have been pleased to be with us," an-
nounced the General.
"Could you believe it, General, not once have we heard from
that girl since she moved to New York," and Mrs. Shippen set her
lips firmly. "That is so unlike her; I cannot understand it."
"But you know, mother," explained Peggy, "that the mail
cannot be depended upon."
"I know, my dear, but I think that she could send a line, if
it were only a line, by messenger if she thought enough of us.
You know it was at our house that she met the friends with whom
she is now engaged."
"Our mail system is deplorable," Mr. Shippen remarked.
"Only yesterday I received a letter which apparently had been
sent months ago."
"I can understand that very readily," Arnold rejoined. "Often
letters are intrusted to travelers. At times these men deposit a
letter at some inn at the cross roads for the next traveler who is
bound for the same place as the epistle. It often happens that a
missive remains for months upon a mantel piece awaiting a favor-
able opportunity. Then again sheer neglect may be responsible
for an unusual delay. I myself have experience of that."
This explanation seemed to satisfy Mrs. Shippen, for she
dropped the subject immediately. The mode of travel then oc-
casioned a critical comment from her until she finally asked when
they intended to leave for West Point.
"Very likely I shall leave before the week is out," replied
Arnold. "It is most important that I assume command at once.
We shall begin our preparations tomorrow."
They talked far into the night. The men smoking while the
ladies retired to the great drawing-room. Peggy played and sang
and took her mother aside at intervals for conference upon little
matters which required advice. At a late hour the families
parted. Peggy and her husband closed the door upon their
kinsfolk and abandoned themselves to their destiny to glorious
triumph or to utter ruin.
108 THE LOYALIST [Oct.,
Late that same evening, alone before his desk, General Arnold
penned the following ambiguous letter to John Anderson. West
Point it was. That was settled. Still it was necessary that
General Clinton be apprised immediately of the change of com-
mand with some inkling of the military value of the new post.
The business was such that he dared not employ his true name;
and so he assumed a title, referring to himself throughout the note
in the third person.
SIR:
On the twenty-fourth of last month I received a note from
you without date, in answer to mine; also a letter from your
house in answer to mine, with a note from B. of the thirtieth
of June, with an extract of a letter from Mr. J. Osborn. I have
paid particular attention to the contents of the several letters.
Had they arrived earlier, you should have had my answer
sooner. A variety of circumstances has prevented my writing
you before. I expect to do it very fully in a few days, and to
procure you an interview with Mr. M e, when you will be
able to settle your commercial plan, I hope, agreeable to all
parties. Mr. M e assures me that he is still of opinion that
his first proposal is by no means unreasonable, and makes no
doubt, when he has a conference with you, that you will close
with it. He expects when you meet that you will be fully
authorized from your House; that the risks and profits of the
co-partnership may be fully and clearly understood.
A speculation might at this time be easily made to some ad-
vantage with ready money, but there is not the quantity of
goods at market which your partner seems to suppose, and the
number of speculators below, I think will be against your
making an immediate purchase. I apprehend goods will be in
greater plenty and much cheaper in the course of the season;
both dry and wet are much wanted and in demand at this
juncture. Some quantities are expected in this part of the
country soon.
Mr. M e flatters himself that in the course of ten days
he will have the pleasure of seeing you. He requests me to
advise you that he has ordered a draught on you in favor of our
mutual friend, S y for 1300, which you will charge on
account of the tobacco.
I am, in behalf of Mr. M e and Co., Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
GUSTAVUS.
To Mr. John Anderson, Merchant.
New York.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
IRew Books.
AN ESSAY ON MEDIAEVAL ECONOMIC TEACHING. By George
O'Brien. New York : Longmans, Green & Co. $4.75.
It is a truism (which unfortunately is rarely true) to say of
a new book that it supplies a long felt want; but in the case of
Dr. O'Brien's essay to say so would be strictly true. For while
many economists, such as Cunningham and Ashley, have consid-
ered mediaeval economic practice, mediaeval economic theory has
never before been discussed with the fullness it merited.
Everyone must have noticed a striking difference in the man-
ner of approach between the older economists and those of our
own day. It is impossible now to argue in the cold-blooded
style of Adam Smith without any reference to ethics. Partly
because the theories of the classic economists have hopelessly
broken down in recent experience; but more because no one
would dare to deny that the question is one of moral not of
abstract academic interest. To take an example, the various
schools of Socialists invariably appeal to the idea of Justice
and the newest among those schools are seeking their sanctions
from the charters of the Guilds.
Admirable as have been the writings and labors of the Guild
Socialists, they have not so far examined to any great extent the
ethics of the mediaeval Guildsmen. This does not mean that Guild
Socialists have no ethical theory (quite the contrary) ; it does
mean that they are likely to approximate more nearly to the spirit
of their models when they have had time to examine those
models more carefully.
If they and others wish to understand mediaeval economic
teaching, they will not be able to do better than to read Dr.
O'Brien's clearly written and profoundly learned summary of the
economic doctrines of the great Scholastics, particularly of the
greatest of them all, St. Thomas Aquinas. For though, as
Dr. O'Brien points out, we shall come across few economic treat-
ises in the modern sense in the Middle Ages, we shall discover the
principles we need in "the works dealing with general morality,
in the Canon Law, and in the commentaries on the Civil Law."
In other words the mediaeval philosophers and theologians
did not treat of economics as a pure science that had only
a remote connection with humanity, but always in its relation to
the souls and bodies of men. To quote Sir William Ashley : "The
110 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
doctrine of the canon law differed from modern economics in
being an art rather than a science. It was a body of rules and
prescriptions as to conduct, rather than of conclusions as to fact."
Nevertheless, though its preoccupations were mainly spir-
itual, canon law did succeed in developing a theory which justi-
fied itself even on the material plane by the general prosperity
it established in society. Attracted by that general prosperity
(so unlike modern prosperity which is achieved by the many for
the few) modern society is going back to the Middle Ages for its
economic practice. This it has largely learned: when it has also
learned and accepted the economic teaching of the Middle Ages,
society will recover its lost health.
FATHER WILLIAM DOYLE, S.J., 1873-1917. By Professor Alfred
O'Rahilly. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. $3.50 net.
A Superior's unwillingness to follow the request of a sub-
ordinate has given us a spiritual classic. Professor O'Rahilly tells
us in his preface that Father Doyle left with his intimate journal
a request that, in event of his death, it should be burned un-
opened, but those nearest him, both ecclesiastically and in the
flesh, willed otherwise.
Born in 1873, at Dalkey, County Dublin, of well-to-do parents,
William Doyle's childhood and youth was that of a normally
pious, manly lad. His health, during the whole of his forty-four
years, was not of the best.
During all his years of preparation in the Jesuit novitiate
and later again in his tertianship, we witness the unfolding of
that flower of sanctity which was afterwards to issue in rich
fruitage as director of souls, first as missioner and retreat master
in his native land, then as chaplain on the European War front.
In reading many of these pages one is constrained to tread
lightly, as in the presence of something profoundly sacred. If
some of the young priest's mortifications seem to us to be ex-
treme, we may make self rejoinder that to whom it is given to
know the secrets of the way of penance by him only can they
be received. "His (Father Doyle's) acts of self-conquest," re-
marks the narrator, "were not a cold, calculated succession of
deliberate inhibitions, nor was his ideal mere apathy or dehuman-
ized perfection. In real Christian asceticism and mysticism there
is always a joyous note, a paradoxical combination of gayety and
pain."
The last twenty months of his life, spent as Chaplain to his
beloved Irish Fusiliers, were filled with incident and splendid
priestly achievement. The extracts from Father Doyle's notes of
1920.] NEW BOOKS III
this period are fascinating, especially those dealing with the ter-
rible struggle at Wytschaete Ridge. Speaking of the Feast of
Corpus Christi, he writes: "... I thought of the many proces-
sions of the Blessed Sacrament which were being held at that
moment all over the world. Surely there never was a stranger
one than mine that day, as I carried the God of Consolation in my
unworthy arms over the blood-stained battlefield. There was no
music to welcome His coming save the scream of a passing shell;
the flowers that strewed His path were the broken, bleeding bodies
of those for whom He had once died; and the only Altar of
Repose He could find was the heart of one who was working for
Him alone, striving in a feeble way to make Him some return for
all His love and goodness."
The story ends on August 16, 1917. Father "Willie" Doyle
having spent his last day on earth in tireless service among the
dead and the dying, himself made the great sacrifice.
THE LONELY HOUSE. By Mrs. Belloc Lowndes. New York:
George H. Doran Co. $1.90.
Oddly enough Mrs. Lowndes seeks the attention of this subtle
world by a tale which, rivaling Macbeth in horror, lacks
simultaneously Shakespearean strength. Not that Mrs. Lowndes
fails to display her own power. Skillfully avoiding the superficial
in her surface treatments, she shows no mean skill. If we do not
know her characters intimately, at least we see them with all
the vividness of the theatre-goer. We enjoy watching "Papa
Poldeau" upon whose unobtrusive strength the story hinges.
Gazing fixedly upon the chameleon-like Countess, now generous,
now mean, we behold a "master mind" exerting almost hypnotic
influence upon her husband and Cristina, Cristina whom she, ser-
pent-like, fascinates into doing her will, which always concerns
Beppo's happiness; but for all his dashing charm we are unable
to find in him sufficient charm to instigate his mother's crimes.
Lily, whose happiness is to be sacrificed for him, is real enough,
but a mere type, however delightful, of the conventional young
English girl. Stuart, her lover, is interesting by the strength of
his devotion and his fine sense of honor.
But the background and atmosphere of these players is
wherein Mrs. Lowndes has excelled herself. The delights of
Monte Carlo are real, and still more so is the gloom of the un-
canny old house, "La Solitude." It is consistent that Lily should
have her strange dream warning as she enters the land of the
evil eye, where all which may be imagined may also be possible
the country to Lily's eye so superstitious. And she never learns
112 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
to read deeper, for Mrs. Lowndes is interested only that her plot
shall move swiftly toward its dramatic conclusion. It is all too
unfortunate that so able a writer should seek to satisfy shallow
desire for excitement rather than to gratify literary taste; of the
latter Mrs. Lowndes would be very capable should she wish to
produce, not a best-seller, dependent upon its author's note-
worthy name, but work of real merit.
MEDIJEVAL MEDICINE. By James J. Walsh. New York: The
Macmillan Co. $3.00.
The mere layman may perhaps stand aghast at the title of
Dr. Walsh's book, and decide its subject too recondite for any
but the adepts of medical science. As a matter of fact the
volume is fully within the comprehension of any educated reader,
and is as entertaining as a novel. The author insists over and
over again that the Middle Ages were not times of ignorance,
much less of obscurantism; that the scientific spirit was thor-
oughly alive; that on many points these ancient physicians antic-
ipated the newest ideas of today; and that their achievements,
considering the tools and means at their disposal, were nothing
short of marvelous.
As early as the ninth century Salerno was a famous medical
school, noted for the severity of the tests imposed on would-be
practitioners. Four years' study was the minimum for a doctor's
degree, which merely authorized the candidate to teach; a year
of practice with a physician was demanded before allowing the
tyro to practise himself. And Salerno possessed likewise a pure
drug law, and had inspectors to see it enforced. Montpellier, still
renowned in medical circles, dates back to the tenth century.
When Innocent III. founded a model hospital in Rome, he sought
at Montpellier the organizing head to upbuild and direct it, and
Guido by the Pontiff's wish became chief of the Santo Spirito.
The Pope desired every diocese in the Catholic world to possess
a similar hospital, and bishops visiting Rome were urged to es-
tablish similar institutions in their own countries.
Not only did these mediaeval doctors practise an elementary
antisepsis, but even anaesthesia as well. Mandragora formed the
base of their anaesthetics, and a combination with opium was
in still higher repute. Dr. Walsh points out that the total ob-
livion into which anaesthesia subsequently fell is quite inexpli-
cable. One of these ancient medicos reached even the Papal
throne itself, under the name of John XXI. As Petrus Hispanus
he had specialized in diseases of the eye, and he wrote a book on
his subject which is still extant.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 113
It will be a distinct surprise for most to learn that medical
training for women was in vogue during the Middle Ages, and
several women doctors are known to fame. One of these ladies
was called Trotula, and left behind her several textbooks. An-
other lady named Mercuriade wrote on Crises in Pestilent Fever.
But most wonderful of all is that a Benedictine Abbess of the
twelfth century, who is also revered as a saint, St. Hildegarde,
wrote two volumes on medicine.
In hospital work, and in the architecture and sanitation of
these buildings, the Middle Ages were remarkable, but still
worthier of admiration is their treatment of the insane. Re-
ligious houses frequently accepted and cared for the non-violent
insane. At a later period certain villages, of which the most
famous was Gheel in Belgium, practised the colony system of
caring for defectives and imbeciles.
Dr. Walsh's volume proves abundantly the charity, resource-
fulness and competence of the Ages of Faith. And it shows too
that the twentieth century, which prides itself on its perfection,
may yet learn useful lessons from long vanished days.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By Dr. Charles H.
McCarthy. New York: American Book Co. $1.32.
This volume outlining the history and development of the
United States, by Dr. Charles H. McCarthy of the Catholic Uni-
versity, will prove an admirable text for the upper grades in the
parochial schools or for elementary classes in high schools. To
write a good textbook is no easy matter. To compress within
five hundred pages the story of America from the days of Leif,
the Viking, to the Conference at Versailles is a task of compila-
tion which requires restraint, a broad perspective, and a keen
appreciation of relative values. To write this text was doubly
difficult, for in addition to the usual survey of essential facts,
it was necessary to consider the position of the Church and to
emphasize, or at times suggest, the Catholic contribution to our
national life and culture. This Professor McCarthy has done with
a degree of success unique in such a manual.
Critics will deal differently with Dr. McCarthy's book. Some
will criticize severely its moderation, hesitancy of personal ex-
pression, and somewhat colorless chronicle of events, where a
critical analysis might be given. However, it is well that the
writer made no attempt at propaganda, political, sectional, or
racial. Not a journalist, but a trained historian, the author main-
tains judicial poise even when considering controversial ques-
tions. No song of dissent is sung; Puritans are not sneered at;
VOL. CXII. 8
114 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
nor is England portrayed as ever tyrannous, always at fault; the
South is not condemned; and the contribution of no element in
the population is minimized or unduly exaggerated. Politically
the writer might be of either party, but in religion he is a Catholic
and in nationality frankly American. This is as it should be in a
book whose purpose is to train our young students in a truer
understanding of America and of the Church in America.
ST. TERESA, 1515-1582, AND HER FIRST ENGLISH DAUGH-
TERS. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. $1.80 net.
This book is one of the Notre Dame Series, which Series seems,
like many other pre-war activities, to have suffered suspension.
The aim of this book is to trace the bond that unites St.
Teresa to her English daughters and their direct descent from
Spain, in the person of her, whom St. Teresa herself, ad-
dressed as a companion and co-adjutrix Anne of Jesus.
Through Paris, Brussels, Antwerp to Lanherne, the line is
traced, showing how foundations were made abroad for those
fervent souls, who, debarred from English conventual life,
gave themselves as victims for the conversion of the land that
would have none of them. From Hoogstraet, a branch of Ant-
werp, the first convent of Carmel in Maryland, U. S. A., was
founded in 1790, so that both England and the United States,
in this matter, are offshoots from the same parent root of Avila.
The book is intended specially for English readers.
DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE ON THE DIVINE NAMES AND
THE MYSTICAL THEOLOGY. By C. E. Rolt, S. P. C. K.
New York: The Macmillan Co. $3.00.
Dionysius the Areopagite, formerly confounded with the con-
vert of St. Paul in Acts xvii. 34, is now known to be a writer of
the close of the fifth century. It has been conclusively proved by
Hugo Koch and Joseph Stiglmayr that the pseudo-Areopagite in
his treatise on the Divine Names borrowed largely from the neo-
Platonist Proclus.
The translator was handicapped by the fact that we possess
no modern critical edition of the text, the last edition having
been made in Antwerp in 1634. Moreover he did his work in a
village rectory far from libraries, and was left to the kindly
offices of friends who supplied, in some measure, the books he
needed. W. J. Sparrow-Simpson writes a supplementary chapter
on "The Influence of Dionysius in Religious History." The author
might have consulted with profit the article on Dionysius by Stigl-
mayr in Volume V. of the Catholic Encyclopedia.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 115
SUMMARIUM THEOLOGIAE MORALIS. Auctore Antonio M.
Arregui, S.J. Editio quarta. Bilbao: Elexpuru Hnos.
That thirty-five thousand copies of this book have been called
for in two years, makes one wonder why so tiny a treatise on
moral theology should have such a vogue. It is only when one
has dipped into the little volume here and there that one sees
that its size, or rather its lack of size, is one of its greatest merits.
Into the minutiae of Moral Theology it does not enter the things
that the incurable casuist loves to labor must not be looked for in
these pages; but the things that the priest needs in the normal
ministrations of his daily life are here set down with an order,
lucidity, accuracy, and conciseness that must make the book a
veritable vade-mecum of any priest into whose possession it
comes. Father Arregui has brought the great practical science of
the priest's life into harmony with the new code of Canon Law.
Two-thirds of the Canons of the Code are quoted or referred to,
and those that are omitted will not be missed. The little volume
is the best embodiment in tabloid form that we have seen.
FRANCISCANS AND THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION IN
ENGLAND. By Francis Borgia Steck, O.F.M. Chicago:
Franciscan Herald Press. $2.00.
Father Steck has compiled a most interesting and edifying
account of his order. The Friars reached England as early as
1220, and they multiplied so rapidly that at the time of the
Black Death they numbered 2,000. Several of them were famed
as scholars and sought as professors for foreign universities;
while Duns Scotus in philosophy and theology, and Roger Bacon
in science, reached the very apogee of intellectual achievement.
When Henry VIII. sought to justify his unlawful union with
Anne Boleyn and drag his kingdom into schism and error, the
Franciscans were among the first to resist, and in April, 1534,
Fathers Risby and Rich laid down their lives for their faith.
Numerous other martyrdoms followed in the years immediately
succeeding, Hueber recording thirty-four for the year 1537.
The following year Blessed John Forest, the confessor of
Queen Catharine of Aragon, was burned to death. Other victims
went to the gallows or the block in Tudor and in Stuart times,
and under Cromwell's government as well. Thus Father William
Ward was put to death in July, 1641; Father John Bullaker in
October, 1642; Father Paul Heath in April, 1643. As a result of
Titus Oates' plot, two Franciscans died on the scaffold and four
suffered imprisonment. Even as late as 1745, the date of the last
Stuart uprising, Father Germanus Holmes was thrown into
116 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
prison for his faith, and he died from the hardships he
endured.
The annals of the English Franciscan province, as recounted
by Father Steck, form a beautiful anthology of burning faith and
heroic fortitude and unselfishness.
A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By John P. O'Hara.
New York: The Macmillan Co. $1.25.
This book is intended for the higher classes of the grade
schools and due regard, therein, has been paid to the capacity of
the pupils. More attention is given to the constitutional and
political history as it develops, which indeed has become increas-
ingly necessary. The "genus" politician does not shine, though
there is no word to indicate the author's personal opinions.
Facts are stated; wars receive no undue attention, but the writer
has kept steadily in mind the requirements of the pupils, as is
evidenced by the questions and vocabularies at the end of each
chapter. The type and head notes are particularly satisfactory.
The plan followed is division by administrations, but this is not
given any undue prominence.
FROM UPTON TO THE MEUSE WITH THE THREE HUNDRED
AND SEVENTH. By W. Kerr Rainsford. New York: D.
Appleton & Co. $2.00 net.
This is the authentic story of the 307th Infantry told by the
regiment's official historian. Captain Rainsford gets his material
both from actual personal experience (he participated in all the
important engagements on the Lorraine front and on the Vesle
and at Merval) and from the official reports of the 307th Regiment
and the 77th Division.
The 307th Infantry was a part, an important part, of New
York's illustrious division. Its ranks were filled by clerks, me-
chanics, laborers and salesmen, drawn from New York City's
cosmopolitan populace. It was a "draft" outfit, and in the eyes
of many military critics the poorest fighting material in the United
States. There was not much to be expected of these city men
when pitted against the shock troops of the German Empire.
Yet, read the record that Captain Rainsford has given. There
is none brighter or more glorious. Not only did they conquer
their foes, but they endured with cheerfulness and courage hard-
ships and privations that the mind can hardly conceive of, and
overcame terrible difficulties, especially in the Argonne forest,
that would have broken the hearts of men less valiant and cour-
ageous. The story that Captain Rainsford tells is a glorious epi-
1920.] NEW BOOKS 117
tome of American manhood that heard its challenge and ac-
cepted it.
One remembers, on reaching the end of this volume, what
Colonel Hannay said in its opening pages: "No division suffered
greater hardships, had greater losses during the time it was in
line, nor was better disciplined and trained than this cosmopolitan
division of New York City the 77th, New York's Own." The
thought comes to the reader that Colonel Hannay has not over-
stated the case. He might have said more, and still been con-
servative in his praise.
Justly deserved is the commendation of General Pershing
when, on reviewing the division at Solesme, he said: "I consider
the 77th Division one of the best in fact, it is, in my estimation,
the best division in the A. E. F." What is true of the division is
true of the 307th Regiment.
The book proves also that Captain Rainsford writes as well
as he fights which is no small praise.
A SHORT HISTORY OF BELGIUM. By Leon Van der Essen,
Ph.D., LL.D. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
$1.50 net.
Dr. Van der Essen has succeeded admirably in confining a
record of monumental size within the compass of a small volume.
Yet, in doing so, he has not sacrificed clearness for brevity nor
interest for compactness.
Beginning with the period of formation, he traces the history
of the Belgians from the days of the Roman Republic, down
through the period of feudalism, the rise of the Communes, the
union of the Belgian principalities under the Dukes of Burgundy,
the vicissitudes of Spanish, Austrian, French and Dutch domina-
tion, the birth of independent Belgium and its crowning triumph
its participation in the Great War.
Such history must necessarily be complicated. As a conse-
quence it might be dull and uninteresting. The author's lucid
style, however, makes the thread of Belgium's development stand
forth clearly from the cloth of European history. But the book
is noteworthy for more than its interesting presentation of fact.
It treats of periods that were marked by intense struggle, both
political and religious. In recording these, Dr. Van der Essen
is eminently fair. At all times he is the dispassionate, unpre-
judiced historian, free from partisanship or warped judgment.
In presenting Belgium's history thus clearly, Dr. Van der
Essen has performed for his country a timely and meritorious
service.
118 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
THE CATHOLIC STUDENT. By the Rev. Michael Rickey, D.D.,
Ph.D. New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons. $2.25.
Father Hickey is well qualified to speak to students. As
dean of University College he knows their needs by experience.
This volume contains ten lectures, whose subject matter is suf-
ficiently indicated by their titles: "The Serpent Deceived Me,"
"Lord, That I May See," "Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?"
"In the Cross Is Salvation," etc. Here is no milk for babes, but
the Catholic is made well aware of the fact, that eternal life is
the prize of the victor, and that strife successful strife is the
victory. The Catholic student is left under no misconception as
to the responsibility he has to the world, and the work which God
and the Church expect of him. The author's apt and abundant
use of Holy Scripture is particularly striking.
These conferences are storehouses, whence food may be
drawn for thought and prayer. Notable is the point made that
the whole destiny of redeemed man rests upon four great fiats:
"Fiat lux;" (( Fiat mihi, secundum verbum tuum;" "Non Mea
voluntas sed Tua fiat,'' and lastly, our own "Fiat voluntas Tua."
Also where love or charity is shown to be the flowering and fruit-
age of the Holy Spirit. But we will leave the reader to gather his
own fruits.
THE FIVE BOOKS OF YOUTH. By Robert Hillyer. New York:
Brentano's. $1.50.
Here is a book of verse which deserves and will undoubtedly
attract attention. Mr. Hillyer is a young American who has been
characterized as "one of three poets" who have arisen in America
during the War. In this, his second book, there is fine perform-
ance and no little promise of greater things. He stands, as crafts-
man, upon the ancient ways, and reminds one at times of the cool
lucidity of Matthew Arnold (and, at times, of the jeweled in-
tensity of Rossetti). He is especially successful in the sonnet.
THE HARVEST HOME. By James B. Kenyon. New York:
James T. White & Co. $2.00.
In a choice volume of really beautiful format, the collected
poems of James B. Kenyon are now issued. Here is gathered,
for old friends and new, the work of more than twenty-five years;
work of the conservative Wordsworthian tradition, serene in its
imaginative nature love, reverent toward God and man, religious
in tone although obviously without Catholic inspiration. Mr.
Kenyon's sonnets are more than usually good, and that written
upon "A Flyleaf of Dante" is one of the best.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 119
FRANCE AND OURSELVES. By Herbert Adams Gibbons. New
York: The Century Co. $1.50 net.
This volume contains a series of articles published in monthly
periodicals during the past three years. Their purpose was to
bring about a better understanding between France and the
United States so that, in our desire to help, we might not hurt by
misunderstanding or be offended through having been misunder-
stood.
For the most part, this book is still very timely and a great
aid in affording an insight into the French mind, particularly so
in presenting the problems that face France since the conclusion
of peace. The chapter on "What Confronts France" should be
read by the French also, for in it the writer shows that unless
the birth rate is improved for the better, France, as a nation, will
cease to exist within the comparatively short period of eighty
years.
Dr. Gibbons is an American, who lived in Paris throughout
the War and during the Peace Conference, and he knows his
subject intimately. When, therefore, he writes of the French
nation, he speaks with authority born of experience and close
contact. He takes great pains to do justice to France and is at all
times a very convincing advocate.
Dr. Gibbons' words will do much to cement the friendship
of our own country and France.
HABITS THAT HANDICAP. By Charles B. Towns. New York:
Funk & Wagnalls Co. $1.50.
Were the moderation of this book's title reflected in the
letterpress, its influence would be strengthened. Mr. Towns is
dealing with the drug, alcohol and tobacco habits, all of which
he submits to a sweeping condemnation, as being almost equally
ruinous to health, physical, mental and moral. His denunciations
take no account of divergent views, save in so far as he disposes
of them on the ground of bias; yet to pronounce upon the use of
tobacco, especially, is to challenge the personal experience of
immense numbers, and the fruits of an observation that is prac-
tically universal.
As an instance of the author's methods, we quote him on the
supplying of cigarettes to our soldiers during the War : "Here are
facts which, if realized by the good men and women who, during
the late War, worked so faithfully to 'get smokes to the boys/
might give them pause, for scores of thousands of these fine
young chaps have been, and are being, killed by the kindness of
these well-meant efforts." Obviously, this specific arraignment
120 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
calls for specific data obtained by an investigation extraordinarily
extensive, intimate and persevering; but Mr. Towns presents it
supported only by generalities. In the same absolute manner
he makes statements yet more extreme, frequently rendering it
difficult to yield him the deferential hearing to which he is en-
titled for his zeal in combating dangerous addictions.
THE MAN OF TOMORROW. By Claude Richards. New York:
Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
The Man of Tomorrow is an excellent vocational guide-book.
Mr. Richards has done a good thing; he has mapped and plotted
the ordinary avenues of vocation; he has labeled and gauged and
measured them as approaches to success. He has done this in a
simple, unpretending way, always mindful that his audience is
intended to be the boy who is becoming a man. One can say
with a fair degree of assurance that his book will be an inspira-
tion and a help to every "man of tomorrow'* who reads it. It
should be an inspiration even to the man of today. It is rich with
illustrations and anecdotes that inspire and interest. Its tone is
high and the little ethical teaching that it contains is safe and
sound. Mr. Richards is evidently a religious man; he departs
from the usual in practical sociological writings and finds a place
for God and for faith in Him in his chapter on "Success Factors."
One looks in vain even for the to-be-expected materialisitic em-
phasis in "Success" literature; success, in Mr. Richards' defini-
tion of it, has a minimum content of materialism it consists of
an adequate income, joy in one's work, opportunity for growth
plus a "chance to serve."
THE JANUARY GIRL. By Joslyn Gray. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. $1.50.
This story for girls tells of two schoolmates, one of whom,
Rosemary Greenaway, has figured in an earlier volume. How
Rosemary misjudges and underestimates Janice January, and
how Janice's fine, generous qualities finally break down the wall
of prejudice and gain for her what she so earnestly desires, Rose-
mary's affection and esteem, are well worked out and make ac-
ceptable reading. Unfortunately, the book, like so many others,
labors under the absurd, deplorable limitations that are, appar-
ently, imposed upon writers; the result being that our juvenile
fiction, taken alone, would convey the impression that, by con-
certed action on the part of parents and educators, the majority
of young people in the United States are sedulously kept from
hearing any mention of the name of God.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 121
THE CHARM OF FINE MANNERS. By Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett.
Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott Co.
Of this little book, we are inclined to echo the wish of one
of Mrs. Starrett's readers, as quoted, that "a copy of it could be
placed in the hands of every girl when she enters high school
and made a part of her course."
The author, as Principal Emeritus of a large girls' school, has
vast stores of experience to draw upon in dealing with her sub-
ject, which is one too much neglected, the manners of young
girls. It is not mere surface politeness of which she treats, but
the true courtesy of the rightly directed heart and mind. Small
as is the content, she covers much ground, and with thorough-
ness. It is refreshing to note her plain statement that the culture
of which fine manners are the flower, finds its only real, lasting
source in the fear and love of God.
WHISPERS. By Louis Dodge. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. $1.75.
The night that Whispers, the brilliant newspaper man, came
to the city, a most mysterious and startling murder is committed
in an old costume shop on a lonely street. How the rival re-
porters try to solve the mystery that baffles the police is told
in a most dramatic and effective fashion. If you like a detective
story and who does not you will read this tale at a sitting.
The plot is rather original, for who ever thought before of having
two men confess to committing the same crime?
MESSRS. BENZIGER BROTHERS publish two small and attrac-
tive volumes by Archbishop Goodier of Bombay ($1.25 net
each). These small volumes offer food for pious and instructive
reading, and should cultivate a large field. The School of Love
deals with subjects such as loneliness, cravings, prayer, trouble,
friendship, and the like most attractively and in a manner to move
the heart nearer to God. In Jesus Christ the Son of God the
claim of Christ's divinity is put before the reader in a plain and
convincing way, with a view of appealing to the non-Catholic
mind especially.
A BOOK useful to nuns and spiritual directors is The Brides of
Christ, by Mother Mary Potter, Foundress of the Little Com-
pany of Mary (Chicago: Matre & Co. $1.25 net). This book
places before the reader Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, on the
Cross, and in His glory. It will be most helpful to Sisters in
their daily duties, and to the confessor in his direction of their
souls.
122 NEW BOOKS [Oct.,
WE wish to correct a regrettable misprint in our September
issue. The title of Alfred Noyes' latest book of poems is
The New Morning.
PAMPHLET PUBLICATIONS.
Bible students will find interest in a pamphlet entitled The Bearing
of Archaeological and Historical Research Upon the New Testament,
by the Rev. Parke P. Flournoy, D.D. It is published for the Victoria
Institute by Morgan & Scott, Ltd., London (4 d. net) .
The Friends of Irish Freedom issue a list of English Atrocities in
Ireland, compiled by Katherine Hughes (10 cents).
Capital and Labor is the title of a pamphlet by John A. Ryan, D.D.,
and published by Our Sunday Visitor Press for the Social Action De-
partment of the National Catholic Welfare Council. A pamphlet on a
matter of such peculiar, present interest by this noted economist com-
mands attention.
The American Association for International Conciliation presented
in its June pamphlet "Present Day Conditions in Europe," "The United
States and the Armenian Mandate," "Report of the American Military
Mission to Armenia." In July it treated the "Documents Concerning
the Accession of Switzerland to the League of Nations," and "The
United States and the League of Nations." In August it published a
study of "The Treaty of Peace with Germany in the United States
Senate," by George A. Finch.
Professor Charles W. Meyers, once a Protestant Pastor, now a
Catholic, answers common objections to the Catholic Church in a small
folder bearing the title Seven False Facts or Seven Times Naught is
Naught. This should interest non-Catholics, because it considers their
viewpoint. It is printed by the Church Book Rack Printing and Pub-
lishing Company, Denver, Colorado (15 cents).
Non-Catholics frequently misunderstand relations between the
Pope and Catholics. This subject is well and briefly explained in
Catholics and the Pope, issued by the publicity department of the Cath-
olic Laymen's Association of Georgia.
We have at hand the following pamphlets from the Australian
Catholic Truth Society: Our Lady's Titles, by Albert Power, S.J.;
Spread the Truth, by Rev. A. J. Martin; Faith and Reason, by Peter
Finlay, S.J., and Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Numbers I. and II., by
a Sister of Mercy.
The Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament, New York, publish an at-
tractive devotional pamphlet, called Under the Eyes of Jesus.
The Oblate Fathers, Aurora, Kansas, publish an Outline of a
Religious Retreat, of value to priests conducting retreats. It may be
obtained in English or French at the above address.
IRecent Events*
Towards the end of August the Poles, in
Russia. their last stand before Warsaw, by a tre-
mendous effort launched a counter-offens-
ive which not only relieved the pressure on the capital, but turned
the Bolshevik advance into a general retreat. By a series of
shattering blows the Poles have since driven the Soviet armies
almost completely from Polish territory with vast losses of men
and supplies. The Bolshevik forces arrayed against Warsaw had
been variously estimated as anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000
men, and of these the losses in prisoners alone have been placed
as high as 80,000 men with 40,000 killed, while 128,000 additional
have retreated into East Prussia.
The cause of this sudden and dramatic reversal is generally
attributed to French aid and more specifically to the masterly
plans of the French General, Weygand, who in the Great War
had been Foch's Chief of Staff. The main featufe of these plans
seems to have been the swift transfer to Warsaw by double-deck
auto buses of Polish forces engaged in other fields, especially in
Galicia, which up to the last moment the Poles were reluctant
to abandon. In addition to General Weygand himself the Poles
had the assistance of six hundred French officers, who either took
active command of various units of the Polish army or served on
the staffs of Polish commanders.
Since the battle of Warsaw fighting has continued throughout
the month in two principal quarters in the northeastern battle
area, where the Bolsheviki rallied a force of from 30,000 to 40,000
men, and in Galicia, where the cavalry of General Budenny at-
tempted a new encircling movement against Lemberg. The
greater part of Eastern Galicia has been recovered by Polish and
Ukrainian troops, who are masters of all the left bank of the
Dneister River. At Zamosz, in the Lemberg region, in a battle
which lasted four days, from August 29th to September 1st, Bu-
denny was badly defeated and his forces dispersed. He rallied,
however, and reconcentrated his mounted army under cover of a
newly-arrived infantry detachment. These reinforcements en-
deavored to undo the defeat suffered by the cavalry, but without
success.
On the northeastern front the Poles consistently advanced
and captured six towns, including Augustowa and Suwalki in
their advance on Grodno. The capture of these towns, however,
124 RECENT EVENTS [Oct.,
which are in Lithuanian territory, introduced another complica-
tion, and hostilities broke out in the Suwalki sector, near the
German border, between the Lithuanians and the Poles. These
hostilities have continued intermittently for several weeks, varied
by appeals from each side to the League of Nations and by confer-
ences between the two, which have come to nothing. The Poles de-
manded the use of certain railway lines and also the right of
provisional occupation of Vilna in their operations against the
Bolsheviki, but as these demands were contrary to the Russian-
Lithuanian peace treaty, Lithuania was compelled to reject them.
On the other hand the Poles charge the Lithuanians with per-
mitting the passage of Soviet troops through Lithuanian territory
and with numerous aggressions. The problem has again resolved
itself, according to recent dispatches, into another conference,
which threatens to be as fruitless as its predecessors. Mean-
while the Poles have been forced to withdraw from Seyny, and
the Lithuanians are advancing in the direction of Grodno. The
Lithuanians, it seems, dislike the Poles and the Bolsheviki equally,
but the Lithuanian incident will probably have a beneficial effect
upon Poland, where the Moderate Party, of which Prince Sapieha
is the chief, is having hard work to restrain the more jingo
element.
Turning from the military to the diplomatic situation we find
another complicated state of affairs, due to divided councils among
the Allies. On the question of material interests England and Italy
are in favor of trade-resumption and more lenient treatment to-
wards Russia and Germany, because they are in a position to profit
by it. France is bitterly opposed to this programme both be-
cause she is in no position to export and because she fears
Germany and distrusts the Bolsheviki, who have repudiated the
debt of 29,000,000 francs advanced by France to Russia before
the Revolution. These diverse positions have conditioned their
various attitudes towards Poland England and Italy being un-
willing to aid Poland so as not to offend the Soviet Government,
and France encouraging the Poles from its desire for Soviet down-
fall. Moreover, France is proving herself the abler champion
of orderly government. She gave recognition last month
to the anti-Bolshevik forces under General Baron Wrangel
in the Crimea, thus imperiling Anglo-French relations. The
crisis, however, has since been safely tided over, due to sub-
sequent events, the chief of these being the recent Polish successes
and the emphatic enunciation by America of no compromise with
the Bolsheviki. With regard to Poland, it remains to add that
all the Allies, and also America, whose policy discountenances
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 125
any dismemberment of the Russian Empire, have warned Poland
to confine her hostilities within the ethnographic units laid down
for her at the Peace Conference. This injunction, however, the
Poles, in their hour of victory, now seem disposed to ignore, and
to their disregard of it if they do disregard it will probably be
traced many subsequent evils.
The fighting in the Crimea throughout the month has been
constant and severe. General Wrangel is reported to have 60,000
men in his fighting units, while the Soviet troops endeavoring to
corner him in the Crimea and the Taurida region are estimated
at 50,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry. The Bolsheviki are better
equipped, but General Wrangel's men are better disciplined. The
latter are divided now into two armies one in the Taurida dis-
trict, under General Kutiepof, and the other in Kuban, under
General Ulagha, the cavalry leader, who is operating in several
raiding columns. Reports from this quarter are conflicting, and
it is impossible to say with which side the advantage rests. There
have been a series of attacks and counter-attacks in the Taurida
region and along the Dneiper River, success apparently alternating
with each side, but on the whole the engagements have been of a
minor character and there has been no definite result. The most
promising feature of the Wrangel offensive is his popularity with
the populace and the submission to his control of the Cossacks
of the Don, Kuban, Astrakhan and Terek territories. His policy
of actually handing over land to the peasants, while at the same
time promising full payment for it to the owners when the Bol-
sheviki have been expelled and a stable government formed, has
immensely strengthened his cause. He has thus avoided Denikin's
mistake, who by a course of confiscation and pillage and also from
the suspicion of his being a Royalist, had incurred distrust
among the people through whose territories he advanced.
The various negotiations initiated by the Soviet Government
have all ended abortively. The parley with the Poles at Minsk
continued all through the fighting around Warsaw, but broke up
without result, and a new conference has now been called at Riga,
the Latvian capital, for the last of this month. The other prin-
cipal Bolshevik endeavor for agreement with the outside world
that with England has also ended unfavorably and the chief
Soviet envoy has returned to Moscow. The ostensible reason for
the breaking off of negotiations was the discovery by the English
authorities that the Soviet Government had placed 75,000 of
gold in the hands of The Herald, a London labor organ. Though
Gregory Kameneff, the Soviet Government's political envoy in
London, has returned to Moscow, Gregory Krassin, the Soviet
126 RECENT EVENTS [Oct.,
trade representative, still remains in England, and is proceeding
with purchasing plans and business organization.
As to internal conditions in Russia, there have been in
various parts of Western Siberia a number of serious peasant
revolts which overthrew the local Soviets, but these have been
suppressed and the Soviets restored. The population in general
and particularly the peasants are restive and showing great dis-
content, but appear to be too greatly intimidated to rise in rebel-
lion. Reports indicate that the Bolsheviki are passing through
a serious crisis, that foreign aggression, such as the Polish of-
fensive, helped them to rally and hold out for a time against the
processes of disintegration, which otherwise would have pro-
gressed more quickly, but which are still, despite all the efforts
of the Bolsheviki to arrest them, going on. The Bolsheviki are
reported to be greatly disheartened, having obtained nothing es-
sential in the way of concessions from the powers, and expecting
nothing. Extraordinary conditions of food scarcity in Soviet
Russia are reported. Smuggling of food supplies is common, and
the food situation in Petrograd, the old capital of Russia, is grow-
ing steadily worse.
On August 22d there was initiated in Milan
Italy. a vast industrial revolution, which is still
in progress, and the course and result of
which it is impossible to foretell. That it is of far-reaching im-
portance is certain, and if successful it will mean the beginning of
the end of the capitalistic system. In effect it is a modified form
of Sovietism. The start of the movement was the outcome of six
weeks of fruitless negotiations for further economic betterment
carried on between the Metal Workers' Federation and the Own-
ers' Association. As a result of this failure, 500,000 workmen
began an obstructionist campaign in all metal foundries, machine
shops and naval dockyards. Obstructionism is not a formal
strike, but simply means that, while the workmen are to report
for work and thus compel the plants to keep open, they are to take
legal advantage of every opportunity for the employment of
dilatory tactics.
In one instance the owners' response to these tactics was a
lockout, and this, in turn, being a violation of the agreement en-
tered into by the Employers' Federation against isolated action,
provoked an immediate assembly of the Syndicalist Union, which
issued an urgent order to the metal workers to proceed forthwith
to take forcible and simultaneous possession of all factories
throughout Lombardy, except in cases where the firms were ready
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 127
to sign a formal undertaking not to resort to a lockout. The in-
variable reply of the owners, however, was that no such under-
taking could be entered into without prior permission from the
Industrialists' League.
The workers then took possession of three hundred of the
largest establishments in Lombardy. In most cases the men cut
telephonic communications and sent groups to surround the fore-
men's offices, clerks' departments and directors' rooms, so as to
impede every contact with the masters or the carrying away of
any business papers. They further placed armed pickets to guard
safes and strong rooms against any attempt on the part of the
directors to remove money. In most cases the change was effected
without disorder or personal violence.
Since then the factory-seizing movement has quickly spread
to Turin, Rome, Naples, and other big centres, but the National
Labor Convention has decided that the immediate struggle shall
be confined to the metal workers, who are ordered to resist with
all the force at their command in the positions they have
conquered.
Nothing is more remarkable about this whole business than
the comparative absence of disorder and bloodshed, and it was
for this reason probably that the Government maintained for some
weeks its extraordinary attitude of aloofness and silence. Re-
cently Premier Giolitti has attempted the solution of the metal
workers' difficulties by appointing a commission of manufacturers
and workmen to prepare a settlement plan. Conciliation and
moderation are being urged by Signor Giolitti in his conferences
with workmen and employers. A section of the employers has
suggested it might accept intervention in the management of fac-
tories, and representatives of the workmen have asked if this
intervention would be exercised by the State in the interests of
the men.
The only serious disorder of the month occurred at Trieste,
and that was a Socialist revolt apparently having nothing to do
with the factory-seizing movement. In the Trieste affair, barri-
cades were erected in the streets, and artillery, rifles, machine
guns and bombs were freely employed in a struggle between the
rioters and the military. Seven persons were killed and fifty in-
jured in the revolt, which lasted for three days. Italian troops
and naval forces finally succeeded in restoring order.
A series of earthquakes beginning on September 7th and oc-
curring at intervals for several days thereafter caused great dam-
age, chiefly in Northern Italy. More than one hundred towns and
villages were destroyed or badly wrecked, and it is estimated that
128 RECENT EVENTS [Oct.,
the dead exceeded five hundred, and the homeless more than
twenty thousand. The first shock was most severely felt near
Pisa and in the region north of Florence, and later shocks occurred
along the southern slopes of the Swiss and Italian Alps from
Monte Rosa to the Bernina Pass, and also in the Emilia district,
which embraces the territory between the Apennines and the
River Po.
Gabriele d'Annunzio on September 9th proclaimed Fiume an
independent State, and took the oath of office as its head. The
new State is called the "Italian Regency of Quarnaro," and com-
prises the city of Fiume and several islands in the Adriatic. The
National Council of Fiume, the city's representative body, has re-
signed owing to disagreement with d'Annunzio over the new con-
stitution, which he himself drew up. The proclamation of the
new State is viewed as merely the prelude to annexation to Italy,
which action in turn will involve the abandonment by Italy of
the Treaty of London, which gave Fiume to the Jugo-Slavs.
Considerable distrust is being expressed in Italy over the for-
mation of the "Little Entente," as it is called an agreement re-
cently entered into by Czecho-Slovakia, Jugo-Slavia and Rumania.
The object of the alliance is a common neutrality in the Russo-
Polish conflict, common defence against danger from Hungary,
and preservation against ultimate return of the Hapsburgs as well
as against a Danubian confederation, which might be the instru-
ment to gain hegemony for some western power. Italy raises no
objection to these aims, but professes to see in the alliance a re-
vival of the "Pan Slav" idea, which the press of the smaller Slav
countries is agitating, hoping that the "Great Mother Russia" will
again make her power felt. A more immediate cause, however,
for Italian uneasiness lies in the fact that she is at odds with the
Jugo-Slavs over Fiume and other questions and in the material
circumstance that, combined, the three States have a population
of approximately 40,000,000, equal to France, and slightly supe-
rior to Italy. Thus their military resources are sufficient when
united to make a respectable showing, even against a great power.
At a conference at Aix-les-Bains on Sep-
France. tember 13th, between the French and
Italian Premiers, which succeeded an
earlier conference at Lucerne between Lloyd George and the
Italian Premier, it was decided not only to postpone indefinitely
the proposed Geneva conference with the Germans, but to drop
altogether the Lloyd George policy of having joint discussions
with the Germans of questions arising out of the peace. This
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 129
means that France has succeeded in detaching Italy from its
agreement with England on the "conference method" of collect-
ing the German indemnity, and that hereafter the Reparations
Commission, rather than conferences like that at Spa, shall be
intrusted with the determination and the collection of the Ger-
man indemnity. France and Italy, under the new agreement, do
not exclude the policy of subsequent meetings with the Germans,
but insist that all questions taken up with the Germans shall be
discussed with them only after the Allies have previously met
and agreed among themselves.
In return for this change in Italian policy Premier Millerand
was forced to assent not only to Italy's demand for complete free-
dom of action in dealing with Soviet Russia, but also to the
reservation that the victors must treat the vanquished in a spirit
of moderation and benevolence. The agreement is important as
foreshadowing a realignment of diplomatic forces on the Con-
tinent.
The Council of the League of Nations met in Paris on Sep-
tember 16th almost unnoticed by the public and the press. The
French are becoming more and more hostile to the League: first,
because they feel it has proved its impotence in the Russian-
Polish conflict due to the fact that it has no armed body to enforce
its decisions, and second, because of a growing movement
among the delegates of neutral nations in favor of a revision of
the financial clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. France also is
suspicious of the movement afoot for the immediate entry of
Germany into the League.
The National Assembly will convene at Versailles on Satur-
day, September 25th, to consider the election of a successor to
President Paul Deschanel, who has resigned because of prolonged
ill-health. Both Millerand and former President Poincare have
issued emphatic declarations that under no circumstances would
they accept the Presidency. Nevertheless, both names are still
prominently mentioned as candidates together with those of
Marshal Foch, Raoul Peret, President of the Chamber of Deputies,
and Senator C. Jonnart, former Governor of Algeria, who will
probably be the governmental candidate.
The defensive alliance projected in June by Marshal Foch for
France and General Waglinse for Belgium, has been dropped as a
result of a Belgian Cabinet crisis. It appears that definite rati-
fication by Belgium would raise certain difficulties in its relations
towards Holland and incidentally towards England, which dis-
approves of Belgium's endeavor to acquire certain rights over the
Scheldt estuary. Under the auspices of British diplomacy the
VOL. CXII. 9
130 RECENT EVENTS [Oct.,
9
Dutch and Belgians have recently reached an accord, by which
the Belgians renounce all claim to the Dutch Province of Limberg
and the Dutch give commercial and tariff concessions in respect
of passage of the Scheldt. But in the event of war the Dutch
right to bar battleships or troop transports or munitions remains.
If France had made a definite alliance with Belgium, great pres-
sure would have been brought to bear on Holland to open the
Scheldt entirely to Belgium, a state of affairs to which England
was opposed. In place of the abandoned defensive alliance it has
been decided by France and Belgium to limit the matter to an
"agreement," which has received the approbation of the military
advisers of both sides, but binds neither absolutely.
From a recent statement by Andre Tardieu, President of the
Committee of Devastated Regions, it appears that France has
made rapid strides towards recovery. Among other facts the
figures show that of the 2,728,000 persons driven away from their
homes by the War, 2,023,000 had returned up to April 1, 1920.
Of the 4,068 municipal governments destroyed, 4,006 have been
reestablished; of the 6,445 schools that existed before the War,
5,345 have been reopened. Under dwelling houses, M. Tardieu
shows that 574,777 were damaged to the extent of being one-half
or wholly destroyed; of these 13,100 have been rebuilt, 178,500
have been repaired, and 46,570 temporary houses are in use. The
1,400 miles of main railways have been entirely repaired, and 485
miles of the 1,000 miles of canals destroyed have been restored.
Of the 32,000 miles of roads destroyed, 1,122 miles have been
completely repaired and 10,000 miles repaired in part. Of the
11,500 factories destroyed, 3,540 are working again and 3,812 are
in process of rebuilding. A census taken in 3,508 factories shows
that in 1914, 679,000 workmen were employed and in 1920,
258,000 were employed in producing and 82,000 in repairing,
making the total in 1920, 340,000.
In operations against Turkish Nationalists, French forces
recently captured Urfa, in Asiatic Turkey, which had been held
for some time by the Turks. A few days later French troops
captured Aintab, a city in Asia Minor, fifty-eight miles northeast
of Aleppo, and the scene several months ago of a massacre of
Armenians by Turks. The city had been held by two Turkish
brigades. French forces are also reported marching on Marash,
thirty-seven miles northwest of Aintab, and are meeting with
obstinate resistance. Marash has been the scene of a number of
encounters between the Turks and Armenians during the last
few months. Many attempts have recently been made by the
Turks to destroy the Bagdad Railway, but without success. The
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 131
only other recent action against the Turkish Nationalists, who
are opposed to the Turkish Peace Treaty, has been the progress
of the Greeks, who have captured Kutayah, eighty miles south-
east of Brusa, and Afiun-Karahissar, fifty miles southeast of
Kutayah.
Violent disorders have marked the month
Germany. in Germany. These have sprung from two
sources internal economic discontent and
outbursts of national dissatisfaction over recent events in Upper
Silesia. A movement for a general refusal to pay taxes, originat-
ing in Wurttemberg, spread rapidly to other towns, principally
Stuttgart, which was without gas, electricity and water for several
days. The strike began in the Daimler motor works in Wurttem-
berg, where the workers refused to allow the deduction of the
legal tax of ten per cent from their weekly wages, because of dis-
satisfaction with the Wurttemberg government of Centrists and
Democrats, who are charged with endeavoring to institute the old
capitalist regime. Regardless of this purely Socialist argument,
the masses of the people throughout Germany protest that they
have good ground for refusing the ten per cent deduction to a
Government which makes no effort to seize excessive and often
fraudulent war and revolution profits, does not punish men com-
promised by the Kapp rebellion, and which shows neither power
nor ability to right various injustices. The discontent of the peo-
ple is finding expression in disastrous strikes and lockouts. In
the Siegerland mines near Cologne, and also in Essen, the tax
refusal has been the cause of violent disorder, and several mine
and factory officials have been severely wounded.
Despite these disorders, however, there is strong opposition,
even among Socialists, toward any alliance with the Bolsheviki.
Recently in Berlin the Federal Congress of Independent Socialists
heard the report of its delegation to the Communist Congress at
Moscow, which was to the effect that Bolshevism was impossible
in Germany, and that even in Russia this form of government, if
government it could be called, has no future. The visiting dele-
gation seems to have been thoroughly disillusioned by its view of
actual conditions under Bolshevik rule, and its members delivered
violent speeches of denunciation of Sovietism, which one speaker
declared to be more militaristic and oppressive than the despotism
of the Tsar.
Clashes between Germans and Poles and Inter-Allied military
forces have occurred at Kattowitz, in Upper Silesia, which is soon
to be the scene of a plebiscite deciding whether it is to belong to
Germany or Poland. The town of Kattowitz is a German centre,
132 RECENT EVENTS [Oct.,
but all the surrounding country is Polish. The Polish inhabitants
of the rural communes, exasperated by the suffering inflicted on
their fellow-countrymen in Kattowitz, formed bands to exercise
reprisals against the Germans. As a result the Inter-Allied Com-
mission, determined to prevent all excesses from whatever quar-
ter they come, has proclaimed a state of siege not only in Katto-
witz, but also in the rural area round the town. In recent fight-
ing between French troops and the inhabitants of Kattowitz,
twenty Germans were killed and many wounded, while the French
lost seven killed.
During a demonstration in Breslau by the old bourgeois
parties against the Polish agitators in Upper Silesia, a crowd of
German Nationalists stormed the Polish and French Consulates
and destroyed the records and demolished the furniture. In
amends the German Government was obliged to make a formal
apology to France and pay a fine of 100,000 francs.
Another result of the troubles in Upper Silesia has been the
reduction of coal production in that region by some 700,000 tons,
thus making it impracticable for Germany to make deliveries as
prescribed in the Spa agreement. The German peace delegation
in Paris has handed a note to the Peace Conference calling atten-
tion to the situation. A third German request to the Ambassa-
dorial Council for a neutral Commission to investigate matters
in Upper Silesia has been refused.
The independent exports commission, representing Swiss in-
dustries and agriculture, which recently returned from investigat-
ing commercial and agricultural conditions in Germany, reports
that stagnation still continues. Business houses are selling off
goods at half prices, manufacturers are holding back, and produc-
tion everywhere is restricted. Consequently unemployment is
increasing at a fearful rate so that a fall in wages can hardly be
avoided. This, however, is anticipated with alarm because of the
political ferment in Germany and of the conditions on that coun-
try's eastern frontier. For the coming winter, the Swiss report
says, matters look black.
More than 1,700,000,000 marks in new paper money was put
in circulation during the week ending September 6th, according
to the Reichsbank's weekly statement. The total now exceeds
71,000,000,000. Financial writers designate the record as indi-
cating a highly unfavorable development.
September 20, 1920.
With Our Readers.
THE granting of the Presidential franchise to the women citizens
of the United States undoubtedly marks a new era in the
political history of our country. The woman franchise will soon
be extended and in most cases, has already been extended to
every political office in nation, state and city.
The privilege of voting at National and State elections should
be of the greatest interest to the Catholic women of the country.
Indeed, we feel that no word should be needed to lead them to use
the ballot and to interest themselves in matters of national wel-
fare. But unfortunately, there is, in some quarters, a tendency
to hold back: a hanging on to old arguments that the vote is not
for women : that the woman vote will be an enemy of the peace of
the home: that women don't know enough about public matters
to vote intelligently. Whatever power those arguments may once
have had to make debate lively, the new franchise amendment has
thrown them all to the scrap heap.
* * * *
THE constitutional amendment is a mandate to the women citi-
zens of the United States to take their responsible share in the
national government. No citizen can escape it. And to us, it
seems that not only political, but moral blame must be attached
to the person who neglects it.
It carries with it the duty of making oneself acquainted with
the obligations, duties and privileges of citizenship. A handbook
that will give all such necessary data, entitled The Fundamentals
of Citizenship, is issued by the National Catholic Welfare Council,
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D. C., and may be ob-
tained free by sending six cents for postage. A knowledge of
current events and of the issues at stake may be obtained from
the better secular journals and from the Catholic press of the
country.
* * * *
BY Catholic women at the present hour, the privilege of the
ballot ought to be viewed as a sacred, a blessed right and
opportunity. We include, under the title of women, our lay
women and our religious, those who are not cloistered.
Each individual has, moreover, a moral influence upon his
fellows. To be interested in the ballot is to promote its dignity.
134 WITH OUR READERS [Oct.,
To be present at the register booth and at the polls is to help just
so much in bringing home to others the importance of the ballot
and reverence for legal, orderly procedure and for the law. Sta-
bility of government is not built upon agitation or revolutionary
methods. Yet both methods are the order of the day. If faith
has been lost by many in our present system of representative
government: if, despairing of orderly methods, they have had
recourse to disorderly ones, to illegal short cuts to secure their
immediate ends, irrespective of the fate of the Government, the
fault lies in part with the failure of the majority of our citizens
to use the ballot and to hold their representatives responsible to
the electorate. The first step in a Bolshevik regime is to limit
the franchise. When citizens, otherwise law-abiding, voluntarily
limit the franchise, by failure to exercise it, they are contributing,
in small but effective measure, to the propaganda of communism.
IT is by the popular ballot that all our national legislation is
ultimately determined. It is by their knowledge of the voters,
their opinions, their activity at the polls that legislators in Con-
gress are governed. At times, one may appeal to them success-
fully on principle : but principle, as a rule, has an easy facility of
shading off into political opportunism. And the duty of doing
what one's constituents want and for which they will support a
candidate for reelection, is always very "clear" and very impera-
tive.
It must be known to our Catholic women for the matters
have been rehearsed repeatedly in the press : that the national
legislature will be interested at its next session with matters that
vitally affect the moral well-being of the country: its Christian
tradition: the spiritual health not only of its children but of the
generations yet unborn.
Any Catholic woman who has the power to affect such legis-
lation and doesn't use that power is, in effect we use the words
advisedly an enemy of true national interests and of Catholic
welfare. If she abstains from voting, she weakens her own cause
and adds to the strength of the opposition. The silence of her
voice through the ballot adds emphasis to the voice of the enemy.
She serves the Church or she serves against the Church. To the
question of national education: of child welfare: of marriage
and divorce : of sex hygiene : of birth control all of which vitally
affect the home and the public morals she cannot be indifferent.
And all of these questions will come up before the State and
National legislatures. The powers behind the extreme radical
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 135
movements on all these questions are un-Christian, materialistic,
pagan. This may, to some ears, sound intemperate. But when it
is known the Voluntary Parenthood League is making a studied
effort to introduce a bill that would so modify the national penal
code as to make the sending of indecent literature through the
mails, lawful: and when this bill was all but introduced into the
Senate, by a United States Senator, at the last session of Congress,
the censure of intemperance against the above language will, we
feel, be lifted, at least by most people.
This work of the Parenthood League is purely in the interests
of birth control, and the League teaches that child-killing is not a
sin : that marriage has no sanctity and the moral law, no binding
force. By another organization, very powerful, the teaching of
sex-hygiene is to be made obligatory in all schools by national
mandate.
* * * *
OF course, the far-reaching consequences of such a step on the
whole life of the country could not be exaggerated. No Cath-
olic woman citizen, knowing that these matters are to be sub-
mitted to our national legislators, can still think she is free to vote
or persuade herself that she is at liberty to vote or not to vote.
It is idle to say that they do not affect the Catholic body that we
and our children will be impervious to all this change for the
worse in the national atmosphere. As well say we could live just
as healthily in a room full of foul as of fresh air.
And in such specious attempts to get away from duty, there
is a graver error. Such attempts imply that while we are members
of the Church we are not necessarily active, intelligent, patriotic
citizens of the nation. Any one who, by word or action or default
of action, takes that attitude is false to the teaching of the
Catholic Church, and false to the duty which the Church places
upon him as of God and as of conscience.
* * * *
THE government is ours: the national life is ours just as much
as it is any other citizen's or body of citizens'. We owe it
constructive, abiding loyalty. We owe it the contribution of the
best of our powers. Patriotism is just as necessary indeed more
so in times of peace as in times of war. America's soul is in our
keeping and next to our Faith, it is the most sacred treasure and
inheritance that we possess. Indeed, as it is a duty, so, in a true
way, is it part of our Faith. It is for every one of us to have that
soul express the truth of Christ, in so far as we can bring it to
such expression.
136 WITH OUR READERS [Oct.,
LORD NORTHCLIFFE, through the columns of his London
Times, has been constrained by the effect upon the world of
recent events in Ireland to attempt the perhaps impossible task of
awakening the conscience or at least the sense of danger of the
British Government by publishing a series of articles revealing, not
only the gross injustice of England's course in Ireland, but also
its notorious incapacity. Incidentally, the London Times' articles
emphasize the fact that the terrible flames of religious strife were
blown upon and fanned into a conflagration by those reactionary
forces which seek to divert the attention of the world from the
main issues in the situation in Ulster by striving to make it appear
that the Ulster Protestants' chief concern in clinging tightly to the
skirts of the British is because they fear the dominance of the
Catholics which would follow if Ireland set up its own inde-
pendent government.
But the bulk of trustworthy testimony is altogether against
this view. The most competent witnesses agree in stating that
outside the narrow circle of a few Orange bigots, and their polit-
ical masters, who work upon their blind fear, nobody, even in
Ulster, takes seriously the "Rome-Rule" bogey set up by Carson
and his henchmen.
# * # *
A SWISS journalist who has recently visited Ireland, and who
contributed a series of articles giving "a neutral view of
Ireland," to the Neue Zurcher-Zeitung (the Swiss Liberal Repub-
lican Daily), a series of articles which has been reprinted in Eng-
land and America, point out in the latest of his letters that it
was not until the separation of Church and State in Ireland in the
second half of the last century, when the Presbyterian clergy were
granted subsidies from the public treasury, that there developed
a division of interest, so far as Irish independence was concerned,
between the Orangemen and the Irish Nationalists. Previously,
the rank and file of the Protestant population, tyrannized over by
the great English proprietors, had joined with the Catholics who
were in the same condition, and had demanded the political eman-
cipation of the latter as the first step toward their own complete
political freedom. "The result was that late in the eighteenth
century Ulster became the stronghold of Irish Republicanism."
* * * *
DURING Gladstone's campaign the Orange party adopted the
catchy slogan "Home Rule means Rome-Rule." But as the
Swiss journalist well says: "If Ireland's independence would mean
today Roman suzerainty, if there were any real peril of the erec-
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 137
tion in this corner of the Atlantic Ocean of a Jesuit state, this
danger must have been immeasurably greater one hundred and
twenty years ago, when Protestant Ulster was vigorously demand-
ing an Irish Republic."
And he continues by stating that "this religious, or rather
church politics, argument is not to be taken seriously, and sober-
minded politicians hardly ever mention it ... The truth is that
the Protestants in other parts of Ireland (three hundred and
fifteen thousand Protestants live outside the Province of Ulster)
are not opposing Home Rule. They are mostly successful mer-
chants, living in communities, predominantly Catholic. They
know their fellow citizens intimately, and are not in the slightest
disturbed by such 'Rome-Rule' bogies. Their only complaint
is that their fellow Protestants in northeastern Ireland want to
separate from the rest of the country, and leave their co-religion-
ists an even smaller minority in the rest of Ireland than they
would otherwise be. With such a separation, the Protestants
would form one-tenth of the people, while in a united Ireland they
would form more than one-fourth of the population. If the
Ulster men really believed that the Protestants were likely to be
persecuted, their present attitude would constitute a betrayal of
their scattered fellow believers in severed Ireland. However, they
know that no such danger threatens." The writer goes on to prove
from personal investigation that although this "papist" argument
of Carson and his tools has no merit, it has, nevertheless, played
an important part in the artificial agitation which produced the
present dreadful crisis. "It is religious agitation first and fore-
most," he testifies, "that induced the young men of Belfast and
the surrounding country to enlist in the Ulster Volunteers, for
whose organization and arming Carson is responsible. From
every Protestant pulpit in Ulster the clergymen preached against
Home Rule; and volunteers took their vows of loyalty in the
churches. After services half a million of the faithful solemnly
swore with religious ceremony to be true to the 'Covenant,' thus
formally obligating themselves to 'fight unto death' against Home
Rule. It was a half-religious, half-military revolt against the Eng-
lish Government of the day. The fact that that Government
surrendered to the revolters without a struggle, does not change
the situation. Unhappily the result was to destroy the last re-
maining confidence in Great Britain retained by the Irish Nation-
alists in the south, and to convince even moderate people that it
was necessary to defend their rights by force. What was per-
mitted Ulster men must also be permitted to Sinn Fein."
138 WITH OUR READERS [Oct.,
npHESE facts are not new to well-informed Americans; but it is
1 good that neutral and independent European observers should
get at the truth and express it for the enlightenment of neutral
peoples. While many other observers agree with this Swiss jour-
nalist in attributing the present outbreak of a religious strife to
an artificial and deliberate propaganda, it does remain true, in a
sense far deeper than questions of political predominance of
Catholics or Protestants, that the war in Ireland is a religious
war. The terrible conditions in Ireland are truly the fruit of re-
ligious tyranny. It was the Catholic faith in the souls of the
Irish people that English conquerers strove most bitterly to up-
root. It was their failure to do so which through all the centuries
down to our own time brought about a hatred of Ireland that was
keener and more dreadful in its results than any economic spoli-
ation or merely political dominance could explain. Through all
these centuries Ireland has upheld the torch of liberty, inspiring
and encouraging other oppressed people throughout the world.
The very soul and the flame of that torch was the Irish love of
and devotion to the Catholic Faith. Neither the light of the Faith
nor the light of the love of liberty has been quenched in their
souls, and it burns today as bright as ever before.
* * * #
AS these lines are written the Lord Mayor of Cork is still alive.
Press dispatches state that he attributes his continued hold
upon life to the prayers and the "innumerable Masses offered up
for me" by his fellow Catholics throughout the world. MacSwiney
lives let us pray that as these lines are read he may still be
referred to in the present tense a symbol of the soul of Ireland.
It is the Faith that nourishes that soul today as during all the
dark centuries of Ireland's oppression. May the end of Ireland's
awful Dark Night of the Soul be at hand.
THE music season is with us again. What was once and not
so many years ago a matter of interest chiefly to New
Yorkers and Bostonians, in whose cities alone opera and sym-
phony orchestras and chamber music organizations flourished, is
now a national concern. Permanent orchestras of high merit are
maintained in a chain of cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
and these go "on tour" to the cities adjacent to their permanent
abodes. According to Bernard Shaw, writing recently in the
London Morning Post, music is so great a moral force that it is
really deserving of state and municipal aid, apart from purely
aesthetic reasons, because the spreading of a taste for it among
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 139
young people will tend strongly to keep them away from the low
pleasures of life. "The higher the level of music," says Shaw,
"the lower the taxes of a country!" This for the reason that
money spent on music will save much money otherwise wasted
on vice, and the police!
HOWEVER this may be, the New York Times seems to support
Shaw's views, declaring editorially that if young people can
be led to appreciate good music "they will be less likely to be
beguiled by the lures of the streets, and the exploits of the juve-
nile gangster. And vice and crime being thus summarily elim-
inated, is it not obvious that the tax-rate would be lowered?
Catholics have always appreciated the power of music in the realm
of morality, as well as of aesthetics. Catholics, however, seem
alone in recognizing that music, like the other arts, and no less
so when artistically it is of a high order, may be an influence
for evil as well as for good.
IF Walter Pater had left no other result of his lifetime devotion
to aesthetics, his name would live because of his memorable
phrasing of a fundamental verity, where he said that, "All art
constantly aspires towards the condition of music." "Music,
then," he says in the same essay, "and not poetry, as is so often
supposed, is the true type or measure of perfected art." All the
development of aesthetic thought since Pater's time has tended
to confirm what then seemed a startling conclusion. Music has
more and more become the art which is not only the one towards
the ideal of which all the other arts aspire, but the one which is
the criterion of artistic appreciation. That community which
fosters its music will foster the other arts; that one which neg-
lects music is indifferent to the others.
THE sacramental principle in art finds in music its most elo-
quent voice. By the sacramental principle in art is meant
that quality in art in which the outward sign reveals an inward,
or spiritual, meaning, or character. Art which is merely surface
beauty, or surface interest; or art in which the interior quality
overwhelms and breaks down the exterior form which should
control and express it, are equally dangerous. It is obvious that
music, like painting, literature, and all the arts, is being influenced
deeply by the great flux which is taking place on all planes of
human life today, a flux of which the World War is the hugest
140 WITH OUR READERS [Oct.,
manifestation. As that acute student of life and art, the late Rev.
Thomas J. Gerrard, pointed out, there is a general feeling that
art is about to realize a new birth in all its forms, just as there are
to be fundamental reconstructions in political and social systems,
brought about by the clash of arms. "The tendencies are mani-
fold," he wrote, "nor does anybody know for certain whither this
or that is leading . . . The students of politics and the social
order are already busy with plans for reconstruction when the
day of peace shall have arrived. And a similar activity must be
shown by the masters in art if they are to save their precious
heritage." And this essayist went on to insist upon the recogni-
tion and application of the sacramental principle if the new spirit
in art is to develop in health and beauty and service.
* * * *
HE is but one of the many voices proclaiming the same message.
Every programme of music, every new book, every new pic-
ture which manifests the sacramental principle, is a step toward
good art; and every work which misses or ignores or opposes the
sacramental principle is bad art. And by good and bad in art
is meant precisely and baldly what we mean by good and bad in
other things; their moral sense. The silly, but powerfully dan-
gerous notion that art is somehow separate and distinct from all
moral considerations is dying out today, like a great many other
foolish and sickly intellectual aberrations, but there are still a
few critics who stick to that false standard. It is high time that
the public should shake off the influence of such pernicious stuff.
Music, or play, or dance, or poem, or picture, or story, may and
actually do either help or harm the very springs of human life,
our interior spirit; wherefore, back into our study and criticism
of art must come the factor of morality. In other words, when
confronted by any work of art we must ask, not merely, "Is it
beautiful?" or "Has it character?" but also, "Is its beauty or
character for good or for evil?" For beauty may be subtly and
poisonously corrupted; beauty may be of hell as well as of heaven.
Beauty may be a lie as well as the truth, Keats to the contrary
notwithstanding.
* * * *
OF all the influences that play upon human life, next to religion
art probably produces the most far-reaching results.
And of all the arts, music seems the most influential. Hence it
follows that every concert we attend is an important chapter in
the history of our soul; a weighty episode in the complicated
drama of our fate. Happy and to be blessed, therefore, is the
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 141
music which puts the soul in harmony with life-enhancing, clean
romance, and the intimations of spiritual mystery, and the tone
vistas of sacramental beauty; but utterly to be condemned and
avoided is that music, produced by morbid and faithless souls
often most highly endowed from a technical point of view music
which rips the inner fabric of our minds and souls with acrid,
sickly psychologizing, or which carries into the heart the seeds
of doubt and despair. The importance of a school of art criticism
which shall be based upon true morality is one of the great neces-
sities of this time of transition, in all the arts, but especially
perhaps in the mystical realm of music.
A VERY common subject of discussion in our current secular
magazines is the present decline of religion and of morals.
There seems to be no disagreement that public morality has
fallen very low: it has no notable defender.
Many of the older generation have criticized scathingly those
of the younger and abused the latter for repudiating the moral
inheritance, which it received. And the present generation has
answered as for example in the August Atlantic Monthly. The
answer does not deny the indictment but, with anger that knows
no strain of reverence, charges the older generation with the full
responsibility. The fathers and mothers of the younger people
of today gave them no guidance: no truth which they could hold
to : no light by which they could walk. It left to them a world of
disorder: of increasing problems made the more acute and un-
solvable by neglect and indifference and the result? Well, the
result is that the younger generation must try to forget itself
must work intensely and must play intensely, regarding neither
the purpose of the one nor the morals of the other, in order not to
remember too bitterly that it has a soul.
* * * *
IT would be difficult to imagine a sadder article than this one
in the Atlantic. It has bravado but no bravery: knowledge but
no wisdom: earnestness but no reverence; audacity but no hope.
It is as if the present generation damned, even with tears,
its fathers and mothers, and in reckless abandon, cut itself loose
from all human experience.
And so there will be much wretchedness of soul, many blinded
cries, before the world lifts itself from the depths into which sin
has plunged it.
* * * *
142 WITH OUR READERS [Oct.,
WE say sin advisedly, for sin presupposes religion : and it is to
the absence of religion and religious belief that the loose
morals, indeed the propaganda of immorality, are due. To put it
simply, if there is no personal God to Whom every man is re-
sponsible, then every man has a right to frame his own morals.
No human law : no convention : no tradition will be strong enough
to withstand that logic. The human race will see to it that im-
morality will not progress so far as to wipe out the race but
short of this extreme limit, men and women without God will be
men and women without morals.
"rpHE chaos of the world," says Father Martindale in the June
1 Dublin Review, "is an anxious chaos : and men are beginning
to ask, not so much what the War has achieved, as what it re-
vealed." Continuing his article, he shows that the official reports
in the religious belief of the British Expeditionary Force show
practically absence of all religious belief.
These reports, it may be stated at once, do not include the
Catholic soldiers. They had a definite religious belief: and the
book that tells of it was reviewed in THE CATHOLIC WORLD of
February, 1920.
The English Protestant soldier is not an atheist. He does not
deny God. But how does he picture God? "The men, on whose
account people are so anxious to 'revitalize' or 'restate' their
creed, have already made themselves a new god. Who then?
'How about Old Bill?' He 'symbolizes what the men like to see
in others, and want to see in themselves ... He stands for
optimism, humor, comradeship, bravery, common sense.' He is
'within reach within you.' 'It's a type that cheers . . . Which
do you think they'd choose for a twelve hours' journey, or half
an hour's visit to a hospital ward Old Bill or a chaplain?'
Old Bill, every time, is the answer."
"In this country (England)," Father Martindale adds, "I
believe the average man has a belief in God suited to his sort of
natural culture, as the savage has." God does not enter into the
things of ordinary life; and the gulf thus fixed has cut Him off
from mortals.
* * * *
AS for Christ there is a sentiment for Him but no knowledge
of Him and consequently no belief in Him. After reviewing
the evidence, Father Martindale states: "But observe how the
Reform, which proposed to restore Christ to men, has removed
Him, and how He, like God and moral law, is safe in Catholic
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 143
hands only." The Rev. Mr. Keable, a High Churchman, the
author of Standing By, an estimate of the religion of the English
soldier, and a book which Father Martindale reviews, declares:
"One cannot help feeling that nine Protestant chapels out of ten
have really ceased to have any religion at all ... In the Church
of England one is slowly suffocated." "It would be hard to find
one more tragic or complete (religious failure) than the failure
of the Established Church of England. That for the hundreds
who see it there are thousands who do not, and that for the thou-
sands who do not there are tens of thousands who do not take
enough interest in a palpably worn-out institution to think about
the matter at all, only emphasizes the tragedy." "There is prob-
ably no religious instrument in Europe today less fitted than the
Establishment for this condition of affairs. It is difficult to con-
ceive of a religious body more hopelessly stranded ... I wonder
if I have met one (man or woman of the many who will now
speak freely, even to a clergyman) who has had anything of good
to say of the religion of the Establishment." "In every case their
success (the padres) has been almost relative to the extent to
which they have thrown the Establishment over."
* * * *
WE have quoted these extracts and the words of Father Martin-
dale to show that religious belief is absent from the ordinary
life of the majority of the people of England. The record of the
American soldier showed a better condition prevailing in America.
And yet evidences are by no means lacking to show that here
also God, as a real present factor in every-day life, is forgotten or
denied and that there is little real knowledge of a belief in Christ,
through Whom alone we can know the revelation of God. Indeed,
it was thought by some officials of the Government here that
when our troops went abroad Y. M. C. A. secretaries could well
care for their religious needs. Any knowledge of the sacramental
system, which alone keeps alive our conscious relation with
Christ and with God, was frequently entirely absent, even in high
places.
And the most deplorable sign of the passing of Protestantism
and a religious system of any kind, is its increasing willingness to
abdicate to the forces of the new paganism forces that do not
admit any positive moral law, obligatory on man.
The most noteworthy admission of the article in the Atlantic,
already referred to, is that the passing of religious belief has
meant the oncoming of immorality. The writer thereof is a Prot-
estant, or at least one whose parents were Protestant.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
P. J. KENEDY & SONS, New York:
Mr. Coleman, Gent. By E. Dennis. $2.25. Joan of Arc, Soldier and Saint. By
I. A. Taylor. $1.50. The Art of Interesting. By F. P. Donnelly, S.J.
BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York:
The Emperor's Royal Robes. By F. A. Forbes. The Catholic Doctrine of Grace.
By G. H. Joyce, S.J. $2.00 net.
GEORGE H. DORAN Co., New York:
In the Onyx Lobby. By C. Wells. Adventures and Enthusiasms. By E. V. Lucas.
Intimate Pages of Mexican History. By E. O'Shaughnessy.
ALLYN & BACON, New York:
Biology for High Schools. By Smallwood R. Bailey. $1.40.
FREDERICK A. STOKES Co., New York:
Towards the Dawn. By C. Galway. $2.00 net. High Company. By H. Lee.
ROBERT M. McBRiDE & Co., New York:
A Tankard of Ale. An Anthology of Drinking Songs from the Fifteenth Century
to the Present Day. Compiled by T. Maynard.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, New York:
Flappers and Philosophers. By F. S. Fitzgerald. $1.75.
HARCOURT, BRACE & HOWE, New York:
The Philosophy of Mysticism. By E. I. Watkin.
E. P. DUTTON & Co., New York:
Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love Showed to Mother Juliana of Norwich, 1373.
$2.50 net.
BRENTANO'S, New York:
India's Nation Builders. By D. N. Bannerjea. Poland and the Minority Races.
By A. L. Goodhart.
JAMES T. WHITE & Co., New York:
The Luzumiyat of Abu l-Ala. By A. Rihani. $1.50 net.
AMERICAN BOOK Co., New York:
Elementary Lessons in Every-Day English. By E. M. Bolenius.
HARPER & BROTHERS, New York:
The Thread of Flame. By Basil King. $2.00 net.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York:
Hispanic Anthology. Collected and arranged by Thomas Walsh, Ph.D. $5.00.
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York:
An Elementary History of England. By E. Wyatt-Davies, M.A. $1.20.
JOSEPH F. WAGNER, New York:
The Other Life. By Rev. Win. Schneider, S.T.D.
THE CORNHILL Co., Boston:
Rachel Grimke. By A. W. Grimke. $1.25. Dehydrating Foods. By A. L.
Andrea. $1.75.
SMALL, MAYNARD & Co., Boston:
Christine of the Young Heart. By L. B. Clancy. The Four Just Men. By E.,
Wallace. The Gray Angels. By N. Bartley.
GABRIEL BEAUCHESNE, Paris:
Noces Chretiennes. By Abbe Felix Klein.
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, London:
The Mystic Guide, The Road Home. By P. Rudkin. A Sober Condemnation of
Spiritualism; The Pilgrim Fathers. By Rev. H. Thurston, S.J. Pamphlets.
MARY'S MEADOW PRESS, Ludlow, England:
Lilies of His Love; The Happy Stillness. By A. O'Connor, 2 s. net each.
THE
Catholic &{orld
VOL. CXII. NOVEMBER, 1920 No. 668
WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
BY J. W. DAWSON.
HE ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment of
the United States Constitution by Tennessee
makes woman suffrage in this country an accom-
plished fact. After eighty-one years of agitation
women have now been placed on the same footing
as men in regard to the ballot. The battle, begun by Lucielia
Mott, the Quakeress of Pennsylvania, in 1839, and carried on by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Anna Howard
Shaw, Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt and countless other
woman suffrage leaders, has at last ended in victory for the
suffragists.
The struggle has been no trifling one. Although Mrs. Mott
made her demand for woman suffrage at the World's Slavery
Congress in London in 1839, it was not until 1869 that the Ter-
ritory of Wyoming gave women the right to vote. It became a
State in 1890 with a Constitution that contained a provision
for equal suffrage. This was the first State in the Union to
accord women this privilege. In 1893 Colorado gave women
the vote and in 1896 Utah and Idaho did likewise. It took
fourteen years of agitation before any other States followed
the lead of these western pioneers. In 1910 Washington ex-
tended the right to vote, and other States soon followed suit:
California in 1911, Kansas, Oregon and Arizona in 1912, Nevada
and Montana in 1914, New York in 1917 and Oklahoma, Michi-
gan and South Dakota in 1918.
Copyright. 1920. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
VOL. cxii. 10
146 WOMAN SUFFRAGE [Nov.,
It was in 1878 that the constitutional amendment recently
ratified was introduced into Congress. After years of propa-
ganda zealously carried on by the tireless suffragists, the
amendment was passed by the House of Representatives in
1918 and by the Senate a year and a half later. Since that time
thirty-five States have ratified the amendment. Tennessee has
just rounded out the necessary two-thirds. Woman suffrage
is a principle of our constitutional law.
In a country district through which a railroad ran, a
farmer and his wife were accustomed to sit on their front
porch when the evening express rushed by. Every time it
passed, their little dog would run after the train.
"I wonder," said the wife to the farmer, "why Foxy always
runs after the train."
"That is not what is bothering me," answered the farmer,
"I'm wondering what he would do if he ever caught it."
This state of mind is characteristic of that of many people
who have watched with interest the fight for suffrage. Now
that the objective has been obtained they are asking: "Well,
now that the women have the vote, what are they going to do
with it?" Theirs is a curiosity that is heavily tinged with sar-
casm. At best, they are doubting Thomases. For the most
part they exclaim with Ovid:
Quid, victor, gaudes,
Hsec te victoria perdet?
To them the extension of suffrage to women a privilege
with many duties is not at all desirable. They opposed
woman suffrage. They look upon it as a not unmixed blessing
that will carry many serious reactions inimical to the best
interest of the women themselves and particularly to the
homes. They are sincere, too, in their belief that woman suf-
frage will do no good in an affirmative way and result only in
lowering, rather than elevating, the status of women. They
are the "antis." If they had prevailed, women would not have
been given the suffrage. They fought their fight, too, and lost.
Their arguments, no matter of what merit, are now merely
academic. Women do vote. The question no longer is whether
they should or should not vote. Universal suffrage is here, and
whether it should or should not have been established gives
way to other considerations that are more practical.
1920.] WOMAN SUFFRAGE 147
Now that woman suffrage is an actuality, we must con-
sider it as such. By the action of Congress and the several
States, a great new influence has been put to work in the body
politic. By the Nineteenth Amendment more than twenty-
seven million new voters have been added to those who already
determine the issues of our Republic. That is a tremendous
influence, a power that cannot be estimated in words. United,
organized, it might revolutionize our Government and accom-
plish what it would. Disorganized, it is still a factor that must
be considered in all future political movements. Twenty-
seven million people is a nation in itself. Make that number
articulate; give them a message, and the consequence must in-
evitably be that they will be heard and in no uncertain terms.
Into what action will this vast new power be translated?
What will be the ends for the accomplishment of which this
fresh influence will be used? Will it be a dominating factor,
alive, keenly sensitive of its strength and purposeful in its de-
termination to exert that strength, or will it be merely the
passive power of the sleeping giants? Will it allow itself to
be controlled by the man voter and made subordinate to his
will? And if it should awake to a realization of its importance
what direction will it take?
It is trite to say that woman is not the equal of man.
It is just as bromidic to say that man is not the equal of
woman. One is the complement of the other; one is different
from the other; they were never meant physiologically or psy-
chologically to be considered equal. They are essentially dif-
ferent, and for that reason cannot be measured by common
terms. There is no common denominator of the sexes.
Consider, however, the reasoning of those who oppose
woman suffrage. They say, and with some show of truth, that
to man is given leadership, initiative, perseverance and rugged
strength to overcome obstacles. They bring forward a great
array of facts to support this contention. In what field is
woman the leader? None! Not even in her own particular
spheres does she take command. In dressmaking the fashions
are made by men. Men design the ladies' headgear. The best
cooks are chefs. The greatest musicians are men. The most
famous artists are men. There are few great women writers
compared with the number of men. In the household, the
sewing machine, the vacuum cleaner, the bread mixer, the
148 WOMAN SUFFRAGE [Nov.,
dish washer, the electric iron all these are the inventions of
men. These may be facts. But what conclusion do they draw
therefrom? Therefore, they argue, if the leadership lies with
man and not woman, the woman should not seek to participate
in public life. She should not be eager to be a force in political
affairs. She should leave all this to her superior, man, to
whom has been given the genius of leadership.
The fallacy of all this lies in the result their reasoning
deduces. Their conclusion is based on the false premises that
there is a conflict between the sexes. When women partici-
pate jointly with men in any enterprise of life it is not in a
spirit of challenge, but of cooperation. Women do not seek to
usurp man's prerogatives. By nature they are different and
have tendencies which cause them to lend aid to man as
auxiliaries, to give him what he has not, to supply him with
those things which they have in abundance and which he al-
together lacks, and without which his nature is incomplete.
Look back through history and you will find that there has
never been a truly great man who did not have a woman's help
in his work, and without which his success could not have
reached the limits that it did. A few examples will suffice to
show this. In medicine, Morgagni, who made such wonderful
progress in pathology, was successful because of his mother,
Maria Tornieli. Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, was
helped in his work by his wife, who inspired him to rise even
above material successes. Galvani, the discoverer of animal
electricity, was great because of his wife, and another woman,
Laura Gaterina Maria Bossi, one of his teachers. Johann
Muller is called the father of German medicine. At an early
age his father, a cobbler, died. To bring up her five children,
and particularly to secure an education for the future great
physician, his mother carried on the cobbler's work. Pasteur,
the great scientist, was helped by Madame Pasteur and his
children. What that influence was, can be gleaned from a
letter to his father some time after the death of his daughter,
Jeanne. "I can only think at this moment of my poor little
one, so good, so full of life, so happy in living, and whom this
fatal year, now drawing to a close, has snatched from us.
After a very short time she would have been for her mother
and for me, for all of us, a friend, a companion, a helpmate
. . . She is happy. Let us think of those who remain, and let
1920.] WOMAN SUFFRAGE 149
us try to prevent for them, as far as lies in our power, the
bitterness of life."
In literature, who can estimate adequately the ennobling
influence of Mary Lamb upon her brother, Charles one of
the sweetest characters in history. Who can measure the effect
of the love of Dorothy Wordsworth for her brother, who
wrote of her:
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill;
A perfect woman nobly planned
To warn, to comfort and command;
And yet a spirit still and bright
With something of angelic light.
Who can appreciate the inspiriting love of the invalid, Eliza-
beth Barrett, for her poet husband? Read "One Word More,"
"By the Fireside," and "0 Lyric Love," in the closing of Book
I. of The Ring and the Book, and you will catch a glimpse
of what a woman can be unto a man. Who can picture the
influence of Mrs. Unwin upon the lonely, broken, stumbling
Cowper, who, at fifty, began to write immortal verse? Who
can picture the life that might have been had Francis Thomp-
son received the loving encouragement of a mother who under-
stood, instead of a step-mother who knew not?
Lincoln was truly great, yet no small credit for his great-
ness is due Nancy Hanks. Daniel O'Connell did much for Ire-
land. In 1836 he wrote a letter to his friend, Richard Barrett,
in which he speaks of his wife, Mary, now near death. "I am
incompetent," he wrote, "or too womanish and too weak to do
my public duty, and this is what she would condemn. But I
think I can rally. She would advise me to devote my energies,
even in misery, to Ireland . . ." Who can think of other
heroes of Irish history without a thought for Elizabeth Mason
Emmet, for Emelia Mary, Duchess of Leinster, for Jane
Emmet, the wife of Thomas Addis Emmet, for Pamela, wife of
Lord Edward Fitzgerald?
In religion, who will speak of St. Patrick and forget St.
Bridget of Kildare, of St. Benedict and his sister, St. Scholas-
tica, of St. Francis and St. Glare, of St. Vincent de Paul and
Madam le Gras ? Who can discount the work and the influence
in this life of Blessed Madame Barat, Venerable Julie Brilliart,
St; Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Teresa of Spain?
150 WOMAN SUFFRAGE [Nov.,
But it is unnecessary to peer into the past to learn the
universal truth of woman's love and inspiration and zeal for
the better and nobler things of life. There is no son or daugh-
ter who will not testify to the affects of a mother's guidance,
who will not say that he or she was influenced to higher things
because of his or her mother. Nor is it merely by emotional
inspiration that the mother works upon her children. Many
times it is she who gives the practical common sense solution
of a pressing problem proving too great for the other members
of the family. In every crisis it is she who stands by, gentle
yet firm, comforting but not weak, envisioned but not foolish.
When the hour of sacrifice comes, she is always ready to take
up the heavy burden so that another might go on into the light.
Mothers are greater than governments and higher than law.
Quid leges sine moribus
Vanse proficiunt?
To this question of Horace's we might ask: And how can
we have morals and their observance without their inculcation
by the mothers in the hearts of their children?
If this is true, some argue, that women have exerted and
do exert an influence that elevates, that purifies, that fortifies
for good, then the operation of that influence should be con-
fined to where it belongs, within the circle of the home.
Quid terras alio calentes
Sole mutamus?
Where they accomplish the most, they say, there let them
remain, rather than dissipate their energies upon the fruitless
tasks of public life where all their efforts will turn to Dead Sea
fruit, bringing only a sense of unattainment of their ideals
and a loss of opportunity for doing real good in their homes.
But is the matter as simple as all that? Reduced to its
simplest terms, their argument might be put into the following
syllogism: Woman's greatest and best influence lies in the
home. The extension of woman suffrage with its attendant
obligations will tend to dissipate that influence. Therefore,
women should prefer the home to exercising their political
rights. Apparently this is sound reasoning, and once the
premises are admitted as true, the conclusion necessarily fol-
lows. But the difficulty is not so elementary as conveyed in
1920.] WOMAN SUFFRAGE 151
this syllogistic form, even were the truth of its mean premise
conceded. There is still a very serious consideration to be
kept in mind and one that must be met in a progressive spirit,
with large foresight and courageous determination. It carries
with it portentous consequences that must be guided and
shaped correctly to rid them of evil. It may be summed up in
the simple statement that all women can vote; some women
will vote. Who are they to be? If this tremendous power is
to be put into the hands of the women of our country to decide
what our Government is to be, are we deliberately going to tell
the best elements in that group of twenty-seven million people,
the women who love their homes, the women who do exert
that wonderful influence, the women who stand morally for
the best in life, are we deliberately going to tell that wonderful
body of voters not to vote? Are we going to counsel the
women, who have inculcated beautiful ideals in their children
and given them moral strength to live up to those ideals, to
retire to the sanctity of their homes and leave the field free to
those women who will insist upon voting?
The day when we can say that women do not need to vote;
they are represented well enough by the men, has passed.
Elections are based on mathematical results. Today the
decent, forward-looking American who forms the bulwark
against the destruction of our Republic cannot represent his
wife by his vote alone. The radical and his wife will surely
vote, and where only one votes where two should, the result
cannot be disguised. As a question merely of defensive pro-
tection, it will be necessary for the women of the family to vote
as well as the men members. Numbers will decide many grave
questions of public policy which may affect our very homes.
Numbers will spell success or defeat for the accomplishment
of the ideals for which we stand. Numbers will cause us to be
respected and our rights unmolested. Numbers are our
weapons of offensive and defence. Do you, therefore, think it
the part of wisdom to counsel our women not to vote?
Most of our citizens suffer from political myopia. They
cannot see beyond their nose. In my experience in public life,
I have been startled by the realization of the flux in our form
of government. It is not a static condition. It is dynamic,
living and consequently reactive to all influences brought to
bear upon it. Our Government is ourselves and what we allow
152 WOMAN SUFFRAGE [Nov.,
to predominate amongst us must have its effect upon our
Government. Yet despite this patent fact, our citizens have
been utterly apathetic in their scrutiny of the forces at work to
accomplish their ends in our economic and political life. They
shut their eyes to the efforts and, as in the case of prohibition,
are dismayed at the results.
It is idle even to state that there are many propagandists
in our public life whose philosophy is godless, whose morality
is pagan, and whose vision is material. Their thoughts find
translations in easy words that appeal to many minds. Those
minds do and will translate these ideals into action. The only
action they can resort to at present is the use of the ballot.
And, a conclusion that cannot be too seriously emphasized,
they are going to make use of that opportunity with the ballot
to make their ideas and their ideals a reality. And here again
numbers count. Will the wives, the daughters and the sisters
of such men vote? Will their women be told that their place
is in the home, and to stay there? Of this be sure, the so-called
liberal and the radical have agitated for years for woman suf-
frage, if for no other reason than that its extension would
swell the ranks of their cohorts and add to their power.
A democracy is a nation of governing minorities. This is
true because all the zeal, the energy, the force that can be ob-
tained is centred upon the accomplishment of the aims and
desires of the minority. They work day in and day out. The
great mass of citizens are busy with other affairs; they are
apathetic, and worse, unorganized. As a result, the minority
succeeds in imposing its will upon the majority.
Recognizing this condition, it will be a serious mistake if
we counsel our women to refrain from using their suffrage
actively and vigilantly. We are adding to the forces that we
know are plotting our destruction; we are increasing their
power, for a vote withheld doubles the one that is cast. Into
the conflicts that are to come we must not go unarmed or
without adequate weapons, even if merely of defence. The
world is slowly resolving itself into three great camps, the
forces of greed and reaction, the forces of Christian conserva-
tion, and those of the revolutionists, the anarchists. The first
are powerful; they are mighty in their resources of both money
and brains. During, and since the unsatisfactory settlement of
the recent War, they have used every opportunity to reach out
1920.] WOMAN SUFFRAGE 153
for more power. If, in any great measure, they succeed, their
progress spells the death of all Christian conservatism of
thought and action, for then must come the terrible uprising
of men, agitated to action by false leaders and goaded by social
and industrial injustice, in a conflict against those who, forget-
ful of Christ and humanity, have intrenched themselves at the
flesh-pots. The workingman will have pointed out to him the
failure of any attempt to cure our social evils by calm,
reasoned evolution, and will be taught that his only remedy
lies in violence and revolution.
Will we, who have withheld a potent means for curing
the evils in our present, social, political and economic systems,
be able to blame him if this happens? Will we be able to stop
him, when we might have prevented him from losing faith in
our social institutions?
These are questions that are not far-fetched. By the
proper use of the means now at our disposal we can help take
away the causes of discontent and unrest. We know the
futility of the Bolsheviki programme. We can render its menace
futile and its meaning inane by removing the injustices that
now irritate and that some day might infuriate. They are not
so serious or deep-seated or intensive but that an intelligent
understanding and a gentle but efficient treatment may
remove them. They can be removed. And we who have the
treasures of Jesus Christ as our heritage, we whose philosophy
and ethics are based upon His Word, we who subscribe to the
glorious Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. upon Labor, we who
take pride in the Bishops' Programme, can be that power to
check the encroachments of social greed and remove from
among us the fear of Bolshevism by using our suffrage to pro-
mote social justice, and to insure for both laborer and capitalist
their just deserts.
That to my mind is the meaning of universal woman suf-
frage. It is an opportunity to bring to the banners of Christian
conversation a mighty force and a powerful ally. We know
what women can do and have done. We know their idealism,
their enthusiasm, their goodness, their sharp differentiation of
right and wrong, their keen sense of justice. Let us use those
gifts. Let us encourage them to join with us with their vote
in fighting for the attainment of our ideals, which, after all,
are theirs, too. Let them participate actively also in our social
154 WOMAN SUFFRAGE [Nov.,
and political partnership. With them, we can succeed; with-
out them, we must fail. Women may ask with Juvenal:
Quid Romae faciam?
Mentiri nescio.
"What can I do at Rome? I cannot lie." Many feel, perhaps
with some cause, that the political world is totally wicked,
and if not wicked, debased with selfishness and corruption.
If this be so, then it is time that women enter that world, for
if she will, she can do much to elevate politics, eliminate many
of the abuses that now exist, and demand a higher standard
of morals. Will she attain this? Not at once, perhaps, but
she can accomplish this if she wills. A political leader owes
his existence to his continuance in power. He continues to be a
leader only as long as he is successful. Do you think that the
political leaders view the advent of twenty-seven million new
votes with unconcern? They want those votes. They will not
be able to carry their elections without them. Therefore, they
must please them. They are looking to see what the new
voters want. And if the new electorate makes it clear that
they will assist the better forces in the political struggles, if
they show that they will not countenance chicanery and fraud,
if they demand a newer and higher standard of action, they
will get what they want. If they use their tremendous power
for the accomplishment of the best ideals of womanhood, they
will have the pleasure of seeing those ideals put into practice.
But if, on the other hand, their coming into politics means
merely a seeking for material advancement or personal gain
they will pay the price of their venality and get what they give
and nothing more though it be to their eternal shame.
The present-day political leaders are keen-witted men.
They are watching for the women who exert a strong influence
upon their fellows. They will quickly honor these women, for
in doing so they hope to swing to their side the others who are
their followers. They will bring forward and place in posi-
tions of importance the active, the competent, the popular
women. They will place them in our Government where
woman's work is most needed, as commissioners of charity,
as commissioners of correction, as heads of school boards, as
members of food and health boards in short, in places where
a definite policy must be formulated and put into action.
1920.] WOMAN SUFFRAGE 155
Should our women stay in retirement and allow others who
are active in public life, whose ideals are different, whose
principles are different, whose lives are different, to step into
these positions which carry with them such tremendous pos-
sibilities and opportunities for good or evil? Should our
women who, by their training, their philosophy, their lives,
are best fitted for true leadership in this kind of work stand
aside for others whose leadership might be of another sort,
whose principles might be indefensible and whose standards
of life questionable?
The answer is a compelling one. We did not seek uni-
versal woman suffrage, perhaps. That is immaterial. Uni-
versal woman suffrage is here, and with it has come new ob-
ligations and new opportunities obligations to vote and to
participate actively in public matters so that our men may be
sufficient in numbers to form an adequate bulwark against
those enemies who would tear down and destroy, against those
who would subtly substitute their principles of life in place of
the ideals of home and country for which we stand oppor-
tunities to do good in an affirmative way in applying our
philosophy to the solution of our social and economic prob-
lems. This is a day for glorious leadership. The multitudes
are listening for the call of some commander. They will fol-
low at his word. Whither? That will depend upon the
leader. Who will be that leader? He cannot come from our
ranks if we retire from the struggle and lose by default. In
the momentous hour of conflict, we will not be able to assist
or resist when we willingly dissipate our forces now and
vitiate our strength. If that time comes, it may be too late,
with the strategic positions in the hands of the enemy, to call
upon our auxiliaries for reenf orcement. Powerful, we shall be
powerless.
When Napoleon desired to honor his soldiers who fought
with him in his great battles, he struck off a medal. On it
was the name of the battle and the soldier's name and below
the simple inscription: "I was there."
That reward should be the ambition of every citizen of
this Republic, man and woman alike. The War has brought to
our very doors problems fraught with great danger. They
cannot be solved by expediency alone. The social readjust-
ment that must come can be satisfactorily obtained only by
156 WOMAN SUFFRAGE [Nov.,
the active participation of all those, regardless of sex, who
stand for the better things in life, whose philosophy is sound,
whose morality is above that of the pagan and the materialist.
In that readjustment we must all take a hand, using all our
influence to see that the principles of Christ form the warp
and woof of the new social fabric. If we do not, the proper
readjustment will not be made. From the failure there may
spring a phoenix of force and revolution. The issue must be
met. Our Government, our religion, our homes depend upon
its outcome. In that struggle our men and women must par-
ticipate or they shall be forever faithless to their trust. This
is their duty, their sacred obligation, not only to themselves,
but to posterity. They can be true to this only if they, too, can
say, "I was there."
I have little patience with those who hold that women will
lose their charm if they perform this necessary work; who
believe that if they vote they will not find time to attend to
their duties in the home; that in becoming participants in pub-
lic affairs their influence in other and more sacred matters will
wane. Surely those who hold to this view cannot be con-
cerned with the actual casting of the ballot. This can be done
at the cost of only an hour's time. One hour a year is not
much. If they are grieved over women's more active partici-
pation in politics so called, let them be reassured. Most of
our women are endowed with common sense. No appeal can
be stronger than that of a happy home. When that call comes,
the other interests that conflict are put aside. But in these days
there are many of our women who are not married, who go
daily to business. Let these take up the most active work.
The other women in the homes find time to know the needs of
the hour, to become conversant with current conditions and to
be prepared to throw the weight of their numbers upon the
side of justice and right. Surely, even if a small sacrifice be
necessary, the outcome is so momentous as to warrant the
making of it.
For bear this in mind, if the women who love their homes
fail to use their powerful influence and allow others not so
worthy to dictate the destiny of our nation, it may be that they
shall live to see their homes destroyed and their hearths vio-
lated. "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
LEON DAUDET, DEFENDER OF CHURCH AND STATE.
BY W. H. SCHEIFLEY, PH.D.
Frenchman of today is more worthy of being
introduced to American readers than Leon
Daudet. For a quarter of a century he has
battled against the enemies of his country, both
foreign and domestic. He has proved to be, also,
a prophet of the late War. While the French Government
remained complacent, he foresaw the sinister designs of Ger-
many and later proved instrumental in unmasking as traitors
Gaillaux, Malvy, and Bolo. Having checkmated the German
attempt to corrupt France from the rear, he opened the way
for the triumph of Clemenceau and Foch. Thus was fulfilled
his prophecy in L'Astre Noir (1893), forecasting the outcome
of the great conflict.
Leon Daudet, the eldest of three children, was born in
1868. His father was Alphonse Daudet, the well-known novel-
ist. His mother was Julia Allard, a woman of culture, gifted
as a writer. The Daudets were royalists, devoted to the tra-
ditional Faith, and though Alphonse later succumbed to the
influence of Renan and Taine, he never ceased to love the
ceremonial of the Church, and insisted that his children Ke
reared in the Faith. Leon received his early education at home
in Paris, at Champrosay near the capital, and in Provence.
Of the South, he writes that it was there, lying on the bank of
a stream, that his father explained to him the Georgics and
that he first felt the spell of poetry. He admired his teachers
at the lycees, Charlemagne and Louis-le-Grand, though des-
tined to be disillusioned regarding the philosophical doctrines
of one of them. German education was then the rage, and at
seven Leon had begun to speak the language. Ten years later
he plunged with ardor into German philosophy, and Professor
Burdeau made him into a "determined Kantian." One even-
ing, after Burdeau's analysis of Schopenhauer, Leon came
home chilled with pessimism. But his father extolled to him
the dignity of man, refuting one by one the philosopher's argu-
ments. Thereafter the son reacted against German meta-
158 LEON DAUDET [Nov.,
physics. "It is not by its pessimism that this philosophy is
dangerous," he said, "but because it removes us from life and
submerges our humanity." Such views he presents at length
in Hors da Joug Allemand (1915), an appeal for liberation
from the yoke of German education, art, and philosophy.
Daudet had early become acquainted with English writers,
Shakespeare, Swift, de Quincey, Dickens, and Robert Louis
Stevenson. Among Americans, he admired the usual French
favorites: Poe, Emerson, and Whitman. He was also a con-
noisseur in painting. In Salons et Journaux (1917), he says:
"While still very young, I was led through the Louvre, the
National Gallery, the Museum at Amsterdam, and told, 'This is
magnificent and these are the reasons.' ' He listened to lec-
tures, too, by Forain, Whistler, and Degas.
In view of his literary and artistic advantages, young
Daudet seemed cut out for a man of letters or an artist, and
his father suggested that he prepare for a professorship in
literature. Instead, he chose medicine, but abandoned his
course near its close, accusing the medical faculty of cynical
materialism, incompetence, and improper political activity.
After performing his military service, Daudet, at twenty-
five, began to write novels and to contribute to journals,
several of his novels appearing as serials. For eight years he
was on the staff of the Gaulois, and for some time on that of
La Nouuelle Revue. In 1908 he founded L' Action Francaise,
a royalist sheet which he still edits, and to which he contributes
almost daily a leading article. As polemist and reformer, he
speaks his mind without reserve, finding the principal beauty
of literature in redressing wrongs and voicing indignation at
injustice. He lacks the indulgent pity of his father and the
cultivated neutrality of his uncle, Ernest. Dissatisfaction
with the socialism of egalitarian democracy has made him po-
litically a royalist. Ever since the Combes Ministry inaugu-
rated its mad campaign against religion, he has been an ardent
supporter of the Church. In philosophy he is an idealist,
opposed to materialism and the pretensions of pseudo-science.
Leon Daudet's work consists of forty stout volumes, issued
since 1890, and of many essays and newspaper articles that
remain uncollected. For convenience, the creator of this large
body of writing may be considered here as imaginative satir-
ist, as moralist, as patriot, and as critic.
1920.] LEON DAUDET 159
It is in his early novels that Daudet displays most imag-
ination a quality too often lacking in contemporary French
literature. In this vein he reveals the inventive fantasy of
Dumas the Elder, the realism of Jules Verne, the satire of
Lesage and Swift, and occasionally the raillery of Voltaire,
especially when he deals with questions social, political, or
religious. He ascribes the development of his imaginative
faculties to the reading of Balzac and Shakespeare. Like those
masters, he sees the exterior world through the world within
him the lorgnette of his imagination. He believes that it is
only in going beyond reality that typical passions and persons
can be shown. In his imaginative novels he indulges in a
humor which, if less mirthful than that of Tristan Bernard or
Gourteline, bears deeper import. Sarcasm and ridicule are
the weapons most feared in France. The satirist is a person in
unstable equilibrium between the extremes of anger and mirth.
Some satirists incline chiefly to the one mood, some to the
other, and some waver between the two. Daudet's combative
temperament usually favors severity.
Three novels in particular display Daudet's imaginative
manner. These are L'Astre Noir (1893), Les Morticoles
(1894), and Le Voyage de Shakespeare (1896). The first is a
satire on the egotism of genius, with Victor Hugo as protagon-
ist. Daudet conceived the novel in 1885, while visiting Haute-
ville-House, Hugo's residence from 1852 to 1870 on the island
of Guernsey. On this island, eight years later, Daudet wrote
his work, but transferred its scene to "Seneste," really Luxem-
burg.
The central character is Malauve, a man of sixty, known
as the "Astre Noir," because he illuminates the world with the
sombre sun of pessimism. His tragedies and philosophy evoke
universal admiration. He enjoys the esteem of such distin-
guished countrymen as General Tronquin and the editor of
the Seneste Gazette. Better still, the reigning Duchess has had
built for his dramas a special theatre. Each new publication
from his pen calls forth an avalanche of critical comment,
usually flattering. His existence is a personal parade. Born a
child of genius, he has mastered languages, history, literature,
science, and philosophy. Yet from childhood the mere thought
of death has made him tremble. Though developed into an
unbeliever, he supplicates Heaven each night to accord him a
160 LEON DAUDET [Nov.,
long life in order that he may complete his work for the good
of humanity, thinking thus to deceive God concerning his ego-
tism. But he has long been haunted by a mocking imp, who
chuckles : "Monsieur, you have found neither truth nor happi-
ness, and the path to them you do not know."
Malauve's family consists of his neglected wife, an invalid
daughter, all intellect, and a son, Gaston, secretary to the
Duchess. He intrigues with his daughter-in-law, Gaston's
wife, and philanders with Suzanne, a pupil. The Duchess, in
jealousy, bids him break off this affair, and Suzanne prefers
death to living without communion with the master. Gaston's
precocious son, moreover, is jealous of his grandfather,, loving
Suzanne so passionately that her refusal to regard his suit
drives him to despair. When both he and she commit suicide,
Gaston discovers the alliance of his wife and his father, and
the public blames Malauve; the press turns against him; a
rival, through the publication of optimistic poetry, captures
popular favor; and even the Duchess forsakes her idol. At this
juncture France and Germany go to war, and Seneste, though
favoring France, declares neutrality. But the young French
conqueror, after defeating the German armies, lays siege to
Seneste. The Socialists appeal to Malauve to compel a capitu-
lation. Although he has posed as a pacifist and apostle of jus-
tice, he deserts his fellows in their hour of need. Oddly
enough, however, the victorious French general appoints Ma-
lauve to high office. He will direct the University and conform
to what is respectable and conservative in religion and philos-
ophy. The future promises well for the egotist but for the
mocking challenge of the imp: "Monsieur, you have found
neither truth nor happiness, and the path to them you do not
know."
Gratified as we may be that France wins Daudet's war, we
think she might have chosen a worthier director of higher edu-
cation. The novelist apparently alludes here to Victor Hugo's
political influence after 1871, supposing a youthful Napoleon
to have won that war or its sequel. The moral character of
Malauve is intended to reflect to some degree that of Hugo as
displayed in his liaison with Madame Drouet. Indeed, person-
ages and events are here sufficiently real to insure identifica-
tion. As for Malauve, he is a type worthy of Balzac in his most
imaginative mood.
1920.] LEON DAUDET 161
In Les Morticoles, the satire is still sharper, and physicians
are the butts. Not that Daudet decries all doctors. To Potain
and Charcot, two representatives of the generation before
1885, he accords high tribute. But the conditions that pro-
duced them, he avers, no longer exist; the lofty ideals of their
time he sees swept away by cynical egotism. He has become a
militant Catholic by reaction against the enemies of religious
idealism. Writing in 1914, he speaks of the exaggerated im-
portance of physicians in the materialistic society of three
decades earlier, men controlling the secrets of families and the
state, given to evil practices of all sorts, rising by means of
influence rather than ability. He had himself spent seven
years in the study of medicine, and in protesting against the
unjust award of a medal by the Faculty had incurred the hos-
tility of his superiors. Resolved on revenge, he composed his
immortal satire upon the profession.
A ship captain, so the story runs, having lost his bearings,
strikes the gloomy island of the Morticoles, maniacs and hypo-
chondriacs, who have accorded to physicians absolute pre-
eminence. Their Faculty of Medicine is a parliament, a diet
and a court of justice. Hospitals are their only monuments.
Public buildings bear the inscription Liberte, tgalite, Frater-
nite, which Canelon interprets as signifying Vanity, Heredity,
Fatality. Since the Morticole Revolution, "superstition" has
been replaced by the cult of Matter. All the citizens are mater-
ialists, atheists, and anti-clericals. They have even expelled
their Sisters of Mercy. As Canelon points out, they have lost
the power of feeling. They have "opened too many bellies,
dissected too many brains, not to know that God, the soul, and
immortality are fictions, invented to enslave mankind."
The music of the Morticoles consists of funeral dirges.
Their dramatists are attracted by medical themes. Their
poetry treats of evolution, the beauties of hypnotism, and the
mysteries of heredity. Their masterpieces of painting, when
not consecrated to the national Festival of Matter, represent
hospital and clinical scenes. The judiciary, though regarding
criminals as irresponsible victims of heredity, sentence them
to death unless they belong to the caste of doctors or the rich.
Society is based on hypocrisy, intrigue, and servility. Students
of medicine cannot advance without passing tests in licking
their professors' feet. Celebrities in the hierarchy insist upon
VOL. CXII. 11
162 LEON DAUDET [Nov.,
these lechements de pieds as the price of their favor. Hence
their mania for decorations, which the Government exploits
as a lucrative traffic.
A unique feature of Morticolie is its school of suicide,
wherein the unhappy learn the art of ending their lives scien-
tifically. Indeed, suicide became so fashionable at one time
that the trees bore as many hanged corpses as fruits, and the
fish in the streams suffered from indigestion as a result of
dining on the drowned. Even animals imitated their
masters. Thus Science, in enabling people to depart from life
quietly has conferred upon mankind another inestimable
blessing.
Canelon, during his forced sojourn in Morticolie, owes his
salvation to prayer, and to his acquaintance with two charit-
able doctors, both believers like himself, but ultimately forced
to migrate. When after years of searching, Ganelon finds his
friend, the ship captain, among the supposedly insane, he pro-
cures his release by bribery, and they sail home, convinced
that the woes of the Morticoles are due to materialism.
Daudet's work is grotesque but delightful, and through its
four hundred pages interest never flags. His art reminds us
of that of Rabelais, Swift, and Lesage; and his blows dealt the
medical profession are the sharpest since those of Moliere.
No such thrusts are to be found, however, in Le Voyage de
Shakespeare, a tale of romantic adventure. In the winter of
1895, Leon Daudet, accompanied by his brother, Lucien, and
Georges Hugo, toured snow-covered Holland, and visited also
Helsingor in Denmark, the scene of Hamlet. This place and the
journey as a whole suggested the novel. Daudet at the time was
an admirer of Taine, whose conception of Shakespeare he
shares. Taine, in his History of English Literature, endeavors
to find in the stir and ferment of the Renaissance the secret of
Shakespeare's genius. The period was characterized by imag-
inative frenzy, a fever of the senses, violence of emotion, and
paganism. Daudet supposes a continental journey by the Eng-
lish poet at the age of twenty, and records his impressions as he
passes through Holland, northwest Germany, and Denmark,
finding in these the source of such dramas as Hamlet, Julius
Csesar, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. After witnessing a
"tempest," the poet lands at Rotterdam. His imagination plays
freely. Now he fancies himself a king, giving orders to echo
1920.] LEON DAUDET 163
throughout an empire; and now a bourgeois like his father.
One day the flame of poetry fires his imagination; the next he
desires to be an actor. He dreams, now of brutal tragedies,
now of dramas exquisite in idea and refined in sentiment.
Beauty inflames him. His curiosity is insatiable. His passion
dramatizes everything. Within him turns a windmill, two of
its wings luminous, and two sombre; and they constantly
modify his vision.
In Holland, the assassination of William the Silent sug-
gests to him the stabbing of Caesar. At an execution of prison-
ers, and a burning of witches, he feels both anguish and de-
light. Then he yields to debauchery and eulogizes inebriety.
Between him and the frail daughter of an innkeeper there de-
velops a romance that leads to tragedy for the fair one, who
will ever live as Ophelia. The poet meets, also, a Shylock,
visits a camp of Anabaptists, and sleeps in a deserted hut
amid a Lear-like storm. He engages in discussions upon liter-
ature, art, philosophy, and religion with Johann Fischart and
Sir Philip Headway, and after two further conquests of femi-
nine hearts, and a visit to Helsingor, he sails for home to
rejoin his wife and babes. Conscious of having received mani-
fold impressions, he invites these to take tangible form from
his dreams. Here, upon a background of reality, the novelist
has portrayed events fictitious though psychologically plaus-
ible. Shakespeare stands out a confirmed individualist, intox-
icated with art, and rebellious to moral restraints. Yet it
should be noted that Daudet has unveiled the Shakespeare of
Venus and Adonis rather than the Shakespeare of the nature
comedies and tragedies, who, if never didactic, exhibits again
and again, with sanity and insight, the primacy of the life of
the spirit over that of the senses. The Frenchman's portrait
of the English poet is, therefore, a misrepresentation for which
we may hold Taine chiefly responsible.
But Daudet, who was here a virtuoso of the imagination,
became ere long something more serious. Indeed, the out-
standing feature of Sebastien Gouves (1899), Les Deux
Etreintes (1900), La Lutte (1907), Le Partage de I'Enfant
(1905), La Fausse fitoile (1913), is the necessity, for society as
for the individual, of moral convictions. The author affirms
that without Christian ideals the national life becomes cor-
rupt, institutions decay, and society disintegrates. Of an an-
164 LEON DAUDET [Nov.,
archist in one of his novels he speaks as "a half -corpse insen-
sible to most human sentiments. He, like many others, had
lacked baptism, the nightly prayer, self-examination, the cate-
chism, and the First Communion. He was cut off from the
divine spark, and that for several generations, heredity thus
increasing the evil."
Daudet implies that children will go wrong if deprived of
moral training. Thus in Sebastien Gouves, he presents the
story of a savant who strives to perfect a discovery that will
yield a dowry worthy of his daughter. Gouves is threatened
with defeat by his employer, a Jewish charlatan seeking to
exploit him for his own glory. (Marianne, who adores her
father, purchases his triumph at the price of her virtue. Too
late, she realizes that fame cannot atone for her father's grief.
Marianne's deficiency arises from the prevailing skep-
ticism.
Similar in theme is Les Deux fitreintes, the story of a phil-
osopher's daughter, who with less excuse strays from the path
of virtue. Henriette proves unfaithful to her fiance merely
because another suitor seems more attractive. In her remorse,
she blames her father and godfather, who have developed her
intelligence at the expense of her sensibility. Brought up with-
out religion, she has fallen a victim to her father's theories
regarding an heroic and irresistible passion. How she envies
the serene lives of nuns! Can faith be had for the asking?
Her mind, warped by philosophy, is no longer receptive.
In his novel, La Lutte, Daudet emphasizes the healing
virtue of faith. Starting from the principle enunciated by a
physician (not a Morticole), that in disease believers exhibit
greater power of resistance than others, he depicts with im-
pressive realism the struggle of a patient seemingly doomed
yet cured by faith and love. Pierre Guisanne, stricken with
tuberculosis, in seeking relief from his hemorrhages, has be-
come addicted to opium. When his case appears hopeless, the
love of a devout girl inspires him with courage to take drastic
treatment. The drug habit once broken, Pierre enters Father
Ruitor's sanitorium in the French Alps, where he is healed in
soul as well as body. The devoted attention of Blanche, and
the saintly life of Father Ruitor, reveal to him a new world.
He learns that faith trebles the power of the will.
Leon Daudet, like Balzac, Le Play, Bourget, and a score of
1920.] LEON DAUDET 165
contemporary French writers, regards the family, not the in-
dividual, as the social unit. Hence his solicitude for the integ-
rity of the family in the interest of the child. In Le Partage de
I'Enfant, he condemns parents who seek divorce for reasons of
incompatibility, self -gratification, revenge, or what not, at the
expense of their children. As Eugene Brieux has expressed it,
"A child's future is well worth a mother's happiness." Dau-
det's little hero, after the divorce of his parents, which has
been opposed by his father, is torn between two factions that
father's family, descended from traditional Catholic stock, and
his mother's relatives, radical skeptics. To embitter his lot,
Olivier's foolish mother marries again, imposing upon him and
upon herself a stern master, who exiles him to England.
Eventually the imperious stepfather fails in his attempts to
discover a cure for cancer, Olivier's father acquires fame as
an explorer, and Olivier weds Dominique, a companion of his
childhood. Though his trials are ended, he thinks it his duty to
warn others.
In La Fausse fitoile (1913), Daudet considers the stifling
influence of French democracy upon true leaders. His hero,
returning after distinguished service as governor of Madagas-
car, sets France ablaze with patriotic zeal. He regards as anti-
French those who, under whatever disguise, oppose the na-
tional Catholic temperament. He sees the country as a giant,
held to earth by the intrigues of her Lilliputian politicians.
Thus the Masonic cabinet ministers, fearing a "dictator," take
measures to sap Auboir's popularity. Not being sure of suc-
ceeding in a coup d'etat, he hesitates, letting the psychological
moment pass, yet still hoping to bribe Parliament into accept-
ance of his leadership. His scheme fails, however, when a
Jew who has promised him financial assistance deserts. Says
the author: "The stifling of personalities of first magnitude is
one of the inherent traits of egalitarian democracy."
Leon Daudet views social conditions with broad vision.
As a partisan of ancient France, he assails modern material-
ism, with its discontented declasses and deracines, its strikers
and anarchists, each pulling against all, in "beautiful dis-
order." Individualism he perceives to be as destructive to the
social cell as to the organism. His ideas regarding "free" love
and communism are set forth in Les Primaires (1906) and Le
Lit de Procuste (1912) . The adepts of these delusions discover
166 LEON DAUDET [Nov.,
that they are victims of over-weening presumption. Man
cannot dispense with the guidance of social institutions; and
these, to keep vigorous, should be based on ideals that tran-
scend the visible world. Declares Daudet: "Man cannot live
by his mind and rise without an ideal. This ideal should be
high enough to strive for, clear enough for all to see, simple
enough for each to feel and love. Believers are those "who
have established their idealism, the position of the star which
shall guide them. There is nothing in this precaution to pre-
vent their becoming savants." For shortsighted, "primary"
politicians, whose science is limited to the formulas of school
manuals, Daudet evinces scorn tempered with pity. Yet he
realizes the dangerous influence of this sort of demagogue in
our restless democracies. Indeed, it was just this type of
legislator the veterinarian, the doctor without patients, the
lawyer without clients that voted the confiscation of Church
property, fondly expecting to see the public coffers filled at
the expense of "conspiring enemies."
Daudet, as a patriot, could not view without concern the
disintegration of his country during the two decades prior to
1914. He grew irate at the enervating reign of Socialism, dil-
ettantism, and cosmopolitanism. In his political novel Le
Pays des Parlementeurs (1901), he denounced the Jews and
the Freemasons for their hostility to Army and Church, and
years before the outbreak of the War, pointed to their mach-
inations as occupants of high office under the pacifist regime,
which seemed deliberately to place France at the mercy of
Germany. As the enemy's tactics of "peaceful penetration"
made rapid strides, Daudet collected evidence, much of which
he published in L' Action Francaise. But the Government and
the press, except for the Rap pel, either paid no attention to his
disclosures, or else satirized them as part of a "dolls' war,"
in allusion to his denunciation of Germany's monopoly of the
toy market. In 1913, Daudet issued L'Auant-Guerre, a docu-
mented work adducing proof of the German peril. The time-
liness of this warning gave the book a sale of 50,000 copies
during the first two years of the War. Continuing his cam-
paign after the opening of hostilities, Daudet wrote Hors du
Joug Allemand, La V ermine du Monde (1916), an imaginative
novel, depicting the dreams of world-conquest that occupied
the Prussian war lord and his minions from 1912 to the Battle
1920.] LEON DAUDET 167
of the Marne, and La Guerre Totale (1917), baring the treason
of the Bonnet Rouge, which, subsidized by certain French Min-
isters, was sapping the Anglo-French alliance. Despite these
revelations, the Government took no serious measures to check
espionage. Accordingly, on September 30, 1917, Daudet ad-
dressed to President Poincare a letter, offering proof of Malvy's
treason. The consequences of this act he relates in Le Poig-
nard dans le Dos (1918), which recounts dispassionately the
story of the Malvy affair, and repeats his testimony before the
Senatorial Commission, the depositions before the High Court,
and the verdict. The result was the sentence of Malvy to
banishment for five years, on evidence that could not be re-
futed.
It remains for us to consider Daudet as thinker and as
critic. His first two books Germe et Poussiere (1891) and
Hoeres (1892) treat of philosophy. L'Astre Noir and Le
Voyage de Shakespeare suggest, as we have seen, a variety of
problems. His Alphonse Daudet contains in its last hundred
pages a stimulating dialogue upon imagination between the
author and his father. Sebastien Gouves displays his interest
in metaphysics. Les Idees en Marche develops many ideas in
its criticism of Kant, Voltaire, Rousseau, Tolstoy, and Ibsen.
La France en Alar me considers philosophy in relation to re-
ligion, and affords penetrating comment upon Joseph de
Maistre, Balzac, Renan, Rrunetiere, and Huysmans.
More distinctly philosophic than these works are L'Heredo
(1916) and its sequel, Le Monde des Images (1919), treatises on
the will in relation to heredity. Daudet purposes to show that,
contrary to the current conception, human personality tends
to attain full realization, and to escape servitude to heredity.
Thus, he seeks to establish the psychological and physiological
basis of moral responsibility, and to assert freedom of the will
against fatalism and determinism.
To be sure, our ancestral chains weigh heavily upon us;
but we can shake them off by developing the soi, or self, rather
than the moi, or ego. According to Daudet's distinction, "the
ego is the sum total, physical and moral, of the human indi-
vidual which includes hereditary tendencies. The self is the
essence of the human personality, disengaged from these ten-
dencies by their elimination, equilibrium or fusion, and con-
stituting a new and original being perceived as such by the
168 LEON DAUDET [Nov.,
conscience. The self is stuff of a single piece, indeed of a
single weaving." Daudet defines with illustrations the typical
heredo, or person exhibiting a preponderance of ego over self,
and the opposite of this type, the master of self. He concludes
that man is not a product of nature, but of a force superior to
nature and himself the Divine. In writing recently of
L'Heredo and Le Monde des Images, Marcel Proust declares
that Daudet, by this explanation of the "interior drama," has
established a point of departure for a new kind of literary
criticism.
Unquestionably, Daudet is one of the most interesting
French critics of the day. His five volumes of Souvenirs,
covering the period from 1880 to 1908, throw much light upon
contemporary France, sparing neither established reputations
nor the feelings of the writers, artists, and politicians he dis-
cusses. He has naturally during twenty-five years found occa-
sion to revise opinions held earlier. Thus, in Les Idees en
Marche (1896), he had justified the fame of Voltaire, spoken a
good word for Rousseau, thought Diderot, Kant, and Schopen-
hauer "admirable," and Tolstoy a "sublime prophet;" he had
praised such contemporaries as Frederic Masson, Hanotaux,
and Vogue, and recognized Ibsen as a master. Twenty years
later, he warns his countrymen against Voltaire, Rousseau,
Diderot, and against German metaphysics, "the scourge of his
generation." Tolstoy, too, except in his earlier realism, he
condemns. Nor, owing to his contempt for "cringing servility,"
does he now admire academicians like Vogue and Hanotaux.
Masson, the Napoleonic enthusiast, he stigmatizes as "a dull
brute." Ibsen's mystic symbolism he satirizes amusingly in
Les Kamtchatka. Though for a time respecting Zola as an
acquaintance, he early breaks away from him and from Renan,
branding the latter as a public malefactor.
Daudet keeps two classification drawers one for his likes,
and one for his dislikes. In the first he includes Mistral,
Father Janvier, the eminent pulpit orator, Dr. Potain, Brune-
tiere, Drumont, Clemenceau (since 1917), Charles Maurras,
Goppee, Lemaitre, Madame Adam, Deroulede, Paul Marguer-
itte, Paul Glaudel, Paul Bourget, Maurice Barres, Francois de
Curel, Gustave Geffrey, Rosny, Capus, Donnay, Colonel March-
and, and Marshal Foch. Soldiers worthy of their calling he
puts in a class by themselves, believing that those whose pro-
1920.] LEON DAUDET 169
fession it is to defend the country and to preserve its language
and intellectual life as well as its soil are superior even to
philosophers, savants, and artists. He thinks Mistral a poet
equal to Victor Hugo, and ranks Edouard Drumont as polemist
with Veuillot. He reveres the memory of Madame Juliette
Adam, and holds dear Coppee and Jules Lemaitre since the
Dreyfus affair. Paul Glaudel, his classmate, he considers the
greatest French poet of today, Curel the leading dramatist,
and Charles Maurras the chief statesman. Though unable to
agree with Jeanne Hugo, Daudet remains an ardent admirer
of her brother, Georges.
Daudet's drawer of dislikes includes, besides Zola and the
writers mentioned with Voltaire, such contemporaries as
Gatulle Mendes, Sardou, Rostand, Paul Adam, Romain Rol-
land, d'Avenel, Porto-Riche, Bernstein, Doumic, Aristide
Briand, Paul Painleve, Dreyfus, Caillaux, Malvy, the "Morti-
coles," and generally the Freemasons and Jews. In Le Lit de
Procuste, which satirizes Flaubert and the devotees of art for
art, Daudet declares that "art is not its own end." He asks of
a national literature that it elevate, exalt, and augment. Flau-
bert's favorite disciple, Maupassant, reveals, says Daudet,
three distinct personages, an excellent writer, an imbecile, and
an invalid. They have evolved separately, the third absorbing
the other two.
It will be evident from this consideration of Daudet's art
that he is decidedly versatile. He succeeds equally well in
each of his different manners critical, patriotic, moral, and
imaginative. In sensibility, his biography of his father natur-
ally excels, but Le Cceur et L' Absence, his romance composed
during the War, exhibits the same tendency, especially in its
portrayal of youth, his favorite theme.
As to the man himself, he is quiet and domestic in his
tastes. Abhorring society, he enjoys the fireside and the com-
pany of his three children and his wife, who writes under the
name "Pampille." He has traveled widely, but prefers to
spend his summers in Touraine. He is a prominent member of
the Goncourt Academy and a deputy in Parliament. During
the festivities in honor of Joan of Arc last May, no citizen was
more generally acclaimed. This is because Leon Daudet
represents loyalty to God and country. Like Montalembert,
Veuillot, and Brunetiere, he is a sentinel of the Church, who
170 MARTYRDOM [Nov.,
protests against the anti-clerical assumption that Catholicism
is opposed to progress and science. He agrees with Pasteur
that between science and religion there need be no conflict.
As a partisan of stable government, he seeks the restoration of
the family, of society, and of the State, opposing the disintegra-
tion which, for two decades before the War, had threatened
ruin to his country. Every well-wisher of fair France will
follow with interest Daudet's participation in her literary,
social, and political life. He is distinctly a patriot of the hour.
MARTYRDOM.
BY HARRY LEE.
How can the bells of Shandon ring
High in their windy tower swaying
Surely their golden throats are mute,
Hushed as the soul of Erin, praying.
How can the river Lee be glad,
Between her blooming banks on-sweeping,
Or have but sorrow in her song
With all the world for Erin weeping.
Again the bells above the Lee
Shall peal, all else save honor scorning,
Shall tell the glory of the one
Whose Lent-long night gave Erin morning.
THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN.
BY HERBERT LUCAS, S.J.
I.
PRE-TRAGTARIAN DAYS.
O much has been written concerning the most il-
lustrious of the Oxford converts of the middle of
the nineteenth century, John Henry (afterwards
Cardinal) Newman, that it might well seem
superfluous to add yet another stone or pebble to
his cairn of honor and remembrance. Yet by reason of the
shortness of men's memory in a restless and pushful age, and
because the late Mr. Wilfrid Ward's monumental biography is
not within the reach of every purse, and also on occasion of
the recent publication of the same writer's Last Lectures on
Newman, and of the Correspondence of J. H. Newman with
J. Keble and Others, 1 it may be not altogether superfluous to
tell over again, for the benefit of American readers, some por-
tion at least of a story which, though old, is ever new in its
significance for a later generation. And it may be lawful to
quote at the outset, in a slightly revised form, some words
written a good many years ago on occasion of the appearance
of a monograph on Newman by Dr. (now Monsignor) William
Barry.
"If one might sum up the whole influence of Newman in
a single phrase, it may be said that it was his special mission to
wake up his countrymen, Anglicans in the first instance, but in
a measure Catholics also, either from a deep and heavy slum-
ber, or in the case of those who were already in part
awakened to the recognition of possibilities and the practical
acceptance of ideals heretofore unthought of or forgotten. To
rouse men to wakefulness and compel their attention atten-
tion not to himself, but to the truths which it was his to utter;
to set men thinking and to bring home to them the supreme
importance of thinking aright on religious questions in view of
the immeasurable momentousness of the issues involved, this,
1 Both published by Longmans, Green & Co. (London).
172 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Nov.,
rather than in any direct way to stir men to action, may be
said to have been Newman's specific work." 2
In the present article I shall be concerned with Newman's
life as an Anglican, from the day, in 1816, of which he writes
that, "when I was a boy of fifteen and living a life of sin, with
a very dark conscience and a very profane spirit, God merci-
fully touched my heart," 3 and he "fell under the influences of a
definite Greed which, through God's mercy, have never been
effaced or obscured," 4 influences that were to be the main-
springs of his life, down to the beginning of the Tractarian
Movement in 1833. 5
During the years of his later boyhood and early youth,
from 1816 to 1822, a period which covers the first years of his
life at Oxford, Newman's religious beliefs took, under the in-
fluence of the writings of Thomas Scott of Aston Sandford, a
strongly evangelical cast. The Evangelicals were a school or
party whose members laid great stress on what they called
"vital religion," meaning thereby something which partly
corresponded to what Catholics understand by the "interior
life," though in other respects their views were very un-Cath-
olic. For they practically, if not always in so many words,
held to the notion of an invisible Church, the Church of the
elect, whose members might differ almost indefinitely as to
matters of belief, provided that they held, and held "vitally,"
certain fundamental truths, the number and nature of which
it is not easy to determine. In Newman's own case the doc-
trine of the Holy Trinity, which Scott's writings "had planted
deep in his mind," was undoubtedly one of these truths. "It
seems likely enough," writes the editor of the Correspondence
above referred to, that these same writings "helped to pre-
serve Newman from the subjectivism in religion, the tendency
to dwell upon one's own feelings and emotions, . . . instead
of on the objective truths of Revelation, which was one of the
weak sides of much that was really admirable in Evangelical
piety." 6 But the very danger which he had run made him all
a Lucas, In the Morning of Life, p. 191. "Your published Parochial Sermons,"
writes a correspondent in 1845, "have been, under God, the means of rousing me from
spiritual sleep." (Correspondence, p. 300.)
3 Newman to Keble (June 8, 1844) in Correspondence, p. 314.
4 Apologia, p. 5. References are to Longmans' standard edition of Newman's
works, except where some other is specified.
5 Needless to say that Newman's self-depreciatory words must not be too closely
pressed. They are those of a man in a state of great mental anxiety, writing, in
confidence, to a very intimate friend. B Correspondence, p. 112.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 173
the more earnestly solicitous, in his later Anglican days, to
preserve others from it. Hence, for instance, the remarkable
lecture entitled "Preaching the Gospel," which is the last of
the series on "Justification." 7
A graphic picture of an earnest Evangelical is given in
Newman's Loss and Gain, in the person of Freeborn. "Free-
born," he says, told the company of undergraduates gathered
round his breakfast table that he "thought theology itself a
mistake, as substituting worthless intellectual notions for the
vital truths of religion; so that it really was to him inconceiv-
able that real religion should depend (either) on metaphysical
distinctions or (on) outward observances. It was the great
and evil tendency of the human mind to interpose between
itself and its Creator some self-invented mediator, and it did
not matter at all whether that human device was a rite, or a
creed, or a form of prayer, or good works, or communion with
particular churches all were but 'flattering unctions to the
soul,' if they were considered necessary; the only safe way of
using them was to use them with the feeling that you might
dispense with them; that none of them went to the root of
the matter, for that faith, that is a firm belief that God had
forgiven you, was the one thing needful; that when that one
thing was present everything else was superfluous; that when it
was wanting, nothing else availed. A person might be any-
thing in profession, an Arminian, a Calvinist, an Episcopalian,
a Swedenborgian, a Unitarian, nay even a Papist, yet be in a
state of salvation." 8
Now it is not, of course, to be supposed that all the
Evangelicals thought exactly alike. Among them, as in every
other Protestant sect, school, or party, the inevitable outcome
of the exercise of private judgment on matters which are
beyond the reach of man's limited reason was such a diversity
T "The true preaching of the Gospel Is to preach Christ. But the fashion of the
day has been, instead of this, to attempt to convert by insisting on conversion; . . .
to tell them to take care they look at Christ, instead of simply holding up Christ;
to tell them to have faith rather than to supply the Object; to tell them to work up
their minds, instead of impressing on them the thought of Him Who can lovingly
work in them; to bid them be sure that their faith is justifying, that it is not dead,
formal, self-righteous, or merely moral, instead of glorifying Him, Whose image,
fully delineated, destroys deadness, formality, and self-righteousness; to rely on
words, vehemence, eloquence, and the like, rather than to aim at conveying the one
great idea, whether in words or not." (Justification, ed. 1840, p. 370.)
* Loss and Gain, pp. 38, 39 (highly abridged). In his comprehensive tolerance
Freeborn went, I think, beyond what the average Evangelical, or he himself, "in his
sober moments, would have approved."
174 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Nov.,
of views that opinions might almost be counted by heads quot
capita, tot sententix; a feature of this particular party which
is amusingly illustrated in another passage occurring in Loss
and Gain, which is too long to be given here. But the para-
graph quoted may be taken as sufficiently indicating the gen-
eral trend and the logical and practical outcome of the Evan-
gelical movement.
But even if we consider Evangelicalism in the extreme
form in which it is presented by Freeborn, it must be acknowl-
edged that the opinions expressed by him contain an element
of truth, thickly encrusted, however, in an outward husk of
fallacy. Thus, it is perfectly true that a man who in good
faith holds erroneous doctrines may yet be pleasing to God,
provided that he earnestly strives to do God's will as he under-
stands it, and is genuinely penitent for his sins; and it is also
true that outward profession and practice are not of themselves
sufficient for salvation. But every Catholic knows very well
that it is altogether misleading to say that it does not matter
what a man believes, if (as is the case) God has made known
His will that men should seek the truth in religious matters,
and hold fast to the truth the definite or dogmatic truth of
revealed religion when they have found it. And it is no less
misleading to say that ecclesiastical organization, sacraments,
rites and ceremonies are useless, even though they are not
in themselves all-sufficient. This Newman came to see very
clearly even in his Anglican days, as the following words
plainly attest: "Superstition is the substitution of human for
divine means of approaching God. Before He has spoken, it
is religious to approach Him in what seems the most accept-
able way; but the same principle which leads a pious mind to
devise ordinances, where none are given, will lead it, under a
revelation, to adhere to what are given. He Who made the
creature, gives it its uses; . . . things are what He makes
them, and we must not 'make to ourselves,' lest we make
idols." 9 And it may be safely said that Newman's Evangelical-
ism never carried him to the length of despising dogma,
though his beliefs were as yet far from being what they after-
wards became in his Tractarian days. What was good in
Evangelicalism, namely its deep piety, he assimilated, but
from its illusory subjectivism, which so easily degenerates
9 Justification, p. 301. See also what he says of creeds on pp. 299, 300.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 175
into a more cynical and worldly form of latitudinarianism, he
happily kept himself free.
And something of the same kind may be said of the Cal-
vinism with which, as he himself has told us, his mind was at
this time more than tinged. 10 "It is a pity," writes the editor
of the Correspondence, "that he did not state which among
the doctrines of Calvinism were most eagerly taken up by
him; but the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination was almost
certainly not one of them. 11 . . . The doctrines, apart from
those common to all or to nearly all Christians, which really
seem to have molded the hearts and minds of those of the
Evangelicals who were most stanch in their Calvinism, were:
(1) Total depravity that is, the belief that human nature was
entirely corrupted by the Fall; (2) that justification is the
imputing of righteousness, not the bestowal of it. Of these
doctrines the former kept its hold upon Newman much longer
than the latter." 12 But let us hear Newman himself. "Cal-
vinists," he says, "make a sharp separation between the elect
and the world," a distinction which partly corresponds with
that which Catholics make between those who are and those
who are not in the state of grace; but "Calvinists go on to say
as I understand them that the justified are conscious of
their justification, and that the regenerate cannot fall away.
Catholics, on the other hand, hold that there are different
degrees of justification, that there is a great difference in point
of gravity between sin and sin, that there is the possibility and
the danger of falling away, and that there is no certain knowl-
edge given to any one that he is simply in a state of grace, and
much less that he is to persevere to the end." 13
It should be added that it was in his "Evangelical" period
that Newman imbibed, chiefly from John Newton's Disserta-
tion on the Prophecies, his strong and deeply rooted senti-
ments of hostility to "the Romish Church," the Church which
during long years he regarded as Antichrist, and its supreme
pastor, the Pope, as "the Man of Sin." He has himself told us
that even so late as 1843 these anti-Roman prejudices, intel-
10 Apologia, p. 4 ff,
n "While I considered myself predestined to salvation I thought others simply
passed over, not predestined to eternal death. I thought only of the mercy to
myself." This belief he "retained to the age of twenty-one, when it gradually faded
away."
12 Correspondence, pp. 116, 117. (I have ventured to transpose a few words for
the sake of brevity.) Apologia, p. 6 (slightly abridged).
176 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Nov.,
lectually rejected, still haunted him as a kind of bugbear, "a
sort of false conscience," not yet fully exorcised. 14
From the somewhat rudimentary dogmatic position of his
Evangelical days Newman gradually advanced towards a fuller
apprehension of revealed truth; and the general nature and
trend of the change, rather than its actual process, are aptly
described in Loss and Gain, a book which is, however, in no
sense autobiographical in its details. "Some persons," he
writes, "fidget at intellectual difficulties, and, successfully or
not, are ever trying to solve them. Charles (Reding) was of a
different cast of temper; a new idea was not lost on him, but
it did not distress him, if it was obscure, or (if it) conflicted
with his habitual view of things. He let it work its way and
find its place, and shape itself within him, by the slow spon-
taneous action of the mind. Yet perplexity is not in itself a
pleasant state; and he would have hastened its removal, had
he been able. . . .
"Reding had now come, ... to one or two conclusions,
not very novel, but very important : first, that there are a great
many opinions in the world on the most momentous subjects;
secondly, that not all are equally true; thirdly, that it is a duty
to hold true opinions; and fourthly, that it is uncommonly
difficult to get hold of them." He was no longer satisfied with
his earlier determination "to like what was good in every one,"
without reference to his opinions, but felt it a duty to seek
the truth among the various and conflicting opinions which he
heard expressed on all sides. 15
So much for Charles Reding in Newman's story. As re-
gards himself he tells us how "in 1822, I came under very
different influences from those to which I had hitherto been
subjected." 16 His new masters, roughly speaking, from 1822
till 1827, were Dr. Hawkins, Provost of Oriel, and Dr. Whately
(afterwards Protestant Archbishop of Dublin), Principal of
St. Alban's Hall. Hawkins, he says, taught him habits of
scholarly accuracy, and insisted much on tradition as a source
and test of doctrine. Whately, on the other hand, though he
helped him to overcome his natural shyness and timidity, and,
as he says, "to see with my own eyes and walk with my own
feet," also guided him in a direction from which he was
afterwards to recoil with aversion. "To him," says Monsignor
14 Apologia, p. 7. 13 Loss and Gain, pp. 65, 66. 18 Apologia, p. 8.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 177
Barry, "we must partly ascribe it that in 1825-27 Newman
'was drifting in the direction of the Liberalism of the day,'
was 'beginning to prefer intellectual excellence to moral,' was
using 'flippant language against the Fathers,' and imbibing
the skeptical spirit of Middleton in regard to the early church
miracles." 17
The death of a dearly loved sister, an attack of illness,
and the newly-acquired friendship of Keble and Hurrell
Froude, combined, in 1827, to check this very undesirable
tendency, and, as he says, to awaken him out of his dream.
Froude, in particular, "had a deep devotion to the Real Pres-
ence, in which he had a firm faith;" he "fixed deep in me the
idea of devotion to the Blessed Virgin;" and although in this
respect he did not carry Newman with him, "he professed
openly his admiration of the Church of Rome," and "could not
believe that I really held the Roman Church to be anti-
Christian." 18
But more lasting and far-reaching than any of these in-
fluences was the deep impression that was made on New-
man's mind by that close study of the early Fathers of the
Church, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin, Irenseus,
Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius, Basil, the Gregories, Au-
gustine, and Chrysostom, of which the first fruits are to be
found in his earliest published work, The Arians of the Fourth
Century (1832) , 19
Speaking very generally, but with substantial truth, it may
he said that the study of the Fathers convinced Newman and
many of his contemporaries that the current Anglican theology
fell far short of the fullness of the Catholic faith as they then
began to understand it; though they still held fast to the belief
that "Romanists" went far beyond the Catholicism of the
primitive Church. They were therefore to be regarded as at
least in this sense anti- Christian, that they held, as matters of
faith, a number of doctrines which were, in Newman's eyes,
mischievous corruptions of the genuine Apostolic tradition. 20
It was immediately after the completion of his work on
the Arians that, wearied with the strenuous and exhausting
"Barry, /. H. Cardinal Newman (C. T. S.), p. 5.
18 Apologia, pp. 17, 23 ff. Ibid., p. 25 ff.
M Writing to Mr. T. W. Allies in 1842, Newman avers that his early study of the
Fathers had been in great measure a waste of time ("a great deal of pains ... all
which I count now almost wasted"), because he "did not understand what was in
them" or "what I was to look for" (Correspondence, p. 196).
VOL. cxn. 12
178 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Nov.,
labor which it had involved, he undertook with Hurrell Froude
that voyage round the Mediterranean, which marks the term-
ination of what he himself regarded as the first stage of his
Anglican life. "The first four chapters" of the Apologia, says
the editor of the Correspondence, "correspond with four
markedly distinct stages in the history of the author's Anglican
career," the crucial dates being, respectively, 1833, 1839, 1841,
1845. "During the first, at least from the time when he came to
Oxford, the ideas which inspired the Movement of 1833 were
being planted and were ripening in his mind. During the
second they are in full vigor. During the third they are decay-
ing. In the fourth they are practically dead. Not as a piece of
cheap rhetoric, but as a serviceable peg for the memory, one
might liken these four stages to the four seasons of the year." 21
The voyage which has been mentioned is memorable not
only for the fact that during it he wrote nearly all the poems
included in the volume called Verses on Various Occasions
(with the exception, of course, of The Dream of Gerontius),
but also because in the course of it he became conscious, to a
degree not previously experienced, of the conviction that God
had charged him with a mission, the nature of which he did
not, as yet, clearly apprehend. Of this time he writes: "I
began to think I had a mission. When we took leave of Mon-
signor Wiseman, he had courteously expressed a wish that we
might make a second visit to Rome. I said with great gravity,
'We have a work to do in England.' I went down to Sicily
and the presentiment grew stronger." 22 "It seemed as if some
one were battling against me, and the idea had long been in
my mind, though I cannot say when it came on, that my enemy
was attempting to destroy me ... I was willful," in parting
from Froude and going to Sicily alone, "and neglected warn-
ings from that time everything went wrong. As I lay ill at
Leonforte ... I felt this strongly. My servant thought I was
dying but I expected to recover, and kept saying, as giving
the reason, 'I have not sinned against light.' I had the fullest
persuasion that I should recover, and think I then gave as the
reason that some work was in store for me." 23 "I was aching
to go home, yet for want of a vessel I was kept at Palermo for
21 Correspondence, p. 165. 22 Apologia, p. 34.
32 Newman to Keble, June 8, 1844, in Correspondence, p. 313. Cf. "My illness in
Sicily," a detailed account of his experiences, printed in Letters, etc., edited by A.
Mozley, ed. 1891, p. 416.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 179
three weeks ... At last I got off in an orange boat, bound for
Marseilles. We were becalmed a whole week in the Straits of
Bonifacio. Then it was that I wrote the lines 'Lead, Kindly
Light,' which have since become well known." 24 He arrived
in England on Tuesday, July 9th. "The following Sunday,
July 14th, Mr. Keble preached the Assize Sermon in the Uni-
versity pulpit. It was preached under the title of 'National
Apostasy.' I have ever considered and kept this day, as the
start of the religious movement of 1833." 25
As to the nature of the "mission" which Newman con-
ceived himself to have, and of the work which he felt called
upon to do, some indication of it may perhaps be found in a
note written in the last year of his life, in which he says:
"Very early in life I was troubled with the prospect of an in-
tellectual movement against religion so special as to have a
claim upon the attention of all educated Christians." And (at
what previous date I know not) he told his friends that he
considered it his special mission to endeavor to counteract
this movement. 26
That this was to be done by means of a revival, within the
Church of England, of the true Catholic faith as he then in-
adequately understood it, was of course his conviction at the
time of his illness in Sicily. Yet how far from clear to him
was the prospect even of the immediate future, and at the
same time how unshaken was his trust in Him of Whom he
writes that, from the date of his conversion in boyhood, "I
have not forsaken Him, . . . nor He me," 27 is plain from the
words of the most pathetic of all his poems:
Keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see
The distant scene, one step enough for me . . .
Lead Thou me on. . .
So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen and crag and torrent till
The night is gone.
"Apologia, p. 35. K Ibid. 28 W. Ward, Last Lectures, p. 23.
27 Newman to Keble, in Correspondence, I. c. Needless to say that Newman did
not "experience conversion" in the conventional Evangelical form. But he did (at
the age of fifteen) turn to God from a not unsinful life, which is true "conversion."
EMPARADISED.
BY PATRICK COLEMAN.
WHEN from a life divinely spent
In saintly service of her kind,
Grown tired of earth at length, she went
Sweet rest with God to find,
I think the shining Cherubim,
About the throne of Christ who be,
Dashed from their harps a pealing hymn
For joy her face to see.
I think the seven-fold great choirs
Before God's throne who minister
Smote in accord their dulcet lyres
Meet praise to render her.
But, most of all, the Virgins bright,
By earthly passion undefiled,
Were troubled with a deep delight
And at her coming smiled.
Nay, more, I think from her high seat,
Set next her Son's in state and bliss,
Our Lady Mary rose to greet
Her with a mother's kiss.
For never brighter lilies grew
In God's green heavenly parterres,
Nor bore their petals brighter dew
Than that bright soul of hers.
But while in Heaven she maketh glad
Our Lord's angelic retinue,
The place on earth is very sad
That once her presence knew.
1920.] EMPARADISED 181
The chambers and the rooms she filled
With joy's celestial atmosphere
Are lonely, now her voice is stilled
And she no more is there.
Kindness and charity and mirth
Were unto her the common things
Whereof she freely gave on earth
From love's exhaustless springs.
As a calm river, deep and strong,
With verdure brightens field and plain,
So flowed her bounteous life along
With blessings in its train.
Dear saint! if earth denied her praise
She never knew the need thereof,
Content to fill her fragrant days
With flowers of truth and love.
And though men noted not, be sure
God marked her every gracious deed,
And from His hand her spirit pure
Hath won immortal meed.
So, kneeling at her grave, I feel
That, as she nobly gave of love,
So God will nobly with her deal
In His bright home above;
In that far home to which she went,
When from sad earth she found release,
Will clothe her round with sweet content
And crown her with His peace.
HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR.
BY BROTHER LEO.
HE roads of destiny, however meandering, lead to
definite goals. The father of the eminent littera-
teur, M. Paul Bourget, maintained a rigidly
scientific atmosphere in the family library, and
poets, play writers and such gentry had no place
on his shelves. But two enormous volumes a French transla-
tion of Shakespeare's dramas chanced to lie about the Bour-
get dining-room and filled the practical, if unaesthetic, office
of propping up the little Paul as he sat at table. The boy came
in time to peep between the massive covers and to revel in the
world of truth and beauty there opened to his mind; and many
years later, when he had achieved in French literature a dis-
tinguished place and name, the novelist spoke reverently of his
debt to Shakespeare, and styled him "the great initiator."
"The great initiator." M. Bourget is a master of the apt
and well turned phrase, and in this instance he has contributed
to an illuminating classification of men who write books.
Leaving aside the drivelers, the sensationalists, the light-
weights and the money-grubbers, we might divide all men who
make books into four classes. They are the creators, the
dry-as-dust scholars, the dilettanti, and the initiators. In
specific cases some of the four classes may overlap, and often
putting an author in his place may prove a task puzzling and
unsatisfying; but at least the classification will help some of us
to a more discriminating outlook, which is the purpose of sane
classification.
The creator in literature needs no gloss. A maker is he,
a poet in the true and sacred sense of the word, a shaper of
things of beauty and of visions of truth. He dwells on the
heights, and, in the suggestive words of Matthew Arnold, sees
life steadily and sees it whole. In this company stand the
writers supremely great Homer and Dante, Virgil and Goethe,
Calder6n and Gorneille; and, of course, though he may have
performed a divergent function in the development of M.
Bourget here stands, and preeminently, Shakespeare.
1920.] HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR 183
The dry-as-dust scholar is a necessary, or at least an inevit-
able, parasite. He battens on great men and great books, great
events and great ideas. In literature he is the erudite com-
mentator. In philosophy he is the finical splitter of hairs; the
woods, or, more accurately, the universities, were full of him
during the decline of Scholasticism, and he throve mightily
in Germany between Kant and the Great War. In history he
is the bulging-browed and be-spectacled pursuer of original
and uninspiring research. He is given to what he calls spe-
cialization, and in ponderous reviews and in university halls
he seeks to mold the young and the trusting in his own image
and likeness. I need give here no list of representative dry-as-
dust scholars because, in the first place, it is bad form to ex-
ploit one's familiars, and in the second place, because the dry-
as-dust scholar is easily and unfailingly recognized by three
marks: He loves books rather than life, he unearths facts
mostly unimportant if true, and by means of unerring logic he
arrives at preposterous conclusions. The embryo dry-as-dust
scholar may be studied at leisure in the vast majority of doc-
toral dissertations.
The dilettante, the third type of book maker, may be char-
acterized in two words : He is not dry-as-dust, and he is not a
scholar. He is not infrequently the possessor of a winsome
disposition, he commonly leads a model family life; and if
he happens to know how to speak in public he delivers sooth-
ing popular lectures. He has much enthusiasm and little bal-
last. His spirit, for good or for ill, is the amateur spirit. He
knows no one thing thoroughly and knows the inter-relations
of many things but imperfectly. For generalities and "glitter-
alities" he has an abiding flair. He finds it needful to trim his
sails to the wind of every vogue and is, according to circum-
stances, romanticist or realist, higher critic or impressionist,
rhymster or vers librist a la mode. (Just now, for instance, he
cannot write a page without dragging in the word psychology.)
And he is deeply wounded if accused of being out of date.
Much might be said concerning the initiator, our fourth
type of writer, for he has something in common with each of
the other three-* the vision of the creator, the mechanical skin
of the dry-as-dust scholar, the sweetness and light of the dilet-
tante. But his distinguishing trait is his momentum. His en-
thusiasm is contagious and wholesome because it is born of
184 HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR [Nov.,
genuine knowledge; he gives delight else why write books?
but it is a delight that urges the reader to personal effort; and
we think of him and this, really, is the supreme test not
primarily as a sower of words or a thinker of thoughts, a
herder of facts or a dreamer of dreams. We think of him,
first and foremost, as a man.
Robert Louis Stevenson, a little before his death, voiced a
mood of regret that he had not done more with his life than
weave romances, and he could not but think "of the Renais-
sance fellows and their all-around human sufficiency, and com-
pare it with the ineffable smallness of the field in which we
labor and in which we do so little." 1 The multiform literary
achievement of Mr. Hilaire Belloc would have warmed the
cockles of the novelist's heart. Mr. Belloc's activity began
about the time of Stevenson's death in Samoa in 1894; and,
though still happily incomplete, it already evidences a copious
measure of the mobility of "the Renaissance fellows" so envied
of "Tusitala." During twenty-five years Mr. Belloc has written
children's books, fiction, biography, apologetics, politics, phil-
osophy, sociology, nonsense; and the end is not yet. He has
been soldier, traveler, student, journalist, statesman, historian,
essayist, artist, verse-maker, satirist, authority on Bayeux
tapestry and defender of the Faith. To compile an exhaustive
Belloc bibliography were a crucial test of scholarship and as-
siduity; I deferentially suggest it as an occupation for his own
distant declining years.
It is easy to dwell on the versatility of Mr. Belloc a sin
that cries to heaven in the view of the dry-as-dust scholar
but one fact of prime importance in this investigation of him
as an initiator stands out amid the welter of opinion that has
crystallized about his writings. It is simply this: That Mr.
Belloc knows how to write. "He is a satirist or nothing," says
one reader. "Nay," protests another, "he is a novelist, born
and made." "Poet, you mean," interrupts a third, for he is a
poet whether he retells the story of Tristan and Iseult or writes
about the Battle of the Marne." "Not a poet, but a strategist,"
chimes in a fourth. "He stands head and shoulders over the
writers on the Great War." "And over the writers on the
French Revolution, too," blurts out a fifth voice. "Consider his
study of Danton and "Nonsense! It is inspired nonsense,"
1 Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. Biographical Edition. Sidney Colvin, editor.
Vol. ii., p. 387.
1920.] HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR 185
insists another, "that he manages supremely well." "You
quite forget his travel sketches, I see," observes yet another
enthusiast, "and his little book on the River Thames." And
still another remonstrates: "And you forget that Belloc is the
only man writing English today who can do a preface you
really care to read." "Preface, indeed!" a last voice sneers.
"Don't forget that he had a hand in The Flying Inn" Mr.
Belloc's readers may not agree as to what he writes best; but
all agree that he can write.
To call Mr. Belloc a stylist might seem something of an
affront, for owing to the specialization theory and its con-
comitants to say that a man writes very well seems often to
imply that he has nothing important to write about, or else
that, so long as he succeeds in putting his words together
prettily, he is not concerned particularly with their message.
Unfortunately, in modern parlance style signifies the subor-
dination of matter to manner, the preference of how you say
a thing to what you say. A writer is often acclaimed for being
"deep," when he should be thrashed for being cloudy. As the
late Theodore Roosevelt well said : "Many learned people seem
to feel that the quality of readableness in a book is one which
warrants suspicion. Indeed, not a few learned people seem to
feel that the fact that a book is interesting is proof that it is
shallow. This is particularly apt to be the attitude of scien-
tific men. Very few great scientists have written interestingly,
and these few have usually felt apologetically about it. Yet
sooner or later the time will come when the mighty sweep of
modern scientific discovery will be placed by scientific men
with the gift of expression at the service of intelligent and
cultivated laymen. Such service will be inestimable." 2
In such service Mr. Hilaire Belloc is an initiator. With the
gift of expression he was abundantly dowered both by nature
and grace. There is French and there is English in his an-
cestry, with a bit of Irish to give relish to the blend and to im-
part to his writing a tang of irony, whimsical and evanescent.
A taste of French army life, a tour of the United States with
generous stays in Colorado, and in California, where he won
his bride, walking trips everywhere, reenforced by an Oxford
training all this helped to sharpen the point of his pen and
to widen his range of allusion and to fill him with a vivid
2 Address before the American Historical Association, Boston. The Dial, January
16, 1913.
186 H1LAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR [Nov.,
sense of the reality of things from the rural charm of Sussex
inns to the proportions of wine vats in the Napa Valley, from
the splendor of a sunrise over Castel-Nuovo to the Catholic
conception of European history.
Mr. Belloc's style, though far from eccentric, is highly
individual. In retrospect we may admire its sprightliness, its
force, its nervous quality, its richness of suggestion and its
sheer beauty of phrase, but only in retrospect; for our first
impression is not of style at all, but of the man. Whether we
take up one of those delicate idyls in Hills and the Sea, or a
metallic satire in Caliban's Guide to Letters, or that revealing
fifth chapter in his latest volume, Europe and the Faith, 3 we
are immediately and exclusively impressed, not with the man-
ner, but the matter of the work. Mr. Belloc seems superbly
impatient of the inadequacy of words to convey his thought;
he chooses them widely and arranges them admirably, but they
seem, to him and to us, but slight things and inconsequential,
so much has he to say and so straitened is the vehicle of
human speech. The momentum of the initiator is omni-
present in Mr. Belloc's style, robbing it at times even of the
crowning excellence of ease.
Graceful or rugged, it is a style that adapts itself most
potently to its theme. His drinking songs and Mr. Belloc is
very partial to drinking songs are smacking, throaty, stein-
clattering choruses with generations of conviviality echoing
through them. Another diction is his when he undertakes to
discuss the strategy of the Great War, a diction precise and
concise, alert and pictorial. In his studies of the French Revo-
lution he paints scenes with words, titantic canvases upon
which the leading human figures move and live. He can speak
reverently of the value of hearing daily Mass and disparag-
ingly of the cookery of Omaha, Nebraska. His style and this
is the ultimate ordeal of a really great style is as elastic as
his choice of themes and his range of moods.
So much for his practice; what of his theory? It is so
exceptional an achievement to discover some sort of book that
Mr. Belloc has not written, that I own to a glow of complacency
in observing that, to the best of my knowledge, he has not
sponsored an out-and-out treatise on the Art of Writing; but
it should be easy for him to repair the omission, for many
8 Just published by The Paulist Press, New York City.
1920.] H1LAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR 187
passages in his works bear, often with illuminating directness,
on the aims and technique and spirit of the writing craft.
Pass keys are they to the initiator's workshop.
Mr. Belloc, though not an advocate or a practitioner of
style for style's sake, is none the less a strong believer in the
power of words. Indeed, a hasty reading of certain sentences
in The French Revolution might lead us to infer that, but for
the literary style of a certain little tractate, Louis XVI. and
Marie Antoinette would not in either sense of the phrase
have lost their heads. Mr. Belloc refers to Rousseau's Contrat
Social, and maintains that here is one of the places in the his-
tory of letters where the writer is greater than the man: "It
was his choice of French words and the order in which he
arranged them, that gave him his enormous ascendancy over
a generation which was young when he was old." 4
The case of Rousseau is a particular instance falling under
a general rule which Mr. Belloc presents in the following
thought-charged paragraphs. I commend them to the con-
sideration of anybody who would investigate Mr. Belloc's
stature as a stylist, both as to practice and to preachment, and
who is curious to know why I have urged upon the author the
title of initiator :
Men are influenced by the word. Spoken or written, the
word is the organ of persuasion and, therefore, of moral
government.
Now, degraded as that term has become in our time,
there is no proper term to express the exact use of words
save the term "style."
What words we use, and in what order we put them, is
the whole matter of style; and a man desiring to influence
his fellowmen has therefore not one, but two co-related
instruments at his disposal. He cannot use one without the
other. These two instruments are his idea and his style.
"However powerful, native, sympathetic to his hearers'
mood or cogently provable by reference to new things, may
be a man's idea, he cannot persuade his fellowmen to it
if he have not words to express it. And he will persuade
them more and more in proportion as his words are well
chosen and in the right order, such order being determined
by the genius of the language whence they are drawn. 5
* The French Revolution (Home University Library), p. 32.
8 The French Revolution, p. 31.
188 HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR [Nov.,
That judicious tribute to the power of the written word
is an admission that manner in writing, that style, is some-
thing of deep moment, not in literature only, but in life. Yet
style to Mr. Belloc is never a thing of mere words, their choice
and grouping; since it is something that so dominantly in-
fluences life, it must have within itself an element funda-
mentally and aboundingly vital. And the root of it is a search-
ing, a passionate, almost a fanatical sincerity. To dally with
words is not to attain to style, for style is the outburst and
overflow of a grand passion for words and for the truth, real
or fancied, of which they are the symbols. He says elsewhere :
"There is no better engine for enduring fame than the expres-
sion of real convictions." 6
Mr. Belloc is not less an initiator into the art of study.
He realizes as keenly as any dry-as-dust scholar the importance
of garnering facts, though he might differ as to the importance
of individual facts and groups of facts; but he goes farther
and insists that the action of the intellect and the constructive
imagination upon the facts secured is essential to right read-
ing. And, while philosophical enough when philosophizing is
needed, he vents a refreshing irritation against those cloudy
thought- tinkers incapable, as Locke would say, of seeing
beyond the smoke of their own chimneys who confuse term-
inology with the reality of things. Mr. Belloc's Sailor voices
a wholesome vexation "with philosophers, who will snarl and
yowl and worry the clean world to no purpose, not even in-
tending a solution of any sort or a discovery, but only the
exercise of their own vain clapper and clang;" 7 and with be-
coming solemnity and decision the wise man of the sea bap-
tizes the wranglers with a mug of pragmatical English beer.
The fallacy inherent in the methods pursued by the "higher"
criticism methods which inhibit the normal action of the
mind and paralyze the true art of study Mr. Belloc exposes
and parodies in the thirty-fourth chapter of This and That and
the Other.
In frequent passages in his more ambitious works, Mr.
Belloc fits into pregnant phrases truths of life and thought, a
realization of which must precede and illuminate any well
ordered study of books and men. Thus, he finds the essence
of paganism old and new to be that "it believed man to be
The French Revolution, p. 137. T The Four Men: A Farrago, p. 265.
1920.] HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR 189
sufficient to himself and all belief to be mere opinions . . .
Today, outside the Catholic Church, there is no distinction
between opinion and faith nor any idea that man is other than
sufficient to himself." 8
Unlike the dry-as-dust scholar, who considers himself in-
capacitated by any form of general knowledge, and unlike the
dilettante, who flies minute research as a devout Christian
flies temptation, Mr. Belloc recognizes that true study is both
extensive and intensive, that its ideal is to know everything
about something and something about everything. He states
the case sufficiently by means of one of his arresting similes.
It is, he says, "like the contrast between the geological com-
position and the topographical contours of a countryside. To
understand the first we must bore and dig, we must take
numerous samples of soil and subject them to analysis, we
must make ourselves acquainted with detail in its utmost re-
cesses. But for the second, the more general our standpoint,
the wider our gaze, and the more comprehensive our judg-
ment, the more accurately do we grasp the knowledge we have
set out to seek." 9
The complete art of study is outlined in those three sen-
tences. The dry-as-dust scholar is a geologist, the dilettante
is a topographer; but the initiator unites the procedure of both.
His principles of the art of study, Mr. Belloc carries into
practice in his favorite field of history. Especially in his in-
vestigation of the high lights of the French Revolution, he
shows how, in his own words, the reconstruction of an epoch
of history "is like the growing of slow timber upon a sheltered
hill; you seem to have established an enduring thing. There
stand out at last a vigor and a plenitude that are to the unsub-
stantial origins of such a search what touch, sight and hearing
are to memory. Then, when reality is reached, it is easy to be
sure; and when so much doubt and contradiction are resolved
into a united history, the continual admission, for the sake of
exactitude, of what is petty, sordid or fatiguing does but make
more human, and therefore more certainly true, what had
before been lyrics or idols." 10
History to Mr. Belloc is not a bare record of the past,
however painstaking and meticulous; and it is not mere ro-
mancing about soldiers and statesmen, potentates and slaves.
8 Europe and the Faith, p. 33. 9 The French Revolution, p. 221.
10 Robespierre, a Study, Preface, p. 9.
190 H1LA1RE BELLOC, INITIATOR [Nov.,
But is a fusion, a blending of chronicle and drama. I suppose
the ideal history might be written by a man with the conscience
for detail possessed by a German-schooled professor and the
human intuition and lordly perspective evinced by the Shake-
speare of the English historical plays. In an age gone mad
over the geological method of history making, Mr. Belloc
rightly stresses the need of dramatic vision. Of Mirabeau, he
says: "A comprehension of this character is not a matter for
research nor for accumulated historical detail, but rather a
task for sympathy." 11
Sympathy is the keynote of his own historical studies. He
so steeps himself in his material that he comes to live and
breathe in the time he essays to depict, to know it, as it were,
not only in his brain but in his bones; and thanks to his
mastery of style, to .his facile dependence on adequate yet
familiar words, he is able to transmit to his readers much of
his own surpassing insight. This he does in his sketch of the
Dark Ages in Europe and the Faith, an epoch "of perpetual
marching, and of blows parrying here, thrusting there, upon all
the boundaries of isolated and besieged Christendom;" an
epoch when "the ideal of learning is repetitive and conserva-
tive: its passion is to hold what was, not to create or ex-
pand." 12 This he does in his miniatures of the leading char-
acters in The French Revolution, not least significantly in his
symbolic etching of Louis XVI.'s "protuberant and lethargic
eyes." This he does in his life of Robespierre, whom he shows
to have been really an ordinary man in everything save his
hectic devotion to a few basic ideas and his unwearied reitera-
tion in promulgating them. And this he does, most triumph-
antly of all, in his book on Marie Antoinette, a volume with
the delicate phrasing and minute character analysis of a novel
and the convincing documentation of an historical monograph.
It is in Marie Antoinette that he utters a truth, the con-
sciousness of which must be borne to every reader of his pages,
a truth that casts a white, though sometimes chilling, light
upon the story of the past: "A man, callous or wearied by
study, might still discover in the pursuit of history one last
delight: The presence in all its records of a superhuman
irony." 13 That superhuman irony is never wasted upon Mr.
11 The French Revolution, p. 57. 12 Europe and the Faith, p. 181.
13 Marie Antoinette, p. 391.
1920.] HILA1RE BELLOC, INITIATOR 191
Hilaire Belloc because, whether he writes an historical bro-
chure or an essay On Nothing, he is ever mindful of the un-
obtrusive but undeviating presence of God in the world of
His creation. This conviction and this perception Mr. Belloc
has recorded in a paragraph that might give thought to the
framers of the League of Nations, and that might fittingly be
graven upon the desolated walls of the peace palace at The
Hague :
There stands, side by side with the activity of mortal life,
a silent thing commonly unseen and, even if seen, despised.
It has no name, unless its name be religion: its form is the
ritual of the altar; its philosophy is despised under the title
of Theology. This thing and its influence should least of all
appear in the controversies of a high civilization. With an
irony that every historian of whatever period must have
noted a hundred times, this thing and its influence per-
petually intervene, when society is most rational and when
most it is bent upon positive things; and now at the moment
when the transformation of society towards such better
things seemed so easy and the way so plain, now in late '89,
before any threat had come from the King or any danger
of dissolution from within, this thing, this influence, en-
tered unnoticed by a side-door; it was weak and almost
dumb. It, and it alone, halted and still halts all the revo-
lutionary work, for it should have been recognized and it
was not. It demanded its place and no place was given it.
There is a divine pride about it, and, as it were, a divine
necessity of vengeance. Religion, if it be slighted, if it be
misunderstood, will implacably destroy. 1 *
The man who thus writes is more than an initiator into
history; he is an initiator into life, not incapable and not
unworthy of teaching his fellowmen not only how to think
and study, but also how to live. For he sees beyond the shows
of things and understands the role of reverence. He puts not
his faith in princes; and because he believes in God he refuses
to believe in the infallibility of any earthly power. "This
governs me; therefore I will worship it and do all it tells me,"
is not the attitude of the man whose eyes have feasted on the
visions of divine truth. But, Mr. Belloc reminds us, "such is
the formula for the strange passion which has now and then
"Marie Antoinette, pp. 313, 314.
192 HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR [Nov.,
seized upon great bodies of human beings intoxicated by
splendor and by the vivifying effects of command. Like all
manias (for it is a mania) this exaggerated passion is hardly
comprehended once it is past. Like all manias, while it is
present it overrides every other emotion." 15
Like all initiators, Mr. Belloc has a philosophy of life.
And it is characteristic of him that that philosophy too real
and too human a thing to be consciously formulated in good
set terms in an elaborate thesis finds its readiest and most
rounded expression in those of his books which some of his
Balliol friends probably shake their heads over as uncon-
sidered trifles, but which, precisely because they are so much
in the nature of a jeu d'esprit, reveal the man behind them in
even more convincing guise than his more pretentious bio-
graphical and technical and historical tomes. To know Mr.
Belloc, therefore, as an initiator into life, one must read, first,
last and always, The Path to Rome a book which one libra-
rian wasn't sure should be classified under Travel or under
Religion! and after that a goodly sheaf of his verses, and
then, in any order convenient, On Everything, On Nothing,
This and That and the Other, and all the other books which
the dry-as-dust type of mind would dismiss as unscholarly.
There is nothing ethereal, nothing conventional, nothing
unconvincingly other-worldly about any of them, for they were
written for the delectation of mundane mortals by a man still
in the flesh, a man who believes in God, but who also believes
"that the body must be recognized and the soul kept in its
place." 16 Folks who want to be scandalized and sometimes
very good folks have some such weakness will probably not
understand Mr. Belloc's philosophy of life, and so for them
as initiator he may not serve. Yet they will miss much, if
they really care to save their souls, for there is a plethora of
soul stuff in these books. To keep the soul in its place, ac-
cording to Mr. Belloc's theory, is never to be indifferent to its
aspirations or regardless of its divine unreasonableness.
Perhaps that is why Mr. Belloc has been accused of being
a bit pessimistic. To be sure, he isn't a Pollyanna man adanc-
ing down the valleys wild and singing songs of pleasant glee,
though he does, incidentally, champion the practice of folk
dancing; but he has enough, and more than enough, of the
" Europe and the Faith, p. 218. " The Path to Rome, p. 28.
1920.] HILAIRE BELLOC, INITIATOR 193
joy of life and the roses of life to satisfy any sane being who
knows that life is not mainly a thing of joy and roses, and who
is not constitutionally incapable of appreciating the flash of
Mr. Belloc's nimble rapier and the fleeting jingle of his jester's
bells. No pen even remotely affected with pessimism ever
traced the profound though seemingly flippant story of Grizzle-
beard's first love in The Four Men; and in many a place in the
same book he sounds a no uncertain note of optimism. For
instance :
"You are wonderful company, Sailor!" said I.
"For others, perhaps," said he, as he locked the door and
put the key in his pocket. "But not for myself; and yet
that is the only thing that matters!" 17
This, then, is my warrant for conferring upon Mr. Hilaire
Belloc the title of initiator: He leads us to comprehend some-
thing of the nature and method and mystery and potentiality
of good writing; he gives us an insight into the technique of
serious study, notably in the vast and difficult field of history;
and, possessed of a rich and catholic as well as Catholic-
humanism, he enables us to continue with intelligence and zest
in the unending and eminently important duty of under-
standing and evaluating the life of man.
Countless formidable essays have been written about the
thing called literary style, many of them by men who do not
know how to write; and English literature and other national
literatures are not lacking in specimens of sustained thought
and authentic emotion expressed in words, consummately
chosen and in phrases that are things of beauty and virility.
But it is a rare experience to find the theory and the practice
of the art of writing united in one man. Such a man is Mr.
Belloc. He is not a decorative writer, intent solely on effect-
ing in letters something analogous to a gilded frieze or a Japa-
nese screen. Words are real things to him, because they stand
for those most real of all entities, ideas. Never does he suc-
cumb to the temptation to tell a lie to round out a period.
His style does not result from a desire to group words prettily
and effectively, but from an insistent effort to reveal the soul
of his subject. This is why there is in his work so wide a
variety in key and color and form, why his pages impress us
as being in the true sense alive, as the articulate utterance of
" The Four Men, p. 75.
ypj,, C*n, 13
194 H1LA1RE BELLOC, INITIATOR [Nov.,
a truth and beauty underlying and animating whatever phases
of human experience he undertakes to interpret and transcribe.
Aloofly regarded, the study of history would seem to be
one of the most natural, secure and fascinating of human occu-
pations; but close at hand it involves difficulty, perplexity and
a mental attitude, artificial and unreal. "What actually did
happen in the past? What, of what did happen, is really
significant and illuminating? How, from the materials at my
disposal, can I reconstruct the past, make it live again and
correlate it with life as I know it and see it and live it?"
Such are the questions every historical student must ask him-
self would he define the scope of his field and arrive at con-
clusions of permanent worth. They are questions hard to
answer, sometimes apparently impossible to answer, so it is
not surprising that many an historian ignores all of them but
the first and contents himself with being but a chronicler or
an editor of documents. Mr. Belloc does not neglect the in-
dispensable work of getting at what really happened in the
past, but he does not stop there. The interpretation of the
facts is as important in his conception of history as the dis-
covery of the facts, nor does he rest until he has grouped his
findings and his inferences in a form appropriate and pleasing.
Books are splendid toys to play with and dependable tools
to work with, and grateful shelters sometimes into which to
step out of a storm; but wretched is the man, however schol-
arly and adept of pen, who makes books a substitute for life
itself. The realization of this truth inheres in everything Mr.
Belloc has written, and it is, oddly enough, the simplest ex-
planation of his versatility and prolificness. He understands
the rapture of planning books and the drudgery of writing
them; he has experienced "that pleasant mood in which all
books are conceived (but not written)." 18 It is not altogether
fanciful to say that The Old Road, though not autobiograph-
ical in intent, might well be accepted as a summary and an
exponent of Mr. Belloc's contribution to literature; for when
we call him an initiator we are only saying in another way
that he is a road builder of the spirit.
18 The Path to Rome, p. 23.
DIVORCED.
BY ESTHER W. NEILL. r
T was a strange experience, calling formally on
one's divorced wife after six years of separation.
Senator Bruxton paused for a moment before the
long mirror in the foyer of the big apartment
house and surveyed his image critically. His
appearance was most prosperous. Perhaps that was the most
essential thing to be considered in a man past forty. No one,
even in his youth, could have confessed truthfully that he was
handsome; his features were too large, his eyes too small, and
now that his smooth shaven face was indented with faint
wrinkles of sorrow and strenuous purpose, he could not view
himself with any exaggerated sense of vanity. In reality he
was wondering, with an introspection that was new to him,
why he should look in the glass at all; he noticed that his
cravat had pulled crooked beneath the corners of his collar
and that his thick curling hair had been rumpled by his hat;
he tried to right these two defects and then, feeling as self-
conscious as a schoolboy making his first stage entrance, he
passed quickly on to the elevator.
He had been in Washington only a few days before writ-
ing to his wife, asking her permission to call. He had written
that note upon impulse, he told himself; the difficulties in the
way seeming to make it desirable. His secretary had been his
first tangible impediment such an eager, maddeningly
efficient underling, whose vigilance almost amounted to a
vice. To see the Senator pick up a pen to write anything
except his signature, seemed to betoken dissatisfaction or sus-
picion of his secretarial methods. Three times had the young
man interrupted him, offering capable clerical assistance; the
third time the Senator had sworn at him and, then regretting
his forceful language, he hastily apologized and begged him to
leave the room. At noon the secretary saw that he carried the
mysterious letter in his hand when he went out to lunch. The
young man was depressed and drooped above his typewriter.
How could he explain to his new employer the resentment that
196 DIVORCED [Nov.,
filled his soul? How had he failed that the Senator should not
share his most sacred affairs with him? How could he tact-
fully allude to the recommendation that had secured him the
position the laudatory remarks of a prominent firm praising
his prudence and diplomatic caution?
After the letter had been sent, the Senator spent two wake-
ful nights trying to analyze why he had dispatched it with
such haste. Haste, after six years of separation. Perhaps it
was the psychical force of her near presence; for six years
the width of a continent had been a barrier between them.
Gould the lessening of material distance have produced a
change in him or had the thought of seeing her again been
always in his subconscious mind through the excitement of his
whole campaign for his seat in the Senate? Had this thought
not stimulated him to greater effort?
He had heard, quite accidentally, that she was in Washing-
ton, working in one of the many Government offices. Years
ago she had refused the alimony he offered, but it had never
occurred to him that she actually needed his financial support.
He could not picture her living alone in a strange city, strug-
gling in the deadening routine of a clerkship, when she had
always been accustomed to the liberty and luxury of a wealthy
home. Now that their positions were reversed, would his
success alter her attitude? What was her attitude? He had
divorced her. Had he the right to question her? It was a con-
fusing situation; and now that he was older, more tolerant,
there was much that he did not understand. To begin, he did
not understand himself. He was nervous absurdly nervous
as he stepped from the elevator, and as he walked down the
long corridor he found himself hoping to find his own name
upon her door. Someone had told him that she had assumed
her maiden name but the gossip was mistaken. "Mrs. Theo-
dore Bruxton" was on the card above the electric bell. The
card gave him an odd little stab of pain, for he remembered
that he and Joan had gone together to the stationer's two weeks
before they were married to have that card plate made. The
selecting of the style of script had been of such vital impor-
tance, the whole journey a delightful adventure. It had seemed
to bring the possession of her closer, and he had called her
"Mrs. Ted" all the way home. Why had their joy turned to
sorrow? Why had their marriage failed?
1920.] DIVORCED 197
A negro maid, of school girl age, opened the door for
him; her ruffled apron was awry, and she was trying to adjust
a small cap upon her "wrapped" pig tails for this expected
visitor. The Senator's powers of observation were strangely
quickened he saw that the cap and apron were new, pur-
chased no doubt for the occasion. Again he wondered why.
"Mrs. Bruxton ain't home from office yit," said the child.
"Will you cum in and rest yo' coat?"
The Senator smiled as he entered. The soft negro drawl
and expression seemed to bring back his boyhood. Negro
servants were rare in his own Western town. Obediently he
"rested" his coat in the arms of the waiting child, who cradled
it for a moment.
"Most as warm as a bear, ain't it?" she said with her
friendly grin.
"Well, I've never been in such close contact with a bear,"
he reluctantly acknowledged, "but I'll experiment next time
I see one. When will your mistress be home?"
"Mistress!" He had not used the word to a servant for
fifteen years or more, but this child, meeting him so solicitously
upon the threshold, had roused memories of his own Southern
home, where the old slaves and their children and grandchil-
dren lingered, clinging to the worn-out traditions of plenteous
plantation days. It was like Joan to employ a picturesque,
unspoiled servitor like this, or perhaps economy alone had
led to the selection. Evidently the child only came in after
school hours, but she had received some training, for she fol-
lowed the guest into the living room and, switching on the
electric light, she lighted the carefully laid fire on the hearth.
The Senator looked around him with eager interest,
pleased with the simple coziness of the room. Joan had always
possessed a talent for home making. The heavy mahogany
desk in the corner, surmounted by a golden eagle, had be-
longed to Joan's father. How well he remembered, when he
was a boy, hanging his hat on the tarnished eagle's wings to
impress Joan with the length of his reach. The portraits of
her mother and grandmother hung above the low bookcases,
and their high-bred faces seemed to be questioning the pro-
priety of his presence. Near the fire was a tufted stool, the
favorite seat of Joan's childhood, when, together, they roasted
chestnuts and popped corn over the never-failing embers.
198 DIVORCED [Nov.,
And the blinking andirons were the same that had distorted
their youthful faces.
Why had he ventured into such a stifling atmosphere of
memories? He had not counted on finding himself surrounded
by such familiar things. An apartment was so different from
Joan's spacious home set among the cottonwoods. But if the
old house had been sold, it was but natural that she should
transport her possessions here.
The fire sputtered cheerily in the neatly tiled fireplace,
lighting up a faded kodak picture on the mantel, framed in
pine cones. The Senator arose with a half -smothered exclama-
tion to examine it more closely. Why, he had made that
frame himself. It held only a snapshot of a tiny baby their
baby, who had lived only two months, and then They had
left his unmarked grave, sheltered by tall rocks, on the moun-
tain side. He had almost forgotten the baby in the other
troubles that had followed so close upon the little fellow's
death.
He put the picture quickly down on the table beside him
when he heard the door close and Joan came into the room,
with the sure light step which he had always recognized with
joy.
For a moment they looked at each other in silence an
eloquent silence the dramatic effect not cheapened by words.
Joan was in deep mourning. Her hat, lined with white crepe,
shadowed her red gold hair; her beauty had matured, not
lessened, and there was a patient look of endurance in her
eyes in place of the laughing light of her girlhood. He studied
her face attentively while she nervously pulled off her gloves,
as if this slight movement relieved the tensity of the situation,
then she held out her hand, smiling faintly.
"You look so much older," she said. "When when did
you come to Washington?" It was a commonplace way to
greet a husband after six years of separation, and she realized
it as soon as she had spoken. "Your coming is a bit unusual,"
she added.
"Unusual," he echoed, his eyes fixed upon her face. "You
haven't changed much, Joan."
"Oh, don't you think so?" and he thought he detected a
certain happy eagerness in her voice. "I I feel very old."
"You are working too hard?"
1920.] DIVORCED 199
"No perhaps I don't know. I have a Government posi-
tion typewriting that sort of thing I'm not very efficient."
"Was was it necessary?" he asked hesitatingly. "Didn't
the old home bring anything?" The question seemed pre-
posterous as soon as he had asked it, coming from one who
should have been her mainstay in every emergency. But she
did not view it in the same way, for she answered simply.
"Mortgaged everything was mortgaged. You knew
father as well as I did. You can guess at his business methods :
lending money to all his friends, endorsing notes for anyone
who asked him, supporting a retinue of negroes, all too old
to work. Oh! I loved him for it even even if it left me
stranded."
"And your mother, Joan?"
"She only lived a week after father's funeral. You see
she paused in some confusion. "You see, she did not seem
to have the strength to live without him and then well, then
the house was sold, and I I came here. It's a little curious
that we should both come. Are are you pleased to be a
Senator?"
He realized that she was trying to escape from his direct
questioning.
"I am glad to be in Washington to see you again," he
answered. "I was afraid you would not let me come. As you
say, it is a little unusual for divorced people to call upon each
other."
She sat down on the stool and stretched her slender feet
towards the fire. He noticed that her shoes were wet and a
little worn. "Will you let me take off your boots for you or
would that be unusual, too? It was beginning to snow when
I came in a sloppy sort of snow. I see your feet are damp.
May I ask that little nigger of yours to bring your slippers?"
"They will dry in a moment," she replied indifferently.
"I walked from the office. I suppose I was too excited to re-
member to take a street car. To get your letter after all these
years. I think I was trying to plan out what I should say and,
of course, I haven't said it. Why why did you write the
letter?"
He was silent for a moment, doubtful how to reply, then
he said with a certain reckless determination :
"Well, of course, there were many contributory causes,"
200 DIVORCED [Nov.,
he smiled, "but the two deciding factors were two children,
a boy of eighteen and a girl a year younger. They were on the
train, coming east, running away to get married, and an old
priest, who had the seat next to mine, talked to them and sent
them home to their mothers."
She stared at him, plainly bewildered.
"And and what has that to do with us?"
"It was the old priest's point of view that appealed to me,"
he answered, watching intently the effect of his words. "The
children had only gone a few miles before he discovered them.
They evidently belonged to his church. He was sitting so close
to me that I could not fail to hear him. He argued ably no
wheedling or coaxing. He presented facts facts that made
marriage a tremendous responsibility, sacramental in its force,
a life-long contract, God-given, that the laws of men couldn't
alter. Somehow, as I listened, I believed all that he said, and
I found myself wondering why all the States in the country are
loosening up on the marriage laws for people like you and
me. And then then I think I realized for the first time
that in spite of this loosening, there is something in us that
protests against this power of the State. If marriage is holy,
God-appointed, sacramental, it belongs to the province of the
soul. A fundamental spiritual law beyond all control of State.
Perhaps if we were Papists, we would understand more
clearly."
She had turned her head away. "But we're not and it
seems well rather late to talk this way," she added with a
trace of bitterness, "after you got the divorce."
His face showed gray in the firelight as he leaned towards
her.
"Why, Joan, didn't you want it?"
"I don't remember that I ever said so," she answered in a
whisper as if her pride protested against the admission. "You
manage those things so easily out West. You got it on the
grounds of desertion. Of course, you had grounds. I went
home and left you."
"Your your note said 'forever.' '
"I know I know," she agreed feverishly. "I know I de-
serted you and so so
"Go on," he entreated hoarsely, "go on from the beginning.
I don't believe I ever knew exactly what you thought."
1920.] DIVORCED 201
"It would have been so easy to find out then, Ted," she
said reproachfully. "But I don't believe you wanted to take
the trouble. You were too busy always too busy, and I I
thought you did not care."
"You couldn't believe that, Joan," he interrupted.
"Weren't we wildly in love with each other?"
"I was," she admitted frankly, "and we ought to have
known each other, for we had played together ever since we
were babies, but when the play time ended we didn't
seem able to please each other, and then life got so work-
a-day."
"But it had to, Joan," he remonstrated. "I had our living
to make."
"Oh, I know I know, but but was it necessary to be so
busy that you couldn't remember me sometimes? You see,
I didn't realize how ambitious you were. Your career was
everything. I seemed to be a sort of cancellation. I had no
companionship. You never guessed how lonely I was."
"But, Joan, it was work always work that took me away
from you. We were so poor. I hated to think of your priva-
tions. Talking about them seemed to make them more real.
Have you forgotten how little money we had?"
"Oh, I know. I kept on telling myself that at first making
all sorts of excuses for your indifference; and then then I
began to believe I was a burden to you. I hated to give you
the bills. The shabby little house had made me so happy
at first. I worked so hard over it oiling the floors, painting
the wood work, making curtains and covering the ugly furni-
ture with cretonne and you you never seemed to see. And
I learned to cook, Ted all your favorite dishes and, well, you
were so often late for meals, and the things I had struggled
so hard to make were dried to crisps before you came. And
then one day I cried, Ted, and you called me 'silly,' and you
said you didn't care what you ate canned beans were good
enough. It may have been foolish, Ted, but I can't tell you
how that little episode added to my sense of failure. You
didn't seem to need me even as a cook. I I wasn't very
well that summer and, I think, I worked too hard in the
cindery little garden trying to grow some green vegetables so
our living expenses wouldn't be so large. And then then
when the baby came and died, I felt that I could not bear it.
202 DIVORCED [Nov.,
I wanted sympathy and love and understanding, and you were
so busy always too busy to give me your time. You didn't
seem to need me, and when I went home and found father ill
and mother so dependent, I stayed because they leaned on me.
You see, Ted, it may not have been religious or ethical, but I
wanted to be needed."
He looked down upon her with a strange, tense expression.
"Was that all?" he said, slowly. "Are you sure that that was
all?"
"Oh, there may have been many other things," she an-
swered wearily. "I hated the dirty little mining town. Do you
remember the dreadful boarding-house we went to first, where
they kept a pet pig in the dining-room? And the other board-
ers, Ted, coming to the table in their dirty shirt sleeves and
eating with their knives and throwing the left-overs to the
dogs under the window? You didn't seem to mind I believe
that was the first time that I came down to earth and realized
that we were different."
"Different," he repeated dully. "Well, of course, Joan,
those things never seem as trying to a man. You see I had
been living there for three years while I saved enough to go
East and marry you and I suppose I was used to it. But we
didn't stay there, Joan."
"But we stayed in the town, Ted, and the people well,
you know, Ted, most of the men were miners, foreigners, who
couldn't speak a word of English; and the women I'm afraid
they weren't quite respectable. You remember, they had
convict labor working on the railroad that year and and
well, after you were made editor of the little county news-
paper, and you were away from me so much in the evenings
then then I was afraid. Two or three times rough men
stopped at the house to ask for food and I did not dare to open
the door to give them anything. Then fear accentuated my
loneliness."
"Oh, Joan Joan," he groaned. "Why didn't you tell me
this?"
"I couldn't I I suppose I was too proud to make a per-
sonal plea. You seemed to have forgotten how to look at
things from my viewpoint. I I didn't want to stand in your
way. I reasoned that I was no longer necessary for your hap-
piness and and after the baby died there seemed to be
1920.] DIVORCED 203
nothing left for me, and so I came away, because in your life
I did not seem to count."
"Not count?" he repeated passionately. "Oh, Joan! I
expected you to understand, and it seems that we both failed.
I was so convinced that you believed in my love, but I suppose
I was selfish, inconsiderate, and assumed too much. You had
become a fixture in my life, and I didn't consider your attitude
even though I was working to bring you back to the luxuries
that you were used to. I suppose I worked too hard. My
nerves were on edge, and when the day came the day you
left me I was mad with shame and rage and jealousy. I
came home to a darkened house, and I believe that every small
detail of that home-coming is branded on my brain. I remem-
ber how the moonlight flooded the small hall as I opened the
door, how my shadow fell across the narrow stair. I called
out to you. You see, I always expected to find you waiting,
and when you did not answer I was afraid that you had fallen
in a faint and I rushed frantically to find you, and then then
when I had searched everywhere
"The moon seemed to fill the house with a ghostly glamour.
I lighted one of the lamps, feeling that perhaps you had gone
to the printing office to meet me and that the light would
guide you home. And then then I found your note pinned
to the rough mantel shelf. All night, I sat in your rocking
chair before the open fireplace shivering in the cold. Some-
how it never occurred to me to kindle a fire. That forlorn
little cat that you had brought in a day or two before shared
the vigil with me. I believe I gave it some milk at midnight
to stop its wailing, and I brought a quilt from the bed to wrap
around me, for I was shaking like one with the ague. I may
have dozed towards morning, but my dreams were more
despairing than my waking thought for, somehow, I couldn't
be angry in my dreams.
"I saw you happy and forgetful in the old life from which
I had brought you. I saw you in a hundred different ways
on the white pillared portico among the roses, dancing before
the long mirrors in the drawing-room, riding your horse to
hounds. I saw you coasting on that long hill behind the
orchard, skating on the creek above the mill dam. I saw you
surrounded by the other men who had mourned at our mar-
riage. I dreamed wild dreams that night, Joan. I even
204 DIVORCED [Nov.,
dreamed of suicide, and then then after a week or more
I well, I thought I saw the situation more sanely.
"I had asked too much of you I had demanded a sacrifice
too great to give, and I was too proud to plead with you and
too angry to pardon. I would leave you free to remarry, for
I had already visualized your second husband Bob Fairfax.
He could have given you everything you wanted, for he owned
half the country. I remember the sense of humility and un-
worthiness I suffered when I heard that you had turned him
down for me."
She looked up at him, and he exulted, for he saw that her
eyes were wet.
"But, Ted, where was your moral sense?" she said. "We
weren't exactly pagans and Bob he believed as the old
priest. After his accident you know he was trampled on the
hunting field he sent for me when he was dying and begged
me to write to you and ask you to- come back."
He had left his chair on the other side of the hearth. It
seemed too remote from her.
"To come back, Joan?" he repeated towering above her.
"And you said?"
She buried her face in her hands.
"I I could not promise because "
"Because?" he insisted, whispering in her ear.
"Because oh, because," she was breathing quickly, a
feverish color burned on both her cheeks but, with a woman's
power of command, she was calmer than he. "Oh! you knew
Bob. He was a true friend always an idealist who insisted
that between us there was no such thing as divorce."
The Senator's arms were around her.
"Perhaps he was right, Joan. Perhaps he was right.
We've squandered our happiness, but the sacramental force
of marriage has held us both. We couldn't forget. We've
belonged to each other. I was a fool, Joan, so lacking in con-
sideration and tenderness, but there never has been a moment
when I haven't felt that you were my wife. Will you come
back to me, Joan? Will you come back?
THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION.
BY J. M. PRENDERGAST, S.J.
HIS article is in the nature of an appeal to scien-
tists. Is it not time to stop and consider how
responsible to truth they are for allowing the
prevalent popular conception of evolution to be-
come lodged in men's minds, as an explanation
of "anything in the heavens above, the earth beneath or the
waters under the earth?" To disabuse them of the plea that
theological bias is the urge in writing it, let me quite simply
affirm that any theory of evolution which admits God as the
efficient cause of things and does not attempt to explain the
human soul as a result of evolutionary processes, escapes, as
far as I am aware, any grave censure on theological grounds.
Genesis has nothing incompatible with such a theory, and the
Catholic Church does not go further than Genesis. The objec-
tions I have to propose are those of pure reason.
Let us begin by considering the theory of evolution in gen-
eral in connection with the Aristotelian divisions of causality.
According to that "master of those who know," causality
should be considered by the mind under a fourfold aspect,
efficient, material, formal, and final causality.
The efficient cause answers roughly the question, "who?"
It causes with the end or final cause in view, either through its
own intention or through the intention of some higher cause
impressed upon it.
The material and formal causes answer roughly the ques-
tion, "what?" The former gives the matter of which the thing
is made; the latter gives the principle which constitutes this
specific thing and nothing else.
The final cause is the end or reason for which the efficient
cause works and answers the question, "why" is this specific
thing constructed as it is? And (if we wish to include the
external reason also), "why" did the maker make it?
To attempt the solution of any problem from the detection
of crime to evolution, we must also attempt to assign its four-
fold causality. Now my first and purely reasonable quarrel
206 THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION [Nov.,
with evolution as popularly taught and tacitly approved of by
"sciences" is that it deliberately slurs over the distinction in
causality, and substitutes the question "how" to be answered
instead of the questions above. "How" is the confused and
indeterminate question, which may be partially answered by
any of the above-named causalities, or merely by the "modus
operandi." (In fact, "nature," as it is commonly used by
"science," is philosophically the "modus operandi" and nothing
more.) "How" can, however, be fully answered only by as-
signing all four causes. But this latter truth is quietly ignored
and the impression is given that all possible information has
been imparted when one or two causalities have been given.
This constitutes a scientific sin, for science is a knowledge of
things through their causes. Science, to be truthful, should
envisage the problem squarely and, if it cannot give the
answer, let it be clearly understood that the problem has not
been solved. If the efficient cause and the final are not as-
signed in the last analysis, let it be said, and let not the prob-
lem be tacitly ignored or, worse still, chance be quoted as the
solution. There is no such efficient cause, philosophically
speaking, as chance. Let it be summed up as the first scientific
objection to evolution popularly taught, that as a philosophic
theory it disables the mind's vision.
In considering evolution as a scientific hypothesis, explain-
ing genetically the origin of species and even genera, we must
first call to mind that species and genera as used in the natural
sciences are convenient man-made divisions for classifying
the objective world about us. The deeper philosophy does not
consider as at all impossible a genetic leap across these divi-
sions. It simply waits for the proof that there was such a
genetic leap. Du Bois Raymond gave "Seven World Riddles"
as beyond scientific solution. They are : "The origin of matter,
the origin of motion, the origin of life, the ordered arrange-
ment of the world, the origin of sensation and consciousness,
the origin of thought and speech, the origin of free will."
Being a materialist, he of course excluded God as a solution.
Again, the deeper philosophy, while admitting God, does
not think it necessary to invoke Him as the solution of quite
so many problems. It regards as impossible, only, a genetic
connection between dissimilar essences. According to its reas-
oning, there is no explanation without an outside cause of the
1920.] THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION 207
passage from non-living to living, from vegetation to sensation,
and from sensation to reason. These gaps it considers as un-
bridgable by any genetic evolution. The bridging of any other
gap is a mere matter of proof.
It is the cogency of this proof, quietly and most unscien-
tifically assumed as incontestable, which we shall now consider.
That there is actually great variation within specific limits
is without doubt. Men and dogs furnish the best examples of
it. Taking "Occam's Razor," entia non sunt multiplicanda sine
necessitate, as a fairly good philosophic principle of deduction,
the conclusion is that these varities had a common ancestry,
a conclusion un vitiated by any historic fact; nay, rather con-
firmed by them. Therefore, we may conclude that great varia-
tion within species is possible from genetic causes, aided by
what other factors our investigations may warrant us in as-
signing. Have we any historic data which warrant us to
broaden this conclusion and to extend it to distinct species?
Wassman's beetle guests of the various species of ants, the
Dinardse, are quoted as evidence of diverse species from a
common origin, but the specific distinctions alleged are too
small to make the example of much weight. In other words,
the specific lines are probably too tightly drawn.
All the historic evidence we possess points to the per-
mancy of man-made specific distinctions. Dogs remain dogs,
men remain men, wolves remain wolves, cats remain cats,
from the cat of Bubastes to the present day. A rather strange
instance of how far a man will allow a theory to blind his mind
to the trend of his own argument, is given in a modern history
book for beginners. After assuring the children that all our
domesticated species are the descendants of wild animals, he
tells them in almost the next sentence that as far as our his-
toric knowledge extends, the domestic animals, cat, dog, horse,
and cow, are found in the same position as at the present day.
This means evolution is pre-historically true because it is his-
torically false.
The great appeal in popular evolutionary teaching is made
with the argument from similarity of structure derived from
paleontology. The Museum of Natural History in New York
has complete exhibits of the "Evolution of the horse," of the
camel (unless my memory fails me), and of many other
animals of the present day. It would make these exhibits alone
208 THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION [Nov.,
the evidence of a foreign evolutionary origin of these and, by
inference, of all existent animal life. This is, of course, pos-
sible, but is it, I do not say certain, but even probable? It
goes without saying that we have no evidence of genetic re-
lationship outside the progressive similarity of skeleton struc-
ture. The looks and habits of the animal, which, as in the case
of the dog, afford great help in deciding, are mere matters of
conjecture.
Now the similarity of bony structure may be explained
as well on another hypothesis. Goethe pointed out that all verte-
brate skeletons were variations of a spinal column, a symphony,
so to speak, on a single theme. If God, the great Architect,
started to build by variating on a spinal column, this Museum
of History would furnish the best illustration of how He
worked out His plan. If some scientist urges against this, that
it is hardly fair to bring in God in order to furnish another
explanation of the Museum's facts, I can only answer, that it
seems hardly fair to keep Him out of the world which the
great thinkers from Aristotle down agree that He made.
It was Glerk J Maxwell who said that he never found a
working theory of the world which did not have God hidden
in it somewhere. This explanation from the "plans of the
Planner" has another advantage. It explains the totally dif-
ferent structure of the invertebrates, arachnoids, crustaceans,
and the many others, built on entirely different plans. So that
the genetic connection of the Museum's vertebrates can be
termed, at best, a guess built on structural similarity which
admits of an entirely different explanation.
The argument from blood analysis has, I believe, led to
such strange conclusions that the evolutionists themselves have
given it up.
The argument from rudimentary organs rests partly on
exploded theories and partly on a lack of knowledge of all
that remains to be known of physiology. Many of the organs
of the body, formerly regarded as rudimentary, have been
proved to have distinct uses by the simple surgical process of
elimination. The thyroid gland is a conspicuous example. It
is logical to assume that organs still regarded as rudimentary
remnants of more prominent parents still possess decreased
functions of more developed organs of the past, and that this
is the reason of their presence now. It is more logical, cer-
1920.] THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION 209
tainly to assume this, than to postulate that nature having
done with them, has been making a vain effort through the
ages to be rid of them and has never quite been able to suc-
ceed. This would explain both the vermiform appendix in
man and the splint bones in the horse. Their function, though
not an essential one is still an integral one to the constitution
of the animal to which they appertain, though we may not be
able to diagnose that function fully. The worst that can be
said of this explanation is that it rests on unascertained facts.
As the evolutionary explanation is open to the same objection,
it has naught to better the choice between them on this score.
And now for the positive objections to evolution! There
is absolutely no evidence for it within the limits of historic
knowledge quite the contrary ! And after all is said, historic
knowledge in this subject is the only knowledge we possess.
The rest is only more or less well founded conjecture, as re-
gards fact. Facts are facts to us, only in so far as we know
them. Evolution, if it exists at all, is a fact not a theory, and as
a fact it has no historic locum standi. Take, for one instance
merely, the failure of all historic attempts to produce the
living from the non-living.
Moreover, considered even as a theoretical explanation of
the present state of things, it fails utterly to explain many
facts. Regard the great diversity of the apparatus for vision,
the eye, in the animal creation. It is inexplicable on any evo-
lutionary theory. The evolution of an apparatus designed for
the same function, according to evolution, .should have been
along the same lines, whereas it emphatically is not. What
evolutionary theory can explain the change from a caterpillar
into a butterfly? These are not "difficulties" as evolutionists
would lightly call them, they are "impasses." And one such
"impasse" gives evolution as a theory the coup de grace. Now
there is not one; there are many.
I repeat again that my quarrel with popular evolutionary
explanations of the present world is entirely apart from theol-
ogy, if they do not deny a First Cause. Even as regards the
production of the spirit-soul of man, my quarrel is primarily
philosophic. The argument, briefly put, is that no material
act, such as is human generation, can produce a spiritual sub-
stance. Much less can a lower generative act produce it. For
the gap between spirit and matter is genetically unbridgable.
VOL. OUI. 14
210 THE INN [Nov.,
It is unnecessary to add that this argument meets with no refu-
tation from the "missing link" discoveries. The discoveries
of prehistoric ancestors of man come very near to being his-
toric jokes. The last, I believe, was in Australia, where the
prehistoric skulls turned out to be skulls of criminals executed
within living memory.
In conclusion, I warn scientists that popular evolution, as
a hypothesis accounting for facts as they are, is riding for a
severe fall, because its reasons as given will not be considered
convincing by thinking men. And then, to change the meta-
phor abruptly, not all the king's horses and all the king's men
will set Humpty Dumpty up again. Which is not a desirable
future to contemplate for a true scientist.
THE INN.
BY JOHN BUNKER.
"Life is but a night which we have to pass in a bad inn.
Let us make no effort to live at our ease."
St. Teresa.
YES, night and evil housing outside, the dread
Darkness and cold and driving rain, and here
Gray, mouldy walls, this room's most wretched gear,
A chair, a table, and a rickety bed,
These rotten floors that sag beneath my tread,
The windows rattling with the winds of fear,
And one dim candle casting feeble cheer
Oh, these now weigh upon me, sleep is fled.
What ease is here, or comfort? Oh, little ease
Save to stand staring through the angry gloom,
Watching, my Soul, for this black night's decrease
And light on that strange road we yet must roam
Even to the journey's end to love and peace
And the sure solace of our waiting home.
AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC'S APOSTOLATE.
BY MAY BATEMAN.
ARLY in 1912, I was finishing some literary work
at Bexhill, Sussex. An American friend from
Pennsylvania, whose house adjoined the one I
was then living in, asked to see me. He had a
scheme to unfold. The Catholic laity in England,
in his view, were not doing all they might to spread the Faith,
hard as many of them were working. There were, for instance,
many inquirers in that very town who, dissatisfied with their
own church, wanted to know more about the Catholic faith.
But they had few or no Catholic friends, and at that initial
stage of doubt, were not prepared to visit a priest.
His plan for "getting at" such folk was this : The Catholic
church stood in a dominant position, facing the railway sta-
tion, near a tram-halt. Nearly everybody in the town passed
it at some time or other in the day. Put a few books, such as
The Religion of a Plain Man, The Price of Unity, Catholic
Belief, The Papers of a Pariah, and so forth, on a convenient
wooden shelf in the porch, which could be taken and returned
without anyone seeing the transaction at all, and who knew
what might happen?
"Without payment? By the end of the week there won't
be a book left!" I prophesied. "Boys in the street would steal
them. There are so many visitors here, too. Unintentionally,
they'd take the books away and forget to return them. You'd
have to institute fines, and how in the world could they be
collected when you didn't know who the borrowers were?"
"There will be no fees no fines and no formalities,"
was the reply.
That very night "The Bexhill Library" was started with
twenty-five books, collected from Catholic friends. Today,
that same Library has extended into a fine building, has ten
thousand volumes in postal circulation, and possesses more
than seventeen thousand in all. And its character is fast
becoming international.
The librarian's personal motto must be, I think, one we
212 AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC'S APOSTOLATE [Nov.,
lay people too frequently forget: "I can do all things in Thy
strength." Human capacity alone could certainly never have
achieved what he has. The building stands, a living witness to
the power of prayer and work.
In 1916, if, on leaving the Bexhill L. and S. G. railway sta-
tion, you had immediately turned off to the right by the sta-
tion wall, you would have seen, on your left, a track of waste
space next a small cultivated space belonging to a job-gar-
dener. The church porch and the librarian's own private
house being too limited alike to meet the growing claims those
who wanted to use the Library books were making upon them.
This site was secured in 1917, and with amazing speed the
building operations carried out, in spite of war conditions,
and the two plots transformed into the Bexhill Reading Room
and Catholic Library.
Today, entering the room from the side street, you come at
once upon what you need in an emergency. A poster with the
train service in full view; a telephone directory giving the
London area and all country districts; Who's Who, and other
books of reference, directories, and so on. Spread out upon
the tables and stands, not only the usual current magazines and
papers, but others from different parts of the world, such as
America, giving the Catholic view. Well-stocked shelves with
a good supply of clean, classical literature, and the Catholic
Encyclopaedia and Gillow's Biography of English Catholics
amongst them. The reading room is open to the town, and
local authorities provide a small sum towards its up-keep on
the condition that it should be non-sectarian. (A public library
which excluded Catholic literature would, of course, become
sectarian at once.) This is open from eight in the morning to
eight at night daily and is seldom empty.
Looking up, the Catholic sees his specialized area; the
most vital part of the whole vital scheme. A large gallery
with innumerable shelves and separate compartments runs
round, and partially over, the reading room.
Only organization carried to its highest point of efficiency
could cope with work such as this. "Speed up" is the watch-
word of the workers. They are trained to strict accuracy in
detail. From the librarian's "den," a network of invisible wires
extends, linking the work with the Colonies and many far coun-
tries. Here the almost daily increasing developments of the
1920.] AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC'S APOSTOLATE 213
Bexhill Library materialize almost as soon as they have shaped
in the founder's brain. But the correspondence room is the
place Where the human element, which plays s6 large a
part in the psychology of this unique work, is felt most
strongly.
For almost every one of the envelopes, which fill the boxes
on the side table, would be, if one could but break it open, a
human document of enthralling interest. Souls need delicate
handling, and it is an amazing fact that many of us are more
ready to confide in a total stranger than in a friend. From all
parts of the world, letters come to the librarian asking for help.
Not one is refused. A late convert, knowing how important it
is that she and her future husband should share the Faith,
needs books for him about some particular point to which he
is antagonistic, but does not know for what to apply. Another,
returning home for the first time since conversion, requires
books on the Apostolic Succession for her father, an Anglican
clergyman. Another is not yet a Catholic, but is dissatisfied.
What is she to read? Intellectually, she is almost convinced,
but something, what she does not know, still keeps her back
from the great surrender.
A little band of three converts, who have lost all their
old friends and not as yet made any new ones, place them-
selves in the librarian's hands. They want to deserve the grace
of faith. They cannot get Catholic books locally and have no
idea what to read. A Catholic writer pleads for a rare book
only procurable, so far as she knows, at the British Museum;
she wants it at hand for an important article. The librarian
advertises for a copy, gets it, and sends it off within five days.
Another Catholic writer wants books to send to her Anglican
nephew, now in Canada. From another source comes an
appeal for novels to lend to a lapsed Catholic. By means of
good Catholic fiction he may gradually be led to read theology.
Another correspondent wants books for a woman, "lately con-
verted, and having a very rough time with her people." An-
other writes that she lives entirely amongst Protestants and
is often attacked on various points as to the Church's claims.
Only through the Library can she "sense" Catholic atmosphere.
Another wants to know precisely why the Holy Father is a
prisoner in the Vatican. A lady non-Catholic writes the
most poignant appeal of all. Amongst the effects of her son,
214 AN AMERICAN CATHOLICS APOSTOLATE [Nov.,
a young officer in a famous regiment, who was killed in the
War, there was found a marked copy of the Bexhill Catalogue.
He was always a "splendid" type of man, ready from school-
days to stand up for the right. He became a Catholic shortly
before the end, because he felt God called him to it, and he had
hoped on leaving the army to become a priest. His parents
would like now to read the books which he had planned to
read himself.
With this story in my mind, I pass down the little steps,
through the packing room, to the gallery, and stand for a
moment before the mysterious picture of Our Lady of Mount
Carmel, whose story will be told in print some day, but not
yet. A lamp always burns before it, and flanking it today, on
either side, are more than sixty postcards from priests who, in
gratitude for what they personally owe to the Library, said
Mass on her Feast Day this year for its beneficiaries and
workers.
Almost every subscriber who borrows from the initial
stock of books becomes, almost automatically, a reading circle
in himself. Each is encouraged to lend them to others. In
addition, more than forty established libraries and reading
circles, run in connection with the Bexhill Library, exist in
different parts of the world, so far even as China, Southern
India, Canada, and New Zealand. Books with the distinctive
paint-mark travel to Madagascar, Constantinople, remote dis-
tricts in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as all over
the British Isles to the far corners of the Hebrides. The Bex-
hill Library feeds the Catholic Library at Bombay, which is
part of the magnificent up-hill work established by Archbishop
Goodier, S.J. A library at Athens has lately been formed, and
Bexhill has stocked it with books. Lately, a Spaniard, a com-
plete stranger, telephoned to the Library from London and
asked if he might come and pay a two hours' visit, while the
present writer herself was there. It appeared that he was
connected with Voluntad, a very fine Catholic monthly maga-
zine, lately published in Madrid. He wanted advice about
books, as it was proposed to form a library in connection with
the magazine, to be supplied with works by the best English
Catholic writers, as well as those of other nations. "Here's my
proposition," said the librarian. "I can lend you five hundred
books to start with, if you like, and you can judge from them
1920.] AN AMERICAN CATHOLICS APOSTOLATE 215
what books you can safely buy. There will be no cost to you
except the payment for transhipment of the cases, to and fro."
The offer, naturally, was accepted. In October that library
became an institution at Madrid.
Who can wonder that work undertaken in this spirit,
carried through with zest and fire and prayer throughout, has
no end? The librarian, an organizer of the Napoleonic type,
makes dreams true. His visions materialize. What he plans
one day is an established reality almost within the time that
it would take most of us to draft the scheme on paper.
We all know that it is to the Catholic that men turn when
they want a clear answer to a clear question on matters of
faith.
Every Catholic is expected to be a theologian, a specialist
in faith, as it were. To meet the unexpected questions asked
him, not on the public platform alone, but at a friend's dinner-
table, he must be more or less up in the questions of the day.
He must know the ingredients of the last remedy of salvation
offered by those outside the True Church, in all good faith.
Faith affects every problem of the day. Everyone in England,
at least, who is not a Catholic wants to know what the Catholic
view of divorce is, and respects its finality, however much he
disagrees with it. "One can understand the argument that
maintains marriage to be indissoluble and remarriage against
the Divine Law, or the view which applies to legislation the
sole test of whether it will work to the general good. But one
cannot understand an amalgam between the positions . . .
The Archbishop of Canterbury's speech (in the House of Lords,
June 22d last) somehow left me with the opinion that though
the Bill, in his opinion, was against Divine Law, he might
reconsider his views if only enough people wanted it,"
commented the Times correspondent on the following
morning.
Man cannot be allowed to block the opportunities God
gives him.
"Amid the present monstrous flood of errors whereby minds
perforce are poisoned," writes the Holy Father on April 15th
last, in a letter addressed to the librarian, Bexhill, "it concerns
deeply the salvation of mankind that sound doctrines should
be circulated as widely as possible. With warm pleasure, ac-
216 AN AMERICAN CATHOLIC'S APOSTOLATE [Nov.,
cordingly, We have learned from His Eminence Cardinal
Aidan Gasquet, that at Bexhill-on-Sea, there has been
founded a library for the free loan of good literature, and
that this same library from modest beginnings, has in a short
time increased and prospered exceedingly. Most earnestly,
therefore, do We congratulate the founder of this so beneficial
work, and desire that it be commended to all right thinking
people, that as many as possible may be daily the more incited
to the esteem of virtue, or be led by the radiant light of truth
to hearken, with God's help, to the voice of Mother Church,
who alone on earth has the words of eternal life. As a sign of
Our approbation We most lovingly impart not only to the
founder and readers, but also to all who assist the library in
any way, Our Apostolic blessing. Benedict P.P.XV."
The librarian of the Bexhill Library would, I know, be the
first to throw his influence and immense powers of organiza-
tion into any larger scheme which, by unity of action, would
help to extend this Catholic lay apostolate he has so near at
heart. He is known to the world as "The Librarian," and not
by his own name. If our names are written in the Book of
Life we need not trouble over-much if men fail to recognize
them, after all!
CATHOLIC INFLUENCE ON EARLY HUNGARIAN
LITERATURE.
BY F. A. PALMIERI, O.S.A., PH.D., D.D.
OR centuries," writes C. M. Knatchbull-Hugessen,
"the Magyar people has had to maintain itself
by force of arms against the unceasing attacks of
alien neighbors, and the fact a few thousand
wanderers from Asia were able to preserve their
individuality and institutions in the midst of an ocean of Slavs,
Germans and Turks, and obtained comparatively quickly a
position of equality with members of the European family,
argues the possession of exceptional military and political
qualities, of exceptional cohesiveness, of a stoical capacity for
endurance, and of a rooted confidence in themselves and in
their future which no vicissitudes of fortune have been able to
destroy. The alien jargon, first heard by European ears twelve
hundreds years ago, has maintained its existence in spite of
the competition of German and Slav dialects, of deliberate
discouragement and temporary neglect, and has developed
into a language which, for fullness and expressiveness, for
the purpose of science as well as of poetry, is the equal, if not
the superior, of the majority of European tongues."
Many of our readers will wonder at this statement of the
greatest English authority on Hungary. The Hungarian tongue
repels because of its sesquipedalia verba, to quote a classical
reminiscence of Horace, and its crabby grouping of conso-
nants it mirrors truly the uncouth nature of the steppes of
Asia whence it originated. For most of us, Hungarian litera-
ture and the scientific development of one of the most difficult
languages spoken in Europe, remain an unexplored field.
The World War has given mournful prominence to the
Hungarian nation. This people who, in 1848, shed heroic
blood for emancipation from tyranny, fought for the triumph
of German militarism, and in the interest of the House of
Hapsburg. Its rulers dreamed of a greater Hungary, the
political centre of the States included within the frontiers of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But these dreams failed to
218 EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE [Nov.,
become reality. Hungary shared in the world-wide hatred
of German militarism. The shortcomings of her politicians
were recalled and branded, and the great services she had
rendered to Christian civilization were cast into the shade.
Now the political unity and territorial integrity of the formerly
glorious kingdom of Hungary are threatened with utter ruin,
and its richest possessions are divided among its former sub-
jects.
As Catholics, we are interested in the future of Hungary.
We ought not to forget that some of her earliest monarchs
rank among the saints of the Church, and that, for a long time,
the honor was hers of defending Christian Europe against the
onslaught of Moslem. The history of Hungary is closely con-
nected with the growth and advance of Catholicism in Europe.
It is not an overstatement to say that the Catholic Church,
through her missionaries, and especially her monks, was for
five centuries the teacher of the Hungarian people, the maker
of their destinies, the framer of their civilization.
"Stubby, dark-eyed, these immigrants distinguished them-
selves from the Slavic and Germanic type. Their language
was akin to none of the languages spoken in Europe. Their
traits, martial and hard, marked their Turkish blood. Their
tongue, however, showed clearly the character of the special
features of the Altaic family of languages. They spoke one of
the Ugrian tongues, the Magyar, related to the tongue of the
Ostiaks, while possessing a great affinity with Finnish, Mord-
vian and Cheremissian. It is towards the end of the ninth
century that the Magyars, a people of 200,000 souls, established
themselves between the Danube and the Theiss. We cannot
follow them in their successive emigrations. It is generally
believed that they came from Siberia, where they lived on the
banks of the Obi, the Irtish, and the Yenisei. These three
rivers were the natural boundaries of the Magyar race. Before
taking root in Dacia and Pannonia, they halted on the borders
of the Don, and later on, on those of the Atel-Kuzu. Their
tongue was not poor and uncouth: it was, however, not un-
alloyed. The Hungarians had lived a long time side by side
with Turks and Tartars. They had mingled freely with them,
and they had borrowed from them many things and also
names of things."
The Magyar was a powerful weapon of national defence
1920.] EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE 219
for the Hungarians against the attempts of Germanization and
Slavicization. It had no affinity with the European tongues. 1
So, in the very centre of Europe, the Hungarian people lived
in isolation. They assimilated the literary genius of neighbor-
ing peoples : they were for ages the cosmopolitans of European
intellectualism. But they never ceased to be Hungarian.
Hungarian civilization and Hungarian literature are the
offspring of the civilizing and enlightening power of the Cath-
olic Church. From the accession of St. Stephen to the Hun-
garian throne (997-1038) to the beginning of the reign of Mat-
thias Corvinus (1458-1490), Hungary endeavored to conquer
a place of honor in Western Christianity by placing herself
under the sway of the Catholic Church. The history of this
early period of her literature is the history of the enlighten-
ment of the Hungarian people by Western monasticism. To
monks Hungary owes the laborious Latin monuments of the
just period of her culture development, no less than the earliest
fragments of written Hungarian. 2
A Benedictine left to posterity the most ancient document
of the Magyar tongue. He lived in the monastery of Deaki.
The manuscript in which that fragment is preserved, and
which is the most valuable treasure of the Hungarian National
Museum in Budapest, is dated 1228. It is entitled Halotti beszed
(Funeral Oration). 3 The style is admirable for its simplicity.
The use of some foreign words shows clearly the influence of
the missionaries who entered Hungary by way of Venice, aim-
ing to win her pagan tribes over to the Catholic Church. This
document shows that Christian faith was deeply rooted in
1 The Finno-Ugrian languages, spoken mostly in the Northwest of Asia, are di-
vided into four branches and philologically belong to the family of Ural-Altaic
languages. (1) Finnish proper. Within this branch are included the languages of
Finland and Esthonia, two nations rather highly civilized, and like the Hungarians,
endowed with a rich national literature. (2) The Permian languages. (3) The
Finnish languages spoken on the banks of Volga (Mordvinian and Cheremissian).
(4) The Ugrian languages (Ostiak, Vogul, Magyar and Samoyed). Magyar is closely
akin to the first two languages. It has also numerous elements of affinity with the
Tartar and Turkish dialects. Ch. E. de Ujfalvy, La langue Magyars, son origine,
ses affinities, Versailles, 1871; Id., Etude comparee des langues Ougro-Finnoises,
Paris, 1875. The best work on the origin and development of the Hungarian lan-
guage is that of Sigismond Simonyi (in Hungarian) : A Magyar Nyelv, Budapest, 1905.
3 For the historical sources concerning the lives of St. Stephen and St. Ladislas,
see Balics Lajos, A Romai katholikus egyhaz tortenete magyarorszdgban (History of
the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary), Budapest, 1885, vol. i., pp. 31-350.
3 Zgolt Boothy, A Magyar iredalom tortenete (History of Hungarian Literature),
Budapest, 1899, vol. i., p. 71.
220 EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE [Nov.,
Hungary in the first half of the thirteenth century. It polished
the language and freed it of its pagan dross. The "Funeral
Oration," however, is not a production of the thirteenth cen-
tury. It goes back to an earlier period, possibly the dawn of
Hungary's evangelization. The monk who copied it had before
him a more ancient manuscript.
An eloquent historian of Hungarian literature writes:
"The Church was the first educator of the Magyars. The na-
tional tongue was enriched with numerous Slavic elements,
but Italy and Germany won the ascendancy in the monasteries
and monastic schools. The Benedictines were a host in the
cloisters of Pecs-Varad, Pannonhalma, Bakonybel, Alba Reale,
Csanad. They pored over the classics of Greece and Rome.
They were acquainted with Gato, Ovid, Horace, ^Esop, Plato,
Gicero, Priscian, and Boetius. Legions of monks passed their
lives in copying manuscripts."
Later on, the Benedictines were followed by more active
workers in the apostolic field. France sent the Cistercians and
Premonstratensians to Hungary. Italy and Spain, stirred by
the monastic reform of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic,
covered the Hungarian soil with monasteries of Franciscans
and Dominicans. These two religious orders for several cen-
turies led the van of the cultural movement of Magyar Catho-
licism. The monastic literature of the newly converted Hun-
gary is composed mostly of hagiographic legends. The coun-
try is impregnated with the spirit of the monastic reform of
St. Dominic and St. Francis. There is a parallelism between
the history of Hungarian and that of Italian literature. They
start with almost the same sources, the same honey of piety,
the same sweetness of Franciscan mysticism nourish the writers
of Christian Hungary. The Fioretti had its following in the
Hungarian monasteries.
Germans, Bohemians, Poles, and Frenchmen shared in the
conversion of Magyars : the Italians, however, infused into the
Hungarians the sparkling mysticism of the Latin world. At
the very frontiers of Hungary, Serbia, educated by schismatic
Byzantium, saturated with hatred of Catholicism, was sanc-
tioning the capital punishment of such as dared to embrace
the Latin heresy! Rumania, on the other hand, another dis-
ciple of the Byzantine hierarchy, dried up the wellsprings of
mysticism, and alone among Christian nations stands unre-
1920.] EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE 221
corded in the annals of Christian hagiography. The Magyars,
on the contrary, opened their national history with the name
of a hero and saint, Stephen. The first Hungarian dynasty,
the Arpads, is a dynasty of saints. Emeric, Ladislas, Margaret
were enduring figures in the long line of European monarchs.
Their lives were imbued with the monastic spirit. They are
in a certain way the knights of Catholic apostleship.
The earliest hagiographic literature of Hungary bears a
truly Italian stamp. Italian missionaries accomplished more
lasting work in Hungary than had their predecessors who had
come in from Germany. The pro torn artyr of the Hungarian
Church, Gerard of Venice, was an Italian. In 1221, St. Dominic
sent among the Hungarians Blessed Paul, who founded mon-
asteries at Raab, Alba Reale, Zagreb, and Veszprem. The de-
velopment of the Dominican Order was so rapid that, in 1231,
the Hungarians organized a province, and in 1231 Joannes
Teutonicus, one of the most active of the Masters General of
the Order, was elected Provincial. The Franciscans also tilled
the same fruitful soil. They sent a score of fervent mission-
aries and of Italian saints. Blessed Nicola di Montefeltro, two
blessed Giovanni, and Brother Gallo have illuminated and in-
spired the opening chapter of the ecclesiastical annals of
Hungary. 4
The earliest monument of Hungarian hagiography is the
life of St. Gerard, the protomartyr. It was written by a monk
of the Benedictine Monastery of Bakonybel, Walter, who had
followed his master to Csanad. The work is an account of the
conversion of the Hungarians to the Christian faith rather than
a biography. The zeal, virtues and miracles of the saint had
conquered the hostility of the pagans. Nobles and peasants,
rich and poor, were anxious to receive baptism in the name
of the Blessed Trinity. The sainted bishop treated them as if
they were his own children. Many pagans were brought to
him by the chiefs of the districts, and baptized in the convent
of St. John the Baptist. Large crowds pressed at the doors,
and the priests were so busy baptizing converts that they could
scarce sleep. Under the pen of Walter, the holy martyr evi-
dences both the qualities and defects of his Latin blood. He
* F. Bernardino Sderci de Gaiole, L'apostolato di S. Francesco e del francescant,
Quaracchi, 1909, vol. i. } pp. 249-250, 492; H. Holzapfel, Handbuch der Geschichte des
Franziskanerordens, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1909, p. 161.
222 EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE [Nov.,
is irritable. For a trifle he flies into a passion. But he is quick
to calm himself. He weeps because of his bad temper, and by
his humility he reconciles those who have been offended by his
impulsiveness.
Hartwic, 5 Bishop of Gyor (Raab), under the reign of Colo-
man (1095-1114), wrote the life of St. Stephen, the first King
of Hungary. Under the guidance of Priscian, in his childhood
he had learned all the niceties of the Latin language. In writ-
ing, however, the life of his hero the literary remembrances of
the past became lost, and ignorance replaced the knowledge
of yore. St. Stephen is represented as a heavenly gift. God
reveals to his parents that the child will be the first King of
Hungary. Stephen is the apostle of his people. His heart was
filled with a tender love for the Blessed Virgin. Before the
battle, he prostrates himself and implores the help of the
Mother of God. He prays her not to allow the tender sapling
of Christianity to be trampled under the feet of its foes, and
to punish rather the guilty shepherd than the innocent flock.
The devotion towards the Blessed Virgin is most characteristic
of the saint. Thanks to him, he became truly the king of his
people. Hartwic writes that the day of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin was called in Hungarian the day of the mis-
tress, dies Dominae.
The biographer abounds in details as to the establishment
and the organization of the Church in Hungary. Stephen was
full of solicitude for the Christianization of his people. He
founded dioceses and built up magnificent temples; at times,
following the suggestions of his piety, he retired into the soli-
tude of a cloister and took part in the divine offices like a
monk. His generosity expanded beyond the frontiers of his
kingdom. He sent rich presents to the Churches of Jerusalem,
Rome, and Constantinople. He died singing the praises of the
Blessed Virgin. 6
5 On Hartwic, see: Pauler Cjyula, Ki volt Hartvic piispok (Who Was Bishop
Hartwig), in Szazadok, Budapest, 1883, xvii., pp. 803, 804. Id., A Hartvic legenda es
Pesti codexe, Ibid., 1884 (xviii.), PP- 739-749. M. Rosenauer, Studien zur Kritik un-
garischen Geschichtsquellen fur die Zeit Stephans, Ibid., 1887, xxi.
On St. Stephen, see: I. Szalay, A Magyar nemzet tortenete (History of the
Magyar People), Budapest, 1895, pp. 137-152; Virag Benedek, Magyar Szazadai
(Centuries of Magyar History), Budapest, 1862, vol. i., pp. 49-82; M. Florianus, Vitas
S. Step/mm regis et Emeriti Duds, Fiinfkirchen, 1881; Gaal Mozes, Szent Istvan,
Budapest, 1900; J. Karacsonyi, Szent Istvan Elete (Life of St. Stephen), Budapest,
1904.
1920.] EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE 223
His virtues are reflected in his only son, Emericus or
Henrij, whom he lost in the flower of his age. Hungarian
hagiographers, however, are sparing of words as to his life.
He lived as a monk in the prime of youth. He felt the desire
of serving God in a monastery. But submitting to the wishes
of his father he married. After his death, his wife revealed
the fact that she and her husband had preserved their vir-
ginity.
The national feeling assumes a more distinct shape in the
legend of St. Ladislas. The details of his life were handed
down to posterity in Latin and in Hungarian. St. Stephen em-
bodies the pious apostle of Hungary, while Ladislas is the ideal
of a perfect Hungarian knight. The chivalry of the Middle
Ages finds in him its living model. As an historian of Hun-
garian literature writes, he appears to us as the most sym-
pathetic and exalted hero of romantic Hungary. He person-
ifies the proud ideal of mediaeval knighthood; he is the support
of the Church, the terror of pagan and infidel, the invincible
giant, the friend of the people, the defender of the oppressed,
the father of the orphans; he is inexorable in his anger, but
merciful to the conquered. Women appreciate his noble gal-
lantry. His glory spreads beyond the Hungarian frontiers.
The writers of his legend maintain that before his death he
was invited to head a new crusade. Ladislas is the Magyar
Roland. 7
His Latin biographer, in rhythmic prose, attempts to
enumerate his virtues. 8 He was for his people a gift of God,
according to the Greek etymology of his name: 86si<; Xaoli.
His heroism in battle was divinely inspired. At times, God
Himself opened to him the road to victory. Once, an army
of barbarians from Bessarabia invaded his kingdom. The
gallant King launched his soldiers against them, the barbarians
were defeated and put to flight. His soldiers, however, were
drawn far away in their pursuit, and reached a desert. They
were about to die of starvation. Ladislas prayed God to be
merciful to him, and of a sudden herds of roes and deer rushed
upon the soldiers, and fell prey to them.
The most beautiful flower of mediaeval Hungary is also
7 G. Pray, Dissertatio historico-critica de S. Ladislao Hungariee rege, Poszony,
1774. I. Karacsonyi, Szt. Lasle kiraly elete (Life of King St. Ladislas), Budapest, 1899.
8 Acta Sanctorum, jun. 7, p. 286.
224 EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE [Nov.,
an offspring of the dynasty of Arpad, St. Margaret. Her
legend is a precious monument of early Hungarian literature.
It was copied in 1510 by Sister Lea Raskai, a nun of the monas-
tery that bears the name of the Saint. The date of its com-
position is not later than the thirteenth century. It was a
product of the literary activity of the Hungarian nuns, who
devoted their time to prayer, and to copying of manuscripts.
In the hour of danger their first thought was to save their
literary treasures. "These noble women," writes a historian
of Hungarian literature, "have assembled the earliest reading
public. Men of letters, in their day, read Latin: women, on
the contrary, had less culture, and were satisfied with reading
hymns and prayers. It is for their sake that the chiefs of the
religious orders took pen in hand and wrote books in Hun-
garian. Thus religious literature arose in Hungary. Its most
important productions come from Franciscan and Dominican
monasteries. This anonymous literature lived for three cen-
turies: it is the echo of the cultural life of foreign countries,
and until the close of the sixteenth century did not change its
original features." 9
In Hungarian hagiography, St. Margaret holds a place of
honor like St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Her legend is filled with
the minutest details of the monastic life. She appears to us
consumed by the flames of the most rigid asceticism. Her
parents, King Bela and Queen Maria, had offered her to God
if the beloved soil of their country could be freed from the
invasion of the Asiatic hordes. Margaret generously lived up
to the vow of her royal parents. From infancy, she was in-
trusted to the sisters of the monastery of St. Catherine at
Veszprem. Later on, King Bela built up a monastery, placed
it under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, and there his
daughter lived. This was in 1252. The Saint was ten years
old, but already ripe for the arduous struggle of religious
perfection.
The rigor of her life did not alter the tenderness and
sweetness of her character. Her heart was filled with charity
and compassion for her sisters. She lavished care upon the
sick and poor. She spent her nights in consoling her sisters
in their painful infirmities. All the presents she received from
her father, the King, or from her royal relatives, became the
8 1. Kont, La Hongrie litttraire et scientiflque, Paris, 1896.
1920.] EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE 225
inheritance of orphans and widows. In the midst of her volun-
tary crucifixion for the Divine Spouse and, "recommending
her soul to her Creator," she breathed her last. From every
corner of Hungary the faithful came to pray before the altar
that covered her tomb. A sweet perfume of roses emanated
from her mortal remains. The monastery that had been the
theatre of her ascetic life and heroic deeds took her name.
It became a centre of pilgrimages for the Hungarian nation.
The legends of the Hungarian saints 10 were followed by
the hagiographic treasuries of the Church; apocryphal gospels,
the acts of martyrs, the monastic chronicles furnished the ma-
terial which was elaborated by the members of religious com-
munities. The admirable simplicity of the Fioretti charmed
and moved the Hungarian Catholics of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. One of the earliest Hungarian books, the
Ehrenfeld manuscript, of the first half of the fifteenth cen-
tury, contains the Hungarian version of the legends of St.
Francis of Assisi. Of the same date is the legend of St. Cather-
ine of Alexandria, a production of monastic literature. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century the Legenda aurea was ex-
ploited by Hungarian writers who inveigh against the looseness
of the clergy, and battle with "the pestilential Lutheran
heresy." The earliest Hungarian theologians are the stanch
defenders of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. They
echo the lyric eloquence of the Fathers of the Church in sing-
ing the praises of the Queen of Heaven. Theologians show
their dignity by elaborate syllogisms: preachers work out in
her honor their best sermons: scholars entwine for her gar-
lands of prayer.
The Regi Magyar konyvtar begins almost exclusively with
the names of monastic writers. 11 For many years literary Hun-
gary was known by the writings of her preachers or theo-
logians, like Michael the Hungarian (Michael de Hungaria),
10 On the Hungarian Legends cf., an inspiring chapter in Boothy, A Magyar
irodalom tortdnete, vol. i., pp. 112-121. The first edition of the Legends of the
Hungarian saints was published at Strassburg: Legende sanctorum regni Hungarise
in Lombardica historia non contente. The second in Venice, Count A. Apponyi,
Hungarica, Munich, 1903, pp. 25, 26. A few years later, Josse Chictove (lodocus
Clichtoveus) published the liturgical hymns in honor of the royal saints of Hun-
gary, Elucidatorium ecclesiasticum, ad oflicium Ecclesise pertinentia planius exponens,
et quatuor libros complectens, Paris, 1516.
"Karoly Szabo, Regi Magyar konyvtar (Ancient Hungarian Bibliography),
Budapest, 1898, vol. i.
voj cxji. }
226 EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE [Nov.,
Pelbart de Temesvar, Oswald de Lasko, Nicholas de Mirabil-
ibus. Michael de Hungaria was the champion of the Immacu-
late Conception in a public contest held in 1444, at Buda, in
the presence of King Ladislas. His sermons had made him
famous. They are published in many editions and in the
most important cities of Europe. 12
His fame is eclipsed by a Franciscan, Pelbart de Temesvar,
the most brilliant intelligence of mediaeval Hungarian monas-
ticism. He was born in 1463, made his studies in the Uni-
versity of Cracow, and received his degree of Bachelor of
Theology in 1463. The first product of his pen was a tribute
to the Blessed Virgin, who had miraculously saved his life
from plague. It was entitled The Starry Heaven of the Crown
of the Blessed Virgin. 13 It is a poetical life of Mary. The
pious monks describes the marvels of her earthly life, the per-
fume of her virginity, the mysterious sublimity of her Immacu-
late Conception, the greatness of her love for the human race,
the ineffable radiance of her eternal crown. His last work
also was a huge collection of the praises sung of the Blessed
Virgin by her pious admirers. It was a complete treatise of
Marian Theology. Death prevented him from signing his
laborious work, which was completed by his colleague, Laskai
Osvat, a preacher of great renown.
But the best title to the glory of Pelbart in the history of
Hungarian literature is derived from his Orchard (Pomerium),
a collection of sermons on the Saints, the festivities of the
year, and on Lent. 14 "In the orchard," he writes in the preface,
"we have several kinds of fruit-bearing trees; likewise, in this
volume are to be found different sermons, varied flowers of
knowledge, and salutary fruit of the divine secrets."
The sermons of the Orchard revive and popularize the
heroes of Hungarian hagiography. The writer appeals often
"On the earliest Hungarian writers see: I. Kont, La Hongrie litteraire et scien-
tiflque, Paris, 1896; Id., Histoire de la litterature hongroise par C. Harvath, A. Kardos,
et A. Endrodi, Paris, 1900; Melchior de Polignac, Notes sur la litterature hongroise,
Paris, 1900; J. H. Schwicker, Geschichte der ungarischen Litteratur, Leipzig, 1889.
The best modern histories of Hungarian literature are those of Zgolt Boothy, A
Magyar iredalom tortenete, Budapest, 1899-1900, and of Sigismond Bodnar, A Magyar
iredalom tortenete, Budapest, 1891.
13 Stellarium coronas BenedictK Marite Virginia in laude eius pro singulis preedica-
toribus elegantissime coaptatum, Hagenau, 1498. See Regi Magyar konyvtar, Budapest,
1896, vol. i., p. 13.
14 Aureum Rosarium Theologies ad Sententiarum quatuor libros pariformiter
quadripartitum, Hagenau, 1503; ii., 1504; iii., 1507; iv., 1508.
1920.] EARLY HUNGARIAN LITERATURE 227
to them to drive out the evils of his own time, and the laxity
of morals. Pelbart is a laudator temporis acti. The tinsel of
the Renaissance looked tawdry to him. He regrets that the
wise laws of St. Stephen and Ladislas have fallen into disuse.
They had built churches, monasteries, orphanages; they had
recommended loyalty to the Christian faith; they had con-
demned violence. "If they could arise again from their graves,
they would be witnessing the spoliation of the churches, the
starvation of the poor, the despotism of the powerful, and the
contempt of Christian virtues."
He foresaw the coming storm of the Reformation, the loss
of Catholic unity, the growing dissolution of national com-
pactness. The meteoric period of the Renaissance under Mat-
thias Corvinus was to be followed by the fearful years of theo-
logical warfare. Protestantism prepared the way for the growth
of Hungarian learning and prosperity, but it concurrently tar-
nished and ruined the native beauty of Hungary's Catholic
soul, and effectively checked the mystic tendency which had
distinguished it. 15
15 David Czvittinger, Specimen Hungarian literates virorum eruditions clarorum
natione Hungarorum vitas, scripta, elogia et censuras ordine alphabetico exhibens,
Frankfort, 1711, pp. 301-303.
THE LOYALIST.
BY JAMES FRANCIS BARRETT.
PART III.
CHAPTER III.
the meantime, Marjorie was tossing restlessly,
nervously in her bed, enduring hours of remorse
and desolation. She could not sleep. Her girlish
heart, lay heavy within her. Now that Stephen had
gone, she had time to think over the meaning of it
all, and to experience the renewed agony of those
fateful moments by the water's edge. She simply had to give way
to the tears. Scrambling out of her bed and wrapping a mantle
about her, she sat beside the window and peered into the night.
There was no breeze to break the solemn silence, no sound to
distract her from her reverie. Two black and uncanny pine
trees stood like armed guards near the corner of the house to
challenge the interloper from disturbing her meditation. Over-
head the stars blinked and glistened through the treetops in their
lace of foliage and delicate branches, and resembled for all the
world an hundred diamonds set in a band of filigree work. The
moon had not yet risen, and all the world seemed to be in abject
despair, bristling in horrid shapes and sights a fit dwelling place
for Marjorie and her grief stricken heart.
Stephen had gone away that afternoon, perhaps never to
return. For this she could not reproach him, for had she not
hurt him, and hurt him to the quick. The thought overwhelmed
her. In return for his many acts of kindness, she had repulsed
him.
She felt acutely the bitterness of it all. She had afforded
him encouragement, she had cooperated to make the setting of a
perfect love scene, her action in regard to the miniature, appar-
ently innocent enough, was fraught with significance for Stephen;
these thoughts and the knowledge of the hopes she had alter-
nately raised and blasted stung her to pain and regret.
What would he think of her now? What could he think?
Plainly, he must consider her a cold, coquette, devoid of feeling
and appreciation. He had given her the best that was in him and
had made bold to appraise her of it. Sincerity was manifest in
his every gesture and word, and yet she had made him feel as
1920.] THE LOYALIST 229
if his protestations had been repugnant to her. She knew his
nature, his extreme diffidence in matters of this kind, his power
of resolution, and she feared, that once having tried and failed,
he was lost to her forever.
What could he cleduce from her behavior except that she was
a cold, ungrateful, irresolute creature who did not know her own
mind or the promptings of her own heart! She had flung him
from her, smarting and wounded, after he had summoned his
entire strength to whisper to her what she would have given
worlds to hear, but which had confounded and startled her by its
suddenness. And yet she loved him. She knew it and kept re-
peating it over and over again to her own self. No one before or
since had struck so responsive a chord from her heart strings.
He was the ideal to which she had shaped the pictures of her
mind. Stephen was her paragon of excellence, and to him the
faculties of her soul had turned all unconsciously as the helio-
trope turns towards the rays of the rising sun.
Laying her head on her arm she sobbed bitterly.
The thought that he was gone from her life brought incon-
solate remorse. He would be true to his word: he would not
breathe the subject again. Nay, more, he would even permit her
to disappear from his life as gradually as she had entered it.
This was unendurable, and it was by her own act.
She lifted her head and stared into the black depths of the
night. All was still except the shrill pipings of the frogs as they
sounded their dissonant notes to one another in the far-off Schuyl-
kill meadows. They, too, were filled with thoughts of love, Mar-
jorie thought, which they had made bold enough to publish in
their own discordant way, and they seemed to take eminent de-
light in having the whole world aware of the fact, that it, too,
might rejoice with them.
If it were true that she loved him, it were equally true that
he ought to know it. She would tell him before it was too late.
Her silence at the very moment when she should have acted was
unfortunate. Perhaps his affection had been killed by the blow
and protestations now would be falling upon barren soil. No mat-
ter. She would write and unfold her heart to him, and tell him
that she really and truly cared for him more than any one else
in the world, and she would beg him to return that she might
whisper in his ear those very words she had been softly repeating
to herself. She would write him at once.
But she did not mail the letter. Hidden carefully in her
room, it lay all the next day. A thousand and one misgivings
haunted her concerning the safety of its arrival Stephen might
230 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
have been transferred to some distant point, the letter itself might
possibly fall into awkward hands, it might lie for months in the
post bag, or fall into a dark corner of some obscure tavern, the
roads were infested with robbers horrible thoughts, too horrible
to record.
She did not know just how long it had taken her to compose
it. The end of the candle had burned quite out during the pro-
cess, and she lay deliberating over its contents and wondering
just what else might be added. Twice she was on the point of
arising to assure herself on the style of her confession, but each
time she changed her mind, deciding to yield to her earlier
thought. The darkness seemed to envelop her in her fancy, and
when she again opened her eyes the darkness had disappeared
before the light. It was morning, and she arose for the day.
Hour by hour she waited to tell her mother. It was only
right that she should know, and she proposed to tell her all, even
the episode on the river bank. She needed counsel, especially
during these lonely moments, and she felt that she could obtain
it only by unfolding her heart unreservedly. Her mother would
know; in fact, she must have suspected the gravity of the affair.
But how would she begin? She longed for an opening, but no
opening presented itself.
Stephen loved her; although he made no mention of mar-
riage, nevertheless it was this consummation which caused her
heart to stand still suddenly; perhaps it was the vision of the
new life which was opening before her. She would have to go
away with him as his wife, away from her home, away from her
beloved father and mother. The summers would come and go
and she would be far distant from her own, in far-off New York,
perhaps, or some other city better adapted for the career of a
young man of ability. They might live in Philadelphia, near to
her home, yet not in it. That would be preferable, yet the future
could lend her no assurance. She would be his for life, and
with him would be obliged to begin over again a new manner of
living.
Such thoughts occupied her for the greater part of the day,
and before she was really aware of it, her father had come home
for the evening. She could not tell both at once; better to tell
them in turn. It would be more confidential and better to her
liking. Once the secret was common between them, it was easy
to discuss it together, and so she decided that she would put it off
until the morrow. Then she would tell her mother, and let her
mother talk it over with her father. Both then would advise her.
"Next week is going to see the greatest event in the history
1920.] THE LOYALIST 231
of the Church in America," Marjorie heard her father remark as
he placed his hat upon the rack behind the door.
"What is it now?" inquired her mother, who chanced to be
in the sitting-room when he entered.
"The Congress is going to Mass."
"The Congress?" she exclaimed. "Praised be God!"
"What news, father?" asked Marjorie, hurrying into the room.
"The Congress, the President and the prominent men of the
nation have been invited to take part in the solemn Te Deum
next Sunday. It is the anniversary of the signing of the Declara-
tion."
"Isn't that remarkable?"
"It is remarkable," he repeated. "The French Ambassador
has issued the invitations, and all have signified their intention
of being present. Here is one of them."
Taking from his pocket a folded paper, he handed it to
Marjorie. She opened it at once and read aloud:
MR. MATTHEW ARNOLD.
You are invited by the Minister Plenipotentiary of France to
attend the Te Deum, which will be chanted on Sunday, the
fourth of this month, at noon, in the new Catholic Chapel, to
celebrate the anniversary of the Independence of the United
States of America. M. GERARD.
Philadelphia, the Second of July.
"The Congress going to Mass!" said his wife, apparently un-
able to comprehend fully the meaning of it all.
"The more one thinks of it the more strange it becomes.
They branded Charles I. a Papist because he permitted his
queen, who was born and bred a Catholic, to attend Holy Mass.
Now we have our newly-formed Government not alone counte-
nancing Popery, but actually participating in a supposedly pagan
and idolatrous form of worship."
"This marks the end of religious prejudice in this country,"
observed Marjorie. "At length all men are in all things equal,
equal in the sight of God and man. Don't you think our leaders
must realize this and are taking steps to prepare the minds of
the people accordingly?"
"Yes," he replied, "and I don't know but what it is only right.
We all go to the market together, trade our goods together, rub
elbows together, clear the land together, fight together. Why
shouldn't we live together in peace? Intolerance and bigotry are
dead and buried. We have laid the foundations of the greatest
country in the world."
"Thank God for that!" breathed Mr*s. Allison.
232 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
"We are respected above all calculation," Mr. Allison con-
tinued. "Our loyalty now is unquestionable."
"We may thank God for that, too."
"And Captain Meagher!" added Marjorie.
"Yes, you are right, girl," said her father. "We can thank
Captain Meagher. The frustration and the exposure of that plot
has increased our reputation an hundredfold. Heretofore, the
Catholic population had been regarded as an insignificant ele-
ment, but when the ambitions of the enemy to secure their co-
operation were discovered, the value of the Catholics to the coun-
try suddenly rose."
"Our unity must have created a lasting impression," Marjorie
remarked.
"Not alone our unity, but our loyalty as well. The Govern-
ment has learned that we have been ever true to the land of our
birth, ever loyal to the country of our adoption. It has thought-
fully considered the value of our sacrifices, and has carefully
estimated our contribution to the cause of freedom. When the
charter of liberty assumes a more definite form our rights will
specifically be determined. Of that I am reasonably certain.
The enemy failed to lure us from our country in its time of need;
our country will not abandon us in our time of need."
"Stephen did it," announced Marjorie.
"Stephen helped to do it," replied her father.
That same evening, during a stolen moment while her
mother was busied with the turning of the buckwheat cakes,
Marjorie crept to her father's knee and folded her arms over it.
"Daddy!" she looked up at him from her seated posture on
the floor. "What would you say to a very eligible young man
who had told you that he was very fond of you?"
"What would I say?" asked the father in surprise.
"Yes. What would you?"
"I would not say anything. I would have him examined."
"No, daddy. This is serious," and she pushed his knee from
her as she spoke.
"I am serious. If a man told me that he was very fond of
me, I would question his sanity."
She laughed.
"You know what I mean. I mean if you were a girl and "
"But I am not a girl."
"Well, if you were?"
"If I was what?"
"You know what I mean quite well, would you hate him at
first?"
1920.] THE LOYALIST 233
"I hope not. I should want to strangle him, but I wouldn't
hate him."
"And you would strangle him? For what?"
"For daring."
"Daring what?"
"You know." He smiled.
"Oh, dear! Won't you listen to me? Tell me what to do."
"I could not tell you. You have not told me what has
happened.."
"I asked you what you would say to an attractive soldier
who had told you that he loved you."
"Yes. And I told you that if he had told that to me, I would
ask what ailed him."
"Oh, daddy, you are too funny tonight. I can't reason with
you." She sat back on her heels and pouted.
He smiled and roused himself upright and put his arm
around her and drew her to him.
"There! There! I know what you mean, daughter. It
means that I shall have no say in the matter."
"Why?"
"You will do it all."
"No. I shall never leave you."
"Yes, you will. You will be happier. But why didn't Stephen
ask me about it?"
"How did you know it was Stephen?" she looked at him in
astonishment.
"Well enough."
"But how?" she repeated.
"I knew it all the time, and your mother and I have been
prepared for this occasion."
"But who told you?" Her eyes opened full and round in
genuine wonder. Here was one surprise after the other.
"There was no need of anyone telling me. I have been
watching the pair of you and sensed what the outcome would be
some little while ago."
"But, daddy. How should you know?"
He laughed outright.
"There! There! We are satisfied quite, I can assure you.
I know what you are about to say; and your mother knows it, too."
"But I have not yet told her. I meant to tell her today, but
did not. Then I thought of telling you and of whispering the
whole story to her after we were upstairs."
She was serious, very serious, absorbed for the most part in
her story, although her mind was clouded with amazement at
234 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
the want of surprise which was manifested. Her innocent mind
apparently was unable for the time being to fathom the intri-
cacies of this plot which seemed to be laid bare to everyone con-
cerned save her own self.
"Of course, you will tell her, but you will find that she will
consent to the proposal."
"What proposal?"
"Why, I suppose the proposal of your coming marriage."
"But! . . . But! . . . Daddy! ... I never said anything
about marriage."
"You did start to tell me that Stephen told you he was very
fond of you?"
"Yes."
"And you told him the same."
"No, I didn't."
"But you will tell him."
A hush followed. She looked askance at him from the
corner of her eye.
"And so after you have told one another as much as that
you may as well decide upon the date."
"But ... I ... I am not sure that I want to marry him."
"Well, that is your privilege, you know."
"And . . . And . . . perhaps he will never ask me again."
"Just wait a bit."
"And would you marry him?"
"I told you that I would not. I already have one wife . . ."
"Oh! You make me lose all patience," she cried rising from
the floor and leaving him. "I shall confide in mother."
"Remember," he cautioned her in a somewhat serious strain.
"Do not ask her to marry him."
She was gone.
The following day a letter was dispatched to the Headquar-
ters at Morristown, New Jersey. In the meantime a very large
doubt began to take form in the mind of one little girl concern-
ing the manner of its reception. A thousand and one impossible
situations were conceived, but there seemed nothing to do; he
must now do it all. The possibility loomed ghostlike before her:
he might never return. The wound which she had caused still
smarted and ached. He might never return. Her eyes wandered
and strayed among the multitude of objects before them; her lips
had forgotten their usual smile. He might fail to receive her
note, and if he did, he might disdain to acknowledge it. But no!
He would not do that. There was naught else to do but wait.
Oh ! If the moments would only hurry !
1920.] THE LOYALIST 235
CHAPTER IV.
It was a great day for Philadelphia when the Continental
Congress went to Mass. It was Independence Day, too, but this
was of lesser importance in the estimation of the people, espe-
cially of the Catholic contingent. Fully a quarter before the hour,
the bell began to sound and the streets became like so many
avenues of commerce with people standing in doorways, or lean-
ing from their windows, or hurrying nervously in the direction of
the New Chapel of St. Mary's, the parish church of the city. There
a number were congregated in groups of twos or threes to await
the procession of notables, who would soon approach with great
solemnity and dignity from the opposite corner of the street.
The celebration came about in this manner.
It was the desire of M. Gerard, the Minister Plenipotentiary
of France, to commemorate the anniversary day of the Independ-
ence of the United States in a religious manner. Arrangements
already had been made to hold Divine worship earlier in the
morning at Christ Church, at which the guests of honor were
invited to be present. At twelve o'clock the congregation would
march to the church of St. Mary, where a military Mass and a
solemn Te Deum would be sung. The Rev. Seraphin Bandol,
chaplain to the French Embassy, would celebrate the Mass and
deliver a sermon appropriate to the occasion.
It was fondly expected that the event would assume an inter-
national tone. Events had been moving with extraordinary
rapidity towards the establishment of the Roman Catholic re-
ligion in the graces of the Government, and this celebration might
demonstrate the patriotic motives of the Catholic body beyond
the shadow of a doubt. That a Congress, which of late had con-
demned in the strongest terms the practices of the Roman Cath-
olic religion, should change in sentiment and action in so short
a time would be an unequivocal proof of the countenance and
good will which the Catholic religion was beginning to acquire.
At any rate, the example set by the governing body of the new re-
public attending Mass in a Roman Catholic edifice, offering up
their devout orisons in the language, service and worship of Rome,
would be a memorable one, an augury of the new spirit of re-
ligious freedom which later would be breathed into the Constitu-
tion of these same States by these same men.
Precisely at ten minutes before the hour they came, walking
in pairs, headed by John Hancock, the President of the Conti-
nental Congress, and his Excellency, M. Gerard, the French Am-
bassador. Immediately after the Congress marched the Supreme
236 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
Executive Council of Philadelphia with Joseph Reed at its head.
Then came the French Embassy, resplendent in its dress of blue
and gold. Prominent civilians, military officers, men of repute
in city and nation, followed slowly along the crowded thorough-
fare and as slowly made their way into the small edifice. General
Washington was not present, having been prevented by duty in
the field.
Within, the little church murmured with low talking.
Ordinarily the congregation would have been absorbed in silent
contemplation before the Presence of the Divine One, but the
excitement of the occasion made the people forget their usual
fervor. The little church was only partly filled when the great
procession arrived, and every head instinctively turned in the
direction of the entrance at the sound of many footsteps. As
the notables marched down the aisle every breath was held;
then, as they began to file into the pews reserved for them, the
subdued murmur began again.
Marjorie and her father sat to the rear of the church in the
company of the early arrivals. In fact, the entire Allison family
occupied the same pew, pressed, indeed, for room on account
of the multitude which crowded its way into the church and into
the small aisles. Round about them on every side sat the con-
gregation, some of whose faces were familiar to them, the majority
of whom, however, were total strangers. From their appearance
and demeanor it was not difficult to conclude, Marjorie thought,
that more than one-half of them were non-Catholic.
The inside of the church was adorned with the emblems of
France and the United States. In the sanctuary, on each side
of the altar, stood two large flags of the allied nations, while
across the choir gallery, in the rear of the church, stretched in
festoons the colors of the infant Republic superimposed in the
middle by a shield bearing the likeness of Louis XVI. On the
altar bloomed a variety of cut flowers, arranged in an artistic
and fanciful manner on the steps of the reredos amidst a great
profusion of white unlighted candles. The three highest candle-
sticks on each side had been lit, and the little tongues of living
flame were leaping up joyfully. Over the tabernacle stood a large
crucifix raised aloft, and before it rested the chalice covered with
its white veil, in readiness for the Holy Sacrifice.
For several minutes after the honorable body was seated
the members of the congregation surged into the church. The
pews filled quickly, and the more tardy and less fortunate indi-
viduals sought places along the aisles and in the rear. Overhead
the small organ gasped and panted the strains of a martial air,
1920.] THE LOYALIST 237
the uneven throbbing of its bellows emphasizing the fatigue and
exhaustion of its faithful operator.
"Is that the French Ambassador?" whispered Marjorie to
her father.
"With the brocade and lace? Yes. Next to him is Mr. Han-
cock, President of the Congress."
She looked and saw the noble head and dignified bearing of
the statesmen. He sat very erect and majestic, presenting an
appearance of taste and refinement in his suit of silken black.
"There is Mr. Adams, John Adams, with the great powdered
periwig. The tall thin man seated at his right is Thomas Jeffer-
son, who wrote the Declaration. He is, without doubt, the scholar
of the Congress."
Marjorie followed his whispering with evident interest.
Never had she been in the company of such notable men.
"Who is that? See! He is turning sideways."
"Livingston. Robert Livingston. Then the great Robert
Morris, whose financial aid made possible the continuance of the
war. His personal sacrifice for the cause of independence will
never be computed. He is Washington's best friend."
She peered through the crowd to catch a glimpse of the
famous financier.
"Do not overlook our stanch Catholic member of the Con-
gress, Charles Carroll. Lest he might be mistaken for any other
man of the same name he made bold to affix after his name on
the Declaration of Independence, 'of Carrollton!' A representative
Catholic and a true patriot!"
She recalled having seen the name "Charles Carroll of Carroll-
ton" on the printed copy of the Declaration.
Mr. Allison again touched his daughter to attract her atten-
tion.
"Can you see that elderly man with the sharp pointed fea-
tures over across?" he asked.
She looked in the direction indicated but did not seem to be
able to locate him.
"The second pew, third man from the aisle."
'Tes ! Yes ! " she exclaimed.
"That is Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, the author of the
resolution 'That these United Colonies are, and of right ought
to be, free and independent States.' That paved the way for the
drawing up of the Declaration."
The makers of history were before her, and her eyes danced
at their sober and grave demeanor. Here sat the Congress, not
all of it, but a goodly portion of it, which had voted unanimously
238 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
in favor of complete separation from the mother country. Here
were those very men who had risked their all, their fortunes,
their homes, their lives for their country's cause. Here they now
assembled, visibly burdened with the cares and the apprehensions
of the past few years, still uncertain of the future, but steadfastly
determined to endure to the bitter end, either to hang together
or to rise together to glorious triumphs. And here they sat or
knelt in the temple of God to re-dedicate their fortunes to Him, to
accept from His hands His judgments, to implore Him to look with
favor upon their efforts and to render possible of realization the
desires uppermost in their hearts. Marjorie thought that they
could not, they must not fail, men animated by such sincere
devotion and such sentiments of genuine piety.
"Mr. Franklin isn't here?" she whispered.
"No," he softly answered. "I think he has not returned from
France. He was there, you know, when the Alliance was con-
cluded. Lafayette only joined Washington last month. Did you
know that he brought with him a commission from the French
King to General Washington, appointing him Lieutenant-General
in the French army and Vice- Admiral of its navy?"
"No. I did not hear of it."
"I suppose Franklin is still over there. He would be here,
although he is an atheist. He believes in no form of religious
worship. I should not say that he is an atheist, for he does
believe in One God, but that is about all."
The murmur about the little church began to die away.
Still the surging at the door continued, until it seemed as if the
small building would burst its sides.
The tinkle of a little bell sounding from the door leading
from the sanctuary announced that the Mass was about to begin.
On the instant the congregation rose and remained standing
until Father Bandol, preceded by the altar boys, had reached the
foot of the altar and made the genuflection.
High up in the gallery the choir broke into the strains of the
Kyrie of the Mass, while the priest in a profound bow before the
altar made his confession of sins. Marjorie took out her prayer
book and began to follow the Mass.
At last the voice of Father Bandol resounded through the
church with the opening tones of the Preface of the Mass, the
responses to which were made by the members of the choir.
Slowly and solemnly he chanted the notes of praise, ending with
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts." A sound from the bell
gave warning that the awful moment was about to arrive, the
moment when the ambassador of Christ would exercise the power
1920.] THE LOYALIST 239
communicated to him from Jesus Himself through the Twelve and
their successors, the power of changing the substance of bread
and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Jesus
Christ.
The people bent forward in an attitude of humble adoration.
Marjorie buried her face in her hands on the top of the forward
pew, pouring out her heart in praise and thanksgiving to her God
and Master. In profound reverence she remained while the priest
pronounced the mystical words, Hoc est enim corpus meum, over
the species and effected the mystery of mysteries, the translation
of Christ's Mystical Body to the elements of the earth, in the
transubstantiation of the Mass. Now her Lord was present before
her; now the Divinity of His Person was but a few feet away,
clothed, not in flesh and blood, but under the appearances of
bread and wine; now her Creator was with her, lying on the
white corporal of the altar, and she poured forth her soul to Him
in accents of adoration and supplication.
"O my God!" she breathed. "I adore Thee through Jesus;
I beg pardon through Jesus; I thank Thee through Jesus; I
humbly ask every blessing and grace, through Jesus. May I lead
a holy life and die a good death. My Jesus! mercy. My Jesus!
mercy. My Jesus! mercy."
The prayers for the dead were read and the Pater Noster
was chanted. A signal from the bell announced that the priest's
Communion was about to take place, and that the distribution of
the Sacred Body would be made to as many as desired to partake
of it. It was Sunday and the majority of the Catholics present
had been in attendance at an earlier Mass, on which account there
were no communicants at this later one. The ceremonies were
concluded with the reading of the Gospel of St. John, when
Father Bandol turned towards the congregation to begin his ad-
dress. Every member present sat upright in his seat and awaited
the message about to fall from the lips of the priest.
"My dear brethren," he said, "we are assembled to celebrate
the anniversary of that day which Providence had marked, in
His eternal decrees, to become the epoch of liberty and independ-
ence to the thirteen United States of America."
There was a silence throughout the church which was breath-
less. Every eye was focused on the vested form before the altar.
"That Being Whose almighty hand holds all existence beneath
its dominion undoubtedly produces in the depths of His wisdom
those great events which astonish the world and of which the
most presumptuous, though instrumental in accomplishing them,
dare not attribute to themselves the merit. But the finger of God
240 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
is still more peculiarly evidenced in that happy, that glorious revo-
lution which calls forth this day's festivity. He hath struck the
oppressors of a free people free and peaceful, with the spirit of
delusion which renders them wicked artificers of their own proper
misfortunes.
"Permit me, my dear brethren, citizens of the United States,
to address you on this occasion. It is that God, that all powerful
God, Who hath directed your steps; Who, when you were without
arms fought for you the sword of justice; Who, when you were in
adversity, poured into your hearts the spirit of courage, of
wisdom, and fortitude, and who hath, at length, raised up for your
support a youthful sovereign whose virtues bless and adorn a
sensible, a fruitful and a generous nation."
The French Ambassador bowed his head in profound ac-
quiescence.
"This nation hath blended her interest with your interest and
her sentiments with yours. She participates in all your joys,
and this day unites her voice to yours at the foot of the altars of
eternal God to celebrate that glorious revolution which has placed
the sons of America among the free and independent nations of
the earth.
"We have nothing now to apprehend but the anger of heaven,
or that the measure of our guilt should exceed His mercy. Let us
then prostrate ourselves at the feet of the immortal God, Who
holds the fate of empires in His hands, and raises them up at
His pleasure, or breaks them down to dust. Let us conjure Him
to enlighten our enemies, and to dispose their hearts to enjoy
that tranquillity and happiness which the Revolution we now
celebrate has established for a great part of the human race.
Let us implore Him to conduct us by that way which His Prov-
idence has marked out for arriving at so desirable an end. Let
us offer unto Him hearts imbued with sentiments of respect, con-
secrated by religion, humanity and patriotism. Never is the
august ministry of His altars more acceptable to His Divine
Majesty than when it lays at His feet homages, offerings and
vows, so pure, so worthy the common offerings of mankind.
"God will not regret our joy, for He is the Author of it;
nor will He forget our prayers, for they ask but the fulfillment of
the decrees He has manifested. Filled with this spirit, let us, in
concert with each other, raise our hearts to the Eternal; let us
implore His infinite mercy to be pleased to inspire the rulers of
both nations with the wisdom and force necessary to perfect what
He hath begun. Let us, in a word, unite our voices to beseech
Him to dispense His blessings upon the counsels and the arms
1920.] THE LOYALIST 241
of the allies, and that we may soon enjoy the sweets of a peace
which will soon cement the Union and establish the prosperity of
the two empires/'
The same religious silence prevailed; indeed there sat many
in the same immovable posture. But it was evident that the
words were being received with pleasure and satisfaction. Signs
of approval appeared on every face.
"It is with this view," the priest concluded, "that we shall
cause that canticle to be chanted, which the custom of the Cath-
olic Church hath consecrated, to be at once a testimonial of public
joy, a thanksgiving for benefits received from heaven, and a
prayer for the continuance of its mercies."
As he stepped to the floor of the sanctuary and took his
stand before the centre of the altar the entire congregation rose
to its feet to await the intonation of the Te Deum.
Pleasant and sweet rose Father Bandol's voice above the
rustling in the opening notes of that most majestic of all hymns
of praise,
"Te Deum laudamus : te Dominus confitemur."
And immediately the vast throng took up the melody and
there reverberated throughout the church, escaping through the
open doors and windows, across the streets and over the roof-
tops, up to the topmost regions of the heavens, to the very gates
of heaven itself, the strains of the Ambrosian hymn of thanks-
giving and praise sung by the members of the American Congress
to the God of Nations and of Battles in the little Chapel of St.
Mary's on the anniversary day of the signing of the greatest
exposition of a freeman's rights ever penned by the hand of man.
CHAPTER V.
The wayfarer on this July afternoon in the fifth year of Amer-
ican independence might have passed on the main thoroughfare
leading into the city of Philadelphia from the townships of Bristol
and Trenton, a young and powerfully built officer astride a spir-
ited chestnut mare. The countryside, through which he was
journeying, stretched for miles around in peaceful solitude, teem-
ing and delightful with that leafy and rich green livery which
we are accustomed to associate with the idea of abundance.
Overhead the sky was clear, from which the sun blazed down
great billows of heat that hovered over the landscape, giving vigor
and enthusiasm to the various forms of vegetable life, but at the
same time causing the animal world to drowse and languish in
discomfort.
VOL. CXII. 16
242 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
It was plain to be seen that the horseman was an officer of
the Continental Army. His mount, young and well groomed, gave
every indication of a long ride, its nostrils dilated, its mouth moist
with foam, its sides streaked with strings of sweat. Haste was
desired, it was apparent, although in the more exposed portions
of the roadway the mare was allowed to walk, her rider affec-
tionately patting her neck or coaxing her along with an encour-
aging remark.
"Look, Dolly! There is some soft, tender grass to cool your
lips. We shall take some."
And he turned the mare to the side of the road and allowed
her to nibble at the greensward.
Soon they were again on their way, she munching the while
on the last mouthful, now walking, now impatiently breaking
into a canter; Stephen holding her in check with his hand as he
looked far ahead at the roofs of the city beyond. Through his
mind there passed in review the incidents of the day, the memory
of his business just concluded, the speculation of the future of the
army, the contemplation of his reception by Marjorie.
He had been away for more than a month engaged in business
of the gravest nature. Many hours had been spent in the company
of the Commander-in-Chief, whom he had acquainted in detail
with the formation of the regiment of Roman Catholic Volunteers,
his suspicions concerning John Anderson and the strange friend-
ship of the spy with the Military Governor. Events had moved
with great rapidity, yet he felt assured that the real crisis was
only now impending, for which reason he desired to return to
the city, ready for any service which might be required.
"Go along, girl. We want to reach home by noon."
Dolly heeded him and began to canter.
Washington had not taken kindly to Captain Meagher's
suggestion for the recall of General Arnold's command; in fact
he had treated the proposal with a scorn worthy of his strong
sense and dauntless courage. It was plain to be seen that His
Excellency had placed much reliance and confidence in his favor-
ite officer. It was impossible to create a suspicion in the mind of
him, who had himself endured irksome suppression at the hands
of a cabalistic and jealous military party, and consequently took
a magnanimous view of the plight of one beset with similar per-
secution. General Arnold was in his eyes a brave and fearless
leader, unfortunately annoyed and tormented by the machinations
of an ungrateful and intolerant populace.
So when the one General, whom he had admired and trusted,
applied for an active command in the field, General Washington
1920.] THE LOYALIST 243
cordially granted the request. If the wounded limb would permit
it, there was no doubt in the mind of His Excellency that General
Arnold would prove the most heroic and able officer along the line.
Lincoln was gone, having been forced to surrender with his entire
army at Charleston only six weeks before. Green was engaged
with the army in the Carolinas; Gates was a coward; Lee, a
traitor. In the important operations, which were soon to take
place with the main army in the vicinity of New York, Arnold
was the leader best qualified for the task. Washington took ex-
treme delight in appointing him to the command of the Right
Wing of his own army and the Second in Command of the Con-
tinental forces.
With genuine reluctance he consented to listen to the strange
story as unfolded by his aide-de-camp. That General Arnold
should openly countenance rebellion was preposterous; to become
a party to it was incredible. Yet the veracity of his aide was un-
questionable, and the wealth of evidence he had presented left
little room for doubt. Still Washington's faith was unshaken.
He felt assured that his favorite General would redeem himself
when the proper time came. And every encouragement for this
redemption should be afforded him.
West Point was open. He would recall the order appointing
him to the command of the army and make him commander of
the fortification there. The exigencies of the times required a
man of rare ability and genius at this post. Should there prove
to be a shadow of truth in the allegations of his aide, the change
of command would simplify the situation from whatever view-
point it might be regarded. The country might be preserved,
and Arnold's ambition at the same time given another opportunity.
Stephen ruminated over these events as he rode leisurely
along. A genuine satisfaction was derived from the knowledge
that his Chiefs confidence in him was still unshaken. He felt
that he had effected a change of post for the man whom, above all
other men, Washington most admired and respected, nevertheless
he felt he was only executing a service which would ultimately
prove to be of incalculable value to the army and the nation.
Arnold troubled him, but in command of a fortress he would
occasion infinitely less worry and apprehension than in a respons-
ible position in the field.
Marjorie delighted him. At Morristown he had found her
letter; and his plans for the immediate present underwent a
decided alteration. He had been ordered to make the journey to
Hartford in attendance upon General Washington, who had al-
ready completed arrangements with Count Rochambeau and Ad-
244 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
miral Ternay of the French navy for a conference there in refer-
ence to the proposed naval operations of the combined fleets.
With the letter in his hand he had sought and obtained a further
leave of absence from his Commander-in-Chief in order that his
own campaign for the winning of the lady of his heart might be
brought to a quick and decisive termination.
He had left the city, not hurt nor wounded as she had sup-
posed, but somewhat disappointed. Her apparent coolness and
unconcern he had ascribed rather to extreme diffidence and shy-
ness than to want of appreciation. That she truly cared for him,
he knew full well; that he would eventually win her was a falter-
ing conviction. But, now, there was no further doubt. She had
written him pages into which she had poured out her heart in
generous and unmistakable accents, and which he had read and
re-read with growing delight.
Washington could not refuse his request. He made no at-
tempt to conceal the nature of his mission and obtained not alone
His Excellency's gracious permission, but his sincere wishes for
success as well. With a heart buoyant with joy and anticipation,
he spurred on his mare and pushed her to her worth in the direc-
tion of the city and the object of his quest.
He rode into the city well aware that the first news to reach
him would be of the exodus of the Arnolds.
"You came straight through town, I suppose?"
"Yes/' replied Stephen.
"And came here direct?" continued Mr. Allison.
"I quartered my mare first. I thought immediately of the
Inn as the place to gather the news. So I hastened hither."
"There's been heaps doin'," Jim remarked casually.
"Never saw such excitement since the day of the regiment,"
observed the keeper of the Inn, a well-mannered and well-educated
gentleman, above middle age, who held the enviable position of
inn-keeper and lawyer alike. Every inn-keeper of this age com-
manded much of respect in the community, for it was he who
received the money of the people, and money commanded the
necessities of life a good bed, good things to eat, attentive serv-
ants; but Mr. Smith, the keeper of the Old London Coffee House,
was the most respectable inn-keeper in the city, the proud pos-
sessor of a very pretty library and an excellent table where clean-
liness and decency vied with dignity and self-respect.
"Arnold, you know, has left the city," volunteered Mr.
Allison.
"Yes, I have surmised," was the reply.
"Gone, an' all belongin' to 'im."
1920.] THE LOYALIST 245
"And closed his mansion?" Stephen inquired.
"Tight. Mrs. Arnold went with him. They left yesterday."
"But I thought"
"To the army? I understand he had been appointed to field
duty under Washington. Second in Command, they say. But
that has been changed. He has gone to West Point."
Stephen did not answer.
"It seems," went on Mr. Allison, "that he has been seeking
a change of post for several months. His leg still bothers him,
however, and very likely prevented him from doing active duty
in the field. On that account, it has been said, he was given
charge of the fortress. It is an important post, nevertheless, and
carries with it a certain amount of distinction."
"Hope he gits alon' better with 'em up there 'n he did here,"
remarked Jim. "He won't hev the s'ciety folks t' bother 'im now."
"When did he leave?"
"No one knows. There was no demonstration of any kind.
It differed much from the farewell of General Howe. Arnold left
in disgrace, it would seem," said the inn-keeper, as he moved away
to give his attention to other business.
"And Peggy gone, too?" Stephen was genuinely surprised at
this, for he rather expected that she would remain with her
mother.
"I am sure that the majority of our people are greatly pleased
at the change," said Mr. Allison. "I never saw one sink to such
depths of contempt. He came to the city as Military Governor in
a blaze of triumph, the most celebrated soldier in the army, whose
rise to popular esteem was only accelerated by the knowledge
of the harsh treatment received by him at the hands of Congress
after the battle of Saratoga. He was the idol alike of soldiers and
civilians. Their hearts were his without the asking. That was
two years ago. Today he left the city in the fullness of his years,
in secret, after so many plaudits, in obloquy, after so much honor."
"It is a sad commentary on human nature," Stephen ob-
served. "Yet in all things else I blame the woman. Cherchez
la femme."
The room was reeking with the clouds of tobacco smoke
streaming upwards from the pipes of the several guests who were
lounging in small groups about the room. There were several
parties in as many corners each wholly unconcerned about the
other. The conversation of our trio was therefore private in so far
as any privacy can be expected in an inn. Only the boisterous
individual made himself heard, and then only to the displeasure
of the others.
246 THE LOYALIST [Nov.,
Leaving the two at the Inn, Stephen bade them adieu and
directed his journey in the direction of Second Street. Hastening
his steps he soon reached the Germantown road, and as he turned
the bend, perceived the familiar outline of the Allison home. Little
did he suspect, however, that the curtains of one of the upper
windows concealed a lithe form and that his swift gait was being
interpreted with a world of meaning. He laid his hand on the
gate, and even then Marjorie had opened the door to meet him.
"First of all," she said, "how long may you remain? Will
you dine with us, or what?"
"I shall be most pleased. I have several days. His Excel-
lency has gone to Hartford to engage in conference. It was in-
tended that I should accompany the staff. I begged leave, how-
ever, to return to Philadelphia."
They were seated on the sofa in the distant corner of the
parlor. They were quite alone now for the first time, Mrs. Allison
having asked to be excused after a few minutes with the an-
nouncement that since he would be pleased to remain, the supper
must needs be prepared. No, Marjorie would not help her. She
might entertain Captain Meagher.
"It's glorious to see you again," he said sitting down beside
her after Mrs. Allison had departed from the room.
"I am glad you have come," she replied, softly rubbing her
hand across her apron as if to arrange it neatly.
"But you knew that I would come, didn't you?"
"I thought so."
"And yet I greatly feared that it would not be possible.
Preparations are being made for the final campaign, and it is
expected that the French will be asked to play an important
part."
"It was very generous of His Excellency to grant you leave."
He began to smile.
"Gould you guess how I obtained it?" he asked.
She turned to regard him.
"What have you done?" she asked soberly.
"Showed him your letter."
"Stephen!" she gasped as she drew back.
Neither spoke. He continued to smile at her apparent con-
cern, while she stared at him.
"Do you mean it?" she asked; then quickly "or are you
teasing?"
"I did. I showed the letter to him, and asked if I might
return to you."
"He read it?"
1920.] THE LOYALIST 247
"There! There! I am joking. He did not read it, but I
did have it in my hand, and I told him about you and that I was
going back to take you with me."
Satisfied, she allowed herself to assume a more relaxed com-
posure.
"You are going to destroy it, aren't you?"
He took it from his pocket and looked at it. She, too, glanced
at it, and then at him.
"May I keep it? I treasure every word of it, you know."
"Did you but know how it was composed, you might ridicule
me."
"I suppose you closed yourself behind some great veil to
shut out the world from your view. Your mind toiled with thought
until you were resolved upon the heroic. There was no scheme
nor formula; your quil ran on and on in obedience to the flood
of ideas which inspired it."
She lapsed into meditation; but she recovered herself im-
mediately.
"No," she shook her head slowly though steadily. "At mid-
night with the aid of a little candle, which burned itself out quite
before the end."
He looked up sharply.
"That night?"
She nodded.
He put his arms around her and drew her close. She made
no resistance.
"Marjorie!" he whispered.
She yielded both her hands to his grasp and felt them com-
pressed within it.
"You were not hurt at my seeming indiscretion?"
"I told you in my letter that I was not."
"Then you do love me?"
She drew back a little as if to glance at him.
"You know that I do," was the soft, reassuring answer.
"Won't you let me hear you say it?" he pleaded.
She put both arms about him and whispered what he only
was destined to hear.
Presently the old clock began to strike the hour of five.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
flew Boohs.
THE PEACE CONFERENCE DAY BY DAY. By Charles T.
Thompson. New York : Brentano's.
This is by far the most interesting and valuable of the con-
tributions to our post-War literature. It is interesting in the
way that only a trained journalist can make it in presenting the
salient facts in an ever-changing narration complicated by the in-
trigues of diplomatic Europe. It is valuable especially in that it
gives a comprehensive outline of what actually was done, and
more important, perhaps, what was said at the Peace Conference.
This the author is able to do by means of presenting the occur-
rences at the Conference in their chronological order an inter-
national diary, one might call it, with every mood and develop-
ment graphically given as it happened.
The author's subtitle amuses. He calls the Peace Conference
"a presidential pilgrimage leading to the discovery of Europe."
This is more humorous than true. It should be amended to read
"a presidential pilgrimage leading to the destruction of Fourteen
Points." For that really is the summation of the book, and the
book portrays the Conference. The President insisted that his
immortal Fourteen Points be the basis of the Peace Conference.
He met the European statesmen strong in his idealism; he left
them with a hollow League of Nations and his Fourteen Points
thrown into the discard. The six points that involved general
principles died untimely deaths; "open diplomacy" was killed by
the Council of Four; "freedom of the seas" perished under Brit-
ish care. The "reduction of national armaments" withered before
the onslaught of Foch; "the impartial adjustment of all colonial
claims" died by the hand of Britain, France, and Japan. "The
removal of economic barriers" was still-born, and nobody paid
any attention to it. The last the League of Nations itself lived
only to be kicked around in the halls of the United States Senate.
The tragedy of it all! No one can read Mr. Thompson's
work without feeling keenly for that great figure that dominated
the premiers of Europe only to find his idealism blocked and
nullified by the practical, grasping leaders of the Old World,
and the partisan politicians of the New. The greatness of the
attempt can only be measured by the greatness of the failure.
The Peace Conference will go down in history as the most colossal
failure of modern history. Its master mind will share in its
1920.] NEW BOOKS 249
failure, though sympathy must take away much of the edge of
criticism.
Mr. Thompson's work seems to be an honest, unbiased effort
to present the reader with the facts as he saw them. In this day
of propagandists that feature alone is most noteworthy. His
training enabled him to get at the inside of many situations that
were decidedly complex. All this wealth he gives most liberally
to his readers in a vivid, chatty way that entertains and enlightens.
THE ENGLISH CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY. By Paul Thureau-Dangin. Two volumes. New
York: E. P. Button & Co.
This is the American edition of the English version ("revised
and re-edited from a translation by the late Wilfred Wilberforce")
of La Renaissance Catholique en Angleterre au XIX s Siecle by
Paul Thureau-Dangin, the eminent French historian and acade-
mician. It is a pity that the work of translation has not been done
more painstakingly, and it is an even greater pity that the original
has not been translated absolutely without abridgment. More
than a few passages are omitted in this version, and other pas-
sages have been merely paraphrased. The bibliographies useful,
but far from thorough of the original are not to be found in the
present volumes; and further annotations might suitably have
been supplied from the more recent literature of the subject.
What we have here, nevertheless, reads very well, and one must
be thankful for even four-fifths of the loaf.
The English Catholic Revival is, of course, the classic work
in its special field. In fact, it is the only work in any language
which traces, from a cultured and scholarly Catholic standpoint,
the history of the great movement which transformed Anglicanism
and helped to restore Catholicism in England. The late Wilfrid
Ward's masterly volumes on his great father, W. G. Ward, and
his splendid biographical and critical studies in Newman are of
priceless worth to the student, but M. Thureau-Dangin was the
first, and remains the only writer, who attempted to record, step
by step and in the minutest detail, the simultaneous development
of High Church Anglicanism and Catholicism in England from
the beginnings of the Oxford Movement in 1833. Making scholarly
use of the vast, and not infrequently, vivid literature in book and
pamphlet form which this ecclesiastical revolution brought into
being, the author has written an historical work of cardinal value.
This book is perhaps the most significant example of the keen
interest taken by French investigators in the English social and
ecclesiastical history of later times : an interest which has resulted
250 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
in those indispensable Newman studies from the pens of Bremond
and Dimnet. No Catholic library worthy of the name can afford
to be without M. Thureau-Dangin's masterly book, and every
student of history has cause to be grateful for this workmanlike
chronicle.
INTIMATE PAGES OF MEXICAN HISTORY. By Edith O'Shaugh-
nessy. New York: George H. Doran Co.
It is easy for a diplomatic chronicle to be dry, and still easier
for it to be frivolous. The author of these "Intimate Pages" has,
in happy fashion, avoided both extremes. Her stage setting, as
superb a one, pictorially, as any century or clime has provided, is
cleverly utilized. The principals emerge, play their parts
mostly with attendant violence, which is no fault of the writer,
but due, rather, to inexorable fact operating in a tropical envir-
onment and stalk out majestically into the engulfing darkness
of the night.
It is fortuitous that a person of Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's clarity
of vision should have appeared to tell the American public the
bitter truth regarding the attitude of the Administration towards
its neighbor across the Rio Grande. It has, of course, been told
before, but the present work sets forth with disconcerting realism
the final evidence in the case.
The rapier of Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's wit flashes sharply, punc-
turing now and again the bubble of our Anglo-Saxon self-suffi-
ciency. There are, too, passages that are indicative of a delicate
perception of values and broad mental grasp.
From all of which it will be gathered that the book under dis-
cussion is decidedly worth while.
THE OLD HUMANITIES AND THE NEW SCIENCE. By Sir Wil-
liam Osier. With Introduction by Harvey Gushing. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co. $1.50.
Dr. Osier affects the parenthesis greatly, and at times his
breaks are very awkward. Of the sixty-four pages composing his
address, eighteen are expended before he comes to grips with his
subject. These opening pages deal mainly with the War and its
aspects. He coolly admits that professors sinned against the
light; that he himself denounced reprisals in 1916, but two years
later he had become an ordinary barbarian. And he sees no need
whatsoever to extenuate, much less to justify such surprising ad-
missions.
In the development of his subject he speaks with flippant
sneer of Rabanus Maurus and Vincent of Beauvais, of Albertus
Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas. Did he really read these old
1920.] NEW BOOKS 251
scholastics? And granting that he did dip into them, did he
really understand them? Such highly technical authors are not
to be mastered in armchair study while smoking a cigar. As
against the doctor, we should like to quote the opinion of two
modern non-Catholic scholars, Sanday and Headlam. In their
commentary on the Romans, these writers speak of "the immense
intellectual power displayed" by St. Thomas in his expositions of
St. Paul. (International Critical Com. Romans, p. cii.)
A few pages further on Dr. Osier quotes with approval a
writer, who holds up to ridicule the Middle Ages. But we know
from the admirable and illuminating studies of Dr. Walsh, that
even in medicine and science the Middle Ages surpassed other
centuries. He states that the Archbishop of Paris was butchered
at the altar by the Commune. Pardon us, doctor! In England
they butcher archbishops at the altar, v. g. f St. Thomas a Becket.
But they have not advanced so far in France yet; Archbishop
Darboy after some weeks' imprisonment was shot at Roquette,
May 24, 1871.
The conclusion is that an eminent medico, even with a gen-
erous dose of litterx humaniores, is not qualified to lecture on
medievalism, philosophy and history.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ATONEMENT. By L. W. Grensted.
Manchester: At the University Press. $3.75.
Three hundred and seventy-two small pages is a meagre
canvas on which to sketch the development of a doctrine through
twenty centuries. And more than once it hinders Mr. Grensted
from doing justice to the authors expounded, and even to himself.
Certain chapters make thorny reading through over-compression,
and we doubt very much whether ordinary students will either
appreciate or assimilate their condensed learning. The author
endeavors to be impartial, and his pages are virgin of the fan-
tastic Biblical exegesis which so often deforms and spoils non-
Catholic theological work.
An interesting field of inquiry, which he touches more than
once, but does not enlarge upon, is the influence of judicial and
political ideas on the statement of dogma. For instance, the
Fathers, particularly the early Latin Fathers, whose lives were
molded by Roman Law, envisaged the problem Cur Deus Homo
under a different angle from St. Anselm, who lived under Feudal
Rule. And again, the theologians of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, nurtured under another polity, embrace a still
different angle from the great saint and metaphysician of the
eleventh century.
252 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
Mr. Grensted is fairly full in his treatment of the mediaeval
theologians. He seems to have a leaning towards Scotus, and a
slight bias against St. Thomas. Suarez and his contemporaries
are not named. Modern Catholic theologians are barely men-
tioned, and neither Franzelin nor Billot is of the number. Even
Riviere is quoted only incidently and at second-hand; while the
remarkable positive studies of Tixeront, Turmel, Prat, are no-
where considered.
THE REPORT OF THE SEYBERT COMMISSION ON SPIRIT-
UALISM. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. $1.50 net.
THE MENACE OF SPIRITUALISM. By Elliott O'Donnell. With
Foreword by Father Bernard Vaughn, S.J. New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Co. $1.50 net.
SPIRITISM: THE MODERN SATANISM. By Thomas F. Coakley.
Chicago: The Extension Press. $1.25 net.
In these three books one has a strong indictment of that
very fascinating, but very dangerous, cult to which the recent visit
of Sir Oliver Lodge to our shores gave such a lamentable impetus.
The J. B. Lippincott Company has done a real service in the
interest of social sanity in reissuing at this time the scholarly
report of the famous Seybert Commission appointed by the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania to investigate Modern Spiritualism. One
cannot read the report of the seances held by this Commission
with famous mediums without experiencing a feeling of plisgust
at the nauseating fraud which the Commission exposed again
and again.
Mr. Elliott O'Donnell's work also shows how great a menace
Spiritualism is. The author writes with such intense earnestness
that one wonders whether he has not himself been a sufferer
from the dangers of Spiritism against which he so successfully
warns others.
Dr. Coakley, in Spiritism, the Modern Satanism, points out
that the real goal of this modern revival of ancient necromancy is
the destruction of Christianity. Sir A. Conan Doyle's diabolical
efforts in this line are so patent that the real aim of the movement
can escape only the willfully blind. Dr. Coakley's triumphant
refutation of Spiritism's fantastic claim that "Christ was a
Medium" is especially commendable. Not alone does the author
riddle Spiritism's ridiculous distortions of the New Testament
narrative, but he brings out in a most striking and impressive
way the supreme worth of the Christ, the Son of God.
This trilogy of books will do excellent service against the
"freaks, frauds, and fiends" of Spiritism.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 253
THE LOGIC OF LOURDES. By John J. Clifford, S.J. New York:
The America Press. $1.00.
The miracles of Lourdes as a divine confirmation of the
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception; hence, by process of
logic, a divine confirmation of all Catholic doctrines, since all are
indissolubly united; and, finally, the whole interpreted as the tes-
timony of God to the Infallibility of the Church of Rome: this is
the substance of Father Clifford's valuable little book. The author
dwells upon the meticulous care employed by the medical author-
ities at Lourdes in authenticating the cures, making rejection of
them impossible to all but indomitably prejudiced minds. The
inevitable conclusions to be drawn from these premises he reaches
by close, direct reasoning, presented in an agreeably informal
style that is easy to follow. It is a forcible, effective piece of
writing; truly, as its publishers say of it, "an ideal book to put
into the hands of the skeptical."
THE STORY OF HILDEBRAND, ST. GREGORY VII. By E. Wil-
mot Buxton. New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons. $1.50.
A difficult task has been successfully accomplished in com-
pressing into small space a comprehensive study of the life and
times of the mighty Hildebrand. Brief as is the content, nothing
essential in that intensely dramatic history has been lost. The
turbulent, complex period is graphically depicted, as are also
the nature and vastness of the problems that confronted the Pope,
and the splendor of his achievements; while his personality, and
that of his devoted supporter, the "knightly" Countess Matilda of
Tuscany, stand forth in vivid colors.
The author shows again what was apparent in her admirable
Book of English Martyrs, a literary faculty that enables her to be
concise and interesting at the same time. Place should be given
to the present work in all parish libraries.
REYNARD THE FOX. By John Masefield. New York: The Mac-
millan Co.
Mr. Masefield has already written much beautiful verse.
The Dauber is one of the two greatest sea-poems in English;
August, 1914, is a permanent possession of the language; and in
many of his later sonnets the poet speaks with magistral voice.
Indeed, it may fairly be maintained that, as time goes on, Mr.
Masefield grows in artistic stature, and, on the whole, Reynard
the Fox represents the highest level its author has yet attained.
To be sure there are now and then the weird rhymes which we
have resignedly come to accept as the thorn inseparably connected
with the Masefield rose, but they are notably less frequent than in
254 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
any other of his longer narrative poems. More than once, too,
he is, as it seems to the present reviewer, needlessly and affectedly,
archaic in his diction; and it must be confessed that not a few of
the lines owe their presence in .the poem to the dire necessity of
filling out a rhyme, and to nothing else. But it is not the blem-
ishes that remain with the reader when he has laid down this
wonderful book. The final, the persistent impression is one of
glorious verve and instancy and beauty, always beauty.
Reynard the Fox narrates the finest fox-hunt in all literature,
and the opening passage presents a marvelous portrait-gallery of
English country types from squire to stable-boy: a group which
recalls irresistibly the immortal Prologue of Mr. Masefield's
princely master in the art of narrative poetry. But the pupil
lacks the magnificent suavity, the hearty haleness, the gusty April
freshness, the universal humanity of Chaucer. And there is here
a brooding vagueness of pity, a contemporary "sensibility," which
is the antithesis of Chaucerian. In Mr. Masefield's poetry there is
an excess of what one may call the Mr. Gummage element, the
element of delicious vidual melancholy. But then he suffers from
the tremendous handicap of living and writing in the muddle, not
the Middle Ages.
THE WAY OF WONDER. By May Doney. New York: George
H. Doran Co. $1.25 net.
Miss Doney's charming book of verses should, but for an
unhappy oversight, have had earlier mention in these pages. For
it is, as Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch says in his introduction, "packed
with the true stuff of poetry." It is colorful and musical, tender,
and mystical in its insight into life. This mysticism, to be sure,
is chiefly concerned with sacramentalizing human love. For this
reason it is rather absurd to find the "jacket" of the little volume
comparing Miss Doney with that proud poet of the natural man,
Walt Whitman; for her desire to voice the feminine side of Pat-
more's love-philosophy would seem quite obvious. Her pages are,
in fact, saturated with this philosophy; although when she turns
from it momentarily, as in such devotional poems as "The Little
Door," or in such really exquisite nature pieces as "Seraphim
Flowers" or "To a Naked Tree" she achieves things rarely fine.
There will be found in Miss Doney's work that tranquil joy
in life above all, in love that childlike union with the designs
of the good God, which have made fragrant much of Katharine
Tynan's poetry. If it errs at all, it is on the side of over-sweetness
in a possible excess of such delightful words as dear, and such
delightful things as kisses!
1920.] NEW BOOKS 255
MEMORIES OF MY SON, SERGEANT JOYCE KILMER. By Annie
Kilburn Kilmer. New York: Brentano's.
None has been more widely mourned than Joyce Kilmer,
among all that heavy toll the War took of young men whose liter-
ary gifts made their loss personal to very many whose acquaint-
ance did not extend beyond the printed word. Each new memorial
of him has increased this sense of intimate sorrow, which reaches
the summit upon reading the present work. Mrs. Kilmer's book,
dedicated "to the mothers who mourn with a proud heart for
their sons who gave their lives for honor's sake," is the exceed-
ingly touching record of an ideally beautiful relationship, a play-
ful, tender, close comradeship, unchanged by life's changes, un-
armed, even by that which is too often a source of bitterness and
alienation, the son's submission to Rome. That this last is true,
is a tribute to the mother no less than the son, for her gesture is
fine and generous. "As for me, I bless the day when he became
a Catholic," she says, though herself remaining a member of the
Anglican communion, in which he had lost interest for several
years preceding his conversion.
More than half the content consists of his letters to her,
ranging from 1906 to June 28, 1918 the last. It is a privilege to
lead them. The nearer knowledge of him that they give inten-
sifies sympathy for the bereaved mother, while we recall and echo
Father Duffy's words : "God rest his dear and gallant soul."
THE ORDEAL OF MARK TWAIN. By Van Wyck Brooks. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Co. $3.00.
It was once said of a brilliant young American, who aspired
to a certain Government position, that he "would first talk him-
self into it, and then talk himself out of it;" a prediction, indeed,
which came true. We venture to say that looking backward from
the vantage point of another twenty-five years this will be, in
the main, the case of Mark Twain and the reading public.
A considerable portion of Mr. Brook's work, which, en pas-
sant, is not only a subtle psychological study of one of the most
prominent figures in the life of the past century, but also a valu-
able acquisition to the essay realm of American history, is de-
voted to answering the question: Was Mark Twain a great artist?
The answer given in these pages is that of a born artist, craving
expression, yet going through life without the courage to claim
his inheritance. Twice in his life, however, the artistic instinct
found an outlet: first, when he was a pilot on the Mississippi,
and again, when he wrote Huckleberry Finn, which, as Mr. Brooks
happily puts it, "flies like a gay, bright, shining arrow through
256 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
the tepid atmosphere of American literature." For the rest, his
inner history was that of "the eternal conflict of Huckleberry
Finn and Aunt Polly playing itself out to the end in the theatre
of Mark Twain's soul!"
Mark Twain never succeeded in emancipating himself from
the spell worked upon him to lifelong detriment by the barren
environment of childhood days. The gloomy loveless atmosphere
of home; the conformity to narrow social type, characteristic of
the pioneer life of the fifties and sixties ; most of all, the Calvinistic
theology of the time, with its abhorrence of anything resembling
joy, whether spiritual or otherwise all conspired to blight bud-
ding genius. At the height of his fame, Mark Twain took up his
residence in the very precincts, so to speak, of Calvinism's shrine.
An Evangelical parson could scarcely have brought a heavier in-
dictment of aesthetic barrenness against the Puritan system than
has the author of this Ordeal. But he does not entirely grasp the
fact that the Calvinism of the Middle West and the Calvinism of
Hartford, Connecticut, were identical; whatever differences they
might seem to exhibit were, like beauty in the ancient saw, but
"skin deep."
And what of Mark Twain's humor? We rejoice that at last
someone has had the courage to stand up before the world and
declare it for what it, or much of it, really was. "To degrade
beauty, to debase distinction and thus to simplify the life of the
man with an eye single to the main chance that, one would
almost say, is the general tendency of Mark Twain's humor."
Speaking for ourselves, it has always seemed to us incomprehen-
sible that men and women of cultivated taste should have given
such unstinted applause to a book like Innocents Abroad, with its
coarse jibes against things which one-fifth of the author's fellow-
countrymen hold sacred; a book which has perhaps done more
than any other, unless it be Dickens' Child's History of England,
to poison the non-Catholic mind at the source.
Then, after much material success, two or three really great
works and two or three more of tender beauty, such as The Prince
and the Pauper and Joan of Arc, there came the end. Samuel
Clemens had once said: "Outside influences, outside circum-
stances, wind the man and regulate him. Left to himself, he
wouldn't get regulated at all, and the sort of time he would keep
would not be valuable." At all events, he himself had lived true
to the dictum. He had allowed circumstances, people, the needs
of the moment, to regulate him, and the artist in him remained,
for the most part, inarticulate. His appeal was primarily to rudi-
mentary minds; the real Twain, the Twain who longed for self-
1920.] NEW BOOKS 257
expression but shrank from the hardships it involved, brooded
silently or vented itself in savage and sporadic outbursts. This
is the thesis maintained by Mr. Brooks, and one with which we
are much inclined to agree.
OLD PLYMOUTH TRAILS. By Winthrop Packard. Boston:
Small, Maynard & Go.
Mr. Packard has a deal of the poet about him; he has a
mystical reverence for the geography as well as for the history of
Colonial Massachusetts. Most of all, he loves Cape Cod; he can
see romance even in the Cape's sand dunes.
His book is a series of sketches, some purely descriptive of
the natural wonders of the Cape and the nooks and crannies of
Plymouth town, many lightened with bits and scraps of native
humor or poetic reverie. Not that the purely descriptive parts are
heavy; they are pleasantly light, too, in their way, smooth flow-
ing and full of nature lore. One feels that Mr. Packard's love for
his "native heath" is catching.
The publication of Old Plymouth Trails at this time is sin-
gularly appropriate in view of the recent tercentenary celebration
of the coming of the Pilgrims. Every New Englander who knows
the Cape will feel that Mr. Packard's defence of Mrs. Heman's
"stern and rockbound coast" is entirely justifiable.
A COMMENTARY ON THE NEW CODE OF CANON LAW. Vol.
IV. By Rev. P. Charles Augustine, O.S.B. St. Louis: B.
Herder Book Co. $2.50 net.
Father Augustine has at last brought his excellent com-
mentary to a close. In Volume IV., he treats of the sacraments
and sacramentals, and canons, 726 to 1,153, contained in Book
III. of the Code on Administrative Law (De Rebus). In the brief-
est possible manner the law is set forth, clearly explained, and
references given in the footnotes to special decrees of the congre-
gations, bulls, and letters of the Popes, canonists and theologians
of note, etc.
JESUS' PRINCIPLES OF LIVING. By Charles F. Kent and Jere-
miah W. Jenks. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.25.
These dozen sermonettes breathe the spirit of modern Prot-
estantism, which is busily engaged in setting aside the divinity
of Jesus, while at the same time it calls upon people to follow
Him. The book abounds in beautiful platitudes about the use of
wealth, the evil of divorce, the need of an honest press and the
obligations of citizenship but it nowhere states the inability of
VOL. OCII. 17
258 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
the Protestant Churches to teach and enforce their teaching with
a divine sanction. In fact, we are asked: "Why is the dogmatic
method even more dangerous in the field of religion than of
natural science?"
BORN OF THE CRUCIBLE. By Charles Cleveland Cohan. Bos-
ton: The Cornhill Co. $1.75.
This is a clean-cut, interesting tale of mining conditions in
the West. The author is Associate Editor of The Butte Miner,
and knows at first hand the labor situation in the Montana copper
mines. His hero is an ordinary worker, who by his pluck and
energy succeeds in winning not only a fortune, but the daughter
of his employer as well. The inner workings of the I. W. W.
are laid bare, and the socialistic agitators making for chaos in
America are estimated at their proper value.
ABBOTSCOURT. By John Ayscough. New York: P. J. Kenedy
& Sons.
This is a charming story of a beautiful Anglo-Irish girl,
Eleanor Abbot, who survives a disreputable and poverty-stricken
father and his even more disreputable and poverty-stricken son,
is offered a home with a minister, her distant cousin, and though
a Catholic, begins swiftly to disarm the distrust of her Protestant
kinsfolk. Over-sensitive as Eleanor is, she gives up her guardian's
house, intending to earn a living for herself. But a nervous
breakdown interferes, which careful nursing (and love) combat
with distinct success. The story is rather an episode than a novel
and the characters are little more than sketches. They are
reminiscent of the author's earlier novels, and indeed the volume
shows unmistakably that his literary forebears were Jane Austin,
Mrs. Gaskell, and Miss Mitford. There is something delicately
feminine about John Ayscough's handling of his theme, his
humor, his almost imperceptible irony. Abbotscourt cannot be
called a great book, nor would its author claim such a distinction
for it. But it is worth reading for its style, its purity, and for that
fragrance as of lavender and old lace which permeates its pages.
HAPPY HOUSE. By Jane D. Abbott. Philadelphia: J. B. Lip-
pincott Co. $1.60.
In this story for girls, of girls just stepping from college
life to their various careers in the world, the lesson conveyed by
success or ill success is an emphatic one: selfishness or self-seek-
ing never reaches its aim. We regret that deception plays such
an important part in the plot. Nevertheless, and setting this
aside, the story is well told and interesting, and will amply repay
1920.] NEW BOOKS 259
the reading. Many silly views are scored, snobbishness snubbed,
worth appraised, and even the mistaken judgments of nigh half
a century set right, and all without preaching. One's common-
sense is somewhat taxed by such wholesale pleasant happenings,
but anything so prosaic is out of place in Happy House. Spite
of the college halo, two out of the three girls devote themselves
to ordinary careers, while the one who planned the heroism of
going to Russia, was sent back as too young let us hope to learn
wisdom with her years.
TWENTY-FIVE OFFERTORIES. By Joseph Vranken. Score
80 cents; voice parts 40 cents.
O SACRUM CONVIVIUM. By L. Viadana. Arranged for mixed
chorus by Deems Taylor. 12 cents net. New York: J.
Fischer & Brother.
In these two works, we have compositions answering to the
demands of the Motu Proprio on church music. The first named
work contains Offertories for the principal feasts of the year for
voices in unison. The second is arranged for four mixed voices.
Both works are written in strict liturgical style, and should com-
mend themselves to organists and choir-masters, who are inter-
ested in pure church music. The first work is especially fitted
to choirs who have not mastered the Gregorian Offertories, yet
desire to correspond with the wishes of the Church, that the parts
of the "Proper" of the Mass be sung. The second work is a beau-
tiful composition with r,ich harmony, most appropriate for devo-
tional services such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
IRELAND A NATION. By Robert Lynd. New York: Dodd, Mead
& Co.
The author of this cold, clear-headed, logical statement of
facts concerning the problem of Ireland's right to national inde-
pendence is an Orangeman, a North of Ireland Protestant, and at
present the literary editor of the London Daily News. The author
himself characterizes the book as "a cold-blooded appeal to reason
on behalf of Irish nationality." It is devoid of all appearances of
sentimentality, yet the very calmness with which the argument is
followed gives a force to the book which passion itself could
hardly sustain. It is a book of the utmost value for those to whom
an appeal on behalf of Ireland's nationality coming from a Cath-
olic source, or from any source unfriendly to the cause of the
Allies in the World War, would be repugnant, or at least, highly
suspicious. Mr. Lynd was pro-Ally during the War and, at the
same time, pro-republican as concerns Ireland. To him the prob-
lem seems one of simple statesmenship. This is a fundamental
260 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
assumption upon which his book is built, and he quotes General
Smuts at the outset as follows : "In Paris our statesmen have dealt
with racial problems, like that of Ireland, and in every way as dif-
ficult as the Irish problem. They may not shrink from applying to
Ireland the same medicine that they have applied to Bohemia
and many another part of Europe." In this spirit the author
marshal his facts and arguments to show that the Irish question
is a world problem, and that there is no chance for a successful
end to the world war against war, and for the establishment of a
League of Nations, unless Ireland be given full rights and self-
determination. To prove his case, he first sketches the salient
points of Irish history, and claims that Ireland is a nation of indi-
vidual genius comparable to Poland and other nations liberated at
the Peace Treaty in Paris. He next gives a concise yet adequate
account of Sinn Fein, and affords an illuminating explanation of
the Rebellion of 1916. He scores a strong point by saying that the
British Government in minimizing the danger of the revolt, but
at the same time dealing out savage reprisals against its leaders,
did more to make the revolt a success from the point of view of
propaganda than possibly any other factor. He then discusses
Ireland's record in the World War, showing that during the time
when the Irish people put their faith in the British Government's
promise to establish Home Rule, Ireland gave more volunteers
to the Allied Armies in proportion to her population than Canada
did. He then treats the Ulster question and makes out a strong
case to prove that the so-called federal solution of the Irish ques-
tion is impossible as a substitute for self-determination. There
are vivid character sketches of typical figures in the Irish move-
ment, and an interesting chapter dealing with distinctive elements
in Irish literature. All in all, the book is a very competent, short
view of the apparently complex yet, after all, fundamentally
simple problem of Irish independence.
MASS IN F. ("Regina Pacis.") By Nicola A. Motani. Boston:
The Boston Music Co. 60 cents.
The author of this composition, the latest and one of the
best among the modern Masses of a strictly liturgical character,
has made it possible for the congregation to take an integral part
in the singing of church music. Certain parts of each of the
divisions of the "Common" of the Mass are composed expressly
to be sung by the congregation. This is a new and a very praise-
worthy feature. The Mass is so composed that it can be sung
either by men's or mixed voices, by school children, or by choir
and congregation. It will not put a severe tax upon any choir
1920.] NEW BOOKS 261
that makes any pretentions to serious work. It is composed
along lines laid down by the authorities on church music. Its
directness and innocence of any but a pure melodic appeal, gives
it a decided church flavor. The accompaniment has the tuneful
fullness and harmonic interest, the flavor and style, which a com-
position of the kind should demand and, in this instance, has
secured.
AN IRISHMAN LOOKS AT HIS WORLD. By George A. Birming-
ham. New York: George H. Doran Go. $2.00 net.
In the very extensive literature which is springing up around
Ireland in these days, the works of the Rev. George A. Birming-
ham, a Dean of the Anglican Church of Ireland, are gaining a
place; not, perhaps, near the head of the list, but certainly well
up among the books which entertainingly and in a spirit of good
humor depict the personal observations and experiences of their
authors. It is true that on the great issue in Ireland, the Rev.
Mr. Birmingham takes apparently a rather Laodicean attitude.
He is not aflame with that determined patriotism which burns in
the souls of so many other Irish writers of today. He has ap-
plied, on the contrary, his own rather detached, yet pleasantly
sympathetic spirit, and the wit and knowledge of human nature
that have gone to the making of his novels, to a study of his
fellow-Irishmen, and with laudable results. The Laodicean atti-
tude which characterizes Dean Birmingham is nowhere more
strikingly apparent than in the chapter in which he deals with the
innermost soul of Ireland, her religion. "The few among us that
stand outside of the churches altogether," he writes, "who view
religion with cool dispassionate eyes, say that it is well for us
that we are as we are." In fairness to the author, it must be said
that he does not place himself among these few altogether aloof
observers of religion, who "hold that all churches are equally
useful, and see in our simple faith and ready obedience a safe-
guard against revolution and violent change." Nevertheless, the
words indicate something of the author's own attitude. To him
it seems quite certain that not only Catholicism, but Protestantism
is a native and perdurable element in the Irish character. Being
himself alien to the Faith of which Protestantism is but a pale,
and withering, and sadly anaemic straggler, of course it is difficult
for Dean Birmingham to appreciate the power of the religion
which is truly a native and permanent possession of by far the
greater number of the Irish people. All in all, however, the book
is a substantial addition to the multiplying volumes which are
relating the many-sided story of the Island of the Saints.
262 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
THE RED CONSPIRACY. By Joseph J. Mereto. New York: The
National Historical Society. $2.00 net.
This work aims to show that Socialism, even as preached in
this country, is incipient Bolshevism. Its pages constitute a verit-
able mine of concrete information, replete with historical data
extending close to the threshold of the present. One plainly ob-
serves that the author has been working, not solely in the quietude
of his study, but also in the noisy, living laboratory of social
activity.
While feeling a profound anxiety for the removal of all
violations of distributive justice, the writer aims to show that
Socialism, instead of being the remedy, is nothing short of con-
spiracy against existing institutions. From multitudious sources
he has garnered statements bearing upon the aspirations and ruc-
tions of the Russian revolutionists. As the heart of the reader
begins to overflow with a deep detestation of the far-off excesses
described, a sharp sense of nearby danger arises through a diag-
nosis of the radical tendencies that have been smoldering right at
home. High-percentage Socialism is analyzed in such a manner
as to show that more than a long-distance overthrow of the gov-
ernment is part of the plan. Debs, Hillquit, Nearing, Spargo, Ross,
Berger, and a host of others are given verbatim space, along with
innumerable quotations from Socialistic books, pamphlets and
papers, for the purpose of pointing out that a radical movement is
aiming to capture college, press and politics as a means of demol-
ishing our modern economic and governmental edifices. With due
allowance for those who affiliate themselves with Socialism chiefly
as a ballot protest against prevailing social injustice, the quota-
tions are marshaled in such a manner as to fortify the proposi-
tion laid down by Mr. Martin Gonboy, who appeared before the
New York Assembly Judiciary Committee on March 4, 1920, when
he is reported to have said: "The Socialist Party of America is
not a loyal organization, disgraced occasionally by the traitorous
act of a member, but a disloyal party composed of perpetual
traitors."
The Red Conspiracy argues that the disloyalty in question
vigorously and unceasingly assails religion, the race, the family
and the basic interests of the worker. The last chapter points to
the pressing need of a literary and vocal reprisal against the de-
structive errors of Socialism. The author is an untiring reader
of the outpourings of the press. For conservative ends he has
caught the spirit of enthusiasm manifested by the radicals. At
times his mode of expression, especially when warmed by patriot-
ism, has all the red glow of the fiery language with which the
1920.] NEW BOOKS 263
revolutionists attempt to burn their principles into the minds of
others. In timeliness he succeeds to the extent of including an
appendix that deals with the National Convention of the Socialist
Party, held in May, 1920. The publishers have displayed special
industry by standing ready to supply chapters, and parts of
chapters, of the book in pamphlet and leaflet form.
THE HIDDEN SANCTUARY. Doctrinal Studies by Rev. Jesse
Brett, L.Th. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. $1.75 net.
This is a work on the mystical life of the soul by a minister
of the Anglican Church, who has studied with understanding and
appreciation the writings of St. John of the Cross and other
great mystics of the Catholic Church. It is quite Catholic in tone
and attitude, a fact emphasized by the frontispiece the tradi-
tional picture of St. Catherine of Siena. The Hidden Sanctuary
is the place of union between God and the soul. The approach
to this holy of holies is through the courts of sacrifice and of
prayer.
To those acquainted with the works of Catholic writers on
the spiritual life this volume will not furnish any new informa-
tion. Nevertheless it is well written, with a charm of its own
and breathes the spirit of one intensely in earnest about the
mystical life. Intended, no doubt, for those of his own faith
who are desirous of leading a more interior life, it should prove
of no small assistance. Because of the close connection
between the lex orandi and the lex credendi, all sincere attempts
at participation in Catholic devotional life should help to promote
doctrinal growth, hence we welcome books like the above.
ADVENTURES AND ENTHUSIASMS. By E. V. Lucas. New
York: George H. Doran Co.
If, as Montaigne believes, the essaie is an attempt to discover
what we think, then there is but one conclusion : the world must
produce essays in proportion to the number of its thinkers, a
very vast collection one likes to imagine. And yet of all these
essayists, who, we may flatter ourselves, do exist, very few are
sufficiently gifted to 4 delight by their irresponsible thoughts upon
this or that every day trifle, readers delighted to hang upon their
whimsies. It is, perhaps, trite to say that whenever such a one
as Mr. E. V. Lucas does appear, he deserves the enthusiasm
he creates. There is in him renewed that human quality of
the author of Imperfect Sympathies. His admiration of Lamb
has developed a possibly unconscious reproduction of the facetious
charm of his predecessor, for which we are grateful since it
264 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
enables us to see our own foibles as vividly as our ancestors
could behold theirs a hundred years ago. Idiosyncrasies, how-
ever delightfully dwelt upon since then, have lacked till now the
leisurely grace of Lamb. The knowing nonchalance of Mr. Lucas
is a thing apart from the seriousness of the Upton Letters; still
less, for all his literary capers, is it to be compared with Mr.
Chesterton's veiled philosophy.
Held firm in the grasp of this wizard of words, we smile
whether we will or no. But could any one withhold laughing
sympathy from him who sees in the mosquito the true Italian
question? How very few of us as visitors have not felt that "to
be a really good guest and at ease under alien roofs it is neces-
sary, I suspect, to have no home ties of one's own; certainly to
have no very tyrannical habits." We are just as irresistibly
drawn toward a study of John Leech, Thackeray's school fellow.
However varied the interests of Mr. Lucas, they become our own.
TOWARDS THE DAWN. By Conor Galway. New York: Fred-
erick A. Stokes Co. $2.00.
The turmoil in Ireland is reflected not only in the news-
papers, but also in current literature. Novels and short stories,
together with much poetry, are appearing in Ireland and in this
country, which reflect or make use of Irish conditions and prob-
lems for the purpose of propaganda or of art. Among these new
novels, Toward the Dawn is a notable example of the story teller's
art applied to the delineation of a nation's woes. Although not
steeped in the bitterness of spirit and the almost hopeless atmos-
phere which pervades another characteristic recent Irish novel,
The Wasted Island, Conor Galway's story is surcharged with the
powerful emotions and the perplexing problems which make Ire-
land today a storm centre of all the world. Towards the Dawn
has an especial value for those who desire to acquaint themselves
with the human elements in the Irish situation in that it takes
for its field the Ulster situation or, rather the particular problem
connected with Ulster which is connoted by the bigotry of the
Orange element. This problem is concentrated in the relations
between Dympna Donnelly, "a little black North girl," who is
the heroine of the story, and her two suitors, Seumas Gallagher,
the Irish Nationalist, and Sydney Hamilton, a Presbyterian Union-
ist. The almost incredible rancor and stubborn hatred which
are bred in the souls of a minority of the Ulster people against
Catholics and the idea of Ireland as a nation is powerfully de-
picted, and is shown to be the most potent factor in precipitating
the shameful repudiation of the Home Rule Bill by the British
1920.] NEW BOOKS 265
Government, which was the prime cause in goading the younger
Nationalists into the Easter Rebellion, and in bringing about the
present situation in Ireland, where nearly eighty per cent of the
people are supporting the Irish Republic. Pleasantly written and
containing some excellent character drawings, Towards the Dawn
is likely to prove a distinct success.
ADVENTURES PERILOUS. By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton. London:
Sands & Co. $1.80 net.
Said a friend of ours who, having picked up the book from
our study table, became so absorbed in it as to be oblivious of
surroundings until the last page was turned: "Why, it 'carries
on' just like a dime novel!" In one sense the readable little
volume could have no higher praise. Whatever might be said of
the much abused "dime novel" of a past generation the charge
of dullness could never be brought against it.
Well, Wilmot-Buxton has gone the dime novel one better;
and has taken a real bit of human history, "the story of that
faithful and courageous priest of God, Father John Gerard, S.J.,
who, after a life of adventure and many hair-breadth escapes,
came at last into a place of peace," and set it down on the printed
page in a way to captivate the adolescent imagination and kindle
its generous enthusiasm.
More power, then, to that gifted school of which the author
of Adventures Perilous is a distinguished member, that is striving
with conspicuous success to bring home to English Catholic minds
the preciousness of their heritage of blood and tears and persecu-
tion. May God raise up for us here in America writers who shall,
in like fashion, tell our youth of their spiritual heroes, the priest-
pioneers of forest, river and plain.
THE OLD FREEDOM. By Francis Neilson. New York: B. W.
Huebsch.
So many new schemes of deliverance from the tyrannies of
modern political and economic organization have been offered in
recent years that a call for "the old freedom" is an unwonted
cry. The "Old Freedom" is to the author the day of the land-free
man, the day when the early English state was a community of
freemen living in homesteads and meeting in folk-moots, which
were the true embodiment of democracy. At present the State is
occupied with endless "non-essential reforms," by which it seeks
to secure minimum wages, compensation to injured workers,
housing reforms, and the like, without giving any real satisfaction
to the workers because their one fundamental grievance is left
266 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
untouched. A statement of Mr. Schwab is quoted and repeated
many times over, that "the only foundation upon which our pros-
perity can permanently rest is the economic use of everything,"
which is interpreted and applied by the author to include the use
of land and all natural resources. Political democracy, he says,
can have no permanent value unless accompanied by equality of
economic opportunity, which involves for every man "a right to
use the earth, the only source from which he can draw his suste-
nance." To secure this right to each citizen the State must take
the full monopoly value of land and free industry from the bur-
den of taxation at present imposed upon it.
Forcible as is Mr. Neilson's indictment of the present eco-
nomic system and of the various false remedies in the form of
Socialism or of Syndicalism offered to the public, his own con-
structive proposals are lacking in sufficient definiteness to inspire
confidence. Undoubtedly, taxation of the full monopoly value of
land would be highly beneficial in Great Britain, where the peasant
is still for the most part a tenant farmer or dependent laborer;
but it is not so clear how Mr. Neilson's restatement of Henry
George's remedy would meet the existing situation in the United
States. The present industrial unrest is a much larger problem
than any rare scheme of taxation could solve, though there is
no doubt that the release of the natural resources of the country,
forests, water-power, oil, and minerals, from monopolistic con-
trol would be a great gain.
THE WAY OF BEAUTY. By Sister Agnes Mason, G.H.F. New
York: Longmans, Green & Co. $1.75 net.
The high and noble purpose of this book is to clarify the
idea of beauty, to elevate the taste, to make beauty a ruling
motive of life, and to find through beauty God in everything.
The writer, a member of the Anglican Community of the Holy
Family, is a pupil of the school of Buskin, emphasizing the de-
mands of taste with the moral vehemence that accompanies our
discussions of conscience. She indeed recognizes that beauty does
not always lead heavenwards and quotes with approval Professor
Henry Sidgwick, distinguishing between the ideas of beauty and
of moral goodness, but in general throughout the book taste or
the right feeling for beauty is almost given the place of conscience
or the directive and impelling norm of goodness. "Crimes against
beauty," she says, "are plain sins, just as lying and stealing."
Bad taste is annoying and even a torture, but it is not sinful, and
exaggerated statements of this kind defeat the good purpose of
the author.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 267
Plato is said to have confused the good and the beautiful, and
there are still many who do not properly distinguish love or the
tendency to good from taste or the right appreciation of the
beautiful. It is a fallacy akin to that of the educationalists who
think that to know is to will and that knowledge is virtue. Virtue
and morality belong to volition, which has freedom and can sin.
The taste of beauty, like the knowledge of truth, belongs to cog-
nition, which has not the freedom of the will, and so a fault of
taste is not a moral fault.
Sister Agnes Mason has some excellent passages on the di-
versity of tastes, on the nature of ugliness, and on the cost of
beauty, and for these her book is well worth reading. Her phil-
osophy of beauty, however, is so eclectic and inclusive that her
practical deductions are not only strained in part, as has been
shown, but seem at times to have little connection with her
definitions. Had she included Aquinas among her philosophers
she would have learned that good belongs to the final causes,
which motivate action, and that beauty belongs to the formal
causes, which perfect a thing in its kind; that love, actuated by
good, is kinetic and tends outward until it is united with its loved
object, whereas taste, actuated by beauty, is static, and is arrested
and satisfied in the very act of contemplation. The way of
beauty may grace the way of love, may in certain instances lead
to the way of love, but it can never take the place of the way of
love.
FRENCH LITERATURE OF THE GREAT WAR. By Albert
Schinz. New York: D. Appleton & Co. $2.00 net.
Mr. Schinz has compiled a very interesting and scholarly
account of French War Literature. Between his text and his
notes few books of any real importance can have escaped his
patient gleanings. In his First Part he considers, (a) The Period
of Emotion, i. e., immediately after the bursting of the avalanche;
(b) The Period of Documentation; (c) The Period of Philo-
sophical and Political Considerations.
The Second Part of his book is devoted to Poetry, Drama
and Fiction. Among the war novels he singles out for special
praise Rene" Benjamin's Gas par d. He does not hesitate to assert
that Gaspard will remain a permanent type in French literature
like Daudet's Tartarin or Hugo's Gavroche. No less generous is
his praise of a book describing the epic doings of the French
merchant marine. No one, he says, can afford to leave unread
L'Odyssee d' Un Transport Torpille, by Y .
Charming reading, as elevating as it is interesting, is afforded
268 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
by Captain Palle's work, Le Cran. This officer was a knight-
errant of charity, whose duty it was to relieve and comfort the
needy. He had merely to write down his experiences and they
do honor to human nature. They show that heroes and martyrs
spring up by the score among the retired and poorer classes of
society.
Neither poetry nor the drama seem to have risen to the
height of the events they portray. But our critic signalizes the
work of Zamacois, Verhaeren, Claudel and Mercier as worthy of
notice.
The author in the appendices gives an abundant bibliography,
not only in the strictly literary field, but in history, diaries and
even journalism. Unless a reader desires to become a specialist
in the subject, he will find in the present volume all he requires.
PLAPPERS AND PHILOSOPHERS, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (New
I York: Charles Scribner's Sons). It is seldom that a publication
of reprinted short stories justifies itself so well as in the present in-
stance. The eight tales which form this collection mark an advance
upon the author's novel, This Side of Paradise. To say this is not to
swell the chorus of praise, whose extravagance does injustice to its
object; it is only to acknowledge that here are to be found originality
and variety, with imaginativeness of the exceptional order that needs
not to seek remote, untrodden paths, but plays upon scenes and people
within the radius of ordinary life. Moreover, Mr. Fitzgerald expresses
himself in a manner that is in itself a pleasure. The book offers to busy
readers entertainment that can be enjoyed with no aftermath of self-
reproach for having wasted time.
FACTS OF THE FAITH, by H. S. Holland, D.D., D.Litt. (New York:
Longmans, Green & Co.). The late Canon Scott Holland was the
greatest preacher in the Anglican Church since the death of Dean
Church. He possessed (among many other lesser gifts) a profoundly
spiritual nature, a subtle humor, a rich dower of imaginative sympathy,
and a wide acquaintance with the best things in literature, ancient
as well as modern. Above all, he had a most tender devotion to the
personality of Christ and to the mystery of the Incarnation. His style
is displayed to perfection in the great sermon a modern classic
entitled "The Sower," which he published in his volume, God's City.
In the preface to Facts of the Faith, a posthumously collected series of
discourses, the Warden of Leddon House writes admirably of Holland's
devotion and of his gift of expression.
YOUNG HEARTS, by J. E. Buckrose (New York: George H. Doran
Co.). Mrs. Buckrose gives us another of her characteristic studies
of English rural life, its central figures being a father and his two
1920.] NEW BOOKS 269
daughters, young women of contrasting temperaments and principles.
As usual with this author, her quiet manner covers and sustains a
warm human interest; the environment is graphically pictured; the
characters are drawn with an assured, vitalizing touch. That of the
father, an unconscious egoist, is somewhat unduly elaborated, intro-
ducing matter that is superfluous, almost extraneous; and there is also
an unwonted paucity of what Mrs. Buckrose has taught us to expect
eagerly, her unique, delightful humor; but, though these considerations
may debar the novel from the same measure of popularity attained by
some of its predecessors, they do not render it other than readable and
welcome.
IN The Happy Shepherd and Lilies of His Love, by Armel O'Connor
(Ludlow, England: Mary's Meadow Press. 2s. net each) the author
brings together some fifty pieces of verse, many of which have first ap-
peared in our own pages and in those of The Monk, Ave Maria, The New
Witness, etc. These delightfully fragrant little verses reenforce the fine
impression already made by the author's previous collections, Poems
and The Exalted Valley. They are full of the vitality and novelty and
freshness of art, which a great critic, Mrs. Meynell, welcomed in an
earlier book by Mr. O'Connor.
THE LUZUMIYAT OF ABU'L-ALA, by Ameen Rihani (New York:
James T. White & Co.). Omar Khayyam, the candid publishers
of this work instruct us in a preliminary puff, was beholden to Abu'l-
Ala for much of his inspiration and a great deal of his poetical form.
His views on the liquor question, however, remained unchanged despite
his alleged discipleship to Abu'1-Ala, the Syrian poet, who was an en-
thusiastic prohibitionist. It appears that, to quote the publishers' ele-
gant ipsissima verba, "this Syrian poet, who was the foremost literary
figure of his time, was something of a 'knocker.' ... He attacked the
superstitions and false traditions of religion, proclaiming the supremacy
of the mind." Abu'1-Ala means, we are told, "Father of the Sublime."
The downward progression is easy facilis descensus and the Syrian
person frequently makes it.
ANY suggestion touching upon the H. C. of L. is of vast importance
just now. Because of under production and high prices, food con-
servation is imperative. Yet we are told that one half of all vegetables
and fruit grown in this country rot upon the ground. Canning and
shipping expenses increase the cost of the other half. Since all vegetable
matter contains from sixty-five to ninety-six per cent water, great
weight can be eliminated by extracting the water. Dehydrating Foods,
by A. Louise Andrea (Boston: The Cornhill Co. $1.75), tells of a
method recently perfected, which will effect a revolution in the means
and methods of food preservation. As distinguished from drying, it
reduces the bulk of foods without destroying the flavoring, coloring or
nutritive properties. The process used in America is far superior to
270 NEW BOOKS [Nov.,
the European methods. All this and much more of lively interest may
be gleaned from this timely volume by Mrs. Andrea, lecturer on food,
cookery and canning at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco,
and the New York International Exposition. The book contains de-
tailed instructions for home dehydration as well as numerous recipes.
FROM that unique household of Catholic writers at Mary's Meadow,
Ludlow, England, comes a little book of children's stories, Even
Better, the work of Mrs. Armel O'Connor's daughter, Catherine. This
slight volume by a child of fourteen years gives brilliant promise.
The book may be obtained from the author's mother (2s. net), but we
are quaintly told a copy will be sent to anyone who cannot afford to
buy it.
THE LIGHT OUT OF THE EAST, by S. R. Crockett (New York:
George H. Doran Co. $1.90). Beyond the statement that this
book has an effective style, there is little to be said about it. The
author of that fine romance, The Raiders, forgot where his abilities lay
and remembered that no less a literary light than Rudyard Kipling
proclaimed the making of a tract to be a feat. Accordingly, he at-
tempted a tract and The Light Out of the East is the result. But it is
no feat. It is too obvious for that. The book concerns the Monk
Christopher, who is elected Pope, and thereupon proclaims, if you
please, the uselessness of the Church, wandering about Europe to
preach his "doctrines," and finally from a remote place in the East
uttering "wisdom" to the men who gather about him, until at last "the
clouds receive him." The book is a thinly-veiled attack upon the Cath-
olic Church, which Mr. Crockett was as incapable of understanding as
his forebear in religion John Knox.
THE GREAT MODERN AMERICAN SHORT STORIES (New York:
Boni & Liveright. $2.00). This is an anthology to which the
genial editor, the late William Dean Howells, contributes an interesting
and reminiscent introduction. Some of the tales presented are uni-
versally accepted as American short story classics, such as Edward
Everette Kale's "My Double and How He Undid Me," Mark Twain's
"Jumping Frog," and Bret Harte's "Outcasts of Poker Flat." Charles
Warren Stoddard's "A Prodigal in Tahiti" finds a place here, and for
that one's heart warms to Mr. Howells. By including Ambrose Bierce's
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," he deserves praise, for the little-
known Bierce has achieved a masterpiece in this tale of the Civil War.
But some of the stories which are given a place cause one to wonder on
what possible basis Mr. Howells made his choice. For, by no stretch
of imagination or of indulgence, can half a dozen of them be called
"great." Their inclusion might be comprehensible were it not for the
brilliant tales which they displace. Mr. Howells' omissions are indeed
decidedly more striking than his selections. Frank Stockton is repre-
sented, but not by "The Lady or the Tiger;" Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
1920.] NEW BOOKS 271
but not by "Marjorie Daw." And one looks in vain for H. C. Bunner,
Henry Harland, Grace King, Jack London, Margaret Deland, R. H. Davis,
and that prince of all tellers of tales, 0. Henry. The publishers* "blurb"
in its encomium on Mr. Howells is excellent; in its confident assertion
that this volume will "take its place as one of the standard anthologies
in the English language," it illustrates the triumph of hope over critical
judgment.
THE CHINESE COAT, by Jeanette Lee (New York: Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons. $1.75). Eleanor More saw a gorgeous Chinese coat at
a sale, and wanted to buy it, but couldn't. The years went on, and still
she wanted it. She and her husband finally journeyed to far-away
China, where after long search, she found it. A sweet, little story,
charmingly told, and illustrating the lovable qualities of husband and
wife.
THE STORY OF LIBERTY, by James Baldwin (New York: American
Book Co.). A book supposedly written in honor of liberty
"as exemplified in American institutions." The dishonesty and the
purpose of the book may be known from these quotations with regard
to our War for Independence: "England thought most of the need of
unity; . . . the Colonists of their self-governing rights." And again:
"The result was this unhappy war, which broke up the only family
of free peoples that yet existed in the world."
FATHER TIM'S TALKS WITH PEOPLE HE MET, by Rev. C. D. Mc-
Enniry, C.SS.R., Volume III. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. $1.50).
A pleasant volume, written in familiar vein, of talks on subjects such
as "Absolution Refused," "Two Mixed Marriages," "Missing Mass,"
"The Lay Brother." The pegs upon which some of these talks hang
are slender, but they would often be suitable for discussion in Sodality
meetings, as well as classes for social study or for apologetics. They
show a large and kindly knowledge of human nature.
THE CLASS-ROOM TEACHER, by G. D. Strayer and M. L. Engel-
hardt (New York: American Book Co.). By the title one would
be led to expect that this volume would speak of methods leading to
increased efficiency. The volume, however, is rather a technical
method of registering and indexing data of every kind with regard
to the children, their health conditions, ages, etc., that may come
within the office of a principal of a school or head of a department.
For such purposes it will be found to be very useful.
IRecent Events,
After several months of sporadic negotia-
Polanct. tion the Poles and the Bolshevik! finally
signed a peace treaty at Riga on October
12th. This agreement, which is more in the nature of a prelim-
inary peace treaty and armistice, is actually to become effective
on October 18th at midnight, when hostilities are to cease. It is
a peace of give and take, which those who have followed the
course of events fear will not be very popular either with the
Bolsheviki or the Poles. By the terms of the treaty Russia is to
abate large territorial claims. Poland's eastern boundary is to run
north and south from Latvia to Rumania, with the line passing
well east of Minsk, Pinsk and Rovno. Thus Poland has confirmed
to her most of the area which her armies held last March, before
the beginning of the Soviet offensive. In the North, Lithuania is
separated entirely from Russia, and her eastern boundary is to be
fixed by further negotiations. East of Brest-Litovsk a large part
of Podolia is taken over, and in the south a considerable segment
of Volhynia, including the three fortresses of Lutsk, Dubno, and
Rovno. Poland thus attains a size larger than that assigned her
by the Allied Peace Conference.
While the principals in the negotiations insist the terms
eventually will lead to the signature of a permanent treaty which
will permit restoration of normal conditions in Central Europe,
there is much pessimism among diplomats and observers not par-
ticipating in the conference. The French are clearly dissatisfied,
and apparently desired a continuance of the war. The bottling
up of Lithuania is generally regarded as a doubtful experiment.
Of course, the reason for the treaty success of the Poles at
the conference table was directly due to their military successes
in the field, which continued throughout the month since these
notes were last written. Their advance on all fronts was uniform,
and in pitched battle they won many decisive engagements. Two
of these victories are typical of the month's successes. Northeast
of Grodno, between September 20th and 30th, the Poles captured
25,000 Russian Soviet prisoners and took one hundred cannon. In
a drive on the northern front, ending October 3d, the Poles in-
flicted a crushing defeat on sixteen Bolshevist divisions. The staffs
of the Third and Fourth Bolshevist Armies were captured, and the
staffs of the 21st, 41st, 55th, and 57th Divisions and of several
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 273
brigades and regiments were also taken prisoner. The total num-
ber of prisoners came to 42,000, and great stores of ammunition
and other material which the Bolsheviki had assembled for a
fall drive against the Poles were taken.
Despite efforts of the control commission of the League of
Nations, which has been endeavoring to settle the differences
between Lithuania and Poland, severe fighting occurred during
the month between the armies of these countries. The climax
of hostilities came on October 10th when two divisions of Polish
troops under General Zellgouski seized Vilna, the Lithuanian
capital. General Zellgouski, at the demand of his troops, just
before entering the city, sent in his resignation as a Polish officer,
and the Polish officers under him declared that they were re-
solved to occupy Vilna with or without the consent of the Polish
Government. The Polish Government has officially disavowed
the occupation of Vilna, and General Zellgouski has established a
provisional government there, thus creating a similar situation to
the d'Annunzio-Fiume coup.
Previous to the seizure of Vilna, negotiations had been going
on between the Poles and the Lithuanians at Suwalki under the
supervision of the representatives of the League of Nations. The
Poles agreed to accept the demarcation line defined last December
by the Supreme Council of the League of Nations, but notified
Lithuania delegates that Poland would not recognize the treaty
between Lithuania and Soviet Russia, by which Lida, Grodno, and
Vilna were assigned to Lithuania. These three towns are now in
the hands of the Poles. The popular view of the situation is that
the Poles are following in the footsteps of Colonel Avaloff-Ber-
mondt in Prussia last year, that a portion of the army intends
ostensibly to sever connection with Poland across the Niemen
River and operate independently in Lithuanian territory. It is
expected that these troops soon will proclaim a new Lithuanian
Government and then open negotiations with the de facto govern-
ment with the purpose of uniting Vilna to Poland.
With the signing of the Polish armistice,
Russia. including also peace with Ukrainia, and
with the acceptance of the Russo-Finnish
peace treaty by both the Russians and the Finns at the Dorpat
Conference on October 6th, Bolshevist Russia has come to terms
with the last of the hostile forces arrayed against her with the
exception of the South Russian army under General Wrangel.
This army, however, has been dangerously active during the
month and has considerably damaged the Soviet cause. Begin-
VOL. CXII. 18
274 RECENT EVENTS [Nov.,
ning with the capture of the railway junction of Petropavlovsk
and other important strategic points on September 20th, General
WrangePs forces have advanced steadily throughout the month.
Early in October he effected a junction with the army of General
Makno, the Ukrainian chief, who had been operating against the
Soviet troops in the region of Kharkov, and who captured that city
in a flying raid. General Lokhvitsky, formerly an officer of Gen-
eral Kolchak's force and at present in command of the former
Kolchak troops, has offered to submit to the authority of the
Wrangel government. General SemenofF, the anti-Bolshevist
leader in Siberia, also has offered his aid to General Wrangel.
The French General Weygand, the savior of Warsaw, is also re-
ported to have departed for South Russia to assist in the anti-
Bolshevist campaign.
According to late dispatches General Wrangel has launched
his expected offensive against the new Sixth Army of the Soviet
forces, sheltered behind the Dneiper River. He is carrying out
a pincers movement converging on the town of Kakhova, north-
east of Kerson. Fine weather is favoring operations. General
Wrangel's permanent north front extends from Mariopol to Eka-
terinoslav along the railway. His control of the Sea of Azov has
been assured by the capture of 6,000 Bolshevist sailors at Mariopol,
who were preparing to descend upon the grain port of Genitchesk.
He has also made himself master of the Donetz Basin with its
network of railways.
In general the Bolshevist regime in South Russia has suffered
heavily from the Wrangel campaign. In addition there have been
various uprisings against them, one of which, that of the Don Cos-
sacks, is reported to have been joined by some of General
Budenny's cavalry, sent to suppress it, and General Budeniiy him-
self, who has made a name as a dashing cavalry leader and has
proved one of the Bolsheviki's most successful generals, is re-
ported to have severed his connection with the Soviet Government
and to be recruiting anti-Bolshevist troops. Recent dispatches
state that the Soviet Government has sent a delegation with peace
proposals to General Wrangel's headquarters.
The general situation in Russia is considered by competent
observers as the most precarious since the advent of the Bolshe-
viki. Reports have been coming through of serious disturbances
in industrial establishments in Soviet Russia and of a peace move-
ment in the army on the Western Russian front. Two commis-
saries were killed in the factory outbreaks, and nearly all the
factories in Petrograd are affected, the workmen striking with
the object of overthrowing the Soviet Government. According to
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 275
late dispatches a new insurrection has broken out in the district
of Nijni Novgorod, two hundred and sixty-five miles northeast
of Moscow. This movement, which has been inaugurated by the
Social Revolutionary Party, which is the particular foe of the
Soviet, embraces great masses of peasants and is reported to be
spreading rapidly. The insurgents have proclaimed a new govern-
ment, the members of which are chiefly revolutionary leaders, for
years active against the imperial regime.
Rumors of revolts against the Bolshevist Government have
been persistent throughout the month from points close to the
borders of Soviet Russia. The reports are supposed to describe
conditions which have resulted directly from the military defeat
suffered by the Bolshevist armies in Poland, the growing discon-
tent in the army, and the extremely serious economic situation in
the Russian cities. It is known that, from the economic point of
view, the Russian people are facing a winter of suffering and
privation which bids fair to exceed even the terrible conditions of
the last two winters. Recent reports brought out from Russia,
particularly those of members of the delegation of the Independent
German Socialists, indicate that the workmen in the cities are
growing desperate and are determined to force a radical political
change.
Strikes by workmen of all classes are known to have been in
progress recently. The condition of the Bolshevik army is also
reported to be serious. Large masses of soldiers have been re-
ported demanding the cessation of all military activities and the
return to peace. The defection of large bodies of troops from the
Bolsheviki as reported in some dispatches, if true, may prove of
great assistance to those elements who are at the head of the
new rebellion. These elements have nothing in common with the
faction of General Wrangel in South Russia, or with any faction
connected with the defunct Kolchak and Denikin movements. L.
Martoff and Victor Tchernoff, leaders of the Mensheviki and
Social Revolutionists, respectively, are veterans of the Russian
revolutionary movement. Tchernoff, who is the most uncompro-
mising opponent of the Bolsheviki among the Socialist leaders of
Russia, has long been outlawed by the Bolsheviki, and has been
sought by them in all parts of Russia, and his party, the peasant
party of Russia, has been in the forefront of the battle against the
Bolsheviki.
As a result of a referendum held through-
Italy, out Northern Italy towards the close of
September the metal workers, who had
taken over the management of six hundred factories, decided to
276 RECENT EVENTS [Nov.,
accept the agreement between employers and workmen which
had been drawn up by the Government. The works that were oc-
cupied by the men have been restored to the owners, who in-
spected them together with committees of the men, and found
on the whole that the establishments had been left in good order
with no damage to the machinery. The novel feature of the settle-
ment is an arrangement whereby the workmen are to participate
in a commission composed of masters and men, which will en-
able the men to check up on financial and technical conditions of
factories. By this means the workers will know up to what
limits they can ask for betterment of conditions, beyond which
point insistence upon demands would be fatal to the business con-
cerned. Altogether Italy has gone through a radical transforma-
tion in the relations between employers and workers with little
injury to persons, property, or the order of things.
Though the metal workers' imbroglio has been successfully
disentangled, more serious disorders have occurred in other fields.
In Sicily thousands of armed peasants have taken possession of
the large estates of almost the entire island, which are owned
chiefly by absentee landlords. On the Island of Elba more than
3,000 iron miners have seized the mines, which belong to the
State, and have decided to form a cooperative organization for
their management. The seizure of estates owned by King Victor
Emmanuel near Naples by members of local agricultural societies
was frustrated by troops, and many of the peasants were wounded.
Disorders instigated by syndicalists and anarchists have also oc-
curred at Genoa and Rome.
Conditions in Russia are shown to be very serious in a report
on that country recently made by the Confederation of Labor.
This report, which was compiled by a Socialist mission which
spent some time in Russia, has caused an immense impression
throughout the country. The Russian people, it says, are com-
pletely lacking in political experience. The physical condition of
the people in the towns is at a low ebb, owing to insufficient
nourishment, while economic life is marked by destitution. The
management of industries, which has been placed directly in the
hands of workers, is declared to have been disastrous. The
report, nevertheless, denies that the Soviet regime is nearing its
end, for, despite the gravity of economic conditions, certain gains
of the revolution have been consolidated. As a result of this
report, Italian Socialists are showing a tendency to split into two
factions the Maximalists, or followers of Lenine, who are in
favor of a strict union with the Third Internationale at Moscow,
and the Reformists, who, instead of aiming straight at violent
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 277
revolution, are striving to get legal possession of the reins of
powers through a gradual but incessant amelioration of the
worker's lot. The Executive Council, which is controlled by the
Maximalists, recently declared for adherence to the Moscow Inter-
nationale by a vote of seven to five, but the final decision as to
the party's course will be made at the National Congress to be
held in December.
The municipal and provincial council elections now in pro-
gress all over Italy, show the conflict between revolutionary and
constitutional ideas for local control. Though these elections will
be completed only towards the end of November, results of the
voting in 1,011 communes already are available. These show
that Constitutionalists of varying shades of opinion carried the
day in 478 communes, chiefly in Southern Italy, Sicily, and Sar-
dinia. The Catholic, or People's Party, obtained a majority in
237 places, including Venice, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Trevizo,
and Piacenza. The Socialists again captured Florence, Bologna,
and Siena, also Reggio Emilio, Modena, Parma, Cremona, Ravenna,
Pisa, and 290 other municipalities.
On September 23d Premier Alexandre
France. Millerand was elected President of the
French Republic in succession to Paul
Deschanel, who was obliged to resign because of ill health. The
election was held by the Electoral Congress at Versailles, and M.
Millerand received 695 out of the 892 votes recorded. The new
President, who is sixty-one years of age, started his political
career as a Socialist, but in the past twenty years he has pro-
gressed steadily across the Chamber from the left to the right.
In the balloting, the Socialist Party maintained the attitude of
aloofness that it assumed when Clemenceau became Premier in
1917, and the bulk of M. Millerand's support came from the
Catholic moderate, centre, and right parties. As Minister of War,
M. Millerand is to be credited with the reinstatement of chaplains
in the army, and as Prime Minister he was the first to propose the
resumption of relations with the Holy See. The complete failure
of the strong opposition of the radicals to M. Millerand's nomina-
tion is considered a proof of the defeat of the anti-clerical parties.
Georges Leygues, Minister of Marine in Clemenceau's War Cabinet,
is the new Premier and Foreign Minister. The rest of the Miller-
and Cabinet remains unchanged.
Even in the midst of the excitement over the Presidential elec-
tion there has been considerable anxiety about the relations be-
tween France and England. The strain caused by France's inde-
278 RECENT EVENTS [Nov.,
pendent action in recognizing General Wrangel in South Russia,
and later in upsetting the plans made at Spa for the Geneva Con-
ference at which Germany was to be represented, has been in-
creased by differences in high official circles. At the bottom lies
the whole question of how Germany shall be dealt with whether
strongly, as desired by France, which seeks indemnity and secur-
ity, or somewhat leniently, as desired by England, whose interest
is to reestablish trade relations as soon as possible.
The break between the British and French is ostensibly over
differences on the question of German reparations, but it is under-
stood to be really due to the acceptance by the British Premier of
the views of a group of international bankers, who see greater
possibilities in closer relations with Germany than with France.
France, replying to a recent note of the British Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, suggesting a financial conference, has stipu-
lated that all the Allied representatives should be members of the
reparations commission and that the two German delegates be
excluded. It is this last point on which the main difficulty be-
tween France and England now rests.
The French budget for 1921, which will be submitted to the
Chamber when Parliament reopens in November, will amount to
26,000,000,000 francs, as against 21,500,000,000 for 1920. A spe-
cial budget, summing up the cost of reparations in the liberated
area and pensions, which the Versailles Treaty enjoins must be
borne by Germany, amounts to 24,000,000,000 francs for the com-
ing year. This huge sum (over $4,000,000,000 at normal ex-
change) per annum is a terrific drain on French resources, and
though the Versailles Treaty stipulates that Germany must pay,
the fact is she has not paid and it is very indefinite when she will
pay. Hence French popular apprehension over the financial out-
look.
Meanwhile the cost of living made another advance on Oc-
tober 1st. Milk, eggs, meat, bread, and clothes have all increased
in price. Coal and wine are the only commodities which have
gone down in price. For the rest, the average French family's
budget will inevitably be higher than even last year. For much
of this increase the high exchange rates receive popular blame,
though home products like eggs and milk have shown the biggest
increase.
At their meeting in Orleans early in October, the French
Federation of Labor definitely refused, by 1,478 votes against 602,
to link up with the Moscow Internationale and to cooperate with
the active revolutionary party. The majority declaration reiter-
ated the policy of "complete independence" for itself and other
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 279
similar national organizations. It also declared unreservedly that
its revolutionary objects are "incompatible with present institu-
tions and with capitalism and its political expressions."
As a result of the German Government's
Germany. appeal for the surrender of weapons in the
hands of the civilian population, 750,000
weapons and 3,250,000 rounds of ammunition have been given up.
The weapons handed over include 17 pieces of artillery, nearly
1,000 machine guns, 11 flame throwers, and 15,000 hand gren-
ades. Thirty million marks have been paid in reward for the
surrender of these arms. This disarmament is in accordance with
the demand of the Entente and is mainly aimed at the Einwoh-
nerwehr, a semi-military, semi-police force, the existence of which
is regarded as outside the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty.
Despite circumstantial reports received by the Allied govern-
ments to the effect that German disarmament is proceeding slowly
but surely under Allied supervision, the belief is widespread in
France that the Germans are once more pulling the wool over
the eyes of the Allied Control Commission. Statements are
printed in the Paris papers that not only is Germany not really
disarming, but is actually manufacturing more war material than
before the War began. The Krupp Works at Essen, which em-
ployed 33,000 men in 1914, is now employing 54,000 and made
use of close on to 8,000,000 tons of iron ore in the first half of
1920 as compared with 4,610,000 tons in the corresponding period
of 1914, and the firm is again turning out 12-inch and other large
calibre guns, as well as 77-milimetre guns of the 1919 model.
Much excitement and exasperation prevails in German in-
dustrial circles over the decision of the Conference of Allied am-
bassadors that high-speed Diesel motors are war material, which
must be destroyed. According to the decision, Germany is not
permitted to construct new ones to replace those destroyed. The
Entente Commission of Control has begun to make trips of in-
spection, taking inventories of the motor equipment preparatory
to destruction. There has been a general appeal to the Govern-
ment to take steps to secure the revocation of the Allied decision.
Many municipal electric and water works, railway repair shops,
rubber, porcelain and textile factories and shipyards operate with
Deisel engines, and it is argued that if the motors are destroyed,
the establishments will have to shut down and the Government
will be obliged to meet indemnities running into billions of marks.
Although labor and social conditions have grown more settled,
anxiety regarding the coming winter is apparent. Some predict
280 RECENT EVENTS [Nov.,
further collisions between labor and capital with possible dire
results, but such a view apparently is not well founded. The
Socialist parties are too occupied with their own internal troubles
to undertake big strikes with political motives. The Independent
Socialist party appears to be on the verge of breaking to pieces,
one section to join the communists and the other to remain inde-
pendent or to be absorbed gradually by the majority Socialists.
Developments in Bavaria continue to awaken concern in Ber-
lin. The dominant party there is encouraging a movement that
is distinctly unfriendly to the federal government, and which
tends towards secession from the republic. It is said that this
discontent is being fanned assiduously by France. Fear that
France will occupy the Ruhr coal basin on the first pretext is felt
strongly in Berlin. The opinion generally held is that although
Great Britain would frown upon such an occupation she would
take no active steps to prevent it. On the other hand, Britain and
Germany are rapidly renewing relations. When the English Par-
liament reassembles this subject will be raised in debate. No
better proof is needed that Great Britain is importing heavily
from Germany than the announcement that English manufac-
turers intend to ask Parliament to set a tariff on German goods.
German lenses, spectacles, pianos, fabrics, gloves and enamel ware
are appearing in the English market in considerable quantities,
while Belgium has just placed an order for six thousand freight
cars in Germany.
Two million tons of breadstuffs must be imported by Ger-
many, chiefly from America, as the 1920 crop will be considerably
short of the country's requirements, according to an announce-
ment by the President of the Imperial Grain Department. The rye
crop has been a disappointment, and this year's harvest of bread-
stuffs is calculated to yield only 7,000,000 tons, while land devoted
to breadstuff production has diminished more than seven per cent.
October 18, 1920.
With Our Readers.
RECENTLY in talking with one who might be called a social
welfare worker our conversation turned upon the hardships
and the sufferings particularly of poor and needy mothers. "I
have always found," said the worker, "that however great their
need and suffering may be, if they only know what is the right
thing for them to do: if we can only give them assurance of soul
and peace of mind as to what is expected of them, as to what their
duty is that peace of mind will in turn make their sufferings
less and their courage greater. If we cannot bring them that
peace, then all we do bring is still insufficient."
* * * *
rpO find our path difficult is unfortunate ; to realize that we have
1 lost our way is fatal.
Difficulties may but summon the soul to higher courage and
prove a delight to the adventurous spirit. They never rob us of
the assurance of where our way lies: they leave us at least with
the comfort that we are on the right road.
But to have lost our way leaves us undone, miserable, hope-
less.
As the path ahead, distinguishable only by the feel of the
foot or the thinner foliage, or the star overhead, or the compass,
or yonder light, is absolutely necessary for the traveler on earth:
so the warning of conscience, or the voice of duty, or the revealed
truth, or the ruling of an accepted teacher, or the light of higher
wisdom is necessary to the soul that walks and works in human
life.
These words of duty, truth, light, revelation, obligation can
never pass from the vocabulary of man. Whatever any man will
place as a condition of human peace or betterment will be cata-
logued under some one of these truths. And is not every one that
writes more and more eager to be a teacher of his fellows every
one from the optimistic and unhesitating oracle, Dr. Frank Crane,
to the cynical and long since discounted Anatole France.
Though words are often used but to deceive, and have been
so bandied about, so disreputably treated as to be for the most
part unwilling to reveal their true selves still as they are expres-
sions of the mind they inevitably carry some portion at least of
their true meaning.
282 WITH OUR READERS [Nov.,
EVEN those who would evade the truth are compelled to pay
tribute to it, for we are all children of God. Duty inevitably
means relationship to another. To confine it to oneself alone
would make one solitary and universal. And that no one can be
either in his beginning or his ending.
Truth means stability. Even the statement that everything
is flux is of itself static. Truth is not conjecture, nor probability,
nor the personal measure of our intellectual grasp. In itself it is
beyond us, for we surely are not stable. There was a time when
we were not. Truth means relationship with another. It was
and is and will be.
Revelation, whether it be divine or human, is the unfolding
to us of another intelligence. When G. Stanley Hall calls his new
pronouncement a revelation he means that his own insight is
enlightening the world. And we never can accept any revelation
without indebtedness to another even in the case cited.
ALL of the words, then, used by every man who speaks of the
way for himself or for others through the mazes of life, neces-
sarily connote our obligation, our dependence on one another.
Our way is a common way: we are all bound, united together for
life, for death and in both. No man can live, no man does live
for himself alone.
And the more that one denies this fundamental, basal truth,
the more one injects selfishness and self-seeking into his life,
into his immediate group or his class or his country, the more
does he contribute to the clouding of the way for all his com-
panions, for his countrymen, for humankind.
We are bound to one another by bonds that are as strong as
life for we receive life from one another. And by that very fact
we are bound to another, outside of ourselves, for we are not life.
We cannot understand it: we surely cannot create it. And they
who speak of duty, of obligation, of light, of revelation, of the
"way" of humankind, without looking reverently to a Personal
Infinite God are but stuttering the alphabet that bespeaks the real
soul of man.
* * * *
THE world has turned topsy-turvy because most men are stand-
ing on their heads instead of their feet. And by most men
we mean those who are writing and speaking of the "way" in
which and by which their fellows ought to live and act. They
have their faces to earth instead of upwards, towards heaven.
They can see only the earth and the material, pleasure giving,
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 283
health and ease giving things of the earth. These are what they
are engrossed in; these they believe all other men want and their
selfishness, their egotism, their lack of faith both in God and
their fellows have robbed them of truth and of light. They who
follow them walk in darkness. They have lost the way and they
would have others lost with them.
Review any list of recent books, whether it be of novels or
of the more serious type; read thoughtfully the editorials of the
leading journals of the American press and the conclusion must
force itself upon us that we as a human race begin and end with
ourselves: duty and obligation and truth are all to be found
within the limits of humankind. "We have no belief," said a
recent critic, "in anything larger than ourselves." God is left
out; He is not needed; He does not exist. Rationalism, no longer
abstract, but concrete, is the way of human life and human souls.
No wonder that the world is sick and will grow more sick.
* * * *
PHILIP GIBBS, the noted war correspondent recently stated:
"No man, unless he is blind or drunk with optimism, can
deny that Europe at the present time is very sick. During the last
year I have visited many countries of Europe and in most of them,
under the surface of social gayety, appearance of normal life and
apparent recovery from the wounds of war, I found a sense of
impending ruin and dreadful anxiety of the future.
"In some countries, of course, ruin is not impending, but
present and engulfing. Austria is one of them, so stricken, so
starving, so helpless and hopeless that she exists on charity alone
and is sapped of all vital energy. Germany, as far as I can learn,
is in a better state and has within herself the means of recovery;
but people over here who imagine that her factories are at full
blast and that she will soon be rich and strong and truculent
again are, in my opinion, deluded by false evidence.
"Russia is one great empire of misery, and no mortal soul
knows yet what agony she still has to suffer before her social
revolution has worked itself out.
"Poland, like Russia, is typhus stricken and starving in her
cities, ravaged by the tidal waves of war."
* * * *
GIBBS describes the pessimism of France, the burdens under
which England is groaning, and then he asks:
"Is there any cure for the sickness of Europe? I think there
is, though at the present time there is no sign of a remedy at
hand, but only of a spreading fever, getting worse. It is a spirit-
284 WITH OUR READERS [Nov.,
ual sickness as well as a physical, and just as in medical practice,
it is known that health of body depends largely on health of mind,
so it is hopeless to expect recovery in the body of Europe until the
minds of the peoples of Europe are peaceful, hopeful, and well
balanced.
"Within the nations there is narrow vision and candid cyni-
cism; Where is the old comradeship of trenches which promised
to break down divisions between classes? It has gone, and those
who fought together are now separated by jealousies and enmities
and selfishness. They are regrouping themselves for class war-
fare.
"The greatest failure of all, in my judgment, is the failure of
labor. I am for labor, having seen its men fighting and dying in
great masses for no selfish purpose. Therefore many of us hoped
most from labor and looked for leaders in its ranks who would
show the way out of our present jungle. We thought they would
give call to a new fellowship of men, overstep the narrow fron-
tiers of national interest, get a new honesty into politics, and
show power of open diplomacy. But have they done any of these
things?
"I see leaders of a small pettifogging spirit, fighting for 'two
bob' extra on the wages of their men, while their European com-
rades are starving for coal, which at our export rates is outrageous
in price. I see only the selfishness of class interest as greedy as
that of the profiteer without any regard for the welfare of the
nation as a whole or for the needs of Europe in distress. They
refuse to 'dilute' labor in interests of the men who fought for
them or with them.
"There is only one cure for the woes of Europe and our own
not easy, but bound to come unless we are looking for down-
fall. It is the reconciliation of peoples, burying of old hatchets,
wiping out of old villainies and cooperating in a much closer
union of mutual help under the direction of a league of nations,
made democratic and powerful by the free consent and ardent
impulses of the common folk.
"Before that can happen there must come new leaders, new
enthusiasm for the ideals of life, a new spirit of unselfishness
and service for the common weal and just now we do not see
them coming."
IT is significant that a prominent daily journal commenting
upon Gibbs' survey should state that "Europe must get better
of her material hurt before you can expect much of her spirit-
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 285
ually." With some riches seem to be a condition of entrance into
the kingdom of God.
Men speak as if the situation Philip Gibbs describes were
the result of the late War. It is such a result inasmuch as the
War hastily precipitated elements long before in action. The
idealism and sacrifice, the union of men and of nations, evidenced
during the War gave many hope. But the higher patriotism
which took men out of themselves was unable to keep them there.
Religion alone can permanently do that. And as the seeds of
irreligion, of the denial of God were sown long before the War,
for decades indeed, so do they continue to bear their harvest. The
great influences that shape public opinion, the press, the theatre,
the moving picture are today in the hands of those who do not
believe in God, in God as the Ruler of the actions and conduct
of men.
* * * *
WE would not underestimate or discourage any movement to-
wards unity. Every such activity is an echo of what ought
to be. But too much hope has often been placed upon various
attempts of human brotherhood, of national reunion, of the
union of many nations. The spirit of the world, practically, does
not warrant the hope. It demands a divine faith to have faith in
humanity. Christ, not humanity, is our hope: and humanity is
our hope only in Him. The personal belief in, and union with,
Him is our sole warrant of belief in and union with our fellows.
And personal fidelity at all costs to Him and to His Standards is
the way of each one of us and for all. We need God, and Christ
is God. And the falling away of the nations from God and from
Christ, and their present sickness will not be cured by human
means, by human unions, by human wisdom or by human re-
forms. Each one of us and all of us must first go to Him Who
is both the Physician and Saviour of souls and of bodies.
OF matters dealing with the relation of England to Ireland
during the past month the most important perhaps was the
speech delivered by the English Premier, Lloyd George, on October
9th. It was important as an expression of the official mind of the
Government of England with regard to its future course in Ire-
land, it was important also as a signal confession by England
that she was not able to govern Ireland, that her rule there, being
ineffective, must be reasserted by militant methods. It is not
necessary to repeat here any portion, or give any analysis of the
clever, misguiding and purposely beclouding speech of Lloyd
286 WITH OUR READERS [Nov.,
George. Sufficient for us to say that he never once touches the
real issue at stake the right of the people of Ireland to govern
themselves. Indeed, he implicitly presupposes that there is no
such issue. But apart from all accidentals, all attempts of Lloyd
George to conceal the real issue that issue is there and has
already been met successfully by the people of Ireland.
JUST as we are going to press a cable account comes of the
meeting of the Irish hierarchy at Maynooth on October l9th.
The entire hierarchy signed a resolution denouncing "terrorism,
partiality and failure as characteristics of the present Irish Gov-
ernment."
The Bishops recall in the resolution that "when the country
was crimeless" the Bishops warned the Government against op-
pressive measures. They declare "it is not a question of hasty
reprisals, but of indiscriminate hate of savages, deliberately
wreaked on the whole countryside, without any proof of com-
plicity in crime, by those ostensibly employed to protect lives and
property."
The resolution declares that the press is gagged, that public
meeting is interdicted and that inquests are suppressed. It also
says there has been brutal treatment of clergymen and that the
preventing of Archbishop Mannix of Australia from visiting Ire-
land was "one of the most unwise steps purblind and tyrannical
oppression could take."
The Bishops demand a full inquiry into the situation and
urge the right of Ireland to choose its own government.
IT is claimed by many of its spokesmen that the Anglican Church
is the true Church of Christ. They boast that its tenets are in
line with the belief of the Catholic Church of at least the first four
centuries. Naturally, they would further claim that the Anglican
Church is in harmony with Scripture, the revealed word of God.
Now, St. Paul tells us : "Let women keep silence in the churches :
for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the
law saith" (1 Cor. xiv. 34). However, in the recent Lambeth Con-
ference, which claimed to open up wider fields of service and in-
fluence to women, Bishop Lines made the following appeal: "We
put vestments on women and let them sing in Church, and I don't
see why we shouldn't put vestments on them and let them read
the prayers and give instruction in our churches." And his coad-
jutor, Bishop Stearly, after stating that "Episcopal bishops are the
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 287
least authoritative elements in the church," added, "their deliber-
ations when assembled in such sessions as the Lambeth Confer-
ence are of a character to engage the attention of the whole
church, and that in the case of their recommendations on the
place and work of women in the church they have laid on women
a very great and solemn responsibility."
MISSIONARY work among our Indians strongly and effectively
appeals to our Catholic people. We are pleased to reprint
here a letter from the Cardinal Secretary of State to Father Ketch-
man, Director of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions :
THE SECRETARIATE OF STATE
OF His HOLINESS.
THE VATICAN, July 4, 1920.
RIGHT REVEREND FATHER:
As it is assuredly the chief function and aim of the Holy Church
to propagate the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Society for
the Preservation of the Faith among Indian Children and the Marquette
League, which under your direction constantly enjoy such gratifying
growth, are heartily approved by the Holy Father.
For while, unhappily, in divers places in these unwholesome times,
the faith of many grow cold, the Father of all rejoices exceedingly
that new subjects should be added to the Catholic Religion through
these holy missionary agencies.
For this reason he urges nothing more earnestly than that all good
people generously support these societies, and that as many apostolic
men as possible assist them zealously by their labors. And to the end
that this may be realized, fortifying you with well-merited approval,
as a mark of heavenly favor and a pledge of his fatherly good will, he
graciously imparts to you personally, and to everyone who in any
way may further these good works, the Apostolic Blessing.
For my part, in communicating this to you, I express the senti-
ments of great esteem which I entertain for you and which I shall be
happy ever to cherish.
Yours very devotedly,
P. CARDINAL GASPARRI.
RIGHT REV. WILLIAM H. KETCHAM,
Director of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions,
Washington, D. C.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
GEORGE H. DORAN Co., New York:
Night and Day. By V. Woolf. A Garden of Peace. By F. F. Moore. A Poor
Wise Man. By M. R. Rinehart. Selections from Swinburne. Edited by E.
Goose, C.B., and T. J. Wise. The Happy Bride. By E. T. Jesse. Lady Lilith.
By S. McKenna. Limbo. By A. Huxley. Wounded Souls. By P. Gibbs.
E. P. DUTTON & Co., New York:
The Fellowship of the Picture. By N. Dearmer. $1.25 net. The God in the
Thicket. By C. E. Lawrence. $2.00 net. The Cathedral of Reims. By Rt. Rev.
Mgr. M. Landrieux. Mexico in Revolution. By V. B. Ibanez. The Voice of the
Negro. By R. T. Kerlin. The Philosophy of Faith and the Fourth Gospel.
By Rev. H. S. Holland, D.D. The Cosmic Commonwealth. By E. Holmes.
$2.25 net. Adventures Among Birds. By W. H. Hudson. $4.00 net. Intimate
Letters from Petrograd. By P. S. Crosby.
BONI & LIVERIGHT, New York:
The Course of Empire. By Senator R. F. Pettigrew. The Gulf of Misunderstand-
ing, or North and South America As Seen by Each Other. By T. Pinodhet.
$2.50 net. The Dark Mother. By W. Frank. Jailed for Freedom. By D.
Stevens. Potterism. By R. Macauley. Alaska Man's Luck. By H. Rutzebeck.
Cain's Gracchus. By O. Gregory (a Tragedy).
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York:
Historic Christianity and the Apostles' Creed. By J. K. Mozley, B.D. $2.00 net.
The Doctrine of the Church and Christian Reunion, Being the Bampton Lectures
for the Year 1920. By Rev. A. C. Headlam, D.D. $4.00 net.
BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York:
Spiritual Conferences. By Rev. H. Collins, O.C., M.A. $2.00 net. The Christian
Faith. By Pere Suau, S.J. $1.15 net. The Presence of God. By a Master of
Novices.
FREDERICK PUSTET & Co., New York:
The Rt. Rev. Edward Dominic Fenwick, O.P. By Very Rev. V. F. O'Daniel, O.P.
THE MAGMILLAN Co., New York:
Ethics General and Special. By O. A. Hill, S.J., Ph.D. $3.50.
WM. H. SADLIER, New York:
Excelsior Studies in American History. By F. X. Sadlier. $1.50. Sadlier's
Excelsior Geography. By a Catholic Teacher. No. II., $1.00. No. III., $2.00.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, New York:
The Hidden People. By L. E. Miller. $2.00. Erskinc Dale, Pioneer. By J. Fox,
Jr. $2.00. Man to Man. By J. Gregory.
JAMES T. WHITE Co., New York:
Whittlings of a Dreamer. By F. S. Schlesinger. $1.00.
BLASE BENZJGER & Co., New York:
The Boy Who Looked Ahead. By John T. Smith. $1.25.
D. APPLETON & Co., New York:
The New World. By Frank Comerford. $2.00 net.
ALFRED A. KNOPF, New York:
October, and Other Poems, By Robert Bridges. $1.50 net.
THE CENTURY Co., New York:
Constantine I. and the Greek People. By Paxton Hibben, F.R.G.S.
HARPER & BROTHERS, New York:
People of Destiny. By P. Gibbs. $2.00 net. The United States. By C. Becker.
$2.50 net.
J. B. LIPPINCOTT Co., Philadelphia:
No Defence. By G. Parker. $2.00. Cornelli. By J. Spyri. $1.50 net. Anne.
By O. Hartley. $1.90 net. Within the Magic Gateways. By P. Saunders. $1.50
net. Under Sevenshields Castle. By Q. Scott-Hopper. $1.50 net. The Shaping
of Jephson's. By K. Carr.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, Washington:
Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. By W. C. John. Pamphlet.
THE FOUR SEAS Co., Boston:
A Thousand Faces. By F. S. Thompson and G. W. Galvin, M.D. Wild Turkeys
and Tallow Candles. By E. Hayes. $2.50 net. My Lady of the Search-Light.
By M. H. Leonard. Agnus Dei. By N. Campbell. Songs of the Wind on a
Southern Shore. By G. E. Merrick. $2.50 net.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN Co., Boston :
Points of Friction. By Agnes Repplier, Litt.D. $1.75.
GINN & Co., Boston:
Methods and Materials of Literary Criticism. By C. N. Gayley, LL.D., and B. P.
Kurtz, Ph.D.
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, New Haven:
The City. A Play by Paul Claudel. Translated by J. S. Newberry.
THE BRUCE PUBLISHING Co., Milwaukee, Wis.:
A Vade Mecum for Nurses and Social Workers. By Rev. E. F. Garesche, S.J.
ILLINOIS CENTENNIAL COMMISSION, Springfield:
The Centennial History of Illinois. C. W. Alvord, Editor-in-Chief. Vols. I., II.
M. A. DONOHUE & Co., Chicago:
Within the Year After. By Betty Adler.
BURKLEY PRINTING Co., Omaha:
Margaret, or Was It Magnetism? By Gilbert Guest. 60 cents.
THE
Catholic ^orld
VOL. CXII.
DECEMBER, 1920
No. 669
SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR.
BY MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN.
I.
T the end of the year one likes to feel that among
the books one has bought or borrowed, there are
some that might be read a second time with profit
and pleasure. Since a saner point of view of
books of fiction prevails, and the old-fashioned
enunciation of all novels has given place to the acknowledg-
ment that the good novel is not only a stimulant, but very
often a liberal education, the task of the critic is a very serious
one. When Miss Austen made her celebrated protest against
the hypocritical attitude of English readers towards the novel,
it was easy for the writer on current literature to be quite sure
that in nearly every Evangelical English household, he would
be applauded if he simply condemned; and consequently he
relentlessly pulled up the tares with the wheat.
Looking over the list of the novels printed during the last
year, there is little temptation to do this. If this article was
not to be devoted purely to novels in English, it would be in
place to call attention to the dangerous tendencies of the
romances of Sefior Don Blasco Ibanez; but the rage for
Ibanez has abated. The circumstances that made The Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse popular have passed; and The
Cathedral is going its way into the lumber of forgotten books.
It must be admitted that Ibanez has gone somewhat toward
COPYRIGHT. 1920. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
VOL. cxii. 10
290 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
the path of redemption by his book on the Mexican situation
a book which shows that only a Spaniard could catch a Span-
iard and the sanity and reasonableness of that volume are
promises, perhaps, that Ibanez may yet take a first-rate place
in the rich literature of his country. It almost seems as if
even his short study of liberal institutions in the United States
and of the existence of a free church as a vital institution, has
caused him to revise the thesis of his nefarious Cathedral.
The success of Ibanez the cultured call him "Blasco"
has led to the digging up of the works of various Spanish
novelists whose existence was hitherto unknown. It comes
with rather a shock to the American reading public to discover
that Ibaiiez is not looked on in Spain as the first of its living
novelists; and none of his best work has equaled that master-
piece of Fernan Caballero, La Gaviota, which, from the point
of view of art and truth to nature, is a masterpiece though
almost a forgotten one.
South American literature is being raked, too, for "best
sellers," and, when the shortage of paper ceases, Ocontos, the
Argentine, and several other Americans of Spanish descent will
probably appear on our book stands.
There are two ways of judging the value of a novel. Does
it amuse us or charm us or make us forget our difficulties,
and is it a source of that "innocent merriment" which is so
feelingly celebrated in the opera of "The Mikado?" Or does it
give us a glimpse, or perhaps an insight into the motives and
methods of spheres of life, of which we know little? Recalling
novels of various degrees of artistic value, written in English,
one cannot help feeling that the ideals held up in works of
fiction are, as a rule, more altruistic than those expressed and
acted upon in every day life.
None of us can quite live without fairy tales, if, as Lowell
says, "fairy tales are the dreams of the poor;" the novel we
like best is a moving picture in which we are shown to be as
we would like to be. The Realists do not consent to this, but
that dark and gloomy materialism which showed life as seen
in a glass darkly, always wretched, always hopeless, always
sensual, has gone out of fashion. The Romanticist has it today
not the Romanticist of the doublet and dagger or the wig and
sword, but that kind of a Romanticist who makes us believe,
while we read, that we are capable, like the hero or heroine,
1920.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 291
of surmounting all obstacles, provided we stick to our prin-
ciples or are faithful in love. The pendulum, however, is be-
ginning to swing back again to the glories of the past, as seen
through the illusions of the present; but the truth is that no
time, no epoch and no theme is too much worn to be revised
for the delight and interest of the reader. Ivanhoe will never
die; it is undying as that interest which makes the description
of the fight reported by Rebecca in the tower, a part of our life-
long literary luggage. One can see, however, that the conven-
tions of the Victorian period are breaking down. Public opin-
ion, until recently, would not tolerate the marriage of divorced
people. The husband really had to die to make the other two
happy when the curtain fell, now Mr. Joseph Hergersheimer,
who promised to be the greatest of the younger American
novelists, makes an ending of his very self-conscious novel, of
Steel, which in elder days would have called out a hundred
voices of protest.
Coventry Patmore speaks bitterly of the "undivine
silences" which corrupt modern ideas of purity, but, though
ignorance is not innocence, as we all know, there is a frank-
ness about certain of the novels of the past year which is un-
happily in accord with that freedom of speech and that
practice of calling a spade a shovel for garbage, which makes
the reading of an American newspaper a thing of constant
shocks.
It must be noted, as it was noted last year, that the Cath-
olic American novelist seems to be rapidly disappearing.
Christian Reid has gone and, though her readers were not
great in number, she had a special place among the Romanti-
cists. There are few novels better for molding beautifully
the ideas of youth than her Morton House. The Catholic pub-
lishers sometimes complain that they do not receive manu-
scripts. This same complaint is made by non-Catholic pub-
lishers of magazines who are in direct competition with the
demands of the moving picture establishment. There was a
time when the American magazines discovered a new writer
like Myra Kelly or Kate Douglas Wiggin or Mary Synon or
O. Henry at least every three months; now there are no dis-
coveries because the author, no longer impoverished, can attain
to a limousine more quickly through the moving pictures than
by adapting himself to the moods of the editors of periodicals.
292 -SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
This article concerns itself more particularly with Amer-
ican novels; but looking over the field of writers of fiction for
Catholics, one finds only Miss Isabelle Clark and John Ays-
cough. Miss Clark has made a very unique circle of her own;
she does not pretend to be an artist, she is simply a story teller,
and she tells her stories well. John Ayscough's reputation has
suffered considerably by the publication of Abbotscourt, 1
which the publishers have brought out in a most admirable
form. After Marotz, Mezzogiorno, Fernando, San Celestino,
and Faustula, it is a decided falling off. John Ayscough shows
that he has a touch of genius; he knows his world as well as
Marion Crawford, and he has more imagination than Marion
Crawford ever possessed. He has become his own rival
through the perfection of some of his works. Abbotscourt is
very like Archibald Marshall's novels at their worst and Sir
Harry and Many Junes are no better nor worse than Abbots-
court.
The writer for Catholics is probably less amenable to the
seduction of the scenario hunters than the non-Catholic, be-
cause, perhaps, there is less temptation. At least hitherto he
has suffered and made sacrifices for his ideals; but, although
man cannot live by bread alone, he must have some bread;
and if he is to have this bread his publishers must advertise
liberally, which they are only beginning to do. I asked a very
clever Catholic writer why she produced so little. "There's a
small market for what I write," she said, "but I was formerly
able to pay my cook and my housemaid with my earnings;
now my semi-annual checks are not quite sufficient to pay my
cook." Whether due to shortage of paper or the fact that
there is no market for novels written by Catholics for Catholics,
the fact remains that the American Catholic novelist, in spite
of the constant encouragement of the Catholic press, is becom-
ing extinct.
One naturally makes a distinction between novels written
for Catholics, and novels written for the world at large. The
popularity of the first is, as a rule, limited. Canon Sheehan's
My New Curate is one of the exceptions. Miss Delafield's The
Pelican can hardly be said to be written for Catholics, although
the theme is essentially Catholic. The conversion of the little
sister and her drawing to religious life is told with less hard-
J New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons.
1920.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 293
ness and more sympathy than this clever author usually shows.
Mrs. Belloc Lowndes' The Lonely House 2 is written on a for-
mula. Unlike that most gruesome of novels, The Lodger, the
key to the mystery in The Lonely House is easily found the
moment the dead arm, with a gold bangle upon it, is dis-
covered protruding near the garden of the Count and Countess
Polda. Nevertheless, the reader is kept breathless with anxiety
until the very end. After all Mrs. Belloc Lowndes is not de-
pendent on mere machinery for her effects; she writes with
skill and even contrives to make two stupid young persons
the hero and heroine rather interesting. M. Popeau, the
elderly Frenchman, is a bit of characterization entirely worthy
of this perennially charming and well equipped writer. The
mysterious servant-relation of the Poldas is drawn with the
knowledge of the action of how half -mad fanaticism can neu-
tralize religion. Mrs. St. Leger Harrison's The Tall Villa is a
ghost story. Frances Copley is a married woman of exquisite
taste. Her taste seems to be a substitute for morality; she is a
creature somewhat resembling the lady in The Third Window.
When the wraith of Alexis, Lord Oxley, gradually unfolds
itself to the sight of Frances Copley, she is anxious and
embarrassed but not at all highly strung. Lord Oxley
had committed suicide for the sake of a reigning beauty of
other years. Mrs. Copley is strangely attracted by the ghost;
she is tempted to console him. Mrs. Harrison points out a way
by which her difficulty might have been ended, a way which
would put a brake on the neurotic vagaries of the heroes and
heroines of many thrilling novels.
"Had Frances belonged to the older Faith, she would have
carried her burden to the confessional, and there laid it down;
but such a demarche the conventional Church and State Angli-
canism, in which she had been reared, offered neither place
nor precedent. The picture of a suburban vestry and a highly
embarrassed parson offered small prospect of intimate com-
fort or release. The good, scared man would anxiously advise
consultation with her doctor, her near relations; hurriedly,
nervously bow her out, and later bolt upstairs to retail the
extraordinary occurrence to his wife."
Frances could not turn to a spiritual physician; there was
no expert in the knowledge that might have saved her, within
8 New York: George H. Doran Co.
294 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
her ken; and hence a story, told with grace, charm; and having
the artistic perspective and knowledge of the world that
make Lucas Malet a favorite with discriminating readers.
Of the novels of the past year A Maker of Saints, by Ham-
ilton Drummond, 3 is one of the best. When one remembers
that Mr. Drummond is the author of the Betrayers, a romance
which was worthless because of its author's lack of exact
knowledge of the period he described and of the psychology
of the leading men of that period, one is astonished that such
an almost perfect piece of work as A Maker of Saints should
have been produced by him. It is a romance that a Manzoni,
if he had a lighter or more modern touch, might have written.
It is full of fire and action. It exposes a sincere, serene and
honorable point of view of life.
The hero of the book is a sculptor, named Marco Fiera-
vanti, who thank heaven has nothing of what is called "the
artistic temperament," a temperament which seems to be the
property of all minor artists. Fieravanti is really a great
sculptor. With him
Art is true art, when art to God is true,
And only then
The crucial instant of the book is founded on a note "To
Longfellow's Purgatorio:" "There was a stone column in the
middle of the town, upon which were rings or knockers, as if
all front doors were there represented. To this, as soon as a
stranger made his appearance, he was conducted, and, thus,
as chance decreed, he was taken to the house of the gentleman
to whom the ring belonged, and honored according to his rank.
This column and its rings were invented to remove all cause
of quarrel."
The story opens with the exhibition of a statue commis-
sioned by the Bishop of Forli, Fieravanti's native town, to be
placed in the Church of the Holy Penitents, and it was to be,
naturally, a statue of St. Mary Magdalen. He and his two
apprentices, one of whom is a young Englishman called
Anthony, are examining the completed statue with a certain
anxiety, for the Bishop of Forli is about to appear. The ap-
prentices were enraptured, but Fieravanti, being modest as all
true artists are, did not dare to say that this was his greatest
New York: E. P. Button & Co.
1920.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 295
work: "greatness belonged to the unattained beauty of the
Greeks, living, strong, virile."
The Bishop of Forli arrives. Just a moment before Fiera-
vanti, his own most stern and grudging critic, thought that he
could see no fault in the statue; but the Bishop looks at it
doubtfully. The sculptor could not understand this, but he
gained time by saying that the statue was incomplete:
"Ah, so I thought!" The pucker disappeared. In the
mingling of relief and frank kindliness he laid a familiar
hand on the sculptor's shoulder, pressing it. A condescen-
sion from the purple of the prelate to the smock of "the
maker of saints?" Yes, but to his credit, the Bishop never
forgot that he had risen from the people. "So I thought,"
he repeated. "It is always the soul that is born last, and in
Mary it was a soul that loved greatly. It is a great gift,
yours, my son; to put a soul into stone and thereby lift
men's thoughts to heaven, Would that we poor priests
could always do the like, rousing the soul in the flesh!
And when will the miracle be finished?" "I must have time,
Your Grandeur. Tomorrow I go to Arzano. . . " "Take
time," said the Bishop heartily, adding, in the homely sense
of his peasant birth, "better a month's delay than a botched
job."
The sculptor, "A Maker of Saints" as he is called, is puzzled;
but he has a deep respect for the spiritual insight of the Bishop,
and he goes forth in quest of a model possessing the spiritual
beauty his St. Mary Magdalen needs.
In no book lately written is there to be found a better por-
traiture of the soul of an artist in a time when all the great
Italian artists let their souls speak first, in spite of the clamors
of the body and the temptations of the flesh. The character of
the Bishop is as true as that of the Cardinal Borromeo, in
Manzoni's immortal / Promessi Sposi; and that of the straight-
forward and simple-minded chaplain, Father Bernardo, is
excellently sketched.
Father Bernardo was most anxious to have the statue of a
saint made for the chapel of Ascanio. Ascanio's nephew ob-
jects; he says to the sculptor:
"Briefly, Ser Marco, our people are cloddish." "Clod-
dish!" went on the priest as if there had been no interrup-
tion. But now Fieravanti spoke: "I understand. But in
296 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
every clod there is a seed of growth, the germ of a life to
be." "A life to be!" Father Bernardo caught at the words
eagerly. In a single phrase Marco Fieravanti had bettered
the argument he hoped to urge. "But being hid in stiff clay
the germ is slow to stir. Ser Marco, help us. Tangle their
dull imaginations in the mesh of a saint's beauty and
through the eyes stir the spirit to thought upwards. Ser-
mons? As Signor Carlo has so delicately hinted, sermons
are weariness, and if a weariness to so fine a nature how
much more to these dull souls after six days of dawn-to-
dark labor in the fields? They are like little children, my
poor clods, and as children learn by the eye, and through
the eye awaken to thought, so will they. Help us, Ser
Marco, help us ! They may not understand all your marble
teaches but, praise God, understanding is not necessary to
faith; so, I say again, help us!"
It is after all only the limited mind and the cold heart
that has been unable to comprehend the use the Church
has made of all the fine arts. The Sistine Madonna and the
greatest of all Ruben's works, the "Descent from the Cross,"
were not painted for the minds of artists, but for the souls of
the people. This speech of Father Bernardo's explains very
clearly why Catholics have no sympathy for the shallow dogma
of art for art's sake. The best art must be an appeal to the
heart and the soul of humanity; and the Church has never
been afraid of that beauty which leads to a contemplation of
heaven or of that love which is an attribute of God.
There is here a fortunate little sketch of the wandering
Dante. He teaches Lucia, the heroine, the highest law, which
is the love that leads to the "glory infinite, the light eter-
nal, the love which moves the sun and other stars." He will
hear of no conditions; love that does not love without condi-
tions is not love; either it puts self first or it lacks faith;
love sees the best in the beloved. And then he speaks of his
love for Florence, the granite-hearted Florence, which has re-
jected him. All the qualities of a first-rate romance are here.
Joined to these is a most unusual insight into the value of men
of good will. Too many of our modern novelists seem to de-
light in painting fools; all men are more or less foolish; as all
men are more or less deceitful; but it is the business of a
writer to show us a man striving against his natural tendencies;
and it would be hard to find a novel more satisfactory in the
1920.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 297
portrait of its hero than A Maker of Saints. One of its greatest
charms is that Mr. Drummond does not see the psychology of
his epoch through modern eyes. The best possible way to en-
courage the production of romances of this kind is not to talk
about them, but to buy them. We have a society for the en-
couragement of good plays; it would be a fine thing if this
society would also help to extend the circulation of novels
of the class of A Maker of Saints.
The very first novel of last year in artistic treatment, in
the sense of proportion, in reasonable refinement of style
which is not preciosity is The Third Window, by Anne Doug-
las Sedgwick (Mrs. Basil de Selincourt) . 4 It is interesting to
compare the method of Anne Douglas Sedgwick with Mr.
Joseph Hergersheimer, and with some of the other younger
authors who lack that intangible air of good breeding which
permeates every description of the author of The Third
Window. In Steel, for instance, Mr. Hergersheimer seems to
have suddenly discovered cocktails of various kinds; he even
tells that his characters drank "black coffee" after dinner, and
in a moment of tense interest we are informed with great
exactness of what the luncheon of the day consisted. It
was a hot day and the luncheon was cold. Miss Sedgwick takes
it for granted that people must eat; but the things they eat are
always kept well in the background. Unless the badness of the
cooking, or the luxury of the dinners has something to do
with the progress of the story, we may be sure that we shall
know nothing about it. Mr. Hergersheimer has something of
Disraeli's love for splendid details, for the sake of details, but
with Miss Sedgwick the details are always subservient. Let us
take as an example of vivid yet reticent description two pages,
the eighth and the ninth of The Third Window. They are ex-
amples of an art which depends on a fine sense of proportion.
The Third Window is a psychological novel with all the
good qualities of Mr. Henry James at his best, and still greater
qualities than any Mr. Henry James ever showed that he pos-
sessed. The novel contains only three characters; these char-
acters are so delicately sketched, yet presented with such full-
ness, that they are painfully real. The young soldier is admir-
able; and the comparison with Mr. Hergersheimer's young
soldier in Steel is much to the disadvantage of the latter. In
* Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co.
298 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
Steel, one doubts whether the leading man was ever more than
a selfish brute; it requires all the author's skill in lighting the
stage to make us assume that he is a normal man ; but Miss Sedg-
wick's Captain Saltonhall is a man. War has affected him;
its experiences have made him believe almost reluctantly in
the immortality of the soul. It has matured him without
changing him; and his love for Antonia is the love of an honest
and honorable gentleman. Antonia herself, with her doubts,
with her fears, and her hope that Malcolm, her dead husband,
may be immortal, is the result of Miss Sedgwick's impartial
study of the results of modern education on a delicate, sensi-
tive and very cultivated and narrow mind. You cannot help
feeling the charm of Antonia, and you are oppressed by her
failure to cast off the gloom and obsession of a problem to
which the simplest of confessors could have given the answer.
The conception of Miss Latimer, the medium, whose influence
over Antonia leads to tragedy, is masterly.
Nearly all the fashionable novels are devoted to the thesis
that marriage ought to be a transient condition; it is remark-
able, too, that it is always the lady in the case who feels obliged
to change her husband at unfixed intervals; the man's need for
frequent divorces and re-marriages is very seldom made the
pivot of a thrilling narrative. Antonia is deeply attached to
her husband, Malcolm, who was killed in the War. She fears
that he will suffer if she marries Captain Saltonhall, with
whom she is now in love. Miss Latimer is devoted to the mem-
ory of Malcolm. She dislikes his rival; and the final turn of
the novel is made by the use of Spiritism. It would be a great
pity to spoil the charm of this book by cutting out passages
which are so artistically interlaced. Antonia divided between
the strange fear that a new marriage may entail deep suffer-
ing to her Malcolm, whom she still regards as her actual hus-
band, is led by Miss Latimer to settle the question. It is worth
while reading this perfectly written novel to find out how she
did it. The answer to Antonia's heart-rending question seems
easy to us in the full light of faith.
If one looks for enlightenment in the novels of the year,
enlightenment on that great question of democracy which is
much talked about but has never yet been defined for Amer-
icans, one soon discovers that no such thing as social democ-
racy exists in the United States. To that conservative person
1920.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 299
who trusts that democracy will never be permitted to spoil all
the pleasures of life, it is plain, from the English novels that
aristocracy will always exist in England until the last Duke
is strangled with the entrails of the last Baronet.
If we compare Sunny Ducrow by Henry St. John Cooper, 5
with Poor Dear Theodora! by Florence Irwin, 6 which is a very
amusing story innocently romantic to the last degree we
find that Sunny Ducrow is most artlessly aristocratic, although
she began life in a pickle factory. In fact, the pickle factory is
always so evident that you smell the fumes of the vinegar,
except when the Viscount Dobrington appears. It is a fairy
tale. There is an unpleasant deluge of the cockneyism of the
heroine, even after she had miraculously learned Greek, Latin,
French and Italian; the novel is good and inspiring.
Poor Dear Theodora is, like The Rose of Jericho, frankly
aristocratic. Old Mrs. Stuyvesant, a stock figure in American
novels, by the way, is even more haughty and exclusive than
the Duchess in Sunny Ducrow or the other Duchess in A Pawn
in Pawn, by Hilda M. Sharp. 7 In Poor Dear Theodora, which
in many respects is a very delightful novel, "blood" counts
enormously. To have lived long in an American city, to have
had no ancestors that ever worked for a living, and to own a
piano on which the Marquis de Lafayette played the "Mar-
seillaise," is in certain parts of our country equivalent to pos-
sessing a coat-of-arms. There are other requirements in other
parts, which nearly all the American novelists seem to take
quite seriously. In fact, the earnest seeker, believing that
novels by clever writers are pictures of real life, must come to
the conclusion that socially the United States is the most aris-
tocratic country in the world, and difficult to live in, since
every aristocrat thinks it necessary to explain volubly his
claims of distinction.
Nevertheless, Theodora is a very nice and well-brought
up girl, and Mrs. Felton, the very modern woman with a mis-
sion, is etched realistically; she is taken straight out of life.
As a good novel written without offence to good morals or good
taste, Poor Dear Theodora may be recommended.
For once, at least, since he ceased to write poetry, Mr.
Fallen has allowed us to forget that he is a doctor of philos-
6 New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. The same publishers.
T New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
300 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
ophy. He writes Crucible Island as if he liked to write it; it
has what the publicity people call "a gripping human interest,"
and it would be a real gain if our people who are combating
Socialism, in an academic manner, would help to circulate a
book so actual and practical. It is a picture, well visualized,
of how Socialism would work if the essential principles were
applied to every day life. It is the work of a very human
scholar who has given life and movement to ideas hitherto
kept too shadowy for the general reader.
The earnest seeker after the realities of American life
through the medium of novels, learns that the theatre is the
easiest road to perpetual prosperity here, as it is in England.
In the old days, a certain amount of training, of talent, of expe-
rience, and even of cultivation was necessary apparently to a
profession which made the career of actors a great art. Today,
in England we discover, through the gospel of Sunny Ducrow,
that any girl with red hair preferably and a determination to
succeed, may attain to a legitimate limousine and a necklace
of pearls if she wants to. Jane, by Anna Alice Chapin, and
The Rose of Jericho, by Ruth Holt Boucicault, 8 are cases in
point. There is not a dull page in Jane; her second name is
O'Reilly, and this probably accounts for it. There is a Catholic
background somewhere in the form of a rather singular aunt,
who writes a rather strange letter, which savors very much of
the most rigid kind of Puritanism. Like Sunny Ducrow, Jane
has red hair, and consequently her success on the modern
stage was certain.
In The Rose of Jericho the heroine is also half Irish, and
her name is Sheelah. Her grandmother on her mother's side
was named O'Mara; her mother died leaving twins. Granny
O'Mara wanted them to be named after two of "the blessed
saints;" but her daughter, Jenny, objected to Patrick and
Dennis. She thought they should be something like Gedric or
Ethelbert or Cuthbert, or something that reminded one of
early Anglo-Saxon glory. Why the daughter of Granny O'Mara
should be so devoted to "Anglo-Saxon glory" is not explained;
and, when after many months they were called David and
Jonathan, the register of the baptism is not produced.
From the point of view of style, vivacity, a power of vis-
ualization and the expression of a dim groping for a spiritual
8 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons.
1920.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 301
meaning in life, The Rose of Jericho must be treated respect-
fully. It is much truer to the essentials of life than either
Sunny Ducrow or Jane, and the unmorality of the heroine is a
quality in modern life which is bound to follow the growing
ignorance of the dogmas of Christianity. Sheelah does recover
herself in the end, and becomes a devout Catholic; but she
seems curiously mixed as to the difference between the teach-
ings of the Catholic Church and of the Anglican opinion. The
ending is very modern; if Mrs. Boucicault had put the history
of St. Mary Magdalen into a romance she would, if she fol-
lowed the method of The Rose of Jericho, have married the
Great Penitent to the noble minded Centurion of the Scrip-
ture, who had built a synagogue. The vivacity of manner, the
charm and a certain deadly sameness is common to all the
American novels mentioned, except The Third Window.
They are brilliant, well written, but they lack distinction.
This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 9 has brought
a young author into the limelight of success. It deserves more
than the limelight that plays so transiently over the best of
best sellers. This novel is the work of a very young man and
that makes it really valuable; it is the revelation, evidently as
sincere as such revelations can ever be, of a man conscious of
the dawning of his soul. It could come only from an American
in an American atmosphere, but it has just that tinge of
foreign sophistication which gives it perspective.
Friends of the late Monsignor Fay will be amused, a little
saddened perhaps, by his counterfeit as seen through youthful
eyes but only a little saddened. If Mr. Scott Fitzgerald lives
to brave the power of Harold Fredericks, he will give us a full
length portrait more convincing than that of the Dean in The
Damnation of Theron Ware. Mr. Fitzgerald is a realist, not
of promise, but of performance. He is no "infant phenome-
non;" he is a trained artist already.
Mrs. Norris, the author of Mother, has a widening circle
of readers. Her work is unequal; she has not yet recovered
the richness that made Julia Page a remarkable novel of life
on the Pacific coast. In Sisters, her novel of last year, she
shocked some of her admirers. There is always an essential
morality in Mrs. Norris' books; but Sisters reminded one of
an old play by Octave Feuillet called Redemption, which
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
302 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Dec.,
excited a storm of criticism in its day. The heroine was a
lady of very certain character, mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment in very plain language. She had many adventures,
some of them unfit for publication; but having discovered "the
right man" just before the curtain fell, she murmured: "Now
I believe in God!" And all was well!
There was some strong characterization in Sisters, but
let us hope that Mrs. Norris may not repeat an experiment
too close to the methods of the late lamented George Sand.
Her latest book, Harriet and the Piper, 10 is in her better vein.
It seems impossible for her to write a dull page. One can not
help regretting that Mrs. Norris has deserted California. Her
opulent New York background is a well-painted piece of stock
scenery; and the opening "drop" scene is particularly well
painted. The characters, with the exception of Harriet her-
self, owe their individuality entirely to the interest which Mrs.
Norris can not help giving them. There is the aristocratic old
woman, she infests all novels in English, whether she is a
Duchess, or haughty American, wearing sixteen bars as a
Daughter of the Revolution, a descendant of the Pilgrims, or
newly rich, with inherited "blood." Mrs. Norris makes her
interesting all the same. There is the companion with the past,
which is really not so much of the past as it seems to be, the
amiable idiot who plays tennis and will inherit a fortune,
and his equally idiotic sister.
Nobody but a writer of Mrs. Norris' sympathy and power
of visualization could make a good story from these ordinary
persons. The moral is good, and we are pleased to notice that,
although Harriet, living once in a provincial branch of Green-
wich Village, was betrayed into a trial marriage only a
matter of form she has conscientious objections against di-
vorce. Harriet and the Piper stands out against the back-
ground of "best sellers" with remarkable brilliancy.
10 New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.
[TO BE CONCLUDED.]
THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN.
BY HERBERT LUCAS, S.J.
II.
THE TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT AND AFTER.
HE significance of the verses, "Lead, Kindly
Light," as bearing on Newman's mental and spir-
itual development, can be rightly assessed only
if we remember the circumstances under which
they were written, viz.: during a comparatively
short period of deep depression, to a large extent arising out
of his sickness. The sickness itself he regarded as a signal
mercy of God, by reason of the inward experience and thoughts
to which it gave rise. "Time went on," he writes, "and various
things happened by which He went on training me but what
most impresses itself upon me, is the strange feelings and con-
victions about His will towards me which came on me, when
I was abroad." 1 Nevertheless, though such were Newman's
subsequent reflections, it would seem that for the moment the
mood of depression, as distinct from the concomitant con-
fidence in the divine guidance, proved a passing one.
Finding himself, on his return to England, restored to
health and vigor, he plunged, with what he calls "exuberant
and joyous energy" into the movement which he regarded as
having been inaugurated by Keble's Sermon on "National
Apostasy," already mentioned. The leaders of the movement
Newman himself (though he disclaimed the title), Pusey,
and Keble set themselves to the establishment of a "Via
Media," a "Middle Path," between popular Protestantism and
what they regarded as "Romish error." The English Church,
they held, had much to learn, the Roman much to unlearn. 2
1 Correspondence, p. 313.
* Speaking of a later period (1843) the Editor of the Correspondence thus con-
trasts the attitude of Newman with that of W. G. Ward and others: "Newman may
be represented as holding that England had much to learn, Rome much to unlearn.
The New School, on the other hand, simply regarded Rome as the living model of
Catholicity to which the Church of England must adapt herself" (Correspondence,
p. 200).
304 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Dec.,
They would, in the light of such historical knowledge as they
possessed or could acquire, strike a middle course by
which the deficiences of the one would be made good and the
exaggerations (as they regarded them) of the other should
be avoided. To this end the series of pamphlets known as
the Tracts for the Times was started by Newman; and the
Tractarian period (1833-41) he described, in 1864, as the hap-
piest time of his life. "I had the consciousness," he writes,
"that I was employed in that work which I had been dream-
ing about, and which I felt to be so momentous and inspiring.
I had a supreme confidence in our cause; we were upholding
that primitive Christianity which was delivered for all time
by the early teachers of the Church, and which was registered
and attested," such was his conviction at the time, "in the
Anglican formularies and by the Anglican divines. That
ancient religion had well-nigh passed out of the land, and it
must be restored."
Three points were, as he tells us, with him fundamental.
In the first place he stood out for "the principle of dogma:
my battle was with liberalism, . . . the anti-dogmatic prin-
ciple and its developments." 3 Secondly, he was "confident
. . . that there was a visible Church, with sacraments and
rites which are the channels of invisible grace," 4 a Church
which had for the basis of its organization "the Episcopal
System," 5 with, of course, the Pope left out. "What to
me," he says, "was jure divino was the voice of my Bishop in
his own person. My own Bishop was my Pope; I knew no
other; the successor of the Apostles, the Vicar of Christ." 6
That bishops might disagree about those very dogmas that
were so dear to him; that the need of a central authority is as
clearly attested by history as is its existence by Scripture and
tradition these were considerations which either did not as
yet present themselves to his mind, or, at least, did not come
home to him or trouble him. And lastly, "the third point on
which I stood out in 1833" was opposition to "the Church of
Rome." T Much indeed of his old bitterness had passed away,
largely under the influence of Hurrell Froude, and he had
already "learned to have tender feelings towards her; but still
1 Apologia., p. 48. * Ibid., p. 49. * Ibid., p. 50.
p. M. ' Ibid., p. 52.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 305
my reason was not affected at all. My judgment was against
her, as truly as it had ever been." 8
It would, of course, be a mistake to suppose that the term
"Via Media" formed part of any set programme adopted by
the writers of the Tracts, for indeed they had none. 9 By
Newman himself it was first used as the title of Tracts 38 and
40, published in 1834, though it "had already been applied
to the Anglican System by writers of repute." But the fact that
the author's lectures on "The Prophetical Office of the Church
viewed relatively to Romanism and Popular Protestantism,"
together with Tracts 38, 40, 71, 90 and sundry allied documents,
were republished by him in 1877 under the same general title
of Via Media, is a sufficient indication that the phrase sums up
the real scope of the Tractarian Movement.
Except, perhaps, for specialists, the Tracts as a whole have
long since ceased to be of living interest; and for my present
purpose it must be enough to say that it was not till 1839 that
Newman's enthusiastic confidence in the cause which he had
expressed received its first rude shock. To this point I will
presently return. Meanwhile it is to be borne in mind that
whereas "the Tracts represented the doctrinal side of the
movement, . . . there was another influence at work more
potent than they;" more potent because it enlisted the sym-
pathies of so many whom the Tracts would have left unmoved.
"The Tracts," says Dean Church, "were not the most powerful
instrument in drawing sympathy to the movement. None but
those who remember them can adequately estimate the effect
of Mr. Newman's four o'clock Sermons at St. Mary's. The
world . . . hardly realizes that without these sermons the
movement might never have gone on, would certainly never
have been what it was. . . . While men were reading and
talking about the Tracts, they were hearing the sermons; and
in the sermons they heard the living meaning, and reason, and
bearing of the Tracts. . . . The Sermons created a moral
atmosphere, in which men judged the questions in debate." 10
Of quite special interest are the University Sermons on
"Faith and Reason, Contrasted as Habits of Mind," on "The
Nature of Faith in Relation to Reason," on "Love the Safeguard
of Faith Against Super stitition," and on "Implicit and Explicit
8 Ibid., p. 54. 8 Cf. Correspondence, pp. 205, 239.
16 Church, Oxford Movem.*, pp. 129, 130, quoted in Correspondence, p. 28.
VOL. cqtii, 2.Q
306 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Dec.,
Reason," all preached in 1839-40. They are, it must be con-
fessed, not easy reading, nor do they readily lend themselves
to a brief analysis, which I will not attempt here. They were
written, says the author at a later date, "with no aid from
Anglican, and no knowledge of Catholic theologians." They
"are of the nature of an exploring expedition into an all but
unknown country." Moreover, "the author has pursued the
subject at considerable length in his Essay in Aid of a Gram-
mar of Assent;** a work of which some account must be given
in a future article. They are mentioned here, however, as
bearing witness by their very titles to Newman's life-long
solicitude on the subject with which in various ways they are
all concerned, a subject to which he recurs not only in the
Grammar of Assent, but also in the latest of all his published
writings, the article in the Contemporary Review (1885) on
"The Development of Error." 12
But to return to the crisis, for such indeed it was, of 1839.
"In June and July" of that year, he writes, "reading the Mono-
physite controversy, I found my eyes opened to a state of
things very different from what I had learned from my natural
guides. The prejudice, or whatever name it be called, which
had been too great for conviction from the striking facts of the
Arian history, could not withstand the history of St. Leo and
the Council of Chalcedon, I saw that, if the early times were to
be my guide, the Pope had a very different place in the Church
from what I had supposed. When this suspicion had once
fair possession of my mind, the whole English system fell
about me on all sides." So he wrote in a Memorandum drawn
up in 1844. 13 And again in the Apologia, "it was difficult to
make out how the Eutychians or Monophysites were heretics
unless Protestants were heretics also; difficult to find argu-
ments against the Tridentine Fathers, which did not tell
against the Fathers of Chalcedon; difficult to condemn the
Popes of the sixteenth century without condemning the Popes
of the fifth . . . The principles and proceedings of the Church
now, were those of the Church then; the principles and pro-
11 University Sermons, Preface to Third Edition, pp. ix., x., xvii.
12 Cf. Ward, Last Essays, pp. 78 ff.
13 Correspondence, p. 17. To this memorandum the Editor has prefixed a brief
and lucid and most useful summary (pp. 1-7) of the history of the Eutychian troubles,
and of the Council which ought to have ended them. C/. also Rivington, The Roman
Primacy, pp. 431-451.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 307
ceedings of heretics then were those of Protestants now. . . .
What was the use of continuing or defending iny position if,
after all, I was forging arguments for Arius or Eutyches, and
turning devil's advocate against the much-enduring Athan-
asius and the majestic Leo? Be my soul with the Saints, and
shall I lift up my hand against them?" 14
Nor was this all. "Hardly had I brought my course of
reading to a close," he says, when the current number of the
Dublin Review was put into his hands. It contained an article
on "The Anglican Claim," by Dr. Wiseman, based on an
analogous argument from the case of the Donatists. "Securus
judicat orb is terrarum" the phrase, St. Augustine's, reiter-
ated by the friend who had brought him the book haunted his
mind. "The case [of the Donatists] was not parallel to that of
the Anglican Church." Yet the principle at issue was the
same. The Donatists were not more thoroughly severed from
the unity of the Church than were the Anglicans. "Securus
judicat orbis terrarum! By these great words of the ancient
Father, interpreting and summing up the long and varied
course of ecclesiastical history, the theory of the 'Via Media'
was absolutely pulverized." 15
Yet six years were still to elapse before Newman made his
submission to the Catholic Church. How could this be, it may
be asked, in the case of one so keenly alert to the voice of
conscience and the promptings of Divine grace? Perhaps
the best answer to this rather futile question may be found in
the description which he has given, in the person of Charles
Reding, of his own habit of waiting patiently, yet not in idle-
ness, the ultimate solution or reconciliation of apparent dis-
crepancies between new ideas and old convictions. In this
case the solution or reconciliation was to come with the recog-
nition, not that his old convictions, on their positive side, were
mistaken, but that they were inadequate; that he had been
wrong, not in what he had believed, but in what he had re-
jected. He had been right in battling for what he held to be
the integrity of the Catholic faith, but in error when he had
flouted or ignored the authority of the successor of St. Peter,
the divinely appointed custodian of the Apostolic tradition.
For the moment, at any rate, as he answered Henry Wil-
14 Apologia, p. 115, quoted from, apparently, a later Memorandum (1850).
15 Ibid., pp. 116, 117.
308 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Dec.,
berforce in a conversation long afterwards remembered, "he
felt confident that, when he returned to his rooms and was
able fully and calmly to consider the whole matter, he should
see his way completely out of the difficulty." 16 And indeed he
so far succeeded, to his own satisfaction at least, that he con-
tributed to the British Critic (January, 1840) a carefully con-
sidered reply to Dr. Wiseman, entitled "The Catholicity of the
Anglican Church." 17
"This paper," he says, "quieted me for nearly two years,
till the Autumn of 1841." 18 And notwithstanding the troubles
that, as will presently appear, were to arise in the early months
of that year, he is able to affirm that "in the summer of 1841
I found myself at Littlemore without any harass or anxiety
on my mind. I had determined to put aside all controversy,
and I set myself down to my translation of St. Athanasius." 19
These two years, 1839-41, have been felicitously described, by
the editor of the Correspondence, as "the St. Martin's summer
of his Anglicanism." 20 For indeed the winter, already omi-
nously presaged, was soon to close in upon him; its rigors not
to be relaxed till the breaking of his own "second spring."
And the presage was in this wise. It had been more than
once urged upon his attention that the Tracts, notwithstand-
ing their protests against Rome, were in fact leading men
Romewards, and the more so because the teaching of the
Tracts seemed to many, both friendly and hostile, to be on
various points in flat contradiction with the Thirty-Nine
Articles of the Anglican Establishment. "It was thrown in
our teeth: 'How can you manage to sign the Articles? They
are directly against Rome.'" 21 It was to meet this difficulty
that he undertook the writing of the famous "Tract 90," of
which the full title was : "Remarks on Certain Passages of the
Thirty-nine Articles." 22 To state the matter in his own words:
"This Tract was written under the conviction that the Angli-
can Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, of which it treated, were,
when taken in their letter, so loosely worded, so incomplete in
statement, and so ambiguous in their meaning, as to need an
authoritative interpretation; and that neither those who drew
them up nor those who imposed them were sufficiently agreed
18 Correspondence, p. 14. 1T Reprinted in Essays Critical and Historical, ii., 1.
ls Memorandum (1844) in Correspondence, p. 18. " Apologia, p. 139.
20 Correspondence, p. 14. " Apologia, p. 78.
Reprinted in Via Media, ii., p. 261 ff.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 309
among themselves, or clear and consistent in their theological
view individually, to be able to supply it." 23
How, it will occur to an ordinary, plain, common-sense
Catholic to ask, could an individual Anglican, even so highly
gifted as Newman, hope to supply an "authoritative" explana-
tion of a document which itself rested on no higher authority
than that of Queen Elizabeth and her complaisant theologians?
The answer is, of course, that Newman had no thought of
supplying such an interpretation, except in the sense that he
hoped for at least a negative or tacit acceptance of his view
by what he believed to be the English branch of the Catholic
Church. "There was," he writes, "but one authority to whom
recourse could be had for such interpretation the Church
Catholic. . . . What she taught, all her branches taught; and
this the Anglican Church did teach, must teach, if it was a
branch of the Church Catholic, otherwise it was not a branch;
but a branch it certainly was, for, if it was not a branch, what
had we to do with it?" 24 How far the Anglican "branch,"
through the mouth of its bishops, either positively taught or
tacitly accepted the views expressed in "Tract 90" will
presently appear. Meanwhile it may be well to indicate the
nature of these views.
"The thesis put forward in Tract 90,' " writes the editor
of the Correspondence, "may be summed up in a dictum,
current at the time, to the effect that the Articles were patient
but not ambitious of a Catholic interpretation. The writer
of the Tract insisted, with a distinctness that severely taxed the
forbearance of many of his friends and supporters, that the
animus of the Articles was un-Catholic, that they were the
product of an un-Catholic age, that they were not intended to
inculcate Catholic doctrine; but having admitted all this, New-
man maintained that they were of deliberate purpose so
framed that it might be possible for men having Catholic
leanings to subscribe to them without doing violence either
to their own consciences, or to the 'literal and formulative
sense' of the Articles." 25 "Their framers," as Newman him-
self wrote, "constructed the Articles in such a way as best to
comprehend those who did not go so far in Protestantism as
themselves. Anglo-Catholics then are but the successors and
representatives of those moderate reformers; and their case
"Ibid. "Ibid, (italics his). 35 Correspondence, p. 72 (italics his).
310 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Dec.,
has been directly anticipated in the wording of the Articles.
It follows that they are not perverting, they are using them
for an express purpose for which among others their author
intended them. The interpretation Anglo-Catholics take was
intended to be admissible, though not that which those authors
took themselves." 26 The Articles, then, were in the nature of
a compromise; their bark was, so to say, worse than their
bite; and they were to be interpreted in the light of the Prayer
Book and the "Homilies," which they declare to contain
"godly doctrine," and which they must be presumed not to
contradict. 27
The publication of the Tract, on February 27, 1841, at
once raised a not very edifying storm. Within little more than
a week, viz.: on March 12th, four college tutors addressed to
the editor, i. e., Newman, a letter in which they say: "The
Tract has in our apprehension a highly dangerous character
from its suggesting that certain very important errors of the
Church of Rome are not condemned by the Articles of the
Church of England." 28 In this letter, says a very competent
critic, "they betrayed such an entire misunderstanding of the
scope of the Tract, that it might almost seem pardonable to
suspect that every one of the four, feeling confident that the
other three had studied it, omitted to do so himself. ... A
novel and complicated piece of critical research, such as was
Tract 90, cannot be mastered by the most practised intel-
lect in the space of eight days." 29 This, of course, is true
enough; but it may be lawful to suggest that the instinctive
"apprehension" of the four tutors was sufficiently well
founded to call (on their own doctrinal assumptions) for
prompt action in face of a real and urgent danger. However
this may be, Newman, "with the rapidity that he was capable
of in an emergency," vindicated the Tract in an open "Letter
to Dr. Jelf." 30 The letter was published, and in Dr. Jelf's
hands, at midday on March 16th; and it has been suggested
that "if the Hebdomadal Board," of Heads of Houses, "instead
of being in a hurry to strike, had condescended to wait a few
28 "Tract 90," in Via Media, ii., p. 346.
27 cf. "Tract 90," in Via Media, ii., p. 330 ff., where no less than sixty-seven pas-
sages, sentences, or phrases, are quoted, with approval, from the Homilies.
28 The letter (with other official correspondence) is given in Via Media, ii., p. 359,
Homilies.
20 Correspondence, pp. 70, 71. 30 Reprinted in Via Media, ii., p. 367 ff.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 311
hours for the promised vindication of the Tract, they might
have been saved from doing a very foolish thing." 31
What they had actually done, whether foolishly or other-
wise, but at any rate very promptly, was to pass a resolution,
on the morning of that same day, March 16th, to the effect
"that modes of interpretation such as are suggested in the
said Tract, evading rather than explaining the sense of the
. . . Articles, and reconciling them with the adoption of errors
which they were designed to counteract, defeat the object and
are inconsistent with the due observance" of certain Statutes
of the University. 32 Nor was this all.
A few days later Newman received from the Bishop of
Oxford a message to the effect that he considered the Tract to
be "objectionable," as tending "to destroy the peace and tran-
quillity of the Church," and that he advised "that the Tracts
for the Times should be discontinued." 33 True to his convic-
tion, previously expressed, that "a Bishop's lightest word ex
cathedra is heavy," and that "his judgment on a book cannot
be light," 34 Newman at once, in a letter to the Bishop (March
29th), promised that his wishes should be at once complied
with, and at the same time offered "some explanations, . , .
which your Lordship desires of me," by way of vindicating the
Tracts already published from the charge that "they are
thought by many to betray a leaning towards Roman Catholic
error, and a deficient appreciation of our own truth." 35 Into
this vindication there is neither need nor space to enter, here,
but the concluding paragraph of the letter which deserves
quotation, will sufficiently account for the inward calm which,
as has been seen, Newman experienced in the summer of 1841 :
And now, my Lord, suffer me to thank your Lordship for
your most abundant and extraordinary kindness towards
me, in the midst of the exercise of your authority. I have
nothing to be sorry for, except having made your Lordship
anxious, and others whom I am bound to revere. I have
nothing to be sorry for, but everything to rejoice and be
thankful for. I have never taken pleasure in seeming to
be able to move a party, and whatever influence I have had
has been found, not sought after. I have acted because
31 Correspondence, loc. cit. M Via Media, ii., p. 362.
83 Via Media, p. 397. " Ibid., p. 398. "Ibid., p. 399.
312 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Dec.,
others did not act, and have sacrificed a quiet which I
prized. May God be with me in time to come, as He has
been hitherto! and He will be, if I can but keep my hand
clean and my heart pure. I think I can bear, or at least
will try to bear, any personal humiliation, so that I am
preserved from betraying sacred interests, which the Lord
of grace and power has given into my hands. 36
The "quiet which he prized" was now turned to good ac-
count by the devotion of ten or twelve hours a day to his trans-
lation (with notes, etc.) of St. Athanasius; and the sky, for a
brief period, seemed serene. "But," he writes, "between July
and November," in this same year, 1841, "I received three
blows which broke me." 37
Of these three "blows" the first was the fact that "in the
Arian history I found the very same phenomenon, in a far
bolder shape, which I had found in the Monophysite. I had
not observed it in 1832," i. e., when he wrote his work on The
Arians of the Fourth Century. But now "I saw clearly, that
in the history of Arianism, the pure" or thoroughgoing
"Arians were the Protestants, the Semi-Arians," with their at-
tempted "Via Media," "were the Anglicans, and that Borne
now was what it was" then. 38
The second blow was the condemnation of "Tract 90,"
no longer by University dons alone, but by one Anglican
bishop after another, in a succession of charges which ulti-
mately extended over a period of more than two years. An
interpretation of the Articles which was unanimously rejected
by all the bishops, could not claim to be in harmony with the
actual teaching of what he still strove to regard as the English
branch of the Catholic Church. 39
The third blow was the affair of the Jerusalem bishopric. 40
In that same year, 1841, Parliament had passed an Act to the
effect that, for the benefit of English and Prussian subjects
resident in the Holy Land, a bishop should be consecrated
alternately by the English and Prussian Protestant Churches,
and in accordance with this Act the first Bishop of Jerusalem
was "consecrated" by the Archbishop of Canterbury. By this
proceeding the Anglican Establishment was formally declared
36 Ibid., p. 424. 3T Apologia, p. 139. Ibid.
88 Ibid., pp. 139, 140. * Ibid., p. 141 Homilies.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 313
to be in communion with Prussian Lutherans and Galvinists,
whom the Tractarians and many other Anglicans regarded as
heretics. The whole affair, of which he says, writing to Hope
Scott, "the more I think of it the more I am dismayed," 41
called forth a strong protest from Newman, a protest which he
addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and communicated
to the Bishop of Oxford, and which, if I rightly understand the
words of the document itself, he also read from the pulpit of
St. Mary's, Oxford. Writing of the whole affair many years
later, he says: "As to the project of a Jerusalem Bishopric, I
never heard of any good or harm it has ever done, except
what it has done for me; which many think a great misfor-
tune, and I one of the greatest of mercies. It brought me on
to the beginning of the end." 42
"From the end of 1841," he writes, "I was on my death
bed, as regards my membership with the Anglican Church,
though at the time I became aware of it only by degrees." 43
"A death bed," he adds, "has scarcely a history," and the story
of the last four years of Newman's Anglican life must be very
briefly told. It was not till 1843 that he finally resigned his
Vicarage of St. Mary's, Oxford, and retired into lay com-
munion. In the same year he published a courageous retrac-
tation of all that he had written against the Catholic Church. 44
What was it, then, that still delayed him? He already
saw with ever-increasing clearness that the position which dur-
ing so many years he had been endeavoring to defend was un-
tenable. There seemed to be no escape from submission to the
Catholic Church. Nevertheless, he did not yet see his way to
submit. And why? Because, to name only the chief among
his difficulties, he was confronted with the fact that the Cath-
olic Church held certain doctrines, notably as regards the
invocation of Our Lady and the Saints, which could not, as it
seemed to him, be regarded as primitive or Apostolic. This
difficulty set him on the task of examining into the question of
the Development of Doctrine. It was true that certain Cath-
olic dogmas cannot be found, expressed in clear definitions, in
authentic documents of the early centuries. But was it not
possible that they were contained, so to say, in germ, in the
Apostolic tradition, and only awaited explicit definition when
41 Correspondence, p. 144. 4a Apologia, p. 146. 4S Ibid., p. 147.
"Reprinted in Via Media, ii., p. 425, Homilies.
314 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Dec.,
the rise of successive errors called for authoritative correc-
tion, just as the Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite errors
called for the creeds, anathemas, and definitions, respectively,
of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon? To this subject, on the
completion of his work on Athanasius, he now devoted long
and painful study, of which the results are seen in his work
on The Development of Doctrine, begun as an Anglican and
finished and published after his reception into the Catholic
Church, by the Passionist, Father Dominic, on October 11, 1845.
And now, if it should seem to any one that in thus telling
once more, and at some length, the story of Newman's very
gradual conversion, I have departed from the professed inten-
tion of dealing with his "life's work," I would reply that no
small portion of his life's work may be said to have consisted
in the providing of a wonderful object-lesson in religious earn-
estness, and in the fulfillment of the arduous task of "blazing
the trail," others might more easily follow, that leads from the
side-track or cul-de-sac of the "Via Media" to the King's High-
way of Catholic truth.
It only remains to quote two touching passages, familiar
to many, yet too precious to be omitted. One of these is the
concluding paragraph of his sermon on "The Parting of
Friends," the last which he preached at St. Mary's, Oxford:
And, O my brethren, O kind and affectionate hearts, O
loving friends, should you know any one whose lot it has
been, by writing or by word of mouth, in some degree to
help you . . . ; if he has ever told you what you knew
about yourselves, or what you did not know; has read to
you your wants or feelings, and comforted you by the very
reading; has made you feel that there was a higher life
than this daily one, and a brighter world than that you
see; or encouraged you, or sobered you, or opened a way
to the inquiring, or soothed the perplexed; if what he has
said or done has ever made you take interest in him, and
feel well inclined towards him; remember such a one in
time to come, though you hear him not, and pray for him,
that in all things he may know God's will, and at all times
he may be ready to fulfil it. 45
The companion passage, so to call it, is that with which
45 Sermons on Subjects of the Day, p. 409.
1920.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 315
he concludes the Essay on The Development of Christian
Doctrine, and is as follows :
Such were the thoughts concerning the "Blessed Vision
of Peace" of one whose long-continued petition had been
that the Most Merciful would not despise the work of His
own Hands, nor leave him to himself; while yet his eyes
were dim, and his breast laden, and he could but employ
Reason in the things of Faith. And now, dear Reader, time
is short, eternity is long. Put not from you what you have
found; regard it not as mere matter of present controversy;
set not out resolved to refute it, and looking about for the
best means of doing so; seduce not yourself with the imag-
ination that it comes of disappointment, or disgust, or
restlessness, or wounded feeling, or undue sensibility, or
other weakness. Wrap not yourselves round in the asso-
ciations of years past; nor determine that to be truth which
you wish to be so, nor make an idol of cherished anticipa-
tions. Time is short, eternity is long.
Nunc dimittis, servum tuum, Domine,
Secundum Verbum tuum in pace:
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare
** Development (Ed. 1845), p. 453.
THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT. 1
BY L. WHEATON.
T this moment when the eyes of the whole world
are intent upon Poland, anything which throws
a light upon her inner history is of peculiar value.
She is unique among nations;, she has died the
death; she has been buried at the cross-roads of
three predatory nations and her resurrection is at hand.
Miss Gardner's excellent article in THE CATHOLIC WORLD
of January, 1920, "A Polish Mystic on the National Resurrec-
tion," has prepared her readers for the profoundly interesting
biography recently published under the title, The Anonymous
Poet of Poland. The chapters on Krasinski's literary work are
admirably done, but so skillfully is the life story told, with such
imaginative discrimination and generosity are the poet's own
words cited, that the reader becomes more and more interested
in the man himself, not only as a genius, not only in his polit-
ical and human aspects, but in that relation which is the over-
whelming interest of any soul, his relation to God. Patriotism,
human love, intense and constant friendship, his own and his
country's sufferings seem, sometimes in turn, sometimes all
together, to absorb him; but deeper, stronger, truer and more
insistent is that other preoccupation of conscience; his soul is
kept attentive and alert in spite of the waywardness of his
will, by the profound Catholicity of his instincts and training.
The man himself counts in the history. No one is inter-
esting who is not himself interested in essentials or who is not
in some way expressed in that relation. Only the ultimate can
attract and carry our vision all the way. The reader strikes
on shoals and shallows all too soon if the currents of a life
lie only in the waters of passion and emotion even in a senti-
ment as great as patriotism or lap the shore of existence
and never lose themselves in the unfathomable depths of mid-
ocean. This Pole is what he is because of his Faith and Hope
and Love; not merely natural these great possessions but
1 The Anonymous Poet of Poland, by Monica Gardner. Cambridge University
Press.
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 317
fixed deep in his soul beneath the surface storms of his pain-
ful life, with the supernatural steadfastness of sacramental
grace, fostered by the accident of his Catholic ancestry. His
unique distinction lies in his identity, as a man, with his own
genius and with his country. Genius is often but a part of
a man's life. Here it is the man Himself; and one can but see
that the unification of art and personality and nationality is
effected by his indestructible Catholicity. The body of Poland
can be dismembered her soul can never die. She has gone
through her purgative way, her passion is over at last; it is her
Easter Eve. This is the summary of Krasinski's patriotic
vision and experience, in which he seems to embody his coun-
try in his own person.
In no biography of a really great man, and Krasinski is
that, can one find a more acute, though unexaggerated, account
of a child's anguish, of a youth's prolonged torture, of a man's
mental martyrdom. Educated from infancy in the history of
his country and in passionate loyalty to a lost cause, the child
of a noble and wealthy and famous house appears first in the
pages of his biography as a precocious baby, with mind and
heart too soon developed. "At four years old, the pretty little
ringleted boy, in the low-necked frock and high sash of the
pre- Victorian era such as we see him in a charming early por-
trait, recited to Alexander I., at the latter's request, verses
of his own choosing: and with eyes fastened on the Tsar of
all the Russias he spouted Brutus' defence of democracy from
Voltaire." As a schoolboy he was ordered, by his enigmatic
father to remain in the lecture room whilst his comrades were
showing their patriotism at the burial of a persecuted Pole.
When all his country flew to arms he was forbidden the army
by Wincenty Krasinski, himself a distinguished general in
Napoleon's time, and sent to travel. From that hour this most
patriotic and courageous of her sons was dubbed a traitor to
Poland. Later he was called to Russia to share with his father
the favor of Nicholas I., the man who had tortured and slain
his country.
It is difficult at the first glance to account for Zygmunt's
submission to his father; but as one reads on, it is apparent
that there was in the exquisite refinement of the poet's nature
a certain meekness and affectionateness, which was never
pusillanimous, never lacking in spirit, but was part of his
318 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
extraordinary gentleness. He was often vehement, never
violent. Then, too, his father was his only relative, and he
loved him. Moreover, he was discredited by his own country-
men. The elder Krasinski had relinquished his post, not as
a traitor, but as a trained soldier who knew there was no use
in resistance. Nevertheless, he was considered a traitor, and
his son shared the obloquy. It was this combination of pain
and genius and circumstance that made Zygmunt the great
Anonymous Poet of Poland anonymous because of his coun-
try's distrust, but more so because of the penalty attached to
either the writing or the reading of his spirited work. What-
ever he wrote was smuggled into the country, but it flew from
hand to hand, and in the revolution of 1830, in the late War,
and in this moment of Poland's return to national life, the
works of Zygmunt Krasinski have acted as stimulus and in-
spiration. Banished as he had been by the shame of his posi-
tion, he is Poland's greatest leader in her struggle to keep or
regain existence.
But deeper in its influence upon the inner life of the re-
jected patriot and prescribed poet, because more vital to the
soul itself, is the experience of human love, intense in propor-
tion to the other intensities of such a nature. Krasinski was no
mere libertine, but his love was not law in either of the two
passionate aberrations of his stricken heart; and he suffered
in the measure allotted by a keenly sensitive conscience, in his
art and in his life. Yet even when the white heat of passion
died of exhaustion, the innate chivalry of the Pole and the
nobility of his own nature developed his affection into a life-
long compassion. For Madame Bobrowa, whose Catholic con-
science was, with his own, an ever insistent accuser, he wrote
the prayer which might have come from Augustine's pen, but
which rose spontaneously from his own unhappy soul: "Thou
art the first, the only, the highest Love : for all the love of our
hearts on earth are only rivulets, flowing from the sea of Thy
brightness for Thou wilt save me when my days are num-
bered and Thou wilt comfort my distressed soul for Thou
wilt not forsake the work of Thy hands, Thy daughter who
now weeps and wails to Thee."
Over and over again does Krasinski recall the author of
the Confessions in the naive sincerity of a soul which can
never lie even to its inmost self that last test of truthfulness
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 319
and in his sensitiveness to pain (we recall Augustine's misery of
toothache) but the Pole had an inheritance of military en-
durance and the terrible and separate passion he underwent
with his tortured eyes alone, tempered him to bear almost any
physical ill. That he was loveable is amply illustrated by the
deep and lasting affection he inspired in men and women, not
on account of his genius but of something beautiful and unique
in his noble personality; something too of strength and depth
in spite of his faults of will. He was tragic rather than pa-
thetic; willful rather than weak; but always with gentillesse.
Strange to say, the first of his masculine friendships was with
young Henry Reeve of the Edinburgh Review his first boyish
affection, for an English girl. The latter died a painless
death; but the correspondence between the youths continued
during many years frank, spontaneous and warm as was the
fashion of that enthusiastic era, in England as elsewhere.
But Krasinski's feelings lay deeper than the region of
ardor. "Note well," he writes to Reeve, "this eternal truth that
the happier a man becomes, the more he degenerates. Only
in suffering are we truly great." He writes at the same time to
his father : "The only shield (in the internal battle) is faith in
Christ, and courage, for all our life will be a tempest. . . We
are not born for happiness (here), but for the sweat of blood,
for the continual war, not only external, with circumstances
that matters little but internal, with our contradictory feel-
ings, memories and hopes which will never cease to clash, to
oust each other from our souls." A sombre and piercing vision
for one so young. His friendships with Gaszynski and
Danielwicz are of the imperishable quality of all his deeper
feelings; he is as faithful as he is fastidious and delicate in his
attachments. And there is always a note of distinguished
humility in these affections. He can sacrifice his own dignity
to his anxious love. To the young Pole, Adam Potocki, he
writes a letter of warning, full of wistful carefulness for the
beautiful freshness of his youth suddenly exposed to ruin.
None can adequately picture to himself how fearfully
my soul has been ruined by love; how I deprived myself
of the powers inexorably necessary for life, if we call labor,
strength and virtue life. I know what has killed me, and
when it was that I killed myself with all my flaming heart
in that suicide.
320 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
But suicide is too strong a word. Where there was such
clear light and so unending a struggle, recovery was bound to
come. His infatuation for the unfortunate Countess Potocka,
beloved of Chopin, was of a more ideal nature than was that
of his first unhappy attachment. She was to him, or so he
chose to think, inspiration of an Egerian kind, and he
appeals to her as to his Beatrice. Yet he betrays his conscious-
ness of even this high sophistry.
Miss Gardner writes: "The peculiar correspondence of
Krasinski's national mysticism with that of the unit is per-
haps more apparent in the Psalm of Good Will than in any
other of Krasinski's directly patriotic work. The conditions of
moral resurrection, the struggle against temptation, the all-
conquering power of the will, as Krasinski sings of them in
relation to a country, reads as a page of a soul's experience."
He is never for one moment stupid with the stupidity of an
uneducated soul. He knows or more than half suspects
that he dreads the truth that his own moral lapses may be
partly answerable for Poland's martyrdoms. Certainly they
are simultaneous. He is always aware. The blindness brought
upon his physical being by the repeated onslaughts of grief
and distress never reached his inner vision. The darkness fell
upon his poor eyes and his undisciplined heart; but his spir-
itual intelligence was always alert. This is the man who is
even more interesting than the poet; more important than the
patriot. The disorder in his moral life reacted on his poetry
and his patriotism just because of his vision of rectitude.
Another sinning on such heights
Had been the sleeker for it; but in him
His mood was often like a fiend, and rose
And drove him into wastes and solitudes
For agony, who was yet a living soul.
And so, in the white light which beat insistent upon his con-
science, he writes to his Alypius, Gaszynski : "0 my Konstanty,
all that I loved is far away as God or fadeth as a cloud. What
has the spark of genius wrought for me? It only glimmered
in the deep places of my soul. Had I not loved a mortal
beauty I might have lit a flame upon the vale of earth with
that spark which fell to me from eternity."
"In at least one line, Krasinski distinctly argues that, as of
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 321
the man, so of a nation. Thou hast given us all that Thou
couldst give, O Lord.' "
If Krasinski had written but that one line of the Psalm of
Good Will, he would have been a great poet. He was too es-
sentially Catholic to listen long to his own occasional sophis-
tries. It is one of the safe-guarding elements of the influence
of the Church, that, deeper down than mere emotion and pas-
sion (very real in themselves but more superficial in the soul)
is the knowledge that the Sacraments are remedial, that in
the confessional and at the Communion table only can the
wounded soul be restored to fuller life and health. This is
what constitutes the practical, sane element in the Catholic
poet. No matter what are his exaltations, his temporary
frenzies and exaggerations, truth lies at the bottom of his
Pierian spring, and if he only takes deep enough draughts he
must include it. That is where Krasinski scores with Shelley.
They have much in common, but, in contrast, Krasinski starts
from affirmation and gets back to it; Shelley denies, and cries
out of the chaos of denial for positive Love and Beauty, which
he has destroyed in his own soul by a horrible crime, expiated,
let us hope, by the poetic justice of his own drowning. In the
second place Krasinski has the innate refinement and chivalry
of the Pole. He cannot break the heart of another; he can
only break his own to satisfy his injured conscience and even
that is delayed by his inborn compassion. One can always
catch his true voice in the oft reiterated refrain: "Thou hast
given us, O Lord, all that Thou canst give," because of the wil-
fullness of our closed hearts.
In that age of gifted and enthusiastic youth, Krasinski
stands apart, a sort of lonely Hamlet in their midst, separated
from the group by the clear and chastising spiritual vision
which, by a sort of paradox, shadowed and spoiled all the
wild impulses of wayward love. Yet his passion, even when
it sears his conscience, is never merely frothy or sentimental;
he is too deep for anything but high simplicity. In spite of his
physical delicacy, he is not anaemic, never merely neurotic.
There is in him no trace of Vesprit maladif of Amiel, nor does
he suggest that sense of early decay that may follow the most
beautiful passages of Huysmans; he is always virile even in
his frailty; high-spirited, gentle, and though sinning, not deca-
dent. One knows there will be a resurrection.
VOL. CXII. 21
322 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
The story has matter for a great novel, apart from the
glorious literature which Miss Gardner has so sincerely trans-
lated. It reads at first like the history of a prospective saint;
but saint Krasinski was not, although he truly rose, unspoilt,
from his momentary death. He is the typical patriot, and his
life, his loves, his literature are either derivative from or
shared with that engrossing passion. It is perhaps a daring
thing to say here and now, but patriotism and sanctity are not
synonymous. The point of divergence is at the parting of the
ways between time and eternity, between the finite and the
infinite. Krasinski died, a devout Catholic and a devoted hus-
band. His riper affection, after its two headlong vagaries,
finally rested, contented and happy upon the beautiful nature
of Elzbieta Branicka, whom he had married to please his
father, "with death in his soul and no pretence of love." We
see the real Krasinski free from his shackles, loyal at last to
the imperishable Catholicity of his conscience, true to the
best in himself. Poland's national existence was lost, but he
had found his soul, and she who had never lost hers would
recover her national life in a splendid resurrection.
Miss Gardner writes of Elzbieta : "The portraits that re-
main of this lady as well as the accounts given by those who
knew her, testify to a beauty that was almost flawless. Her
face, with its tranquil and noble dignity of the type known to
us as early Victorian at its best, is often repeated in the pic-
tures of Ary Scheffer, the warm friend and admirer of herself
and her husband." This strangely links the name of Krasinski
with that of Ernest Renan. who married the artist's daughter
and whose grandson, famous in the War as the author of
Le Voyage da Centurion, disclaimed his grandfather's apostasy
by his own glorious act of faith a patriot indeed of France
and of eternity.
The portrait of Krasinski by Ary Scheffer is a frontispiece
of the biography. There is something of Browning's "Aprile"
in the fruitless striving of the brow, but the idealism, the sign
of pain, physical and spiritual, personal and vicarious, are his
own, and in the troubled eyes one reads that ever present sense
of his relation with God, which haunted mercifully all his days.
I have said little of his literary work. Miss Gardner has
made any exposition or comment unnecessary by the com-
bined excellence of her essay and her biography. But one
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 323
feature can bear to be noticed more than once. In Iridion
and in The Undivine Comedy the poet makes it very plain that
hatred reacts upon the hater; it is negative, destructive and
evil never creative or constructive. Iridion himself speaks
and acts as a pagan, so that the ethics of the play are negligible.
The plot is very horrible yet (to quote from Miss Gardner)
"never is Krasinski a greater artist than when he treats epi-
sodes that for their horror seem beyond the range of art.
The delicacy with which he handles them, the restraint that
gives them their extraordinary power, when no word too much
is said, no word too little, are nowhere more apparent than in
the parting between the brother and the sister whose honor
he has sacrificed "to the Emperor for the sake of patriotic
revenge." Elsinoe's "Remember how I loved you when we
played upon the grass plots of Chiara," is one of the tragic
lines of literature.
But the book must speak for itself; we are robbing too
freely its mine of gems. It is plain, however, to the reader as
to himself, that the clouds that confused his moral life, ob-
scured the spirit and substance of these earlier works. The
beauty of his poetry increased with the later and better years.
Of this he was himself aware. But at the worst of his moments
one foresees that sooner or later resurrection must come; he
was always capable of that tender shame which is the rain-
bow edge of contrition; shame is the courtesy of sorrow, its
most intimate sweetness, and preparedness for the leaven of
quickened life.
I have tried to emphasize the part which the poet's inmost
soul played in his life and work. The curious identification
with Poland and with his own genius has been, throughout the
book, skillfully manifested by Miss Gardner's consistent method
of compilation. Krasinski speaks of his country, of his own
soul, of the faith of his baptism, of the idealized Beatrice of
his song, transfigured from the shadowy Delphina Potocka into
the real person of Elisa in the same terms. At times we are
unable to distinguish the actual reference, but having dis-
carded hatred and revenge as the useless and evil negatives,
love is his meaning and eventually absorbs all else. He blends
the passion and resurrection of Poland with that of Christ,
with that also of his own soul; this gives the mystical quality
to his vision and his writing. Resurrection is his final word.
324 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
Life must conquer death and in the utter triumph of love,
time and eternity meet in his pages, diverge, run parallel,
and finally the former is absorbed into the latter. "Where
there is pain," he wrote to Slowacki, on a Roman Easter Eve,
"there is life, there is Resurrection." 2
Resurrection is a new word in literature and it is used
by the poet of pain a dedicated spirit one of the very few.
It is part of the truth of his genius that his sense of the more
abundant Life is so fixed. The Passion, the price indeed of
Life, was but a day; the earthly Life with its Divine Example
and ethical teaching, its legacy of Truth, of Sacrifice and
Sacraments, was but thirty-three years; the Risen Life is
eternal; this Krasinski grasps with that larger vision which
includes higher possibilities "not by and by, but now, unless
deny Him thou." It is here, it is now, it is ours, he dimly sees at
last not in the person of Poland, but in the Person of Christ,
in, if we choose, our own souls. Through patriotism he dis-
covered what an English mystic found through innocent human
love. If we die daily, we may also rise daily to undreamed of
heights. This mystical resurrection which came in vision to
him, is coming in its earthly aspect to his beloved Poland
if she does not make her triumph an excess. In his heart,
Krasinski knew he did not deserve to see his country rise from
the dead, but he was as sure of her resurrection as he was of
his own. That resurrection is told quite simply in a letter to
a friend in his Easter of 1852, when the storms were stilled
and he had regained a wholesome peace : "I found your letter
this morning on my return from receiving the most Rlessed
Sacrament. Believe me, there is something above nature in
Confession and Communion. . . All pain (and whose life is
not pain!) must in the end have recourse to them. The earth
is the pain of pains: if God did not frequently come down to it
and give Himself to lips hungering for Him, it would be hell."
Again as he grows in strength regained and in clarified
vision : "The further we go into the forest of life, the more are
there of thorny trees, the fewer flowers and shrubs and kindlier
verdure. But the teaching of life is that God guides all, that
He is at the helm. Men only row, and that submission to that
most Holy Will is man's only strength."
* A curious reverence for suffering is the one quality in common between the
Pol* and the Russian. This religion of pain is particularly emphasized in th
movels of Dovstoevsky.
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 325
We forgive the poet his mixed metaphor in an intimate
letter for the sake of the last words, a paraphrase of the im-
mortal line of another great patriot, poet, lover, and Catholic:
"En la sua volontate e nostra pace."
As he identifies his own soul with Poland in her fall, her
dawn, her resurrection, so with his strange but sincere vision
he identifies his long-suffering and exquisite wife with Rome.
Once the pagan city had inspired his Iridion, now in his re-
generate life he produced a beautiful poem called in earlier
editions, "Roma," but written in his manuscript under the
title, "To Elisa."
"0 my loved, lovely one, blessed be thou, because tempted
by the infernal foes thou hast trodden their false allurements
unceasingly beneath thy feet. Oh, my loved, lovely one,
blessed be thou, because upon thy brow thou bearest not the
crown of pride, but the thorn of Polish woes and thoughts of
Christ. Oh, Polish wife of mine, blessed be thou because,
while the world is perishing and our country dies, thou hast
among the whirlwinds of our time believed in hope, even
against hope itself. . . Power without love is like to smoke:
not we, but it shall die." He breaks away from Elisa to
Poland : "Let my witness be tombs without end and from hill to
hill. Let my witness be all that is here both far and near, on
height or plain, the light of heaven and the human ruins, that
Poland shall not die that there is an avenging spirit that at
God's decree pierces the deep heart of the history of mankind,
that falsehood, perfidy and treachery die, but Poland does not
die." And one feels that his vision apprehended the secret of
her deathlessness in her supernatural, living faith.
On the Feast of St. Elizabeth, 1856, he writes simply to
Elisa herself with no confusion of country. He tells her that
"in the flowerless winter of the world, flowers in my soul do
ever grow to thee amidst pain's winters, because thou art my
spring, because thou art the last sun of my life. All has de-
ceived me ere my days shall end. Thou only on this earth
hast not deceived me. Thy form lies not to those who gaze
on thee, when thine eyes light, the radiance in thy soul pro-
claims the angel in thy soul. Thou only art no mirage : yet in
thee the beauty of the ideal is. Then let me fall upon my
knees before thee and let my painstricken lips sigh forth seek-
ing, in all humility, thy garments' hem: Thou beauty art."
326 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
Even here, in spite of the personal note, one feels that his
vision reaches out to the infinite Love through the finite. The
last lyric, "To My Elisa," is a cry of repentance to her, yet
again one is aware of the climb of the soul from the ray to
the Sun :
"Once did I dream that I was on the heights of bliss.
I thought I was in the heaven of an inspiration without end:
and yet I squandered all my life to nought because I did not
love thee. . .
"Oh! woe unto those hearts by passion riddled. Even
should an angel to their life descend, their future is poisoned
by their past guilt, and an angelic happiness itself shall only
pain them. . .
"Purest of peace on thy white brow high o'er the billows
of the turmoils of the earth, sweetest of mournfulness within
thine eyes. Why in the past did I not love thee?
"The treasure of my powers has fallen into nought. My
mind has been divorced from inspired flame, my light went
out, I have withered from boundless grief, only because I did
not love thee. . . look on me. Thou art on high and I
below. Let death not be forever my only part. Take from my
forehead with thy hand the pains of life; because now forever
I have loved thee" (Baden Baden, St. Elizabeth's Day, 1857).
Once more beyond the human the cry reaches to the
Divine for love is God, and Krasinski's beautiful song of love
and sorrow is Augustine's "0 Beauty Ancient Ever New."
The term, "mystic," has been applied to Krasinski and this in
a certain sense is justifiable. He saw, when his vision was
clearest, beyond the here and now to the meaning of life. His
mental conception of Poland was mystical inasmuch as he
realized that, as with the unit, so the spiritual being
of an entire country must be saved through pain and faith and
love; clearly he sees that hatred reacts upon itself and upon
others; that revenge is a negation; that only by living love in
spite of material circumstances, can the souls of men, collec-
tively or individually, rise from temporal death to eternal life.
But this might also be called a philosophy, correct indeed, yet
only a philosophy of all life, collective or separate. Still,
where this philosophy extends to vision, as it so frequently
does in Krasinski's writings, when he not only thinks but sees
according to Truth, the term applied to him as patriot and
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 327
poet is certainly vindicated along those special lines. As a
mere man, however, there immediately appears a difference.
In her very beautiful introduction to the collection of Eng-
lish mystical poetry, entitled The Mount of Vision, Mrs. Mey-
nell has pronounced a stern indictment on the promiscuous
use of the word mystic, "which seems about to become the
slang of studios." "It is ominous to hear the name of mysti-
cism so easily used, given and taken, without a thought of its
cost. It is not long since an interesting novel appeared of
which the motive and the whole subject was mysticism. . .
No one in the band of confident people engaged in this story
in artistic work for a celestial end, seemed to have entered
upoiuthe indispensable beginnings, to have overcame anything
within, to have shut his mouth upon a hasty word, to have
dismissed a worldly thought, to have compelled his heart to
a difficult act of pardon, to have foregone beloved sleep, cher-
ished food, conversation, sharp thoughts or darling pride. The
Saints, on the other hand, gave themselves to that spade-work
before permitting themselves so much as one credible dream.
"Now it may be that the poets are to be held excused from
the greater part of this saintly discipline. There is a certain
measure of indulgence to be dispensed to them in requital of
their song. One of the greatest of them has placed himself at
the gate of a 'glad palace,' a beggar with leave to look within
and sing the pomp he sees. We may remember (certainly not
with pride) that all kinds of impunity, if not immunity, have
been provided by critics and biographers, and the world in
general, for admired poets.
"The cruelties of one poet, the license of another, the
treacheries of yet another, his breaking of bonds that left a
fellow-creature broken all this and more has been pardoned
for the sake of a lyric; to the degradation, at any rate, of the
pardoner. It is a far lesser degree that we propose in the case
of our mystic poets; we hold them dispensed from the long
and rigorous experience of their brothers, the Saints. Per-
sonal perfection of life shall be remitted to them; they who are
apt to boast of the sufferings of poetry shall be spared the
infinitely greater sufferings of sanctitude. They became
mystics by their genius and the divinity of their imagination." 3
This doctrine of renunciation is also that of St. John of
'"The Mystical Lyric," by Alice Meynell, p. x.
328 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
the Gross, "Professor of Nothingness," but there are as many
ways to the Divine Union as there are souls to attain it. St.
Teresa playfully retorts, in her famous bantering letter, on
"my Father St. John of the Gross," whose doctrine "would be
excellent for one who wished to make the spiritual exercises
here they are out of place." (Her four friends are engaged in
explaining the words said in secret to the Saint: Seek thyself
in Me.) "We should be much pitied if we could not seek God
before being dead to the world. What! were the Magdalen,
the Samaritan woman, the Canaanitess already dead to the
world when they found their Saviour?"
It may be that these matters are not as sharply defined as
we may think. In any case "the Spirit breatheth where He
will" our concern is to keep or recover innocence of soul, in
which alone lies peace. For the rest, we await those moments
of illumination which must surely come. "Our own soul at its
hours has the awful flash of knowledge which shows it its
own ramifying, poisoning selfishness, its colossal self-idolatry,
or, again, its atrophy, paralysis, and poverty. Then the com-
pensating shock shall come; in the intricate living web of
some schoolboys' soul, among the simple sins and strong hon-
esties of, say, some Colonial soldier's life, we suddenly see that
which puts us on our knees; through our own skies we catch
the flickering radiance of the veiled Face of God; and amid
the chaotic muttering of our thoughts, we hear the whisper of
wings, and in our hearts the Spirit faintly singing. St. John of
the Cross surely was a man who knew to the full all human
pain and loneliness; the futility of desire; the bitterness of
success! the cruelty of beauty; the insatiable hunger for love
returned, yet the agony of that return when life becomes too
kind, and gives it. The limited! the transient! the illusion
of that twilight wherein we hold to it, and the dark, dark,
empty night when we have let it go ! Yet here, too, was a man
who did indeed re-find it all, nor lose anything at all of its
reality but, better still, who could for it is indestructible
lay hold of all that 'good' which the Creator puts and sees
within it, and appropriate it, and make it better still, and move
in no new Heaven only, but a new earth.
"Within his soul the Living Flame had become 'no longer
grievous;' its burn was sweet, its wound delicious: 'by slay-
ing, Thou has changed death into life/ The very senses live:
1920.] THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT 329
O Lamps of Fire
In the splendour of which
The deep caverns of sense
Dim and dark,
With unwonted brightness
Give life and warmth together to their beloved.
In the soul God "awakens" and in the heart He "lies
awake," moving and yet not moving, and uniting the divinized
soul to His totality of Life. Their consciousness is complete
now and reciprocal, and in all the vitality of the human self,
God breathes. Towards this mystery, done violence to by
words, the Catholic's soul in which grace is, moves humbly, by
obedience, and infallibly." 4
Teresa knows her little Friar is right, in spite of her teas-
ing, only instead of advocating renunciation in his uncompro-
mising terms, she represents it as the carefulness of love. It
all comes to the same thing in the end. But she begins from
Love and guards It by her absorbed watchfulness; he reaches
the Unitive Way by conscious rejection of all that can hinder
it; the result is not rejection, but transfiguration. This per-
fectly natural carefulness of love, whether before or after the
consciousness of Union, marks the genuine Mystic who is also
the Saint.
As an imperfect man, Krasinski does not merit the title.
"That which is unique in the soul is its true self, which is only
expressed in life or art when the false self has been surren-
dered wholly. In saints this surrender is continual, in poets,
etc., it is only in inspired moments." 5
One can, nevertheless, feel that in the light of present his-
tory as well as from the power and illumination of his written
word, this distinguished son of a great people fulfilled himself
to the uttermost as Poland's mystical Patriot, Poet, and
Prophet.
KRASINSKI'S PRAYERS.
O, Thou most dear, hidden but visible beyond the veils
of transparent worlds; Thou present everywhere, immortal,
holy, Who dwelling in each motion alike of hearts and
stars, shatterest to nought rebellion of the stars even as
Thou shatterest wanderings of the heart Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost; Thou Who commandest the being of man
4 Upon God's Holy Hills, by C. C. Martindale, S.J., pp. 150-152.
6 Coventry Patmore.
330 THE SOUL OF A PATRIOT [Dec.,
that, poor in strength and puny in his birth, he should to an
angel grow by might of sacrifice, and to our Polish nation
didst ordain that she should lead the nations into love and
peace; Thou Who in the tumult of the world's confusion,
pierces to the sod-children of wrath and savest the upright
because that they are upright from their torment; we
beseech Thee, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we, suspended
between Thy Kingdom and the pit, we beseech Thee with
our foreheads sunk to earth, with our temples bathed in the
breathing of Thy spring, surrounded with the wheels of
shattered times and perishing rules, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost! We beseech Thee create within us a pure heart,
make new our thought within us, root out from our souls
the tares of sacrilegious falsehood, and give us the gift,
eternal among Thy gifts give us Good Will. 6
"We are tempted to believe," Miss Gardner writes, "that
Krasinsld could have written this passage only on his knees."
OF MARY, QUEEN AND MOTHER OF POLAND.
Remember, remember (Lord) that we are Thy servants
of old, (and that) since the nation first showed herself
from the mists of time millions of Polish souls have gone
forth from Polish bodies with her (Mary's) name upon
their lips in death. (Jesu, Maria! is the war cry of the
Poles.) Let her today remember them with given-back
remembrance. Girt with the mighty cloud of all those dead,
let her upon Thy skies pray Thee that no devil from hell
shall bind our feet, bent to the heights no, nor yet abject
men.
Look on her, Lord, ... as slowly she rises on unmeas-
ured space to Thee. Towards her all the stars have turned
in prayer; and all the powers eddying in space are stilled.
Look on her, Lord amidst the throngs of seraphs lo!
she kneeleth at Thy throne. And on her brow flashes the
Polish crown, her mantle strews forth rays of which the
skies around her there are made and all the spaces wait
while she prays softly ... in her hands of snow two
chalices she holds. She gives to Thee Thine own blood in
the right, and in the left, held lower, the blood of these her
subjects on a thousand crosses crucified. 7
Can we wonder that Poland is delivered from her bond-
age, when such prayers as these have stormed the heavens?
6 Psalms of the Future. ''Psalm of Good Will.
LEST WE FORGET.
BY P. W. BROWNE, D.D.
T is a popular fiction destined to be perpetuated
by such organizations as the Sulgrave Institution
and sundry Anglo-Saxon "missions" that Puri-
tanism procured for these United States their
earliest experience of civil and religious liberty.
It seems to be forgotten that if we had been left to the mercy
of the Puritans we would never have known religious liberty,
and many also forget that the tradition of civic and religious
liberty, and their first actual grant, was due to and was made,
not by the Puritans or their descendants, but by Catholic Col-
onists. They fled from persecution in England in the early
days of the seventeenth century, and laid these foundations of
liberty in a little Indian village on the banks of the Potomac,
where the principle of toleration was effective as long as
Catholics were permitted to conduct the affairs of the colony.
The little Indian village (Yacomico) was named St. Mary's,
and it became the seat of the first Colonial Assembly. There
liberty found a home whose history is a record of benevolence,
gratitude, and toleration; for it was established by the purest
principles and the noblest feelings which can animate the
human heart.
The establishment of St. Mary's is thus set forth in the
Relatio of Father Andrew White of the Society of Jesus : "On
the Day of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary,
in the year 1634, we celebrated Mass for the first time on the
island (St. Clement's). This had never been done before in
this part of the world. After we had completed the sacrifice,
we took upon our shoulders a great Cross which had been
hewn out of a tree, and advancing in order to the appointed
place, with the assistance of the Governor and his associates
and other Catholics, we erected a trophy to Christ the Saviour,
humbly reciting on our bended knees the Litanies of the Holy
Cross with great emotion." 1
What a contrast between this foundation and the settle-
1 Hughes, History of the Jesuits in North America, Text ii., p. 276.
332 LEST WE FORGET [Dec.,
ment which had been attempted some years before in the
neighborhood of Cape God! There the "Colonists had to build
a gaol before they built a school." 2 Hence we are not sur-
prised to be told: "While the Colonist of New England
ploughed his field with his musket on his back, or was
aroused from his slumber by the hideous warwhoop to find
his dwelling in flames, the settler of St. Mary's accompanied
the red warrior to the chase and learned his art of wood-
craft; and the Indians, coming to the settlement with wild
turkey or vension, found a friendly reception and an honest
market; to sleep by the white man's fireside, unsuspecting and
unsuspected." 3
We need not tell the story of the Puritan migration; it is
being hymned in divers tones today from Maine to California.
The Puritans loudly proclaimed "freedom of conscience" in
England and elsewhere before they crossed the Atlantic; but
when they landed on the shores of Massachusetts that proc-
lamation was forgotten, and the erstwhile "persecuted" be-
came in the New World the most intolerant of persecutors.
It is well for us to know something of the attitude of the
Puritans towards that "freedom of conscience" which they
vaunted so loudly whilst they were ostracized within the
borders of "perfidious Albion." The following historical data
regarding their attitude towards the Catholic Church and the
Indian are worth recording: "Within twenty years after the
Puritan Fathers had settled themselves in this land of the
Indian, they unsettled the Indian whom they found within
their borders; and not out of keeping with this unchristian
policy, John Endicott defaced the Christian Cross in the mil-
itary ensign, while John Eliot, "the Apostle," was similarly
engaged with the Popish Cross in the minds of such Indians
as came near. In a war with the Pequot natives (1637), Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut divided the captives. Male children
were sent to the Bermudas; women and girls were disposed of
in the towns. About seven hundred aborigines had been
taken or slain." 4
The Puritans had hardly established themselves in Massa-
chusetts when they declared a Code of Liberties. This Code
2 Drake, The Making of New England, p. 175.
3 Scharf, History of Maryland, i., c. 3, p. 97.
4 Hughes, The History of the Society of Jesus in North America, Text 1., p. 381,
citing Field and Steiner on Indian slavery.
1920.] LEST WE FORGET 333
embraced Twelve "Capitall Lawes," and all twelve inflicted
capital punishment under fifteen heads. At Salem, the most
ancient town within their jurisdiction, a law was published in
1647 against the Jesuits who were looked upon as "the terror"
of the modern Protestant world.
In a work attributed to one Captain Edward Johnson, en-
titled Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's Saviour Being a
Relation of the First Planting of New England in the Year
1628, "it was set forth that the Civil Government must never
make league with any of these sectaries: 1, Gortonists; 2,
Papists, who with equal blasphemy and pride prefer their
own merits and works of supererogation as equal with Christ's
invaluable death and sufferings; 3, Familists; 4, Seekers; 5,
Antinomians; 6, Anabaptists; 7, Prelacy.
Now if we turn to the Colony situated on the banks of
the Potomac we shall find neither intolerance nor persecution;
for it had become the "Land of Sanctuary." The story of its
establishment should be emphasized these days when Amer-
icans seem to have forgotten the debt they owe to its founder
and his successors. Bancroft says of this foundation:
"Calvert deserves to be ranked among the wisest and most
benevolent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the history
of the Christian world to seek for religious security and peace
by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power;
to plan the establishment of popular institutions with the en-
joyment of liberty of conscience. . . . The asylum of Papists
was the spot where, in a remote corner of the world, on the
banks of rivers which as yet had hardly been explored, the
mild forbearance of a proprietary adopted religious freedom
as the basis of the State." 5
Calvert (Lord Baltimore) had become a convert to the
Faith in 1625. His conversion does not seem to have caused
the forfeiture of the favor of the Crown, though it ended his
political career in England. He had been a member of the
Great Company which had attempted the colonization of Vir-
ginia in 1607, and while Secretary of State he obtained a royal
grant of the southern promontory of Newfoundland, later
named Avalon. Unfavorable conditions in Newfoundland
forced Baltimore to abandon Avalon after a brief tenure. He
then set out to find on the mainland of America a place where
History of the United States, tenth edition, vol. i., p. 244.
334 LEST WE FORGET [Dec.,
he might establish for himself and his co-religionists a refuge
from persecution, which had now become chronic in England.
He first turned to Virginia, the original charter of which
had recently been canceled, and in 1629 he visited this sec-
tion to find out what prospects it offered for a permanent
settlement. Here he found that Protestant intolerance had
already been inaugurated, and Baltimore was confronted with
an oath of allegiance to the King of England, couched in terms
which, as a Catholic, he could not conscientiously accept. He
returned to England, and obtained from Charles I. a patent
of the territory lying south of the James River. This conces-
sion was opposed by Ciairborne and other Virginian officials.
Baltimore then secured a charter of the land lying to the
northeast of Virginia, to which, later, he gave the name Mary-
land, in compliment to Queen Henriette Marie, daughter of the
French King, Henry IV., whom Charles had recently married.
By the terms of the charter, Christianity was made the
law of Maryland, but to no man was denied religious freedom
or civil liberty. The Colony was exempted forever from taxa-
tion by England; provision was made for representative gov-
ernment; and emigrants were offered an independent share
in the legislation of the country, the statutes of which were to
be established by the advice and approbation of its freemen
or their deputies. So absolute was the freedom, that there
should be no recourse to the King of England for confirmation
of legislative acts; nor was it required that when enacted they
should await "the king's pleasure" to become operative.
Prosperity smiled upon the young Colony in its early days;
but it had not reached the tenth year of its existence ere Ciair-
borne, the evil-genius of Virginia, fomented disturbance among
the Puritans whom Baltimore had invited to Maryland. Ciair-
borne invaded Maryland, drove out the Governor, looted the
plantations, expelled the Jesuits, and thus tried to crush Ca-
tholicism. His treachery, however, was short-lived ; for, towards
the end of the year, 1646, the Governor of Maryland raised a
small force, reentered St. Mary's, and gained possession of the
Colony. Once again Maryland was at peace.
Relieved to some extent from fears of immediate disturb-
ance, the Colony struggled on for a few years, the Governor
endeavoring to promote its welfare by encouraging useful
legislation which should safeguard and extend the principle
1920.] LEST WE FORGET 335
of religious liberty. Chief among the enactments passed by
the Colonial Government was the "Act of Toleration," by
which it was evidenced that no feeling of vindictiveness
against the promoters or the abettors of the recently-quelled
disturbance had been, or would be, allowed to interfere with
the principle of civil and religious liberty on which the Colony
had been established.
"No man under their rule (Baltimore's and the Gov-
ernor's) ever complained that he was deprived by their agency
of the smallest right of citizen or Christian. Possessed of
hereditary wealth, they chose to use it in honorable enterprise
in carrying civilization and Christianity into a savage wilder-
ness. The one was willing, at vast expense, to send, the other
with personal privation, toils, and danger to lead a colony
across three thousand miles of ocean to seek a home on a
shore almost unknown. The one at a distance watched over
the interests of the rising Colony and strove to ward off from
it the consequences at home; the other devoted his energies to
the preservation of domestic peace and to the defence of the
infant settlement from savage foes, to the enactment of whole-
some laws, and the administration of justice." 6
Paradoxical as it seems, serious difficulties were arising
for the Catholics and the Proprietary of Maryland, from the
operation of the very principle of civil and religious liberty of
which they were the authors and steadfast defenders.
Maryland had become an asylum for the persecuted New
England Episcopalian and the Virginia Puritan. Both were
welcome in Maryland, and each was free to worship God in
his own way, assured of. the protection of just laws and the
free exercise of his religion. Yet the Puritans were destitute
of the commonest feelings of gratitude towards the govern-
ment of the Colony which had given them a refuge in the day
of their distress. As early as the year 1651 we find indications
of their disaffection towards the established government of
their newly-found home in their refusal to send representatives
to the House of Assembly. Numerous, fanatical, and overbear-
ing, they "scrupled to burden their consciences" with the oaths
of fidelity to a "Popish Proprietary" into whose territory they
had entered of their own free will. Matters reached a crisis
6 Life of Leonard Calvert, vol. ix., in Library of American Biography, edited
by Sparks, Boston, 1846.
336 LEST WE FORGET [Dec.,
in 1652; and the years which intervened between that date and
the death of Cromwell (1658) were years of anxiety, harass-
ment, and distress to the Catholics of Maryland.
Four different claimants now contended for the possession
of the Colony, the most dangerous of these was the fanatical
Clairborne, who had been named, with Bennett, as a Commis-
sioner to reduce the provinces bordering on the Chesapeake
to the allegiance of the English Parliament. Clairborne and
Bennett invaded Maryland, deprived Stone, the Governor, of
his commission and intrusted the administration of the Colony
to a board of Ten Commissioners appointed by their warrant.
It soon became evident that, however zealous the Puritans
might be in fighting for religious liberty for themselves, they
had not the least notion of granting liberty to others. A New
Assembly, composed exclusively of Protestants, was soon con-
vened; and their sentiments towards the Catholic settlers were
embodied in an "Act Concerning Religion" which, among other
infamous clauses, set forth : "It is hereby enacted and declared
that none who profess and exercise the Popish (commonly
called Roman Catholic) religion can be protected in this prov-
ince, but to be restrained from the exercise thereof." 7
On the restoration of the Stuarts, Maryland entered upon
another brief period of peace under the presidency of Philip
Calvert, brother of the Proprietary. Freedom of conscience
again prevailed, and, as in former times, Protestants once
more were the gainers. Strangers who were persecuted at
home on account of their religious beliefs came to Maryland,
and were admitted to free citizenship and full equality in the
Colony. When Philip Calvert retired from the governorship,
Charles, third Lord Baltimore, came out to Maryland as gov-
ernor; and from the first his relations with the Maryland set-
tlers were marked by earnest consideration for their welfare.
His administration should have won unstinted praise and ad-
miration; but not so; for, like his forbears, he found himself
from the beginning an object of religious hatred, "was placed
in the pillory of public opinion and called upon to answer
charges preferred against him by fanaticism and cupidity."
In the Colony and in the neighboring territory fiendish efforts
were made to destroy his authority; and in England the com-
mon people as well as the gentry were regaled by wierd tales
T Bacon, Laws, i., p. 341.
1920.] LEST WE FORGET 337
of "Popish plots in the pest-house of iniquity" on the banks of
the Chesapeake. There arose a persistent clamor for the
destruction of Catholicism in Maryland; and serious charges
were made against Baltimore's administration. These charges
baseless though they were culminated in the issuance of an
order by the English Government, in 1681, that none but Prot-
estants should hold office in the Colony. It was hoped that
when the Catholic King James came to the throne, the religious
liberties of Maryland would be restored; but the vacillating
James gave a deaf ear to the Catholic protests. The attitude of
the Stuart King towards Maryland is thus expressed by one
who cannot be accused of Catholic leanings: "In the whole
story of American colonization, there is nothing more prepos-
terous and absurd than the outcry of lying Protestants in Mary-
land to a Catholic King, and his readiness to listen." 8 James
ordered a writ against the Charter of Baltimore in April, 1687.
On the accession of William and Mary, in 1689, a pall of
gloom fell upon Catholic Maryland. It became a Royal Prov-
ince: the Episcopal Church was by law established; and one
crushing blow after another fell upon the Catholic Colonists.
Several statutes were passed which conferred privileges upon
the Establishment; and Catholics were shackled with intoler-
able disabilities. The English Acts of Toleration were put in
force; but toleration existed only for Protestant dissent. The
Catholics of the Colony whose fathers had established an
asylum for freedom on its shores were now penalized; their
churches were closed; and their priests were hunted like out-
laws from place to place.
Coincident with the Protestant ascendancy in Maryland,
the seat of government was transferred from St. Mary's,
mainly because it was the stronghold of Catholicism, and Anne
Arundell Town (later, Annapolis) was made the capital. It
was to the interest of Maryland's new masters to destroy the
ancient settlement of St. Mary's, which had been hallowed by
the landing of the Catholic Colonists who had laid there the
foundations of civil and religious liberty. Protestant intoler-
ance had one redeeming feature, however: it created a feeling
of discontent among the people and sowed the seeds of a re-
action which culminated in the American Revolution. As an
illustration of iniquitous legislation, we summarize an Act
8 Cobb, Rise of Religious Liberty in America, p. 383, New York, 1904.
VOL. cxn. 22
338 LEST WE FORGET [Dec.,
passed at Anne Arundell Town during the administration of
Governor Seymour (1704) : A fine of fifty pounds with six
months' imprisonment was the penalty enacted against a priest
who baptized a child of non-Catholic parents, or who ventured
to exercise publicly any ecclesiastical function. A similar
penalty was decreed against any Catholic keeping school, or
educating, or boarding children. The Act further set forth
that every Catholic young man should take the oath of alleg-
iance on attaining his majority, or be debarred from holding
lands by descent; failing therein his next of kin, if Protestant,
should succeed to the possession thereof. Catholics were more-
over debarred from purchasing real property; and Catholic
parents who sent their children abroad to be educated were
mulcted with a fine of one hundred pounds.
Discussing toleration in Maryland, Browne, one of its best
known historians, says : "We 'may now place side by side the
three tolerations of Maryland. The toleration of the Pro-
prietaries lasted fifty years, and under it all believers in Christ
were equal before the law, and all support to church or min-
isters was voluntary; the Puritan toleration lasted six years,
and included all but Papists, Prelatists, and those who held
objectionable doctrines; the Anglican toleration lasted eighty
years and has glebes and churches for the Establishment, con-
nivance for dissenters and penal laws for Catholics." 9
The apostasy of Benedict Calvert, in 1713 (he had bar-
tered his faith for the restoration of proprietary rights) dealt
a heavy blow to Catholicism in Maryland; and for the next
half-century the history of Maryland is the history of conflict
between the people and Episcopal ministers abetted by Tory
officialdom, whose exactions were intolerable. In 1770 two
particular local grievances were agitating the Province of
Maryland. One was a demand for an increase in the tithes
exacted by the Established Church; the other (which involved
a far-reaching principle of political freedom) was "the settling
by proclamation of fees to civil officials." In the agitation
which arose in opposition to these grievances there came into
prominence one who subsequently was destined to play an
important part in the liberation of the American Colonies
from the despotism of English rule. This was a disfranchised
Catholic, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who became the cham-
9 Maryland: The History of a Palatinate, p. 186, Boston, 1884.
1920.] LEST WE FORGET 339
pion of the people's rights, and wrested from a Protestant
oligarchy freedom for the very people who had denied civic
rights to himself and his co-religionists.
His eloquent and persistent denunciation of the monstrous
exactions of the Establishment and Toryism established for
him an influence in Maryland which later made him a leader
in the consummation of American Independence. His leader-
ship was made manifest in the colonial elections of 1773 and
in the "Peggy Stewart" episode of which, by the way, our
histories say but little, while the Boston Tea Party is magni-
fied unduly. The Annapolis incident was a greater act of pa-
triotism than was the Boston event, for the former was carried
out in open defiance of British regulations and in open day-
light, while the later transpired under cover of darkness, and
was consummated by "disguised men."
The boldness of the "Peggy Stewart" act decided by the
advice of Carroll established Charles Carroll as a bold and
fearless leader. It was doubtless in recognition of his patriot-
ism that Carroll, in November, 1774, was elected a member of
The Committee of Forty to enforce the resolution of Congress
regarding British importations. As events progressed towards
the Revolution, Carroll took a leading part in shaping the
American Union. When the Maryland Convention instructed
its delegates "to disavow all designs of the Colonies for inde-
pendence," Carroll of Carrollton had already decided that
there was no hope of reconciliation with the British King and
Parliament, for he said : "Whatever we get we must fight for."
In preparation for the struggle he was already busy collecting
"the sinews of war" in Anne Arundell County, and devising
"ways and means for the manufacture of powder."
The next step in Carroll's career marked him as a national
patriot. In February, 1776, the Continental Congress named
him as co-delegate with Chase and Franklin to visit Canada
"to promote a union between Canada and the American
Colonies." Though this mission failed in its objective, Carroll
was not discouraged, for on June 28th he introduced into the
Maryland Assembly a resolution which was the first step in the
Declaration of Independence. He was chosen, on July 4, 1776,
a delegate to the Continental Congress; and on August 2d, this
erstwhile disfranchised Catholic (but ever the champion of
freedom) affixed in bold round hand his signature to the
840 LEST WE FORGET [Dee.,
Declaration of Independence. It was Carroll's patriotism, as
a Catholic, epitomized in this noble act, that doubtless inspired
the deeds of the thousands of Catholic citizens whose sufferings
and sacrifices helped so largely in the final victory of the War
of Independence. To quote another member of the great Car-
roll family John Carroll, the first Bishop, and later Arch-
bishop of Baltimore: "Their blood flowed as freely, in propor-
tion to their numbers, to cement the fabric of Independence as
that of any of their fellow citizens. They concurred with per-
haps greater unanimity than any other body of men in com-
mending and promoting that government from whose in-
fluence America anticipates all the blessings of justice, peace,
plenty, good order, and civil and religious liberty."
"We remember and we forgive," wrote Carroll of Carroll-
ton in a reply to an envenomed attack made upon his patriot-
ism by a renegade in the Maryland Gazette of January 7,
1773. We, too, should remember the noble men who laid the
foundations of civil and religious liberty in this fair land, and
forgive the sowers of religious strife and disseminators of
fanaticism who would bury in oblivion the names of those
Maryland pilgrims who abandoned the comforts of civilization
and crossed the Atlantic to secure the enjoyment of liberty
mid the privations of the wilderness. Fortunately their num-
ber grows smaller. More and more are Americans learning
to appreciate the value of that tribute of Davis: "Let not the
Protestant give grudgingly. Let him testify with a warm
heart; and pay with gladness the tribute so richly due to the
memory of our early forefathers. Let their deeds be en-
shrined in our hearts, and their names be repeated in our
households. Let them be canonized in the grateful hearts of
the American, and handed down through the lips of a living
tradition to the most remote posterity. In an age of cruelty,
like true men with heroic hearts, they fought the first great
battle of religious liberty. And their fame, without reference
to their faith, is now the inheritance, not only of Maryland,
but also of America." 10
10 Davis. The Day Star of American Freedom, p. 259.
AMERICAN MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
BY F. JOSEPH KELLY, MUS.D.
MERICAN music as a characteristic national
achievement has as yet no real distinction. Yet
we look for eventual development of a national
music, as there has been a gradual development
of national unity. It is fallacy to turn to the
primitive melodies of the American Indian or to the plantation
songs of the negro, and consider them the nucleus of our racial
expression. The determining influence is from within and not
from without. In our attempt to find something which we may
classify as typically American, we are led to the consideration
of our popular music. Yet can we say that it is a real, vital
expression of a growing American temperament? The true
musician scorns considering it seriously, because he sees the
absence of intellect in its composition, and because plagiarism
and commercialism play so large a part in determining it.
Mr. Elson says : "It is possible that a newer school of folk-
music may yet arise in the United States out of the free and
unrestrained ranch life of the West. There is much in such an
existence to inspire music, but as yet this life has not been
shared by a music-producing race. It may be, that in the
future the descendants of the miners, the cowboys, the
farmers of this section of our country will create a music that
shall reflect the bold, untrammeled life of the West, and add
it to our scant repertory, and it is not too much to hope, that
out of our own typical music, there shall eventually grow a
great symphony, and a school of advanced composition, that
shall be known as definitely American."
The swiftly increasing group of American composers of
the present generation has tasted of the regenerative sunlight
flooding the wide stretches of our land, has seen that justice
must be done at last to the myriad sights and sounds of our
own country. Europe will never respect America artistically
until she sees the results of this rebirth. And American com-
posers are pressing to the mark. Every year sees them more
numerous, fearless, energetic, prolific. Their compositions are
342 AMERICAN MUSIC AND MUSICIANS [Dec.,
sounding less European, and more untrammeled and redolent
of a new composite spirit, insistent, yet still undefined. And
this we must bear in mind: that their shelves are already
laden with a number of completed manuscripts of all degrees
of size and value, the very existence of which will not be
generally known until their authors feel that they are equal
to the best.
Cannot American composers find musical ideas to define
the characteristic traits of the American people? It is true
they have written good music, but it has been for the most part
patterned after European models. What is this thing that we
call Americanism? The great difference between the Euro-
pean and the American is, that the former dreams always,
and sometimes does things, while the latter spends a minimum
amount of time in dreaming and builds while his brain is hot
with inspiration. In American music, then, we naturally ex-
pect that brevity should be the one thing to aim for, and
strength of individuality expressed in clean-cut phrases, pro-
pelled with the energy and force of a meteor. We are bound
to produce great men in music, and establish a strong and indi-
vidual school of composition, which will indeed be American
in every fibre.
American music is a coming certainty. We shall have
ripe American music when we have ripe American life. Our
composers should strive after originality but not strain after
it. Far-fetched newness is likely to be mere oddity. Amer-
icanism in our music, there is in abundance, but a ripened
art, not yet. There is no mistaking the encouraging flushes of
dawn which the coming American music is sending before it.
American musical life is in much the same heterogeneous
state as American society. Here is a nation, no longer a coun-
try but an empire, which contains every climate of the globe,
every nation of the human race, and keeps its citizens in every
possible degree of varied circumstance. Is it not a strange thing
that such a people should demand the best there is in music,
and patronize the great artists of the world of music, and at
the same time tolerate the most outrageous parodies on music
in religious and civil life?
It is an undeniable fact that we have no national Amer-
ican music properly so called. Yet it cannot be denied that the
American people desire what is best in the art. Why is it that
1920.] AMERICAN MUSIC AND MUSICIANS 343
in music we have made little progress, comparatively speak-
ing? Why is it that we have so few great native composers,
conductors, pianists and singers? Is it because we have no
musical ability? Far from it. A nation is but an aggregation
of men and women, and its character as a whole is but their
individual characters taken as a whole. If the greater number
of a nation have developed their musical natures, one at a time,
they have developed the whole nation and have earned it its
name and reputation. The unmusical would feel the effect of ,
the artistic natures about them and would almost uncon-
sciously adapt themselves to this prevailing spirit. Thus the
national development would be forwarded by the develop-
ment of these heretofore unmusical individuals.
Only by being reasonably independent in forwarding our
growth, can we acquire sufficient national strength and cour-
age to be able to take our place before the nations of the world
as their equal in this great art. We cannot claim to be their
equal until we can produce works that are equal to theirs,
not only in average merit but also in originality. Our music
must find its source in our natures. We must develop a music
which will express our own American natures fully and com-
pletely. To do this we must be reasonably independent and
do our work, to a certain extent, in our own way and in strict
accordance with the best elements in our natures as men and
as a nation. The emotional nature, being in part inherited and
in part developed, the development in both cases being depend-
ent upon external conditions and forces, it is readily observ-
able that in order to produce music that shall express deep
emotions, the individuals of a nation must be brought in con-
tact with, and under the influence of, those powers which will
produce this development. We must, therefore, develop in
all possible ways, popular musical education and appreciation,
creating and increasing popular interest in the production of
an American school of musical art, by teaching the people to
like and to demand only the best, whether in performers or in
compositions, and to take pride in every success scored by an
American, feeling that they, too, share justly in his honors.
Works by Americans must be produced at public perform-
ances, carefully rehearsed by competent artists, and then re-
ceived by the American people with the greatest pride and
admiration.
344 AMERICAN MUSIC AND MUSICIANS [Dec.,
American music cannot grow out of any ethnographic
conditions as has been the case with the music of many of the
Europeans. Americans lack folk-melodies. Manifestly, folk-
melodies must be created first. Instead of Gothic, Byzantine,
Roman, and other styles, we must look for lines of our own
origin. The American strives upward towards the light, and
does not grovel before ancient traditions as do other nations.
For that reason an American melody is dynamic and active.
It may be crude and inartistic for an ear accustomed to tra-
ditional sounds, but it is impulsive. America has no such
thing as a real folk-song. Neither the Indian nor the negro
melodies are distinctly American, as they do not belong to
the people at large.
Nor can we look to England for the American folk-song.
We are not by any means Anglo-Saxons, but a new cosmic
race. For that reason our music must have a cosmic founda-
tion. We have no ethnographic records to utilize for our
musical structures, but we have social-psychological facts of
an entirely different nature, from which we can crystallize our
racial melodies. We need not look to the past, but to the
present and the future. America's new music will depict an
alert, optimistic and adventure-loving people. Such music
does not need to be woven or cut after foreign fashions. It
should suggest the silhouetted outlines of our cities, our
ranches, the scintillating colors of our prairies, our changeable
climate. We do not care for moods, but for impressions. We
shall not follow the Oriental symbolism of meditation, but
our own, of action. The most elementary factors in a typical
form of American music lie in psychologic figures. We have
nothing in our past to use as a standard sample for the creative
spirit, but we have the immediate present and rosy future.
In place of traditions we have aspirations.
There are various reasons why we have no folk-songs
properly so called. When this country was settled, music
everywhere was in its infancy. Great music was being com-
posed, but appreciation was slumbering. Despite the fact that
America has not created in music what other nations have,
appreciation has been her greatest asset. The very first music
in this country was in the singing of psalms to melodies
brought from Europe. Hence it is that our church hymn books
contain the old tunes of the old European nations. These
1920.] AMERICAN MUSIC AND MUSICIANS 345
tunes became favorites and no hymn book was complete with-
out them. This is because of their dignified harmony and
musical worth. With them were many others taken from the
wonderful themes of Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann,
and others. At a later date tunes written by Americans began
to be sung in our churches, but their very inferiority gave rise
to a movement to purge the hymn books of them.
"As soon as our composers conclude to learn all they can
from European art without imitating its forms of thought and
subjects of musical portrayal, they will come to realize that
in our national history there are some grand inspirations for
the native artist. We shall behold the American composer
who has not acquired all the necessary musical erudition, but
who has also the heart and spirit to give musical expression
to that which excites generous and loyal emotion on this side
of the Atlantic. Is there no inspiration in the idea of the young
American Colonies groaning for a time under oppression, but
at length catching a spark from the torch of freedom, and
bursting their bonds? Some day we shall hear the tone epic
of the birth of our nation. There will be no dearth of themes
and subjects here. A grateful nation will applaud him for
clothing its dearest sentiments with adequate expression. It
is in this direction that our native composers may hope to give
American music a distinctive position in Europe without wait-
ing until our native artists can contend with the Europeans on
their own ground and with their own weapons. American
compositions of certain grades, already bear comparison with
the best that is produced anywhere. It may be that before
long we can say as much for our home-made symphonies and
larger works. But for that purpose we must protect and
nurture our native art germs."
THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC AND RELIGION.
BY HEBERT F. WRIGHT, PH.D.
O those who knew the artificial structure of the
Imperial Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the
many racial and linguistic elements entering into
its composition, it was apparent, even apart from
the consideration of the possibility or outcome of
a world war, that this very multiplicity of its constituent ele-
ments spelled eventual ruin. It is morally impossible to weld
many races living in well-defined groups with individual lan-
guages, institutions and traditions into a composite nation with
a single language, a single group of institutions and a single
tradition. Such was the problem faced by Austria-Hungary
with the Czechs, Slovaks and Poles in the north, the Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes in the south, the Germans in the west, the
Rumanians in the east, and the Magyars in the centre; and
such a problem inevitably led to dismemberment. The World
War was merely the occasion.
One of the largest of the four independent States emerging
from the ruins of the decadent monarchy is the Czecho-Slovak
Republic, a racially homogeneous State, if we count the Czechs
and Slovaks as one nation, as indeed they really are. More
than three-fourths of the entire population of Czecho-Slovakia
are Czecho-Slovaks. The national minorities, composed of
Germans and Magyars and numbering about three millions,
will be granted full linguistic and civil rights. The Ruthe-
nians living in the eastern part of Slovakia, were assigned, at
their own request, by the Paris Peace Conference, to the
Czecho-Slovak State, and will be granted a local autonomy.
The Czechs and Slovaks, by their resistance without the im-
perial frontiers and by their bloodless revolution within,
helped materially in bringing about the dismemberment of
Austria-Hungary. Out of the Czech countries (the former
Kingdom of Rohemia, Margravate of Moravia and Duchy of
Silesia) and a part of old Hungary (Slovakia and Sub-Car-
pathian Russia) has been formed a democratic and independ-
ent Republic, headed by an elected president, thereby nobly
1920.] THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC 347
avenging the great defeat at the White Mountain nearly three
hundred years ago.
Lest it be thought that Czecho-Slovakia is a sort of George
Barr McGutcheon European principality, it must be remarked
that, as regards area and population, it is a medium-sized
State, if we count, for example, France and Great Britain as
great Powers and Greece and Bulgaria as small States. It has
a larger area than Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzer-
land, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria and German Austria; and a
larger population than Norway, Finland, Sweden, Jugo-Slavia,
Magyar-Hungary and the States just mentioned. Its area is ap-
proximately the same as England and Wales combined, or
New York and New Jersey combined, covering more than
55,000 square miles or 140,000 square kilometres. Its popula-
tion, according to the last census (Austro-Hungarian census
of 1910), totals 13,811,655 inhabitants, or nearly as many as the
combined populations of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts and New York. The lot of 545,409 inhabitants
(chiefly of part of Silesia and the Teschen district) is to be
decided by plebiscite.
Czecho-Slovakia, extending from the Carpathian Moun-
tains to the Danube, forms the western advance-guard of Slavs,
jutting as it were into a Germanic mass. The Germans who
dwell on the northwest, the west and the southwest, and the
Magyars who flank it on the southeast have penetrated deeply
into Czecho-Slovak territory, especially in the frontier zone;
it is only on the northeast and the east that the Republic is in
contact with friendly States, Poland and Rumania. The Re-
public is remarkably lengthly in form, especially since Car-
pathian Russia is now incorporated in it, and it lies like a bar-
rier on the way from Berlin to Bagdad or from Hamburg to
the Persian Gulf. Direct communication between London and
Belgrade-Constantinople, between Paris and Warsaw-Petro-
grad, between Berlin and Vienna-Budapest (the line of Con-
stantinople and Saloniki) and between Petrograd-Warsaw and
Vienna-southern Europe (Adriatic Sea) are made by way of
Prague and Czecho-Slovakia.
The Czecho-Slovak Republic, therefore, is the natural
centre of Europe, not only from the point of view of transports
by railroads and waterways, but also by reason of its political
and economic importance. Thanks to its natural resources
348 THE CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLIC [Dec.,
and to the moral force of its people, it is not far from being
able to compete economically with the most advanced states.
From a political point of view, it pursues peaceful ends abroad,
enterprise and general development at home. That its main
desire is aid in the well-ordered development of central Europe,
seems to be evident from the retention of Dr. Eduard Benes
as Minister for Foreign Affairs. This well-known Revolu-
tionary Foreign Minister was in charge of foreign affairs in
the first Cabinet, and his retention in the second Cabinet is
proof that the foreign policy will continue to be pro-Ally.
English-speaking Catholics will be surprised to learn that
the land of John Hus and the Bohemian Brethren is nearly
ninety per cent Catholic, the percentage of religious affilia-
tions among the population being divided approximately as
follows :
85.6 Roman Catholics,
4.3 Uniats (United Greek Catholics),
4.5 Lutherans,
2.5 Calvinists,
2.7 Jews.
It is natural, therefore, that English-speaking Catholics should
be interested in the treatment of religion by this new-old State.
The Treaty of Peace signed at Saint-Germain-en-Laye on
September 10, 1919, required the protection of national, re-
ligious and racial minorities by the new Republic. By the
terms of this treaty :
Czechoslovakia undertakes to assure full and complete
protection of life and liberty to all inhabitants of Czecho-
slovakia without distinction of birth, nationality, language,
race or religion.
All inhabitants of Czecho-Slovalda shall be entitled to
the free exercise, whether public or private, of any creed,
religion or belief, whose practices are not inconsistent with
public order or public morals. (Article 2.)
All Czecho-Slovak nationals shall be equal before the law
and shall enjoy the same civil and political rights without
distinction as to race, language or religion.
Differences of religion, creed or confession shall not pre-
judice any Czecho-Slovak national in matters relating to the
enjoyment of civil or political rights, as, for instance, ad-
mission to public employments, functions and honors, or
the exercise of professions and industries.
1920.] THE CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLIC 349
No restriction shall be imposed on the free use by any
Czecho-Slovak national of any language in private inter-
course, in commerce, in religion, in the press or publica-
tions of any kind, or at public meetings. (Article 7.)
Gzecho-Slovak nationals who belong to racial, religious
or linguistic minorities shall enjoy the same treatment and
security in law and in fact as the other Czecho-Slovak na-
tionals. In particular they shall have an equal right to
establish, manage and control at their own expense charit-
able, religious and social institutions, schools and other
educational establishments, with the right to use their own
language and to exercise their religion freely therein.
(Article 8.)
In towns and districts where there is a considerable pro-
portion of Czecho-Slovak nationals belonging to racial, re-
ligious or linguistic minorities, these minorities shall be as-
sured an equitable share in the enjoyment and application
of the sums which may be provided out of public funds
under the State, municipal or other budget, for educational,
religious or charitable purposes. (Article 9.)
Czecho-Slovakia undertakes that the stipulations con-
tained in Articles 2 to 8 of this Chapter shall be recognized
as fundamental laws and that no law, regulation or official
action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations, nor
shall any law, regulation or official action prevail over
them. (Article 1.)
These provisions of the Treaty of Peace were incorporated
in the Constitution adopted by the National Assembly on Feb-
ruary 29, 1920. This document, which is one of the most demo-
cratic Constitutions in the world, is the result of endeavors to
embody the best features of all the republics from Plato's time
to our own, excluding features which experience has proved
to be undesirable and including special provisions to meet
peculiar needs. Not only is provision made for the right to
assemble peacefully, to form associations and to petition,
along with the inviolability of domicile, the secrecy of corre-
spondence and the freedom of press and conscience, but
woman suffrage, the right to form labor and economic unions,
the principle of proportional representation, and similar fea-
tures tend to the establishment of real government "of the
people, by the people, and for the people," and make the docu-
ment a veritable landmark in the history of free government.
350 THE CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLIC [Dec.,
According to the terms of this Constitution, all inhabitants
of the Czecho-Slovak Republic enjoy, equally with the citizens
of the Republic, in its territory full and complete protection of
race and religion, and exceptions to this principle are admis-
sible only as far as is compatible with international law
(Article 106). The establishment of private schools is per-
mitted only within the limits of the law, and the State adminis-
tration shall have the supreme conduct and oversight of all
instruction and education (Article 120) . Liberty of conscience
and profession is guaranteed (Article 121), and all religious
confessions are equal before the law (Article 123). No one
may be compelled directly or indirectly to participate in any
religious act (this does not apply to the authority of fathers
and guardians) (Article 122), although the performance of
definite religious acts may be forbidden if they violate good
order or public morality (Article 124). All inhabitants have
the same right as citizens to practise in public or private any
confession, religion or faith, as long as the practice is not in
conflict with public order or good morals (Article 122). Mar-
riage, the family and motherhood are under the special pro-
tection of laws (Article 125).
These are the chief provisions of the Constitution of
Czecho-Slovakia in matters touching directly upon religion.
Let us see how these provisions work out in practice. The
first election for the National Assembly took place in April of
this year. The principle of proportional representation gave
rise to sixteen parties: eight Czecho-Slovak, five German, and
three Magyar. If the Republic had not introduced the system
of proportional representation, so common in Europe but so
little known in this country, the smaller parties would have
failed to secure any representation. The election gives such
an accurate picture of the composition of the population and
such a clear idea of the opportunity for all the component
parts to collaborate in the consolidation of the State, that its
results are appended here in full:
Scats in Seats in
Name of Party Chamber Senate
Czecho-Slovak Parties
1. Social Democrats 74 41
2. Socialists 24 10
3. Progressive Socialists 3
4. National Democrats 19 10
5. Agrarians 28 14
1920.] THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC 351
Seats in Seats in
Name of Party Chamber Senate
6. Slovak National Peasants 12 6
7. Popular (Catholic) 33 18
8. Tradesmen's 6 3
German Parties
9. Social Democrats 31 16
10. Bourgeois 15 8
11. Farmers 11 6
12. Christian Socialists (Catholic) 10 4
13. Freethinkers 5 3
Magyar Parties
14. Socialists 4
15. Farmers 1 1
16. Christian Socialists . 5 2
Total 281 142
The Catholics seem to be the most poorly organized of
the parties, for, although the population is over eighty-five per
cent Catholic, the Socialistic parties obtained over fifty per
cent of the available seats, while the Catholic parties obtained
only seventeen per cent. This indicates that the vast majority
of Catholic voters in Czecho-Slovakia are affiliated with parties
other than the expressly designated Catholic parties. It may
be that the small percentage of seats obtained will be increased
when the remaining nineteen deputies and eight senators are
elected to complete the required membership of the National
Assembly. Moreover, the Catholic parties obtained only one
representative (Dr. Hruban) in the first Cabinet, which was
appointed by the National Assembly on November 14, 1918,
and no representative at all in the second Cabinet, which was
appointed by President Masaryk some seven months later.
The ministers of these two "governments," as they are called,
were divided among the parties as follows :
Name of Party First Gov't Second Gov't
Social Democrats 3 4 1
National Democrats 3 2
Agrarians 4 4
Socialists 3 4
Slovaks 2 2
Popular (Catholic) 1
Non-party is i a
1 Including Premier Tusar. 2 Including Premier Kramar.
3 Dr. Benes, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
352 THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC [Dec.,
It is not surprising then that, with the National Assembly
and Government frankly Socialistic, anti-Catholic measures
should be the order of the day. The surprising part of it all is
the role which women are playing in the anti-Catholic activity.
The women obtained thirteen seats in the Chamber and three
in the Senate in the April elections. They are responsible for
such proposals as the taking over by the State of schools and
educational institutions hitherto conducted by monasteries,
convents or other Church organizations and the general secu-
larization of educational and charitable institutions. It is sig-
nificant that it was the Socialist women members in particular
who were the most active in the National Assembly, and ac-
tually succeeded in passing some laws decidedly anti-Catholic
in tone. Among these might be included the law passed May
22, 1919, abolishing the indissolubility of marriage and provid-
ing for divorce for a number of reasons.
It was not long after the April elections before the Social-
ists and Social Democrats appeared in their true colors. A
drastic bill was introduced for the more absolute separation of
Church and State. The main points of the bill, as reported in
America a few weeks ago, are : The Republic will not recognize
hereafter and will not give support to any religious organiza-
tion. All expense items in the public budget for religious work
must be eliminated. All property held by the Church is de-
clared State property and must be registered as such within
six months. The members of various denominations may
form private religious organizations, and the State will give
them the use of buildings free of charge for religious services.
(This is a sop to the disgruntled minority of the Czech clergy.)
All birth, marriage and death records shall be kept by State
officials and all marriages shall be performed by civil author-
ities. Religious instruction shall not be tolerated either as an
obligatory or private subject in the schools. Private, i. e.,
parish schools, can not be maintained. Of course, it is not con-
ceivable that a bill containing such provisions will ever become
a law, for that would be directly contrary to the stipulations
of Article 1 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, as well as
to the known wishes of the vast majority of the people, but it
shows only too well the trend of the present Government and
should be a warning to the Catholic voter.
By way of contrast, the treatment of national minorities
1920.] THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CAROL 353
appears very magnanimous. The "revolutionary" National
Assembly was purely Czech. The Germans and Magyars at
that time, although fellow-citizens, were in revolt against the
Republic; they refused to recognize it and even proclaimed
certain districts as independent; the Magyars indeed went so
far as to take up arms against the Republic. And yet the
Czecho-Slovak Constitution, in keeping with the assurances
contained in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, has given
equal rights to all. By taking part in the recent elections they
have acknowledged their citizenship in the Czecho-Slovak Re-
public.
It will be interesting, indeed, to watch the career of this
modern Republic, better known to us, perhaps, by its Dvorak,
its Kubelik and its Emma Destinova than by its Palacky, its
Hruban and its Masaryk, and to discover whether the noble
ideals of its Constitution be merely the high-sounding, empty
phrases of a shadowy pretence at popular rule or the genuine
expression of a real Christian democracy.
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CAROL.
BY CHARLES J. QUIRK, S.J.
THE sweetest music that was ever heard,
More glorious than human voice or bird,
Was caroled long ago,
While cold, wild winds did blow,
Within a stable 'mid rude straw and kine
'Twas silvery laughter of a Babe divine.
VOL. cxn. 23
A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY.
BY FRANCIS J. YEALY, S.J.
the thoughtful historical student there are dis-
cernible in the affairs of men the inexorable
workings of moral law. The theme of the ancient
tragedian and the conclusion of the modern critic
of the late War are alike: that the great prin-
ciples of right may not be violated on a large scale with im-
punity. What we know as nemesis or sanction may often,
no doubt, be successfully evaded for a while. Individuals and
groups of them may often defraud and oppress without feel-
ing the sting of retribution's scourge. Yet the institutions they
establish on the foundations of injustice, are apparently
doomed by that very fact. A long period of real or apparent
success may often attend or follow injustice; but ultimately,
so history seems to attest, injustice must submit to defeat.
The Great War, like other gigantic upheavals, has given us
many instances of this. Mighty and seemingly impregnable
institutions, builded strong upon foundations of unfair deal-
ing, and rulers who have inherited a dishonorable greatness,
were alike brought low precisely because this germ of decay
was in them.
In the industrial and commercial order the chance of es-
caping retribution is perhaps somewhat greater. Yet even
here, when whole industrial systems are founded on unfairness
and inequity, a nemesis is sure to overtake them. Hence, to
be involved in such systems, especially at critical periods of
history, seems beyond question to expose one to the imminent
risk of complete disaster.
That our industrial system at the present crisis involves
very much fundamental unfairness can hardly be seriously
questioned. Unskilled labor is frequently employed with little
or no regard to the most essential rights of men. The Indus-
trial Relations Commission reported only a few years ago that
a family living wage was not being received by fully one half
the wage-earners employed in industry, and that a large per-
centage of them were working more hours per day than their
physical well-being and recreational needs would permit. At
1920.] A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY 355
the present time, day and night shifts and seven day schedules
are imposed on men for whom it is morally impossible to seek
other employment, until for want of recreation and religion
and hope, they sink into a state of sodden brutish stupidity.
Apparent improvements in wage conditions have brought no
real relief, since in almost every case the advance in the cost
of living has far outstripped all advance in wages.
At any rate the discontent that prevails today is undoubt-
edly real and, to a very large extent, justified. When the
worker hears so much of the rapidly growing wealth of the
country, yet finds that he has not enough to feed and support
his family, need we be surprised if unrest and discontent
are engendered? Efforts have indeed been made to allay this
discontent, but unfortunately many of them do not come to the
point. Welfare work may in some cases prove acceptable to
the workingman, but in many others it only aggravates resent-
ment because it does not meet the worker's most vital need.
For it is not precisely present prosperity, protection, and com-
fort that the worker desires, but rather that breadth of horizon
and that comforting hope that come with real liberty. Give a
man all the material conveniences, all the clubs and free enter-
tainment you will, but as long as he is not free to determine his
own status, to change his employment, to provide for at least
the immediate future, he necessarily feels that you are merely
paying him for being a contented slave.
The present agitation of Labor is a struggle for liberty.
It is part of a world-old struggle. For centuries men have
striven for liberty, so that now most of the world enjoys a
large measure of personal, and at least some measure of
political, liberty. But industrial liberty is a no less precious
boon than these, since it is the condition of their full enjoy-
ment. Yet such is the conservatism of most of us who have for
years listened to capitalistic propaganda, that so innocent a
phrase as "industrial democracy" still begets in us a movement
of pained surprise. We instinctively and invariably think of
the losses that Capital would suffer if it were to make any
considerable concessions to Labor's demands. We persever-
ingly invoke the inalienable right of private property, even
when there is question of limiting large fortunes. And in our
insistence on the right of private property, we close our eyes
to the rather obvious fact that no principle which results in so
356 A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY [Dec.,
much hardship to the masses and so little enjoyment to the
owner, as does the application of the right of private property
to excessively large fortunes, could possibly be founded on the
positive will of a beneficent Creator or on the fundamental
nature and needs of men.
The acuteness of the present crisis, to say nothing of
other considerations, demands that whatever changes are made
towards a transformation of the capitalistic system, be rather
radical. In our reforms we must keep in mind the fact that
the bribes offered to Labor in the shape of paternalistic
schemes have failed to produce substantial results, just as the
policy of benevolent despotism in the political order failed to
prevent the liberation of the peoples.
What men want in industry as elsewhere is not a multi-
plication of unsubstantial comforts and pleasures nor, on the
other hand, absolute industrial anarchy, but only a proper
livelihood and a reasonable measure of freedom. And that
this measure of freedom may be freedom indeed, the laborer
must not be allowed to feel that we are making him conces-
sions merely for the sake of more extensively and safely ex-
ploiting him. Like their prototypes the benevolent despots,
many employers are in the habit of demanding a tangible
equivalent for every concession. The employer's profit is the
motive, the sum, the scope, the criterion of every extension of
privilege, every raise in salary, every improvement in condi-
tions. Now, naturally, very few business men undertake large
ventures on a basis of pure altruism or supernatural charity.
But even abstracting from obligations toward employees, mere
policy and foresight should dictate that the conduct of business
should be carried out in a generous and uncalculating spirit.
At least one might invoke the distinction of the moralists and
expect that though the motive of the agent may be only his
own interest, the object of the act done should also include the
good of the employees. Thus only, it would seem, can a feel-
ing of genuine and permanent confidence be established; and
thus only can a wholesome and enduring blend of contentment
and efficiency be secured.
Perhaps the best concrete exemplification of the principles
here stated will be some application of the profit sharing idea.
This arrangement is, in the minds of its earliest exponents,
based on the principle that Capital and Labor both contribute
1920.] A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY 357
to the common task and are, therefore, entitled to a propor-
tionate recompense. For it is clear that the directors of in-
dustry are fully as dependent on the manual skill, the strength,
and the endurance of Labor, as Labor is on the purchasing,
organizing, and directing power of Capital. And the fact that
a system has grown up whereby Capital is able effectively to
coerce Labor does not essentially alter their relation of mutual
dependence. Although this does not seem to prove the
laborer's right in strict justice to anything beyond a liberally
computed living wage, yet it does show that some further con-
sideration is due him as a matter of general equity. Its desir-
ability as a matter of business policy is the purport of the
opening paragraphs of this article, and is further shown by the
experience of many profit sharing institutions.
The concession here made on the point of justice should
dispose of our opposition to profit sharing on the grounds of
private ownership rights. Large as the rights of private prop-
erty may be, owing to the vastly enlarged productivity of
Capital, yet as we have pointed out there are limits frequently
reached in our day beyond which the reason for the existence
of this right ceases to be operative.
And since our plan proposes to go beyond the limits of
strict justice, it assumes a living wage as a prerequisite. For
surely Capital cannot justify on moral grounds the taking of
an interest return, before all its workmen have received wages
that will insure for themselves and their families at least a
decent livelihood. And if we believe that an opportunity for
"the pursuit of happiness" is one of the basic rights of human-
ity, then this decent livelihood should not be so narrowly con-
strued as to exclude a measure of comfort, of personal freedom
and of the power of self -betterment.
This living wage, however, being the minimum of just
recompense, is hardly capable of producing that feeling of
contentment and good will among employees which will result
in increased efficiency and whatever of intelligent cooperation
lies in their power to render. The additional element neces-
sary to secure this is the first of the essential components of
our plan, the sharing of profits. This means that the em-
ployer enters into a previous agreement with his employees
to divide with them, at the expiration of a certain period, the
net profits of the business on a definite, fixed basis. When the
358 A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY [Dec.,
basis of division is left to the discretion of the Board of Di-
rectors at the time of division, the psychological value of the
plan is necessarily lost.
The first sums to be deducted from the gross earnings are,
of course, the expense of conducting the business, depreciation
costs, the wages of workmen and the salaries of officials.
Next, according to the plan here suggested, the investors should
be entitled to a dividend of six per cent on the value of their
stock at par. After this, ten per cent of the remaining profits
should be set aside as part of a fund to replace the profit
sharing dividend in slack years, and to provide the expenses of
other projects affecting the common welfare. Whatever sur-
plus profits remain after deduction of all these items is to be
divided on a prearranged basis, of course between em-
ployers and laborers in proportion to the earning power of
their contribution to the year's business. The earning power
of Capital is measured, not by the amount of capital invested,
but by the rate of interest this investment is capable of draw-
ing. The earning power of Labor is simply the full amount
of the annual wage paid in the establishment. Thus if the
concern is capitalized at two million dollars and pays an
annual wage of eighty thousand, the earning power of Capital
is one hundred and twenty thousand dollars and that of Labor
eighty thousand. The surplus profits are then shared by the
two in the ratio of twelve to eight; Capital receives sixty per
cent and Labor forty.
To secure the interest of the concern against labor turn-
over, it may be found advisable not to issue the worker's divi-
dends on profits in the form of cash payments. In this case he
is given instead a profit sharing stock certificate. This is issued
at the end of his first profit sharing year and entitles him to a
dividend at the end of the following year. If, however, he
leaves the employ of the company before the end of the second
year, his certificate becomes void. Death, of course, should
not nullify these certificates. According to this arrangement
a workman whose share in the profits of the year 1919 is $50,
is, at the close of the year, given a profit sharing stock cer-
tificate which represents no investment, but has a face value
of $500 and bears a dividend of ten per cent. At the end of
1920 his dividend of $50 is paid and his stock certificate
expires.
1920.] A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY 359
The second element of our plan provides for some repre-
sentation of the workers in the management of the company.
The experience of numerous firms has shown that to give the
workers a voice in some of the business affairs of the estab-
lishment, begets great good feeling between them and the di-
rectors, and actually diminishes insubordination and extrav-
agant demands. An attractive and simple method of repre-
sentation is now in use in some twenty large industrial con-
cerns throughout the country. It is, in fact, the leading feature
in the plan of Mr. John Leitch, and is fully explained in his
book, Man To Man. It begins with a definite "business policy"
presented to both management and workers and voluntarily
agreed to, point by point. After an understanding has been
reached on this matter, the government of the whole estab-
lishment is organized on the model of the government of the
United States.
The Cabinet, a non-elective body, consists of the executive
officers of the company with the president as chairman. It
deals with the larger and more intimate problems of manage-
ment, it may, by suggestions to the Senate and the House of
Representatives, initiate legislation, and it has the power to
veto their bills. It has before it the bills that have passed both
houses and also the minutes of their proceedings, and thus
it keeps in touch with the state of mind of the employees.
The Senate is made up of the foremen and heads of depart-
ments, who naturally hold their positions by appointment.
The House of Representatives is elected by the whole body of
workers, from twenty to forty persons being entitled to one
representative. The representative receives complaints and
suggestions from his fellow workers and, in turn, acquaints
them with the doings of the legislative bodies. Questions af-
fecting wages, working conditions and such matters are voted
on by the three bodies in turn; and no change becomes law
until it has been approved by all three bodies.
Among the changes thus introduced into one plant, the
Demuth Pipe Factory, was the reduction of working hours
per week from fifty-three to fifty. The production of the plant
was by this change increased by eight per cent. The Cabinet
suggested a further reduction to forty-eight hours; and this
also was accomplished with no loss of production.
The plan here detailed was drawn up with special refer-
360 A PLAN OF INDUSTRIAL EQUITY [Dec.,
ence to large industrial concerns. Practically every one of its
features has already been successfully applied in some such
plant. It may be found feasible, with modifications, in other
forms of business. It may, at least, prove suggestive of other
lines of liberally conceived experimentation in the direction
of industrial equity and freedom. The chief value of all such
schemes depends, not so much on their certainty to bring in a
calculable equivalent as on their power to establish a better
feeling by properly estimating the dignity of the human
being.
The workers of the world, whom we are so prone to con-
sider monsters of cupidity and vindictiveness, are as a class
men of sanity and good faith. Their shows of violence and
fanaticism are, for the most part, passions aroused by hunger
and wrong, acting out the theories of shallow doctrinaires
who are honored and encouraged from outside the working
class. In the long run, the working class is neither more nor
less inconsistent than the rest of mankind. I know that in-
stances of arbitrary and shameful demands on the public can
be quoted against certain bodies of organized Labor. But the
passions of industrial war and the disgraceful example of the
profiteer are more responsible for these than anything that is
characteristic and inherent in the workingman's state of mind.
The low-browed foreigner is a man more sinned against than
sinning. The experiences of men like Whiting Williams and
the conversations that any man may have with his working-
man neighbor, go a long way toward showing that the average
laborer in America is not a radical. They go a great deal
farther toward proving that he has not given up the position
and point of view of a man. This is a thing that cannot
always be said of those at the opposite pole of the economic
world.
In watching the operation of his Industrial Democracy in
more than a dozen large plants, Mr. Leitch has not seen one
instance where the workmen have taken unfair advantage of
their new-found strength. The two failures of his arrange-
ment thus far recorded, arose from the inability of employers
to repress their lust for autocratic power, even when their
business ideas were actually being applied by the employees'
part of the government in their plants. The experience of
democratic institutions has shown their directors that all the
1920.] THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 361
apathy and intractability of the workman may be overcome
by the exercise of a little patience and that, even when saving
in the cost of production can not be definitely shown, the im-
provement of the mutual relations between employers and
workers is an asset of the greatest value.
We cannot remind ourselves too often that the way to
greater industrial efficiency is the way of industrial democ-
racy, and that the worker's productivity will be increased, not
by striving to escape detection while we exploit his energies
to the utmost, but by according him generous treatment and
seeing beneath the humble and begrimed exterior of the toiler
"the splendor of humanity."
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.
BY LILIAN E. SELLECK.
THE winds were hushed. To all the earth
A wondrous calm was given;
There was a softness on the sea,
There was a light from Heaven;
The little leaves scarce dared to lift
Their blades above the sod,
And all the trees were angels' harps,
When Mary walked with God!
CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY.
BY F. A. PALMIERI, O.S.A., PH.D., D.D.
F we were to take seriously the forebodings of a
certain type of review or newspaper, aiming to
discredit Catholic countries, such as Poland,
France, Spain and Italy, the last named would
have to be regarded positively as on the verge of
ruin, and saturated with the spirit of revolution. Economic
unrest, and the latent propaganda of Bolshevism are alleged
to have made an inglorious tomb for united Italy. As soon as
the revolutionary spirit reaches the army, we are told, like the
Russia of the Tsars, the Italian kingdom will be a thing of the
past. A republic will supersede the monarchy. The excesses
of the French Revolution and Russian Bolshevism, the mourn-
ful prophets tell us, will spread terror throughout the towns
of Italy and spill rivers of blood. And, as has happened before
in Europe, we are told that, in the person of her clergy, the
Catholic Church will be the chief victim of the pioneers of
communistic principles.
The writer does not share the sombre pessimism of the
foreign press. This article is written in the calm, sympathetic
and deeply religious town of Piedmont, Vercelli. Each street
boasts its church, and each church keeps, with jealous care,
the artistic inheritance of the past, the splendid frescoes of
Gaudenzio Ferrari, and the admirable pictures of Lanini and
Giovenone. In the Cathedral, the relics of St. Eusebius Ver-
cellensis, the champion of Catholic faith against Arianism, re-
mind us of the glorious past of the city. A large congregation
of faithful repeat with the zealous Bishop of Vercelli, Giovanni
Gamberoni, the act of consecration of Italy to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus. The prayer sounds at times like a cry of victory.
Its tones reveal that, despite the clouds heaped upon her
horizon, Italy is still a nursery of Catholic souls, and Catholic
are the beatings of her heart. Doubtless the sporadic rumble
of revolution shakes the great cities from time to time. As a
consequence of the War the working classes are overwhelmed
with poverty, and foreign gold spreads hatred against religion,
1920.] CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY 365
patriotism and the borghesia. But, as they say, the Italians
have il buon senso, good common sense. They will not be
submerged in the waves of Leninism. They are organizing
their forces against the revolutionary hordes. And what the
Italian Catholics have done to mobilize the friends of peace in
Italy, deserves the sincerest admiration.
The best results have been obtained in the organization of
Catholic women. Women, in Italy, are the strongest support
of the moral foundations of society. So far they stand as an
invincible citadel against the assaults of the foes of both
Church and country. The vilest literature of perverse femin-
ism, the writings of Babel, Tolstoi, Schopenhauer, Max Nor-
dau, although widely circulated in Italy by Socialism, have not
poisoned their minds nor dulled their hearts. The Italian
women have in their blood the love of family and the duty of
life-long fidelity to their husbands. Divorce never will find
responsive souls in Italy. An Italian woman replied to the
question, "Have you been divorced?" in an official inquiry
from the Government of the United States. "Shame! . . . We
have not such filth in Italy!"
Up to 1908, the religious feeling of Italian women had
not been utilized in the Catholic renaissance in Italy. The
term feminism was a sort of scarecrow to even the most broad
minded women. They limited their social and Catholic ac-
tivity to religious, charitable societies. True there existed the
National Association of Women. This organization, however,
was rather the vanguard of an Italian feminism. It paid no
attention to creed or beliefs. Religious principles were rele-
gated to the background. The Association professed the
strictest neutrality. It could not be called a Catholic associa-
tion. Few younger women had joined it, and yet Italian girls
especially were needed to devote their energies to social recon-
struction along Catholic lines. By its neutrality the Associa-
tion, instead of defending Christ, arrayed its members against
Him.
This was evident in the Congress of Italian Women, held
in Rome in 1908. Italian Catholics were much surprised and
grieved to hear that the Congress had adopted a resolution
unfavorable to the teaching of religion in the primary schools.
They did not conceal their feeling of dismay at the failure of
the Catholic women in the Congress to raise a voice of protest
364 CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY [Dec.,
against a decision inspired by hatred of the Catholic Faith.
The chiefs of the Association had deceived them by represent-
ing the primary schools as unfitted for the religious education
of children. "These schools," they insinuated, "are not under
the control of the Church. The teachers, upon whom the
responsibility for teaching the catechism has to rest would
turn into ridicule both the Biblical stories and the truths of
Holy Faith. Instead of imbuing them with Christian doctrines,
they would inoculate them with the poison of incredulity."
This specious reasoning was accepted by the Catholic women
of the National Association, and they voted against the teach-
ing of religion in the primary schools.
A reaction followed against the religious neutrality of the
Association. The protest was headed by Princess Cristina
Giusliniani Bandini, a distinguished and pious lady of the
Roman aristocracy. She proposed to Pius X. the foundation
of women's clubs which would build up the faith of Italian
Catholic womanhood. Pius X. approved and expanded the
plans of Princess Giustiniani. He foresaw at once the grand-
eur of the task to be fulfilled by Italian women in defence
of Catholic Faith. He suggested a new national association,
which, under the name of "Union of the Catholic Women of
Italy" (Unione fra le Donne Caltoliche a" Italia, familiarly
known as the U. D. C. I.) would enroll all Italian women over
eighteen under the banner of Christ. The Unione placed itself
outside the domain of politics. Its purpose was exclusively
religious, cultural and social. It was divided into three sec-
tions to facilitate the triple activities assigned to its members.
Princess Giustiniani gave herself unremittingly and pa-
tiently to the development of the Unione. Her heart was fired
with undying enthusiasm, convinced that she followed the
inspiration of God, Who had summoned Italian women to save
Italy under the leadership of Christ. Due to her activity,
hundreds of committees were established. All the committees
were directly responsible to the President, who spent her time
traveling and writing letters. She considered neither health
nor sleep, but "fought the good fight" of Faith, and wrote the
first chapter of the Catholic Women's Organization in Italy.
When her physical energies were exhausted, and she was ob-
liged to withdraw from the battlefield, the Unione counted
350 committees and 46,000 members.
1920.] CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY 365
Benedict XV. has shown the same sympathy with the
Unione as his predecessor. Marchioness Maddalena Patrizi,
also of the Roman nobility, succeeded Princess Giustiniani as
President. The Unione showed great activity during the War.
All that the heart of a noble and Catholic woman can devise
to alleviate human sorrows, was made effective by the mem-
bers of the Unione for the Italian soldiers and their
families.
In 1918 "a new flower opened on the stem of the Unione"
Young women had not enrolled themselves under its flag.
While the young men had their flourishing organization,
Italian girls had not been summoned to take an active part in
the social reconstruction of Italy on a purely Catholic basis.
That year something occurred at Milan. At a secondary school
frequented by boys and girls, an atheist teacher said to his
pupils: "None of you, I suppose, is so stupid as to continue
going to Mass on Sunday." This invective was followed by
profound silence. Then five boys rose, and answered boldly:
"We belong to the army of stupids, Professor." The five
students were members of a Catholic organization, and were
able to defend their religious convictions. The girls were
silent.
This episode of religious intolerance was published by the
press, and seriously affected the Italian Catholics. A Milanese
who has become the soul of the Catholic feminine movement
of Italy, Miss Armida Barelli, conceived the idea of organizing
the young women of Italy. She began her work in the diocese
of Milan: "My programme," she writes, "was audacious. I
dreamed of mobilizing all the girls of the diocese, that they
might fight against evil. I intended to educate a great and
beautiful Catholic family, that would be able to infuse Catholic
spirit into the whole diocese and insure new and deeply re-
ligious families. It was necessary to begin with the religious edu-
cation of each girl, and this purpose could not be realized with-
out founding in all the parishes, schools, meeting-houses, and
clubs of young women. The clubs had to become, with the
home and the church, the guiding stars for our young women.
In them, under the direction of their pastors, they had to give
a new impetus to parish life, by promoting its plans, by finding
means to develop their religious, moral, intellectual and social
culture, by grouping themselves around the diocesan Presi-
366 CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY [Dec.,
dent, by obedient action under single leadership. The novelty
of the movement consisted in the social preparation of the
youth to be achieved by themselves. Hence the urgent need
of a school, invested with the mission of drilling spiritually and
technically the young apostles of the movement.
"The school was organized. By patient and admirable
labor it succeeded in training some girls, who looked upon
their propaganda as a missionary work. Humble working
girls, teachers of the public schools, and clerks, willingly re-
nounced their Sunday rest and well-earned recreation, in
order to preach the new crusade to their fellow-girls living in
the towns and villages. Success crowned their earliest efforts.
They entered the lists, either to defend the religious character
of some orphan-asylums, or the freedom of the schools, or to
condemn the excesses of fashion, or to express their veneration
for and fidelity to the Pope, whenever a lurid Socialism vilified
his lofty dignity." 1
The movement of Catholic young women in Italy was
welcomed by the President of the Unione, encouraged and
fostered. It was, however, limited to the diocese of Milan,
where, under the energetic direction of Miss Armida Barelli,
it had enjoyed a marvelous development. Marchioness Patrizi
was not slow to understand its importance. She explained
to Pope Benedict XV. the plans of the Association of the Young
Women in Milan, and the Pope not only approved it, but re-
quested that the movement be extended throughout all the
dioceses of Italy. Thus, he laid the foundation of a new and
powerful association, the so-called "Italian Catholic Young
Women" (Gioventii femminile Cattolica Italiana, known as the
G. F. C. L). Miss Armida Barelli was appointed Vice-Presi-
dent of the Association, which was attached to the Unione as
a branch. The growth of the Gioventii exceeded all expecta-
tions. At the beginning of October, 1919, it existed in seventy-
eight Italian dioceses, and numbered 700 clubs (circoli) with
50,000 members. In the same month a Congress of all the
Catholic women in Italy was held in Rome at the suggestion,
and under the supervision, of the Holy Father. The Unione
and the Gioventii sent 600 delegates to represent their 120,000
members. The Congress was not an empty show. Benedict
1 L'organizzazione femminile cattolica in Italia. Rivista del clero italiano, 1920,
vol. i., pp. 26, 27.
1920.] CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY 367
XV. called it to coordinate the efforts of both associations and
to organize them into a powerful army.
On October 21, 1919, the members of the Congress were
received in solemn audience by the Pope in the Gonsistorial
Hall. The President set forth the purpose of the Association :
We fervently hope that woman, on whom is based the
cornerstone of all civil society the family may derive
from the pure doctrine of the Church an even balance
between her new rights and her unalterable duties, and a
greater force in resisting attempts, often masked and,
therefore, more formidable, made against morals, the in-
dissolubility of matrimony, and the right to liberty in the
education of children. We hope there may be awakened
in the conscience of every woman the desire to know better
the work of the Church, not only throughout history, but,
likewise, in this very hour in which God has called us to
live and labor.
The Pope answered in a touching allocution, tracing the
main lines of the programme of the Catholic Women's Move-
ment. He pointed out that the changed conditions of our age
had broadened the field of activity for woman:
Had attributed to woman, functions and rights which the
preceding ages did not concede her. But no change in
human opinion and no novelty of things or events can ever
withdraw the woman, conscious of her mission, from her
natural centre, which is the family. In the home she is
queen; and even when far from the domestic hearth, she
must direct thither, not alone maternal affection, but also
the solicitude of a wise ruler. She must act as does a
sovereign outside the bounds of his kingdom, who still does
not neglect its interests but gives his best thought and his
deepest concern to it. Rightly, therefore, can it be said
that the changed conditions of the times have broadened
the field of woman's activity. An apostolate in the world
has been added to that more intimate and restricted action
which woman formerly exercised within the domestic walls.
This apostolate must be so conducted as to show clearly that
woman within, as well as without, the home, is ever mind-
ful that her first obligation is to her family.
The Pope praised the numerous activities of the members
of both associations. He urged them to raise the standard of
368 CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY [Dec.,
education, to improve the conditions of family and school,
to cultivate upright and modest living. He expressed special
pleasure in the Young Women's Association, hoping that in a
short time the organization of Catholic Women might spread
throughout Italy. 2
The Holy Father did far more than praise and encourage.
He participated actively in the organization of the movement.
Due to his initiative, the by-laws of the association were re-
vised and modified. In a letter addressed to Marchioness
Patrizi in the name of the Pope, Cardinal Gasparri dwelt
upon the necessity of gathering the members of the Unione
and of the Gioventii under a single leadership that they might
obtain uniformity of action and unity of purpose. To execute
his plans, the Pope instituted the "Italian Catholic Women's
Union" (Unione femminile Cattolica Italiana.)
This new organization comprises two sections: the Cath-
olic Women and the Catholic Young Women. The former
includes married women and single women who have reached
the age of thirty-five years. The second section is composed of
girls of all classes and conditions. Girls from the age of twelve
years and unmarried women to the age of thirty-five may
be enrolled in clubs. Till the age of sixteen, girls are classed
as "aspirants" and have no vote. At sixteen years they become
active members. The Catholic Women are divided into paro-
chial associations or groups (gruppi parrocchiali) , under the
direction of a Diocesan Council; the Catholic Young Women
are formed into clubs, under the direction of the Diocesan
Council of Young Women. By this arrangement, the whole
movement is directed by the Bishops, but has its chief source
in Rome. In fact, Rome is considered as the seat of the Vice-
Presidents of the Unione and of the Gioventii. Both operate
under the jurisdiction of the President-General of the Italian
Catholic Women's Union and of the Superior Council. The
President and the Assistant General are appointed directly by
the Pope, the Vice-President is elected by the delegates of the
respective branches of the Union. Paragraph 20 of the articles
of the Constitution states that the Unione will humbly follow
the direction of the Holy See and its respective Church author-
ities, and that its members will cooperate generously with their
* Ualloeuzioiie del 5. Pa.dre alle rappresentanti dell'Unione Femminile Cattolica
flhrattaferrata, 1920.
1920.] CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY 369
Bishops and Pastors in the defence and development of the
Kingdom of God on earth.
Thanks to the revision of the Constitution, and the ener-
getic efforts of Miss Barelli and her collaborators, the section
of the Catholic Young Women now counts 207,000 members;
the movement has won a footing in more than 200 dioceses.
It increases daily. There are 22,000 parish churches in Italy,
and the chiefs of the movement hope that every one will
have its group of Catholic Women and its club of Catholic
Young Women.
The Young Women's Section is placed under the Patron-
age of the Immaculate Conception, and venerates as special
patrons, St. Agnes, St. Rose of Viterbo, and St. Joan of Arc.
The purposes of this branch are as follows: (a) The intellec-
tual, moral, and social education of girls, in order that in the
life of family and country they may think and act in accord-
ance with Catholic principles and the needs of our age; (b)
To prepare the girls for the noble mission of motherhood and
the sacrifices required today by the religious and social apos-
tleship; (c) To train the girls openly to profess and defend
their Catholic Faith, and to be firm in obedience and devotion
to the Holy See, to cultivate filial love for the Vicar of Jesus
Christ; (d) To encourage young women to engage in apostolic
work in the economic and social life of Italy. In a word, "the
young women are invested with the mission of placing Jesus
Christ in Italian hearts, of training the coming generations
in the way of Our Lord, of preparing a better future, a future
worthy of the noble historic traditions of the Italian race."
It cannot be denied that the present conditions in Italy
are critical. But I do not believe that revolution will triumph.
The War has shaken, undoubtedly, the old foundations of
social life. Peaceful villages have become nests of vipers.
Italian Socialism is even worse than Russian Bolshevism. It
is stamped with hatred of religion, of civilization, of woman,
of all the glories and traditions of Italy. Italian Socialists, if
they were masters of the situation, would not hesitate to
destroy the marvelous cathedrals and monuments built up by
their Catholic ancestors. Even in the eyes of children of eight
years of age I have seen hatred for the clergy, and heard on
their lips the most horrid blasphemies against Our Lord and
the Blessed Virgin.
VOL. cxii. 24
370 CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY [Dec.,
The War has left a canker in the hearts of many Italians,
especially the laborers, in whom Anarchist and Socialist
propagandists and pamphleteers have instilled the slander
that priests and capitalists are responsible for the War. The
efforts of Socialism are bent on uprooting the Catholic Faith,
and its adepts feel that first of all they must ruin the character
and soul of Italian women. In the factories they succeed un-
fortunately in their propaganda and some villages, especially
in the province of Novara, have lost all contact with the clergy
and are practically apostate. The young women are imbued
in the schools with the positivism of De Dominicis, or the god-
less idealism of Lombardo Radice and Gentile. Every weapon
is used, and when the press, the school, and blasphemy fail to
accomplish their end, violence is freely resorted to by the
Socialists to wrest Catholic women from the arms of the
Church.
In the midst of this chaos, the Association of the Italian
Young Women is organizing its army. The task is extremely
difficult. Some of the members of the Association are con-
fessors of the Faith. Tomorrow they may be its martyrs, en-
riching with their blood the sterile soil of some provinces of
Italy. I know some girls in the province of Novara that have
been expelled from the factories because of their devotion to
Catholic principles; others that have been struck and beaten,
insulted, ostracised in their villages, forced to go each morning
to another village to receive Holy Communion and, without
perhaps being aware of the precedent, to receive, like the early
martyrs, the Blood of the Saviour to strengthen their souls unto
battle. And these girls, who are legion in number, do not
cease their fearless apostolate. They give of their scanty re-
sources to the heads of the movement. They organize their
clubs. They circulate pamphlets. To be acquainted with their
heroism, one needs to read the official organs of the Gioventii,
the Bolletino dell' Unione fra le Donne Cattoliche d'ltalia, and
Le Nostre Battaglie. In the columns of these journals, we can
follow step by step the growing development of the Italian
Catholic Woman's Movement, one certain to affect every phase
of the social life of Italy, and to clear the lowering horizon.
The story of the activities of the Italian Catholic Young
Women's Association is one of the most brilliant pages of
Italian Catholicism. They show that in spite of all short-
1920.] CATHOLIC WOMEN IN ITALY 371
comings, Italy is still a nation of great Catholic heroism and
virtue. With regard to the religious education of the Italian
children, the girls have already begun to replace the clergy,
who are prevented by the spread of Socialism from as active
work as they would wish in this field.
These women will carry out the programme of their As-
sociation. And we have no better words with which to close
this article than those of Rev. Francesco Olgiati, a pioneer
guide of the movement, closing a chapter of his book, The
New Horizon of Young Women:
"In vain will fierce and shameless barbarians rush with
destructive onslaught against this new association, which sings
of the eternal youth of Christianity. In vain will the satanic
madness of corrupt souls assail the living temple of God, the
sanctuary of great genius. Human hands will not overthrow
our own cathedral, where in the midst of the flowers of love
and garlands of lilies the hojy Host shines forth, while the
Supreme Pontiff raises up his pure hand, and blesses the faith-
ful, while above, crowned with glory, the flags of our army,
the banners of all noble ideals wave in the air. Around the
temple we hear the outcry of irreligious madness, as in the
earliest days of nascent Christianity, Rome heard the cry:
'The Christians to the lions!' Rut, as before, even today, a
choir of harmonious silvery voices will spread its song every-
where. Men may be able to raze to the ground the marble
cathedral; yet they will never destroy the cathedral, whose
stones are the hearts of young Catholic womanhood." 3
* I nuovi orizzonti della gioventii femminile, Milano, 1920, p. 252. I. Rosa,
II femminismo cristiano, Rome, 1900. L. Anzoletti, La donna nuova, Milan, 1898.
G. Biederlack, La questions femminista, Rome, 1910. L. Caissotti di Chiusano,
Femminismo cristiano, Turin, 1912. A. Bettazzi, La protezione della giovine, Turin,
1912. G. Alberione, La donna associate allo zelo sacerdotale, Alba, 1915. A. Seraflni,
L'apostolato catechistico della donna nell' ora presente, Rome, 1920.
JEHOVAH!
BY JULIAN E. JOHNSTONE.
I.
ANCIENT of Days! here mid these lofty hills,
These rugged rocks, that dark as thunder frown
Here mid the mighty voice of roaring rills
That leap and sweep the noble mountain down,
Thou leavest large, magnificent and grand
The awful impress of Thy Mighty Hand!
II.
Ancient of Days! Upon this rugged height,
Thine awful Footprints on the rock I see!
And on the mountain-wall Thou didst indite
Deep trenched the Records of Eternity!
Yea, on the precipice mid seam and scar
Thy Name is written luminous as the star!
III.
Ancient of Days, deep in the forest-glooms
Thine Awful Shadow on my spirit falls!
And in the cataract that roars and booms
I hear the Voice that through creation calls,
The solemn Voice, that through the Vaults of Time
Rolls and reverberates with tone sublime!
IV.
Thou livest yet, though Science knows Thee not!
Thou reignest yet, and from the fiery cloud
Speakest to nations that have long forgot
The Laws Thou gavest in the thunder loud!
Yea, by the Voice of Terror and of Night
Thou speakest to the heart bowed down in fright!
1920.] JEHOVAH 373
V.
Still Thy great Trumpet on the tempest blows!
Thy wrath is felt when the volcano wakes!
Thy Glory glitters in the Sunset-Rose;
Thy Power is seen when the proud city shakes;
Beneath Thy thunder-stroke, and town and tower
Grumbling to dust, evanish in an hour!
VI.
Thou strikest still upon Thine anvil vast,
The myriad stars that flame along the sky
Thou ridest yet upon the roaring blast
As when the prophets heard Thee rushing by!
Earth, Sun, and all the stellar worlds of light
Confess and own Thy Majesty and Might!
VII.
Ancient of Days, upon Thy harp of rain
The poet sees Thy Golden Fingers fly
And harking, hears the beautiful refrain
Thou flingest to the winds that wander by,
Till with a look of gladness and surprise,
The Rainbow lifts his head into the skies!
VIII.
How different, O Lord, that Harp of Light
To the loud thunder-trump that Thou shalt blow,
When, clad in all Thy Terror and Thy Might
Thou shalt to Judgment call the world below;
And at Thy dreadful Words, "Wake, Earth, Awake!"
The graves shall open, and the mountains quake!
THE LOYALIST.
BY JAMES FRANCIS BARRETT.
CHAPTER VI.
ATHER! Father! Where are you? Arnold has
betrayed! He has betrayed his country!"
Breathless, Marjorie rushed into the hallway.
It was late afternoon of a September day. The air
was soft and hazy, tempered with the chill that
comes just before sundown.
More than two months had passed; months crowded with
happiness. Her engagement to Captain Meagher had been an-
nounced; their marriage was to take place in the fall, a bare
month distant.
On this September afternoon, while she was visiting the shops
in search of tempting and choice bits of feminine finery, she
heard the blast of a trumpet coming from the direction of the
old Governor's mansion. The sound recalled instantly to mind
a former occasion when the news of the battle of Monmouth was
brought to the city by courier and announced to the public in
this way. Quickening her steps, she hurried towards the ven-
erable building. A man was addressing the people who had con-
giegated beneath the balcony. Straining every faculty she had
caught the awful news.
Straightway she sped homewards, running as often as her
panting breath would allow. She did not wait to open the door,
but burst through it.
"What was that, child?" her father asked quickly as he met
her in the dining room.
"Arnold . . . Arnold . . .," she repeated trying to catch her
breath.
"Has betrayed, you say?"
"West Point."
"My God! We are lost."
He threw his hands heavenwards and started across the floor.
"What is it, Marjorie?" asked her mother who now stood in
the passage way, a corner of her apron held in both hands,
wonder and suspicion in her eyes.
"No, father!" the girl replied, apparently heedless of her
mother's presence, "West Point is saved. Arnold has gone."
1920.] THE LOYALIST 375
"Let him go. West Point is still ours? Thank God! He is
with the British, I suppose?"
"So they say. The plot was discovered in the nick of time.
His accomplice was captured and the papers found upon him."
"When did this happen?"
"Only a few days ago. The courier was dispatched at once
to the members of Congress. The message was delivered today."
"And General Arnold tried to sell West Point to the British?"
commented Mrs. Allison, who had listened as long as possible to
the disconnected story. "A scoundrel of a man."
"Three Americans arrested a suspicious man in the neighbor-
hood of Tarrytown. Upon searching him they discovered some
papers in the handwriting of Arnold containing descriptions of
the fortress. They took him for a spy."
"I thought as much," said Mrs. Allison. "Didn't I tell you
that Arnold would do something like that? I knew it. I knew
it."
"Thank God he is not one of us," was Mr. Allison's grave
reply. "His act would serve to fan into fury the dormant flames
of Pope Day."
"This is an act of vengeance," Marjorie reflected. "He never
forgot his Court-martial, and evidently sought his country's ruin
in revenge. Adversities he could contend with; humiliation he
could not endure."
The little group presented strong contrasts. An under-current
of excitement thrilled the young girl's entire frame, flushing her
cheeks and sparkling in her eyes. Her youth and inexperience,
her guileless mind and frank open manner had not prepared her
for the enormity of the crime which had flashed full upon her.
At first she sensed only the magnitude of the tragedy without its
atrocious and more insidious details. To her father, composed
and imperturbable, the disclosure of this scheme of blackest
treason was but another chapter added to the year of disasters
now drawing to a close. His more astute mind, schooled by long
experience, had taught him to view the transit of events with a
certain philosophy, a sort of pragmatic philosophy, which looked
to the causes and the results of events and how they bore on the
practical utility of all concerned. Her mother, in her devout and
pious way, saw only the Holy Will of God working in all things
for His own praise and glory.
"And they found the dispatches in his own writing?" the
father asked slowly.
"In his stockings, beneath the soles of his feet."
Again there was silence.
376 THE LOYALIST [Dec.,
"He is a prisoner?"
"Of course. He was arrested for a spy. They say he is an
adjutant in the British Army. He was in full disguise."
"Hm!"
Mr. Allison set his lips.
"I think," continued Marjorie, "that it was the effect of a
stroke of good fortune. He was taken by three men who were
lying in wait for robbers. Otherwise he might have continued his
journey in safety and the plot would have succeeded."
"Thank God and His Blessed Mother!" breathed Mrs. Allison
as she clasped her hands together before her in an attitude of
prayer.
"And Arnold?" methodically asked Mr. Allison.
"He escaped to the British lines. I do not know how, but it
seems that he has departed. The one important item, which
pleased and interested the people was the capture of the spy and
the 'frustration of the plot."
Her father rose and began to pace the room, his hands behind
him.
"It is a bad blow. Too bad! Too bad!" he repeated. "I
do not like it, for it will destroy the courage and confidence of
our people. Arnold was the idol of the army, and I fear that
his defection will create a great change of heart."
"The army will be better off without him," said Mrs. Allison.
"I agree with you," was the reply. "But the people may
decide in a different manner. There is reason for worry."
"What was the effect of Lee's attempted treason?" spoke up
Marjorie. "The people loathe him, and he will die an outcast."
"There is no punishment too severe for Lee. He has been
from the start nothing but a selfish adventurer. But the cases
are not parallel. Lee was never popular with the army. Arnold,
you must remember, was the most successful leader in the field
and the officer most prized by the Commander-in-Chief."
"Nevertheless, he will sink as fast as he rose, I think. The
country must not tolerate a traitor."
"Must not! But will not the circumstances alter the case?
I say that unless the proofs of Arnold's treason are irrefutable,
the people will be slow to believe. I don't like it. I don't."
There was some logic in his argument which began to impress
Marjorie. Arnold could exercise a tremendous amount of in-
fluence over the army. Whether the strings of loyalty which
had united their hearts with his, would be snapped by his act
of perfidy was the mooted question. As a matter of fact a spirit
of mutiny was already manifest. The following January, the
1920.] THE LOYALIST 377
soldiers of Pennsylvania encamped on the heights of Morristown,
marched out of camp and set out for Philadelphia. They
were rebuked by Washington, who sent a letter by General
Wayne. Thereupon they returned to their posts. Later in the
same month another mutiny occurred among the New Jersey
troops, but this, too, was quickly suppressed. Just how much
responsibility for these uprisings might be traced to Arnold's
treason cannot be estimated. Unquestionably, his act was not
wholly unproductive of its psychological effects.
"I feel so sorry for Peggy," Marjorie sighed.
"The young wife has a sore burden thrown upon her. A
sorry day it was when she met him," was Mrs. Allison's comment.
"Strange, I never suspected Peggy for a moment," Marjorie
said. "I had been raised with her, and thought we knew one
another. I am sorry, very sorry."
"We do not know how much she is concerned in this," an-
nounced Mr. Allison, "her ambition knew no restraint or limita-
tion. She has her peerage now."
"And her husband?"
"The grave of a traitor, the sole immortality of degraded
ambition, religious prejudice, treason and infamy."
"God help him!" exclaimed Mrs. Allison.
In July, 1780, General Arnold had been placed in command of
West Point; two months later he was safe on board the British
sloop-of-war Vulture. He had attempted to betray his country;
he received in exchange six thousand pounds sterling together
with a brigadiership in the British Army.
From the time he left Philadelphia until the morning of his
flight he had kept up a continual correspondence with John
Anderson. Information was at length conveyed to him that Sir
Henry Clinton was in possession of advices that the American
Commander-in-Chief contemplated an advance on New York by
way of Kingsbridge. Clinton's scheme would allow the army of
General Washington to move upon the city, having collected all
his magazines at the fortification at West Point, but at a given
moment Arnold was expected to surrender the fort and garrison
and compel the army of Washington to retire immediately or else
suffer capture.
Still Arnold felt that everything was not quite settled be-
tween Sir Henry and himself, and wrote accordingly, advising
that a written guarantee be forwarded or delivered in person to
him by an officer of Sir Henry's staff of his own mensuration.
He was informed in reply that the necessary meeting might be
378 THE LOYALIST [Dec.,
arranged, and that the emissary would be the Adjutant General
of the British Army.
Accordingly the British sloop, Vulture, moved up the river as
far as Stony Point, bearing the Adjutant General. Arnold had
fixed on the house of Joshua Smith as the place of meeting. On
the night of the twenty-first of September, he sent a boat to the
Vulture, which brought the emissary ashore, In a thick grove
of cedars, under cover of night, Arnold waited the return of the
row boat, its oars muffled with sheepskins, its passenger on board.
The latter sprang lightly to the shore, his large blue watchcoat
and high boots alone visible. As he climbed the bank and ap-
proached the grove, he threw back his cloak and revealed the full
British uniform of a general officer.
"Anderson?" Arnold exclaimed. "You?"
"No! Andre, Major Andre," was the reply.
"Hm ! I thought as much. I suspected you from the moment
I met you in Philadelphia."
"Come. Let us finish. I must return before daybreak."
"Where is your disguise? I advised you to come in disguise."
He understood the piercing glance.
"I have come thus under General Clinton's orders," was the
reply. "My safety lies in open uniform."
"Let it go at that. Here! I have with me the plans of West
Point, with a full inventory of its armament and stores and a
roster of its garrison."
Andre took the papers and glanced at them as best he could
by means of the lantern light.
"But I do not see here a written promise to surrender the
fortress?"
"No! Nor, by Heaven, shall you receive it," Arnold snapped.
"I have given my word. That is enough. I have already placed
myself in your hands by these plans and inventories made in my
own handwriting. This is all ... No more."
"General Washington visits here on Saturday?"
"Yes."
"The surrender must take place that night."
Arnold looked fiercely at him. This was intolerable. To
betray his country was treason; to betray his friend and bene-
factor was something for which he found no adequate word in
the English language. He refused absolutely. Andre insisted,
and the discussion became violent.
Neither was conscious of the dawn breaking through the
thicket of fir trees which bounded the opposite bank of the
Hudson. The details were not yet arranged; Arnold's reward was
1920.] THE LOYALIST . 379
still unsettled. There had been various promises of compensation,
maintenance of military rank, a peerage or a viceroyalty in one
of the Colonies, but Andre was not empowered to offer more than
compensation and military rank. With the dawning light, the
boatmen became alarmed and refused to take Andre back to his
ship, so the two conspirators were obliged to remain in the house
of Joshua Smith until the next night.
That day occurred an unforseen accident. Livingston, the
Colonel of "Congress* Own," in command of the batteries on the
opposite side of the river at Verplanck's Point, opened fire upon
the Vulture, compelling her to drop down the river. Major
Andre was, therefore, obliged to proceed by land down the oppo-
site shore to meet with his vessel. Late at night he departed, his
uniform and coat exchanged for a disguise, the six papers in
Arnold's handwriting crammed between his stockings and feet.
It also happened, by a strange irony of fate, that a party of
American soldiers had set out that very morning to intercept a
band of robbers who had infested the roadways of this neighbor-
hood, and who had rendered the highways impassable because of
their depredations. Near Tarrytown, three of this party con-
fronted a passing traveler, and leveling their muskets at him,
ordered him to halt. They were obeyed on the instant, and be-
cause of the suspicious manner of the stranger, a complete search
of him w T as made. The papers were found and he was placed
under arrest and sent to North Castle. There the papers were
examined, and, instead of being sent to General Arnold, were for-
warded to his Excellency, who was known to be lodged at West
Point. A complementary letter was sent to General Arnold in-
forming him of what had taken place.
He was at breakfast when the news was brought him. The
letter was crumpled in his hand as he hastily arose from the table
and rushed to Peggy's room to acquaint her of his fate. She
screamed and fainted. He stooped to kiss his sleeping child;
then rushed from the house, mounted, and was soon on his way
to the place where he knew a barge had been anchored. Jumping
aboard, he ordered the oarsmen to take him to the Vulture,
eighteen miles down the river. Next morning he was safe within
the enemy's lines at New York.
The minute details of the attempted plot had not filtered into
Philadelphia when a demonstration began to celebrate its frus-
tration. Spontaneously and exuberantly, the citizens of the city
gathered in the public square, and for several hours the joy-
making continued with unabated energy and enthusiasm. The
380 THE LOYALIST [Dec.,
full realization of what this news meant broke like a rushing
tide upon their consciousness. The country had been threatened;
the danger had been averted.
In a few hours the streets were mad with hundreds of people
singing and shouting and marching in unrestrained glee. Bulle-
tins posted in the public square acquainting the people of the great
facts, paled before the news relayed from mouth to mouth, grow-
ing in detail and magnitude as it went. Chains, trays, broken
iron were dragged in rattling bundles up and down the streets
amid the laughs and cheers of the mass of humanity swarming
upon the roadways and sidewalks.
Marjorie and her father were among the early arrivals on
Market Street. Little by little, items of information came to them
as they talked with their many acquaintances. Out of many and
varied accounts one or two points stood out prominently Arnold
had attempted to surrender the fortress while Washington was
lodged there in the hope that complete disaster would befall the
American cause; he had completed negotiations with the British
emissary, known as Major Andre, but whom the people of Phila-
delphia had known as John Anderson, a frequent visitor of
the Arnolds during their stay in the city. This officer had been
taken prisoner by the American forces and the papers found
upon him: while Arnold and his wife had escaped to the British
forces in the city of New York.
When the gayety seemed to have attained its climax, a
procession began to wend its way through the howling crowd.
There was no attempt at regular formation, the multitude trailing
along in whatever order pleased them. In the midst of the line
of march, two gaunt figures towered aloft over the heads of the
marchers, the one bearing a placard upon which was scrawled
the name, "Arnold the traitor," the other, "Andre the spy."
These were carried, with great acclaim, several times around the
city, and finally burned in the square amid cheers and huzzas.
Thus satisfied, the crowd gradually began to disperse. It was
late when Marjorie and her father turned homewards. The watch-
man at the corner announced the hour: "Eleven o'clock and
Arnold is burned."
The frenzy of the mob was responsible for the violence of
the celebration, nevertheless many sober and composed indi-
viduals looked on in silent acquiescence during the riotous pro-
ceedings. Arnold had fallen to the lowest ebb of infamy and con-
tempt; his past services were entirely forgotten.
Mount Pleasant was not permitted to remain idle. It was
seized by the city authorities and rented to Baron Steuben, the
1920.] THE LOYALIST 381
discipliniarian of the American Army and the author of its first
Manual of Arms. The household furniture was removed and
offered for sale at public auction, while the coach and four was
bought by a trader at the Coffee House. Arnold's presence in the
city was no more than a memory a memory, and a sad one.
"He would never escape the fury of that crowd," Mr. Allison
observed to his daughter as they journeyed homewards.
"They would surely put him to death."
"If they ever lay hands on him they might, perhaps, cut
off his wounded leg, but the rest of him they would burn."
She considered.
"I can scarce believe it it seems too awful."
"Well! I never could see much good in a bigot. A man with
a truly broad and charitable soul has no room in him for base
designs. Arnold would crucify us if he could, yet we have lived
to see him repudiated by his own."
"After all God takes care of His own. Even the sparrow does
not fall to the ground."
Plainly the spirit of the evening had awakened a serious
vein of thought in the two. It was a tragedy intimately inter-
woven with pity and compassion. The fate of the two principal
actors, the courageous Arnold and the ambitious Andre, could not
fail to touch their hearts. Their lot was not enviable; but it was
lamentable.
"And John Anderson, too," said Marjorie, "I cannot believe it."
"When the truth is known I am of the opinion that he will be
more pitied and less condemned. Arnold was the chief actor.
Andre" a mere pawn."
"How brilliant he was! You remember his visits? The
afternoon at the piano?"
"Yes. He was talented. But to what purpose?"
"I am sorry."
And so were many.
CHAPTER VII.
"Stephen, wilt thou take Marjorie here present for thy law-
ful wife, according to the rite of our Holy Mother, the Church?"
Audibly and distinctly resounded the voice of Father Farmer
throughout the little church as he read from the Roman Ritual
the form of the sacrament of matrimony.
"I will," answered Stephen deliberately.
"Marjorie, wilt thou take Stephen here present for thy law-
382 THE LOYALIST [Dec.,
ful husband, according to the rite of our Holy Mother, the
Church?"
"I will," was the soft response.
The two then joined their right hands and repeated one after
the other the pledge by which they took one another for man and
wife; Stephen first, then Marjorie.
"I, Stephen, take thee, Marjorie, for my lawful wife to have
and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us
part."
Solemnly and reverently the priest raised his right hand over
them as he pronounced the blessing.
"Ego conjungo vos in matrimonium, in nomine Patris, et
Filii, et Spiritns Sancti, Amen."
The ring having been blessed before them, Stephen placed it
on Marjorie's finger, saying the prescribed words, after which
they awaited the prayers of the priest. Father Farmer turned
to the altar and at once began the Nuptial Mass, according to the
ceremony of the Catholic Church, and pronounced over them the
Nuptial Blessing.
Thus ended the marriage ceremony.
It would be difficult to describe the feelings of Marjorie as
she turned from the sanctuary and made her way down the aisle
of the little church. Her hand lay on Stephen's arm, but it seemed
to her as if she were hanging from it. She was happy; but she
was extremely nervous, and felt extremely self-conscious.
It had been intended that the affair should be charmingly
simple, both on account of the sad and melancholy days through
which the country was passing and the desire of the parties con-
cerned to avoid display. Their names had been published at three
public Masses; the Catholic Church required that. They had
been married by Father Farmer with a nuptial high Mass. The
wedding breakfast would be served at the home of the bride.
But the number of invited guests would be limited strictly to the
members of the family and one or two intimate friends, so as to
include Jim Cadwalader and Sergeant Griffin. There would be
no honeymoon on account of the uncertainty regarding Stephen's
movements.
Only when the little party, Marjorie and Stephen's sister, her
maid of honor, and Stephen and Sergeant Griffin, his best man,
had settled down into the coach, did Marjorie become composed.
A great sigh of relief escaped her as she sat back, her bouquet in
her hand, and looked at the dispersing crowd. She could not tell
1920.] THE LOYALIST 383
yet whether she was happy or not; the excitement had not sub-
sided enough to allow her to regain her self-possession and
equanimity. Stephen was by her side. That was about all she
knew or cared.
Stephen was in his characteristically reticent mood. He had
already observed that he would have endured another Valley
Forge w 7 ith greater pleasure than the ordeal of a wedding cere-
mony. He was wearing for the first time a new full dress uni-
form of buff and blue. The interested spectator might have dis-
cerned, too, that he wore also a new insignia of rank. He was
now a Major of the Continental Army, having received that pro-
motion, for distinguished service, upon the recommendation of
His Excellency, who accompanied it with a warm message of con-
gratulation upon his approaching marriage. Nevertheless, he was
unmoved, betraying but one concern: the most trivial wants
of his blushing and timid bride.
Even in this moment of joy, pure and unalloyed, he could
not banish from his mind the memories of the past two years,
years crowded with events in his life and that of his beloved.
There was, indeed, much to be thankful for, and a prayer of
praise rose from his heart to the Giver of every best and perfect
gift.
The American Revolution had unfolded a wonderful story, a
story of anti-Catholicism, of persecution and prejudice, which had
yielded, step by step, to complete freedom of action and religious
liberty. The Church was at length free, free to gather her chil-
dren into congregations where she might speak to them and in-
struct them without any fear. Now she was at liberty to fulfill
her mission of winning souls to Christ. True, her children were
widely scattered, a bare twenty-five thousand out of a population
of about three million, whose wants were administered to by no
more than twenty-five priests. Yet out of this little body there
emerged a people, honorable, respectable, and of such conse-
quence as to deserve commendation from the First President for
"the patriotic part taken in the accomplishment of their Revolu-
tion and the establishment of your government," and to cause to
be inserted in the Constitution of the new Republic the clause that
"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any
office or public trust under the United States." There was much
still to be desired; but the foundations had been laid, and the
prospect for the future was auspicious.
And so they rode through the city streets joyfully, merrily,
light-heartedly. Conversation, interspersed with laughter "and
jocularity, literally ran riot, so impatiently did each attempt to re-
384 THE LOYALIST [Dec.,
late what was uppermost in his or her mind. The ceremony, the
music, the procession, the crowd obtained their due amount of
comment, until the arrival of the coach at the Allison home.
"A health, ladies and gentlemen, to the bride. May she live
long and never form the acquaintanceship of sorrow!"
Stephen's father had arisen from his chair and with his goblet
held before him addressed the company.
The toast was drunk with evident pleasure. Then Mr. Alli-
son arose.
"To Major Meagher, that his brilliant career be only the
commencement of a life of extraordinary achievement!"
This was followed by a round of applause. Stephen smiled
and bowed his head, but it was plain to be seen that his father's
chest had expanded more than an appreciable trifle. Marjorie
was happy and whispered a word to her sister-in-law seated by
her side. Of the jolly group, all bent on doing honor to the happy
couple, none were more so than Jim Cadwalader and his wife.
"I tell you," said Jim, "they're a right fine pair."
"I am afraid, Jim, you have not forgiven me quite for ex-
cluding you from that meeting," Stephen suggested.
"I'm the proudest man this side o' the river t' think I gave
you me clothes. You'd never got on widout me."
There was an outburst of laughter.
"You would have been captured, had you gone in there. I
saved you."
"Yes, an' the girl, there, did it. Don't ye furgit that either.
I'll tell on y'," replied Jim, nodding his head emphatically. "She
got me caught."
"Jim!" Marjorie exclaimed loudly.
"Now do not lay the blame on her," Stephen cautioned with
a smile. "You yourself were only too anxious to get there. You
wanted to see yourself in a new uniform."
"I did, then. I was terr'bly anxious to see meself in a red
suit, wasn't I?"
The company enjoyed this exchange of repartee and laughed
continually. And so they talked far into the morning. They sat
in groups of two and three long after the table had been cleared.
As the guests departed one after the other, leaving behind
them many benedictions and choice wishes for the bride and
groom, the house settled down to its accustomed quietude. The
immediate family, Jim and his wife alone remaining. Jim, like
every recognized master in his own household, sat with his one
leg across the other, enjoying his tobacco, while his helpmate
1920.] THE LOYALIST 385
turned her attention to the kitchen. Everyone betook themselves
to their accustomed occupations. The festivities were at an end
and the practical things of life again asserted themselves with
stern reality.
At length Stephen and Marjorie were alone, alone in their
own little world of fancies and dreams. They were standing by
the upstairs window looking out at the little fence where they
had stood together more than two years before on the afternoon
of his arrest. Stephen recalled his impressions of her 'then, yet
she was more beautiful now, he thought. She had changed her
gown of white for one of pink, and as she stood there, her lips a
little parted in a tiny smile, her color heightened, her bright eyes
looking out into the memories of the past, she seemed for all the
world to Stephen like an enchanted being.
"What are you thinking of, girlie?" he asked as he stood
behind her, his arm about her waist.
There was no response.
"Tell me, won't you?" he pleaded.
She continued to gaze into the roadway.
"Aren't you happy?"
"Oh! Yes. . . Yes. . . I was never so happy. I. ...Li ."
"What is it? Please, tell me. I fear that you are disturbed
over something."
She did not answer, but turned and seized the lapels of his
coat with both her hands. Then she raised her face to his and
looked straight into his eyes.
"I was thinking how much I have really cared for you without
ever knowing it."
"Is that all?" he laughed, as he folded his arms about her.
"And how unkind I have been to you all the while."
"There ! There ! You must not say that again. Promise me
you will not so much as think it."
Again there was silence, but only for a moment.
"But I must have hurt you often. And to think that I never
realized it."
"You are happy now, aren't you?"
She looked up again with only love in her eyes.
"Stephen!" she whispered.
She was lost in his embrace and felt only his breath against
her cheek.
The world lived in them.
[THE END.]
VOL. cxu. 25
IRew Boohs*
POINTS OF FRICTION. By Agnes Repplier. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co. $1.75.
Always Miss Repplier's writing has been characterized by a
substantial intellectual quality on which the mind may lay satis-
fying hold, and through her pages blow the cool and invigorating
airs of common sense. Her gift is not so much subtlety or spark-
ling cleverness as a certain mental robustness which hardily
faces the facts, however disagreeable, and offers sane, and saving,
comments upon them. Her poised intelligence rejects alike the
flabby consolations of the sentimentalist and the sardonic delights
of the cynic. This latest book of hers is no exception to its
predecessors in the possession of those qualities which have
made her work distinctive but with a difference. For the years
of war and horror and upheaval have had a telling effect upon
her. In one of the present essays Miss Repplier, referring to
Stevenson, Johnson and Lamb, speaks of "the combination of a
sad heart and a gay temper, which is the most charming and
lovable thing the world has got to show;" and while it would not
be precisely correct to say that the sad heart is evident in these
pages to the extinction of the gay temper, still the phrase points
us to the truth, namely, that Miss Repplier's judgments are here
given a graver utterance and her humor has a less buoyant and
pervasive air than is usual with her. Nor is this to be wondered
at, since, as she says herself, "the world of thought is not one whit
more tranquil than the world of action. The man whose 'mind to
him a kingdom is' wears his crown with as much uneasiness as
does a reigning monarch."
Miss Repplier is no friend of the hackneyed idea or the worn
expression, and here, as always, she gives us fresh thought and
exercises her command of the apt phrase, as where she says:
"If belief in the perfectibility of man is the inspiration of liberal-
ism, of radicalism, . . . sympathy with man and with his work
... is the keynote of conservatism;" or in this acute observation
on Burke's conservatism: "It was Burke's passionate delight in
life's expression, rather than in life's adventure, that made him
alive to its values. He was not averse to change: change is the
law of the universe; but he changed in order to preserve;" or
this telling stroke: "The intensely British desire to have a moral
and, if possible, a religious foundation for a political creed would
1920.] NEW BOOKS 387
command our deepest respect, were the human mind capable
of accommodating its convictions to morality and religion, instead
of accommodating morality and religion to its convictions." Nor
is there wanting that sly and pleasant acridity which escapes the
charge of ill humor by its liberal presentation of truth, as in the
remark that "reforming optimists, who, ten years ago, bade us
rejoice over the elimination of war 'save on the outskirts of
civilization' now bid us rejoice over the elimination of alcohol
save on the tables of the rich."
Miss Repplier upholds many wholesome truths which in these
days seem in danger of oblivion, and her ironic shaft pierces
many a sham notion high in popular esteem. Her personal re-
actions to men and events are set down clearly and delightfully,
and the noble art of the essay suffers at her hands neither diminu-
tion nor dishonor. Points of Friction is a stimulating and emi-
nently readable book.
THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF GRACE. By G. H. Joyce, S.J.
New York: Benziger Brothers. $2.00.
Father Joyce believes that there is a widespread desire to
possess a clear knowledge of what the Church teaches regarding
the Faith. "It is to meet the need of such readers, who constitute,
I am inclined to believe, no inconsiderable body, that the present
work has been written. In it I have sought to set forth the
Church's teaching on Grace, avoiding as far as possible the tech-
nical terminology and the citations of authorities which are cus-
tomary in works on divinity, but which mean little or nothing to
those who are not already grounded in that science."
It is no mean praise to take the author's ideals as the state-
ment of his achievement. In the present instance this can be
done, in all truth and justice. The matter of Grace is difficult and
filled with many things that the unwary wrest to their own
destruction. Yet under Father Joyce's skillful touch, the way
seems ever clear and easy. The difficulties are not absent they
cannot be. But the issues are set forth clearly, and the reader
finds neither confusion nor difficulty in penetrating as deeply as
may be into the things of God.
One point is notable, and may be recommended even to those
who have labored "through the mills of theological schools."
Father Joyce does not picture Grace as a nebulous metaphysical
abstraction. It is not a mysterious thing defined only by nega-
tions. Rather, he sets forth the doctrine in the positive terms
used by the Fathers of the Church as an actual reality, myster-
ious, yet capable of clear conception; unfathomable, yet definite in
388 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
conception. It is adoption by God, incorporation into Christ, co-
heirship with Christ, a participation in the divine nature. To
understand this life with God is to penetrate into the living spirit
of the Gospels and Epistles to regain the personal union with
God and with Christ which is the soul of religion. It was the
loss of this that brought the world of our day into its present
throes of pure naturalism.
THE MAKING OF AMERICA. By F. C. de Sumichrast. London:
P. S. King & Son.
Mr. F. C. de Sumichrast, who identifies himself as a one-time
associate professor of Harvard and an officer in an English cadet
regiment, has written his Making of America with the expressed
purpose of bringing about not merely better relations between
England and America, but the essential reunion of the two coun-
tries. In a word it is British propaganda of the post-war type.
Decrying the prejudice, passion, distortion of the past with
the resultant bitterness engendered, the writer rejoices that a new
American, or rather a new school, is teaching an Anglo-Saxon
conception of history. What true Briton should not rejoice?
This shifting of the emphasis is all very well to a certain extent,
but if one fears to emphasize the causes and events of the Amer-
ican Revolution, the Second War for Independence, the trying
Anglo-American relations in the roaring forties, the British aid
to the Confederate States, the Venezuela episode, the Behring Sea
and Alaskan disputes, one is not teaching a virile Americanism.
On the other hand, historical students do not sing the old song
of hate, holding up England as the hereditary enemy ever ready
to destroy American liberties.
Some writers in a laudatory attempt at historical impartiality,
in a desire to appear detached and free from the limitations of
mere nationalism, have gone to the extreme in glorifying the
Anglo-Saxon element in our history, belittling the causes of co-
lonial opposition, questioning the motives of the patriots, lauding
the loyalists, urging tawdry economic motives on the part of the
framers of the Constitution, passing lightly over the autocratic
leanings of the Federalists, charging radicals and the West with
forcing the War of 1812, overlooking the treasonable Hartford
Convention, finding political intrigue and pulling of the lion's tail
in the national period, cautiously blaming England's attitude in
1861, hesitating to assert our full boundary claims, questioning
the value of immigration, stressing English friendship in 1898,
and accepting as deeply sincere the hands across the sea policy,
which German aggression forced. Today there are those who
1920.] NEW BOOKS 389
read our past in terms of imperial federation and who would
teach a new internationalism.
Mr. Sumichrast is urging this philosophy of Anglo-Amer-
ican relations in an appeal to his English readers. With this in
mind, "facts" are stated and evidence is marshaled most plausibly.
His method is skillful, yet his motive is plain. Englishmen are
to be taught that the best minds of the United States are not
narrowly American, but willing to minimize the ideals of 1776,
throw overboard the time-honored policy of isolation and the
Monroe Doctrine, and overlook two wars and two threatened
wars. Then the concluding essays on the "Hundred Years'
Peace," and "Traditions and Ideals" are artfully compiled to
round out the general conclusion, that America should stand- un-
hesitatingly with the British Empire.
THE ART OF INTERESTING: ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE.
By Rev. Francis Donnelly, S.J. New York: P. J. Kenedy &
Sons. $1.75.
The topic is a live one and essential to every writer or speaker
who has a message. But the author of such a book as this must
prove himself before he merits the right to formulate precepts.
Unlike Horace in his office of critic, the author who presumes to
tell how to be interesting, must, by all means, spare his own
reader the slightest ennui. In this, as in his preceding books,
Father Donnelly stands the test well. He presents his thoughts in
a brisk and energetic style, and approaches nearest, amongst our
Catholic writers, to the ideal of making the written word equal
the spoken in intensity. He is, moreover, well qualified to write
on this subject, for he is a rhetorician of wide experience, who
bases his literary conclusions on sound reasoning. He has a deli-
cate appreciation of the best in literature and a genius for pene-
trating beneath the polished work of art to discover the artistry.
The book is cast into a series of essays, connected in greater
or less degree with the main topic of how to secure attention.
After some chapters on the need of gaining an interested audience,
and the nature of the general principles that beget attention, he
studies the methods of some authors who have been successfully
interesting. St. Paul, Newman and Pardow are chosen as types
for pulpit oratory. Macaulay and Chesterton are analyzed for
their essay style, and Father Tabb for poetry. The purpose of
these chapters is quite evident, but the conclusions might have
been bound closer to the main topic of the book. The greatest
single aid in securing interest is the Imagination, and so the later
chapters are devoted to a discussion of this faculty and its de-
390 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
velopment. The appeal of the book is general to any who wish
to attract and hold attention. Perhaps the success of this volume
may lead the author to advance a step and prepare a manual
devoted to the development and practice of effective pulpit elo-
quence.
THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA. Edited by Dr. Allen Johnson,
Professor of American History in Yale University. New
Haven: Yale University Press. Fifty volumes at $3.50 per
volume by the set.
Fight for a Free Sea, by Ralph D. Paine. Professor Paine re-
counts the story of the War of 1812, its land campaigns, well
illustrated with charts, its sea engagements, its successes and
failures. There is a recognition that in the last analysis the war
was in a large sense an enduring victory, a valiant contest for
endangered freedom, a declaration of defiance to Great Britain
on the high seas, and a vitalizing of American nationalism. Gen-
erals Hull, Dearborn and Wilkinson may have been inefficient,
even to the point of cowardice in the first named, but the fron-
tiersmen in the ranks fought with characteristic courage. Mr.
Paine emphasizes, as General Wood has done so thoroughly, the
lesson in unpreparedness which the nation in its pride of strength
failed to learn. Commanders were decrepit Revolutionary
veterans sunk in sloth or intemperance, or political appointees;
enlistments were short; authority was confused; discipline was
lacking. Hence the fiasco in which the invasion of Canada re-
sulted. He condemns unhesitatingly the Federalist treasonable
opposition to the war, "Mr. Madison's War," and notes the re-
fusal of Massachusetts and Connecticut to contribute their militia,
as also actual aid given the enemy by the border farmers and
contractors who gladly sold supplies and munitions. Nor does
Mr. Paine pass over without heed the Westerners' charges that
the war was in part caused by British aggression on the frontier,
if not by Indian raids planned by British agents and factors, as
much as by violations at sea of free trade and sailors' rights.
It is of Perry on Lake Erie, of Macdonough on Lake Cham-
plain, of Captain Bainbridge and of Captain Isaac Hull that Mr.
Paine writes charmingly, gloriously. Their brilliant deeds arouse
his instinct for the sea, his hero-worship of sea-faring men. With
them this writer of delightful sea stories is at home.
The Agrarian Crusade, by Solon J. Buck. This volume will
disappoint the student who is familiar with Dr. Buck's scholarly
Granger Movement, published several years ago as an Harvard
1920.] NEW BOOKS 391
dissertation. It is doubtful if this essay contributes anything in
the way of added information or new interpretation. It is ob-
viously a hurried piece of work, well enough written, but with a
tendency to triteness and wordiness.
The first chapters dwell upon the rise and fall of the Granges,
their opposition to railroads and middlemen, their failure to do
more than arouse class consciousness in the farmer and direct
attention to certain real railroad abuses in the maze of imaginary
grievances. In a chapter on the Greenback Party there is passing
reference to the Liberal Republican episode of 1872. Suggestive,
but not original is the consideration of the farmers' plight in the
hard years of the seventies and Democratic nineties, due to over-
expansion, land speculation, oppressive mortgages, high trans-
portation rates, and declining prices. Appreciating the full sig-
nificance of this cycle, {he reader will understand the agrarian
discontent expressed in the Farmers' Alliance, Populist Party, and
finally in the Western revolt under Bryan in 1896. Untutored in
economic principles, the farmer chased the sunbeam of cheap,
inflated money through the greenback and free silver epochs, al-
lowing socialistic hatred of Wall Street and bond holders to sway
him from his true salvation, bigger crops and better transporta-
tion facilities. Populism naturally appealed to the Kansas farmer
who, forced by the high price of coal to burn his unmarketable
corn, read Eastern market quotations of high priced corn. Agra-
rian discontent was justified. Yet bumper crops soon caused
grievances to be forgotten, just as Alaskan gold discoveries made
the sixteen to one free silver issue an idle shibboleth.
An account of the present radical, socialistic Non-Partisan
League should be included in this essay. Certainly it is an agra-
rian movement, although some of its followers are drawn more
by pro-German, anti-military leanings. Possibly political pressure
in a strongly Scandinavian section might prevent one associated
with the Minnesota Historical Society from writing the whole
truth of history.
Many interesting radicals and lovable idealists mentioned in
connection with the various leveling movements might well have
been characterized at some length. For instance, the rich, philan-
thropist, Peter Cooper, Horace Greeley and his old white hat, Wil-
liam R. Taylor, Granger-Governor of Wisconsin, and the natural
radical, Ignatius Donnelly, bolter from several parties and sup-
porter of Bacon versus Shakespeare, yet one whom fellow Cath-
olics should remember for his successful attacks against A. P.
A. ism in Minnesota. Then there was Denny Kearney of the Cali-
fornia sand lots who led the crusade against the Oriental, James
392 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
Buchanan, the laborite, General James Weaver of Iowa, the un-
conventional "Sockless Jerry" Simpson of Kansas, Susan Anthony,
pioneer in a recently won cause, Henry George, Mary Lease of
Kansas, first female campaigner, Senator Peffer of Kansas, whose
flowing beard amused an earlier generation, Governor Altgeld of
Illinois, who loved the gentle Haymarket anarchists, General
Goxey, who like another Wat Tyler led a motley crew to Wash-
ington, and the peerless veteran of Nebraska. Picturesque figures,
every one of them, challenging a writer to draw their portraits.
The Canadian. Dominion, by Oscar D. Skelton. Wisdom
marked the selection of Mr. Skelton as the interpreter of Canada
to an American audience. Known as a student of the Dominion
history through his Life and Times of Sir A. T. Gait and The
Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Mr. Skelton has written an illuminat-
ing study of Canadian development from its English acquisition,
when Voltaire could part so lightly with "the few arpents of
snow" to the Great War, when 400,000 men offered themselves
without conscription. It is not easy reading, its compactness
and length of chapter prevent that. However, it is never con-
fusing, difficult as it must have been to entwine the provincial
sketches with the story of the Dominion as a whole. While
thoroughly Canadian and more intensely patriotic than the self-
styled scientific historians may favor, Mr. Skelton is broad
visioned, never provincial, featuring neither the West nor the
Maritime Provinces, nor Ontario to the loss of Quebec, nor
eulogizing Anglo-Saxon to the discredit of the French, not under-
estimating Mr. Borden in comparison with his own Liberals, Mac-
donald and Laurier, and not attacking Nationalists because of his
own conviction in favor of Imperial Federation with Canadian
safeguards. To write impartially of Quebec Nationalists and
Ontario Orangemen and of the language and separate school
questions, required the restraint of a scholar. Emphasis is laid
upon the economic side, immigration, land grants, railroad con-
struction, but not on labor.
In the early period, one sees the failure of the Anglicization
policy, that attempted to re-make French Catholic habitants into
Englishmen, and Churchmen, through the rule of a few hundred
corrupt "carpet-baggers." Fortunately for Canada, General Mur-
ray, who as governor associated with the aristocratic and cultured
seigneurs and priests because of his dislike of the fanatical Tory
element, urged upon the Lords of Trade: "Little, very little will
content the New Subjects, but nothing will satisfy the Licentious
Fanatics trading here but the expulsion of the Canadians, who are
1920.] NEW BOOKS 393
perhaps the bravest and best race upon the Globe, a Race who
could they be indulged with a few privileges, which the Laws of
England deny the Roman Catholics at home, would soon get the
better of every National Antipathy to their Conquerors and become
the most faithful and useful set of men in this American Empire."
Murray was withdrawn in favor of General Guy Carleton, who
also detested the new "Yankee notions" and successfully urged
like counsel upon Lord North. Bishop Briand, consecrated in
Paris, was permitted to take charge of his diocese and the tolerant
Quebec Act was enacted. This Quebec Act, roundly condemned
in New England pulpits as a compact with the devil and a blow
at Puritan democracy, made the province of Quebec British, even
if less English. One has but to suggest the cold reception, which
the Revolutionary commission received even though associated
with Chase and Franklin were Carroll and the young Jesuit priest,
later Bishop Carroll, or the cooler reception the appeal of Admiral
d'Estaing met. One might cite the courageous defence of Lower
Canada in the War of 1812, the loyalty accorded England in the
Napoleonic Wars, the failure of the Church to support Papineau
in the 1837 Revolt, and the French repugnance to the Annexion-
ists' programme in 1849. Indeed, the Quebec Act and the excesses
of the French Revolution made of the French in Canada a new
people, a nation canadienne. The author has no sympathy for the
Yankee Loyalist and Anglo-Saxon attempt to bedevil Quebec,
realizing that it was this movement, commencing about 1806,
which forged the issue, "notre langue, nos institutions, et nos
lois." But then, did not Derby and Carson teach the Sinn Fein?
There is a secret boast of Canadian valor in 1812, though the
author is more inclined to feature the Rush-Bagot Convention of
1818, which made possible our unfortified border of three thou-
sand miles.
The "Fight for Self-Government" is the caption of the second
chapter dealing with the period up to the Federation. It was a
time of heavy British and Irish immigration, forced by: "Corn
laws and poor laws and famine, power-driven looms that starved
the weaver, peace that threw an army on a crowded and callous
labor market, landlords who rack-rented the Connaughtman's last
potato or cleared the Highland glens of folks to make way for
sheep, rulers who persisted in denying the masses any voice in
their own government." Of education, we are informed that the
primitive schools of Upper Canada, while well financed, were
manned by broken-down pensioners and clerical tipplers, whereas,
"In Lower Canada there was an excellent system of classical
schools for the priests and professional classes, and there were
394 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
numerous convents which taught the girls, but the habitants were
for the most part quite untouched by book learning." The Revolt
of 1837 is treated briefly as important in forcing the ministry
to consider grievances and the necessity of granting more self-
government, leading to something finite in Lord Durham's Report.
Between the years 1840-1855 the various provinces won the
struggle for local self-government with responsible Cabinets and
the complete separation of the Anglican Church from the State.
In considering the Canadian attitude toward our Civil War, the
writer, in his desire to advance the English-speaking community
of interests idea, urges with dubious accuracy: "In Britain as in
Canada, opinion, as far as it found open expression, was at first
not unfriendly to the North."
In the "Day of Trial" there is narrated the success of the
federation movement under Sir Etienne Tache, "John A." Mac-
donald, the Premier of a generation, Gait, Cartier, McDougal, and
D'Arcy McGee. In this connection Bishop Tache is accredited
with quieting the Indians and half-breeds of the Red River region,
which entered the Dominion as Manitoba. The concluding chapter
sums up the Laurier ministry, the vast economic expansion, rail-
road construction, the opening of the West, immigration prob-
lems, Asiatic exclusion, the victory of Sir Robert Borden, and the
Canadian wavering between nationalism and imperialism. Amer-
icans can agree with the author's proud account of the Canadians
at St. Julien, Ypres, Givenchy, St. Eloi, Vimy Ridge, and Lens.
THE RESCUE. By Joseph Conrad. New York : Doubleday, Page
& Co. $2.00 net.
A new book by Joseph Conrad, especially a new full-length
novel, is a literary event of the first significance, for Conrad is not
merely a fine artist; it becomes increasingly clear that for depth
and beauty of emotion, and nobility in the utterance of it; for
profound insight into human motives and moods and unfailing
skill in the analysis of them, there is no living writer of English
who can enter into comparison with him. The Rescue is char-
acterized by that extraordinary grasp of reality and breadth of
outlook for which Mr. Conrad is famous. It is full of his passion
for humanity, his friendly irony, his thoroughgoing conscious-
ness of the dramatic relationships of man amid the large and
awful forces of nature, the wonderful imaginative glamour with
which he is wont to invest all his scenes and characters. This
novel is unique among its author's books in that it was first begun
many years ago and only recently finished, about half of it the
first half belonging to the Nigger of the Narcissus period. In
1920.] NEW BOOKS 395
The Rescue there is the finish and precision of style which come
into his work about the time he wrote Chance, and there is, as
well, the opulent glow of his writing in the earlier tropical tales.
No one ever succeeded in summarizing the contents or telling the
story of a Conrad novel, and we do not propose to attempt it here.
To do justice to one of Conrad's novels requires the amplitude of
space of a long critical article rather than the reviewer's brief
paragraph. Confirmed Conrad "adicts" will not need to be
tempted to buy a new work of the master. To those who have
not yet entered this enchanted land of real romance and romantic
reality, it will be sufficient to say that these pages are as rich wine
unto the brackish water of nine-tenths of the fiction imposed upon
the public since Joseph Conrad published The Arrow of Gold,
the novel which preceded The Rescue.
CARLETON'S STORIES OF IRISH LIFE. With an introduction
by Darrell Figgis.
MARIA EDGEWORTH. Selections. With an introduction by Sir
Malcolm Seton, K.C.B.
THE COLLEGIANS. By Gerald Griffin. With an introduction by
Padraic Colum. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
These three volumes are American editions of that interest-
ing series, published in Dublin, entitled Every Irishman's Library.
All three are adequately, the Griffin book brilliantly, introduced by
the editors, and one hopes for a wide sale for them in America.
Of these three writers of fiction, perhaps Carleton wears best.
His Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry remain, after all,
the most artistic performance in what may loosely be called
Anglo-Irish prose fiction; and it is almost true to declare, as
Mr. Darrell Figgis roundly does, that Carleton's Fardorongha
"remains yet without a greater amongst Irish novels." (But one
wonders if the editor has not overlooked that great novel, The
Threshold of Quiet, published within the last couple of years
by Daniel Corkery.) We may note that the late D. J. O'Donoghue,
who knew more than anyone else in the world about the Irish
literature that has been written in English, and who wrote a
splendid biography of Carleton, shared Mr. Figgis' opinion.
Sir Walter Scott himself laid particular stress on the fidelity
of Miss Edgeworth's drawing of Irish character, and welcomed
the appearance of her work as an antidote to the caricatures of
Irish life even then prevalent. At its best that work has value,
but it must never be forgotten, as Mr. Stephen Gwynn has pointed
out, that "she wrote of the Celtic Irish with the keen and not
396 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
unkindly insight that a good mistress possesses into the virtues
and foibles of her servants . . . For all that gave significance
and value to the history of the Irish Celt she . . . cared nothing."
In other words, she wrote always from the standpoint of the
"English garrison'* in Ireland. Illuminating as are her occasional
notations, she remained always an outsider looking in.
It is, after all, by The Collegians that Gerald Griffin's name
survives in the history of letters. It is a minor Irish classic.
But by no artistic standard can it be praised as a novel. "We
move," says Mr. Colum, "through Munster and are shown Munster
life and character in such variety that we feel for a while that
the story has the spaciousness of the old national novels of Eng-
land and Spain." It is a wonderful series of shifting scenes, but
there is no unity. The dramatic quality of certain episodes has
long been recognized and portions of the book have appeared in
play form as Boucicault's Colleen Baivn, and in the form of opera
as Benedict's Lily of Killarney. Griffin had a most vivid imagina-
tion, a considerable gift of style, a keen dramatic sense, and an
ardent love for the traditions of Ireland and of his native Munster
in particular; but he possessed little or no sense of form and his
work suffers accordingly.
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH IRELAND. By Ruth Russell.
New York: The Devin-Adair Co. $1.75 net.
The author of this little volume presents vivid pictures of
present-day Ireland. She visited that stormy country, lived with
the poor, both in city and country, talked with its leaders, and saw
its sufferings and oppressions.
She succeeds in rousing our sympathy for the poor working
girls of Dublin, and the other unfortunate people of the city and
the bog-field. But when she takes up the political, she seems
unable to do justice to her subject. What is worse, she gives the
impression that the efforts to free Ireland are the efforts of those
seeking to set up a Sovietized, Russianized Ireland, and that their
work to erect a republic is but a Marxian means to establish a
Soviet government later. She states that she found "a Soviet
supported by the Catholic Church" in Limerick. Perhaps this is
all innocently given under a loose use of the word, "communism,"
but even this can hardly be an excuse.
There is no doubt Miss Russell's intentions are good, but it is
doubtful if such books as this will help Ireland's cause. Eamon
De Valera has written a foreword of praise. It may be well de-
served, though it is not apparent in a reading of the book with the
exception, possibly, of the first chapter.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 397
THE CAIRN OF STARS. Poems by Francis Carlin. New York:
Henry Holt & Co. $1.50.
Francis Carlin's first poetic volume, My Ireland, won many
friends who will gladly give a Christmas welcome to this second
vintage of his work. And they will find it all very tuneful and
pleasurable and wholesome, even if the more rare and mysterious
promise of certain earlier poems is not entirely fulfilled. That
is to say if it be not "to consider too curiously!" they will find
less of what we understand by Celtic inspiration in the present
book, although it is almost wholly Irish in matter and manner, too.
But if Mr. Carlin makes slight attempt to interpret the age-
old mysticism, and the old yet frightfully contemporaneous
tragedy of his race, he does so with artistic wisdom, since un-
doubtedly his greatest felicity is reached in simple songs of
peasant life such as "The Beggar's Blessing," or the ironic
"Holiday," or "The Newsmonger," with its tale of
A simple man who yet may be
Conspicuous in eternity . . .
And here and there one welcomes flashes of rich and unique
fancy, as when Mr. Carlin gives the brief surprise of "Ferns:"
Fire o' the Turf,
You had little to do
When you withered the ferns
In the frost on the pane;
For dead are the flowers,
Once yellow like you,
That warmed the lane I
THE ODES AND PSALMS OF SOLOMON. By Rendel Harris
and Alphonse Mingana. Vol. II. The translation with intro-
ductory notes. Manchester: The University Press.
The second volume of this work contains the translation and
interpretation of the Odes and Psalms of Solomon. The text
was published in a previous volume. A critical introduction
deals with the main questions of the time, the place, the original
tongue in which the Odes and Psalms were written. The trans-
lated text, with copious notes and exhaustive interpretation, forms
the main part of the work. The Odes and Psalms were originally
not one work; they were written by different authors and in dif-
ferent languages. The Odes are, however, probably derived from
one source; the entire collection is the work of one man or at
least of one school of thought; the unity of thought is clearly
evident in them. In the opinion of the authors, the Odes were
probably written originally in Syriac. Many scholars do not
accept this view. The arguments advanced are nevertheless
398 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
cogent, if not entirely conclusive. The Psalms were composed
originally in the Greek. The Odes were written very likely at
Antioch in the first century. The Odes were bound up with
certain Greek Bibles and probably grouped with other writings
attributed to Solomon; the strong influence of Sapiential books
furnished an additional reason to suspect that their author at-
tempted to continue the Solomonic tradition. In the main outlines
the New Testament teaching regarding Christ is followed. Christ
is frequently the chief speaker in the Odes, still the Christology
is not always strictly orthodox. In two Odes (21 and 36) Christ
is spoken of as one of the "Divine Neighbors" or again, Christ is
called "one of these that are near to God." The Holy Ghost is
said to be subordinated to Christ.
The Odes and Psalms were frequently quoted by the early
Fathers; and it is the opinion of the authors of this volume
that the text of these writings was used in the churches, or in
devotional meetings of the Western Syrians. Most of these com-
positions are very beautiful, deeply religious and highly poetic.
The authors of this volume have given the reader a scholarly
study of this rather important series of ecclesiastical songs of
the first century. The work shows a wide and intimate acquaint-
ance with the literature of the first centuries of the Christian era.
JOAN OF ARC, SOLDIER AND SAINT. By I. A. Taylor. New
York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons. $1.60.
This excellently written Life of the Soldier-Saint is compre-
hensive in its appeal. Its style is sufficiently mature to hold the
attention of grown-ups, yet lively enough to interest the boy or
girl between fourteen and eighteen. The author has made good
use of the historical material at command and has woven it into
a fascinating narrative. A list of the authorities consulted would
have given it the touch of exactness required in any treatment,
however popular, of such a subject. The illustrations, by W.
Graham Robertson, are charming, but the dress in which the book
appears is dowdy. It is a pity that our Catholic publishers some-
times lag behind others in the important matter of cover design.
BOBBINS OF BELGIUM. By Charlotte Kellogg. New York: Funk
& Wagnalls Co. $2.00 net.
Bobbins of Belgium is a well illustrated and well written
book of three hundred pages, telling interesting facts about lace
and the lace industry in Belgium and France. It concerns itself
with the technique of lace making to an extent that rouses the
interest of the ordinary reader, and the facts about the working
1920.] NEW BOOKS 399
conditions, wages, and schools for lace makers will be of special
value to students of economics and social sciences. The author,
as a member of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, has much
to say of the destruction wrought in the lace making towns by
the German forces and of the heroic work of the women who
formed the Lace Committee, which managed the importing of
thread, the exporting of the finished product, and the rationing
and general care for the lace makers many of them little chil-
dren, ignorant farm wives and old women. The diagrams of
various types of lace will be of interest to all who buy this
"product of patience," and the human troubles throughout the
account will appeal to everyone.
AMERICAN WORLD POLICIES. By David Jayne Hill. New
York: George H. Doran Co.
The reader's judgment of the present volume will doubtless
depend largely upon his sympathy with or hostility to the League
of Nations. Unhappily the question of American participation in
the League has been dragged into the arena of partisan politics,
and instead of being considered on its merits, it is in large part
being defended or attacked with predetermined convictions. Two
chief issues are presented : is it expedient for the nations to under-
take the establishment of any form of international organization
which shall subject the member States, when disputes arise be-
tween them, to the decisions of an international council or tri-
bunal; and secondly, does the existing League of Nations amount
to the establishment of such a super-government?
Dr. Hill answers the first question in the negative. He be-
lieves that the development of international law should be brought
about by the voluntary engagements of the contracting parties,
and that the treaty-making power is competent to accomplish
this without resort to an international legislative body. In a
chapter entitled "The Nations and the Law," the issue is presented
as a choice between "a union of Powers strong enough to impose
its will upon other States" and the free cooperation of nations
"disposed to bind themselves to the acceptance and observance of
definite legal principles." The question naturally arises, however,
why it was that international law failed in the past to develop
into an adequate body of law by such processes, and what reason
is there to think that the course of development will be different
in the future under a similar system? International legislative
and judicial bodies, competent to make and enforce common
rules for the nations, present, indeed, serious difficulties, and
they must, as an actual fact, encroach upon the time-honored
400 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
sovereignty of the States, but the experience of the past twenty
years would seem to show that nothing less than some inchoative
form of international government will be able to stem the rising
tide of modern nationalism.
The second question is answered by Dr. Hill in the affirmative.
The League of Nations, he thinks, amounts to the establishment
of a super-state, and thus comes into conflict with the Constitu-
tion of the United States. Not only did the President's method of
handling the Treaty encroach upon the constitutional functions of
the Senate, but the provisions of the League itself encroach upon
the powers of Congress. The argument is based chiefly upon
Article X. of the Covenant which pledges the United States to
defend the territorial integrity of the members of the League, and
which, it is claimed, thereby takes the decision to make war out
of the hands of Congress and places it in the hands of the Council
of the League, upon which the United States is represented by
an appointee of the President, not of Congress.
Dr. Hill's argument is presented with all the skill of an expe-
rienced political writer, but the impression is conveyed that he
is putting a microscope upon the Covenant of the League and is
looking for trouble in every line, without offering anything more
constructive than the old order in return.
DEMOCRACY AND IDEALS. By John Erskine. New York:
George H. Doran Co.
In this collection of addresses and papers, several of which
were prepared for the American Expeditionary Forces in France
in 1918-1919, the author attempts to define the character of
American democracy and the ideals which it seeks to attain. He
points out that America, being made up of peoples from many
lands, is lacking in that bond of tradition which holds the people
of France or of England together; and, in consequence, if America
is to become and remain a nation, it is necessary that its citizens
should have a definite conception of the objects of their democracy
and should work together for the attainment of that common end.
Education is stressed as the chief means by which the coming
generation can be made to realize the problems of the community
as a whole, so as to create in the individual citizen an under-
standing of, and sympathy with, his neighbor's needs, which must
be the bond of union of American democracy. Scattered here and
there through the volume are observations showing a thoughtful
understanding of American problems, but the generalizations
suitable to public addresses seem somewhat commonplace in their
published form, when the inspiration of the occasion is past.
1920.] NEW BOOKS 401
MEXICO IN REVOLUTION. By V. Blasco Ibaiiez. Translated by
Arthur Livingstone and Jose Padin. New York : E. P. Button
& Co.
The various articles ten in all in this volume were written
for the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and other important
newspapers in the United States on the author's return from a
flying trip to Mexico. They give us the Spanish novelist's impres-
sions of the late revolution in Mexico in which Carranza lost his
life and Obregon came into power. Ibaiiez must have deceived
his Mexican friends very cleverly, for had they had any suspicion
of the unflattering portraits he was to paint of them, they would
certainly have had him face the firing line. The volume is a bitter
denunciation of the militarists who have made Mexico a byword
among the nations, and a strong indictment of the cruelty and
ignorance of the simpleton, Carranza, the tortuous Gonzalez, the
megalomaniac Obregon, the murderous cattle thief Villa, the ob-
scure nonentity Bonillas.
The cause of the last revolution was the uprising of Obregon
and Gonzalez, two generals aspiring to the Presidency, against a
stubborn President, Carranza, bent on imposing by violent means
a civilian candidate, Bonillas, upon the people. The author well
says: "Carranza may have been an evil influence, but his con-
querors are men of the same school, without perhaps his vigor
and persistance of personality. It is useless to expect anything
now from men like Obregon and Gonzalez. You might as well try
to make a new suit of clothes out of the cloth already rotting
and moth eaten."
CAUGHT BY THE TURKS. By Francis Yeats-Brown. New
York: The Macmillan Co. $2.00.
This is a thrilling tale told by a captain in the British Aerial
Force, then operating along the River Tigris below Bagdad.
With a pilot, he started out to cut the telegraph lines west and
north of Bagdad with the intention of intercepting communica-
tion between Nur-ed-Din, the commander-in-chief defending Bag-
dad, and Von der Goltz, who was hastening with reinforcements
for the defence of Ctesiphon, which site the British were on the
point of attacking. The machine that they used was an old
Maurice Farman biplane in which the aviators had little con-
fidence. After cutting the wires, the daring aviators attempted
to rise from the ground in their biplane upon the approach of
Turkish troops, when, to their dismay, they found that the engine
would not work. They were immediately captured and brought
to Bagdad. Then followed their long term of suffering and pri-
VOL. cxn. 26
402 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
vation as prisoners of the Turks. After making a daring escape,
Captain Brown was recaptured, but with great skill and no little
courage, he made another attempt and finally succeeded this time
by boldly walking out of the prison town.
The book reads like a novel written by Louis Tracy or E.
Phillips Oppenheim, and makes one feel that truth sometimes is
stranger than fiction.
HIGH COMPANY. By Harry Lee. New York: Frederick A.
Stokes Co.
One does not need to turn many pages of Captain Lee's little
book to realize that its author sings of the things whereof he
knows. To one whose daily walks have led through the halls of
the "Base," and whose daily converse has been with the brave lads
who tenanted its bare, clean wards, these pages breathe of intimate
experiences still fresh in memory.
A good deal has been written of the trenches; much less of
the operating-room and the hospital bed. Yet the latter made
their special demands quite as difficult to meet as the former
though less spectacular, which is as it should be. So High Com-
pany fills a niche all its own, and those who read it will love and
laugh and cry with its boys in khaki. For most of us the poem
called "Trees," will have particular interest, since it has to do
with "McGovern of the old Sixty-Ninth," to which Joyce Kilmer
belonged. Says McGovern, quite simply, "He was me Friend y'
know." It is splendidly dramatic.
INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS. By John Roscoe Turner,
Ph.D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. $2.50 net.
Professor Turner is so successful in the art of introducing
that his Introduction to Economics imparts a delight that is closely
akin to the grasp of a welcome hand. The work contains the
substance of lectures on economics given at Cornell and New York
Universities. He aims to impart a knowledge of fundamentals in
a manner that will rivet the attention to the matter under dis-
cussion. Questions at the end of each chapter serve as power-
ful thought-stimulants.
From a brief historical sketch the writer passes to a pleasingly
panoramic exposition of what he considers basic in the present-
day workings of production, banking and allied subjects. Nor-
mally dry discussions spring to life through illustrations so fas-
cinating that the reader repeatedly finds them as valuable as expe-
rience and as enjoyable as cartoons.
The author would seem to be anxious to prescind from moral
1920.] NEW BOOKS 403
implications, and to be one with Yves Guyot in regarding economics
as unmoral, and consequently as having nothing to do with ethics.
To declare that "private property today rests upon the one ground
of social expediency," and to contend that "ideas continually
change as to what is right," is not only involving ethics, but also
throwing open the doorway of human action to pragmatism. In
the chapter on "Population and the Supply of Labor," one sees,
with sadness, at least considerable prognostic ruin to be wrought
by the canon of convenience in such a passage as this: "Our
state knows no durable system of caste: 'wide stairways are
opened between social levels, and men are exhorted to climb if
they can/ If children impede the climbers, prudence will take
care that children are not born." Would it not be a better brand
of prudence to plan a greater and a more equitable distribution of
supplies for the greatly dreaded giant called population, rather
than to devise insidious schemes whereby to starve and
shrivel his powerful proportions, to meet the exigencies of a wily
distribution that may be both inadequate and unfair because of
the exercise of individual and social injustice?
THE ADVANCING HOUR. By Norman Hapgood. New York:
Boni & Liveright.
This is Norman Hapgood's message to the youth of America.
In it he preaches the gospel of liberalism. He is strong in his de-
nunciation of reactionary capitalism and its subservient press.
He feels sure that Marxian Socialism has not and cannot succeed.
He points to the beneficence of a liberalism in our social, indus-
trial and international relations as the means of preventing the
abuses of unconscionable Capital and making unnecessary any
attempts at a Socialist state.
Mr. Hapgood condemns the attempts by other nations to de-
feat the Sovietism of Russia. Instead of crushing it, he holds
that their actions have merely given the Soviet leaders an excuse
for the failure of their government, whereas the Soviet regime, if
left alone, would have failed because of its inherent weaknesses.
The author admires the efforts of President Wilson, and is a
strong advocate of the League of Nations. He feels that war is
brutal and unnecessary. He condemns the work of the propa-
gandists in the late War, and speaks harshly of the press because
of its suppression of the truth and its opposition to an intelligent
liberalism.
Mr. Hapgood is not a Socialist so-called. He examines the
merits of that party, and finds that it is strong only when point-
ing out the weakness and injustice of the present system. Its
404 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
weakness lies in the inherent evils of a vast bureaucracy; he holds
the cure lies rather in the cooperative movement. As examples
of each he cites the Cooperatives of Russia and the Non-Partisan
League in the Western States.
Mr. Hapgood always writes interestingly even though his
words may not be based upon the soundest philosophy. At times
it is very difficult to believe him when he disavows that he is a
Socialist, for a great many of the remedies he recommends would
inevitably lead to a state not far removed from that invisioned by
the most ardent Socialist.
THE COBBLER IN WILLOW STREET, AND OTHER POEMS.
By George O'Neil. New York: Boni & Liveright. $1.25.
For its sheer absorption in beauty and its snaring again and
again of that fair fugitive, The Cobbler in Willow Street, would at
any time be notable. As the work of a poet barely in his twenty-
second year, it becomes outstanding. Poems such as "The Blos-
soming Dogwood" ring with the authentic lyric ecstasy; and
equally lovely, although in complete contrast, is the delicate word
painting and shy psychology of the free-verse vignette, "La Petite
Naive." Mr. O'Neil is as yet unburdened with a "message" or
interpretation of life, and not particularly touched by introspec-
tion. He is, in fact, a rather detached young artist, singing the
beauty of life's pageant, not probing its pain, and scarcely seeking
the truth which may underlie it. What the future will do to him
and to his muse is a thing one feels tempted to watch with almost
tremulous interest, for his possibilities are unusual. One may at
least hope without presumption, on the external side, that a poet
so capable at his best of that "last rub which polishes the mirror,"
will not be unduly captured by the present day illusion of the
ellipse . . . the eloquence, for instance, of such serviceable but
somewhat overworked phenomena as the Three Dubious Dots!
THOUGHT BLOSSOMS. By "Marise." West Chester, Pa. : Horace
Temple. $1.00.
It is improbable that any American nun is writing verse of
more real vitality and originality than she who prefers to be
known simply as "Marise" of the Immaculate Heart. The present
little volume contains many apt religious meditations, but it de-
serves particular attention because of the fresh insight, the min-
gling of human and divine reaction in its nature poems: "Our
Lady of the Harvest Time," for instance, or that charming fan-
tasy, "Ghosts of the Corn." And to see that "Mariae" is more than
ordinarily successful in the quatrain, one need look no further
than "Star Flowers."
1920.] NEW BOOKS 405
POLAND AND THE MINORITY RACES. By Arthur L. Goodhart.
New York: Brentano's.
The title is a bit pretentious for what is scarcely more than a
series of impressions made upon the counsel to the Mission ap-
pointed by President Wilson to investigate the killing of Jews
in Poland. The formal report of the Mission, covering a nine
weeks' visit to that country in 1919, is on file with the State
Department at Washington.
Captain Goodhart's diary holds the reader's attention from
the first page to the last. Occasional humorous anecdotes en-
liven an otherwise rather sordid recital. While preferring to
hold that a much longer first-hand acquaintance than one of nine
weeks is necessary to an adequate understanding of any nation's
problems, we are nevertheless prepared to admit that the picture
presented for our inspection is not a pretty one. The root of the
racial antagonisms it depicts lies far back in the centuries, and it
is hard to forecast how slow or how swift will be the process of
reconciliation. On the whole, the chronicler is fair to the Church,
and in more than one passage he pays tribute to the vitality of the
ancient Faith as visibly manifested in the land of Our Lady and
St. Casimir.
A PATRIOT PRIEST. By Rev. D. Riordan, C.C. Dublin: M. H.
Gill & Son, Ltd.
In this little book of sixty-four pages there is compressed the
matter of a great biography; but although one may regret that the
life story of an Irish priest, whose patriotism was only second to
his religion, has not been done at full length, yet the short sketch
is so meaty and so interesting in itself as to deserve warm com-
mendation and a wide reading. It is especially valuable just now
in that it will give American readers an opportunity to come close
to the soul of Ireland, and thus be in a better position to under-
stand the apparent complexities of the troubled situation in Ire-
land at the present time. The little book tells the story of Father
Casey, the parish priest of Abbeyfeale, in County Limerick, who
died in 1907. For nearly forty years Father Casey not only at-
tended to the spiritual duties of a large parish with scrupulous
care, but he also regulated the public affairs of Abbeyfeale, and
became a great protagonist in that many-sided effort of the Irish
people to reunite their forces and to oppose the native Gaelic cul-
ture and ancient civilization to the alien flood of Anglicization.
Materialism, Landlordism, and especially Protestantism, were the
three weapons used by the invaders, and against these Father
Casey opposed the Catholic Faith and the traditions and spiritual
406 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
>
fervor that were the dearest treasures of his oppressed people.
It was against Landlordism in particular that Father Casey
struggled; triumphing in the end, at least so far as Abbeyfeale
was concerned. His labors in this field and in many others are
vividly narrated; and although the portrait of this patriot priest
may be only a miniature, it is life-like, and a revelation of the
true source of that power which the Irish priest possesses with
the people to whom he is such a true and faithful leader and
friend.
A TANKARD OF ALE. By Theodore Maynard. New York:
Robert McBride & Co.
Mr. Maynard's latest publication is "an anthology of drinking-
songs from the fifteenth century to the present day," and is, as the
publishers sub-acidly note, "offered to American readers in the
hope that it will provide a spiritual carousal for those to whom is
denied a spirituous one." There are no American drinking-songs
in this volume. With the exceptions noted, all the great praises
of the vine are here : all the old favorites, all the alcoholic classics.
We are grateful for the late Cecil Chesterton's superb "Ballade of
Professional Pride," for E. C. Bentley's "Last night we started
with some dry vermouth," for Mr. Maynard's own immortal, "I
would not sell my noble thirst." Two there are of Hilaire Belloc's
di inking songs, but where is his "Wine is the drink for Catholic
men, Benedicamus Domino!'' from The Path to Rome?
THE THREAD OF FLAME. By Basil King. New York: Harper
& Brothers. $2.00 net.
The power of Mr. King is suggestive rather than descriptive.
He indicates the story of a soul's rebirth, and it is for us either
to enter into this renaissance or to content ourselves with the
rather interesting externals of the situation. In discussing the
loss of memory, Mr. King touches on a subject of which we have
read before, yet not with sufficient frequency to stifle interest.
There is a something altogether baffling about the thing, a mys-
tery pregnant with possibility. We feel once more the spell of
the interest which in Dear Brutus held us fast: Will a man
who suddenly beholds his past in the light of true perspective
continue his old existence in new fashion, or will he, insight for-
gotten, tread heavily once again the old path and dull? In
Billy's case it is unnecessary for Mr. King to tell us that the
vagabond days have left their mark of deeper perception. We
who have known his experiences need no written assurance.
Billy returns to the old environment only because Vio at last
1920.] NEW BOOKS 407
forgets all save her love for him, and because of her final realiza-
tion that the man whom she has spurned is yet her life. She
will certainly lose nothing through her subjugation, for mean-
while her husband had faced in utter misery unsuspected depths
of life, attaining a development both unusual and satisfying. He
had experienced the dependence of his own nothingness upon
an all sustaining power his Creator. Ever an idealist, he had
learned at last that love, the basis of life, is also the leaven of
human nature.
Basil King has made very real the experiences of Billy's
inner self and of his mind clever enough for all its lack of
brilliance. We should perhaps be grateful that he has given us
but the average son of a noble tradition as he discovers himself,
not the light of a small group, but one of a great, hurrying multi-
tude of men.
ANNE. By Olga Hartley. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. $1.90.'
Anne isn't like anybody we ever knew, in fact or fiction.
Perhaps it is this unusualness which makes her at first seem
unreal, more like spirit than flesh a sprite full of odd caprices,
who provokes us who desire to love her to disappointment and
disapproval. But through all her shortcomings she holds our
interest, and we condone her faults in reverence for her extra-
ordinary purity, a purity which is a touchstone for the purity of
others, a purity which makes us sure she is going to find herself,
and that the self will be one worth finding. This is brought to
pass in a chapter which we could wish might be the last, for the
one which follows is something of a come-down.
The author's handling of the heights and depths of the story
towards its climax deserves high praise for restraint, for absence
of sensationalism while it yet holds and thrills.
The dialogue is good, and the minor characters, even those
who play the smallest parts, are well portrayed. Catholics will
like the glimpse of the old priest, Father Meredith, who comes and
goes in less than two pages. They will like the other glimpse of
the profundity of the Catholic doctrine of the Atonement. Cath-
olics who are converts will enjoy the confession of the awkward
self-consciousness of the convert in making the announcement
that he is one. If this is Miss Hartley's first book it has won a
welcome beforehand for her next.
SONGS AND SONNETS, by Alida Chanler (Boston: The Cornhill
Co. $1.25), is a slender sheaf of serious and graceful verses, many
of them connected directly or indirectly with episodes of the late War.
408 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
PLAYS, by Susan Glaspell (Boston: Small, Maynard & Co.). This
volume is made up mostly of one-act plays, which are interesting
to read but are not remarkable for dramatic quality. The theme of
"The People" is that vague idealism which, having nothing more solid
than yearning behind it, leads nowhere. "Close the Book" is broadly
comic, but in theme and treatment is unmistakably Shavian. "Woman's
Honor" is comedy which threatens now and then to have a "purpose"
but succeeds in avoiding the rocks, and emerges into a healthy and
farcical finale. Two of the plays are written in collaboration with
George Cram Cook; Miss Glaspell, however, gains nothing by the al-
liance, and the only remarkable play in the volume, "Trifles," is her
unaided work. It is strongly reminiscent of Alice Brown's tale, Told in
the Poorhouse, and is indeed an excellent short story cast in dramatic
or rather dialogue form. Miss Glaspell has command of crisp and
forceful dialogue, but this volume, indeed, indicates clearly that her
gifts are literary rather than dramatic.
LILULI, by Romain Holland (New York: Boni & Liveright). This
is a play which attacks war as the purely factitious artifice by
which greed, intrigue, and duplicity attain their sordid ends. Idealism
is pressed into their service and when noble youths heed her call they
perish in battle, not knowing that Idealism is really Illusion, the fairy-
witch, Liluli. The text is accompanied, we cannot say adorned, by
wood cuts of the near-cubic type. The play is a farce and a savage
satire all in one. It is Aristophanic in its conception and working out,
now bitter, now blatant, now indecent, and at times blasphemous. It
would have been entirely possible to satirize hypocrisy and venality
as playing potent parts in the stirring up of war without insulting
religion and its God. In his Jean Christophe, Holland wrote: "A noble,
healthy soul, overflowing with life and strength, has a thousand better
things to do than to trouble about the existence or non-existence of
the Deity." We are supposed to accept this stupid and insulting non-
sense as the product of genius. It would be truer to call it the product
of a corroding egotism and a flaunting decadence.
" /\A ^ RE blessed to give than to receive," the dictum of St. Paul, and
iVl true of moral things as well as material, finds an application in
Leerie, by Ruth Sawyer (New York: Harper & Brothers. $1.75 net).
Sheila O'Leary, a trained nurse, who is known in the sanitarium as
"Leerie," embodies all the qualities of love and sacrifice. She spends
herself and is spent in bringing happiness to others. She nurses Peter
Brooks back to health, and later falls in love with him. Putting aside
the prospect of a happy marriage, because she feels her work is not
yet done, she goes overseas to minister to the wounded soldier boys.
Peter goes over too. After a record characterized by nobleness and
sacrifice, she finally stumbles upon the man whom she loves, who has
been mortally wounded. When consciousness returns, he finds her
1920.] NEW BOOKS 409
bending over him, and his happiness is complete. They are married
by the company chaplain.
The writer has drawn a most wholesome picture in the character
of Sheila O'Leary; has painted a healthy picture of the War by showing
that suffering and honor beget heroism and sacrifice. The book con-
tains the correct philosophy of life throughout, showing that happiness
comes from making others happy, from giving freely.
POLITICAL ECONOMY, by E. J. Burke, S.J. (New York: American
I Book Co.). This volume is written by a professor of Fordham
University, and is the result of many years' teaching in the class-room.
It is designed to reach the minds of young people yet in a formative
state. The work is of special value not only to a college class, but
also to that much larger body of educated individuals, who desire to
understand the merits of debatable questions a class that will neces-
sarily grow more numerous, now that the franchise is fully extended.
In this connection the close relation between a very detailed Table of
Contents and the subdivision headings of each chapter will be found
of great assistance. Besides there is an excellent Index. The book
treats concisely of the more important schools of Political Economy,
the Mercantile, Socialist, Catholic, Historical, Liberal indicating
where the views of some of these ignore either the fundamental dignity
or the inalienable rights of man. Then follow chapters on questions of
Economics that cover a very wide field. The volume is calmly weighed
and reasoned, and presents a fair and just discussion of this science.
RACHEL, by Angelina W. Grimke (Boston: The Cornhill Co. $1.25).
This is a "play of protest," that is to say, it is a play in three acts
all of whose characters are colored, and it aims to present in a dramatic
way the wrongs which innocent men, women, and even children are
compelled to suffer through the stupidity and brutality of the whites.
As a piece of literature, the play is done with vigor and certainty;
its dialogue is crisp; its tenderness and its pathos ring true. As a
protest against white prejudice it makes its mark, and its closing scene
rises to the dignity of a masterly (and pathetic) climax. Miss Grimke
has sustained her indictment and scored heavily.
MONOGRAPHS, by William Frederick Allen (Boston: The Four Seas
Co. $1.25 net) is a slight little book less than seventy-five pages
but its poems touch, albeit fragmentarily, upon almost every phase
of this life and the next. Mr. Allen speaks from a Catholic soul, and
from an imagination intrigued by Pan of the furry ears: moreover, he
speaks with vigor and virility. One will watch his further work with
interest, hoping it may gain in lucidity by the elimination of certain
archaic (and not particularly beautiful) words for which he now shows
a fondness. For its spirit is intensely modern and poems such as
"The Unasleep" are not easily forgotten.
410 NEW BOOKS [Dec.,
IN no department of medicine has so great an advance been made as
in heart disease during the last ten years. 1908 might be said to
have been the first date in modern cardiology, beginning with the
revolutionary experiments of Sir James Mackenzie. Heart Troubles,
Their Prevention and Belief, by Louis Faugeres Bishop, M.D. (New
York: Funk & Wagnalls Co. $3.50 net), is written by a professor of
Fordham University in attractive popular style, and is designed espe-
cially as a guide for the layman suffering from heart trouble, or for
those nursing such sufferers.
IN the small volume entitled Ulster Songs and Ballads, the first pub-
lished by Padriac Gregory since 1912 (Dublin: The Talbot Press.
2s. 6 d.), we find a charming collection of verses, some original, some
adaptations, and some anonymous old Ulster folk songs, "too good to
be permitted to be forgotten."
Throughout the entire group, a certain genuine feeling of love and
reverence for God and nature prevails, whether it be in the prayer of
the "Mother o' Six," well worth a second reading, or "An Irish Bless-
ing," which contains every possible good wish, or "The Fairy's Tune,"
which literally sings itself to the reader.
Where the poet bases his songs on ancient Ulster fragments, the
treatment of the humorous incidents is delightful. Throughout the
dialect used is smooth and natural.
WE wish to call special attention to the three recent publications
from the House of William H. Sadlier.
The first is entitled Studies in American History with a supple-
ment on Civics. The book is brought up to date by a brief history of
the Great War by Maurice Francis Egan and Frank X. Sadlier.
The other two publications are Sadlier's Excelsior Geography,
one elementary and intermediate, and the other for seniors.
THE CATHOLIC HOME ANNUAL for 1921 (New York: Benziger
Brothers. 35 cents) offers, with the Church Calendar for the
year, its annual sheaf of interesting and well illustrated articles. It
will prove a useful and companionable addition to the household.
E Mission Press of Techny, Illinois, also puts out an excellent
I Almanac for 1921. St. Michael's Almanac (35 cents) will provide
refreshing entertainment for many a leisure moment. The illustrations
add much to its worth and its attractions.
TRecent Events.
After a series of defeats and withdrawals
Russia. throughout the month, the campaign of
General Wrangel against the Bolsheviki
has ended in disaster. Beginning with the repulse of Wrangel's
attack on the Kahkovka bridgehead towards the end of October
the Bolshevik forces began a violent offensive with an attack on
two points, crossing the Dneiper River opposite Nikopol and
branching out from Khakovka. Troops from the Polish front,
as well as masses of Siberian soldiers, were used in the offensive,
and heavy reinforcements were rushed up to break through
Wrangel's lines. General Wrangel's troops were first thrown
back into the Taurida area, behind the Dneiper, and then were
obliged to retreat to Perikop and Salkovo, the key to the isthmus
leading from the Crimea to the Russian mainland. Hope was
entertained for a time that he would be able to hold these key-
positions, but the Bolsheviki, supported by heavy artillery, suc-
ceeded in crossing the frozen Sivash Sea and attacked on both
wings and the centre, finally dislodging Wrangel's army from its
last line of defence and capturing Perikop.
According to late dispatches, General Wrangel and the mem-
bers of his Government, have arrived in Constantinople on board
the Russian cruiser Korniloff, and his forces in the Crimea are re-
ported in a desperate situation, as the Bolsheviki, having broken
through all the lines of defence, are now attacking in the rear.
The evacuation of Sebastopol is being effected, and foreign ships
are hurriedly taking refugees aboard. The American Red Cross
is removing its supplies. The number of refugees awaiting pas-
sage exceeds 100,000, and French and British squadrons are mak-
ing strenuous efforts to load as many of them as possible, together
with their effects. Considerable looting is reported throughout
the Crimea. The Bolsheviki have advanced well beyond Perikop,
advices show, while the remnants of Wrangel's army, thoroughly
beaten and pursued by a well-commanded Bolshevik army of
twenty-seven divisions, continue to retreat southward.
Some weeks before his final defeat it is reliably reported that
General Wrangel had sent urgent appeals to France and other
Allied Powers, telling of his critical situation and requesting more
aid. France, however, contrary to last month's advices, seemed
to feel that it was too late to send further assistance, and held
that any further support would have to come from the other
412 RECENT EVENTS [Dec.,
Allied Powers, among whom there seemed to be no disposition to
act. It is stated that, at the request of the French representative
attached to Wrangel's headquarters, eight days have been granted
for the evacuation of the Crimea, which is proceeding under great
difficulties.
Ratification of the preliminary peace treaty between Poland
and Bolshevik Russia was voted by the All-Russian Soviet on
October 26th. Hostilities between Poland and Lithuania, how-
ever, continued throughout the month. Offensive operations by
the irregular forces under General Zellgouski, which seized Vilna
last month, have been successfully undertaken on the northeast-
ern Lithuanian front, after a severe repulse early in November
by a combined force of Lithuanians and Prussians. No less than
50,000 German soldiers, with officers and a great amount of mate-
rial, are reported to have crossed over the east Prussian border
into Lithuania in the last three weeks. Representations have
been made to the Berlin Government, which disavows all responsi-
bility for the acts of the invaders. A commission of the League
of Nations has proceeded to Kovno to investigate the situation, and
to endeavor to prevent further clashes between the Lithuanians
and General Zellgouski's forces. To a joint Franco-British note
calling for a clear disavowal of General Zellgouski's raid on Vilna,
the Polish Government has replied expressing surprise that Great
Britain and France should consider it their duty to enforce pos-
session of Vilna by Lithuania and protesting against the giving up
of that city. Meanwhile General Zellgouski has ordered elections
on January 9th next for a Constituent Assembly to take the place
of the provisional government set up by him in Vilna.
The Poles and the authorities of Danzig have reached an
agreement regarding the convention which was in dispute be-
tween them. Last month the Poles refused to sign the conven-
tion, holding that it did not fulfill the promise made them of free
access to the sea and the control of customs, as specified in the
Treaty of Versailles. Modifications to the convention by the Coun-
cil of Ambassadors at Paris, now provide that a part of the port
shall be reserved entirely for the use of the Poles, and shall have
immediate connection with railway lines under Polish control, so
that all customs difficulties are removed. The right of the city
to fly its own flag at sea is maintained, however, and its sover-
eignty is in no way affected by the modifications.
According to an agreement between the Russian Soviet Gov-
ernment and the British Government, all British nationals, in-
cluding those in prison, will be immediately repatriated. This
removes the greatest obstacle to a resumption of trade between
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 413
Great Britain and the Soviets, in the opinion of British official
circles, though there are still some important points to be cleared
up. These comprise chiefly questions of Russian activity in the
Near East and India, and Bolshevik propaganda, which is contrary
to the proposed trade arrangement. The British hold that, de-
spite the guarantees given by the Moscow Government, agitation is
still being carried on.
News of increasing hostility in Russia to the Soviet Govern-
ment continues to come from many different sources, and beside
sporadic peasant revolts throughout the country, disturbances in
Moscow have of late become especially menacing to the present
regime. Although these persistent rumors have been just as
persistently denied by Soviet officials, a little volume recently
published by the Bolsheviki goes far to invalidate their denial.
The book was written by M. I. Latzis, one of the chief figures of
the Extraordinary Commission, and contains information con-
cerning the activities of the Commission in suppressing opposition
to Bolshevik rule. According to Commissioner Latzis, the num-
ber of insurrections in Russia during the years 1918 and 1919
was 344. The number of counter-revolutionary organizations un-
covered was 412. The number of persons driven into concen-
tration camps was 9,096. Those imprisoned numbered 34,344.
In addition, the Bolsheviki took 13,111 hostages. The total num-
ber of arrests for political reasons was 56,541. Among the
counter-revolutionary organizations discovered, it is significant
that eighteen were Menshevik, i. e., moderate Socialists, twenty-
eight were Constitutional Democratic, thirty-four were Social
Revolutionist of the Right, and fifty Social Revolutionist of the
Left, i. e., of the party which, until the assassination of Count
Mirbach, the German Ambassador to Moscow, following the con-
clusion of the Brest-Litovsk peace, was an ally of the Bolsheviki
and was represented in the Soviet Government. Of the 8,419
persons executed, according to Latzis, for counter-revolutionary
activity, 3,082 were put to death for insurrection, 2,024 for "par-
ticipating in counter-revolutionary organizations," and 455 for
"inciting to insurrection." These figures are for twenty provinces
only.
As further evidence of Russian discontent with their present
government may be cited the supplementary data pub-
lished in the Izvestia, official organ of the Bolsheviki, for July 30,
1920. According to the Izvestia, for the month beginning June
23d, up to July 22, 1920, Bolshevik tribunals pronounced 828
death sentences, of which 517 were "mutiny in the army" and
251 for "desertion."
414 RECENT EVENTS [Dec.,
Figures which are regarded as clearly revealing the desperate
condition of Soviet finances have also recently reached this coun-
try, based on an article appearing in Ekonomitcheskaya Zhizn, or
"Economic Life," published in Moscow, on September 28th. Ac-
cording to this paper, the Soviet budget for 1920 shows an in-
come of from 150 to 160 billion rubles, and expenditures of from
one trillion one hundred billion to one trillion one hundred and
fifty billion rubles. This is the credited showing, with estimates
from two departments missing, and reports received from fifty
different commissariats. In other words, there is an annual defi-
cit in the neighborhood of one trillion rubles. A notable feature
of the budget is the amount set aside for propaganda and educa-
tional purposes, amounting to one hundred million rubles, equal
to the combined expenditure for the Department of Agriculture
and the Department of the Interior.
British policy towards Germany was the
France. chief topic of the month in the French
press, and on several occasions there
seemed to be serious danger of a definite break between France
and England on the question of German reparations, the English
being in favor of a direction conference of the Reparations Com-
mission with German representatives, and the French strongly
opposed to such a conference. After prolonged negotiations and
much diplomatic jockeying, an agreement has finally been reached
mapping out the procedure to be followed in determining the Ger-
man indemnity. This procedure will have four stages: a meet-
ing of German and Allied technical experts at Brussels, a confer-
ence between Allied foreign ministers and representatives of Ger-
many at Geneva, a session of the Reparations Commission to con-
sider the result of the first two meetings, and finally a meeting of
the Supreme Council to take action on recommendations made by
the Reparations Commission. The British insistence that a
plebiscite be held in Upper Silesia before the amount of Germany's
bill be fixed was acceded to by France, and on the other hand,
Great Britain agreed to support French opposition to the admis-
sion of Germany to the League of Nations until Germany has ful-
filled all the requirements laid down by the Reparations Com-
mission.
The Supreme Council of the League of Nations closed its ses-
sions in Brussels on October 28th. Its most important actions
were the approval of the plan for a permanent court of inter-
national justice as adopted by the Hague Committee of Jurists,
and the decision for a plebiscite to determine the territorial dis-
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 415
pute between Poland and Lithuania. The Council also ratified
the report on the Malmedy-Eupen settlement, against which Ger-
many had protested, the repatriation of prisoners, and the status
of Armenia.
The first meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations
took place at Geneva on November 15th, with representatives of
forty-one nations present. Austria and Bulgaria have made for-
mal application for admission to the League, with a good pros-
pect of success. On the contrary, Germany, which desires admis-
sion but has not made application, is expected to meet with re-
buff, should she apply, as the French threaten to withdraw from
the Assembly altogether if Germany is admitted before the in-
demnity is fixed. The general opinion outside of French circles
seems to be that the League cannot hope to stand without the in-
clusion both of Germany and the United States. The first meet-
ings of the Assembly discussed arrangements for the financial
conference to be held next spring and questions of minorities,
mandates, Danzig, and the Polish-Lithuanian dispute.
A tripartite agreement between France, Great Britain, and
Italy, in which they undertake to support each other in main-
taining their respective "spheres of influence" in Turkey, and
which was signed on August 10th, has just been made public.
Under its own terms the document was to come into force at the
same time the Turkish Peace Treaty should go into effect. This
date is still an uncertainty, however, and the Turkish Government
has recently addressed a note to the Powers in which it is declared
that the present time is inopportune for the ratification of the
Treaty.
As a result of a sharp note addressed last month by the Allies
to the Hungarian Government demanding action on the Treaty
signed by Hungary and the Allied and Associated Powers at Ver-
sailles on June 4th last, the Hungarian National Assembly has
voted for ratification. Another Treaty recently acted upon has
been one signed by representatives of Rumania, Great Britain,
France, Italy, and Japan, definitely handing over to Rumania the
former Russian province of Bessarabia.
The preliminary commercial Treaty between France and
Czecho-Slovakia, which has been signed at Paris, is the first of a
number of similar compacts which France intends negotiating
with the various nations. The Franco-Czecho-Slovakia Treaty is
a barter-and-trade agreement, with virtually no financial clauses.
In it France and Czecho-Slovakia have made mutual tariff con-
cessions on articles which are largely exchanged between the two
countries. Barter and trade will probably be the chief features of
416 RECENT EVENTS [Dec.,
all the French commercial treaties. Through such means France
hopes to obtain the material she needs, and at the same time de-
velop markets for domestic products. The treaties are to form
part of the plan to reestablish the pre-war commerce of France.
It is understood that compacts similar to that with Czecho-Slovakia
are now being negotiated with Belgium and Italy, but that most
of France's treaties will be delayed until the European economic
situation improves.
That there is room for serious economic disquiet in France
is evidenced by the decline in the value of the franc, which has
been continuing for five months with increasing velocity. On
November 9th was reached the low exchange record of 17 francs
85 centimes for the dollar and 59 francs for sterling. Several
reasons are given for the decline, foremost of which is the delay
over the settlement of the reparation problem. In order to meet
the 20,000,000 francs expenditure for reparations and pensions, no
part of which is covered by the revenue but which Germany is
pledged eventually to pay back, France has had to resort to in-
flation direct inflation by the increase of paper 'currency and in-
direct inflation by national loans. The obvious result is a further
depreciation of the franc. Another reason given is the tightness
of American money, which has led to the calling of loans made by
American houses to French clients. And finally there is the in-
fluence of speculation.
In addition to the adverse financial situation France is men-
aced by an industrial crisis. In the great manufacturing city of
Lyons, 25,000 men are reported out of work. At Limoges, one
of the shoe manufacturing towns of France, some 8,000 shoe-
makers have been dismissed. In the automobile industry more
than 30 per cent of the men are without work, and at Roubaix,
the centre of the cloth-making industry, while the factories are
working only three or four days a week, there are many men
and women who cannot find any work at all. The luxury trades,
such as those dealing in furs and perfumery, are in the same po-
sition, and in the leather industry nearly 70 per cent of the men
have been dismissed. At a recent meeting of workers' unions
some of the unemployment figures in the Paris area were given
as follows: metal workers, 35 per cent; tailors, 40 per cent; stone-
masons) 20 per cent; shoemakers, 60 per cent; military tailors,
80 per cent.
Despite these conditions, however, France has put forth
heroic efforts for recovery. The railways and bridges of the
devastated regions have been entirely reconstructed. Three-
quarters of the destroyed industrial establishments have entirely
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 417
or partly resumed work. Fifty per cent of the ground laid waste
has been re-sown, and the harvest of 1920 in these districts sup-
plied more than sufficient for their needs. The mines of the
north, from which no output was expected for several years be-
cause they had been burned and flooded by the enemy, produced
more than 2,000,000 tons of coal in the first eight months of the
year. With increased production France's commercial balance
is gradually readjusting itself, and the deficit, which was sixteen
milliards of francs in the first few months of 1919, fell in the
corresponding period of 1920 to ten milliards. Imports still are
suffering from the need of reconstituting the stocks of raw mate-
rials, but purchases of manufactured articles remain stationary
and the importation of provisions is lessening considerably. As
compared with last year's figures, exports have increased 148 per
cent in value and 395 per cent in weight.
The French Department of Agriculture has compiled figures
giving the progress of France's efforts to feed herself, which show
that in 1920 6,270,627,000 pounds of wheat were produced,
against 4,965,370,000 pounds in 1919; mixed grain, 107,614,000
pounds in 1920, against 96,794,000 pounds in 1919; rye, 842,660,-
000 pounds in 1920, while in 1919 there were 729,937,000 pounds;
barley, 770,731,000 pounds in 1920, and in 1919, 499,984,000
pounds; and oats, 4,222,801,000 pounds in 1920, against 2,493,-
584,000 pounds in 1919. Considering that rye and barley are
used for breadmaking in France, it is reckoned that the crop situ-
ation practically insures complete success in feeding the nation
with home-grown cereals. The improvement means a national
saving in money, and an agricultural restoration which brings a
measure of prosperity to a large part of the population which had
previously been deprived of the means of livelihood.
What will apparently prove the final solu-
Italy. tion of the Fiume problem was reached on
November 12th, when a Treaty between
Italy and Jugo-Slavia was signed by representatives of the two
countries. The Treaty is almost wholly an Italian success. The
Jugo-Slavs are understood to have acceded to its terms in view
of economic concessions which the Italian delegates agreed to
make in return for territorial grants. These economic conces-
sions are to be taken up immediately by a commission of technical
experts. Following in much of its detail the terms of the secret
pact of London, which the French and British Governments
signed in 1915 to induce Italy to enter the War as an Ally, the
VOL. cxii. 27
418 RECENT EVENTS [Dec.,
new Treaty gives Italy a strong defensive frontier on the east. On
two important points the Italians yielded on the terms of the Lon-
don Treaty, ceding to the Jugo-Slavs the Konganatieo district,
which is inhabited largely by Jugo-Slavs, and surrendering all
claims to Dalmatia and to most of the islands off the east coast of
the Adriatic.
The Treaty means a net territorial gain to Italy of more
than 3,500 square miles on the eastern frontier alone. Under the
Treaty of London Italy would have received seven large islands
off Fiume and seventeen more off the Dalmatian coast, whereas
under the new Treaty Italy gets only three off Fiume Gherso,
Lussin and Unie and only two off Dalmatia. The mercury
mines of Idria go to Italy. From Predil Pass, in the Julian Alps,
to Volosca, the western suburb of Fiume, the frontier follows al-
most exactly the Treaty of London line. The Dalmatian city of
Zara goes to Italy, but all Italian claims to Sebenico are re-
nounced. Fiume itself is to be an independent city, connected to
Italy by a coastal strip of land running through Volosca. All
railways entering Fiume are put under Italian control, thereby
preventing Jugo-Slav interference with Fiume's communications.
The Treaty has evoked almost unanimous approval from all
classes in Italy, the exceptions being a small group of nationalists
and imperialists. With regard to d'Annunzio and Fiume itself,
the provisional government there has issued a proclamation de-
claring the Treaty is absolutely unacceptable, and stating that the
regency of Quarnero recently constituted was established simply
as a preliminary step towards annexation by Italy. The Italian
press generally manifests sharp irritation at this new instance of
fantastic recklessness on the part of d'Annunzio.
Statistics of the 6,488 municipal elections held throughout
Italy, show that 3,425 communes have been won by the Consti-
tutional parties, 1,799 by the Socialists, and 1,264 by the Catholic
Popular Party. The result discloses that the proportion of So-
cialist votes remains about the same as last year one-third of
the total. The chief towns won by the Socialists were Milan and
Turin, while the Liberals with large majorities won Rome, Naples,
Genoa, Florence, Venice, Palermo, and Pisa.
A general feeling is finding expression throughout Italy in
favor of drastic action to put an end to the strikes, disturbances,
and anarchistic plots which of late have been particularly nu-
merous. The chief centre of trouble has been Milan, where there
has been considerable disorder and where several raids have re-
cently been conducted by the Government against the radical ele-
ment. Enrico Malatesta, the notorious anarchist agitator, and his
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 419
editorial staff have been arrested on the charge of inciting the
fatal riots in Milan last month. Later the police succeeded in
gathering evidence demonstrating that the anarchists have been
planning a series of terroristic attacks, and on the strength of
this evidence about one hundred and eighty of the anarchists
have been imprisoned.
The communistic propaganda from Russia has also contrib-
uted to the prevalent unrest, and in industry labor agents cause
continual friction between the workmen and the directing body
of every factory. The automobile trade has reflected the un-
settled condition more than any other industry and the output is
very low, although Italian motor cars and camions are very much
in demand in England, and more orders are coming in now than
ever before. The mercantile marine, as well as the steel trade,
felt the bad effects of labor troubles, and must wait for the many
new boats now under construction, consequently delaying its
dream of capturing trade in the East, on account of the obstruc-
tionist policy of labor leaders. Italy in the last year has put
down more keels than any other European country except Eng-
land. Work has been undertaken on fifty-seven steel ships of a
total tonnage of 413,727, but has met with considerable delays be-
cause of socialistic propaganda. This propaganda was unsuc-
cessful during the War, when patriotism ran high; but after the
War, when returned soldiers expected so much and were dis-
appointed (nowhere were they treated so casually as in Italy),
the Socialists found ready soil on which to work.
The most significant fact concerning Ger-
Germany. many during the past month is the num-
ber and magnitude of trusts formed in
that country. Of these, the most important, and the biggest in-
dustrial combination in the history of German business, is the
community-of-interest agreement between the Rhine-Elbe Union
and the Siemens-Schuckert Electrical Company, with a combined
capital of more than 500,000,000 marks. The amalgamation was
the work of Hugo Stinnes, coal baron, who has been the leading
spirit of the Rhine-Elbe Union for months. Last summer he ef-
fected a union of the Deutsch-Luxemburg Coal and Iron Company
with the Gelsen-Kirchner Mining Company, after both these com-
panies had lost valuable branch establishments in Lorraine and
Luxemburg. This combination took the name of the Rhine-Elbe
Union. In October it annexed the Bochumer Grisstahl Company
of Bochum, which is one of the best-paying steel companies in the
420 RECENT EVENTS [Dec.,
Ruhr district. The Siemens-Schuckert Company was a combina-
tion of the old Siemens-Halske Company of Berlin and the
Schuckert Company of Nuremberg.
The important feature of the combination is the fact that the
first-mentioned companies, which are in the Stinnes group with a
joint capital of 260,000,000 marks, will bring coal, iron, copper,
aluminum and all Herr Stinnes' ships to the great Siemens trio of
companies, which form the second biggest concern in Germany
and one of the biggest in the world for the manufacture of elec-
trical machinery and commodities. Thus this vast trust will be
absolutely self-supporting.
Other combinations, hardly less stupendous, have also been
effected. Thus the General Electricity Company, the largest
company of its kind, had linked up with Messrs. Felton and Guil-
link, large makers of half manufactured articles for machines of
all kinds. The Augsburg and Nuremberg Machine Factory, one
of the biggest of the South German companies, with a capital of
100,000,000 marks and about to double it, has entered into nego-
tiations with the Good Hope Coal and Iron Company of Upper
Silesia, which in turn recently came to a trust-like arrangement
with the big Esslingen Machinery Factory Company.
Two other great firms, the Leuna and Oppau Ammoniak
Works, are in process of amalgamation with a view to supplying
Germany's requirements in chemical manufactures. Another
trust is to be formed between the wealthy Lothringer Iron and
Coal Association, the Hasper Iron and Steel Works, and the Kofis-
borg Coal Mining Company. A great starch combine has been
formed with a capital of 7,000,000 marks, and it will control 90
per cent of Germany's whole output. The cigarette factory of
Adramicos & Company of Dusseldorf has bought up the Quell and
Wittig Company, and it is raising its capital from 2,000,000 to
8,500,000 marks. Even the breweries are not behind. The big
concerns of Schultzeiss and Engelhardt are negotiating union,
and the Leipsig brewery of Reibeck & Company, with a capital
of 7,000,000 marks, has swallowed up the Brueckner Brewery in
Erfurt, which has a capital of 2,000,000. These groups in turn,
it is rumored, may be linked up. A notable feature of this gen-
eral situation is that all these combinations took place within the
space of a few weeks.
In financial circles, also, combination is the order of the day,
and by a recent increase of its capital from 275,000,000 to 400,-
000,000 marks, the Deutsche Bank again becomes the bank with
the biggest capital in Germany. The additional capital will con-
sist mainly of shares given in exchange for those of three other
1920.] RECENT EVENTS 421
banking concerns, the Hanoverian Bank, a Brunswick private
bank, and a private bank of Gotha. In addition working arrange-
ments will be concluded with a Wiirttemberg banking company
and the Hildesheim Bank. What gives especial interest to this
combination outside its financial aspect, is that the Deutsche Bank
in old pre-war days represented more than any other single insti-
tution old Imperial Germany. It built the Bagdad Railway,
and its interests in England and France, Argentina and Tsarist
Russia were alike enormous.
Control of the keys of German industry the coal mines
will constitute the subject of the biggest political and industrial
battle that will be waged in the Reichstag and on the economic
field in the near future, judging from reports found in late issues
of German newspapers. These reports confirm recent cable dis-
patches telling of the impending struggle between the big German
business interests, headed by Hugo Stinnes, and the Socialist ele-
ments, led by the Independents and the Social Democratic Party,
over the question of public or private ownership of the mines.
Taking up the challenge voiced by Herr Stinnes in a strong plea
for the continuation of private ownership, with a certain limited
amount of State control, the Independent Socialist Party, now
having fifty-nine Deputies in the Reichstag instead of eighty-one
as the result of the split at the Halle convention, seems determined
to make itself the champion of the masses in the battle for gov-
ernment ownership. The Majority Socialists, with their 112
members of the Reichstag, and possibly the "New Communists,"
as the pro-Moscow group of the Independents is labeled, with
their twenty-two Deputies, as well as the old Communist Party,
with two members, together with some of the sixty-eight Centrist
Deputies and a few of the Democrats, are expected to line up with
the Independents on this question in opposition to the rest of the
466 members of the Reichstag. The political campaign is to be
backed up by threats of strikes for public ownership by the
miners, if purely parliamentary means fail. Some of the papers
contend that the coal question will be the main issue of the new
general elections, which are said to be not far distant.
German industry has recently received some big orders from
abroad. From Russia and Poland alone Saxony's textile industry
has received orders for many millions of marks' worth of goods,
payment for which accompanied the placing of the orders.
Sweden has ordered several million marks' worth of paper, and
a number of Chemnitz firms has received orders from abroad to
the extent of 77,000,000 marks. The scarcity of coal, however, is
proving a big drawback in completing these orders.
422 RECENT EVENTS [Dec.,
Following the announcement that the German Government
had decided to pay 17,000 marks to German ship owners for the
loss of commercial shipping, renewed attempts on the part of
German shipping lines to reestablish their pre-war service are
noted. Despite these attempts, however, the great bulk of the
German sea trade remains in the hands of foreign companies.
Comparisons between the trade of Hamburg before the War and
at the present time, show that of the shipping which entered the
port in 1913 about 63 per cent was employed in the regular liner
trade. Of 8,913,000 tons of liners attached to 167 different lines,
75 per cent, with 116 lines, was German. Of the fifty-six lines
now providing more or less regular service between Hamburg and
American, Asiatic and African ports, forty-five are entirely, and
three partially, of foreign ownership.
In accordance with the requirements of the Peace Treaty,
Germany recently delivered to the Reparations Commission
bonds to the amount of 60,000,000,000 gold marks, the value of
which is approximately $15,000,000,000. The Commission pro-
poses to hold these as security for and in acknowledgment of
Germany's debt.
The Russian Minister of the Interior, Severing, has issued
orders to provincial governors to dissolve the Orgesch, or home-
guard, organizations, and to prohibit their meetings. The Junker
organs sharply attack Severing, and say the order amounts to
open warfare on Bavaria, where Escherich, Director of the
Bavarian Woods and Forest Department, has built up a strong
organization. The Bavarians appear resolved in any case to
stand by their home guards, and declare that, come what may,
they will not disband them. General Mollet, France's chief repre-
sentative on the Allied Military Mission in Berlin, has addressed
a note to the German Government, pointing out that if the Ba-
varian guards were not dissolved, this would constitute a breach
of the Versailles Treaty. The Bavarian newspapers insist that
France already has made up her mind to occupy the Ruhr Valley,
and that this intention would not be altered merely by disbanding
the home guards, which are needed for local protection. They
stoutly assert that under no circumstances will Bavaria bow to
French dictatorship. The whole situation in Bavaria is causing
the gravest anxiety to the Berlin Government, as disruptive ten-
dencies there appear to be growing daily more dangerous to Ger-
man unity.
November 17, 1920.
With Our Readers.
IT has been said times without number that the denial of God
as the Creator and Ruler of men results, not only in religious
but moral, social and economic chaos. He has made all; and to
be out of joint with Him is to disjoint all, not only with regard
fo Himself, but with regard to one another. That truth is not
self-evident. The pride of man is much more so. And much of
what is called the philosophy of the modern world is denial of
God and refuge in self-confident and self-blinded pride.
* * * *
THIS statement will undoubtedly be looked upon by some as
a very "religious" remark, all too clearly betraying the dog-
matist: the one who, unwilling to look at facts, and afraid of
open-minded discussion, seeks refuge in trite homily.
But let us have the open-minded discussion. No question is
more intimately connected with the welfare of humankind than the
question of childbearing and childbirth. This will be admitted
by every one who believes it is worth while to continue the human
race. And likewise this same question is intimately and funda-
mentally connected with the morals and the economics of every
nation and of every individual. No student of either would deny
that.
* * * *
NOW for those who believe in a personal God as the Creator
and Ruler of the universe, there is one great guiding truth.
The creative, the sex-power, has been given to man in trust by
His Creator, and should be used only to carry out the will of
the Creator. To misuse it: to pervert it to purely personal and
selfish ends is a direct grievous violation of the law of God: it is
willful defiance of the Lord and Master of Life: it is a grievous
personal offence against a personal God. Nothing will lift or
change that truth for one who believes in God. Human need:
sensual desire: economic necessity, pressing and unbearable as
these may be, does not change the law of God any more than it
changes God Himself. Plausible theories: ingenious arguments:
specious welfare pleas, exposition of the ills of humanity all may
be presented with the power and attractiveness of human genius
playing upon expressive, appealing words yet they do not and
they cannot change the law of God.
424 WITH OUR READERS [Dec.,
TO those who believe, that law is wisdom. It is not wisdom
self-evident: compelling: any more than God Himself is, but
it is redeeming: dignified: sure.
They who so believe will measure and direct all things in the
light of God as the Creator. Their knowledge and direction will
at least have some term from which they can start and some
term to which they may go.
They who deny it, will have no definite knowledge at all.
We say definite advisedly because from the very nature of the
case they are without God, and at the mercy of the indeterminate,
inaudible mass called humanity. They have not knowledge, but
opinion. They may and do possess much information: but of
knowledge which coordinates, or possesses the principle of co-
ordination, they have none. Unity is the basis of knowledge : and
all those who believe in God as the personal Creator and Ruler of
the universe are one at least in that: all who deny Him are one
in nothing. They may agree on many points, but their agree-
ment rises no higher than opinion, and they are free to abandon
it without notice.
IT must be remembered that there are not many who today dog-
matically and definitely deny God. But the number of those
who practically deny Him is very great. Whether they are con-
scious of the denial or not, is a matter that rests with their own
conscience. There is no question, however, but that their writ-
ings and their conclusions are driving God farther and farther
from His world.
They who thus practically deny God are sowing the seeds of
disorder, of chaos, of anarchy in every field of life. They main-
tain that in the question of the use of the sexual power man is
not governed by any pre-declared law of God. Conception and
childbirth are subject to the will of man, of husband and wife:
are matters to be determined by their wishes and their judgment.
The continuance of the human race is not in the hands of God,
but in the hands of those who were made by God. The finite can
determine the use of the powers which the Infinite has given it.
Life is to be subject, not to the Giver of life but to those who have
received life from Him. The creature's will is to displace and
possibly overthrow the Creator's.
BOOKS and pamphlets almost without number are published
today with this as their practical thesis. We will not here
mention the titles of the volumes. But they are common enough;
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 425
and the "reputable" magazines, the dignified scientific journals of
the day are carrying articles that preach the same agnostic doc-
trine. Women's clubs in various parts of the country have ap-
proved the atheistic teaching, and an attempt will be made to
introduce into the Federal Congress a bill that will permit the
sending through the mails of information as to how the sexual
power may be indulged and the law of God, not only defied but
in so far as man can do it made futile. The arguments of all
these publications and pamphlets may be reduced to the same
thesis: human ills must be cured by human means; human com-
fort must be the great concern of humankind both irrespective
of God's law.
Such selfishness inevitably blinds those who champion it:
blinds them not only to their immediate error, but to the errors
that, in turn, scatter through other fields of life. In the cham-
pions of the pernicious doctrine it develops a tyrannical dog-
matism: a chronic habit of misstatement : a forgetfulness of both
the obligation and the fruits of purity, and in many instances a
perversion of morality that is almost incredible.
* * * *
IN a recent issue of the New York Nation an article was pub-
lished, entitled "Birth Control and the World Crisis." The
blindness or the willful deceit of that article may be judged from
the following statement: "The empire which (through the
World War) sought world dominion . . . had the highest birth
rate and the most rapid growth of population, and yet it was
France which by its birth control had produced, not so many
but better soldiers that withstood the most terrific onslaughts
of the enemy."
It is not true that Germany before the War had the highest
birth rate. Russia had the highest birth rate and the greatest
increase. We would not diminish by even an infinitesimal frac-
tion the glory of the French soldiers: but it is known universally
that because of her lack of soldiers, France was unable to carry
on the fight alone. It is likewise universally known that it was
the almost unnumbered forces of America that broke the German
morale and won the War. Joffre's visit to the United States was
a desperate appeal from France, lost because she had no more
manhood to serve, for American help. And Germany knew
France's weakness : knew how her military strength, her national
life had been sapped and weakened by the spread of "birth con-
trol" instruction and practice. "More coffins than cradles," said
a German observer of France in 1911, "thus should peoples dis-
appear through their own fault who break with the fundamental
426 WITH OUR READERS [Dec.,
law of life." Statistics of France prove that six times between
1870 and 1911 the deaths surpassed the births.
Against this statement of the writer in the Nation, we have
the urgent appeal of the patriotic French leaders of today to the
French people begging them in the national interests to abandon
birth control. As early as 1910 the noted economist, Leroy-
Beaulieu, uttered these terrifying words : "Not half a dozen gen-
erations hence the French nation will have ceased to be, at least
the population of true French origin" (Debates, July 12th).
Bishop Gibergues of Valence, France, has recently made an
impassioned appeal to his countrymen for the very life of France :
"France is dying and will die if the scourge is not arrested.
"To instance, one department in particular, as I know it bet-
ter than others, that of the Department of Drome: In 1874
there were 8,287 births; in 1913, 4,857 births. In place of twenty-
five to the thousand, there were but sixteen. The same year the
death rate exceeded the birth rate by 25 per 10,000 inhabitants,
that is to say by more than 700 in the whole department.
"There are more coffins than cradles in Drome. In one year
there were 700 more coffins than cradles. So the great cry of
alarm goes forth. Drome is dying, Drome will die if the
scourge is not stopped. . . And one-third of the departments in
France have a lower birth rate than Drome.
"The War increased the trouble not only by the great num-
ber who fell on the field of honor, but because of the conse-
quently large number of widows and a marked decrease in young
men who naturally would have been the founders of families.
"What has brought a rich, fine, generous people such as the
French to such a pass is their egoism, individualism, passion, and
sensuality, for these have triumphed over the spirit of duty, of
love of God, and of country. Their eyes have been closed to the
nobler purpose of marriage, they have sought only an association
of interest and a pleasureable and sensual intercourse. Religion
not being present to lift hearts and turn them heavenward, each
has hearkened only to his own caprice or pleasure, and duty has
become a dead letter for too many.
"Not only is the evil bold-faced. It is arrogant, proud. It
has entered into criminal complicity with so-called science,
and is approved with infernal cynicism."
* * * *
BUT the Nation's article is both deaf and blind to such appeals
and such facts. It dogmatically assumes that all evils will
be cured through birth control. It cynically and satanically con-
demns as immoral the proper exercise of marital rights. It ruth-
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 427
lessly abdicates to materialism and sacrifices any and every stand-
ard of living. It really shows no human concern, although its
language is vested with apparent human consideration. Instead of
allowing that man and woman may rightly look to a home wherein
they may bring forth, nourish and properly educate the children
they wish to have, it dictates, as a principle, that to save both
from want and need, they should limit their children. Low wages :
congested quarters: unsanitary conditions these are not to be
alleviated and bettered for posterity no, posterity is to be sacri-
ficed for them. Human rights are not put first: but human sel-
fishness and material comfort are to be the cure all.
If father and mother (how the article travesties the names) do
not abide by the economic necessities of their condition, so much
the worse for them. The helpless : the feebleminded : the epileptic,
they must not be a charge on society. Society must put them
away in asylums: or must take every means, legitimate or illegiti-
mate, to see that none such is born again into this world. Ages
ago some pagans declared that all who were not healthy and prom-
ising at birth should be straightway killed. Some pagans of to-
day declare that they should not be allowed to be born.
* * * *
THE Nation's article speaks pathetically of the "woman wither-
ing away in sorrowful maidenhood" and of the man seeking
the company of depraved women because neither the man nor the
woman has been informed of contraceptive methods and agencies.
To such logic must we listen. Men and women driven into de-
spair and sin because they have not the information that would
help them to violate the laws both of nature and of God.
And if the contraceptive methods now in vogue are injurious
then, declares this article, it is the duty of the medical profes-
sion to find methods that are not injurious.
Again does the writer deceive his readers. It is known of the
medical profession that no one can invent any method which will
enable man or woman to escape the law of nature and of God.
Either, by definite act, may foil that law, but neither can escape
it. Before the British National Birth Rate Commission an emi-
nent medical doctor testified that "prevention of maternity by arti-
ficial methods invariably produced physical, mental and, I think,
moral harm." And when questioned further, he said : "I thought
everybody considered they were more or less harmful." No one
can thwart an act of nature, which must be exercised as nature has
decreed, without suffering harmful consequences. They may not
be apparent in the occasional or seldom repeated act. They may
not be apparent in their wide national consequences, till after the
428 WITH OUR READERS [Dec.,
passage of many years. But as they are repeated, as they be-
come more and more part of an individual's, a country's, a nation's
life, so do they eat into and destroy all the moral fibre of that life.
* * * *
AND this far distant yet none the less real issue is what is lost
sight of, forgotten under the pressure of immediate need or
present temptation. The power that brings us into being reaches
from time to eternity : from earth to heaven. Upon our reverence
for it depends our reverence for all life, our estimate of one an-
other and of all our fellows. It is man's most divine inheritance.
In it is his soul most sensitive to the Creator's work : the Creator's
voice: the Creator's purpose. Most surely does it bind, and yet
most delicately. In its light alone is the eye single, and by its
light do we see whole. It is the aura of God's creation: and de-
nied, we and the world are left to our own deepening twilight.
Whoso loses it loses what he can never regain.
And because it is the most precious thing that life possesses,
the treasure that makes sacred those who gave us birth, we resent
with just anger those unholy works that would obscure its beauty
and its worth to the hearts and souls of men.
THE death of Louise Imogen Guiney is a signal loss to American
letters. In honesty and excellence of production she was un-
excelled. She was not alone supremely gifted, she was preemi-
nently conscientious as both student and writer. Not alone in
style and matter but in moral example has she left a rare in-
heritance. To use one of her own lines she is
A star to keep the ways of honor clear.
We would not anticipate in any w r ay the extended apprecia-
tion of Miss Guiney and her work which we will publish in the
January issue of THE CATHOLIC WORLD. Here we would pay a
personal tribute to her inner spiritual life, a life very close to God
and consequently a life of great denial, of suffering and of want.
But her prayer was:
Forethought and recollection,
Rivet mine armor gay!
The passion for perfection
Redeem my failing way!
The arrows of the upper slope
From sudden ambush cast,
Rain quick and true, with one to ope
My Paradise at last!
Her armor was gay, and her soul in spite of adversity sincere,
unaffected, simple.
1920.] WITH OUR READERS 429
We last saw her in the streets of the Oxford she knew and
loved so well, and we hope to greet her in heaven with the same
smile with which we left her there.
THE fact that England is unable to govern Ireland because the
vast majority of the Irish people will not recognize her gov-
ernment, has been attested by ample evidence. In a noteworthy
article in the new English publication, Blackfriars, still further
evidence is added to the mass that already exists.
The writer is Denis Gwynn, and his evidence is the result of
recent personal observations throughout Ireland. To the oft-re-
peated excuse given by the English Government: "We can do
nothing until you Irishmen agree among yourselves," Gwynn states
that there never has been such unanimity among the Irish people
as exists today on the present political question : it is a unanimity
resulting from the real and lasting discovery of common interests
and a common outlook upon life.
Only one attitude, one aspiration exists outside the four east-
ern counties of Ulster, from Donegal to Wexford, from Galway to
Dublin. He tells of the ruthless persecution and banishment of
the Catholics of East Ulster. Fermanagh, Tyrone, South Cavan,
Monaghan, and Donegal, have prepared to receive those thus driven
from their homes.
* * * *
OUTSIDE of the northeastern corner of Ireland political govern-
ment has ceased to exist. The fact that more than two-thirds
of the population of Ireland are agricultural, makes it easy for
them to govern themselves: detection and punishment of crime
may safely be left to local public opinion. And, indeed, the local
courts have been the sole constructive force in the anarchy over
which the English representatives preside.
Into these otherwise peaceful communities the notorious
Black-and-Tans have been sent to create a reign of terror.
"Innocent civilians, men and women, dared not walk about
after dark for fear of being set upon by armed Black-and-Tans
who have, not without reason, gained the reputation throughout
Ireland of robbing and looting anyone whom they saw fit to
search."
The daily and nightly terrorism in Cork and Dublin, where,
says the writer, the state of affairs is literally indescribable, was
surpassed by the appalling wreckage perpetrated by troops and
Black-and-Tans throughout the country.
He describes specific instances. He shows that these Black-
and-Tans undertake these so-called "reprisals" with official ap-
430 WITH OUR READERS [Dec.,
proval and official aid. They are part of a deliberate policy, and
that policy will continue and increase the present ghastly terror
until Ireland succumbs. That will never be. Self-government
alone will satisfy the Irish people.
IPaulist Press, appears, among other stories of conversion, one
N The Highways of Life, one of the oldest publications of The
entitled "From the Invisible to the Visible Church." The book
itself was edited by the late Very Rev. Augustine F. Hewit, for
many years editor of THE CATHOLIC WORLD: and the contribution
mentioned was the account of the journey to the true Church of
Father Hewit's sister-in-law, Mrs. Catherine S. Hewit.
Mrs. Hewit died on the sixth of October last in her ninety-
fifth year. Not alone as a relative of Father Hewit, but also be-
cause of the exceptional sanctity of her life does she deserve spe-
cial notice in these pages.
* * * *
FROM her own account of her conversion it is evident that from
the earliest years of her life she earnestly desired to know
and serve our Blessed Lord. Baptized in the Episcopal Church,
she married Dr. Hewit, then a Presbyterian. The fact that there
was another Christian sect other than the Episcopal was her first
stepping-stone to a knowledge of the Catholic Church. A careful
student of the Bible, she saw plainly written therein the doctrines
of Penance and Extreme Unction, and she had no idea these were
taught otherwhere than in the Episcopal Church, until a Protestant
told her: "These are Catholic doctrines." Yet she was distressed
when her husband, Dr. Hewit, having been received into the true
Church, took their children to Mass. It led her at least to inquire
further : to seek the help of Father Hewit, and then were dispersed
the clouds that had darkened her mind.
Mrs. Hewit was received into the Church on March 25, 1856.
* * * *
AFTER she had received the Body and Blood of Our Lord she
never knew doubt again, and that Food nourished her with a
personal love of Our Lord and a personal sanctity that marked all
the years of her long life. She had read the Scripture when a
young child. Such was her devotion to it that she read some por-
tion every day of her life. One of her greatest treasures was a
picture of the Madonna, which Father Hewit brought to her from
Rome on his first visit there. "It was," she used to say, "a con-
stant light to me."
"I never knew a better person," said Father Hewit himself.
1920.] BOOKS RECEIVED 431
Her piety was founded upon the habit of constant prayer. Conse-
quently, it was deep, serene, attractive. It showed itself in sweet-
ness of temper, graciousness of conduct, and dignity of word.
Perhaps it was most evidenced in her supreme virtue of fraternal
charity that sure bond of peace with Jesus Christ : that love which
is an essential condition of the love of God. Age with its handi-
caps, its infirmities and its sufferings engendered no complaining :
no querulous impatience. Strength and dignity held the helm
through later as well as earlier years, and with prayers upon her
lips she passed after three-quarters of a century of service to the
eternal presence of the Lord and Saviour Whom she loved so well.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
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Holy Mass and Holy Communion. By Father Rpche, S.J. $1.20. Westminster
Version of the Sacred Scriptures. The New Testament. Vol. III. Part III.
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Part IV. Galatians and Romans.
Les Lettres Provinciales de Blaise Pascal. Edited by H. F. Stewart, D.D. $2.60.
A History of England. By E. Wyatt-Davies, M.A. $2.00. Sister Mary of St.
Philip. By a Sister of Notre Dame. $6.00. The Ship "Tyre." By W. H.
Schoff. $2.00 net.
ALLYN & BACON, New York:
Biology for High Schools. By W. M. Smallwood, I. L. Reveley, G. A. Bartley.
$1.60. A First Greek Reader to Accompany a Short Grammar of Attic Greek.
By Rev. F. M. Connell, S.J. $1.00. The New Yenni Latin Grammar for High
Schools and Colleges. By the Committee on Latin Studies of Spring Hill Col-
lege, Mobile, Ala. $1.60. Practical Physics. By H. S. Carhart, LL.D., and
H. N. Chute, M.S. $1.60.
D. APPLETON & Co., New York:
Morale, the Supreme Standard of Conduct. By G. S. Hall, LL.D. $3.00 net.
The United States in the World War. By J. B. McMaster. Two volumes. $3.00
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G. T. Schmidt. $1.50 net. On the Morals of Today. By Rev. T. Slater,
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BONI & LIVERIGHT, New York:
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on Eternity. Edited by Rev. F. E. Bogues. $1.50 net.
432 BOOKS RECEIVED [Dec., 1920.]
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Adam of Dublin. By C. O'Riordan.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, New York:
The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Which Framed the Constitution
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THOMAS SELTZER, New York:
Our Great War and the Great Wars of the Ancient Greeks. By G. Murray, LL.D.
Woman. By M. Mark. Reputations. By D. Goldring.
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JOHN LANE Co., New York:
Correspondence of Jean-Baptiste Carrier. Translated by E. H. Carrier, M.A.
THE MACMILLAN Co., New York:
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THE
Catholic &(orld
VOL. CXII. JANUARY, 1921 No. 670
LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY.
BY KATHERINE BREGY, LITT.D.
T was on November 2, 1920, the great feast day of
all freed souls, that "the little delicate kiss of
death" as she herself had once called it came
to Louise Imogen Guiney. And it must have come
much in the way she would have wished : without
publicity or pageant, in a very old and quiet corner of the old
England she had so greatly loved. One may divine with what
courtesy her chastened spirit would welcome that shadowy
Sister of us all. "We make a miserable noisy farcical entry,
one by one, on the terrene stage," she wrote long ago with
triste humor; "it is a last dramatic decency that we shall learn
to bow ourselves out with gallantry, be it even among the
drugs and pillows of a too frequent lot. . . The soul meets its
final opportunity, as at a masked ball; if it cannot stand and
salute, to what end were its fair faculties given?" There
spoke the daughter of her soldier father, and in native heroic
spirit. But with her "salute," there passed from among us a
poet and scholar of rare distinction : a woman whose worth to
contemporary culture was far above rubies because of her
delicate and unswerving fidelity to the strict canons of her
chosen art an artist whose ultimate gift even to a secular
world lay in that supreme Tightness of vision which in the last
analysis owes less to the intellect than to the spiritual expe-
rience and intuitions.
COPYRIGHT. 1920. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK..
VOL. CXII. 28
434 LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY [Jan.,
The New World and the Old were curiously interblended
in Miss Guiney's story. For she was born in Boston on Janu-
ary 7, 1861, and the formal process of her education was ac-
complished with the Mesdames of the Sacred Heart at Provi-
dence, Rhode Island. Yet one thinks of her as essentially
Oxonian in genius and her father, Patrick Robert Guiney,
was of Irish birth. She was "well fathered" in the truest pos-
sible sense, since General Guiney stood as ideal, as well as idol,
to his only child. He had served his apprenticeship as lawyer
and as editor, when the Civil War called him. There he
acquitted himself with such high courage that he attained the
rank of Major General, and upon his return to Boston he was
appointed prothonotary of that city. But already, at the Battle
of the Wilderness, hie had received his death-wound; and
thirteen years later, as he was crossing the Common, returning
from his office, the never-unexpected summons came. Some
children saw General Guiney kneel quietly beside a tree and
cross himself and there Death found him, barely in his forty-
third year.
The daughter fell heir to a nature singularly like her
father's, with almost every outer episode reversed. His was
the "short life in the saddle," for which her "Knight Errant,"
like every other crusading heart, had prayed. Hers was to be
the longer, harder, not less heroic way of the fireside and the
study. Hers was in all truth that crucifixion of the pen which
she used often to quote : "It comes to that," she said once to the
present writer, "but it is still the finest game in the world."
As early as 1885 she was writing for publication; the Goose-
quill Papers, which date from then, being such youthful ex-
periments that they make shift to appear quite the "oldest"
things she ever perpetrated ! Two years later she was writing
with scholarly ease and a most engaging freshness, inaugurat-
ing that honorable career in letters which was to cover prac-
tically all her remaining life. Her friendships with contem-
poraries in the various arts with the Stedmans, Charles War-
ren Stoddard, Ralph Adams Cram, Alice Brown, Katharine
Tynan, the Meynells, to mention but a few were many and
deep, but at no time was the outward story very thrilling.
From 1894 to 1897 she acted as post-mistress in her home
town, the Puritan and not-too-peaceful suburb of Auburndale,
Massachusetts. There was a certain bitter humor bound up in
1921.] LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY 435
her incumbency. Newspaper-reporters and curiosity-seekers,
who had to be "swept off the postoffice ledge," constituted one
plague: but "I suppose," as she whimsically observed, "it is
jolly funny to see how a fish earns its living by flying." To
the same friend she wrote during this time: "I know exactly
how a leopard feels behind his bars; or how he might feel if
the populace inquired for correspondence and stamps. With
all my Websterian brain set upon what I am at, I have never
yet made twice six anything but nineteen, nor remembered a
face a second time." Meanwhile, her outdoor heart was pining
for the free day, when she might roam for long green miles
"with the best and biggest of dogs, and see snakes (for which
I have a liking, if for nothing else than to atone for the be-
havior towards them of superstitious Christians since Eden
gates were locked) and pluck violets . . . thinking what an
excellent world it is to do nothing in, and to sing thanks for."
It was sufficiently bad, this daily servitude which held
the poet back from singing thanks: but it was made much
worse by human unkindness. For, from first to last, the young
Catholic post-mistress had to meet a pitifully provincial and
puerile opposition, due chiefly to religious (!) bigotry. She
faced it squarely, and through the help of personal friends
she even conquered a local boycott of the postoffice. But im-
mediately after the vindication of her reappointment by
President McKinley, she resigned with what must have been
either a diapason or a war-whoop of relief.
Thenceforth, with only such interruptions "as are human,"
Louise Guiney lived as servant and master of her beloved
craft. Her happiest years, doubtless, were those spent in scho-
larly seclusion at Oxford, which was her home but for a few
intervals almost until the end. Here the treasures of the
Bodleian were her daily joy; here the editing of old poets
became almost as natural and sweet a thing as dreaming
among old towers and "long-dedicated walls," or walking in
spirit with those great souls, the Oxford Movers, who had
brought the ancient Catholic heritage back to English-speaking
men and women. The heart has not only, in the Frenchman's
word, its own reasons it has also its own ancestry and father-
land. To dwell with these is to achieve oneself harmoniously;
to be and to do one's best without the perpetual warring
against adverse trifles the voyaging "in shallows and in
436 LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY [Jan.,
miseries" of so many lives banished from the Garden of
God's gracious design.
This daughter of New England recaptured her Eden
within sound of Tom the "King bell," and where Newman's
memory "hangs like a shield ... on royal Oriel." Oxford
was hers by every natural and spiritual affinity, and she cele-
brated its glories in a series of sonnets which seem in some
mysterious fashion to be carved instead of written. Of such
expatriations, and of the voyaging heart in general, Miss
Guiney gave in Patrins the true but not always seen signif-
icance.
The tourist [she declares] be he of right mettle, falls in
love with the world, and with the Will which sustains it.
As much solace or exhilaration as comes into the eye and
ear, so much evil, in the form of sadness, rebellion, ignor-
ance, passes out from us, as breathed breath into the purer
air. . . There is but one thing which can honorably draw
the heart out of an American in Europe. He has wrought
for himself the white ideal of government; he belongs to a
growing, not a decaying society; there is much without
upon which he looks with wonder and even with pity. . .
But one thing lie sees far away which he can never live to
call his, in the West; he cannot transfer hither the yester-
day of his own race, the dark charm of London, the glamour
of Paris, the majesty and melancholy of Rome. . .
And that which makes the worthy pilgrim into an exile
and a cosmopolite is no vanity, no ambition, no mere rest-
less energy: it is truly the love of man which calleth over-
seas, and from towers a great way off. His shrine is some
common and unregarded place, a mediaeval stair, it may be,
worn hollow as a gourd by the long procession of mortality.
That concave stone touches him and makes his blood
tingle: it has magic in it, of itself, without a record; for it
speaks of the transit of human worth and human voices,
both of which Dante makes his Ulysses long for and seek
to understand. It is our sunken footfall, ages ere we were
born, while we were on forgotten errands, nursing irre-
coverable thoughts. To have marked it, with perhaps the
largest emotion of our lives, is to walk Broadway or a Texan
tow-path humbler and better ever after.
So that the magnetism of Oxford was the same, "in the
natural order," as that which kept her always in such stainless
1921.] LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY 437
allegiance to the Catholic Church. She left her towered para-
dise to remain in Massachusetts during her mother's last ill-
ness. When that duty was acquitted, she returned again
"home" and there the Great War found her in 1914. It was
never quite the same Oxford after that: but then, it has never
been quite the same world, either. In a letter written during
the first dark winter, she spoke of going for awhile "away
from the troops and the refugees and the wounded, for
one never sees an undergraduate any mote," and taking a
borrowed collie as comrade in long walks through the
"muddy but tranquil country." More and more cloistral,
more and more abdicant became her life. Even the
London episodes grew rare, "a day at longest," as she said;
and after awhile she retired across country to the deeper soli-
tude of Grangeleigh in quiet Amberly. But it was at the little
town of Chipping-Campden, some twenty-five miles out of
Gloucester, that her pilgrimage was suddenly found to have
attained its goal. The Beauty and Antiquity which she craved
were hers to the end and with her, too, were
They to whom the heavens must ope:
Candor, Chastity and Hope.
Because Louise Imogen Guiney was so consummate an
artist and craftsman, it is perhaps encouraging for lesser
workers to note that her first efforts in both prose and verse
were comparatively negligible. The Goosequill Papers (1885),
while notable for the beauty of their quaint and finished Eng-
lish, are the only things she ever wrote which could not tri-
umphantly acquit themselves of a slight pedantry: but then,
is it not youth all the world over which seeks the jocund state-
liness of the stilt? And if The White Sail poems of 1887 show
already the author's classic affiliations, they give no hint at all
of the very original, pungent, yet peaceful harmonies she was
to achieve a few years later.
But in that same 1887, she contributed to THE CATHOLIC
WORLD an article, called "A King of Shreds and Patches,"
which was later expanded into that celebrated piece of serio-
comedy, "An Inquirendo into the Wit and Other Good Parts of
His Late Majesty, King Charles Second." And from a paper
published in the same magazine during the following year,
came the deft and delectable little volume of 1892, Monsieur
438 LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY [Jan.,
Henri, a study of the Vendean war and of its hero, Henri de la
Rochejaquelein. In 1893, The Roadside Harp was struck: the
first book of her authentic poetry, and one which contributed
to her fastidious final collection such charming and charac-
teristic pieces as the "Song of the Lilac," "Tryste Noel," the
London Sonnets, and "A Friend's Song for Simoisius." Its
opening poem was one of Miss Guiney's few New England
inspirations, the legendary tale of Peter Rugg, the Bostonian.
But one felt in it, as again in the story of Kenelm, the boy-
martyr, that her truest metier was not in narrative verse.
A Little English Gallery, with its discerning portraits of
Lady Danvers, Farquhar, Vaughan, and other "seventeenth-
centurions" straying over into the eighteenth, was published in
1894, its most memorable inclusion being the exhaustive and
sympathetic study of William Hazlitt. The year 1897 saw the
fulfillment of her long-cherished desire to edit the poems of
James Clarence Mangan, with a really notable memoir of the
hapless young Irishman. The whole work was most affection-
ately perfected; a reverent and royal tribute to one of Apollo's
beloved "might-have-beens . . . poets bred in melancholy places,
under disabilities, with thwarted growth and thinned voices.
. . ." whom the world would forget save for another poet's
gentle pen. The same year brought her precious book of orig-
inal fancies, Patrins, one of the most delightful volumes imag-
inable, and one which every essay-lover will want to place
between his Elia and Stevenson's "laughing gold ten times
tried."
The poet came again to the fore in 1899 with her slender
volume, The Martyr's Idyl. The title-poem, a dramatic version
of the story of SS. Theodora and Didymus, was a thing of
noble and delicate beauty, yet scarcely so successful as many
of the shorter lyrics included the Ignatian battle-cry, Deo
Optimo Maximo, for instance, "The Outdoor Litany," or that
tender fragment, "By the Trundle-Bed." Once overseas, her
work took the form of a few scattered lyrics and of much
felicitous biographical and editorial work. Robert Emmet: His
Rebellion and Romance came in 1904, also the much docu-
mented memoir of Hurrell Fronde; and later on the world was
enriched by her really exquisite editing of the work of Henry
Vaughan, Thomas Stanley and the "Matchless Orinda," among
our fragrant forebears and among the moderns, by that of
1921.] LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY 439
Matthew Arnold, Lionel Johnson and others. All this work,
exhaustive and exhausting as it must have been, spells singular
self-abnegation in a poet. But Louise Guiney had the scholar's
temper, serene under infinite patient research, so that these
labors were probably dictated as much by her literary piety
as by the exactions of what she used Franciscanly to mention
as "Holy Poverty."
Her beautiful Englishing of the Fioretti was, alas! never
published. But she left one starlike piece of hagiography, her
Blessed Edmund Campion in 1908 a saint's life written with
equal devotion and intelligence, even such a model for modern
readers as Francis Thompson's superb Life of St. Ignatius.
In 1909, feeling that her poetic legacy was practically complete,
Miss Guiney gathered into one precious book, Happy Ending,
what she modestly called "all the better nuggets in that dis-
used mine." And of the fruit of her final years, white now to
the harvesting, one learns through a letter of last July: "I am
writing nothing, but pegging away on a huge Anthology, Re-
cusant Poets, which is about finished, and has occupied the
'offs and ons' of Father Bliss, S.J., and myself since 1913."
Louise Imogen Guiney was essentially a poet, and as a
poet she will be treasured. But her prose work both ante-
dated and survived the poetic utterance. This is not, of
course, unusual in the history of letters. The gift of song
seldom lasts through a lifetime even when the singer mis-
takenly fancies it to endure. "The Magical White Bird" is
snared but for a little season, then flutters off with the morning
wind from its captor's hand. But in the captor's heart the
memory of its music remains evermore. In fact, Prose, that
sturdier sister of Poetry, needs no excuse at all for her comely
endurance. She may often enough be forced into Martha's
duties; she may even perform them passing well. But she can
sit with all grace at her Lord's feet, meditating the essential
things, when persuaded by so firm and knowing an artist as
the author of Patrins.
So Miss Guiney became and became recognized as a critic
of almost infallible Tightness; an appreciative yet temperate
judge, not only of literary excellence, but (far more difficult
of discernment!) of the subtle, underlying canons of literary
ethics. To be sure, her personal taste was all toward what one
calls the "classic" school, even as her personal temperament
440 LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY [Jan.,
inclined toward that New England reticence which she herself
often described as "shyness." She was congenitally opposed
to the spectacular, either in life or literature, believing that
" 'to make a scene' is not mannerly, even on paper." Yet she
had every sympathy with the holy, but hectic and unfulfilled,
genius of Digby Dolben, and devoted years to the rehabilita-
tion of such rueful and romantic Celts as Mangan and Robert
Emmet.
All this proves simply that she was finely human in her
sympathies. Exigent she was of honesty in soul and utter-
ance intolerant of the artist who gave less than his best. But
for all her seeming aloofness, she knew men as well as books,
and her criticism constantly insists upon the close relation be-
tween abstract and concrete good. This is the whole argument
of her arraignment of "Willful Sadness in Literature:" the fact
that both ethics and aesthetics must make their rules for the
many rather than the few, that "it may well seem a sort of
treachery in a man of genius to speak aloud at all, in our
vast society of the desponding and the unspiritual, unless he
can speak the helping word." And here is her sentence upon
the ultra-realists:
The play which leaves us miserable and bewildered, the
harrowing social lesson leading nowhere, the transcript
from commonplace life in which nothing is admirable but
the faithful skill of the author these are bad morals be-
cause they are bad art. With them ranks the invertebrate
poetry of two or three generations ago, which has be-
queathed its sickly taint to its successor in popular favor,
our modern minor fiction . . . Art is made of seemly ab-
stinences. The moment it speaks out fully, lets us know
all, ceases to represent a choice and a control of its own
material, ceases to be, in short, an authority and a mystery,
and prefers to set up for a mere Chinese copy of life just
so soon its birthright is transferred.
A capital example of what Miss Austen called "sense and
sensibility" is found in Louise Imogen Guiney's contrast of
the English and the Irish genius, both of which she under-
standingly loved the superman set over against the super-
race :
England has, by the world's corroboration, her divine
sons, whose names are in benediction. But she has also a
1921.] LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY 441
Sahara spectacle of the most stolid, empty folk in the uni-
verse; the sapless, rootless, flowerless millions who pay,
as it were, for Shakespeare and Shelley . . . for Newton
and Darwin. Easy, is it not, for the superlative quality to
form and act in fullest power here and there, in a nation
where no smallest grain of it is ever wasted on the common
mortal? But Ireland reeks with genius impartially dis-
tributed. It is infectious; every one suffers from it, in its
various stages and manifestations. The "Superior race"
makes the superior individual impossible . . . Nowhere
the lonely planetary effulgence; everywhere the jovial de-
fiant twinkle of little stars!
i
In one of her greatest essays, "The Under Dog," Miss
Guiney pierces to the heart of several universal yet shadowy
truths of the folly of any attempt to gauge such mysteries as
human failure and success; of the different kinds of saints,
those "who attain their only legitimate development in the
cloister," and those who are by every count "Saints at a Sacri-
fice;" and of that strange ghost, "something extra-rational, we
may be sure: something with an august enchantment," which
meets certain of the cursed or the elect upon their way, making
(in Thompson's word) "the kind earth waste, and breath in-
tolerable" f orevermore !
Over and over again, in fact, the deep waters of this
woman's habitual thought make many a recent critic show
naked in his shallowness. For her sympathy was linked
always with sound scholarship; even with a painstaking ex-
haustiveness which led her in some of the earlier studies into
a fullness one would scarcely trust to our hasty contemporary
readers. At no time, indeed, does she write that he who runs
may read for why, after all, should anyone expect to read
running? But her later prose achieves a really superb con-
densation. And this beautiful, habitual infallibility has made
of Miss Guiney's work a very mine of epithet. Alike in her
prose and verse, she has the brief, perfect word for so many
men, so many things ! One remembers on one side Gongreve's
"quicksilver wit;" on the other young Digby Dolben "pole-
vaulting his way into the inner Court of the King;" Hurrel
Froude, "the lost Pleiad of the Oxford Movement;" or Pascal,
"0 rich in all forborne felicities!" And for sheer fidelity of
nature painting, it would be hard to go beyond her
442 LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY [Jan.,
. . . free
Innocent, magnanimous tree,
and her corner of ancient London, "with its little old bearded
graveyards, pools of ancestral sleep; or low-lying, leafy gar-
dens where monks and guildsmen have had their dream."
Thus to make vivid the soul of things is to be a poet; to ex-
press the image rhythmically is to write poetry. And if
Louise Imogen Guiney's critical energy became inevitably
a danger to her more creative gift, it at least insured that gift
of fastidious, if infrequent, use. She herself, in the volume
called Happy Ending, chose and set apart the poetry, alike
early and late, by which she would be judged; building up a
book which, in a sense far truer than the opulent Patmore's,
might boast only of her "best" a creamy collection, which no
lover of the highest in the century just passed can afford to
miss. It is not a popular poetry, even as that of her comrade
in arms and ideals, Lionel Johnson's, was not a popular poetry.
Neither is it exotic, nor at all sensational. But it has a free
and swinging music, and the beauty of very tall trees washed
in moonlight. Here is one of her best poems a lyric of the
soul, but like that galloping masterpiece, the "Wild Ride," a
battle-song none the less:
THE KINGS.
A man said unto his Angel:
"My spirits are fallen low,
And I cannot carry this battle :
O Brother! where might I go?
"The terrible Kings are on me
With spears that are deadly bright;
Against me so from the cradle
Do fate and my fathers fight."
Then said to the man his Angel:
"Thou wavering, witless soul,
Back to the ranks! What matter
To win or to lose the whole,
"As judged by the little judges
Who hearken not well, nor see?
Not thus, by the outer issue,
The Wise shall interpret thee.
1921.] LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEA 443
"Thy will is the sovereign measure
And only event of things:
The puniest heart, defying,
Were stronger than all these Kings.
"Though out of the past they gather,
Mind's Doubt, and Bodily Pain,
And pallid Thirst of the Spirit
That is kin to the other twain,
"And Grief, in a cloud of banners,
And ringletted Vain Desires,
And Vice, with the spoils upon him
Of thee and thy beaten sires,
"While Kings of eternal evil
Yet darken the hills about,
Thy part is with broken sabre
To rise on the last redoubt;
"To fear not sensible failure,
Nor covet the game at all,
But fighting, fighting, fighting,
Die, driven against the wall."
Hers is a high-hearted poetry, but it is also a high-headed
poetry. It is scarcely aware of sex, and is but little concerned
with the storm and stress, the gusts and glee of our sweet,
irrational existences. To use the simile of another art, it
deals with the form, not the color of life. Back in the Road-
side Harp, the young Louise Guiney had achieved the high-
water mark of an unfaltering philosophy, which she put into
verse as her "Talisman:"
Take Temperance to thy breast,
While yet is the hour of choosing,
As arbitress exquisite
Of all that shall thee betide;
For better than fortune's best
Is mastery in the using,
And sweeter than anything sweet
The art to lay it aside.
Ethically, of course, this is the last word of wisdom, worthy
to be carved in jade or beryl. But there is no denying that it
444 LOUISE IMOGEN GULNEY [Jan.,
is better piety than poetry. Let it be admitted frankly that
the poet's best verse does not come out of that costly virtue
of detachment it comes out of the still more costly virtue
of attachment . . . To this are we debtor for all her true and
impassioned reading of nature: the stormy beauty of "The
Squall," with its "routed leopards of the lightning," the tran-
quil beauty of "Monochrome," the dew-drenched memories
of the "Lilac" song. To it, again, we owe the five lovesome
Christmas carols: the subtle Carol of Gifts (first published
in THE CATHOLIC WORLD), the curious Carol of the "Soule from
farre away," the Carol of the Ox and the Ass, and perhaps
most wistful of all, the one originally called "Tryste Noel:"
The Ox he openeth wide the Doore,
And from the Snowe he calls her inne,
And he hath seen her Smile therefor,
Our Ladye without Sinne.
Now soone from Sleep
A Starre shall leap,
And soone arrive both King and Hinde;
Amen, Amen:
But O, the Place co'd I but finde!
The Ox hath hush'd his voyce and bent
Trewe eyes of Pitty ore the Mow,
And on his lovelie Neck, forspent,
The Blessed layes her Browe.
Around her feet
Full Warme and Sweete
His bowerie Breath doth meeklie dwell :
Amen, Amen:
But sore am I with Vaine Travel!
The Ox is host in Judah stall
And Host of more than onelie one,
For close she gathereth withal
Our Lorde her littel Sonne.
Glad Hinde and King
Their Gyfte may bring,
But wo'd tonight my Teares were there,
Amen, Amen:
Between her Bosom and His hayre!
Louise Imogen Guiney was a "minor" poet, but she wrote
in the great major tradition of English verse: the tradition of
1921.] LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY 445
Arnold, of Wordsworth, of Shelley and their predecessors.
She achieved almost perfectly the thing she wanted to do; and
if through some temperamental turn she lacked the poet's
taste for love songs well, the love songs have an excellent
chance of surviving, none the less! And she did constantly
betray that extreme tenderness for animals which is a part of
so many seemingly undemonstrative people. There is so much
pity, solicitude and passion in this devotedness that one won-
ders (to interpret "psycho-analysis" rather more spaciously
and spiritually than Freud!) if it be not just a slight deflection
of the maternal instinct. In any case, it permeates Miss
Guiney's work, from the prose, "Reminiscences of a Fine
Gentleman" to the naive "Davy" verses. And it reaches its
final expression in a poem of rare beauty and absolutely sin-
cere conviction, "St. Francis Endeth His Sermon:"
And now, my clerks who go in fur and feather
Or brighter scales, I bless you all. Be true
To your true Lover and Avenger, whether
By land or sea ye die the death undue.
Then proffer man your pardon, and together
Track him to Heaven and see his heart made new.
From long ago one hope hath in me thriven,
Your hope, mysterious as the scented May:
Not to Himself your titles God hath given
In vain, nor only for this mortal day.
Oh, doves! How from the Dove shall ye be driven?
O, darling lambs! Ye with the Lamb shall play!
While at first approach an elusive and aloof personality,
there seems to have been about the soul of Louise Imogen
Guiney a fresh, fundamental simplicity. She had the "single
eye" a freedom from distraction almost uncanny in that in-
corrigible "general practitioner," woman ! She "hated clothes"
as much as any boy of fifteen; she habitually broke rosaries;
she described herself as "literally too happy to live" when
exercising on the rings and vaulting-bar of a Swedish gym-
nasium. And deeply as she adored old poets, she adored
and in all weathers the Open. She had a fine humorous
enjoyment, even of being "held up" by a Boston pick-pocket,
and her courage, both moral and physical, was unbounded.
She had no patience at all with distortions of the truth in any
controversy, and "struck straight from the shoulder," even
446 LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY [Jan.,
with her dearest friends. But to them, as to the ideals she had
chosen and sifted, she was as faithful as one of her own St.
Bernard dogs. One thinks of sincerity as the keynote of her
character a fastidious sincerity until one remembers that
it was rather consecration. Yes, that is the word . . . Hers
was a hidden life, consecrated as that of any nun. She used
to speak of her Catholic faith as "a frightful responsibility,"
declaring over and over again with the most touching humil-
ity that it was "we ourselves our worldliness, our indiffer-
ence, and general unthankful demeanor," which kept other
groping souls from the wished-for Light. Through her own
life and all her work, the great Candle shone unflinchingly.
She walked the changing ways of a much changing century
with the eyes of her own Risen ones, Beati Mortui:
Blessed the dead in spirit, our brave dead
Not passed, but perfected:
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 cerements lately wore of sin, but now,
Unbound from foot to brow,
Gleam in and out of cities, beautiful
As sun-born colors of a forest pool
Where Autumn sees
The splash of walnuts from her thinning trees.
NOTE The author records her grateful indebtedness to Monsignor Joseph L. J.
Rirlin of Philadelphia for the loan of many illuminating personal letters from Miss
Guiney also to America for one or two thoughts borrowed from her own article
contributed to its pages in December, 1914.
IN THE WAKE OF POLAND'S VICTORY.
BY CHARLES PHILLIPS.
E were scarcely out of Warsaw, on our visit to the
devastated areas East and North, when we came
to the battlefield of Radzymin. It was here that
the tide was turned against the Reds and the
safety of the Polish capital sealed in the blood of
Father Skorupka, the heroic young army chaplain who led his
regiment to victory in the face of a continuous spray of deadly
fire from the Bolshevik machine guns. One of the officers with
us had witnessed the beginning of the Radzymin battle shortly
after midnight of the fourteenth. Never on the Western front,
he told us, had he seen such steady and relentless fire. Now
there was nothing but a pine woods (where the Polish bat-
teries had been placed) ; an open plain cut like a grill with
trenches, barbed wire, the distant town, and some scattered
graves, all lying hushed and quiet under heavy clouds.
The town of Radzymin itself showed many marks of the
battle, buildings wrecked by artillery, whole blocks lying in
ashes. At Wyskov we struck another scene of decisive fighting,
and another wrecked bridge, being held up here several hours
waiting to get across the pontoon over which troops were then
moving. The commanding officer of Father Skorupka's regi-
ment passed us at this point.
The tour we made took us as far north as Ciechanow (on
the map almost directly north of Warsaw) and as far east as
Rialystok, covering a large part of the ground that has been
swept by the Red invasion and the Red retreat. The section
traversed in this trip may be taken as fairly representative of
the whole of Poland east of the Vistula. What we saw there
may be regarded as characteristic of what may be seen any-
where in the war-ridden areas of Poland today.
It was raining heavily when we started out; rain and dis-
mal skies were common throughout the journey. There was
nothing to brighten the picture; all was depressing all except
the spirit of the people with whom we met and talked, the
448 IN THE WAKE OF POLAND'S VICTORY [Jan.,
people who had suffered in the invasion. That spirit shone
like a star.
Just after we had left the drab shell-shattered ruins of
Pultusk and had struck the country road again, we met a young
Polish sergeant, who asked for a ride to the next village.
He was a fine, clear-eyed, clean-cut chap, whose manly way of
speaking up to the Polish Colonel in our machine was charac-
teristic of the natural democratic manners which I have so
often observed in these people. His salute was perfect; but
that ritual performed, his advance and request was frankly
that of man to man "all American," I said to myself, paying
the United States a bit of flattery. He had been wounded; the
healed scars of two bullet holes in his left cheek told the
story of how the deadly lead had gone in and out, narrowly
missing his left eye. The wound still ached and he was
on his way to the doctor for medicine.
Invalided home, this young man had been caught on his
father's farm when the Reds came in. "They brought thresh-
ing machines with them," he told us, "and they threshed all
our grain, all the grain in the neighborhood, and took it off
with them. Most of the cows and horses, too. But we will put
in winter wheat yet. My father and others here are combining
to get some planting done by pooling the seed, as well as the
few horses that are left. Fortunately I will be home for a
while longer t6 help." There was the same note of matter-
of-course optimism in his voice and words that I have heard
wherever I have met Polish war victims. No hysterics, no
dramatics; just quiet common sense.
Bridges were down everywhere, but they were going up
again as fast as hands and hammers could repair them. At
one place where we forded the Narew River, the men working
on the bridge shouted at us that when we returned that way
in the evening it would be finished. And it was. Evidently
they hustled the job for us, for they took much pride in the
fact that we were the first across and sent us over with cheers
and hat wavings.
The broad stretch of country cut by the Narew from
Serock to Giechanow gave us a panoramic view of war-in-
vaded Poland. On all sides it is the same wherever you go
in Poland the horizon was bound by the dark walls of pine
forests. Heavy clouds swept them with a sort of thick violet
1921.] IN THE WAKE OF POLAND'S VICTORY 449
light. Patches of lupin in bloom splotched the drab canvas
with ruddy color. The wrecks of bridges, still smoking,
dragged their trailing ruins in the water always to me a sorry
sight, a broken bridge, there is so much of utter despair and
finality in it. Rows of gaunt chimneys, like the embodied
souls of homes left stripped and exposed, stood cold and high
in scorched nakedness, marking the scenes of recent terror and
flames and tears. Alongside the road we passed the charred
wreck of an auto truck; further on, a broken Russian cannon
ditched by the highway. But the one sight above all others
that struck us on every hand was the abandonment of the
fields. No farmers were abroad; no furrows were being
turned. Plows and horses are gone. No cattle were in the pas-
tures. They have all been carried off. Black spots in many
fields showed where grain or hay stacks had been burned.
There was an indescribable stillness and blight over the whole
scene. Few people were about, because the bulk of the popu-
lation had fled before the Bolshevik advance.
Near Ostrow, we arrived at a military headquarters one
day just at noon. The sun was out, and the officers were hav-
ing their mess in the garden of the country house where they
were billeted. They made us join them, and we had a taste
of the meagre fare of the Polish Army. A man wonders how
they can fight as they do on the thin soup, black bread,
wretched beef (or horse meat) and tea that they eat. But
they seemed to enjoy it and were like a crowd of schoolboys,
with just a touch of reserve because of their unexpected Amer-
ican guests. .It was pathetic to see their attempts at making an
extra show of their poor table "for company's sake." There
were red blankets for tablecloths, and there were bouquets
plucked in the garden. There was the same democratic spirit
among them, too, that I have spoken of before. The ragged
mess boys who waited on table were not ruled out; they also
had their share in the responsibility of the occasion.
The house was a big three-storied, square, white-washed
building of brick, surrounded by gardens and orchards all
neglected and weed-grown now. There was no family left in
the place. It had been the home of two brothers, who lived
together. When the Reds came, they seized the place, arrested
the younger brother (the older was absent at the time) and
took him to Bialystok. When the older man returned and
VOL. cxii, 29
450 IN THE WAKE OF POLAND'S VICTORY [Jan.,
found what had happened, he hurried to Bialystok to intercede
for his brother and try to free him. The only answer the Bol-
sheviks gave him was to arrest him also. Then they shot
them both. Along the fences around Ostrow I saw placards,
put up since the Red retreat, asking for prayers for the repose
of the souls of Kasimir and Ignatius Iwanowski.
Lomza was the first town of any size we entered popu-
lation, 26,000 a well built prosperous looking place, beauti-
fully situated on a hill. It has a look of a north Italian town,
set on its eminence, with its old Gothic cathedral lording it
over a farming country of teeming riches. There were few
marks of war wreckage in Lomza. The Reds had captured
it during the Polish retreat in July with ease; and as they fully
expected to stay there indefinitely, they were a bit careful.
That is, they were careful of the buildings. But of the bodies
and souls and property of their victims that is another story.
We found lodging in the home of a Pole who had acted
as local agent for American relief organizations, and who gave
us a welcome that had no limit to its hospitality. (Even the
small inhabitants of the bed-tick on which I slept on the floor
insisted on keeping me awake all night explaining how glad
they were to have me there. No denying that, like all others
in these war-starved countries, they were very hungry!) This
Pole talked freely and gave us some highly interesting details
of the Bolshevik occupation of the town.
"They began looting as soon as they arrived," he said.
"They managed it this way : any individual soldier of the Red
Army is free to loot all he likes unless a Commissar forbids it.
The soldier's officers have no authority to stop him; only the
Commissar can do that and where can you find a Commissar
when you want him? Thus the Bolsheviks robbed the Amer-
ican Relief Association's warehouse in Lomza wholesale one
item alone was five hundred cases of condensed milk! in
spite of any official prohibition, official seals or official guards
that I might secure. In fact, they threatened to shoot me for
daring to say that the warehouse had been robbed.
"In two or three days they had pretty fairly stripped the
shops and stores of the town. Then they began on the private
houses, and on people themselves. One could not go on the
street wearing rings or jewelry. They simply stopped you and
took them away from you. Even the clothes on your back
1921.] IN THE WAKE OF POLAND'S VICTORY 451
were not safe. As we all had been heavily requisitioned al-
ready for supplies for the army, especially underwear, some
of us had not much left. If the Reds had remained, we cer-
tainly would soon have had nothing."
A daring and dramatic thing occurred in Lomza on the
second day of the Bolshevik occupation, an event which proves
that even the Red Terror cannot always strike fear into the
the hearts of people especially women who have the cour-
age of their convictions. This is the story:
One of the first acts of the "Bolos" on their arrival in Lomza
was the arrest of the Bishop and two priests of the town. As
is usually the case under the Bolshevik regime, these men
were hauled off to jail without charges or warning merely
on suspicion of being "counter-revolutionary." The Reds fre-
quently execute people simply because they are of "counter-
revolutionary type."
The day after the Bishop and priests were taken away, the
leader of the Propaganda Bureau of the Reds called a public
meeting, which all citizens were compelled to attend. He
began the usual harangue about the beauties of Soviet govern-
ment, etc., armed for a long tirade against the "follies of
democracy," the "slavery of religion," etc. But he was sud-
denly interrupted by a loud chorus of women's voices shout-
ing: "First send us back our Bishop and we'll listen to you."
The man who gave us the narrative told with gusto of the
blank look of astonishment changing to infuriation that came
into the Bolshevik orator's face. He tried to go one, but every
attempt at a word was interrupted by the same chorus, all the
women in the hall shouting in unison: "Give us back our
Bishop!" "Let our priests go free!"
The women of Lomza succeeded in breaking up that Bol-
shevik meeting. Yet no one of them could be accused. All
were guilty. The Red leader's next move was to go after the
men. But the men simply responded : "We have nothing to say.
You tell the women, they are to have equal rights now. There
you are!"
The Bishop and the priests were released from jail and
permitted to return.
But in the end the Bolsheviks took a horrible revenge on
the women of Lomza. There are at least six women in that
city ("God only knows how many others!" our Polish citizen
452 IN THE WAKE OF POLAND'S VICTORY [Jan.,
exclaimed) whose mothers are wondering in tearless silence
today where their young daughters are. "The day the Bolshe-
viks left, they carried many girls away with them by force.
I, for my part, saw six of them huddled in a truck, crying and
weeping, as the machine tore down the street in the auto
column of the retreating Red Army. There were many crimes
committed against women while the Reds were here."
The route from Lomza to Osowiec, thence to Bialystok,
and finally back to Warsaw was more or less a repetition of
what we had seen since we began our tour: wrecked bridges,
abandoned farms, here and there brick and ashes of a house,
and always the roadside grave. At Osowiec, once a strong
Russian fortress facing the German border, there was no
human being in sight; nothing but acres of ground strewn
with the gigantic ruins of the blown-up fortifications.
A Polish guard came out to challenge us a long solitary
figure emerging from the shelter of a huge sheet of corrugated
iron set on a hillside. His uniform, dripping in the cold rain,
was little better than rags. But he had the Polish smile in his
blue eye as we passed on. They are the greatest soldiers in the
world, these Polish boys, sturdy as oak, good-natured, patient
and enduring yet with an alertness and "pep" in them that
constantly reminds us of the good old doughboy of the United
States army. On this trip we passed literally thousands of
soldiers, regiment after regiment, most of them moving south
to chase Budenny out of Galicia. They were fatigued and
hungry, no doubt. But they usually came singing down the
road, making the land ring with their lusty voices. They were
fine and fit, and in their "doughboy" uniforms looked so much
like our own boys that they fairly took the heart out of us as
they swung by. "What can't they do," we said, "once they
have their country cleared of the invaders and get back to
peace and productive labor again! With youth like this, there
is no limit to Poland's future, even if she is today half wrecked,
smoking in ashes, unfilled, abandoned and swept by famine
and disease."
THE LATEST MR. WELLS.
BY HENRY A. LAPPIN, LITT.D.
I.
WELVE years ago, that incomparable commen-
tator, G. K. Chesterton, remarked that the most
interesting thing about H. G. Wells was that he
was the only one of his many brilliant contem-
poraries who had not stopped growing. "One can
lie awake at night" the author of Heretics hilariously de-
clared "and hear him grow." Mr. Wells is still growing.
The process began when Wells repaired to South Kensing-
ton and put on an apron in Huxley's biological laboratory.
From a first-class honors B.Sc., he passed to the uneasy trade
of schoolmastering and, thence, to literary journalism. Then
he went on to the writing of stories short and long. Over them
the shade of Huxley hovered, and the pungent odors of the
laboratory permeated them. In the short stories he wrote of
stolen bacilli and strange orchids, of empires of ants and val-
leys of spiders, of weird moths and of the eggs of ^Epyornises,
of things seen from observatories and under microscopes. It
was all very thrilling. In the long stories, or "scientific rom-
ances," as the author called them, one traveled in time with
Mr. Wells on a natty little machine composed of ivory, nickel,
brass, and quartz, and saw the declining fires of the weary sun
sink slow and burn out over a world long since uninhabited
by mankind. An exhilarating, if somewhat breathless voyage !
Or, going to the moon, one hobnobbed with the frore race of
Selenites. Or, visiting the biological Island of Dr. Moreau, one
watched that distinguished vivisectionist carving grotesque
approximations to humanity out of pigs and bulls and dogs.
And from The Invisible Man one could learn how it felt to
move about unseen among one's fellow-beings. Then, in 1898,
The War of the Worlds broke out, and by this time Mr. Wells
had become so notorious that nearly everybody enlisted and
watched invading grim Martians bear down upon this tiny
universe, and beheld the dire devastation wrought (in 1898)
454 THE LATEST MR. WELLS [Jan.,
by flying machines and heat rays. And when The Sleeper
woke up in 2100 A. D. there we were, discovering that the
world had become altogether too mechanical for our nine-
teenth century tastes. . . But they were wonderful, those con-
coctions of what we may now call the Pre-Mycenaean age of
Wells' literary development! They out-Verned Jules Verne;
the universe was anatomized and examined and re-adjusted
as you would disengage and reassemble the parts of a Ford;
it was immense and splendid!
Then Mr. Wells moved into his second phase. Weary of
the pale ports o' the moon and the gold gateways of the stars,
he volplaned to this earth, and told the simple tales of such
ordinary souls as Lewisham and Kipps; and wrote small tracts
on Socialism and Marriage and The Misery of Boots, and large
tracts on The Future in America, First and Last Things, and
New Worlds for Old. Most of the later tracts were issued as
novels: The New Machiavelli, Marriage, and The World Set
Free. Mr. Wells had now become the tractarian-novelist of
modern commercial life and sociological development. It is
impossible not to feel that most of these "second phase" tract-
novels are to a considerable extent autobiographical. Some of
them are interesting, some of them intolerably tedious, all of
them are excruciatingly earnest and conscientious. Once only,
in this phase, did he succeed in ridding himself of sociological
preoccupations long enough to permit the unadulterated
story-teller within him to emerge. The result was The History
of Mr. Polly (1910), one of the most outrageously amusing
novels of the last twenty years, and a tender, whimsical human
story as well. His next work, however, shows him passion-
ately and inexorably absorbed in contemplation of "the clois-
tered futilities" it is his own phrase of contemporary life
viewed from the political and economic angle. And ever
since then he has been content to turn his novels into vast
and vivid pamphlets Fabian tracts raised to the n th power.
Discursive and contemptuously negligent of all that has tradi-
tionally pertained to the novel as an art form, he has preferred
to regard it as "the parade of morals and the exchange of
manners, the factory of customs, the criticism of laws and in-
stitutions, and of social dogmas and ideas." 1 The artist of
1 Vide his essay on "The Contemporary Novel," reprinted in An Englishman
Looks at the World, 1914.
1921.] THE LATEST MR. WELLS 455
Love and Mr. Lewisham and of The History of Mr. Polly has
ceded place to the pamphleteer of The Research Magnificent
and of Joan and Peter. It is a great pity, no doubt; but we
must apparently take H. G. Wells on his own terms or not
at all.
Let us now consider our author's third and present phase.
Without ceasing to be interested in, and to give expression to,
as much of the life around him as his peculiarly foreshortened
outlook permits him to see, he has felt impelled to look outside
this world and its little race of men towards something nobler,
finer, and higher, not a part of it. He has seen the futility of
his agnostic materialism, and has grown very weary of it.
That key which once so smoothly glided into the lock of things
in general, now not merely refuses to turn, but will not even
fit. And searching around rather fussily, one must admit
for a new key, Mr. Wells discovered God. Not, one hastens
to add, the permanent God of Revelation, the Christian God,
but a temporary and provisional deity, a Wellsian God God,
the Invisible King. Even Mr. Wells has created more con-
vincing figures than this sad parody of the Almighty Who
looms indistinctly out of the spiritual and intellectual fog
in which Mr. Wells so forlornly wanders. It was in the novel
in which that war-weary amorist, Mr. Britling, failed so la-
mentably either to see it through or to see through it, that the
author first produced this extraordinary version of the Deity
from his fictional conjuring-box. Then he wrote his New
Theology, and called it God, the Invisible King, a book in which
Mr. Wells displayed a quite ingenious unfamiliarity with the
Creed of Christianity. As for his next work, The Soul of a
Bishop that amazing disquisition upon the theological per-
plexities of a member of the Anglican episcopate who finds
rest for his spirit not in the Blessed Vision of Peace, but in our
novelist's egregious deity one's feelings upon reading it can
only be described as indescribable. Assuredly, Anglican
bishops have, on occasion, betrayed an incorrigible weakness
for freakish theology but one refuses to swallow Dr. Scrope !
In Joan and Peter, the six-hundred-page "novel," which
followed close upon the doctrinal deliquescence of Bishop
Scrope, there is more of the New God only more so. This
time Oswald (i. e., H. G. Wells) speaks of him with affection-
ate familiarity as "The Old Experimenter," and harangues
456 THE LATEST MR. WELLS [Jan.,
him at length (or is harangued by him, one forgets which)
over several tiresome pages. It is all very fatuous.
II.
The above extremely summary outline of Mr. Wells' liter-
ary history may not be altogether inappropriate as a pro-
legomenon to our necessarily brief notice of the outline of
the history of this planet which Mr. Wells has just published. 2
The Outline of History is the roof and crown and culmination
of its author's career as a man of letters. Never has he done
anything so ambitious in scope. He announces in his intro-
duction that The Outline "is an attempt to tell, truly and clearly,
in one continuous narrative, the whole story of life and man-
kind so far as it is known today. It is written plainly for the
general reader. . . It has been written primarily to show that
history as one whole is amenable to a more broad and com-
prehensive handling than is the history of special nations and
periods, a broader handling that will bring it within the
normal limitations to time and energy set to the reading and
education of an ordinary citizen. . . There can be no common
peace and prosperity without common historical ideas. . . A
sense of history as the common adventure of all mankind is
as necessary for peace within as it is for peace between the
nations. [The Outline] is an attempt to tell how our present
state of affairs, this distressed and multifarious human life
about us, arose in the course of vast ages and out of the in-
animate clash of matter, and to estimate the quality and the
amount and the range of the hopes with which it now faces
its destiny. . . There is not a chapter that has not been
examined by some more competent person than himself, and
very carefully revised." In a later paragraph he acknowl-
edges, by name, individually, the assistance and cooperation
of more than fifty of his writing friends and scholars. It is
prodigious! No lesser word will serve.
Nothing even remotely like it has ever been attempted
before. It is a task before which the stoutest heart of chron-
icler might well have quailed. Mr. Wells, however, has at-
tacked it imperturbably and appears to have accomplished
his task in rather less than two years! Quite obviously one
2 The Outline of History, 2 volumes. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1920.
1921.] THE LATEST MR. WELLS 457
most imperfectly equipped reviewer can accomplish but little
with such a book in a single short article. Really, a committee
of experts would be needed to deal adequately with it, and
the resulting judgment might well be spread over many ar-
ticles. Already, Hilaire Belloc has delivered his verdict upon
The Outline in two magistral articles: the first dealing with
the earlier portion of Mr. Wells' chronicles was printed in
The Dublin Review for 1920 (April quarter) ; the second has
just appeared in the November number of the London Mer-
cury. Dr. Richard Downey, also, has contributed to The
Month during this year, 3 three lengthy and most searching
papers in review of The Outline. And the topic is still far
from being exhausted. The present notice can do no more
than direct attention to certain fundamental shortcomings in
Mr. Wells' presentation of history.
What may be said in praise of this Outline? The me-
chanics of the book, and the arrangement of the vast material,
are superb. It is written with lucidity and charm and, in many
places, with a finely vibrant eloquence. Indeed, Mr, Wells
has never achieved a more musical or spacious prose: there
are several passages which deserve, and which will obtain,
inclusion in future anthologies of purple patches. There,
however, one comes to the end of one's praise. The merits of
the work are, in fact, purely literary. As history it is pro-
foundly negligible. Why is this so? Because Wells started
out on his huge task with certain preconceptions, theories and
hypotheses many of them, incidentally, hopelessly out of
date which have handicapped him from almost the first page
and have drawn down over his vision a veil through which
he sees the history of the human race, dimly, distortedly, and
as in a glass, darkly.
Mr. Chesterton has noted that the most practical and im-
portant thing about a man is still his view of the universe.
His cosmic philosophy is surely the most practical and impor-
tant thing about the writer of a history of mankind. What in-
validates this latest work by Mr. Wells, and puts him com-
pletely out of court, is that his cosmic philosophy is quite
ingeniously wrong. Although within recent months Mr. Wells
has been suffering from a severe attack of obfuscated theo-
logical idealism, yet when he contemplates the history of men
'August. September, and October, 1920.
458 THE LATEST MR. WELLS [Jan.,
he remains, in his blood and bones, absurdly, but obstinately,
the materialist. He has his facts, or a majority of them, right;
he sets them out attractively enough in all conscience, but
upon relative values or proportions among those facts or their
sequences, he has no sound ideas. His conception of history
is the materialistic conception of history: a conception that
today is as dead as the dodo. But it is the materialistic con-
ception of history that rules this book and saturates its
thirteen hundred pages.
As to more particular matters. In the earlier portion of
this stupendous historical pageant Wells is dealing, largely if
not entirely, with theories, speculations, probabilities, and
hypotheses, not with ascertained and known fact. Here, there-
fore, are pitfalls innumerable for the writer of powerful imag-
ination who is hampered by materialistic preconceptions and
"views" of the origin and destiny of man. Into not a few of
them Mr. Wells flounders. Hypotheses he is repeatedly chang-
ing into solid facts as gayly as your conjurer turns a rabbit
out of a silk hat. Dr. Downey wittily makes this clear in an
excellent passage in his first article: 4
"Mr. Wells' task is to show how the Homo sapiens evolved
from an ape. He devotes a whole chapter (viii.) to the
Pliocene man of group i., without shedding the faintest ray
of light on his origin. He discourses pleasantly of Pithe-
canthropus, and illustrates his remarks with a picture of the
'possible appearance' of Pithecanthropus no mean achieve-
ment when we reflect that the entire remains consist of a thigh
bone, two molar teeth, and the top of a skull. What he does
not tell his readers, however, is that the Pithecanthropus is
the discredited harbinger of the whole family of 'missing
links.' Time was when popularizers of 'Science,' following
the lead of Haeckel, insisted on the continuous, gradual devel-
opment of man from the ape through this very Pithecanthropus
type. Anthropologists, however, insisted that it was not at all
clear that the Java remains belonged to the same skeleton,
since, though found in the same strata, they were some con-
siderable distance apart. The femur is universally admitted
to be human, but many experts consider that the teeth are
anthropoid. A fierce battle rages round the skull, some anat-
omists pronouncing it human, others simian, and others again
* The Month, August, 1920, pp. 143, 144.
1921.] THE LATEST MR. WELLS 459
declaring it to be an intermediate type. The date of the re-
mains, too, is a very vexed question; and, finally, the whole
status of the Pithecanthropus has been rudely shaken by the
recent discovery of several supposed types of prehistoric man
which differ essentially from the Pithecanthropus notably
the Piltdown man, at present in course of reconstruction from
the remains found in Sussex as recently as 1912. As a 'missing
link,' therefore, the Pithecanthropus is pretty generally
abandoned, but Mr. Wells, though he has not succeeded in
finding another to take its place, remains unshaken in his
belief that the prehuman ancestor was an ape."
And, somewhat later in his article, Dr. Downey comments :
"All this chatter of Mr. Wells about arboreal apes, and
his highly imaginative descriptions of Pliocene and Neander-
thal man are somewhat beside the point, since 'no stage in the
ancestry of man may have been very like either one or other
of these extinct races.' 5 We are relieved, therefore, when
Mr. Wells turns his attention, and ours, to the new human
type, indicated by the third group of remains, the Homo
sapiens, or recens. We are consumed with eagerness to know
something of the antecedents of this race; we are thrilled to
think that in this chapter Mr. Wells is at last about to solve
the knotty problem of our simian ancestry. But all the knowl-
edge that Mr. Wells imparts on this vital question is com-
pressed into one single period: 'At present we can only guess
where and how, through the slow ages, parallel with the
Neanderthal cousin, these first true men arose out of some
more ape-like progenitor' (page 52, Mr. Wells' italics). So,
after all, when it comes to discussing the origin of the first
true men, Mr. Wells is only guessing! Hinc illse lacrymse!
But to soften the blow the guess is accompanied by a colored
plate of 'Our Neanderthaloid Ancestor.' Observe the un-
obtrusive manner in which Mr. Wells bridges the gulf be-
tween groups ii. and iii. In a parenthesis, mark you, the
extinct Homo Neanderthalensis, a type of 'nearly human
creatures,' says Mr. Wells, is suddenly raised to the rank of
cousin to the first true men. Mr. Wells is an adept at this
kind of logical theft. Having, with the aid of a colored plate,
persuaded the reader that the Homo Neanderthalensis was
almost human, Mr. Wells proceeds to foist him on to the
* Science Progress, July, 1920, p. 90.
460 THE LATEST MR. WELLS [Jan.,
British Public as a cousin! To such shifts is the new logic
reduced in the interests of the inspiring belief that man is
descended from an ape. Venite adoremus!"
This is the Wells' method throughout in dealing with the
period anterior to recorded history. He has surmised and
opined and guessed and speculated and spread his "may have
beens" and "probablys" and "surelys" over page after page.
He has not produced convincing evidence. Not once has he
proved. Upon another aspect of this speculative fallacy Mr.
Belloc, in the Dublin Review article 6 already referred to, has
devastatingly animadverted:
"Take again this sentence of Mr. Wells': 'It is practically
certain that at the end of the last Glacial Age the Mediter-
ranean was a couple of land-locked sea basins.' It is not prac-
tically certain. It is not certain at all. It is just about even
chances that the Mediterranean has fallen or risen in the last
long process of change. The Mediterranean may well have
been at the end of the last Glacial Age a couple of land-locked
independent seas or it may not. It is an hypothesis based
upon the present proportion of salt in the Mediterranean and
upon the present river discharge into it that is, upon its
present climatic conditions. One could, from the miserable
shreds of evidence available, argue the other way. One could
argue from the remains of human activity in what are now
desert African watercourses, that the discharge into the Medi-
terranean was formerly much greater than it is today. One
could argue from classical literature that the Mediterranean
climate had grown drier and hotter within the last 3,000 years.
The whole thing is just a piece of guesswork. All we know
with any positive knowledge about the Mediterranean is that
it has been from the beginning of recorded time exactly what
it is today. No material condition is eternal; the Mediter-
ranean must be either fuller now than it was at some hypo-
thetical date, ten, or twenty, or one hundred thousand years
ago, or less full; and you have about as much reason to say
the one thing as the other, in the almost entire lack of any-
thing which would be called, in the ordinary affairs of this
world, evidence."
And when, in the course of his secular survey, Mr. Wells
comes down to the history for which, in plenty, indubitable
"Pages 193, 194.
1921.] THE LATEST MR. WELLS 461
records exist and have been codified, he does little, if anything,
to increase our confidence in him as a guide. His materialistic
bias is again constantly darkening counsel and casting a
gloomy shadow upon his path. His estimates of such colossal
and memorable historical figures as Alexander and Julius
Caesar are curiously colored by his contemporary prejudices.
One does not readily forget Oswald's monumentally idiotic
outburst in Joan and Peter, wherein he asserted the superiority
of Salisbury, as a statesman, to Cicero ("because his horizon
was larger"). Similar petulancies manifest themselves con-
stantly throughout the pages wherein he treats of the Graeco-
Roman world. One would like to hear Dr. Warde Fowler's
comment upon the Wellsian Julius Caesar, or Professor J. B.
Bury's opinion of the Wellsian Alexander! Professor Gilbert
Murray and Mr. Ernest Barker, the experts who have read
Mr. Wells' chapters on these two protagonists of the ancient
history of Greece and Rome, have shown themselves singu-
larly forbearing and self-effacing in the occasional footnotes
they have appended to the text.
Mr. Wells, this is perhaps the right place to remark,
makes a great parade of having submitted his work to the cor-
rection and criticism of his scholarly friends. Yet they seem
to have thought silence golden far more frequently than was
either right or necessary. And his "specialists," one should
note, have all been hand-picked by Mr. Wells. One cannot
help feeling that his chapters on Periclean Athens and on the
later Roman Empire would have met with severe criticism
and drastic revision at the hands of such admittedly authori-
tative specialists as Bury and Dill, had this portion of The
Outline been submitted to them. Mr. Wells contrives to write
the history of the later Roman Empire without once mention-
ing Sir Samuel Dill's two epoch-making studies: Roman So-
ciety from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (which was characterized
a few years ago by Mr. Asquith, in his Rectorial address at
Glasgow University, as "a masterpiece of scholarship, philo-
sophic insight, and literary charm") and Roman Society in
the last Era of the Western Empire (of which James Bryce
has written: "Nothing better in the way of a study of social
and intellectual life in the remote past, nothing more careful
in its analysis or more discriminating in its judgments seems
to me to have appeared for a long while"). Indeed, Wells
462 THE LATEST MR. WELLS [Jan..
has, on the whole, preferred to depend upon the smaller hand-
books compilations from compilations. And, at every turn,
the Wellsian idiosyncracy and the Wellsian temperament
keep getting between the author and the stark, irrefragable
facts of history.
When he comes to treat of the beginnings and growth
of the Christian religion, Mr. Wells' account is not merely
ludicrously inadequate; it is confoundedly superior. Clearly,
he has read nothing of any palmary authority upon what he
undertakes to describe and analyze unless it be Harnack's
History of Dogma (a work even now sadly superseded).
Here, if anywhere, Mr. Wells stood in pitiable need of "ex-
perts" to correct and control his version. Yet he undertakes
to expatriate upon the Divine Mind of Christ, upon the story
of the God-Man's sojourn upon this earth, and upon the
progress of Christianity after the death of its Founder; and
the result is that, again and again, what he writes is nothing
more nor less than grotesque drivel. He compiles his account
entirely without prejudice as to the fundamental historical
record. Throughout this portion of The Outline he writes with
the gay verve and magnificent abandon of his early scientific
romances with an even gayer verve and an even more mag-
nificent abandon, for in The Time Machine and in The First
Men in the Moon he had perforce to keep within a certain in-
alterable framework of accepted physical and mechanical fact
and convention. Here, however, although history stares him
in the face, he romances unashamedly, permuting and com-
bining the realities of the record with a glorious irresponsi-
bility.
Like Ritschl he refuses all interpretation of Jesus Christ
that would transcend the limits of human experience. The
tremendous and unique claim of Christ upon the loyalty and
submission of mankind, he simply will not recognize. He
misses the central fact of all pre-Christian history : that it was
a divinely ordained preparation for the adorable mystery of
the Incarnation, and that with the coming of Christ and His
Death upon the Cross, the sum of human life and human
aspiration was instantly carried up to a new and infinitely
higher level; that, in short, the Incarnation of the Son of God
was a unique and emphatic remedial intervention. Believing
Christians will passionately repudiate the whole temper and
1921.] THE LATEST MR. WELLS 463
mind of these chapters. Reason and common sense and human
experience reject them. Mr. Wells' arguments (if so feeble
a logomachy can be dignified by the name argument) will
neither wear nor wash. Of the whole exquisitely beautiful
and intricately wrought yet sublimely simple structure of the
Christian Doctrine of the Trinity, and of the Sacraments, and
of the Divine Constitution of the Church, Mr. Wells has no
faintest glimmering of understanding or appreciation. He
would defecate Christianity to an ethical transparency. Far
from being Christian, Mr. Wells' optimism is the shoddiest
sentimentalism. Even Cotter Morison had more to say for
himself and said it better!
Upon page after page after page of this extraordinary
pot-pourri of history, fantasy, fiction, and prejudice, there
stand out statements, insinuations and suggestions urgently
requiring destructive criticism or outright refutation. But
to do so would transcend magazine limits. The only
adequate review of The Outline of History from the Chris-
tian standpoint would be a rejoinder in two volumes of the
same size by a group of experts of the calibre of men
like Hilaire Belloc, Sir Bertram Windle and Father Herbert
Thurston. A thoroughly scholarly and scientific counterblast
of the kind is urgently needed. For, after all, the whole
viciously aberrant modern intellectual attitude is set out and
summed up in this Outline, which is a veritable monument
and display of the ruinous collapse and utter disintegration
of contemporary thought outside the Church. Here is the
target, in fine where are the marksmen?
* * * #
In the closing words of his memorable London Mercury
article, Belloc has said the final word no one alive today is
better qualified, or has a better right, to say it on Mr. Wells'
Outline of History:
"This book is written in and for a particular phase in
the disintegration of a particular religion. That religion was
the religion of the man who took for his authority in philos-
ophy the literal meaning of every English word in an English
seventeenth-century translation of the Canonical Catholic
Scriptures: who knew nothing outside that, and hated and
feared what might have expanded his knowledge. He in-
stinctively shrank from the grandeur of classical antiquity,
464 TO DAME PAULA, O.S.S. [Jan.,
its expanded tradition and its fruit in the armies of Christen-
dom and the Creed. The vast modern extension of physical
and historical science blew his Authorized Version idol to
pieces. He lost his Faith, but he desperately maintained his
Ethic. He still, in his heart of hearts, thinks 'alcohol' naughty
and dreads to play cards especially on Sunday. He doesn't
understand poetry he has a vague suspicion that it is im-
moral. He associates gloom with truth. There are myriads
of him about. Things are going at such a pace that he may
quite soon be rid of his curse, shake himself, and wake up a
happy man. Civilization is recovering, and will help him to
convalescence in England and America for the Tide in our
Civilization has turned. So much for the book. It will have
a prodigious vogue in its own world and an early grave."
TO DAME PAULA, O.S.B.
(For Her Profession.)
BY THEODORE MAYNARD.
FROM your high convent window whence you look
Over the immeasurable line of sea,
From the great pages of your chanting book
Wherewith you tune your heart to gayety,
From your beautiful silence and the narrow girth
Of your cool cloister I am far removed
Though sharing with you the goodliest thing of earth
The knowledge that I love and am beloved.
With neither scorn nor envy of your lot
I pass with your sister who is now my bride
(For love is single and divided not
Though in a thousand forms diversified)
Mindful that He Whom all the world forgot,
The Lord of love, in dereliction died.
SOME FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS.
BY THOMAS O'HAGAN, PH.D., LITT.D.
HE most distinctive characteristic of French let-
ters is the wealth and wisdom of its criticism.
Whatever opinions may be held as to the place
of French poets in the world's Valhalla of poetry,
the very first place is readily conceded to French
criticism for its breadth and sanity, its universal judgments,
its fine canons of taste, its clearness and beauty, and its al-
ways just proportion of analysis and synthesis.
Nothing, indeed, can be finer than the French schools of
criticism, from Boileau to Sainte Beuve, and from Montaigne
to Brunetiere. Today, in France, we have representatives of
the two schools of criticism the objective and subjective.
The late Ferdinand Brunetiere occupied for years the leader-
ship of the objective or scientific method of criticism; while
at the head of the subjective we have Anatole France and
Jules Lemaitre.
This gift and instinct for criticism, a very tradition and
inheritance of France, was borne across the sea by its sons and
daughters, when they settled, early in the seventeenth century,
upon the banks of the St. Lawrence. It has developed and
ripened with the centuries; nor has this breadth of intellectual
vision that marks the scholar in France been wanting to his
kinsman in Quebec, whose literary horizon is necessarily more
limited. ; ; ; ,i ^|*^
There is but one department of letters, in which English
genius has surpassed French genius in Canada, and that is
fiction. We think it will be conceded by any one who has
made an adequate and sympathetic study of the whole field
of Canadian poetry, that the poetic work of Cremazie, Lemay,
Frechette and Chapman is quite the equal of that of any four
English-speaking poets in Canada; though a fairer compar-
ison would be with any four English-speaking poets in any
province of Canada.
In the department of history Quebec will never be ob-
liged to take a second place while it has on its roll of his-
VOL. CXII. 30
466 FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS [Jan.,
torical writers the worthy and brilliant name of Francis
Xavier Garneau. Until Kingsford appeared, there was really
no historian in Canada to match with Garneau; and consider-
ing the conditions under which the latter wrote his history
of Canada, it must be conceded that Garneau's is the greater
performance. "As an historian," says a well-known Canadian
writer, "Garneau stands preeminent in our republic of letters;
he is at once our Macaulay, Hume, Guizot and Thiers, and we
may conscientiously say that he has written the best history of
Canada ever printed."
Referring to Garneau's style, the late Abbe Casgrain, in his
essay Un Contemporain, writes: "His style is commensurate
with the loftiness of his thought and reveals him as a choice
writer. He has amplitude, precision and brightness. His style
is especially remarkable for its strength and energy." Gar-
neau was occupied in writing his great history 1 from 1840 to
1848 years of stress and strain in Canadian political life,
when racial animosity was being accentuated by the growing
predominance, real or assumed, of an English majority in the
Canadian Parliament.
We will pass over here the historical works of Ferland
and Suite, both of which reveal painstaking research and veri-
fied accuracy, as they belong rather to the domain of Church
history and ethnology than to the dramatic stage setting of
history.
In fiction, Quebec has yielded us nothing of the first order,
though it has supplied Sir Gilbert Parker and Mrs. Catherwood
with subjects that have lent themselves readily to two meri-
torious and popular historical romances The Seats of the
Mighty and The Dollards. French-Canadian fiction is not,
however, without value; and we will indicate here a few of
its representative works. When the late Abbe Casgrain, in
1860, gathered around him, in the very shadow of the Basilica
of Quebec, a group of writers who created Les Soirees Cana-
diennes and Le Foyer Canadien and who were known as "The
Pleiades of Quebec," the aged Philippe Aubert de Gaspe, who
formed one of the group, gave to French-Canadian letters its
first work of fiction, under the title of Les Anciens Canadiens
(The Canadians of Old) . 2 As Abbe Camille Roy says : "This
1 Translated into English by Andrew Bell.
'The English translation is by the Canadian poet, C. D. Roberts.
1921.] FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS 467
novel is in truth a first series of memoirs which constitute
the first confidences of the author with the public, one of the
chief heroes of the story being none other than M. d'Haberville,
the grandfather of M. de Gaspe, who did his duty as a soldier
in the war of the conquest of Quebec, and whose manoir was
burned by the English.
Then we have the novel, Jacques et Marie, based on the
story of the deportation of the Acadians which gave Long-
fellow his theme for the beautiful idyll of "Evangeline," and,
as its sub-title states, is a souvenir of a dispersed people. The
author of this touching story is Napoleon Bourassa, architect
and painter, who was born in 1827 and educated at the Petit
Seminaire de St. Sulpice.
Born almost contemporaneously with the author of
Jacques et Marie and one of "The Pleiades of Quebec," Mr.
Gerin-Lajoie will be remembered for his unique novel, Jean
Ruard, which deals in an interesting manner with the story of
the colonists in Quebec. Abbe Boy calls Jean Ruard a rustic
book, all impregnated with the aroma of the forest. We have
nothing just like it in the English fiction of Canada, save it be
Mrs. Moodie's Roughing It in the Bush, which, however, lacks
unity and plot.
It remained for a French-Canadian writer to seek the sub-
ject for a novel outside of Canada, in order to reveal the gifts
and qualities that go to the making and creating of genuine
fiction. The late Sir Adolphe Bouthier of Quebec, author of
the stirring Canadian National Song, O Canada! in his novel,
The Centurion, a tale of the time of Christ, gives us a real novel
of worth, "the most substantial," as Abbe Boy holds, "that has
yet appeared in French-Canadian literature." Continuing,
Abbe Camille Boy writes: "This novel of Judge Bouthier's
contains more history, more geography, more ideas, I will not
say more love, than all the others that have, up to the present,
appeared in our French Province. And this advancement
should be noted, seeing that the novel is a species of writing
that develops slowly and with difficulty amongst us; and seeing
especially that this kind of writing supposes or implies that
the author possesses a very rich and supple mind; and seeing,
in fine, that this complexity of the novel could be one of the
reasons why but few have undertaken to write fiction here."
Quebec has produced many writers whose contributions have
468 FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS [Jan.,
not been so much creative as valuable compilations of his-
torical data and annals precious to literati who seek setting
and background of fact wherein to cradle the offspring of
their imagination. Amongst these a first place must be given
to the late Sir James Lemoine, whose Legends and Chronicles
of the St. Lawrence has been a very mine for Canadian
writers.
To Lemoine Sir Gilbert Parker is indebted for the data
which made possible the creation of perhaps his most popular
novel, The Seats of the Mighty. At his quaint manorial home,
Spencer Grange, hard by Quebec, Sir James often enter-
tained many of the most distinguished writers of the day.
That must, indeed, have been a delightful fete at Spencer
Grange in September, 1864, when George Augustus Sala of the
London Telegraph met Francis X. Garneau, the historian of
Canada, old Abbe Ferland, historiographer, Professor La Rue
of Laval University, Dr. J. C. Tache, the well-known essayist
on Confederation, and the Honorable Joseph Cauchon, the
editor of Le Journal de Quebec. It may be here added that
Sir James Lemoine was an intimate friend of the American
historian, Parkman, and frequently entertained him at his
home.
On the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Vic-
toria in 1897, when Sir James Lemoine was the recipient of
knighthood, his gifted confrere in Canadian letters, Dr. Louis
Frechette addressed to him a beautiful sonnet of which the fol-
lowing is a translation of the opening lines: "You have saved
from oblivion many a legend, Venerable Toiler, laden with
glorious booty; you have entwined for our literary knights
many a garland and snatched from forgetfulness more than
one remote secret."
Dr. Charles Joseph Tache, brother of the late Archbishop
Tache of Winnipeg, was born at Kamouraska, Quebec, in 1820.
Tache was related to the first three settlers in Quebec, Hebert,
Couillard and Martin, who lived in Quebec in the time of
Champlain; and on his father's side he was a descendant of
Louis Joliet, the explorer of the Mississippi. In many re-
spects Tache was one of the most remarkable men that French
Canada has produced. He was a brilliant polemist and a man
of prodigious erudition. His work on the Confederation of
the Canadian Provinces is a masterpiece. His Forestiers et
1921.] FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS 469
Voyageaurs makes also delightful reading. In this work there
is a most interesting chapter, entitled "La Rentree au Camp,"
from which we would like to quote if space permitted. For
his distinguished services to French-Canadian literature, the
French Government created Dr. Tache a Knight of the Legion
of Honor.
Contemporary with Napoleon Bourassa, Gerin-Lajoie and
Dr. Tache, lived Dr. Chauveau, novelist, poet and politician.
Dr. Chauveau was placed at the head of the department of
Public Instruction for Quebec in 1876. His two chief works
are L'Ancien Chapitre de Quebec and Francois-Xavier Gar-
neau: so. vie et ses oeuvres.
We have reserved for consideration and appraisement
three other French-Canadian writers of notable gifts Abbe
Casgrain, Sir Adolphe Routhier and Abbe Camille Roy, only
one of whom survives, Abbe Casgrain having died some ten
years ago and Sir Adolphe a few months ago.
Rev. Henri Raymond Casgrain, who was born in 1831 at
Riviere Ouelle, P. Q., equally distinguished as an historian
and critic, was educated at the College of Ste. Anne and the
Quebec Seminary, and made three extended visits to Europe
in 1858, 1867 and 1873 in quest of historical material, obtaining
the journal and papers of Marechal de Levis, as well as the
personal papers of General Montcalm. He received the degree
of Doctor of Letters from Laval University in 1877, and was
elected President of the Royal Society of Canada in 1889.
The Abbe is justly regarded as the chief of French-
Canadian biographers. In 1861 appeared his first work, Les
Legendes Canadiennes; in 1864 UHistoire de la Mere Marie
de I' Incarnation; in 1885 Biographies Canadiennes; in 1888
Un Pelerinage au pays d'Evangeline, which was crowned by
the French Academy; and in 1891 his work on Montcalm and
Levis. It should be added that to the complete edition of
Cremazie's poems Abbe Casgrain contributed a most scholarly
and appreciative introduction; and besides writing a number
of unpretentious poems, made an admirable translation into
French of Byron's "Prisoner of Chillon."
Foremost of French-Canadian prose writers may be re-
garded the late Sir Adolphe Routhier, who recently passed
away at the ripe age of eighty-one. Judge Routhier was born
at St. Placide, P. Q., in 1839, and received his education at the
470 FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS [Jan.,
College of Ste. Therese and Laval University. It is worth
noting that in his boarding quarters at Laval, Sir Adolphe had,
as neighboring room-mate, the poet, Dr. Frechette. Judge
Routhier was essentially a critic and conferencier. In all his
works he reveals a breadth of scholarship, a supreme literary
taste and a poise of judgment surpassing that of any other
Canadian writer, either English or French. No other Canadian
writer that we know of is so little swayed in the predilections
of his judgments by mere personal or racial prepossessions as
Judge Routhier. He had the unerring instinct of the French
mind to discern in the literature of the world what is truly a
masterpiece; and he struck off with chaste pen in epigram
and antithesis the literary values and virtues the salient
qualities of every writer he appraised.
Take, for instance, the following contrast which he insti-
tutes between the great romanticist, Chateaubriand, and the
eminent French apologist and critic, De Maistre: "Chateau-
briand reacts against literary paganism, De Maistre against
impious mockery. One could say that Chateaubriand made
a tour of the Catholic temple to admire its form, but he did
not enter it; while De Maistre passed through the interior of
the edifice and even sounded it to its foundation to show the
world the unshakable Stone upon which it is seated."
Again, speaking of Victor Hugo and contrasting him with
Lamartine, Judge Routhier writes: "Hugo's imagination was
equally a marvel. We know but two men who can be com-
pared to him in this respect: Shakespeare and Lope de Vega.
... As a lyric poet, Hugo rises higher than all his contem-
poraries, but he descends also lower. Several critics prefer
Lamartine to him, and in a certain respect they are right.
Lamartine is more equal, and if he astonishes less, he charms
more. Both are, indeed, poets of the soul, but in Lamartine it
is the sentimental which dominates while in Hugo it is the
intellectual."
The author's massive work, Les Grands Drames, is an able
and searching study of the work of Sophocles, ^Eschylus,
Shakespeare, Goethe, Corneille, Racine and Victor Hugo. Re-
ferring to the great Elizabethan dramatist, Routhier writes : "The
theatre of Shakespeare is far superior, considered on the moral
side, to the French contemporary theatre. It does not destroy
the respect for authority, the traditions of the father of the
1921.] FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS 471
family, the marital bond. It preaches neither free love nor
illicit love."
Judge Routhier's chief works are: Causeries da Dimanche;
Portraits et Pastels Litteraires; A Tr -avers L' Europe; En Canot;
Les Echos; A Travers L'Espagne; Les Grands Drames; Le
Centurion (a Romance), and Conferences et Discours. It was
the latter which established his reputation as a literary critic.
Rev. Joseph Camille Roy was born at Berthier, P. Q., in
1870. There are several brothers of the Roys, of whom one is
the Coadjutor Archbishop of Quebec, and all of them seem to
have been born to the literary purple. Abbe Camille Roy was
educated at the Quebec Seminary, Laval University, LTnstitut
Catholique, and the Sorbonne, Paris. He is the founder of
La Societe du Parler Francais du Canada, and was elected a
member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1904. His chief
works are : Nos Origines Litteraires and Nouveaux Essais sur la
Litterature Canadienne. The latter is a very scholarly and
discriminating study of the work of some of the most prom-
inent French-Canadian writers, such as De Gaspe, Gerin-
Lajoie, Louis Frechette, Judge Routhier and Thomas Chapais.
There still remain two French-Canadian publicists and
journalists whose work has been a force in molding public
opinion in every quarter of French Canada: Jules Paul Tar-
divel, founder and director, for many years, of La Verite of
Quebec and Henri Rourassa, founder and director of Le De-
voir, unquestionably the most ably edited French journal in
Canada. M. Tardivel, who was known as "the Louis Veuillot
of Canada," filled a unique place in French-Canadian journal-
ism. He was, without a doubt, a chevalier sans peur et sans
reproche, and made of his little weekly journal, La Verite, a
tremendous force in the Catholic life of Quebec. Though dead
since 1905, the traditions of this fearless Catholic journalistic
crusader still survive, and give strength and inspiration to those
who battle for knightly honor and Catholic truth. M. Tardi-
vel's published works are: Vie du Pape Pie IX.: Ses CEuvres
et ses Douleurs; Notes de Voyage, 1890, and La Situation Re-
ligieuse aux Etats-Unis.
Henri Bourassa, the director of Le Devoir, is much more
than a Canadian figure; he is a continental figure. He is, too,
probably one of the best informed journalists in America, and
writes and speaks with equal facility both French and English.
472 FRENCH-CANADIAN PROSE WRITERS [Jan.,
He maintains a thesis with a force of logic, at once cumulative,
convincing and crushing. His style is like to a mountain
stream gathering force as it frets the narrow channel of a
valley. M. Bourassa has published in all some twenty books,
many of them being in brochure form. His most widely read
volumes are: Hier, Aujourd'hui, Demain; Que Devons-nous a
Angleterre; La Canada Apostolique, and Le Pape Arbitre de
la Paix.
It would be impossible in an article necessarily limited as
is this to touch upon all the French-Canadian prose writers.
There are, indeed, many others worthy of notice, such as
Oscar Dunn, Thomas Chapais, Adolphe Gagnon, and the
two Abbes Gosselins whose works, La Vie de Monseigneur
Laval and L'Instruction au Canada sous le Regime francais,
are valuable contributions to Canadian literature. Nor should
we omit here to speak of the group of French-Canadian writers
who created and contributed to t( Les Soirees du Chateau
Ramezay" in Montreal. French-Canadian prose writers in-
herit the taste and traditions of their mere patrie; and with
singular devotion have cultivated, upon the banks of the St.
Lawrence, a prose literature worthy of the genius of their gifted
forebears in the land of Montaigne, Boileau, Sainte Beuve and
Brunetiere.
THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN.
BY HERBERT LUCAS, S.J.
III.
EARLIER CATHOLIC WRITINGS.
T will be within the knowledge of almost every
reader of these pages, that between his reception
into the Catholic Church in 1845 and his eleva-
tion to the dignity of Cardinal in 1879, Newman
underwent a series of very severe trials and dis-
appointments. Of these the chief were (1) the circumstances
which led to his resignation in 1857 of the Rectorship of the
Catholic University of Ireland; (2) the collapse of the scheme
for a new English version of the Holy Scriptures, of which he
(by invitation) was to have been the editor; (3) the grave
suspicions under which he fell through his association with
the chief writers for The Rambler and The Home and Foreign
Review, viz.: Acton, Simpson, Wetherell, and others; (4) the
frustration of the plan for the establishment of an Oratory at
Oxford, and other troubles therewith connected; (5) and
lastly, the serious imputations against his orthodoxy conse-
quent on his opposition to the definition of Papal Infallibility
as being, in his judgment, inopportune, even though the doc-
trine itself had been part of his belief ever since he had be-
come a Catholic.
About each of these trials much might be said, and their
story is told at length and in detail in Mr. Wilfrid Ward's biog-
raphy. But without in the least wishing to minimize their
gravity and their highly instructive significance, it is no part
of my purpose to dwell upon them here. For it may be more
profitable to concentrate attention rather on the work which
Newman did, than upon the obstacles which from time to
time blocked or seemed to block his way.
* * * *
The first years of Newman's life as a Catholic were mainly
taken up with a journey to Milan and Rome, where he decided
474 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Jan.,
to join the Congregation of the Oratory, made his novitiate,
and was ordained priest, and, after his return, with the estab-
lishment of the Oratory at Birmingham and in London.
It was during his stay in Rome, in 1847, that he wrote, and
published anonymously, Loss and Gain, the Story of a Convert,
The book is, as has been said, in no sense autobiographical.
Charles Reding, the hero, far from being like Newman himself
at the time of his conversion, a don of high repute and a
leader of men, is an undergraduate reading for, and passing,
his examinations. He has made no profound study of the
early Fathers as Newman had done, and the whole process
of his conversion is shorter by many years than that of New-
man. Yet Loss and Gain has, at least indirectly, its autobio-
graphical significance, inasmuch as the objections urged
against the Catholic Church by Reding's friends, Carlton and
Campbell, and even by Bateman, may be taken as represent-
ing, to some extent at least, the difficulties which had been
felt by Newman himself. And the state of mind of one to
whom the hollowness of the Anglican position is becoming
more and more clear, yet who cannot at once see his way to
submission to the Catholic Church (which was Newman's
case during the years 1841-45) is sympathetically described.
"It seemed that Charles had no intention, either now or at
any future day, of joining the Church of Rome; that he felt
he could not take such a step at present without distinct sin;
that it would be simply against his conscience to do so; ...
that he felt that nothing could justify so serious an act but
the conviction that he could not be saved in the Church to
which he belonged; that he had no such feeling; that he had
no definite case against his own Church sufficient for leaving
it, nor any definite view that the Church of Rome was the one
Church of Christ; that still he could not help suspecting that
one day he should think otherwise, he conceived the day might
come, nay would come, when he should have that conviction
which at present he had not, and which of course would be a
call on him to act upon it, by leaving the Church of England
for that of Rome; he could not tell distinctly why he so antic-
ipated, except that there were so many things which he
thought right in the Church of Rome, and so many which he
thought wrong in the Church of England; and because, too, the
more he had the opportunity of hearing and seeing, the greater
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 475
cause he had to admire and revere the Roman Catholic system,
and to be dissatisfied with his own." 1 In a word he was well
on his way to Catholicism, but did not yet see his way with
sufficient clearness for decisive action.
Soon after Newman's return to England in 1848, he was
invited to preach several Lenten sermons in various churches
in London. To his great disappointment they were but poorly
attended, and he felt a good deal discouraged. But in the fol-
lowing year, 1849, his Discourses to Mixed Congregations,
preached in Birmingham, drew large audiences of Protestants
as well as Catholics, and when published may be said to have
secured Newman's reputation as a Catholic preacher and
writer. They were regarded as "wonderful efforts in a species
of oratory far more ornate than the chastened simplicity of
the Oxford Parochial Sermons." 2
His next undertaking of a public nature was the delivery
and publication of the lectures on Difficulties of Anglicans. They
were given, during 1850, in the church of the London Oratory,
then situated in King William Street. Mr. Ward notes that
they afford the only instance, in Newman's career, of what
his biographer calls "aggressive" as distinct from "defensive"
controversy, and in this respect they may be contrasted with
the "Letters" to Pusey and the Duke of Norfolk, with the lec-
tures on The Present Position of Catholics in England and
with the Apologia. The task of preparing them was, Mr.
Ward assures us, uncongenial to the lecturer, and, in fact,
he is able to quote Newman's own statement to a correspond-
ent that he was writing them "against the grain." But I am
disposed to think that the grounds of his, perhaps temporary,
dislike for the task are to be found, not in any distaste for
controversy, or even for "aggressive" controversy as such, but
rather in his conviction that "the controversy with the Church
of England did not go to the root of the deepest difficulties
of the day," which were, the objections leveled against all
revealed religion. 8
However this may be, the lectures, like most of Newman's
Catholic writings, were called forth by a particular occasion
which, in this instance, was what is known as "the Gorham
case." The Anglican Bishop of Exeter "had refused to insti-
l Loss and Gain, pp. 334, 335. * Ward, Newman, i., 228.
Ibid., p. 131.
476 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Jan.,
tute Mr. G. G. Gorham to the Vicarage of Bransford Speke
on the ground that he denied the doctrine of baptismal regen-
eration." This decision was confirmed by the Court of Arches
but was overruled and reversed by the Privy Council. "Here,"
says Mr. Ward, " was a glaring case of the civil power assert-
ing its supremacy over the spiritual as to what was the ortho-
dox doctrine, . . . and making its decision on behalf of lati-
tudinarian doctrine. Many Tractarians who had hitherto held
back from Rome, including such influential men as Hope-
Scott, Manning and T. W. Allies, felt keenly this challenge
to their position. Their following in Newman's footsteps ap-
peared to be imminent. A strongly signed protest was at once
drawn up, at the house of Mr. Hope-Scott in Curzon Street,
against the action of the Privy Council. The matter caused
great excitement in the Press and among Anglicans generally,
and seemed to call for some public comment from New-
man." 4
In the preface to the volume on Difficulties of Anglicans
Newman disclaims the intention of attempting "an exhibition
of the direct evidences for Catholicism." Apart from the fact
that this would be "a work which could not be executed by
any who undertook it except in leisure and with great delibera-
tion," he is convinced that such a work "is not the want of
the moment," a characteristic phrase which deserves to be
noted. To meet "the need of the moment" was at all times
Newman's aim, from the days of the Tracts for the Times
down to his very latest article, in reply to Principal Fairbairn,
written in 1885. But why was "a formal dissertation on the
Notes of the Church" not, in his opinion, "the want of the
moment?" Because "at present the thinking portion of society
is [either] very near the Catholic Church," as in the case of
the Tractarians who still remained outside the fold, "or very
far from her," as he believed to be the case with the vast
majority of Englishmen. "The first duty of Catholics," he
says, "is to house those in who are near her doors; it will be
time afterwards to see how things lie" on a more "extended
field." And he presently continues: "Those surely who are
advancing towards the Church, would not have advanced so
far, had they not had sufficient arguments to bring them for-
ward. What retards their progress is not any weakness in
*lbtd., p. 230.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 477
their arguments, but the force of opposite considerations . . .
which are urged, sometimes against the Church, sometimes
against their submitting to her authority." Accordingly, he
set himself to the limited task of smoothing the way for those
who were already "very near," yet still outside, the Church. 5
Of his mode of reasoning with those of his old friends and
comrades, the Tractarians, who still remained where they
were, the space at my disposal will allow me to give only one
specimen. The Tractarians, he says, had strangely overlooked
the essentially Erastian character of the ecclesiastical organ-
ization of which they were members. "These men understood
the nature of the Church," as instituted by Christ Our Lord,
"far better than they understood the nature of the Establish-
ment which they sought to defend. They saw in it, indeed,
a contrariety to their Apostolical principles, but they seem to
have imagined that such contrariety was an accident in its
constitution, and was capable of a cure. They did not under-
stand that the Establishment was set up in Erastianism," that
is to say, by the civil government, "that Erastianism was its
essence, and that to destroy Erastianism was to destroy the
Establishment. The [Tractarian] Movement, then, and the
Establishment were in simple antagonism from the first, al-
though neither party knew it; they were logical contradic-
tories; they could not be true together; what was the life of
the one was the death of the other. The sole ambition of the
Establishment was to be the creature of the State; the sole
ambition of the Movement was to force it to act for itself." 6
In connection with this passage it may be useful to remark,
in passing, that the present movement in favor of the "En-
abling Bill," now under consideration in Parliament, a bill
which has for its purpose to secure for the Establishment a
certain measure of autonomy, does not go to the root of the
difficulty. For even supposing the Bill to be skillfully drafted
and successfully carried through, it would still remain true
that the Establishment owed to Parliament, and not to any
spiritual authority, such measure of liberty as might be con-
ferred upon it by the legislature.
But to return to Newman's argument. The Tractarian
party, he says, set out with the rather naive idea of helping
the Establishment by making it more Catholic. "It was easy
8 Difficulties of Anglicans, i. (Preface). Ibid., p. 105.
478 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Jan.,
to foresee," he says, "what response the Establishment would
make to its officious defenders, as soon as it could recover
from its surprise; but experience was necessary to teach this
to men who knew more of St. Athanasius than of the Privy
Council or the Court of Arches." The Tracts had protested
against the idea that the Establishment was the creation of
the State. "Did the State make us? Can it unmake us? Can
it send out missionaries? Can it arrange dioceses?" As if
in answer to these questions His Majesty, King William IV.,
forthwith proclaims that "We, having great confidence in the
learning, morals, and probity of our well-beloved William
Grant Broughton, do name and appoint him to be Bishop and
ordinary pastor of the See of Australia, . . . and we do
hereby declare that if we, our heirs and successors, shall
think fit to recall or revoke the appointment of the said Bishop
of Australia, or his successors, every such Bishop shall, to all
intents and purposes, cease to be Bishop of Australia. . . .
And we do hereby give and grant to the said Bishop of Aus-
tralia full power and authority to confirm those that are bap-
tized and come to years of discretion, and to perform all other
functions peculiar and appropriate to the office of Bishop
within the said diocese of Australia." 7
Again, the Tractarians, relying on the testimony of an-
tiquity, had magnified the office of Bishop, and attached the
highest authority to their judicial pronouncements on, for
instance, the orthodoxy of a book. But again the answer came,
this time from an Archbishop of the Establishment itself.
This dignitary expresses himself as follows: "Many persons
look with considerable interest to the declarations on such
matters that from time to time are put forth by Bishops in
their charges, or on other occasions. But on most of the points
to which I have been alluding, a Bishop's declarations have
no more weight, except what they derive from his personal
character, than any anonymous pamphlet would have. The
points are mostly such as he has no power to decide, even in
reference to his own diocese; and as to legislation for the
Church, or authoritative declaration on many of the most
important matters, neither any one Bishop, nor all collectively,
have any more right of this kind than the ordinary Magistrates
have to take on themselves the function of Parliament." 8 The
1 1bid., p. 107. *lbid., pp. Ill, 112.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 479
Tractarians, Newman argues, cannot logically stay where they
are. Either, following their principles, they must go whither
those principles lead them, that is to say, to Rome, or they
must go back on their principles and acknowledge themselves
to have been mistaken from the outset. Could they conscien-
tiously disown those very truths which they had so laboriously
acquired ?
Like the lectures on Difficulties of Anglicans, those which
Newman delivered in Birmingham in 1851 on The Present
Position of Catholics in England were occasioned by a definite
crisis, viz.: that of the violent "No Popery" agitation which
was set on foot in response to the restoration of the Catholic
hierarchy in 1850 and to the famous "Letter from outside the
Flaminian Gate" in which Cardinal Wiseman announced the
appointment of himself and his fellow-bishops with full dio-
cesan powers.
The contrast between the two sets of lectures may be
illustrated by a comparison. In the first set Newman is deal-
ing with a field cleared and ploughed and ready for the seed.
In the second he has to do with a piece of land which has been
overgrown with brambles and thistles and all manner of weeds,
and which must first be cleared of these as a necessary pre-
liminary to any process of cultivation. In the first set, as has
been seen, he addresses himself to those members of the
Tractarian party who had come with him a long way, yet
hesitated to take the final step of submission. In the second,
he has in view that great mass of Englishmen of whom it may
be said, not merely that they are not ripe for conversion, but
that, so long as their minds are darkened by a thick cloud of
prejudice and Protestant tradition, they are not in the least
disposed even to examine into the claims of the Catholic
Church. Towards the dispersal of this cloud of hostile preju-
dice the lectures on "Catholicism in England" (to give them
their original title) were directed.
Once more a single passage, or rather, some selected por-
tions of a single passage, must serve as a specimen of a work
which must be read at large to be rightly appreciated. The
following words are taken from the lecture entitled: "Tradi-
tion the Sustaining Power of the Protestant View."
"The establishment of Protestantism," he writes, "was
comparatively an easy undertaking in England, without the
480 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Jan.,
population knowing much what Protestantism meant; and I
will tell you why : there are certain peculiarities of the English
character, which were singularly favorable to the royal pur-
pose [i. e., the purpose of Queen Elizabeth] . . . The legiti-
mate instruments for deciding on the truth of a religion are
these two, fact and reason, or in other words the way of his-
tory and the way of science; and to both the one and the other
of these the English mind is naturally indisposed. Theologians
proceed in the way of reasoning; they view Catholic truth as
a whole, as one great system, of which part grows out of part,
and doctrine corresponds to doctrine. This system they carry
out into its fullness, and define in its details, by patient pro-
cesses of reason; and they learn to prove and defend it by
means of frequent disputations and logical developments.
Now, all such abstract investigations and controversial exer-
cises are distasteful to an Englishman; . . . we break away
from them as dry, uncertain, theoretical and unreal. The
other means of attaining religious truth [by one who is not a
Catholic] is the way of history; when, namely, from the re-
view of past times and foreign countries, the student deter-
mines what was really taught by the Apostles in the beginning.
Now an Englishman, as is notorious, takes comparatively little
interest in the manners, customs, opinions, or doings of for-
eign countries. Surrounded by the sea, he is occupied with
himself; his attention is concentrated on himself; and he looks
abroad only with reference to himself. We are a home people;
we like a house to ourselves, and we call it our castle; we look
at what is immediately before us; we are eminently practical;
we care little for the past; we resign ourselves to existing cir-
cumstances; we are neither eclectics nor antiquarians; we live
in the present. . .
"Now you see how admirably this temper of the English-
man fits in with the exigencies of Protestantism; for two of the
very characteristics of Protestantism are its want of past his-
tory, and its want of fixed teaching." On the other hand, "if
there is one passion more than another which advantageously
distinguishes the Englishman, it is that of personal attach-
ment," particularly in the form of "loyalty to the Sovereign."
Now "these . . . peculiarities of the English character . . .
lay clear and distinct before the sagacious intellects which
were the ruling spirits of the English Reformation." The "way
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 481
to be pursued with our countrymen to make Protestantism
live . . . was to embody it in the person of its Sovereign. Eng-
lish Protestantism is the religion of the Throne; it is repre-
sented, realized, taught, transmitted in the succession of mon-
archs and an hereditary aristocracy. It is religion grafted
upon loyalty, and its strength is not in argument, not in fact,
. . . not in an apostolical succession, not in sanction of Scrip-
ture but in a royal road to faith, in backing up a king whom
men see, against a Pope whom they do not see."
The lecturer goes on to point out how, in and from the
earlier days of the English Reformation, the forces and in-
fluences of the law, of fashion, of literature were all enlisted
on behalf of the new-born "Protestant Tradition." "No won-
der, then," he proceeds, "that Protestantism, being the religion
of our literature, has become the tradition of civil intercourse
and political life; no wonder that its positions are among the
elements of knowledge, unchangeable as the moods of logic,
or the idioms of language, or the injunctions of good taste.
Elizabeth's reign is 'golden,' Mary is 'bloody,' the Church of
England is 'pure and apostolical,' the Reformers are 'judicious,'
the Prayer Book is 'incomparable' or 'beautiful,' the Thirty-
Nine Articles are 'moderate,' 'Pope' and 'Pagan' go together,
and 'the Pope, the Devil and the Pretender.' "
If some of these shibboleths have gone out of fashion
since Newman delivered his lectures, it is to him in no small
measure that we owe their gradual disappearance from cur-
rent speech. Presently, he goes on : "What chance has a Cath-
olic against so multitudinous, so elementary a Tradition?
Here is the Tradition of the Court and of the Law, and of So-
ciety, and of Literature, strong in themselves, and acting on
each other, and acting on a willing people, and the willing
people acting on them, till the whole edifice stands [or seems
to stand] self-supported. . . You see [now] what I meant
when I spoke of the Tradition of the Pharisees, and said that
it might be powerful in influence, though it was argumenta-
tively weak; you see why it is that the fair form of Catholi-
cism, as it exists in the east, west, and south, never crosses the
retina of a Protestant's imagination: it is the incubus of this
Tradition which cumbers the land, and opposes an impreg-
nable barrier between us and each individual Protestant whom
we happen to address. Whoever he is, he thinks he knows all
VL. CXII. 31
482 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Jan.,
about our religion before speaking to us nay, perhaps much
better than we know it ourselves." 9
The fact that this Protestant tradition of anti-Catholic
prejudice has been in great measure weakened since the fifties
of the last century is one for which we may be thankful. Yet
we must not conceal from ourselves the no less unquestion-
able fact that to a large extent the old-fashioned bigotry has
only given place to a more insidious foe, that of religious in-
differentism; a change which Newman himself very clearly
foresaw, as will presently appear.
The year 1852 found Newman in Ireland, where his brief
tenure of the office of Rector of the Catholic University pro-
vided the occasion for his lectures on "The Scope and Nature of
University Education" and on "The Idea of a University," 10 as
well as for others, some of which are included in the volumes
which now bear the title of Historical Sketches. His main
topic in the former series was the relation between religious
and secular knowledge, and the function of a University in the
cultivation of both. At an earlier period, almost immediately
after his conversion, Newman had entertained the idea that
the Oxford converts might be utilized for the theological train-
ing of the clergy, who were, he thought, inadequately ac-
quainted with the historical aspects of theology. These hopes
having come to nothing, so far as he personally was concerned
(though the need has since been recognized and in part met),
the next best thing to be done would be to train up a genera-
tion of highly educated laymen, who should be able to present
a firm front to those attacks upon revealed religion which, as
has been said, he foresaw as a great and imminent danger in
the future.
To exclude religion and theology from a scheme of higher
education, as was being done in the recently established "god-
less" Queen's Colleges in Ireland, would be to attempt to build
an arch without a keystone. On the other hand there were,
he thought, two dangers of an opposite character to be guarded
against, viz.: (a) Any proposal unduly to restrict the reading
and the literary education of Catholic young men, and (b)
a certain unwillingness to welcome and encourage scientific
or historical research, lest the outcome of such research might
9 Present Position of Catholics, pp. 45-54.
"Now published in one volume, under the latter title.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 483
come into apparent conflict with revealed truth. Such appre-
hensions, he was convinced, savored of an unworthy timidity,
as though any portion or department of truth could be in
real opposition to another, even though it might be impos-
sible, for awhile, explicitly to bring them into harmony.
It would, however, be a very serious mistake to imagine
that Newman was solicitous only for liberty of scientific and
historical research. He was even more keenly alert to the
danger arising from the proneness of scientific experts to
overpass the limits of their own branches of knowledge, and
either to apply the processes of the unaided and unguided
human reason to revealed mysteries, as the early heretics
had done, or, like the modern agnostic, to treat religion as a
subject in relation to which no truth and no certainty was at-
tainable, just because it was not attainable by the methods
which they rightly employed in dealing with physical facts or
phenomena. Already in his Oxford University Sermons he
had dealt with the popular notion that faith rests on weak
grounds, reason on strong grounds, a notion which, as he
points out, itself rests in large measure on a mischievous con-
fusion of mind as to the meaning of terms. 11 Already in the
"Letters on the Tamworth Reading Room" he had insisted that
"Secular Science, without personal religion," is only too apt
to become "a temptation to unbelief." 12 The terms, "agnos-
tic" and "agnosticism," were not yet in use, but Newman had
long since recognized that the temper of mind which (since
Huxley hit upon them) we now designate by these terms,
would surely be the chief religious danger of the coming age,
a danger against which he ardently desired to fortify the
generation of youths then growing into full manhood.
The following passage might had the term been then in
use have fittingly borne for its heading: "Agnosticism, the
Enemy." "The teacher," he writes, "whom I speak of will
discourse thus in his secret heart: he will begin by laying it
down ... as a position which is of so axiomatic a character
as to have a claim to be treated as a first principle . . . that
religion is not the subject matter of a science. 'You may have
[he thinks] opinions on religion; you may have theories; you
11 University Sermons (Preface to Third Edition, p. x. ff.)
"These letters, of which the last deals with the subject mentioned above, were
written to the Times in February, 1841. They are reprinted in Discussions and
Arguments, p. 254 ff.
484 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Jan.,
may have arguments; you may have probabilities; you may
have anything but demonstration, and, therefore, you cannot
have science. . . Without denying [he says] that in the mat-
ter of religion some things are true and some things false,
still we are certainly not in a position to determine the one
or the other. . .' Such is our philosopher's primary position.
He does not prove it; he does but distinctly state it; but he
thinks it self-evident when it is distinctly stated, and there he
leaves it." 13
And the danger from these views, which calmly ignore
the fact and the proofs of revelation, arose as it arises today
from the confidence with which they were and still are
either plainly stated or insidiously implied in current litera-
ture. To fortify Catholic youth against this danger, to lay
bare the fallacies which underlie these agnostic views, Newman
held to be a most important function of university education.
It is easy to understand that certain highly placed eccle-
siastics, whose own religious education and training had been
conducted on a strict and somewhat exclusive system ulti-
mately derived from Roman and French seminaries, and who
were perhaps not too familiar with those rationalistic theories
and speculations which were already rife in England, felt some
alarm lest this astonishingly able and brilliant English con-
vert whose aid they had invoked should, by bringing these
rationalistic ideas prominently before the notice of his pupils,
do more harm than could be compensated by the good which
might be expected to result from such answers to rationalism
as he could supply. It is lawful, at least, to surmise that New-
man, cordially supported as he was throughout by one, at least,
of the Irish bishops, was more clear-sighted and far-seeing
than those who entertained such views.
A university was not, after all, an ecclesiastical seminary,
from which students would step at once into the priesthood
with its graces and protections, but a training camp for youth
who were destined to live in the world and to face its tempta-
tions moral and intellectual. And Newman held very strongly
that it was far better that such youths should be taught how
to deal with difficulties and objections which cut at the root of
all dogmatic belief, under circumstances which admitted of
their being fore-armed against them, than that they should be
"Idea of a University, p. 381.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 485
left to encounter these same difficulties and objections for the
first time after the safeguards of tutelage had been withdrawn.
"If," he writes, "a university is j direct preparation for
this world, let it be what it professes [tP be]. It is not a con-
vent; it is not a seminary; it is a place to fit men of the world
for the world. We cannot possibly keep them from plunging
into the world with all its ways and principles and maxims,
when their time comes, but we can prepare them against
what is inevitable; and it is not the way to learn to swim in
troubled waters never to have gone into them. Prescribe . . .
secular literature as such, cut out from your class-books all
broad manifestations of the natural man; and these manifesta-
tions are waiting for your pupil's benefit at the very doors
of your lecture room in living and breathing substance . . .
You have refused him, because of their incidental corruption,
the masters of human thought, who would in some sense have
educated him; . . . and for what have you reserved him?
You have given him a liberty unto the multitudinous blas-
phemy of the day; you have made him free of its newspapers,
its reviews, its magazines, its novels, its controversial pamph-
lets, of its Parliamentary debates, its law proceedings, its plat-
form speeches, its songs, its drama, its theatre, of its envelop-
ing, stifling atmosphere of death. You have succeeded but in
this in making the world his University." 14
In other words, while you have taught him many things
of quite secondary moment, you have left him to begin the
most serious part of his education in a school of which the
professors are the non-Christian writers of the day.
14 Idea of a University, p. 233. Cf. Ward, Newman, I., 369.
LINES ON WATT'S "HOPE" IN THE TATE
GALLERY.
BY M. I.
SHE is more like despair
For all of Hope is gone;
Darkness is everywhere
Night unto night doth call:
Silence is over all
Where Hope doth hide alone,
Between the midnight sky
And the benighted earth,
Seeming to have no worth
A thing cast useless by.
Upon her broken lute
There is one slender string,
Yet is it not quite mute,
For see, she does her best,
With her poor head at rest
Against the shattered thing.
Ah! but her eyes are blind,
Bandaged by some kind hand,
So that she cannot find
Who made her life forlorn,
Who bowed her thus in scorn,
Who did not understand.
Why did they crush her so
Blind her and bend her?
Hush her and hurt her so,
Till in her misery,
Yields she her liberty
Bowed in surrender?
Yet on the face is peace
(If you look closer still)
She does not seek release;
Placid, in spite of pain,
Quiet, she bears the strain
Bows to the higher Will.
1921.] LINES ON WATT'S "HOPE" 487
Crouching beneath her star,
(And just because she bends)
She sees the light afar 1
Under the blinding band,
Hiding the lower land
And all its lesser ends.
What is her history?
Who has not understood?
That is Hope's mystery
For in her impotence
Lies her omnipotence,
Fruitful in solitude.
Ah! This is Hope, indeed,
Crushed and all cowering
Agony seems her meed
For Hope in anguish lives,
Smiling, her tears she gives,
Pain is her flowering.
But when shall break the dawn
And all her lights shall move
Into the golden morn,
Patience shall have her way
Dusk will give place to day;
Be the night ne'er so long,
Silence will yield to song;
Music will ring from lute
Which in the dark was mute;
Bandage will fall from eyes,
Day-star will swiftly rise,
And in one long surprise
Hope will be lost in Love.
1 In the original picture one star is in the left hand corner and, because of her
position, Hope can see it from under her bandage.
CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE.
BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS.
I.
HE first description of the Presidio (the military
post) of San Francisco is that given by Captain
George Vancouver, the British navigator, who
paid it a visit in 1792, on board his ship the
Discovery; just a few years before the smoulder-
ing enmity between England and Spain flamed into open war:
the decisive war which was settled in England's favor by
Nelson at Trafalgar.
In 1792 Spain was keenly and jealously watching
England and Russia, both of which empires were casting cov-
etous looks upon California. In 1776 she had sent Irish officers
and Spanish gold and arms to George Washington, who was
facing Lord Howe at Harlem Heights at the very time Don
Gaspar de Portola, with his sword, and Father Francisco
Palou, with the Cross, were founding and blessing San Fran-
cisco, by means of which Spain hoped to make secure its pos-
sessions on the northern Pacific coast. It was out of no love
for republicanism or revolution that royal and conservative
Spain went to Washington's assistance: it was because she
expected the Americans to keep the British busy on the Atlan-
tic, whilst she laid deep and strong her foundations in Cali-
fornia. It is one of the curious ironies of history that, in so
doing, Spain, in reality, was helping to build up the power
that eventually was to enter into possession and enjoyment
of opulent California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
England, in the person of Vancouver and Russia, at a
later date, in the person of the Imperial Russian Chamber-
lain, Nikolai Petrovitch Rezanov, protege of Catherine II.,
gravely tried the responsibility of the Spanish Comandante
Argiiello of San Francisco. In the second case, indeed, the
lonely little outpost at San Francisco became the stage for a
drama of statesmanship which involved the future destinies
of Russia, Spain, and the United States. And this drama had
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 489
for its heroine one whose name shines with pure, mild, radiant
beauty in the romantic annals of California, Maria Concep-
cion Argiiello, the Comandante's daughter.
II.
Although in 1792, only sixteen years had passed since the
founding of San Francisco, nearly all the great figures of the
Conquest of California had passed from the scene. Serra, the
Apostle of California, was dead; and so was the greatly daring
Anza, whose march to San Francisco from Sonora across
mountains and deserts hitherto unknown is one of the greatest
marches of all history. The great plans of the astute Visitor-
General, Jose de Galvez, whose statesmanship planned, if
Serra's genius made possible, the founding of California, had
availed little. The vast and increasing wealth which he had
expected to flow from California into the coffers of Spain had
not materialized. Only weak and undermanned military
posts and languid, feebly struggling civil settlements dotted
the immense wilderness from San Diego to San Francisco.
The missions alone were flourishing.
Thirteen out of the eventual twenty-one missions had thus
far been established: at San Diego, Carmelo, San Antonio de
Padua, San Gabriel (near Los Angeles, where one of the civil
towns had also been planted) , San Luis Obispo, San Francisco,
San Juan Gapistrano, Santa Clara, San Buenaventura, Santa
Barbara, Purisima Concepcion, Santa Cruz, and Nuestra
Seiiora de la Soledad; and at these the spiritual harvest was
already abundant, and the material betterment of the Indians
greatly advancing.
In Palou's account of the founding of the Presidio, he
states that the enclosed grounds covered a square of ninety-
two varas each way, which would be about two hundred and
fifty-two feet, considerably smaller than Vancouver's later
estimate; but no doubt the area had been enlarged between
1776 and 1792. The whole arrangement, says Professor George
Davidson, who closely studied the matter, was built to face
north. The chapel was at the south, or higher, inland end of
the parade ground, and extended into the square and beyond
the wall. On the east side of the chapel were the quarters of
the Comandante; on the west, those of the officers. The
490 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
cuartel, or fort, was near the northeast entrance; the little
used calabazo, or prison, was on the east side of the entrance,
the soldier's guardhouse on the west side. All the buildings
stood about ten feet from the inner side of the wall. In the
middle of the square stood the tall flagpole, with Spain's royal
banner hanging limply on the foggy days, or briskly whipping
in the trade winds. The Cross stood near the chapel. About
the whole parade ground ran a line of trees. At the foot of the
gentle hill was the beach, and the anchorage, the pozo de los
marineros.
III.
Here it was, in the Comandante's house, that on February
19, 1791, the year before Vancouver's visit, was born Maria de
la Concepcion Marcela Arguello, daughter of Don Jose Dario
Arguello, the Comandante of the Presidio, and his wife, Maria
Ygnacia Moraga, daughter of the military officer in command
at the founding of San Francisco. A week later the little one
was borne along the trail to Mission Dolores. In the old
Book of Baptism there you may today read the entry in the
handwriting of Father Pedro Benito Cambon, Father Palou's
assistant since the founding of San Francisco, at which, too,
he had been present.
"Concha," or "Conchita," she was called, as she played
with the other children, or sat with them at catechism or
knelt in church a merry, spirited child, one with the others
in games or frolic, though set somewhat apart by the fact that
she was the Comandante's daughter.
However, it was not the accidental fact that she was the
Comandante's daughter that was to place Conchita immortally
apart from the other little ones. That which separated her
from her companions was something that had nothing to
do with rank or state; it was something more mysterious than
social caste. Conchita was different, and her fate was to be
different, because to her there had been given the magic of
a distinctive and powerful personality, and the dolorous dower
of beauty.
IV.
If the coming of Captain Vancouver in the first year of
Conchita's life marked one of the great anxieties of her father,
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 491
and of the other Spanish officials, namely, the dread of the
English, a greater source of similar anxiety was emphasized
in her fifteenth year, when a Russian ship dropped anchor at
the Presidio. For many ominous signs of the times were mul-
tiplying to prove that Russia was stretching out her mighty
arms toward California, and Russia could reach the Pacific
coasts through Siberia much more directly than England could
sail its ships from the other side of the world.
On board that Russian ship, the Juno, was the Imperial
Russian Chamberlain, Nikolai Petrovitch Rezanov, protege of
Catherine II., who had given up the life of the court on the
death of his wife to throw himself into active, adventurous
labors for the development of his country. A man of ardent
imagination, of exceptional temperament, he had with a truly
Slavic thoroughness made his patriotism a passion.
When first he turned from the life of the court to follow a
greater adventure, he formed a plan to secure trade conces-
sions for Russia from Japan, and in 1803-4 he was sent to the
Mikado's court as ambassador extraordinary. But the hour of
Japan's world-destiny had not yet struck (it was awaiting the
coming of the American, Perry, half a century later), and
Rezanov was forced to retire from the smiling, yet imper-
turbably reserved Mikado, his heart full of wrath, and vow-
ing terrible revenge. Rezanov wrote in a highly fevered strain
to the Czar that he was "eager to destroy settlements, to drive
the Japanese from Sakhalin Island, to frighten them away
from the whole coast, and break up their fisheries, and to de-
prive 200,000 people of food, which will force them all the
more to open their ports. . . "
Apparently, however, his headlong plans for revenging
his rebuff did not meet with approval in Russia.
V.
After many adventures he decided upon the bold purpose
of seizing part of California for Russia. Early in March the
Imperial Chamberlain sailed from Sitka, accompanied by a
suite among whom was the chronicler of the voyage, Langs-
dorff, the botanist; and after a tempestuous voyage, the crew
sorely stricken with scurvy, he reached San Francisco a month
later. "With pale and emaciated faces," wrote Rezanov to the
492 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
Russian Minister of Commerce, "we came to San Francisco
Bay and anchored outside (at first) because of the fog. . . As
a refusal to enter meant to perish at sea, I resolved, at the risk
of two or three cannon-balls, to run straight for the fort at the
entrance."
So, through the dispersing drifts of the sea-fog, in through
the Golden Gate, came the brig, Rezanov on the poop, sailors
and soldiers alert about him, straining their eyes for the flash
of a gun from San Joaquin Battery, and at last rounding to and
dropping anchor opposite the Presidio.
In the Presidio there was a great stir of excitement. Ad-
vices from Madrid had long ago warned Comandante Argiiello
of the probable visit of the Russians. The ship, Nadesha, and
its consort, the Neva, were expected, but not the Juno. Orders
had been given from Monterey, where Jose Joaquin Arillaga
was Governor, to treat the Russians hospitably but most cir-
cumspectly.
However, the Comandante was not at San Francisco when
the Juno arrived. Luis Argiiello, his young son, was in tem-
porary command. Eagerly did his bevy of bright-eyed sisters,
among whom Concepcion was the leader, watch Don Luis;
laughingly, yet a little awed, too, by his air of dignity, as he
buckled on his sword and prepared to meet the strangers.
No such great event as this had occurred within the memory
of the Argiiello family. The excitement in the big house was
communicated to all the houses about the plaza, from which
the young people, and the old, poured forth, running about for
good positions of observation, as the Juno lowered a boat
and a party left its side to come ashore. Rezanov was in the
stein-sheets of the boat. Luis Argiiello, a sergeant and a file
of musketeers behind him, courteously advanced to meet the
tall, distinguished looking stranger.
Arguello's first inquiry was whether the ship was the ex-
pected Nadesha or the Neva, to which Rezanov, well aware
that the Spaniards were apprehensive of the Russian purposes,
adroitly replied that the vessels mentioned had been recalled
to Russia, but that he, Rezanov, "had been entrusted by my
royal master, the Czar, with command over all his American
possessions, and in this capacity had resolved to visit the Gov-
ernor of California to consult with him regarding the mutual
interests of the Spanish and the Russian colonies."
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 493
"But His Excellency, the Governor, is at Monterey," re-
plied Don Luis Argiiello.
Rezanov smilingly bowed, replying that Monterey was,
as a matter of fact, his destination, but that contrary winds
had baffled him and he had, therefore, stopped at San Fran-
cisco, where he trusted that "His Excellency, the commander,
would be graciously pleased to permit him to remain while
he wrote to Governor Arillaga of his purpose to visit him."
Young Don Luis told Rezanov how matters stood; that it
was his father who was commander, but that he, Don Luis,
felt sure the required permission would have been readily
granted if he had been there; so, he concluded, acting in his
father's stead, he would be most happy to extend the hospi-
tality of San Francisco to the Chamberlain of that mighty
monarch, the Czar.
Rezanov was a fully experienced courtier and man of the
world, as well as a romantic adventurer, and he did not fail
to notice the impression he had made upon the young Span-
iard. He warmly accepted the invitation, and the party pro-
ceeded to the Comandante's house.
Dona Gonchita stood, with her sisters, within the door-
way to do the honors of the home, her mother being absent
with the Comandante. She was then fifteen years old, and
through the length and breadth of California she was known
as the most beautiful of women in a land where beauty was
the natural dower of all. Langsdorff, Rezanov's companion,
the sedate and careful botanist, has left us a description of
Conchita, which though somewhat formal and conventional
in its phrasing, nevertheless testifies to the deep impression
she made upon him. She was "lively and animated," says
the man of science, "with sparkling, lovely, inspiring eyes,
beautiful teeth, pleasing and expressive features, a fine form,
and a thousand other charms, yet was she perfectly simple
and artless *the heavenly dawn in one drop of dew' a beauty
of a type to be found, though not frequently, in Italy, Spain
and Portugal." In Langsdorff s phrases you catch the same
note which rings through all the legends, all the memories re-
tained so vividly, of Concepcion Arguello, and which those
who knew her in her old age repeat with full accord, namely,
the note of a great vitality, of an energetic personality, of a
dynamic character the perilous gift of strong life.
494 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
The room into which Don Luis Argiiello led the Chamber-
lain, just within the portals of which stood Concepcion and
her sisters, was as rude as a mediaeval castle apartment.
But Rezanov paid scant attention to the chamber; his
gaze was fixed upon Concepcion, whose wide, shining eyes
met his as he entered. They needed no words, such as Don
Luis now spoke, of conventional introduction, though all due
forms were scrupulously celebrated they knew each other at
once; knew each other with an instant intimacy; knew each
other with that knowledge which only comes to those whose
souls communicate through the channel of the eyes.
VI.
Concepcion was one of those who are born to love greatly.
Every event, every scrap of legend that survives of her story,
testifies to the fact.
Many a time she had heard, if not beneath her own win-
dow, yet somewhere in the Plaza, that song in which the cava-
liers of California recorded their passion:
So still and calm the night is,
The very wind's asleep;
Thy heart's so tender sentinel
His watch and ward doth keep.
And on the wings of zephyrs soft
That wander how they will,
To thee, O woman fair, to thee
My prayers go fluttering still.
She knew she could give complete answer to the pleading,
were it addressed to her heart by the one who could stir that
heart, but in her dreams ardent, and unbounded by the nar-
row horizons that kept within the limits of the known and the
usual the dreams of her companions Concepcion went far
beyond what the young cavaliers of California could offer her,
and yearned toward a greater and more wonderful romance
than what was possible among her companions. What this
love should be, in what form this marvelous romance would
appear, were mysteries; all she was certain of was that only
in those mysteries could she find what her heart longed for
"the heart's love in her heart," which yearned in the song of
the serenaders.
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 495
And now it had come, this love, this high romance; its
signal flaming in the eyes of Rezanov, the stranger out of the
sea; out of the vast unknown world beyond California.
VII.
Rezanov wrote his letter to Governor Arillaga. The
diplomatic Arillaga did not want Rezanov to see more of the
country than could be helped, so he sent back word that he
"would do himself the honor of meeting so distinguished a
guest at the port of his arrival."
But it was not until April 17th that the Governor reached
San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Rezanov had not let the time hang heavy on
his hands. In a letter written to the Russian Minister of Com-
merce, he several times refers to Concepcion, adopting the
half-amused tone of a courtier becoming confidential at long
distance concerning an affair of the heart; a tone, however,
which only half disguised the very serious nature of his sud-
den and enduring passion.
Day by day the communication established between the
Chamberlain of the Czar and the Californian girl by their first
exchange of looks, became stronger and deeper.
Governor Arillaga came at last, and, on the following day
arrived Comandante Jose Argiiella, who at once assumed the
leadership in affairs, and invited Rezanov to meet the Gov-
ernor at dinner in his house. It was at this meeting that the
Chamberlain diplomatically explained the nature of his mis-
sion, never hinting, naturally, at the deeper plan of Russian
conquest which he had so long brooded over in the depths of
his ambitious and passionate heart.
"The day following my interview with Governor Aril-
laga," Rezanov wrote to the Russian Minister of Commerce,
"I learned from a devoted friend in the house of Argiiello,
word for word, what had been said after my departure."
This devoted friend, of course, was Concha. Finding in
her, young as she was, and a child of the very ends of the earth,
an intelligence of great force, rendered still more energetic by
the fire of her awakening heart, Rezanov had confided to Concha
something of the project which now was usurping in his mind
the place of his first predatory plan of conquest the project
406 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
of an alliance between Russia and Spain for the development
of trade between California and the Siberian settlements, and
the friendly expansion of Russian territory into the domains
north of the Spanish settlements. Concha took fire at the
thought. She prayed for its success in the chapel of the
Presidio. She listened to every word exchanged between the
Governor and her father that bore upon Rezanov.
Governor Arillaga, meanwhile, sorely troubled by the
responsibility of this epochal event in the placid history of his
incumbency, during which the golden period of California's
pastoral romance rose to its serenest height of peace and se-
clusion, delayed his answer to Rezanov's proposal from day
to day. Rezanov did not press for the answer until he made
sure of what mattered to him now more than the outcome of
his diplomacy Concepcion's heart.
Meanwhile, the unemotional historian of that voyage of
love and adventure and statescraft, the stolid botanist, Langs-
dorff, not having Rezanov's source of occupation, made jour-
neys to the nearby missions; and some of the mission friars
came to San Francisco to see the strangers. Rezanov was in-
vited to dine with the Fathers, and distributed presents among
them to gain their good will.
Governor Arillaga, however, still maintained discreet
silence. "You have accustomed us to your company," he told
Rezanov, "and I can assure you" with a kindly and meaning-
ful smile "that the good family of my friend, Argiiello, prize
highly the satisfaction of seeing you at their home, and sin-
cerely admire you." Rut soon even the attractions of his court-
ship could not blind Rezanov to the necessity of bringing his
mission to a definite issue.
Again, and now more insistently, he took up the matter
with Governor Arillaga, and the latter frankly confessed (as
Rezanov wrote back to Russia) that the Spanish authorities
feared Russia above all other powers.
"Ah, but Russia would not take California as a gift; it
would cost too much to maintain it," the astute Chamberlain
declared. "Moreover, Russia has in Siberia an inexhaustible
treasure in its furs."
Rezanov knew how well the fears of the Governor were
founded in fact; for he himself had written from Sitka to his
government concerning his own plans to seize Californian ter-
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 497
ritory: "Our American possessions will know no more of
famine; Kamchatka and Okhotsk can be supplied with bread.
. . . When our trade with California is fully organized we
can settle Chinese laborers there. . . The Spaniards only
turned their attention to California after 1760, and by the
enterprise of the missionaries alone this fine body of land was
incorporated. Even now there is an unoccupied interval fully
as rich and very necessary to us, and if we let it escape from
us, what will posterity say? I, at least, shall not be arraigned
before it. . ." And he strongly urged the occupation of the
northern portion of California, together with a "gradual ad-
vance southward to the port of San Francisco as the boundary
line of California," Russia to maintain its sovereignty to the
north.
But now the more feasible plan, to Rezanov's softened
heart, was a friendly alliance; a union of good will and mutual
interests between Russia and Spain, between north and south,
between strength and charm in a word, a union the symbol
and the seal of which should be his own marriage to Con-
ception.
And he wrote to the Minister of Commerce, still maintain-
ing the man-of-the-world tone in which he chronicled this love
affair, which entered so intimately into high diplomacy the
consequences of which on the course of American history, had
it gone through according to Rezanov's intention, would have
been of primary importance:
Seeing that my situation was not improving, expecting
every day that some misunderstanding would arise, and
having but little confidence in my own (ship's) people, I
resolved to change my politeness for a serious tone. Fi-
nally, I imperceptibly created in Dona Conception an im-
patience to hear something serious from me . . . which
caused me to ask for her hand, to which she consented. My
proposal created consternation in her parents, who had
been reared in fanaticism. The difference in religion and
the prospective separation from their daughter made it a
terrible blow to them. They ran to the missionaries, who
did not know what to do; they hustled poor Conception
to church, confessed her, and urged her to refuse me, but
her resolution finally overcame them all. The holy Fathers
appealed to the decision of the throne of Rome, and if I
VOL. cxn. 32
498 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
could not accomplish my nuptials, I had at least the pre-
liminary act performed, the marriage contract drawn up,
and forced them to betroth us.
VIII.
In truth, there was a great clash of opposing wills, of out-
raged prejudices and settled ideas violently jolted, in the house
of the Comandante and throughout the Presidio and the Mis-
sion of San Francisco. Rezanov was a member of the Ortho-
dox Church of Russia, which was in age-old schism from the
See of Rome, a marriage between a daughter of the true
Church and a schismatic without the express consent of the
Papal authorities, was, to Father Palou and his fellow friars,
unthinkable. Nor from this view could the willing obedience
of Concepcion falter; for if there is one fact which above all
others is abundantly testified to throughout all the records and
the traditions, that fact is the true religious faith and living
loyalty of Concepcion. From her earliest childhood she had
been a devout soul unsentimental and firm, but ardent. One
of the most charming of the traditional tales is to the effect
that the gay and whole-souled Concha, as a child, was one day
caught dancing in the joy of her heart before the shrine of the
Virgin; even as in old France, according to the legend, the
juggler performed his tricks in honor of his heavenly Lady.
Concepcion would have sacrificed her love for Rezanov
if obedience to duty had required it, and Rezanov, knowing
the value of loyalty, was the first to approve her firmness.
He, too, would do his part, and do it gladly. He would return
to Russia, make his way across Siberia to the court of the
Czar, and secure his own sovereign's consent, and then he
would go to Rome, and obtain the dispensation from the Holy
Father. After that, he would proceed to Madrid as Russian
envoy and effect a binding and lasting treaty of friendship and
commerce; then for California, via Mexico, and on to San
Francisco, where the marriage with Concepcion would bind
and seal the treaty signed in Madrid and St. Petersburg!
Such was the great dream of Rezanov! And now his
immediate mission was accomplished. The betrothal was
signed between the Chamberlain and the Comandante's daugh-
ter. The friars were assured of the Russian's honorable design
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 499
and intention of seeking the benignant grace of the Holy Father
of Christendom. The house of Argiiello was bright with the
pride of the high alliance. Everybody now smiled upon Reza-
nov, and on May 21st the Juno, laden with flour, pease, beans,
and maize, sailed out through the Golden Gate. Rezanov,
standing on the poop, ordered a salute of seven guns, to which
the Comandante, not to be outdone, ordered with true Spanish
courtesy, nine in return. Governor Arillaga and the Comand-
ante and Luis Argiiello and Goncepcion and her sisters stood
on the wall of the fort, waving their handkerchiefs and watch-
ing the ship as it slipped out into the fog that spread its gray
and sombre mystery over that departure.
But, even before the others had turned from the sea, Con-
cepcion slipped away and entered the little church to do all
that now she could do to aid her lover, which was to pray for
him; to pray that his tremendous journey across the wilds of
Siberia, to St. Petersburg and Rome and Madrid, and back
across the wide world to San Francisco might be safe and
speedy.
IX.
So began her waiting. . . Bret Harte has etched that pic-
ture in his ballad :
Looking seaward, o'er the sand-hills stands the fortress old and
quaint,
By the San Francisco frairs lifted to their patron saint. . .
Long beside the deep embrasures, where the brazen cannon are,
Did they wait the promised bridegroom and the answer of the
Czar;
Day by day on wall and bastion beat the hollow, empty breeze
Day by day the sunlight glittered on the vacant, smiling seas;
Week by week the near hills whitened in their dusty leather
cloaks,
Week by week the far hills darkened from the fringing plain of
oaks.
Till the rains came, and far breaking, on the fierce southwester
tost,
Dashed the whole long coast with color, and then vanished and
were lost.
So each year the seasons shifted wet and warm and drear and
dry;
Half a year of clouds and flowers, half a year of dust and sky.
500 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
Still it brought no ship or message brought no tidings ill or meet,
For the statesmanlike Commander, for the daughter fair and
sweet.
Still she heard the varying message, voiceless to all ears beside:
"He will come," the flowers whispered; "Come no more," the dry
hills sighed."
And Rezanov did not come ... he never came.
Reaching Kamchatka in September, he set forth at once
for St. Petersburg. Attacked by a fever during the time he
was at Kamchatka, he was urged to wait till he was stronger,
but he would not wait, and on horseback, swaying in the
saddle, he set forth. He struggled onwards for six months
through that tremendous journey, but a fall from his horse
so lessened what strength the fever had spared, that the iron
Chamberlain was broken, and at Krasnoyarsk, a little town far
away from St. Petersburg, he died on March 1, 1807. Langs-
dorff, his former companion in the Juno, visited the tomb,
which, he records, was fashioned like an altar. In the opinion
of the scientist, Rezanov would have "unhestitatingly sacri-
ficed himself in marriage with the daughter of Arguello."
But it was the daughter of Arguello who was sacrificed
on the altar, not of marriage, but of that lonely tomb in the
wilderness.
She waited thirty-five years for word from her lover, or
for any least item of news from or about him; and every voice
that comes down to us out of the past, having any claim upon
our respect or belief, unanimously testifies that she waited in
absolute, unwavering faith. Rezanov had given his word to
her, and no doubt could be allowed to enter her heart. Fifteen
years old when she plighted her word, unquestionably the most
beautiful woman in California, ardent and keenly alive,
famous throughout the length and breadth of the Spanish pos-
sessions as the news spread of her solemn betrothal to the
Chamberlain of the Czar, upon which betrothal such high af-
fairs of national destiny depended Concepcion was to know
strange pain and strange trouble of heart and soul as one year
passed, and three; and three and thirty. Rezanov had loved
her; Rezanov was a true man; therefore, he would return, or
else he was dead and could not return; something had hap-
pened out in the great world veiled by the sombre fog beyond
the Golden Gate, and some day, somehow, she would know. . .
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 501
X.
Meanwhile, her love awaited him; a love that was warmed
and animated by the other love which Concepcion had always
cherished, her love of God, the Source of all true love. More
than ever, now, as the time went on, and still the fog by the
Golden Gate was unparted by a Russian sail, did she spend
long hours in prayer before the altar. Faith is the soul of
prayer, its principle of life, and Concepcion's human love be-
came a living, constant, unfaltering act of faith; and more and
more it merged with, though it was not as yet wholly swal-
lowed up by, her love of God.
For it is not true, as certain mistaken versions of the story
run, that Goncepcion became, at last, a recluse a runaway
from life in order to hide her sorrow and her broken heart
beneath the habit of the nun. This mistake is based largely
upon the fact that she was, for many years, a member of the
Third Order of St. Francis. But this did not make her a nun.
Goncepcion became a nun, it is true, but not until after the
coming of Sir George Simpson in 1842 with the news of the
death of Rezanov.
This English traveler an official of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany had visited the tomb of the dead lover, and in Santa
Barbara he told the story he had learned from the reading
of Langsdorff's book, which book had not yet reached
California, and thus the news at last reached Concepcion of
the death of Rezanov. In Bret Harte's poem, this message is
made to reach Concepcion most dramatically (though falsely)
at a banquet at Monterey, where, according to the ballad
Far and near the people gathered to the costly banquet set,
And exchanged congratulations with the English baronet;
Till, the formal speeches ended, and amidst the laugh and wine,
Some one spoke of Concha's lover heedless of the warning sign.
Quickly then cried Sir George Simpson, "Speak no ill of him, I
pray!
He is dead. He died, poor fellow, forty years ago this day.
Died while speeding home to Russia, falling from a fractious
horse;
Left a sweetheart, too, they tell me. Married, I suppose, of
course!"
502 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
"Lives she yet?" A deathlike silence fell on banquet guests, and
hall,
And a trembling figure rising fixed the awestruck gaze of all,
Two black eyes in darkened orbits gleamed beneath the nun's
white hood;
Black serge hid the wasted figure, bowed and stricken where it
stood.
"Lives she yet?" Sir George repeated. All were hushed as Concha
drew
Closer yet her nun's attire. "Seiior, pardon, she died, too!"
But the facts are better than the fancy. Concha did not
die, but lived, and her loyalty was greater than the poet gave
her credit for when he had prematurely clothed her in the
white robe of the Dominican Order, which she did not join
until many years after her meeting with Sir George Simpson.
And, indeed, I think that Concepcion would never have become
a nun unless she had heard the definite news of Rezanov's
death. She had plighted her troth; therefore, she belonged
to her lover until death did them part. As a matter of fact, it
was at Santa Barbara and not at Monterey, and in social inter-
course, not at a banquet board, that Concepcion heard of the
death of Rezanov. "Strange to say," says Sir George Simpson,
referring to her ignorance of the death of Rezanov, "she knew
it not till we mentioned it to her. . . This circumstance might
in some measure be explained by the fact that LangsdorfF s
work was not published before 1814, but even then, in any
country than California, a lady who was still young would
surely have seen a book, which, besides detailing the grand
incident of her life, presented so gratifying a picture of her
charms."
It was not until ten years after Sir George Simpson brought
his tragic tidings that Concepcion became a nun. It was not
until then that she had the opportunity to become a nun; in
California. For it was in 1851 that the Dominican Order en-
tered California, establishing the first convent and academy
for girls at Monterey, and the first novice to enter the convent,
the first woman to join a religious order in California was
Maria Concepcion Argiiello, who received the white habit of
St. Dominic at the hands of Bishop Alemany on April 11, 1851,
1921.] CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE 503
taking the name of Sister Maria Dominica. She pronounced
the perpetual vows a year later. In 1854 she went to Benicia
when the convent was transferred.
XL
There are those living who yet remember Concepcion, and
from one of these, Mrs. Katherine Den Bell, the daughter of
Dr. Nicholas Den, one of the early American residents of
Santa Barbara, I am indebted for vivid reminiscences of that
valiant and faithful soul, souvenirs related in letters from Mrs.
Bell to my friend, that champion of California, John F.
Davis.
"The treasure house of my childhood memories holds
nothing lovelier than those that twine around the 'Beata's' his-
toric name. They bring bursts of spring into my heart. I
learned my prayers at her knees; have cried and laughed in
her arms, threaded her needle, fixed and unfixed her 'almoha-
dilla' sewing-box. And many a time, I remember waking
as the Mission bells sang the Alta to find her sweet pale face
bending over me, signing my forehead with the cross and whis-
pering her oft-repeated blessing: 'Dios te haga una santita'
('God make thee a little saint').
"I shall know her in Heaven by her tender caressing voice.
God's Angels cannot teach a purer standard, nor bring us a
brighter, sweeter fancy than that of Concepcion's life-long
faithfulness to her girlhood lover. . .
"I cannot search far enough into the past to miss the dear
beloved Beata from my childhood's dreams and memories.
Don't infer from my 'threading her needles' that she wore
glasses. The 'needle threading' was a sort of entertainment
when she was caring for the church and altar linen. If any
seams were ripped, I picked the threads carefully, putting
them aside to be burned, because the vestments had done serv-
ice before the Great God's Altar. If sewing was being done,
I kept two or three needles threaded on the almohadilla until
I was tired out. With all her tenderness, loveliness and be-
nignity, Concepcion was no 'milk and water' woman her
standard, all around, was too lofty. Humble and unobtrusive,
when the right was in question she stood by her colors un-
flinching as the martyrs of old. No fear of misconstruction
504 CALIFORNIA'S HEROINE [Jan.,
would daunt her. Such a wonderful blending of mercy and
justice! Tenderness and fortitude! I often parallel her char-
acter with that of the beautiful Queen Esther. Doing for the
sake of others, to go unbidden into the king's presence, yet
fainting at his frown. She was intensely human. . .
"She is such a glowing, radiant memory, it seems as if
the sacred fire should be burning its brightest when her name
is indelibly traced! Not an atom of the fragrance of its
beauty, its purity, tenderness and fealty must be lost."
Six years only did Concepcion live as a nun; but from all
that we have learned of her puissant and valorous spirit, we
may feel sure that she did not lag or languish in that sus-
taining and creative work which the Holy Women of the
Church carry on through all the ages since the Divine Son of
God took flesh and dwelt among us that spiritual work of
intercession and of self-sacrifice which is the energizing ele-
ment of many a work and many a life seen and admired of
the world, which yet does not understand nor admire the
greater work, the greater life, of the nun.
So passed Maria Concepcion Marcela Argiiella from the
world; and so, on Christmas Eve, 1857, passed Sister Maria
Dominica in the Convent of St. Catherine of Siena, Benicia,
California.
AN APOSTLE OF UNITY.
BY JAMES LOUIS SMALL.
SWIFTLY delivered wound in the great ship's
vitals; a lurch; a slanting deck; an earnest priest
urging his fellow-pessengers to calmness; baptism
of death in the dancing waves touched with the
springtime sun; quiet once more upon the sea;
and all is over.
In the early days of May, 1915, I was entertained at the
home of a genial and cultivated priest, pastor of a suburban
parish in the middle West. When the time came to say good-
bye, my host remarked laughingly: "You have had a distin-
guished predecessor in the person of Father Maturin, who oc-
cupied the guest room just before your coming. He has sailed
for England by now." The morning after my return home I
opened the daily paper to learn that he was among those who
had perished on the ill-fated Lusitania. Afterwards, so we
read, his body was recovered and taken to England for burial.
It was strangely coincidental that he, an Irishman, the circum-
stances of whose life had led him half over the world, should
have met death within sight of the land of his birth.
Father Maturin's name had sounded in my ears almost
since childhood; sometimes pronounced with regretful affec-
tion, sometimes with an implication of mysterious, baffling
change in the man after his "going to Rome;" latterly, with un-
grudging admiration by the co-religionists of his later years,
who valued him for what he really was: a deeply spiritual
priest, whose passion for synthetic and sympathetic treatment
of certain vexed questions was coupled with a fervid love of
souls. To those reared in the advanced school of Anglicanism
his name was a watchword. To those who followed him into
the Church, he continued to shine as a beacon light. To the
others, who never came farther than the temple porch, he
served as a melancholy example of misdirected energy, a man,
moreover, whom, they maintained sadly, "Rome never appre-
ciated."
506 AN APOSTLE OF UNITY [Jan.,
It was at St. Clement's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, in
the late nineties, that my adolescent mind, quick to take on
new impressions, to absorb new ideas, came into contact with
Catholic truth. The early struggles at St. Clement's form a
story all by itself. It is sufficient to observe here that the
parish still bore the impress of Father Maturin's virile person-
ality. Hither he had come in 1876, as head of the little band
of "Cowley Fathers," and here he remained for a decade.
People in 1896 and 1897 were still talking of the sermons he
had preached and the missions he had given. They were still
relating how the men who came to his Sunday afternoon con-
ferences stood in a line that reached almost to the street, un-
able to gain admittance. When, in 1897, word came that he
had been received into the Church, in England, it was not
alone St. Clement's that was interested; it might have been said
with truth that "the whole city was moved."
Later, during five happy years spent as a student of theol-
ogy in an Anglican seminary, I sat at the feet of a teacher
who in his own youth had fallen under Maturin's spell. To
him he had made his first confession, and to him he had gone
with his problems. On the wall of our classroom hung an
engraving of John Henry Newman, and it may well be that
Newman and Maturin, strikingly similar in some respects,
had a hand in leading a goodly number of us to the happy
haven of the True Fold.
Born in 1847, Basil William Maturin was in the prime of
his powers when he became a Catholic. Like many of those
earlier ones who were leaders in the Oxford Movement, his
position was a tacit rebuke to inherited prejudice. In his case
the inheritance was Irish Protestant and Huguenot, and to this
combined French and Celtic strain he owed much, by way of
eloquence, personal magnetism and impetuousness. His father
was vicar of Grangegorman, Ireland, and young Maturin was
ordained while in the early twenties. Feeling called to a
stricter life than that of the average Church of England clergy-
man, he joined, in 1873, the recently organized Society of St.
John the Evangelist, known colloquially then, as now, as the
"Cowley Fathers." With them his lot was to be cast for very
nearly the quarter of a century.
The years, 1850-1890, roughly speaking, marked the high
tide of the Oxford Movement. It was the period that produced
1921.] AN APOSTLE OF UNITY 507
the men who were to direct it into definite channels; the period
that gave it Pusey, Church, Liddon, Lowder, and Wain-
wright. The whole English-speaking world, these pro-
tagonists declared in their enthusiasm, was to hear and
heed the message of a Church' of England arising from dust
and ashes to a place among the spiritually great ones of the
earth.
It is not difficult to picture the abandon with which such
a modern Chrysostom as Maturin must have thrown himself
into the work. Sent here and there by his community, his
name became familiar to Anglicans everywhere; in Great Brit-
ain, in America, in South Africa. His preaching, brilliant and
forceful, filled churches wherever he went.
His valued friend of both Anglican and Catholic days,
Dom Leonard Sargent, in a paper contributed to the London
Tablet of May 22, 1915, under the title, "Some Recollections of
Father Maturin," has given us an interesting portrait of Ma-
turin in his youth, soon after his coming to America. The
description is of the "slender figure of a young man, clad in
the habit of a Cowley Father, an austere face, so it seemed,
and a piercing eye something about the whole appearance
that quite marked him out from the surrounding company
and left upon my mind the impression that a Van Dyck paint-
ing might give if set against a group of chromos."
Father Maturin was, indeed, set apart from others, a per-
sonality that eluded analysis. In him the balanced judgment
of the Briton, the imagination of the Celt, and the delicate
perception of the Frenchman effected a singular and powerful
amalgam. It was once said of him that "in Father Maturin
you had a mind with all the elements of a potential catas-
trophe." Commenting upon his exceedingly human traits,
The Tablet, in a review of his life and work, published edi-
torially immediately after his death, quoted his own amusing
self -characterization : "I am full of prejudice." Offsetting this
was a genuine and touching affection for the members of his
family. One of the causes of his pleasure over the appoint-
ment as Catholic Chaplain at Oxford in 1913, lay in the fact
that he should then be near his sister, who was superior in an
Anglican convent in that city. As illustrative of his delightful
spirit of camaraderie, Dom Sargent speaks of the joy with
which the young novices at Downside were wont to gather
508 AN APOSTLE OF UNITY [Jan.,
about him during his brief stay in the famous Benedictine
house, to listen to his ghost stories. Neither was he lacking
in native wit, though sometimes, after the Hibernian model,
it was of a deliciously unconscious sort. A friend of those now
far distant St. Clement's days used to relate with keen relish
how on one occasion, when preaching upon the Prodigal Son,
Maturin leaned over the edge of the pulpit and exclaimed in
moving tones : "Think, my brethren, think of the calf that the
poor old father had been fattening through the long, long
years !"
It was generally felt by his admirers that Father Ma-
turin's appointment to Oxford was a matter of congratulation,
for the University quite as much as for himself. Had he been
spared, he might have accomplished a great work there. As
it was, the War came the following year and in a short time
the sons of Oxford were attending a school of very different
sort.
To say that there are few men whose work stands the
test of time is to state a fact as perennially truthful as it is
obvious. It is hard, certainly, in the case of versatile and
highly endowed personalities, to isolate qualities of essential
greatness. However, it seems not too much to say that in sweet
reasonableness and in cogency of argument Father Maturin's
apologetic, especially as preserved in his Price of Unity, is in
a class by itself. Like Newman, he was able, without sacri-
ficing an iota of principle, to throw himself so completely
into the feelings and convictions of others, as to draw down
upon him the misunderstanding of men of different mold.
Unlike Newman, this misunderstanding was confined, so far
as I am aware, to members of the body he had left; it did not
obtain among Catholics.
One heard it said constantly by Anglicans one still hears
it said occasionally that Maturin was disillusioned, disap-
pointed, after coming into the Church. I have heard the
charge made repeatedly, but I have never seen proof of it pro-
duced. One might have supposed the concluding passage in
The Price of Unity a passage by the way worthy of rank-
ing with portions of the Apologia would have laid that
ghost forever. In alluding to this curious rumor, Dom Sargent
says: "I told him of this one night in England several years
ago. He was surprised, and said so. Then he asked: 'Who
1921.] AN APOSTLE OF UNITY 509
gave them authority to say that? It's false, for I never re-
gretted the step once it was taken,' and he added, with his
quick, impatient manner: 'I suppose, because I have never
attacked the Anglican Church, or made sport of Anglican no-
tions, or went about laying traps for converts, they think I'm
unsettled, but I am not, and never was.' '
It is impossible to think of that valiant man of God as
dead. He lives and speaks in his spiritual children and in his
writings, which will bear re-reading at this time when there is
acute need of differentiation between the true and the false
in current concepts of Christian unity. He himself was all
life, a vital principle embodied in the flesh. Preaching at the
Requiem held at Oxford at the time of his death from the text,
"Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee upon the waters,"
the Abbot Vonier, of Buckfast, said: "Everything in Father
Maturin's mind was life; his thoughts were life; his face was
life; his speech, we all know, was a very luxuriousness of life.
In fact, life was the only law of that peerless eloquence of his.
The hard-and-fast things of Catholicism were to him like the
hard-and-fast things of the human organism those solid parts
of the human body we call the bones, which are the indis-
pensable elements of all movement and agility, and which
give the human organism its power of resilience."
Resiliency of expression, if we may be permitted the term,
is one of Father Maturin's strongly defined characteristics,
stamping his work with a trademark peculiarly its own. Self-
Knowledge and Self-Discipline is as shrewd a psychology of
the spirit as any the past two decades have given us. It wastes
no time in sporting upon the surface, but delves down to life's
very roots and brings up those ugly, misshapen things that,
even in our most analytical moments, we shrink from exposing
to view.
The soul is taken forward step by step from the in-
itial stage of self-knowledge, on through the discipline of will,
mind, affections and body, into that higher area where it is
prepared for the vision of God Himself. Commonplaces are
exalted. Such an everyday exercise as self-examination is in-
vested with dignity and power. We are shown new vistas,
conducted to new heights. On one side there is "some strong
motive or passion or ambition standing like a draped form
whose expression we cannot catch, in the very council cham-
510 AN APOSTLE OF UNITY [Jan.,
her of the soul;" on the other, "the Presence of One Who real-
izes all our noblest, often our forgotten, ideals."
The note of growth, of constructiveness, is sounded again
and again. Hence the difference between heathen and Chris-
tian asceticism : "Heathen asceticism would get rid of the body
as an enemy to be hated; Christian asceticism would but train
it for its glorious life in Heaven." So, too, with the apparently
conflicting principles of life and death: "Death is not all
darkness, nor life all light. The light of life illuminates and
warms the pallor of death." Again, "In every act of dying
(i. e., mortification) we must gaze into the tomb with the
Magdalene till we see it transformed by the vision of life and
beauty that lies beyond it and shines through it."
It is a difficult matter to treat of the deep things of the
spirit and at the same time to keep well within the range of
the reader's personal experience. Yet Father Maturin man-
ages this with rare artistry. He knows full well of those ele-
mental passions with which many a soul is called to wage
daily battle, passions that "lift it to the heavens and cast it
down to hell." He knows, too, the solitariness of the conflict,
that "it is behind the veil in the silent world of thought that
life's greatest battles have to be fought and lost or won, with
no human eye to witness, no voice to cheer or encourage."
But in the philosophy of this skilled director of souls there
is no room for the morbid or the neurasthenic. "A healthy
life, therefore," he declares, when writing of the discipline of
the affections, "should have its roots spread deep and wide in
the soil of the human family, and its whole nature open to the
manifold interests and influences and associations of the world
around it, and at the same time an ever-deepening sense of
the claims of God, of conscience and of Truth, so that it never
likes to part company with its fellowmen, but is strong enough
to stand against the whole world at the command of duty."
Not in the ascetical alone, but also in the apologetic,
Father Maturin's genius found a congenial, if more restricted,
field. It is quite impossible, within the compass of a few lines,
to make critical analysis of his Price of Unity. Necessarily
limited in its appeal, since it deals exclusively with the Angli-
can question, it must always be of value in its bearing upon
that issue. In it the ex-member of the "Cowley Fathers" unites
loyalty to Catholic truth with respect for what there may be of
1921.] AND WAS MADE MAN 511
good in the body to which he had given youthful allegiance.
He administers, indeed, a somewhat stinging rebuke to those
converts who, in mistaken zeal, are intolerant or scornful of
things they once reverenced.
On the other hand, Father Maturin pleads for a fairer
examination of the Catholic claim by High Church Anglicans,
as well as a better understanding by Catholics of the High
Church movement in England and America. It is extraor-
dinary, certainly, in the light of the religious history of the
past eighty years, that a learned priest should have remarked
to him on one occasion, as indicative of his entire stock of
knowledge upon the subject, that he had once seen an An-
glican clergyman in a cassock (!), or that the late Cardinal
Vaughan should have asked him, in all seriousness, whether
he thought the movement in the English Church came from
the devil or the Holy Spirit!
Although The Price of Unity does not, in the strict sense
of the word, profess to be autobiographical, it is rich in those
personal and dramatic elements which cannot but distinguish
the pilgrimage of a man like Maturin from discord and con-
fusion to the City of God, "whose Walls," to quote his own
words, "are salvation and whose Gates are peace."
AND WAS MADE MAN.
BY FRANCIS CARLIN.
SINCE Wise Men bore Him nard and myrrh,
The stately branches of the fir
Bend low beneath our weight of gifts;
And Nature sends her frozen drifts
To freight the mighty waves, that they
May roll less proud upon their way:
For Christmas Time on land and sea
Is the Feast of God's Humility.
THE BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONIST ORDER.
BY HAROLD PURCELL, C.P.
URING the past year the Passionist Fathers, estab-
lished in nearly all civilized countries, have been
celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the
founding of their Order. In connection with this
celebration they have observed a solemn triduum
in honor of St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin, the youthful
Passionist student, who was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.
on May 13, 1920.
It is uncommon that a celebration like this should have
a particular significance for any one outside the religious
family and the faithful directly committed to its care. That
this celebration should have such a significance was clearly
apparent to the Supreme Pontiff who, in a congratulatory let-
ter to the members of the Order, evidently implies that this
Bicentenary is not the commemoration of a past event or
simply the marking of a time-period in the history of an in-
stitution, but rather the recognition of an insistent and much-
needed work to be continued by a living and efficient organ-
ization: "These times, more than any times past, are opposed
to Christian humility and penance, in which your manner of
life chiefly consists; for the pride of life and the insatiable
love of pleasure so hold sway, that, through the corruption of
the very air that surrounds us, it is difficult even for religious
hearts to escape the infection of this pestilence. . . Full of
solicitude, therefore, not less for the common good than for
your own salvation, you should labor to renew more and
more in yourselves the love of the Gross of Christ, and by word
and example to stir up as many others as possible to the same
love." To understand this attitude of the Holy Father and his
hopeful interest, it will not be out of place to give the readers
of THE CATHOLIC WORLD a brief summary of the history, con-
stitution and spirit of the Passionist Order.
The Passionist Order, officially known as the Congrega-
tion of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, was founded in Italy by St. Paul of the Cross (Paul
1921.] BICENTENARY OF THE PASS1ONISTS 513
Francis Danei). His parents were Luke Danei and Anna
Massari. He was born January 3, 1692, in Ovada, a small town
in the then Republic of Genoa. From his earliest childhood
he cultivated a remarkable devotion to Christ Crucified, and
seems always to have been impelled by an imperative call to
preach the Sacred Passion.
He was clothed with the Passionist habit (which had been
shown to him, in a vision, by our Lady) on November 22, 1720.
Shortly afterwards he wrote the rule of his contemplated in-
stitute. In 1725 he received from Pope Benedict XIII. an oral
approbation of his rule and permission to assemble associates.
The same Pontiff ordained him to the priesthood in the Vatican
Basilica on June 7, 1727. By a rescript of May 15, 1741, Bene-
dict XIV. formally approved the rule. On November 16, 1769,
Clement XIV., by the Bull, Supremi Apostolatus, raised the
institute to the dignity of a canonical congregation with a par-
ticipation in all the rights and privileges enjoyed by other
Religious Orders. The Order was again solemnly and finally
approved and confirmed by a Bull of Pius VI., dated Sep-
tember 15, 1775.
In that year, on October 18th, St. Paul of the Cross died
in the mother-house of the Order, the Monastery of SS. John
and Paul, Rome. Before his death the Order had been estab-
lished in twelve monasteries. It had a gradual and consistent
growth up to 1810 when, with the other Religious Orders in
Italy, it was suppressed by Napoleon. On the return to Rome
of the exiled Pius VII. in 1814, the Passionist Order, although
one of the smallest in the Church, was the first to claim the
Pope's attention, and the Passionists were the first to resume
the regular monastic observance and to appear publicly in the
religious garb. In a short while all the houses of the Order
were again occupied and its activities were carried on as faith-
fully and energetically as though they had suffered no inter-
ruption.
Up to 1839 the Passionists had undertaken no work out-
side of Italy except foreign missions in Rumania and Bulgaria,
which they have conducted uninterruptedly to the present
time. In that year was held the seventeenth general chapter,
at which Father Anthony Testa was elected general. He is
rightly regarded as the second founder of the Order. He was
a man of strenuous zeal, notable intellectual endowments and
VOL. am. 33
514 BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS [Jan.,
far-seeing policies. In consequence he was repeatedly re-
elected to the generalship, and held that office for a period
of twenty-three successive years.
During his regime the Order attained its most rapid and
extensive growth. It was he who sent the Passionists to Bel-
gium, England, the United States and Australia. In 1840 he
commissioned the Venerable Father Dominic Barberi and
three companions to establish the Order in France. As this
project miscarried, owing to the pronounced opposition of the
French Government, these Fathers went to Belgium and made
a foundation at Ere near Tournay. From this house other
foundations were made in Belgium and Holland, forming the
Belgian-Dutch province. Its membership has been largely in-
creased by the exiled religious of France, where a second and
successful attempt to establish the Order was made in 1853.
In 1841 Father Dominic went to England. He was most
cordially received by Dr. Wiseman (afterwards Cardinal) and
many prominent lay Catholics. His zeal for the conversion of
England, which was a life-long characteristic, prompted him
to take an active interest in the Tractarian Movement; and
it was his peculiar happiness, as well as singular privilege,
to have received into the Church John Henry Newman. It is
traditional with the Passionists to regard the conversion of
Newman and his reception by one of their brethren as a par-
tial answer to the intercessions of St. Paul of the Cross, who
prayed for fifty years for the conversion of England and en-
joined upon his sons daily prayer for the same intention.
Within ten years of their arrival in England the Passionists
had established three monasteries. Among their first native
members were some distinguished converts from Anglicanism.
One of these, Father Paul Mary (the Honorable Charles Begi-
nald Packenham, son of the Earl of Longford and nephew of
the Duke of Wellington), became first rector of St. Paul's
monastery, Dublin, the Order's premier foundation in Ireland. 1
Other monasteries were established not only in England
and Ireland, but also in Scotland and Wales. In 1887 the
*He died in the odor of sanctity March 1, 1857. "In March, 1894, thirty-seven
years after his saintly death, on the occasion of the opening of a new cemetery for
the use of the religious, through pious curiosity his coffin was opened in the presence
of the assembled community, some of whom are at Mount Argus at present, and the
body was found to be perfectly intact and incorrupt." The Cross, Dublin, Novem-
ber, 1920.
1921.] BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS 515
English Passionists extended the Order to Australia, at the
pressing invitation of Cardinal Moran. They also founded a
house in Paris for convenience principally of English and
American Catholics. This house still continues its spiritual
activities, though it was secularized by the iniquitous Separa-
tionist Law.
In 1852 a Passionist colony came to the United States and
settled in Pittsburgh. They were brought here by the saintly
Bishop Michael O'Connor, whose most ardent wish was to join
the Order. Later, he resigned his mitre and died a humble
member of the Society of Jesus. Another band of Passionists
went direct from Rome to California. Finding conditions too
adverse to their manner of life, some of the Fathers went to
Mexico, and the others joined the Pittsburgh community.
In spite of huge obstacles, these first American Passionists,
with nothing to dazzle or attract, made such progress in the
upbuilding of the Order that within the comparatively short
space of twenty years, which embraced the duration of the
Civil War and the unsettled reconstruction period that fol-
lowed, they established five flourishing monasteries. With
resolute determination they steadfastly held to their monastic
and missionary form of life, notwithstanding the urgent and
incessant calls to parochial work and other activities foreign
to their vocation. It is due to their constancy and fidelity
that the Order in this country has been kept true to its original
purpose and is loyal to the spirit and rule of St. Paul of the
Cross.
At the present time there are two provinces in the United
States. The Eastern Province, with headquarters at West
Hoboken, N. J., has other monasteries in Pittsburgh, Pa.; Dun-
kirk, N. Y.; Baltimore, Md.; Scranton, Pa., and Boston, Mass.
Last December a new foundation was made in the Bronx, New
York City; and in the previous September Holy Cross Prepara-
tory College at Dunkirk was opened. The Western Province
has its headquarters at Chicago, Illinois, with other monas-
teries located in Cincinnati, O.; Louisville, Ky.; St. Louis, Mo.;
St. Paul, Kans., and Des Moines, la.
In 1885 some American Fathers, under the leadership of
Father Fidelis Kent Stone, founded a monastery at Buenos
Aires in the Argentine Republic. This monastery has since
become the head of a province. Other Passionist houses in
516 BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS [Jan.,
Central and South America are located in Cuba, Brazil, and
Chile. In 1880 the Spanish Province was founded, and today
numbers eighteen establishments. The Passionists also have a
house in Constantinople, the superior of which is the Apos-
tolic Delegate. A recent foundation has been made at Bethany,
near Jerusalem.
What might be called the Second Order of the Passion is
a community of Passionist Nuns, founded by St. Paul of the
Cross, in 1771. The co-founder was Mother Mary of Jesus
Crucified (Faustina Gertrude Constantini) . The community is
strictly cloistered, and its distinctive spirit is devotion to the
Sacred Passion to which the Sisters bind themselves by vow.
On May 5, 1910, five of these Sisters came from Italy and made
a foundation at Pittsburgh. Their success here is particularly
manifested in the large number of vocations with which the
community has been blessed.
The principle of the Passionist Order is a union of the
contemplative with the active life. The contemplative life as
lived by the Passionists consists mainly in the Laus Dei in
choro (the chanting of the Divine Office) and the Spiritus
jugis Poenitentiae (the spirit of habitual penance and auster-
ity), as becomes a body of men who are devoted to the Passion
and Death of Jesus Christ. Their active life (Zelus Animarum)
is practically limited by the constitution to the preaching of
missions and retreats.
The idea of a balanced life of monastic observance with
an active apostolate was not original with St. Paul of the Cross.
It was the realized ideal of St. Dominic in the thirteenth cen-
tury, and, before him, of St. Norbert in the twelfth. It re-
mained for St. Paul to revive this ideal; and it is worthy of
note that the Passionist is the only Order with this dual prin-
ciple that has arisen and been approved of by the Church since
the Council of Trent.
St. Paul wrote his rule within the short space of five days.
In a statement written at the command of his spiritual director
he says : "I began to write this holy rule on the second day of
December, 1720, and finished it on the seventh day of the same
month. And be it known that when I was writing, I went on as
quickly as if somebody in a professor's chair were there dic-
tating to me. I felt the words come from my heart." When
he wrote this rule, St. Paul was in his twenty-sixth year, and
1921.] BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS 517
still a layman. His education was limited to the primary in-
struction he had received as a boy. He wrote his rule in the
solitude of an abandoned hermitage at Castellazzo, unassisted
with advice from anyone and without the help of books. He
was unacquainted with the religious life as lived in a canonical
institute, and we have his own testimony to the effect that he
had never read the rule of any Religious Order.
Generally, the history of Religious Orders show that their
rules were written after the Order had been established and
was actually functioning. They were the fruit of long deliber-
ation, and of much discussion between the founder and his
first associates. In their final form, they were the result of
assiduous prayer, of serious meditation and practical experi-
ment. Or else they were the adaptation of some other rule,
already accepted and approved by the Church, usually the very
elastic rule of St. Augustine, and so modified as to suit the
individual requirements and specific purpose of the new or-
ganization.
In striking contrast with either of these two courses, the
Passionist rule was written before the establishment of the
Order. In fact, it had been written eight years previous to the
time when St. Paul assembled his first community on Monte
Argentaro. Hence it might be said that here we have the very
exceptional case of the Order being built upon the rule, in-
stead of the rule being the product of the Order.
This fact explains the permanency of the Passionist pur-
pose. Some Orders have what might be termed, from the
merely human viewpoint, an accidental or even haphazard
origin. They started without any fixed purpose or definite
design. Ry the sequence of events and the pressure of cir-
cumstances they were gradually and methodically fashioned
into distinct organic societies. Other Orders have been
founded to meet the immediate, and often transient, needs of a
time or place. In founding his Order, St. Paul planned a clear-
cut campaign that was to be neither local nor temporary. His
idea was to gather together a body of men, informed with the
spirit of self-renunciation, whose only weapon was to be the
crucifix, and who were to extend, according to their oppor-
tunities and abilities, the saving knowledge of Christ Cruci-
fied. Probably, it was the recognition of the world's constant
need of the preaching of the Cross that prompted the remark-
518 BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS [Jan.,
able words of the illustrious Benedict XIV. on the occasion
of his approving the rule: "This Congregation of the Passion
which is the last to come into the world, should have been
the first."
The form of government prescribed for the Order may
be described as democratic, in the best sense of that word.
The monasteries are the units that coalesce into the provinces,
and these are bound together under the supreme jurisdiction
of the superior-general. No superior can hold office for more
than two successive terms, without papal dispensation; and no
office, from that of the general down to the local rectorship, is
held by any other title than that of suffrage.
For the election of the general and his consultors, who
with him constitute the Generalitia, a general chapter is held
every six years. Triennial provincial chapters are held for
the elections of provincials, provincial consultors, local rec-
tors, and masters of novices. The general chapter legislates
for the needs of the Order at large; while the provincial chap-
ters legislate for the particular needs of the individual prov-
inces. The general and provincial chapters must legislate
within the evident meaning of the constitution; and both the
general and the provincial must carry out the enactments
of their respective chapters.
St. Paul's rule is a tribute to his ability for government
which hardly falls short of moral genius. His constitution was
a rather decisive departure from those that commonly ob-
tained in Religious Orders up to his day. It anticipated many
of the better elements of present-day popular government.
Personally, it makes but little, if any, difference to the indi-
vidual religious what may be the government-form of his in-
stitute, as under any form approved by the Church he can
attain to the perfection of his state. Through association,
however, the American cannot fail to be struck by the close
and detailed resemblance between the Passionist rule and the
Constitution of the United States. But he will not forget that
the writing of the rule antedates by a period of fifty-four years
the meeting of the first Continental Congress.
While the rule clearly defines the specific objective pur-
pose of the Passionist vocation, it contemplates other min-
isterial activities that may be demanded by the exigencies of
time and place, or requested by the authorities of the Church.
1921.] BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS 519
The call to foreign missions has been heard and answered
from the days of St. Paul. In fact, the first colony of Passion-
ists to leave Italy went to the Balkans, where they have labored
for the last one hundred and thirty-nine years under the direc-
tion of an unbroken line of Passionist missionary bishops.
The second colony went to the antipodes to evangelize the
aborigines of Australia. At the general chapter held last May
in Rome the capitulars expressed their desire to extend the
limits of their foreign mission field, and offered to Propaganda
the services of the Order for the evangelization of any coun-
try it might designate. A few months later the provincial
chapter, held in Pittsburgh, decided to send a band of Amer-
ican Passionists to China.
Direct efforts for the enlightenment and conversion of non-
Catholics, so imperative in a country like ours, are not only
recommended, but strongly urged by the rule. It was the
custom of the first Fathers in the United States to deliver
several doctrinal discourses, to which non-Catholics were espe-
cially invited, in the course of their missions; and some even
used the question-and-answer method. When the regular
non-Catholic mission proved a helpful means to attract and
appeal to non-Catholics, the Passionists at once recognized it
as a part of their work, which they encourage and prosecute.
Retreats for laymen, which happily are becoming so fre-
quent, are provided for by explicit direction of the rule. In
every monastery quarters are to be reserved for clerics and
laics who desire to spend some days in prayer and religious
quiet. The Monastery of SS. John and Paul in Rome is one of
the oldest and most famous retreat houses in the Catholic
world. St. Gabriel's Monastery, Boston, is the centre of the
Laymen's Retreat Guild of New England. The Guild is under
the immediate patronage of Cardinal O'Connell, whose con-
sistent interest in it has been an inspiration to its members.
The rapid growth of the Guild has necessitated the construc-
tion of a separate building. Attached to St. Paul's Monastery,
Pittsburgh, is a splendid retreat building, designed by John T.
Comes. It was dedicated last November 21st by Bishop Cane-
vin, who realized the need of such a building for the accom-
modation of the Catholic laymen of Western Pennsylvania.
In the Western province, the Chicago monastery has been
most active in furthering the retreat movement.
520 BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS [Jan.,
The main purpose of the Passionist Order is the preach-
ing of missions. This form of preaching has existed in the
Church since the day of Pentecost. And as long as men sin
it will be a most effective instrument in their repentance.
There are times when divine grace is poured more abundantly
than usual; a mission is such a time. Catholic instinct makes
clergy and people alike acknowledge and appreciate this.
All of which is proven by the ever-increasing demand for
missions.
A mission is a period of earnest spiritual enthusiasm and
intensive spiritual activity which looks for immediate results
in garnering souls to Christ. The character of its preaching,
therefore, must be, at once, simple, spontaneous and emo-
tional. Such preaching does not, by any means, imply a lack
of intellectual ability and application, nor does it exclude the
cultivated graces of public speaking. Hence it would be de-
plorable to think that the work of giving missions is to be left
to men of inferior mental attainments whose religious zeal
makes up for scanty intellectual equipment. The wider his
experience and more Catholic his culture, the more successful
the missioner will be; provided his experience and culture do
not hamper him in the expression of his emotional powers.
Staid intellectualism, tolerable in the scholarly professor,
would make of the missioner a mere "vocal essayist."
Mere intellectual preaching is usually barren of salvific
result. It generally has all the weakness and disadvantages of
Cardinal Newman's "smart syllogism." Mission preaching
takes into account the pertinent fact that man is essentially an
emotional creature. In his distinctive mode of preaching the
missioner sets forth the tremendous truths of eternity and
addresses the whole man. He uses the same appeal to the
feelings and senses that furnishes the reason for the Church's
use of symbol and ceremony. By emotional preaching, there-
fore, is not meant the sonorous phonographic recital of labored
discourses; much less does it mean the fantastic and fanatical
melodrama of much popular Protestant revivalism.
The permeating theme of the Passionist mission is Christ
Crucified. This is demanded by virtue of the Passionist mis-
sioner's fourth vow to promote devotion to the Sacred Passion.
Fidelity to this feature of his work is the never-failing test and
measure of his success. As with the individual, so with the
1921.] BICENTENARY OF THE PASSIONISTS 521
Order. When it ceases to exalt Christ Crucified by definite
and energetic efforts, it shall have lost the reason for its exist-
ence as a distinct organization in the Church.
The preaching of the Passion is the continuation of Christ's
Own compelling and result-guaranteed motive. For around
the Cross are gathered the huge facts of salvation, death, sin,
repentance and judgment. And these facts are never so clearly
apprehended as when presented in the light of the Passion.
As Father Faber splendidly puts it: "It is the simple preach-
ing of Christ Crucified that crowds the confessional and
throngs the altar-rail."
Never was this preaching so needed as in our day and
country, when the opportunities and means of self-indulgence
are so many and so readily accessible; when, outside the
Church, the Cross is no longer a symbol, but only a decora-
tion; when religious leaders are debasing Christ's Death to the
ignoble level of a human triumph; when, within the Church,
so many are apt to substitute a comfortable piety for the stern
Gospel of the Cross.
The Passionist rule has never been altered with the ex-
ception of the elimination of some very rigorous penances
which the Holy See considered beyond the endurance of less
heroic souls than St. Paul and some of his first companions.
The saint himself very cheerfully accepted these alterations.
The canonization of St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin, a
saint of our own day, whose brother was at his canonization,
is a witness to the vitality of the Order and a proof that the
simple keeping of the rule, as it is observed at the present,
suffices to meet the tests of heroic sanctity which the Church
requires in those whom she raises to the honors of the altar.
As the Holy Father says: "We know that he arrived at the
highest pitch of sanctity in no other way than by the observ-
ance of regular discipline, a proof that in the manner of life
you lead, you have a perfect school of the virtues. And it is
also a proof that the good spirit, left by your Founder, still
exists among you, an evident fact upon which we heartily
congratulate you."
SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR.
BY MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN.
II.
NE of the very best of recent novels is Basil Ever-
man. 1 Anything else that Elsie Singmaster writes
ought to be noted with a red letter. The scene of
her tale is laid in a thoroughly American small
town, not far from Baltimore, where we find real
persons in an appropriate atmosphere. Perhaps some of our
readers, accustomed to hyper-hysterical emotion in novels,
may find the atmosphere somewhat gray; but this effect is due
to the reticence of one of the most artistic of American authors.
For delicate character work Richard Lister's mother has not
of late been equaled.
An exquisite idyl is Harrison S. Morris' Hannah Bye. 2 The
setting is a fruitful corner of the imperial State of Pennsyl-
vania. It is a story of life among the Quakers a community
whose ideals and methods deserve closer study than they have
yet received. One can not help believing that the founders of
the Society of Friends had read very carefully the constitution
of the Order of St. Francis, when one compares the two docu-
ments. At any rate, that is not the question now. Mr. Harrison
Morris is a poet, and his novel contains all the elements, in-
cluding that of a limpid and musical prose that belong to a
poet of imagination rather than fancy; and the atmosphere of
the quiet and placid neighborhood, the very smell of the clover
in the June time is with us when Mr. Morris wills it. Here is a
little sketch, which must appeal to all who know the ways of
Friends :
The old Meeting House was sprinkled with sun and
shadow from the overhanging buttonwoods and poplars, in
which a choir of robins and song-sparrows was making a
mockery of the orthodox approval of music. The dusty
carriages were slowly climbing the hill and turning in at
the gate, and elderly Friends of serious countenance were
1 Boston : Houghton Mifllin Co.
Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Co. '
1921.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 523
alighting at the carriage block and gravely passing in. The
gayer young men and women, who took Meeting as a rather
sober holiday-making, had gathered in knots about the yard
and talked in subdued tones until the last carriage conveyed
the last elder to the door. Then they filed in, and the rustl-
ing was stilled and Siah, in his broad beaver, and Deborah,
in her silver-gray bonnet in the low gallery, looked with
unseeing eyes at the congregation and the congregation re-
turned the solemn stare.
There was a long, breathing silence, as always, and then
the visiting Friend from Milestown Meeting laid his hat on
the bench behind him and rose in grim dignity. He re-
peated a text and discoursed in sentences made familiar to
his hearers by tradition. He sat down and then another
long period of self-communion ensued, broken now and
then by a cough, or a whisper to a naughty child whose
patience was fast "petering out."
It would be a great addition to our knowledge of Amer-
ican life if Mr. Harrison Morris should follow this charming
novel with others in the atmosphere of the Society of Friends
in Pennsylvania. They would help toward that kind of Amer-
icanization which nearly all of us need an Americanization
which implies at least some sympathetic knowledge of the
various groups that influence the social life of our country.
Mr. Basil King has earned the right to be considered ser-
iously. There is a prejudice abroad to the effect that only
English writers are masters of style, when in fact we have a
great majority of American novelists who write better than the
English, but who have not so much to say and are entirely
incapable of making proper use of their backgrounds. Basil
King has much to say and he knows how to say it well. His
latest novel, The Thread of Flame, 3 deals with the adventures
of a young man who has lost his identity; these adventures
are so skillfully managed by the author that they have every
appearance of reality. Mr. Basil King has brought the art of
description to such a point that even he who runs and reads
will not be tempted to read and run. He has the power of
reducing the essentials of every-day scenes on Fifth Avenue
to little pictures which make us see New York from a new
point of view.
New York: Harper & Brothers.
524 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Jan.,
The Other Woman* by Nor ah Davis, is a melodrama
founded on a similar theme, the loss of identity; or, rather
the interchangeability of one identity for another. It is not an
imitation of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde; it is sufficiently original,
but the style is often as cumbersome as the management of
three very difficult themes. It is evident that the author is not
afraid of entanglements, and she has succeeded in giving us a
novel of the older school, whose defects themselves show that
she has fine imagination. The morality of the ending may be
questioned; but which was the real husband?
To The Other Woman and The Thread of Flame, there
should be joined the very best of Oppenheim's, The Great Im-
personation. 5 As a study in the technique of producing sur-
prise, it can be very seriously recommended to the student in
the art of narration. Comparatively, it may be used with the
two first mentioned books to which, in the matter of mere
technique, it is greatly superior, though as a work of art it
cannot compare with the Thread of Flame.
Zona Gale, in Miss Lulu Bett, 6 writes a novel in a new
genre. She has thrown aside the usual conventions of style
and also that habit of self-consciousness which seems to be
almost a tradition with American novels; it is a little room
detached with its inhabitants and furniture from the many
mansions of our life. To use a worn-out term, which formerly
meant a very different thing, it is "realistic," and yet not repel-
lant or hopeless. Zona Gale, in Miss Lulu Bett, gives a con-
crete answer to those critics who are constantly demanding an
absolutely American novel. Here it is, and it is a work of art
which cannot be imitated.
Nearly all the novels taken from the life of the colored
people in this country are either burlesques or sentimental
apologies. The Children in the Mist, 7 by George Madden
Martin, is entirely different, and it is a book of excellent short
stories. Mr. Martin, in his "foreword," gives the reason for the
writing of this book:
The black man in the United States has two worst
enemies; the over-zealous advocate who claims too much
for him, and the execrable creature wearing a white skin
who says: "I hate a Nigger!"
4 New York: The Century Co. "Boston: LittlCj Brown & Co.
New York: D. Appleton & Co. 'New York: D. Appleton & Co.
1921.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 525
Sweet and loveable, mystified, baffled and exploited, dis-
couraged and embittered, these hapless people, children
who, after fifty-six years of freedom, still see as in a glass
darkly! It is to those who, regardful of them, see them
as they are that the welfare of the race can best be trusted.
Turning for a moment to novels of English life it would
be agreeable to recommend Beck of Beckford, 8 by Mrs. M. E.
Francis; it has all the qualities for which Mrs. Francis is cele-
brated; it is well written, it has a due sense of proportion, and
it is a story always interesting to American Catholics of the
folk in Lancashire attached to the Faith. It seems unneces-
sary to say that it would be a mistake for anybody choosing a
library for young girls to leave out the books of Mrs. Francis,
Katharine Tynan and Mrs. Henry de la Pasture, whose Lonely
Lady of Grosvenor Square is almost a classic. But in Beck
of Beckford Mrs. Francis has made the mistake a mistake
very detrimental to the circulation of this present book on this
side of the ocean of introducing . an impossible American,
supposed to be typical of his race. This is a pity; if Mrs.
Francis must have an American character or two, it would be
well for her to study some living specimens even of "the
Yankee." "Yankees" do not all speak a dialect.
We come now to an entirely satisfactory novel by George
Stevenson. It is called Benjy. 9 George Stevenson preserves
the best traditions of the English novel. There are many
pages in this book worthy to have been written by Miss Austen,
with, shining through them, an essential spirituality which
may have been part of Miss Austen's interior life, but which
never gleamed in her novels. Book I. is prefaced with these
words from "M. Sinclair:" "Those early Victorian virtues
self -repression, humility, and patience under affliction;" and
Dr. John Ainsworth and his wife, Priscilla, exemplify these
virtues simply and spontaneously. It is with the life and the
fates of their children that we are most concerned; and the
story is told with truth, with charm, with a reasonable reti-
cence and a sense of proportion which stamps George Steven-
son as a novelist of a very high order. It would be a pity to
spoil the reader's interest in this book by saying too much
about it. The stories of Jo and of Benjy himself are admirably
8 New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons. "New York: John Lane Co.
526 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Jan.,
told; and the episode of Adelaide is a very good example of
graphic yet restrained painting in letters.
Read this:
The Rolfes were essentially old Catholics. Both came of
stock that had suffered fines, spoliation, the loss of wealth
and estate rather than foresake their faith. Kitty Rolfe her-
self belonged to a family that had once possessed the whole
of Beckdale; though nothing now remained to them of their
former possessions except the old house noted in the
neighborhood for its priest's hiding-place and a poor
field or two. And Kitty was proud of her family traditions.
She held her head high upon the soil that has been robbed
from her forefathers; and she made little account of cer-
tain neighbors who had found the choice between the
spiritual and the material too hard for them.
But neither Kitty nor her husband had any interest what-
ever in Jo as a possible proselyte. To Kitty, especially, the
ordinary Anglican, as well as the possible convert was a
subject of hidden, half-amused contempt. Kitty and it
may fairly be excused her had little liking for Protestants.
It was a physical hurt to her, she once told Jo though that
was afterwards to see Beckdale Church, once the Mother
Church of the district, the centre not only of its religious
but of its civic life its fairs, its feasts, its markets shorn
of its former glories, cold, deserted, become in Kitty's eyes a
tomb rifled if not actually defiled. When Jo came to them
with the unmistakable stamp upon him for all his sloven-
liness of the theological student, neither Rolfe nor his
wife troubled to inquire why he had not blossomed forth
into the orthodox English curate? But Kitty was never at-
tracted to him; she never sought his confidence; and when
the first evening a wet Sunday had prevented his going
home he had followed them timidly and rather late into
the chantry, she had asked him pointedly and with
malice :
"I wonder what it is you Protestants find in Benediction
that makes it the one of our services so many of you come
to?"
And so little was she really interested in the poor youth
that, though she gloried at his confusion, she hardly heard
his stammered answer:
"I used to go at Leeds."
Just as their fellow-Protestants in a Catholic country
whether Ireland or Brazil are inclined to carry themselves
1921.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 527
as the only spiritually elect; so, too, the Catholic laity, it
must be owned, have not a little of the arrogance of the
elder brother, the rightful heir. They have suffered too
much from the vagaries of converts and clerical converts
at that period seemed especially apt to tack and veer round
again to welcome the shrinking Nicodemus with open
arms. It is only here and there that some simple, pious
souls will, in all humility and charity, display the treasures
of their faith, like little children who call to one another:
"Gome and see."
In George Stevenson there appears a new novelist of
great sympathy, charming humor, knowledge of life and a
style which is a worthy medium for all these qualities. She
is a woman, Mrs. G. Horsfall Stevenson, author of Topham's
Folly, Jennie Cartwright and A Little World Apart.
In The Forty gee 10 Joseph C. Lincoln has added to his con-
tinued successes in novels of modern New England life. Con-
stant readers of his stories will find nothing new in his latest
book except the character of the "Portygee," really a young
Spaniard and the son of a famous opera singer, who clandes-
tinely married the daughter of a typical Cape Cod Captain,
Zelotes Snow. The young Spaniard, born in America, in-
herits certain of the ostentatious vanities of his father, who has
had him brought up without any regard to the religion of his
ancestors. Mr. Lincoln knows his part of New England very
well, and his devoted readers are quite satisfied with him as he
is. He is safe morally; he knows that most of the questions of
sex were settled long ago, and he has no interest in reviving
the ideas of the Cave Men or of the females of their species.
Perhaps it would spoil Mr. Lincoln for his constantly increas-
ing groups of readers, if he were to look a little deeper into
the essential conflicts and differences which are arising in his
own chosen State through the disappearance of the remains
of rigid Puritanism and the rising of a deep conviction of the
supernatural through the incoming of the foreigners who, like
the "Portygee," are the new Americans.
If one of the qualities which count for the valid existence
of novels is that of making us forget the little worries and some
of the big trials of life and another is that of offering us new
windows in our little world for wider observation, there is 9
10 New York: D. Appleton & Co.
528 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Jan.,
large group of novels before us which possess especially the
first merit.
Here, for example, is The Gold Girl 11 by James B. Hen-
dryx. (The Putnam's have specialized in novels recently.) It
is a story of the wilderness and a sheep camp Patty Sinclair
is like a good many other girls in these books of adventure
just what you would want a nice girl to be, only perhaps a little
more untrammeled, and the hero is from life; the writing is
smooth, clear and easy. The Fur Bringers, 12 by Hulbert Foot-
ner, has a very different kind of a hero. "Golina" is a Cana-
dian girl, with a temper of her own, and a father from whom
she has inherited it; the hero, who goes about matrimony in
a very business-like way, finds that it is a rather difficult
business; he has many adventures, and the course of true love
is as rocky as it possibly could be under any circumstances;
but you know the end.
In Trailing by Max Brand (another Putnam book), we
have a fit companion volume for The Fur Bring ers and The
Gold Girl. The hero is one of those aristocratic New Yorkers
who feel that their position in Society will be compromised if
they attempt anything so unconventional as to break an almost
unbreakable mustang in Madison Square Garden ! One cannot
help thinking that this young aristocrat was entirely too sensi-
tive, and that he did not know the real opinions of the Rac-
quet Club, for instance. When Anthony Woodbury gets on
the trail, however, you feel safe. You can trust his eye and his
muscle. You are as sure as when you run breathlessly through
the pages of Swiss Family Robinson that everything will come
out all right.
But when you turn to the Fruit of the Desert, 13 by Richard
Barry, you are not so sure, though Ranor Gaul is dying of tu-
berculosis in the beginning, and so Mr. Barry makes him
interesting. Fruit of the Desert would be very well, if Mr.
Ridgwell Cullum had not offered a more entrancing book in
The Heart of Unaga. Here you are introduced to the "Sleeping
Indians" and to a new world in the Far West very well imag-
ined; the strange drug, "adresol," is even more weirdly im-
portant then the semi-precious "sunnites" which these remote
Indians regard as sacred. In fact, The Heart of Unaga is one
u New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. u New York : The James A. McCann Go.
"Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Page & Go.
1921.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 529
of the best written, most interest-gripping romances of our
deserts or of our wilderness.
Another romance of the wilds is by Mr. T. Morris Long-
streth. It is called Mac of Placid. Mr. Longstreth knows the
Adirondack country very well. His people live near the glitter
of the lakes and real Northern winds sweep by them. This
is a nature book and a very natural one.
Mr. Longstreth shows great power in managing his char-
acters managing is hardly the word "creating" would be
better. In the art of depicting character relentlessly he ranks
very high. No novelist now writing has done a better piece of
work than the painting of Ed. Touch. This equals, in rugged
truth, any of the masterpieces of that artist, Evan Phillpots;
and one cannot help feeling the truth of the mental processes
of his very manly hero, Maclntyre "Mac" for short; but what
will the devotees of eugenics say to the virtues of "Mac?"
According to the teachings of their philosopher, "Mac" ought
to have been killed at his birth or at least seriously disabled,
for his "Pop" and "Ma" were detrimentals of the worst kind.
Robert Louis Stevenson is sketched with the deft and sym-
pathetic hand, a task which is as delicate as it is dangerous.
There is a curious contradiction or perhaps it is only an ap-
parent contradiction in Mr. Longstreth's philosophy of life.
While it is quite evident, that as the guardian angel of his
hero, he loves purity for its own sake, he, at the same time,
seems to agree with Mr. Stevenson's opinion, as expressed in
this rather depressed speech:
"It is this, Mac. I resolve to do no more carrion. I have
done too much in this carrion epoch. I will now be clean,
and by clean I don't mean any folly about purity, but such
things as a healthy man shall find fit to see and speak
about without a pang of nausea."
It must be admitted that Mac of Placid is a fine piece of
work. As a picture of life, as a very loving nature study, it
must appeal to every discriminating reader. But the absence
of religion, the lack of any appeal to the verities of Christian-
ity or to Christianity as a rule of life makes it a sad book;
and the pagan ending, by which the hero and the heroine un-
necessarily make themselves outlaws, is a disappointment.
"New York: The Century Co
VOL. cxn. 34
530 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Jan.,
If these out-of-door books did not so sedulously avoid
reference to the supernatural, one would be more convinced of
the reality of the merits of their characters. It must be said,
however, that if the heroes and heroines of these romances
have no taste for religion they at least have a reverence for it;
and there is none of that esprit gaulois, which disguises a
more brutal term that we regret to find in a neurotic, neuras-
thenic novel, called The Romantic Woman, 15 by Mary Borden,
which reminds one of some old-fashioned authors' descrip-
tions of certain savage nobles of the Court of Peter the Great
"all diamonds and furs without, and all squalor and vermin
within." But let that pass.
If some of the novels of the year are delightfully like Swiss
Family Robinson, drenched with sentiment, there are others
like Paul and Virginia drenched with sentimentalism.
Leerie, 16 by Ruth Sawyer, is one of these. We are told in the
indispensable "jacket" that all the men were in love with
Leerie, and consequently you wade in saccharine, until the
cold breeze of matrimony make life more solid. Besides, you
learn how free and easy and agreeable and full of sweetness
a sanatorium may be when there are nurses like Leerie prac-
tically in command.
In The Cresting Wave 17 Edwin Bateman Morris attempts
to show how immoral a successful business man may be in
principle, and how foolish is he who gains a big pot of money
and fails to marry the girl evidently intended for him by
Providence. It has a sound moral, however, in spite of some
rather sentimental exaggerations. Ruth, who saves the man
in the end from himself, is almost hopeless before this an-
nouncement of his principles:
"My father is a discouraged man, with a record of noth-
ing accomplished," said William Spade.
"But if he did what was right?"
"He did what he thought was right," Spade corrected.
"A person's conscience is a strange thing it must be regu-
lated like a watch. A time comes when it has to be set
forward twenty-five or thirty years."
"The honesty," he went on, "of the old-fashioned man
who sold a cake of soap over the counter was a simple mat-
"New York: Alfred Knopf. "New York: Harper & Brothers.
"Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Co.
1921.] SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR 531
ter. Not so very long ago most of our commercial trans-
actions were like that. Now our world is unbelievably
complex. When a dollar comes to us we cannot say from
whose hand it comes. In the case of the cake of soap, the
purchaser was the ultimate individual concerned in the
transaction. It was possible to know whether he was
wronged or not. But in the maze of our business, no human
power could guess all the ultimate individuals of each trans-
action, and consider whether they would be wronged. Such
honesty could only accompany the omniscience of God
Himself."
It was not merely plausible glibness. It was conviction.
The insidious part of the influence that worked upon him
was that as each moral prop was withdrawn, there was
substituted in its place a self-convincing reason for its with-
drawal. Each step backward was accompanied by a con-
viction that it was a step forward. The absorbing of each
principle that made for the decadence of the nation was felt
to be the absorbing of a principle made necessary by the
expanding and reaching up of the nation.
Poor Ruth! As she looked at this earnest figure with his
broad shoulders turned to her, conviction was far from
her. She was helpless before his words, but they could not
extinguish the faith within her that right was always right
and wrong was always wrong.
"And because of what you say," she asked him, gently,
"do we abolish honesty altogether?"
His jaw closed firmly. "We certainly amend it," he re-
plied, "to fit the conditions that exist."
How Ruth changed his point of view it would be the busi-
ness of the interested reader to find out.
Mr. L. Frank Tooker is one of our two best novelists of
the sea; and The Middle Passage 18 is quite as good as his very
successful book, Under Rocking Skies. When it conies to ad-
ventures, he forces our old friend, Captain Marryatt into the
shadows. Moreover, he has a better style than Captain Marry-
att, and he is free from that ignorant bigotry which spoils some
of the most interesting pages of Midshipman Easy. Mr. Tooker
is a master of the technique of the sea, and he knows how to
visualize adventures and characters. The Middle Passage is
decidedly the best sea book of the year. In fact, no author at
18 New York: The Century Co.
532 SOME NOVELS OF THE PAST YEAR [Jan.,
present writing has a more graphic style or a better sense of
proportion and reality than Mr. looker. In The Middle Pas-
sage there is one explanation that has not been made. We
are not informed how Whittaker, the young Englishman, in
making his escape with his friend from an unpleasant pre-
dicament, found enough Latin, to answer to the inquiring
friars "In penitentia et tribulatione ambulamus?"
One of the latest books is Mr. Don Cameron Shafer's
romance, Barent Creighton. Mr. Shafer has chosen an his-
torical period yet untouched by American novelists the time
of the Anti-Rent War in New York, and he has the magic
touch. He knows how to wave his wand and to take us back
into that time when top boots and tight buckskin trousers were
just going out of fashion. It is a very instructive and agree-
able study of a little-known period; and it would be well for
Mr. Shafer to offer some more of these memoirs to serve as
introductions to history.
Barent Creighton reminds one of some of Miss Sadlier's
stories of early New York. They are full of color, picturesque
and well documented. There is great need of historical novels
written not merely from a Catholic point of view, which is
sometimes prejudiced, but written by Catholics, after the
manner of the late Monsignor Benson, vivaciously, with human
interest, and founded on authentic historical sources.
"New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
IRew Boohs*
DEMOCRATIC INDUSTRY. By Joseph Husslein, S.J. New York:
P. J. Kenedy & Sons. $1.50.
The Middle Ages are still an unknown realm to most people.
A conspiracy of long standing, still fostered by many who have no
malevolent intentions has blinded most of us to the intense Chris-
tian activity of those centuries, especially in the development of
sound relations between man and his work, and man and society.
One of the evils that has arisen from this contempt for the Middle
Ages is the comforting opinion that our economic system is better
than anything that has gone before. Paganism meant slavery,
and the Middle Ages meant serfdom, it is said. The modern
world has rid itself of those two crimes, and so we live in a world
in which social institutions are sounder than ever before. The
conclusion is implied that we need not worry. The Renaissance
and the Reformation helped to bring the Middle Ages into dis-
repute, and Capitalism, growing out of the Renaissance and the
Reformation, has profited by the false information which scholars,
imbued with hatred of the Middle Ages, have dispensed. Then
there arose a peculiarly pleasant belief that the new times are the
best times and that what is latest is best. Father Husslein's book
is good medicine for this anemic attitude. For he tells the facts
about the economic system of the Middle Ages.
Prefaced by a brief account of the pagan days of slavery
and followed by an account of certain newer applications of a
halting guild spirit and certain suggestions for its fuller develop-
ment, the body of his book deals with the guilds of the Middle
Ages. By telling what men centuries ago were able to do, by
showing the wonders of the guilds of Europe, and by outlining
how common men once controlled their working lives and pro-
duced goods without being life-long employees, Father Husslein
deals a number of blows at a number of enemies. He deals a
blow at those who think the Catholic Church is a gigantic con-
spiracy against all that is good and noble and all that is of real
benefit to men in their daily lives. He deals a blow at those who
hate Christians, for the standards of the Middle Ages were Chris-
tian standards, regardless of the frequent failure of men to live
up to them. He deals a blow at the self-satisfied philosophy of the
last fifty years and its pitiful reliance upon evolution. Still
further, he deals a blow at those who cynically despise ideals and
534 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
religion as motives for social change. And he indicates that the
present autocracy and plutocracy in economic relations are not
necessary. Pagan slavery was born of the contempt men had for
manhood.
Father Husslein's book should be read by Catholics, if for no
other reason than to learn what the guilds were. We live in a
capitalistic society, and along with others we are ready to look
upon our society as approximately sound in its social relations.
The possibility of comparing Capitalism with the guild system will
strengthen our hold on the Church and will urge us to restore all
things in Christ. Father Husslein also adds a Social Platform for
the present day which merits wider circulation.
VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM. By Sir Bertram C. A. Windle.
St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. $3.00 net.
Vitalism and Scholasticism has for its theme the existence of
a vital principle in living beings, distinct from, and superior to,
physical and chemical forces. There is much need of such a vol-
ume. Henry Frank's Modern Light on Immortality is only one
of many popularizations of Haeckel's monism. In these books bio-
chemistry and bio-physics and other modern sciences have been
made to bolster up an evolutionary materialism; and since phys-
ical science and not sound reasoning is the key to popular con-
fidence, the enemies of spiritualism have been able to gain and
hold much ground.
Sir Bertram Windle's attack on this pseudo-science is trench-
ant and decisive. His own scientific ability and standing are un-
questioned, and the authority of his name is, in itself, an argument
in favor of vitalism. But, in addition, he presents a wealth of
the very latest scientific data, which, though couched in popular
terms, is exact, complete and cogently ordered. There can be no
doubting of his thesis, that science is unalterably opposed to the
modern physico-chemical explanations of life.
The book opens with a history of the vitalistic belief, and
the rise of the modern denials. This is followed by a brief popular
statement of the Scholastic position. The rest of the book is de-
voted to an examination of the data of science the constitution
and nature of cell-life, its growth and development. Only one
conclusion is drawn that science teaches today, as in the days of
Aquinas, that life is different from non-life, that vitalism is the
only true explanation of the phenomena we observe in plants and
animals and men.
The reader closes the last page, charmed by the simple, yet
eloquent and forceful style, delighted with the wealth of his-
1921.] NEW BOOKS 535
torical and scientific information, convinced of the truth of the
vitalistic thesis. There is only one tiny regret that the work
was not carried further. We have need not only of this negative
apologetical treatment of the subject the refutation of the so-
phistical claims of Haeckel and his school but a need also of a
tieatment, in the same readable style, of the positive conclusions
which may be drawn from this same data, in regard to the real
nature and constitution of the vital principle.
EUROPE AND THE FAITH. By Hilaire Belloc. New York: The
Paulist Press. $2.25 net.
This intensely interesting book is one of deep import as a
vade-mecum and a guide in the reading and study of history, and
as a source of inspiration for truly Catholic thought and action
in the present critical years. The Christian soul says: "If only
the world would return to the faith of Christ." Mr. Belloc says,
with the logic of the facts of history in his hands: "The world
must return to the faith of Christ or it will perish."
To call this a Catholic philosophy of history would give a
wrong impression. Yet it is a most remarkable and valuable
contribution toward a Catholic philosophy of history. It traces
out the main line of historical development from the time of Our
Lord to the present crisis. And its method is that of strict his-
torical induction.
The historical argument is unique; it is not simply another
appeal to history along familiar lines; it is a new key to unlock
the whole of Christian history, and it reveals some rather aston-
ishing things. The author proposes to set things right, to give
the reader what "no modern book in the English tongue" gives,
namely a correct conspectus of the past: "There are innumerable
text-books in which a man may read the whole history of ... a
country from, 'say, the fifth to the sixteenth century, and never
hear of the Blessed Sacrament: which is as though a man were
to write of England in the nineteenth century without daring to
speak of newspapers and limited companies."
The civilization of Europe, and America, which is now at
stake, is essentially Christian civilization. It is the civilization
of ancient Rome made Christian by the Catholic Church, per-
fected in the Middle Ages, wrecked by the Reformation, and now
in danger of utter ruin.
It is not true that the Roman Empire "fell" and that Roman
civilization was "destroyed," by the coming of "numerous and
vigorous barbarians possessing all manner of splendid pagan qual-
ities which usually turn out to be nineteenth century Protestant
536 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
qualities." The ancient Roman Empire declined chiefly because
of internal conditions, and the ancient civilization was saved by
the Catholic Church.
The Dark Ages, from the fifth to the eleventh century, were
alive with heroic military action which saved Europe from inva-
sions on all sides. Meanwhile the ancient heritage lay dormant,
its outward development ceasing, but its content deepened and
enriched in its repose. The Middle Ages, from the eleventh to
the sixteenth century, produced, on the foundation of ancient
civilization and after the repose of the Dark Ages, "a civilization
which was undoubtedly the highest and the best that our race
has known." "While it flourished, all that is specially charac-
teristic of our European descent and nature stood visibly present
in the daily life, in the large, as in the small, institutions of
Europe." But this splendid, united Christendom of the Middle
Ages never reached its full development, it did not become per-
manent, for its power was broken in that great disaster of history
which is often called "The Reformation."
The Reformation was not simply the lamentable work of
certain proud-minded and willful individuals. It was partly the
breaking out of a general, irrepressible and largely justified dis-
content. It was due also to a very rapid increase in technical
power and physical knowledge and to a mad desire for wealth.
And it was due, furthermore, largely to the peculiar idolatry of
state absolutism in the beginning of modern times. Particularly
was this true in England. And the decisive thing, that which
made the Reformation a permanent wound in the social body,
was the defection of England. For England lent "the strength of
a great civilized tradition to forces whose original initiative was
directed against European civilization and its tradition." This
great disaster, the rupture of Christendom and the dissolution of
the forces that should make for Christian civilization, has deter-
mined all subsequent historical development. The consequent
processes have not yet come to judgment: but perhaps their
judgment is near. As they mature it becomes more and more
evident that the very structure of European society is threatened
with chaos and ruin. "Europe must return to the Faith, or she
will perish."
The author's primary purpose in this book is not to investi-
gate new fields of historical research; it is rather to weigh given
evidence and to set facts in their true light and correct proportion,
and thus to bring out the general trend of historical development
and to give the reader a right conspectus of the past. If many
points of detail are not new, the explanation of their import and
1921.] NEW BOOKS 537
bearing is original. In some cases the author's critical examina-
tion of sources is particular and minute. If the text were accom-
panied by source-references it would be a valuable guide to his-
torical analysis, as it certainly is a remarkable work of historical
synthesis.
The book appeared in September and is already in its second
edition.
PEOPLE OF DESTINY. By Philip Gibbs. New York: Harper
& Brothers. $2.00 net.
The "people of destiny" are Americans, the United States; in
our hands lies the future of the world that is the theme of this
book by the most widely read of the late War correspondents.
Unlike most foreign critics, Sir Philip has a friendly approach,
and the note of praise struck in the title is predominant through-
out. This is a welcome variation, and yet his first few chapters
are so insistently laudatory that one feels his praise issues more
from his will than from his judgment, that he is simply deter-
mined to see good, and one longs perversely, no doubt for more
shading in the picture. In the closing chapters, however, he
comes to grips with his subject and gives a more balanced ver-
dict.
In the chapter, "America's New Place in the World," after
showing that America, whether she wishes it or not, must aban-
don her former position of aloofness from European affairs, the
author concludes with the belief that "America's destiny will be
glorious for mankind, not because I think that the individual
American is a better, nobler, more spiritual being than the indi-
vidual Englishman, Frenchman, or Russian, but because I see,
or think I see, that this great country is inspired more than any
other nation among the big powers by the united, organized
qualities of simple, commonplace people, with kindness of heart,
independence of spirit, and sincerity of ideas, free from the old
heritage of caste, snobbishness, militarism, and fetish-worship
which still lingers among the Junkers of Europe. . . It is a nation
of nobodies, great with the power of the common man and the
plain sense that governs his way of life. Other nations are still
ruled by their 'somebodies' by their pomposities and High Pan-
jandrums. But it is the nobodies whose turn is coming in history,
and America is on their side."
"What England Thinks of America" is the most valuable
chapter in the book. In it the author makes clear that demo-
cratic rule does not mean individual liberty, why there is less tol-
eration of individualism in America than in England, and how it
538 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
comes that the British system of government and its social struc-
ture rising by caste gradations are capable of tremendous reforms
without violent convulsions, as contrasted with America, where
"the clash between Capital and Labor will be more direct and
more ruthless in its methods of conflict on both sides." Certain
observers, he says, forecast two possible ways of development
in the future history of the American people, one a social revolu-
tion on Bolshevist lines, the other the way of militarism. Sir
Philip disagrees altogether with the second prophecy, and partly
with the first, though he does believe that there will be some sort
of revolution, not less radical because not violent.
In the final chapter, "Americans in Europe," Sir Philip shows
Americans in relief work before and after the War and as com-
batants during it, and pays them high and heartfelt tribute.
Concerning our soldiers he was struck, he says, "by the excep-
tionally high level of individual intelligence among the rank and
file, and by the general gravity among them. The American
private soldier seemed to me less repressed by discipline than our
men. He had more original points of view, expressed himself
with more independence of thought, and had a greater sense of
his personal value and dignity. . . They were harder, less sym-
pathetic; in a way, I think, less imaginative and spiritual than
English or French. They had no tolerance with foreign habits
or people."
On the whole, the fault of this book lies in the fact that the
author in his first few weeks in the United States was so im-
pressed by the friendly spirit and warm hospitality of Americans
that his perceptive powers became impaired, though later, when
he got into the interior of the country, he remedied this defect;
its merit and an uncommon merit it is in these days of discon-
tent and disillusion lies in the fact that it is the product of an
unwavering idealist, possessing a keen sense of world politics and
offering a noble solution for world problems.
THE RIGHT REV. EDWARD DOMINICK FENWICK, O.P.,
Founder of the Dominicans in the United States and First
Bishop of Cincinnati. By Very Rev. V. F. O'Daniel, O.P.,
S.T.M. New York: Frederick Pustet Co., Inc. $3.50.
Father O'Daniel's well-done Life of the first American Su-
perior of his Order, and Ohio's first Bishop, is noteworthy from
several points of view. It is a valuable work historically, and
also for the sidelights it throws upon contemporaneous politico-
religious conditions in Europe, where practically all of the future
friar's training was received and whence he turned, later, for help.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 539
It is scarcely less valuable as a laboratory demonstration, so to
speak, in pastoral theology.
We are here shown a man who, not because of extraordinary
mental gifts though these were not inconsiderable; nor yet
because of strong physique, for as a matter of fact his health was
never rugged; but because of a supreme devotion to the Spouse
to Whom he had given himself in his youth, was enabled to serve
both God and man in a way to compel the admiration of his own
and succeeding generations. A missionary Bishop so zealous for
those whom he loved to call his "stray sheep" as to ride nearly
one hundred miles out of his way to look up one Catholic, and
who, in an almost dying condition, traveled more than two thou-
sand miles by stage and boat to visit his spiritual children for the
last time, may be fittingly compared with Francis Xavier. Like
that great Saint, Edward Dominic Fenwick died unattended save
by the watching angels and their Queen.
Father O'Daniel has performed his task well. The narrative
is colorful and interesting, without sacrifice of accuracy. Notes
and references are carefully indicated; illustrations are of the
best; and at the end of the volume there is an excellent bibliog-
raphy and index.
A HANDBOOK OF PATHOLOGY. By Rev. J. Tixeront, D.D. St.
Louis: B. Herder Book Co. $2.50 net.
In the three volumes of his History of Dogma the Abbe
Tixeront of the University of Toulouse has written an excellent
summary of the teaching of the Fathers. In his Pr&cis de Patro-
logie, which has just been translated into English, he confines
himself to Patrology strictly so called, f. e., the study of the life
and works of the Fathers of the Church. The volume is divided
into three periods: 1. The Fathers of the first three centuries;
2. The Golden Age of patristic literature (313-461); 3. The de-
cline and end of patristic literature (461-750).
This Handbook is remarkable for its brief, but clear-cut, esti-
mates of the place of the different Fathers in the history of the
development of dogma. For example: "The main purpose of St.
Ignatius, martyr, in all his letters is to warn the faithful against
the errors and divisions which certain agents of heresy and schism
endeavored to sow among them." . . . "But although Hermas is not
a learned man, he is a shrewd observer and has a sane and just
mind, a tender heart, and a good practical judgment qualities
which unite in making him an excellent moralist." . . . "Origen is
essentially a Biblical theologian, who formulated almost his entire
theology in writing his commentaries on the Scriptures. His
540 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
theology is not without faults, and its defects have drawn upon
the author many contradictions and even condemnations." . . .
"St. Augustine is the greatest genius the Church has ever pos-
sessed. His ready and comprehensive mind was capable of grasp-
ing the most divergent subjects and of adapting itself to them all.
He was a metaphysician and a psychologist, a theologian and an
orator, a moralist and an historian. He dealt with controversy
and exegesis, mathematics and aesthetics, music and grammar, and
even wrote poetry." . . . "The intellectual quality which stands out
preeminently in St. Gregory seems to be sound common sense,
tantamount in his case to genius, always suggesting to him the
best course to follow, and enabling him to keep the right measure
in everything."
LES LETTRES PROVINCIALLES DE BLAISE PASCAL. Edited
by H. F. Stewart, D.D. New York: Longmans, Green & Co.
$2.60.
This volume of the French series of the Modern Language
Texts published by the University of Manchester has been edited
by Dr. H. F. Stewart, prelector in French studies at Trinity Col-
lege, Cambridge. In his preface he acknowledges his indebted-
ness to the many editors who have preceded him Maynard,
Michel, De Soyres, Havet, Molinier, Brunschvig, Boutroux and
Gazier. In his introduction he discusses in a rather inaccurate
and superficial fashion the many problems suggested by Pascal,
viz. : the Catholic doctrine of free will and grace, the teachings of
St. Augustine, Jansen, Arnauld and Molina, the so-called lax
morality of the Jesuits, etc. His mistakes may easily be corrected
by reading carefully any seminary text-book on dogma and
morals.
Dr. Stewart admits that Pascal withdrew from the Jansenists
before his death, and ceased writing in their favor once Rome gave
its final decision condemning them; but he is wrong in asserting
that Pascal by his Provincial Letters "stiffened the moral con-
science and armed it against the misuse of casuistry." He did
nothing of the kind.
Pascal was most unfair in speaking of the Jesuits, as
if they were the only casuists in the Church, or, as if they were
the only ones worthy of censure. Of the many thousands of cases
in the Jesuit treatises on moral theology he selects only one hun-
dred and thirty-two decisions, which in reality amount to but
eighty-nine if we exclude repetitions. An analysis of these cases
leaves little for a non-Catholic if he be honest to cavil at.
Some of them are common sense decisions, which could only be
1921.] NEW BOOKS 541
denounced out of crass ignorance or blind prejudice. For in-
stance: that a starving man may take food without being guilty
of theft; that one may eat and drink things because one likes
them, not merely to sustain life; that a man is not guilty of ab-
duction if his companion freely consents to run away with him;
that a bankrupt may be left enough of his fortune to live decently;
that ecclesiastical laws lose their force when they become obso-
lete. Some decisions are travestied by the omission of a sav-
ing clause or definition which altogether changes their meaning.
Everyone, for example, would admit that it is immoral for a serv-
ant to cooperate in his master's wrongdoing. But his indignation
will vanish once he finds that the case in question supposes the
servant an innocent party to the wrongdoing. The servant is
posting his master's letter advising a friend to steal from the
State, but he is guiltless, inasmuch as he does not know the
contents of the letter.
Scholars have pointed out in Pascal two hundred errors of
detail, one hundred more of suppression of context, and at least
three of absolutely false citations. Out of the entire list of one
hundred and thirty-two decisions, eight only have been con-
demned at Rome (on dueling), three on occult compensation and
equivocation are so arranged out of their context as to appear
immoral, and three others on simony, the passing of money be-
tween judge and client, and usury are to say the least of doubtful
interpretation.
We are certain that the non-Catholics who constantly allude
to Pascal's "fearful onslaught" upon the immoral teachings of the
Jesuits have for the most part never read his book. If by a chance
they have read it, they certainly are not competent judges owing
to their utter ignorance of moral theology.
From a literary standpoint, the Letters of Pascal are the
first prose masterpieces in the French language. Voltaire even
called them "the first book of genius written in France." The
contents of the letters are negligible because of Pascal's unfair-
ness, but they live because of their inimitable style full of wit,
eloquence, humor, irony, dramatic power, and clearness of ex-
pression.
METHODS AND MATERIALS OF LITERARY CRITICISM. By
Gayley and Kurtz. Boston: Ginn & Co. $3.00.
This book is the second of a series, entitled Methods and Ma-
terials of Literary Criticism, the volumes of which, though con-
tributing to a common aim, are severally independent. The first
volume published in 1899 was an introduction to the bases in
542 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
aesthetics and poetics, theoretical and historical. The present
volume applies the methods there developed to the comparative
study of the lyric, the epic and some allied forms of poetry. A
third volume which, we are informed, is approaching completion,
will present tragedy, comedy and cognate forms.
The volume is the work of Professors Gayley and Kurtz of
the University of California Department of English, and is designed
especially for the use of scholars and investigators more or less
advanced, ". . . in short, for those who make of criticism a dis-
cipline, an aim, or a profession." The work here accomplished is
an honor to American literary scholarship and is of great and
enduring value. It is by such exact and patient surveys as this
that the foundations of the house of American scholarship are
being well and truly laid. (We have noticed, in a casual glance
through the pages, two misprints: page 184 and in the Index
F. G. Tucker for T. G. Tucker. And on page 826, Monohan for
Monahan. Under "Greek Anthology" might well have been men-
tioned G. B. Grundy's fine collection of translations, Ancient Gems
in Modern Settings.)
HISPANIC ANTHOLOGY. Collected and arranged by Thomas
Walsh, Ph.D., Litt.D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. $5.00.
Dr. Thomas Walsh has earned the gratitude of all lovers of
good literature by the enterprise, industry, scholarship, and taste
he has displayed in the preparation of this fine anthology. Noth-
ing like it has hitherto been attempted, and it is sure to hold the
field for many years to come, and to render itself increasingly
indispensable to all students and lovers of Spanish poetry. Dr.
Walsh offers his compilation "as a spontaneous tribute of affec-
tionate admiration to the contemporaneous Spanish poet both
Peninsular and American from his English-speaking brethren
of the North." No praise can be too high for the painstaking
thoroughness and the exhaustive editorial research of which so
many of these pages give evidence. It will, perhaps, be a surprise
to some readers to observe in the list of translators, which is pre-
fixed to the volume, some of the most distinguished names in
modern English and American poetry: Byron, Southey, and Ed-
ward Fitzgerald, for example; and Longfellow and Bryant.
Arthur Symons' delicately beautiful translations are here; and
the learned editor, himself an American poet of indubitable dis-
tinction, has contributed many versions of no little grace and
charm. Catholic readers will especially rejoice to possess, in this
delightful form, some of the most impressive work of the great
Spanish mystical poets, Fray Luis de Leon, St. John of the Cross,
1921.] NEW BOOKS 543
and St. Teresa. Certainly the Hispanic Anthology is a book to
buy, to treasure, and to read again and again. As a book of
reference it will prove invaluable.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN REUNION.
By Rev. Arthur C. Headlam, D.D. New York: Longmans,
Green A Co. $4.00 net.
The Bampton lectures for 1920 were given by Rev. Arthur
C. Headlam, the Regis professor of divinity in the University of
Oxford. They discuss an historical problem, the origin of the
Christian ministry, and a practical problem, the problem of re-
union.
The writer, condemning himself, well says: "Only too often
the professed adoption of the historical method appears to be but
a device for concealing one's bias;" for on page after page he
misrepresents and misinterprets the evidence that lies plainly
before him.
At the very outset, for example, he asserts that Our Lord
"did not directly found the Church," that no particular theory
of the Church and no form of Church government can find any
support, direct or indirect, in His teaching." This prepares the
way for his denial of the Papacy, which he detests, and for his
rejection of episcopacy, which he declares "is not in the Bible,
but a later, sub-apostolic development." Neither in the Scriptures
nor the Fathers can he find any warrant for Apostolic succession,
sacerdotalism, or sacramentalism. To his mind the Catholic
Church's teaching on the sacrament of Orders is begotten of a
magical theology which she borrowed from St. Augustine.
Dr. Headlam's idea of the Church is very Protestant: "It con-
sists of all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are bap-
tized." The marks of the Church are not real distinguishing
notes by which we can tell the true Church from the false, but
merely ideals to be aimed at. No Church can in reality claim to
be One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Schism we are told means
"a division of the body. When, therefore, such a division has
occurred both sides are schismatics" a very novel form of An-
glican logic, which proves conclusively that the Roman Church is
schismatic, and responsible for the Eastern Schism and the
Protestant Reformation.
The abuse of the Papacy with which this volume abounds
ad nauseam, reminds one of an old controversial tract of the six-
teenth century. It is certainly unworthy of any University lec-
turer. The Jesuits, too, as defenders of the Papacy come in for
their share of dispraise. Reunion with Rome is impossible, be-
544 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
cause she claims to be the infallible mouthpiece of the revelation
of Jesus and the Twelve; because she condemns the Established
Church as heretical and schismatical ; because she claims uni-
versal jurisdiction; because she condemns Anglican Orders as
utterly invalid; because she teaches Apostolic succession, seven
sacraments, transubstantiation, an infallible Pope.
Dr. Headlam turns then to the other Churches "which are
prepared to approach one another on equal terms." The Bible
and the Nicene Creed interpreted at will are to be the doctrinal
basis of "unity in variety." The orders of every Protestant
church are to be recognized as valid, with episcopacy not of divine
origin the common basis of church order.
In a final chapter Dr. Headlam says he is pained because
whenever any proposal for Reunion is made, certain High Church-
men begin to assert their principles in a very noisy manner. He
assures them that they are sectarian and Protestant unless they
are willing to hearken to the voice of the Church. That is the
very crux of the problem: Established Church does not dare
voice the Gospel in clear infallible voices Can we blame an honest
Protestant for rejecting a scheme for reunion which empties the
Gospel of the greater part of its divine content? It is mere hypoc-
risy to pretend to unite in a creed which admits no certain inter-
pretation, and in a worship, or Eucharist, the meaning of which
no one is able to define.
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. By Zephine Humphrey. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Co. $2.50 net.
Miss Humphrey's latest novel is a return to the field of re-
ligious interests, with which her Grail Fire dealt far more suc-
cessfully than does the present work. It is a singular produc-
tion which, at times, might be taken for a satire directed against
the "High Church" branch of the Anglican Church, did not her
obvious sincerity preclude this interpretation. Blank bewilder-
ment will be the probable effect upon any Catholic-bred reader,
who is unacquainted with the lack of uniformity obtaining in
that communion. For that matter, it might be interesting to know
just how far its "advanced" members will feel their school of
thought to be represented in the author's astonishing creation,
Father Hartley. He is the rector of a Protestant Episcopal
church, in which he has installed an elaborate ritual, being an
ardent apostle of the "Catholic revival;" yet he says of confes-
sion that it is "one of the things about which I have not yet fully
made up my mind," adding other remarks which reveal total
ignorance of the nature and value of the sacrament of Penance.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 545
Despite the absence of this great experience, he nevertheless exer-
cises an irresponsible, individualistic judgment that is startling
all the more because the author so plainly believes that he is in
solid possession of the real thing, in contrast with his curate, a
young man of the dangerously emotional type.
Too much space is given to the airing of Father Hartley's
spiritual views, especially as these do not influence the course
of the heroine, one of his admiring and trusting parishioners, who
alienates her young husband by tactless preoccupation with reli-
gious externals. A few crisp words of common sense, spoken at
the right time, would have preserved her domestic happiness and
averted the unpleasant episode in which she and the curate are
involved toward the close of the story.
Miss Humphrey has shown no lack of temerity and assurance
in handling the things of the spirit; but in so doing she has
merely revolved around her subject without ever really grappling
it. The novel, as a whole, is neither pleasing nor convincing.
THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. By Pere Suan, S.J. New York: Ben-
ziger Brothers. $1.15.
This is a clear and non-controversial exposition of the teach-
ing of the Church. As Father Martindale says in his preface:
"This book will find a welcome because it is not controversial :
it asserts; it does not argue. Men are tired of controversy. They
want us to allow the Faith to shine. They are anxious to know
what Catholic doctrine is just to have it presented simply and
coherently." It is an excellent book to put in the hands of an
earnest inquirer.
NO DEFENCE. By Gilbert Parker. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippin-
cott Co. $2.00 net.
In his latest book Sir Gilbert Parker gives us a stirring ro-
mance of the swashbuckler type, in which the reader is treated to
a full measure of duels, murders, mutinies, revolts, and rescues.
The scenes are laid in Ireland, England and the West Indies in the
days following the French Revolution.
Dyck Calhoun, Irish gambler and ne'er-do-well, is falsely ac-
cused of the murder of his sweetheart's father. To save her good
name he pleads "No Defence," and is sentenced to a long prison
term for manslaughter. On his release he joins the English navy,
and forthwith becomes the leader of a mutiny which again brings
him face to face with the gallows. He escapes death by seizing a
ship which he takes to the West Indies, and being a loyal imperial-
ist, he saves the English fleet from defeat in a critical action with
VOL. cxn. 35
546 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
the French near Jamaica. This wins him a pardon, and he is
paroled by the Governor of Jamaica, who is about to win the hand
of his old sweetheart. Just in the nick of time the real murderer
appears, and by a death-bed confession makes it possible for the
hero to marry the girl of his choice.
The author seems well able to depict the English soldier and
sailor of the day, but he knows nothing of the Irish soul or char-
acter. His hero is English to the core, although dressed in Irish
clothes.
THE LIBRARY OF PHOTIUS. Vol. I. By J. H. Freese, S.P.C.K.
New York : The Macmillan Co.
There is no complete version of the Bibliotheca of Photius
in English or in any other modern language. Students, there-
fore will welcome the translation in five volumes promised by
J. H. Freese. The translator's task was an arduous one, as the
text unfortunately is in many places uncertain, and no critical
edition has appeared since Bekker's in 1824. The translation is
well done, the notes most copious and accurate.
THE OTHER LIFE. By Rt. Rev. William Schneider, S.T.D.,
Bishop of Paderborn. Revised and Edited by Rev. Herbert
Thurston, S.J. New York: Joseph Wagner.
The first edition of this Divina Commedia in prose, as Bishop
von Keppler called it, appeared in 1879. It is very popular in Ger-
many, where it has gone through eleven editions. It outlines in a
score of chapters the Catholic teaching on the immortality of the
soul, heaven, hell, purgatory, and at the same time it takes the
sting out of death by its consoling words to the afflicted.
NAPOLEON, A PLAY. By Herbert Trench. New York: Oxford
University Press. $2.00.
Mr. Trench has been long and honorably known as a poet,
indeed one of the half-dozen most authentic artists in verse of our
generation; and the recent publication in America of his collected
poems in two volumes has widely extended the range of his fame.
In Napoleon he comes forward for the first time as a dramatist.
This fine play has already enjoyed successful stage representation
in England, and it is to be hoped that an enterprising American
manager will produce it on this side of the Atlantic. As a piece of
literature it is of the highest quality, and abounds in passages of
magnificent and moving eloquence. The characterization is ad-
mirable throughout and the situations and settings are engross-
ingly interesting. The period of the play is that of the imminent
1921.] NEW BOOKS 547
invasion of England by Napoleon in the summer of 1805; the
main characters are Geoffrey Wickham, a noble young idealist
and scientist, whose dream it is to unite the people of the world
in one: Geoffrey's father and mother and his brothers; and the
great Emperor himself. Not since his widely different appear-
ance in the pages of Lever's great novel has Napoleon been so
intimately and understandingly treated in a work of imaginative
literature. Napoleon is a remarkable play, and a noteworthy
addition to our extremely small store of really distinguished con-
temporary dramatic writing.
LOVE AND MR. LEWISHAM. By H. G. Wells. New York:
George H. Doran Co. $1.90.
This is a new edition of what purports to be the author's
own favorite among his works. It is told in the most graceful
of styles, full of deft touches. It is, indeed, clever enough to be
the work of a woman, but no woman could have treated her hero
with such delicate banter as that with which Mr. Wells treats
the callow Mr. Lewisham, who possesses high ambitions, a deter-
mination to regulate his life by a "schema," a budding mustache,
and a defective sense of the ridiculous. We first meet Mr. Lewis-
ham at eighteen, tutor in a boys' school at forty pounds a year.
He studies hard and regulates his dates by a schema, whose
inexorability is that of a railroad time-table. Enter love in the
person of a damsel of seventeen and the story is on. Some cynic
has maintained that when Poverty comes in at the window Love
flies out at the door. But in the case of Mr. Lewisham and Ethel
it was not love, but Mr. Lewisham's schema which was given
such a summary exit. Thus ended the dual between the two,
Love the victor as usual, and Mr. Lewisham, after a twelvemonth
marriage, feels a thrill never experienced before in the realization
that paternity will give him new responsibilities replete with a
genuine dignity. The empty dreams of life have had their day;
he is a boy no longer. Love has fired his heart, but gives stern
burdens in requital. "This is life," murmurs Mr. Lewisham, ac-
quiescently, and he tears his schema into bits and flings them
into the waste basket.
MAUREEN. By Patrick MacGill. New York: Robert M. McBride
Co. $2.00 net.
This is the tale of Maureen O'Malley, a peasant girl of Done-
gal, whose unmarried mother leaves her a heritage of beauty and
poverty. After wandering far from her native village, Dungarrow,
Maureen secures employment as a servant, returning after two
548 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
years to find herself still beloved by Cathal Cassidy, her admirer
of old days. They become engaged, but incur the hatred of
Columb Ruagh Keeran, their senior by many years and the richest
and most miserly man of the village. One night as Maureen
awaits her lover's return from the fair, she seeks refuge from the
cold and darkness in Keeran's cottage. The shadow of tragedy
broods over the final chapters. Cathal, long delayed, reaches
Keeran's cabin past midnight. Next morning the village is hor-
rified, for dawn has uncovered a triple tragedy of the night,
Maureen dead, Keeran upon the floor, his head battered in, and
Cathal upon the threshold with a bullet through his heart. The
minor characters are admirably drawn; the chief ones are less
vivid and convincing. The weaknesses of the story are glaring:
it is poor both in structure and in motivation. Keeran, in the
final chapters, is drawn on the lines of Dickens at his worst, and
the tragic conclusion brings the reader up with the jolt of an
express train coming to a violent halt. Mr. MacGill has undoubted
gifts and admirable material. His admirers trust that Maureen
does not represent the full possibilities of either.
MOODS AND MEMORIES. By Edmund Leamy. New York: The
Devin-Adair Co. $2.00 net.
In spite of the protestations of Mr. Don Marquis' foreword we
are not persuaded that Mr. Leamy is a poet. Surely Mr. Marquis*
feeling for Leamy, the man, has hopelessly befogged his critical
judgment of Leamy, the writer of verses! Having carefully exam-
ined the evidence presented in this volume we find no trace of
genuine inspiration, no magic of phrase, no imaginative insight,
nothing even remotely suggestive of poetry. Oh, yes! It is much
better than anything Edgar Guest does; but then Mr. Marquis was
speaking of poetry!
URSULA FINCH. By Isabel C. Clarke. New York: Benziger
Brothers. $2.25 net.
Miss Clarke has again produced a book which is both inter-
esting and entertaining; yet appreciation is mingled with constant
regret over the vehemence of her characterizations. It is improb-
able that such utter contrasts as Ursula and Daphne Finch exist
in any family. What would seem to the American mind almost
exaggerated submission to parental authority is not unusual in
the English household, while absorbing pride in the eldest born
is almost habitual, as is, all too often, its natural sequence of self-
ishness. Despite these well known facts the extreme difference
between the two sisters is almost certainly overdrawn. They
1921.] NEW BOOKS 549
suffer from the same glaring emphasis which we detect in the
account of the Garroni family, Ursula's employers in Italy. The
entire story resembles a painting which is interesting enough, yet
from which we turn away; the color is too vivid, the eye turns for
relief to a more reposeful scene, appreciating anew the subtlety
of suggestion.
Miss Clarke's description of Rome is alive to the city's inner
meaning. It is one of the book's most interesting aspects, yet it is
not sufficiently stimulating to make one eager for intimate knowl-
edge of her work. Depth cries to depth, and here one remains all
too unmoved.
THE STANDARD OPERA GLASS. By Charles Annesley. New
York: Brentano's. $3.00.
This is a new and revised edition of an excellent and standard
work. It contains the detailed plots of two hundred and thirty-
five operas, well told, with the chief points brought out with
admirable directness. The arrangement is simple and the indices
ample. Old favorites appear here, as well as such modern oper-
atic hits as Madame Sans Gene and Mona by the recently deceased
American composer, Horatio Parker. Operatic plots are notor-
iously hard to remember, especially if one ventures beyond the
range of a dozen favorites. This compact and handsome volume
of eight hundred pages serves to refresh the memory and acquaint
one with operas which he has still to see. The efficient editor
has made the opera-loving public his debtor, while the publishers
deserve thanks for a handsome and compact volume which fits
comfortably in reticule or pocket.
QUEEN LUCIA. By E. F. Benson. New York : George H. Doran
Co. $2.00.
E. F. Benson's Queen Lucia is a clever and amusing satire on
the fads and superstitions of the idle rich, Christian Science,
Spiritism, and Esoteric Buddhism. "Queen Lucia" is the self-
satisfied arbiter of fashion and culture in the sleepy English
village of Riseholme, but she queens it over her subservient
vassals only because they are more stupid and ignorant than
herself.
How this irreligious and unmoral group of modern English
men and women are fooled by Indian cooks and cheap adven-
turesses masquerading as wise Gurus from Benares and cultured
princesses from Russia, is told in a most sprightly and entertain-
ing manner. The book is not a novel, but a comedy of manners,
bordering at times upon farce. Queen Lucia is dethroned for a
550 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
time, when her followers discover that she cannot tell good music
from bad, and that the lions of her pink teas are all impostors
or criminals. But because all these silly people of fashion must
have somewhere to go, and because insincerity is the badge of all
their tribe, Queen Lucia comes to her own again.
RED TERROR AND GREEN, The Sinn Fein-Bolshevist Movement.
By Richard Dawson. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
$2.50 net.
This is another of the books, several of which have been pub-
lished by the company issuing the volume under consideration,
which is so evidently prepared from the standpoint of reactionary
British interests as to become propaganda in its most palpable
and, therefore, most useless form. Only those whose prejudices
are already so highly inflamed in behalf of Ulster toryism that
they need no further convincing, will find Red Terror and Green
anything more than fantastic in its assumption that Sinn Fein
has entered into an active alliance with Bolshevism.
BECK OF BECKFORD. By M. E. Francis. New York: P. J.
Kenedy & Sons. $2.00.
All that comes to us from this author is acceptable; but to
say that her latest novel fairly represents her would indicate
depreciation of some of its predecessors, such as Dark Rosaleen.
The present work, a tale of English country life, has considerable
story, involving a test of fidelity to the Faith; yet the plot fails to
score, for lack of skillful handling. Many points go for nothing;
yet better construction could have made them effective. The
book is wholesome and pleasant enough, but seems best suited
to readers who are still at the naive and unexacting age.
IN THE ONYX LOBBY. By Carolyn Wells. New York: George
H. Doran Co.
There is probably no more certain escape from the common-
place of everyday life or its anxieties than a really clever detective
story. On the other hand, one knows no surer form of exaspera-
tion than a tale which promises interest and fails. Miss Wells
attempts to whet our curiosity over the origin of a singularly
harrowing detective feminine feud, forgetting to gratify it in her
interest over an ill-conducted murder investigation. But, if tech-
nically the story is feeble, artistically it is mediocre to the
last degree. The conversations between Miss Prall and Mrs.
Everett are distasteful by reason of their sheer vulgarity.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 551
THE BLACK CARDINAL, by Rev. John Talbot Smith (New York:
Blase Benziger & Co.). We are glad to welcome a second edition
of Father Talbot Smith's charming story, which we reviewed in THE
CATHOLIC WORLD on its first appearance some years ago. It tells of the
struggle between Elizabeth Patterson-Bonaparte, the Baltimore girl who
married Prince Jerome, and the domineering Napoleon, who denied
her admission to his court, and refused to recognize the marriage.
It was a valid marriage, nevertheless, and was so declared by Pius VII.
in the face of all Europe. The scenes of the story are laid in Baltimore,
Paris, Rheims, and Fontainebleau, and the characters drawn to the life
are Pius VII., Cardinals Fesch and Consalvi, Napoleon, Prince Jerome,
Fouche, and the delightful heroine, Elizabeth Paterson.
BLESSED OLIVER PLUNKET, by a Sister of Notre Dame (New York:
P. J. Kenedy & Sons. $2.00 net). Here we have a brief but com-
plete account of the life of the Venerable Servant of God, Oliver
Plunket, who was Archbishop of Armagh from 1669 to 1681, when he
suffered for the faith on Tyburn Hill; he was beatified at Rome last
May. Ordained at Rome in his twenty-fifth year, he was the repre-
sentative of the Irish bishops at the Vatican and professor of theology
at the Propaganda until his elevation to the primacy of all Ireland.
The scope of the book does not allow for great development of any
part; but the story of Oliver's life before the episcopate, occupying but
twenty pages, is perhaps unduly compressed. Still, we cannot regret
that by far the greatest space is allotted to his years at Armagh. His
untiring labors inspired by a truly apostolic zeal, his problems of ad-
ministration, his interest in education, his courage and resignation
under persecution, all this makes truly edifying reading. To listen
again to the oft-repeated story of what our fathers in God did and suf-
fered to preserve for us the precious heritage of the Faith, will arouse
in us a salutary sense of shame that we think so little of their sacri-
fice. It is a pity that the book is priced so high; neither binding nor
paper is of the quality one would expect from the price.
THE SHAPING OF JEPHSON'S, by Kent Carr (Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Co.). The childless Lady Alicia, won by the pretty
baby face of Miky James, provides in her will for his education in an
English public school. Her only heir, the famous General Fowkws,
Governor of an Indian province, leaves all the details of the child's
future to his agent, who dishonestly keeps the boy on a most meagre
allowance. The story tells how the honest lad, who was not at all
ashamed of his poverty, wins his way to the leadership of his com-
panions despite the persecution and snobbery of his rich rivals. The
book will hardly attract an American boy, because it takes for granted
school conditions he would not tolerate for an instant, and speaks en-
thusiastically of games like cricket which do not interest him in the
slightest degree.
552 NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
WINGS OF THE WIND, by Credo Harris, is another of the post-War
novels. (New York: Small, Maynard & Co.) The author en-
deavors to soothe the shattered nerves of a young soldier just returned
by introducing a cruise to the romantic regions of Florida and the
West Indies. Accompanied by a comrade with overseas experience,
he goes aboard his father's yacht and sails off to seek diversion. And
he is diverted! In no time he finds himself in the meshes of an inter-
national intrigue which centres about a charming young woman. Need-
less to say, the cure is accomplished.
The story teems with thrilling incidents. The plot, however, is
trite.
EN ROUTE, by J. K. Huysmans (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
$2.50) is a new edition of the English translation of the first novel
in J. K. Huysmans' famous trilogy, comprising En Route, La Cathedral,
and L'Oblat, in which he traced the conversion and spiritual develop-
ment of a certain Durtal, a novelist and art critic in whom Huysmans
himself is to be recognized, with certain reservations. En Route stands
very well that most searching test of literary merit, a careful rereading.
Few modern novels can pass through this ordeal successfully. To
Huysmans is granted by modern literary criticism a high place as a
stylist; a very original, at times difficult, and perhaps also rather incor-
rect stylist, yet nevertheless a stylist who has set his individual seal
upon French prose, and has been an influence of major consequence
in the development of modern fiction. To Huysmans, as to many other
of the really big novelists, the novel is an instrument of culture, a
branch of literary fine art, concerning itself with ideas and psycho-
logical interests of the highest concern to humanity. His work, there-
fore, will never find more than a restricted circle of readers, but in that
restricted circle En Route will be recognized as one of the principal
fictions of our times, and a fresh proof of the power of Catholicity to
inspire great art.
'T^HE BELLS OF OLD QUEBEC, by James B. Dollard, Litt.D. (Toronto:
I The Extension Press). This attractive booklet will appeal to
lovers of the pious French tradition in Canada. Dr. Dollard's verses
are devotional and historical in theme, celebrating such heroic stories
as those of Etienne Brule, Brebeuf, Lalement and other priests, nuns
and pioneers who stamped upon "New France" the seal of glory and
of sanctity.
ERSKINE DALE, PIONEER, by John Fox, Jr. (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. $2.00). John Fox's posthumous novel, Erskine
Dale, deals with the pioneer days of Kentucky and Virginia. The hero,
a romantic figure of the Cooper type, is a white boy raised among the
Shawnee Indians, and serves as a connecting link between them and the
settlers of Colonial days. He accompanies George Rogers Clark on his
famous expedition, takes part in the continual border warfare and
1921.] NEW BOOKS 553
fights against the English in the Revolutionary War. It is a good book
to give to the American boy, for it abounds in stirring adventures, and
at the same time gives a good insight into the everyday life of the
pioneers.
MARGARET, OR WAS IT MAGNETISM? by Gilbert Guest (Omaha,
Neb.: Burkley Printing Go. 60 cents). Sister M. Angela, of the
Convent of Mercy, Omaha, has written a charming story for children.
Her little heroine, Margaret, travels alone from New York to San
Francisco, winning the hearts of all her fellow-travelers by her sim-
plicity and piety.
THE EVE OF PASCUA, by Richard Dehan (New York: George H.
Doran Co.), is a collection of this popular author's short stories, of
which the first gives its title to the volume. On the whole, the book
well sustains her reputation. There are sixteen tales, widely different
in character, ranging from the tragic to the farcical, and exhibiting
considerable fancy and invention. They are well told; and, while none
is of unusual importance, the combined result offers a very fair quality
of entertainment.
LADY LILITH, by Stephen McKenna (New York: George H. Doran
Co.). Lady Barbara Neave, the Lady Lilith of Stephen McKenna's
latest novel, is an unmoral society butterfly, utterly unrestrained in
her heartless egotism and conceit, and utterly contemptuous of the
ordinary standards of decency and decorum. Why the author should
picture her as a Catholic is hard to discover, for from first to last she
gives not the slightest evidence of her faith. She is about to be tamed
into submission by an unprincipled lover, who is received into the
Church without accepting any of its teachings. His Oxford training
must have been very defective from the standpoint of ethics, for he
defends himself on the plea that the end justifies the means. The
Great War fortunately disposes of this ardent tamer of shrews, and
Lady Barbara makes little scruple about accepting the next comer,
who once was kindly to her on a train journey.
The author gives us a picture of present day social and political
life in London, but we sincerely trust that his heroine is not typical
of the modern English woman.
INTIMATE LETTERS FROM PETROGRAD, by Pauline Crosley (New
I York: E. P. Dutton & Co.) were written in 1917 and 1918 by the wife
of an American officer, temporarily attached to the State Department
as an attache to our Embassy at Petrograd. They begin with the
writer's arrival in Russia, and extend to her rather dramatic escape
through Finland after the outbreak of the Bolshevist Revolution. The
book is remarkable for its unbiased opinions and its clear estimate of
the political situation, as well as for its realistic account of the chaotic
conditions of Russia in the first days of its downfall.
554 , NEW BOOKS [Jan.,
A POOR WISE MAN, by Mary Roberts Rinehart (New York: George
H. Doran Co.) Mrs. Rinehart has taken as the theme of her latest
novel the conflict between Capital and Labor in the United States. The
hard-hearted, domineering steel magnate, Andrew Cardew, despising
the worker as a mere machine, is drawn in striking contrast with the
crafty Bolshevist, Jim Doyle, who despises the capitalist and preaches
the destruction of Capitalism root and branch. With Doyle is allied
Louis Akers, an immoral, unscrupulous lawyer-politician, who is re-
sponsible for many a coarse scene which our author might well have
omitted. By a cruel nemesis the two daughters of the Steel King come
to marry the two scoundrels of the story a rather improbable happen-
ing in real life. Luckily, in a final chapter, the drug-clerk hero, Willy
Cameron, succeeds in rescuing the heroine after the villain has been
killed for treason by his radical friends. The story is well told, but our
hearts are not touched by the romance of the impossible hero and
heroine.
THE GIRL, HORSE, AND A DOG, by Francis Lynde (New York:
Charles Sribner's Sons. $2.00). Plenty of dash in this story, and
genuinely interesting from beginning to end. Stannic Braughton's
grandfather leaves him a mine in the West, but not without making him
search for it, this because he was an idler. Between one hundred and
five and one hundred and ten degrees of longitude west from Greenwich,
and thirty-five and forty degrees of north latitude, this established the
location. It could be identified by the presence of a girl with brown
hair and blue eyes and a small mole on her left shoulder, a piebald
horse, and a dog with a split face, half black and half white. Imagine
the fun in following out these clues. The author has furnished this
in his pages, making a most delightful book for reading.
EVERYDAY CHEMISTRY, by Alfred Vivian. New York: American
Book Co.). The simplicity of teaching and of apparatus in this
up-to-date text-book, will hold the attention of the pupil. Its author,
Dean of the Ohio State College of Agriculture, has presented his subject
in its practical relation to agriculture and home economics. The
chemistry of food, plants, textiles, the soil, etc., are treated with illum-
inating clearness.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, by John L. Tormey, B.S.A., and Rolla C.
Lawry, B.S.A. (New York: American Book Co.). A valuable
series of agricultural texts dealing with the "art of breeding, feeding,
and caring for live stock, and the fundamental laws of science upon
which these practices are based." A comprehensive volume, well illus-
trated, and most useful to the intelligent student of modern farming,
by a professor of Animal Husbandry, at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, Wis.
IRecent Events,
The Assembly of the League of Nations
Geneva. meeting at Geneva continued throughout
the month and is still in session. Hopes
are entertained that by holding two meetings a day the Assembly
may adjourn before Christmas. The most important constructive
act in the work of the League was accomplished on December
13th, when the Assembly adopted a statute for a permanent in-
ternational court of justice. The plan must be signed and ratified
by a majority, or twenty- two members, of the League before it
becomes effective. Provision is made for ratification by the United
States. The court will sit at The Hague, will have eleven judges,
but will not have compulsory jurisdiction. This lack of power in
the court is considered the great weakness of the plan, and
although thirty-six nations in the Assembly favored compulsory
jurisdiction, France, Britain, Italy and Japan successfully op-
posed it.
Another important act of the Assembly was the adoption of
the report of the Commission on Blockade, which outlined the
economic measures to be used by the League against covenant-
breaking nations. Here, too, however, the original plan was weak-
ened by the decision of the Assembly leaving to each individual
nation to decide whether a breach of the covenant, requiring the
laying of the blockade, has occurred or not. The smaller nations
refused to leave to the Supreme Council, controlled by the big
Powers, the right to say when the blockade shall be applied.
The proposal of the Commission on Disarmament that during
the next two years no member of the League should possess more
armament than it had in 1920, met with strong opposition from
Japan, which held that it was not fair for the League to impose
conditions on its members while other nations, not members,
such as the United States, were free from those restrictions.
Eventually, the proposal was passed on the understanding that it
was a mere recommendation, was not binding, and did not con-
stitute a pledge on the part of the League. President Wilson de-
clined the invitation of the Council of the League to name a
representative on the Disarmament Commission, on the ground
that the United States is not a member of the League.
Rejection by the Assembly of proposals by the Argentine
delegation in favor of the immediate admission of all countries to
the League and certain other fundamental amendments to the
covenant, has resulted in the withdrawal of Argentina from the
Assembly. The League decided to consider no amendments to
556 RECENT EVENTS [Jan.,
the preseift covenant till its next meeting in September, 1921.
Rather than submit to this postponement the members for Ar-
gentina resigned. To balance this loss, Austria has been unan-
imously voted a member of the League by the commission for
the admission of new nations, and the Assembly will almost cer-
tainly ratify this action. The commission has also reported in
favor of the admission of Bulgaria, France alone opposing it.
At one of its first meetings the Assembly decided on a military
force to insure execution of its orders. An army made up of French,
British, Belgian, Spanish, Swedish, and Danish troops is to march
into Lithuania to maintain order and supervise the plebiscite
which the League Council has decided shall be held in Vilna and
the surrounding territory to determine whether it shall be as-
signed to the Poles or the Lithuanians. The insurgent forces
under the Polish general, Zellgouski, are to withdraw from Vilna
as soon as the international army arrives. The Lithuanian Gov-
ernment has entered a protest against this plan and, while agree-
ing to the area suggested for the plebiscite, has asked for a delay
of eight months before it is taken. The Lithuanian protest is
caused by the attitude of Soviet Russia, with which Lithuania is
officially at peace and which objects to the presence of foreign
troops on Lithuanian soil. It is expected, however, that the inter-
national army will soon move into Vilna, and the plebiscite will
probably be held in February.
A subject of much discussion in the Assembly has been the
situation in Armenia. This country has suffered frightfully from
the attacks of Turkish Nationalist forces under Mustapha Kemal.
On the invitation of the Assembly, President Wilson has agreed
to mediate between the Kemalists and Armenia in order to save
the latter. Meanwhile, however, Armenia has been forced to sign
a Peace Treaty with the Nationalists, under which Armenia's ter-
ritory is reduced to only the region of Erivan, the capital, and
Lake Gokcha, excluding Kars and Alexandropol. The Treaty also
stipulates that practically all of Armenia's armament must be
delivered to the Turks. A Soviet administration has been organ-
ized in Erivan, according to reports, and a complete accord exists
between Soviet Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Turkish
Nationalists. This latest development in Far Eastern affairs has
been brought about by pressure on Armenia from the north and
south by Russian Bolsheviki and the Nationalists under Kemal,
and also by the changed situation in Greece.
As a result of a plebiscite held throughout
Greece. Greece on December 5th to decide whether
the Greek people would recall ex-King
Constantine to the throne made vacant by the death of his son,
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 557
King Alexander, an overwhelming majority voted in favor of Con-
stantine resuming power. Constantine was forced from the throne
by the Allies because of his alleged pro-German sympathies dur-
ing the War, and has been living in Switzerland for the last three
and a half years. All preparations have been made for his return.
The chief events leading up to Constantine's recall and the general
circumstances surrounding the Greek situation are as follows.
When Gonstantine was forced from the throne under Allied
pressure in 1916, his chief antagonist, Venizelos, was elected Pre-
mier and Constantine's second son, Alexander, made King. Veni-
zelos entered into a strong agreement with the Allied Govern-
ments, and since the armistice one of the main points of his policy
has been the maintenance of a large army in Asia Minor and
the Near East to enforce the Turkish Treaty and hold the Nation-
alists in check. Recent events have largely nullified this pro-
gramme in October the accidental death of Alexander, and early
in November the defeat of Venizelos at the polls. George Rhallis
was declared the new Premier, and the Queen Mother Olga named
Regent pending the result of the election just held. Before this
last election Great Britain and France endeavored to prevent the
choice of Constantine by threatening to withdraw their financial
support from Greece, and since then both Governments have pre-
sented notes demanding the payment of outstanding loans and
forbidding the issuance by Greece of paper money already printed
against a loan of 400,000,000 drachmas, which was arranged
during the regime of Venizelos. Attempts are now being made to
induce Constantine to abdicate in favor of his third son, the Duke
of Sparta, but apparently without success, and he is soon expected
to arrive in Athens and reassume the crown.
As a consequence of Venizelos' fall from power it appears
certain that the area occupied by the Greek Army in Asia Minor
will be very greatly reduced in the near future, with a consequent
access of Nationalist influence, and this in turn will mean a read-
justment of the Allied programme the probable abrogation of the
Turkish Treaty and direct negotiation by the Allies with the Na-
tionalists as the de facto power in Turkey. The result of Con-
stantine's return will probably mean, besides the withdrawal of
Allied financial assistance, the revision of the Treaty of Sevres,
which concerns chiefly the disposition of Smyrna, which, it is now
expected, will be given back to the Turks. It is intimated that the
Allies do not intend to put further obstacles in the way of Con-
stantine's return to Greece. Mustapha Kemal, leader of the Turk-
ish Nationalists, who are in revolt because of the harsh provisions
of the Turkish Treaty, has achieved new importance in Near
Eastern affairs, and it seems likely that both the British and
558 RECENT EVENTS [Jan.,
French intend to placate him by the restoration of Smyrna,
despite the fact that he made savage war on Armenia and has suc-
ceeded in setting up a Soviet administration in that country.
There has been no military movement of
Russia. magnitude in Russia throughout the
month. The time has chiefly been one of
successive small revolts, which have successively been put down
by the Bolsheviki. Of these the most important was the abortive
campaign of General Bulak Balakhovitch and his army of White
Russians, former allies of the Poles. This young general, who had
12,000 men when he fought with the Poles, but was reported to
have gathered 20,000 when he began the campaign that has now
gone against him, planned to make a dash upon Moscow after
arousing millions of peasants against the Soviets while en route.
The Bolsheviki succeeded in smashing all his detachments, and
the remnants have fled toward Poland, some crossing the frontier
near David Grodek, north of the Pinsk marshes, where they have
been disarmed. The General himself is reported to have disap-
peared, but is believed to have reached Poland, where he will be
interned, if found, in accordance with the terms of the Riga agree-
ment between Poland and the Soviets. The furthest point the
crusaders reached in their advance on Moscow was Mozyr.
The Bolsheviki have also virtually destroyed General Permy-
kin's Russian army, which had attempted to cooperate with the
Ukrainian forces under General Simon Petlura, and are holding
the eastern bank of the Zbrucz River along its entire length. Re-
ports also indicate that Petlura's army, commanded by General
Pavlenko, has been wiped out. More than 25,000 fugitives from
these armies have recently crossed the Polish frontier and have
been disarmed and sent to various internment camps. Petlura
and his close followers have fled into Eastern Galicia.
Anti-Bolshevik troops, formerly under General Semenoff in
Siberia, who have made their way, after immense hardships, to
the Manchurian border, under Bolshevik pressure from Dauria
in Transbaikalia, have surrendered their arms to the Chinese for
the passage through Manchuria. The surrender was made on con-
dition that the arms be returned when the men leave Chinese
territory again on their way eastward. Other units of General
SemenofFs army have surrendered to the Bolsheviki, whom they
are said to have joined after killing their officers. Semenoff
himself is reported to have sought asylum at Port Arthur and to
have given up the struggle against the Bolsheviki.
General Wrangel's fleet, which abandoned Crimean waters
after the defeat of the Wrangel forces by the Russian Soviet
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 559
armies, has sailed from Constantinople for Bizerta, Tunis. The
fleet comprises one dreadnought, two cruisers, four submarines,
seven destroyers, four sloops, four icebreakers, three school-ships,
and three tugs. General Wrangel himself remains at Constanti-
nople, and has recently notified the French Government that he
is ready to come to Paris to discuss using his army once more
against the Bolsheviki. This army, which has been reorganized
since its disastrous defeat on the Crimean Peninsula, is said to
number about 70,000 men, but there is no indication that it will
receive further support from France or the other Allies. Mean-
while measures to bring relief to the vast numbers of Russian
refugees from the Crimea who are crowded in and about Con-
stantinople have been undertaken by Allied representatives. The
number of these refugees has been placed as high as 140,000, and
their destitution is extreme.
Early in December the Finnish Parliament ratified the Peace
Treaty with Soviet Russia by a large majority. Negotiations at
Riga, however, between the Bolsheviki and the Poles have not yet
reached a successful term. The Polish Government has sent a
note of protest to the Soviet Government at Moscow, objecting to
the tactics of obstruction which it declares are being pursued by
the Soviet peace delegation at Riga, who have been accusing the
Poles of violation of the armistice and of aiding revolt against
Moscow. These accusations, with their consequent delay, are taken
by observers as a diplomatic subterfuge to show Poland that the
Soviets have strengthened their position since the defeat of Gen-
eral Wrangel.
After numerous conflicts during November between the Lith-
uanians and the insurgent Polish forces under General Zellgouski,
who are holding Vilna, a protocol of peace was signed on Decem-
ber 1st by both parties. The protocol, which was signed as the
result of the efforts of the special commission of the League of
Nations, provides for a neutral strip between the two armies and
the return of all prisoners. Early in the new year a plebiscite is
planned under the auspices of the League to determine the allo-
cation of the disputed territory. Meanwhile concentrations of
Soviet troops are taking place in the direction of Vilna because
of the imminent occupation of that city by the League's inter-
national army. This army, which will be under command of
Colonel Chardigny, Chairman of the Control Commission, is now
being assembled, but the date for its departure to Vilna has not
yet been determined on.
The negotiations which have been carried on for months
between Great Britain and the Soviet Government for a resumption
of trade relations and which were apparently on the verge of a
560 RECENT EVENTS [Jan.,
successful conclusion, have received another check by new de-
mands from Moscow. These new proposals appear to be a com-
plete departure from the conditions laid down in the previous
exchange of notes last summer. The Russian Government con-
tends that three guarantees which from the first have been in-
sisted on by the British should not be included in the agreement.
These are: first, that there shall be no Bolshevik propaganda;
second, that the release of all British prisoners must be effected,
and third, recognition of private debts for goods supplied or serv-
ices rendered.
On the other hand, Premier Leygues of France has reversed
the French policy towards Russia by coming out in favor of the
lifting of the Russian blockade. He has declared that inasmuch
as the Soviet Government is actually in operation, it has been
decided to permit French traders and manufacturers to do all the
business they can with Russia. France, in this respect, has
brought its policy respecting trade with Russia into exact line
with the American policy under which some months ago an-
nouncement was made that all American restrictions against trad-
ing with Russia were lifted, but that Americans so trading would
do so at their own risk in the absence of recognition of the Soviet
Government by the United States. France apparently has no in-
tention of following the example of Great Britain and negotiating
a treaty with Soviet Russia, but, on the contrary, maintains that
diplomatic intercourse cannot be carried on with a Government
which neither represents the Russian people nor keeps its
promises.
At a recent election in Petrograd in which the workmen in
seventy-eight factories participated, only fifteen Bolsheviki were
elected as against seventy Mensheviki, representing the moderate
element. According to the Constitution of Soviet Russia, workmen
in all large factories every year are to elect the controlling author-
ity in all Soviet institutions. These elections had not taken place
until recently, when the growing dissatisfaction of the people
forced the Soviet rulers to comply with the Constitution.
Preliminary returns of the Russian census show decreases in
the population of more than ten per cent compared with 1914,
due to epidemics and war losses. Moscow's population has
dropped forty-five per cent, and that of Petrograd seventy-one
per cent.
D'Annunzio still continues his intransigent
Italy. attitude at Fiume, and has resolutely re-
fused to recognize the Treaty of Rapallo,
concluded last month between Jugo-Slavia and Italy. Regular
Italian forces under General Caviglia have surrounded Fiume, but
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 561
with instructions to refrain from attacks on d'Annunzio's legion-
aries. Four armored cars with their crews from the blockading
army and two destroyers and a submarine chaser from the Italian
blockading fleet have gone over to the poet's forces. Attempts
by a delegation of Italian Deputies to reach an understanding
with d'Annunzio have been unavailing. Although the question of
recognition of the Regency of Quarnero, upon which d'Annunzio
insisted, has been acceded to by the Italian Government, d'Annun-
zio now asks that this should merely be the first step towards
Fiume's annexation to Italy. In the Treaty with Jugo-Slavia
Rome conceived Fiume as a government absolutely autonomous
and independent of Italy, while the poet considers himself as a
temporary regent or governor awaiting the act which definitely
joins Fiume to Italy. The Italian Government is now trying to
find a formula which, while respecting the obligations of the
Treaty of Rapallo in international rights, would lead to the recog-
nition of the regency after another decision of the people of
Fiume. To reach this object a compromise is absolutely neces-
sary, but so far the unyielding stand and violent language of
d'Annunzio have opposed an insuperable barrier. Meanwhile, in
accordance with the Treaty provisions, Italian troops have begun
the evacuation of Dalmatia, turning over their posts to Jugo-Slav
gendarmes.
The Socialist meeting which was held in Florence towards
the end of November was the second stage in the laborious prep-
arations for the National Congress which has been convoked for
the end of the year. The third stage will be a Socialist meeting
at Imola, where the two champions of the Maximalist doctrine,
Bombacci and Graziadei, have called together all the faithful fol-
lowers of Lenine. After this the three groups, into which the
party is divided, will prepare for the last debate in which they
will contend for the mastery of the proletariat movement. The
deep dissension, which now exists between the gradualist faction
and the communists, threatens an irreparable break in the unity
of the party.
Bologna, the headquarters of the Italian Socialists, was the
scene of a serious outbreak at the inauguration of the new Bol-
shevik Town Council late in November. Seven men and a girl of
eighteen years were killed and seventy persons, including eight
soldiers of the Royal Guards, were dangerously wounded by bul-
lets and bombs. The trouble resulted from a counter-demonstra-
tion, organized by a Nationalist group of the ex-Soldiers' League,
against the Bolsheviki. Many arrests of suspects have since been
made. The right of public meetings was suspended and every
kind of motor traffic forbidden.
VOL. CXII. 36
562 RECENT EVENTS [Jan.,
All the villages in the Tepeleni district, southern Albania,
have been destroyed by a violent earthquake, according to a recent
dispatch. Two hundred persons are reported killed, while 15,000
have been made homeless. The town of Tepeleni was razed.
An improvement in the foreign trade situation in Italy is
shown by a statement of the Italian Finance Department, lately
issued. Imports for the first nine months of this year decreased
576,000,000 lire, as compared with those of the same period the
year before, while exports increased 1,762,000,000 lire. The total
of imports was 11,911,000,000 lire and exports 5,517,000,000, leav-
ing an unfavorable balance against Italy of 6,495,000,000 lire.
The Chamber of Deputies has adopted the
France. Government's bill for a resumption of
diplomatic relations with the Vatican and
has voted confidence in the Government. Premier Leygues raised
the question of confidence on an amendment, moved by Deputy
Avril, providing that while France should have an Ambassador
at the Vatican, the Vatican should not send a Nuncio to Paris,
on the ground that it was likely to interfere with French internal
affairs. The Premier refused to accept the amendment, which
was then rejected and the bill voted. Premier Leygues stated in
the Chamber that the Government's decision to ask authority from
Parliament to send an Ambassador to the Vatican was simply a
question of foreign policy and that it was in the interest of France.
"The Vatican," he declared, "is a moral force which France can-
not afford to neglect." He reminded the Chamber that Great
Britain was maintaining its envoy at the Vatican, and that the
Swiss Government was resuming diplomatic relations with the
Vatican, broken in 1873. Former Premier Briand voted in sup-
port of the Government.
The French delegation to the Brussels Reparations Confer-
ence are going there without any exact figures as to the damages
France suffered by reason of the War, according to the news*-
papers. Various organs, however, declare that they recognize
that the Brussels Conference will be only the preliminary stage
and serve a useful purpose, even if definite propositions are not
evolved. Estimates made by the various French ministries of
France's damages are said to total two hundred and thirty billion
francs, but Louis Dubois, President of the Reparations Commis-
sion, is reported to be dissatisfied with the form in which the
documents were prepared, and has refused to present them to
the Reparations Commission. Therefore, it is said, a new set of
figures are being prepared in accordance with the ideas of M.
Dubois, but they will not be ready till the end of the year.
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 563
French business men take a gloomy view of the present
deadlock between importers and producers on the one hand and
buyers from wholesalers to public on the other, which has
produced a state of business stagnation, daily growing more
serious. Buyers decline to purchase until prices fall, and import-
ers and manufacturers declare that they cannot lower prices until
they have disposed of the stocks on hand. These stocks in all the
principal industries, having cost so much to import and manu-
facture as to be now unsalable, are the dam that is blocking the
commercial activities of the country. Orders are being canceled
in every direction, and factories are shutting down or working
short time. Several failures of large concerns have already oc-
curred, and more are expected.
The general strike of the clothing buyers of France is ser-
iously embarrassing the textile industry of the Lille region and
is causing partial unemployment to about 140,000 persons. The
mills, instead of reducing the number of employees, are operating
from thirty-two to thirty-six hours weekly, in place of the cus-
tomary forty-eight. Official figures for the Department du Nord,
including Lille, Tourcoing, Roubaix, Maubeuge and Valenciennes,
show roughly twenty per cent less than full operating time in the
woolen, cotton, linen, fabric, lace, clothing and related industries.
Prices have fallen enormously, and certain good grades of carded
wool which sold three months ago for one hundred francs per
kilo sell today for thirty-seven francs. Other industries are af-
fected, but are in a better situation. Hours are from ten to eigh-
teen per cent shorter in various other lines, such as the wood-
working, rubber, metal-working and chemical industries. The
dockers are working five days a week on the canals. The total
reduction in hours affects about 200,000 persons.
Despite the business depression through which France is
passing, the French national loan has succeeded beyond the high-
est expectation. Although the official figures are not yet ready
for publication, the estimates in the best informed financial circles
vary from 32,000,000,000 to 35,000,000,000 francs. Further proof
of national vitality is afforded by the fact that despite business
stagnation the export figures for the month of October totaled
ninety per cent of the imports. The average pre-War precentage
was rarely higher than eighty. However burdensome and painful
the process of price accommodation may be, it is expected that by
next spring the nation's trade balance will be brought to a level,
with a consequent favorable effect in French exchange.
According to various indications, the present Ministry under
Premier Leygues is about to face a series of severe attacks in the
Chamber of Deputies with a strong probability of overthrow.
564 RECENT EVENTS [Jan.,
Three important debates are foreshadowed in the brief period
before the end of the year discussion of foreign affairs and the
Greco-Turkish problem, the new army law, and, last but not
least, the budget of 1921. If, as is expected, a meeting of the
experts of the Reparations Commission is held next week at
Brussels, the still more prickly subject of reparations may come
to complicate the French political situation. On any one of these
matters the struggle is likely to be bitter and furious, and the
Government might fall over any. When during the Parliamentary
recess M. Leygues assumed the Premier's mantle from Millerand,
it was generally thought his tenure of office would be nothing
more than a temporary makeshift until Parliament met in No-
vember, when Briand was expected to succeed him. Briand,
however, is experiencing much more difficulty in forming a gov-
ernment than he had anticipated and, in addition, he has two
rivals for the Premiership in MM. Poincare and Viviani, both ex-
Premiers also, and no less desirous than Briand to be head of a
new combination. In this rivalry consists M. Leygues' main
strength, but it is hardly expected that he will be able to continue
in office beyond the first of the year, if till then.
Several interchanges of notes have occurred
Germany. between Germany and the Allied Govern-
ments on the question of German defence
organizations. There are two chief forms of these organizations,
which have acquired their greatest strength in Bavaria the Ein-
wohnerwehr, or civil guards, and the Orgesch, an abbreviation
of the word "organization" and the name of its founder, Escher-
ich, the Bavarian Master Forester and a doctor of laws. While
the Einwohnerwehr is confined to the Bavarian frontier, the
Orgesch, in which some observers see a monarchist military in-
strument pure and simple, has been spreading to other parts of
Germany. To the Allied demand for immediate disbandment and
disarming of these bodies, Germany replied with the statement
that she has never recognized any obligations to disband defence
organizations which have no military purpose, and that they are
only temporary and are necessary. The Inter-Allied Military
Commission has repeated its demand, and requested immediate
information as to what steps Germany intends to take towards its
fulfillment.
The Reparations Commissions has announced that Germany
must deliver to France and Belgium a total of 1,750,000 fowls
within four years, 26,165 goats within three years, and 15,250 pigs
within one year. The German representatives have agreed to this
programme. The Commission has also announced that Germany
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 565
has almost completed delivery of the live stock advances required
under the Peace Treaty. Germany has been instructed by the
Commission to deliver within six months 30,000 horses, 125,000
sheep, and 90,000 cattle. The total number of horses, sheep and
cattle to be delivered eventually will be fixed later.
Imminent changes in the plans for a plebiscite in Upper
Silesia which Germany believes are being forced by the Allies to
assure a majority for Poland and effect the annexation of that
region to the Polish state at Germany's expense, are arousing a
storm of opposition. The preparation period of eighteen months
allowed by the Treaty of Versailles expires on January 15, 1921.
In order to prevent colonization of the plebiscite area by recently
domiciled Germans, the plebiscite officials will be instructed to let
the known citizens vote on one day, those who have only a birth
claim on another, and the recently domiciled on a third. More
weight will be given to the judgment of the first class than to
that of the other two classes. Against this proposed plan the
Germans have raised a strong protest.
Germany has decided that the resumption of trade relations
with Russia is impossible before diplomatic relations are restored.
Victor Koff, the Soviet's representative in Berlin, had been granted
permission by the German authorities to take up the matter of
trade questions direct with Germany, but he has recently been
informed that this concession could only be maintained if Ger-
many were permitted to delegate a commercial attache to the
Moscow Commission which has care of German war prisoners.
No fear is felt in Germany that she will be outdistanced by her
competitors for Russian trade, such as England and the United
States, inasmuch as German industry is much more favorably
situated for trading with Russia. It is felt that neither England
nor the United States could dispense with German assistance in
the economic reconstruction of Russia.
A serious food crisis is threatening Germany. The prospects
are reported to be worse now than they have been at any period
during or since the War. There is a deficit of nearly 1,000,000
tons of wheat, which is the supply necessary for at least six
months. One million tons have been already imported, but the
remainder of the deficit is uncovered. If it can be obtained from
abroad it will cost 15,000,000,000 marks, and it is admitted that
this will mean that the price of bread will rise three hundred per
cent during the next few months. The price of meat is high, and
the price of potatoes, which are becoming ever scarcer, tends to
rise and will rise considerably higher in the next few weeks.
December 17, 1920.
With Our Readers.
THE character of mankind's festivals is reenforced by the season
in which they occur. Winter is cold : and Christmas reechoes
the enduring attitude of many towards Christ. It comes as
the first messenger of the dawn of the new year. It is the morn-
ing star showing, while the day is yet unborn, all the promise, the
life and the fulfillment of the year to come.
* * * *
IN quietness was it all accomplished. The cave was lonely and
alone. So were the Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph. A
maiden, a carpenter, some cattle and the silent night were the
audience that saw the human advent of the Divine Son of God.
Yet that Fact of Christmas has transformed the world and in its
light all our institutions were founded and live. The year that
was about to dawn was the year of the world's renewed life. The
Principle of life, yea the Life Himself revealed, witnessed by His
Own human birth by the emptying of Himself to the truth
that man has no life save that which he seeks in quiet, in alone-
ness and in loneliness. This is not to be interpreted in a merely
external sense. We may not be lonely when we are alone: nor
social when we are with a crowd. There is the personal, the self
in every man. He may be taken up with externals. He may be
possessed by an impersonal, unindependent self. If he allows
the externals to master him and the corporate to deprive him of
the personal, the darkness of last year will confound him in the
year to come. He may have seen, but he has not believed in, the
star of Christmas. For him it has sunk into the night.
* * * *
MEN realize the great Fact; but few there are who appreciate
and follow it. The price is too great. The shadow of the over-
towering ego keeps from the soul the light of the star. The quiet,
the unknown self is the very thing against which self rebels.
The assertion of self seems a necessity of life. To be true, not
to one's own standards, but to the standards of Christ seems un-
wise. We may sing the crib and the cave, but few there are
who embrace and believe in its obscurity. Its meanness gives no
promise of Easter glory.
We rehearse no merely religious or theoretical saying. The
most confirmed pragmatist could learn wisdom therefrom. The
practical man will pursue an unpractical course unless he observe
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 567
it. The worth of a man is measured by his fidelity to the truth of
Christmas day. What is he worth in the quiet of his own soul?
Has he confounded self and self-interest so that the latter is
supreme master of the universe, or has he, bending down to the
weak, unknown Babe, allowed self to be lifted up to the dignity
and power of the Victorious Christ? He that exalteth himself
shall be humbled.
*"-*'*''>
HUMAN society is made up of individuals and the whole cannot
be greater, nor better, nor different from the parts that com-
pose it. There is no such thing as social morality of itself.
Individual, personal morality must not only precede, but must
create it. To treat humankind as a herd is to forget its humanity
which, after all, is the determining factor in the problem.
And the united body of individuals, the State, the Nation will
be, and is, in its standards, its laws, in its advance or its retro-
gression what the majority of the individuals are. The seeds of
its national corporate life are the individuals. The harvest can
grow from no other. Individual life depends upon the ability to
conquer, to lose self: to see that self is taken up in a higher,
divine purpose. It is lived in the quiet, hidden faith of the indi-
vidual in standards that are beyond not in attainment, but in
universality himself. It is fidelity to principles even though
armies move against him. The conviction, even against the ma-
jority, the mob, the business circle or the union, that right makes
might: and that the only might worthy to claim the service of a
man is right.
* * * *
NECESSARILY this is personal: hidden: independent: real
liberty, as it is real privilege and dignity. Its seat of power is
in the interior soul. The rush of external currents, of undefined
yet powerful forces may easily crowd it out. They may sweep the
man along on waves of corporate action where all self-assertion
is denied, and the individual is submerged. The noise of the day
and the passion of the mart make it impossible for him to hear :
the urge of material, external life robs him of deeper sight. The
inner light that not only obscures, but rightly defines, the value of
earth by revealing the glory of heaven, fits his vision more per-
fectly and spiritually. Apart from men, in his own thoughts,
thinking upon himself as a man, stripped of the world's riches
and the world's employ, perhaps forsaken, he is far more likely
to find himself. For a star shines upon the cave wherein each
soul lives, and there does Christ come to be born again as the
soul's Saviour, the soul's Life.
568 WITH OUR READERS [Jan.,
TO the simple songs of shepherds Christ chose to come. It is
noise, advertisement, self-advancement that the world mis-
takes for harmony and peace. We have not so much forgotten
Christ, as we have forgotten what Christ means. The obscurity
of self is, to most, foolishness. Self-denial, self-sacrifice are not
welcome subjects of praise in present day literature. Of course,
we do not confessedly exalt self. So deep are the principles of
Christ that any violation of them merits an apology. It is not for
ourselves, we argue, that we are not self-sacrificing; it is for some
cause with which humanity's welfare is essentially connected.
The cause is greater than we are; we must champion it, else it
will never prevail.
* * * *
THE great struggle between Capital and Labor is viewed as a
struggle in which both must defend their rights and in the
defence of them corporate action is necessary, nor must ethical
principles play too scrupulous a part. The one side is banded
together as capitalists and ruled by the corporate sense, the cor-
porate action which is defined, not as selfishness, but as the right
protection of self interests, personal possessions and rightful in-
crease of invested capital. And the other side, in its defence of
its rights, has borrowed of the prevalent spirit and not only de-
fended, but demanded, all that it can get.
The personal sense of integrity: of direct responsibility has
gone out. Fidelity to any such sense would be ludicrously im-
practicable today: the individual would find himself in a pitiably
weak and helpless condition. And the individual morality or lack
of morality that has brought this about has created a social
system that cannot stand. No one will say that the world is a
peaceful, blessed world today: nor deny that our own country
faces the greatest problems in her history.
THE laxity of morals, the indiscriminate fighting for material
betterment, the widespread indifference to Christian faith
and principles are evident enough to make even the chronic op-
timist check himself and think.
Have we not forgotten ourselves: and so forgetting lost sight
of men as our brothers and our responsibility of sacrifice and
love for them? To remember our better self is to begin to realize
that we are the children of God. It is to realize an independent
personal power, responsibility, dignity. We must neglect the
crowd and all that appears so inviting. We must depart from men
if we are to know what it means to be a man. And it is only when
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 569
we go away from the inns of the world and come upon the cave
that we find Christ and our real, eternal self.
THE cause of Ireland's independence appeals more and more
effectively to the civilized world. A few years ago, Belgium
was outraged by the German invader. Ireland is today outraged
by the invader. And even those who claim that England has the
right to invade, because she has invaded for so many centuries,
must still explain that right, and then explain why even a rightful
invader can pillage and burn and kill and crush a people under
its merciless heel.
The conduct of England cannot today be justified by any
true American. We say this advisedly and deliberately. For
any American to condone the action of England in Ireland today,
to keep silence concerning it, to say that we ought to be mere
onlookers, because we fought on the same side as England in
the late War, is to be false to the higher American principles of
humanitarianism, of liberty, of self-government, of the right of a
people to govern themselves. To say that it is purely an Irish
question and that "if I were an Irishman I would be in active
sympathy with Ireland, but as an American I must keep hands
off" is to deny the larger, greater fundamental principles of our
American Republic. It would be equivalent to saying in 1914:
"If I were a Belgian I would fight against the Germans; but as it
is I must be neutral: say nothing: do nothing." As history
proved, this was not true Americanism.
* * * *
WHAT we state is the doctrine of our fathers, which is too easily
forgotten today. Decades ago and in the time of those who
had American traditions direct from our founders, Greece fought
for its freedom, for its self-government. The words used then by
leading Americans, whose names are cherished as the most loyal
of patriots, might be used today if we substitute the name of Ire-
land for that of Greece. The freedom of Greece was thought then
to be an American question. In the discussion of it, as a purely
American question, Daniel Webster said in the Senate: "As far
as I am concerned, I hope it will be purely an American discus-
sion; but let it embrace, nevertheless, everything that fairly con-
cerns America. Let it comprehend not merely her present ad-
vantage, but her permanent interest, her elevated character as one
of the free States of the world, and her duty towards those great
principles which have hitherto maintained the relative independ-
ence of nations and which have more especially made her what
she is." President Monroe, in a message to Congress, which called
570 WITH OUR READERS [Jan.,
forth this speech by Daniel Webster, stated: "A strong hope has
been long entertained, founded on the heroic struggle of the
Greeks that they would succeed in their contest, and resume their
equal station among the nations of the earth. It is believed that
the whole civilized world takes a deep interest in their welfare. . .
The ordinary calculations of interest and of acquisition with a
view to aggrandizement which mingle so much in the transactions
of nations seem to have had no effect in regard to them. From the
facts which have come to our knowledge, there is good cause to
believe that their enemy has lost forever all dominion over them;
that Greece will become an independent nation."
* * * *
THIS was undoubtedly the American opinion of the day. If
an American then had said the struggle of Greece was none
of his business nor of America's business; that the stories of
Turkish atrocities should not be printed in the American press;
that meetings should not be held to voice protests against Turkey,
nor funds collected for the purpose; that no pulpit in the country
should voice an appeal for the suffering Greeks he would not
have been the highest type of American patriot. America's larger
duty towards the great principles, as Webster put it, that made
her and keep her what she is, would have escaped his vision, as
it escapes those who today are swayed by fear of offending the
great Power that was lately our ally: fear of disturbing the peace
of America: fear of arousing a religious war. "It is not America's
business," they say; "it is a matter to be settled between England
and Ireland: a case of the North and South here in 1861;" and
anybody who does not take this view is, they claim, un-Amer-
ican. In 1823 there were some Americans who spoke in similar
terms on America's position with regard to the Greeks' struggle
for national liberty. Daniel Webster, whose Americanism surely
no one will question, answered that it was the duty of the United
States to express its sympathy with Greece, and to protest against
the governments that were striving to keep Greece a subject
nation. One of them was Great Britain, and John Quincy Adams
referred to the excessive anxiety of the British Government to
keep Greece under its own control, and added that this anxiety
arose from its fear of losing the Ionian Islands. Daniel Webster,
speaking on our obligation to extend sympathy and to send a com-
missioner, declared: "As little reason is there for fearing its con-
sequences upon the conduct of the Allied Powers. They may very
naturally dislike our sentiments upon the subject of the Greek
revolution. They might, indeed, prefer that we should express no
dissent from the doctrines which they have avowed and the ap-
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 571
plication which they have made of those doctrines to the case of
Greece. But I trust we are not disposed to leave them in any
doubt as to our sentiments upon these important subjects."
Edward Everett, whose name as representative and inter-
preter of true Americanism stands very high, said that Webster's
speech on the Greek revolution was "the ablest and most effective
remonstrance against the principles of the Allied Powers of con-
tinental Europe." The United States Government sent shiploads
of provisions for the aid and relief of the Greeks.
* * * *
THE charge made frequently in the press and by many indi-
viduals that the attitude of sympathy for Ireland in its
struggle for liberty, the active propaganda to arouse sympathy,
are un-American, is not only unwarranted: it is itself un-Amer-
ican. And yet it is a charge that is made particularly against
Catholics who are in sympathy with Ireland, a Catholic country.
It is an attempt to jockey the Catholic body of the country into a
false position: to add life to the easily resurrected cry: "Catholics
are unpatriotic." "They are uninterested in America and would
sacrifice America for Ireland." They who urge this revival are
actuated either by religious prejudice: or by indifference: or by
the fear that serious trouble with England may result. They do
not look straight and fixedly at the basic principles of American
patriotism. Constructively, at least, they are willing to have it
written into the history of civilization that America stood by
silent, while a whole people were crushed by a superior military
force: their land overrun by assassins, urged officially to execute
"reprisals:" their cities burned: their priests murdered: their
mothers and children abandoned to starvation America saw this
and turned her eyes away, lest her instinctive, angry glance might
offend a nation who lately stood with us in the fight for liberty,
for the rights of all people, for the safety of democracy throughout
the world.
"Devoid of principle," declares Sir Horace Plunkett, "lacking
even such an elementary condition as the consent of the governed,
the British policy relies on force and on force alone." . . . "The
tragic demonstration that England cannot govern Ireland is com-
plete." And the noted labor leader, Mr. Arthur Henderson, after
a recent tour through Ireland, stated that the English conduct
therein was as barbarous as the German treatment of Belgium.
* * * *
IT is not the Catholic sympathizers with Ireland who are un-
American and unpatriotic. Catholic, Protestant, Jew or non-
believer who sympathizes with Ireland today sympathizes because
572 WITH OUR READERS [Jan.,
he is the better American. Something more of the blood of the
founders of this Republic, created to be a light to the world, rushes
through his veins. He is more truly a brother to those who fought
for independence; who heard Cuba's appeal; who went across
seas at the civilized world's appeal and fought that liberty might
live not alone for themselves but for others.
They have the larger heart and it is to them that America
may trust her larger, her full destiny. And they keep alive the
love of liberty in America, for if America ever grows callous to the
welfare of other nations, ever looks with indifference on the strug-
gle for liberty of other people, then it is certain that her own
liberty is about to perish.
OUR readers will be pleased to read the following tribute to
Father Hecker, founder of THE CATHOLIC WORLD, contributed
to the October quarterly of The Dublin Review by the well-known
writer, Monsignor William Barry, in an article entitled, "Roman
Memories:"
"A contrast bordering on the absolute we found in Isaac
Hecker, the German-American, convert, missionary, and mystic,
who showed his striking figure on the platform of Sant' Andrea,
while he poured out a passionate strain, curiously foreign to our
hearing, on the spirit of the age. Who could be more removed
than he from Gallican or Febronian provincialism? But his new
world was not the old. Am I fanciful in detecting between this
Catholic priest devoted to his Church and the poet of the people,
Walt Whitman, a resemblance as of brothers? He seemed a
bird of passage from seas afar off, Western, and announcing the
dawn of tomorrow beyond the sunset. America was attending a
General Council for the first time America, the destined heir of
us all. His sermon, valiantly delivered in an accent we could
not mistake, was aimed at Immanuel Kant; with intense con-
viction he pleaded for the ever-living influence of the Holy Spirit
in the Church briefly, against what men called thirty-five years
later Modernism. Admirable Father Hecker, some of whose writ-
ings I knew, and whom I compared to that inspiring Dominican,
Lacordaire ! But the preacher did not dream of troubles destined
to arise about his life and doctrine. Nor did I, listening to him
in the crowd, forecast that to me would fall the honorable task
of writing a sketch in this Dublin Review of that Life which
would enjoy a wide circulation among Americans. Almost a
quarter of a century afterwards I became the guest of his brother-
Paulists in New York, where I preached from the pulpit he had
occupied. There was no heresy in the soul of Isaac Hecker, con-
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 573
cerning whom Cardinal Newman wrote to Father Hewit in Feb-
ruary, 1889, on receiving intelligence of his death, *I have ever
felt that there was this sort of unity in our lives, that we had
both begun a work of the same kind, he in America and I in
England; and I know how zealous he was in promoting it.' His
intimate friend and disciple, J. J. Keane, who was Rector of Wash-
ington University when I stayed there and I came to be well
acquainted with him by and by in Rome, whence he removed
to be Archbishop of Dubuque was frequent in pointing out
Hecker's central principle; the synthesis, namely, of letter and
spirit, of authority with inward grace and divine light, which con-
stituted as in a sacrament of unity the Catholic Church. This
was the spiritual freedom he rejoiced in; his message to America
was its application along all the lines of the coming age."
CATHOLIC higher education is one of the supreme necessities
of the Catholic body of the country. With our very culpable
neglect of the intellectual needs of the Church, we are prone to
be indifferent to what many deem the "luxuries" of mental de-
velopment.
But if we only stop to consider we will see that the world,
the nation, our social movements are ruled by thought. The
leaders of the world are intelligent men. Positions of influence
are obtained for the most part by men and women mentally well
trained. So much for the purely natural point of view. On
a far higher plane Catholic doctrine and Catholic philosophy
need their expounders and defenders. Both require those who
know the language of ancient thought and modern learning if
the Church is to progress and civilization is to be guided aright.
* * * *
OUR Catholic colleges merit, therefore, in a special way the
support of our Catholic people. Their way has been hard
enough. With the decrease in money value, the increase of salary
and equipment it has been made much more difficult. Our col-
leges spend comparatively little on salaries. The majority of
them, manned by religious, ask nothing for themselves or their
personnel save the means of livelihood. They are in a position,
therefore, to invest all the monies they receive in actual equip-
ment, in the direct education of the student. Money given to
them is most directly productive in educational work. We bespeak
for them at this critical hour the generous support of our Cath-
olic people. One of the oldest Catholic colleges of the country,
Foidham University, New York City, is now making an earnest
appeal for a fund of $2,000,000.
574 WITH OUR READERS [Jan.,
The work of this college in the education of Catholic youth
is too well known to need emphasis here. In all the years of its
history and even today it is educating, without charge, many a
Catholic student. Its fees for tuition are remarkably low.
We trust that it will receive from the Catholics of the coun-
try, and particularly from the Catholics of New York, the generous
support it surely deserves.
THE glorious record of Catholic missionary effort in Japan, the
heroic response in the days of persecution by the Japanese
martyrs, should lead us to answer generously to the appeal now
being made for funds to maintain the Catholic University of
Tokyo, Japan. According to Japanese law, this University must
secure an endowment of three hundred thousand dollars or else
it will have to close its doors. "Catholic higher education," de-
clares Cardinal Gibbons, "is the most active need of the Catholic
Church in Japan today. And that is the need which the Jesuits,
through the Catholic University at Tokyo, are trying to fill."
The United States should certainly lead all other countries
in contributing the financial means which are necessary for the
permanent success of missionary effort. We are indebted and will
be forever indebted to the earlier missionaries who from other
countries came to plant the seeds of the Faith here : and our insti-
tutions in their infant helpless days were sustained by funds from
the peoples of other lands. Moreover, it is essentially a mark of
Catholic Faith never to be indifferent to the needs of the Church
in other places and in other lands.
* * * *
JAPAN is a country ambitious for intellectualism, almost servile
to it. Its leaders, and consequently its people, have been much
affected by the false philosophy of Western civilization. For the
permanent wellbeing of its parochial schools, of all the mission-
ary effort, for the training of Catholic Japanese leaders, a Catholic
University is vitally necessary.
Communications on the subject may be addressed to the
Reverend Mark J. McNeal, S.J., 59 West 86th Street, who is
officially authorized to collect funds for this University.
A SCHOOL should be established for modern reviewers on the
fundamental canons of criticism. Therein would be ele-
mentary instruction on the meaning of such words as life and
death : of truth and error : of natural : of preternatural and super-
natural : of sin and virtue : of mind and will : of man and animal.
1921.] BOOKS RECEIVED 575
And when a common understanding of at least the basic meaning
of these things was established, modern criticism might be of
some value. As it stands today in our literary journals, it is of
no value at all as a permanent contribution to human thought.
Thought today has no common foundations: it is divorced from
humanity: it admits of no universal processes. It is opinion:
emotion: feeling: individual idiosyncrasy. The anarchy which
governs it has robbed us of a common language. The building
of the tower of progress is halted because of the Babel of tongues.
* * * *
READ any one of our literary reviews, all well-written as far as
the use of words is concerned, and at the end you will feel
that you have been listening to a crowd of foreigners, none of
whose language you quite fully understood. What you did realize
was that simplicity and unity were not there. Both are viewed
today as evidences of narrowness.
But the Master of all life said that the way to heaven is nar-
row. Any gift of earth is a portion of heaven and the way to it also
is simple and straight and narrow.
THE Library of Congress has undertaken to collect and forward
any books given in the United States for the University of
Louvain. It has already collected and forwarded twenty thousand
volumes. The Librarian, Mr. Herbert Putnam, requests that the
packages containing the books be strongly wrapped or cased,
plainly marked, "The Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.,
for the University of Louvain," and sent prepaid, as the Library
has no fund applicable to the purpose.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
E. P. BUTTON & Co., New York:
The Foundations of Spiritualism. By W. W. Smith. $2.00 net. Letters from a
Living Dead Man; Last Letters from the Living Dead Man. By E. Barker.
$2.00 net each. Uncle Moses. By S. Asch. $2.50 net. A Century of Persecution
Under Tudor and Stuart Sovereigns from Contemporary Records. By Rev. St.
George K. Hyland, D.D. $8.00 net. The Sons of O' Carmac. By A. Dunbar.
$2.50 net. Snowdrop and Other Tales. By the Brothers Grimm.*
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRFSS, New York:
Early Effects of the War Upon the Finance, Commerce and Industry of Peru.
By L. S. Rowe, LL.D. Divorce. By C. Williams. The United States of
America: A Study in International Organization. By J. B. Scott, LL.D.
JAMES T. WHITE & Co., New York:
The ^Esthetic Nature of Tennyson. By J. P. Smith.
NICHOLAS L. BROWN, New York:
Romance of the Rabbit. By Francis Jammes. $1.50 net.
THE MACMILLAN Co., New York:
Irish Fairy Tales. By James Stephens.
BON i & LIVERIGHT, New York:
The Imperial Orgy. By E. Saltus. Queerful Widget. By W. B. Hawkins.
Ancient Man. By H. W. Van Loon. $3.00 net. Men and Steel. By H. Vorse.
B. W. HUEBSCH, New York:
The Evolution of Sinn Fein. By R. Henry, M.A. $2.00.
576 , BOOKS RECEIVED [Jan., 1921.]
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York:
American Liberty Enlightening the World. By H. C. Semple, S.J. $2.00.
P. J. KENEDY & SONS, New York:
The Eucharistic Hour. By Dom A. G. Green, O.S.B. $1.20.
GEORGE H. DORAN Co., New York:
The Poems of Robert Burns. Edited by J. L. Hughes.
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York:
England in Transition, 1789-1832. By W. L. Mathleson. $6.00. The Life and
Letters of George Alfred Lefroy, D.D., Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan.
By H. H. Montgomery, D.D. $5.00. The Meaning of Christianity According to
Luther and His Followers in Germany. By Very Rev. M. J. Lagrange, O.P.
$2.25 net.
BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York:
A Child's Life of St. Joan of Arc. By M. E. Mannlx. $1.50 net. Sermons.
By P. A. Canon Sheehan, D.D. $3.00. Life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. By
Rt. Rev. E. Bougaud, D.D. $2.75 net.
CHILD HEALTH ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA, New York:
The Story of Rosy Cheeks and Strong Heart. By J. M. Andress, Ph.D., and A. T.
Andress.
THE PAGE Co., Boston:
She Stands Alone. By M. Ashton. Our Little Czecho-Slovak Cousin. By C. V.
Winlow. 90 cents. The Boy Scouts of the Wolf Patrol. By B. Corcoran.
Famous Leaders of Industry. By E. Wildman. $2.00.
LITTLE, BROWN & Co., Boston:
Religion and Health. By J. J. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION PRESS, Washington:
A General History of the Christian Era. Vol. I. By N. A. Weber, S.M., S.T.D.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, Washington:
Alsea Texts and Myths. By L. J. Frachtenberg. The Eyesight of School Children.
By J. H. Berkowitz. The National Crisis in Education: An Appeal to the People.
Edited by W. T. Bowden. Requirements for the Bachelor's Degree. By W. C.
John.
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, Washington:
The Project of a Permanent Court of International Justice and Resolutions of the
Advisory Committee of Jurists. By J. B. Scott.
J. B. LIPPINCOTT Co., Philadelphia:
The Book of Job. By M. Jastrow, Jr., LL.D. $4.00 net.
BIBLIOTHF.CA SACRA Co., Oberlin, O. :
The Problem of the Pentateuch. By M. G. Kyle, D.D., LL.D.
B. HERDER BOOK Co., St. Louis:
Mary's Praise on Every Tongue. By P. J. Chandlery, S.J. $2.25 net. Twenty
Cures at Lourdes. By Dr. F. de Grandmaison de Bruno. $2.60 net. The
Divine Office. By Rev. E. J. Quigley. $3.00 net.
THE AVE MARIA, Notre Dame, Ind. :
An Awakening and What Followed. By J. K. Stone, S.T.D., LL.D. $1.50.
THE SUNDAY VISITOR, Huntington, Ind.:
Order of St. Veronica. 25 cents.
BURKLEY PRINTING Co., Omaha, Neb.:
Snapshots by the Way. By Gilbert Guest.
CATHOLIC SOCIAL GUILD, Oxford, Eng. :
The Christian Family. By Margaret Fletcher. Is. 6 d.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Cambridge, Eng.:
Living Again. By C. R. Brown. $1.00 net.
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, London:
The Road to Damascus. By W. A. D. Answers to a Jewish Inquirer. By Father
T. Ratisbonne. The Lambeth Conference. Woman in the Church. By Rev.
H. F. Hall. Pamphlets.
THE TALBOT PRESS, Dublin:
Ireland and the Early Church. By J. M. Flood. 3 s. 6 d. net. Essays on Poetry.
By G. O'Neill, S.J., M.A. 5 s. net. St. Columba. By A. B. O. Ferguson.
2s. 6 d. net. Irish Unionism. By J. W. Good. 6s. net.
PIERRE TEQUI, Paris:
Rene Beriot. Par P. Paulin. 3 fr. 50 . Directoire Pratique Pour le Clergt. 5 fr.
Les Causeries de Lucien Roland. Par J. Riche. 5 fr.
LIBRAIRIE VICTOR LECOFFRE, Paris:
Le Catholicisme de Saint Augustin. Par P. Batiffol. 2 vols. 14 fr. Saint
Gregoire VII. Par A. Fliche. Melanges de Patrologie et d'Histotre des Dogmes.
Par J. Tixeront. 7 fr. Atude de Critique et de Philologie du Nouveau Testa-
ment. Par E. Jacquier. 10 fr.
GABRIEL BEAUCHESNE, Paris:
Une Educatrice au XVIIe Siecle. Par A. de Nitray.
NOUVELLE LIBRAHIE NATIONALS, Paris:
G. K. Chesterton. Par J. de Tonquedec. 5 fr.
THE
VOL. CXII.
FEBRUARY, 1921
No. 671
BREAKING AND RENEWING DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE.
BY ABBE FELIX KLEIN.
E are convinced in France that our fellow-Cath-
olics in America have welcomed with the same
joy as ourselves the important decision of the
Chamber of Deputies for the reestablishment of
a French Embassy to the Vatican. The vote in
favor was 391 to 179.
When I was sent to America by the French Government
in October, 1918, with the Bishop of Arras, Monseigneur Bau-
drillart, and Abbe Flynn to bring the compliments of France
to Cardinal Gibbons on the occasion of his episcopal jubilee,
the question asked of us most frequently was whether, after
the War, relations would be resumed between France and the
Holy See. We did not hesitate to answer that they would.
Events have proved that our confidence was not unfounded.
It is true the question is not yet definitely settled, and there will
be a strong opposition of the anti-clericals in the Senate where
they have more influence than in the Chamber of Deputies
the Upper House not having been entirely renewed by elections
since the War. But it would be an exceedingly great surprise
if the Senate were bold enough to resist, not only the wishes of
the people, but the resolution and will of the President and
the Cabinet, who consider diplomatic relations with the Holy
COPYRIGHT. 1920. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY or ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
zx THE STATE or NEW
VOL. cxii. 37
578 j FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Feb.,
See as absolutely necessary for the pacification of parties in
France and for French diplomatic interests all over the world.
Whether the question is still pending before the Senate or will
have been settled when these lines appear, it will be of interest,
nevertheless, to Catholics to review how relations were broken
between France and the Holy See about fifteen years ago.
It is not necessary to remind readers of THE CATHOLIC
WORLD of all the difficulties which arose between the Church
and the French Government from about 1880 up to the begin-
ning of the War. They will remember how some Conserva-
tives, by opposing the Republic, compromised the cause of the
Church to which they were sincerely attached, and how the
Radicals not only profited by this error to keep their party in
power, but abused that political supremacy to make war upon
the rights of conscience. I do not intend to enumerate here
all the measures by which our Government during too long a
period, has striven to drive religion from our national life
the most portentous of these being the persecution of the Re-
ligious Orders and the so-called "laicisation," i. e., the complete
exclusion of every Christian idea from public teaching. These
measures are but too well known, having scandalized the en-
tire Christian world and aroused indignation everywhere. But
the final incidents which precipitated the march of events and
served as a pretext for the inevitable conclusion of these
quarrels namely the rupture of every diplomatic relation be-
tween the Holy See and the Anti-clerical Government of the
French Republic, are still ignored by many people, and I think
it would not be inopportune to recount these briefly.
Probably the first of these incidents will seem to American
readers rather fine spun and somewhat unworthy of attention;
but we must not forget that in the Old World form is appar-
ently of much greater consequence than in America.
Article V. of the Concordat between Napoleon and Pius
VII. is as follows: "The nomination to the bishoprics shall
belong to the Chief Consul, and canonical institution shall
be administered by the Holy See." It appears as if this article,
properly interpreted, safeguarded the rights of the two powers.
The Government presented candidates to the Pope; their
qualifications were considered and discussed if there was occa-
sion to do so; and when an agreement was reached between
the two powers, their names appeared in the Official Journal
1921.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 579
of France. Afterwards the Pope conferred spiritual authority
upon the candidates who were so nominated. Nothing on the
face of it could be simpler than this. But, in fact, the Latin
word, nominavit, means more than the French word, nommer,
and the English word, nominate, and seems to indicate the
conferring of real power.
For this reason Rome tried, after 1871, to change the Latin
wording of its official letters instituting bishops, and which
had to be registered by the Council of State; M. Thiers, then
head of the Government, opposed that contention. Rome kept
the word nominavit, but added nobis, that is to us, and de-
clared in the letters : "We institute as bishop such a one whom
the French Government has nominated to us." M. Thiers
agreed that he was satisfied and things went along in that
way until 1895, when M. Combes, then Minister of Worship,
again demanded, but without success, the suppression of the
word "nobis" In 1901 M. Waldeck-Rousseau announced that
the Council of State would register for the last time Papal
letters containing the word "nobis." Nevertheless, in May,
1902, two new bishops, the last under the Concordat, received
similar letters containing the "nobis" M. Combes, then Prime
Minister, refused to register them until they were corrected so
as to contain the word "nominavtf* alone. Rome tried to nego-
tiate and proposed divers formulas acceptable to both parties.
The Government did not respond, and Leo XIII. died before the
matter was adjusted. His successor, Pius X., yielded and
altered the letters to the two bishops, which were then regis-
tered in the form demanded by M. Combes.
The Minister, it seems, might have been content with that
great victory. He wished, however, to go further and declared
that, in future, the candidates chosen as bishops by the Gov-
ernment would be nominated in the Official Journal of the
Republic without waiting to inquire whether the Holy See
would accept them or not, or whether it would consent to
confer upon them canonical institution. It will be conceded
that it was difficult to justify such conduct, even if it were
true, as they said, that the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Loren-
zelli, did not always do his utmost to render the negotiations
easy. That suppression of the preliminary understanding was
without doubt contrary to the spirit, if not to the letter, of
the Concordat, and it would have placed in a strange position
580 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Feb.,
such candidates for bishoprics as the Government might thus
nominate, and the Holy See subsequently refuse to accept.
Then happened what might have been foreseen. Priests
worthy of the honor refused to be nominated under these con-
ditions, and none of the vacancies which subsequently arose
were filled. It came to pass in that way that fifteen "dioceses
were deprived of bishops. The Government was unwilling to
yield. The Pope could not do so. In one of its essential fea-
tures the machinery of the Concordat was no longer working.
Nevertheless, the Concordat was still in force. Two incidents
more and we shall see it broken. These two incidents were the
protest of the Vatican against the visit of President Loubet to
Rome and the removal of the Bishops of Dijon and Laval by
the Pope.
I do not mean to insist here on the question of the temporal
power of the Pope. But this point is clear : the Holy See does
not wish to recognize by any formal act of renunciation the
spoliation which it suffered in 1870, and until a recent
Encyclical of Pope Benedict's, it required absolutely that the
heads of Catholic countries should not come to Rome officially
and thus apparently condone such spoliation. All Catholic
sovereigns have thus far conformed to this request. For ex-
ample, the Emperor of Austria, although bound to Italy by
the Triple Alliance, always refused to return the visit made to
him by the King of that country in Vienna. The French Gov-
ernment did not think it its duty to conform to the demand;
and having received in Paris in October, 1903, a visit from the
Italian sovereigns, it was thought that courtesy and the inter-
ests of France demanded of the President to return the visit in
Rome. So M. Loubet was sent there for that purpose in
April, 1904.
Neither with Leo XIII., who died during the negotiations,
nor with his successor was it possible to arrange the matter
amicably. In the name of Leo XIII., Cardinal Rampolla had
informed M. Delcasse that "the presence in Rome of the head
of a Catholic State disregarded the imprescriptible rights of
the Holy See," but our Minister of Foreign Affairs declined to
enter into any discussion on the subject. Pius X. and Cardinal
Merry de Val were equally ignored in 1904. M. Delcasse con-
fined himself to declaring in the Senate, at the moment of the
vote for funds necessary to defray the expenses of M. Loubet's
1921.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 581
journey: "The proposed visit is not an affront to anybody.
Our actions are no more offensive than our intentions. To
perform an obvious duty, to return a visit, to carry to Italy in
the person of its sovereign the respects of France, and thus
strengthen for the common good of the two countries the bonds
of friendship based not only on sentiment but on interest
who can fairly take offence at a step so natural?"
Rome did take offence, and after the visit of M. Loubet,
a confidential protest, dated April 28, 1904, was sent by the
Cardinal Secretary of State to all the Powers with which the
Holy See is in diplomatic relations. The official coming of the
President of the Republic to Rome was considered there as a
grave offence against the rights and the dignity of the Holy
See, and the position was taken that the Holy See, upon which
devolved the duty of protecting such rights and dignity in the
common interest of Catholics throughout the world, was in
duty bound to make the most formal protest against that visit
in order that such an occurrence might not constitute a prece-
dent. In response the Ambassador of France remitted to
the Vatican on the part of M. Delcasse this note of acknowl-
edgment: "The Minister of Foreign Affairs directs me to say
that having himself taken care to state clearly in Parliament
the character and purpose of the voyage of the President to
Italy, he can only repudiate the suggestions contained in the
note of April 28th."
Things rested there, as long as the protest of Rome re-
mained secret; but at the end of about a month M. Jaures,
the leader of the Socialists in the French Parliament, having
obtained a copy of it, published it in his newspaper, L'Human-
ite, and the storm burst. The newspapers friendly to the Gov-
ernment declared that France had been grossly insulted, and
the Cabinet of M. Combes ordered the immediate recall of the
Ambassador at the Vatican. The Prime Minister declared in
the Chamber of Deputies, in the session of May 27th: "This
recall indicates that we are not willing to tolerate the inter-
ference of the Pontifical Court in our international relations,
and that we wish to finish once for all with the superannuated
fiction of a temporal power which disappeared more than
thirty years ago."
Was that the final rupture between the Pope and the Re-
public? Not quite, although very nearly. The Papal Nuncio
582 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Feb.,
still remained in Paris; and the French Government, while
recalling its ambassador, had nevertheless left a secretary as
charge d'affaires. Relations were not, therefore, entirely
broken. A slight bond still remained between the two powers :
the affairs of the Bishops of Dijon and Laval were to cut the
last remaining knot.
Monseigneur Geay, Bishop of Laval, and Monseigneur Le
Nordez, Bishop of Dijon, had long before been denounced to
Rome, and openly attacked in certain newspapers controlled
by the party of Conservatives as utterly unfit to govern dio-
ceses. It is very difficult to know the truth of the matter, for
political passions were much involved in the opposition to the
two bishops, especially as regards the Bishop of Laval. For
my part, I would willingly believe that he was weak and un-
wary, rather than guilty, and it is certain that the people of his
diocese, who are much attached to the monarchical regime,
attacked him violently on account of his Republican opinions,
long before they thought of blaming his moral conduct. As
for the Bishop of Dijon, it must be admitted that opinions
were unanimously against him, and without declaring him
guilty of all the misdemeanors which have been laid to his
account, I think that he had done enough to deserve his dis-
grace.
At any rate, the question which arose was not that of
knowing whether those prelates were innocent or guilty, but
whether the Pope could, without prior agreement with the
French Government, compel the resignation of the prelates.
From the viewpoint of religion and common sense, it would
look as if the religious authority alone had the right to judge
the worthiness or unworthiness of ecclesiastical ministers,
especially in a system so strongly hierarchical as Catholicism.
From the Concordat strictly interpreted, it may be maintained
that the bishops, having been nominated by mutual consent,
could only be deposed by mutual consent; and even Rome
seemed to recognize this principle, since it requested the resig-
nation of the Bishops, instead of issuing an order for their
deposition. Whatever be the view taken, the following are the
facts.
Already in 1900, under Leo XIII., the resignation of Mon-
seigneur Geay, Bishop of Laval, had been requested; he re-
signed, but withdrew his resignation. Leo XHL, who believed
1921.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 583
him guilty, but who felt all the difficulties and possible results
of such a complicated affair, withheld action in the matter,
and no more was said about it for four years. But in May,
1904, Rome once more requested the Bishop's resignation.
Monseigneur Geay having informed the Minister of Public
Worship of this fact, the Cabinet instructed the French charge
d'affaires at the Vatican to hand a note to Cardinal Merry del
Val, in which it was maintained that, according to the Con-
cordat, a bishop's powers could not be taken from him any
more than they could be conferred on him, without a decision
of the Republican Government. The note ended with the fol-
lowing threatening sentence : "If the letter of May 17th be not
annulled, the Government will be forced to take such measures
as are demanded by such a derogation from the pact which
binds France to the Holy See." Cardinal Merry del Val, having
answered the Cabinet in a note, and the latter not even deign-
ing to examine the communication, Monseigneur Geay, on
July 10th, was ordered by the Cardinal to come to Rome within
ten days under penalty of being suspended from the exercise
of his powers.
Matters took a similar trend at Dijon. The disorder of
that diocese was at its height; the Bishop was insulted in his
Cathedral by the Catholics, and the seminarists refused to be
ordained by him. Pius X., saddened by these events and
convinced, not without cause, that the Bishop was unworthy,
notified him through the Nuncio on March 11, 1904, to cease
all ordinations in his diocese until further orders. M. Del-
casse, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, informed the Cardinal
State Secretary of the Vatican that he considered such orders
as null and of no effect; at the same time he protested both
against the measure itself, which he declared to be opposed to
the Concordat and a violation of form, because, according to
him and to all former Governments, the Nuncio, being simply
a diplomatic agent, had no right to intervene directly with
bishops.
Nevertheless on July 9th, Cardinal Merry del Val again
ordered Monseigneur Le Nordez to come to Rome within
fifteen days under penalty of suspension from all his spiritual
powers. The Minister, on his side, forbade the Bishops of Dijon
and Laval to leave France, and sent an ultimatum to Rome,
declaring that if the letters of July 9th and 10th were not with-
584 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Feb.,
f
drawn, or if the threats therein were put into execution, "the
French Government would be compelled to look upon the Holy
See as having no longer respect for its relations with a power,
which, whilst it fulfilled its conditions under the Concordat,
had a right to the prerogatives which the Concordat conferred
on it. The Government of the Republic was leaving to the
Holy See all responsibility for the resolutions which should
become necessary."
Cardinal Merry del Val replied by conciliatory explana-
tions to that ultimatum, which was handed to him on July 23,
1904; but he maintained, in principle, the right of the Pope
to deprive unworthy bishops of spiritual power. Without any
discussion, M. Delcasse telegraphed to the French charge
d'affaires to hand the following note to the Vatican: "Forced,
in view of the reply made by his Eminence, the Cardinal
Secretary of State, dated July 26th, to recognize that the Holy
See maintains acts accomplished without the knowledge of the
power with which it has signed the Concordat, the Government
of the Republic has decided to put an end to the official rela-
tions which, by the will of the Holy See, have become super-
fluous." And the charge d'affaires having read that note was
to add that the mission of the Papal Nuncio was considered to
have come to an end.
This note was read and handed in without delay, and on
July 30, 1904, the charge d'affaires of France to the Vatican
left Rome while the Nuncio received orders from the Pope to
quit Paris. Thus ended sadly the relations which had existed
for fourteen centuries between France and the Holy See.
Shall I tell in a few words what became of the two unfor-
tunate bishops who had served as a pretext for a rupture which
had long been inevitable? They both sent in the resignation
which the Pope required; the Bishop of Laval did so with much
humility, the Bishop of Dijon resisted longer and did not
yield until he obtained from Cardinal Merry del Val a letter
stating that his resignation was spontaneous, and congratulat-
ing him on the generous action which he was accomplishing
for the greater welfare of his diocese. Both lived afterwards
in retirement, forgotten both by friends and foes alike. Their
personalities were lost sight of in the tragic course of those
events which they had in part helped to bring about.
While they were bidding an eternal farewell to their
1921.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 585
dioceses, the Chamber of Deputies was voting, with a very
large majority, the following order of the day, introduced
by M. Larrien, president of the Left delegation, that is to say,
nominal leader of the anti-clerical army of the Bloc: "The
Chamber, realizing that the attitude adopted by the Vatican
has rendered the Separation of Church and State inevitable,
and counting on the Government to bring the vote to effect
immediately after the budget and military law are settled,
passes on to the order of the day."
The French Government which had only resorted to these
extremities in order to bring about the suppression of the
Concordat, did not wait long before it sought to have this
carried into effect. The rupture had taken place at the end
of July, 1904; at the next session of Parliament, in the autumn
of the same year, M. Combes proposed to the Chamber of
Deputies a project of law on the separation of Church and
State. A commission was immediately nominated and the
discussion commenced in the spring of 1905. On July 3, 1905,
the Chamber voted the law, the Senate continued the discus-
sion at its autumn session, and voted it also, without changing
a single word. On December 11, 1905, it was promulgated
and declared to be in force after one year.
It is not our object today to comment upon this law, but
readers knowing the regrettable conditions under which it
was introduced and voted upon, will not be surprised that it
contained articles which obliged the Holy See to condemn it
and to forbid its acceptation. As happens in the greater num-
ber of divorces, the Church and State, an ill-assorted pair,
were violently irritated against each other, and none dared to
hope that they would consent to settle their dispute by an
amicable division of interests. But, whereas in other separa-
tions there are law courts to decide what shall be the shares
of husband and wife, in the present case there existed no
arbiter between the two, and the only thing which could
happen was that the stronger of the two, namely the State,
should take the lion's share and decide everything according
to its own will, without once deigning to consult the weaker,
namely the Church. Conversation was all the more difficult
between them, inasmuch as the French ambassador had been
recalled from Rome and the Papal Nuncio withdrawn from
Paris.
586 FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE [Feb.,
*
After recounting these distressing incidents of our pre-
war politics, what a comfort it is now to hear the manner in
which the highest representatives of the Church and of the
State in France are speaking of each other! I do not want to
protract this already long article, but cannot better conclude
than by quoting, on the one side the last speech of Prime
Minister Leygues asking the Chamber to reestablish the Em-
bassy to the Vatican, and on the other side an extract from the
first letter addressed to his diocese by Cardinal Dubois, the new
Archbishop of Paris.
"The thirtieth of July, 1904," said M. Leygues, "the Gov-
ernment of the Republic broke its relations with the Vatican;
the fourteenth of March, 1920, the Government of the Republic
proposed to reestablish them.
"What occurred between these two dates?
"There was the War which shook the world to its founda-
tions; and Victory which brought about a new way of thinking
among all people. Combined with the results of social and
spiritual order, Victory gave us peace at home as well as
abroad, and renewed our confidence in the future. After the
trial we must be ready to solve with equity and dignity prob-
lems which formerly divided us ... The long struggle of
ideas between France and Rome are over. Other cares absorb
us. . . Among the moral forces there is one which, being
strongly and hierarchically organized, acts on the mind and
the conscience of three hundred millions of men: that is the
power of the Catholic Church. . . ." To be officially repre-
sented at the Vatican "is for our interest, for our security, for
our dignity."
Then the Cardinal:
"Circumstances favor us. The War, with its sufferings,
its dangers and sorrows, with its heroism also and glory, has
tempered again the soul of France. It has brought it nearer
to God. It taught again, to many who had forgotten them,
ideas of justice and right. It has inspired in the hearts of
soldiers, united in the same sacrifices, sentiments of a frater-
nity which, we hope, shall be henceforth inviolable . . .
"The political atmosphere is purified. The spirit of justice
and sympathy of which the present Government has given
many proofs has replaced ill-will and suspicion. The sacred
union, which was one of the conditions of victory, is considered
1921.] FRANCE AND THE HOLY SEE 587
one of the surest guarantees of peace. The highest authorities
proclaim the necessity of it, and have sworn to maintain it,
while the good citizens, who are the majority, applaud. The
clergy is no longer excluded from public ceremonies; its
influence is acknowledged and, in certain circumstances, they
call for it, they praise it, and sometimes, even, they reward it.
"The diplomatic relations with the Holy See are about to
be renewed. Truly we are advancing towards more justice
and liberty."
And now my American friends, with whom I so often had
to speak of the sad conditions of the Church in France, must
realize how happy I feel to be able to give them such good
news. To express my personal joy, which I am sure they will
share, I know of no better way than by quoting, in conclusion,
these few words of our new Archbishop of Paris : "The Cath-
olics, who have suffered so much for half a century, witness
with joy these happy symptoms of national pacification. We
are glad to look at the future with confidence. The sad real-
ities, resulting from long religious struggles, are over, let us
hope. May they give place definitely to a situation better for
the Church and more worthy of France!"
RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE.
BY JOHN T. BLANKART.
CIENTIFIC activity and investigation are almost
correlative terms, and both imply a prying into
and a testing of physical phenomena. The
farther this prying has been conducted, the more
undreamed of the results arrived at, the better the
scientific world is pleased. If that scientific world happens
to be one materialistically inclined, as the present one is, the
mere note of novelty is not alone responsible for the pleasur-
able sensation of discovery. Materialism knows and admits
that it has not yet satisfactorily explained the great questions
which revolve around the causation and the existence of the
cosmos, and no doubt one of the chief reasons for joy over each
new discovery is the hope that this new thing will help toward
a solution, or perhaps completely solve, the riddle of the
universe.
It is small wonder then that there has been a very agree-
able stir in scientific circles ever since Einstein gave his find-
ings and his theories to the world. The positive denial of the
time-honored ether, the plausibly propounded theory of rela-
tivity, the new catch word "space-time," the indisputable and
easily featured proof of the bending of the light ray were too
much to be received with calm passivity. Here was a wonder-
ful new thing, in fact a whole array of new things. And better,
the new things were explained in relation to existing things,
nay rather, if one only had the required genius and profundity,
these new discoveries were actually the long sought redemp-
tion of materialistic thought. What matters if other German
scientists whispered feebly, "plagiarism," or that there were
vile rumorings of race propaganda. A prophet is never recog-
nized in his own country, and persecution has ever been the
fate of the world's great discoverers. Outside his own country
Einstein has met little else but enthusiasm. Scientific journals
clamor for Einstein articles, progressive universities are or-
ganizing Einstein clubs, and Einstein himself is proclaimed a
greater even than Newton.
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 589
Much of this enthusiasm has been proffered unreservedly
without much scientific and still less philosophic consideration
of Einstein's tenets. Sir Oliver Lodge in his article, "The New
Theory of Gravity," states : "The present writer holds it dan-
gerous to base such far-reaching consequences, even if any-
thing like them can legitimately be drawn which is doubtful
on a predicted effect which may after all be accounted for
and expressed in simpler fashion." 1
In his article, "The Physical Aspect of Einstein's Principle
of Relativity," published in The Dublin Review, H. V. Gill
writes : "Before the revolutionary assumptions of Einstein can
be universally accepted, it has also to be shown that no simpler
theory is sufficient to account for these phenomena, especially
the bending of a ray of light." 2
Before entering upon an examination of Einstein's tenets,
I wish to introduce to the reader a new book by Arvid Reuter-
dahl, entitled Scientific Theism versus Materialism, the Space-
Time Potential. 3 This book is perhaps the most ambitious and
most profound scientific philosophic work that has appeared
in years. It is not merely an unusual attack on Materialism,
but it is itself an original and comprehensive investigation of
the laws of the cosmos. We introduce it with reference to
Einstein because in certain respects, especially in nomencla-
ture, it has such marked resemblance to his work that in view
of its independent production it should arouse surprise and
suspicion, whereas in many respects it differs so radically from
the German mathematician's theories as to call forth some
very profound thought. The fact that Einstein has a theory of
"Relativity" and Reuterdahl a theory of "Interdependence" is
in itself significant, though there is as wide a divergence in
the meanings of these two terms as there is in the procedure
and conclusions of the two men. We shall first of all consider
the system of Reuterdahl because it offers a good firm vantage
ground from which to attack the system of Einstein.
From the very outset it impresses itself upon one that
Reuterdahl is a firm believer in the immanence of Divine In-
telligence throughout the universe. The materialistic substi*
tutes for God, "the gods of science," as he calls them, arouse
1 The Nineteenth Century and After, December, 1919, pp. 1199 and 1200.
3 The Dublin Review, July, August, September, 1920; p. 86.
Published by the Devin-Adair Co., New York. Ready early in February.
Price, $6.00.
590 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
his indignation. He will have nothing to do with them. In
the past it has been a frequent custom of Theistic writers
to use the generally accepted theories of science for their own
ends. The result has been that they convinced those who
were already convinced. Materialistic scientists, if they read
the theistic production at all, said: "No, no, you have misin-
terpreted us." Reuterdahl, well aware of this, grants them
nothing but proven facts. He has a theory of his own, but
before he propounds it he clears away the theoretical rubbish
Materialism has left him. It is really amusing to go through
the second, third and fourth chapters of his book, which con-
tain the principal attack on Materialism. His procedure is
almost epic. The word "dynamite" fitly suggests what happens
to their most cherished idols. From the very definitions of
materialists themselves, he shows conclusively that such scien-
tific concepts as mass, force, energy, and work are conceptual
links in a closed chain, out of which science cannot extricate
itself. We should like to view the countenance of the eminent
physicist, Thomson, after reading the criticism of his "tubes of
force." Reuterdahl concludes this portion by giving Material-
ism its coup-de-grdce in the exploding of the long cherished
ether hypothesis.
To the casual thinkers about these subjects a few words
of explanation may here be helpful. Everyone admits phys-
ical change. Materialism holds that physical change is
brought about by the action of one or more material groups
upon another material group. But what is action? The mater-
ialist would say the result of force. You proceed to ask what
is force? The materialist tells you it is mass multiplied by
acceleration. Is then mass responsible for force, or force re-
sponsible for mass? This is the closed chain, the vicious circle
of Materialism. You may ask further what is the significance
of destroying the ether hypothesis. Return to the concept of
physical change, which according to materialists is brought
about by the action of one material group on another material
group. Forget for a minute the above question as to what
makes physical entities act, and consider the question as to
how they act on another. How do they get in contact? Re-
member Materialism logically can posit no selective intel-
ligence. The only way force can travel from one aggregate
of matter to another is by means of some transmitting medium.
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 591
So Materialism gathered its conceptual instruments and ma-
terial, and constructed a conceptual bridge. That bridge it
called Ether. Take away the bridge and the whole material-
istic edifice comes down like a card-house. Reuterdahl has
convincingly destroyed that bridge.
Having cleared away the materialistic fallacies he pro-
ceeds to construct his own system. By the usual process of
deduction from the known to the unknown he postulates a
creative, providential, imminent and transcendent God. The
cosmos he regards as a unitary, interacting, rational, purposive
and teleological system, a finite projection of the Infinite.
Unless these basic truths are granted, he maintains no con-
sistent model of the universe can be constructed.
The finite projection of God, manifest in space and time,
he divides into three worlds : the World of Energy, Force, and
Life; the World of Conscious Selves, and the World of Sub-
consciousness. His Space-Time Potential deals only with the
physical universe, and hence its problem is the interpretation
of the manifestation of God as the ultimate source of the Po-
tential charted in Space and Time.
The Space-Time Potential is for Reuterdahl what the
Space-Time Continuum is for Einstein, but it is only in name
that the two conceptions are similar. Einstein's conception
will be treated later in our discussion. Since Reuterdahl's
Space-Time Potential is fundamental to his entire system, we
will endeavor to give the reader a simple illustration which
will bring forth its principal features. We shall use the
ordinary chessboard and its men as our illustration. The
chessboard itself corresponds to a plane section located any-
where in space. The chessmen in our illustration represent
action centres (ultimate material particles) and action groups
(atoms, molecules, and planets), located at different points
on the plane in space. Man has endowed the chessmen with
certain well-defined powers of action. God the Creator of
the physical universe has endowed the action centres and
groups with definite deterministic, but interdependent powers
of action. These powers, in the case of the action centres and
groups, are not therefore exclusively independent, but they are
interdependent powers. Here again our illustration conforms
with Reuterdahl's Space-Time Potential. The pawn on the
chessboard has certain independent powers of action and
592 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
I
motion, but these powers are restrained and limited by the
powers of the other men on the board. The chessboard and
its men, taken in conjunction with the time required to effect
a change in the location of these men, constitute an interde-
pendent, interacting system.
Because of the individual and the combined powers of the
chessmen and because of their relative location on the board,
each chessman represents a certain possible future effect when
any arrangement, due to the motion of one or more of the
men, has been disturbed. The word, "future," at once suggests
the element of time. In accomplishing the desired result in the
game of chess, it is not only important that the men be mar-
shaled into strategic locations, but it is of paramount impor-
tance that this be accomplished in the least possible time. Here
again our illustration holds good, for in the Space-Time Po-
tential of Reuterdahl the action centres and groups move in
such a manner and along such paths that the least amount of
time is required for the motion. This necessarily means that
the path of motion also is the shortest possible. By virtue of its
location and interdependent powers, each action centre and
group represents definite possibilities of future action. Every
centre, because of its relative location in the plane, associates
with itself a definite possible or potential action for every
definite moment in time. These possible action values may,
therefore, be charted in space. Every point in space will
signify a definite potential or possible amount of action. More-
over, if a centre of action arrives at a definite point in space,
it must assume that action magnitude which pertains to that
precise location. It must not be inferred that space, in Reu-
terdahl's system, is an action agent which dictates the value
and magnitude of the action at each and all of its points.
Without genuine interdependent interaction between the action
centres, the possible action value at a point would be mean-
ingless. On the contrary, physical or real space is a responsive
chart which is constantly evolved by interdependent inter-
action. This is the reason why space is such an elusive and
peculiar reality differing from all other types of physical real-
ity. Space, therefore, is not a thing, but it is, as it were, manu-
factured or evolved by the interaction of things. Extension
becomes, for Reuterdahl, a phase of action. It is evident that
the action possibility or potential may change, from moment
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 593
to moment, in complete responsiveness with the total involved
interaction.
The element of time is, therefore, linked irrevocably with
space in the system of Reuterdahl. This is the reason why he
uses the hyphen between space and time in his concept, "Space-
Time Potential." Time, however, is not, in ReuterdahPs
system, fused with space as a single physical entity as it is in
the theory of Einstein. Time is not, for Reuterdahl, an action
agent capable of influencing physical phenomena. On the
contrary, physical time is a durational chart which is evolved
during physical interaction. This is the norm of its distinctive
type of reality which is, in one sense, independent of space, yet
in another sense, interdependent with it. An action centre is
also both independent of and interdependent with other action
centres, for the reason that an action centre has been endowed
with certain well defined properties without therefore losing
its responsiveness to interdependent interaction. In fact, the
deterministic feature of the action centre makes interaction
possible. In somewhat the same manner time is interde-
pendent with space. In ReuterdahFs theory space and time
never become a fused, single, thing-like composite as in the
theory of Einstein. For Reuterdahl space and time are, as it
were, by-products of interdependent interaction. In Einstein's
system fused space-time becomes a permanently abiding phys-
ical entity or continuum. The complete world chart of phys-
ical action is, in the system of Reuterdahl, the Space-Time
Potential.
This world chart of physical action differs in one respect
from our illustration of the chessboard and its men. In the
case of the chessboard the men are moved by the two con-
testing players, whereas in the case of the action world chart
the movements and actions are automatically and determinis-
tically co-responsive. The world chart and its action centres,
after having been created by the Absolute Reality (God), func-
tions automatically in precisely the same sense that a machine
performs its work automatically. In the case of a machine
power must be supplied from an external source. In the lan-
guage of science, a difference of potential must be maintained
if a machine is to continue to function. The same is true of
the action world chart; the ultimate effective difference of po-
Jential cannot be found within the system. In vain we travel
VOL. GXII. 38
594 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
along the endless chain of physical action, within the Space-
Time Potential, in our search for the ultimate source of that
difference of potential which we may consider as the cause of
the continuous functioning of the cosmos. Reuterdahl solves
this problem by ascribing the source of this ultimate differ-
ence of potential to the Absolute Reality of God, thus con-
sistently completing his cosmic system.
In the development of the physical aspect of his system,
Reuterdahl introduces a number of new conceptions such as
the neutral energon composed of monons or action centres.
The electron of modern science is the energon in its condition
of maximum expansion, while the positon is this same energon
in its state of maximum compression. The energon may, there-
fore spacially expand into an electron and contract into a
positon within the deterministic limits of interaction. The
ultimate particle, the monon, is also capable of this cyclic
change. ReuterdahPs atom is composed of energons rotating
in circular orbits, and arranged in such a manner as to consti-
tute, in their totality, a spherical material unit. Passing from
the outside of his spherical atom toward the centre, we find
these energons varying in extension from their maximum con-
dition as electrons to their minimum size as positons. Reuter-
dahl's atom is, therefore, composed of a series of concentric
spherical surfaces containing energons in orbital motion, whose
size conforms with the potential dictated by interaction for
each and every particular surface. Consequently its inter-
actional responsiveness is such that it can account for such
phenomena as arise in spectroscopic analysis. It obviates the
difficulties of fixedness inherent in the justly famous Bohr
atom. R. A. Millikan, in his work, The Electron, has pointed
out this serious imperfection in the Bohr atom.
From these fundamental action groups Reuterdahl con-
structs his model of the physical universe. Any physical phe-
nomenon whatsoever may be conveniently considered as a case
of interaction between an excitant and a concurrent system.
The phenomenon of light is so considered and in that case the
electron is the excitant system. Every excitant system interacts
with a concurrent energonic system. In the case of light its
velocity is a result of this interaction. For Reuterdahl the
velocity of light is constant, because it is the ratio of the
velocities of the excitant and the concurrent systems. All
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 59
physical constants are ratios obtained by the comparison of
one change with another. Reuterdahl holds that the velocity
of light is no exception to the universal rule. In other words
his system of Interdependence is, in this respect also, a system
of complete relativity. Einstein maintains, as one of his prin-
cipal tenets that the velocity of light is absolute, but in no way
does he show us how this is possible in a relative system.
Reuterdahl clearly indicates that the constancy of velocity of
light is possible because of the relative interaction out of which
it arises as a ratio.
The mathematics and the records of scientific investiga-
tions contained in Reuterdahl's work are not the province of
this article. Suffice it to say that his system of Interdependence
works beautifully whether we consider the action of falling
bodies, the movement of a particle in a fluid, the motions of
the planets, or the path of a light ray. In fact, Reuterdahl's
calculation of the amount of the bending of a ray of light is
much closer to the actual observations made by the English
Solar Eclipse Expedition of May 29, 1919, than the computa-
tion of Einstein.
In justice to the scientific accomplishments of Reuterdahl
a few words should be added in regard to his gravitational
theory, because it differs so radically from the long accepted
Newtonian theory. Leaving all mathematics aside we shall
briefly indicate how he has corrected Newton. The latter held
that gravitational attraction was universal. In a partial way
this is a theory of Interdependence, but the interdependence was
based purely on attraction, leaving out the equally necessary
element of repulsion which plays such an important role in
chemical and electrical phenomena. In Reuterdahl's theory
both attraction and repulsion are included in his greater gen-
eralization of interdependent interaction. Newton's most
serious error, however, consisted in the fact that he abandoned
his generalization when he developed the orbits of the planets.
Newton considered only the sun and the earth in developing
the elliptical orbit of the latter. He regarded the sun as a
central force. In other words, Newton omitted the greater
part of the universe in this investigation and, in so doing, he
abandoned completely the basic tenets of his great generaliza-
tion which included all bodies in the universe. Reuterdahl's
development is free from this serious error.
5S6 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
From what has been said one may gather some faint idea
of the work of Reuterdahl. He has given us a clear and con-
sistent model of the entire cosmos in a system whose ramifica-
tions and possibilities extend to all the great categories of
knowledge, and it becomes rational because he has at the outset
posited the existence of a Divine Being. It is this last that
vitalizes his whole wonderful system of Interdependence. Now
let us turn to Einstein.
Our present inquiry shall be a critical examination of the
metaphysical tenets of Einstein. The average reader, no doubt,
has an idea that the German mathematician made some start-
ling scientific discoveries but, unless he has read some such
book as Relativity the Special and General Theory, he can
know very little of Einstein's complete scheme. We have,
therefore, considered it advisable to explain his "Relativity,"
to show how this Relativity applies to Space and Time, to
sketch his process of constructing the entity "Space-Time,"
and to give some idea as to what he means by "Four Dimen-
sional Space-Time." The mere statement of a case leaves it
open for consideration, and the points of attack indicated at
the close of the article may help the reader to develop his own
criticism.
The word "relativity" may convey no definite idea to
many readers. In the following we shall endeavor to make
the meaning clear by a few simple illustrations. Let us con-
sider an iron rod having a fine point punched into the metal
near each end. Let us assume that the distance between these
two points is exactly three feet. Suppose now that we heat this
rod. It is a well known fact that an iron rod will expand with
heat. Consequently, if we measure the distance between the
two points on the heated rod we will observe a length slightly
greater than three feet. If we cool the rod below the tempera-
ture at which the original measurement of three feet was made,
then we will note a slight decrease in length. What then is
the real length of the rod? We must answer that we can make
no definite statement unless we also observe the exact tem-
perature which existed at the time when the holes were
punched. Let us further assume that the measuring rod which
we used for locating the punch holes is of wood. Now it is a
known fact that the amount of expansion and contraction of
iron and wood for the same amount of increase or decrease in
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 597
temperature is not the same. The wooden measuring rod
would be of only relative value to us in our attempts to
measure the changes in length which occur in the iron rod
when we increase or decrease its temperature. If we can main-
tain the temperature of the wooden measuring rod the same
from the time that we punch the holes in the iron rod until
we have completed the entire experiment, we would be able
to record the changes in length of the iron rod relatively
to the wooden measuring rod, and in relation to the changes
in the temperature of the iron rod. How certain are we, how-
ever, that the wooden rod is exactly three feet in length? The
length of the wooden measuring rod may have been deter-
mined by a third rod of material other than either wood or
iron. That would still further complicate matters, and it
would seem that an absolute length of exactly three feet cannot
be found.
The above simple illustration is one type of relativity.
All types of relativity deal with methods of precise measure-
ment somewhat analogous to the above. The fundamental
notion connected with the term "relativity" is that physical
measurement of any kind whatsoever must take account of
the conditions which exist at the time of the measurement, and
that the measuring device itself is affected by these conditions.
Hence our measurements of physical things, which are subject
to continuous change because of changing conditions, can
never be absolute but must always be of a relative nature. A
body is of a certain length in relation to another body which
is used for purposes of measurement, and the lengths of both
depend upon other existing conditions. Since there is no end
to the series of conditions which may affect our results we are
caught in an infinite series of relativities or relations.
Suppose now that it should prove to be a fact that motion
affects the length of a bar in such a manner that the bar be-
comes shorter when in motion. This shortening is considered
by Lorentz to take place in the same direction as the path or
direction of the motion. A ball moving from the left edge of
this page to the right edge would, according to Lorentz, suffer
a shortening of the diameter which is parallel to or coincident
with this direction of motion. This shortening effect depends
upon the speed at which the ball is moving. For ordinary
speeds the shortening is so small that it is negligible, but for
598 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
. JB
high speeds Lorentz considered that the amount of shortening
is sufficiently great to be observed.
This inference of Lorentz became the keystone in that
type of Relativity which has been advanced by Einstein. The
Relativity of Einstein deals principally with motion and its
measurement as a relative phenomenon. From the purely scien-
tific standpoint, it is an attempt to formulate certain specific
mathematical relations which will provide for the relative ef-
fects produced by and involved in the motion of the observer
and the observed body. But the measurement of the speed of
motion of any and every body must necessarily involve the use
of light in order to make the observations visible. Einstein in
his Theory of Relativity tried to make proper allowance for
the fact that light itself is a moving something, and therefore
the speed of light had to be taken into consideration in pre-
cise measurements of the speed or velocity of moving bodies.
This fact still further complicates the theory of Einstein.
Before we proceed further with our discussion, we must
try to clarify the above considerations by a few simple illustra-
tions which are familiar to everyone. Let us imagine that we
are in a railroad coach which is traveling at the rate of thirty
miles per hour, and that another train is moving at the same
rate, in the same direction, along a track which adjoins the
one upon which our coach is moving, and this adjacent track is
exactly parallel to our track. Then let us suppose that our
coach is exactly abreast of a particular coach of the other
train. In respect to a particular point of our coach, a point
exactly opposite on the other coach will neither advance nor
recede, provided that the speeds of the two trains do not change
from the assumed thirty miles per hour. In fact, if the speeds
decreased or increased the relative positions of the two points
would remain the same, provided that the rate of decrease or
increase of both trains is the same. In respect to each other
the two points, one on one coach, the other on the other coach,
would be at rest, despite the fact that both trains are in motion,
in respect to a point on the platform.
This is an illustration of the common and well known
type of relative motion. Now let us assume that our coach
moves with a speed of twenty miles per hour, and that the other
coach continues to move in the same direction with a speed of
thirty miles per hour. Then it is evident that the speed of the
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 599
selected observation point on this coach in reference to the
speed of the observation point on our coach will be the
difference of the two speeds, that is 30-20 or ten miles
per hour. Suppose now that we replace the other coach with
a beam of light traveling with a velocity of 1,341,081,790,000
miles per hour; then, according to the old school of relativity,
the velocity of the observation point on the beam of light in
reference to the observation point on our coach is the differ-
ence of the two velocities, that is 1,341,081,790,000-20, or
1,341,081,789,980 miles per hour. Lorentz and Einstein and all
the modern relativists state emphatically that the old school of
relativity is wrong in this conclusion, for the specific reason that
the velocity of light is not influenced or modified by the
velocity of the observation point, nor does it depend upon the
velocity of the body from which it emanates. These conclu-
sions are only strictly true when light travels in a vacuum.
Einstein refers to this constancy of the velocity of light as
"the second principle on which the special relativity theory
rests." 4
In order that our observations of moving bodies shall do
justice to this astounding inference concerning the velocity of
light we must, according to Einstein, introduce a corrective
mathematical expression into all our calculations pertaining
to physical phenomena. This corrective mathematical expres-
sion allows for this peculiarity of the velocity of light, and it
is known as the Lorentz Transformation. 5
Upon the above as a foundation Einstein constructs his
general theory of relativity, by degrees as it were, carefully
preparing the reader's mind for a revision of the latter's notions
concerning time and space as independent forms of observation
of physical phenomena. Referring to the ordinary conception
of time Einstein states: "As a matter of fact, according to
classical mechanics, time is absolute, i. e., it is independent
of the position and the condition of motion of the system of
coordinates." 6 Einstein, in his theory of relativity, abandons
this notion of classical mechanics. Time, for Einstein, is not
absolute, but it is relative. To make clear this relativity of time
we must again resort to a mechanical model. Suppose that at
4 "Time, Space, and Gravitation," by Albert Einstein, Science for January 2,
1920, p. 9.
5 Relativity, by Albert Einstein, p. 39. 8 Ibid., p. 66.
600 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
any given place a railroad track has been constructed upon a
trestle at any convenient height. Immediately above this track
imagine another track exactly parallel, both horizontally and
vertically to the one below. Upon each of these tracks place
a flat car of absolutely the same dimensions. On one side of
both cars arrange a perpendicular mirror, and precisely oppo-
site each of these mirrors place an observer, in both cases
equidistant from the mirror. Let us designate the observer
on the trestle car as A and his mirror as a and the observer
on the lower track as B and his mirror as b. Suppose both
cars to be at rest. Then let both observers send a beam of light
to their respective mirrors. These beams of light will be re-
flected back to both observers along lines which are perpen-
dicular to the mirrors. Suppose that A finds that it requires
five seconds for the beam of light to trace the return line from
his mirror. Since the return line from b to B is of equal length
and since the velocity of light is constant, it follows that B
must also report five seconds for his experiment.
Now keep A's car stationary and set B's in motion, and
let them repeat the experiment. Since A repeats the experi-
ment under the identical conditions as before, he will
naturally record the same five seconds. And since B and
his mirror b move simultaneously, they will keep the same
relation as they had when stationary and B will also record
five seconds. Now suppose A adverts to the experiment
below. He directs B to set his car in motion, and when he
comes directly below A 's observation point to send a beam of
light to his mirror b. Now the line Bb described by B's light
will, according to A's observations, not be parallel to the line
Aa, for the reason that by the time the light ray reaches b the
car will have moved down the track. By the time the ray has
been reflected back to B the car will be still farther down the
track. In other words, from A's observation point the line of
light from B to his mirror and back again, Bb-bB t will describe
a line which, of course, will be longer than the perpendicular
line Aa-aA and, since the velocity of light is constant, will
require more than five seconds to travel according to A's
watch. Let us say it requires six seconds. In the meantime,
however, B's watch has registered only five seconds for the
same operation. We may now suppose A and B in a violent
discussion as to the correctness of their respective watches.
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 601
At this point Einstein, the scientific pacifist, steps in and tells
them that according to his theory of relativity, both watches
are relatively correct in their time records. He points out
specifically that for A, the watch used by B relatively runs
slower, and that six seconds recorded by A's stationary watch
is exactly equal to five seconds recorded by B's moving watch.
This is equivalent to saying that one second for B measured on
his moving watch, is of precisely the same duration as one and
two-tenths seconds for A measured on A 's stationary watch.
It is evident that, since the velocity of light is very great,
the above illustration cannot actually be duplicated in practice.
However, in principle the illustration is a correct representa-
tion of the manner in which Einstein derived his theory of the
relativity of time. He concludes that temporal durations are
dependent upon the relative conditions of motion of the event.
For Einstein, then, measurements of time, as well as measure-
ments of space, are merely relative measurements, and time is
meaningless unless we specify the precise location and con-
dition (rest or motion, etc.) of the event measured, as well as
the precise location and condition of the duration-measuring
clock.
If one admits the above conclusions, it will indeed be
difficult to conceive how two separate events occurring in dif-
ferent places can be regarded as transpiring at the same time.
How are we going to determine the time of either event when
both events, if referred to a third clock located in a location
foreign to both events, will appear to have happened at a new
time which differs from the previously recorded time? This
reasoning may be extended indefinitely without our ever being
able to say that we have discovered a particular time which is
absolute, and which would serve as a basis for maintaining that
two events may happen at the same precise and absolute
moment of time. Reasoning in this manner, Einstein con-
cludes that simultaneous events are impossible at different
locations. Space then, according to Einstein, exerts, as it were,
an influence on time. We may almost say that space, in a
manner, is a generator of time or, at least, time is the ever-
present shadow of space from which space can never divorce
itself. Every physical phenomenon involves both space and
time. If space intervenes between two events, then the shadow
of time also intervenes forever, making absolute simultaneity
602 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
impossible. For Einstein the fusion of space and time into a
single entity, space- time, consequently follows as an intellectual
necessity. Without further ado, and without any other and
more sufficient reason than the above, Einstein constructs his
intellectual alloy space-time for which he claims physical
reality. Space and time as separate conceptions belong only
to the observer who separates the single unitary physical real-
ity space-time into two merely intellectual constituents, space
and time. Eddington referring to this phase of Einstein's
theory states: "He (Einstein) assigns space and time solely to
the observer; in nature there is left something which for want
of a better name we may call space-time." 7
Let us now consider this intellectually fused alloy space-
time. Einstein proceeds in his diagnosis of the "space- time
continuum," as he calls his fused product, by an analysis of
the geometrical properties of ordinary space. When this
analysis is complete he introduces algebraic symbols to repre-
sent the essential elements of his geometrical space. The re-
maining portion of his development is comparatively easy, for
one can accomplish almost anything with mathematics if the
criterion of agreement with physical reality is not used in
order to determine the precise nature and significance of the
resulting mathematical relations. Space regarded separately
from time is a three-dimensional continuum whereas, accord-
ing to Einstein, "the world in which we live is a four-dimen-
sional space-time continuum." 8 To the average reader this
matter of a three or four-dimensional something is nothing
short of a mystery. Suppose then that we think first of direc-
tions and, for the time being, we forget the obnoxious term
dimensional.
Draw any straight line AB, and you have one direction
and one length. Perpendicular to this line draw another line
CB intersecting AB at B, and you have your second direction
and one width. Now drop a third line DB to the point B, so
that it will be perpendicular to both AB and CB. You now
have a third direction and one heighth. Any one of these
three lines is perpendicular to both of the other lines. Now
try either to imagine or to construct a fourth direction line
which is perpendicular (making a right angle with) each and
7 "Einstein's Theory of Space and Time," by A. S. Eddington, Contemporary
Review, December, 1919, p. 642.
Relativity, by Albert Einstein, p. 65.
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 603
all of the three lines AB, CB, and DB. The non-Euclidean
geometers risk their entire conceptual structure on the success
or failure of this attempt. One can readily see that the im-
posed condition is impossible of realization either conceptually
or actually. The metageometers, with no regard for common
sense consistency, claim complete success for this attempt.
Another favorite, and equally impossible, trick of the pangeo-
meters is to suggest that a cube be moved in a direction per-
pendicular to each and all of its three sides for a distance equal
to the length of one of its sides, thus generating what they call
a "tesseract." The word "tesseract" is all that this procedure
ever can generate, because it is impossible to conceive or
actually locate a line or direction which is perpendicular to all
of the three axes with which we begin. As far as physical
reality is concerned the attempt is pure nonsense. Such spec-
ulation may give delight to a few mathematical fanatics, but
for sane people it is a ridiculous pastime.
The usual manceuver of the mathematician, after he has
given us a geometrical conception, is to represent the involved
quantities by algebraic letters. In the present case, for three-
dimensional space, all we require is three measurements in
directions parallel respectively to the three axes of reference.
Hence the letters x, y,.z are used to represent these three
measurements both in amount and in direction. In a four-
dimensional world a point cannot be located, so it is claimed,
by less than four directional measurements, hence, for such a
world, we require the four algebraic quantities x, y, z and u.
Hermann Minkowski made the transition which amalgamated
space and time into a single unity space-time by merely sub-
stituting the algebraic symbol t to represent time values, thus
giving us four quantities x, y, z and t for the single system
space-time. For the mathematician that procedure is gener-
ally all that is necessary to transform a conceptual notion into
reality. We have, then, a space- time world assured by these
four letters, x, y, z and t. In this way, time no longer is an
independent quantity; time is deprived of its absolute signif-
icance and becomes relative in every physical measurement.
The final transformation required to perfect the new space-
time four-dimensional world was to substitute the imaginary
quantity \X-T Vt, where V is the velocity of light, t is the time
interval, and the V'l i s an imaginary quantity.
604 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
'&i' :
We could not conceive of Einstein's world system getting
along without this imaginary quantity. The original space-
time world, by this mathematical trick, is sufficiently camou-
flaged to pass in review before the most acute body of physico-
mathematicians, without calling forth a single protest or chal-
lenge. Physico-mathematicians can now use their new crea-
tion with impunity as a four-dimensional system similar and
practically equivalent to the parent notion which dealt with
spacial relations only. In fact, Einstein and the relativists
so regard this creation of Minkowski. No matter what pro-
tests may be offered by the relativists of the Einstein School,
their new four-dimensional space-time creation is treated as a
spacial affair throughout.
Einstein and his followers proceed to use this new creation
with mathematical acumen, and it becomes the basis of Ein-
stein's general theory of relativity. The more the relativists
think of their alloy space-time the more certain they become
of its physical reality. It assumes tangibility, and becomes an
occult mold responsive to the requirements of physical phe-
nomena. Space-time becomes a physically omniscient and
omnipotent governing being which guides unerringly all par-
ticles in their paths through the universe, and controls their
future destiny. The almost tangible ether gives way to this
new Frankenstein of modern physics. The occult space-time
continuum supersedes the more realistic, though equally incon-
sistent, ether. In this new space-time continuum particles
travel by the shortest path. Space-time is like an inflexible
though infinitely responsive mold which eternally creates and
determines the path of particles.
The old Newtonian generalization pertaining to the uni-
versality of gravitation may now be forgotten. The notion of
Newton that every particle in the universe attracts every other
particle in a definite manner, is now obsolete since the Mink-
owski-Einstein space-time continuum makes all this unneces-
sary. No longer must we regard the earth as traveling along
an elliptical orbit about the sun; rather must we think of our
planet as gliding along the thread of a machine screw of
enormous pitch, circulating around the machine screw once
every year while advancing in the direction of its length in a
line which is almost straight. The entire phenomenon of gravi-
tation, in the hands of Einstein, has become a matter of accel-
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 605
eration. The space-time continuum has become curved, and
the curvature has been so arranged that it accounts, according
to Einstein, for the principal effects of gravitation. A ray of
light will travel in the space-time mold in a manner which
allows for the observed effect of gravitation. The cause of the
uniform acceleration is, as held by Einstein, the gravitational
field, whatever that is, in this new theory of relativity. The
question here suggests itself to us, why introduce the term
"gravitational field" at all unless direct use is made of the
concept in the manner of Reuterdahl and his field of inter-
action. The Space-Time Potential of Reuterdahl does every-
thing that Einstein's space-time continuum is supposed to do,
but in a manner that is consistent and intelligible without re-
sorting to impossible concepts like the Minkowski-Einstein
space-time composite.
In connection with the above exposition of Einstein's sub-
stitute for the Newtonian theory of gravitation, it is interesting
to recall a series of articles by "Kinertia," published by
Harper's Weekly during the months of September, October
and November of the year 1914. In these articles "Kinertia"
speaks of the corkscrew path of the Earth and Moon in space,
in fact there is an illustration depicting this type of motion.
In his first article "Kinertia" states: "Years before that
(he refers to his later work) when in England, where some of
our coal mines had vertical shafts about 1,500 feet deep, I
had studied the cause of weight by having the hoisting engine
drop me down with the full acceleration from about 500 feet.
Then, by retardation during the lowest 500 feet, I could expe-
rience increase of weight all over me so marked that my legs
could hardly support me. That taught me that acceleration
was the proximate cause of weight, but at the time of these
experiments I still thought the acceleration of the falling cage
was really caused by the earth's attraction."
The following quotation from Einstein, in view of the
above, is of peculiar interest: "The acceleration of the chest
will be transmitted to him by the reaction of the floor of the
chest. He must, therefore, take up this pressure by means of
his legs if he does not wish to be laid out full length on the
floor." 10
9 Scientific Theism Versus Materialism, the Space-Time Potential, by Anrid
Reuterdahl, p. 124.
10 Relativity, by Albert Einstein, p. 79.
606 RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
An unbiased perusal of Chapter XX. of Einstein's work,
Relativity, when compared with "Kinertia's" articles, which
appeared in the year 1914, will result in only one verdict;
"Kinertia" may justly claim priority over Einstein in so far as
the fundamental tenets of the general theory of relativity is
concerned, which deals more particularly with the phenomenon
of gravitation. Einstein's article, "Die Grundlage der allge-
meinen Relativitatstheorie," which deals with the phenomenon
of gravitation and which is the keystone to his general theory
of relativity, was published March 20, 1916. 11 The "Kinertia"
articles indicate that "Kinertia" discussed these problems as a
student under Lord Kelvin in 1866. "Kinertia's" work is far
superior to that of Einstein in the fact of its direct simplicity.
"Kinertia" did not find it necessary to resort to the fictitious
and impossible space-time four-dimensional continuum in
order to develop the same theory which later was brought out
by Einstein in the elaborate mathematical garb of invariants
and covariants. In the year 1914 Reuterdahl, at the request
of the editor of Harper's Weekly, pointed out the consistent
and inconsistent tenets of "Kinertia's" Theory. The same
criticism applies, at the present time, with added force to the
doctrines of Einstein. The "Kinertia" articles offer food for
thought when considered in connection with the colossal
claims made by Einstein's supporters concerning his almost
super-human originality. In fact, one begins to doubt the
justice of these claims and to wonder if the charges made, by
a fast growing group of German scientists who, like E. Gehrcke,
P. Lenard, and Paul Weyland, hold that Einstein is both a
plagiarist and a sophist, are not, after all, true.
We have done little justice in the above to the rare dia-
lectic skill with which Dr. Einstein has applied his intellectual
anaesthesia to the minds of his readers. All intellectual ob-
structions have been removed, and the reader is prepared to
venture forth boldly into the mysterious realm of "curved"
space whose geometrical properties depend upon the matter
present. This most curious inference of Einstein is the master
stroke in his skillful massing of inconsistent sophistries. We
find Einstein stating: "According to the general theory of
relativity, the geometrical properties of space are not inde-
pendent, but they are determined by matter. Thus we can
u Annalen Der Physik, Verlag Von Johann Ambrosius Earth, Leipzig, 1916.
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 607
draw conclusions about the geometrical structure of the uni-
verse only if we base our considerations on the state of the
matter as being something that is known." 12 This assertion is
a half-truth of high sophistic value, and on a par with the other
half-truths upon which Einstein's system of colossal sophisms
is founded.
In the following we shall endeavor to point out briefly
some of the most evident fallacies of Einstein's Theory of
Relativity outlined in the preceding discussion. For a more
complete discussion of the Einsteinian inconsistencies the
reader is referred to Reuterdahl's new work, entitled The
Fallacies of Einstein, which soon will be published. In this
connection the writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness
to this work for his exposition and criticism of Einstein's
theories.
The reader is adroitly introduced to Einstein's system
of physical metaphysics by a consideration of the relative
merits of two types of truth, the conceptual and the physical or
actual. Einstein, at the outset, proves himself a poor meta-
physician. He does not properly distinguish between truth
and fact. In fact, his entire system is founded upon this error
which bursts forth in every one of his sophistries. Dr. Einstein
might do well to read the work, Truth on Trial, by Dr. Paul
Garus, from which we quote the following: "Truth is not of
the senses but of the mind. The senses never produce either
truth or untruth; it is our faculty of the purely formal (com-
monly called reason) that works out judgments that are either
true or untrue, and we verify these judgments by exactness
in the application of logic, arithmetic, geometry, etc. facts
are always particular, truths are always general; facts are
verified by the senses, truths by the mind; facts change, truths
(if they were ever real truths and not errors) remain true
forever." 13
Einstein's application of the word "truth" to the changing
conditions in objects, is therefore a palpable misnomer of
which he takes undue sophistical advantage. Such changes
in the external world are merely facts. The mind formulates,
classifies, and judges these facts conceptually, thus deriving
what the philosopher means by truth. Consequently, these
1J Relativity, by Albert Einstein, p. 135.
18 Truth on Trial, by Paul Carus, pp. 60, 61.
60S RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE [Feb.,
truths, whether mathematical or logical, are formal or a
priori. Reason is not independent of the external world, but
it is in complete harmony with it because, like a flame, it is
fanned into its full vigor of activity by the winds of environ-
ment. The interaction between intellect and matter is grounded
in the depths of reality. The harmony between both is not an
accidental development growing out of experience. On the
contrary it is rooted in the very cosmos as one of its greatest
verities.
Einstein's entire system is built on the supposition that the
world as given by the senses is, after all, the only world worthy
of consideration. His system depends primarily upon a pos-
teriori knowledge. Geometry must be made to conform with
the behavior of things in the physical universe. We must
correct all our mathematical notions to fit physical conditions.
He supposes, of course, that a discrepancy exists. We deny
this assertion most emphatically. While Einstein is demand-
ing that we fit our geometry to reality, he stands prepared to
foist upon us a conceptually and speculatively made geom-
etry, the non-Euclidean, into agreement with which he tries
to force our real universe. His very speculative product has
no counterpart in reality. Nevertheless, he tries to compel
reality to obey the mandates of this man-made concept. If a
bar in motion is shortened, then our geometry of space must
account for this effect and must be its cause. Real physical
causation becomes ridiculous in the presence of the new intel-
lectual monster geometrical causation.
Every sane scientist admits that allowances must be made
for the particular conditions which exist for every individual
experiment. No sane scientist demands that we must recon-
struct our intellect in order to allow for these variations in
experimental conditions. When Einstein asks us to think our
world in four-dimensional terms he literally requests that we
reconstruct our intellect. Possibly Einstein's intellect has in-
advertently, and because of much consort with imaginary
quantities, been able to attune itself to the weird disharmonies
of a non-existent four-dimensional world. Our intellects are
not so readily reconstructed. If changes occur in physical
bodies when in motion this need not particularly alarm us.
The very structure of a body may be easily changed by the ap-
plication of heat, and hence the sane man does not try to cool
1921.] RELATIVITY OR INTERDEPENDENCE 609
the body by changing his intellect, but uses his intellect in
such a manner that a readjustment of physical conditions is
brought about. The discovery that a ray of light requires more
time to travel over a longer path than over a shorter one, need
not disturb a well-balanced mind. What else can be expected
if light travels at a constant rate under all conditions. It is
remarkable that the astounding discovery that it takes light
longer to travel over a longer path than over a shorter one,
was made by an application of the much despised Euclidean
geometry. Evidently this portion of Einstein's theory is ex-
empt from the effects of his all-pervading space-time. Because
of these things and others which have perturbed the mind of
Einstein, we do not need to turn all our clocks into alarm
clocks.
Is it reasonable to expect that a stationary observer will
record the same results for a moving event as for a stationary
event? A stationary observer can make allowance for the
effects of motion, and reproduce the phenomenon for observa-
tion without resorting to moving clocks for his time record.
Two people can look at each other at the same time, notwith-
standing the fact that a certain distance separates them.
Despite the fact that there is about three hours difference in
physical time between New York and San Francisco, a man in
New York can talk over the telephone to a man in San Fran-
cisco at precisely the same time. Simultaneous events are,
therefore, possible. We need not be surprised that an intellect
which has proved itself capable of such gross crimes against
reason and common sense, feels no hesitancy in asserting that
the geometrical properties of "curved" space depend upon the
matter present. Let us remove the matter entirely from a por-
tion of "curved" space and it follows, according to Einstein,
that the geometrical properties disappear. Pour the water out
of a glass and the geometrical properties of the enclosed space
vanish. Remove the air by a vacuum pump in order to satisfy
still further the condition prescribed. Unfortunately for
Einstein the geometrical properties of the empty space in the
glass cannot be removed by a vacuum pump.
The above brief criticism is intended to be suggestive
rather than exhaustive. The scope of this article has per-
mitted the presentation of only the mere outlines of the
systems of Reuterdahl and Einstein. The first article on the
VOL. cxir. 39
610 1MMACULATA, ORA PRO NOB1S [Feb.,
Special fheory of Relativity was published by Einstein in
1905. 14 Reuterdahl first presented an outline of his Theory of
Interdependence in 1902, thus antedating Einstein's first article
by three years. 15
Einstein has stated : "If any deduction from it (the theory
of relativity) should prove untenable, it must be given up. A
modification of it seems impossible without destruction of the
whole." 16
If this article has indicated to the reader that by that
statement Einstein has, perhaps, signed the death warrant of
his Theory of Relativity, the writer shall feel that part of his
purpose has been accomplished.
IMMACULATA, ORA PRO NOBIS.
BY EMILY HICKEY.
A FATHER'S little children disobeyed
His household laws, and grieved him very sore;
And they, having grieved him, grieved, and so no more
Was the old joyaunce by the children made.
Because their hearts away from him had strayed,
(Never his heart from them), they did implore
One sister who was love to the heart's core
To ask their pardon, they ashamed, afraid.
She went, and love-like, looked up to his face,
Saying, Forgive them! And the father smiled
Upon his one love-perfect little child.
1 give thee thy sweet prayer, O full of grace:
I pardon them, My dove, My undeflled:
I set My children in their old dear place.
"Annalen Dcr Physik, September 27, 1905.
15 Transactions of the American Electrochemical Society, April 5, 1902.
18 "Time, Space, and Gravitation," article in Science, January 2, 1920, p. 10.
THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL.
BY F. MOYNIHAN.
T is now six hundred years since Dante died at
Ravenna. During that time his legend has grown
apace, and his Divina Commedia has become the
heritage of mankind. True to the surname of its
author Alighieri, the Wing-bearer his aerial
song has not dipped its pinion, but has kept its steady flight
through the ages. Taking all truth for his province he, Dur-
ante, the enduring one, has been able "to look Time's leaguer
down." This he has accomplished by a genius which com-
passed heaven and earth in the oneness of the Divine Idea, and
by an artistry that sounded all the stops of human nature. He
is numbered with the great world-poets with Homer and
Virgil, in whom is mirrored the glory that was Greece, and the
grandeur that was Rome. He out visions the frigid Puritanism
of Milton, and he supplements Shakespeare, the poet of the
secular world. And as the poet of Christendom, he transcends
them all by virtue of his plenary inspiration which envisages
the natural and the supernatural in a synthesis that is the root-
conception of the Universe. His Sacred Poem, "to which
heaven and earth set their hand," is the title-deed of a fame
that has survived the rise and fall of empires, and that will
last until the trump of doom shall sound the passing of mor-
tality.
The keynote of the Divina Commedia is struck in the first
canto of the Paradiso, which sings the glory of God. There is
enunciated the Eternal Law by which all created things con-
form to the Divine Excellence, after which they are patterned,
by fulfilling the conditions of their being. Love is the prin-
ciple "whereby God draws back to Himself all creatures that
He has made whether inanimate, sensitive, or rational by
the tendencies or inclinations He has given them to seek the
end for which they were ordered and disposed." To this final
end of creation nature tends of itself by virtue of the laws that
govern its operations; to this tend the heavens by their orderly
revolutions; to this the angels by their ministry and govern-
612 THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL [Feb.,
ance. In man alone are God's purposes set at naught by means
of his free-will which may follow after "unreal semblances of
Good." This deordination of human love from God, its true
Goal and Object, introduces a discord into the cosmos of exist-
ence, and necessitates the suffering, temporary or eternal,
which is the inevitable penalty of sin. Inasmuch as mortal sin
unrepented of involves a willful aversion from the Supreme
Good, it condemns the sinner to an eternity of misery the
theme of the Inferno. The process of purification whereby are
purged away the remains of sin which, after the guilt is for-
given, still adhere in the soul because of its devotion to a
perishable good, forms the subject of the Purgatorio. In
the Paradiso is contemplated the union of the justified soul
with God, its Author, in the ineffable joy of the Beatific Vision.
Midway in his career, Dante finds himself astray in a dark
wildwood, his onward course barred by the leopard of sen-
suality, the lion of ambition, and the wolf of cupidity. To
teach him a way of avoidance, and to lead him to the Delect-
able Mountain, Virgil, the embodiment of Human Philosophy,
is recalled from Limbo to show him the fate of the lost. He
is summoned at the instance of Beatrice Portinari, the lady
enskyed and sainted, whose ideal beauty and goodness had
become for Dante the means of ascent to the love of God.
Having as his guide, then, Virgil, whose vision of Hades he
interprets in terms of Christian thought, our poet descends the
spiral circles of Hell, over which preside the demons of pagan
mythology. On the portals of the citta dolente is writ the
divine rescript that decreed its existence:
Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. 1
There are three grand divisions of this nether world in
which the vices that comprise human wrong-doing, viz., incon-
tinence, violence, and malice, are expiated by modes of pun-
ishment corresponding to their enormity. Of these the last,
being sins of the mind and peculiar to the rational nature of
man, are the most flagitious. The Inferno depicts the hideous
consequences of these vices in a series of physical images that
body forth their moral turpitude. The penalties meted out to
the wicked symbolize the character of their various crimes.
1 Inferno, Canto iii., 4-6.
1921.] THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL 613
It is the fate of the sinner that he must live forever in the
moral hell of his sin, which becomes its own Nemesis. Thus
the victims of lawless desire, Paolo and Francesca, are whirled
round eternally in the blasts that typify their own gusty passions.
The sullen are sunk in the fumes of their own distempered
humor. Hypocrites go tricked out in the gilded, leaden mantles
of their sanctimony. Heretics, like Farinata and Frederic II.,
who denied the immortality of the soul, are encased in the
fiery tombs of their hopeless infidelity. Judas and his kind are
pent in the icy abandonment of their cold-blooded treachery.
Rarely does any sentiment of pity interpose to mitigate the
moral inexorableness that prompted these judgments. Only in
the ruthful episodes of Francesca da Rimini, of Count Ugolino,
and Pietro delle Vigne, is Dante's heart intenerated by the
doubtful doom of humankind.
In bold, sweeping strokes Dante paints the background of
this fuliginous Under-world. His genius is the golden bough
that makes us free of its secrecies. With him we journey by
the sad wave of Acheron and hear the alii guai of the damned.
We descry through the murky air the lurid mosques of the
city of Dis, and blench at the eldritch shrieks of the fiends
and the Furies who would deny entrance into their citadel.
We hearken to the boiling of the river of blood as
Phlegethon runs hurtling down unplumbed abysses. We
scale toilfully the beetling crags that wall in the cloisters of
Malebolge. We cower beneath the impending bulk of the
giant, Antaeus, as he looms above us like the leaning tower of
Garisenda. We tread the realms of thick-ribbed ice the dun-
geon of Lucifer where Ugolino gnaws forever the skull of
Ruggieri. About us is the fetid atmosphere of sin, charged
with the nameless abominations of the reprobate. The only
respite from these horrors is the occasional inset of natural
landscape some pastoral of Italian uplands, some idyll of the
Casentine's cool runnels, or Ulysses' sea-faring that gratefully
relieves the calenture bred by the mephitic reek of Hell.
Emerging from the shades of Hell into the light of the sun
and stars, Dante enters on the via purgatiua of salvation. On
the seven terraces that girdle the conical Mound of Purgatory
the penitent souls are purified from the remains of the seven
deadly sins. Cato of Utica, the type of liberty, is the custodian
of the Mount where moral freedom is regained by a discipline
614 THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL [Feb.,
in rightly ordered love. Love may err through an evil objec-
tive and issue in Pride, Envy, Anger; spiritual Sloth is due to
defective love; excessive love of material things begets Avar-
ice, Gluttony, Luxury. The modes of purification are those
symbolized by the Angel with the keys who keeps ward by the
gate of Purgatory viz., Contrition, Confession, and Satisfac-
tion. The spirits humbly avow their sins, rejoice in the reme-
dial pains of their sufferings, and make reparation by rehears-
ing memorable examples of their faults, and instances of the
opposite virtue, pictured them from Christian and pagan lore.
The proud go bent beneath the burden of heavy stones; the
envious lean helplessly on each other, their eyelids sutured with
iron wire; the angry grope their way through clouds of pun-
gent smoke; the covetous lie abject, face to earth; the glut-
tonous are wasted with hunger and thirst; the incontinent are
chastened with searing flames of fire.
Dante shares in their penance, and vies with them in the
practice of the Beatitudes by doing justice to his political and
personal enemies. Angevin and Hohenstaufen, Guelf and
Ghibelline are admitted to a place in his Purgatorio without
reference to his prepossessions. Wherefore, when he has com-
pleted the rounds of penitence, and the last stigma of sin is
effaced from his brow, he is crowned and mitred by Virgil as
lord of himself in perfect moral liberty. He now enters the
bosky pleasance of the Earthly Paradise at the summit of the
Mount, where Beatrice, the figure of Divine Revelation, mani-
fests herself to him in a pageant of the Church Militant. He
is ministered to by Matilda, model of the glorified active life,
who renews and quickens his moral being in the streams of
Lethe and Eunoe. Thus is he rendered "puro e disposto a salir
alle stelle." 2
The Purgatorio is the most winningly human part of the
Divina Commedia. It abounds in exquisite artistic sketches
cameos imaged from the classics and Holy Writ; vignettes of
land and sea, wood and river; delicate nocturnes of Italian
hamlets with their
.... squilla di lontano
Che paid il giorno pianger che si muore. 3
2 "Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars." Purgatorio, Canto xxxiii., 145.
s " from far away a bell
That seemeth to deplore the dying day."
Purgalorio, Canto viii., 5, 6.
1921.] THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL 615
Many an engaging portrait is limned in its pages the
knightly troubadour, Sordello; the intriguing sluggard, Belac-
qua; the modest person of Nella; the lovely, wailing figure of
La Pia. The poem is instinct with the spirit of aspiration, of
loving-kindness, of angelic visitings, of Divine clemency. That
the Goodness of God has wide arms of mercy is vouched for
by the salvation of King Manfred and Buonconte (by virtue of
"una lagrimetta") at the last; by the redemption of the Em-
peror Trajan because of his good deed; by the conversion of
the poet, Statius, through his reading of Virgil. Nowhere else
is the state of suffering souls so vividly realized, nor the Cath-
olic doctrine of the Communion of Saints so well authenticated
as in their constant pleas for intercession of the faithful.
The Purgatorio is also the most autobiographic of the
books. It gives us a sense of intimacy with Dante's personality
in its strength and tenderness, and with the secrets of his art :
"I am one who when Love inspires me, take note; and, in that
manner which he dictates within, go signifying." It introduces
us to the circle of his friends: Forese Donati; the musician,
Casella; the painter, Giotto; Guido Guinicelli, his master in the
"dolce stil nuovo." It stresses his political creed neither
Guelf nor Ghibelline which recognized the Pope as the spir-
itual, and the Emperor as the temporal, head of the Roman
Empire. And in that poignant scene of his humbling by Bea-
trice, because he forsook her memory for false earthly loves,
it marks the climax of his human drama which is to be resolved
only in the quiring symphonies of Paradise.
As Dante, in the company of Beatrice, who "imparadised
his mind," speeds from the lowest to the highest of the Ptole-
maic heavens, ruled over by the angelic hierarchy, he traverses
the via illuminativa of divine knowledge. The fullness of
knowledge ending in the ecstatic vision of God, thus becomes
the substance of the Paradiso. It is, as it were, a new Apoc-
alypse wherein through the medium of light, motion, music,
he seeks to shadow forth the glories of the supernal world. In
the various heavenly spheres which accord with the degree and
mode of their beatitude, the spirits of the blessed assume sen-
sible form, and initiate him into the arcana of the divine
science. The mysteries of Predestination, of the Godhead, of
the Redemption; the exalted dignity of the Blessed Virgin; the
creation of the angels; the problems of grace and free-will
616 THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL [Feb.,
are the staple of their teaching. The spirit of medievalism is
everywhere operant in the conception and imagery. Piccarda
Donati in the Heaven of the Moon teaches the unison of the
Blessed in perfect charity with the Will of God, which is the
law of their being:
E la sua voluntade & nostra pace.*
In the Heaven of the Sun the great Doctors of the Church, St.
Thomas and St. Bonaventure, discourse the praises of St. Fran-
cis of Assisi, and St. Dominic. From the gleaming cross of
living lights composed of the warrior-saints in Mars, Caccia-
guida lessons his descendant in the fortitude which must stead
him in the wanderings of his exile :
Thou shalt have proof how savoureth of salt
The bread of others, and how hard a road
The going down and up another's stairs. 5
The just rulers who constitute the golden Eagle of the Heaven
of Jupiter, voice the divine sanctions of the Roman Empire,
and its right governance.
Beyond the Heaven of Saturn, where meditate the mon-
astic contemplatives, lies the last stage of Dante's pilgrimage.
He is examined in the three theological virtues by the Apostles,
Peter, James and John. Then, after viewing the Primum
Mobile circling in movements of seraphic love of God, Dante,
under the auspices of the great mystic, St. Bernard, enters the
via unitiva of the Empyrean. There he beholds the sainted
hosts of the heavenly court (among them his patronesses,
Lucia and Beatrice), queened over by Mary, Mother of God,
in the semblance of the great White Rose of Paradise. By
virtue of St. Bernard's superb canticle of intercession to the
Blessed Virgin, Dante obtains the grace of the Beatific Vision.
With eyes euphrasied by the lumen glorite, he gazes on the
Divine Exemplar in Whom is resumed the essence of all
created things. He contemplates the Triune God, and appre-
hends mysteries which "eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive." Then his
vision ends, consummated in the blessedness of "the Love that
moves the Sun and all the stars."
Dante's poem reflects the drama of a soul that came
through much tribulation from the human to the divine, from
"And His will is our peace." Paradise, Canto iii., 85.
*Paradiso, Canto xvii., 58-60.
1921.] THE POET OF THE SUPERNATURAL 617
time to eternity. It is the product of a finely tempered nature,
"impressionable in every guise," through the alembic of whose
genius things earthly are sublimated into their heavenly values,
and Christian truth is distilled from pagan lore. It records the
discipline by which the youthful troubadour of love was les-
soned into the Christian stoicism and mysticism of the Diuina
Commedia. For Dante is at once poet and philosopher, Scho-
lastic and mystic, Aristotelian in mind and Platonist at heart.
He has the Scholastic acumen and the mystic insight to sift
the material that nature and life present to the senses, and to
disengage its spiritual content. He has the faculty of moral
vision that pierces through the show of things, and lays bare
the soul of men and cities. He has the Stoic gravitas, and the
fine impatience of the worldly concerns men waste their lives
upon:
The heavens are calling you, and wheel around you,
Displaying to you their eternal beauties,
And still your eye is looking on the ground;
Whence He, Who all discerns, chastises you. 6
"To Heaven" is the concert of his many-voiced poem, as it
ranges on, heedless of aught else. Especially today is its ethos
invaluable to us amid the human predicament of life when the
freedom of the will is impugned, personal responsibility dis-
counted, and the sense of the supernatural well nigh lost. It
lifts us from the low levels of a soulless materialism into the
serene altitudes of an art piercing with all its spirings of utter-
ance into the infinite.
It was the dream of Dante that one day "with other voice,
with other fleece" he would return to Florence, and there at the
Baptistry of his beloved San Giovanni be wreathed with the
laurel crown. His frustrate hope has been retrieved by the
suffrages of the ages which accord him the title : il divino poeta.
He is the Virgil of the Roma Immortalis, the city of God,
"whereof Christ is Roman." His Commedia has been called
the swan-song of Scholasticism; it exemplifies rather the power
of the wing, the flight of the eagle: those who today enter into
its secret places can feel upon them the impulsion of its spirit,
and can still hear beating through the clear, cold air "the
mighty pulse of the eagle's wings as he soars with steady eyes
against the Sun."
Purgatorio, Canto xiv., 148-157.
THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS.
BY A. B. W. WOOD.
I.
FTRST became a factor in their lives in the spring
of 1918. At that time I was chaplain to the 5th
Canadian Infantry Brigade. This was part of the
2d Canadian Division which was holding the
Mercatel sector south of Arras. Crawford, the
man in the case, had just succeeded to the command of B
Company of the 23d Battalion, with the rank of Captain.
There was no special activity in progress down there for the
time being, but every week or so one or other of the battalions
would carry out a raid on the enemy trenches. These were
small affairs in themselves and attracted little attention. At
the same time they meant a great deal to those taking part in
them. I could never see the real use of them. I felt the small
results obtained were not worth the danger involved but
that was none of my business.
My permanent quarters were with the Quartermaster of
the 23d. I would visit the battalions of the Brigade regularly,
and was always expected to be at the regimental aid post with
the doctor when a raid was in progress.
I received word one day that a party from D Company of
the 23d was to carry out a raid the following evening, and
that Crawford was to be in charge. I was sorry to hear it.
Crawford was one of my best officers. He was an exemplary
Catholic, and exercised a wonderful influence over the men.
The possibility of losing him disturbed me. I had come to
look upon it as almost a rule of warfare that the best men
were practically bound to be killed. But Crawford was a new-
comer to the Battalion, and the Colonel thought he should be
given a chance to distinguish himself. It was true that if he
came through safely and did well, his influence would be in-
creased; but it meant a frightful risk.
On these occasions I used to go up with the transport in
the evening. I remember that evening well. It was the close
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 619
of a delightful spring day. I could not help enjoying the ride
through the country lanes past the sweet-smelling hedges
ablaze with a riot of untrammeled blossom, radiant in the
last golden glow of the setting sun. Overhead a lark was pant-
ing her farewell to the dying day. But still I was depressed
with foreboding; these things struck me as nature's protest
against the hovering spirit of destruction. When after sunset
we entered the danger zone, I was not surprised to hear the
whine of a shell overhead and to catch a poisonous whiff,
which sent us into a headlong gallop, tugging at our gas-masks
as we went.
I went down to report to the Colonel and, incidentally,
protested against Crawford's participation in the raid. The
Colonel looked at me with impatient surprise. "What's the
matter with you, Padre?" he asked, "you ought to know by this
time that this is no game we are taking part in. He must take
his chance like the rest of us!" I said, I supposed so, and just
then Crawford came in to make his final report. He looked a
queer figure. His face and hands were blackened to make
them less conspicuous, and his smart officer's tunic was re-
placed by the ill-fitting garment of a private; three miscrocopic
stars on the shoulder-straps alone denoted his rank. As was
to be expected, he made use of the opportunity to go to con-
fession and receive Holy Communion; I always carried the
Blessed Sacrament on my person in those days. He had no
delusions about his prospects; he knew the business too well.
He prepared himself for everything.
It was then that I first heard about the lady. He re-
quested me, in case anything should happen to him, to take a
pocket-book which he had in the top left-hand pocket of his
tunic and send it to a Miss Rita Walsh at an address in Halifax.
He gave me no further information about her, and did not
seem inclined to; I did not press him. I took the address, told
him that I hoped I should never have to use it, and with a
fervent "God bless you" left him.
I went over to the aid-post, and found the doctor bustling
around making his preparations. His clinic was a very good
specimen of its kind. At the entrance the trench ran into a
tunnel. One side of this was excavated to make an ante-
chamber about twenty feet square. This was designed to give
protection to the stretcher cases waiting for treatment, and to
620 $ THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
those dealt with and waiting for the ambulance. Congestion
was thus avoided both in the trench and in the operating-
room. Two stairways led from the ante-chamber down below,
one for the entrance, the other for the exit. The entrance
stair went down about forty feet and opened into a large
waiting room, where the walking cases could be dealt with;
in case of a rush, stretchers could be placed there, too. Then
came the operating room proper provided with wooden frames
to accommodate four stretchers; this opened on to the living
quarters of the doctor and his assistants, from which the exit
stair led again to the ante-chamber above. The whole was
very adequately protected against anything less than a high
explosive shell.
The doctor was an old friend of mine, and greeted me
warmly. With him was a stranger, a Staff Major of the Royal
Army Medical Corps by his badges. He looked a person of
great distinction, as indeed he was. His name was Wharton;
at home he was professor of surgery at one of the great
London colleges of medicine. He had discovered a method
of preserving human blood in such a way that it could be
carried into the front line, and transfused into a casualty as
soon as he arrived at the aid-post. The advantage of this was
evident. It was almost impossible to practise transfusion from
a living subject up there; many a man died before reaching
a point where it could be arranged. If the scheme were prac-
ticable, it opened up the prospect of saving a whole class of
lives hitherto regarded as doomed. At that time he was visit-
ing the aid-post of every battalion projecting a raid, with a
view to proving the efficacy of his method and so persuading
the Government to arrange for its universal adoption.
We spent some time in conversation. At one o'clock, the
zero hour, a dull rumble overhead told us that the barrage had
opened up. We could not talk much after that. Our sole
thought was the welfare of the hundred men crawling through
the barbed wire on No Man's Land. We could do nothing but
wait. I said my beads. We grew really anxious when three
hours passed without a sign from above.
We were a long way back, and it took some time to get
the wounded down to us. They came finally, however. First
there were about twenty walking cases: then arrived a Ger-
man officer on a stretcher, heralded by the sound of many
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 621
groans and guttural exclamations; and, lastly, a case, the sight
of which at once absorbed all my interest and brought a sud-
den catch to my throat. It was Crawford; he looked so pale
that at first I took him for dead. His face showed white under
the partially rubbed-off black covering, and his lips were color-
less. I bent over him; he was still breathing, but it was plain
that he had almost reached the limit of his physical resources.
He was bleeding from a bad shell-wound in the shoulder.
The first aid men had done their best, but without success.
The jolting of the stretcher, especially around the awkward
corners of the communication trench, had aggravated the
trouble. Whatever was to be done must be done quickly.
This was just the sort of case for which our Professor was
waiting. After one glance at Crawford, he began his prepara-
tions. Quickly he tested the patient's blood to ascertain his
type, selected a flask of blood from a corresponding donor and
began the work of replacing the lost vitality. Meanwhile the
regimental surgeon cleansed the wound and stopped the loss.
Everyone in the dugout followed the* proceedings with the
keenest interest; the operation was a novelty; all could appre-
ciate its importance. Besides that, every fighting man there
was from Crawford's company, except the German. Even he
was curious; he called me over and asked for an explanation
of what was going on. I told him, and he uttered an exclama-
tion of astonishment and admiration. "Sie haben dock
wunderbare Wunddrzte!"* he said; he seemed vastly relieved
at the discovery.
Very gradually the faintest tinge of color showed in Craw-
ford's cheeks; I had washed off the black coating, and he began
to look a little less ghastly. He opened his eyes and looked
straight into mine. "They got me, Father!" he whispered.
Then he stirred, but a stab of pain from the shoulder made
him wince, and for a moment the faintness returned. I still
felt that the operation was too novel for its success to be taken
for granted. Ordinarily, Crawford would have no sort of a
chance. I whispered in his ear that if he would make an act
of contrition, I would absolve and anoint him. Poor chap!
But a few hours ago he had made a full confession of his life
in preparation for just such a possibility as this.
In a moment or two he gained sufficient strength to let me
1 "You have wonderful surgeons, then!"
622 , THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
know that he had made the act of contrition. He closed his
eyes and his lips moved silently. Then he beckoned ever so
slightly with his head to indicate that he wished to speak to me.
"Father! . . . don't . . . neglect . . . the case . . . for . . .
Rita! Top . . . left-hand . . . pocket." The orderlies had
ripped off the tunic. I found the case, and showed it to him.
"Ask . . . the . . . boys ... to ... pray . . . for me," he went
on. Then he gave me a message for his father, spoke of the
rest of his family, and remembered a few outstanding debts.
I was to tell his father of these.
The Colonel came in just then. He hurried down as soon
as he heard the news. He had been told that Crawford was
dead, and was relieved to find that it was not so. At the same
time the outlook seemed serious enough. The Colonel began
to blame himself for sending Crawford up. He whispered an
apology into his ear. Crawford smiled, and shook his head.
After all, it was only a question of duty both for the Colonel
and himself.
The Major continued all this time to pour preserved blood
into the wounded officer out of his little brown flasks. I did
not notice how much was used. Each bottle held a pint. I
saw a change made several times, so that the quantity must
have been considerable. After about an hour and a half he
pronounced the patient out of immediate danger; he was still
weak, but by that time could talk without great difficulty.
Soon it was announced that the ambulance was ready. I
should have liked to travel down with him, but my work was
not yet finished. As I wished him "Godspeed!" I still felt
dubious about seeing him again. I kept the pocketbook and
jotted down his messages. I would wait for further news
before sending them. There was no need to shock his family
and friends until it was certain that he had gone.
Of course, he did not die; he recovered pretty rapidly. I
wrote to him later to know what to do with the pocketbook.
He asked me to keep it until we should meet again; he pre-
ferred not to have it intrusted to the tender mercies of the
field post. I stored it away among my treasures in my altar
case, and there the matter rested for the time being.
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 623
II.
I stayed with that brigade through the late spring and
early summer; then I received unexpected orders to report for
duty at the McKenzie General Hospital at Boulogne. I was
not at all pleased at the change. I had grown to love the work
in the line; it was full of interest and excitement. Hospital
work would be more impersonal and less satisfying. But there
was no choice; I had to go.
McKenzie was a large hospital with about two thousand
beds. It was installed in huts, occupying a large area. It took
me some time to get around these and make the acquaintance
of the staff.
Although such a big establishment, it lacked a Catholic
chapel. I found the only place where I could offer my daily
Mass was a garret in the roof of the only stone building there.
The first morning I had a small congregation, consisting of a
nurse and one or two patients in their grotesque blue uniforms.
After Mass the nurse introduced herself as Sister Walsh.
She was a cheery little thing, with typical black eyes and hair
and red cheeks; she told me she was attached to the femur
ward, and invited me to come and see her.
Her name conveyed nothing to me then; it was only later
when I called at the Matron's office for the list of names of the
Catholic nurses that I found her Christian name to be Rita and
her home, Halifax. At once the recollection of a commission
intrusted to me for a certain Rita Walsh of Halifax flashed
across my mind. Her complete home address was noted on the
Registrar's file. It was the same as that given me by Crawford.
It struck me at once as strange that Crawford had seemed
so deeply interested in her and yet did not seem to know that
she was in the service. Her card gave her record. She was
in England when he first spoke to me of her; she had been
over four months.
That evening, as soon as I decently could after dinner,
I left the mess room and went over to the femur ward to get
my curiosity satisfied, if possible. I found Rita sitting in her
little office at the end of the hut. She offered me the remains
of a chair, and turned towards me with a pleasant smile.
"How do you like the hospital after the Fifth Brigade?"
she asked.
624 THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
Somehow, I was startled a little at the question; she
knew where I had come from. I had not quite expected
that.
I said I had not yet had time to settle down. No doubt, I
should like it well enough after I was accustomed to the place
and the work.
As a rule, I found it sufficiently easy to be affable with
people: this time, however, I felt distinctly ill at ease. I
could not bring myself to put to this self-possessed little
person the question that was uppermost in my mind. My
tongue seemed tied. I imagined that she was aware of my
distress and was inwardly amused at it. She had a book on her
knee; for a moment or two she sat silent, running her fingers
through its pages.
Finally, I made an effort, pulled myself together and
blurted out my question.
"Sister," I said. "Do you, by any chance, know Captain
Myles Crawford?"
The roses on her cheeks glowed just a little more bril-
liantly. She continued fumbling with her book and did not
look up; but she answered quite calmly:
"Yes, Father, I know him very well. I have known him
for some years."
"Did you know that he was badly wounded?"
"Yes, but I heard a day or two ago that he is already out of
hospital and practically well again."
This astounded me. I took it for granted that it meant
that she was corresponding with him. Yet Crawford told me
to write to Halifax and, although he had written to me several
times, had made no reference to her.
"Do you hear from him often?" I went on.
She became more serious and answered in a whisper:
"Why no, Father; I do not think he would dream of
writing to me."
This gave a new aspect to the situation. I knew very
well that Crawford, a few weeks before, during what we be-
lieved to be his last moments, had been dreaming persistently
of writing to this young woman or of getting me to write for
him. Now it appeared that she knew nothing of this state of
his mind.
I was at a loss what to do or say next. The matter was
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 625
clearly not my affair. My mere curiosity gave me no right to
demand details; but there was a complication somewhere.
She relieved the tension by jumping up and inviting me
to see the ward. The subject was dismissed for the time being.
A femur ward with its long rows of scaffolding from which
hang wooden troughs containing broken arms and legs em-
bedded in plaster, is always a curious sight. Her ward was
very full. She took me faithfully from bed to bed. She had a
cheerful word for every man and seemed to be very popular.
I found a few men whom I knew, and made some appoint-
ments for confession and Holy Communion the next morning.
After we had gone the round she invited me back to the
office for tea. By this time we were on excellent terms. I was
not very surprised when, under her deft guidance, the con-
versation drifted again towards Crawford. She knew all about
him, his standing in the 23d, his promotion to the command of
his company and, finally, his wound and the treatment that
had saved his life. She knew Major Wharton. He had lec-
tured in the hospital recently and cited Crawford's case in
illustration. Still she insisted on my telling the story as I
knew it. I described the scene with every detail I could think
of. I said nothing though of the pocketbook and Crawford's
last message.
Then she began to tell me something of what she knew of
him. They met in Montreal when she was training. I learned
then that he had broken off his course in medicine to enlist.
Her eyes glowed with enthusiastic admiration as she talked of
him. She described his conscientiousness and gentleness, his
promise of a great career so seriously hindered by his enlist-
ment. I made up my mind that if ever a girl loved a man,
Rita loved Crawford.
I thought it odd that she did not ask me how I came to
associate her with him. Never once did she speak of any
personal relation between them, nor did she attempt to discover
from me anything that he might have said concerning her.
She asked innumerable questions about the externals of his
life, but kept strictly to them. I concluded that she had
adopted a definite policy with regard to him and was following
it rigidly.
I found out at what convalescent home Crawford was
staying and wrote telling him that I had met her. His answer
VOL. CXII. 40
626 f THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
was as unsatisfactory as my talks with her. "I heard you had
gone to McKenzie," he wrote, "and supposed you would meet
Miss Walsh. The nurses in my hospital told me she had come
over and was working there. Give her my best regards when
you see her. I am a McKenzie man, you know, and studied
with her. I doubt if she would be particularly interested in the
contents of the pocketbook under the circumstances. No
doubt, we shall meet before long. Please keep it till then, if
it is not asking too much of you."
I began to get impatient. Here were two young people
obviously wrapped up in one another, obviously made for one
another, who insisted, as it seemed, to me perversely, on re-
maining apart. I almost made up my mind that the thing was
so ridiculous as to call for direct action. Then I decided it
was dangerous to meddle with a love affair. Nature must take
her course.
III.
Rita's career at Boulogne came to an end about two
months after I first met her. It happened this way.
The most unpleasant feature of hospital life was the re-
currence of air raids. They took place continuously through-
out the summer. For some time we fortunately escaped imme-
diate damage; and then one night our turn came.
We all heard the "swish," and instinctively threw our-
selves on to the ground. When the bomb exploded, it seemed
as though the whole place must be shattered. Glass splinters
were falling everywhere; when, after a moment or two, we
found ourselves still alive, we were almost dumbfounded with
surprise. I started out at once to look for the centre of the
damage, as I knew I should be wanted. The bomb had struck
just outside the femur ward. The end wall was thrown down;
the eight end beds were buried under the debris; the unfor-
tunate occupants were killed outright. The moonlight stream-
ing in showed the rest of the ward in hopeless confusion. The
beds adjoining those buried were overturned. All had been
displaced: the framework from which the broken limbs were
hung was everywhere thrown down. The men were in agony;
some were clutching at the troughs holding their casts, trying
to rearrange them. One man, near the door, was lying on the
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 627
ground with his broken cast twisted over his body; not one
had his dressings intact.
I found Nurse Rita already busy with the unfortunate man
on the floor. She gave him an injection of morphine. As soon
as the drug took effect she replaced his twisted broken limbs
as far as possible and got him ready for the stretcher-bearers.
Soon a number of willing hands arrived on the scene; the first
case was hurried off to the operating-room. Rita busied her-
self with one after another. In the operating-room every
doctor, who had any gift at all for surgery, was hard at work.
While the patients were being dealt with there, Rita prepared
fresh beds for them in another hut, supervised the erection of
the framework over each bed for the newly set limbs and saw
to it that all was in readiness on their return. Outside the raid
still continued; all this work was done in the faint moonlight
to the accompaniment of the drone of the enemy -aeroplanes
and the pounding of the anti-aircraft guns. One by one, the
sorely tried men were brought back to their beds and settled,
as far as could be, in comfort. Rita was unceasing in her
activity and thoughtfulness.
With the last of the redressed cases came the Colonel to
inspect the new arrangements. Rita had assumed full respon-
sibility for these; the authorities had been so busy with the
immediate treatment of the men that they had not given a
thought to the ward. The Matron accompanied the Colonel;
she had just realized that one of her nurses had been exposed
to a certain amount of danger. They found the ward looking
almost as if nothing had ever happened to it. By this time the
raid was over, and the lights were on.
Roth Colonel and Matron went over to the ward nurse to
congratulate her on her work. It was then that we first noticed
that an unauthorized circle of faint red decorated the upper
part of her white apron. She smiled as the Colonel spoke to
her, and was just about to reply when suddenly she collapsed
on the floor in a dead faint. In a moment the Matron was
down beside her. It was then discovered that Sister Rita was
wounded. Apparently she had managed, by changing her
apron from time to time, to hide the fact that the front of her
light blue uniform was deeply stained with blood. She was
taken at once to the operating-room, where but a few minutes
before the men she was providing for had been treated. There
628 THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
we found that a piece of the bomb had hit her above the breast.
Apparently she had stanched the blood, and herself placed a
temporary dressing on the wound.
The surgeons were disturbed by the problem how it had
been possible for her to keep up at all with such a wound.
After a great deal of discussion we decided that we were in the
presence of one of those cases of the triumph of the mind over
the body, often heard of in war time. The excitement and the
absolute need of her services must have driven all thought of
pain out of her head. She told us afterwards that she did not
realize she was hit until she actually found herself in bed
after the wound was dressed.
This discovery made of her a heroine. The whole hospital
united to do her honor. The Matron herself nursed her, the
Colonel undertook her surgical care, and every member of the
staff tried to find some way to be of service to her. A person
who could carry on for two hours after receiving a wound that
would lay out an ordinary individual, could not be made too
much of.
She remained the star patient of the hospital for a week.
There was no accommodation there for sick nurses; they were
sent, as a rule, to a special hospital at Wimereux; but there
would have been a mutiny at McKenzie if she had been re-
moved that week. When the excitement died down, the Col-
onel decided that the very natural sentiment regarding her
must give way to the practical needs of the hospital. He ar-
ranged for her to be evacuated to England; and in spite of a
good deal of murmuring, to England she went.
Her departure was a triumph. The ambulance which took
her away was a mass of flowers; the whole staff, together with
every patient who could stand either alone or with assistance,
assembled to shout and wave their last good wishes. I went
down to the boat with her to impress upon the staff there the
importance of their new patient. Her fame had preceded her;
everyone was interested in the girl who had defied a wound to
hinder her until her work was done. I saw her comfortably
settled and went back to the hospital to report progress.
The Colonel recommended her for the Victoria Cross, but,
after all, her achievement was not quite up to the standard of
bravery required for that venerable decoration. She eventually
received the Military Medal.
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 629
IV.
My leave came through a few days after. I was grateful
for this as I had been in France for a year and needed a
change. Moreover, the air raids of the previous weeks had
upset me. I went over by the afternoon boat the same day as
the warrant arrived; early in the evening I was in London.
I went down to a friend's house in Kensington, where I
was to stay; from there I telephoned the convalescent hospital
at Hammersmith for news of Crawford. I learned that he
was discharged and was on leave, preparatory to returning to
France. It was too late to make any further effort to find him
that day. I spent a quiet evening with my friends.
The next morning I went to the Bank of Montreal in
Waterloo Place, first, to draw some money and then to see if
I might not run across somebody who could give me news of
Crawford. I met a number of men whom I knew, of course,
but nobody who had seen him lately. Then I went down to
the Automobile Club in Pall Mall and ran into him in the
vestibule.
He seemed extraordinarily fit; he was a new man. He
ran over and seized both my hands.
"How about it, Padre?" he said. "Isn't old Wharton a
trump with his pickled blood?"
I agreed that the "pickled blood," as he called it, certainly
had done wonders for him. He said he had tried to find out
whose blood it was that he had received; it appeared that was
impossible. Major Wharton kept particulars of the type but,
like a true scientist, took no interest in the individual.
"I don't even know if it was a woman or a man to whom
I owe my life;" he went on. "The only unsatisfactory thing
about that pickled stuff is that it is so beastly impersonal. I
really think Wharton might keep some record of the people he
gets it from, so that his patients can know to whom they are
indebted."
"I don't know," I answered. "The blood might be some-
times taken from queer people. Suppose you had to go down
to Dartmoor and fervently thank some murderer for saving
your life."
"Oh, well," he said. "I'd like to know anyway. So long
as his blood was healthy, nothing else would matter much. I
630 j THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
hardly think a man's character is transfused with his blood!
There would have been some strange mix-ups in this War if it
was. When did you get over?"
"Last night," I replied. "I have fourteen days of freedom.
What are you doing? Can't we be off together somewhere?"
"No," he said. "It's too bad, but the very next tomorrow
that ever is sees me starting once more for the 23d Battalion.
I'm just busy getting my truck together."
I was silent for a moment. I looked at him again; then the
sight of him was blotted out by the vision of a young girl lying
pale and silent in a hospital ward a mile or two from there.
I knew that the one thing she longed for was just to see this
radiant young man. I was convinced further that the young
man was by no means indifferent to her if he would listen to
his heart. Then I came to a sudden conclusion. I would settle
this thing.
"Do you know Rita Walsh is in town?" I asked him.
"Is she?" he replied with studied indifference. "On leave,
I suppose."
"No, man !" I said impatiently. "That little girl is a hero-
ine. Come over here and listen."
I led him to a lounge in an alcove. We sat down and then
I told him the story of the raid.
It was all news to him. When I got to the part where she
was wounded he was obviously moved. I related every detail;
I amplified and adorned the tale. He sat drinking it all in and
thirsting for more. When, at last, the recital ended, he turned
to me with a strange look in his eyes, but remained silent.
Then I took the decisive step. "Crawford," I said earn-
estly, "do you care for this girl?"
"Padre," he answered, "I care for her more than anything
else in the world."
He was looking down at the floor, leaning over with his
clasped hands between his knees.
"Then why don't you marry her and make both of you
happy?" I went on.
"I would have been ready to do it long ago if it had de-
pended on me," he replied. "I was attracted to her when we
first met and for some time we saw a great deal of each other.
Then one day she asked me if I knew that she was engaged to
be married. It was a shock to me. Up till then we had been
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 631
nothing more than good comrades in our relations, but I
already cared for her. She said she had been destined from
childhood to marry this man; when she was nineteen, it was
formally arranged. She had consented out of reverence for
her parents; besides the man was her old playmate, and she
liked him well enough. After that there was nothing more for
it but to put aside all thought of anything further. For the
sake of my own peace of mind I stopped seeing much of her.
I felt that if I was to do the honorable thing, I should have to
keep away from her altogether, so I took pains to avoid her.
Then I came over here, and heard nothing more of her until
I was in hospital this last time; then I learned that she had
come over. That pocketbook I wanted you to send had in it
nothing but a few dance programmes I had filched from her,
and a note or two she had sent me. I was sentimental enough
to want her to know, if I died, that I had thought of her. I
think she must have seen how things were going with me and
that is why she told me of her engagement. I tried my best to
put her out of my mind, but she has always been the one girl
for me. It's hard when things come that way, but there is
nothing to be done,"
I sat leaning back in the opposite corner of the lounge
watching him intently as he spoke. He remained with his eyes
fixed on the floor, clasping and unclasping his hands contin-
uously. His voice was low, but decisive. As I listened, I
thought that what he had done was exactly typical. He was
one of those men whose sense of duty is painfully keen: such
men will make extreme sacrifices to satisfy their consciences.
They are the salt of the earth; but often they cause intense
suffering to themselves and others by exaggerated adherence
to principle. Their actions are worthy of the highest admira-
tion so long as their motives are sound. They become tragic,
when their consciences are mistaken.
My mind was working rapidly. I knew that Crawford's
Catholic sense of reverence for the priesthood, coupled with his
personal affection for me, would lead him to attach great
weight to my opinion. I was compelled to come to an imme-
diate decision. He was returning to France the next day. He
was going into the thick of the most furious fighting of the
War. To postpone a settlement now might well be final. I
whispered a "Hail Mary," and began :
632 THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
"Crawford," I said, "I have been a priest for a good many
years. It has been a regular part of my duty to marry people.
I have watched the working out of a good many of my mar-
riages, and have long since formed the opinion that the love
we read about in story books is a very real thing. It is funda-
mental in deciding the success or failure of married life. I
can tell by the attitude of the couple towards each other as
they stand before me to take the marriage vows whether they
care for each other or not; and if I see that love is absent, I
am always apprehensive for their future. Occasionally, I have
been mistaken, but very rarely. When two people show during
the marriage ceremony that their hearts are truly one, I pro-
nounce the nuptial blessing over them with especial fervor
and satisfaction. I feel that God has indeed joined them to-
gether and that the marriage is true."
He continued to stare at the floor.
"In this case," I went on, "I have come to know you two
people very well, indeed. My lot has been cast with both of
you under circumstances where I have really been enabled
to see something of your inner lives. It is remarkable that I
should have come in contact with just you two under such
conditions. Now I am going to tell you something you do not
seem to know, and I am going to give you what I consider a
decisive opinion on the whole matter. I have been wondering
for a long time exactly what it was that came between you and
Rita, because I have known positively for weeks that she cares
for you as deeply as you care for her."
He started at that, turned around and looking me full in
the eyes and with a very red face, said : "Do you really mean
that?"
"I do," I answered. "I mean it so sincerely that I assert
positively that I believe it would be a serious mistake if either
of you married anyone else but one another. I have no idea
how serious is the obligation under which Rita has placed
herself to this other man. I do know that it would be grossly
unfair to him if she married him. In justice to him I think
she should long ago have broken off any engagement between
them. As to her parents, she is of age, and they have no right
to dictate in such a matter. Do you know the man?"
"No, I know nothing about him."
"Has he been over here?"
1921.] THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS 633
"I don't know."
"Well," I went on, "I have seen Rita daily for two months.
During that time she talked continuously of you. The sole
obstacle between you that she ever referred to, and that in-
directly, was that you were indifferent to her. I think we were
intimate enough for her at least to have mentioned this en-
gagement, if it existed. She showed me as plainly as a modest
girl can, without saying it in so many words, that her thoughts
are centred on you. My opinion is that the other factor in the
case has been disposed of. If not, he ought to be, and it is
your job to do it."
He still seemed incredulous. He had reached a point
where the conviction of his duty had become a part of him.
A struggle was going on in his mind between a strong desire
to take me at my word, and the established opinion that had
so long held sway there. For characters like his, a very power-
ful influence indeed is necessary to dislodge one of these
firmly-grounded principles. The outcome depended solely
on the amount of confidence he had in me.
It seemed an age before he spoke again. Then he looked
up suddenly and smiled.
"Well, Padre," he said, "you have never failed me yet. It
may be that you are right. I had quite made up my mind that
I had no chance. Perhaps I should not have broken off the
thing so abruptly."
"It is not too late yet," I answered. "An omnibus in Pic-
cadily will take you down to Wandsworth in twenty minutes.
Five minutes more will land you in the Nurses' Ward, and then
you can see for yourself."
"Right you are," he said with decisive cheerfulness.
"I'm off!"
I gave him my telephone number and told him to call me
up later and tell me how he found things. He strode away:
I watched him disappear through the great swinging doors.
Then I went down to my friends for lunch.
The expected telephone call came at two o'clock.
"Come right down at once, Padre," said Crawford's firm
voice; it did not sound depressed or disappointed. "We want
you quickly!"
It took me half an hour to get there. I found Crawford
standing by Rita's bed. She was lying back, looking very
634 THE PADRE SETTLES THINGS [Feb.,
feeble; her cheeks were sunken and she could not sit up; but
there was a pretty glow on her face and a new light flashed
from her eyes; she was holding Crawford's hand tightly in
both her own.
There were two other nurse patients in the ward pro-
foundly interested in what was going on. My two did not
seem to mind. Army life was always lived in public anyway.
"When can you marry us, Padre?" was Crawford's
greeting.
Things had moved quickly when they once began. He
imagined I could marry them then and there. This might have
been possible in Canada; in England more formality was de-
manded. I said I thought I could manage it tomorrow. He
looked downcast at that.
"But . . ." he began.
"But nothing. You run up to Argyle House and get an
extension of leave and permission to marry for both of you
while I go and see about a license."
He cheered up again.
"Right-o," he said. "An revoir, dearest."
He bent over and kissed Rita as naturally as though
he had been doing it for years. It seemed hard to believe that
this was the man who had been arguing so stubbornly with
me a few hours before. Rita said nothing, but smiled all that
was in her heart.
I went off to get a special license which cost me twenty-
five pounds, and a dispensation from the banns which cost me
nothing. About six o'clock I go back to the hospital to find my
couple jubilant. Authority had unbent to the extent of an
extra seven days' leave. I fixed the wedding for the next day,
and left them to themselves.
We had a magnificent wedding. I used my privilege as a
chaplain and said a nuptial Mass in the ward. The bride's bed
was moved round in front of the altar; a veil and orange blos-
soms had been produced from somewhere; the ward was
gayly decorated. Crawford had got hold of a 23d man on
leave to act as best man; the Colonel of the hospital gave the
bride away; she was assisted by about sixty nurses, all of
whom, I presume, were bridesmaids. An organ was brought
in, and the wedding march played as the bride's bed was
1921.] THE PRESENTATION 635
moved back to its place after Mass. It was the strangest and
most satisfactory wedding I ever officiated at.
After an interval, during which we made our thanksgiv-
ing, the wedding breakfast was served around the bride's bed.
She managed to cut the cake with her groom's sword, though
the effort cost her some pain. The sight of her face dispelled
any lingering doubt I might have had regarding the part I
played in the affair.
They were together for a w r eek; then Crawford went back
to the battalion and did not see her again for seven months.
He brought back the 23d to Canada as Lieutenant-Colonel,
V. C. Rita was a long time recovering. She resigned her ap-
pointment, but stayed on in England until her husband re-
turned from France.
* * * *
I met them again in California when they were on their
long-deferred honeymoon. The War saddened so many ro-
mances, it was a joy to find one that had survived it. There are
few things in life so beautiful as a genuinely happy marriage;
I felt that this one approached the ideal. I often thought over
the part I played in it. Nothing can persuade me but that I
settled things right.
THE PRESENTATION.
BY CHARLES J. QUIRK, S.J.
WHAT need of offering the Son of God
Upon the altar of this mighty fane,
Since now thy Babe is lying on thy heart,
Thou Shrine of God, His Altar without stain.
"AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE."
(A Discussion of Some Modern Tendencies in ^Esthetics.)
BY MICHAEL ANDREW CHAPMAN.
SURVEY of the religious world outside the Cath-
olic Church today reveals, among other interest-
ing developments, a tendency towards elabora-
tion in public services which seems, to some, to
indicate a drift towards the Church. While
chiefly noticeable in the Episcopal Church, this bouleverse-
ment of Reformation tradition is not lacking among other non-
Catholic denominations. Except for the small country meet-
ing-houses, where the old baldness and bareness still persist,
it would be hard to recognize, in almost any Protestant
temple, the simplicity and austerity of worship which was
once the boast and the distinguishing mark of those "reformed
religions" whose battle cry was "the true worshippers shall
worship Him in spirit and in truth, without outward symbol-
ism or forms." The old colonial meeting-house has passed
away with the old partisan shibboleths. Our separated breth-
ren themselves are eager to admit this in connection with
their schemes for "Christian Unity and Federation."
By many this new-found laxity is looked upon as breadth
and liberality, as a sign of the passing away of bigotry and
the casting aside of "the fetters of dogma." This is neither
the time nor the place to discuss whether such be the true
significance of inter-denominational cordiality, or whether,
perhaps, a widespread indifference to religion as such, and
distrust of denominational dogmatism, indeed of any dogma-
tism at all, may not quite as well account for the facts. But
it is interesting to notice that this shift of standards and hush-
ing of party cries have been accomplished by a steady change
and growth in the matter of ecclesiastical architecture and the
enrichment of common worship. There was a time when our
Presbyterian neighbors, for example, would not permit the
use of musical instruments in their services. Nowadays they
1921.] AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE 637
are likely to be the possessors of the finest pipe organ in town !
Elaborate church buildings, stained glass, the cross on the
steeple, and other outward and visible signs which were once
anathema have become, in our own day, commonplace and
usual. Where formerly only extemporaneous prayers were
heard in the pulpit, modified Prayer Books are used. Where
once the Ecclesiastical Year was unknown, Christmas and
Easter services, and even Lenten and Holy Week devotions,
have attained an increasing popularity.
With the exception, of course, of the Episcopal Church
(of which I will later speak more particularly) these
developments can only seemingly be approximations to Cath-
olic usage, for it is evident that, in spite of them, the spirit of
modern Protestantism is no less really anti-Catholic because
good taste and indifference and a grudging admiration have
made our friends less outspoken with regard to their feelings
towards the Church. Indeed, the doctrinal trend has been all
the other way, and so far from a path being discerned for a
return to Catholic Truth, it can be seen that each sect has
abandoned even the original Protestant doctrine which called
it into being.
It is not, then, to a sort of resurging Catholicism that these
interesting developments are to be traced, save indirectly
through the advance of the High Church Movement among
Episcopalians. For the particular observances which are
copied by Protestants are taken from the usage of the Episco-
pal Church. Were this not the fact, it might well be doubted
if Protestants would tolerate them.
If we consider the Episcopal Church itself we find, per-
haps, the most remarkable phenomena of all. That a Church,
which owed its inception to a revolt against "the Bishop of
Rome and all his detestable enormities" should, within the last
fifty years, produce in countless parishes liturgical practices
which can hardly be distinguished from those of the Catholic
Church, is only less remarkable than the exposition of Catholic
doctrine which has followed the ceremonial revival in that
denomination. With this theological growth I am not here
concerned, more than to say that its importance has been
greatly overestimated, not only by Episcopalians themselves,
but by Catholics who have wished to see in it the dawn of a
really important movement back towards the Old Religion.
638 AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE [Feb.,
t
The improvement in externals has, quite evidently, far outrun
the advance in dogmatic statement and belief. It is the con-
stant lament of the leaders of the High Church Party that while
their people are willing to allow almost any extreme of cere-
monial usage, they are slow to appropriate the doctrines which
these ceremonies represent.
It is true that Catholic truths are preached from a great
many Anglican pulpits, and that a respectable percentage of
Episcopalians have adopted Catholic practices, even including
confession and Communion fasting. But it is also true that in
vastly many more Anglican Congregations an advanced cere-
monial may be seen, unaccompanied by any widespread or
enthusiastic acceptance of Catholic doctrine and practice. It
is also most interesting to note, in passing, that in almost every
instance where that Catholic ceremonial and practice have been
introduced among Episcopalians, it has been with the plea that
such things were not "distinctively Roman." On the whole, it
would seem fair to say that the High Church Movement has
progressed, at least so far as the laity are concerned, along
aesthetic lines rather than by a hearty acceptance of Catholic
Truth.
Nor is this so strange as it may at first seem. Modern life
has been distinguished, not merely by an increase in material
prosperity, in mechanical and scientific progress, but by a ren-
aissance of art which has made itself felt in civic, no less
than in religious, communities. Increased prosperity has
naturally brought improved living conditions, not only in the
necessities of life, but more especially in its luxuries. Consider
the advance in domestic architecture, to say nothing of public
buildings, since Rusldn sounded the death knell of Victorian
ugliness. Surely it is more than a coincidence that Ruskin
and Newman were contemporaries 1 that the aesthetic move-
ment in England was launched within the same decade as the
Oxford Movement.
The middle years of the reign of "The Good Queen" wit-
nessed an awakening, the strength of which is not yet spent.
Ruskin, Morris, and the Pre-Raphaelites revolutionized British
art at the same time that Newman, Pusey and Keble were
scandalizing the Establishment by their endeavor to offset the
1 Newman's Conversion was in 1845. Buskin's Modern Painters appeared in
1843. The "P. R. B." was formed in 1848. William Morris printed The Earthly
Paradise in 1868.
1921.] AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE 639
Reformation and bring the Church of England back to at least
a resemblance of primitive Catholicism. It cannot be denied
that each of these momentous movements influenced the other,
and all the more because both appealed to the mediaeval glories
of a nation and a Church which had forgotten them. The aca-
demic utterances of Newman and Ruskin were popularized
by their followers.
But it was when the Oxford Movement became a cere-
monial revival in the hands of men like Lauder and Macho-
nochie that the storm broke, with the result that in the popular
mind the "Anglo-Catholic Revival" became a matter of "Ritual-
ism." And as such there can be no doubt that it won the day,
in spite of such bitter opposition as has been seldom seen in
modern religious controversy. Together the Pre-Raphaelites
and the Puseyites met the storm of conservatism, and together
they weathered it and found at last a quasi acceptance. Both
were expressions of the new-born spirit of the times. It may
even be questioned whether either could have been victorious
without the other. Transition, change, revolt and elaboration
were in the air. Art, literature, religion, even politics, were
re-stated in the Mid- Victorian period.
Now all this is germane to the present discussion in so far
only as externals are concerned. Perhaps it was a coincidence
(though it would seem extremely unlikely) that the High
thurchmen came along with their ceremonial revival just in
time to be so deeply influenced by the revived medievalism of
the Pre-Raphaelites, but it is surely significant that Anglican
ceremonial has, until very recent years, developed entirely
along the lines of English medievalism. Perhaps it is a coin-
cidence that Keble's poetry placed him with Wordsworth and
Tennyson in the first dawn of British Romanticism, while his
association with Newman and Pusey set him in the van of the
Oxford Movement and made him the dominant factor in di-
recting Anglican devotional life. But even if these things, and
others that could be mentioned, are mere parallelisms, they
are at least of interest, and they do go at least some little way
in combating the idea that ceremonial restoration in the Epis-
copal Church, or in the other Protestant denominations, is a
sign of a really strong tendency towards Rome. Judged only
by the external signs, without considering such "coincidences"
they might seem such. But look deeper, and it becomes evi-
640 AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE [Feb.,
dent that the external development is almost, if not quite
entirely, an aesthetic tendency, while the really religious move-
ment is set in quite an opposite direction.
The constant flow of converts from Anglicanism to the
Catholic Church is sufficient witness to the fact of the equally
steady, though much more voluminous, current of the rank
and file away from dogmatic religion. It has been said that
the Oxford Movement, as a doctrinal and practical movement,
is a spent force in Anglicanism, and recent events would seem
to lend some weight to the contention. At the same time, how-
ever, the ceremonial movement has spread to such an extent
that the old-fashioned Low Church service has become a
curiosity. Not only has the general level of elaboration in
Episcopal services been raised far above that which the orig-
inal Oxford divines dreamed of, but it has overflowed, as we
have seen, and bids fair to inundate the conventicles of various
sectarians who are very far indeed from the likelihood of ac-
cepting the principles and doctrines which are supposed to
underlie such observances. Whatever optimistic and "pro-
Roman" Anglicans may say of "the teaching value of cere-
monial," one can hardly think of the Presbyterian minister
who preaches in surplice and stole as anxious to expound the
Catholic doctrine of the priesthood, or the Congregationalist
who decks his communion table with cross and candles as
ready to accept the doctrine of the Real Presence.
A year or two ago there was held, in England, a gathering
of Non-conformist ministers composed of Presbyterians, Inde-
pendents, Universalists, Unitarians, with a sprinkling of other
sects including Theosophists, who called themselves "The
Liberal Catholic Congress." After indulging in elaborately
ornate services in which candles, vestments, and incense were
used, a quasi-creed was enunciated in which belief in much
ceremonial was combined with an almost total absence of
anything like orthodox faith. In a way it was like the Posi-
tivism of Compte, without the Positivism! What the outcome
of the Congress was I do not know, but the accounts of it, in
such papers as the English Church Times, read as though the
movement among sectarians towards Catholic ceremonial and
away from Catholic Truth had reached its terminus ad quern,
if not its reductio ad absurdam.
But what all this extraordinary acceptance of forms and
1921.] AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE 641
ceremonies by Christian people, whose fathers denounced such
things as worse than idolatry, does mean is simply this that
man is fundamentally and incurably a ceremonialist, and that
his innate necessity for outward pageantry in connection with
religion cannot be permanently crushed, even by the narrow
bigotry of a Puritanism now extinct. Today it is true as never
before that old party cries are stilled, that old denominational
boundaries no longer hold. But it is also true that outside the
Catholic Church the old enthusiasm for religion, as such, has
vanished along with denominational feeling. If the sects are
at last drawing together it is over the down-trodden hedges
of differences which were once thought of as vital, and which
are today viewed with indifference because all dogma has been
set aside. "Higher Criticism," "The New Theology," "Liberal
Protestantism," "Freedom from Dogma" these go hand in
hand with "Christian Federation." And all of these are pos-
sible because the men who urge them no longer believe with
the intensity of conviction which made their forefathers exiles
and Pilgrims for the sake of mistaken conscience. If certain
ceremonial forms have gained favor among the Protestant
denominations, it is because they have lost their meaning, or
because their real meaning has been so changed and explained
away that they no longer offend men grown careless of the
transcendent importance of dogmatic truth. Such a statement
as this may not hold in the case of the Anglicans, whose bona
fides no one can doubt, and whose growth in the appreciation
of Catholic Truth in spite of Protestant surroundings is the
religious wonder of the age. But it certainly is true of other
Protestant denominations that they have accepted and make
use of such observances, not because they are Catholic, but
because they are "so pretty" or "so devotional."
What then can be the interest, for Catholics, in such de-
velopments and movements? Chiefly this, I think, that the
mere acceptance of more or less elaborate ceremonial by Prot-
estants removes one of the foremost difficulties in the way of
gaining a hearing for the Catholic religion, just as the increas-
ing acceptance of Catholic Truth by people who must still call
themselves Protestant Episcopalians, makes submission to the
whole of Catholic faith less arduous for those who are earn-
estly seeking, according to the light given them, the True
Church founded by our Divine Redeemer. Can there be any
VOL. cxxi. 41
642 AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE [Feb.,
jl
doubt that many have come to a degree of knowledge of Cath-
olic Truth through the preaching of High Church clergymen,
who would never, humanly speaking, have been open to the
most eloquent exposition of it from a Catholic pulpit? The
very fact that Protestants, of various names, are today making
use of outward forms and ceremonies which, but a generation
ago, were denounced as awful superstitions, is, in itself, a hope-
ful sign that individuals, if not "Churches," are coming to
realize the fundamental fallacy of the effort to spiritualize
divine worship at the expense of externals. To many, if not
most, Protestants the Catholic religion is a religion of external
observances and of externals only. The sectarian who ven-
tures into a Catholic Church is confused by the ceremonial,
even while his aesthetic sense is intrigued by its stateliness and
beauty. But the idea that there are great spiritual realities
underlying the outward splendor is a thought quite alien to the
Protestant mind a thought, however, which once grasped is
apt to assume an exaggerated importance. It is this that has
led to the insistence on "the teaching value of ceremonial"
among High Church Episcopalians.
To the Catholic the beautiful ceremonies of Holy Mother
Church are expressions of the Faith that is in him, yet there
can be no doubt that our ceremonies, though not primarily
intended as teaching agents, do most vividly impress inquirers
with the reality of the truths which are expressed by them.
The act of becoming accustomed to things is a great aid in the
acceptance of them. A surplice, seen for the first time by
Protestant eyes, may be a "rag of Popery." But worn Sunday
after Sunday by one's own Protestant neighbors in one's own
Protestant church it is robbed of its terror! So anything
which makes Catholicism less of a mysterious bugbear to Prot-
estants is to be welcomed as an ally.
It would, perhaps, be invidious to inquire how largely
matters of taste enter into a man's religious convictions and
habits. To some such things matter not at all. But to the
majority, especially today, the aesthetic appeal is not a vain one.
The Catholic Church has always understood this, and from the
earliest days has made art her handmaid. Yet even in the days
of her greatest aesthetic glory, she held her handmaid in the
proper place of subordinate ministry to the great realities that
mattered most. The beauty of the Catholic temple, as of
1921.] AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE 643
Catholic ceremonial, is incidental, something desirable, yet
easily dispensed with. Therein lies a danger for us, children
of the new age of reawakening aestheticism a danger lest we
underestimate the function of art, and music, and architecture,
and ceremonial, as means to the end not only of edifying the
faithful, but of attracting those without, till they find them-
selves, in spite of prejudice, drawn within the circle of the
influence of Catholic truth.
To an increasing number of Protestants today all religion
has been reduced to a superficiality it is not, to them, even
"morality tinged with emotion" indeed, it bids fair to become
nothing more than Social Service mitigated by sestheticism.
The pendulum has swung a long way back, and in
its swing it has somehow scratched the surface of Catholic
art. Surely the Church can, without loss of prestige, make the
most of this unique (though illogical) development of modern
minds. For it is of the ethos of the Catholic Church to become
"all things to all men" for their salvation, without relinquish-
ing one iota of her divinely given authority. Hers is the right-
ful heritage of Beauty no less than Truth. She sees men re-
awakening to the appeal of that ancient Beauty, which is for-
ever new; she sees them lying impotent, though they know it
not, indeed ready to repudiate the implication, at the Beautiful
Gate of the Temple.
Strange it is that Protestantism, which has lost its grip
even on the half -truths which brought it forth, should in these
days be stirred by the appeal of "the beauty of holiness," that
beauty which is the rightful heritage of those who seek holiness
in the only way in which there is or can be any assurance of
finding it. The "shadow of Peter passing by" has over-
shadowed some of them, disgusted, distorted, as shadows
always are. Modern Protestantism lies impotent, helpless, by
its own fatal admission; begging alms of every new philos-
opher and philanthropist who holds out the hope of a cure
through some "restatement," some "federation," some plan of
humanitarian or social service. Dare we think the day is past
when Peter can say to such, with the voice of divine authority :
"Arise and walk."
THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS.
BY BROTHER LEO.
OHN KEATS died in Rome, February 23, 1821.
One hundred years have passed years of appre-
ciation and misunderstanding, of indifference
and adulation, of neglect and recognition since
the young English poet, having fled to Italy a
victim of tuberculosis, quietly breathed his last in the arms
of Joseph Severn; one hundred years since Shelley, so soon
to share his rest in the Protestant Cemetery in the Eternal
City, poured forth his grief in the lyric ecstasy of the Adonais;
one hundred years since above the grave of Keats was carved
the epitaph he had himself composed: "Here lies one whose
name was writ in water." One hundred years; and their pass-
ing has amply proved that epitaph untrue !
John Keats had no doubt of his high poetic gift; but
neither had he assurance that the gift had reached maturity
when his death-warrant hemorrhage came to him in his
twenty-sixth year. A quarter century is but a little space
wherein to wrest the prize of immortality. Fronting death in
an alien land, far from the smoke-haloed metropolis of his
birth, far from the coterie of his Hampstead friends, far, even,
from the Tory reviewers who had plucked to pieces the first
flower of his muse, he saw his poetic career less a fact accom-
plished than a promise unfulfilled; to him came no intimation
of the "jabberers about pictures and books" who would be
concerned with his name, his character and his writings a
century after his demise. Yet today undying laurel crowns the
"wonderful lad" who felt the flowers growing over him one
hundred years ago in Rome; and the time is fit to review a
century of opinion and conjecture, to evaluate the contribution
made to English literature by Keats, the poet, to reshape and
rectify our notions of Keats, the man.
The man was born in a stable, his father a hostler, his
mother a liveryman's daughter; and be it said gently, but
none the less firmly, for it is the truth to the man clung the
cockney odor of stale straw even to the end. But the poet was
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 645
cradled on Parnassus, and in the flush of his young manhood
the undying spirit of beauty kissed him on his lips. Keats,
the man, slinks across the field of memory weak, unmanly, un-
wholesome, a figure pathetic, inconsequential, uninspiring;
but Keats, the poet, clad in the shining armor of the spirit,
goes marching down the ages "with thunder, and with music,
and with pomp." Let those who insist that the artist cannot be
finer and greater than the man, wrestle with this riddle as best
they can; let the scientist prate of the subtle influences of
heredity and the philosopher dilate on the potency of unsus-
pected social forces. The emergence of the gorgeous poet
from the chrysalis of his unlovely manhood is but another veri-
fication of the old-fashioned belief that a beneficent demon
inhabits the mortal bodies of singers of immortal songs, and
tunes their fleshly hearts to ethereal melody. The phenomenon
of John Keats does not need the ministrations of psychoanaly-
sis; it asks us only to marvel and enjoy.
. . . His fate and fame shall be
An echo and a light unto eternity.
During the century of his posthumous celebrity, Keats, the
man has suffered most from the adulation of his devotees.
Not without discernment did Matthew Arnold, years ago, pro-
test against "the admirers whose pawing and fondness does not
good but harm to the fame of Keats." 1 In a persistent effort
actuated by generous and disinterested motives but most un-
fortunate in its ultimate effects to dissipate the misunder-
standing that during his lifetime and immediately after his
death clouded the personality of the young poet, most of his
biographers and interpreters have swathed the true Keats in
the fair but unconvincing folds of over-appreciation, and have
made him the centre of a misleading eulogistic legend. The
myth of the "Johnny Keats" of "the Cockney School of Poetry,"
so indignantly repudiated by his friends, was no graver a dis-
tortion of the truth than is the modern and more tenacious
myth of the vigorous, manly, well-balanced and thoroughly
lovable Keats, fostered with so much scholarly impressiveness
by such investigators as Sir Sidney Colvin and exploited with
so much picturesqueness and verve by such popularizers as
Mr. Hancock and the late Hamilton Mabie.
1 Essays in Criticism, Second Series, p. 105.
646 THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.,
The hundred years just passed have brought to light a
sufficiency of documentary data upon which to establish our
conception of Keats, the man. We have authentic descriptions
of his personal appearance; we have contemporary estimates
of his character and dispositions; we have his own letters,
written with no prospect of their eventual publication, to his
relatives and familiars. We have had time to allow undis-
criminating affection to settle and transitory prejudice to sub-
side. And in the light of what we know, it is impossible to
yield assent to the eulogistic legend.
The eulogistic legend seeks to make of Keats a virile,
wholesome figure, the possessor of abounding vigor and un-
ruffled poise, something, even, of a scholar, a congenial com-
panion and a thoroughly normal being with plenty of "flint
and iron" in his make-up. The earlier conception of Keats,
for all its exaggeration, seems to have been nearer the truth;
for the cold facts are that John Keats was effeminate and
eccentric, moody and vacillating; that, even allowing for his
truncated education, he was conspicuously unlearned outside
of one constricted field; that, even as a child, but more mani-
festly during the last months of his life, he was a victim of
hysteria and neuroticism.
Haydon's life mask of Keats does not embody the linea-
ments of a manly man, and Severn's portrait, even though
painted many years after the poet's death, suggests less the
presence of flint and iron than what Sir Sidney Colvin finds to
be a characteristic of Keats' poetic heroes, "a touch, not the
wholesomest, of effeminacy and physical softness." 2 In both
are emphasized the full, protruding, sensuous lips. And Lord
Houghton (Richard Monckton Milnes) quotes a description
of Keats given by a lady "whose feminine acuteness of percep-
tion is only equaled by the vigor of her understanding." She
saw the poet at Hazlitt's lectures in 1818 : "His eyes were large
and blue, his hair auburn; he wore it divided down the centre,
and it fell in rich masses off each side of his face; his mouth
was full, and less intellectual than his other features. . . .
The shape of his face had not the squareness of a man's, but
more like some women's faces I have seen it was so wide
over the forehead and so small at the chin." 8
English Men of Letters' Series, Keats, p. 99.
R. M. Milnes, The Poetical Works of John Keats. Memoir, p. xxvii.
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 647
The impression that "stout Cortez" discovered the Pacific
Ocean is not the only evidence of misinformation found in
Keats' works. "We expect," says one of his most sympathetic
biographers, "that a modern poet shall have some conception
of the world-scheme as ordered by modern science; that he
shall be consistent with the facts of common knowledge. The
sunlight, for Keats, penetrates brilliantly into submarine deeps.
He would cool his claret in a cellar a mile deep, where the
temperature would be very hot. He causes strawberries and
apples to ripen at the same time and grows them beside al-
mond trees and cinnamon. Such things will pass, under poetic
license, as possible in the empire of the gods. But the fact
that the gods must be invoked so often in the apology, shows
that Keats, in the main, is oblivious of natural law."*
These are not weighty matters, to be sure, and to make
much ado over them were to join hands with the pedants who
scold Shakespeare for giving the ancient Romans hats and
Bohemia a sea coast; yet they are significant in the case of
Keats who, in addition to his sparse linguistic attainments and
his stippled knowledge of literature, manifested in other re-
spects a very narrow range of interests. Much that is human
was foreign to him. We have been told how thoroughly he
absorbed Lempriere; rightly to appraise his intellectual equip-
ment it is not less necessary to recall that he contemned phil-
osophy without knowing anything about it, that in religion he
was an innocent bystander, that in the decade of Wellington
and Waterloo he was the one English poet who voiced no rap-
ture of national triumph, that in the age immediately follow-
ing the French Revolution he was untouched by the wave of
enthusiasm that tossed Wordsworth on its foaming crest and
swept Byron to his death in the swamps of Missolonghi. Sage
advice, under the circumstances, was that proffered by his
chronically magniloquent friend, Haydon: "Collect incident,
study character, read Shakespeare and trust in Providence."
A fourth of this monition Keats did take to heart. He
read Shakespeare, lovingly if uncritically, and quoted and mis-
quoted him in his letters. Unsurpassed schooling was that for
a poet, and as a poet Keats profited much; but Keats, the man,
derived from the Bard of Avon no appreciable knowledge of
either himself or his fellowmen. Professor Bradley is at
* A. E. Hancock, John Keats, a Literary Biography, p. 27.
648 THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.,
pains to assure us that Keats' insight into human nature "ap-
pears, on the whole, more decidedly in the letters than in the
poems." 5 The letters reveal an insight very ordinary and very
faulty. The reading of Shakespeare bred in Keats the amiable
delusion that he might write " a few fine plays my greatest
ambition, when I do feel ambitious." 6 Poor Keats! His was
the human weakness of believing that we may some day do
supremely well that which we are congenitally incapable of
doing at all.
The letters of Keats are fascinating and illuminating docu-
ments, and they are by no means void of expressions of stanch
resolve and generous impulse; but the too placable readers
who accept such passages as keys to the character of the man
who wrote them, ignore the fact that, while it is a relatively
facile thing to be stanch and generous with pen and ink, the
manly sentiments promulgated on paper are not necessarily
carried into fruition in the writer's life. Byron was not the
only romanticist who could truthfully confess, "I praise the
virtues which I cannot claim." The letters show that Keats
had his moods of vaulting independence, his moments of
glowing human sympathy; but, too, they are symptomatic of
what he calls "a horrid Morbidity of Temperament," "an un-
steady and vagarish disposition," and their prevailing attitude
is that of "a sick eagle looking at the sky." For many of his
extravagances we are eager to make considerate allowance
he was a young man, and often a man physically ill; but in
justice we must concede the soundness of Mr. Paul Elmer
More's dictum that, "he was never quite able to distinguish
between the large liberties of the strong and the jaunty flip-
pancy of the underbred." 7
That Keats was wayward, undisciplined and neurasthenic
the letters give abundant evidence; and the testimony of his
familiars Bailey, Leigh Hunt, Clarke, Haydon, and his own
brother, George tends to confirm the impression. At school
he manifested an ungovernable temper and a spirit abnorm-
ally pugnacious. "We quarreled often and fought fiercely,"
declares his brother, "and I can safely say, and my school-
fellows will bear witness, that John's temper was the cause
5 Oxford Lectures on Poetry, p. 219.
a Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends. Edited by Sidney Colvin.
Letter cxxv.
T Shelburne Essays, Fourth Series, p. 109.
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 649
of all." "His penchant was for fighting," Edward Holmes tes-
tifies. "He would fight anyone morning, noon, and night,
his brother among the rest. It was meat and drink to him. . .
This violence and vehemence this pugnacity and generosity
of disposition in passions of tears or outrageous fits of
laughter always in extremes will help to paint Keats in his
boyhood." And Charles Cowden Clarke: "His passion at times
was almost ungovernable; and his brother, George, being con-
siderably the taller and stronger, used frequently to hold him
down by main force, laughing when John was 'in one of his
moods.' " 8 No indication this of normal boy nature, but of
unbalanced character and what Haydon described as "terrier
courage."
The child was father to the man. Lowell comments
euphemistically on "the flush of his fine senses and the flutter
of his electric nerves;" it would be more accurate to say that
Keats, body and soul, was magnetized to the point of disease.
He was even physically disproportioned, as Hunt observes,
his head, "a puzzle for the phrenologists, being remarkably
small in the skull," and his hands, prematurely old, "faded and
swollen in the veins." 9 It is the fashion to disparage the un-
flattering comments of Haydon, but Haydon, for all his own
eccentricity, was a keen observer and a searching character
analyst; if biased, he was certainly biased in Keat's favor.
And it is from Haydon we learn that Keats "was haughty, and
had a fierce hatred of rank;" that once Keats "covered his
tongue and throat, as far as he could reach, with Cayenne
pepper, in order to enjoy 'the delicious coolness of claret in
all its glory;'" that, despite the painter's remonstrances, "he
distrusted himself and flew to dissipation" and "for six weeks
he was hardly ever sober;" that during his illness he was
"enraged at his own feebleness, seemed as if he were going out
of the world with a contempt for this, and no hopes of a
better," that "he muttered as I stood by him that if he did not
recover, he would 'cut his throat.' " 10
This picture of the neurotic Keats is not pleasant to con-
template, and the exhibition of it might well be spared but for-
the need of correcting the idealized portrait enshrined in the
8 English Men of Letters Series, Keats, pp. 7, 8, 9.
Leigh Hunt, Autobiography, vol. ii.. chapter xvi.
19 B. R. Haydon, Life, Letters and Table Talk, p. 207, et seq.
650 'THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.,
eulogistic legend of Keats, the man. That same legend would
have us believe that Keats was unaffected by the severe and
largely unfair criticism really, a bit of dirty politics vented
upon his Endymion by Blackwood's and The Quarterly; that
Shelley in the Adonais and Byron in Don Juan and Severn
in the inscription on Keats' grave were all in error in their as-
sumption that the comminations of the reviewers practically
killed the poet. Now, while the earlier opinion that Keats was
"snuff d out by an article" is manifestly an exaggeration, we
are not so sure that his extreme sensitiveness to adverse criti-
cism was not a contributory cause of his premature decline.
Certain it is that the offensive epithet, "the Cockney School,"
"stuck like a barbed arrow in his heart." 11 His expression of
truculent indifference to the opinion of the reviewers may be,
as the proponents of the eulogistic legend protest, an evidence
of his fearlessness and manly independence ; but it may also be
not unreasonably accepted as proof that the poet was whis-
tling to keep up his courage. He was apprehensive even before
the event. He has hopes of the non-appearance of the article
in Blackwood's; he does not "mind it much," yet if he is to be
abused as his friend Hunt had been abused, he feels that he
must "call the writer to account." And later, in a despondent
mood, he wonders if he should not "go to Edinburgh and
study for a physician. . . It's not worse than writing poems,
and hanging them up to be fly-blown on the Review
shambles." 12
Keats' tender love for his little sister, Fanny, is the one
undimmed radiance in the story of his life. His letters to her
have a tender charm. He chats with her about his daily doings
and his prospects; he is mindful of her liking for toys and for
sweetmeats; he is solicitous about her health and counsels her
how to dress against the cold; he exerts himself to find a home
for her reluctantly discarded dog. In his relations with this
orphan sister John Keats is admirable, lovable. Hers was the
one womanly influence which breathed an unalloyed benedic-
tion on his few and troubled days of mortal life.
Almost until the very end, Keats seemed to have been
untouched by feminine charm. He who could reshape the
surpassing comeliness of Venus and the Graces, he who so
keenly responded to the picturesqueness of the Isis and the
"William Hazlitt, "On Living to One's Self." "Letter xcii.
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 651
sublimity of the Scottish highlands, he who so passionately
loved "the principle of beauty in all things," was inexplicably
indifferent to the light that lies in woman's eyes. He could
write to Taylor in August, 1819 : "I equally dislike the favor of
the public with the love of a woman. They are both cloying
treacle to the wings of Independence." The sentiment would
be most commendable in a monk; it is all but uncanny in a
romantic poet, and events soon proved that Sir Galahad had
already ridden to a fall.
Romeo was smitten with Rosaline ere he succumbed to
Juliet's charms. Eight months before he professed his ascetic
aloofness from the cloying treacle of feminine favor, Keats had
recorded his impressions of a young lady from East India
whom he met at the house of a friend : "She is not a Cleopatra,
but she is at least a Gharmian. She has a rich Eastern look;
she has fine eyes and fine manners. When she comes into a
room she makes an impression the same as the Beauty of a
leopardess. . . She kept me awake one night as a tune of
Mozart's might do." 18 The oriental Charmian was Keats'
Rosaline; and less than a month later he met his tragedy and
his Juliet in the person of Fanny Brawne.
In affairs of the heart there is no disputing about taste,
so those cavilers are beside the point who insist that Fanny
Brawne was distinguished neither for beauty nor for brains,
that she did not and could not reciprocate the fervor of Keats'
devotion, that his friends and hers agreed that the betrothal
was ill-advised. With the character of the lady we are not
here concerned. It is enough to know say, rather, it is too
much to know that Keats, depleted of vitality, doomed to
proximate death, sadly bruised if not wholly crushed in spirit,
concentrated in his hectic affection for Fanny Brawne all the
energy of his diseased nerves and all the ardor of his undis-
ciplined heart.
It is too much to know; for I am one of those who maintain
that the publication of Keats' letters to Fanny Brawne, by H.
B. Forman in 1876, was not only an error in taste, but a positive
breach of decency. Art has its reticences or used to have;
and artists are entitled to theirs. But the thing was done; the
letters are here; they are inescapable; and inescapable, too, is
the conviction one must form from their perusal that even
" Letter Ixxiii.
652 THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.,
*
after making generous allowances for the poet's physical ill-
ness and the fine frenzy of his love the man who wrote them
was utterly unbalanced, deplorably abased, the groveling,
whimpering victim of emasculated and rachitic passion. They
signalize the acme of neuroticism.
Such was Keats, the man. But another being splendid,
aspiring, in a sense incomparable was Keats, the poet. Prac-
tically all his enduring verses were written within the brief
space of two years; and they constitute a little volume, but
a great book. English literature is a goodly and imposing
fabric, the noblest and most variegated, truth to tell, in all the
world; but English literature would be measurably poorer and
thinner and duller, bereft of the products of Keats' enchanted
loom. The opening line of Endymion has passed as a proverb
into familiar speech; across the chasm of a century our spirits
today are soothed and gladdened by the sonnet he wrote on
the flyleaf of his beloved Shakespeare en route to Italy and his
doom, with its exquisitely phrased delineation of
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of cold ablution round earth's human shores;
the picture gallery of our imagination is enriched with many
a glowing triumph of his inspired brush Isabella in the forest
intent upon her lovelorn quest; Clymene, her "eyes up-looking
mild," in the melancholy council of the Titans; the dying
glories of the autumn fields;
some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
and, in poignant loveliness,
the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn.
Many another hundred years shall come and go ere those
pictures lose their lustre or their matchless colors fade.
A detailed survey of Keats' poetry has no place in this
brief retrospect. In Mr. E. de Selincourt's scholarly edition 14
and Sir Sidney Colvin's latest book 15 are garnered the assured
" E. de Selincourt, The Poems of John Keats. 1905. The notes are of especial
value.
"Sir Sidney Colvin, John Keats His Life and Poetry, His Friends, Critics and
After-Fame. 1917.
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 653
facts and the reasoned conjectures anent its literary history.
Let us content ourselves with some general considerations on
the literary character and abiding worth of Keats' unique con-
tribution to English song.
The extent of that contribution we cannot estimate unless,
to begin with, we recognize its limitations. Amiel remarked
that La Fontaine's lyre lacks the religious string. Keats' lyre
lacks the religious string and the patriotic string, the string of
vibrant, manly passion, the string that twangs with the zest
of combat, the string that evokes, when touched by Goldsmith's
stubby fingers, memories of rural sports and childhood's hal-
lowed joys; it lacks, too, the string of imaginative philosophiz-
ing, of speculation on the life of man suffused with pensive
fancy. But, with all its lack of variety, how superbly Keats'
lyre resounds with music of the spirit !
And yet, even while we thrill at the prospect of the stately
temple of English speech reared by this truly "wonderful lad,"
even while we admire the dexterity he so often shows in the
choice and arrangement of significant and suggestive words,
even while the spell of his imagination transports us to faery
seas forlorn, we are regretfully aware that his vision is kindled
of a light that never was on sea or land, that his projections
and embodiments of eternal beauty are not authentic revela-
tions of human life and destiny, that the men and women who
palely gleam amid the folds of his delicately woven tapestries
are but idealized and unconvincing portraits of men and
women as they are. The supreme literary artists are masters
of word magic and framers of exalted dreams, and in these
respects John Keats may claim comparison with the mightiest
of them all. But the supreme literary artists are also and
fundamentally revealers of human character, initiators into
the mystery and complexity of life. Such are Shakespeare and
Dante and Goethe, Virgil and Milton and Gorneille; but such
is not John Keats. That was the door to which he found no
key.
Had Keats lived longer alluring thought! had Keats
been enriched by ampler experience and reading and suffering,
he might indeed have entered into the company of those truly
immortal bards who are kings and priests and prophets of
humanity. But his work must be estimated, not by its promise,
but by its actuality. And as it stands it cannot rank with the
654 THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.,
supreme literature of the world, for the one sufficient reason
that its vital content is thin and its vital outlook narrow. He
saw life steadily; he did not see it whole. True artist that he
was, he himself perceived the lack, and looked forward to the
day when his dim, chaotic perception of the truth of life might
be strengthened and clarified:
What though I am not wealthy in the dower
Of spanning wisdom; though I do not know
The shiftings of the mighty winds that blow
Hither and thither all the changing thoughts
Of man; though no great ministering reason sorts
Out the dark mysteries of human souls
To clear conceiving; yet there ever rolls
A vast idea before me.
Keats' verses are not wholly lacking in intuitive percep-
tions of certain fundamental truths of life, not entirely devoid
of expressions pregnant and bejeweled of human wisdom and
human aspiration. He can appreciate
that severe content
Which comes of thought and musing;
he can recognize a familiar variant of "the insolence of office"
in the person of the great man who is "only blind from sheer
supremacy;" but, for all their melody and beauty and pictorial
appeal, his verses are relatively barren of those nuggets of
world wisdom eternal and sublime that may be so bountifully
gleaned from the lavishly strewn pages of Homer and Shake-
speare and the deep-eyed Florentine. A piece of literature rich
in its vital content a play like the CEdipus Tyrannus, a poem
like The Ring and the Book may be absorbed into one's life
philosophy, and be made a guide to the formation of character
and the shaping of conduct. To follow such a course with
Hyperion or Lamia were as futile as to attempt to cross the
Atlantic on a raft of reeds or to tunnel the Alps with a paper-
knife.
Any conjecture as to what might have been the quality and
extent of Keats' contribution to vital literature, had he been
blessed with riper years and wider vision, must take into ac-
count his penchant for mythological themes and pre-Christian
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 655
world conditions. The nineteenth century English poet was all
but exclusively concerned with wood nymphs and satyrs,
pagan rites of marriage feast and harvest time, the legendary
strife between the Titans and the Olympians. It is an extra-
ordinary example of literary xenoglossy. His devotion to the
pagan past and his discontent with the world in which he lived,
are beautifully voiced in the lines of his famous dedication
to Leigh Hunt:
Glory and loveliness have pass'd away;
For if we wander out in early morn,
No wreathed incense do we see upborne
Into the east, to meet the smiling day:
No crowd of nymphs soft-voic'd and young and gay,
In woven baskets bringing ears of corn,
Roses and pinks and violets to adorn
The shrine of Flora in her early May.
It was a clear recognition of the essential paganism of Keats'
outlook on life that prompted Shelley to entitle his memorial
dirge the Adonais, that inspired Mrs. Browning, in her Vision
of the Poets, to eulogize Keats as the beloved of Venus and
that wrung from Wordsworth the qualified praise that Endy-
mion is "a pretty piece of paganism." And it was an error in
taste and perception, usually unerring and keen, that led a more
recent interpreter to characterize The Eve of St. Agnes as "a
vision of beauty, deep, rich, and glowing as one of those dyed
windows in which the heart of the Middle Ages still burns." 16
For the heart of the Middle Ages, as even Carlyle could see,
was that living, motivating Catholic faith the least suggestion
of which is missing from Keats' gorgeous pagan idyl. Apart
from its title, there is nothing Catholic in the poem.
And yet Mabie's comment suggests a searching, though
elusive truth, for the paganism of Keats, like all the other
paganism in modern literatures, is not the ancient paganism
at all. In the course of his somewhat prosaic, but eminently
sensible review, of Keats' poems, in The Edinburgh Review
for August, 1820, Francis Jeffrey took occasion to observe:
"There is something very curious, too, we think, in the way
in which he, and Mr. Barry Cornwall also, have dealt with the
pagan mythology, of which they have made so much use in
"Hamilton Wright Mabie, Essays in Literary Interpretation, p. 255.
656 THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.,
their poetry. Instead of presenting its imaginary persons
under the trite and vulgar traits that belong to them in the
ordinary systems, little more is borrowed from these than the
general conception of their conditions and relations; and an
original character and distinct individuality is bestowed
upon them, which has all the merit of invention, and all the
grace and attraction of the fictions on which it is engrafted." 17
As has been sagely remarked by a man who in his own
work abundantly realized the possibilities of correlating poetry
with religion, "the poetry of paganism is chiefly a modern
creation." 18 To the denizens of the ancient world paganism
was a sordid, chilling thing, like the cluttered and unswept
stage of a modern theatre at ten o'clock in the morning; it was
the English, French and German poets of more recent cen-
turies men who, so to say, loved the old gods as conceptions
but did not worship them as divinities that installed colored
footlights and a calcium in the wings. Christianity wreaked a
strange revenge on the rites she had supplanted; she destroyed
their dominion over the souls of men, but preserved them as
aesthetic garnishings in the new order of civilization. She con-
verted the sacred trees into wayside crosses, the Pantheon into
a Christian church; and to her sculptors and her poets she
consigned the ancient divinties to touch them with a beauty
hitherto unknown. And all unawares, Keats, willy nilly the
child of centuries of Christian art and thought and living,
carried on the traditional procedures and flooded the pallid
statuary of the elder paganism with streams of rich and ideal-
izing light.
But we remember Keats a hundred years after his death,
not for his denatured paganism, but for the incomparable
timbre of his singing voice, the splendor of his tones. To
Wordsworth whenever the Tiresias of Windermere deigns to
write real poetry we go for insight into nature, for a placid
holiday amid rustic sights and sounds, for a corrective view
of man set off against the background of stream and cliff and
wold. To Browning we go in our unshaven moods to partici-
pate in a stag party of the spirit, and to ponder the disjointed
and trenchant observations of our cryptic and penetrating
17 Francis Jeffrey, "Essays on English Poets and Poetry/' from The Edinburgh
Review, p. 391.
18 Francis Thompson, "Paganism, Old and New."
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 657
host. To Thompson we go when the soul, grown world-weary
of bread and cheese and broken resolutions, demands rococo
embellishments of eternal verities, and an aesthetic festival of
waxen tapers and flowers drooping, heavy-eyed, in vases ara-
besque. But to Keats we go, rather than to any other English
poet, when we yearn, not for philosophy or information, not
for spiritual re-creation, but for some appeasement of our
native hunger for beauty beauty single and consonant and
unalloyed.
For John Keats is eminently and unapproachably the poet
of the beautiful in word and implication and spacious dream.
Of the Ygdrasil of his universe, beauty was the flower and the
fruit. He looked upon fine phrases like a lover. The poet in
him sought thirstingly the elusive loveliness that permeates
creation, the loveliness that even man's foulest perversions
cannot wholly banish from the world, the loveliness which is
the perfume of God's presence when He walked of old in the
garden, and which still lingers in the works of His hands. In
the contemplation of that beauty John Keats drank delight; in
the expression and interpretation of that beauty John Keats
tasted contentment and surcease. "I feel assured," he tells a
friend, "I should write from the mere yearning and fondness
I have for the beautiful, even if my night's labors should be
burned every morning, and no eye ever shine upon them." 19
Much has been written about Keats' theory of his art, about
his technique of verse-making, about his philosophy of the
beautiful in poetry and life. As appositely might we seek to
formulate the aesthetic convictions of his own full-throated
nightingale. Hence, literal-minded commentators and un-
imaginative pursuers of "scientific" research, metric surgeons
with your scalpels and anaesthetics! Wretched fact-grubbing
reincarnations of old Apollonius that ye are, has not the singer
himself given you your convincing answer :
Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
Is the poetry of John Keats, the embodiment of his vision
of the beautiful, the record of his never-ending pursuit of the
beautiful, needed in this modern world a century after his
18 Letter Ixxvi.
VOL. cxii. 42
658 THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS [Feb.
death? The bare fact that such a question can be asked, is
cogent proof that the reply must be a categorical and
emphatic affirmative. The forces of evil still wage war against
God as Infinite Goodness and as Infinite Love; but, in even a
more marked degree, do they seek to drive from men's minds
and hearts the conception of God as Infinite Beauty. And too
often the forces of evil are strangely abetted by the apostles of
righteousness. The phylactery of the Pharisee may still be
glimpsed in the marketplace, the rigorous ideal of the Jansen-
ist has not spent its force, and the art-effacing whitewash still
drips portentous from the Puritan's brush. With our hybrid
architecture and our futurist art, with our popular music re-
verting to the Voodoo incantation and our popular literature
exploiting salacious ugliness, blatant and unashamed, acute is
our need for the poetry of John Keats to teach us the distinc-
tion between melody and noise, to convince us that the sen-
suous is not the sensual, to refresh our eyes with the vision of
beauty, and lead our aching and reluctant feet unto the realms
of gold. A renewed discernment of the reflection of God's
Beauty in the world, a renewed realization of the possibilities
of loveliness inherent in the very words we heedlessly toss
hither and yon in our workaday lives, a renewed reverence
for the evanescent pulchritude we glimpse in a glowing phrase
or a sunset splendor, an organ cadence or a tempest's wail, an
ocean vista or a woman's face these are what come to us
when we set foot within Keats' magic bower, these, and a
strength-assuring sleep,
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
And ours is no transient need. Even as the world shall
always need the saint, so shall it always need the poet; both,
working ever against seemingly insuperable odds, are destined
in the Divine economy to bring mankind to the liberating truth.
For Keats was right : Beauty is truth ; truth, beauty. To recog-
nize the validity of his contention we need have recourse
neither to Plato and the Timaeiis, nor to Lessing and the
Laocoon, nor to Cousin and his trinity of truth, beauty and
goodness. "To the materialist philosopher," writes Amiel,
"the beautiful is a mere accident. ... To the spiritual phil-
osopher the beautiful is the rule, the law, the universal f ounda-
1921.] THE CENTENARY OF JOHN KEATS 659
tion of things. . . . Beauty is ... a memento fallen from
heaven to earth to remind us of the ideal world." 20 A little
learning scoffs; true wisdom is chastened and adores.
One day, a hundred years ago, a carriage glided through
the streets of Rome; and from the half open window the
lustrous eyes of John Keats, set deep in a face upon which a
mortal pallor had already fallen, caught a fleeting vision of
the broken arches of the Coliseum. He who had sung so un-
tiringly of the quest of beauty and, dying in his springtime,
left a heritage of art, was vouchsafed a glimpse of the arena
where martyrs, when the world was young, had perished for
the cause of truth.
"Here lies one whose name was writ in water." Yes, the
passing of a hundred years has proved that prophecy untrue.
The weakness, the weariness, perchance the bitterness of the
man for the moment obscured the seerlike vision of the bard;
and presently he died, his last days soothed by the sonatas of
Haydn and the efflorescent prose of Jeremy Taylor, most poet-
ical of English pulpiteers. Today another epitaph may better
summarize his achievements, better signalize his fame. It is
from his own Hyperion:
'Tis the eternal law
That first in beauty shall be first in might.
M AmieVs Journal, April 3, 1865.
THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN.
BY HERBERT LUCAS, S.J.
IV.
LATER CATHOLIC WRITINGS.
FTER the collapse at least so far as he himself
was concerned of the Irish University scheme,
the shadows fell thick over Newman's life during
a period of more than twenty years (1857-1879).
The main items of the story have been already
indicated, and need not be here repeated. But there were
intervals during which the clouds broke and the clear day-
light re-asserted itself. The year 1864 once more brought the
distinguished Oxford convert prominently before the public
eye, under circumstances which gained for him a full measure
of sympathy alike from Catholics and from great numbers of
his Protestant fellow-countrymen.
"At Christmas, 1863, there appeared in Macmillan's Maga-
zine a review by Charles Kingsley of J. A. Froude's History of
England. In it occurred the following passage: 'Truth, for its
own sake, had never been a virtue with the Roman clergy.
Father Newman informs us that it need not be, and on the
whole ought not to be; that cunning is the weapon which
heaven has given to the saints wherewith to withstand the
brute male force of the wicked world which marries and is
given in marriage. Whether his notion be doctrinally correct
or no, it is, at least, historically so.' Newman wrote to the
publishers ... 'to draw their attention as gentlemen to a
grave and gratuitous slander.' ' Jl
What followed may be best summed up in Newman's own
trenchant words. They are from a pamphlet published at the
time:
Mr. Kingsley begins then by exclaiming : "O, the chican-
ery, the wholesale fraud, the vile hypocrisy, the conscience-
killing tyranny of Rome! We have not far to seek for an
evidence of it! There's Father Newman to wit: one living
1 Ward, Newman, ii., p. 7.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 661
specimen is worth a hundred dead ones. He, a priest, writ-
ing of priests, tells us that lying is never any harm." I
interpose: "You are taking a most extraordinary liberty
with my name. If I have said this, tell me when and
where." Mr. Kingsley replies : "You said it, reverend Sir, in
a sermon which you preached when a Protestant, as vicar of
St. Mary's, and published in 1844. . ." I make answer: "Oh,
not it seems, as a priest speaking of priests; but let us have
the passage." Mr. Kingsley relaxes: "Do you know, I like
your tone. From your tone I rejoice greatly rejoice to
be able to believe that you did not mean what you said."
I rejoin: "Mean it! I maintain I never said it, whether as
a Protestant or as a Catholic." Mr. Kingsley replies: "I
waive that point." I object: "Is it possible? What? Waive
the main question? I either said it or I didn't. You have
made a monstrous charge against me direct, distinct,
public; you are bound to answer it as directly, as distinctly,
as publicly, or to own you can't. "Well," says Mr. Kings-
ley, "if you are quite sure you did not say it, I'll take your
word for it I really will." "My word! I am dumb.
Somehow I thought that it was my word that happened to
be on trial. The word of a professor of lying that he does
not lie!" But Mr. Kingsley reassures me. "We are both
gentlemen," he says, "I have done as much as one gentle-
man can expect from another." I begin to see, he thought
me a gentleman at the very time that he said I taught lying
on system. After all it is not I, but it is Mr. Kingsley who
did not mean what he said. 2
It was, as all the world knows, this brief but lively pas-
sages of arms which gave occasion to that remarkable "History
of My Religious Opinions," more commonly known as the
Apologia, from which was derived the greater part of what
has been told, in a former article, of Newman's life as an
Anglican. Needless to say that, although its immediate pur-
pose was the vindication of the author's personal sincerity,
and of his unwavering fidelity to the truth, as he has seen it
at each stage of the long process of his conversion, the work is,
on far wider grounds, a human document of the deepest in-
terest and of very real importance.
Six years were yet to elapse before the publication of
Newman's next substantial work, The Grammar of Assent,
which must now claim our attention. At first sight, it might
a A Correspondence with the Rev. Charles Kingsley, pp. 32, 33.
662 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Feb.,
' 9
seem as though this book had proved an exception to New-
man's practice (to which reference has clearly been made) of
having always in view, in his writings, "the need of the
moment." But it is an exception only in appearance. It was
not, indeed, called forth by some special crisis, like that which
was occasioned by the Gorham judgment, or by the outbreak
of a violent "No Popery" agitation on the restoration of the
hierarchy, nor again by some published attack on himself or
on his fellow Catholics, as was the case with the Apologia,
the "Letters" to Pusey and the Duke of Norfolk, and the reply
to Principal Fairbairn in the Contemporary Review. Never-
theless, it was addressed to a very special and urgent need, not
indeed of the moment alone, but of the age, to a need the
sense of which may be said to have haunted him from the days
of his recoil from that tendency to liberalism in theology of
which mention has been made in a former article, down to the
very end of his life. This was the need of the best defence
that could be raised against the flood of unbelief and skepti-
cism, the inroads of which, as has been said, he foresaw as
clearly as it is possible for any one to envisage a general move-
ment of the human mind.
Hence it had been his desire to devote his best years to
the writing of a work, greater than any which he had hitherto
attempted, on "Faith and Reason." And when he found this
hope frustrated by other imperative demands on his time and
attention, he set himself, in the Grammar of Assent, resolutely
to deal with at least one particular aspect of the general prob-
lem, which, as he was deeply convinced, must, by all means,
be faced. How far the attempt was successful is a question on
which opinions have been, and probably always will be,
sharply divided. But it can hardly be called in question that
some at least of the more or less adverse judgments which have
been passed on the book as a whole have been based on a mis-
apprehension of the author's purpose and meaning. And
criticism, such as he would have been the last to resent, pro-
vided only that it were fair, might well have been in a measure
disarmed by the extreme modesty of the full title of the work.
He calls it, in terms carefully and deliberately chosen, "An
Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent;" proclaiming thus its
more or less tentative character, and his hope that, while not
professing to be exhaustive, it may at least prove helpful. And
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 663
while many, the present writer among the number, would
vindicate for it a far higher value than could be indicated by
any words of "faint praise," no one, it may be hoped, would
venture to dispute its claim to have fulfilled its purpose as, at
the very least, an extremely suggestive "Essay." It is unques-
tionably one which emphasizes, in a manner which cannot fail
to compel attention, certain aspects of what may be called "the
process of faith," which had been somewhat lightly passed
over in current treatises on Apologetics. But it is a book to be
read and used, with due caution, rather by trained theologians
than by the so-called "average reader," who might easily mis-
understand certain portions of it, and find himself bewildered
by others. Newman's message, as Dr. William Barry very truly
writes, was "to the master rather than to the novice;" and to
no work of his are these words more thoroughly applicable
than to the Grammar of Assent
In the book itself, after a lengthy and minute examination
into the nature, respectively, of "apprehension," "inference,"
and "assent," the author devotes an important chapter (which
may indeed be regarded as the kernel of the whole) to the con-
sideration of what he calls "the Illative Sense," by which term
he designates the faculty of reaching conclusions, and even of
attaining to certainty, by means of implicit reasoning. It is,
for instance, only as the result of a process of implicit reason-
ing, based ultimately on multitudinous human testimony, that
those of us who have not crossed the Atlantic, believe, as an
indisputable fact, in the existence of New York. Indeed, this
kind of implicit reasoning may quite safely be said to be our
chief guide through life.
Having established this point, which is indeed beyond
dispute, he sets himself to solve, or to help others to solve, the
problem to which the whole of the first portion of the work is
intended to lead up. This problem, be it observed, is not, as
some of his critics seem to have supposed: "What are the
proofs of the existence of God, and of the fact of the Christian
revelation, which are available for those who have the ability,
the leisure, the good will to examine them systematically?"
but the rather different question: "How are men, whether
highly educated or more or less illiterate, actually led, and
quite reasonably led, in the first place to that belief in a per-
sonal God which is the foundation of natural religion, and
664 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Feb.,
secondly, towards faith in divine revelation, which is the basis
of the Christian religion?" And, as the very best means, if not
the only means, within his reach, of convincingly conducting
this inquiry, he minutely analyzes and carefully ascribes his
own mental processes, as the only one of which he has had
personal experience. But he does this with the conviction that
the religious experiences of other men will be found, by each
one for himself, more or less closely to resemble his own; and
that, therefore, this quasi-personal record will serve for the
enlightenment and encouragement of others.
I begin [he says in the chapter on "Religious Inferences"]
with expressing a sentiment which is habitually in my
thoughts, whenever they are turned to the subject of mental
or moral science, . . . viz., that in these provinces of inquiry
egotism is true modesty. In religious inquiry each of us
can speak only for himself, and for himself he has a right
to speak. His own experiences are enough for himself, but
he cannot speak for others; he cannot lay down the law;
he can only bring his own experiences to the common stock
of psychological facts. He knows what has satisfied and
satisfies himself; if it satisfies him it is likely to satisfy
others; if, as he believes and is sure, it is true, it will ap-
prove itself to others also, for there is but one truth. And
doubtless he does find in fact, that allowing for differences
of mind and speech, what convinces him does convince
others also . . . This being the case, he brings together
his reasons, and relies on them, because they are his own,
and this is his primary evidence; and he has a second
ground of evidence, in the testimony of those who agree
with him. But his best evidence is the former, which is
derived from his own thoughts; and it is this which the
world has a right to demand of him; and, therefore, his true
sobriety and modesty consists, not in claiming for his con-
clusions an acceptance or a scientific approval which is not
to be found anywhere, but in stating what are personally
his own grounds for his belief in Natural and Revealed Re-
ligion grounds which he holds to be so sufficient, that he
thinks that others do hold them implicitly or in substance,
or would hold them if they inquired fairly, or will hold if
they listen to him, or do not hold from impediments, in-
vincible or not as it may be, into which he has no call to
inquire. However, his own business is to speak for himself. 8
1 Grammar of Assent, pp. 384-386.
1921.J THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 665
Now to object, as some have objected, to the use of the
subjective method, as not scientific or systematic, is to
miss the mark. It is to find fault with the author, not for
having done ill what he set out to do, but for not having at-
tempted something quite different; a line of criticism of which
Newman more than once had experience. More specious is
the objection that it can by no means be rightfully assumed
that the interior religious experiences of the average man will,
in any recognizable fashion, resemble those of the author. It
might be urged that the mentality, for instance, of Horatio, of
Laertes, or of the grave diggers in Shakespeare's play, did not
differ more widely from that of Hamlet than does the mentality
of the man in the street, with his varying degrees of knowledge
or ignorance, from that of Newman himself. Newman would
reply, I think, that what really differentiates men in their atti-
tude towards religious truth is not so much the varieties of
intellectual ability, or equipment, as the presence or absence
of good will and fidelity to conscience; and that where good
will and real earnestness are found, the mental processes of
the learned and the unlearned will be found to be quite strik-
ingly analogous.
Be this as it may, it is time to pass to the substance of
the latter portion of the book, as distinct from its professed
method. Men are led, says Newman in effect, both to belief
in God and towards faith in the divine revelation, by a mul-
titude of considerations which it would be impossible ade-
quately to set forth in the guise of formal arguments, and
which do not any more than our reasons for believing in the
existence of New York present themselves in that guise to
the mind; considerations, moreover, no one of which, taken
apart, would as presented to the mind of the average man-
be sufficient to produce certainty, but which actually and quite
reasonably produced certainty by their cumulative weight,
or rather by virtue of their convergence. Now in dealing with
this matter very great caution is necessary. The proposition
that "faith ultimately rests on a congeries of probabilities"
has been condemned as a modernist error. And it is no matter
for surprise that some should have seen or wished to see
in this condemnation an authoritative judgment adverse to
Newman himself. Fortunately, however, it has been no less
authoritatively declared that no condemnation of Newman
666 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Feb.,
was intended. And a little attention to Newman's own ex-
position of the matter should have been enough to make it
clear that the condemned proposition is not his.
As has been already implied, he regards the "probable"
considerations in question, not as though they were separate,
independent, unrelated, like the sticks in a bundle or the stones
in a heap (which is the true connotation of the word "con-
geries")* but rather like the rays of light which a lense brings
to a focus. The separate rays would not have been strong
enough to kindle the tiniest spark, but in virtue of their con-
vergence they are capable of starting a conflagration. Again,
when Newman speaks of single considerations as "probable,"
he is assessing not what may be called their objective validity,
but rather their actual force, as, taken singly, they commonly
present themselves to the individual mind. My present con-
cern, it will be understood, is not to prove that Newman was
right (though I happen to believe that he was right), but only
to make it clear that he did not fall into the theological error
which has been imputed to him.
To pass, again, to another point, it has been made a matter
of reproach against Newman, not only that, in dealing with the
ground of men's belief in a personal God, he lays stress, too
exclusively as it has seemed to some, on the witness of con-
science, to the comparative neglect of certain other arguments
which he seems to undervalue, but also that he attributes to
this interior witness a more imperative and far-reaching
evidential cogency than it can rightly claim.
According to the current text-books, and, be it added, ac-
cording to the common sense view of the matter, the proofs of
the existence of God may be briefly and crudely indicated thus :
The existence of the visible world postulates a Creator; the
order and design manifested in creation and the possession of
intellect by man postulates a wise Creator; and finally con-
science, supported by the common consent of the better part of
mankind, bears testimony to what, for lack of better terms, we
must call His moral attributes. But it is just this course of
argument that Newman's treatment at first sight seems to
invert. Yes, seems, but only seems. Of all that is contained or
implied in the summary just given, Newman is careful to call
no single point in question; but he holds, rightly or wrongly,
that if the unwritten record of the religious experiences of
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 667
mankind could be laid bare before us, it would be found that,
as a rule, men are led to God rather by the inward promptings
and admonitions of conscience, than by any argument con-
sciously and explicitly drawn from the outwardly visible cre-
ation, even though such arguments are implicitly involved in
the considerations which move them. The difference between
Newman and his critics turns, I think (though his critics have
been slow to perceive that it is so), rather on a question of
psychological fact than of theological doctrine or opinion.
At any rate, whatever may be thought of Newman's esti-
mate of the evidential value of the witness of conscience, it is
impossible not to admire and be thankful for all that he has
written, in a great variety of places, on the nature and action
of conscience in its relation to conduct. The four leading
ideas that seem to run through all that he has to tell us on this
subject would seem to be (1) that of the awful majesty of
conscience as the voice of God in the soul; (2) the urgent
danger lest that divine voice be either unheard or counter-
feited; (3) the no less urgent and consequent need that the
individual conscience should be strengthened and guided by
some external and authoritative influence; and (4) the truth
that the Catholic Church is the divinely appointed means and
organ whereby this necessary guidance and support is sup-
plied. It would not, perhaps, be easy to illustrate these four
points from Newman's writings precisely in the order in which
they have been here given, but the remembrance of them may
help the reader to gather something better than a merely gen-
eral impression from the passages presently to be quoted, and
which may be further prefaced by a few more words of intro-
duction.
Conscience, then, is a voice, the voice of God in the soul,
and therefore of itself, or objectively, of supreme dignity; but
it is on the other hand a voice that whispers rather than
clamors, a voice to which, if we are not habitually attentive,
we may easily grow deaf, a whisper which, if we are not
on our guard, is all too easily outvoiced either by the domi-
neering self-assertion of cold reason, or by the peremptory
mandates of human society, or by the storms and hurricanes of
passion, or yet again insidiously counterfeited (as has been
said) by something which only speciously and superficially
resembles it; as mere self-willed private judgment resembles
668 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Feb.,
it on the side of personal individuality, and human laws or
conventions, and the human respect thence arising, on the side
of a spurious sense of obligation, such as is the imagined
obligation to conform to a man-made code of honor.
And now let us hear Newman himself, the splendid ex-
uberance of whose style must afford an excuse for somewhat
freely abbreviating several of the passages to be quoted.
The Divine Law [he writes] is the rule of ethical truth,
the standard of right and wrong, a sovereign, irreversible,
absolute authority in the presence of men and Angels. This
law, as apprehended in the minds of individual men, is
called "conscience;" and, though it may suffer refraction
in passing into the intellectual medium of each, it is not
thereby so affected as to lose its character of being the
Divine Law, but still has, as such, the power of commanding
obedience.
Hence it is never lawful to go against conscience, even
though our conscience should be inculpably erroneous.
This view of conscience, I know, is very different from
that ordinarily taken of it both by the Science and Liter-
ature and by the public opinion of the day. It is founded
on the doctrine that conscience is the voice of God, whereas
it is fashionable on all hands now to consider it in one way
or another a creation of man. By conscience, we mean the
voice of God in the nature and heart of man as distinct
from the voice of Revelation. It is a principle planted
within us, before we have had any training, though such
training, and experience, is necessary for its strength,
growth, and due formation. It holds of God, and not of
man, as an Angel walking on the earth would be no citizen
or dependent of the Civil Power. Conscience is not a long-
sighted selfishness, nor a desire to be consistent with one-
self; but it is a message from Him Who, both in nature and
in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules
us by His representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal
Vicar of Christ, a prophet in its informations, a monarch in
its peremptoriness, a priest in its blessings and anathemas,
and, even though the eternal priesthood throughout the
Church could cease to be, in it the sacerdotal principle
would remain and would have sway.*
Words like these [he goes on] are like empty verbiage
4 "Letter to the Duke," etc., in Difficulties of Anglicans, ii., pp. 246-249.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 669
to the great world of philosophy now. All through my day
there has been a resolute warfare, I had almost said con-
spiracy, against the rights of conscience, as I have described
it. We are told that conscience is but a twist in primitive
and untutored man; that its dictate is an imagination;
that the very notion of guiltiness, which that dictate en-
forces, is simply irrational, for how can there possibly be
freedom of will, how can there be consequent responsibility,
in that infinite eternal network of cause and effect in
which we helplessly lie? And what retribution have we to
fear, when we have had no real choice to do good or evil?
So much for the philosophers; now let us see what is the
notion of conscience in the popular mind. There, too, the
idea of the presence of a Moral Governor is far away from
the use of it, frequent and emphatic as that use of it is.
When men advocate the rights of conscience, they in no
sense mean the rights of the Creator, nor the duty to Him,
in thought and deed of the creature, but the right of think-
ing, speaking, writing, and acting, according to their judg-
ment and humor, without any thought of God at all. It is
the right of self-will. 5
But other passages, which I would willingly quote did
space allow, must give place to two from The Idea of a Uni-
versity, which have been well chosen by Mr. Ward to illustrate
Newman's dread lest that very acquisition of knowledge which
he was so eager to promote should become a snare, by setting
up, as it were, a rival to conscience.
You will observe [he writes] that those higher sciences
of which I have spoken Morals and Religion are not
represented to the intelligence of the world by intimations
and notices strong and obvious, such as those which are
the foundation of Physical Science. The physical nature
lies before us, patent to the sight, ready to the touch, ap-
pealing to the senses. . . But the phenomena which are
the basis of morals and religion have nothing of this lumin-
ous evidence. Instead of being obtruded upon our notice
so that we cannot possibly overlook them, they are the
dictates either of Conscience or of Faith. They are faint
shadows and tracings, certain indeed, but fragile and almost
evanescent, which the mind recognizes at one time and not
at another discerns when it is calm, loses when it is in
agitation. . . Who can deny the existence of Conscience?
8 Ibid., pp. 249, 250.
670 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Feb.,
who does not feel the force of its injunctions? but how dim
is the illumination with which it is invested, and how
feeble its influence, compared with that evidence of sight
and touch which is the foundation of Physical Science.
How easily can we be talked out of our clearest views [or
convictions] of duty? How does this or that moral precept
crumble into nothing when we rudely handle it ! How does
the fear of sin pass off from us as quickly as the glow of
modesty dies away from the countenance! and then we
say: "It is all superstition!" However, after a time we look
round, and then to our surprise we see, as before, the same
law of duty, the same moral precepts, the same protests
[of the conscience] against sin, appearing over against us
in their old places as though they had never been brushed
away, like the Divine handwriting upon the wall at the
banquet. Then, perhaps, we approach them rudely and
inspect them irreverently, and accost them skeptically, and
away they go again, like so many spectres. . . And thus
those awful, supernatural, bright, majestic, delicate apparir
tions, much as we may in our hearts acknowledge their
sovereignty, are no match as a foundation of Science for
the hard palpable material facts which make up the Prov-
ince of Physics. 6
These words, from the last of Newman's Dublin Lectures,
were spoken in the School of Medicine, and testify, as has been
said, to the lecturer's keen anxiety lest the toxic poison of
Materialism should weaken the faith and deaden the con-
science of his hearers.
He could, of course, be no less eloquent on dangers to faith
and conscience proceeding from quite different quarters, from
the manifold influence of "this vain, unprofitable, yet overbear-
ing world," from "so magnificent, so imposing a presence, as
that of the great Babylon;" from the world which "professes
to supply all that we need, as if we were sent into it for the
sake of being sent, and for nothing beyond the sending;" from
"this august world" to which "it is a great favor to have an
introduction." 7 But what follows may be more to the present
purpose.
"What then," asks Mr. Ward, after quoting the passage
already given from the Dublin Lecture, "what then is the force
which will give to these 'apparitions' " of faith and conscience
*ldea of a University, pp. 514, 515. Cf. Ward, Newman, i., pp. 413, 414.
T Discourses to Mixed Congregations (Ed. 1849), p. 112.
1921.] THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN 671
"the permanence and stability they need if they are to be our
stay in life, if we are to feel their reality as we feel the world
of sense to be real; if we are to rest on them as the foundation
of our hopes for the future?" To this question the answer is
that "the Church, which by her liturgy and theology, and by
the constant preaching of her ministers, keeps those truths
energetically before us and represents them as ever-living
principles of action, is here our great support." 8
That great institution, then, the Catholic Church [con-
tinues Newman] has been set up by Divine Merey as a present,
visible antagonist, and the only possible antagonist, to sight
and sense. Conscience, reason, good feeling, the instincts
of our moral natures, the tradition of Faith, the conclusions
and deductions of philosophical [or "natural"] Religion,
are no match at all for the stubborn facts . . . which are
the foundation of physical science. Gentlemen, if you feel,
as you must feel, the whisper of the law of moral truth
within you, and the impulse to believe, be sure there is
nothing whatever on earth which can be the sufficient cham-
pion of these sovereign authorities of your soul, which can
vindicate and preserve them to you and make you loyal to
them, but the Catholic Church. You fear they will go, you
see with dismay that they are going, under the continual
impression created on your mind by the details of the
material science to which you have devoted your lives.
It is so I do not deny it; except under rare and happy cir-
cumstances, go they will, unless you have Catholicism to
back you up in keeping faithful to them. The world is a
rough antagonist of spiritual truth; sometimes with mailed
hand, sometimes with pertinacious logic, sometimes with a
storm of irresistible facts, it presses on against you. What
it says is true, perhaps, as far as it goes, but it is not the
whole truth, or the most important truth. Those more im-
portant truths which the natural heart admits in substance
though it cannot [of its own strength] maintain [against
such adversaries] of these the Church is in matter of fact
the undaunted and the only defender. She is ever the
same ever young and vigorous, and ever overcoming new
errors with the old weapons. Catholicism is the strength
of Religion as Science and System are the strength of
[physical] Knowledge. 9
Ward, Newman, L, p. 414. Cf. Last Lectures, p. 29.
Idea, etc., pp. 515, 516.
672 THE LIFE'S WORK OF J. H. NEWMAN [Feb.,
4 ' ;
Alas, that these eloquent and impassioned accents were heard
no more in the lecture halls of Dublin.
I have allowed myself, not unwillingly, to be led aside
from the consideration of the Grammar of Assent to the quota-
tion of passages not taken from that work, though bearing
on topics cognate to its subject matter. But I cannot take leave
of it altogether without paying a tribute of most cordial ad-
miration to its concluding section, in which Newman deals
at length, in his most trenchant style, with the "five reasons"
advanced by the cynical and infidel historian, Gibbon, as ac-
counting on merely natural grounds, for the spread of Chris-
tianity.
Under stress of limited space, I must needs be content
briefly to mention some others among the latest works of the
veteran controversialist.
In 1866 there appeared, from the pen of Dr. E. B. Pusey,
a lengthy pamphlet, strangely entitled An Eirenicon (i. e., "A
Message of Peace") in which the author vigorously attacked
Catholic devotion to Our Lady, especially as represented or
reflected in that once well-known book of popular piety, The
Glories of Mary, by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. Newman, in his
reply, has of course no difficulty in showing that the Catholic
faith does not commit us to an unqualified approval, or adop-
tion, of what some would regard as the occasionally perf ervid
phraseology of the book, or to a credulous acceptance of the
ill-authenticated legends which are to be found within its
covers. The "Letter to Dr. Pusey" was, it will be understood,
published four years before the Grammar of Assent; but I
have reserved mention of it till now as being fitly coupled with
the "Letter to the Duke of Norfolk," which appeared in 1875.
The occasion of the last-named pamphlet was as follows : In 1873,
three years after the Vatican definition of Papal Infallibility,
Mr. Gladstone had received a serious political set-back in the
rejection of an Irish University Bill. Irritated by this un-
locked for disappointment, due to the influence of the Catholic
Bishops of Ireland, Mr. Gladstone published his Vaticanism in
Its Relation to the Duty of Civil Allegiance. It was to this
outburst of petulant bigotry that Newman replied in the above-
named "Letter." This is a work which, as protesting against
the identification of particular theological opinions with the
faith of the Catholic Church, presents a close analogy with the
1921.] THE HARP THAT ONCE THRO' TARA'S HALLS 673
"Letter to Dr. Pusey." 10 But the right place for its discussion
would be in the course of a connected account of the Vatican
definition, such as plainly cannot be attempted here. And of
the controversy with Dr. Fairbairn, which was the occasion of
Cardinal Newman's last appearance in print, at the age of
eighty-four, space will not allow me to speak.
[THE END.]
THE HARP THAT ONCE THRO' TARA'S HALLS.
BY THOMAS A. LAHEY, C.S.C.
"THE harp that once thro* Tara's hall
The soul of music shed,"
Has slumbered long on Tara's walls,
But oh, it is not dead.
The throbs to which it once had leaped
Have lapsed in silence long,
But 'tis because its strings were steeped
In grief too deep for song.
But Hope has touched away the tears
And Erin rises now,
The white dawn of the coming years
Upon her virgin brow;
And lo, a thousand pulsing strings
Have caught the throb that thrills
The new born Irish heart that sings
Among the Emerald hills.
Oh harp by sorrow soothed to sleep,
A lilting Irish cry
Has made your pulse again to leap
In songs that will not die.
No more, sweet harp, shall music dare
To live from thee apart,
For ye shall live a wedded pair
Within the Irish heart.
"Both "Letters" have been republished in Difficulties of Anglicans, vol. 11.
VOL. cm. 43
THE POETRY OF THE PETREL.
BY HARRIETTE WILBUR.
I have seen a snowy petrel, arising, poise
Above the green-sloped wave, then pass forevermore
From keenest sight. William Sharp, "Oceanus."
SUALLY, however, a petrel does not pass forever-
more from keenest sight, but remains in plain
view, with broad whirlings and coastings that are
the poetry of motion. At will, the bird can make
a mile a minute, but usually its flight is airy and
flickering, more like that of a butterfly than of an ordinary
bird. Its characteristic position is this "poise above the green-
sloped wave," like a bit of the wave itself suspended in air.
Pied petrels coursed about the sea,
And skimmed the billows dexterously;
Sank with each hollow, rose with every hill,
So close, yet never touched them till
They seized their prey with rapid bill,
says Alfred Domett in "The Gulf of St. Lawrence." This hov-
ering poise has a utilitarian motive, being a method of procur-
ing food. Yet it is grace itself and whoever, or whatever, can
equal it has reached perfection of its kind. Bryant has used
this idea very aptly in "The Arctic Lover:"
The petrel does not skim the sea
More swiftly than my oar.
Strictly speaking, there is no "snowy petrel," as the plum-
age is chiefly dark above and below, though some have white
breasts and all have areas of white here and there about the
plumage. Of the seventy or more recognized species, the three
small petrels called Stormy Petrels, or Mother Carey's Chickens,
are the best known. There are the True Stormy Petrel, Leach's
Petrel, and Wilson's, named from the great ornithologist. All
are of a sooty brown, with a white patch, or "snowflake," at the
base of the tail. Mr. H. E. Parkhurst finds a beautiful com-
parison in the colors and habits of these children of the sea:
1921.] THE POETRY OF THE PETREL 675
"A vanishing and ever distant living mystery, with minute
dusky form, white spotted, dashing tirelessly above the sea, it
is an exquisite symbol of the dark waves, crested with white,
that are ever sweeping on, age after age, in restless flight."
Far off the Petrel in the troubled way
Swims with her brood, or flutters in the spray;
She rises often, often drops again,
And sports at ease on the tempestuous main.
George Crabbe.
Petrel means "Little Peter." Because these birds run with
closed wings upon the surface of the water, or hover with
spread wings just above it, someone has made the poetical
comparison to St. Peter walking upon the Sea of Gennesareth,
hence the name:
Named wert thou, that walkest the water, from the impetuous
saint of yore
Peter who by faith would gladly step with trembling human feet
On the Lord's own shining pathway, there his gracious Lord to
greet.
Fear not. He Whose touch upheld the Apostle's life in Galilee
Gave thy wings, strong and sustaining, O thou wandering bird,
to thee. Lady Lindsay, "The Stormy Petrel."
The birds are well named "Stormy," because they not only
resemble flakes of foam cast off by the dashing waves, but
because the higher the wind and more agitated the sea, the
more abundant and lively they are:
Birds of the sea, they rejoice in storms;
On the top of the wave you may see their forms;
They run and dive, and they whirl and fly,
Where the glittering foam-spray breaks on high;
And against the force of the strongest gale
Like phantom ships they soar and sail.
Park Benjamin, "The Stormy Petrel.''
There are several different suppositions as to the origin
of the term, Mother Carey's Chickens, for these small petrels,
and of Mother Carey's Hens for the larger kinds. It is said
that the name is a corruption of Cartaret, whose sailors named
the birds in honor of their captain. Another explanation states
that "Carey" is from the Latin cara, dear, the bird being under
676 THE POETRY OF THE PETREL [Feb.,
the protection of dear mother nature, or of Mary, the Mother.
Still another notion is that Mother Carey was a witch with
ability to make storms rise at command, and that the sailors
named the bird for her, hoping the compliment would avert
storms, or else in compliment to the bird's ability to prophesy
storms. For, because of their abundance just before or during
a storm, seamen often believe, or say, that the birds bring bad
weather.
Alexander Wilson says of this superstition: "Habited in
mourning, and making their appearance generally in greater
numbers previous to or during a storm, they have long been
fearfully regarded by the ignorant and superstitious, not only
as the foreboding messengers of tempests and dangers to the
hapless mariner, but as wicked agents connected, somehow or
other, in creating them. 'Nobody,' say they, 'can tell anything
of where they come from or how they breed,' though (as
sailors sometimes say) it is supposed that they hatch their eggs
under their wings as they sit on the water. This mysterious
uncertainty has doubtless given rise to the opinion so prevalent
among this class of men, that they are, in some way or other,
connected with that personage who has been styled The
Prince of the Powers of the Air. In every country where they
are known, their names have borne some affinity to this belief.
They have been called Witches, Stormy Petrels, The Devil's
Birds, Mother Carey's Chickens, probably from some cele-
brated ideal hag of that name. Their unexpected and numer-
ous appearance has frequently thrown a momentary damp
over the mind of the hardiest seamen."
Lady Lindsay reverts to this :
Harbinger of death and danger, o'er the darkly furrowed sea,
Rides the Stormy Petrel, telling where the gathered whirlwinds be.
Bird of Fate! whom we should welcome, counting thee as truly
blest,
For thy tidings and thy warnings timely brought from east or
west,
Knowest not that an ill-tongued prophet is by all men deemed
accurst
He that soonest cries disaster, he that sees far doom the first?
To collect in numbers before a storm is not proper to
Petrels alone; gulls, swallows, and other sea and land birds
feel the change of weather and unconsciously foretell it by
1921.] THE POETRY OF THE PETREL 677
their actions. In reality, the storm brings the birds. Alexander
Wilson explains why they seek out a ship : "It appears that the
seeds of the Gulf -weed so common and abundant in this part
of the ocean, floating perhaps a little below the surface, and
the barnacles with which ships' bottoms usually abound, being
both occasionally thrown up to the surface by the action of
the vessel through the water in blowing weather, entice these
birds to follow in the ships' wake at such times: and not, as
some have suggested, merely to seek shelter from the storm,
the greatest violence of which they seem to disregard. There
is also the greasy dish-washings and other oily substances
thrown over by the cook, on which they feed with avidity, but
with great good-nature, their manners being so gentle that I
have never observed the slightest appearance of quarreling
or dispute among them."
The bird's note is a faint, chirping, rather wailing weet-
weet, uttered as it skims buoyantly over the water or runs
nimbly about patting the tops of the waves with its webbed
feet.
No song-note have we, but a piping cry
That blends with the storm when the wind is high,
When the land-birds quail
We sport the gale,
And merrily over the ocean we sail. Anon.
Petrel is a true child of the sea, with the strength and
endurance that a life on the ocean demands. Wilson tells of
one with a broken quill feather that followed his ship for
nearly a week, a distance of four hundred miles in those days.
"The length of time these birds remain on the wing is surpris-
ing," he says. "As soon as it was light enough in the morning
to perceive them, they were found roaming about as usual,
and I have often sat in the boat which was suspended by the
ship's stern, watching their movements until it was so dark the
eye could no longer follow them, though I could still hear their
low note of weet-weet, as they approached the vessel below
me."
Hovered all day in our sluggish wake
The wonderful petrel's wing,
Following, following, ever afar
Like the love of a human thing.
Howard Glyndon.
678 THE POETRY OF THE PETREL [Feb.,
Night has no terrors for a bird that can ride out the
severest storm in safety, and, after sporting with the waves all
day, Stormy Petrel settles to rest with a white-cap for his
pillow and his wing for a nightcap. Mist and foam and spray
cannot touch him, for his thick oily plumage is a protecting
"slicker," while his long legs are encased in high boots, guar-
anteed not to leak.
Up and down! up and down!
From the base of the wave to the billow's crown,
And amidst the flashing and feathery foam
The stormy petrel finds a home
A home, if such a place may be
For her who lives on the wide, wide sea,
On the craggy ice, in the frozen air
And only seekest her rocky lair
To warm her young, and to teach them to spring
At once o'er the waves on their stormy wing!
Barry Cornwall.
Stormy Petrel almost never lands except in June, when
she seeks a rocky shore or desolate ocean island to build a
nest and brood the single egg she deposits there. The nesting
is in colonies, sometimes thousands of birds together. Such a
colony is an interesting place on a warm evening, when the
immense numbers of birds assembled there sport about over
the rocks and sandy shores, chattering in faint, husky voices.
Occasionally, however, very unpleasant accidents cause them
to be found in places not at all suited to their wandering
nature, as Florence Hendrickson records in "Lines on a Stormy
Petrel Found Dying in Kensington Gardens:"
He flew long miles over barren lands
Driven ashore by the stormy seas,
From the purple crags and the golden sands,
From foam and freedom and fresh salt breeze;
Into a city of gloom and smoke,
With its roar of wheels for the ocean's roar,
Where the air is heavy and foul fogs choke,
But what does it matter one victim more?
And Theodore Watts has written an "Ode to Mother Carey's
Chicken," hanging in a cage on a cottage wall.
1921.] THE POETRY OF THE PETREL 679
Gaze not at me, my poor unhappy bird;
That sorrow is more than human in thine eye;
Too deep already is my spirit stirred
To see thee here, child of the sea and sky,
Coop'd in a cage with food thou canst not eat,
Thy snowflake soiled, and soiled those conquering feet
That walked the billows, while thy sweet-sweet-sweet
Proclaimed the tempest nigh.
It is said that sailors are very careful not to molest Little
Peter, fearing harm may come to the ship, or to themselves.
Possibly it is affection rather than superstition that dictates
their attitude toward these friendly little fellow voyagers. The
passengers certainly welcome the Little Peters as an interest-
ing and entertaining bit of life on an otherwise desolate sea;
an ocean voyage would not be half as pleasant without the
company of the little birds.
"Ever flapping its winglets, I have marked the little bird,"
says Audubon, "dusky all over save a single spot, the white-
ness of which contrasts with the dark hue of the waters and
the deep tone of the clear sky. Full of life and joy, it moves
to and fro, advances toward the ship, then shoots far away,
gambols over the swelling waves, dives into their hollows, and
twitters with delight as it perceives an object that will alle-
viate its hunger. Never fatigued, the tiny Petrels seldom
alight, although at times their frail legs and feet seem to touch
the crest of the foaming wave."
Here ran the stormy petrels on the waves,
As though they were the shadows of themselves,
Reflected from a loftier flight through space.
James Montgomery, "Pelican Island."
flew Boohs.
TWENTY CURES AT LOURDES MEDICALLY DISCUSSED. By
Dr. F. de Grandmaison de Bruno, translated by Dom Hugo
G. Bevinot, O.S.B., A.M., and Dom Luke Izard, O.S.B.,
M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., with a preface by Sir Bertrand Windle,
M.D., Sc.D., F.R.S. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. $2.60.
This admirable translation of an excellent book will be found
full of interest for Catholics; for inquirers into Catholicism; for
students of the art of healing and of the laws of evidence; for
scientists; and for all who believe in the supernatural, and in the
many manifestations of the Providence of God.
The book is written by a physician, one jealous for the integ-
rity of medical standards in pronouncing on conditions of disease
or healing. In the first eighteen chapters will be found the history
of each case: this comprises the certificates of the physicians,
often categorical in detail, with regard to the existing disease;
the precise reports of the cure; a discussion of the arguments for
and against the miraculous element in the healing; and the after
history of the case. This is done in the well-ordered, balanced,
and impartial fashion of a paper to be read before a medical
assembly, or a report contributed to a medical journal. Only a
physician, as Sir Bertram Windle says in his preface, can appre-
ciate the care to be found in the examinations and dissection of
these cases. In Dr. Grandmaison's own preface he states : "I have
set aside all considerations other than the medical; I have exam-
ined solely the clinical factor in the cures."
Following the detailed report, comes a summarization of
the cures in chronological order. Next, an investigation of the
characteristics common to all the cures discussed, which are those
common to miraculous cures in general, namely: (1) the rapidity
of the cure; (2) the simplicity or even nullity of the curative
agent; (3) the coincidence of the cure with prayer or some mani-
festation of piety. Each separate cure is now shown, as before
a medico-legal tribunal, to have fulfilled these conditions. Finally,
the objections which are advanced in general against the miracles
of healing at Lourdes are convincingly shown to be fallacious.
Indeed, many of these objections are so self-evidently shortsighted
or prejudiced that we admire the patient tolerance shown in their
refutation.
Though the book is written in the language of scientific medi-
1921.] NEW BOOKS 681
cine, its clarity of style brings it well within the comprehension
of the ordinary reader. So full of interest is it that we cannot
forbear to mention a few of the many pieces of information to
be gained from it, difficult though it is to choose. For instance,
readers are told of the severe methods of examination employed
by the Bureau des Constatations ; of the interrogations and exam-
inations needed to fill a "dossier" for filing in the archives; of
the number of physicians who yearly visit Lourdes, more than
eight hundred, to whom all records are open, and to whom exam-
ination of current cases is permitted. They will learn that ad-
mission to Lourdes in the case of the sick poor is granted only
when the disease has been pronounced incurable; and withheld
from those suffering from hysteria. Also, readers will be inter-
ested, and disgusted, to learn of the many deliberate and malicious
falsifications employed by Zola in his novel on Lourdes, here
completely exposed.
MEDICINA PASTORALIS. In Usum Confessariorum et Curiarum
E 'celestas ticarum. By Joseph Antonelli Sac, Naturalium
Scientiarum Doctore ac Professore. Volume III. Editio
Quarta. New York: Frederick Pustet Co.
This revised and enlarged edition of Father Antonelli's Pas-
toral Medicine, makes an excellent work of reference for those
interested in the serious scientific questions connected with what
has been so well called Medicina Pastoralis Medicine for Pastors.
The first volume contains an admirable compendium of the
knowledge necessary to understand the anatomy and physiology
that must be discussed in pastoral medicine. It is beautifully and
adequately illustrated by some twenty-five colored plates and
other cuts, all genuinely helpful to those unfamiliar with im-
portant details of anatomy.
The first part of the second volume contains physiological
questions relating to the First, Fifth and Sixth Commandments.
The second part, the pastoral medicine of the sacraments of Bap-
tism and Matrimony. The third discusses the medical questions
relating to abstinence and fasting, and the fourth concerns the
pastoral care of people who are gravely ill or dying, and ques-
tions with regard to the dead which knowledge of anatomy
and physiology may help the priest to solve. One might take
exception to a tendency in this volume to exaggerate the signif-
icance of the physical evils which may result from certain viola-
tions of the Sixth Commandment. The opinions expressed are
those of physicians, as a rule, and even of special authorities on
the subjects, but it would have been well worth while to recognize
682 NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
f
some more conservative views. We cannot scare people into
being better or influence them for good by setting up a bogey
whose features are a caricature, rather than a portrait.
The third volume contains the constitution of Pope Benedict
XIV., Dei miseratione, together with the instructions of the Sacred
Congregations and the Holy Office referring to the trial of cases
for the declaration of the nullity of matrimony which has been
solemnized but not consummated. It gives examples of matri-
monial cases, tried under these decrees and instructions, which
are illuminating for those who are practically interested in this
subject.
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. By the Rev. Peter Green, M.A. New
York: Longmans, Green & Co. $3.25.
The Problem of Evil is as old as man's philosophizing.
Zoroaster speculated on the existence of evil in the world in 2500
B. C. Men have been wrestling with the problem ever since : they
have become, now Dualists, now Fatalists, according as they have
failed to see the compatibility of an All Good Supreme Being with
a universe of His creation which admitted of moral and physical
evil.
Christian teaching, of course, has not been unmindful of this
centuries'-old difficulty. Christian teaching, while never attempt-
ing to answer all the "whys" of the permissions of Omnipotence,
while always remembering that the ways of God are, in much,
mysterious and incomprehensible to man, has nevertheless faced
the problem of evil squarely, and insisted that there is no incom-
patibility between the existence of an All Perfect God and moral
evil in the universe, since moral evil is the result of man's free
choice, and free choice is of" the very nature of man. Christian
teaching has its answers, too, for those who see incompatibility
in the existence of God, and of physical or metaphysical evil in His
universe, although to give these answers here would take us too
far afield.
During the course of the last few years this old problem has
reasserted its claim to the world's attention. The distresses and
sufferings attendant on the World War brought forth a deal of
new literature on the old problem. Canon Green's book is the
latest arrival, and one of the most welcome to the arena of dis-
cussion.
One uses the word "welcome" here in a limited sense. One
welcomes the Canon's book, if for no better reason, at least for its
announced purpose in its sub-title that it is "an attempt to show
that the existence of sin and pain in the world is not inconsistent
1921.] NEW BOOKS 683
with the goodness and power of God." In a literature which
includes much that is agnostic, hysterical and even blasphemous,
a book with Canon Green's frank thesis is a relief.
It is quite true that the Canon's book is now over-subjective,
again, "sufficiently vague to mean anything," at other times rather
far-fetched theologically (see for example chapter seven, "A
Theory of the Fall"), and so on; nevertheless, the main argument
of the book as outlined in the introductory chapter, the square
stand for a real freedom of the will, and the sane views expressed
in the concluding chapter on the Social Problem are refreshing
oases in the mass of recent war-hysteria literature on the problem
of evil.
THE PROBLEM OF THE PENTATEUCH. A New Solution by
Archaeological Methods. By Melvin George Kyle, D.D., LL.D.
Oberlin, Ohio: Bibliotheca Sacra Co.
In view of the recent decision of the Holy Office on the Penta-
teuchal problem, it is a source of a great deal of satisfaction to
read the latest scholarly work on this interesting topic from the
pen of Dr. M. G. Kyle. The work shows careful study, close
reasoning, and deep erudition. The Mosaic authorship of the
Pentateuch is, in this volume, demonstrated from the varied and
progressive forms of legislation. The author finds in the Penta-
teuch certain comprehensive technical legal terms, used for groups
of laws and placed at the beginning of the group which they desig-
nate. These three groups are "Judgments," "Statutes," "Com-
mandments." The last term is not used as exclusively in a tech-
nical sense as the first two. Judgments are decisions of judges
that have become a common law and of general knowledge. They
usually concern things that are evil in themselves. Statutes are
statutary regulations, directions, laws of procedure, regulations in
religious ceremonials, social activity of Israel. Commandments,
when used in the technical sense, refer to the Decalogue, but the
term is frequently used in a more general sense. Long tables of
references are given in support of this view.
Different literary forms are employed for these three classes
of laws. The mnemonic is characteristic of Judgments. They
constituted the common law, were passed from mouth to mouth,
were memorized by judges: Moses eventually collected them to
form a divinely authorized code in the Pentateuch. They are ex-
pressed in brief, terse, often rhythmic language.
Statutes concern matters, unfamiliar, destined for specialists;
they refer to the Ceremonial Law, the construction of the Taber-
nacle, description of the priests' vestments, directions concerning
684 , NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
feasts. The descriptive literary form is most suitable for this
purpose.
Deuteronomy differs from the other books of the Pentateuch
in literary style and form. The laws in this book are the same as
given and recorded in preceding books, but they are here sum-
marized; the addresses of Moses to the people assume the form of
the review lectures. Additions are made to laws, but they have in
view the early entrance of Israelites into the Promised Land. The
hortatory form of expression is used by Moses in these public ad-
dresses to stir up the people to a more lively conception of the
laws already given, and to prepare them for their life in the Land
of Promise. Bearing in mind the various kinds and uses of the
laws, it is not necessary to resort to the documentary theory for
their interpretation. The same legislators will, under these vary-
ing circumstances, employ a different style, and various forms of
expression which will be suitable for such occasions.
Chronological difficulties exist in the Pentateuch but many
of them are the creation of the documentary theory. Some addi-
tions have probably been made to the original editions of the
Pentateuch. Parts of it are prophetic in character, notably Deu-
teronomy. The author briefly reviews the arguments for the
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch advanced in his previous
work, Moses and the Monuments, and concludes this study with
the words, the Pentateuch "is a journalistic record of laws, forty
years in the making and of history forty years in the writing . . .
and Moses, either personally or by giving directions to others, is
its responsible author."
RELIGION AND HEALTH. By James J. Walsh, M.D. Boston:
Little, Brown & Co. $2.25 net.
Valuable as was Dr. Walsh's book on Health Through Will
Power, this is as much higher in worth, as the subject it treats
transcends that in the book which preceded it, and which might
be called a preparation for it. In the introductory chapter and
the one following we find the strong presentation of his thesis on
the everlasting reality of religion. The chapter on Prayer, marked
by absence of psychological speculation, treats practically of the
naturalness and good sense of the constant habit of prayer; it
tells how the neurotic is helped by morning prayer, and of the
value of prayer is all psychoneuroses. Brief reference is made to
the great men of prayer in many ages, with special stress on the
praying Generals of the Great War. The chapter on the Bible
and Health is of especial interest, with its argument that the
sanitary laws of the Jews could have been no outcome of human
1921.] NEW BOOKS 685
development, but rather of Divine origin. In other chapters,
which we might well wish to do more than summarize, we learn
of the effect of religion in inhibiting or resolving the destructive
emotions of anger, worry, and fear; in their expulsion by forgive-
ness and faith.
All this, possibly, we Catholics know, but such knowledge
gains new force when uttered by the physician rather than the
clergyman, when stated as a truth of science as incontestable as
the law of gravitation, and its outcome shown to be simple re-
lation of cause and effect in the worlds of spirit and matter.
In this very meagre sketch of some of the matter in the book,
we must not omit notice of its inclusion of all recent discoveries
in medicine, from the relation of obesity to diabetes, to the prob-
able communication of influenza through the hands, rather than
in any way through the air.
The wide reading, extended experience, and specialized
scholarship of the writer certify to the value of anything from his
pen, and when we find a work of this kind as simple as a primer
and as attractive as a story, we may well offer thanks for the
boon. Nobody who values knowledge concerning the mysterious
relation between holy living and bodily health should be without
this book.
WOUNDED SOULS. By Philip Gibbs. New York: George H.
Doran Co.
In this book Philip Gibbs, with powerful, vital strokes,
brings home to us that the War is not yet over, although fought
and won. Souls are still bleeding, hands and hearts are still
empty, brains are still reeling with the agony of remembrance,
and in his final pages he sums up the part each of us must take
in the international Society of Good Will, which "will educate the
heart of the world above the baseness of the passions that caused
the massacre in Europe." "Idealists, who have seen Hell pretty
close" and who have "enough good-will to move mountains of
cruelty," are the hope, the sole hope, of the new order.
It was a delicate compliment to America that Philip Gibbs
put the great ideal of World-Friendship into the heart of an
American, Dr. Small, whose planning spirit became a torch in the
midst of desolation in hunger-ravaged Austria after the War.
"Killers of hate," he called himself and his band of clear-eyed
enthusiasts who served with him in saving women and children
from the wreckage of devastated civilization. For vividness of
conception and soul-gripping realism, combined with a lofty ideal-
ism, which runs through the blackest pages like the white light
686 , NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
of a star, Wounded Souls is a remarkable performance. It is the
telling of truth from which there is no escape, terrible truth which
has woven itself into the fabric of millions of lives. Though the
book is in the form of a novel, it is much more than mere fiction.
Nevertheless, those who follow the history of Wickham Brand
and the German girl he loved so deeply, only to lose, will agree
that apart from his fame as a war correspondent, Philip Gibbs'
reputation as a novelist is well deserved.
THE CATHEDRAL OF REIMS. The Story of a German Crime.
By the Right Rev. Monseigneur Maurice Landrieux. Trans-
lated by E. Williams. New York: E. P. Button & Co. $8.00.
This beautiful volume is a valuable record of a great work of
art and of a great act of vandalism. The Bishop of Dijon, who
is also Archpriest of the Cathedral, speaks whereof he was an eye-
witness in his account of the wounds received day by day by this
"august and splendid monument of human genius and faith." The
story of Rheims* martyrdom is told in photographs as well as in
text, detail by detail. There are ninety-six plates in all. It is the
story of one who loves, watching at the deathbed of one beloved,
powerless to save, concentrating the intensity of his desire in
noting every change in the dearly loved countenance.
To this lover and guardian of the Cathedral's beauty and
treasure, she was as a human thing, nay more, she was a symbol
of the Divine and every shell that pierced and rent her, pierced
and rent his very soul. His descriptions are vivid; his arraign-
ment unsparing. The civilized world will doubtless share and
ratify his judgments.
To the student of art and the student of history this work
will prove most valuable; it is also replete with interest for the
general reader.
THE ROMANCE OF MADAME TUSSAUD'S. By John Theodore
Tussaud. New York: George H. Doran Co. $6.00 net.
Once we have heard, somewhere far back in the stone age
of our own individual existence, that the French Revolution was
but one phase of a mighty movement, likely at any moment to
make itself manifest, as indeed it has so recently, everything con-
nected with that particular period assumes a double interest.
Madame Tussaud's collection of contemporary evidence is, there-
fore, a boon to civilization, which we are glad to find ably described
by one of her descendants. John Theodore Tussaud traces the
history of this far-famed collection of wax works up to the present
day, but however faithfully it represents events of subsequent
1921.] NEW BOOKS 687
importance to England, we are inevitably more interested in the
interpretation of the Revolution than in English history, however
interesting. And in showing what a great collection this really is,
Mr. Tussaud always reminds us of Madame Tussaud's genius, for,
as Hilaire Belloc points out, her personality is the most interest-
ing aspect of the collection. Her genius was its inspiration, her
memory the guidance of its development. She, apparently, pos-
sessed the highest attribute of an organizer the power to create
a success lasting long after the quiet departure of its originator.
In his masterly introduction, Hilaire Belloc makes us feel how
wisely her ascendants have followed the old tradition, never
blindly, but with full recognition of her power. It is impossible
to discuss the book, one finds, without constant recurrence to its
masterly introduction a swift and brilliant resumt of all we have
known, but perhaps forgotten, of this great Revolution.
SHORT HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE. By Janet Penrose
Trevelyan. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Miss Trevelyan's book is finely printed, handsomely illus-
trated, provided with maps, bibliography, an index and attractive
binding. The chapters are well arranged and in all but the spirit
of the presentation of the material, satisfactory. The advertise-
ment claims for the author "admirable qualifications" for the task
of making a short comprehensive history of the Italian people.
One of the most obvious of her characteristics is the tendency to
sneer at everything even remotely connected with the Papacy
not an admirable qualification, we should say, for any historian,
and emphatically not for a historian of Italy. To tell the history
of Italy without at least a judicial, not to say sympathetic, atti-
tude towards the Papacy and its immense role, is like trying to
understand the Constitution of the United States without admit-
ting the Christian faith of its framers.
HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY AND THE APOSTLES' CREED. By
J. K. Mozley. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. $2.00 net.
The seven addresses of this volume on the Historical Char-
acter of Christianity and the Apostles' Creed were given in St.
Margaret's, Westminster, and in Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, by
the principal of the clergy school at Leeds. The author's thesis
is that Christianity is a religion rooted in history, its supernatural
character evidenced in the facts of its origins, its oldest creed
testifying to this, its essential nature. The author is decided in
his condemnation of Modernism and the defenders of a creedless
Christianity, but like all Anglicans, he can be delightfully vague
688 j NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
and hopelessly inaccurate. For instance, you cannot discover
what he means by a Church, or the communion of saints ; he is un-
certain about the true relationship of reason and faith, and falsely
declares that reason cannot arrive at certainties; he tells us that
the Descent into Hell was merely an expansion of the thought
already contained in the word "buried!"
CONSIDERATIONS ON ETERNITY. By the Rev. Jeremias Drex-
elius, S.J. Translated by Sister Marie Jos6 Byrne. Edited by
Rev. Ferdinand E. Bogner. New York: Frederick Pustet Co.
The editor of this new translation of a wholesome book on
the most serious of all subjects, says well that no apology is needed
for its publication. The truths presented here so simply and im-
pressively are the food that men's souls most need today. The
translation is all that could be desired. We think the book should
be welcomed widely, and we believe that it will be.
GOD IN THE THICKET. By C. E. Lawrence. New York: E. P.
Dutton & Co. $2.00 net.
Children might call this a fairy tale, and grown ups might
call it a prose-poem fantasy or allegory, but both would be at a
loss to know exactly what the author is driving at in these fan-
tastic pages. The book tells of the wanderings of Jan Aylmer
among the Butterfly People Harlequin, Columbine, Pierrot,
Punchinello, and the elves and fairies of Argovie. Who are the
Butterfly People? The author with his tongue in his cheek tells
us: "They were people serious with irresponsibility; were pos-
sessed with the habit of laughter, that is less than happiness; and
a passion, with much of the gift of being picturesque. They sang
often and rejoiced much; but often their passing songs were sad
and their joy bore aspects of weariness." Can you now guess who
the Butterfly People are?
LABOR IN POLITICS OR CLASS VERSUS COUNTRY. By
Charles Norman Fay. Privately Printed.
This book was written by a man who was the head of public
service corporations in Chicago during the eighties and the early
nineties, and who afterwards was a manufacturer and vice-presi-
dent in Illinois of the National Association of Manufacturers. Be-
tween 1900 and 1904 he was a member of the Committee on Litiga-
tions conducted by the Anti-Boycott Association. The book is a
virulent attack on united labor, the A. F. L., and everybody who
believes in collective bargaining. Mr. Gompers is the particular
bete noir of the book, though a number of others, including Presi-
1921.] NEW BOOKS 689
dent Wilson, are on the blacklist of Mr. Fay. Mr. Fay is of the
belief that social justice is being done in the United States, and
that any labor unrest, even if it be of very small proportions, has
been caused by unscrupulous agitators who are making their
living by stirring up discontent. The volume is privately printed
and is dedicated to the press writers of America, although the
author has referred the substance of the book to a number of
journals and magazines in the past three years. There are some
very good things in the book, but as a whole, it is representative
of a type of mind and a viewpoint that was more typical of the
eighties and nineties than it is of the present time. Still, Mr. Fay
has many spiritual brothers who will enjoy reading the book. In
the hands of mosl people, it is very probable the book will have
the opposite effect to that which Mr. Fay intends.
A HISTORY OF PENANCE. By Rev. Oscar D. Watkins, M.A.
New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Two volumes. $16.00 net.
Catholic scholars will read with interest this history of Pen-
ance by the Vicar of Holy Cross, Holywell, Oxford. The writer
is a High Churchman, who believes firmly that the power of the
keys was bestowed upon the Apostles on the first Easter Sunday,
when Our Lord breathed upon them and said: "Receive ye the
Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven
them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained" (John
xx. 22, 23). The first volume (pp. 1-496) treats of the penitential
system of the whole Church to A. D. 450, while the second deals
exclusively with the Western Church to the Council of Lateran in
1215.
Each chapter is preceded by the full text in the original
Latin and Greek, an excellent method of enabling the student to
control easily the author's commentary and conclusions. Two
review chapters, the ninth and the fifteenth, are added for the
benefit of the casual reader who may not care to follow the
argument in detail.
This field has been well covered by Catholic scholars, such as
Batiffol, Ermoni, Vacandard, Rauschen, d'Ales, Funk and Stufler,
Esser, etc., but it is interesting to see the evidence weighed by one
who is not a Catholic. The author has certainly read very carefully
Monsignor Batiffol's classic treatise on "The Origins of Penance"
in the first volume of his Studies in History and Positive Theology,
and he might also have read with profit the thorough article by
Vacandard on "Confession from the First to the Thirteenth Cen-
tury," in the third volume of the Dictionaire de Theologie Ca-
tholique.
VOL. cxii. 44
690 9 NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
We must not forget the Anglican Church officially holds
that confession ought always to be completely voluntary. Our
author frequently sets forth this view, when he refers to the alter-
natives for confession proposed by the early Fathers, such as
Origen and Chrysostom. For instance we read (vol. i., p. 334) :
"Chrysostom will be found teaching again and again that there
are methods of penance alternative to any confession, and that
these are efficacious; and it may be inferred that he did not regard
any confession, public or private, as necessary to forgiveness."
Catholics will never make any such false inference, for they know
that the pardoning power of the divine commission necessarily
supposes the confession of the penitent.
ETHICS GENERAL AND SPECIAL. By Owen A. Hill, S.J. New
York: The Macmillan Co. $3.00.
Father Hill has written a clear, brief text-book on ethics for
young collegians. In discussing any problem, he sets forth his
thesis, explains the question and the terms of his thesis, gives the
proofs in syllogistic form, and concludes with a statement of the
principles involved. The question of Woman Suffrage might
have been treated more sympathetically, and Dr. Bouquillon's
treatise on the school question discussed more fairly. The adver-
tisement on the cover declares that the student will find nothing
better in English on the subject. This statement would seem to
overlook Father Cronin's The Science of Ethics and Father Ross'
Christian Ethics, both very superior volumes.
SISTER MARY OF ST. PHILIP. (Frances Mary Lescher.) 1825-
1904. By a Sister of Notre Dame. With an Introduction by
His Grace, the Archbishop of Liverpool. New York: Long-
mans, Green & Co. $6.00 net.
The vocation of Frances Lescher, like many another, had its
roots in the rich soil of a happy, holy family life. Not the least
fascinating of the score of chapters in this biography are those
that have to do with the Lescher household, which yielded no
fewer than five nuns and a priest to the service of the Church.
Sister Mary of St. Philip brought to the work that claimed
her when fresh from the novitiate at Namur, a sterling common
sense, a splendid intellectual endowment, and a piety seasoned
with mellow humor. It was her capable hand that in the early
days of the year 1856 helped to launch the frail enterprise of the
Mount Pleasant Training College, Liverpool. For a half-century,
lacking but a few months, she guided its destinies and witnessed
its growth. During those years lay teachers, trained under her
1921.] NEW BOOKS 691
watchful eye, passed in hundreds from its class-rooms to mold
the lives of England's Catholic youth. The humble nun, busy
with her girls and in directing the affairs of her Community,
came to be looked upon by those outside, as well as by those
within the Fold, as one of the foremost educators of her time.
The gifted Religious, who chooses to be known simply as
"A Sister of Notre Dame," has not only painted for us a portrait;
she has well-nigh made it speak. Some pages sparkle with lively
anecdote; others treat gravely, but never tiresomely, of deep
things. The passages which quote from Sister Mary of St. Philip's
conferences with her Community show her a master of the
interior life; those on the subject of teaching show her an equal
adept in the science of education. The book has caught up into
itself with a singular measure of success the strength and beauty
of the personality it depicts.
CONSTANTINE I. AND THE GREEK PEOPLE. By Paxton Hib-
ben. New York: The Century Co.
"The present war," says the author in the course of this
volume, "has given rise to many shining examples of hypocrisy."
And his book is a study in the hypocrisy of the Allies' attitude
toward Greece, viewed from the point of a monarchist. Mr.
Hibben wrote the book in 1919, but withheld publication till this
year, lest it should embarrass the labors of the Allies. It has
value today in the light of the recent Greek election repudiating
Venizelos, and the return of Constantine to the throne.
The year 1914 saw Greece just emerging from two wars
which, under the lead of Constantine, had doubled the size of
Greece. The people were in no mood or condition to join the
Allied cause. Constantine's policy was a cautious neutrality.
Venizelos dreamed of great imperial growth, and he felt that by
espousing the Allied cause Greece would come in for her share
of the spoils. Constantine vetoed this plan, and Venizelos re-
signed the Premiership. The next election brought the Premier
to power again, and he forthwith began negotiating with France
and Great Britain as to Greece's role in the War. These plans he
laid without presenting them either to the King or to the people,
in violation of the Greek constitution.
When, at Venizelos' suggestion, Allied troops were landed at
Salonika, Venizelos denied knowledge of their plans. Again the
King dismissed Venizelos. Thus the question of war or peace was
put up to the people. The Premier was overwhelmed, but not
defeated. Nor were the Allies defeated. Unable to bring Greece
into the War through the voice of the people, an Allied fleet seized
692 , NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
Greek railroads, ships, harbors, telegraphs, etc., occupied Greek
islands, and staged a revolution. Greece was successfully blocked.
The one man who stood in the way of forcing the people into
the vortex of war was Constantine. A joint attack, by French
troops and an Allied fleet, on Athens caused the King's retirement.
Constantine did not abdicate ; Venizelos was put into power by the
Allied forces and, proclaiming martial law, proceeded to imprison
or execute every active royalist he could lay hands upon.
True, he was ably winning from the Peace Conference a re-
markable share of the spoils. That seems to have made no dif-
ference to the Greek people. Slowly, but surely, the hypocrisy
of Venizelos and the Allied encroachments have made their mark
on the Greek mind. Today Venizelos is repudiated.
This fascinating story of political and military intrigue makes
poor reading for those who blindly felt the Allies did no wrong.
It constitutes a bitter arraignment of Venizelos. Who knows but
that, now the truth is being told, Constantine was not the pro-
German he was painted? Mr. Hibben pictures him as pro-Greek.
In those days to be pro-Greek, to defend the neutrality and future
of the Greek people was tantamount to being on Germany's side.
The wheels of justice are grinding slowly again. They may com-
pensate for all the injustice the book pictures.
MEN AND BOOKS AND CITIES. By Robert Cortes Holliday.
New York: George H. Doran Co. $2.50 net.
Many books are our friends, yet of them all we have, perhaps,
the warmest feeling for the few which we may read aloud by the
fireside, safe in knowing that not one of the group about us will
fail to hang upon each word. That is why we are glad that Mr.
Holliday has renewed the old charm of Walking Stick Papers,
presenting us with Men and Books and Cities. It resembles a
certain coat of many colors in its diversity of interests, and is to
be recommended to him of human interests, rather than to the
zealous seeker after exact and correlated knowledge. For our-
selves, we delight in the fact of Mr. Holliday not getting "for-
rader very fast." We seize, with avidity, upon the chapter en-
titled "Mrs. Joyce Kilmer at Walnut Hills," and find the one bit
about "Aline's lecture" more precious for its varied setting. To
be sure, we approach the description of Mrs. Kilmer most casually,
first hearing among a number of other anecdotes, the fat man's
remark that the "wimmin do all the shootin' in Texas" (we
wonder how our Texas friends, especially the "wimmin," are
taking this). But, smilingly, we realize that by his easy style,
Mr. Holliday has, for the moment, at least, made us members of
1921.] NEW BOOKS 693
the much discussed, but never actually to be discovered, leisure
class.
Here is a last instance of the sort of thing which endears
him to us: "Mr. Lucas rapidly shook hands round the circle,
turned and sprang up the steps an odd, a humorous, and a
memorable figure : stoop, smile, whitish hat, and long coat flowing
out after him. A bevy of porters hustled his collection of things
aboard. The train began to move; and only four people in
Chicago knew that this particular and very distinguished English
man of letters had ever been there."
SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES. By Rev. Henry Collin, O.C. New
York: Benziger Brothers. $2.00 net.
The author of these spiritual conferences died two years
ago at the ripe age of ninety-one, after spending some sixty years
in the Cistercian Order. He had been a minister of the Church
of England, but like many others had come over to the Catholic
Church through the Oxford Movement. His solid piety and deep
religious earnestness breathe in every page of these brief talks
on Our Saviour, His Blessed Mother, and the virtues of the interior
life. This little volume will make a distinct appeal to devout
souls outside the Church, who will read it on account of the
personality of its author.
RISING ABOVE THE RUINS IN FRANCE. By Corinna Haven
Smith and Caroline R. Hill. New York: G. P. Putnam's
Sons. $3.50.
The book is hardly more than a series of notes, vivid, abrupt,
almost staccato in expression, and like snapshot pictures. It
makes no pretence to literary style, but is so evidently sincere, so
true in its portraiture, that it holds interest from the opening to
the closing.
We are given many glimpses of places, a few as yet untouched
by impulse to reconstruction, villages once teeming with life
where now nothing moves except a solitary butterfly over the
ruins, and no sound is heard but the chirp of the cicala. Other
places, hamlets and towns, are awakening to a new life full of
hope and promise, a new development which will be better than
the old. But it is the people of France, the ones to whom France
will owe its recrudescence of life, who are evidently, and rightly,
most interesting to the authors. We get brief and charming pic-
tures of the French aristocrats, who forget themselves in working
for their people. We have pictures of refugees returning to find
the very places where their homes once stood now indistinguish-
694 , NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
able, yet happy to be back in their native regions, gay and laugh-
ing over their trous sous terre, or the shelter where five have to
sit on two chairs, and there are not dishes enough for all to eat
at the same time. But not unnoticed by these keen observers is
that it is to this fine, gay courage of the French, it is to this love
of home which brings them back to live in caves where their
homes once stood, that France will owe its new birth, its marvels
of speedy reconstruction.
Not unnoticed by the writers is also that abiding character-
istic of the French, that under all that froth of gayety, that light
laughing fun, that apparently out-spoken frankness, there are
deep reserves which none shall pass, concerning the things of
most moment.
A chapter of certified statistics closes the book, and an ap-
pendix sets forth in tabular form the immense progress in the re-
building of industry from November, 1919, to March, 1920.
AMERICA AND THE NEW ERA. By Elisha M. Friedman. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
This book is another symposium on a great variety of ques-
tions ranging from industrial prophylaxis to internationalism.
Such authorities as Dr. Ely, Dr. Howe, Dr. Kallen, Dr. Hollander,
and Mary Van Kleeck are represented. Some of the articles are
very good, as for example, Dr. Ely's contribution "An American
Land Policy," or Miss Van Kleeck's "Women in Industry." Mr.
Friedman, the editor, is able in two preliminary chapters to dis-
count some of the ideas advanced by certain of the contributors.
The article on "Heredity and Eugenics" has some very vicious
recommendations. The article on "Religion in the New Age" to-
gether with Mr. Friedman's comments on religion in the first part
of the book, are typical of much discussion about religion outside
of the Church at the present time. It is a very ambitious volume
and is worth having, not only for its good points, but also to learn
about a certain common attitude in much of the present discussion
on religion and the family.
POTTERISM. By Rose Macaulay. New York: Boni & Liveright.
This is a novel of poised and brilliant attack. The object of
attack is Potterism, so called from one of the principal characters,
representative of sentimentalism, greed, cant, muddled thinking,
profiteering, commercialism all the ugly qualities opposed to
the hard quest for truth and beauty for their own sakes. Lord
Pinkerton, formerly Percy Potter, who is a great newspaper
owner, his wife, "Leila Yorke," a popular and banal novelist, and
1921.] NEW BOOKS 695
their insipid daughter, Clare, symbolize chiefly the intellectual
defects of Potterism they err mainly because they do not see;
the other children, Jane and Johnny Potter, show its moral defects
they see, and despise accordingly, all that the paternal press
and the maternal novels stand for and promulgate, but they can-
not escape their inheritance of greed, they want truth not for
itself, but for what it will bring them. In the person of the Jew,
Arthur Gideon, we have the impassioned and disinterested truth-
seeker, who fights Potterism both on its moral and intellectual
sides.
Potterism is undoubtedly an achievement with its crisp
sentences, its fine economy, its satiric touch, and its underlying
idealism. A novel of ideas rather than of incident or character,
it draws its strength from its shrewd observation, its sharp sense
of an intellectually fog-bound society. Miss Macaulay writes with
restraint, and there is less of bitterness in her indictment than
might be expected, but she has concentrated on a singularly un-
likeable lot of people. Her ideal is high, but she implies in the
fate of her hero, Gideon, that it is hopeless and impracticable. As
a sophisticated picture of modern life the book is exceedingly well
done; as a solution of the problem it sets before us it fails, chiefly
because in the author's philosophy there is no solution at least
no workable solution.
TAHITI DAYS. By Hector MacQuarrie. New York: George H.
Doran Go. $4.50 net.
Mr. MacQuarrie is a New Zealander, who went to the South
Seas for his health. He writes of his stay in Tahiti in an interest-
ing fashion, although he spoils his book by his coarseness and his
contempt for the moral law. A poet like Charles Warren Stod-.
dard or a dreamer like Robert Louis Stevenson made the fairy-
land of the South Seas a delight, but a newspaper realist like
MacQuarrie disgusts us with his sordid tales of Eastern murder
and lust. He is at his best when he describes the pearl diving
near Hikuero Island, the pagan rite of the fire-walkers of Tahiti,
or the customs of the natives. The photographs are numerous,
but he might have omitted with profit his portrait of the drunken
Hula Hula dancer.
/^ESARE BORGIA, by Arthur Symons (New York: Brentano's), con-
V^/ sists of three plays, two of them "Cesare Borgia" and "Iseult
of Brittany" in verse. The third, "The Toy Cart," a prose play of
unequal merit, has its scene laid in the city of Uzzayin, in the western
part of India. All three are characterized by the intense and often
morbid psychology we have come to associate with this writer's work.
696 NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
But there are moments of beauty, not a few. "Iseult of Brittany* 1 is
memorable in its melancholy charm. "Cesare Borgia," though, is
heavily melodramatic, and never quite comes alive.
THE FOOLISH LOVERS, by St. John Ervine (New York: The Mac-
millan Co.), falls below the achievement of its author in that
interesting Wellsian footnote to contemporary Irish history, Changing
Winds. The scene is laid in the Irish County Antrim and in London,
but Mr. Ervine, in spite of his obvious determination to fix securely the
"local coloring," has failed to evoke the fine, harsh, sincere reality of
the Black Northerners with whom his story deals. But he handles
skillfully enough what some publishers call "the love-interest" of his
novel. Prose drama is, after all, this author's true medium. Mixed
Marriages is perfect of its kind.
SELECTIONS FROM SWINBURNE, edited by Edmund Gosse, C.B.,
and Thomas James Wise (New York: George H. Doran Co.), gives
us at long last an adequate selection from Swinburne. The only
copyright selection hitherto available was published so far back as
1887, and reflected excessively the idiosyncracy of Watts Dunton, who
made it. It was not broadly characteristic of Swinburne's many moods
and variety of subjects, and it gave an impression of the nature of his
genius which criticism has not confirmed. The present selection is,
in almost every way, admirable, and represents adequately the poetical
genius of the author of "Atalanta in Calydon" and "Mary Stuart." This
reviewer will confess, though, that he wishes away the "Etude Realiste"
(and for that matter, "A Baby's Death" and "Babyhood"). These verses
bear as much relation to reality as does the happy family group
beatifically idiotic of the player-piano advertisements. Robert
Bridges' "On a Dead Child" is worth all the nursery rhymes Swinburne
ever declined upon.
MORALE, THE SUPREME STANDARD OF LIFE AND CONDUCT,
by G. Stanley Hall (New York: D. Appleton & Co. $3.00).
Dr. Stanley Hall is a frank subjectivist. He is representative of that
school of "Mansoul" sociology, which upholds agnosticism, evolution,
modernism, and Kant as main tenets.
Dr. Hall's latest book, Morale, decides that conscience, honor and
the Nietzschean super-man ideal (the grouping is Dr. Hall's) have failed
as norms of conduct: Morale is to be the new norm, the new standard,
"the supreme standard of life and conduct," come into its own as a
result of the recent War experience.
What is Morale? It is health, it is condition, it is buoyant exuber-
ance, it is feeling fit for life, it is "animality at top-notch," and so
ad infinitum. This emphasis on the physical part of man's componency
as the supreme standard of life and conduct strikes one at first as
somewhat startling: but then one recollects how much of today's
1921.] NEW BOOKS 697
sociological writing implicitly holds what Dr. Hall so frankly (one is
tempted to say so flagrantly) asserts.
Of course, Dr. Hall has many valuable things to say in his book.
He colors up his quasi-physical norm of morality with a good dash now
and again of Christian sentiment. Still it is a pity that he, like so many
of our "advanced" collegiate thinkers, can find so little room for Christ.
True the members of this school do find some room for Him, but only
as a highly idealistic incarnation of "Mansoul," who is an accident in
anthropological evolution toward some kind of physically pantheistic
solidiarity of Worldsoul.
Dr. Hall is for making divorce respectable by making it easy. Like
most of the "new dogmatists," he is very much averse to dogma when
it is Christian. He dares to assert (with a too obvious imputation)
that the Catholic Church still "condemns all who put truth over
dogma." He finds room in his Morale-therapeutic-for-religion-section
to reprint the old cant about Catholic enmity toward science. Never
theless, he has many "nice things" to say about the Catholic Church.
He admires our organization, and so forth and so on.
Perhaps, the strangest and certainly one of the most unwarranted
assertions in this latest contribution to "advanced thinking" and to the
settling of the affairs of men through Kantian instead of Christian
formulas, is Dr. Hall's declaration of the parallel between Teutonism
and Catholicism, between Hegelianism and the Christian philosophy,
and their common enmity toward democracy. Such paralleling be-
speaks its own absurdity. As for Catholicism's enmity toward democ-
racy, we would wish that Dr. Hall would learn the lesson of concluding
from premises. We would recommend that he begin his study of the
premises in question with Dr. O'Rahilly's article in a recent number
of Studies on St. Thomas and Democracy.
AMERICAN BOYS' HANDY BOOK OF CAMP LORE AND WOOD-
CRAFT, by Dan Beard (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
$3.00). Through the fun, work and study of the Camp amid the ever-
lasting hills and streams and forests, boy to boy, boy and man, men
and boys daily get nearer to God's purpose for each life. Dan Beard
has opened new avenues of sport. His book is interesting, cheery,
practical and constructive.
The Camp should be selected with due regard for a safe water
supply, plenty of wood, protection from wind, and safety from floods
and wash of rains. Indian camps, it is to be noted, are almost in-
variably on high ground. The requisites for a good camp ground are
woods for shelter and fuel and timber; water for wading, swimming,
boating and fishing; rocks or hills for climbing and exploring; and
open grounds for games and drill. All or as many of these requisites
as possible should be obtained. Dan Beard not only knows how to
handle boys, but he is also a maker of camps. Lovers of life outdoors
will be delighted with his chapter on woodcraft, cooking, the use of
698 , NEW BOOKS [Feb.,
dogs, and the preparation for a camping trip. They will prove a reve-
lation to many. A close study of his final chapter will give the reader
a clear insight to the character of the writer, making the reading of
this book rank as a delightful pleasure.
>T^HE EMPEROR'S ROYAL ROBES, a short play in four scenes by F. A.
I Forbes (New York : Benziger Brothers. 45 cents) , is an admirable
adaptation of one of Hans Andersen's stories. It deals with Court
Life in China, and aims to prove in a delightfully amusing way that
"fools and children tell the truth." Nine persons carry on the action
all of which takes place in the Emperor's palace.
Father Lasance contributes another book of devotion to his long
list. Rejoice in the Lord is its title, and it is divided into three parts;
a book of reflections, a book of prayer, and a little book of indulgenced
ejaculations. An attractive arrangement is this, and shall probably
find many readers.
Civics Catechism on the Rights and Duties of American Citizens
is the title of a seventy-two page booklet, issued by the National Cath-
olic Welfare Council. This publication is intended for use in citizen-
ship instruction in schools and classes for immigrants. It serves the
purpose well by its simple and clear exposition. The Welfare Council
announces translations in parallel-column form with the English text.
The Talbot Press, Dublin, issues a pamphlet, entitled Military Rule
in Ireland, by Erskine Childers, being a series of light articles appear-
ing in The Daily News. The writer describes the exact situation in
Ireland, and reveals the suffering caused by British misrule.
The Catholic Truth Society of Ireland contributes the following
list of pamphlets: Clontarf, an Irish National Drama, in four acts, by
Rev. J. B. Dollard; Three Hills, Ossory, Leix, Lancashire; The Social
Question in Ireland, by Rev. P. Coffey, Ph.D.; The Blessed Oliver
Plunkett; The Mystery of the Incarnation, and Home Nursing.
Edward F. McSweeney is the author of two pamphlets, published
by the Friends of Irish Freedom, Ireland Is An American Question and
De-Americanizing Young America.
TRecent Events.
After a close siege and a series of attacks
Italy. which carried the Italian regular troops
to within a mile of the centre of the city,
Fiume surrendered on December 30th to General Caviglia, the
Italian commander. Two days later a protocol was signed effect-
ing a settlement of the Fiume question. All terms laid down to the
Fiume delegates by General Caviglia were accepted. These terms
included the recognition of the Treaty of Rapallo, the release of
d'Annunzio's legionaries from their oaths of allegiance to the
"Regency of the Quarnero" set up by the poet, abandonment of
the Islands of Arbe and Veglia in the Gulf of Quarnero, restoration
of all prisoners made by the legionaries and the surrender of all
arms and munitions appropriated from the Italian army, and the
departure of all legionaries not natives of Fiume within five days.
D'Annunzio, who abdicated and consigned his powers to the
National Council just before the capture of the city, had no part in
the concluding settlement. Dr. Antonio Grossich, former head of
the National Council of Fiume, Ricardo Gigante, Mayor of Fiume,
and Captain Hostwenturi, who was Director of National Defence
in the city, were constituted the Provisional Government of Fiume
to sign the pact presented by General Caviglia and to administer
the city's affairs until elections. Dr. Grossich has fixed February
28th as the date for the first election for a Constituent Assembly.
Evacuation of the legionaries has progressed rapidly, and the ves-
sels under d'Annunzio's control have been taken over by the
Italian fleet. D'Annunzio, at last accounts, still remains in Fiume,
but his future disposition is uncertain.
The fighting for possession of Fiume during the period from
December 24th to the signing of the agreement for the surrender
of the city, resulted in considerably fewer casualties than was at
first reported, due chiefly to the fact that the operations were held
in hand and did not reach the dimensions of a regular attack. A
semi-official statement gives the losses of the regulars as seven-
teen killed and one hundred and twenty wounded, and those of
the legionaries as eighteen killed and fifty wounded, while two
civilians were killed and about ten wounded.
With the definite settlement of the Adriatic question, Italians
are looking forward with high hopes in international politics for
the new year. The Government, by its energetic action against the
700 RECENT EVENTS [Feb.,
d'Annunzio Government at Fiume, showed its earnest intention
to carry out the Treaty of Rapallo, and thus remove any cause
for suspicion against Italy. The nation hopes, now that the Treaty
has cemented Italo-Jugo-Slav friendship, that Italy will accept the
invitation extended by the Premiers of Jugo-Slavia and Rumania
to become a kind of protectress to the "Little Entente." Settle-
ment of the Adriatic problem will have an even greater influence
on internal conditions. It will enable Italy, relieved from the
incubus of an impossible situation, to settle down to the work of
reconstruction. Above all, it will permit the cutting down of
military expenses, which are now burdening the budget to the
extent of ten billion lire annually.
That Italian finances stand in need of some such action is
shown by the fact that the amount of paper currency in circula-
tion is approximately twenty billion lire, and a recent announce-
ment of Signor Meda, Minister of the Interior, in presenting his
financial statement to the Chamber of Deputies, is to the effect
that there is a budget deficit of nearly fourteen billion lire for
1920-21, and an estimated deficit for 1921-22 of approximately
ten billion lire.
On the other hand, the Italian Minister of the Treasury has
announced that imports of foreign goods into Italy for the first
ten months of 1920, on the basis of value of the year 1919,
amounted to 13,054,000,000 lire, showing a decrease of 644,000
lire from the amount of imports for the same period in the pre-
ceding year. Exports from Italy for the first ten months of
1919 amounted to 4,500,000,000 lire, while for the same period in
1920 they amounted to 6,222,000,000 lire. The balance from
January 1st to October 31st, 1920, shows a favorable turn toward
Italy of 2,364,000,000 lire.
The population of the Island of Veglia has revolted against
the Italian Government troops, and proclaimed a "Croatian Re-
public," according to a recent dispatch to Rome. Three soldiers
were killed in the uprising. Veglia, in the Gulf of Quarnero, is
one of the islands claimed by the Quarnero Regency, but control of
which was renounced by the followers of d'Annunzio in their
agreement to carry out the Treaty of Rapallo. The Turin
Chamber of Labor has passed a resolution asking all industries to
diminish their working time from eight to six hours. "The crisis
in exportations necessitates reduction in productions. Therefore,
instead of dismissing tw r enty per cent of the workmen, the
masters had better reduce twenty per cent the working hours,"
says the resolution. This was to take place without any alteration
in the men's wages. The League of Industrials has answered in
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 701
a very conciliatory spirit, making the most minute exposition of
the conditions in industry and the reasons for the reduction in
the selling of products. They are ready to examine the question
together with the Chamber of Labor, although they wish to state
immediately that the measure proposed cannot be generally ap-
plied. While in certain industries, like that of stockings, a reduc-
tion in working hours, in order to avoid unemployment, has
already been spontaneously applied, for other industries it could
not possibly be applied, for technical reasons. Therefore, the re-
duction in working hours is not "for all industries indiscrim-
inately." But for those industries where the project can be
applied on this basis, the League has declared itself ready to
negotiate with representatives of the workmen.
The question is how will the problem be solved. After the
violent crisis of last September the more radical spirits have been
slowly placating themselves, while work has been apparently
resumed and affairs seem tranquil. Workmen, tired of unin-
terrupted strikes, with clearer news from Russia, and impressed
by the disastrous experiments made for liberty elsewhere, seem
to have renounced, at least for the moment, the organization of
any further political agitations.
The Holy See will soon appoint a nuncio at The Hague, con-
sequent on the recent approval by the Dutch Chamber of a bill
providing for the establishment of a permanent minister at the
Vatican. No Papal representative has been stationed at the Dutch
capital since diplomatic relations with the Vatican were inter-
rupted in 1907 with the recall of Monsignor Rodolfo Giovannini,
when the Dutch Foreign Minister omitted to invite the Pope to the
second peace conference at The Hague. Lately, diplomatic rela-
tions were resumed, but the Vatican did not send a representative
to The Hague, intrusting the Nuncio in Belgium with the position
of Internuncio to Holland.
Germany enters the new year with a grow-
Germany. ing sense of the gravity of her position
under the Treaty of Versailles, and of the
immensity of the cost she is called on to pay for a lost world war.
Another prominent manifestation at the opening of 1921 is the
steady drift away from political and economic radicalism, so that
no matter how the Treaty is modified in the near future, Germany
has made up her mind to an intensification of effort and of ex-
ploitation of her industrial and other resources. It is estimated
that the national debt will far exceed 200,000,000,000 marks bv
April 1st, next, and this sum does not include amounts German v
702 , RECENT EVENTS [Feb.,
is called on to pay to her own subjects in private claims, which
will add another 100,000,000 marks to the total.
In addition, the Government admits a railway, postal and
telegraph deficit of 20,000,000,000 marks, and it is threatened
with a huge increase in the public pay roll. Its domestic budgets
generally have vacillated so freely in the course of presentation
to the Reichstag, that they no longer offer a tangible basis but
merely analytical computations. The "paper deluge" at the be-
ginning of the year is generally suspected of being well in excess
of 80,000,000,000 marks. Germany is paying out billions monthly
for food purchases abroad, and these will continue well into the
new year, owing to the inadequacy of the last harvest. Wheat
thus bought is paid for in foreign exchange.
The growing conviction that an organized effort must be made
to counteract monarchist agitation, has led to the foundation of
the Republican League, which welcomes as members persons of
all shades of political belief, from Communists to Centrists, who
place the preservation and consolidation of the Republic above all
party principles. Among its founders are many prominent poli-
ticians, statesmen, literary men, professors, industrial magnates,
and labor leaders. One of the principal tasks of the League will
be to enlighten German youth on the causes of the Empire's col-
lapse, and to propagate the conviction that Germany's recovery is
dependent on the firm establishment of a republican form of
government.
The immediate efforts of the League will be directed towards
the disbandment of the "Orgesh" and other secret organizations,
in which the League sees a threatening monarchist danger.
Dating from the opening of the year, Germany's new army
has been brought into line with the provisions of the Treaty of
Versailles that is, based on voluntary service, with a total estab-
lishment of 100,000, including 4,000 officers. The armament
within certain limits is strictly defined and controlled by the
Entente. Neither the navy nor the army is allowed to make use
of Hying for any belligerent purpose. To the army is also for-
bidden the use of tanks and gas, and while it has practically no
artillery, so far as large-calibre guns are concerned, every con-
tingent is also restricted in the number of machine guns, mine-
throwers, and other arms which may be allotted to it. The Gov-
ernment contemplates an annual expenditure upon this new army
of 5,000,000,000 marks. One especially interesting feature, em-
bodied in the outline of the new army law, which is supposed to
represent the democratic spirit, provides for the creation of an
army council. Its members will be elected from the force itself,
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 703
each rank having representation, and its mission is to act as an
advisory council to the State Defence Minister.
According to an announcement by the Reparations Commis-
sion, Germany, up to the end of 1920, delivered to the Allies, under
the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, 29,453 tons of river shipping.
This constitutes one-fourth of the aggregate tonnage which Ger-
many must hand over to the Reparations Commission for distri-
bution among the various Allied Powers, the Treaty providing that
she must give up twenty per cent of the total river tonnage she
had on the date of the armistice.
A new coal agreement between Germany and the Allies to
follow the Spa agreement, which terminates the end of January,
has virtually been 'finished by the Reparations Commission, and
already has received the approval of most of the countries con-
cerned. Under the new agreement Germany must provide a
minimum of 2,000,000 tons monthly without any special com-
pensation, as is the case with the Spa agreement.
On Christmas Day Denmark made a payment of 65,000,000
gold marks (about $15,600,000) to the Reparations Commission
in fulfillment of the conditions of the annexation of Schleswig, as
enumerated by the Versailles Treaty. This payment represents
Schleswig's portion of the German Empire's debt at the beginning
of the World War, her part of the Prussian State debt, and the
value of German public property taken over by Denmark. Credit
has been given to Germany for the entire sum as a part of her
war indemnity.
That Germany is preparing to return to her old place in the
shipping world, is shown by the recent decision of the Hamburg-
American Line immediately to increase its capital by 100,000,000
marks in six per cent preference shares. The use to which the
money is to be put is significant. It is the intention "to exchange
from time to time the new shares for shares of other companies."
In other words, by a gradual process of trustification, similar to
that already in operation in other great industries, it is hoped
to enable the German mercantile marine to present a united front
in challenging the world to a contest for its old position.
The first war criminals punished by Germany were convicted
on January 10th, when the Second Criminal Chamber of the
Imperial Court at Leipsig sentenced three engineers respectively
to five and four years' penal servitude and two years' imprison-
ment. The men, who were accused of having looted an inn at
Edinger, Belgium, in October, 1918, did not figure in the Allied
extradition list, but were tried under the German law of December
5, 1919.
704 , RECENT EVENTS [Feb.,
On January 12th, the second session of the
France. Chamber of Deputies in the new year, the
French Cabinet was overthrown by a vote
of 463 to 125. The reason for the fall of Premier Leygues was the
belief of the Deputies that the Premier had not been firm enough
in his negotiations on the German indemnity, and their fear that
if he conducted the negotiations between now and May 1st, Ger-
many's terms would be made too easy. Premier Leygues
handed his resignation and that of his colleagues to President
Millerand. Aristide Briand has accepted the task of forming a
new Cabinet, and awaits the approval of the Chamber. The
overthrow of the Government is simply the climax of a growing
feeling of discontent on the question of France's attitude towards
Germany.
For some months the outstanding issue in France has been
the question of German reparations and disarmament. Of these,
the more important is the matter of reparations, which dominates
not only the French internal situation, but also her relations with
her Allies, with the United States and with Germany. Under the
provisions of the Treaty the Allies must notify Germany of the
total of the bill between now and May 1st, and it was hoped that,
at least, the approximate amount would be developed at the finan-
cial conference held last month between Allied and German repre-
sentatives at Brussels. The conference, however, adjourned late
in December without fixing the sum or even setting a date for their
next meeting.
At various times throughout the month a strong movement
has arisen in France in favor of occupying the Ruhr region be-
cause of Germany's failure to disarm. It is generally agreed that
Germany has not entirely fulfilled her disarmament promises,
and, technically, France has the legal right to send troops into the
Ruhr, but inasmuch as the late Government was in favor of hold-
ing the Ruhr occupation as a threat in the reparations negotia-
tions, and, in addition, did not wish to act without England, there
is reason to believe that Premier Leygues was working for a
compromise, whereby Germany was to be given further time in
which to disarm. According to Marshal Foch's report, presented
to the Allied Ambassadors on December 31st, Germany has met
the requirements regarding the Reichwehr, or regular army, by
reducing it to 100,000, but has failed in the matter of disarmament
of the militia and home-guard organizations.
Thirteen and one-half per cent of Germany's Rhine fleet, or
253,000 tons of barges and tugs, with a capacity of 24,000 horse
power, have been awarded to France by Walker D. Hines, arbi-
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 705
trator in the distribution of German inland shipping under the
Peace Treaty. The reward is final, and cannot be appealed. In
addition to shipping, Mr. Hines' decision requires Germany to cede
to France a controlling interest in one of the principal German
Rhine navigation companies. All this is aside from the portion
of the German river fleet to be given to the Allied and Associated
nations as reparation for river shipping lost by them during the
War.
Twenty-one members of the League of Nations have signed
the convention for the establishment of the World Court. The
Court will be set up when twenty- two nations, or a majority of
the League membership at the time the plan was voted upon,
have signed and given notification of their signing. The League
Secretariat expects the ratification by half the League members
early in the year. Four nations Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark
and Salvador have signed an agreement to submit to the com-
pulsory jurisdiction of the Court.
The League of Nations has issued an invitation to a world
conference in Barcelona for February 21st, to deal with the pos-
sibility of insuring freedom of transit by European waterways
and railways. In this way it is hoped to overcome obstacles raised
by the abnormality of exchange, in so far as transit is concerned,
and, if possible, take a definite step forward toward reconstructing
the disorganized machinery of trade and commerce. As matters
stand now, international trade has almost come to a standstill,
because of the abnormality of exchange.
The new frontier of Armenia on the Turkish side, as drawn
by President Wilson at the invitation of the Allied Premiers, cuts
less deeply into former Turkish territory than the extreme limits
prescribed by the Premiers. Meanwhile, since President Wilson
communicated his boundary decision to the Allied Premiers sev-
eral weeks ago, conditions in Armenia have become so chaotic,
as a result of operations of the Bolsheviki and the Turkish Na-
tionalists, that the Allies are expected to postpone temporarily
the putting into effect of the President's boundary decision. It
has been intimated in official circles abroad that because of the
new situation created in the Near East by the overthrow in Greece
of Venizelos and the consequent possible withdrawal of Greek
forces from Asia Minor, the Turkish Treaty might have to be so
revised as to reopen the Armenian settlement included in it.
In the election for one-third of the French Senate, or about
one hundred seats, held on January 9th, returns show gains for
the Centre, or Moderate, parties, both the Extreme Right and the
Left losing seats. The Conservatives of the Right elected three
VOL. cxii. 45
706 RECENT EVENTS [Feb.,
Senators, as against their present representation of eight, while
the Radicals elected forty-three, as compared with their present
fifty-four Senators. The results for the ninety-eight seats con-
tested were as follows : Conservatives, 3 ; Republicans, 39 ; Radicals
and Radical-Socialists, 43; and Republican-Socialists, 11. Un-
biased public opinion seems inclined to agree that the Govern-
ment's strength has not been impaired by the election, and the
majority of Paris newspapers consider that the loss of five seats by
the Conservatives and nine by the Radicals cannot be taken as
indicating any modification in politics one way or another. The
centre of gravity continues to be held by the Left and Centre,
where M. Leygues finds most of his support.
A three-fold split in the French Socialist Party took place at
the Socialist Congress at Tours on December 29th, when the
Left, or ultra-radical element, who included two-thirds of the
total delegates, voted in favor of absolute affiliation with the
Moscow Internationale. As a result the Right and Centrists
parties have met in joint session with the leaders constituting
the majority of the Socialist members of the Chamber of Deputies,
and decided that, inasmuch as a majority of the Socialist Con-
gress had voted in favor of adhesion to the Third Internationale
and thereby become the Communist Party of France, the Right
and Centrist parties were now officially the Socialist Party of
France.
As the result of the unexpected fulfillment of German
pledges for coal deliveries, France now has sufficient coal to
supply all her economic and domestic needs for the next six
months. Contracts with American coal companies for more than
$100,000,000 worth of coal have been canceled, and the price of
American coal delivered at French ports has fallen from $32.00
a ton to $12.50 a ton. In the belief that Germany would not
fulfill the terms of the Spa coal agreement, France encouraged
her import firms to purchase all the coal they could, while the
Government itself bought heavily in the United States and Eng-
land. In consequence of this there are at the present time from
12,000,000 to 15,000,000 tons of coal in France.
According to figures recently given by Louis Mourier, the
new Director of Public Assistance, the population of France was
reduced by 4,000,000 during the War. The population of con-
tinental France before the War was 39,602,258. A new census
will be taken next year. Meanwhile, the official estimate for the
present year, not including war mortality, is 40,500,000. The
reduction of the population by 4,000,000 from War causes, as
stated by M. Mourier, evidently includes the latest returns from
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 707
the afflicted civil population, and deaths from wounds subsequent
to the War. At the end of the fighting the French military loss
was 1,327,000 dead, together with 435,000 prisoners unaccounted
for and 3,000,000 wounded, whose deaths in five years have been
averaged at ten per cent.
Leonid Krassin, the Russian Bolshevik
Russia. trade representative in England, left Lon-
don for Russia on January 8th with a trade
contract, approved by Sir Robert S. Home, President of the Eng-
lish Board of Trade. So far as the purely commercial stipulations
of the contract are concerned, it is believed they will be accept-
able to Moscow, but it is thought that the political conditions,
which have been laid down by British officials as an inseparable
part of the agreement, will meet with rejection by the Soviets.
If the contract is not agreed to, it will mark the conclusion of the
negotiations for the present. The fundamental demand made by
the British Government, aside from the economic features of the
negotiations, was that Soviet Russia should pledge itself abso-
lutely to refrain from engaging in propagandist and other activ-
ities in India, Persia, the Near East, and in any of the British
Dominions. At a recent conference between Premier Lloyd
George and Premier Leygues on the views of the British and
French Governments on the subject of trade with Russia, the
French Premier maintained an unyielding stand in opposition to
the policy pursued by the British Government, and declared that
France would never sanction any agreement for trade with Russia
that was not conditional upon recognition by the Russian Govern-
ment of Russia's pre-war obligations.
On December 28th an agreement was signed by Lenine and
Trotzky on behalf of the Russian Government, and Rakovsky on
behalf of Ukraine for a military and economic alliance, with
the establishment of a joint commissariat for military, financial,
labor and transport questions and foreign trade. On other fields,
negotiations by the Soviet Government have met with failure.
Late in December Bulgaria refused Foreign Minister Tchitcherin's
demand for the resumption of diplomatic relations, and the
Chinese Government has made counter-proposals to Lenine's nego-
tiations for recognition. The Bolshevik-Chinese negotiations have
been in progress nearly a year, and began with an offer by the
Russian Soviet of the abolition of Russia's extra-territorial and
other special rights in China prejudicial to China's independence.
The Government of Rumania has sent a note to Moscow
declining the invitation of the Soviet Government to discuss the
708 RECENT EVENTS [Feb.,
question of Bessarabia. This is in reply to a note from Moscow,
suggesting that the Bucharest Government and the Moscow Gov-
ernment discuss Bessarabia and other pending questions, "in
order that peace might be established." Meanwhile, there has
been a concentration of Bolshevik troops on the Dneister River.
The Rumanian Government takes the stand that there is no ques-
tion of the status of Bessarabia that it is Rumanian. It further
takes the stand that it is not at war with Russia, and therefore
there is no need of a peace conference.
Though there have been no military movements of impor-
tance in Russia during the month, disquieting rumors are preva-
lent of an impending blow. That the Bolsheviki are regrouping
and reorganizing their armies for a great offensive movement
against the Baltic states, in the near future, seems certain. From
Letvia comes the news of a concentration of Bolshevik forces,
estimated at 60,000 men, on the Letvian frontier. Several com-
panies are reported to have already reconnoitred inside the coun-
try. In the extreme north, a big concentration of troops is re-
ported along the Esthonian frontier, 40,000 men are said to be
encamped at Gatchina, facing the Esthonian frontier town of
Narva, situated, like Gatchina, on the direct railroad from Petro-
grad to Reval, the Esthonian capital.
Southeast of Riga, Bolshevik troops have been noted moving
up steadily in large numbers towards the Lithuanian border, be-
tween Dvinsk and Vitebsk, to threaten Vilna. The Soviet military
strength has been greatly buttressed by captures from Wrangel's
army, including 15,000 horses, fifty aeroplanes, and hundreds of
cannon of all calibres up to siege guns. Reports from Poland
indicate threatening troop movements at variance with the pacif-
ist assertions of the Bolshevik delegations at the Riga Conference.
Altogether, in the view of most observers, everything points to a
speedy resumption of hostilities by the Bolsheviki.
The Bolsheviki are greatly strengthening their operations in
the Caucasus region and are menacing Armenia and the Repub-
lic of Georgia. The Armenian Government is unable to deal with
the Bolsheviki, having, on one hand, the Turkish Nationalists
and, on the other, the accepted Soviet regime. Georgia is said also
to be in a precarious situation, surrounded by Bolsheviki on all
sides. The only hope held out for opposition to the spread of
the Soviet regime in Armenia and the Caucasus, is an indication
from well-informed sources that an arrangement between Ar-
menia and the Turks is likely to be followed by an insurrection
against the Russians, led by Mussulmans.
The Polish-Lithuanian conference over, the plebiscite planned
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 709
to be held in the Vilna district has reached an impasse, and the
Lithuanian delegation left Warsaw today for Kovno to obtain
further instructions from its Government.
Poland has refused the Lithuanian demand to exclude the
city of Vilna itself from the plebiscite area, considering that the
area to be covered by the plebiscite corresponds to the territory
occupied by General Zellgouski, the Polish commander who took
possession of the Vilna district after the conclusion of the Russo-
Polish hostilities. The League of Nations, with which Poland has
rested her case, is expected shortly to make a ruling which will
clear the situation.
The recent All-Russian census under Bolshevik rule, only
partially completed, shows that the population of Russia has de-
creased considerably since the beginning of the revolution, accord-
ing to an article in the Krasnaia Gazette (Red Gazette). Although
the census took place on August 28th, no complete returns are
available yet. "The census,'* continues the article, "has been
taken nearly all over the country, with the exception of the north-
ern tundra, the nomadic population of the Kirghizes, Kalmucks
and Turkomans, and also the localities recently freed from the
White armies. Up to the present, the Central Statistical Depart-
ment has received returns from three hundred and twenty coun-
ties, eight hundred and forty-nine cities, and fifty-eight provinces.
"First and foremost, the census establishes the indubitable
fact that the population of Russia has decreased since the begin-
ning of the revolution. For twenty provinces on which data are
obtainable for both periods the census of 1917 gave a total popula-
tion of 30,000,000. The census of August 28, 1920, however,
enumerates only 27,000,000 inhabitants, a loss of ten per cent.
And this, notwithstanding the fact that after the conclusion of
peace following the World War, millions of soldiers and war
prisoners returned to their homes. The cause of this is that the
mortality rate has grown considerably, while the birth rate has
decreased during the years of war and revolution. A particularly
great decrease has been noted during the revolution among the
city population. In the above-mentioned twenty provinces the
number of city inhabitants dropped from 7,900,000 in 1917 to
4,800,000 at present, the decrease thus amounting to 3,100,000
persons, or 39.2 per cent.
January 17, 1921.
With Our Readers.
AS part of that Commandment which Christ declared to be the
greatest of all, we are commanded to love the Lord our God
with our whole mind. No Commandment is satisfied until it be
wholly satisfied. To love God with some of our powers, leaving
others idle, is not to love well. And the extent of our personal
consecration, the effectiveness of our service will be in proportion
to the full dedication of all our powers. And as love in a rational
creature, such as man, is preeminently rational, so will it be most
important to cultivate that power which is the source of reason,
of knowledge: the basis of man's right, well-ordered life.
Love cannot be simply a matter of reason, for man is ruled
by will and mightily affected by emotions. But reason is its
true source and what we so often forget its true guiding star.
Only the exactness and definiteness of knowledge will preserve
love's sacred liberty; insure its dignity and save it from the
currents and eddies of emotionalism and passion. Love outstrips
reason, but only as the lofty tower outstrips its foundation.
Without the foundation it would not hold itself erect, dignified,
commanding.
# # # *
THE forgetfulness of this truth in the present philosophy of the
world, is causing havoc and unspeakable shipwreck in the
lives of many individuals and of nations. The scientific repudia-
tion of reason by Bergson, and its practical repudiation by much
of our modern literature has left man without God, without a
safe anchoring place. He has no starting place nor resting place
nor goal. His life becomes unreasonable and unceasing motion
directed by emotion, and suffering bitter reaction when, returning
to his home, he finds it empty. For our own security, as well as
for God's glory, are we admonished to love the Lord our God
with our whole mind.
* * * *
THE mind serves God in thinking upon the truths of God: in
studying His revealed doctrines: in learning how those doc-
trines should shape our own life: affect our life with others:
and play, through us, their preeminent part in all the questions
and problems of life. It may readily be seen how much we
neglect to love God with our whole mind. We are often quite
content with the modicum of religious teaching given us in child-
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 711
hood, or with the small accretion assimilated from occasional ser-
mons, lectures and discourses. Taking what we have, we make
our religious life in great part simply a matter of devotion, and,
if we are not careful, it fixes itself into a narrow, personal inter-
pretation, and becomes static, if not worse.
* * * *
f NTELLIGENT application to Catholic truth that we may under-
1 stand it better; that it may uncover to us our own smallness
before that majestic greatness which should be ours in Christ:
this is not common to us : it is, alas, the exceptional Catholic who
takes his intellectual or mental powers and devotes them to God.
We do not mean that everyone should pursue the scholar's life;
nor wish to infer that intellectualism is the chief concern of the
Catholic. We do insist that the service of the mind in the things
of God, whether we have much time or little, whether our mental
gifts be great or small, is not only a divinely appointed duty, but
it is a duty that is lamentably neglected. One may ask himself
what he has read, considered, made his own mentally through
the course of a year in the way of Catholic reading or reading
upon Catholic truth or Catholic philosophy as it affects the prob-
lems of the day, problems in which he is playing his own sure
part. The answer which his conscience gives, will be the answer
also as to how far he is loving God with his whole mind.
* * * *
WITHOUT intelligent understanding of the doctrines of our
Faith, we are unable to lead ourselves to better life or to
see that development in thought, word and action which is our
necessary obligation in the light of Christ's commandment: "If
you love Me, keep My commandments." The doctrines of our
Faith, more and more intelligently appreciated and understood,
are both a light and a strength by which we will be able to walk
more safely and more hopefully. Then, also, can we give this
light and strength to others, or at least arouse them to its worth,
and, perhaps, lead them to the source whence we receive it.
Moreover, every problem of life and society, brought into
the presence of these truths, assumes a new and holier aspect.
They are redeemed from their own earthly shadows by the light
of heaven.
The Christian, viewing his inheritance of divine truth, may
say in a far truer and wider sense than the old pagan writer,
"nothing human is foreign to me." Revealed Catholic truth has
created its own philosophy in so far as it saves merely human
philosophy from doubt and misgiving. And the Catholic has his
own contribution to give with regard to the every-day secular
712 WITH OUR READERS [Feb.,
problems of life. The fields of his every-day activity may then be
planted with the seeds of his intellectual, his mental interest, and
in time yield their proportionately fruitful harvest.
That the world has its ever-increasing number of problems;
that in many of them it is losing its way should only be the
further incentive urging him, leading him to serve the Lord
his God with his whole mind.
* * * *
THE mind preserves our balance. It saves the individual from
excess either of despair or of presumption. The truth, which
it alone can receive and know, enables us in our height of joy
ever to be sober, and in our depth of misery never to despair.
It is the solid ground on which self stands secure of its eternal
dignity. And, therefore, it is the channel through which we can
best help others. To understand the truth, the revelation of God,
with its relations and consequences to the personal interests of
life, needs the habitual application of the mind. The vast treas-
uries of Catholic thought, the classics of Catholicism should be
known to us. Spiritual reading as such should mark the daily,
or at least weekly, life of every Catholic. But recently, the Holy
Father issued an Encyclical, urging Catholics to read daily the
Holy Scripture. Devotional books of proved value are procurable
in handy form and generally at a reasonably low price.
Beyond the literature that is directly and solely spiritual, it
is necessary for the Catholic to keep himself in touch with the
needs of the Church: with the problems of his native land: with
the questions in the solution of which he must, as a child of the
Church and a citizen of the country, play his part. The vast
majority of these problems are affected by Catholic truth and
Catholic philosophy. The Catholic cannot take his rightful part
therein unless he informs himself intelligently. Unless he do so,
he cannot fully serve the Lord his God with his whole mind.
* * * *
WE have, therefore, a periodical Catholic press. It is not too
much to say that this press is an index of the part, in interest
and leadership, which the Catholic body is taking, or not taking,
in contemporaneous history : in the Christian shaping of our laws,
our customs, our traditions and, consequently, the molding of
the coming generation and the destiny of the country itself.
The vital importance of this fact was realized by the Hier-
archy of the United States. In their first meeting, they took up
as one of their principal works the support, the upbuilding of the
Catholic press, and the necessity of arousing our Catholic people
to be interested therein.
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 713
One of the principal departments of the National Catholic
Welfare Council is the Press Department. It is manned by a
trained, skilled staff. Less than a year old, it has established
and maintains a press service that should be the pride of every
Catholic in the United States. In touch by cable, through special
correspondents, with the principal capitals of Europe, it is able
not only to receive up-to-date Catholic news, but also able to
confirm or deny reports of Catholic matters published in the
secular press. Every week it issues a news sheet, which includes
both the domestic and foreign news of the world up to the day
on which it is issued. Besides this news sheet, it issues, weekly,
twenty-six columns of fresh news. Regularly, it publishes edi-
torials on timely subjects and frequently issues special articles.
All of this work has been accomplished in less than a year,
and the Press Department of the N. C. W. C. serves today sixty-
four Catholic journals of the United States.
* * * *
SUCH a movement surely merits the generous support of the
Catholic body for in their interest is the work maintained.
The service, not by way of compliment or charity, but by way of
absolute justice, deserves the personal support of every Catholic
in the country. That support is given by personal subscription
to a Catholic journal.
In order to bring home the supreme critical importance of
this work and make a concerted, direct appeal to all our people,
the Hierarchy of the United States has named the coming month
of March as Catholic Press Month. Special notices, appeals, ser-
mons will be sent out and delivered in all the churches of* the
country during that month on the subject of the Catholic Press:
and we wish here to arouse to full enthusiasm all whom our pen
can reach, that they may give generous response to this most
urgent and most worthy call.
MR. BENJAMIN B. HAMPTON, the President of four motion
picture producing companies, in the February number of
The Pictorial Review, in an article entitled, "Too Much Sex-Stuff
in the Movies? Whose Fault Is It?" makes the following extra-
ordinary confession:
"Who, then, is responsible for the sex-wave in the movies?
Is it the manufacturer?
"There are exceptions to every rule, but by and large, picture
manufacturers would rather produce clean pictures than risque
pictures.
714 WITH OUR READERS [Feb.,
I
"The manufacturer's position is simple he cannot sell hob-
nailed boots to the dancing-slipper trade. Nor can the picture-
maker sell drama or melodrama to audiences that hunger for
sex-stuff. Every movie manufacturer has had the same expe-
rience his decent dramas and melodramas bring a return of
$75,000 to $100,000 gross; a successful sex-play will run from
$250,000 to $2,500,000. 'The box-office tells the story,' and it
doesn't have to tell it very long before the manufacturer hears it.
"The jobber's position is fairly neutral. He passes along
the merchandise that is demanded."
We must term this an extraordinary confession, not because
the facts uttered are startlingly new: but because this is the first
time, so far as we are aware, that a responsible producer has
frankly acknowledged the facts the facts, namely, that sex-
pictures pay, and that, therefore, the picture manufacturer must
make "sex-stuff pictures."
NEXT, Mr. Hampton considers the responsibility in this matter
of the exhibitors, the theatre owners or managers. He de-
clares that the exhibitors, who are, so to speak, the retailers of
the product manufactured by the producers, just as shoe shop
owners are retailers of the articles manufactured by the shoe
companies, dominate and control the policy of the producers,
since they, the exhibitors, being in close touch with the public,
really know what the public want, and compel the producers to
supply the stuff demanded. So true is this, says Mr. Hampton,
that during the past year some of the powerful producers have
each bought several hundred theatres, and the movement to con-
trol the retailer or exhibitor by the manufacturer, or producer,
is assuming huge proportions. According to Mr. Hampton, the
exhibitors have the same story to tell as the manufacturers or
producers : namely, if they produce vicious sex-stuff their theatres
will be crowded. If they do not, they lose money to their com-
petitors who do. Therefore, declares Mr. Hampton, the respon-
sibility for the "present preponderance of sex plays in the movies
rests on the general public."
* * * *
THE real reason why sex plays rule the movies is because the
public flock to see them. And, if the public should change its
taste, or if that element of the public which does not rush to see
sex-stuff, should register constant, continuous protests with the
exhibitors in their own neighborhoods, Mr. Hampton believes that
situation could be bettered. The exhibitors would ask the
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 715
producers for clean pictures, and the producers would supply
them.
Possibly so; indeed, there is unquestionably a great deal of
truth in this view. If the decent public, or decent people among
the public, should constantly and continuously complain against
vicious films, and register their complaints with the exhibitors in
their neighborhood, and back up their complaints by staying
away from the theatres, and keeping other people away, much
good might be accomplished.
* * * *
BUT what a commentary all this is upon the ethics of the motion
picture producers! According to them, if Mr. Hampton
speaks with authority, and apparently he does, they take, and act
upon, the view that whatever the public want, they are morally
justified in supplying. They put the blame for immoral condi-
tions off their shoulders upon the shoulders of the "public." In
other words, the motion picture magnates conduct their business
on the same principle that would justify panders, opium peddlers,
whisky smugglers, and the keepers of bawdy houses. All these
supply what the public ask for at least what a certain proportion
of the public ask for. If the public or this vicious proportion of
the public, had no vices which they desired to satisfy, drug sell-
ing, illicit whisky selling, the white slave traffic, and other forms
of commercialized vice would cease to exist.
* * * *
A TYPICAL example of the impudent arguments which the
/"Y publicity agents of the motion picture manufacturers em-
ploy feeling safe, perhaps, with the strength of Mammon, be-
cause of the fact that innumerable millions of dollars are invested
in the motion picture industry, is the following statement made
by the editor of Moving Picture World in the Christmas number
of that powerful periodical. Declaring that federal censorship
must be fought, with a definite campaign that will dispense with
all half-way measures, the writer continues to say that all the
motion picture interests should unite and:
"DEMAND of Congress, the courts and the public, that the
movement to 'Christianize,' paralyze, anaesthetize or demoralize
moving pictures be stopped and stopped forever.
"DEMAND of every man who holds public office or seeks
public office a pledge that will place him on record against the
censorship of Sundays, of newspapers and of moving pictures, and
see to it that he keeps that pledge.
"DEMAND and set in motion the machinery to get a new
716 WITH OUR READERS [Feb.,
|
amendment to the Constitution that will make censorship of Sun-
days, of newspapers and of moving pictures against the law for
all the States of the Union."
# * * *
AGAINST the plan of federal censorship of the motion picture
industry, it is true, there are many powerful and valid objec-
tions. Federal censorship, no doubt, is apt to become a weapon
of narrow-minded and bigoted tyranny. It perhaps unduly ex-
tends the police power of the State, and is subject to many other
possible abuses. Yet, when the motion picture manufacturers,
and the editors of the great motion picture trade journals, either
deny the flagrantly vicious character of a large number of the
motion picture plays that are being circulated, or else callously
disclaim all moral responsibility for these vicious films by putting
commercial reasons above all moral considerations, the time
surely seems to be drawing near for all social service agencies
and religious organizations to get together and consider whether
any means short of censorship can be devised to remedy the
present awful situation. If such a remedy can be found, all the
better. Let us then apply that remedy; but, if it must be censor-
ship, let us work together for even that drastic and radical step.
To permit the present terrible contamination of the minds and
souls of young people, is to become accessory to crime, if not
to sin.
A PAMPHLET which is of particular value to those of our own
I\ country who are fighting the evil of divorce, has just been
published by the Catholic Truth Society of Canada. Divorce in
Canada, as it is entitled, written by Rev. John J. O'Gorman, is an
appeal to Protestants. Following the example of England, new
attempts are being made in Canada to increase the facility of
divorce. The Senate of Canada passed a bill providing for divorce
courts in Ontario and Prince Edward Island. The bills were
defeated in the House of Commons. The Legislature of Prince
Edward Island unanimously passed a resolution maintaining that
"the establishment of a divorce court would tend to destroy the
stability of the home and to encourage the dissolution of the mar-
riage tie." It is significant that this legislature, half Catholic and
half Protestant, should unanimously pass this strong anti-divorce
resolution. In all its history, the Province has had but one
divorce.
The Legislature of Ontario has not spoken. Catholics therein
are but one-sixth of the population. This pamphlet is an appeal
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 717
to the majority of the Province the Protestants to range them-
selves publicly against the proposed divorce legislation.
* * * *
AS they do not admit Catholic dogma, nor Catholic tradition,
the author bases his appeal on Scripture and ethics. That is
why the pamphlet will be of special value in our own land. The
writer uses the text of the Protestant Revised Version. He cites
as witnesses to the divine teaching of Christ against divorce, St.
Mark, St. Luke, St. Matthew, and St. Paul, the latter at some
length. The early Christian Church knew no divorce, even for
adultery. "In the whole ante-Nicene period, there is not a single
Christian teacher, Latin or Greek, who allows it except the negli-
gible and ill-informed Latin rhetorician, Lactantius." "Till
Luther introduced divorce on the Continent (it will be remem-
bered he permitted bigamy as well) the indissolubility of a valid
and consummated Christian marriage was undisputed in Western
Christendom." Protestants must deny the authority of Scripture
when they defend divorce. The Catholic Church has ever been
most loyal to the revealed word of God. As a singular proof of
this, it may be noted that the Catholic Church holds the marriage
of two baptized Protestants to be a more sacred obligation than
the Protestants themselves. The Catholic Church teaches that
such a marriage may be dissolved only by death: the Protestant
Church teaches that it may be broken up by civil divorce.
The author states : "If we Canadians are to legislate as Chris-
tians, our Parliament should pass an Act, declaring in the words
of the Civil Code of our oldest Province, that marriage can be
dissolved only by the natural death of one of the parties. During
their lifetime it is indissoluble.'*
* * * *
THE argument of the pamphlet draws our attention to a matter
often discussed or presented to the Catholics of our own
country, and that is the question of a national divorce law. Many
contend that in order to decrease the multitudinous and lax laws
of the States that, in many cases, grant divorce for trivial reasons,
it would be well to agitate for a federal divorce law. Their further
contention is that while the federal law might not be what the
true Christian wants, it would be stringent enough to reduce ap-
preciably the evils that now result from the licence that charac-
terizes the divorce laws of many of our States: and, further, that
divorce is a growing national evil, and should be crushed by
national means.
Whatever force there be in these pleadings for those who look
upon marriage as an institution that is subject to the will of the
718 WITH OUR READERS [Feb.,
I
State or the national legislature, they can have little cogency with
Catholics. Some Catholics may say that legislation regards only
the legal side of the matter, and has nothing to do with the nature
of the contract. The law permits husband and wife to separate
and to remarry. It does not force them. Yet it is true that the
law declares officially that they are not husband and wife: that
if either or both remarry, they are not guilty of adultery. The
law arraigns itself against Christ.
* * * *
F'OR a Christian to cut civic and legal life away from his Chris-
tian life is certainly to weaken, if not to destroy, the influence
of the Christian faith. And the position of Catholics on the ques-
tion of a national divorce law seems to us very clear and very
simple. We cannot lend ourselves to any such movement. It is
for us to retain in civic and political life the integral doctrine
of Christ, for only then can society and the body politic be saved.
The world's betterment began with Christian faith and teaching,
and only so can it be maintained. "Christianity," states the Ency-
clopaedia Britannica, "has had no greater practical effect on the
life of mankind that in its belief that marriage is no mere civil
contract, but a vow in the sight of God, binding the parties by
obligations of conscience above and beyond those of the civil law.'*
"The turning point," as Gilbert K. Chesterton wrote, "was the
creation of Christendom by the religion which created it. Nothing
will destroy the sacred triangle (father, mother and child) : and
even the Christian faith, the most amazing revolution that ever
took place in the mind, served only in a sense to turn that triangle
upside down. It held up a mystical mirror in which the order of
the three things was reversed: and added a holy family of child,
mother and father, to the human family of father, mother and
child."
* * * *
THE latter half of the pamphlet is an appeal from ethics to
those particularly who will not admit any authority in Chris-
tian revelation or Christian teaching. Marriage is necessary by
natural law in the interest of the child, and through him, in the
interest of the race. This statement is explained and defended by
quotations from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and of Dr.
Michael Cronin. The author then shows that divorce is unjust,
unnatural, anti-national and immoral.
Divorces in the United States are granted at the rate of over
one hundred thousand a year. The distribution of this able pamph-
let, particularly among Protestants, ought to effect great good.
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 719
WE read from time to time of the death of some member of the
St. Vincent de Paul Society, who had been active in the
service of the poor for fifty years or more. Every such notice is
the story of an unostentatious life, inspired by high ideals of
personal service and a shrinking from publicity. The traditions
of this Society and the example of its older members are rich
contributions to the Christian interpretation of life, consoling
illustrations of how the impulses of Christian life operate.
* * * *
MANY of us in this newer day have little knowledge of the St.
Vincent de Paul Society and its silent work. We scarcely
realize that it sends eighteen thousand men weekly into the homes
of the poor in the United States to perform the duties of friendship,
and to encourage and strengthen those who find the battle of life
so difficult. We have mastered the new terminology of social
service and we aim to be abreast of the times in so far as they are
rightly guided. This is necessary. The newer ways have their
undeniable dignity and justification. We wish them and those
who feel the touch of their spirit, Godspeed, as they interpret the
laws of Christian charity to meet new and complex social condi-
tions. Fifty years hence our successors will recount their praises
and honor their memory as another generation proceeds to replace
them.
* * * *
WE suggest, however, to our younger leaders that they go from
time to time to the story of the old men, who are dropping
out of the ranks of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and learn
with sympathy and understanding their interpretations of char-
ity and their ways of friendly service. Possibly not much is to be
gained for modern technique in this way, yet the old ways have
much that still commends them to the newer charity. Much is
certainly to be gained in knowing the vision of God as it inspired
constant, unselfish service to the poor. We test the moral quality
of a new generation by its reverence towards the past. If our new
methods, new organizations and younger members of old organ-
izations hold their forebears in the school of charity in reverent
appreciation, we shall have no fear of new methods nor of loss
of old spirit.
We owe honor and gratitude to the St. Vincent de Paul
Society for its long history of unbroken service to the poor. We
owe encouragement, understanding and support to the newer
generation, which faces our problems with high courage and ex-
emplary deeds. These will gain us and hold us best when they
pay deserved tribute to the generation slowly passing away.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
P. J. KENEDY & SONS, New York:
A Little Book of St. Francis and His Brethren. By E. M. W. Buxton, F.R.H.S.
$1.15. Divine Contemplation for AIL By Dom S. Louismet, O.S.B. $1.90.
When Youth Meets Youth. By M. McD. Bodkin, K.C. $2.20. June Roses for
the Sacred Heart. 50 cents. Catholic Thought and Thinkers. $1.85.
E. P. BUTTON & Co., New York:
The Irish Rebellion of 1641. By Lord E. Hamilton. $8.00 net. The Cathedrals
of Central Italy and The Cathedrals and Churches of Rome and Southern
Italy. By T. F. Bumpus. $3.00.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, New York:
Recent Developments in European Thought. By F. S. Marvin.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, New York:
The Philosophy of Don Hasdai Crescas. By M. Maxman, Ph.D.
D. APPLETON & Co., New York:
History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science. By J. W. Draper, LL.D.
THE MACMILLAN Co., New York:
California Trails, Intimate Guide to the Old Missions. By T. Hall. $5.00.
Thought and Expression in the Sixteenth Century. By H. O. Taylor. 2 vols.
$9.00 per set. The Story Ever New. By Rev. J. Higgins. The Golden Book of
Springfield. By V. Lindsay. $3.50.
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York:
Some Principles of Moral Theology, and Their Application. By K. E. Kirk, M.A.
$5.00 net. God and the Supernatural. By Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C.
HARCOURT, BRACE & HOWE, New York:
Father Allan's Island. By Amy Murray.
THE DEVIN-ADAIR Co., New York:
Scientific Theism versus Materialism. By A. Reuterdahl. $6.25.
SILVER, BURDETTE & Co., New York:
The Progressive Music Series. Teacher's Manual. Vol. II.
THE BOBBS-MERRILL Co., New York:
The Prodigal Village. By I. Bacheller.
DUFFIELD & Co., New York:
The Spell of Brittany. By Ange M. Mosher.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York:
The Control of Parenthood. Edited by J. Marchant, LL.D. $2.50.
BONI & LIVERIGHT, New York:
The Modern Library: The New Spirit. By H. Ellis. The Temptation of St.
Anthony. By G. Flaubert. Majorie Fleming's Diary. By C. Smith. 95 cents
each.
GEORGE H. DORAN Co., New York:
The Girl in Fancy Dress. By J. E. Buckrose. $1.90 net. The First Sir Percy.
By Baroness Orczy. $2.00 net. The New Jerusalem. By G. K. Chesterton.
$3.00 net.
SMALL, MAYNARD & Co., Boston:
The Privilege of Pain. By Mrs. L. Everett.
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, New Haven :
Athenian Tragedy. By T. D. Goodell. $5.00. Maddalena's Day. By L.
Wolcott. $1.50.
THE MAGNIFICAT PRESS, Manchester, N. H. :
Memoir of Mother Mary Gonzaga O'Brien. By a Sister of Mercy. $1.00.
B. HERDER BOOK Co., St. Louis:
First Communion Day(s. By a Sister of Notre Dame. 75 cents net. A Com-
mentary on Canon Law. Vol. VI. By Rev. P. C. Augustine, O.S.B., D.D.
REV. P. J. CARROLL, C.S.C., South Bend., Ind. :
Ted. A Play for Boys in Three Acts. By Rev. P. J. Carroll, C.S.C.
WILLOWS PRESS, Victoria, B. C.:
The Bee and Evolution; A Bit of Autobiography. By Rt. Rev. A. MacDonald,
D.D. Pamphlets.
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, Melbourne:
Our Daily Bread. Spiritism's Two Failures. By Rev. V. McEvoy, O.P. Annual
Report. Pamphlets.
BLOUD & GAY, Paris:
Almanach Catholique Francais pour 1921. 6 fr. 50.
PIERRE TEQUI, Paris:
Conferences a. la Jeunesse des ticoles. Par C. Vandepitte, D.H. 3 vols. Lettres
du R. P. Lacordaire a des Jeunes Gens. Par H. Perreyve. Lettres de Henri
Perreyve a un Ami d'Enfance, 1847-1863.
THE
VOL. CXII.
MARCH, 1921
No. 672
THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS.
BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS.
REAT events have happened and continue to
happen so multitudinously and so rapidly in
these, our fateful latter days that we often fail to
appreciate the importance of an event which, if
it occurred all by itself instead of taking place
amid an obscuring and confusing crowd of other events, would
stir the imagination, impress the memory, and move the will
of all thinking men and women. An event of this character
was the creation by the Hierarchy of the Press Department of
the National Catholic Welfare Council, in September, 1919.
This action was, it is true, only a by-product of a much greater
one, namely, the creation of the main organization of which
the Press Department is but a part: the National Catholic Wel-
fare Council, which is the Hierarchy specially organized to
inspire, coordinate, and authoritatively to direct all the forces
and movements and societies of Catholics that have national
scope and consequences. As the readers of this magazine will
remember, the National Catholic Welfare Council is the Na-
tional Catholic War Council perpetuated for the greater pur-
poses of peace: the mechanism for applying the teachings of
the Catholic Church to the solution of the great problems now
confronting society: problems of social reconstruction, of im-
proved education; the struggle with the rising tide of Pagan-
ism, and the ever-waxing tyranny of State Autocracy and
many other critical situations.
COPYRIGHT. 1921.
VOL. cxii. 46
THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
IN THE STATE OP NEW YORK,
722 THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS [Mar.,
When the Press Department is isolated from the other de-
partments of the Catholic Welfare Council, however, for the
purposes of separate examination, the fundamental and per-
manent and increasing importance of the Bishops' action in
creating this particular Department, will, I think, be readily
apparent. It is the purpose of this article to concentrate Cath-
olic attention upon this momentous action; a purpose made
immediately practical by the fact that the Bishops have now
followed up their action (after the interval of a year, during
which time the Press Department was put to work) by issuing
a call a clarion call, like the call of trumpets from the watch
towers of the City of God summoning the Church Militant in
the United States, the clergy and laity together to unite during
March of this year in an organized national movement to in-
crease the circulation, and hence the influence and power, of
the Catholic press.
It should be remembered that at the time when the Hier-
archy formed the National Catholic Welfare Council, and set
up the Press Department, they also issued a joint Pastoral
Letter. Assembled as a body for the first time in more than
forty years, at the close of the War, and sufficiently long after
the cessation of hostilities to obtain a view of the social conse-
quences of the War, the Hierarchy's Pastoral Letter was the
authoritative contribution of the Catholic Church in the United
States to the most necessary part of the work of reconstructing
society.
This joint Pastoral Letter was a major event of contem-
porary American life. It reached the whole body of the Amer-
ican people immediately, and produced immediate reactions
and results. Let me add though in doing so I am anticipating
the course of this article in one particular that the Pastoral
Letter was enabled to effect these immediate results because
the Press Department of the National Catholic Welfare Coun-
cil, although then in its infancy, was already functioning, and
secured national publicity for this document in a professional
manner. More than 1,200 daily newspapers from coast to
coast published articles, in many cases running columns in
length, carrying copious extracts from the Pastoral. Between
thirty and forty important newspapers commented editorially
upon the Bishops' message.
In other words, the Archbishops and Bishops at this
1921.] THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS 723
epochal gathering initiated positive Catholic social action of
the most momentous character, and impressed their message
upon the entire nation. They not only enunciated Catholic
principles, and laid down the philosophy deducible from such
principles; they also went much farther: they devised and set
in operation a new mechanism for realizing, or attempting to
realize, the Catholic principles of social action. Of course, I
do not say that Catholic social action mechanism was not
already in existence: for, as a matter of fact, the Church,
through its schools and colleges, its asylums and hospitals;
through its pamphlets, newspapers, magazines and books;
through the work of thousands of lay societies and individuals;
through the preaching of its clergy; through the influence
of its consecrated men and women: its priesthood, both secular
and religious, and its hundreds and thousands of nuns, from
the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Sisters of Charity, and
the teaching Orders busily at work in thousands of cities and
towns, to the Poor Clares and Carmelites pouring out their
souls in prayer in their cloisters; and especially through the
vast system of its Sacraments, the Catholic Church had been,
and is always, doing social service of the most necessary and
essential character. But just as the War had brought about
conditions which made necessary the national coordination
and systematizing of the forces of the Church, so also the even
graver problems of social reconstruction after the War made
necessary a similar and permanent work of unifying and har-
moniously coordinating the national efforts of all societies and
branches of the Church. Especially was this true of the many
thousands of societies of Catholic laymen and laywomen.
This work was necessary not only for the sake of the prog-
ress and growth of the Catholic Church in itself, but it was
also seen to be a patriotic duty to give to the nation the counsel,
the inspiration, and the practical assistance of Catholic
thought, Catholic morality, and Catholic social action.
Therefore, the Bishops not only enunciated the principles of
Catholic education: they also created a Department of Educa-
tion through which they might nationally direct all the forces
of Catholic education. They not only laid down the philos-
ophy of social action, but they also created the Department of
Social Action to coordinate and inspire Catholic bodies in deal-
ing with such problems, and also to convey the teachings of
724 THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS [Mar.,
the Church to those outside the Church. They not only called
upon all the societies of Catholic men and Catholic women
to unite their forces and work together for Catholic interests
and for the best interests of the nation for, indeed, these
interests are inseparable: but they also created a Department
of Lay Activity to act as general staff headquarters, so to speak,
through which the Church Militant, the devoted hundreds of
thousands, nay, millions of Catholic men and Catholic women
who belong to the various societies and organizations, may re-
ceive inspiration and authoritative direction, in all matters
that concern Catholics nationally, either as Catholics or as
citizens, from their commanders-in-chief, the Hierarchy. So,
too, in the matter of the press. The Pastoral Letter on this
subject spoke as follows:
"The functions of the Catholic Press are of special value to
the Church in our country. To widen the interest of our
people by acquainting them with the progress of religion
throughout the world, to correct false or misleading statements
regarding our belief and practice, and, as occasion offers, to
present our doctrine in popular form these are among the
excellent aims of Catholic journalism. As a means of forming
sound public opinion, it is indispensable. The vital issues
affecting the nation's welfare usually turn upon moral prin-
ciples. Sooner or later, discussion brings forward the ques-
tion of right and wrong. The treatment of such subjects from
the Catholic point of view is helpful to all our people. It
enables them to look at current events and problems in the
light of experience which the Church has gathered through
centuries, and it points the surest way to a solution that will
advance our common interests.
"The unselfish zeal displayed by Catholic journalists en-
titles them to a more active support than hitherto has been
given. By its very nature the scope of their work is special-
ized, and, within the limitations thus imposed, they are doing
what no other agency could accomplish or attempt, in behalf
of our homes, societies and schools.
"In order to obtain the larger results and the wider appre-
ciation which their efforts deserve and which we most earn-
estly desire, steps must be taken to coordinate the various lines
of publicity and secure for each a higher degree of usefulness."
Let us turn now to examine, at least in a general way, what
1921.] THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS 725
the Bishops concretely accomplished when they created their
Press Department, and why it is that a year later they call upon
the whole Catholic body, especially the laity, to unite in a great
national campaign on behalf of the Catholic press, during
March of this year.
At the meeting of the Hierarchy which set up the National
Catholic Welfare Council, Right Rev. William T. Russell,
Bishop of Charleston, S. C., a member of the Administrative
Board of the National Catholic War Council, a prelate who
recognized the importance of press activity and who had been
a leading figure in working for the furtherance of such activ-
ities, was elected Chairman of the Press Department. Bishop
Russell at once took steps to organize the new department.
After a careful survey of the field it was decided that the most
practical step that could be taken to initiate the many and
diversified activities planned for the Press and Publicity De-
partment would be the formation of a news-gathering and
news-distributing agency of an international character, an
agency which should include among its tasks the gathering
and distribution of special articles and literary features, for
the benefit of the newspapers of the Catholic press.
There was an obvious need for such a news and special
feature service. The Catholic Press Association, an organiza-
tion comprised of representatives of most of the Catholic
periodicals, had maintained a news service, but it was neces-
sarily of a very limited character, as the C. P. A. did not
possess the means to extend it or to realize its inherent pos-
sibilities. Bishop Russell appeared before the National Con-
vention of the Catholic Press Association in January, 1920,
and with that Association arranged plans for the setting up of
an efficient international Catholic news bureau. Using the
words of Bishop Russell in reporting to the Archbishops and
Bishops at the next meeting of the Hierarchy in September,
1920: "A full agreement was reached, between the Catholic
Press Association and the Press Department, and I wish to
take advantage of this opportunity to express my gratitude to
the Catholic Press Association for its loyal and helpful atti-
tude. I feel that the Catholic Press Association deserves words
of the highest praise for its loyal Catholic response to the plans
of the Hierarchy. The Association itself has maintained not
only its independent existence, but by its affiliation with the
726 THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS [Mar.,
larger work will add greatly to its membership and its
strength." This action by the Catholic Press Association en-
abled the Bishops' Press Department to begin its work with the
good-will and active support of nearly all the Catholic pub-
lishers and editors a factor of inestimable value.
Early in March the personnel of the News Bureau was
selected, and the work began, although not until the second
week in April were the results of this work made available
to the Catholic press; the interim being employed in careful
and painstaking preparations. Mr. Justin McGrath was chosen
as Director of the Department; the present writer was named
as associate editor, and other experienced newspaper workers
were added to the staff.
From this central group the organization was rapidly ex-
tended, and today has special correspondents in the principal
cities of the country; and regular staff correspondents at Rome,
Berlin, Vienna, London, Dublin, Paris and Brussels.
The news received from these sources, or gathered by the
central staff in Washington, working in close cooperation with
the other departments of the National Catholic Welfare Coun-
cil, the Catholic University, Georgetown University, and other
news centres in Washington, or gleaned through the careful
scrutiny of representative secular newspapers coming from all
parts of the country, and of the religious press, by the staff of
the Exchange Department, is sifted and judged by a strict
standard of news value, and carefully written in newspaper
style, and distributed to the papers using the service. The
distribution is effected by a combined use of the cable, tele-
graph, and mails. For example, the cable news, received Mon-
day morning in Washington, is distributed the day it comes
in, together with important news stories that have developed
since the issuance of the material the previous week. On
Friday there is sent out a printed news sheet, eight columns
in width and of the standard newspaper length, on which is
placed the most interesting and important foreign and do-
mestic Catholic news having national interest. The news sheet
is supplemented by a mimeograph service mailed simul-
taneously. In all, from eighteen to twenty newspaper columns
of material, exclusive of the cable news sent out on Monday, is
distributed each week. In addition to this, once a month there
is distributed an editorial sheet, containing important special
1921.] THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS 727
articles written and signed by authorities and writers of inter-
national standing, both clerical and lay; together with short
editorials and book reviews, intended to supplement the edi-
torial material prepared by the individual journals.
The guiding policy in the selection and preparation of all
this material is perfectly simple and is strictly adhered to,
namely, the policy of gathering and distributing only such
news as is clearly Catholic in its character, and which is outside
the reach of the newspapers individually. That is to say, the
N. C. W. C. Press Department is interested only in news that
is essentially Catholic, that will interest Catholics everywhere
throughout the nation, and which is not simply local or dio-
cesan in its nature. The service is intended to supplement and
not in any degree to diminish or stultify the local news gather-
ing and news writing enterprise of the individual papers. It
performs for them the same type of service that the Associated
Press, the United Press and the Universal Service perform for
the secular papers.
At the end of eight months, since the inception of the N.
C. W. C. Press Department, it is able to report that sixty-seven
Catholic newspapers, including one in Canada and one in
Cuba, are subscribing to its news and editorial service, while
twenty-four subscribe for the entire service, which includes the
cables from abroad, a branch of the service that is far more
costly than the domestic news. It may be added that this
remarkable increase in the number of Catholic papers affil-
iated with the N. C. W. C. Press Department, has been accom-
plished despite the fact that the cost to each paper has neces-
sarily increased instead of being diminished. But increased
cost was more than compensated for by increased circulation.
One paper has gone up from 4,000 to 10,000 a week. Many
others have reported substantial increases.
The material employed on the news sheet and in the
mimeograph service, copious as it is, represents, however, only
fifty per cent of the total amount handled by the Press De-
partment, which each week rejects almost as much material
as it uses. It must be remembered, in this connection, that a
special editorial problem has to be constantly studied in
issuing news on a weekly basis. For example, an article may
have great value If it can be published immediately, but this
value may be of such a character as to disappear if the article
728 , THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS [Mar.,
is retained for a week before being published. Again, the
Press Department must, so far as possible, anticipate the trend
of events, and not wait until an interesting event has taken
place. The Press Department is constantly suggesting topics
to its correspondents at home and abroad, with the intention
of having important subjects dealt with in a timely manner.
In connection with the editorial sheet, it should be remem-
bered that editorials are in no sense intended to take the place
of the individual and original contributions of the editors and
editorial writers of the various Catholic publications; they are
simply intended to supplement the work of these editors and
editorial writers, and to give them the benefit of special articles,
in many cases written by authorities, which otherwise would
not be obtainable by the separate papers.
The Press Department maintains what is known in news-
paper technical language as a "future book," in which are
entered memoranda concerning events known to be pending,
such as Catholic conventions, meetings, or similar happenings.
This enables the department to keep a systematic watch upon
the unfolding of those events which can be anticipated.
The Exchange Department is an important factor in the
work of the Press Bureau. In addition to providing the service
with news and ideas for future stories and editorial possibil-
ities, culled from the reading of twenty-one secular daily
papers and sixty Catholic weeklies, and clippings from the same
source for file references, it is the aim of the exchange staff
to call the attention of every department of the National Cath-
olic Welfare Council to articles appearing in the Catholic and
secular press pertinent to its particular work, and providing
clippings for same. Departments are not only furnished with
stories and articles, but with "follow-up," until the expiration
of such publicity.
The files of the Department contain not only thousands of
clippings, documents, and pamphlets relative to Catholic ac-
tivities throughout the world, but also hundreds of others per-
taining to the international political situation and to other
secular questions of the day.
Whenever there is Catholic news of general lay interest,
the Press and Publicity Department of the National Catholic
Welfare Council sends a report of such news to the Washing-
ton correspondent of the secular papers of the country and to
1921.] THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS 729
the three press associations for general distribution. For
example, as I have already said, the Pastoral Letter issued by
the September, 1919, conference of Bishops was brought to the
attention of the three press associations by a representative of
the Press Bureau, who succeeded in having these associations
distribute digests of the Pastoral at their own expense to all
the secular newspapers of the country. The clippings col-
lected on this one article alone fill a huge volume preserved in
the archives of the Department. Similar steps were taken in
the case of the National Convention of our Catholic women's
societies, which resulted in the formation of the National
Council of Catholic Women.
In September, 1920, when the report of the Press Depart-
ment was read by its Episcopal Chairman to the assembled
Hierarchy at the Catholic University, it was received with
marked favor, and a resolution was voted to continue the work
along the lines laid down, and to use special efforts to develop
it. The time had come, it was recognized, when an appeal on
behalf of the Catholic press to the entire body of the faithful,
both clergy and laity, should be made in a most emphatic and
practical fashion. It was felt to be especially desirable to use
every possible effort to arouse the Catholic laity to a sense of
the great importance of Catholic press action, especially in the
great emergency which now confronts civilization in Europe
and in America. For this reason the Bishops unanimously
voted to set aside a whole month as National Catholic Press
Month, and March, 1921, was named a little later by Bishop
Russell, who immediately followed up this step by sending out
a letter to the Archbishops and Bishops, asking them to co-
operate still further with the Press Department by notifying
their pastors to speak to their people from the altars of all the
churches in the land, telling them it is their apostolate vigor-
ously to support and improve the Catholic press.
Whatever reasons there may have been in the past to ex-
cuse or explain the apathy on the part of the Catholic public
in supporting the Catholic press if there really have been any
valid reasons these reasons have to a large degree ceased to
exist. It is unquestionable that the Catholic newspapers em-
ploying the N. C. W. C. press service have made a distinctive
and substantial improvement in the interest, value, and popu-
larity of their news columns. The new spirit of national Cath-
730 THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS [Mar.,
olic action, observable in every department of the Church's
activity in the United States, has been notably powerful and
effective in the Catholic press. Proprietors and editors, and
the publishers controlling diocesan journals, have displayed
enhanced interest in the great task of making their papers
vigorously representative of Catholic affairs and teaching.
Today, when public opinion is the chief factor in demo-
cratic societies, the Catholic press is one of the most potent
of all instruments for the teaching of Catholic truth. Never
before have questions of morality, of intellectual principles,
and of spiritual interests, so engaged the minds of the people.
In their solution the value of Catholic truth is supreme. There-
fore, it is nothing short of a calamity that out of the nearly
twenty million Catholics in the United States less than two
million are subscribers to the Catholic press. We have only
one daily newspaper in the English language, and that a mere
beginner, of only regional circulation as yet though it is a
brave, gallant and commendable step in advance. Yet little
Ireland, with a Catholic population of less than four million,
supports four large Catholic daily newspapers and seventy-
three weekly or bi-weekly papers which are also Catholic in
policy and atmosphere. War-shattered Austria, in the midst
of all its starvation and awful misery, with a Catholic popula-
tion of less than six million, supports ten Catholic daily news-
papers and thirty-two Catholic weeklies. Germany's Catholic
press organization has for generations been a model of effi-
ciency. The new Catholic spirit in France is served vigorously
and ably by several Catholic daily newspapers, one of them
publishing provincial editions in a large number of important
centres. The Catholics of Quebec support a splendid daily
paper. The Catholics of Brazil have just subscribed nearly
$400,000 toward the establishment of a new Catholic daily.
Spain has forty-eight Catholic dailies. Italy has a large num-
ber of vigorous and well-supported Catholic papers, dailies
and weeklies. Little Holland, where the press campaign has
been chiefly inspired by a convert from Protestantism, pos-
sesses fifteen Catholic dailies and more than one hundred other
Catholic periodicals. Tiny Belgium has several Catholic dailies
and many good weeklies. Many of the Republics of Central
and South America have similar stories to tell.
At a time when the whole world is turning to the United
1921.] THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS 731
States of America for material assistance, and for moral and
spiritual leadership, at a time when to the Catholics of the
United States in particular there has come an opportunity
to serve both Church and country, almost unprecedented in
history, there should be nothing less than a universal, earnest,
practical reply to the appeal made by our spiritual leaders, the
Hierarchy, to aid the work they have so well begun, and to
make National Catholic Press Month a turning point in the
history of the American Catholic press.
Here are words which his Holiness Pope Benedict cabled
through Cardinal Gasparri to Bishop Russell at the time when
the Press Department began its operations :
"The Holy Father has learned with much pleasure of the
establishment of the National Catholic Press Bureau. His
Holiness most cordially extends the Apostolic Blessing to the
service you have inaugurated to improve the Catholic papers
of the United States. The work of the American Catholic
papers has been most praiseworthy. They have been an effec-
tive auxiliary to the pulpit in spreading the Faith. The credit
to which they are entitled is enhanced by the difficulties they
have had to meet. Those who are conducting them will be
pleased and heartened by your establishment for their benefit
of an efficient press organization in Washington, which also
will have representation in the leading capitals of Europe and
South America. They are now to have the aid which they so
long deserved. As the news standard of Catholic journals is
raised, undoubtedly the support given them by the Catholic
reading public will be increased. His Holiness invokes good-
will and cooperation from all who will be parties to the worthy
work you have undertaken, to the end that it may be fruitful
of the good results you seek to achieve for Church and
Country."
At Christmas time the Press and Publicity Department of
the National Catholic Welfare Council received the following
additional message from his Holiness :
"With the utmost satisfaction We take the opportunity
of the approaching sweet Christmas time to send Our paternal
greetings to the newspapers adherent to the National Catholic
Welfare Council of the United States of America, and through
them to the faithful, and to the whole American people.
"Well acquainted with the serious purposes of American
782 THE BISHOPS AND OUR PRESS [Mar.,
Catholics and their devotion towards this Apostolic See, while
We send to them Our paternal benediction We express the wish
that their activity in the fertile field of the press may bear ever
more abundant fruits and, like the Evangelical mustard seed,
grow into a strong and mighty tree which, under the shadow
of its branches, will gather all the souls thirsting after truth,
all the hearts beating for the good."
Pope Benedict is only reiterating the urgent appeals of his
great predecessors, Pope Leo XIII. and Pius X., but his appeal
is even more urgent because the need is now greater. "In vain
will you build churches, give missions and found schools,"
said Pope Pius X. "All your noble works, all your grand efforts
will be destroyed if you are not able to wield the defensive and
offensive weapon of a loyal and sincere Catholic press."
The National Council of Catholic Men and the National
Council of Catholic Women, both of which councils are part of
the National Catholic Welfare Council, and are the unifying
national points of coordination for all our Catholic societies,
have volunteered their services for National Catholic Press
Month, and will spread the literature of the campaign in every
diocese and every parish and mission of the land.
The Bishops are appealing to the clergy of their dioceses
to preach sermons on the subject of the Catholic press in as
many parishes as possible during the month of March. Hun-
dreds of thousands, possibly millions of copies of pamphlets
advertising the movement, will be distributed by the National
Councils of Catholic Men and Women, working in cooperation
with the Catholic editors and the Catholic societies throughout
the country.
Nothing short of the doubling, perhaps even the tripling,
of the present circulation of the Catholic press should result
from this campaign. But more important yet will be the break
up (let us hope for ever!) of the too general state of apathy
or indifference on the part of a large proportion of the Cath-
olic public to its press, and the work which the press is doing
for the Church. For the Bishops have not only spoken they
have raised a standard and have taken an advanced position
on the field of action, and true Catholics cannot, and they will
not, desert or fail their divinely appointed leaders.
THE OPEN WINDOW.
BY SAMUEL FOWLE TELFAIR, JR.
N the beginning God." One day, seven years ago,
the wise old professor of philosophy at the uni-
versity read these words and paused. I do not
remember now anything else that he said on that
occasion because of the overwhelming force of
this impression: In the beginning, away back through all the
ages, was the Creator, God.
The idea took hold of my growing mind. I was a young,
healthy, out-of-doors boy, and my thoughts had never been
stirred by any love or hope of God. In the Protestant church
to which I had been sent regularly I had felt little about the
living Creator. From that day on, I felt the need to be alone
to think for long hours at a time. Driving my boat through
a storm, I seemed to feel Him near, to be touched by God. As
I tramped through the cool, green, haze-veiled mountains,
there was God. Out in the midnight blue of starlit nights I
wondered and worshipped.
Then, since I thought it the thing to do, I experimented
with the important two-thirds of the formula, wine, woman
and song, and imagined that I had developed into a cynic.
I read Oscar Wilde and the French realists in place of text-
books, and pictured myself a worldly-wise and dashing roue.
Later, as I studied under the old philosopher, I learned that
God was the Spirit of Truth, Goodness and Beauty. I almost
learned to think and I loved and desired Beauty. I began to
weave wonderful dreams of the future. I was going to be a
writer, a genius. I was going to know life and paint it after
Maeterlinck, as beautifully but more vigorously. Beauty
seemed to be God but the Trinity was broken. Truth was for
Presbyterians and goodness for other Puritans. For me Beauty,
clean, straight and unafraid, was the lamp to light the world.
By this I meant the beauty of blue eyes under dark hair, of
blue, blue skies lighted by a golden moon that made the wheat-
fields seem a gilded sea, the glorious mystery of the sun rising
734 THE OPEN WINDOW [Mar.,
from the ocean in all his panoply of color, the sacred beauty
of the death of day seen from a mountain-top, as night came
silently on, veiling the dark green hills in silver and mauve
and blue. I was a pagan.
To the small university village where I dreamed, philoso-
phized, and was occupied with college activities, the outside
world was remote and the European struggle a distant and
dismal affair. Then came the day when war was declared. I
enlisted at once, and spent all my days in a world of men, raw
products of all sorts of homes, being made into soldiers.
Thenceforth I saw less of Beauty and more of Humanity, and
here I began to see a new principle (my old teacher had spoken
much of it, but I had admitted it and thrown it aside), Democ-
racy. I began thinking and living on the old idea of Democ-
racy till it became almost an obsession, this idea of the brother-
hood of man, exemplified in a vast army drawn from every
class of society.
So the days passed, swift, healthy days with short sleep-
ful nights, days spent with men, studying them and their ways
and liking them. I began to feel that we were all brothers,
pawns of luck and chance, all imperfectly and hopelessly alike,
yet strangely different, and all with impulses and ideas that
were fine. I thought then that the great thing in life was serv-
ice, the ability to help, strengthen and protect these men, to
teach them to do these things for themselves. This, I thought,
was the ethics of Christ, Who to me was the perfect Philos-
opher and little more than that except the Man so many
peoples had interpreted in divers ways and squabbled over,
serving Him by sharp tongues and intolerance. When night
came, I thought more vaguely of the old love, Beauty, and less
often of Death and God.
Finally, the great day came when we left for the port of
embarkation. I was eager and wondering, full of vitality,
sentiment, love and hope the nearest things I had to religion
were two ideals, Beauty and Democracy, and such creed as I
possessed I had borrowed from a book by H. G. Wells, a creed
of the Aristocracy of Spirit: to know no fear, to control pas-
sion, to be without jealousy, hypocrisy or prejudice and to be
above the littlenesses and meannesses of mediocrity. At
reveille, when the sun was opening the eyes of the world, I
thought of an old phrase that had charmed me in a German
1921.] THE OPEN WINDOW 735
play: "Open the window. Let God and Light come in," and
in the unfolding of the day that seemed enough.
The night before we were to board our transport, I was
Officer of the Day, and as I made my rounds a top sergeant
told me he was having trouble with his men. They were Cath-
olics and wanted to go to town to see a priest, which was
against orders and, according to the sergeant, "d foolish-
ness," an opinion with which I agreed. Some of the men came
to me, and I saw that they were excited, several nearly frantic.
I wondered what sort of Church this was that could count for
so much to men. The priest, having been telephoned, arrived,
and many men went to him. Most of that night I wondered.
I had been introduced to the oldest Christian faith in the world
and it was new to me. It was at this point that Catholicism
first interested me. A great many of the men in my company,
including my own platoon sergeant, were Catholics, and in the
thirteen days that followed, I kept wondering about this desire
to confess one's sins and the idea of a church being vital to a
man. At that time I rather think I was sufficient unto myself.
I had always loved the sea, and from two to four in the
afternoon and early morning I stood watch on the maintop
with a "gob" for company. The wonder of the sea, with its
ever-changing sameness, stirred and lashed by the winds which
are the breath of God, the vastness, the infinity of it, seemed
absolute, and yet those Catholics had wanted to confess before
crossing. I was interested.
On this trip I began a friendship with an Irish first lieu-
tenant, a former Marine, who had lately been transferred to the
outfit. Finally, the convoy drew near the green hills of Brit-
tany and into the town of Brest, where we landed.
Not many days after, on the fourteenth of July, the Irish
first lieutenant, another "shavetail" and I set out in search of
a meal, a cafe minus the ever-present m. p. before the door,
and after a time we came to a twelfth century village. In the
meantime we had found many m. p.-less cafes and what was
even more wonderful, Bretons who gave you a drink after you
had bought a dozen and had toasted la belle France several
times. In the centre of the town was a beautiful small Gothic
church. Murphy suddenly put down his glass and said he must
go to church, whereupon Shorty and I accompanied him, and
followed when he entered.
736 THE OPEN WINDOW [Mar.,
Dim lights filtered in through ancient glass windows, on
the altar two candles burned, while above shone the red flame
of a lamp. Murphy crossed the aisle, bent his knee, and then
went to a prie-dieu and knelt again to pray. We watched
while the people there (mostly Breton peasant women in their
curious white head-dresses) entered and left the place so
silently. And as they prayed (I imagined for sons and hus-
bands away to the North), it seemed to me that they looked on
the face of God. He was there; not the vague transcendent
Spirit we had argued over at college, but the Living God.
I seemed to have drawn close to something wonderful for the
first time, something everlasting, wholly beautiful, that these
people believed in while I, curious and ignorant, was as one
intruding upon a feast to which I had not been invited. So as
Vespers began I withdrew and outside awaited my friend.
On the way back to camp we questioned him. "Christ was
on the altar there," he told us. It was a wonderful thing to be
a Catholic, most wonderful of all an Irish, Marine, Catholic.
I felt a nonenity, and on top of this a French woman asked me
if I were Caitiolic, and on hearing my negative, said then I
would surely go to hell, "certainement!"
We entrained for a village in Haute-Marne, near the
ancient city of Langres, and in this little place, built around its
time-worn stone church, I began to see the simple life of the
French peasantry. Each village was a group of houses around
a church. Crossroads were marked with crosses and crucifixes.
The church was the nucleus of the community, the Christ a
constant remembrance, and life was constantly touched by this
influence, around which it moved.
My interest in Catholicism being now aroused, I began
dropping into the little church to see whether I should find the
same feeling of faith that I had found in Brittany. The church
was an old structure of brownish stone, with no attempt at
architecture. The interior was very bare, yet there was some-
thing here that I felt even when I first went in to look, some-
thing that the poorly colored stations of the Cross, the rather
gaudy statues with their cheap beadwork flowers, the lamp
that always burned before the altar something for which
these stood, and which the people who came in knew and felt,
a spirituality that made the long list posted in the doorway a
glorious thing instead of simply a sacrifice, "pour la Patrie"
1921.] THE OPEN WINDOW 737
Naturally, even in these days crowded with drill, after-
noons on machine gun range and nights hilariously gay
with cheap wines, I began to think of the near future, of the
War's eventualities, and of possible death. It did not occur to
me to be afraid, but there began to open up in my mind the
realization of how much I had missed in development when I
had disregarded the spirit. I was hungry and there was no
bread of life for me, and so even with the instincts of a healthy
savage I longed for faith and belief in the Trinity of God, in the
living Son, God and Man, for a connection between my soul and
God's infinity.
Very often I dropped into the quiet dimness of the little
church, and there on my knees I started to pray to think of
the God I had not been aware of, to ask not for life but for
unfaltering courage and strength. Somehow it helped a great
deal. I went more often in the early morning and just as night
began. In all the six weeks I spent in that village, I went to a
service there only once, that was Vespers. It was all so strange,
and in the crowd of soldiers and peasants I felt like an out-
sider, but when I went alone just to pray and think, it seemed
that I, too, was one of God's children, come home at last, and
that the Christ was for me, too only I knew so little of Him.
Now I do not wish to convey the impression that all this
time I was going about like an ascetic with eyes fixed upward.
I believe that those were the happiest days I have ever known,
the days of that busy, gold-blue summer filled with wonder
and work. Unhappily, this new-found thing that I now know
to have been dawning faith did not always keep me faithful
to God. I used to go to Him and pour out the confession of my
failures and pray for strength, and gradually as I thought and
prayed more, they became fewer; and this faith, that I then
seemed to be making for myself, deepened and grew.
I was billeted with the young Irishman whom I mentioned
before, and I borrowed a prayer book from the old French
woman in the house. Between the two of them I acquired some
knowledge of the Catholic faith. One day when we were on
a "hike," we rested near a cemetery, and on a tombstone
I read these words: "Expecto resurrectionem mortuorum et
vitam venturi szeculi," and the sentence seemed to sum up the
Catholic idea of death.
On Sunday the bunkie and I used to walk over the hills
TOL. czn. 47
738 THE OPEN WINDOW [Mar.,
to a neighboring village. Like most villages, when seen from
afar, it seemed just a few houses huddled around a steeple.
After a good bottle of red Burgundy, we went to Mass for my
first time. There were very few people and no choir. A very
old man acted as server and made the responses as if he were
the whole choir of Heaven. I understood the idea of the serv-
ice, and even then it stirred me by its beauty and mystery, the
wonder of the Sacrifice made anew.
Soon afterwards we moved a few miles away to another
village, built on the banks of a dammed-up lake. Drill and
range work became more intense and night parties more
furiously gay, the world more poignantly beautiful, than from
this standpoint it can ever be again. Just a few yards back of
our quarters rock cliffs fell a hundred feet to the lake and here
in August, as the sun rose or set, the place seemed indescrib-
ably beautiful, and as I climbed the steep way to the village
at night, with my eyes saturated with loveliness, I came to a
little church, where a candle or two and the lamp always
burned, and there was always someone there at prayer as I
stepped in.
Suddenly we entrained for Rampont, where we marched
into the lines. Days passed, terrible, disheartening, exhaust-
ing, hungry days yet sometimes almost exhilarating. Some-
how I had a great certainty of God. It seemed that God was
light, the living that made life eternal. All through the
Argonne I felt this exhilaration, this strong certainty of the
presence of God.
Days came, with death and mutilation horrors. My men
were splendid. Some of them were just babies, some whined,
but the majority carried on, hungry, cold, mud-covered, ex-
hausted, through the forty-five days under fire. As I moved
from machine gun to machine gun, sleeping next to them in
fox holes living with them as they lived, I felt the splendor of
such comradeship with men.
One day a corporal, a special favorite of mine, was shot
while I was with him and later died in my arms. A vivid
sickness came into my heart. I had cared for the others
enough, but to see this laughing-eyed boy suddenly made
grotesque and hideous seemed to take out my life. As I looked
at his eyes, in which a light had lingered as he died, I was
given to realize that the soul is immortal and that the lad lived
1921.] THE OPEN WINDOW 739
on free from torture, a fact I have never since doubted. I pray
that I shall never forget.
Several days later on the other side of the Meuse a runner
brought word that the corporal still lay by the roadside un-
buried. I gathered six or seven volunteers, and we went back
after the day's advance, down along the canal of the Meuse
and then across it and the river, through a ruined town, where
I picked up a crucifix in a mass of debris. I remembered the
inscription I had seen on a tombstone: "Expecto resurrec-
tionem mortuorum et vitam venturi sseculi."
In an afterglow of day, we dug the grave under an old,
gnarled apple tree and, wrapping a blanket around our com-
rade, we laid him to rest and covered him with earth as we
knelt with our helmets off I tried to pray. I didn't know any
prayers and only fragments floated in my memory, "ashes to
ashes, earth to earth, and dust to dust." Placing the crucifix
in the ground at the head of the grave, I said: "'I await the
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.' I
commend the soul of Lawrence Parham to Almighty God in
the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." I felt the want
and hunger to believe in these words I had come so casually
to know, and as I uttered them I did believe them.
As we turned away I thought it was, after all, what in
army parlance would be called "a hell of a funeral," but I was
glad that someone that loved the boy laid him away, and on
the way back a man told me : "Larry would rather you'd done
it than any preacher alive, lieutenant. He said the other day
he'd go to hell'n back for you."
So, walking back along the Meuse in the afterglow of the
sunset that November day, as shells buzzed overhead and
dropped into the water, making geysers as they fell, peace
came to me and the words rang in my mind, with a sound of
victory, Resurrection and the Life to come for all who slept.
I swore to remember always, Resurrection!
When we arrived at the post five men lay dead in the road.
And so the weary days dragged on, and the army advanced
over hills and through forests, from one ruined village to an-
other, and relief did not come.
Then one morning the rumor came true. At eleven o'clock
the firing ceased, and in the chateau village of Louppy we
searched for a house with a roof. Peace! As I walked into
-
740 THE OPEN WINDOW [Mar.,
the little church, which for more than four years had been in
the hands of the enemy, German dead lay on the floor among
debris of stone and glass, yet all around the arched pillars was
hung the tricolor of France, and at the left of the altar Jeanne
d'Arc, clad in silver armor, held her sword before her, and
aloft in her left hand a banner of white with golden fleur-de-lys
shining upon it.
That night, walking in the park of the chateau, which
sloped its velvet lawns, hedges and ancient cedars down to a
little river, I saw the ancient house ablaze with light. Im-
maculate staff officers dined in stately halls, and down below
in the village men sang and a piano jingled a ragtime air. The
moon lighted up the shadows of the trees and red, white and
blue rockets blazed into a clear sky from the nearby German
lines, a starshell flung its magnificent stream of sparks into the
air and they sputtered in the clear mirror of the river. A dead
doughboy lay across the path. Peace!
The sudden coming of peace found me physically ex-
hausted, drained of vitality and strength, and with my nervous
system wrecked by a dose of gas from which I had not recov-
ered, having been too busy to go to the rear for a rest. The
result was a terrible reaction and a plunge into a feverish
round of pleasures. The sunlight and the memory of the as-
pirations of past days seemed shut out by visions of the dis-
figured faces of my friends. I was haunted by the thought of
men snatched from life into nothingness. Yet the conscious-
ness that I was hungry, starving for God, kept recurring even
amid this darkness.
The company secured good motor equipment, and at slight
intervals we would ride away from our desolate, rain-soaked
barracks near Verdun to peopled places that catered to our
quest for pleasure, and so I came to see many great churches
stretching beautiful towers into the sky and visualizing man's
ideal to God. In Verdun the wrecked, fort-belted city of de-
struction, torn by countless bombardments there stood the
remains of a noble church with one beautiful painting left
untouched and the sky as a canopy to the Tabernacle.
In Chalons, in a wonderful old building with the sun
streaming in through its windows, I knelt to pray again, and
then I came to a chapel lighted by a magnificent rose window,
under which the Christ hung crucified, and as I knelt before
1921.] THE OPEN WINDOW 741
Him, telling Him the secrets of my heart, I knew that He was
my sole hope of my saving my life to live it as I had dreamed.
"Jesus, Lord, have mercy on me !" In a shop nearby I bought a
silver crucifix which I hung on the string with the tags about
my neck, and somehow in the long, sleepless nights it helped to
feel it hanging on my chest.
At Rheims the great cathedral stretches up its beautiful
arms with all the sightless windows that used to color and
inflame its prayers. In a way, I cannot imagine it more lovely
in its pre-War perfection than it is now, victoriously beautiful
with its scars and lustful injuries. It is too magnificent for
expression.
In an evacuation hospital near lay a sergeant who had
been in my platoon with a side and lung full of shrapnel and
a hole in his throat. I stood by his bed while another sergeant
read his news from home, and held his dead looking, tallow-
colored hands. I asked him: "Is there anything you want,
sergeant?" His thin voice ran out to a whisper as he an-
swered: "Lieutenant, I just want to get back on the job,"
and as he waited for speech to come, he smiled at us, grinning
while the nurse dressed his "beautiful" wound. Then he
smiled again and whispered: "You won't mind if I go to
sleep?" and closed his eyes with his lips still smiling, to sleep
forever.
The thought of how these better men slept made me deter-
mined to be a Catholic in fact, as I had tried to be in spirit.
At last, after a period of moving from place to place, during
which life was filled with duties and so-called pleasures and
accompanying temptations, we came home and were demobil-
ized. I had lost the great good of having men to care for and
think of, and had to begin to live in a world in which I was not
at home. There followed a round of gayety, feverish parties,
a stir of sentiment over parades, coupled with a paucity of real
help for needy soldiers and worse than all, the shuddering
necessity of hearing: "It must have been a marvelous expe-
rience!" I felt cut loose from life.
Restless days and sleepless nights led me to a seaside
resort where, when a life-guard left his job, I qualified, and
from then on spent all the daylight hours on the beach or in
the water. The ocean at every hour of the day and night
blue under the sun, gray-green in storm, silver under the moon,
742 THE OPEN WINDOW [Mar.,
or black breaking white beneath a thousand stars crept into
my thoughts, casting its peace over the recollection of war,
brought me again to think much of God.
There was only one church on the island, a Catholic
chapel. There I went one Sunday morning and found that the
Mass stirred something within me, furnished food and drink
to some part of me deeper than my troubled mind. One of
the chambermaids at the hotel (a girl from Donegal), saw me
at church and asked me if I was a Catholic. She lent me a
copy of Faith of Our Fathers, which I read and studied on the
beach in the shade of a life-boat.
I studied and thought a great deal about Catholic doctrine,
reading with especial interest of confession and the Blessed
Virgin. The former I felt I needed more than anything, and
the latter was in accord with the one divine thing I had. I
will not dwell on all that my own mother has meant in my
life. I have lost much that she gave me, but our love and
understanding could never be broken, even "if I were hanged
on the highest hill," which line of Kipling's song she put into
my heart years ago.
I was still at the seashore and was considering going to
the nearby city to see a priest when I was taken ill and went
home again. After a few weeks in bed, during which I read
a great many Catholic books that were in our library, I went
motoring to some mountain resorts and there one Sunday,
in a hotel, I felt a longing to hear Mass, so I found the church
and fed my hungry heart on this new, secret desire.
Soon afterwards I went to New York to take up a course
dropped three years before at college. It was unsatisfactory.
I wanted to go in the army again, which did not suit my
parents, so I settled in New York to work in an office, spending
days as an amateur bookkeeper in a skyscraper, which seemed
a jail to me.
I would go to the Catholic churches to worship, but as
life grew full of acquaintanceships and pleasures my resolu-
tion to see a priest grew dimmer. The things of the world
seemed to crowd out the things of the soul. My physical
vitality was low, the old call to write was killed and, con-
fronted with economic conditions of which I had hitherto
known nothing, I was naturally spending a good deal more
than I earned. It was a hopeless life.
1921.] THE OPEN WINDOW 743
Then came New Year's eve, and the new day. I deter-
mined to begin a new and self-reliant life, to live on my own.
So, on twenty-five dollars a week, I built an existence, saving
a small weekly sum in order to hear good music. I began to go
almost daily to the Cathedral to find peace in prayer and
before the beautiful Pieta. Before this statue I liked to kneel
and ask the Christ to have mercy on me, and many times
as I knelt there it seemed as if I could see the tortured Body
more vividly. I felt that without confession I could not kiss
the Sacred Foot, so I would touch the hand each day as I
prayed for strength and vitality and asked for mercy.
One afternoon I saw a notice posted up announcing a mis-
sion for non-Catholics and I attended the services. There
came a night during the week when it seemed, as I started in
the direction of the Cathedral, that all the powers of evil in
the world were arrayed against me. I had just had an insuf-
ficient dinner at a lunch counter, and in my pocket I had barely
enough money to last till Saturday. Only too near at hand
were the lights and the warmth and the cheer of the great city
within easy reach. Perhaps, if I gave up my threadbare
dreams I could reach out and touch the warmth and color, feel
intoxication, know pleasure again, forget everything and de-
sire crept into my mind, old longings of the flesh, passion for
life came to me what did it matter? Should I go in or not?
Summoning all my resolution, I entered the Cathedral. I
fell on my knees and asked Christ to drive such thoughts out
of my soul. While I knelt there one of the missionaries en-
tered the pulpit and spoke of Christian virility and manhood,
and I knew that the time had come to assert mine. The priest
was standing at the door as I passed out and I spoke to him,
telling him of my desire to be instructed in the Catholic re-
ligion and to be received into the Church. For some weeks we
worked together, building up in my soul the walls and spires of
Catholicity, and I learned of its shrines and quiet places and its
fighting armor.
Daily the vision of the Church Triumphant grew in my
mind, of the Christ compassionate and all-forgiving through
His Church. Back in the school days the great thing was to be
free to see the Beauty of life; in the soldier-time the issue was
to serve; and afterwards, weakness and mental agony had
deemed to leave me nothing to look forward to in life until
744 THE OPEN WINDOW [Mar.,
this vision of the Church shone before me: God, the Creator,
infinite and beautiful, was related to man the imperfect
through Christ the Lord God and Man, Who had lived and
died perfect and then risen to defeat death forever.
The Catholic Church for years had told this to the world
even I perhaps had heard this but through her I came to
believe. I cannot yet write of the Beauty of the Truth that she
defends, of the Goodness she holds and puts into being every-
where. It is hackneyed to tell how the Church gives blood to
fight with, how she makes the wretched spirit clean again, and
how she gives Light. Back in the Argonne the sun had given
me a strength and a surety that there was a God, the dying
made me know of eternal life, and yet back in the world of
men it was easy to forget, even when I was hungry to believe.
And then in all the darkness and doubt there was the Living
Vision and, like the German opening the window, the Church
let Light and God come in.
And now if we forget, what does it matter to those who
sleep beneath the crosses in a far land? The crucifix may not
stand on the buddies' graves, but we, through the Church,
know forever and await the resurrection.
Then on the Wednesday in Holy Week I was baptized and
went to confession. Early the next morning I knelt in St.
Stephen's beside two little ragged urchins who had just washed
the conventional front of their faces. I watched them as they
went to the altar and then I went up myself and received the
Blessed Sacrament. For the first time I had gone to the
Eternal Feast, and no awkward words of mine can tell the
wonder of it.
Easter came, and I heard the Paulist choristers sing their
Alleluias to the Risen Lord. The Paulist Father spoke of the
victory of the Cross, and in my heart there seemed to be a
new peace with In Hoc Signo Vinces written over it.
Something I felt and shall always feel in the Mass, a glory
and strength I shall always have in Communion, and a humil-
ity and cleansing confession will always bring me, for some-
how it is not merely Catholic theology I have caught hold of,
but the vision and realization of a Living Christ whose Feast
and Sacrifice are mine until the consummation of time. All
this I felt on Easter Sunday, and I feel it with even stronger
conviction riow.
1921.] ASPIRATION 745
That afternoon I went to St. Patrick's again. The great
organ was playing, pools of colored light lay over the place,
a myriad candles burned, flowers over-scented the air, and
crowds of people wandered about or lingered in prayer before
the altars. I found my favorite spot behind the High Altar,
where the suffering Christ lay in His Mother's arms, and there
I prayed. When I finished I leaned and kissed the Master's
foot. And this is the beginning, not the end of my story.
ASPIRATION.
BY J. CORSON MILLER.
LET us paint Life as a picture-book
Of far-off, dim, forgotten things,
Whose pages flame with Chivalry
Of deeds that cloaked the dreams of kings.
Wealth choked our souls with gall and dust
Grown blind, we groped down starless ways;
Our ears were deaf to the Fairies' bells,
We lost the pattern of the ancient days.
O, we shall gather the lamps anew,
And bruise our feet to the topmost spire,
Where Truth smiles down, and the years are notes
That blend in a symphony of fire.
We shall come back!
Ev'n now our eyes redrink the dawn
Through fragrant halls where Duty goes;
Once more shall Beauty warm our hearts
In Love's immortal wedding-clothes.
We shall build lives that heavenward tower,
And proudly cry: "God is our friend!"
We shall make songs as pure as prayers
Unto the end.
LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST-NOVELIST.
BY EDWARD F. CARRIGAN, S.J.
IGNIFICANT, indeed, is the number of writers
who have served their apprenticeship to letters by
handling an artist's brush or a draughtsman's
pencil. Thackeray, we know, while making cari-
catures was unconsciously preparing himself to
be a writer of novels; and it was at the end of his career as a
cartoonist when George du Maurier gave the world his Trilby.
Similarly, De Morgan found the transition from one art to the
other a natural progression: he successively gave up painting
pictures and designing stained glass to win a high reputation
as a potter. Then, all of a sudden, at the age of sixty-seven, he
set out and made a new and wider reputation as a writer.
There is no doubt that Stevenson's studies in engineering, and
Thomas Hardy's in ecclesiastical architecture were the real
foundations upon which were built their success as novelists.
Hopkinson Smith affords another illustration of literature's
debt to art: like Rossetti, he achieved positive success as an
artist and as a writer.
To art, too, are we indebted for Booth Tarkington. We
have the author's definite confession as to the originating sug-
gestion of his delightful romance, Monsieur Beaucaire. "I had
been doing some pictures," he says, "for a little magazine that
failed, and after the failure I still had two or three sketches
left over. One of these I picked up one night on my desk. It
represented a little man in a peruke sitting disconsolately at a
table, while in front of him stood a big, tall man in a uniform
that I concluded was English. The little man looked to me like
a Frenchman, and the other one was big enough to be a Duke.
So I began to write around the sketch, and the result was
Monsieur Beaucaire."
There is also a legend we do not know how true that
when Gilbert K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc were insignif-
icant young men starting to grub their way in London journal-
ism, they made a compact whereby the latter was to write
books and the former to draw pictures for them. The legend
may not be true; but we know that the pictures for Emmanuel
1921.] LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST-NOVELIST 747
Burden and The Green Overcoat were drawn by Mr. Chester-
ton, and that Mr. Belloc has been quite successful as illustrator
of some of his own books. Likewise, W. B. Yeats, Robert
Chambers and Robert Cortes Holliday were all initiated to let-
ters by the palette and brush. Another instance of the same
fact is the English artist-novelist, Miss Leslie Moore.
Leslie Moore was born at Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
Much of her childhood was spent at Eastney Barracks, Ports-
mouth, where her father, Colonel Edward Henry Moore, was
attached to the Royal Marine Artillery; but upon his retire-
ment from service, the family went to live at Bideford in
Devon. Her painting she inherits from her father, who, though
untaught, at one time sketched quite charmingly. With Sir
Hubert Herkomer Miss Moore studied oil portrait painting,
and miniature painting with Mr. Alfred Praga and Mr. Alyn
Williams, and has exhibited at the Academy, the Royal Society
of Miniature Painters, and at the Society of Miniaturists, of
which last Society she was made a member. In the field of
mural decoration she has also done some work: the descrip-
tion of the mural paintings uncovered by Corin Elmore in The
Wiser Folly, is really of some paintings Miss Moore uncovered
and restored in a pre-Reformation church at Martley in Wor-
cester. It was while pursuing her painting studies at Bushey
that Miss Moore first began writing. A little story called
"Jack's Dance" was sent to Pearson's Weekly. It was accepted,
and more was asked for.
After finishing her training, the young artist went to visit
friends in South Africa, where she did miniature painting and
gathered material for future literary work. Upon her return
to England, six months later, she wrote a children's book, The
Happy League, which Wells, Gardner & Company published.
That was her first published book, and she tells us she was
proud of it. At this time Miss Moore belonged to an Essay
Club and wrote fanciful stories for it. These were well re-
ceived by the other club members, but they said in their criti-
cisms it was the only kind of work the author could do; so to
prove the contrary, she wrote a rather strong two-act play,
which they criticized very favorably, and suggested it would
make a good novel. The author was fired to try her hand at
that, wrote it as a novel, sent it to a publisher, and it was ac-
cepted in a fortnight. That was The Cloak of Convention, of
748 LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST-NOVELIST [Mar.,
which Miss Moore says she is not a bit proud, nor particularly
so of her next book, The Notch in the Stick. Then came Aunt
Olive in Bohemia; and Leslie Moore had now embarked on a
career as a writer of books.
Like many others who have contributed to our Catholic
literature, Miss Moore is a convert. "All my life," she tells us,
"from the time I was quite a small child, I have been instinc-
tively drawn to the Church, though knowing nothing of it."
Not, however, till September 30, 1913, was she received into the
Church by Father Best at the Brompton Oratory in London.
The Peacock Feather was written during the time she had
made up her mind fully to ask admission into the Church,
and is pervaded by a Catholic atmosphere. The story is
frankly romantic not the sheer romance of Stanley Weyman
nor of the authors of the popular Graustark and Zenda stories,
but more in the order of Monsieur Beaucaire: the mere men-
tion of Henry Harland's The Cardinal's Snuff Box will indi-
cate the class and its character. The Peacock Feather is the
story of a young man who, having successfully shielded a friend
in a case of forgery, endures imprisonment in his stead. Dis-
owned by his father and renounced by his fiancee, he takes to
the open road, with a penny whistle, a Chaucer, a peacock
feather in his cap, and the manuscript of a novel, which when
published wins for its author the praise of great critics, and
eventually the heart of a high-born lady. A death-bed con-
fession puts a stop to Peter's wanderings; and father and son
are reconciled. The elements of the story, it is true, are conven-
tional, but its telling is decidedly individual. It has the charm
and delicacy of fine spun gossamer, shot through with color
that seems to have been softened by age to the unobtrusive
but splendid richness which one sees in old tapestries. There
is a short passage which may be applied to it and its author:
It's in its style, its finish, its its texture that the charm
and beauty of it lie. . . It is a modern book, yet with all
the delicacy, the refinement, the porcelain-air of the old
school. For all that the scenes are laid mainly in the open,
and are, as I said, quite modern; it breathes an old-world
grace, a kind of powder-and-patches charm, which makes
one feel that the writer must have imbibed the finish, the
courtesy of the old school from his cradle, as if it must
have come to him as a birthright, an inheritance.
1921.] LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST-NOVELIST 749
A quaint mediaeval romance is Miss Moore's next book,
The Jester. Delightfully written though it is, the tale suffers
by comparison with the romance that preceded it. It is not
so well constructed as The Peacock Feather, and the allegor-
ical vein running through it is too marked to be generally
popular.
Next in order of publication is another thoroughly com-
panionable romance, The Wiser Folly. The same easy, re-
freshing and poetic style, the same rare and delicious humor,
light and joyous as a truant sunbeam, and the same graceful
fancy that gave charm to her previous books here reappear.
Again, the theme is an old one, but Miss Moore has succeeded
in dressing it in elegance for the delight of new audiences.
Delancey Castle in England, which "breathes the very essence
of romance and bygone forgotten days," is the centre about
which the story moves. At the time of the story, Lady Mary,
whom Father Maloney calls a "wonderful woman," is holding
the estate for her young grandson, when a descendant from an
older branch of the family appears and presents his claim.
With the influence that led the American claimant to forfeit
his right to the estate, the story proper is concerned, and
demonstrates Miss Moore's power of interesting a reader.
Situation follows situation with a quickness and naturalness
which do not suffer the interest to flag. One is in no great
doubt as to the termination, yet quite curious to know the suc-
cessive turns; and this, we take it, is a tribute to the skill of
the narrator.
Antony Gray Gardener follows The Wiser Folly. It
has a quiet, stingless humor, clever dialogue, deft love-
making, good characterization, lyrically poetic atmosphere
and delightful description of the English countryside. Quite
original is this tale of a remarkable heritage. A sudden whim
puts into the mind of Nicholas Danver the desire to see his last
will and testament in operation. With the assistance of a
friend, Doctor Hilary, he becomes officially dead, and his heir,
Antony Gray, is called to England from South Africa. The
conditions of the will are somewhat unusual: the heir must
live on the estate for a year as an under-gardener; he must
take the name of Michael Field, and neither directly or in-
directly must he acquaint anyone whomsoever with the fact
that it was a pseudonym; he would be paid one pound sterling
750 LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST -NOVELIST [Mar.,
per week and should use no income or capital of his own
during the said year, nor receive any help or money from
friends. Fulfillment of these conditions is made more difficult
for Antony Gray by the unexpected appearance in the neigh-
borhood of the woman he loves. Misunderstandings, of course,
arise, but at the crisis of affairs Nicholas Danver comes for-
ward from his retirement, and all ends happily with marriage
bells in prospect.
Someone has said that the very acme of art is so close to
nature that it sometimes is mistaken for no art at all. This
seems to be the case with The Desired Haven which, so far,
is Miss Moore's strongest and best work. 1 The absolute sim-
plicity of the story is so remarkable that its art may be missed
by some superficial and unobservant readers. Written some-
what in the style usually associated with Jane Austen, it
sparkles with humor and is rich in sympathy and tenderness.
The Desired Haven tells the story of Philippa Lester, and tells
it well. The author divides her story into three books: "The
Child," "The Girl," and "The Woman," showing a master hand
in the rare and difficult art of creating a character which grows
and develops under her pen. Philippa is a first-rate piece of
character-drawing, entirely different from the heroine we
usually meet in the contemporary novel; in her purity, deli-
cacy and refinement she takes us back to old-fashioned fiction.
She is a person of whose creation any novelist in the history
of fiction might be proud.
To enumerate Miss Moore's other successes in character
delineation would take too long, but mention must be made of
Peter Garden in The Peacock Feather, and Muriel Lancing,
"an inscrutable mixture of child, woman of the world, and
elfin;" of Trix and "Tibby" in Antony Gray Gardener; of
Rosamund in The Wiser Folly, and John Mortimer and Gorin
Elmore, "painter, poet, musician, theosophist and fortune-
teller; in short, dabbler in the arts and the occult sciences;"
and of Great Aunt Sarah Jane in The Desired Heaven, whom
one has only to know to love. The priest character, too, in each
of these novels is lovingly drawn, and the artistic glimpses
the writer gives of pastoral activities cannot but win outsiders
to recognize the Catholic claim to truth and beauty.
1 Her latest novel, The Greenway, has just been published by P. J. Kenedy &
Sons, New York City. $2.25.
1921.] , LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST-NOVELIST 751
Though sounded openly and resonantly, the Catholic note
in Miss Moore's novels never obtrudes; the beauty of Catholic
life unfettered by dispute, is shown in such a manner as to
strike a responsive chord in every heart. Delightful, indeed,
is the deftness with which the novelist introduces points of
Catholic doctrine. In The Peacock Feather, for example,
Peter finding himself in a cottage supposed to be haunted,
writes to a Catholic friend, whom he had heard speak of
Masses for souls in Purgatory, and asks for aid. After which
he becomes conscious of a change of atmosphere in the cot-
tage. "A repose, a peace, hitherto foreign seemed to have
descended upon it. ... Of course, it might have been pure
fancy, but Peter did not think it was." In the same book
confidence and perseverance in prayer are frequently hinted
at. Muriel Lancing, through whom the happy union of the
lovers is brought about, is a girl who prays. Father O'Sul-
livan's answer to her request for prayers is exceptionally good :
And it's a Mass with the intention of things coming right
you want me to say, when all the time you're feeling sure
they can't. . . . And if I'm going to say it that way myself,
what kind of faith do you think I'm going to have in it? . .
Faith, my child, is not asking God for bushels and setting
out a pint measure to catch them in. ...
Similarly in Antony Gray Gardener, Trix Devereaux, worry-
ing for the Duchessa, realizes that telling our dear Lord all
about it will be the best way to help her. Anne Sherstone, in
The Desired Haven, and Elizabeth Darcy, in The Wiser Folly,
can also flash forth with interesting Catholic doctrine. Par-
ticularly well done are Elizabeth's explanation to David of the
Hidden Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, and Anne's answer
to the suggestion that a priest's position is a remunerative one :
Have you any idea, I wonder, what the remuneration
is? Do you realize that the majority of priests have merely
the bare necessities of life? That in exchange of this bare
sustenance they give up everything that most men value
the sweet intimacy of home life for loneliness, their time
for themselves to the needs of others, their own will for
obedience to those set over them? A royal exchange from
the world's standpoint, isn't it?
752 LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST -NOVELIST [Mar.,
More marked than in any of her other novels is the Cath-
olic note in The Desired Haven. Philippa, from her childhood,
seems to be instinctively drawn to the Catholic Church. It all
began when, with her Great Aunt Sarah Jane and a Catholic
friend, Mrs. Tremayne, she visited a convent and was shown
the chapel by the Reverend Mother.
A strange force gripped Philippa's heart, an awe, a
wonder. What it was, what it meant Philippa did not
know; yet standing awestruck, something was urging her
to her knees. The Reverend Mother and Mrs. Tremayne
had both knelt momentarily. Could not, might not she?
Strange reasoning of a child's heart. It was their church,
it was not hers. She had no right to kneel. Great Aunt
Sarah Jane was stiff and upright. Awe in her heart also,
had Philippa but known it. What was it? What did it all
mean? Her eyes, dark, dilated, were fixed upon the altar.
She was trembling, and yet she was not frightened. A sob
rose in her throat. They were turning from the chapel.
Again Mrs. Tremayne and the Reverend Mother had knelt.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Tremayne. Great Aunt Sarah
Jane was ahead with the Reverend Mother.
"I I wanted to kneel down."
"Kneel then, my dear," she said.
And so for a moment Philippa knelt, her eyes towards
the altar. Again, what was it, and what did it all mean?
The call of that Voice which long years ago had said:
"Suffer the little children to come unto Me?" Who knows?
As time goes on, many incidents, which intensify her
interest in the Church, come into Philippa's life: conversa-
tions with her Uncle Timothy Standish, who at times wished he
had been born a Catholic; the discovery of The Dream of
Gerontius with subsequent explanations by Father O'Grady;
hours spent in the little gray Norman church at Yorkshire,
where she sometimes "pictured brown-robed monks sitting in
choir stalls, fancied she heard them chanting the Magnificat."
A strange half inarticulate regret would stir in her heart
that the old chants and praises no longer echoed among the
arches; a half inarticulate longing that the old faith
preached within the walls were still the faith of England.
The longing became one with the childish desire, still at
times finding an echo in her heart, that she had been born a
Catholic.
1921.] LESLIE MOORE: ARTIST-NOVELIST 753
Again as a mature woman, when oppressed by mental
anguish, she finds peace in the presence of the Blessed Sacra-
ment at the Beaufort Street Chapel. By the prayers of Anne
Sherstone and converse with Father Viner her difficulties
vanish, and Philippa is received into the Church. It may
interest the reader of The Desired Haven to know that the
mental aspect of Philippa is drawn absolutely from Miss
Moore's own life.
As would be naturally expected from an artist-novelist,
Miss Moore excels in description. Many beautiful atmospheric
vignettes show an eye trained to observe and a pen well skilled
to report the vision. These pictures show not merely an unerr-
ing selection of details, but the instinct for the specific word
the one word that is always better than its synonym; they are
the work of a practiced hand that knows the delicate secret of
not too much. Observe this charming faculty in the opening
lines of The Peacock Feather:
It was sunset.
The sea, which all day long had lain blue and sparkling,
was changing slowly to a warm gray shot with moving
purple and gold. The sky flamed crimson and amber. But
gradually the vivid warmth sank and faded; day slowly
withdrew into the soft embrace of night, and a blue-gray
mantle covered sea and sky and land. One by one the stars
shone forth till overhead the mantle was thickly powdered
with their twinkling eyes.
Away across the water the gleam from the lantern of a
lightship appeared at intervals, while every now and then
a stronger flash from a distant lighthouse lit up the dark-
ness. It flung its rays broadcast, across the water, across
the land, bringing into startling prominence a great mass
of buildings standing on the top of the cliffs.
In his essay "On Buying Books," John Ayscough shows
clearly the position of the Catholic novelist. "There is no
doubt," he observes, "that Catholic novelists would obtain far
larger audiences if they were content to write what may be
called non-Catholic novels; and the laborer in the field of
fiction is as worthy of his hire as any other worker. But they
are willing to forego larger hire that their work may be in a
special corner of the great field of letters. In other words, they
VOL. cxn. 48
754 THE SIX WOUNDS [Mar.,
are content with restricted payment of their toil in order that
they may help in the supply of a Catholic literature of fiction.
Nor is their self-denial merely in the matter of pecuniary re-
wards; every writer desires to have as many readers as pos-
sible, and most writers find that the wider their audience is,
the greater is the stimulus to good writing. A novelist labeled
in the public estimation as Catholic, must be content to know
that ninety-nine out of every hundred novel-readers in England
will abstain from putting his or her books upon their library-
list. It does seem, therefore, that Catholic novel-writers have
some right to complain if they find themselves also unsup-
ported, or very weakly supported, by Catholic novel-readers."
It is, then, the duty of every Catholic, according to his
capabilities and opportunities, to promote and encourage in
himself and in others the use of Catholic literature. This does
not mean that we should praise a book beyond what it de-
serves, merely because it is Catholic; that would be wrong and
absurd. But we should be ready to recognize merit, and not
wait until outsiders discover it for us. Too often Catholic
writers receive their best and widest appreciation from those
to whom their faith and ideals are most alien. Let this
not be said of Miss Leslie Moore. May the charm of her novels
find recognition among Catholics, and may they have the wide
reading their artistry deserves.
THE SIX WOUNDS.
BY FRANCIS CARLIN.
THE Clay of Christ, impassive now,
Still wears the wounds upon Its brow,
Within the hands and feet and side,
And Love's deep Wound of which He died.
Mystic souls on earth may see
The many scars, but only She
Whom Love with Love has crucified
May know the Wound of which He died.
THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK.
BY SEUMAS MACMANUS.
HE coming of Patrick to Ireland marks the great-
est of all Irish epochs. Of all most momentous
happenings in Irish history, this seemingly simple
one had the most extraordinary, most far-reach-
ing effect. It changed the face of the nation, and
utterly changed the nation's destiny. The coming of Patrick
may be said to have affected not Ireland alone, but the world.
Patrick first came to Ireland as a captive in the year
389 in the reign of Niall. It was forty-three years later, in
the year 432, the reign of Laoghaire, that he came upon the
mission which was so miraculously to change the Island's
destiny.
In the period of Patrick's coming the great Roman Empire
was crumbling, while Ireland with fleets on the sea and armies
in foreign lands, had reached the pinnacle of her political
power a time that would seem the least propitious for win-
ning men to the meek and abnegatory doctrines of Christ.
Yet was it, in His own mysterious way, God's chosen time for
sending His chosen man.
There is endless dispute as to where exactly was the birth-
place of Patrick, which, in his Confession, he appears to tell
us was in Bannaven of Taberniae. 1 Many authorities hold that
it was near Dumbarton, in the most northern Roman province
of Celtic Britain. Others hold that it was in the Celtic province
of Brittany in France. In his Confession are pieces of internal
evidence that sustain either theory. The fact that St. Martin
of Tours was his maternal uncle is one of the strong points in
favor of his Continental origin. His father, Calporn, held
municipal office in the Romanized town (of Britain or Brit-
tany) which was his native place was a Decurion, a kind of
magistrate, there. His mother Conchessa, was a niece of St.
Martin. He himself was christened Succat, signifying "clever
1 Though strictly speaking the only assurance to be found in that sentence
of the Confession is that he was there taken captive.
756 THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
j|
Wherever he was born, it seems to have been from Brit-
tany, from the home of his mother's parents, where he was
visiting, that at the age of sixteen he was taken captive, with
his two sisters, Darerca and Lupida. It was in a raid made
by the men who sailed on a fleet of King Niall, says Keating.
They were borne to Ireland, and his sisters said to have been
placed in Muirthomne (Louth) while he was sold to an Antrim
chieftain, named Miliuc, who set him herding his flocks in the
valley of the Braid, around the foot of the mountain, Sliabh
Mis. 2
His occupation as a herd upon a mountainside was
fine probation for the holy career that was to be Patrick's.
He confesses in his biography that in his wayward youth at
home, he had forgotten God, and from Him wandered into the
ways of sin. Alone with his herd upon Sliabh Mis during the
day and the night, the months and the seasons, his spiritual-
ity was reawakened. And God guided his feet to the path of
duty again. "I was always careful," he says, in the affecting
picture which he paints of the herdboy's wonderful days on
the mountains, "to lead my flocks to pasture, and have prayed
fervently. The love and fear of God more and more inflamed
my heart; my faith enlarged, my spirit augmented, so that I
said a hundred prayers by day and almost as many by night.
I arose before day in the snow, in the frost, and the rain, yet I
received no harm, nor was I affected with slothfulness. For
then the spirit of God was warm within me."
Thus he spent seven years in human slavery, working out
with God his spiritual freedom. And his human freedom
followed. In a dream that came to him he was told to travel
to the seashore at a certain place two hundred miles distant,
where he would find a ship on which he would make his escape.
He found the ship, and was taken on board after first getting
a refusal and being turned away by the captain and in the
seventh year of his captivity he sailed away from Ireland.
And, be it noted, that the Irish land he had entered as a
foreigner, he now left as an Irishman. For, as he was des-
tined to give a new faith and new soul to Ireland, Ireland had
given a new faith and new soul to him. In his seven years'
slavery, the Irish tongue had become his tongue, and his spirit
8 One of his biographers, Frebus, says that it was into the country of Tirawley,
in Mayo, that Patrick was sold and on the mountain of Croagh Patrick herded his
flocks.
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 757
was the Irish spirit, which at that impressionable age he had
imbibed. So, to make him truly one of the people to whom
he was to carry God's word, God had wisely permitted his slave
service among them during the very six or seven years in which
men's characters are stamped with the qualities of those
amongst whom they move.
A three days' voyage brought Patrick to the land from
which he had been carried captive after which a trying and
distressing journey of twenty-eight days through deserts and
wilds, brought him to his home, where the lost one was wel-
comed with great rejoicing. Yet, though his people resolved
never to let him from their sight again, and though it glad-
dened him to be with his kin, his heart could find no peace
for thinking of the country and the people that had grown
into his soul, and had become his. There were centred the
thoughts of the day, the dreams of the night.
At length he had a vivid night vision: "And there I saw
a vision during the night, a man coming from the west; his
name was Victoricus, and had with him many letters; he gave
me one to read, and in the beginning of it was a voice from
Ireland. I then thought it to be the voice of the inhabitants of
Focluit wood, adjoining the western sea; they appeared to cry
out in one voice, saying: 'Come to us, O holy youth, and walk
among us.' With this I was feelingly touched, and could read
no longer: I then awoke."
After this, he could not rest inactive. He must prepare
himself for the task of carrying the Gospel of Christ to the
people of his heart. And despite the tears and entreaties of
his relatives, he bade good-bye to them and home, and traveled
away to study for the ministry.
A tantalizing vagueness settled over the history of his
Continental travels in search of learning and ordination. And
very many conflicting accounts of his travels and studies are
given. In 396 he is said to have entered the monastery of
Marmoutiers near Tours, a foundation of his uncle, St. Martin.
Here he remained till Martin's death, which occurred, some
say in 397, some in 402. And here St. Martin gave him the
monastic habit and the clerical tonsure. Some (doubtful) ac-
counts show him studying next (in 403) with the students of
St. John of Lateran in Rome. He visited and sojourned in many
holy places, and studied under many holy men in monas-
758 THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
jp
teries and in hermitages, in Italy and in Mediterranean islands.
He is said to have spent many years in a monastery on the Isle
of Lerins, under St. Honoratus and St. Maximus. Afterward,
many years seem to have been spent at Auxerre under St.
Germanus, the Bishop, a man of great culture as well as piety.
In the year 430 St. Patrick turned up at Auxerre again,
his age being now thirty-eight. He had long sought to be com-
missioned to Ireland. At this time again, backed by the in-
fluence of Germanus, he preferred his request to Rome but
was refused because Palladius had then been sent. When
finally came the news of the failure and of the death of Pal-
ladius, Patrick journeyed to Rome, to Pope Celestine, carry-
ing with him a letter from Germanus. Gelestine now granted
his request, and consecrated him Archbishop 3 for the Irish
mission. Also twenty priests and deacons were ordained to
be his companions in the undertaking.
Gelestine also conferred upon him his new name, the title
of Patricius an ancient name or title of the highest honor
among the Romans.
Then the desire of his life being crowned, he, at the age
of sixty, with buoyant soul and gladdened heart, amid his re-
joicing company, set forward from Rome upon his momentous
mission. On his way he stopped with Germanus, who pre-
sented him with vestments, chalices, and books, and gave him
advice and blessing.
He reached Ireland in 432 in the fourth year of the reign
of Laoghaire, son of Niall, High-King. He is said to have
first landed near Vartry in the County Wicklow at about the
same place at which Palladius, before him, had arrived. 4
There he preached and baptized and, like Palladius, was
driven out. He sailed northward, and into Strangford Loch
in Down, where landing, he was again attacked. Dichu, a
chieftain of the Dal Fiatachs, taking Patrick and his company
to be a band of Rritish pirates, descended upon them. Rut
Dichu was so struck with respect and veneration when Patrick
3 This may be but the guess of a biographer. Some accounts say that en route
to Ireland, a Gaulist bishop, Amator, consecrated him bishop. Germanus, also, is
credited with having consecrated him, and changed his name from Succat to
Magonius.
4 As Palladius was also named Patrick, several of the lifetime events of the
two Patricks seem to have got confused. It is quite possible, even probable, this
accounts for the supposed first landing of our Patrick in Wicklow, and his preach-
ing there.
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 759
faced him that he lowered his arms, hearkened to the words
of the apostle, and finally, with his family, was baptized.
Patrick afterwards built a church on this spot, commemorat-
ing his first conversion in the North. The place has since
been called Sabhall Padraic or corruptly, Saul.
But Patrick craved to bring to Christ his old master,
Miliuc. Forth then he fared toward the country of his cap-
tivity, and the house of his master. But Miliuc is said to have
grown furious when intelligence was brought him that Succat,
his former slave, was journeying thence, bent on converting
him to a new faith and that the new faith's appeal, voiced by
Succat, no man could resist. Rather than submit the deter-
mined old pagan set fire to his house, and immolated himself
in the flames.
When Patrick arrived and found what had happened,
and that his old master had removed himself from the reach
of Christ, he is said to have shed floods of tears. He wended
his way back to the territory of Lecale where he had first
landed, and there did successful missionary work, converting
and baptizing Dichu's people. And having ordained priests
for them, he sailed again southward, and landed at the mouth
of the Boyne with intention of proceeding to the court of the
High-King, Laoghaire, at Tara. He left his nephew, Luman,
with some sailors in charge, in the boat, while he traveled
inland toward royal Court.
On his journey to Tara he won the love and the faith of a
little lad Benin who was destined to shine as the brightest and
greatest of his disciples. This sweet-voiced boy became Patrick's
psalmist. Later, in Armagh, he became Patrick's coadjutor.
And, finally, he heired and worthily filled Patrick's primatial
chair in Armagh, and headed the School of Armagh, as well as
ruled the Church. And to the learned Benin (Benignus) is
now attributed, by many scholars, the authorship of the great
and valuable ancient Irish book, The Book of Rights. 5
On the eve of Easter, Patrick's party encamped at Slaine,
on the left bank of the Boyne, opposite to and in sight of Tara,
and Patrick lighted in front of his tent, a fire which was visible
at the king's court. It was a gross violation of royal and
ancient order that on this eve any fire should be lighted before
5 Others hold that Benin only re-wrote and revised this important work, which,
they say, was compiled by Cormac MacArt, two hundred years earlier.
760 - THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
the court Druids should light their sacred fire upon the royal
Rath. Accordingly, when Laoghaire's astounded court beheld
in the distance the blazing of Patrick's fire before the Druid
fire had yet been lit, great was their consternation and high
and hot their wrath.
"What audacious miscreant," demanded the king, "has
dared to do this outrage?" The Druids answered him that it
was indeed the Tailcenn of the old prophecy, come to super-
sede his rule, and their rule, in Erinn. "Moreover," they said,
"unless the fire on yonder hill be extinguished this very night,
it shall never more be extinguished in Erinn. It will outshine
all fires that we light, and he who lit it will conquer us all: he
will overthrow you, and his kingdom overthrow your king-
dom: he will make your subjects his, and rule over them all
forever."
Then King Laoghaire, a splendidly determined old pagan,
of like nature with Miliuc, angrily demanded that the trans-
gressor should be dragged before him, with all the other for-
eign intruders who were supporting him. Patrick's camp was
raided by Laoghaire's soldiers, and he and his companions
ordered to march to Tara.
An old tradition has it that, as, on Easter morning, the
missionaries proceeded in processional order, toward the
king's court, they chanted the sacred Lorica, called the Faed
Fiada, or Deer's Cry, specially composed by Patrick for their
protection. It is said that as the minions of the Druids lay in
ambush to intercept and kill them, they saw not Patrick and
his companions pass, but only a harmless herd of gentle deer,
a doe followed by her twenty fawns. Hence the hymn's title,
the Faed Fiada the Deer's Cry. And through all the cen-
turies since, the Faed Fiada which many old authorities pro-
nounce to be Patrick's own work, and the first hymn written
in Gaelic has been used by the Irish race as a lorica for
protection :
I bind me today,
God's might to direct me,
God's power to protect me,
God's wisdom for learning,
God's eye for discerning,
God's ear for my hearing,
God's word for my clearing.
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 761
God's hand for my cover,
God's path to pass over,
God's buckler to guard me,
God's army to ward me,
Against snares of the devil,
Against vice's temptation,
Against wrong's inclination,
Against men who plot evil,
Anear or afar, with many or few.
Christ near,
Christ here,
Christ be with me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ be o'er me,
Christ before me.
Christ in the left and the right,
Christ hither and thither,
Christ in the sight,
Of each eye that shall seek me,
In each ear that shall hear,
In each mouth that shall speak me
Christ not the less
In each heart I address.
I bind me today on the Triune I call,
With faith in the Trinity Unity God over all. 6
And having been carried safe by the Lord through the
ambushes prepared for them, Patrick led his host into the
king's presence, chanting : "Let them that will, trust in chariots
and horses, but we walk in the name of the Lord."
In the presence of king and court, Patrick was first con-
fronted with the Druids, who, it was hoped, would quickly
confound him. But matching his miracles against their magic,
he showed to all that his powers far transcended theirs. He
dispelled a darkness, which they, by their magical powers,
had produced, but were powerless to dissipate. "They can
bring darkness," he significantly said, "but cannot bring
light." He preached Christ to the assembly, and won to his
Master the queen and several prominent members of the court.
This, Dr. Sigerson's rendering of the hymn, is in the same measure, metre, and
rhythm of the original.
762 , THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
And, though Laoghaire's pagan faith was unshaken, he was so
far won by the man Patrick that he gave him the freedom of
his realm to preach the new faith where and to whom he
would. 7
Patrick's next great preaching was to the vast assembly
of the men of Erinn, who had gathered at the Fair of Taillte.
Though at these national fairs the multitude always antici-
pated hearing and seeing many wonderful things scholars,
historians and poets of their own nation addressing them,
sometimes scholars and travelers from far countries, as well
as, always, foreign merchants bringing rare merchandise
the Fair of Taillte at the Lammas of 432 furnished to the ex-
pectant multitude a rare sensation. When they beheld the
procession of foreign clerics, all clad in strange garments, and
headed by a beautiful and venerable man, arrive chanting
strange new chants, there surely was startling commotion.
Astonishing must have been the crush, and vast the crowd, of
the tens and hundreds of thousands of fair-goers who now
pushed and pressed to get nearer sight of this wonderful pro-
cession of chanting strangers to learn who they were and
whence, and what was their object in Erinn.
And when the venerable leader addressed the seething
crowds, telling them that he was the ambassador of the
King of the world's kings, describing to them his King's king-
dom, telling them of the infinite love of his King for all of
them, of His sending His own Son as His messenger to man-
kind, of the beauty and goodness, meekness, and loveableness
of that Son, and then of His sufferings, His torture and death,
at the hands of those whom he came to invite to the enjoyment
of His Father's kingdom how the bearded warrior throngs,
and even the eager youths there, must have been impressed,
inspired, fired, and melted; how the wild ones must have felt
themselves tamed; and the haughty humbled; and the scornful
sweetened; and the strenuous soothed; as eventually the
mightily moved multitude including a Prince, Conal, son of
7 Laoghaire died a pagan killed by lightning. The Lcinstcrmeii had defeated
him in the battle of Athgara, and taken him prisoner, at a time when he had gone
to demand from them the Boru Tribute. They compelled him to take oath, by the
sun, moon and stars, that he would never again demand the tribute. But he broke
his oath and went against them once more. Then heaven's lightning, it is said,
visited vengeance on him for the breaking of the oath. He was buried in one of the
old pagan fashions in standing attitude, fully accoutered. and facing Leinster and
his enemies.
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 763
Niall, whose heart was there reached by the grace of God-
bowed for the Tailcenn's blessings.
The next year was spent preaching throughout Meath and
Leinster. He went into the province of Gonnaught in 434. On
his way he visited the Plain of Magh Slecht, where stood the
great idol, Crom Gruach, before which, in the ancient time,
Tighernmas and his worshipping thousands had been slain
by Heaven and threw down this idol, along with the twelve
others that stood around it. He met and converted King
Laoghaire's two beautiful daughters, Ethni the Fair and
Fedelm the Ruddy, who were at the Gonnaught Palace of
Gruachan, under the tuition of the two Druids, Mai and Cop-
lait.
On top of the mountain of Croagh Patrick in Gonnaught,
he spent the forty days of Lent, watching and fasting and pray-
ing. And the tradition goes as recorded by the monk, Jocelin,
that it was from this mountain top he commanded all the
serpents and venomous things in Ireland, driving them into the
ocean, and ridding Ireland of all viperous things forever. 8 The
Saint at length reached the Wood of Focluit, dear to his
memory reached it at the time of a great assemblage of
people, and there preaching to those children of Focluit Wood,
whose cries he had heard in his dream, he converted, it is told,
the seven sons of the Chieftain, Prince Amalgaid, and twelve
thousand people.
In 441, after seven years in Gonnaught, he proceeded by
the narrow way between Benbulbin and the sea, into Ulster,
where he spent four years traveling, preaching, baptizing and
church-building. After that he preached through Leinster
on the way to which, the Dubliners, it is said, came out in
crowds to meet him. And then on through Munster. At royal
Gashel in Munster, he converted the King, Aongus. Twelve
sons and twelve daughters of the heroic Aongus were conse-
crated to God. Aongus ordered that henceforth a capitation
tax from his people should be paid to St. Patrick and to his
successors in Armagh. It was paid every third year by the
kings of Munster, down to the time of Gormac MacGullanan in
the tenth century.
Patrick convened a Synod at Gashel, where he met his
8 Some centuries before, Solinus, the Roman writer, recorded that there were
no snakes in Ireland which belies the honored tradition. The tradition, however,
persists, and will always persist in the popular belief.
764 THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
southern rivals, SS. Ailbe, Declan, Giaran and Ibar, and
after much argument got their obedience. Ibar was the most
obstinate, and last to yield. For he was unwilling, says an ac-
count, that any one but a native of Ireland should be acknowl-
edged the ecclesiastical patron of the country. After complet-
ing his work in Munster the Saint returned north again
through Leinster into Ulster, where he was to spend six years
more, visiting the churches, organizing congregations, and or-
daining priests.
He then founded Armagh where was to be his See. The
Hill of Armagh on which he founded his Archiepiscopal city
was given him by Daire, the chief of that district. Here he
built the Archiepiscopal residence, the church, the monastery,
and the school. He made it the primatial city of the island.
But, through the work and the fame of the great schools which
were to develop there, it was to become within a few cen-
turies to quote words of a great Continental scholar (Dar-
mesteter) "not only the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, but
the capital of civilization." His favorite disciple, Benignus
(Benin), the herdboy, he put into his See of Armagh, to ad-
minister it for him, while he spent these years of his old age
for the most part in tranquillity, sometimes in Armagh and
sometimes in his first church of Sab all.
In all likelihood it was during these tranquil years when
now his hardest work was over, that Patrick directed the
compilation of the laws known as the Senchus Mor. He got
the lawgivers to lay before him all the old laws, and, to codify
and purge them, called into council upon them three kings,
three bishops, three Ollams, and they got a poet "to throw a
thread of poetry around them." Now also, probably, he wrote
his famous Confession, and possibly also during this period his
second most famous work, his Epistle to Coroticus works
which after fourteen hundred years, still live and will live. 9
They were written in the rather poor Latin of which Patrick
was master, the provincial Latin of the Roman provinces. For,
as he humbly stated again and again, he was not of the very
learned, and he was profusely apologetic for his temerity in
writing what would be read and criticized by the really learned
ones, his contemporaries.
These, his works, were preserved in the ancient Book of Armagh, Into which
they were copied by the scribe, Ferdomnach, about the year 810 there, too, copied,
as Ferdomnach states from the manuscript in Patrick's own handwriting.
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 765
"I, Patrick, the sinner, unlearned, no doubt," he humbly
begins his Coroticus Epistle to Coroticus, a British prince,
who, making a raid into Ireland, slaughtered many there, and
carried off with him many captives among them some of
Patrick's newly baptized children of the Church. "With mine
own hand," he says, "have I written and composed these words,
to be given and handed to, and sent to, the soldiers of Coro-
ticus." "On the day following that on which the newly bap-
tized, in white array, were anointed with the chrism, it was
still gleaming on their foreheads, while they were cruelly
butchered and slaughtered with the sword."
In this intense document Patrick first gives utterance to
that cry against British oppression which the agonizing heart
of Ireland has echoed every year, of the past seven hundred
and fifty years: "Is it a crime," he cries out, "to be born in
Ireland? Have not we the same God as ye have?" He boldly
demands return of the captives, and mercilessly castigates the
tyrant who sacrilegiously carried them off.
But, of course, Patrick's magnum opus, which will live
forever, is his Confession. To others, fathers of the Faith, he
had been calumniated. One whom he had held to be a dear
friend turned disloyal to him and endeavored to injure him in
the eyes of these, his brethren. The Confession was written
for the purpose of defending himself against the false charges.
Timidly, and with characteristic humility, but still with a
great calm, he opens this famous document:
"I, Patrick, a sinner, the most rustic and the least of all the
faithful, and in the estimation of very many deemed contemp-
tible, at the time I was barely sixteen years of age, I knew
not the true God; and I was led to Ireland in captivity with
many thousand persons according to our deserts, for we turned
away from God and kept not His commandments. . . . And
there the Lord opened the understanding of my unbelief so
that at length I might recall to mind my sins and be converted
with all my heart to the Lord, my God, Who hath regarded my
humility and taken pity on my youth and my ignorance, and
kept watch over me before I knew Him, and before I had dis-
cretion, and could distinguish between good and evil;
and He protected me and consoled me as a father does his
son."
The part of the Confession which many authorities adduce
766 'THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
as testimony that Patrick, with his moderate learning, found
himself in Ireland among very learned ones and great critics,
is this:
"For this reason I have long been thinking of writing,
but up to the present I hesitated; for I feared lest I should
transgress against the tongue of men, seeing that I am not
learned like others, who in the best style therefore have drunk
in both laws and sacred letters in equal perfection; and who
from their infancy never changed their mother tongue; but
were rather making it always more perfect.
"My speech, however, and my style were changed into the
tongue of the stranger, as can easily be perceived in the flavor
of my writings how I am trained and instructed in languages,
for as the wise man saith : 'By the tongue wisdom will be dis-
cerned and understanding, and knowledge, and learning of
the truth.' "
Out of some later sentence in the Confession is taken
apparent substantiation of Britain's claim on his nativity
where he says :
"Wherefore, however, I might have been willing to leave
them, and go into the Brittaniae, as to my country and relatives,
and not only so, but also to the Galliae, to visit my brethren."
And : "Again after a few years I was in the Brittaniae with my
parents."
This evidence, while colorable, is far from being positive,
in favor of his British birth. For one thing, Brittany may well
have been called one of the Brittaniae which it was: and in
the next place, even if he referred to Britain proper, it does not
follow that because his family, of which the father was a
Roman official, was then in that particular province of the
Roman Empire, he and his had been there at the time of
Patrick's birth.
The Confession testifies to idol worship in Ireland, where
it says: "Whence Ireland, which never had the knowledge of
God, but up to the present always adored idols and things
unclean how are they now made a people of the Lord, and
are called the children of God? The sons of the Scots and the
daughters of their chieftains are seen to become monks and
virgins of Christ."
We hear again his humility and also a hint of the accu-
sations made against him in the following extracts:
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 767
"And behind my back they were talking among themselves
and kept saying: 'Why does he expose himself to danger
amongst enemies who know not God?' Not for malice sake,
but because they did not approve it, as I myself can testify,
and understand, on account of my rusticity. . . . But though I
be rude in all things, still I have tried to some extent to keep
watch over myself. ... Or when the Lord ordained clergy
everywhere by my mediocrity, and I gave them my ministra-
tions gratis, did I ask from any of them so much as the
price of a sandal. Tell it against me and I shall restore you
more.
". . . I, poor and wretched, even should I wish for wealth, I
have it not, nor do I judge myself, for daily I expect either a
violent death or slavery, or the occurrence of some such ca-
lamity. But I fear none of these things on account of the
promises of Heaven! I have cast myself into the hands of the
Almighty God, for He rules everything. As the prophet say-
eth: 'Cast thy cares upon the Lord, and He Himself will sus-
tain them.' . . . Lo, again and again, I shall in brief set out
the words of my Confession. I testify in truth and in the joy
of my heart before God and His holy angels that I never had
any motive except the Gospel and its promises in ever return-
ing to that nation from which I had previously with difficulty
made my escape."
And the final paragraph of the great Confession from
which these few excerpts are taken:
"But I pray those who believe and fear God, whosoever
will have deigned to look on this writing which Patrick, the
sinner and unlearned, no doubt, wrote in Ireland, that no one
shall ever say it was my ignorance (did it), that I have done
God's will; but think ye, and let it be most firmly believed that
it was the gift of God. And this is my Confession before
I die."
This powerfully appealing, and magnificently simple,
document breathes in its every line the rare fragrance of a
great and sincere, meek, and beautiful heart, reverently bowed
down in the palpable presence of God. The faultiness of the
language in which it was originally written fails to mar this
precious piece of the old world's literature. Patrick's Confes-
sion is a great picture of a great soul, painted by one who,
768 , THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
scorning to give art one thought, was a great natural
artist. 10
After a full life, rich with great labors greatly done, and
by Christ crowned with success, thrice blessed by seeing the
fruit ripen from the seed he sowed, Patrick passed away, at
Down, in about the year 460 leaving behind him a grief-
stricken people who had made this man one of their own, and
learned to love him almost to the point of worship. The twelve
days of his wake are known as Laithi na Caointe, the Days of
Lamentation, when a whole nation whom he had brought to
Christ, bewailed the most mournful loss a nation had ever
known.
Thus passed away one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest,
that Ireland ever knew, or ever will know still more, one of
the dominant personalities of world history, whose influence
will end only with the final running out of the sands of Time.
What Confucius was to the Oriental, Moses to the Israelite,
Mohammed to the Arab, Patrick was to the Gaelic race. And
the name and the power of those other great ones will not out-
live the name and the power of our apostle.
One of the secrets of the wonderful power he has wielded
over the Irish, and one of the secrets of his world-popularity
was the rare combination in him of the spiritual with the
human. Among saints, Patrick is eminently saintly, and very,
very human among human beings. His shining virtues make
him kin of the angels, while his human frailities Celtic frail-
"Another work of Patrick's which is lost, is referred to by his biographer,
Tirechan, under the title of Commemmoratio Laborum.
In the noted work, The Book of Rights, ascribed to his disciple, Benignus, is
found the Blessing of St. Patrick, which some think is one of Patrick's poems:
"The Blessing of God upon you all,
Men of Erin, sons, women,
And daughters; prince-blessing,
Meal-blessing, blessing of long-life,
Health blessing, blessing of excellence,
Eternal-blessing, heaven blessing,
Cloud-blessing, sea-blessing,
Fruit-blessing, land blessing,
Crop-blessing, dew-blessing,
Blessing of elements, blessing of valor,
Blessing of dexterity, blessing of glory,
Blessing of deeds, blessing of honor,
Blessing of happiness be upon you all,
Laics, clerics, while I command
The blessing of the men of Heaven;
It is my bequest, as it is a Perpetual Blessing."
1921.] THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK 769
ities his passionateness, his impetuosity, his torrential anger
against tyrants, his teeming fierceness against sinners in high
place, his biting scathe and burning scorn, made men feel that
he was a brother to all men especially to all Irishmen. More
surely did these qualities win the Irish Celt when they found
in him combined the terror of a warrior with the tenderness
of a woman; the ferocity of a tiger, with the gentleness of a
lamb. The same Patrick who had tenderly lifted on his
shoulders and carried to safety the fawn of Armagh Hill, later
thundered denunciations at the plundering, murdering Coro-
ticus and his men "fellow-citizens of demons," "slaves of
hell," "dead while they live," "patricides, fratricides, ravening
wolves, eating up the people of the Lord-like breadstuff s !" It
was only a man of such terrible passion, and such ineffable
tenderness who could have gained, as quickly as Patrick did,
complete moral ascendancy over the Irish nation so amaz-
ingly compelling their allegiance, obedience, faith, belief, and
trust, as in one generation to work that wondrous change
which called forth the testimony by the old poet (put into the
mouth of the returned Caoilte) : "There was a demon at the
butt of every grass-blade in Erinn, before thy advent; but at
the butt of every grass-blade in Erinn today there is an Angel."
And that Caoilte's figure of speech finds its justification
in the historical records of those days we shall admit, when
we contrast the two widely differing natures of the Irish people,
who, before Patrick, were carrying the ruthless law of the sword
far over sea and land, and that very different Irish people,
who, after Patrick, left the conquering sword to be eaten by rust
while they went far and wide again over sea and land, bear-
ing now to the nations both neighboring and far off the
healing balm of Christ's gentle words.
An unquenchable burning desire for bringing souls to
Christ was the passion of Patrick's life. And he pursued his
passion with an unremitting perseverance, with a greatness of
mind and a grandeur of soul that has infrequently been par-
alleled in missionary annals, and seldom surpassed.
And this singularly great man was, as we have seen,
steeped in humility: "I was a stone, sunk in the mire till He
Who is powerful came, and in His mercy raised me up."
It is of interest to note that the traditions of Patrick which
linger down the ages represent him not merely as a saint,
VOL. cxn. 49
770 . THE CAREER OF ST. PATRICK [Mar.,
lawgiver, statesman, and a brother of the common people,
but ever, also, as an admirer of the literary men, scholars, and
poets of the nation, and an ardent lover of their profane
literature.
In recent times several ingenious people have demon-
strated apparently to their own complete satisfaction that
Patrick was a Protestant, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, a Bap-
tist a Jew even almost everything except what he was and
that he founded in Ireland an independent church which they
call the Celtic Church. These absurd contentions are set at
rest if they needed setting at rest by the Canon of St.
Patrick, preserved in the old Book of Armagh which was fin-
ished by the scribe Ferdomnach in 807 a Canon which, those
very learned Protestant Irish scholars, Usher and Whitley
Stokes, accept as proof of his Roman authority and affiliation. 11
"Moreover, if any case should arise of extreme difficulty, and
beyond the knowledge of all the judges of the nations of the
Scots, it is to be duly referred to the chair of the Archbishop
of the Gaedhil, that is to say, of Patrick, and the jurisdiction of
this bishop (of Armagh). But if such a case as aforesaid, of
a matter at issue, cannot be easily disposed of (by him), with
his counselors in that (investigation) we have decreed that it
be sent to the apostolic seat, that is to say, to the chair of the
Apostle Peter, having the authority of the city of Rome.
"These are the persons who decreed concerning this mat-
ter, viz. : Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus and Benignus. But after
the death of St. Patrick his disciples carefully wrote out his
books."
11 Even if, by straining of the imagination, we should svippose this document
to be forged by Ferdomnach without any conceivable reason for forging it then
it shows that, at the time Ferdomnach wrote it, the See of Armagh, the centre of
the Church in Ireland, was subordinate to the Pontiff.
Again within the century after Patrick, we find the great Columbanus, when
submitting to Pope Gregory the question of his dispute with the Gaulist ecclesiastics,
saying: "We Irish . . . are bound to the Chair of Peter."
MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY.
BY MARY FOSTER.
HE high road led straight up from the sea through
the fertile valley which climbed up into the moor-
land and was transformed into black, rocky
country where the stern mountains crept close to
each other above the narrowing road. Here, a
rough track led up into the hills, and wound round precipitous
rocks from which the fertile valley below and the distant blue
sea were hidden.
Looking ahead, it seemed as though the pathway must end
abruptly against a wall of rock, but it slipped through unex-
pected turnings, winding upward and onward until, round a
sudden bend, the Silent Valley was disclosed to view.
The valley well named Silent.
It was a wide space, sheltered on all sides by the great
rugged mountains with their barren sides and beautiful curved
outlines, smooth and rugged, pointed and undulating. No bird
sang, no human voice rose on the air. Only the plaintive
bleating of the mountain sheep broke the stillness; and from
far below the listening ear could detect the murmur of the
river, which had hollowed itself out a deep bed. Not a tree
grew, no vegetation flourished save the rough mountain grass
upon which the sheep grazed, and the glorious heather and
aromatic bog-myrtle.
Mystery brooded about the Valley, it had a haunted air in
utter abandonment and silence, in the midst of the quiet giant
mountains, who surely kept many of earth's secrets in their
impenetrable bosoms.
Yet one would grow to love the place, beautiful in its
wild solitude, changeful in its very changelessness. Through
the hidden windings of the Valley, the mist noiselessly floated
in, covering everything with a damp, snowy pall; or it lay
lightly upon the mountain tops, letting the sunlight play in
the Valley beneath.
At other times, it came flying in from the sea, leaving
the heights in the sunlight and enveloping the Valley in its
772 ' MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
treacherous white haze, lying about for days, perhaps, until
the west wind drew it out to sea again, or a storm from the
north howlingly dispersed it to the four quarters of the earth.
Shadows fell fleetingly upon the mountains, and the sun
lingered lovingly upon the heather, regretting, no doubt, that
his daily visit to the guarded Valley was so brief.
Tucked in a corner of Slieve Bronach, and sheltered by it
from the harsh north wind, stood a tiny cottage. It seemed
part of its barren surroundings, so gray were its rough walls.
The small potato patch which lay in front of the cabin just
lent a faint touch of brighter green to the bareness, but the
brown tilled earth of the little square of oats was indistin-
guishable from the heather and the turf.
Slieve Bronach had taken the humble home under his
care, and he frowned across at Slieve Gillian, which rose
abruptly near by.
Between the two peaks, and close to the cottage, there
lay a mountain tarn of unfathomable depth Lough Shawm,
around whose shores hung countless legends. A curiously
white gravel strand surrounded the water, which was brackish
and undrinkable, but a limpid little stream trickled down
Slieve Bronach's rugged side and lost itself in the tarn, its
gurgling murmur hushed suddenly in the lake's deep silence,
and its bubbling flow swallowed silently in the black waters of
Lough Shawm.
The little cottage got all the sunshine of the short days,
but no rays played upon the black surface of Lough Shawm.
It was ever in shadow, for Slieve Gillian's lofty shoulder
jealously screened its waters from the light. Thus they were
gloomy and black, and intensely cold.
John Rooney had lived in the Valley all his life, and loved
it dearly. He cared for the sheep, year in and year out the
great flocks that grazed all over the mountains, and he knew
each sheep as well as he knew every sheep track about for
miles. He had taken his wife from the great bog over the
other side of Slieve Bronach, and as she, too, was a child of
the mountains, she would not have been happy save in their
midst.
And her children had known no other home. Her boys
were grown up, and had ceased their irregular attendance at
the queer little mountain school which lay a couple of miles
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 773
beyond where Slieve Ronan raised its rocky summit on the
other side of the great torrent. And Maragh, her one girl,
would soon be a woman.
She was a lovely child, with curling hair, brown, save
where the sun had kissed it and made it gold. Her Irish gray
eyes looked out of a round, dainty face which was tanned to a
healthy red brown, and she moved with the artless grace of
one who has always been clothed with freedom. The short,
dark skirt she wore showed bare feet which had never known
shoes, and a three cornered shawl did duty for both coat and
hat. Her life had been spent in the Silent Valley, under the
watchful mountains. She had never been away from their
guardianship.
Across Slieve Ronan's shoulder, she trudged weekly with
her parents to the chapel on Knock Garvagh's breast, near
which stood the school she had attended fitfully with her
brothers. Simple mountain folk from the neighboring valleys
heard their Sunday Mass at Garvagh Chapel, and welcomed
the priest from the fruitful valley far, far away, whence he
came to spend a few hours weekly with his mountain flock.
From the chapel door one had ? bird's eye view of the
valley, which led to the sea. Maragh would stand and gaze at
it after Mass, at the green countryside between the mountains
where it broadened out to the far away sea. She could just
see the great high road which lay like a thread through the
cultivated land, and she gazed with interested wonder at the
little white dots which denoted the dwellings of those whom
she had never seen. Rich farmers, her father had told her
with some contempt in his voice, not mountain folk like them-
selves. They traded with the "town" on the seashore, they even
sent their cattle and grain across the seas to other countries.
There was much "stirrin' " about those parts, John Rooney
would add he, who had once or twice been down the long,
high road to the "town," where lived the priest, and where all
the farmers met on fair days.
But Rooney could not see that it was better there than
here in the Silent Valley where one seemed to live so very
close to God.
Maragh loved to follow her father when he went after the
sheep across the mountains. As a tiny child she had pattered
beside him, hanging on to one of the wise sheep dogs, Laddie
774 .MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
or Lassie, when her sturdy little legs grew weary. She learned
to know the sheep as her father did, she learned to give orders
to the dogs as he did and to utter the weird mountain call
which carried far further than a whistle in the silence of the
Valley.
She loved to go to the lough, too, and gaze at her own re-
flection in its black, sullen waters; and to wonder and wonder
what mystery lay under their surface. But most of all, she
loved to run through the heather and bog-myrtle down to
where the river flowed in the bottom of the Valley. Here they
gathered the turf for their fire, and here Michael Lavery, who
lived round Slieve Ronan's side in the valley of the Carrick-
cruse, drove his donkey to cut the turf.
She had always loved Michael, and had run to him when-
ever he had appeared with his long spade, and he took her in
his arms and set her upon his old gray donkey between the
turf baskets. There she sat as happily as a queen. At first, the
donkey had seemed a giant, and her perch upon his back
perilously high, and she felt brave sitting there. Then, as she
grew taller, it seemed as if the beast grew smaller, until
Maragh's pretty head had to bend to kiss the rough gray nose.
Then she grew too big to sit on his back at all, so she squatted
upon a tussock of heather, and talked to Michael or helped him
to load the baskets.
Then her feeling for him changed as she grew older, and
love for the handsome son of the mountains, who looked at
her so steadfastly and so lovingly, stole into her heart. A shy-
ness came over her, and the happy, familiar intercourse was
at an end. Maragh took her walks elsewhere, and the meet-
ings were fewer. When Michael came to pay a visit to the
Rooney's cottage, Maragh was always out.
Her feet began to turn in another direction. They sought
the track which wound through the mountains, until, with a
sharp bend, it faced the wide cultivated valley and descended
steeply and tortuously io the distant threadlike road.
Maragh never went farther than this corner. She never
attempted to set foot upon the steep descent, but from her
lofty perch she would gaze and gaze at what she thought was
the great world lying at her feet. Surely this must be the whole
of God's great earth that she saw before her, so wide and smil-
ing, so sunny a valley, so many homesteads dotted about. It
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 775
looked so fair and so lovely. Long after the sun had left the
Silent Valley, he lingered here to play hide-and-seek through
the clouds, and to beam upon the snug little farms, and he
kissed the green corn golden there, long before he coaxed
the yellow to appear in the little patch of oats near her home.
She could see in the dim distance a green wood, and she
wondered what the trees were like and if they grew as tall as
she was, or if they were like the moss which grew in the Silent
Valley, which, she was told, the "good people" used for their
beds. From the elevation upon which she stood, everything
looked very flat except the towering mountains, but it was not
to them her eyes turned, it was to the alluring valley at their
feet.
When the wind blew towards her it brought strange
sounds upon its wing, sounds from the wonderful life below
the barking of dogs, the bleating of sheep, and once when the
wind was high, the sound of human voices was wafted to her
listening ears. It was like a wordless message to her from the
great world, and she thrilled at the sound.
Maragh always turned back unwillingly; the narrow track
grew darker and darker as she followed its windings, and
when she entered the Silent Valley all was gloomy and still.
The two sheep dogs looked wistfully after her as she set
off on her solitary walks, her father followed his sheep along,
casting a questioning glance at her before he went. But he
said nothing. The Northerner is a man of few words, and but
a poor hand at expressing emotion. So Maragh went her way,
and her mother's eyes followed her anxiously, for the old
woman thought she saw a change coming over her girl.
And Michael Lavery lingered in the bog, cutting his turf
very slowly, but no one came to greet him; and since he had
discovered his love for Maragh, he was shy about calling at
her house. But one day, as he was walking near the tarn, he
descried her figure in the distance, walking up the steep moun-
tain track. It was a beautiful early autumn day. The sun was
high in the heavens, riding across his empire of blue, beaming
upon the world beneath him. The heather was brilliant, all
the soft shades blending into one glorious glow of purple.
Even the mountains seemed to revel in the sunshine, and the
faintest ripple played across the gloomy waters of Lough
Shawm.
776 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
Michael turned towards the track, and very slowly he
began to mount its steepness. He felt he could bear his sus-
pense no longer, he must follow Maragh and ask her if she
would have him, if she could love him.
He came upon her at the top of the path. She was gazing
so earnestly at the fertile valley beneath her that she had not
heard his step, and she gave a great start as he spoke her name.
She looked so pretty, so fresh and childlike and so desirable
that the man's self-control gave way.
"Och, Maragh, girl," he burst out, "I can't live without ye."
Her gray eyes dilated as she looked at him, and the warm
blood rushed to her brown cheeks. Then her eyes turned back
to the valley and grew dreamy and wistful.
"Wud ye take me over then?" she asked, scarcely know-
ing what she was saying.
He put a rough hand on her shoulder.
"God knows I'd take ye annywheres so be ye'd come wid
me. Och, Maragh!"
She looked at him again and her eyes softened wonder-
fully.
"Oh, Michael, haven't we allus loved each other?" she
murmured, creeping closer to him. "An' if I had ye till meself,
I cud do widout then, I'm thinkin', an' ye'd take the disthress-
f ul f eelin' aff me breast."
She turned her back to the valley, and held out her hands
to him.
"Help me, Michael. I'm not a good girl, mebbe, an' there's
likely manny a betther wan ye cud pick but, och, I love ye!"
They went back to the cottage an engaged couple. Mrs.
Rooney shed happy tears over them, and John coughed gruffly
several times, which was all the expression of pleasure he was
capable of giving vent to.
But Maragh did not seem to be entirely happy. Her soli-
tude was still very precious to her, and her lonely walks con-
tinued. The mountain track lured her to its summit, and from
there her gray eyes gazed over the valley, wondering, wonder-
ing about the great unknown world. A restlessness came over
her, and the demon of discontent, which she had looked to
Michael to exorcise, took possession of her more than ever.
She surprised her mother by frequent bursts of irritation
which often ended in silly, unmeaning tears.
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 777
The old people and Michael concluded that the sooner the
marriage took place, the better. Maragh agreed eagerly, and
the wedding was fixed for six weeks ahead.
One Sunday, Maragh came back from Mass with quite an
excited face. Her mother had not been well and had been
unable to go, and as Maragh came into the kitchen, she cried
out:
"Oh, ma, who d'ye think was in chapel today? Twas
Maggie Doran from the village below! Have ye iver heard
tell of her? She's Pat Doran's girl, him as owns the grand
farm where the mountain sthreet joins the road beyant. My!
but she's a grand girl! and her wid the finest df dresses, ma,
blue an' red an' wid a real coat, no shawl an' the loveliest
hat iver ye saw !"
"What call had she to be comin' till the chapel at all?"
inquired Mrs. Rooney. "Sure, the Dorans, I mind who ye
mean, has allus gone till the chapel below in the town."
"Ay, but Maggie fell out wid the leddy as sings high. She
sings in the choir, ma, an' they were rude till her below, an'
she's come here, an' is allus goin' to. An* oh, Ma ! she sang the
music lovely! an' all the wee girls was turnin' of their heads
to see the sthrange voice. Oh, but it was grand! An' she
talked till me afther, ma, outside the chapel door, an' there
she had the lovely blue an' red cart dhrawn be the beautif ullest
donkey iver ye saw. She tould me they had a grand horse in
their stable forbye, but that she cudn't be takin' him up the
wee roads here. She asked me me name, an' whin I tould her,
she said she knew all about us Rooneys, an' that we bid for to
be great friends. An' she "
"Ye'd no call to git talkin' wid the likes of her," interposed
old John unexpectedly. "She's too mighty fine for us. She'll
stick notions intill yer head, she will."
"Oh, but da, she's so good. She did put a three penny
piece intill the plate, for I saw her, an' whin they bid for to
give her change she wouldn't take it aff thim. An' she said
her beads twict round durin' the sermon an' her lips moved the
whole time, they did. An' she says I bid for to go down an'
see her in her bewtiful house," the girl added in awestruck
tones. "An' that she bid to come an' see me, an' she tould
me heaps of things, she did."
Old Rooney shook his head, and put his pipe far into his
778 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
mouth as though to prevent himself from speaking. But his
wife looked kindly at her child.
"If so be she's a good girl I don't know that I've anny thing
to say aginst yer takin' up wid her," she said quietly. "Sure,
a girl friend 'ud likely be good for the child, father," she went
on, turning to her husband. "Mebbe we've brought her up too
lonesome like, an' her the only girl. She bid to meet wid other
folks whin she's Michael Lavery's wife, an' he livin' in the
valley behind where there's a grand wee town only fower mile
beyant. Mebbe mebbe But, daughter, dear, ye've no call
for the grand clothes an' the hat. I mek no doubt she had the
boots till her feet they're mighty fine in the valley, I've allus
heard tell. But ye're rared mountain born, ye are, an' ye'll
niver have the want for thim onneedful things."
Maragh looked at her mother with shining eyes. She had
scarcely attended to what had been said, she only knew that
this wonderful girl whom she had seen and spoken to that
day was going to be her friend and a wonderful link with the
wonderful outside world.
She smiled into her mother's weather-beaten face, then
she drew her shawl over her head and slipped out of the
cottage.
"I doubt 'twill make her wuss," remarked John, when she
had gone. " 'Twill make her oncontented wid us, mother."
But Mrs. Rooney shook her head cheerfully.
" 'Twill stir her up, John. She's all for the dhreams, an'
her soon to be a wife. Let is make her happy, father, 'tis so
long since she sthruck her mind on annything. Be the help of
God 'twill put the sinse intill her head that I can't git there.
Ye've no call for to be worrittin', John, 'tis wimmin worrits,
but they know best."
Rooney put his pipe back into his mouth.
"Ay, the wimmin knows best for sure," he grunted, "whin
they has the concarns 'bout wimmin."
Mrs. Rooney heard plenty about Maggie in the next fort-
night. It was always: "Maggie says this," and "Maggie says
that." It happened that a Mission was going on in the parish,
and the mountain chapel-of-ease got its share of the extra
services, so the two girls saw a good deal of each other.
Maggie Doran liked to patronize. She had had several ardent
friendships with most of the girls in her neighborhood, but
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 779
she had ended by quarreling with them all. Now she found a
girl entirely to her taste in Maragh, a simple girl who admired
her genuinely. Maggie found it very pleasant, and she liked
making a show of being kind to the girl, that the neighbors
might praise her condescension towards such a humble
person.
She used to walk half way back from the chapel with
Maragh, just to where the mountain path led into the Silent
Valley, and once or twice she met her new friend at the top of
the steep track which communicated between her valley and
Maragh's.
She had wonderful things to relate of the great world in
which she lived, the wide fertile land where the mountains
were softly undulating instead of rough and rugged as they
were in the Silent Valley. She told of the life in the "town,"
which lay three miles down the straight high road from her
home. She described the shops and the grand people who
walked about the streets, who all wore hats and coats and
boots.
"No shawls or bare feet in our town," she remarked once
in a superior tone which made poor Maragh look down shame-
facedly at her threadbare shawl and bare, tanned feet.
"Ye're too good for this ould place," Maggie had said upon
another occasion, as they stood together at the entrance to
the Silent Valley. They had walked from the summit of the
track and had just left the broad country in which Maggie's
home lay, bathed in the last golden rays of the setting sun, and
the Silent Valley seemed very dark and gloomy by contrast.
"You should come down to our place an' see somethin' of
the world, instead of bein' cooped up here yer life long. I'd
eat me heart out if I had to stay in a place like then. Ye'd like
the folks over below, Maragh, they'd 'livin' ye up, faith, they
wud, an' take the dhramin' look out of yer eyes. Ye don't bid
for to live here always," she added slyly. "Wait till somewan
wid an eye till his head comes along, an' ye'll not be here
manny weeks."
Maragh drooped her head. She had told her friend that
she was engaged to Michael Lavery, but Maggie had laughed as
if it were an amusing piece of hysterical sentiment, and had
told her friend that she, too, had gone through that stage.
Mrs. Rooney made no remarks upon her daughter's
780 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
changed conversation until the girl announced one day that she
wanted to put her marriage off for a while.
"I'm over young," was the girl's excuse, "an* Maggie says
as the happiest time of a girl's life is whin she's engaged to be
married."
"I don't hould wid long wai tin's," her mother objected,
and she glanced over at where Michael Lavery sat quietly in
a corner, listening rather ruefully to what was being said.
He shrugged his shoulders upon being appealed to.
"Let the gal have her way," he said, "widout she's not for
keepin' me waitin' on her too long."
He was a bit of a fatalist; besides, he was far too fond
of Maragh to thwart her in any way. He looked at her rather
wistfully as he bade her goodnight, but his rugged face relaxed
into happy smiles as she put an arm round his neck and kissed
him, telling him that he was patient and kindly.
He spoilt her dreadfully.
When the Mission was over, Maggie brought her friend
down to her own home to spend the day.
Maragh had never been outside her Valley before, and the
country was something wonderful to her. She looked with
breathless awe at the trees and the wild flowers, and she set
foot upon the high road with a feeling of pleasurable excite-
ment. She gazed at the white-washed cottages, and listened to
the voices which rose from the farms. To her, it seemed as
though life were a veritable turmoil here. Children trotted
about, and wherever the eya fell, it rested upon some dwelling.
Maragh shut her eyes for a moment, and called to mind her
home Valley, with its brooding silence and its bareness, un-
broken by any sign of human habitation.
And then, the Doran's house! The wonderful white-
washed kitchen upon whose walls hung pictures, not only such
as adorned her own home colored oleographs bought at the
Missions. Here there were real photographs of Mr. and Mrs.
Doran and their eight children, of an American cousin, and a
"friend" simpering beside her young man. There was also the
portrait of a young gentleman whose name Maggie did not
mention, but whose likeness produced a conscious tittering
and coy looks on the part of Miss Doran.
Outside there were the cows and pigs and poultry, the
donkey and a rawboned ancient horse; and Maragh's eyes
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 781
opened wider and wider at all these wonders. She had never
beheld either a cow or a pig, and though Michael's donkey was
called a "wee horse," the animal that occupied a corner of the
shed here seemed very different from her old friend of the bog.
They had a grand tea with sweet cakes, which Maggie had
bought in the "town," and Maragh ate them with respect for
that reason. There were new-laid eggs and cheese and ham,
besides large quantities of jam; and the stranger marveled at
the generous fare.
After the meal was over, Paddy Doran, the eldest son,
played the concertina, and one or two of the neighbors dropped
in and danced. It seemed that wonders would never cease.
Maragh gazed spellbound, her best green shawl fallen back
from her pretty brown head, her red lips parted eagerly, and
her eyes sparkling from over-flushed cheeks.
"Ye'll have to come again soon," said fat, old Mrs. Doran
when it was time for the girl to go, and Pat and Maggie and a
young neighbor prepared to see her half way home.
Maggie left her brother to escort their guest, and she and
the other young man went on ahead, keeping up a flow of
ceaseless laughter and loud chaffing.
But Maragh walked very silently beside Pat Doran. Some-
thing very wonderful had happened to her today. She had
seen the great world, and something within her had rushed
out to meet the pleasure, and the old restless longing had re-
turned to her breast intensified a hundred fold.
From that day, Maragh was a changed girl. The demon
of unrest had taken possession of her. The old life would do
her no more, the little home was too small for her, her wings
would fain soar higher than the confines of the guarded Silent
Valley. And because she saw no escape, she wearied her heart
out in misery, and lived only for the meetings with Maggie
who came from the glorious life in the little world beneath her.
When first she appeared at home in a hat Maggie had
given her, her father fired up angrily and bid her take it off.
The girl rebelled, and there were some bitter words in the little
kitchen which had never beheld any ungentler scene than a
childish quarrel. She took off the offending head-gear in the
end, but she hid it carefully away with an old pair of shoes
and stockings that had also come from Maggie.
Now that it was too late, the parents tried to stop the
782 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
friendship between the two girls, but Maragh could always find
means of slipping out. Michael Lavery tried pathetically to
woo her back to his side, but they had all spoilt her too much
in happier days, and she had grown headstrong and obstinate.
Discord reigned in the little cabin, where hitherto love alone
had dwelt, and bitter looks took the place of smiles. The little
home had grown very sad.
An autumn storm had broken over the Valley one day in
late October, and the wind moaned drearily round the cabin.
The sea mist was flying in between the mountains, covering
everything with its white, impenetrable pall. It was dark and
dreary in the Rooney's kitchen when Maragh came in. John
was smoking a pipe before he went out with the dogs, and his
wife was straining her eyes over a piece of mending, trying to
catch the last of the fading light from the small window.
The girl sat down listlessly, her empty hands on her knee,
her gray eyes staring absently into the fire, and Rooney sud-
denly grew angry at the sight of his idle daughter.
"Ye should be helpin' of yer ma, in place of sittin' lazily
there," he broke out. "A great stirk of a girl as ye are, no help
till annywan, spendin' of yer days away over beyant colloguing
wid a girl as isn't fit company for anny decent sowl. Ye'll bid
to quit yer ways, daughter, or or I'll not have ye here."
The man's temper had risen as he spoke, the pent up anger
over which he had been brooding for the past few weeks found
an outlet at last, and he bade his wife be silent when she gently
reproved him.
"I'll say me say," he continued, taking his pipe out of his
mouth and waving it about. "She's a worthless girl, an'
we've both got her spoilt enthirely, but I'll spoil her no
more! She'll take her share in the work, she'll bid to quit
thon walks an' meetings wid thon worthless Doran, ay, an'
she'll bid to larn to be a dutiful child an' a good wife till the
man what's far too good for her."
He paused and spat into the fire.
Maragh had risen, and was standing before him, her eyes
shining queerly.
"Faith, ye've no call for to be sendin' of me aff," she said,
" 'tis I'm goin'. I came in to tell ye. There's a fine situation
a-waitin' me in a fine city beyant. I'm goin' wid Maggie, she's
fixed for us both. We're weary of livin' the lonesome lives
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 783
shut in from everything as we are, away from the great world
where things is fine and bewtiful an' there's people as lives,
in place of the dullness we call life here. Ay, I'm goin'."
Rooney rose slowly, and looked at her thoughtfully.
"Ye're a fool!" he said, more quietly, however, for her
angry words had somehow calmed him, though he did not be-
lieve that she spoke seriously. "Ye jist git out an' think it over
for a spell, an' ye'll find I'm right."
He re-filled and lighted his pipe, and whistled to the dogs.
Laddie rose at once to follow him, but Lassie blinked her
eyes at him and put her muzzle into Maragh's hand. Rooney
went out.
"I'll be back afore dark," he called over his shoulder.
Mrs. Rooney looked at her daughter's face yearningly.
"He's a bit put out, is yer da," she began tentatively, "an'
does not mean all he says, same as you don't. Sure we all takes
our turn at times and does be vi'lent whin we've no call to
give tongue till the bad words. Sure, Maragh, wid the boys
away an' arnin', ye are all we have left, an' we'd be loth to
part wid ye, child. Ye cudn't go for to lave us, ye didn't mind
what ye said."
Maragh shook her head silently, and her mother saw the
gleam of tears in the gray eyes. She put out her arms lovingly
and enfolded the girl to her breast.
"There, me heart," she whispered, as she released the
unresponsive form from her embrace. "Make up the fire,
there's a good child, an' sit the kettle on while I take a run out
till the clothes on the heather below. I doubt but there's rain
comin'."
"I'll take a turn meself jist now," Maragh replied, in her
usual tones, as she busied herself about the fire. "Lassie will
come wid me. I'll not be for anny supper, ma. I'll go till me
bed quiet, so don't be comin' intill me room. I'll be thinkin',
an' would like to be let alone."
"An' there's no bad feelin' between yer da an' you?" asked
Mrs. Rooney anxiously, from the door.
The girl shook her head slowly.
"Sure?" the mother insisted wistfully.
"Oh, no, ma. Sure ye're both me father an' mother. I've
no call for to quarrel wid yez."
The older woman left the house, and Maragh watched her
784 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
|
till she was quite out of sight in the mist. Then she ran to a
corner of the room, sprang upon a chair and felt along a shelf
which was roughly set up just under the ceiling. She brought
down a battered tin box to the kitchen table, where she care-
fully opened it. A fat roll of notes and some gold and a few
loose coppers lay before her. It was not the first time her
eager fingers had rummaged in the old box. Some of the
money with which it had been filled had already found its
way to Maggie's ready hands, in answer to her insinuating
hints regarding a return for the hat and boots and other trifles
of finery Maragh had received.
The young girl snatched up a bundle of notes and a hand-
ful of coins and tied them into her handkerchief. Then she
crept hurriedly into her bedroom where she put together one
or two precious bits of finery, secreted them under her shawl,
set the hat upon her unaccustomed head, and carrying the
boots and stockings, she descended the crazy stairs swiftly.
She found a stump of a pencil on the mantlepiece, and
tearing a strip of paper from a book, she laboriously scrawled:
"dear ma I am gone as I said will rite from my place."
This she folded up, after writing her name, and kept in her
grasp. Then she took a last hurried look round. Everything
was very still, save for the increasing moaning of the wind
svhich was driving up through the mist, heralding rain. The
old clock ticked in the corner, the fire smoldered under the
kettle. Everything was just as usual, but to the girl the
familiar little kitchen seemed to have altered suddenly.
She called softly to Lassie, and the dog stretched herself
and rose obediently.
Outside, the sea fog was flying rapidly by; so dense was it
that it hid the little gate at the foot of the potato patch in its
white covering.
The girl and the dog set out, and were swallowed in the
mist.
Early next morning, Mrs. Rooney was awakened by
Lassie's piteous whine outside. The dog had been out all night,
but that was not unusual, though both animals generally sought
the warm kitchen when the weather was wild and rough, and
the rain beat against the window panes as it had been doing
all night.
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 785
Dawn was near, and Mrs. Rooney, who was an early riser,
left her bed and hastily donning a few clothes, went downstairs
to open the door. The poor beast was wet through, and she
patted her kindly and rubbed her down with a handful of
straw. As she held the dog's collar something upon it caught
her eye. It was a sodden piece of paper tied to the strap, and
she took it off and unrolled it carefully. The rain had re-
duced it almost to pulp, but it had been folded so often that
the inside was comparatively dry.
Mrs. Rooney was no "scholard," but she could read easy
words, and she could just make out a few of the letters which
were traced upon the paper she held.
". . . gone as I said . . . write . . . place . . ." and the
last three letters of Maragh's name.
Mrs. Rooney sank down upon her knees and buried her
face in Lassie's shaggy wet coat.
It was thus, that her husband, who had been awakened
by the opening of the door, found her a few minutes later. He
laid his hand upon her shoulder, and cried in his loud voice :
"Woman, what ails ye?"
His wife looked up, with the tears streaming down her
cheeks and her bosom heaving with sobs.
"She's gone !" she gasped, handing him the piece of paper.
"It can't be so!" he muttered, looking at it dully. "Have
ye been till her room?" he added, with a happy thought.
Mrs. Rooney shook her head silently, and he sprang up
the ladder, and opened the door of the girl's little chamber.
It was empty and the bed was untouched. He descended the
steps very slowly.
"Ay, she's gone," he murmured, and the old folks looked
stupidly at one another.
Then the man's eye fell upon the old tin box, which
Maragh in her haste had set upon the mantlepiece. He took it
down and opened it, and his face grew very pale.
"She's thieved us!" he cried. "She's taken our money
aff us!"
-<- ^aj
The mother glanced into the box, then looked pitifully at
her man, while the one miserable little excuse that she could
find faltered from her lips :
"But not all," she whispered. "She's left us some. She
hasn't it all took aff us."
VOL. am. 50
786 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
i
Rooney uttered an oath as he shut the box and set it back
on the shelf.
"She's thieved us!" he repeated. "She's no child of ours.
Niver will she set her fut here again. Wife, ye'll not speak
of her till me."
Michael Lavery's round, good-humored face appeared at
the door after the dinner things had been cleared away that
day, when John was far out on the mountains after his sheep.
Mrs. Rooney looked up from her washing, and nodded
sadly.
"She's gone," she said listlessly, and she told the whole
miserable story, except that she made no mention of the miss-
ing money. For the Irish are loyal to their own, even when
they are sorely sinned against.
"I found this on the dog's collar," she ended, producing
the soiled piece of paper. "She had it tied on till it. She had
Lassie took wid her, but she'd likely bid her go home when
she'd no more call for her, an' the poor baste 'ud obey same
as she allus does."
Mrs. Rooney burst into heartbroken sobs, but the man
who had just received the death blow to his love stood erect
before her.
"I'll go away af ther her," he said briefly.
But the mother shook her head mournfully.
" 'Twill be no manner of use," she returned sadly. "She'll
not come for ye, an' we don't know where she's gone."
"But I bid to thry an' find her," Michael persisted. "An'
annyways, I'll go till Dorans."
Mrs. Rooney looked at him wistfully as he stood in the
doorway for a moment, his stalwart frame filling the opening.
Then he turned to her again with a sort of shy tenderness.
"Faith, but I'm sorry for ye, mother," he whispered in a
shaking voice, "an' sure for meself, the heart's broke on me."
He strode to the door, and the mist received him in its
embrace.
When Lavery reached the Doran's after his long walk,
he found the family assembled in the kitchen busily discussing
their Maggie's departure. He stood by silently, finding it un-
necessary to put any question, for the eager information was
repeated from every lip.
"I've come for her," he said doggedly, when the tale had
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 787
been related again and again, and he looked around as though
expecting to see Maragh crouching in some corner.
Old Mrs. Doran, a kindly stupid soul, wiped her red eyes.
"Sure, there's no power on earth cud bring thim back till
us," she said sadly, when the hubbub of talk had died down a
little. "Go back till yer home, Michael Lavery, and breathe
the pure air of yer good valleys bey ant. Folks is good there
or ought to be, but down here there's things does be bad
sometimes. Ye're too good for her, Michael, she's not worthy
of ye, an' our Maggie's as bad, ay, an' worse, for to bring thon
good child to this. But she'll not come back for ye, son, an'
she's chose her path, so let her larn till live her life in it."
She looked at the young man very kindly, her fat, good-
natured face quivering with emotion.
"Sure, I'm no hard, Mike boy," she added softly. "I'm
thinkin' what's best for ye. Go back till yer mountains, an'
pray for her, an' an* for us all, God help us!"
That winter passed by very slowly and drearily in the
Silent Valley. There were wild storms and torrential rains, in
which John had to be out scouring the mountains after his
sheep. The snow fell heavily that year also, and the bog was
frost bound and the turf hard to get. The old folk were very
lonely; and even when Michael stepped in to cheer them, it
was a silent trio that crouched round the embers of the care-
fully husbanded fire.
News arrived from time to time of the girl who had once
made the cabin ring with her joyous laughter and who had
been the joy of her parents' and lover's hearts.
The priest, who on his weekly visits to the chapel-of-ease,
was the bearer of the rare letters which arrived for his moun-
tain flock, had brought two or three missives for the Rooneys.
The old people had never received a letter before, and they
had not thought that through such means would they hear
news of the missing girl. The sheets were but sparsely covered
with the round irregular scrawl, but they were spelled out by
three anxious people over and over again.
Maragh wrote that she was happy, very happy in her
situation in a grand house in Dublin, that she was wearing
grand clothes and eating lovely food. Maggie was with her,
and all was well. The second letter had not so much of
788 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
Maggie in it, the third, after several weeks' interval, did not
mention her name. The fourth, received many weary months
later, announced that the girls had quarreled and were sepa-
rating, Maragh to a new place in a town far away, whose name
neither the Rooneys nor Michael had ever heard before.
Not even the priest himself knew the name, but he thought
it was in Scotland or England. Old Mrs. Rooney wept long and
silently on hearing that. Now that the cruel sea flowed be-
tween her and her darling, she felt that they were separated
indeed. And all hope of the girl's return died in her breast.
After that, no more letters came. Mrs. Rooney fretted
sorely, and John, whose wrath had long since died away, would
have given ten years of his life for a glimpse of the daughter
they had both loved so well. They spoke of her gently, as one
would talk of some dear, dead child, recalling all her old
loving ways, her sweetness, her fair budding womanhood,
glossing over, with the Irish peasants' largeness of heart, all the
miserable faults and failings they had taught themselves to
forget.
Michael would listen silently, his heart aching with the
great void she had left in it, and longing, longing with all his
strength for her sweet presence.
But the blank months slipped by, bringing winter again to
the Silent Valley, and another spring passed, until the seasons
lay unnumbered in the track of the speeding years.
It was a dark day in autumn, six years later.
Mrs. Rooney, aged greatly in her loneliness and sorrow,
was crouching over the low burning fire, trying to get some
warmth into her old bones, as she dreamed of the past and all
its joys and all its sorrows.
The mist was creeping stealthily up the Valley, quietly
covering everything and drenching the air with its soft moisture.
Not a breath of wind stirred, only the mist crept up and up
insinuatingly, like the wave of a tranquil, inflowing tide.
Mrs. Rooney bestirred herself and looked round. The haze
had entered the open door of the cabin, the table and chairs
were damp under its touch, the glass face of the clock was
dim with its breath. It hung very white and dense outside,
hiding even the potato patch from view, and Mrs. Rooney
turned uncertainly towards the door, wondering if she should
1921.] MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY 789
venture out as far as the stream, or wait for a chance clearing
of the weather.
Then she stood rooted to the spot, her eyes gazing at some-
thing which surely must have been an apparition.
For out of the mist a figure appeared, blurred and indis-
tinct at first, but becoming clearer the closer it drew to the
door.
It was the figure of Maragh, the features of Maragh, but
such a changed Maragh that the mother instinctively fell upon
her knees praying aloud.
"For sure, the child bid to be dyin' somewheres," she
muttered to herself, "an* the blissid God has tuk pity on me
an' sint her sowl till me the way I should be prayin' for her."
Then she looked up again, and she rose from her knees
as the girl approached slowly, and she knew then that this
was no spirit, but warm flesh and blood, though it was a sad,
miserable object that stood before her.
She stretched out her arms yearningly, and the poor dis-
heveled creature flung herself into them.
"Och, I'm a bad, bad woman," cried the girl, at length
freeing herself from the clinging arms and pushing back the
tangled hair from her face. "I've no call for to be here at
home. I ought to be dead, I ought."
"Whisht!" interrupted the mother with a touch of stern-
ness, "don't go for to be talkin' like that of what is in God's
hands."
"I thought I'd just take a peep in till the ould place before
before I wint away. I didn't know what I'd find here af ther
all these years, I didn't look for to see anny of yez, but the
mist, it led me farther nor I thought. Now I've set me eyes
upon ye wance more, I'll away. I can't go for to stay wid ye,
an' me da comin' in mebbe. But I'm glad I've seen ye, ma,
but I must go I must go !"
Mrs. Rooney drew the girl into the kitchen.
"Och, child, ye said the same years agone whin the longin'
for seein' the world was burnin' in yer blood. But 'tis the
longin' for home now that has the heart ate on ye. Och, how
I've wanted ye all these years! an' yer da, an' an' Michael."
The girl shuddered and drew back.
"Ye don't know who ye're askin' intill yer house," she
murmured, hanging her head. "Och, I'm a bad girl, but,"
790 MARAGH OF THE SILENT VALLEY [Mar.,
she added, raising her head for one moment, "I do believe the
worst iver I done was whin I I stole from me own good
parents. But I'm bad, bad."
She sank into a chair, and leaning her head upon the
table, burst into tears.
"I'm for askin' no questions, child," said Mrs. Rooney
gravely, and she put a tender hand upon the bowed head.
"What's wrong that ye've done is between yerself an' God.
An' 'tis the praste ye bid to tell an' not us poor sinful mortals,
an' put yerself right again. Ye're our own wee girl, nothin'
can change that, an' ye've come back till the ould home in yer
throuble. God help ye. The mist tuk ye wance from me, but it
brought ye back, I'll not let it take ye aff me again."
While she had been speaking, two figures had appeared in
the misty doorway. She now turned to them.
"Come in wid yez," she said softly. "Here's our Maragh
come back till us again."
But the girl cowered back as the men approached.
"Och, let me go !" she gasped. "I'm bad, bad, not fit for
yez."
Michael sprang forward, and took the girl's passive hand
and gazed into her downcast face.
'Maragh! Maragh!" he cried passionately. "I've been
waitin' on ye so long. I can't, God knows I can't, let ye go
again!"
"I'd have a lot for to tell ye afore iver I looked ye in the
face again, Michael," the girl whispered. "What I've done,
what I've lived through "
"Ay, it has all made a woman of the child as left us, an'
iverything as is wrong is for the praste to know, Maragh, not
us. Make yerself right wid him an' come back till us. Sure ye
were niver called Maragh of the Silent Valley for nothin'.
Here in God's own good Valley the bad world does be forgot,
the mountains shield us from the life below. Didn't God sind
yer steps this way for His own good will that ye should come
back an' mind the broken hearts ye left behind ye whin ye
were a child, but a child, Maragh ? Now 'tis the grown woman
ye are wid the woman's cares an' the woman's duties to the
man as she's promised till. Have ye forgot yer promise till me,
have ye forgot the love I bear ye, an' the longin' I have for ye ?
Look out at the mist, Maragh, how it is sweepin' down from the
1921.] MAGDALEN 791
mountains, an' jist creepin' down the Valley, druv be the
lightest wee taste of wind. The sun'll be out soon whin the
wind has the fog druv out. So 'twill be wid the past. Let the
mist bear it away on the wind, far, far out beyant our mem-
ories, an wid God's own sun, let us begin our life together,
you an' me, an' da an' mother. Me heart's longin' for ye,
Maragh."
His voice had sunk to a murmur and he had drawn the
weeping girl to his arms.
Old Rooney made a great fuss about lighting his pipe to
conceal his emotion.
"Ay, ay," he muttered, "it bid to be so, 'tis the will of God.
Maragh, child, obey yer ould da," and he jerked his thumb
in Michael's direction, and nodded his head at his old wife.
"Eh?" he asked, and he bent forward suddenly and awk-
wardly kissed the girl upon her rough, tumbled hair.
Mrs. Rooney bustled forward, wiping her eyes upon her
apron.
"Come, child. Things bid to be as they were. Ye'll talk
till thim both later. Come up wid yer ma till yer own wee
room, an' rest ye. I've a notion for a wee crack wid ye afther
all these years."
MAGDALEN.
BY CAROLINE GILTINAN.
COVER thine eyes, O Magdalen,
Thine eyes where thy soul, tear-drowned,
Is staring aghast at the tortured Man
Stretched on the blood-stained ground.
Cover thine ears, O Magdalen,
Hear not the thudding sound.
They are nailing your God on a wooden cross !
. . . His Body is all a wound!
ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY.
BY JOHN KEATING CARTWRIGHT, D.D.
OT long since I met one who thought the members
of an old religious order in a certain country
great and foreign fools, because they still obey an
old observance of eschewing meat diet in large
part and of making fish and beans the staple of
their fare. This young person (I am young, too, but not in the
same sense) thanked God that he was not as these others.
These austerities, he continued, used to have a place in the
scheme of spiritual development, but they have a place no
more. The nature of man and original sin are different from
what they used to be. "Nous avons change tout cela" so that
nowadays perfection may be reached much better by motor
cars, and self-knowledge by the cinematograph much more
pleasantly and perfectly than by meditation, fasts and many
groanings. Asceticism was all very well for mediaevals, but it
should now be an ecclesiastical memory, just as feudalism and
chivalry are political and social memories.
There can be no doubt that this objector is, in some
measure, representative of his age. Is it not true that asceti-
cism is frowned upon nowadays by "thoughtful" men? Is it
not true that the gentlemen who write articles in the Encyclo-
paedia Pithecanthropica have found it out in its tricks and its
wiles, and that their opinion is sturdily applauded by that en-
thusiastic corps of sciolists who write the monthly Panti-
politan? We know for they have taught us that this propo-
sition of fasting, and wearing hair shirts, and going barefoot
and being humble is all a bad business, unsuited to the larger
freedom of the present age. Morality, indeed, that helps along
our race's comfort, we must have. But anything that means
pain, discomfort, sacrifice, is unreasonable, immoral. Has not
Nietzsche something good about the "senselessness of pain?"
Have not the St. Simoniens and others "rejected the dualism
so much emphasized by Catholic Christianity in its penances
and mortifications," and do they not "hold that the body
should be restored to its place of honor?" Nay, did not the
1921.] ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY 793
magnificent Luther win for us long ago the freedom of the
intellect to serve the interests of the lower man? This freedom
is our race's heritage. This heritage we must not lose by
yoking ourselves to the tyranny of an ecclesiastical and in-
human morality.
So the writers argue in Pithecanthropica and Pantipolitan,
"qusecumque ignorant blasphemantes," indignant at the hin-
drance our progress has suffered from asceticism, grateful to
the heroes and heralds of revolt that have been their saviours.
But "quid mihi de Us qui foris sunt judicare?" Sadly, we
have among us many a silly satellite of theirs, even now and
then a "fidelis," who speaks with the newspaper and period-
icals and the world, rather than with the Church. Nay, I have
known a woman, pious in a sense, whose only thought of the
lovely life of Francis of Assisi was that it is too hard. I would
not have asked her. to imitate him closely (I do not urge
myself to that), yet a more appreciative judgment might have
been expected from one who practises dutifully her Friday
abstinence and Lenten fast. But so it was; with a mind sapped
by modernity, she could not rise to the admiration of even the
humane asceticism of Francis Bernardone.
It were vain to deny that there is in things ascetic some-
thing arduous not only to the practice but to the thoughts of
the natural mind. Life in cavern or in desert, hair shirt and
discipline, early rising and meagre diet, cast-down eyes and
silent lips, are things bitter to those who have not done them,
and it is familiar to witness the reluctances of unspiritual
persons even to approach the doorway of a Carmel or a Camal-
doli. The loneliness and quiet of such unworldly places, the
dearth in them of curious sights for eyes that love to wander,
increase the displeasure which soft natures feel at all that
reminds them of pain or discomfort.
On the one hand, the general prejudice as to the useless-
ness of purely spiritual activity, on the other, the failure of
weak minds to grasp the reality of the unseen fruits of such
endeavor, or again it may be, in believing but still not deeply
religious people, that self-reproach which arises at the notion
that they themselves should go and do in like manner. All
these are so many reasons why the natural man should find a
visit to such a place distasteful. And since these causes have
always existed, and, for the majority of individuals shall
794 ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY [Mar.,
always be renewed in the ordinary courses and circumstances
of human life, it is hopeless to argue and vain to write against
them. Yet there is a certain number of people who really
think and really have good will, and for these there is a cause
of error which does more harm than all the others the con-
fusion with which they present to themselves two really dif-
ferent things: asceticism and morality, mortification and virtue,
sacrifice and perfection, the counsels and the laws, zealousness
and dutifulness, the means and the end.
Clear thinking never injured a good cause, and it would be
well to distinguish carefully between what are two separate,
though related, sets of phenomena in hagiography, the moral
and the ascetical. We should group under the former heading
all features and incidents in the lives of saints which illustrate
the perfection of their compliance with the laws of God; under
the latter, all practices, severe in character and voluntary in
principle, by which they strove to render the said compliance
more sure and more easy. The first would comprise every-
thing in their lives which they did because they conceived it
to be God's will for them; the second includes tasks self-
imposed. In the first case it is a question of duty; in the
second, one of zeal. In matters of duty, even when fidelity
was so tried as to be heroic, it was still fidelity to duty, not to
be avoided without sin, and, therefore, not strictly to be called
ascetical. In the other cases, even when self-chosen penances
were the very props and resources of much-strained virtue,
they were still self-imposed, taken from counsel, not from pre-
cept, and, therefore, not the saint's moral life, but only the
means thereto.
When John Gualberti, forgetting the maxims of his age,
overcoming the traditions of his class, letting slip the awaited
opportunity, crushing down his long desire and cherished pur-
pose of revenge, allowed his enemy to escape, he did a thing
difficult in the circumstances, but a thing he was morally ob-
liged to do; hence this is not an example of asceticism. No
more are the deaths of martyrs properly to be called ascetical,
although their generosity justly merited God's "seterna dona"
and the Church's age-long praise. When, on the other hand,
we read of Simeon Stylites, living for years on a pillar, or of
the renunciation and blessed raggedness of St. Francis of
Aasisi, or of the dreadful voluntary diet of Benedict Joseph
1921.] ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY 795
Labre, we have in these cases instances of asceticism or morti-
fication properly so-called. It is the latter kind of incidents
which from the nature of things (and of pious writers) pre-
dominate in biographies of saints. For this reason, perhaps,
people are misled into confusing them with the essential vir-
tues. Yet valuable and important as they may have been to
the saints who wanted to attain perfect virtue, they were only
means accessory to that end. They were valued by the saints
themselves and by the Church, they were approved by God,
not because of any proper loveliness of their own, but because
they were instruments in attaining that perfection in the serv-
ice of God which alone is in itself desirable.
Asceticism, therefore, in the Christian concept of it, is
not morality, any more than the means is the end. The two
things were never identified in the minds of our saints, though
all of them practised austerity as well as virtue. In their biog-
raphies, however, there is sometimes a confusion; frequently,
there is one in the minds of those who read their biographies
without sufficient critical apparatus of Christian philosophy.
To this confusion we must attribute much of the hostility, or
at least of the suspicion and faint praise with which un-Chris-
tian writers damn our saints. One of the great Encyclopaedias
of the day, for example, in an article on the subject, states
that "all asceticism worthy of the name has a moral purpose,
and is based on the eternal contrast of the proposition. This
is right/ with the proposition, That is pleasant.' "
Now, whether or not this description applies to other
forms of austerity, it certainly is not true of Christian asceti-
cism. Of course, our asceticism has a moral purpose other-
wise, it would be mere superstition; but there is no eternal,
i. e., essential contrast, there is only an accidental, although
frequent, contrast between the two propositions mentioned.
The eternal and necessary opposition is between "This is
right" and "That is wrong;" between "This is good" and
"That is evil." In this conflict, in the struggle of the human
will therein, lies morality, virtue, the fulfilling of the Com-
mandments. To make the right choice in confronting these two
standards, all are called by the command of God. Yet, when
the choice ia made, there remains another choice between 'This
is pleasant" and "That is better." To make choice here ako
we are called, yet this time the call is no command but an in-
796 ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY [Mar.,
vitation, a counsel. We are free to disregard it and still be
friends of God. We are urged to heed it, and be ascetics,
heroes, perfect men, choosing the straight and narrow path
which is not the only road that leads to heaven, but leads there
most surely and most quickly. To morality all are bound;
to asceticism all are urged. Morality is the obeying of laws;
asceticism, the heeding of counsels. Morality is the standard
of those who love God at all; asceticism, the sure way to
reach that standard followed by those who love Him perfectly
and will not be hampered in this love.
In order to bear out this distinction, we can quote St.
Thomas where he says that "perfection consists essentially in
the Commandments but, secondarily and instrumentally, it
consists in the counsels." 1 But the best argument comes from
the etymology of the very word that Christian usage has made
classical, "Asceticism." Aaxlw, I practise, was used of the
athlete to describe his training for the races. A a x fo>, I practise,
is used of Christians in their preparation for the tests of virtue.
I practise. I do not content myself with observing the law
when necessity requires it; but, knowing that the law is some-
times hard of accomplishment, I practise doing hard things
which I am free to leave undone, I suppress my lower appetites
even when the things they aspire to are innocent, I accustom
my will at all times to dominion, so that when the law de-
mands it, strength of will may be at hand. I do not follow
these exercises for their own sake. I am not like the Hindu
who sees in "tapas," burning, something in itself desirable.
I do not suppress my appetites in order to destroy them, but by
constant effort and practice I accustom them to harmony with
the better things.
The stern practices of the saints had therefore a reason-
able purpose. They were not fanatical vagaries, but were jus-
tified by an enlightened philosophy. So Jerome, lacerating his
body with stones, or Patrick, spending his nights in cold water,
did not delude themselves into believing that these practices
were part of the burden of the moral law. Simeon Stylites did
not think that to live on a pillar-top is in itself a nobler or a
holier thing than to live in an Antiochene palace. They knew
their duty better than you or I; but they knew besides that
things of duty are often difficult, and, in order to be prepared
CLXXXTV. 3 c.
1921.] ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY 797
always to do what was difficult and commanded, they pre-
ferred to do at all times what was difficult but free.
Here then lies the great psychological advantage of ascet-
icism. It is not virtue. But, like virtue, it is arduous; some-
times, more arduous. Therefore, he that is able voluntarily
to impose on himself such severe trials need not fear to slip in
easier though more necessary things. He finds himself in all
the actions he performs voluntarily exercising that self -control
that is obligatory only at certain times and under given cir-
cumstances; and so, however hard it may be in such circum-
stances to carry out God's will, he knows that he has done
things as hard or harder in the past. Does God's command
outrage the lower appetites? Yes; but so has his own will
outraged them often by fasting, by watching, by stripes. Do
the indignant senses protest to the will against the claims of
God? Yes; but so have they often in moments of self-denial.
Does the will feel the influence of these unruly passions, when
they rebel against God's mandate? Yes; but not so much as it
used to, before it had inured itself to sovereignty. For now it
is so accustomed to command, it has gone on so long in ma-
jestic domination over every lower desire, it has habituated
itself so firmly in the execution of its overlordship, that it
finds it easy to impose decrees that once might have been irk-
some; and the appetites, still in themselves reasonless and
headstrong, soon give up the fight that is so hopeless against
this constant ruler, and no longer disturb that order which is
the beauty and well-being of the soul.
So man through asceticism approaches again to that para-
disal condition of innocence where the law of God is not only
possible to him, but easy, and evil repugnant; where to do the
right makes not only the duty but the spontaneous desire of
the ennobled creature; where virtue stands safe above tempta-
tion, because lower cravings have perished; where good is
triumphant, not only in victory, but in abiding peace.
Sadly true it is that such a beatific state is never perfectly
attained by any man in this mortality. Yet it is none the less
certain that towards this condition all spiritual progress tends,
and that by how much one conquers each succeeding passion
and temptation, by so much does he get more near to security
of virtue. Was not this the privilege of Adam before the fall,
a glorious freedom from lower strivings was it not this that
798 ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY [Mar.,
made his fall so great since his rebellion was deliberate and
unprovoked? Assuredly, it was so; and our better aspirations
even now tend ever towards the regaining of that paradisal
innocence which our hearts have not forgotten. It was this
that the sagacious and right mind of Aristotle sought when he
identified the wholesomeness with the happiness of man, plac-
ing as the standard for the perfectness of virtues the pleasure
with which they are exercised : "And for a test of the formation
of the habits we must take the pleasure or pain which suc-
ceeds the acts; for he is perfected in Self -Mastery who not only
abstains from the bodily pleasures, but is glad to do so;
whereas he who abstains but is sorry to do it has not Self-
Mastery; he again is brave who stands up against danger, either
with positive pleasure or at least without any pain; whereas
he who does it with pain is not brave." 2 And in another place :
"So then this life (of the virtuous) has no need of pleasure as
a kind of additional appendage, but involves pleasure in itself.
For ... a man is not a good man at all who feels no pleasure
in noble actions, just as no one would call that man just who
does not feel pleasure in acting justly, or liberal who does not
in liberal actions, and similarly in case of the other virtues
which might be enumerated : and if this be so, then the actions
in accordance with virtue must be in themselves pleasurable." 3
Of course, the great realist was not so blind to the facts of
life as to think that this perfect ease in virtue is ever here on
this earth verified. He wished simply to portray the ideal or
ambition which it is the purpose of every man in the pursuit
of virtue to attain.
Dante, the poet of Christian thought, has put this abstract
ideal into images of life. The Divine Comedy is a great imag-
inative picture of the future world, but the whole point of the
portrayal is to shadow forth the dramatic progress of the soul
in this. We cannot recall here all the scenes of that long and
trying journey down through the lessening circles and slippery
precipices of Hell to its concentrate horror, up by laborious
crags and ledges of the steep Purgatorial mountain through
regions almost as dreadful, and less sad only because of hope.
It will be sufficient to remember that in those first two acts of
the divine drama the poet did not mean to prophesy what the
other world will be, but that he uses his fancies of it as images
IL, 3. i., s.
1921.] ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY 799
or metaphors to make more clear and strong the lessons of
this life.
So, in the first act the terrors of the "endlessly bitter
world" are imagined for us only to show how the soul here on
earth, using its powers rightly, must come to see the hateful-
ness of sin. So all the mingled difficulties and beauties of the
Purgatorio provide in fervid pictures the lesson which the phil-
osopher taught in colder words, that by constant efforts to-
wards good the will is strengthened till it reaches the consum-
mate mastery of self, which is peace. Therefore, the journey
has its first respite and reward in the meadows and woods of
the ancient Eden. Dante, typifying the human soul, reaches as
the end of his efforts that home and condition which were
God's original gift to man, and here Virgil, the impersonated
Human Reason, takes his leave. Only with "skill and art" has
the master led the pupil thus far, but now he finds him per-
fected to this degree that righteousness and desire are identical.
The soul has become worthy of freedom, capable of following
his own guidance.
"Both fires, my son,
The temporal and eternal, thou hast seen;
And art arrived, where of itself my ken
No further reaches. I with skill and art
Thus far have drawn thee. Now thy pleasure take
For guide. Thou hast o'ercome the steeper way,
O'ercome the straiter.
Thou may'st or seat thee down,
Or wander where thou wilt. Expect no more
Sanction of warning voice or sign from me,
Free of thy own arbitrament to choose,
Discreet, judicious. To distrust thy sense
Were henceforth error. I invest thee then
With crown and mitre, sovereign o'er thyself."
The aim of pagan philosopher and Christian poet are at
one. True harmony of the complex human nature can come
only through perfect virtue.
Yet we must note two profound differences between these
great minds in the means by which they propose to reach this
consummation. The first we may easily guess : Aristotle knows
nothing of the need of divine grace. Therefore, Dante is more
deep and true when he chooses for the soul's guide not Reason
800 ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY [Mar.,
only, but Reason prompted by Grace, Virgil coming at the
request of the tearful Beatrice, "till those bright eyes with
gladness come, which, weeping, made me haste." Yet, even
apart from this, and keeping to the consideration only of
natural means, Aristotle suggests no need for anything but the
simple exercise of virtue, the mere avoidance of evil and
election of good. One is to become virtuous by doing acts of
virtue: a facile prescription. Dante, on the other hand (and
here we return to the real point of our essay), Dante with
sure instinct knows that not by such means alone can man be
made perfect. Even after all the experiences of Hell and Pur-
gatory, after all he has learned of vice and goodness, after
traversing all the circles and the cornices, he finds between
him and felicity a wall of fire. This fire he must pass through.
Hitherto, he has had only to witness suffering. Now he must
share in it. Here, for the first time, the joyous angel of God
stands on the flames' brink, and proclaims in a voice "much
more living" than our own :
"Go ye not further, holy spirits, . . .
Ere the fire pierce you."
Hitherto, he has known only the effort of doing the good that
is the burden of the moral law. By this he has been sanctified
and is a "holy spirit." But his peace is not confirmed unless
he gain perpetual purity by the burning test of penance and
asceticism. Terrified at first and shrinking, he, at length,
plunges into the torment, and emerges into the freedom of
Paradise, with none but his own will to guide him, possessing
his soul unto himself.
To sum up, the real proper notion of asceticism is that
it is a means, not an end. The end of every Christian life is to
please God by practising all the virtues. This is to say by
obeying the Commandments. Now obedience is sometimes
easy, but just as often it is very hard and tries man's resolution
sorely. On this account the will must be well trained, else in
critical moments it will fail to conquer. The training consists,
first and foremost, in the practice of obedience itself, but this
alone will never give security. He who would be sure of him-
self must expend in the effort the maximum of energy. Be-
sides doing all that is commanded, he must do more, he must
1921.] ASCETICISM: AN UNPOPULAR APOLOGY 801
take other safeguards. So, by fastings and watches, hair
shirt and discipline, cast-down eyes and silent lips, life in
cavern or desert or on pillar-top, in short by a life of ascet-
icism, he makes his will assured of victory.
The writers in the Pithecanthropica will point out that
this is not historical asceticism, that I fail to consider the
Pythagoreans and Cynics, Essenes and Therapeutae, Man-
ichaeans and Celts, Bogomiles and Flagellants, Zulu taboos
and Hindu f akirdom. It may not, indeed, be historical ascet-
icism, nor prehistorical, nor ethnological, nor anthropological,
nor paleonto logical asceticism. But it is Christian and correct
asceticism. In this article I am occupied solely with asceticism
as practised by noble Christian men and women, and as rever-
enced by others less strong of will, but fully intelligent. In
their lives asceticism has a purpose, in their minds a meaning
and value such as I have exposed.
Without aspiring to such high life ourselves, let us yet
have the honesty to recognize in it something that is great and
holy and precious in God's sight. It is a tradition of which
hagiography is too full for it to be despised or unheeded. The
lives of the saints should not be to us valuable only as histor-
ically instructive, still less as a pastime, still less as objects for
our criticism, but as containing matter which yields to humble
minds lessoning in the worth and possibility of Christian
ideals. Together with the rest of the Church's history, they are
a sort of protracted Scripture, a Third Testament, an unin-
spired, but most inspiring, Bible wherein we may see the
imitation of Christ as in the first we saw His foreshadowing.
Of their histories it may be said in an applied sense: "What-
soever things are read are written for our learning." There
are here facts and teachings, rich and diversified. There is the
miraculous, the prophetic, the heroic, the mystical; but the
ascetical forms part and parcel of the magnificent tradition.
We see here its necessity for any perfect Christian life. With
less we may reach such a standard that worldly men in their
rough reckoning shall call us good, high enough, perhaps, for a
pagan to call us perfect, but not so high as to merit that appel-
lation in its Christian meaning.
There have been those, however, who have all but at-
tained the level of perfection set by those words of Aristotle,
imaged by Dante in his earthly paradise; but they have not
VOL. CXII. 51
802 THE GIFT OF SHAMROCKS [Mar.,
been people like you and me in the convenience of our moral-
ities, and we call them not stoics, nor philosophers, nor heroes,
nor demigods. We call them saints. Remember that none of
them has reached his sainthood by being content with doing
what was commanded. All of them embraced and cherished
some of the many forms of that asceticism which we must
reverence in word and thought, although we imitate it not in
deed.
THE GIFT OF SHAMROCKS.
BY S. M. E.
4
HE took the small-leaved shamrock from his breast,
As though it were a diamond-mounted crest,
And gave with eyes grown deep with love and pride :
And as I took the gift of mystic green, I knew
He saw, not me, but fields brushed by the dew,
That lay, so green, his mother's home beside.
And still each year I take from that kind hand
The dainty leaves sent from far Ireland
Though sorrowing Time has come and stood between
Still see the tear-dimmed eyes the glance so true;
Through them behold the hills I never knew
The Irish hills where grow the shamrocks green.
THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE.
BY JOHN A. RYAN, D.D.
HE State, or civil society, is not a voluntary or
optional association, such as, a trade union or a
social club. It is a necessary society, a society
which men are morally bound to establish and to
maintain. This obligation arises from the fact
that without a political organization and government, men
cannot adequately develop their faculties, or live right and
reasonable lives. God has so made human beings that the State
is necessary for their welfare. "Man's natural instinct," says
Pope Leo XIII., "moves him to live in civil society, for he
cannot, if dwelling apart, provide himself with the necessary
requirements of life, nor procure the means of developing his
mental and moral faculties." 1
This, then, is the general end or purpose of the State, the
promotion of human welfare. However, not all human wel-
fare falls within the State's province. Man's spiritual and
moral well-being are the special object of the Church. "The
Almighty, therefore, has appointed the charge of the human
race between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the
one being set over divine and the other over human things." 2
Nor is the jurisdiction of the State over "human things" ex-
clusive and complete. There is another association, another
institution, for the promotion of temporal welfare which, in its
own sphere, is superior to the State in authority, and prior to
it in point of time. That is the family. In the primitive age
of most peoples, the family provided for many of the needs
and performed many of the functions that, in later stages of
development, have come under the care of the State. Moreover,
men have a natural right to form a great variety of voluntary
associations for their common temporal advantage, as, in the
fields of industry, fraternal insurance, and purely "social"
activities. Therefore, the end of the State is to promote the
common good only to the extent that this object cannot b
attained by the family or by voluntary associations.
1 Encyclical, 'The Chrlstiam Constitution of States." 'Idem.
804 THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE [Mar.,
|
This, in a sense residuary, province always exists, and is
always very extensive and very flexible. Concerning it, there
still exists a theory which is older than the Christian era, ap-
pearing among the Orientals, as well as in Greece and Rome.
In brief, it regarded the State itself as the end of all individual
effort. Hence, the State had for its province the whole field of
human action, religious, moral, domestic, economic and social.
The State could legitimately intervene and interfere in every
department of life; and to it every person and every interest
was completely subject and completely subordinate. Accord-
ing to this theory, the province of the State comprised not
merely man's temporal interests, but every detail of his exist-
ence; and the welfare of the individual, or of any particular
group of individuals, was conceived to have no value, except in
so far as it served the interests and aggrandizement of the
State. "The individual was always under the eye of the State;
his conduct was regulated and his life determined for him with
such minuteness that he was regarded as existing for the State
rather than the State for him." 3 In the words of Lord Acton,
the ancients "concentrated so many prerogatives in the State
as to leave no footing from which a man could deny its juris-
diction or assign bounds to its activity.
If I may employ an expressive anachronism, the vice of
the classic State was that it was both Church and State in
one. Morality was indistinguished from religion, and politics
from morals; and in religion, morality, and politics there was
only one legislator and one authority. The State, while it did
deplorably little for education, for practical science, for the
indigent and helpless, or for the spiritual needs of man, never-
theless claimed the use of all his faculties and the determina-
tion of all his duties. Individuals and families, associations
and dependencies were so much material that the sovereign
power consumed for its own purposes. What the slave was
in the hands of his master, the citizen was in the hands of the
community. The most sacred obligations vanished before the
public advantage. "The passengers existed for the sake of the
ship." 4
In this ancient theory, the reader will have perceived two
distinct elements, apparently independent of each other.
Introduction to Political Science, by James W. Garner, p. 312.
* History of Freedom and Other Essays, pp. 16, 17.
1921.] THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE 805
Nevertheless, they are closely related. If the State is conceived
as an end in itself, to which individuals and citizens are mere
means, its province will necessarily be regarded as comprising
the whole field of the individual's relations and actions. Since
everyone of these affects the prosperity of the State, they must
all be under the absolute control of the State. Therefore, the
theory of the State as a final end implies the theory of the
State as embracing every end which the individual may con-
ceivably seek. And there is a strong tendency for the rule to
work both ways. The first element is liable to imply the
second.
If the end of the State be coextensive with man's whole
life and interests, if it may regard as its proper and exclusive
field, not merely the maintenance of peace, security, order and
justice, but all the details of man's welfare in his religious,
moral, domestic, economic, and purely "social" relationship,
the State will sooner or later come to regard its own prosperity
and aggrandizement as the final end of all its policies and
actions. The narrow sphere assigned to individual initiative
and individual liberty, and the immense concentration of
power in the hands of political functionaries, will be mutually
helpful forces impelling men to look upon the prosperity of the
State as superseding and absorbing the welfare of human
beings.
The theory of State omnipotence and omnicompetence has
been revived in modern times. One of its most notable later
forms is that expounded by the German philosopher, F. W.
Hegel. 5 In his view, the State is the highest expression, mani-
festation, evolution of the Universal Reason, or World Spirit.
Since perfection of life consists in the continuous expansion of
the Universal Reason, and since the Universal Reason obtains
its highest development in the State, all persons and institu-
tions should serve and magnify the State. The individual
exists for the State, and bears the same relation to the State
as the branch does to the tree. Hence the State is the final and
supreme end of human action, is an end in itself.
The number of political writers who have fully adopted
the Hegelian theory of the State is negligible. Its philosophical
basis is a pantheistic view of the universe which has not found
Philosophic des Rechts; English translation by S. W. Byd, Hegel's Philosophy
of Right.
806 THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE [Mar.,
' 'Jl :
wide acceptance. Nevertheless, the central idea that the indi-
vidual exists for the State, and not the State for the individual,
has been approved in some degree by a large number of
political writers and by not a few political rulers. While
Professor James W. Garner declares that "modern political
thought and practice reject the view that the State is an end
rather than a means," 6 the Rev. Theodore Meyer, S.J., asserts
that this view is held "not merely by one or two, but probably
by a majority of the teachers of public law." 7 According to
Meyer, the prevailing form of the theory is this: The end of the
State is the indefinite furtherance of human culture or civiliza-
tion. While this end may, indeed, be identified with individual
welfare, it is formulated by the advocates of the theory in
such general and abstract terms that little consideration is
given to the individual's concrete interests. The latter are
always remote, always lost in some future condition of human-
ity at large. Existing individuals become secondary and sub-
ordinate to the general interests of the future. Since the evo-
lution of humanity and the indefinite progress of civilization
necessarily tend to be identified with the welfare of the State,
the latter conies to be regarded as the supreme end.
A theory of State purpose which can easily be, and some-
times has been, perverted into the doctrine that the State is
an end in itself, is that which holds that its primary object is
the development of national power ("der Rationale Machtz-
weck"). If national power be confined within the limits fixed
by natural law and human welfare, and if it be conceived as
an intermediate and instrumental end as a means to the wel-
fare of the people it is unobjectionable. Occasionally, how-
ever, it has been accepted, especially in practice by political
rulers, as not only the primary, but also the ultimate end of
State activity. Wherever this acceptation and policy prevail,
the individual is unduly subordinated to the State. The glori-
fication of the State as a detached entity is sought to the detri-
ment of its citizens.
A more general and fundamental influence in favor of the
doctrine that the State is an end in itself, is produced by the
almost universal rejection of the doctrine of natural rights.
If the individual has no rights that are independent of th
"Introduction te Political Scienee, p. 312.
7 Institutions Juris Naturalis, IT., 276, note.
1921.] THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE 807
State, then the State is the supreme determinant of rights.
Theoretically, indeed, men may hold that the end of the State
is the welfare of individuals, and that in the promotion of this
end the State may disregard the natural rights of particular
individuals, or particular groups of individuals. This course
may be represented as promoting the welfare of the great
majority of individuals, rather than the interest of the State
as an abstraction. Nevertheless, the disregard of natural rights
in the case of any group of individuals and the assumption
that the State is the source of all individual rights, necessarily
tend to diminish the importance of the individual as such,
and to exaggerate the importance of the State. Therefore, this
view gives strength to the theory that at any given time, and
in relation to its existing subjects or citizens, the State is an
end in iself .
Another source of the doctrine that the State rather than
the individual is the supreme end of human action, is found in
the modern theory of sovereignty. This is the theory asso-
ciated with the name of the English jurist, John Austin. 8 It
maintains that political sovereignty is legally unlimited. Two
postulates are implied in this theory: first, the State recog-
nizes no other society as its superior or as its equal; second,
the State has the physical power to coerce all individuals and
societies into obedience to its mandates. The first of these
contradicts the Catholic doctrine that, in its own sphere, the
Church is an independent, perfect and supreme social organ-
ization, and that, in society as a whole, it is coordinate with,
not subordinate to, the State. This is a question of moral
right, of the requirements of reason; it is not a question of
physical power. Whether the State does or does not recognize
this moral right and national authority of the Church in the
field of the spirit, whether the State does or does not hinder
by force the Church's exercise of this right the right itself
exists and endures. The second postulate of the Austinian
theory involves a question of positive fact. Is the State always
sufficiently strong to coerce at will the actions of all individuals
and associations within its territory? History supplies a rather
large list of examples in the negative. However, it is correct
to say that the State usually has sufficient physical power to
overcome any opposing force within its borders.
8 Lectures on Jurisprudence, 1832.
808 THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE [Mar.,
The conception of sovereignty, or the supreme politico-
physical power of the State, as legally unlimited easily passes
into the assumption that it is unlimited morally. If sovereignty
were defined as the supreme legal, political and physical
power of the State to do everything that the State has a moral
right to do, this assumption could never be drawn from the
definition. When the moral qualification is omitted from the
definition, it readily comes to be ignored in thought and prac-
tice. Legal omnipotence insensibly passes complete and un-
qualified omnipotence. Defenders of the Austinian doctrine
may protest that the latter conception "is characteristic only
of some exponents of the doctrine," that the doctrine "in no
way necessarily denies that the State ought to obey the moral
law," yet their emphasis upon the absolute character of sover-
eignty, and their failure to make explicit reference to its
moral limitations, promotes the assumption, conscious or un-
conscious, that no such limitations exist. 9 After all, the defini-
tion of sovereignty merely in terms of physical and legal
power has little or no practical value, imparts little or no prac-
tical information; for the idea of the State necessarily
and immediately implies this measure of power over its ter-
ritory and people. What is required, is a statement of the
reasonable power possessed by the State. And the average
man naturally assumes that any formal authoritative definition
is intended to be of this character, is designed to tell him not
only what the State has the physical power to do, but what it
may do in harmony with the moral law and the principles of
reason.
The influence of the current theory of sovereignty in pro-
moting the view that the State is not bound by the moral law,
is reenforced by two particular assumptions. The first is the
assumption which denies that individuals or social groups "are
possessed of any natural rights which, in effect, limit the power
of the State." 10 If the State may properly disregard natural
rights, treat them as non-existent, it may logically take the
same attitude toward all other elements of the moral law.
Indeed, the great majority of conflicts between the State and
the moral law have to do precisely with the question of natural
rights. The second assumption which lends support to the
/. "The Pluralistic State," in the American Political Science Review, vol. xiv.,
pp. 398 seq. 10 Idem, p. 404.
1921.] THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE 809
doctrine of State independence of the moral law, is that in
case of conflict the State itself is the only authority competent
to decide whether or not its proposed action constitutes a
violation of morality. In the view of Burgess, the State is the
best interpreter of the laws of God and of reason, and is the
human organ least likely to do wrong; hence one must hold
to the principle that "the State can do no wrong." 11
To the extent that men regard the State as the supreme
moral authority, as above the moral law which governs the
actions of individuals and private societies, to that extent they
must logically regard its judgments, its actions and its welfare
as the supreme consideration. They come to look upon the
State as an end in itself.
At first sight it would seem ridiculously incorrect to enum-
erate among those who hold the State to be an end in itself
the advocates of Socialism. For they profess to desire, above
all else, the welfare of the masses; they insist that the Socialist
State and administration is to be supremely democratic; and
many of the older Socialists went so far as to predict that
upon the establishment of the Socialist organization the State
would die out, as "a government of persons" to become sup-
planted by "an administration of things." Nevertheless, their
programme of State ownership and management of all the
industries that produce for a national or an international
market, involves both State omnipotence and State omnicom-
petence.
A State that controlled both the political and the industrial
life of the people, would completely subordinate the individual
to a centralized bureaucracy. This would be under the more
or less immediate direction of a majority, and not infrequently
of a powerfully organized minority, of the citizens. Conse-
quently, the welfare of the majority, or of the dominant minor-
ity, rather than the welfare of the individual as such, or the
welfare of all individuals, would come to be regarded as the
supreme consideration. It would also come to be conceived
as simply the welfare of the State. From this stage it is only
a step to the position of regarding the State as an end in itself.
At least, this would be the tendency if, as most Socialists
expect and assume, the constitution of the commonwealth
contained no guarantees of individual rights against the auto-
cratic and oppressive action of the State.
u Political Science and Constitutional Law, I., pp. 54-57.
810 THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE [Mar.,
|
In brief, the acceptance of the theory of the State as a final
end would be a practical consequence rather than a formal
postulate, an implicit rather than an explicit element, in the
Socialist system. Given the invincible combination of political
and industrial power, given the absence of a bill of rights for
the individual, the inevitable result would be the absorption
of the individual into the State and the conscious or uncon-
scious general acquiescence in the theory that the welfare of
the State is the supreme end of social and political endeavors
and policies. Indeed, the great majority of persons who today
exaggerate the dignity and rights of the State are led to this
position, not by a metaphysical theory of its nature and end,
but through a denial or a disregard of the natural rights of
the individual.
Whatsoever may be its sources, and however widely it
may be held, the theory of State omnipotence and omnicom-
petence, is fundamentally false. The State is not, as Hegel
thought, the highest expression of the World-Spirit: it is
merely an organization of human beings. The main purpose
of the State is not to promote the general evolution of human-
ity, culture or civilization: this aim is secondary and subor-
dinate. While the State is under reasonable obligation to give
some attention to the generations yet unborn, the welfare of
the men and women now living is paramount. Individuals
are not mere means or instruments to the glorification of the
State, but are persons having intrinsic worth and sacredness.
They are endowed with rights which may not be violated for
the sake of the State.
Considered apart from the individuals composing it, the
State is a mere abstraction. Considered as a majority or as a
select minority of its component individuals, the State has no
right, nor any reason, to disregard the claims of any section of
its members, since all are of equal worth and importance.
National power is a means to State efficiency, not the end for
which the State exists. As regards the sovereignty of the
State, it is strictly limited by the moral law, and its true end
is in harmony with the moral law. Finally, any organization
of the State which involves the practical disregard of indi-
vidual rights and individual freedom, is quite as unreasonable
as a system which formally assumes the State to be an end
in itself.
1921.] THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE 811
To all these theories, which either frankly make the State
an end in itself, or tend to do so by exaggerating its authority
and scope, we oppose the Catholic doctrine as expressed by
Pope Leo XIII. toward the close of his Encyclical, "On the
Condition of Labor:" "Civil society exists for the common
good, and hence is concerned with the interests of all in
general, albeit with individual interests in their due place and
degree." In this statement are two significant declarations:
first, that the end of the State is not itself, either as an ab-
straction, or as a metaphysical entity, or as a political organ-
ization, but the welfare of the people; second, that the welfare
of the people, "the common good," is not to be conceived in
such a collective or general or organic way as to ignore the
welfare of concrete human beings, individually considered. A
brief analysis of the phrase, "common good," as interpreted
by Catholic authorities, will enable us to see specifically and
precisely what is the true end of the State.
Taking, then, the two words, "common good," as the most
concise expression of the purpose for which the State exists
and functions, let us ask ourselves, first, what are the bene-
ficial objects denoted by the term "good?" They are all the
great classes of temporal goods; that is, all the things that man
needs for existence and development in this life. They com-
prise all these orders of goods: spiritual, intellectual, moral,
physical and economic. More briefly, they are all the external
goods of soul and body. Hence it is the right and duty of the
State to protect and further the religious interests of the
citizens; to promote within due limits their education; to
protect their morals against external dangers and to facilitate
moral education; to safeguard the liberty and the bodily in-
tegrity of the citizens from undue restraint, malicious attack
and preventable accident; and to protect private property and
provide the citizens with a reasonable opportunity of obtaining
a livelihood and advancing their material welfare.
That all these objects are conducive to human welfare, is
self evident; that none of them can be adequately attained
without the assistance of the State, is fully demonstrated by
experience; that they all come within the proper scope and
end of the State is the obvious conclusion.
Now these objects, spiritual, intellectual, moral, physical
and economic, are the end of the State, not under every aspect,
812 THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE [Mar.,
but only in so far as they are or can be made "common."
While the State exists for the individual, rather than the indi-
vidual for the State, it is not the business of the State to take
cognizance of every individual, as such, and to provide him
directly with all these goods, after the manner of the provision
made by a good father for his helpless children. Were the
State to attempt this it would injure, instead of promoting, the
welfare of the vast majority of individuals. This is the verdict
of experience. All that the State can do, therefore, is to make
these goods available. It can bring them within reach of the
individual only through general acts which aim to produce a
common effect. It can provide common opportunities; the
individual must take advantage of the opportunities and make
them fruitful for his peculiar needs. As a rule, therefore, the
State promotes the common good by general laws and institu-
tions, not by particular benefits.
On the other hand, the common, or general, or public good
must not receive a rigid or an exclusive interpretation. The
end of the State must, indeed, be conceived as common and
universal, in the sense that no class nor any individual is to
be positively excluded; but not every act of the State need
affect all citizens in the same way, nor be directly beneficial to
the whole community. As a matter of fact, few, if any, laws
or other civil acts have precisely the same effect upon all indi-
viduals. Conspicuous examples of this fact are tariff laws, tax
laws, industrial legislation of all sorts, and, indeed, substan-
tially all the enactments of any legislative body. Even such
elementary public institutions as the police force, the fire de-
partment and the public school affect different classes of citi-
zens differently and unequally.
In the second place, acts of the State need not always bene-
fit the community as a whole. While the State is obliged to
pursue the common good of all, it is not required to make
every one of its acts serve that end immediately and directly.
While it must confer general rather than particular benefits, it
often fulfills this obligation through enactments whose imme-
diate effect is to promote the welfare of only a single class.
Indeed, it is required to do this very thing if it is to attain its
final end. For its final end is the welfare of all its individual
members. Since its component individuals are grouped in
different classes, economic and other, they necessarily have
1921.] THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE 813
different interests. Unless these varying interests are recog-
nized and adequately cared for by appropriate State action,
some of the classes of the community will not be justly treated
by the State. In respect to these, the State will have failed to
promote the good of all.
The specious objection to class legislation is based en-
tirely upon a priori assumptions. It derives no support from
the facts of contemporary society. Its roots are to be found
in the individualistic theories that pervaded political thought
when the Government of the United States was established.
The political thinkers of that day assumed that all men were
so nearly equal in capacities and opportunities that all would
benefit equally by the few laws that were required to promote
the common welfare. While even then the population of the
country was divided into at least two important economic
classes, the agrarian and the commercial, and while these inter-
ests clashed more than once in the legislation of the time, and
even in the making of the Constitution, the diversity of class
interests was neither so pervasive nor so sharp as it has since
become; and the leaders of political thought believed that class
differences and disadvantages would tend to diminish rather
than increase. Thus began a misleading tradition which has
in all the succeeding years stood in the way of the correct
doctrine concerning the end of the State, and prevented the
enactment of necessary and humane social legislation.
If the State is to promote the common good in an equit-
able and adequate degree, it must consider both the good of
the whole and the good of the various classes. The common
interests of all the citizens can be cared for through uniform
and general legislation; for example, laws for the protection
of religion and morals. The varying interests of the different
classes must be provided for by enactments which differ ac-
cording to the different needs and deserts; for example, laws
concerning industrial combinations, cooperative associations
and labor organizations. To avoid all class legislation will
mean discrimination in favor of certain classes, namely, those
that are exceptionally powerful. These will be left free to
exploit the weaker classes. Hence, in the sentence quoted
above from Pope Leo XIII., the State is said to be concerned
"with individual interests in their due place and degree."
Earlier in the Encyclical, the great Pontiff expresses the cor-
814 THE PURPOSE OF THE STATE [Mar.,
rect principle with more amplitude and precision. "Whenever
the general interest, or any particular class, suffers or is threat-
ened with injury which can in no other way be met or pre-
vented, it is necessary for the State to intervene." The prin-
ciple laid down in the italicized section of this sentence is still
more specifically and emphatically stated in other passages of
the same Encyclical. For example: "The richer class have
many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of
help from the State; whereas those who are badly off have no
resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly de-
pend upon the assistance of the State." 12 The Catholic who
denounces all class legislation puts himself in opposition to
the formal and specific teaching of the Church.
The common good means not only the good of all in gen-
eral, or as a whole, but the good of every class and, so far as
practicable, the good of every individual. To put the matter
in summary terms, the State is under obligation to promote the
welfare of its citizens, as a whole, as members of families, and
as members of economic classes. 13
How far the State should go in the pursuit of these objects;
whether it should directly provide the various kinds of goods
required by the various classes, or merely create and guarantee
the opportunity of acquiring them; by what principles and
rules the State should be prevented from encroaching upon
the proper sphere of the individual, the Church and private
associations are questions which concern the State's func-
tions. They will be discussed in a succeeding article.
12 The whole section of the Encyclical on the part of the State in the reform of
industrial conditions is fundamental.
13 Cf. Costa-Rosetti, Synopsis Philosophies Moralis, pp. 479-495.
THE CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE.
BY HERBERT F. WRIGHT.
VERY four years just about the time of the in-
auguration of a new President the Congress of
the United States renews the discussion of the
question: Whether it is advisable or expedient
to change the beginning of the presidential term
to some other day than March 4th?
In this connection it might be worth while to note just how
the fourth of March was selected as the day on which the
Executive Head of our Government was to be inducted into
office. Article I., Section I., of the Constitution adopted by
the Federal Convention on September 17, 1787, and submitted
to the States eleven days later, says:
The executive power shall be vested in a President of the
United States of America. He shall hold his office during
the term of four years, etc.
It was impossible for the framers of the Constitution, the dele-
gates to the Federal Convention of 1787, to fix a day for the
commencement of the presidential term of office. No power to
arrange any matters regarding the starting of a new form
of government had been given to the constitutional convention;
it was merely instructed to draw up a constitution. It wcs the
Congress, which, by its resolution of September 13, 1788,
named the first Wednesday in January, 1789, as the day for
appointing electors in the several States, the first Wednesday in
February as the day for the electors to assemble in their
respective States and vote for President, and the first Wed-
nesday in March as the time for commencing proceedings
under the said Constitution. 1
This first Wednesday in March in the year 1789 happened
to be the fourth of March. On this day for the meeting of the
first Congress under the Constitution, the previous Congresses
*Cf. Hunt and Scott, The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, which
Framed the Constitution of the United States of America, reported by James Madison
(New York: Oxford University Press. 1920), p. 689.
816 CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE [Mar.,
f
having been under the Articles of Confederation, only eight
Senators appeared and took their seats, and these not consti-
tuting a quorum, they adjourned from day to day until March
llth, when "it was agreed that a circular should be written to
the absent members, requesting their immediate attendance." 2
No additional members appearing by the following Wednes-
day, "it was agreed that another circular should be written to
eight of the nearest absent members, particularly desiring their
attendance, in order to form a quorum." One Senator ap-
peared on March 19th, one on March 21st, one on March 28th,
and on Monday, April 6th, "Richard Henry Lee, from Virginia,
then appearing, took his seat, and formed a quorum of the
whole Senators of the United States," the quorum of the House
having been secured much earlier.
On this memorable day, the votes of the electors for Presi-
dent and Vice-President were opened and counted in the pres-
ence of the House and Senate, George Washington receiving
69 votes and John Adams 34 votes, with 35 votes scattered
among ten other candidates. These two were accordingly
named President and Vice-President respectively. Washing-
ton himself did not take the oath of office in New York City
until Thursday, April 30th. Three years later, by the Act of
March 1, 1792, the Congress fixed the commencement of the
presidential term as follows:
The term of four years, for which a President and Vice-
President shall be elected, shall, in all cases, commence on
the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which
the votes of the electors have been given. 3
Under the present laws, the presidential electors, equal in
number to the number of Senators and Representatives, 4 are
appointed on the Tuesday after the first Wednesday in Novem-
ber. 5 On the first Wednesday in December of the year in
which they are appointed, they meet and give their votes. 6
They make and sign three certificates of all votes given by
them, each certificate containing two distinct lists (one for
2 The quotations concerning the First Congress are taken from Annals of the
Congress of the United States, First Congress, Vol. I. (Washington, 1834), pp. 15, 16.
3 Revised Statutes of the United States, passed at the First Session of the Forty-
Third Congress, 1873-1874, Section 152 (Second Edition, Washington, 1878), p. 24.
'Ibid., Section 132, p. 22. Ibid., Section 131, p. 22. Ibid., Section 135, p. 22.
1921.] CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE 817
President and one for Vice-President) , and having attached
one of the lists of electors furnished them by the Governor
of the State. 7 They then seal up the certificates and certify
upon each that the lists of all such State's votes for President
and Vice-President are contained therein, 8 disposing of the
certificates in the following manner:
One. They shall, by writing under their hands, or under
the hands of a majority of them, appoint a person to take
charge of and deliver to the President of the Senate, at the
seat of Government, before the first Wednesday in January
then next ensuing, one of the certificates.
Two. They shall forthwith forward by the post-office to
the President of the Senate, at the seat of Government,
one other of the certificates.
Three. They shall forthwith cause the other of the certif-
icates to be delivered to the judge of that district in which
the electors shall assemble. 9
Whenever a certificate of votes from any State has not
been received at the seat of Government on the first Wednes-
day of January, the Secretary of State shall send a special mes-
senger to the district judge having custody of a certificate, who
shall forthwith transmit that list to the seat of Government. 10
Congress must be in session on the second Wednesday in Feb-
ruary succeeding every meeting of electors, and the certificates
(or as many as shall have been received) shall then be opened,
the votes counted and the results declared. 11 Mileage of
twenty-five cents for the messenger by the most usual road to
the seat of Government from the meeting-place of the electors
is provided for, 12 and every messenger, accepting appointment
as such under Sections 140 and 141 and neglecting to perform
the services required of him, shall forfeit the sum of $1,000. 13
This year, in view of the political landslide, the electors have
failed to grasp the full significance of this last provision, so
that it has become necessary for Senator Smoot of Utah to pro-
pose the remission of the $1,000 fine and the payment of mile-
age to the messengers of the electors, who arrived late, but
before January 31st.
For the past thirty years or more, attempts have been made
to change the date of Inauguration Day, but in vain. The new
Ibid., Section 138, p. 23. * Ibid., Section 139, p. 23. Ibid., Section 140, p. 23.
" Ibid., Section 141, p. 23. " Ibid., Section 142, p. 23.
" Ibid., Section 144, p. 23. Ibid., Section 145, p. 23.
VOL. caui. 52
818 CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE [Mar.,
dates proposed have been November 4th (Senator Works in
1913), April 4th (House Joint Resolution 46 in 1909), the last
Wednesday in April (Senator Depew in 1909), May 4th (Sen-
ate Resolution 83 in 1898) and the second Monday in December
(Representative McArthur in 1921). At least eight proposals
were made in 1909. These efforts were centred upon amend-
ments to the Constitution, because under the Constitution the
official term of members of the House of Representatives is
fixed at two years (Article I., Section 2) ; and the Continental
Congress having fixed March 4th as the time for the commence-
ment of that term, the commencement and termination of each
succeeding House of Representatives was thereby established
and can be altered only by an amendment to the Constitution,
each Representative being entitled to his full term of service
and the people to their constitutional representative. We can
readily draw the inference that, in order to change the date of
Inauguration Day, the Constitution must be amended.
As Senator Hoar of Massachusetts once vigorously de-
clared, the Constitution should never be amended unless there
is some great principle involved in the proposed change. The
only changes made up to his time were made, he said, to cover
points purposely obscured in the original document for the
sake of harmony. Even these amendments have lessened the
respect and reverence with which the instrument is regarded.
In view of this, how undesirable and short-sighted it would be
to enact changes therein, except for purposes that the nation
as a whole, not merely that small percentage of the nation
present at the inauguration, urgently requires, since those who
advocate the change in question give only two reasons: the
inclemency of the weather, and the insufficiency of the time
allotted to the Congress to legislate the thirteen great appro-
priations. Let us consider these in order.
It is an acknowledged fact, they say, that March 4th is
always rainy or stormy or snowy or extremely disagreeable.
The last Thursday in April, the anniversary of the first inau-
guaration, is, they maintain, an ideal day for inauguration. It
might be interesting to note, however, before we see if sta-
tistics bear out the above statement, that in April, 1898, when a
bill proposing such a change was up before the Congress for
discussion, the last Thursday was the coldest day of the winter.
On May 10, 1898, Senator Perkins of California delivered
1921.] CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE 819
a speech on this question in the Senate chamber. In reply to
his query as to the weather conditions of Inauguration Days
from 1789 to 1897, Professor Willis Moore of the Weather
Bureau furnished him with comparative tables showing the
state of the weather on the fourth of March and the last
Wednesday in April in each year from 1873 to 1898 and indi-
cating the direction and maximum velocity of the wind, the
highest and lowest temperature and the condition of the
weather. Before 1873, when the Weather Bureau was estab-
lished, the information was supplied by Mr. Ainsworth R.
Spofford, then Librarian of Congress. According to this in-
formation, of the twenty-eight Inauguration Days between
1789 and 1897, seventeen have been fair and pleasant days,
nine have been stormy days and two have no existing record.
Using the Weather Bureau Statistics from 1873 to 1897,
there have been sixteen clear, fair or partly cloudy days falling
on the fourth of March, and seventeen clear, fair or partly
cloudy days falling on the last Wednesday in April. 14 There
have been ten rainy, snowy or threatening days on the fourth
of March and nine rainy, snowy or threatening days on the last
Wednesday in April. There has been snow or sleet four times
on the fourth of March in twenty-six years and snow or sleet
once in April, but this storm was more severe than any on the
fourth of March. There has been rain six times on the fourth
of March and six times on the last Wednesday in April. The
only advantage of April over March in all these years, seems
to be that on three April days there have been high winds and
threatening weather in place of light snow or sleet.
Surely we would gain nothing by changing from the fourth
of March to the last Thursday in April or some similar date.
Experience should "show us that there is no necessity for
changing the Constitution to adapt it to the clerk of the weather
unless we can so control the elements that we will have assur-
ance that we will have a pleasant day on the last Thursday in
April."
But most of the Congressmen advocating the change claim
that the more important reason for it is that Congress needs
about thirty days more in which to legislate the thirteen great
appropriation bills. This is obviously untrue, since as Senator
14 We have taken Wednesday because a record of this day was obtained by
Senator Perkins from the Weather Bureau, and will serve as an example of weather
in the latter part of April.
820 CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE [Mar.,
Perkins pointed out, Congress in its short session has had no
difficulty in this direction during the past century and a quarter
of its existence. Senator Allen, in speaking on the subject,
said:
Rarely anything is done in December. There is plenty
of time to legislate if we only would. But the difficulty
is that when we come here, instead of starting at our work
as though we intended to accomplish it, we begin skirmish-
ing for position in party politics. Every needed law, every
needed appropriation bill, everything necessary to be done
by the Congress of the United States for the benefit of the
people of this country can be done in five months for the
whole two years if we would sit down here and go to work.
Moreover, if, as some Congressmen desire, in order to secure a
longer period for the passage of the appropriation bills, the
time of the assembling of the second session of the Congress
were fixed for the second or third Monday in November, add-
ing two or three weeks at the beginning of the session, and the
session prolonged until April 30th, adding nearly two months
at the end, this, of course, could be done by statute; but if that
be done the members of both the House and the Senate must
be absent from their State elections, which occur on the second
Tuesday in November, and absent two years out of every four
years from the national elections and the national campaigns,
where they are expected to give an account of their steward-
ship.
Neither the inclemency of the weather, therefore, nor the
insufficiency of the time of the session of the Congress war-
rant such a serious step as is proposed. A more important
objection, however, to the present state of affairs an objection
which is really well-founded and too little stressed has to do
with the excessive interval between the elections and the
assuming of office.
In the case of a Senator or Representative, thirteen months
elapse between election day and the actual beginning of work
at Washington, unless the President sees fit to call a special
session. In the case of the President, four months elapse
between election and inauguration. These lapses of time are
altogether too long, for they often permit legislative and execu-
tive authority to remain in the hands of individuals and po-
litical parties that have been discredited at the polls. The
1921.] CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE 821
remedy for these conditions, however, need not be sought in a
constitutional amendment because the time of elections and
the time of congressional sessions may be changed by Act of
Congress, according to Article I., Section 4, of the Constitution.
An additional reason is to be found against fixing a day of
the week instead of a day of the month for Inauguration Day,
for under this arrangement the term of the President will be
two days or more longer than four years. In other words, the
last Thursday in April, which might fall on the twenty-fourth
in one year, would fall on the thirtieth in the next; so that four
years later the last Thursday would fall on the twenty-eighth,
making a term of four years and four days. It certainly would
not be a fixed period, and another constitutional amendment
would be required to give the President an indeterminate term
of four years more or less, otherwise the outgoing President
would have the constitutional right for the term of two days
or more to exercise the duties and functions of his office after
the other President has been inaugurated. Even if this be
considered substantially four years, the term of Senators, who
are chosen under the Constitution (Article I., Section 3) for a
fixed term of exactly six years, would have to be modified.
Likewise, the terms of the Representatives, who are chosen for
two years, would have to be modified, since their election and
terms depend on that of the President.
The advocates of the change in date might claim that this
same technicality exists when the fourth of March falls on
Sunday. Since the first inauguration in 1789, the fourth of
March has occurred on Sunday in inaugural years only four
times : Monroe's inauguration in 1821, Taylor's in 1849, Hayes'
in 1877 and Wilson's second in 1917, all of which took place on
the following Monday, the fifth of March. Moreover, only
twice during the rest of the present century will the fourth of
March fall on Sunday in inaugural years: in 1945 and 1973.
Whereas, in the other case two or more days are added to or
subtracted from every President's term, in this case a differ-
ence of only a few hours exists only three times in a century.
The latter is at least in keeping with the spirit of the Constitu-
tion, while the former is a radical change.
Many persons, Governors as well as Congressmen, have
expressed the opinion that former inaugurations have taught
the nation a lesson. They point to the large death list, deaths
822 CHANGE OF INAUGURATION DATE [Mar.,
t
which have been caused by unnecessary exposure to bad
weather during inaugurations. They infer that the date should
be changed so that the patriotic people, who have journeyed
from afar and who, perhaps, may never secure the opportunity
to come to Washington again, might be better enabled to view
the ceremonies in comfort. The weather fallacy has been dis-
cussed above. The parade and the pageantry are very minor
affairs.
The earlier inaugurations were comparatively simple,
though clothed with the dignity fitting the occasion.
Washington's first inauguration was naturally a time of na-
tional rejoicing and was accompanied by elaborate ceremonies
for that time. His second one, however, was not nearly so
pretentious. Without much ostentation, he was conveyed to
Independence Hall (the seat of Government having been
moved from New York to Philadelphia) in a coach and six.
John Adams' inauguration, also in Philadelphia, was featured
by the absence of street parades or any showy display. Jack-
son's second inauguration was marked by neither procession
nor military escort. Jefferson's inauguration has long been
considered the model of democratic simplicity.
But there is no need to hark back to the early days of the
Republic. The new President-elect has had the courage to treat
the country to a return to democratic simplicity in the celebra-
tion of a "safe and sane" fourth of March! This, no doubt, is
an aftermath and a salutary fruit of the Great War, which
plunged the United States, together with all the other nations
of the earth, headlong into a state of indebtedness from which
they can hope to emerge only with the most rigid economy.
So, avaunt to a change in the date of Inauguration Day!
The associations of March fourth are sacred and dear to every
patriotic American. George Washington's first inauguration,
it is true, was on the thirtieth of April, but every other Presi-
dent since that time, with the four exceptions when Sunday
fell on that date, has been inaugurated on the fourth of March.
flew Books.
AMERICAN LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD. By
Henry C. Sample, S.J. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. $2.00.
Throughout this volume Father Semple has emphasized his
idea that American liberty is the noblest because the most com-
plete and most sane to be found in the world today. This con-
ception, supported by decisions of our Supreme Court and by the
recognition of God in our public documents, runs like a golden
thread through these essays, and endows them with a poetic, as
well as a logical, unity. The introductory essay, which gives
the volume its name, attacks the contention of John Austin and
others that there is no moral sanction in the case of international
law, and points out that such a contention fundamentally implies
a denial of God. Father Semple ably vindicates his thesis, and
points out that American judicial opinions, either implicitly or
explicitly, recognize the potency of moral law and the existence
of its God.
In his essay, "American Equality and Justice," Father Semple
declares that the guarantee of liberty and equality is greater in
the United States than in any country in the world, with the
possible exception of the British Empire, supporting his claim by
references to decisions of the Supreme Court, especially in the
case of Lee v. The United States, and The Municipality of Ponce
v. The Roman Catholic Apostolic Church in Porto Rico. The
essay called "The Case of Socialism v. The Roman Catholic Church
and The United States," is a telling indictment against the main
tenet of Socialism, community of goods, which he holds to be
directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind. He does not
stop at proving Socialism anti-Catholic, but anti-American as well,
concluding with this ringing sentence: "How America should
love the Church and the Church America; nay, how the whole
world should love the Church and America, as the two mightiest
guardians of principles which are saviours of society from envy,
madness, anarchy, misery, and slavery!"
The fourth and last essay is a study of the divine right
of kings which every student of history should read, for it de-
molishes the fallacy, accepted in some quarters, that the Catholic
Church has been the bulwark of absolutism, and that this doc-
trine rested primarily upon her authority. Against divine right
the author calls to his support Bellarmine, who in turn fell back
824 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
upon the "common teaching of all the Doctors," and upon Suarez,
who did not hesitate to write: "According to ordinary law, no
king or monarch has, or has had, political sovereignty immedi-
ately from God or by divine institution," adding, "this is a funda-
mental axiom of theology."
Father Semple has done a good service in publishing this
volume, and merits praise not only as a scholar, but as a citizen
of the great nation to whose principles and ideals he has paid
eloquent tribute in its pages.
A CENTURY OF PERSECUTION UNDER TUDOR AND STUART
SOVEREIGNS. By Rev. St. George Hyland, D.D., Ph.D. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Co. $8.00 net.
The Loseley Records, preserved by the descendants of Sir
William More of Loseley Hall, are the sources from which Dr.
Hyland draws the materials for this illuminating study. To quote
from his introduction: "In 1835, Alfred John Kemp, Esq., F.S.A.,
copied and edited a selection of the Loseley manuscripts. The
work was published by Dr. John Murray. It was not intended
to be exhaustive, and, although full of interest, it still left a quan-
tity of material for future writers to publish, wherewith could be
weaved a story of astounding interest." It is this task, here sug-
gested, that Dr. Hyland has essayed with marked success. Inter-
esting and authoritative is the history of the English Reformation
unfolded in these pages by means of the contemporary docu-
ments. With an excellent ordering of his material to bring into
relief the acts of that fateful drama, he first sketches a picture of
Catholic community life near Loseley on the eve of the Refor-
mation. Next follows a description of the manor of Loseley and
its occupants at the time. Then, addressing himself to his main
purpose, he elucidates from private letters, statutes, decrees of
Court, etc., the process by which England was wrested from her
allegiance to the Faith. As we read the drastic measures en-
forced by the Tudors and Stuarts against recusants; the letters
which divulge the politic conformity to Protestantism of nobles
like Southampton and Montague; the accounts of the Seminary
Priests who braved Tyburn to stem the tide of perversion, we get
a panoramic view of the spectacle of a nation's apostasy. The
chapter, "In the Wine-press," with its description of the dungeons
of the Tower, is a notable illustration of the manner in which the
author vivifies his documentary evidence of religious persecution.
Most fascinating are the written memorials in which we glimpse
the personalities of Cardinal Allen, Fathers Robert Southwell,
Alexander Bryant, Robert Parsons, and Edmund Campion.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 825
Among the transcripts made in full are the pastoral of Cardinal
Pole to the people of London, and his letter of reprobation to
Cranmer, with its dubious indulgence toward Henry. An appen-
dix containing the list of the records quoted, together with the
originals of the Latin documents translated in the text, and a
complete index, make the book serviceable for purposes of refer-
ence.
THE UNITED STATES. By Carl Becker. New York: Harper &
Brothers. $2.50.
This brilliant study in American history is sub-entitled, "An
Experiment in Democracy," and the sub-title reveals something
of the plan and aim of the book. Has the United States been suc-
cessful in its experiment in democracy? is the question Professor
Becker poses, and, having with great skill and no little literary
charm assembled the data, leaves the reader to answer. The ac-
count of the development of American history is extremely well
done, Professor Becker successively considering democracy in
relation to Government, Free Land, Slavery, Immigration, Educa-
tion, and Equality. Throughout there are shrewd and sound
annotations of American character and types; and especially keen
is the author's analysis of American higher education, with which
he has been long and honorably connected. The reader will find
this book an admirable supplement to the classic work of Bryce.
THE MEANING OF CHRISTIANITY ACCORDING TO LUTHER
AND HIS FOLLOWERS IN GERMANY. By Very Rev. M. J.
Lagrange, O.P. Translated by Rev. W. S. Reilly, S.S. New
York: Longmans, Green & Co. $2.25 net.
These ten lectures on the history of rationalist exegesis in
Germany for the past one hundred and fifty years were delivered
in the Catholic Institute of Paris, in the fall of 1917, by Father
Lagrange, the eminent Director of the Biblical School of Jeru-
salem. They cover the same ground covered by the Sulpician
Father Fillion in his Les Etapes du Rationalisme, which was re-
viewed on its appearance in these columns by the present writer.
Father Pillion's book was more complete, for it recorded the at-
tacks upon the Bible, not only in Germany, but in France and
England, which borrowed so much of its pseudo-Scriptural
scholarship from German sources. On the other hand, it is not
so useful a volume to the tyro in Scriptural study as the popular
treatise of Father Lagrange, which not only records the attacks
upon the Catholic position, but shows by positive arguments their
unfairness and inaccuracy.
826 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
4
An introductory chapter deals with the exegesis of the Cath-
olic Church. Father Lagrange shows that the Church Catholic
is alone able to discuss adequately and accurately the history of
Christian origins, and confronts criticism with courage and sin-
cerity, confident of the backing of the collective opinion of nearly
two thousand years.
After a brief discussion of Luther's failure to understand
either St. Paul or St. Augustine, Father Lagrange discusses the
chief theories of German rationalists from the days of Lessing
and Reimarus to the present day. He answers the accusation of
imposture of the early Deists, shows the arbitrary character of
Paulus' denial of the supernatural, and refutes in turn the myth
theory of Straus, the Petrinism-Paulinism of the Tubingen school,
the radicalism of Bauer and the Liberals, the eschatological
Messianism of Weiss and his following, and the Judaeo-Pagan
syncretism of Bousset. Finally, a word is said about the mod-
ern denial of the existence of Jesus a reductio ad absurdum of
years of superficial and arbitrary criticism. As Father Lagrange
says: "It is remarkable that the divinity of Christ appeared to
certain critics so well established at the beginning of Christianity
that it was easier to deny His human personality than the divine
character which he had in history." To give the Germans their
due, it must not be forgotten that this absurd denial of the Christ
is of English origin, the first book mentioning it being Christian-
ity and Mythology, published by John M. Robinson in London,
1910. Other defenders of this theory are the American, William
B. Smith; the Englishman, Whittaker; the Dutchman, Bolland,
and the Poles, Lubinski and Niemojewski. Drews, its popular
orator, is a German professor.
Our lecturer concludes: "No criticism of the texts, no
elimination of the testimonies, no declaration against the authen-
ticity of the Gospels or the Epistles suffices to take away from the
figure of Jesus its supernatural character. If you do not reject
absolutely all, like the mythicists, if you retain a residuum, how-
ever little, of the historical tradition concerning Jesus, it must
be admitted that He held and manifested claims to a supernatural
role, and that He died for having done so. You are then ever
brought back, after many devious windings, by German
exegesis itself, into the presence of Jesus, an object of contra-
diction, and you have to decide either to insult Him or to adore
Him."
The title of the book is very misleading to one who does not
know the French original Le Sens du Christianisme d'apres
I'Exdgese Allemande. The translation is unfortunately poor.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 827
THE HAPPY BRIDE. By F. Tennyson Jesse. New York: George
H. Doran Co. $2.00 net.
Perhaps Miss Jesse's work would not seem so aggressively
modern were it not for the inevitable comparison with the poetry
of her celebrated great-uncle, Lord Tennyson. But the fact
remains that it is modern, and nearly always in an admirable
sense. It is free and first-hand in its concepts; and if it sways
toward an unnecessarily brutal imagism in "The Sparrow and
the Motor Bus," it achieves in such poems as "I, Now an Old
Woman Grown," the strong and (apparently) simple music of a
primitive ballad or lament. There are few among the younger
group of contemporary English poets whose development will be
watched with more interest than that of F. Tennyson Jesse.
DANTE. By John T. Slattery, Ph.D. New York: P. J. Kenedy &
Sons. $2.00.
As Dr. John H. Finley says in the preface to Dante, by John
T. Slattery, Ph.D., "the study of Dante's Divine Comedy will ever
be both a discipline and a delight, calling forth the deepest emo-
tions of our being." To see Dante as Dr. Slattery does, surely
confirms this statement. Here in one of the latest additions to
the great library of Dante appreciations, interpretations, and criti-
cisms, we have a series of five interesting lectures delivered dur-
ing 1919 and 1920 before the New York State College for Teachers
at Albany.
In the first, the author treats at length of the Age of Dante,
and then of Dante, the man, followed by three lectures on the
great trilogy itself. Throughout the Catholic attitude is ever ap-
parent. The author, thoroughly imbued with his subject, takes
time to answer some of the commoner criticisms of Dante's life
and work. He attributes to him the spirit of the Psalmist, who
"seeks to love as God loves, and to hate as God hates."
Dante, the Catholic, earnest and intensely religious, is em-
phasized constantly. The reality of Beatrice is treated at length,
and in this connection Dr. Slattery gives what he believes to be
the chief reason for the permanence of the Divine Comedy:
"Because the world ever loves a lover, and because Dante is
The Lover par excellence, whose love story is one 'to which heaven
and earth have put their hand/ he stands forth with a hold on
humanity that is both enduring and supreme."
The style of the book is attractive and well adapted for read-
ing. The author's knowledge of Dante and of Dante authorities
is comprehensive, and he draws on many of these frequently. In
brief, the book offers an excellent study of Dante for new readers,
828 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
'M
and is sure to increase the delight of Dante students. Its appear-
ance at this time is most appropriate, since the year 1921 is the
six hundredth anniversary of Dante's death.
THE WESTMINSTER VERSION OF SACRED SCRIPTURES. The
Second Epistle to the Corinthians; the Epistle to the Gala-
tians; the Epistle to the Romans. New York: Longmans,
Green & Co.
Scripture scholars and Catholics in general interested in an
intelligent study of the New Testament, owe a debt of gratitude
to the patient workers who devoted themselves to the task of
furnishing us with a readable English translation of the Bible
from original sources. A work of this kind needs to be done
with the approbation of Church authorities. Other versions will
always labor under this defect of the lack of official recognition.
A complete analysis precedes the Epistles translated in this
volume. This is very useful for private study as well as for
class work. The translation is clear and correct; it brings out
the meaning of the many difficult passages of these Epistles much
more clearly than the English version now generally used. A
few examples may be here indicated. The chapter on justifica-
tion in Romans, chapters three and four; Galatians, chapter three.
The cumbersome, heavy style of our present translation is avoided
in this edition; the English style makes the reading of these
Epistles a pleasure and a profit. As in the preceding volumes,
the present rendition adheres strictly to the original version.
THE EVOLUTION OF SINN FEIN. By Robert M. Henry. New
York: B. W. Huebsch. $2.00.
Professor Henry of Queen's University, Belfast, has written
a clear, forceful, and eminently readable account of the Sinn Fein
movement. He defines it as "an expression in political theory
and action of the claim of Ireland to be a nation with all the
practical consequences which such a claim involves." He brings
out clearly the fact which many in this country do not know
that in its beginnings Sinn Fein disclaimed the use of physical
force in absolute contrast to the National movements of '48 and
'67, and began not as a republican but as a constitutional party.
It appealed in defence of its position to the Renunciation Act of
1783, and declared that the Act of Union was a clear breach of
that Act. As a political party, Sinn Fein began in 1905, although
its spirit had been manifested for many years in the utterances
of Irish leaders, and its beginnings outlined of late years in such
papers as the Shan Van Vocht and the United Irishman. Its
1921.] NEW BOOKS 829
origin may be traced logically to the resolution of the third an-
nual convention of the Cumann nan Ghaedal in October, 1902,
which urged the Irish members to stay away from the English
Parliament, as the Hungarian Deputies had done in Austria in
1861.
Professor Henry sketches briefly the history of Sinn Fein up
to 1918. He tells in unimpassioned language the story of Eng-
land's dishonesty, tyranny, and hypocrisy, the unfair treatment
accorded to the traitor, Carson, and his following, the foredoomed
Convention of 1917, the "faked" German plots which were al-
ways being discovered when arrests were deemed necessary, the
fight against conscription, the constant "trimming" of Lloyd
George and the Rising of 1916.
Although a Protestant himself, he is honest enough to admit
that the whole Irish difficulty is at root a religious one the
Protestant minority of the North does not wish an independent
Ireland for fear of losing their usurped ascendancy.
LITERATURE IN A CHANGING AGE. By Ashley H. Thorndike.
New York: The Macmillan Co. $3.00.
The twentieth century has been so crowded with events tum-
bling over one another in their rapid sequence that one with diffi-
culty places Queen Victoria's death twenty posts back. It is only
when one recollects the men and fashions at the beginning of the
century that one realizes that twenty years are, after all, twenty
years.
But it is not with the changing years of the twentieth cen-
tury, however, that Professor Thorndike's book deals, but with
another changing age, the span between 1830 and 1890, the period
familiarly known as the Victorian Age in English literature. The
work is not a vindication of the Age of Victoria, or an essay in
praise of the poets and prose writers of that period; it is, inci-
dentally, if at all, directed against those whose favorite adjective
of contempt is the word "mid- Victorian." For, although like
every sound critic, Professor Thorndike believes in the greatness
of the literature written during the reign of the nineteenth cen-
tury queen, he leaves its defence to those who have another theme
to pursue. His own task is the analysis of the reaction on litera-
ture caused by the developments in industry, democracy, and
science during the sixty years ending in 1890. While the book is
not designed to make a particular appeal to "literary" people, it
probably can be read somewhat critically only by those who are
on terms of rather easy acquaintance with the masters of nine-
teenth century thought.
830 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
One of the most interesting chapters in this study is that
entitled "Beauty and Art." In this Professor Thorndike discusses
the relationship between content and technique in the poetry and
prose of the Victorian era. But the volume is, as an entirety, an
interesting book, stimulating the reader to thoughtful, calm judg-
ment of his own. Once in a while the careful reader will find
himself at odds with the viewpoint of the Columbia University
professor, but for the most part he will be glad to adopt Dr.
Thorndike's opinions as his own.
EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. Part III. By a
Seminary Professor. Philadelphia: John Joseph McVey.
$3.00.
The third volume of the Exposition of Christian Doctrine
keeps up the high standard of its predecessors. Its teaching is
accurate, its method clear and brief, and its spirit full of unction
and piety, the most essential gift of the teacher of youth. The
third volume treats of Worship, and is divided into four sections :
Grace, Prayer, the Sacraments, and the Liturgy. We know of
no catechism that treats so fully the divine liturgy its meaning,
its history, the altar, the vestments, the ceremonies of the Mass,
devotions and feasts.
The writer's method is best seen by the words of warning
which he himself always heeds most carefully: "In matters of
dogma there is nothing so dangerous as to make the Church say
what she has never professed, to teach as of faith what is merely
an opinion, or, on the other hand, to attenuate or minimize the
truths that she proposes to our belief. In moral questions, it is
as dangerous to exaggerate the prescriptions of the divine law in
one direction as in another. Straight is the way that leadeth to
life. We must neither widen nor narrow it, lest we might create
a false conscience. In one case, we might encourage evil; in the
other, we might lead men to abandon virtue as impossible of
attainment."
THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA. Edited by Dr. Allen Johnson,
Professor of American History in Yale University. New
Haven: Yale University Press. Fifty volumes at $3.50 per
volume by the set.
Our Foreigners, by Samuel P. Orth. Dr. Orth has written an
agreeable, popular sketch of the westward movement of races to
America. The matter is not new, and the treatment is entirely
descriptive, eminently conservative, and in no way analytical.
There is offered a readable, superficial account of the racial ele-
1921.] NEW BOOKS 831
ments, which make the American nation, with a hint as to their
contribution, and an occasionally carefully worded suggestion of
the problems, which immigration has brought in its wake. Hardly
enough emphasis is placed on naturalization and restrictive im-
migration legislation to impress the reader with the problem of
assimilation of foreign enclaves among us and the even more
vital question of a selective policy for our post- War immigration.
A short bibliography is added, though oddly enough there is
omitted a scholarly Yale study by Professor Fairchild on the
Greeks in America.
The introductory chapter considers the races in the Colonies
prior to 1776, with the comment that they were essentially the
races of the British nation. Dr. Orth observes with truth that
this element settled the early West, impressed their culture upon
later settlers, and retains preponderant leadership. Another essay
in lecture form deals with the negro without stressing the problem
or its possible solution. A chapter on the "Irish Invasion" gives
a very fair summary of the Irish people in the United States, their
early arrival, increasing numbers after 1820, causes of their
exodus, nativist opposition, their glorious service in the Civil
War, the unfortunate "Molly Maguire" episode, and their present
economic success. Under the caption, "The Teutonic Tide," an-
other euphonious success, he considers the German element some-
what from a late war-time viewpoint. So briefly noticed are the
early French, the French-Canadians, the Swiss Scandinavians,
Bohemians, Poles, Finns, Jews, Greeks and Italians, that the
reader is scarcely more than prepared for the statement that:
"Thus the United States in a quarter of a century has assumed a
cosmopolitanism in which early German and Irish immigrants
appear as veteran Americans." Only the "Sons of the Revolution"
will appreciate this humor, and they rarely read books on Our
Foreigners. One wonders if the title was judiciously selected.
Two concluding chapters describe the Oriental immigration and
racial infiltration.
Dr. Orth nicely interprets foreign as an attitude of mind,
rather than a reference to the place of birth, but without develop-
ing this thesis as it deserves. He is inclined to question: "Amer-
ican ideals and institutions have borne and can bear a great deal
of foreign infiltration. But can they withstand saturation?"
Armies of Labor is a much less popular, but more weighty,
volume from the same pen. Indeed, this volume teems with in-
formation. In popular form, Professor Orth has made available
the results of the scholarly labors of the Webbs, Ely, Commons,
832 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
Hoxie and others in the field of trade unionism, as well as the
writings of such practical union leaders as Gompers, Mitchell, and
Powderly. The tone is extremely favorable; the writer is in sym-
pathy with Labor and its programme; he appreciates what organ-
ization has done to elevate the working masses; he is unusually
fair in his judgment of individual leaders. A good bibliography
adds critical value to the work.
In introduction, a chapter is allotted to describe the early
English labor situation. Mr. Orth points out the gradual decline
of the estate of Labor from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century
because of the restrictive legislation, harsh apprenticeships, in-
dustrial revolution, and a growing aristocracy's fear of political
Jacobinism in every attempt at organization. Indeed, not until
1824 were workmen allowed to bargain collectively. Two
valuable chapters describe American labor conditions until
after the Civil War. Colonial labor if unindentured was con-
siderably better off than the working population of England, for
wages were higher, but the worker faced slave competition, wore
a distinctive garb, and always feared a debtor's prison. The
Revolution improved matters, wages rose, business after a short
period of depression was prosperous, the frontier lands were
opened for settlement, and war in Europe made America rich.
After the war of 1812, there was a continued labor shortage de-
spite the ever-increasing immigration as the country entered an
era of unprecedented development. Western lands at a dollar
and a quarter an acre robbed the eastern labor market of man-
power. Roads, canals, shipping, internal improvements, rail-
roads, required labor at fair pay in an amount to exhaust the
market. To obtain labor was the problem. The panic of 1857
brought hard years, but the Civil War gave a new impetus, for
with two million men under arms and immigration light, labor
was at a premium. During the pre-war epoch, there were local
craft societies, local strikes, and a successful agitation for the ten-
hour day. Yet, it is the decade after the war which marks the
beginning of our labor question, the struggle of united Labor
against concentrated Capital, the development of national organi-
zations and the large scale strikes and industrial wars.
In the discussion of this decade, the reader is made ac-
quainted with the fight for an eight-hour day from its Federal
recognition in 1868 on national work, its progress in the States,
and Wilson's pronouncement in 1916 that the eight-hour day has
"the sanction of society." The origin, phenomenal growth, and
decline of the Knights of Labor under the conservative leadership
of Terence Powderly, is dwelt upon with parenthetical allusions
1921.] NEW BOOKS 833
to the creation of a labor bureau, strikes of 1886, and the 1888
law for voluntary arbitration in railroad disputes. A long and
very full chapter describes the origin, organization, strength, and
general policies of the American Federation of Labor, with eulo-
gistic sketches of Samuel Gompers and John Mitchell, as ideal
leaders, imbued with their responsibilities and obligations to their
following and to society. One is impressed with the Irish contri-
bution to conservative, non-socialistic labor leadership which
these pages intimate rather than develop. Other chapters deal
with the Railroad Brotherhoods, the Trade Union, Labor and
Politics, Issues and Warfare, centring about collective bargain-
ing, the strike, boycott, and union label, and with the I. W. W.
as the New Terrorism. In the discussion of Labor in politics, the
writer believes that Labor has only met rebuff at the hands of
the voters because of the very general failure of its candidates at
the polls. He underestimates the political power exerted, and its
success nationally, as well as locally, in procuring desired legis-
lation. To judge the influence of Labor in the dying administra-
tion by the poll of labor votes and radical third parties would lead
one into error.
The New South, by Holland Thompson, is an industrial and
social history of the land bounded by the Ohio, Delaware, and Rio
Grande Rivers, from 1865 to the present. The term has passed
current since Editor H. W. Grady lectured in New York in 1886
on that subject, painting a picture of the changed South and its
reformed spirit. With the inclusion of Delaware, Maryland, Mis-
souri, and Oklahoma, in the South, which we associate with the
Rebellion, many will disagree, and none so violently as citizens
of those States. Again, it is apt to be somewhat confusing, for
Delaware and Missouri are hardly a part of the same economic
section as Virginia and Texas.
Reconstruction misrule passed away, only to see the South
retarded under the reactionary leadership of the ex-Confederate
soldier. It was an honest enough rule, even to parsimony, but
under a class who could not accept the results of the war. As
late as 1882, seventeen of the South' s Senators were ex-Confeder-
ates of high military or civil record. The breach had not healed.
Cleveland, as one would anticipate from a Democratic President,
gave the South, for the first time, weight in national affairs.
Bayard of Delaware, Lamar of Mississippi, Garland of Arkansas,
were of his Cabinet; Carlisle of Kentucky was Speaker, and Mills
of Texas was Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Yet,
the South was not grateful, for Cleveland was no spoils-man. Sec-
VOL. czn. 51
834 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
tionalism was giving way. The author might have suggested the
further blotting out of the old line by the Southern valor in the
war of 1898 and Wilson's care of Dixie's Democracy.
The decade of 1880 saw an interesting revolt under the stand-
ards of the Granger and Populist Parties, which crashed the old
State machines and retired many a veteran, placing radicals of the
Tillman type in power. The Democratic Party was compelled
to meet the desires of the common man, the small landholder,
or accept factional divisions, with the possibility of Republican or
Negro rule. The Force Act of 1890 defeated in Congress taught
the South that if the spirit of the Civil War amendments was to
be violated, it must be done "legally." Hence, commencing with
Mississippi, the Southern States adopted constitutional qualifica-
tions for the suffrage, which effectively deprived the negro of the
vote, while safeguarding the ballot for the illiterate, and the not
infrequently as shiftless poor white. And the North refused the
challenge, chiefly because Northern Capital desired peace and
prosperity in the Southern investment area. The labor problem,
the breaking up of plantations into farms with white or negro
tenants on a rental or share basis, and the racial strife, are all
treated in a broad and thoughtful manner. Negro education is
considered in connection with the splendid foundations for that
purpose created by the philanthropists, Slater, Jeanes, Phelps-
Stokes, and Julius Rosenwald.
The industrial revival is best treated, for this is Mr. Thomp-
son's chosen field of research. Much space is given to the rise
of the cotton mills, from 300,000 spindles in 1860, to 12,711,000
in 1915, requiring more cotton than the Northern mills. In part,
this has been caused by cheaper labor, and lower over-head ex-
penses, and little legislative interference in the way of woman
and child labor. Cotton by-products have become utilized. The
South cuts half the lumber used in America. Alabama mines six
per cent of our iron ore. Birmingham has become a Southern
Pittsburgh. Tobacco products are being centred in Durham,
Winston-Salem, Richmond, New Orleans, and Louisville. Bitum-
inous coal is mined extensively in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky,
and especially in West Virginia. Such is the South of today,
more materialistic and less doctrinaire.
Paths of Inland Commerce is written by Dr. Archer B. Hul-
bert, editor of the sixteen volumes of Historic Highways of Amer-
ica, who knows the early Indian trails, roads, passes, waterways
and fords as minutely as one would anticipate after such a train-
ing. His microscopic intimacy with the primeval forests, its
1921.] NEW BOOKS 835
blazed trees and rock markings, is somewhat akin to that which
was possessed by a Jesuit missionary or a courier des bois. One
can descry the writer in the leathern and fur garb of a scout,
leading a party of frontiersmen along the Bay State Trail, up the
Hudson, and across the Mohawk into the region of the Great
Lakes. To him the roadbeds of the New York Central, Boston
and Albany, Pennsylvania, Erie, Nickel Plate, Lehigh, Baltimore
and Ohio, are the narrow worn trails of the redmen. From one
so conversant with the frontier and hinterland, a volume of his-
toric value and stimulating interest would naturally be expected;
and the expectation has been indulged.
Western commerce is traced through its various stages in
chapters dealing with the trails, the mastery of river courses, the
turnpikes along which rolled the unwieldly, six-horse conestoga
wagons, the flat-boats floating down the Ohio and tributaries to
the Mississippi and the port of New Orleans, the development of
steamboats, canal building, breaking through the Alleghanies,
and railroad beginnings. The romantic side has not been sup-
pressed; and romance clings to the frontiersmen, the lawless stage-
drivers, the hardy ruffians of the flat-boats, and that distinctive
class of inland sailors on the lakes and Western waters. There is
opened a new vista to the reader, who has not pondered over the
political and economic significance of easier communications be-
tween the East and West, and who has not thought statistically
in terms of internal commerce. Students of our economic history
can best evaluate the author's contribution.
Adventurers of Oregon, by Constance L. Skinner, is hardly
serious history, certainly no more so than her earlier volume in
the series. It would seem too superficial even for a popular series.
It is the work of a novelist imbued with the romance of the ad-
venturous pioneers and determined to chronicle their labors in
dramatic relief. It is pleasant reading, the kind one associates
with a fireside rather than with a scholar's study.
An opening essay deals with the obscure origin of the name
"Oregon," with the Nootka Sound episode, the discoveries of
George Vancouver and his lieutenants, Baker and Puget, and the
fortunate finding in the mouth of the Columbia safe anchorage
from a storm by the Boston merchant-captain, Robert Gray. This
is followed by a lengthy description of the journey of Lewis and
Clark (1804-1806) through the region of the Sioux, Mandans, and
Shoshones to the Columbia. An interesting tale is told of the
Hudson Bay Company's activities and of the fierce rivalry of the
trappers of the Mackinaws, Northwesters, and Missouri Fur Com-
836 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
|
pany of St. Louis. Several chapters deal with the Astor American
Fur Company, its settlement at Astoria, and its conquest during
the war by the Northwesters. A fascinating chapter describes the
writer's hero, Dr. John McLaughlin, the "King of Old Oregon,"
his rule of the territory, struggles between Canadian and American
settlers, Catholic and Methodist missionaries, American trappers
and the Hudson Bay Agents, and the ultimate acquisition of
Oregon to the forty-ninth degree by the United States. One is
sorry that the writer did not enter more fully into the work of
Fathers Blanchet, Demers, and DeSmet and into the conversion
of Dr. McLaughlin, one of the ablest pioneers and one of the
foremost Canadians. Scotsmen will read this chronicle with
spirited pride, as they see Alexander Henry at Fort Michilimac-
inack in 1761 and on Lake Winnipeg in 1767, Frobisher building
forts on the Saskatchewan River, McTavish organizing the outlaw
Mackinaws Company, Mackenzie, a fur clerk, starting out in 1789
from Fort Chipewan, a thousand miles from Lake Superior, to
explore his Arctic River and later ctoss the Rockies to the Pacific,
David Thompson plotting on a huge chart the whole fur country,
Simon Frazer trapping and venturing into the trackless snow
fields of the far north, and Ross, Mackay, the Stuarts, McDougal,
Day, Clarke and the others whom Astor enticed from the older
British companies. Leadership was largely Scottish, though the
fur men, outposts and guides were still French-Canadians.
THE ALTAR OF GOD. A Story Book of the Mass for Children.
By Mary Virginia Merrick. With a Preface by Rev. John J.
Burke, C.S.P. New York: The Paulist Press. $1.50.
Too many books for children do not appeal to them, because
of a pseudo-childishness; but this volume of Miss Merrick's rings
true, for its contents are within the compass of the child mind,
without degenerating into twaddle. Yet, with all its simplicity,
it is a unique book inasmuch as it is also scholarly. It takes the
priest to the altar, and there follows him through the Mass, telling
in plain, accurate language the meaning of his prayers and actions.
The author draws her material from a varied source. She brings
in the symbolism of the vestments and motions, draws historical
parallels, recalls the types of the Old Law and illustrates by
parables from the Gospels. Joined with all this, but not obtru-
sively so, are little recommendations of devotion and reverence,
yes, and even, now and then, gentle rebukes for the thoughtless.
The publishers are to be congratulated on the form of the
book, which is in perfect accord with the sweetness and artistry
of the contents. Few pages are not enlivened by a verse of poetry
1921.] NEW BOOKS 837
or an appropriate insert, while full page prints of famous paint-
ings are abundant. The book cannot be too highly recommended
to all who wish to reveal to the young the mysteries and treasures
of the great Sacrifice.
DIVORCE. By Charles Williams. New York: Oxford University
Press. $1.80.
Mr. Williams' volume is one of the more serious experiments
in recent verse-making, and in nothing is it more notable than in
its contrasts, or rather, its evolutions. For it is, indeed, a far cry
from the opening poem (not a discussion of marital shipwreck,
but a highly traditional and academic tribute to the poet's father ! )
to the blithe and mystical musings of the later pages somewhat
derivative, as they are, of what we have learned to call the
"Chesterbelloc."
THE JUNKMAN, AND OTHER POEMS. By Richard Le Gallienne.
Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co. $1.75 net.
There is always pleasure waiting for us in a volume of
Richard Le Gallienne's poems not, perhaps, pleasure of a very
soul-stirring or heart-shaking kind, but the pleasure of graceful
fantasy, experienced music and sentiment neither ashamed of
itself nor afraid of "going to seed." And Mr. Le Gallienne, who
bravely confesses to being a "late Victorian," shows in the present
book that he can still give us the shock of novelty in the title-
poem, for instance, and still more so in that delicious bit of
serio-comedy, "To Narcissa Dressing for the Theatre."
OCTOBER, AND OTHER POEMS. By Robert Bridges. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf. $1.50 net.
For most American readers, the chief interest of this volume
will lie in the fact that it contains the most recent work, including
the War poems, of the present Poet Laureate of England. Doctor
Bridges is, as all the world knows, a scholarly and accomplished
technician in verse, with the keenest sense of beauty; but it is
not often that his lips are touched with the burning coal of divine
lyric energy.
IN The Political and Financial Independence of the Vatican, by John
A. Godrycz (Philadelphia: National Publishing Co.), it is a pleasure
to note the great love and veneration on the part of the writer for the
Papacy, and the seriousness of his arguments for the defence of its
political and financial independence. The writer lifts his voice against
the action of the League of Nations in ignoring the rights of the Holy
See and its moral and political influence over 300,000,000 of Cath-
olics. Even were the opportunity offered the Vatican, the exercise of
838 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
>
its rights would be in great measure conditional on the financial funds
at its command. To the mind of the author, the best method of estab-
lishing a sound financial basis is the collection of war bonds in the
United States and the other nations of Europe, and building up there-
with the financial resources for the Vatican. An amount of twenty-five
millions of dollars would secure the international credit of the Papacy
and pave the way to the acknowledgment of its political independence.
Of considerable interest are the considerations concerning the
Jews in Palestine under British protectorate. The Jews are exception-
ally favored in their dreams of financial imperialism. Under British
rule, Palestine will have its Jewish autonomy, will become a kind of a
Jewish Vatican, and all the Jews living without its frontiers will be con-
sidered, at one and the same time, citizens of the independent state of
Palestine, and citizens of the countries wherein they live. The privilege
of double citizenship granted to Jews is something unheard of in the
history of the civilized world, and its consequences are extremely
grave from a religious point of view.
The main interest of the book lies in the novelty of its subject, and
the logical strength of its argumentation. It deserves the attention of
readers who long for an equitable solution of the Roman question.
LIMBO, by Aldons Huxley (New York: George H. Doran Co.), is the
first book of a youthful English author. It is quite eerily clever,
and shows, for a beginner, a remarkable mastery of narrative art. It
contains seven more or less long short stories, of which the first, "The
Farcical History of Richard Greenow," is by far the longest, the
cleverest, and the most entertaining. This extraordinary fantasy to
adopt one of Arnold Bennett's classifications is alone worth the price
of the book. It has that inexplicable exciting quality which makes one
keep an eye out for the future work of Mr. Huxley.
THE CROSS OF ARES, AND OTHER SKETCHES, by Lawrence
Perkins (New York: Brentano's). Mr. Perkins was a "Y" secre-
tary at the Front, and this slender volume is an attempt to visualize
for the reader certain more or less unlovely sides of war. The little
book is an effort rather than an achievement. The aspects of life
with which it deals must always tax the powers of the most skillful
artist. As the writer can scarcely be classed as such, it need not be
matter for surprise that he strikes wide afield of any treatment that
might be regarded as finished. The title-sketch itself is badly bungled,
and the very humanly dramatic elements in the succeeding chapters
are not cleverly utilized.
It is regrettable that The Cross of Ares helps to perpetuate the
semi-simian, semi-buffoon type of Irishman with which the vaudeville
stage and the comic supplement have supplied us ad nauseam during
the past quarter of a century.
Nevertheless, Mr. Perkins' writing holds a germ of promise which
we trust may be amply realized in the future.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 839
AN AWAKENING AND WHAT FOLLOWED, by James Kent Stone,
S.T.D., LL.D. (Notre Dame, Ind.: The Ave Maria Press), was pub-
lished originally some fifty years ago by a man then recently converted
to the Catholic Faith, but best known to his fellow countrymen as the
President of Kenyon and Hobart College. The book from the moment
of its appearance attracted the attention of thoughtful men, and has ever
since remained a favorite with the serious-minded reader of religious
discussions. It comes before the public today with a new title, and
with the valuable addition of eleven new chapters containing a partial
record of the career that has made the author now Father Fidelis,
Passionist well known throughout South America as a zealous and
successful missionary. This supplement rounds out the story of his
conversion in earlier life, and shows the fulfillment in actual fact of
those spiritual hopes and holy ambitions that led him into the fold of
the Church a half century ago. The book as a whole is a beautiful tale
telling "the whole romance of a life touched and transformed by the
grace of God," and is a splendid argument in behalf of Catholicism.
ROADS TO CHILDHOOD, Views and Reviews of Children's Books,
by Annie Carroll Moore (New York: George H. Doran Co. $1.50
net). Miss Moore's work with children in the New York Public Library
has enabled her to prepare a practical book for those who must select
reading for children. Such things as book lists, of course, must always
be a lasting cause of dispute, and all of us who read the titles she men-
tions will think of others we should like to see added. However, as far
as it goes, the present volume is helpful.
IRISH FAIRY TALES, by James Stephens, illustrated by Arthur Rack-
ham (New York : The Macmillan Co. $5.00) and The Sons 0' Cormac,
An' Tales of Other Men's Sons, by Aldis Dunbar (New York: E. P.
Dutton & Co. $2.50). A new book by Mr. Stephens is an event for
every reader, young or old, who possesses, consciously or otherwise,
a sense of poetic beauty. The book just announced, moreover, has been
illustrated by Arthur Rackham, which makes the event still more
important. The charm of Mr. Stephen's poetic prose is already suf-
ficiently known to all the world. In these thrilling stories of the begin-
ning of things, of prehistoric kings and ladies and hunters and fisher-
men and boys and dogs, new snares are created for the imagination of
all readers worth considering. Aldis Dunbar's Tales 0' Cormac are
concerned, too, with the warlike heroes and the stirring events of
legendary Irish history. Of course, they move the reader to delight,
although the author's device of attempting to reproduce the brogue is,
we think, not a wise one.
IN his preface the reverend author expresses the hope that
The Divine Office, a study of the Roman Breviary, by Rev. E. J.
Quigley (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd.), may serve as an introductory
manual to the study of the Breviary. We think it may well do so. Also
840 NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
that it will be of special service to priests. It presents in one volume
of two hundred and eighty-eight pages, information about the Divine
Office drawn from history, liturgy, theology and ascetic literature. The
work is in four parts. Part I. treats of general questions concerning
the Breviary. Part II. gives the rules from moral and ascetic theology
for the recitation of the Breviary. In Part III. the Canonical Hours are
discussed. Part IV. is devoted to Heortology.
THE PATH OF HUMILITY, by the author of "Spiritual Progress," etc.
(New York: Benziger Brothers. $2.00). This translation from a
French work consists of a series of meditations, studies of general out-
lines, short explanations and reflections dealing with the virtue of
humility. It is thorough and well done. If its directions are faithfully
followed we believe sure progress will be made in the acquirement of
this all-important virtue. We recommend it, therefore, to all who are
desirous of self-improvement.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD, a Practical Treatise by a Master of Novices
(New York: Benziger Brothers. $1.15). The practice of the Pres-
ence of God is one highly favored of the saints and spiritual writers.
It offers a sure way to keep one's self from becoming too much im-
mersed in the affairs of this life and to live in the world and yet not
be of it. The present volume of one hundred and ten pages treats of
this practice. It tells how it may be exercised, and gives copious
extracts from various writers showing its necessity and beneficial
effects. While somewhat academic in parts, it will be of value to those
who have not already adopted this practice as part of their religious
exercises.
A SHORT METHOD OF MENTAL PRAYER, by the Most Reverend
Father Nicholas Ridolfi, O.P., translated into English by Father
Raymund Devas, O.P. (New York: Benziger Brothers). Real piety
is always charming. There can be no doubt that this seventeenth
century Master General of the Dominican Order possessed it as well as
scientific knowledge of the ways of prayer. His holiness it is that
adds a perennial freshness to this little treatise. Father Ridolfi's heart,
even more than his learned mind, speaks here to our own.
WHAT FATHER CUTHBERT KNEW, by Grace V. Christmas (St.
Louis: B. Herder Book Co. $1.35). Father Cuthbert, with his
pipe, his humorous twinkle, his fun and good sense and deep spiritual-
ity is a typical, yet a highly individualized priestly character. He is
on astonishingly easy and familiar terms with all sorts and conditions
of ghosts, yet so sane and natural is his relation with them that though
vre read every story in the book during the wee, sma' hours, and then
went to bed without a night light, we slept tranquilly, and suffered no
qualm of fear or indigestion.
1921.] NEW BOOKS 841
Wasn't it Mark Twain who asked in wonder how the writers of
the Old Testament narratives so marvelously kept themselves out of
their stories? They wrote them in such a way that the reader never
thinks of the writer. Miss Christmas has done the same, and this
through the always difficult impersonation of a man (the "Dudley" to
whom Father Guthbert tells his stories) by a woman.
But two of the twelve stories seem to us to trespass on ground too
sacred for light fiction. We do not like the solemn act of Consecration
and administration of Holy Communion to be performed under the
circumstances related in one of them; and only in rare instances do we
like to read of fictional apparitions of Our Lord. That in "Under the
Rambler Roses" is not one of these rare instances.
CATHOLIC HYMNAL, by Rev. John G. Hacker, S.J. (New York:
Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss). This collection of standard Catholic
hymns, thoroughly revised and intended chiefly for the use of Cath-
olic colleges, academies and schools, is of unusual worth. It is an ideal
hymn book for congregational singing as all the hymns are written in a
very simple style, and for one voice only. The contents are not only
dignified and devotional, but also pleasing and tuneful. The superior
literary value of the hymn texts will appeal to all who have realized
the great defect in this regard with most of our Catholic English
hymnals.
FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS.
A Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, by Rev. Joseph Noval,
O.P. Book IV., De Processibus. Part I., De Judiciis. (Rome: P.
Mariette. 18 /r.) Dr. Noval, the eminent professor of Canon Law
at the Dominican Seminary, the Angelico, at Rome, has written an ex-
cellent commentary on De Judiciis, which is beyond question the
most difficult treatise in the whole code. He has in mind chiefly the
young Roman student, and therefore is most painstaking in his clear-
cut and detailed commentary. His method is scientific and practical:
the scientific portion (Expositio Rubricse) treats of the nature, origin,
history and development of the Canon Law, while the practical part
discusses the meaning of every word of the particular canon discussed.
Following St. Thomas, the arrangement is in the form of question and
answer a catechetical treatment that makes for simplicity and
clearness.
In Un Caractere (Le Cardinal Mercier), by Eugene Roupain, S.J.
(Paris: P. Tequi. 2/r.), we have another study of that great world
figure, this time from the French point of view. The author divides
his study into three parts : the great Cardinal's principles, his strength
of spirit and as an ideal religious. The writer believes the Cardinal's
fame cannot change, except to grow greater, and that in these days
"of reconstruction," his genius and talent must and will be given to
relieve suffering humanity.
842 j NEW BOOKS [Mar.,
Les Soucis d'une Femme da Monde, by Monseigneur Tissier (Paris :
Pierre Tequi), is a series of discourses addressed to French women
counseling them in their duties to God, their country and their homes.
The author exhorts them to work for the safety and peace of France.
He cites France's newest saints, Margaret Mary and Joan of Arc, as
exemplars. The addresses cover such modern topics as the care and
education of children, the servant problem, dress, amusements, and
devotions.
A Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, by Rev. Guido Cocchi,
G.M., Book I., Normse Generates (Rome: P. Marietti. 6/r. 50), covers
the first book of the new code, canons 1 to 86, which treats of the
Normte Generates. He discusses canon by canon the nature and history
of Canon Law, its sources, the necessity, origin and authority of the
new code, the interpretation of law, the value of custom, rescripts,
privileges and dispensations. He sums up for his pupils, as he says
himself, the views of such eminent canonists as D'Anibale, De Luca,
Bucceroni, Noldin, Bargilliat, Vermeersch, Wernz and Maroto.
Conferences for Young Men, three volumes, by Rev. Charles Vande-
pitte (Paris: Pierre Tequi. 12 /r.), are the result of twenty-five years
of teaching experience among French schoolboys and collegians. They
are simple, instructive talks on the Catechism on our duties to God,
our neighbor and ourselves. The doctrine of the Church is stated
clearly, and illustrated by scores of incidents from the history of the
Church, especially from the lives of the saints.
Essays on P^tt otogy and the History of Dogmas, by Rev. J. Tixeront
(Paris: Librarie Victor Lecoffre. 7/r.), gives us life portraits of St.
Justin, Martyr, Tertullian and St. Cyprian; analyzes for us the Shepherd
of Hermas, the Apology of Athenagoras, and the Pedagogue of Clement
of Alexandria; refutes the false thesis of Andre Lagarde on Confession
in the pages of St. Gregory the Great; shows us the teaching of the
Fathers of the fifth and sixth centuries on the concepts of nature and
person, and discusses the question of the animal sacrifices of the primi-
tive Armenians, known as the rite of Matal. The book is as fascinating
as any novel. The chapters on Tertullian and Cyprian discussing
the outrageous dress and fashions of the third century might be taken
from the pages of a moralist of the twentieth.
Studi sul Romanticismo Inglese, by Federico Olivero, Professor of
English Literature in the Royal University of Turin (Bari : Luis. Laterza
e Figli), and Nuovi Saggi di Letteretura Inglese, by the same author
(Turin: Libreria Editrice Internazionale). These two books rank
among the best critical work on English literature in Italian. The
author examines the works of thirty-five different authors, and has
produced masterpieces of criticism, which should be known to every-
one familiar with the language of Dante, particularly teachers and
professors of literature in high schools and universities.
IRecent Events.
On January 17th President Millerand pro-
France, mulgated a decree creating a new Minis-
try under former Premier Aristide Briand,
after M. Raoul Peret had failed to form a Cabinet to succeed that
of M. Leygues. The new Ministry contains every political ele-
ment except out-and-out Royalists and Communists. The first
announcement of M. Briand was that war restrictions on trade
would be abolished as soon as possible, and this, coupled with
immediate abandonment of coal control and suppression of the
National Coal Bureau, gave general satisfaction. The most im-
portant task, however, to which the new Premier at once ad-
dressed himself, was the matter of the German reparations, which
was taken up at the Inter-Allied Conference at Paris on January
24th.
After several days' discussion, the Allied Premiers approved
an indemnity plan, the two chief features of which provide : first,
Germany shall pay over a period of forty-two years a series of
annuities ranging from two billion gold marks to six billion gold
marks; and second, Germany shall pay to the Allies for forty
years a twelve and one-half per cent tax on the sum total of her
export trade. The grand total of the indemnity, according to
the first provision, would amount to 220,000,000,000 gold marks,
or $55,500,000,000. What the second provision would bring
it is impossible to say, as no one can tell what the twelve and
one-half per cent tax on Germany's exports will be twenty years
from now.
Two important observations made of the plan are that it does
fix the definite total Germany must pay, and second, it is not
effective without German consent. The reason that the new plan
requires German consent for its validity, is because the Treaty of
Versailles provides that Germany shall pay her indemnity in
thirty years, whereas the latest scheme lays down the basis of
payments at forty-two years.
The announcement of the Allied decision met with universal
disapproval in Germany, where all classes declare that the in-
demnity imposed cannot possibly be raised. In the United States
and Switzerland the opinion has been widely expressed that the
reparation figure is too high. Moreover, the opinion was preva-
lent in these two countries that the Germans cannot pay twelve
844 RECENT EVENTS [Mar.,
and one-half per cent on the value of all exports, since that per-
centage generally exceeds the margin of profit. According to
official statements, by the Allies, however, the reparation plan
does not contemplate a direct tax of twelve and one-half per cent
on German exports. Instead, this is to be regarded as a tax
placed on Germany equivalent to twelve and one-half per cent of
her exports. In other words, the twelve and one-half per cent
tax is merely taken as a measure variable with the indemnity.
Germany must pay, and this is to be raised by Germany just as
she must raise any other item in her budget or the fixed indem-
nities themselves. Germany enjoys the same latitude in paying
a variable indemnity as a fixed indemnity, and can relieve her ex-
porters of the entire burden if she sees fit to take the necessary
measures, such as increasing her per capita taxation or by in-
augurating tobacco and liquor monopolies.
The next meeting of the Reparation Conference was set for
March 1st, and to this the German Government was invited. Ger-
many has accepted the invitation on condition "that negotiations
will take place also on propositions the German Government in-
tends to present to the Conference." This is taken to mean that
Germany intends to make certain counter proposals for repara-
tion, and for the preparation of these the Government has nomi-
nated a special executive committee to act in conjunction with
Government departments. The personnel of the committee indi-
cates that the German Government is bringing together its biggest
men for a great campaign. The Committee of Fifteen represents
the concentration of the leading figures in German industry,
finance, agriculture, and shipping. It includes Hugo Stinnes, the
richest man in the Republic, and his rival in the race for wealth,
the steel magnate, Strauss. Some of the other members are Wal-
ter Rothenau, President of the General Electric Company; Kuno
of the Hamburg-American Line, and Wietfeldt, Director of
Krupps.
This attitude of Germany serves to emphasize the situation
in France, which today is divided politically into two camps.
One, led by M. Briand, and backed by President Millerand, would
maintain the entente with England at almost any cost. The
other, led by former President Poincare, would compromise no
further and, if need be, cut loose from England and use militant
force in bringing Germany to terms. On February 9th, the
Chamber of Deputies gave to the Government a vote of confi-
dence, which was demanded by Premier Briand as a condition of
his going to the London Conference. The vote, however, was 387
to 125, and came only after four days' strenuous debate, in which
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 845
the reparations agreement was subjected to severe criticism. The
significance of this is that, while Premier Briand will go to the
London Conference with free hands, it will also be with the
knowledge that if he abates in the slightest degree the terms of
the Paris agreement in favor of Germany, his Ministry will
scarcely last beyond the date of his return. The general feeling
in France today is that Germany must be made to pay, and to
pay quickly, a sentiment reenforced by the fact that the tax rate
in Germany is lower than that of France, which is staggering
under the immense weight of war pensions, indemnities, and
reparations for the devastated regions, all of which Germany is
eventually to pay under the Treaty of Versailles.
The place of meeting for the next session of the Council of
the League of Nations on February 21st has been 'changed from
Geneva to Paris. The Council will have before it a number of
important international questions, including those not solved by
the first Assembly of the League in November and December last.
In addition to a committee of international jurists to discuss
amendments to the Covenant of the League of Nations, six other
committees must be appointed by the Council to deal with vari-
ous subjects which must all come before the next plenary Assem-
bly of the League in September. One of these subjects is the
Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty, just filed with the Council of the
League.
A renewed military occupation of Constantinople has been
threatened by the Allies, and the Inter-Allied representatives there
have notified the Grand Vizier of the measures they propose
to take. Franco-British reinforcements will be quartered in pub-
lic buildings requisitioned in Stamboul, where already there arc
several thousand Inter-Allied forces. It is considered that the
troops are required to guard against threatened disorder, owing
to the presence of followers of Mustapha Kemal Pasha, the Na-
tionalist leader, and Bolshevik elements, and the failure of the
Turks to ratify the Peace Treaty.
On the other hand, Turkey's delegation to the Turkish Peace
Conference, scheduled to begin at London on February 21st, will
contain a large Nationalist delegation. The purpose of this Con-
ference is the revision of the Treaty of Sevres, whereby Thrace
and Smyrna were handed over to Greece. Because of the recall
of Constantine to the Grecian throne despite Allied opposition,
the disposition now seems growing among the Allies to return
these territories to Turkey. Meanwhile, in order to hold Mus-
tapha Kemal well in hand, the French have recently taken from
him Aintab, a city of some 40,000 inhabitants, just within the
846 , RECENT EVENTS [Mar.,
French zone of influence under the Treaty of Sevres, and from
which the French have been trying to oust the Kemalists ever
since they seized it last year. Kemal's fortunes have been on the
mend since M. Viviani induced the League of Nations to ask
President Wilson to undertake negotiations with him to save
Armenia. In fact, they mended so rapidly that he was inclined
to defy his French sponsors. But now that he has lost Aintab,
the French expect that his Ambassadors will be more reasonable
at London. In general the French press hails the capture of
Aintab as a great French victory.
Early in February it was officially announced that total sub-
scription to the new six per cent French Government loan, which
closed towards the end of January, amounted to 27,888,417,300
francs. Of this sum, 10,998,236,097 francs was new money.
The outstanding feature of the month's
Italy. events in Italy has been the crusade of
violence conducted by the Nationalist fac-
tion against Socialist and radical newspapers and labor clubs in
reprisal for the communistic excesses of the last eighteen months.
Destruction of the principal property of the revolutionary organ-
ization throughout Italy was evidently the plan of the campaign.
Most of the rioting occurred in cities of northern and central
Italy, with Milan as the chief centre of disorder. At Bologna the
splendid Chamber of Labor was burned to the ground. This build-
ing was the headquarters of Communistic Socialism in Italy, and
its total contents, including the administrative department's ar-
chives concerning the ramifications of the movement throughout
the kingdom, were destroyed by the flames. Other chambers of
labor were burned down at Modena, and at Taranto. At Trieste
and at Florence the plants and buildings of prominent daily
Socialist papers have been completely burned. At Milan Nation-
alists raided the publishing house of the Socialist journal, Avanti.
At least fifty persons have been killed or wounded in the various
clashes.
Owing to the gravity of the situation in the Provinces of
Bologna and Modena, Premier Giolitti ordered the revocation of
permits to carry arms, and directed the Prefects to arrest any
person found in possession of arms, which were ordered to be
surrendered within a specified time. Bologna, Modena and Fer-
rara Provinces defied the Government ultimatum, and leading
political and patriotic associations dispatched deputations to Rome
to demand the withdrawal of the decree, on the ground that the
Government has shown itself impotent to protect the lives and
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 847
property of citizens. For the time being, the Minister has been
obliged to extend the term of delivery beyond the allotted time, as
fully half a million rifles are known to be in the district in ques-
tion. The Nationalists justify their campaign by affirming that
they have uncovered proof of a plot against the State, and that
they have found secret circulars addressed to Communists, bid-
ding them to be in readiness to play their part in a great revolu-
tionary outbreak planned over the whole of Italy for the near
future.
Disastrous anti-religious rioting is also reported from various
parts of the country. Recently a horde of unemployed peasantry
stormed the Tuscania Cathedral in the Roman province in a fury
of iconoclasm. The invaders smashed up altars, crucifixes, pic-
tures and statuary. Besides the material destruction, estimated
at over $20,000, almost the whole of the rich treasury of votive
offerings, engraved gold and silver, representing the gifts of many
generations of pilgrims, was ruthlessly pillaged. Sanguinary dis-
orders have also occurred at Castelamare di Stabia, on the Gulf of
Naples, and fierce political strife has broken out between Social-
ists and Clericals in Central Italy.
Ever since the memorable factory-seizing campaign in Italy
last fall, the Giolitti government has been endeavoring to evolve
a scheme for redeeming its pledges to the workers for joint control
of the larger industries. According to a bill, soon to be presented
to the Parliament by Premier Giolitti, it is provided that the
employees in each industry shall elect a National Council com-
posed of nine members, and each Council in turn will appoint two
representatives for participation in the management of each fac-
tory, their power to extend to technical, financial and disciplinary
arrangements, including the fixing of prices and the purchasing
of raw materials. Factory owners strongly disapprove of the pro-
posed law, as do the Communists, who are opposed both to the
Government and the employers. At the coming session the Cath-
olic Party will also present a measure dealing with a plan for
workmen to share in the management and profits of the plants.
The question of raising the price of bread is still absorbing
public attention. The refusal of the Government to accept the
Socialists' amendments to the project now before the Chamber
has met with general approval. The aim of the Government is to
provide some way to cover the enormous deficit in the budget,
caused chiefly by fixing the price of bread at a low figure for
political effect.
Late in January at the Socialist convention at Leghorn the
communist section of the Italian Socialist Party was defeated
848 RECENT EVENTS [Mar.,
in its attempt to secure endorsement by the party of the Third
Internationale of Moscow. After the rejection of their motion,
the Communists left the convention and formed the Italian Com-
munist Party, which advocates violence, when necessary to attain
its ends. The vote on the question of joining the Moscow Inter-
nationale was as follows: Socialists (against adherence), 112,241;
Communists (for adherence), 58,900. The Socialist organization
will retain its newspaper, the treasury and cooperative enterprises.
Heavy fighting occurred in Fiume late in January when some
of the military forces in the city, in conjunction with legionaries,
seized the barracks and made an attempt to overthrow the Pro-
visional Government. A Government militia force finally suc-
ceeded in overcoming the rebels. D'Annunzio left Fiume for Italy
shortly after the conclusion of the Peace of Rapallo, and his
present place of abode is unknown.
A bitter political struggle is developing in Fiume, eight
parties having placed themselves in the field for the Constitutional
Assembly elections. These include the old adherents of annexa-
tion, the Nationalists, Autonomists, Croats, Socialists and Com-
munists. The elections are to be held about the middle of March.
The various Annexationist groups are expected to form a coalition,
but the strength of the Autonomists is conceded to be the most
formidable. Business at the port of Fiume is still at a standstill
and the city is burdened with a large debt. The present Pro-
visional Government is making efforts to have Italy reestablish
the city's credit.
Count Sforza, the Italian Foreign Minister, in the Chamber
of Deputies on February 7th, made the important announcement
that at the recent meeting of the Supreme Council in Paris, it was
decided to reduce the expense to Germany of the Allied occupation
of the Rhine to 240,000,000 gold marks. On Italy's initiative this
sum will include the expenses of the various Inter-Allied commis-
sions. By this means the cost of the Rhineland occupation will
be reduced to about 12,000,000 sterling, which is only about one-
sixth of the present cost a saving to Germany equivalent to
$300,000,000 a year.
The most important topic of discussion in
Germany. Germany during the month was the in-
demnity fixed by the Allied Premiers as
described above. The Ministry of Finance has reached the con-
clusion that the utmost sum Germany can pay in reparations is
one hundred and fifty billion marks (about thirty-six billion dol-
lars), this including all she has so far paid in cash and goods.
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 849
This sum would be paid off in thirty years under the plan out-
lined. In addition, the Foreign Office has made public the data
prepared by a committee of business experts for the use of the
German delegation at the forthcoming London Conference. The
figures show that Germany's imports in 1920 amounted to eight
billion paper marks and her exports were five billion. In a state-
ment accompanying the estimates, it is pointed out that the
amount of exports must be increased sixty per cent in order
merely to strike a trade balance. Against the French contention
that the tax rate in Germany is not as high as that in France,
data is given to the effect that the total of taxation in Germany,
national, state and municipal, amounts to two hundred and fifty-
three marks per capita. According to these figures the French-
man pays thirteen per cent of his income to the government in
taxes, whereas the German pays twenty per cent.
Dr. Walter Simons, Foreign Secretary, has threatened to re-
sign if the majority of his Cabinet does not stand behind him in
opposing an unyielding front to the Allied demands, and press
comment from all parts of Germany approves his attitude. Never-
theless, there is a general call for a broader Cabinet, which should
include, it is suggested, members of all parties except the Com-
munists to impress the world with Germany's unanimity and
determination. Germany, according to a statement by Dr. Ernest
Scholz, Minister of Economics, will not affix her signature to a
compact that cannot be fulfilled, and holds that the Versailles
Treaty prescribed an entirely different procedure, for arriving at
the amount of the indemnity Germany was to pay, than that
adopted by the Supreme Council at Paris.
"In view of the serious times through which Germany is
passing," the Prussian Minister of the Interior has directed all
provincial Governors and the Police President of Berlin not to
issue any more licenses for balls for the carnival season at this
period of the year, and to restrict, as much as possible, the enter-
tainments for which licenses have already been granted. The
Socialist Labor Party in Munich at a large mass meeting passed a
resolution demanding a plebiscite of the German people, and ask-
ing the German people to enter upon a national strike, if neces-
sary, to evade the Allied indemnity demand.
The German Government has sent to the Reparations Com-
mission a note saying that Germany will not deliver the amounts
of coal called for by the Commission for the next six months.
This is in reply to the notification that Germany is expected to
deliver 2,200,000 tons monthly, instead of the 2,000,000 provided
for at Spa, and also to make up the 500,000 tons by which she
VOL. exn. 54
850 , RECENT EVENTS [Mar.,
has failed to meet the Spa arrangement. The German note says
that German industry needs the coal and that Germany cannot
deliver more than 1,800,000 tons per month, and that only on
condition that the Spa payment arrangement is strictly adhered to.
A detailed list of the various deliveries made by Germany to
the Allies up to December 31st, in execution of the Treaty of Ver-
sailles during the first year it was in force, has just been issued
by the Reparations Commission. The chief item is coal, amount-
ing in all to 17,818,840 tons. Next in importance on the list are
dyestuffs, of which 10,787,827 kilos were delivered. The list con-
tains various cables which have been delivered, but which have
not yet been allocated by the expert conference now sitting at
Washington, to which the work was intrusted. In all there are
seventeen cables in various parts of the world, and the long delay
of the Washington conference in their allocation has risen from
difference of opinion between the United States and Great Britain
and Italy on the one side and France and Japan on the other.
In a lengthy statement to the Reichstag, Dr. Simons, the
Foreign Secretary, recently explained the Government's attitude
toward the resumption of diplomatic and trade relations with Soviet
Russia. Dr. Simons declared that Germany's objection to resum-
ing diplomatic relations with Russia was due to the failure of the
Moscow Government to make due amends for the murder of
Count von Mirbach, the German Ambassador to Russia, and also
to the persistency with which the Soviet regime had attempted to
carry on political agitation in Germany. As for attempted resump-
tion of trade relations through unofficial channels, Dr. Simons
stated that progress in this direction could not be expected until
the Russian Government produced tangible evidence that they
were in possession of export commodities, that the Russian trans-
portation system had received needed improvement, and that the
East had ceased to be a theatre of war.
Ratifications of the provisional German-Hungarian commer-
cial treaty were recently exchanged in Budapest. The treaty con-
tains the most-favored nation clause, and also provides for the
exchange of the railroad rolling stock belonging to one country
and located in the other. It runs for three months, and will be
renewed automatically for another quarter unless renounced
before the expiration of the first period. On the other hand, by a
vote of the Cabinet, Czecho-Slovakia on February llth, rejected
the draft of a treaty of commerce with Germany, prepared in col-
laboration with German representatives and approved by the Min-
ister of Commerce.
Controversy over the Bavarian "Orgesch" and other home-
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 851
guard organizations came to a head on February 7th when the
German Federal Government notified the Bavarian Prime Minister
that the Federal Government refused to take any further responsi-
bility for the situation in Bavaria, and that the Bavarian Govern-
ment must risk occupation by France if it did not immediately
fulfill the demands of the Allied disarmament note. The Bavarian
Government replied in a note, explaining that while Bavaria ad-
hered to the standpoint that the disarmament and reparations
decisions should not be treated separately, Bavaria would no
longer oppose orders which the German Government, consistent
with the Constitution, considered necessary.
Official Government statistics, recently completed, show that
Germany today has a total population of 60,282,602 as against
65,000,000 in 1913. The census shows that the nation owns
3,500,000 horses, 16,500,000 cows, 5,000,000 sheep, 11,500,000
pigs, 4,000,000 goats, 51,000,000 poultry, and 7,500,000 dogs. In
1914 Germany owned about 22,000,000 cattle and in 1916 about
21,000,000. In 1910 Germany had close to 65,000,000 head.
Germany will be obliged to import 3,000,000 tons of grain to
meet domestic needs in 1921, according to an official reply to a
question concerning the country's immediate requirements of
foodstuffs from abroad. The Government admits the appraisal
submitted at the Spa conference will prove inadequate, owing to
the failure of last year's crops, which did not come up to the
expected yield.
The Treaty of Peace between Soviet Russia
Russia. and Poland was finally signed at Riga on
February llth, according to a wireless
dispatch from Moscow. The preliminary Peace Treaty between
the two countries was signed at Riga on October 12th last.
Shortly afterwards negotiations were taken up at Riga by Polish
and Soviet representatives, and these negotiations have been
dragging along ever since. The foregoing message from Moscow
embodies the first report of any definite conclusion of the Riga
negotiations.
Any peace signed at Riga will only be a truce so far as Soviet
Russia is concerned, according to secret Soviet military documents
recently discovered by French officials. To repel a possible Bol-
shevik offensive, which was planned for April, President Pilsudski
of Poland went to Paris early in February, and endeavored to in-
duce France to enter into a military alliance with Poland. The
most he could obtain, however, was a declaration of the French
Government recognizing the community of interest uniting the
852 RECENT EVENTS [Mar.,
two countries. Nevertheless, the declaration has importance, as
showing that France has accepted President Pilsudski's assurance
that Poland has adopted a pacific policy, and is without aggressive
intentions against her neighbors, thus justifying France in com-
ing to her aid if she is attacked without provocation. On the
other hand, Poland and Rumania are negotiating a defensive alli-
ance which will not only include military affairs, but will also
contain economic and commercial features. It is expected that
this treaty will be concluded in the near future.
On his Parisian visit, President Pilsudski made a formal
promise to the President of the Council of the League of Nations
that Vilna will be evacuated by the Polish irregular troops under
General Zellgouski as soon as the date for the Lithuanian plebi-
scite is fixed and an international occupation contingent has ar-
rived. The Swiss Government, however, has refused to allow
the passage of these troops of the League of Nations through its
territory on the ground that the troops sent, although on a peace-
ful mission, might become involved in hostilities at Vilna. The
Council of the League has requested the Swiss Government to
send a representative to its meeting at Paris on February 21st to
discuss this question.
In addition to the Swiss attitude, the Vilna situation is fur-
ther complicated by a message of the Russian Soviet Government
to Lithuania that it will consider it a definite act of hostility on
the part of Lithuania if a League of Nations army is allowed to
occupy the Vilna district. This is looked upon as a definite Bol-
shevik threat against the military authority of the League.
One of the decisions arrived at by the Supreme Council in its
meeting at Paris was the recognition of Latvia and Esthonia as
sovereign states. Action regarding Lithuania and Georgia was
deferred, pending further information. The recognition of Latvia
and Esthonia is in direct opposition to a note of President Wilson
to the Allies earlier in the month, appealing for the maintenance
of the integrity of the former Russian Empire. The view of the
American Government is that the Powers should not take advan-
tage of the stricken condition of Russia to dismember that coun-
try, and until a responsible and representative government shall
have been erected in Russia, the Powers should not attempt to
dispose of Russian territories. Since their recognition by the
Allies, Latvia and Esthonia have invited Poland and Lithuania
to a Congress at Riga. The purpose of the proposed Congress is
to reach an economic agreement which it is hoped will be the
foundation for a political entente of the Baltic States and Poland.
This hitherto it has been impossible to negotiate.
1921.] RECENT EVENTS 853
Conflicting reports of the fate of the trade agreement between
England and Soviet Russia have been the order of the month.
Leonid Krassin, the Soviet representative who carried on the
negotiations in London, early in January, returned to Moscow
with the text of the agreement for ratification by the Soviet Gov-
ernment, but to date nothing definite has been done and dispatches
report the Bolshevik leaders variously, as in favor of, and as op-
posed to, the agreement.
Diplomatic advices lately received indicate that, while the
convention under discussion between the Persian Government
and Soviet Russia has not yet been signed, there is a good pros-
pect that it will be ratified, as the Persian Cabinet is reported in
favor of it. The treaty, if ratified, would make Persia an ally
of Soviet Russia, and provide the latter with a military base for
operation against the British in the Near East and India, as well
as a base for general propaganda. It confers on Russia the right
to send military expeditions into Persian territories, provided
Persia is invaded by an enemy of the Soviets. Later reports state
that Tartar Bolshevik troops have entered the town of Kasvin,
Persia, ninety miles northwest of Teheran, and British forces in
the latter city are reported to have begun a withdrawal.
Authentic information recently received by the United States
Government, shows that the fuel famine has now become so acute
in Soviet Russia that all traffic has been suspended on nineteen
principal railroad lines and twelve secondary lines, making a
total of thirty-one railroads over which no trains are moving,
except in cases of emergency. Practically all of the mines in the
Don region have been shut down because of water in the pits, re-
sulting from lack of sufficient fuel to operate pumping machinery.
Only five cables for the transmission of electric power are now in
use in Petrograd, and the street cars are operated only four hours
daily, between the morning hours of 7 and 11 o'clock. The re-
port says the street railways face a complete suspension of opera-
tion unless fuel is obtained immediately. Factories that failed to
obtain sufficient coal last summer, have been obliged to shut
down. Repair work on ships has also been abandoned because
of lack of fuel, and Odessa and other ports are clogged with ves-
sels for that reason. Beginning with January 1st, all currency
was abolished as a medium of exchange in Russia, and the only
such medium now in use takes the form of "work cards," which
pass as currency. The existing economic breakdown is the sever-
est Russia has ever experienced.
February 17, 1921.
With Our Readers.
THE worth and even necessity of visible religious unity are be-
coming more and more apparent to the leaders of many of the
Protestant denominations. The Lambeth Conference, held some
months ago in England, at which were present two hundred and
fifty bishops of the Anglican, Church, issued this (for them) ex-
traordinary statement, "that the much-desired Christian unity
could only be realized by those who were united in the fellowship
of one visible Society, whose members are bound together by the
ties of a common faith, common sacraments, and a common
ministry."
Such an aspiration after the true life with and in Christ is
both comforting and encouraging.
* * * *
FROM the encyclical issued by the Lambeth Conference, from
the pronouncements made by the Episcopal Conference on
Faith and Order, and from the statements concerning religious
unity emanating from other denominations, it is apparent that,
while all deplore the disruption of Christian unity and the multi-
plicity of sects, all likewise suppose that the different religious
bodies, the Catholic Church as well as the others, are on the same
level: tainted by the same sin: equally guilty, in a qualitative if
not in a quantitative way, of having broken away from or lost the
unity of Christendom. In other words, they all suppose that the
visible, knowable Church of Christ has failed: and that all the
so-called Christian sects had best get together and build it up
again.
The implication back of all this is that representatives from
the different Churches should meet and, according to their cor-
porate judgment, make concessions, and compromise upon a
common Christian creed. Such a manner of thought misses the
real character and basis of the unity of, and in, Christ. That
unity was not made by man, and can never be made by him. It
cannot be broken up by man, neither by his ignorances nor his
sins. Desirable as the mind of man may judge it to be, of and
by himself man could never accomplish it. Why? Because by
its very nature it is entirely beyond man. Our Blessed Lord Jesus
Christ is Himself the source, the origin, the foundation, both of
our union with Him and our religious union, in Him, one with
another. He is God. Anyone who denies that truth, makes re-
ligious unity impossible, for he immediately throws it back upon
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 855
human debate, investigation, and compromise. And therefore it
can rise no higher than human knowledge, which is variable, in-
constant, progressive.
* * * *
AS soon as it is seen that Jesus Christ is God, the whole attitude
of the individual man towards His teaching must change.
First of all, the individual will see that Christian teaching is the
word of God. It is as fixed, immutable, and eternal as God Him-
self. It can no more be changed than God can be changed. It
comes from God: it is not brought by man to God, nor is it the
result of human deliberations and conventions, in which men
have sought to find the best approach, or the nearest expression
of Christ's truth and Christ's purpose which God in His good
will, will later confirm. No: The revelation of Jesus Christ is
not dependent on the will or the mind of man. It is not born of
man's needs. It is the voice of God, in the Person of Jesus Christ,
both God and Man, reaching us in human accents through the
lips of Christ, but weighted with the immutability and eternal
changelessness of God. Jesus Christ came, and He is the Truth
and the Life and the Way. He declared that He was such for all
men through all ages. The New Testament might be quoted to
show how He established His Church to which He committed all
truth: to which He gave His own authority, making it so explicit
as to say: "He that heareth you (the Church) heareth Me."
Similar quotations might be made at length. In like manner, to
forestall the doubts and sins of men, Our Lord Jesus Christ de-
clared most positively that the Church which He founded would
be visible as such to all men at all times. It would be as a city
placed upon the mountain-top. The gates of error would never
prevail against it.
* * * *
TO declare that, in the course of the ages, this Church of Christ
has been scrambled among a number of so-called Christian
sects, is to deny Christ. And to escape this dilemma by asserting
that Christ gave the gift: Christ established His Church, but men
were unable to guard it faithfully; and through their fault, not
through His, it lost its unity in Him is to deny His Divinity: to
mock His word, and to assert that He did not know what He was
attempting; that He made a promise which a higher wisdom and
a better knowledge of human nature would have taught Him was
vain.
And yet this is practically the attitude assumed by the Lam-
beth Conference, and by many who loudly proclaim the virtue and
necessity of religious unity. Surely they do not mean this, for
856 WITH OUR READERS [Mar.,
many of them have a real personal love of our blessed Lord, and
a desire to serve Him. But their express writings will in them-
selves allow of no other conclusion.
They look upon the particular church, to which they have
long given allegiance, as a part of the true Church. If it hasn't
got all the truth, it has some of the truth: and therefore it is en-
titled to consideration in every discussion on Church unity. Each
one must find his way to heaven as best he can; and they argue:
"If I followed my church faithfully, I would certainly never do
anything wrong. Other churches are good, too: yet they have
their faults. We have all no doubt lost something of the primitive
truth, and our simplicity has grown sophisticated, and perhaps
tainted, through the ages. Our divisions are due to human
weaknesses, from which none of us is free. It would be well if
these might be lifted. But can they? Well, if we all got to-
gether, agreed that some blame rested upon all of us, made mu-
tual concessions and acceptances, perhaps we could. But all
must agree so to foregather and give due consideration to all
claims. When such a sense of justice reigns, unity may be pos-
sible; but it can never be born of anything else but justice."
* * * *
IF the whole of the argument were as true as the last phrase, it
would be unanswerable. But it is built upon an entire forget-
fulness of the fact that Jesus Christ came and gave His definite
truth to men, and promised that He would keep that truth un-
dented, intact, through a visible Church that would live as a vis-
ible Church until the end of the world.
A garment without seam with which every man is bound in
conscience to clothe himself: and a patchwork of human guesses,
compromises, and opinions, with which he vainly strives to warm
his shivering soul that is the difference between the right and
the wrong idea of Christian unity.
* * * *
IN this very report of the Lambeth Conference, the truth of the
establishment of the Church is firmly stated, and then its conse-
quences deftly shirked. It declares that Our Lord founded the
Church and sent His Holy Spirit to abide therein forever and
then, instead of declaring that men are subject to the Holy Spirit
and must follow His truth, it makes the Holy Spirit and His Pres-
ence in the Church subject to the differences, the vagaries, the
sentimentalities of men. "God sent forth His Son, both to recon-
cile the world to Himself and to reconcile men one to another.
And His Son formed a new and greater Israel, which we call the
Church, to carry on His own mission of reconciling men to God
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 857
and men to men. The foundation and ground of all fellowship
is the undeflected will of God, renewing again and again its
patient effort to possess, without destroying, the wills of men.
And so He has called into being a fellowship of men, His Church,
and sent His Holy Spirit to abide therein, that by the prevailing
attraction of that one Spirit He, the one God and Father of all,
may win over the whole human family to that fellowship in Him-
self by which alone it can attain to the fullness of life.
"This, then, is the object of the Church. In the prosecution
of this object it must take account of every fellowship that exists
among men, must seek to deepen and purify it, and, above all, to
attach it to God. But in order to accomplish its, object, the
Church must itself be a pattern of fellowship. It is only by show-
ing the value and power of fellowship in itself that it can win the
world to fellowship. The weakness of the Church in the world
today is not surprising when we consider how the bands of its
own fellowship are loosened and broken."
* * * *
THE fellowship of men is born of their brotherhood in their ac-
ceptance of Christ: Christ is not born of the fellowship of
men. If we were all to abide in one another and yet not abide
in Him, we would have no life in us.
The workers after Christian unity frequently turn things up-
side down. The fundamental error in this pronouncement and
in much else issued on the question is that corporate love of a
denomination or of an organization excuses or lessens one's direct,
personal responsibility to God. Religion is not a matter of ad-
herence to a church as the word "church" is today understood
by non-Catholics. In the Catholic sense, the Church is not an
institution, but an organism: the living participation by ourselves
in Christ living in the world: in Christ feeding us in the world.
It is not only God with us, it is the Life of God with us and in us
the Truth, the Light, the Life.
It is the fulfillment of that first and greatest Commandment:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and
with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind." This is the pri-
mary obligation of the creature, which he must meet in himself
and by himself: and from which no human institution, no human
multitude, however they be bound to him or he to them, can free
him. No one else can permit an individual to do wrong: no one
else can excuse him from not having done right. And to this
primary moral duty, between every man and his God, many who
discuss Christian unity seem to be blind. They will approach
the vision: the light seems ready to break over the hill, which
858 WITH OUR READERS [Mar.,
I
they have so laboriously and courageously climbed and then they
turn back and seek the valley where the crowd lives with whom
they have lived so long. "We must be part of the true Church,"
they say again in the darker shadows, "and we will go over to-
gether.'* The truth haunts them: pursues them for none can
have so much of the light and not yearn for more. Indeed, unity
of religious truth, like the synthesis of human truth, is an instinct
in the soul of man. He seeks it ever, even though he knows not
that he seeks it. Were he to realize that it is a personal, inde-
pendent responsibility and dignity, based upon the eternal worth
before God of his individual soul, he would see in a sacrificial but
a clearer light.
Thus does the Catholic Church follow insistently upon the
religious thoughts of men, and rightly do they say: "If we could
get that Church, we surely would have unity."
* * * *
BUT the Catholic Church is not merely a corporate body of be-
lievers. Every member of it has accepted its teachings on
the authority of God. And through that personal acceptance does
he receive life in Christ and membership in the kingdom of God.
It is this life and not numbers that makes majestic and secure
the Catholic Church.
And, since it is the life of man with God, the Church looks
upon heresy as the greatest of sins, because it is the destruction
of the very source of life with Christ, the denial of Him as the
Truth and the Light. Other sins offend Christ most grievously;
other sins crucify Him afresh: but this sin denies Him absolutely
as the Divine Teacher of men and the Saviour of the world.
Consequently, from the days of St. John, no sin has been de-
nounced in such severe, angry, and almost ungovernable terms
by the Fathers, the confessors, the saints, the teachers of the
Church throughout the ages.
* * * *
WE deplored, therefore, a statement made in the Blackfriars of
last August: that while the saints and prophets of the
Church condemned disunion, they denounced still more the crimes
of those even in the highest quarters, which brought it about.
No one wishes to excuse in any way the crimes that have led to
disunion: but surely every saint and prophet of the Church knew
that the greatest of crimes is the denial of the Church: the denial
of Christ, which has resulted in the disruption of Christian teach-
ing and the loss of His divine life and light to millions for cen-
turies past.
The statement seems to infer and the American Church
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 859
Monthly has made the inference that all the sects and denomina-
tions, including the Catholic Church, have sinned, and that we
should all likewise do penance. But the truth of Christ, and of
His Word, does not depend upon man's sinlessness. Were the
religious unity desired by both those magazines an accomplished
fact, both writers know that sin would still continue; that crimes
even in high places would not cease, and that there might be
times when, as Cardinal Newman says, the Church, through the
faithlessness of her children, might appear to some, even as Christ
once showed Himself, in the arms of the devil. If the claim of
the Church is to be tested by impeccability, one sin of one un-
known member is as weighty an argument as the notorious crimes
of those who sat in high places.
* * * *
OERHAPS the most unfortunate moral tendency of the day is to
1 shirk one's personal, direct duty. It is characteristic of us in
the political, the civic, the industrial fields. We lend ourselves
to a corporate morality, which after all is no morality at all. The
virtues are becoming more distant: less concrete, because the
necessity of personal illustration is lightly grasped. Man's first
duty is to his God. If he is not right with God, he cannot be right
with his fellows. And even if the whole world go wrong, he can-
not make himself right by going with it. The obligation to seek
and to accept God and His Son, Jesus Christ, is direct, immediate,
for every soul; and no corporate activity, however good and
promising,, should be permitted to dim this eternal truth.
TO this issue of THE CATHOLIC WORLD, Mr. Williams contributes
an article on the Catholic Press: and Edward F. Carrington,
S.J., at the end of his paper on Leslie Moore urges us to be more
interested in Catholic literature.
The present month of March has been set aside by the Hier-
archy of the country as Catholic Press Month. The primary pur-
pose of this campaign is to help our periodical publications
weekly and monthly particularly our diocesan papers. But we
feel sure that the Bishops would wish some attention given to the
wider question of Catholic literature and our responsibility to
cultivate not only Catholic books, but what might be termed the
chronic Catholic mind.
* * * *
p^vIVERSIFIED are our occupations and our interests in life. To
\J their ruling we may bring many motives and sometimes no
motives at all except our casual feelings, sentiments, passions and
860 WITH OUR READERS [Mar.,
prejudices. The very diversity of them, and ofttimes the aimless-
ness, makes our hearts grow weary and our minds bewildered.
We long for a rest, and a rest means the opportunity and the
blessing to see life right and see it whole.
We deceive ourselves into thinking that to be distracted is to
rest. Distraction means only a postponement of the problem. It
may have its accidental good office in helping us, when we again
look at worries and cares, to view them in a more exact measure.
But the newspapers: the movies: the illustrated magazines: the
chance talk of friends never give us real rest peace with our-
selves: our occupation: our home: peace with God. That comes
from a mind that is master of itself and that knows the way
through the highways and the bypaths of life. Since each one of
us must touch upon many interests : many questions, this matter
of knowing our way clear is not so easy as it sounds. To see the
truth and duty: to live up to both: to stand firm in the face of
opposition that is almost overpowering: to see clearly when
arguments, seemingly unanswerable, come against us, well-
phrased and many, demands a mind that has fortified itself with
strong meat.
* * * *
THERE is no man today who in the course of a week or a month
is not forced to speak his opinion on questions such as the
labor union : the right of collective bargaining : the right of capital-
ism to organize and to cooperate : the living wages for women and
girls: the dignity of marriage and of the home: the education
of children. To many there is both opportunity and necessity to
speak about Catholic teaching and Catholic doctrine: or some
mooted question of history of our own, or some other, country.
We can help ourselves immensely in the whole intelligent
appreciation of our Catholic inheritance, if we get into the habit
of reading Catholic books; and by the same habit we can help
many others, for all of us have our circle of friends, great or
small. With this habit of reading, even if it be but for half an
hour a day, will grow our knowledge and love of Catholic truth,
our added sense of self-dignity and self-mastery.
* * * *
IT is sometimes said that the output of Catholic literature is
small or that its standing in the literary world is not great.
The output might indeed be greater: but as it stands it is note-
worthy and the literary merit compares favorably and at times
more than favorably with secular literature of the day.
Let us take a hurried survey of some of the Catholic books
that have been issued within about a twelvemonth. Our survey
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 861
is casual : not by any means exhaustive. As Catholic reading can
help us interpret rightly any field of human thought, we will con-
fine ourselves to no one subject. We will give a list that surely
ought to hold some invitation for any one who likes to read: and
let us hope if there be any so unfortunate for those who do
not like to read.
* * * *
TO begin with the beginning of all things, Catholic truth, there
is the volume of Rev. G. H. Joye, S.J., The Catholic Doctrine
of Grace, which will add fresh, inspiring light on the supernatural
life which we all lead if we walk with God. If you wish other
devotional, instructive books, select St. Bernard's Sermon on the
Canticles, the first volume of which has just appeared; or Ex-
position of Christian Doctrine, by a seminary professor a book
for the "plainer" people; or Credo: A Short Exposition of Catholic
Belief, by Right Rev. A. Le Roy. Perhaps, someone has asked
you about the reported miracles at Lourdes and as to how we
know they are miracles. It would be well and you will find
it interesting to read The Logic of Lourdes, by John J. Clif-
ford, S.J.
The student at our Catholic colleges will find his time well
spent if he reads The Catholic Student, by Michael Hickey. And
no one, whether student or not, should be without a knowledge,
and indeed a living interest, in the history of our own country.
Therefore, we recommend The History of the United States, by
Charles H. McCarthy. Our younger, and our older folk, too,
ought to be somewhat versed in the greater events of Christian
history. The younger will be interested by A General History of
the Christian Era, by N. A. Weber: the older, by Credentials of
Christianity, by Martin J. Scott, S.J.
For more particular studies in history, we would mention
Europe and the Faith, by Hilaire Belloc; English Catholics in the
Reign of Queen Elizabeth, by John H. Pollen, S.J.; Ireland a
Nation, by Robert Lynd; The History of England Series, telling of
the suffering of Catholics, and refuting the errors of Protestant
history by Ernest R. Hull, S.J., or The Women of '98, recounting
the stories of the heroic Irish women, by Mrs. T. Concannon. For
other historical studies in different lines, we must recall the
recently published volumes: Mediaeval Medicine, by James J.
Walsh; An Essay on Mediaeval Economic Teaching, by George
O'Brien, which latter gives a good appreciation of the industrial
world directed by Catholic philosophy; and The Modern World,
by Francis S. Betters, S.J., and Alfred K. Kaufman, S.J.
Spiritualism and its allied subjects are still widely discussed.
862 WITH OUR READERS [Mar.,
A useful volume on this subject is The Menace of Spiritualism,
by Elliott O'Donnell. On the industrial question we have, most
recently, The Church and Labor, by John A. Ryan, D.D.
If one thinks all this has been too serious and heavy, let him
turn to such lighter works as Points of Friction, by Agnes Rep-
plier, where he will be struck by many wholesome truths not
altogether pleasantly administered; or Abbotscourt, by John Ays-
cough; The Grey Nuns of the Far North, by Rev. P. Duchaussois,
O.M.I., a thrilling tale; or Eunice, by Isabel C. Clarke.
* * * *
WE might extend the above list to twice its size. We but wished
to show to any doubting reader that Catholic literature is
alive, and to ask that its life be appreciated and further nourished
by the support of the Catholic body.
We plead this not so much for the literature itself as for
Catholics themselves. For mind rules us and mind rules the
world. And we should see to it, through the Catholic cultivation
of the mind, that the truth of Christ rules the world. Right
reason ought again to be placed upon its throne. Through the
vagaries of false philosophy and false religion, truth has not only
been denied: but the office of truth has been forgotten. Wild
and radical theories born of error, of lawlessness, of emotion, have
been proclaimed masters to take her place. Their very unreason-
ableness will eventually be their undoing: but until that is fully
known, they will continue to work great harm. To expose their
unreasonableness the more readily, there is no more effective
agency than the clear, attractive light of Catholic truth.
A SLANDEROUS article, pretending to portray the real situation
iv in Poland today, appeared in the February 16th issue of
The Nation, under the heading of "How Long Will Poland Last?"
In an attempt to paint the blackest picture his most vivid imagina-
tion could suggest, the author has stooped to prejudiced personal
interpretations of real and imaginary situations affecting the most
vital parts of Poland's Government, her ideals and her peoples.
The opening paragraphs deal with opinions on the creation of
Poland, likened to an attempt at the fulfillment of a romantic
dream; of a supposed lack of democracy in a government which
fails to function and is controlled by nobles and aristocrats, and
whose sole business is waging ineffectual war to enlarge her ter-
ritories. Those opinions are presented with the cold manner of
one whose only motive is complete destruction. This tone is not
even softened to portray a good beginning in the creation of a
1921.] WITH OUR READERS 863
buffer state between the most dangerous factors blocking the
present trend of events toward peace in Europe.
* * * *
TO refute the statement regarding democracy, we have but to
quote the words of Paderewski, the venerable patriot of Polish
liberty: "It is useless to try to teach American ideals of democracy
to the Poles, for they have had them for a thousand years."
Poland, emerging from a grave of one hundred and fifty
years, assumed the task of erecting a new government after years
of oppression under the Prussian heel, the Russian yoke and
Austrian domination. The energetic efforts of her people, under
most adverse circumstances, were a revelation to those Americans
who were privileged to view the results with eyes, unclouded by
racial prejudice or political hate. The Polish Government is new,
but Poland is old, and, having outlived oppression, will easily
survive the inevitable governmental changes which naturally pre-
cede equilibrium and stability in a government of, by and for the
whole people.
Only a great catastrophe can prevent Poland from assuming
her rightful position amongst the civilized nations of Europe.
Her traditions, nurtured through many years of diversified op-
pression, broke forth into life, immediately the hands of the op-
pressors were withdrawn. The solidarity of intention of the classes
and the masses is bound to spell success for the new Republic.
The Government at Warsaw does function. Nobles and aris-
tocrats, as such, have no place in Poland's Government today.
That Government is by the masses. The largest party in the
Polish Diet is that representing the small farmer or peasant, and
presiding as Premier is the peasant, Witos. Can one rightfully
say that it is class rule which governs Poland now?
* * * *
A PARAGRAPH could hardly have been devoted to the subju-
/"Y. gation of the peasant had the author known that the Diet in
1919 divided the land in Poland, including all large estates, into
the following groups: Very large farms, middle-sized estates, big
peasant farms, small peasant holdings. The plan is that none
shall own more than three hundred acres. An exception is that
specialized industries, forming an industrial unit supporting
colonies of peasants, shall be left intact. Poland here accom-
plished by deliberate and sane methods what others in central
Europe had tried and failed the division of the land. True it has
come slowly, and is, even now, only in process of adjustment. The
deliberate method is the very cause of its success.
* * * *
864 BOOKS RECEIVED [Mar., 1921.]
AS for waging wars. Poland has fought a defensive war to pro-
tect these confines established by the League of Nations. The
advance upon Kiev is perhaps the most quoted of her supposed
efforts for expansion. Yet in that, the carefully announced inten-
tion of the Polish authorities was merely to support the Ukrainian
against a common enemy. A further provision was that a
Ukrainian must be the civil governor of Kiev (and it was so), and
that the Polish army would withdraw immediately after the
Ukrainian defence had been made secure. The statements re-
garding Poland's greed for territory and her desire for war have
often been refuted by dependable and well-informed people of
the highest moral character. It is a known fact that Poland in-
tends to abide fully by the mandates of the League of Nations
respecting her boundaries, even though it necessitate relinquish-
ing lands already considered hers.
WE take pleasure in printing the following notice: "The
American Committee for Relief in Ireland, 1 West 34th
Street, New York, is anxious to get all possible material bear-
ing on the needs of the population in Ireland. Persons who have
received letters from friends or relatives in Ireland which give a
picture of present conditions, are urged to send a copy of the
letters, addressed to the Publicity Department of the A. C. R. I.
First-hand human interest material of this character will aid the
Committee greatly in its drive for funds to relieve the destitute
women and children."
BOOKS RECEIVED.
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