Logicae, Metaphysicae, Ethicae Institutiones quas tradebat Franciscus Battaglinius, Sacerdos, Philosophiae Lector. Bologna, typogr. Felsinea. 1869. 1 vol. in 8vo, 712 pp. This work is a collection of the lectures delivered at the Seminary of Bologna, by Professor Battaglini. The spirit of the learned professor's philosophy is, as he himself states,secundum divi Thomae doctrinas. No slight task, certainly, to bring the "Angelic Doctor" within the grasp of the young theological student.
The work has attracted the attention of many of the French clergy, and is highly approved by them.
There appears to be serious danger that the French people are in a way soon to know all about the Bible. Besides the numerous copies of the sacred Scriptures already in existence in France, the publisher Lethielleux now has in press the first volume of a new edition of the entire Bible, which will give the Latin text of the Vulgate, with the French translation, and a full body of commentaries—theological, moral, philological, and historical, edited so as to include the results of the best works in France, Italy, Germany, and elsewhere, with a special introduction for each book, by the Abbé Drach, D.D., and the Abbé Bayle, Professor of the Faculty of Aix.
The mantle of Mai and of Mezzofanti has fallen upon Cardinal Pitra, recently appointed to the important position of librarian of the Vatican. The office could not be filled by one more erudite and worthy of it in every respect, and his holiness could hardly have made a better choice. Cardinal Pitra is well known as the author of several learned works in theological and canonical science. Like a true Benedictine, his life has been devoted to study and scientific
A succession of articles lately given in theRevue des Deux Mondes, by M. d'Haussonville, [Footnote 185] has thrown fresh light on the long and interesting struggle between Pope Pius VII. and Napoleon; between moral and physical force, between the inspiration of heaven and the inspiration of the world. M. d'Haussonville, by the publication of numerous documents until now unpublished, and by the letters and despatches of Napoleon the First, lately given to the world by the present imperial government, has added a new interest to the sad story of the captivity of the holy father, and the negotiations at Savona.
[Footnote 185: Lately elected a member of the French Academy.]
The dignity, firmness, and elevated piety of the noble pontiff stand out in more striking relief from their necessary comparison with the rude and merciless tyranny of his oppressor, and have wrung the strongest expression of admiration from sources the most unexpected. In an article entitled, "The Papacy and the French Empire," theEdinburgh Review(October, 1868) says:
"The meek resistance of Pius VII. to the overwhelming force which had crushed every independent power on the continent of Europe, was therefore a protest worthy of the sacred character of the head of the Latin Church in favor of the dignity and liberty of man; and, by the justice of Heaven, the victim survived the conqueror, the feeble endured, the mighty one perished."
Great activity prevails throughout Europe in the search for and publication of documents, long buried in libraries and private collections of MSS., which are calculated to throw light upon the history and workings of the so-called Reformation. And this activity is probably greatest in Switzerland, where every canton, separately or with an adjoining canton, has its historical society in active and industrious operation. German and French, Catholic and Protestant, vie with each other in their praiseworthy efforts to rescue from decay and ruin old parchments, chronicles, protocols, and letters, that are calculated to throw any light on the events of past centuries. In this direction works the Protestant Berner in theHelvetia Sacra, and thePius Vereinpromises great results in a collection of which the first volume has lately appeared, entitled,Archiv für die Schweizerische Reformnationsgeschichte. Herausgegeben auf Veranstaltung des Schweizerischen Piusvereins. Erster Band. Solothurn. 8vo, 856 pp. The central committee of this society consists of Count Scherer Beccard, of Lucerne, and Prebendary Fiala and Professor Barmwart, both of Solothurn. The volume announced contains chronicles, monographs, and extracts from the archives of Lucerne, the mere enumeration of which would be too much for our space.
The old Benedictine abbey of La Cava, in Italy, has long been known to possess in its archives a mass of documents and MSS. said to contain treasures of diplomatic and archaeological erudition. They cover the period from Pepin le Bref to Charles V. Father Morcaldi, one of the most distinguished savants of Italy, has undertaken their classification and publication. They will fill, when printed, eight or ten folio volumes, and require from five to seven years for publication.
A recent number of theLiterarischer Handweiser, edited at Münster by Dr. Franz Hülskamp and Dr. Herrmann Rump, contains an article on Catholic journalism in the United States. Here is an extract:
"Since the cessation of the well-known Quarterly, edited by Dr. Brownson, American Catholics possess but one really first-class periodical, namely,The Catholic World, founded some four years since, and published at New York, in handsomely printed monthly numbers. This monthly, founded by Father Hecker, of the Congregation of the Paulists, a zealous convert, distinguished for his effective dialectic and polemic ability, is one of the most welcome manifestations in the field of North American periodical literature. Already, during the short period of its existence, it has gained numberless friends, and bears favorable comparison with the best productions of the European press. The influence and writings of Father Hecker and his collaborators are sufficient warrant thatThe Catholic Worldhas an important future before it in the field of defence and polemics, and that it will most probably be for many the guide to the bosom of the church."
Among new English books announced isMary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers; embracing a Narrative of Events from the Death of James V., in 1552, until the close of the Conference at Westminster, in 1569. By John Hosack, Barrister in Law. The work is to contain the "Book of Articles" produced against Queen Mary at Westminster, which, it is said, has never hitherto been printed, and will be published by Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh.
If this work be in Mary's defence, it is not the first one—to their credit be it said—produced by the Protestants of Scotland. We confess to some surprise that some one of the many English Catholic writers, with their peculiar facilities for reference to authorities, have not taken up and exposed the scandalous malice of Mr. Froude's attack on the memory of the unfortunate queen. His desperate attempt to advocate the genuineness of the silver casket letters, bold and ingenious though it be, is nevertheless a failure, and its unfairness and sophistry should be exposed.
Life Of Mother Margaret Mary Hallahan, O.S.D., Foundress of the English Congregation of St. Catherine of Sienna, of the Third Order of St. Dominic. By her religious children. With a preface by the Right Rev. Dr. Ullathorne. New York: The Catholic Publication House, 126 Nassau street. 1869.
All who are interested in the extraordinary, not to say miraculous, revival of the Catholic faith in English-speaking countries, will hail with delight the appearance of this book. It is a simple and evidently a truthful narrative of the life of one of those providential personages who, in all great movements, stand out as beacon lights to mark their progress. Margaret Mary Hallahan was born in London in 1802, of Irish parents, who had fallen from a respectable position in life to honorable poverty. She was their only child, and became a complete orphan at the age of nine years. Her education had been provided for, as well as circumstances would permit, by her kind-hearted father, in the schools established in London by the Abbé Carron, a refugee priest of the French revolution. Slender, indeed, were the prospects of a poor Catholic orphan girl in the capital of a country so full of bigotry as was England in 1811. Having spent a short time in the orphan asylum at Somerstown, she was placed under the care of a Madame Caulier, whose harsh discipline was hardly compensated by occasional acts of kindness. In her twentieth year, she was introduced by this lady to the family of Doctor Morgan, once physician to George III. Being then an invalid, he was attended by Margaret during the last six months of his life; and after his death she became the bosom friend of his daughter, Mrs. Thompson, whom she served, rather as a sister than as a domestic, for twenty years. Five years of this time were spent in England and fifteen in Belgium. In the latter country she became a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, on the feast of St. Catherine of Sienna, in the year 1835.
On her return to England, in 1842, she took charge of the Catholic schools of Coventry, where Father Ullathorne, of the Benedictine order, was pastor. Her days were spent in the education of young children, and her evenings in the instruction, religious and secular, of the poor factory girls of the place.In a short time, there was a visible improvement in the Catholic community of Coventry; and Sister Margaret had the happiness of beholding a religious procession, the first of the kind seen in England since the change of religion, at the head of which was borne her own image of the Blessed Virgin, the only treasure she had carried with her from Belgium. A few pious companions, having united with Sister Margaret in the performance of good works, she and three others, by the advice of Father Ullathorne, and with the authorization of the general of the Dominican order, received the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic, with a view to living in community, on the 11th of June, 1844. On the 8th of December, 1845, they made their religious profession. Soon after this, Father Ullathorne was appointed by the holy see vicar apostolic of the western district; and, having established his residence at Bristol, it was deemed advisable for the young community, of which he was the father and protector, to remove to Clifton, near his episcopal city. This was in 1848; and when, in 1850, the Catholic hierarchy was reestablished in England, Bishop Ullathorne, now transferred to Birmingham, founded the second convent of the Dominican Sisters at Stow. This became the general novitiate of the order in England, and here were established by Mother Margaret her boarding and free schools, her orphanage, and hospital for incurables. In 1858, she went to Rome to obtain of the holy see the canonical erection of her community into a congregation governed by a provincial prioress. Her request was granted by a brief given in 1859, by which she was named provincial prioress, which office she retained until her death, in 1868. Here we may be allowed to quote the words of her friend, Bishop Ullathorne, in his preface to her life:
"And now behold this lonely and poor woman, made ripe in spiritual wisdom and in human experience, returning, a stranger and unknown, to the land of her birth. Yet God has already prepared a way for her, and she begins a spiritual work which slowly rises under her hands, from humble beginnings, into the highest character, and surrounds itself with numerous institutions of mercy and charity. Foundress of a congregation of the ancient Dominican order, she trained a hundred religious women, founded five convents, built three churches, established a hospital for incurables, three orphanages, schools for all classes, including a number for the poor; and, what is more, left her own spirit in its full vigor to animate her children, whose work is only in its commencement."
The history of her life will amply repay perusal. It is a continual exemplification of her great maxim,All for God. The most prominent feature in her administration of the affairs of her order was, that she never allowed external employments, undertaken for the benefit of her neighbor, to encroach in the least upon the hours assigned for prayer and meditation. Her zeal in decorating altars, and in providing all things necessary for the decency of divine worship, knew no bounds.
We heartily recommend the life of Mother Margaret Mary to all our readers.
Die Jenseitige Welt.Eine Schrift Über Fegefeuer,Hölle Und Himmel.Von P. Leo Keel, Capitular desStiftes Maria Einsiedeln.Einsiedeln, New York,and Cincinnati: Benziger. 1869.
The first two books of this work are out, and we anxiously expect the third, on Heaven, a topic on which it is very difficult to write anything worth reading, and on which very little has been written in our modern languages. German books are generally better than others, and a work which merits the praise of German critics is sure to be solid. The present work is highly esteemed in Germany, and we have examined the part which treats of purgatory sufficiently to convince us that the author has written something far superior in learning, and vigor of thought, to the ordinary treatises on religious doctrines which are to be met with. To those clergymen who are Germans, or who read the language, we can recommend this book as well worth its price. It is printed in the neatest and most attractive style.
Warwick;or, the Lost Nationalities of America: A Novel.By Mansfield Tracy Walworth.New York: Carleton. 1869.
This novel is a remarkable production, exhibiting vivid imagination, extensive and curious research, descriptive power of a high order, chivalrous sentiments, and a lofty moral ideal, in the author. Its principal scenes, events, and characters belong to an ideal world entirely beyond the possibilities of real and actual life, with an intermingling of some minor sketches drawn from nature which show the author's power to depict the real if he pleases to do so. It seems to us that the serious arguments which are interspersed through the book, and the curious speculations respecting the original inhabitants of America, which are not without at least historical and scientific plausibility, would be presented with far greater effect if they were detached from a plot which is too absorbing to leave the mind leisure to give them due attention. The moral effect intended to be produced by the story itself would be also greater if the characters were more real, the events more natural and probable, and the scenes drawn more from real life. The great praise, so seldom deserved, must be given to the author, that he inculcates high moral and religious principles in an eloquent and attractive manner, and will therefore undoubtedly exercise a refining and elevating influence over the mind of many a young reader who would reject graver lessons. Highly-wrought works of fiction have become a necessity to a large class of readers, and here is one which will give their imagination a wild ride on a racer over a safe road. The young and accomplished author ofWarwick, will, we trust, follow up his literary career, and produce other and maturer fruits of his genius, which will add more renown to the illustrious name he bears.
The Life Of John Banim, the Irish novelist, author ofDamon and Pythias, etc., and one of the writers ofTales by the O'Hara Family.With extracts from his correspondence, general and literary.By Patrick Joseph Murray.Also selections from his poems.New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1869.
The Ghost-hunter And His Family. By the O'Hara Family. New York: D. & J. Sadlier& Co. 1869.
John Banim was born in the city of Kilkenny, on the 3d day of April, 1798. His parents were in humble life, but, through industry and economy, were enabled to bestow upon their son the inestimable advantage of a good literary education, while their precepts and example united to secure for him a thorough Christian training. His genius for novel writing manifested itself at an early age. While in his sixth year, his ready fancy gave birth to a story of no little merit.
"He was not sufficiently tall to write conveniently at a table, even when seated, and having placed the paper upon his bedroom floor, he lay down beside it and commenced the construction of his plot. During three months he devoted nearly all his hours of play to the completion of his task; and when at length he had concluded, the writing was so execrable that he alone could decipher it. In this dilemma he obtained the assistance of his brother Michael, and of a school-fellow; they acted as amanuenses, relieving each other when weary of writing from John's dictation. When the tale was fully transcribed, it was stitched in a blue cover, and John determined that it should be printed. But here the important question of expense arose to mind, and, after long deliberation, the youthful author thought of resorting to a subscription publication. Accordingly the manuscript was shown to several of his father's friends, and, in the course of a week, the subscribers amounted to thirty, at a payment of one shilling each. Disappointment was again the lot of our little genius; for in all Kilkenny he could not induce a printer to undertake the issuing of his story. This was a heavy blow to his hopes; but honorable even as a child, he no sooner found that he could not publish the tale than he waited upon his subscribers for the purpose of restoring to them their shillings.All received him kindly and refused the money, telling him that they were quite satisfied with reading the manuscript."
In this little incident of his boyhood, the salient features of the character of John Banim, the man and the author, are easily discernible. His extreme facility of conception, his hurrying energy of execution, his confidence in the merits of his productions, his indomitable persistence in commanding public attention, his patience and courage under defeat and disappointment, and his scrupulous honesty of purpose, which controlled alike his writings and his business relations, are all contained and foreshadowed in the circumstances of this almost infantile enterprise. Maturer years darkened the shadows, deepened the lines, heightened the lights of Banim's character; but such as he was, when he ran home from his school-mates in their hours of play, "to see that 'Farrell the Robber' had not stolen his mother," such also was he, till, in his last hours, he begged of his brother,
"That I would stand by while his grave was digging, and that, when his body was lowered to its last resting place, I should be certain the side of his coffin was in close contact with that of his beloved parent."
Of the literary life and achievements of Banim, of his privations and discouragements, of his physical sufferings, and his premature decay and death, the pages of Mr. Murray's book contain a tolerably full description. It is to be regretted, however, that the task did not fall into the hands of Michael Banim, his brother and co-laborer in the O'Hara Tales. The work before us is too evidently the accomplishment of "an outsider"—of one who draws his information from letters, from books, from the accounts and descriptions of others, and not of one who "knew his man," and delineates the results of his own personal sight and hearing. John Banim was a man whose biographer should have been his most intimate and dearest friend, whose choicest qualities those who knew him most thoroughly could alone adequately value, and whom a distant public can be taught fully to appreciate only by a writer who himself has learned the lesson through long and close association.
Of the works of Banim, (one of the best of which we have also just received,) it is needless for us to make particular mention. They are worthy to be classed among the standard fictions of the century, whether for their rhetorical or dramatic power, and are almost wholly free from the loose sensationalism which disgraces the pages of so many modern tales. We have found them to inculcate virtue and industry, to do honor to purity and devotion, to abound in filial affection and religious fidelity to duty; and there is no half-heartedness in our wish that they, and such as they, may supplant, at least among Catholic readers, the noisome volumes which come swarming faster and faster both from the American and English press.
Problematic Characters: A Novel.By Freidrich Spielhagen.New York: Leypoldt & Holt. 1869.
It seems unnecessary, to say the least, to translate from the German pictures of life like those contained in this romance, since there are innumerable English and American novels, filled with the same sensuous details, and teeming with shameless descriptions of illicit love. In all the family life introduced to our notice in the course of this thick volume, the only married pairs that are described as living comfortably together are objects of ridicule, while men who make love to their neighbors' wives, and the married women who respond to these advances, are made to appear exceedingly interesting and lovely, and their wicked words and deeds justified on the ground, so popular in these days,incompatibilityin the conjugal relations.
As might be expected from such immoral teaching, utter infidelity follows in its wake.
Responsibility to God or man is ignored throughout these pages, though much is said about the great eternal laws of nature, which seems to mean, according to this author, unbelief in the God of revelation; since the only persons who profess to have any faith in the life beyond are proved arrant hypocrites, and excite only our disgust by their assumed piety.
Such reading should be condemned without qualification, although the style may be, as in this volume, graceful and polished, the language vigorous, often piquant, the descriptions of natural beauties glowing with light and warmth, social questions discussed with equanimity and calmness—but the trail of the serpent is over them all. We unhesitatingly pronounce this a dangerous book—notproblematically, only, but positively bad reading.
Walter Savage Landor. A Biography. By John Forster. 8vo, pp. 693. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co.
Mr. Forster has led us to expect so much from him, by his excellent biography of Goldsmith and other works, that we are not only disappointed but a great deal surprised by the defects of the present bulky volume. Landor's life was a tempting theme to one who knew it so well as Mr. Forster. Stretching far beyond the ordinary limit of human longevity, crowded not perhaps with very stirring incidents, yet with figures of deep historical and literary interest, and curious for its extraordinary manifestations of a strong character, it was a subject of which an accomplished writer might have made one of the best biographies in the language. Mr. Forster has committed a grave fault, however, in being too diffuse, and, valuable as his book must be to the student of Landor's history and times, it certainly cannot be called very interesting. What with the prolixity of the narrative, and the prolonged summaries and analyses of Landor's writings, the reader is too often tempted to close the book from utter weariness. Yet there is a remarkable attraction in the life of that violent, wrongheaded, wonderful old man of genius, who left so many enthusiastic friends, though, it has been truly said, nobody could possibly live with him, and who has enriched English literature with poetry worthy of the classic ages of Greece, and prose among the purest and most eloquent in the language, though there is probably no other author of equal pretensions of whom the mass of readers are so completely ignorant. For this reason, Mr. Forster's biography, cumbrous as it is, deserves an extensive circulation, and it contains so much merit, that we hope he may be induced to bring it into better shape.
Wandering Recollections Of A Somewhat Busy Life:An Autobiography.By John Neal.Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1869.
If the Messrs. Roberts had desired to issue a book "for the season," they could hardly have selected one more appropriate than this pleasant autobiography of John Neal. Like the life of its author and subject, it is full of variety, "everything by starts, and nothing long," and runs as naturally from the piling up of bricks and mortar in the resurrection of Portland from the ashes of 1866, to the traditions and incidents of two centuries ago, as Mr. Neal himself seemed to slip from shop-keeping into authorship, and from peddling into law.
It is a book that one can take up anywhere, and find somewhat of amusement and instruction; and can lay down anywhere without fearing to lose the train of thought or the thread of narrative. There is method enough in it to entitle it to be called an autobiography; there is also a complete justification of the title which its author has appropriated to it. It is the pleasant chat of an old man of seventy-three, over events and personages into contact with whom extensive travel and a long life have brought him; a "potpourri" of the memories and observations of two continents and of over three-score years. Its publishers have done for it in print and paper what the matter and the manner of the work deserved; and if it finds its way into the portmanteau of the summer tourists whether by mountain-side or sea-side, it will hardly fail to be read, and so put to good use otherwise perhaps wasted hours.
Sogarth Aroon; Or, The Irish Priest.A Lecture. By M. O'Connor, S.J.Baltimore: Murphy & Co. 1869.
The author of this lecture was once the bishop of Pittsburg, a prelate hardly second to any member of the American hierarchy in learning and all the highest qualities of a bishop; and, as all know, he resigned his dignity to become a simple Father in the Society of Jesus, where, in spite of his broken health, he has ever since been zealously laboring for the salvation of souls. Father O'Connor has always been remarkable for his intense devotion to his native country and to the best interests of Irishmen. More than once, his learned and powerful pen and voice have been employed in their cause. In this lecture he has once again given a just and glowing tribute to the Irish priesthood. There are some, both here and in Ireland, who are fearing lest the tie which has bound the Irish people to their priests should be weakened by the efforts of demagogues seeking political influence, and by other causes of like nature. We trust this may never be the case; but it behooves all who love the Irish people truly to imitate Father O'Connor, and do everything in their power to strengthen this tie, and keep alive the spirit of Catholic faith in the bosoms of the children of the Martyr Church of Ireland. We recommend this lecture to general circulation both here and in Ireland, as an antidote to the poison which some traitors to their race and their religion are seeking to disseminate.
Young Christian's Library, containing the lives of more than eighty eminent saints and servants of God.12 vols.Philadelphia: Henry McGrath. 1869.
This miniature library should be found in every Catholic household. While necessarily abbreviated, "The Lives" it contains are by no means mutilated condensations, and can be read, not alone with much spiritual benefit, but with real pleasure, in so admirable a manner has the editor performed his allotted task. Hence, although specially designed for youth, we have no hesitation in recommending it to persons advanced in years as an excellent substitute for the Rev. Alban Butler's more elaborate work, from which they are severally abridged. The series is very beautifully got up, and reflects great credit on the taste and liberality of the publisher.
Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia For 1868.
This well-known annual sustains its reputation as a valuable repertory of contemporaneous history. One great merit it has, is the careful manner in which authentic documents are reproducedin extenso. In regard to Catholic matters, it is, as usual, guardedly respectful, evidently intending to be impartial to every body. This is, of course, attempting the impossible, and it is easy to see which way the drift and current of the work do run. We say this in order that the younger and more inexperienced Catholic students may understand that works of this kind, proceeding from non-Catholic sources, are only to be used as lexicons and books of reference, but never to be trusted as guides or authorities for forming their opinions.
The Habermeister.Translated from the German of H. Schmid.New York: Leypoldt & Holt.Price, $1.50.
In this novel we have a vivid picture of German peasant life. The plot rests upon the assumption of unlawful authority, in the name of an ancient custom, the necessity of which has long since disappeared; and the catastrophe is brought about by the use made of it by infamous persons. The characters are well delineated. The rag-picker's ride and the grave scene will be found to exhibit to advantage the talents of an author whose greatest success lies in his description of men. The denouement is satisfactory, although brought about by slightly distorting the truth in regard to the convent reception-room. But the changes in the butcher's character were impossible, if we regard terror as the cause, for terror brings only degradation.
The Irish Brigade, And Its Campaigns:with some account of the Corcoran Legion, and sketches of the principal officers.By Capt. D. P. Conyngham, A.D.C.Boston: Patrick Donahoe. Pp. 559. 1869.
In this, the second edition of Captain Conyngham's well-known work, the publisher has left nothing to be desired, but has given us a book which, with its clear type, good paper, handsome and substantial binding, will compare not unfavorably with any recent issue of the press.
THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY will have ready, in a few days, a new edition ofSt. Liguori's Way of Salvation, and a new edition of the Douay Bible, 12mo, printed on fine paper. Also an 8vo edition, on superfine paper, illustrated.
THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY is now printing a cheap edition of Challoner'sCatholic Christian Instructed, 24mo, to be done up in strong paper covers, and sold at 20 cents per copy, orten dollarsforone hundred copies. This will enable clergymen and others to distribute this valuable book among non-Catholics. The Society will also print a cheap 12mo edition (large type) of the some book, which will be sold at a low price. At the same time, cheap editions will be issued ofThe Poor Man's Catechism, (two editions,)Poor Man's Controversy, Bossuet'sExposition. Gallitzin'sDefence of Catholic Principles, and Gallitzin'sLetters on the Bible. Also cheap editions, bound, ofThe Following of Christare in press. These, with several other new editions of valuable books, will be printed during the fall. The new edition of Bishop Bayley'sHistory of the Church on New York Islandwill be enriched by several new notes, and portraits on steel of Bishops Concannon, Connolly, Dubois, and Archbishop Hughes.
Messrs. John Murphy & Co., Baltimore,will soon publishThe Life of the Very Rev. Frederick W. Faber, D.D.
Mr. Patrick Donahoe, Boston,has in press aLife of Christopher Columbus, translated from the French.
D. & J. Sadlier & Co.are preparing for publicationTen Working Designs for Catholic Churches. The work is highly recommended by several archbishops and bishops.
From Leypoldt & Holt, New York:
Stretton. A Novel. By Henry Kingsley. With illustrations. Pp. 250. 1869.
From Lee & Shepard, Boston:
Credo; an American Woman in Europe. Patty Gray's Journey from Boston to Baltimore.
From Benziger Bros., New York and Cincinnati:
Cantarium Romanum. Pars Prima. Ordinariun Missae.
.
All through that terrible day, the two staid by Mr. Granger's bedside, holding his hands, cooling his fevered face, and watching for a sign of consciousness that came not. At evening there was a struggle, short but sharp, and before they had breathed forth the breath they caught as he started up, the soul had broken loose, and a lifeless form sank back upon the pillow.
Do they listen to us when they are gone? Could he, in the first surprise of sudden freedom, hear the cry, like that of a bereaved Lear, that sought to follow him, "Oh! stay a little!" or the weeping testimony of the other, "There stopped the noblest, kindest heart that ever beat"?
But, listen though he might, from one he heard no word of mourning or appeal after that. Since he was happy, and had no longer any need of her, and since she had done all in her power to do for him, she could now remember herself. That his humiliating offer of an empty hand had been kindly meant, did not lessen her resentment, but rather increased it. However confident he had been that his interpretation of her perfectly frank conduct was the true one, he should never have allowed her to know it, she said. Her heart seemed hardened toward him, and all her friendship dead. "How I have wasted myself!" was the bitter comment with which she turned away from taking her last look at him.
More than once, in the first days of their loss, that fiery anger of an insulted heart broke forth. On their way home, as she sat on the steamer-deck at night, slowly touching bead after bead of her rosary, not praying, but waiting for a prayerful feeling that might come, there came, instead, a recollection of the year before. It rose and painted itself, like a picture, between her and the wide, cool shade and sparkle of midnight sea and sky. There was the home parlor, the window where she sat that day after her retreat was over, so happy, half with heaven and half with earth, the curtain fanning her, the vines swinging in and out in the light breeze. She saw Mr. Granger come to her side and drop a rosary into her hands, saw the silver glitter of his pretty gift, and heard the words that accompanied it, "And indeed, it should have been of gold, had not Jupiter been so poor."
The words caught a new meaning as she recollected them.
"If not gold, then nothing!" she exclaimed; and, leaning over the rail, flung his gift as far as she could fling it out over the water.
The waning moonlight ran around the frosted chain and pearl beads, as if some spirit hand had swiftly told every Pater and Ave of them in expiation of that rash act. Then the waters caught them, and they slipped twinkling down through the green deeps.
Margaret left the deck, and went down to where Mr. Lewis walked to and fro, keeping his mournful watch. His face was pale, and his eyes heavy. He looked perfectly grief stricken.
"What is the matter?" he asked. "Has any one spoken to you?"
"No; but I have been thinking." She leaned on his arm, and looked down upon the casket at their feet. "That man thought that I wanted him to marry me. Is it only a wicked pride, I wonder, that rises up in revolt when I remember it? Should not there be a better name? I could not be angry then, because he was dying; and I forgot it till the next night, after all was over, when I went in to see him. I was full of grief then, and had some silly notion, just like me! of telling him, and that he would hear. The wind had blown the hair over his forehead, and just as I started to put it back, I recollected, and caught my hand away and left him. I had nothing to say to him then, nor since. What did he want to kill my friendship so for? His memory would have been sweet to me.
It is poisoned." "Well," Mr. Lewis said, with a sort of despair, "women are queer beings, and you are ultra womanish. One day you will risk your life for a man, and the next you will look with scorn upon him in his coffin. A better name than pride, do you say? I call it the most infernal kind of pride. Where is your gratitude, girl, toward the man who never had any but a kind word and thought for you? He arranged everything for you, that first night, just as much as he did for Dora, and made me promise that you should never want for a friend while I live. You ought to humble yourself, Margaret, and beg his pardon."
"Do you think so?" she asked faintly. "I hope that you are right. I would rather blame myself than him."
"Of course I think so!" he answered indignantly. "Did he ever give you one unkind look, even? Did he ever prefer any one else before you? Did he ever allow any one to speak against you in his presence? I never, before nor since, saw him take fire as he did once when some one criticised you to him."
"Did he? Did he?" exclaimed Margaret, kneeling by the casket, and laying her cheek to the cold wood. "Ah! that was indeed friendship!"
In that softened mood she reached home.
When death, in visiting a household, is unaccompanied by sordid cares, the lost one being necessary to our hearts alone; when the living have no remorse for the past and no terror for the future of their friend; when the silent face is peaceful; and when the earth that opens to receive it is warm and full of life, like the bosom of a mother where a sleeping child hides its face—then death is more beautiful than life.
Thus this celestial visitant came to the Granger household; and if an angel had alighted visibly in their midst, and folded his white wings to tarry there a day, the presence could not have been more sacred or more sweet. Every sign of gloom was banished. The light was no more shut out than it always was in summer; all the rooms were perfumed with flowers; and the master of the house was not left alone, but lay at the front end of the long parlor suite, in full sight of the family as they came and went.
Among the many callers who came that day was the Rev. Dr. Kenneth, the old minister with whom we have seen Mr. Southard taking theological counsel. This gentleman listened with astonishment and indignation while Mrs. Lewis told him that Mr. Granger had died a Catholic, and would have a requiem mass the next morning.
"He must have been unduly influenced, madam!" said the minister excitedly. "Mr. Granger would never have taken such a step of himself. It is impossible!"
Somewhat embarrassed, Mrs. Lewis drew back, and disclosed Miss Hamilton sitting in the shadow behind her, and, at the first word of reply, gladly left the room, having no mind to stand between two such fires, though the doctor's opponent looked too pale and quiet to be very dangerous.
"With God all things are possible, Dr. Kenneth," was what Margaret said. He regarded her sternly; yet after a moment softened at sight of the utter mournfulness of her face.
"O child of many prayers!" he exclaimed, "whither have you wandered?"
"Please don't!" she said. "I can not bear anything; and we don't want any harsh words while he is here."
The doctor hesitated, and turned to go; but she stopped him.
"While I saw you standing out there and looking at him, I remembered how often you used to come to my grandfather's, and how you petted me when I was a little girl. One day I was trying to carry you the large Bible, and I fell with it. Grandfather scolded me; but you patted my head when you saw that I was on the point of crying, and said that the Highest and the Holiest fell, not once only, but thrice, under his burden. And you pulled my curls, and said, laughing, that if strength dwelt in length of locks, then I ought to be able to carry not only the Bible, but the house. What makes the difference now? Are you harder? or am I in less need of charity?"
"You have your friends," he said coldly, "those for whom you left us."
"Not so," she replied. "I have those in this house; but in the church I had only him out there. My church, here, at least, does not receive converts as yours does. I suppose it must be because they know that we are only coming home to our own Father's house, and they think it would be presumptuous in them to come to meet us, as if we needed to be welcomed."
"What! was no courtesy, no kindness shown you?" he asked incredulously.
"Scarcely a decent civility," she replied. "But no matter about that. Only, I want you to remember it, and to send my old friends back to me. If they will not come, then their talk of religious freedom is hardly sincere; and if you do not tell them, then I shall think you unchristian. Indeed, doctor, when you have passed me ill the street, without any notice, I haven't thought that you were very good just then."