The antiquity of the Catholic Church in America, her struggles and triumphs, are well worthy of the study of all. Her struggles have ever been against vice and error, and in favor of liberty and virtue. Her triumphs have been the conquest of souls for heaven. No impartial mind can study the career of the Catholic Church in the United States without being convinced of the purity of her motives, and the sacredness of her aims. Her conservatism, hersacraments, her defence of Christian marriage, her labors for religious education, her chastening influence over the consciences of her children, of which every day’s record affords examples, her maintenance of law and order, have made her in the past, what they will prove in the future, the mainstay of society, of liberty, and of the republic. Her growth in our midst has been the work of Providence, not of man; a growth which, as our author shows, has proportionately far outstripped that of the republic. While the country has increased from thirteen states to thirty-seven states and eleven territories in ninety-five years, the church has increased from one bishopric to sixty-four bishoprics, six vicariates apostolic, and four mitred abbots in eighty-one years. The population of the country has increased from 2,803,000 to about 40,000,000, while the children of the Catholic Church have increased from 25,000 to 5,500,000. The increase of the general population of the country has been 1,433 per centum in ninety-five years, and that of the church has been 22,000 per centum in eighty-one years. The Catholic clergy have increased from twenty-one priests in 1790 to about four thousand eight hundred priests in 1871; they dispense the blessings of religion in 4,250 churches and 1,700 chapels.
After giving these statistics, the preface proceeds thus:
“To Rome, the capital of the Christian world, Eternal City, destined in our hopes and prayers and faith to be restored to us again as the free and undesecrated Mistress and Ruler of Churches, and to the Sovereign Pontiffs therein, Vicars of Christ on earth, we turn with love and gratitude for the care, solicitude, and support bestowed upon our churches, and for the exemplary prelates bestowed upon them by the Chief Bishop of the church. To our venerable hierarchy,bishops and priests, and to the religious orders, both male and female, we render thanks for their labors, their sacrifices, their sufferings, and their suffrages.
“To our prelates, especially, is due under God the splendid result we have but faintly mentioned. They were the founders of our churches, the pioneers of the faith, and the chief pastors of our flocks. In poverty and suffering they commenced the work, and spent themselves for others. A diocese just erected upon the frontiers, in the midst of a new and swarming population, to anticipate and save the coming faithful, the hope of a future flock, an outpost upon the borders of Christianity and civilization—such was the frequent work and vigilant foresight of the Propaganda and of the Councils of Baltimore—such the charge confided to a newly consecrated bishop. To the religious enterprise and untiring providence of the Catholic Church, in her prompt and vigorous measures for the extension of the faith in this country, may well be applied the striking lines of Milton:
‘Zeal and duty are not slow;But on occasion’s forelock watchful wait.’—Paradise Regained.
“To assume the task of creating, as it were, building up, and governing the infant churches thus confided to their care, was the work that was faithfully and zealously performed by our bishops. It was no uncommon thing for a bishop to be sent to a diocese where there was scarcely a shrine or a priest; where he not only had no friends or organized flock to receive him, but where he had not even an acquaintance; where he would not meet a face that he had ever seen before. In some instances, he had to enter a diocese rent with disunion or schism among the people; in others, he was compelled to reside out of the episcopal city by reason of disaffection prevailing within. In other cases, such was their poverty that they had not the necessary means to procure an episcopal outfit, to provide a pectoral cross and crosier, or to pay their travelling expenses to their dioceses. In many cases the humble log-cabins of the West were their episcopal palaces and cathedrals; and frequently church, episcopal residence, parish school, and theological seminary were all under the same contracted roof. In the midst of such difficulties, we behold examples of humility,patience, cheerfulness, zeal, charity, love, poverty, and untiring labor. A study of such examples, and of lives so good, so heroic, has led us to undertake the work now presented to the public, in order to repeat and continue their holy influences, to preserve the memory of such deeds, to render a tribute to those honored names, and to rescue, as far as we could, our Catholic traditions from oblivion or total loss. We applied to ourself, and yielded to the spirit of, the poet’s appeal:
‘Spread out earth’s holiest records here,Of days and deeds to reverence dear;A zeal like this what pious legends tell?’”
The two volumes contain the lives of fifty-six American bishops, and to the second volume is affixed an appendix containing the lives of three prelates of other countries, who have a special connection with the American Church. The first volume, to which we will confine our present writing, contains the lives of twenty-nine prelates, a list of whom, with the dates of their consecration or appointment, and the religious orders to which they belonged, where such was the case, will in itself prove interesting.
The antiquity of our church in America is strikingly illustrated in this volume—an antiquity equal to that of the church in some of the old countries of Europe, extending back to the ages of faith, when the church was fighting her battles with paganism, and before the time when altar was raised up against altar by the Protestantism of the sixteenth century, and before the more modern phases of infidelity and communism had declared war against all altars and all religion. In the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, the Northmen of Iceland, hardy adventurers on the seas, pushed their exploits beyond the continent of Europe, and landed colonies on the shores of this continent. Coming from their ice-clad homes, our extreme north-eastern regions were tothem a country of enchanting verdure, and received the name of Greenland; and, pushing their cruises farther south, they entered our own Narragansett Bay, where, seeing the country festooned with vines teeming with grapes, they called it Vinland. Our poet Longfellow, aptly quoted by Mr. Clarke, has celebrated some of the exploits of Vikings and Northmen on sea and shore. They were the freebooters and highwaymen of the ocean;
“Joining the corsair’s crew.O’er the dark sea I flewWith the marauders;Wild was the life we led,Many the souls that sped.Many the hearts that bled,By our stern orders.”
At the time of which the poet sings, both Iceland and Greenland were pagan. The mother-country owed her conversion to missionaries from Ireland, and she, in turn, sent out devoted priests, who converted her colonists in Greenland and Vinland to the faith. Convents and churches arose and resounded with the praises of God, chanted in Latin hymns three centuries and a half before Columbus discovered America. Pre-eminent among the Catholic missionaries was Eric, who, in the beginning of the twelfth century, commenced his exalted labors at Greenland, and afterwards particularly along the banks of Narragansett Bay. The site of the present city of Newport and its vicinity were the virgin fields of his apostolic labors. So important did these Christian colonies become, that a bishopric was erected at Garda, the episcopal city of Greenland, and Eric was consecrated its first bishop by Lund, a bishop of Scandinavia. He visited again his cherished flock at Vinland, to whom he was devoted, and, rather than leave them, he resigned his mitre and crosier, went into the ranks of the clergy, and gave his life forhis flock—the first of American martyrs.
The colonies of the Northmen were swept away, and the record of them, even, faded from the histories and traditions of mankind.
“I was a Viking old:My deeds, though manifold,No skald in song has told,No saga taught thee.”
A glowing tribute is paid by the author to the Catholic faith and genius of Columbus, the unrivalled discoverer of America. In the very generation in which Columbus lived, the church established a bishopric within the present limits of our republic. Among the ambitious and hardy captains of that day was Pamphilo de Narvaez, who, in attempting the conquest of Florida, aspired to add to the Spanish crown a realm equal in extent and wealth to Mexico, and to rival the fame of Cortéz by his own exploits. The Franciscans were at his side, seeking a holier conquest, fired by no earthly ambition, but by a heavenly zeal. A bishopric was erected for Florida as the expedition was about to sail from the ports of Spain, and Juan Juarez, who had already won the title of one of the Twelve Apostles of Mexico, was appointed, in 1526, Bishop of Rio de las Palmes. He spent his brief sojourn in Spain in securing ample provision for his future flock, and in obtaining royal guarantees for the liberty and kind treatment of the natives. No time was left for his consecration; he hastened on board the fleet, and rushed to the spiritual relief of his children, whom he knew and “loved only in Christ.” After the disastrous termination of the expedition, he and his companions suffered shipwreck, and are believed to have perished of hunger—the second martyr of our church. Well has our author said of him, that he gave uphis own life that he might bestow upon others life eternal; and that he who died of hunger for God’s sake was greatly rewarded by that same God with celestial feasts, and replenished with seraphic delights; and has aptly applied to him those beautiful words of the Canticle:
“Esurientes implevit Bonis.”
We have dwelt briefly, but with particular pleasure, upon these the first two lives of the volume, because of their peculiar interest and beauty, but they must be read at length in the work itself to be duly appreciated. We rejoice that they have now been rendered a classic story in our language—an enduring monument in our literature.
We had marked out several extracts from the interesting and important life of Archbishop Carroll, and from the lives of other eminent prelates, for insertion, but the want of time and space deprives us and our readers of this pleasure. We reserve the remaining space allotted to this article for three extracts, the first of which is the historical sketch given by Mr. Clarke of an event which reflects untold honor and glory upon the American Catholic episcopate. The honor and merit of originating the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which has ever since been and is now spreading the Gospel throughout the world, is due to an American prelate. Bishop Dubourg, of New Orleans, is the recognized founder of that illustrious society. And now we will let the author speak for himself:
“The most brilliant and fruitful service rendered by Bishop Dubourg to the church, not only in America, but throughout the most remote and unenlightened portions of the world, was the leading part he took in founding the illustrious ‘Association for the Propagation of theFaith.’ It has been well said that ‘the establishment which M. Dubourg, while on his return to Louisiana from Italy, made at Lyons, is of itself enough to immortalize his name. He there formed, in 1815, the Association for the Propagation of the Faith. This single institution, which conveys benedictions unnumbered to millions, and which daily sounds the glad tidings of a Saviour to those who are seated in the silence of death, becomes a monument sufficient to eternize the memory of Dubourg, and to shed a full ray of brightness on any college associated with his name.’”
The following extract, from theLife of Archbishop Eccleston of Baltimore, relates to interesting and stirring events in the life of our Holy Father, PiusIX., and the history of our country and church, which are made to reflect upon events transpiring in our own times:
“The adjournment of the Sixth Council was soon followed by the death of Pope GregoryXVI.and the election of Pope PiusIX.The remarkable events that ensued are a part of the history of our age. Loud, long, and enthusiastic were the plaudits that greeted the first acts of the noble and saintly PiusIX.from every portion of the world, and especially from the United States. Popular meetings in the principal cities sent the most respectful and laudatory addresses to the Holy Father, and Congress sent a minister to congratulate him on his course and to reside at his court. It seemed as though the Protestant world were prepared to hail the return of the glorious ages of faith, when the Sovereign Pontiff was the universally recognized Father and arbiter of the Christian world. The loyalty of Catholics was manifested by the obedience of their souls and submission of their hearts to him whom they recognized as the Vicar of Christ on earth. To their Protestant fellow-citizens was left the work of giving utterance to the public voice of congratulation and praise. The address of a public meeting held in New York by six thousand persons, and presided over by the mayor, contained the following remarkable passage:
“‘And more formidable than all these, you must have girded yourself to encounter,and by God’s help to overcome, that fickleness and ingratitude of multitudes just released from benumbing bondage, which could clamor in the wilderness to be led back to the flesh-pots of Egypt; which, among the contemporaries and even the followers of our Saviour, could leave him to bear in solitude the agony of the cross; and which in your case, we apprehend, will yet manifest itself in unreasonable expectations, extravagant hopes, impetuous requirements, and in murmurings that nothing has been earnestly intended, because everything has not been already accomplished.
“The address of the Philadelphia meeting, held January 10, 1848, contained the following earnest words: ‘May the Almighty grant you length of life, strength of heart, and wisdom from on high, in order to bring to a happy conclusion the beneficent reforms which you have begun! May he inspire the princes and people of Italy with the courage and moderation necessary to second your efforts! May he raise up to you successors, who will continue to extend the influence of peace and justice on earth; and the time will come when the meanest of God’s poor will, if oppressed, be able to summon the most powerful of his oppressors to appear at the bar of united Christendom; and the nations will sit in judgment upon him, and the oppressor, blushing with shame, shall be forced by their unanimous and indignant voice to render justice to the oppressed.’
“Similar addresses were sent from nearly every city of any importance in the Union to the Holy Father. But soon the prophetic language of the New York meeting was realized; the clamor of the disappointed populace was raised against their father and best friend; Count Rossi, his secretary, is assassinated, and the Holy Father himself is a fugitive from Rome. It was then that the devotion of Catholics manifested itself towards the Supreme Pontiff, and many and heartfelt were the testimonials of loyalty and affection received by the exile of Gaeta from his children throughout the world. The Catholics of the United States were not behind their brethren in these demonstrations, and the hope was entertained that the Holy Father would accept an asylum in our midst.... How vividly do the present wrongs of that same Holy Father, and of that same holy church, recall the eventsof his glorious pontificate! When, oh! when, will the Catholic peoples of the world demand of their governments the restoration of the capital of Christendom, and the liberty of the Vicar of Christ?”
As we were about to close our article, our eye fell upon the following fine passages in theLife of Dr. England, First Bishop of Charleston, and we yield to the temptation of transferring them to our columns, both as a tribute to that illustrious prelate and as specimens of Mr. Clarke’s style:
“The great struggle of Bishop England’s life in this country seems to have been to present the Catholic Church, her doctrines and practices, in their true light before the American people. In his effort to do this his labors were indefatigable. His means of accomplishing this end were various and well studied. He endeavored, from his arrival in the country, to identify himself thoroughly with its people, its institutions, its hopes, and its future. He was vigilant and spirited in maintaining and defending the honor and integrity of the country, as he was in upholding the doctrines and practices of the church. In his oration on the character of Washington, he so thoroughly enters into the sentiments of our people, and participates so unreservedly in the pride felt by the country in thePater Patriæ, that his language would seem to be that of a native of the country. There was no movement for the public good in which he did not feel an interest, and which he did not, to the extent of his opportunities, endeavor to promote. His admiration for the institutions of the country was sincere and unaffected. Though no one encountered more prejudice and greater difficulties than he did, he, on all occasions, as he did in his address before Congress, endeavored to regard the prejudices and impressions entertained by Protestants against Catholics as errors, which had been impressed upon their minds by education and associations, for which they themselves were not responsible. In his writings and public sermons and addresses, he travelled over the wide range of history, theology, and the arts, in order to vindicate the spotless spouse of Christ against the calumnies of her enemies. If Catholic citizens andvoters were attacked on the score of their fidelity to their country and its institutions, Bishop England’s ready pen defended them from the calumny and silenced their accusers. If a Catholic judge or public officer was accused of false swearing or mental reservation in taking the official oath, he found an irresistible and unanswerable champion in the Bishop of Charleston. He found the church in the United States comparatively defenceless on his accession to the See of Charleston, but he soon rendered it a dangerous task in her enemies to attack or vilify her; and many who ventured on this mode of warfare were glad to retreat from the field, before the crushing weapons of logic, erudition, and eloquence with which he battled for his church, his creed, and his people....
“Bishop England visited Europe four times during his episcopacy, for the interests and institutions of his diocese, visiting Rome, most of the European countries, and his native Ireland, which he never ceased to love. He was sent twice as apostolic delegate from the Holy See to Hayti. He obtained from Europe vast assistance for his diocese, both in priests, female religious, and funds. It was proposed to translate him to the bishopric of Ossory in Ireland, but he declined. The highest ecclesiastical dignity, with comfort, luxury, friends, and ease, in his native country, could not tempt him to desert his beloved church in America. He had become an American citizen and an American prelate, and he resolved to continue to be both as long as he lived. At Rome he was consulted on all matters relating to the ecclesiastical affairs of this country. The officials of the Eternal City were astounded at the great travels and labors of Bishop England. They heard him appoint from the Chambers of the Propaganda the very day on which he would administer confirmation in the interior of Georgia. The cardinals, in their wonder at all he accomplished, and the rapidity of his movements, used to call him ‘il vescovo a vapore,’ or the ‘steam bishop.’ We have seen with what an insignificant force he commenced his episcopal labors. He increased the churches of his diocese to over sixteen, and lef behind him a well-organized and appointed clergy, and numerous ecclesiastical, religious, educational, and charitable institutions. The Catholic families of his diocese mighthave been counted, at the time of the erection of the See of Charleston, on one’s fingers; at the bishop’s death they were counted by thousands. But the good he accomplished was not confined to his own diocese. His elevating and encouraging influence was felt throughout this country, at Rome, and in many parts of the Catholic world.”
His dying words to his clergy, and through them to his flock, were as follows:
“Tell my people that I love them; tell them how much I regret that circumstances have kept us at a distance from each other. My duties and my difficulties have prevented me from cultivating and strengthening those private ties which ought to bind us together;yourfunctions require a closer, a more constant intercourse with them. Be with them—be of them—win them to God. Guide, govern, and instruct them.Watch as having to render an account of their souls, that you may do it with joy, and not with grief.There are among you several infant institutions which you are called on, in an especial manner, to sustain. It hast cost me a great deal of thought and of labor to introduce them. They are calculated to be eminently serviceable to the cause of order, of education, of charity; they constitute the germ of what, I trust, shall hereafter grow and flourish in extensive usefulness. As yet they are feeble, support them—embarrassed, encourage them—they will be afflicted, console them.
“I commend my poor church to its patrons—especially to her to whom our Saviour confided his in the person of the beloved disciple: ‘Woman, behold thy Son; Son, behold thy mother.’”
The second volume contains the lives of thirty American bishops, and, in the Appendix, the lives of RightRev.Charles Augustus de Forbin-Jansen, Bishop of Nancy, France, who visited this country in 1840, and rendered signal services to religion while here; of RightRev.Edward Barron, who volunteered from this country for the African mission, was made Bishop of Africa in 1845, and died at Savannah, Georgia, in 1854,“a martyr of charity”; and of Cardinal Bedini, whose visit to this country is in the recollection of our readers.
We cannot close our notice without again commending, in the most emphatic manner, this record of the labors of the self-denying prelates who were the means, under God, of planting the church in our beloved country—not only for its historical interest, and as an addition to our permanent Catholic literature, but for the incentive it furnishes to others, both cleric and lay, in their several spheres, to be unremitting in their efforts to extend the faith, thus happily transferred to our soil, to every nook and corner of this favored land.
[118]Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, with an Appendix and an Analytical Index.By Richard H. Clarke, A.M. In two vols.Vol. I.New York: P. O’shea. 1871.
The Vicar of Christ; or, Lectures upon the Office and Prerogatives of our Holy Father the Pope. ByRev.Thomas S. Preston, Pastor ofSt.Ann’s Church, New York, and Chancellor of the Diocese. New York: Robert Coddington,No.366 Bowery. 1871.
We have here another series of the excellent Advent Lectures of F. Preston, which have done so much good in the instruction of the faithful and the conversion of numbers of persons to the true faith. Carefully prepared and solid discourses on the great Catholic principles, dogmas, doctrines, laws, and rites—in fact, on all the topics of religion universally—are especially necessary and useful in our time and country. Besides the additional good accruing to that which has been done by the preaching of these discourses through their more general dissemination among the laity, their publication is a great benefit to the clergy, as giving examples of the best kind of preaching, and furnishing a stimulus and a help to efforts of the same kind.
The present series of lectures on the Pope is fully equal to the former publications of the author in ability and excellence, if not superior to them. The subject, at any rate, makes it far the most interesting and important of any. F. Preston has merited well of the church by his zealous and efficient devotion to the cause of the Pope and the Holy See, and his continual efforts to instruct the Catholic laity in sound doctrine in this most essential matter. In this volume he has given us a lecture on the supremacy, another on the Papal infallibility, a third on the temporal sovereignty, and a fourth on the Pontificate of PiusIX.At the end, the decrees or constitutions of the Vatican Council and several recent allocutions of the Holy Father are given in Latin and English; and the whole is concluded by a carefully and critically prepared chronological list of the Sovereign Pontiffs, in which we are glad to see the Avignonian and Pisan claimants of the tiara relegated to their proper place on one side, while the succession is continued through the Roman line, which is unquestionably the true one. The lecture on infallibility is especially marked by solid learning and ample citations from the fathers, proving conclusively that this article of the faith was explicitly held and taught from the beginning. The style is grave and serious, copious and flowing, and warmed with a spirit of fervent love to the soulsof men. It is the style, not of a mere essayist, but of a preacher. It is, therefore, far more pleasing and popular in its character than that of most books on the same topic. Every Catholic in the United States ought to read it, and we doubt if any book has been published on the Pope equally fitted for general circulation in England and Ireland. Neither is there any so well fitted to do good among non-Catholics. We hope no pains will be spared to give it a wide and universal circulation.
It is most important and necessary that all Catholics should be fully instructed in the sovereign supremacy and doctrinal infallibility of the Pope, and the strict obligation in conscience of supporting his temporal sovereignty.
Mr. Coddington has published this volume in a superior manner, with clear, open type, on very thick and white paper, and adorned it with an engraved portrait of the beloved and venerable PiusIX.Once more we wish success to this timely and valuable series of lectures, and thank the reverend author in the name of the whole Catholic public for his noble championship of the dearest and most sacred of all causes—that of the Vicar of Christ.
Antidote to “The Gates Ajar.”By J. S. W. Tenth thousand. New York: G. W. Carleton & Co. 1872.
Mr. Carleton appears to be convinced that “de gustibus non est disputandum” by a bookseller, but rather that provision is to be made for all tastes. On the back of this little pious pamphlet we find advertisedThe Debatable Land, by Robert Dale Owen;The Seventh Vial, containing, we conjecture, a strong dose, byRev.John Cumming;Mother Goose with Music, by an ancient, anonymous author;At Last, a new novel, by Marian Harland, etc. TheAntidoteis a rather weak and quiteharmless dose, done up in pretty tinted paper. The writer naively asks, onp.23: “Who would not like to fly away in the tail of a comet?”—a question which any little boy would answer in the affirmative, but cruelly dashes our hopes to the ground by telling us that “all this is mere conjecture.” Again, onp.26, he gravely reasons thus: “As to families in heaven living in houses together, as if they were on earth, that is simply impossible. When children marry here, they leave their parents, and have homes of their own; their children do likewise, and so onad infinitum. Those who would live together in heaven would be only husbands and wives and the unmarried children. And as to the married who are not all happily united here, are they to be tied together for ever whether they like each other or not?” The little pamphlet is concluded by two pieces of poetry, one of which is pretty good, the other one of those cantering hymns which are such favorites at the week-evening prayer-meeting:
“We sing of the realms of the blest,That country so bright and so fair,And oft are its glories confessed;But what must it be to be there?”
The doctrine of Miss Phelps’s antagonist is more orthodox than hers, without doubt, so far as it goes, but it is presented in such a way as rather to provoke a smile than to convince or attract the mind of any one who is not already a pious Presbyterian. Our Presbyterian and other Evangelical friends contrive to make religion as sad and gloomy as a wet afternoon in the country. Even heaven itself has but small attractions for those who are not depressed in spirits, when described in the doleful strain which is supposed to be suitable to piety. Miss Phelps, as well as other members of the gifted and cultivated Stuart family, and many of similar character and education, revolted from the dismal system of Puritanism. She yearned after a brighterand more beautiful religion, which has in it something else than the valley of the shadow of death. Her striving to realize this ideal producedGates Ajarand other similar works, whose immense popularity proves both her own power as a writer and also a widely-felt sympathy with the sentiments of her own mind. It is the Catholic theology alone which presents the true and complete doctrine respecting the beatific vision, the glorified humanity of Our Lord, Our Lady, and the saints, the angelic hierarchy, and the relation between the visible and invisible worlds; together with that element of the poetic and the marvellous after which the mind, the imagination, and the heart crave with an insatiable longing. We are tempted to close the present exercise, after the manner of the little book before us, with a few verses from an old hymn, written by one of the persecuted Catholics of Lancashire, at the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century. The whole hymn may be found in theMonthfor September and October:
“Hierusalem, my happie home,When shall I come to thee?When shall my sorrowes have an end?Thy ioyes when shall I see?“Thy walls are made of precious stones,Thy bulwarks diamonds square,Thy gates are of right orient pearle,Exceedinge riche and rare.“Thy turrettes and thy pinnaclesWith carbuncles doe shine;Thy verie streets are paved with gouldSurpassinge cleare and fine.“Thy houses are of ivorie,Thy windoes cristale cleare,Thy tyles are made of beaten gouldO God, that I were there!“Thy gardens and thy gallant walkesContinually are greene;There grow such sweet and pleasant flowersAs noewhere else are seene.“Quyt through the streetes with silver soundThe flood of life doth flowe,Upon whose bankes on every sydeThe wood of lyfe doth grow.“Hierusalem, my happie home!Would God I were in thee!Would God my woes were at an end,Thy ioyes that I might see!”
“Hierusalem, my happie home,When shall I come to thee?When shall my sorrowes have an end?Thy ioyes when shall I see?
“Thy walls are made of precious stones,Thy bulwarks diamonds square,Thy gates are of right orient pearle,Exceedinge riche and rare.
“Thy turrettes and thy pinnaclesWith carbuncles doe shine;Thy verie streets are paved with gouldSurpassinge cleare and fine.
“Thy houses are of ivorie,Thy windoes cristale cleare,Thy tyles are made of beaten gouldO God, that I were there!
“Thy gardens and thy gallant walkesContinually are greene;There grow such sweet and pleasant flowersAs noewhere else are seene.
“Quyt through the streetes with silver soundThe flood of life doth flowe,Upon whose bankes on every sydeThe wood of lyfe doth grow.
“Hierusalem, my happie home!Would God I were in thee!Would God my woes were at an end,Thy ioyes that I might see!”
The Prisoners ofSt.Lazare.Edited by Mrs. Pauline de Grandprè. Translated from the French by Mrs. E. M. McCarthy. New York: Appleton & Co.
In this volume we have a rambling, desultory description of the prison ofSt.Lazare in Paris, and its inmates. It is a prison for women guilty of every variety of crime, and they are even incarcerated here on suspicion. But the majority of its occupants are women who have fallen from virtue more or less criminally. Two great unsolved questions of the age force themselves upon the attentive reader of this volume, filled with the pitiful tale of woman’s sin and shame: What can be done to succor unfortunates who have been ensnared and drawn away from the paths of virtue, and have a desire to return to an honest life; and what are the legitimate and proper employments of women outside of the family?
We are not competent to answer thoroughly either of these questions, which for many years have exercised the politician as well as the philanthropist; we can only express our opinion. We have no such place in this country asSt.Lazare, but we have the abandoned women and their needs. Ah! that word abandoned expresses the state of the public mind toward those who have thus fallen; but the Catholic Christian cannot suffer any soul for whom Christ died to be abandoned, and the Catholic Church answers the first of these questions by opening her arms to the penitent, and offering her the refuge of “Houses of the Good Shepherd,” established in most of our large cities. By the support and multiplication of this order, whose lifework is to receive and help these poor children of sin, is the most effectual way in which Catholic women can reach the class in whose interest this book was written. We do not believe that women discharged from a prison likeSt.Lazarecould be preserved from future danger in an institution like the one proposed in the appendix to this volume. No place but a strictly religious house, in our opinion, could be a house of moral convalescence to these poor creatures. There is one way in which American Catholic women can lessen the number of these miserable outcasts. Watch over your servants, know where they spend their evenings, take them by the hand and give them loving, maternal advice as to their company, and endeavor to bring them often to confession and communion. The providence of God has committed these young girls to your care, and who knows but their souls may be required of you, negligent mistresses, in that day when we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? With regard to the employments of women, should not women be allowed to do any honest business that they can do well? Many new openings have been made for her of late years in telegraphic and photographic offices and stores. But, after all, to touch the root of this matter, why should not woman be so trained that she could, in any emergency, have a resource and support herself? A great deal would be gained if children were brought up to feel that “it is working, and not having money, that makes people happy.” “It is a noteworthy fact,” says the author ofThe Prisoners ofSt.Lazare, “that three-quarters of the inmates are without knowledge of a trade or of any means of making a livelihood for themselves. The support of husband or father failing, then destitution followed, and then vice.”
Prophetic Imperialism; or, The Prophetic Entail of Imperial Power. By Joseph L. Lord, of the Boston Bar. New York: Hurd and Houghton. 1871.
Mr. Lord writes like a thorough gentleman, a point which we notice in this distinct and emphatic mannerbecause it is a somewhat rare phenomenon in literature of this class. He writes, also, like a well-trained and cultivated scholar and thinker. It is, therefore, a pleasant task to read what he has written, more pleasant from the fact that his essay is a short one, and his thoughts are briefly as well as lucidly and elegantly set forth. Moreover, although a Boston lawyer, Mr. Lord really reverences the Holy Scriptures and believes the prophets. His spirit is pious and fervent, though sober, and he is alike free from cant and from unbelieving flippancy. The peculiar theory of Mr. Lord regarding the fulfilment of what we may call the imperial prophecies is not contrary to orthodox doctrine, and is in fact held by him in common with some Catholic writers, although diverse from the one held by the generality of sound interpreters. So far as all the empires preceding that of Christ are concerned, he agrees with the common interpretation. In respect to this last, he holds to a personal descent and earthly empire of our Lord. This is an hypothesis which, in our eyes, has no probability whatever. It is not wonderful, however, that a person who does not see the earthly empire of Christ in the reign and triumph of his Vicar and the Roman Church, should be driven to look for a personal descent and reign of the Lord in the latter times. In this respect, Mr. Lord agrees with a number of eminent Protestant writers, who, being disgusted with the fruits of the Reformation, and not so happy as to see the glories of the Catholic Church, fly for consolation to this brilliant but, as we think, baseless hypothesis.
Mr. Lord differs from most American Protestants in the very disrespectful esteem in which he holds democracy. It is curious to observe the very enthusiastic and adulatory language in which a number of divines express their conviction of the truth of his theory, imperialisticas it is from top to bottom. They withhold their names, however, from a motive of prudence. Mr. Lord’s arguments have not convinced us that his theory is correct, but they prove their author to be worthy of esteem.
East and West Poems.By Bret Harte. Boston: James R. Osgood & Company (late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood & Co.). 1871.
Many of those who have enjoyed Bret Harte’s fugitive pieces have felt a vague suspicion that the word poetry was scarcely adequate to express their character. The sketches from nature have been unquestionably graphic, and, in some cases, not devoid of real humor or pathos—all which has led to their being considered by many as evidences of genius capable by its touch of ennobling humble and insignificant subjects. The volumes, however, which have succeeded one another since Mr. Harte has left California, persuade us that he not only calls his rhymes poetry, but sincerely believes them to be such, and takes for granted that everybody who knows anything at all agrees perfectly with him. We fear that there has been a mistake somewhere. Either the public have been betrayed into an incautious endorsement of the author’s opinion of his own work, or the author has mistaken the character of the sensation which he has created.
He seems to be just as eager as ever in his efforts to astonish the world; and we know not how many more volumes of “poems” we may expect before the public and he come to an understanding. For our own part, the present is just one more than we are prepared to welcome. In spite of kindly dispositions, we are painfully impressed with the fact that the mistake we have alluded to lies with the author. We are also unpleasantly relieved from a doubt as to whether thecharacter of his doggerel is, in all cases, due to the subject, and forced to conclude that there is a congeniality between the writer and his themes which is the secret of his success. We wish him well, and none the less in desiring space wherein to administer to the present volume the castigation which it deserves. In so doing, we would not deny him a certain amount of genuine talent, such as is shown in certain places in the “Greyport Legend” (pp.7-10), or the “Lines on a Pen of Thomas Starr King” (pp.65,66), or “A Second Review of the Grand Army” (pp.95-99); nor would we be disposed to carp at a certain slovenliness which mars the beauty of other serious poems, but which did not detract from their merit on the occasions for which they were written—as was the case with the “Address” (pp.78-81), and the poem of the “Lost Galleon” (pp.82-93)—the latter, if we mistake not, having been composed for a social reunion of the Alumni of the Pacific Coast. But nothing could induce us to excuse the reckless vulgarity displayed in such pieces as “A White Pine Ballad” (p. 155); “In the Mission Garden” (p. 21). There is also enough nonsense in such lines as the “California Madrigal” (p. 127), “A Moral Vindicator” (p. 165),et alibi passim, to make the deliberate addition of “Songs without Sense” (p. 168), unwarrantably superfluous.
The author is not sufficiently aware of the distinction between coarseness and originality, or else prefers notoriety to fame. We cannot consent to the admission of his book into respectable libraries or drawing-room bookstands, still less to a place in American literature. If he should ever recognize and prune his defects, and cultivate a little more respect for those for whom he writes, as well as love for the purity of the idiom in which he deals, we shall be happy to give him that praise which would be at present most unmerited and inopportune.
Sermons by the Fathers of the Congregation ofSt.Paul.Vol. VI.New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1871.
For obvious reasons, we have taken occasion to speak of this volume without the knowledge of the responsible editor. The great pressure on our columns this month, which has compelled the omission of several valuable articles already in type, will not permit, however, more than a passing notice. We have always considered these annual volumes as models of wise, simple, and earnest instruction, and see no reason to change our opinion in the present instance. Indeed, there is, perhaps, increased reason, during these troublous times, to admire the bravery with which our Paulist Fathers meet the various questions demanding solution, and we therefore take pleasure in commending the work to the attention of all interested in homiletic literature.C.
To and From the Passion Play, in the Summer of 1871.By theRev.G. H. Doane. Boston: Patrick Donahoe. 1872.
This elegant volume contains not only an accurate description of the Passion Play—a spectacle to which, of course, none but a Catholic can do justice—but also a great deal of interesting matter about a number of things and places that the author saw on his journeys to and fro. As regards Paris, we have a sketch of some of the deeds of the Commune, and, in particular, the murder of the late archbishop.
It is worthy of remark that, when Father Doane describes whether a place or an incident, he avoids that elaboration and artifice which pall upon the reader in many books of travel, and gives us his thoughts and impressions in an easy and happy style. We congratulate him on his literary efforts; and thank him cordially for affording us so much valuable information in so pleasant a manner.
The “Catholic Publication Society” has in press, and will publish immediately,The Pastoral Address of the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland on the School Question. It will be got out in a12mopamphlet, and will be sold for $3 per 100 copies.
The “Catholic Publication Society” will also publish, early in January,The Liquefaction of the Blood ofSt.Januarius;Lentent Sermons, from the Italian ofRev.Paul Segneri, S. J.; andSermons on Ecclesiastical Subjects,Vol. II., by Archbishop Manning.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.
FromCharles Scribner & Co., New York: The Holy Bible according to the Authorized Version (A.D.1611), with an explanatory and critical commentary, and revision of the Translation, by Bishops and other Clergy of the Anglican Church. Edited by F. C. Cook, M.A., Canon of Exeter.Vol. I., PartI.Genesis-Exodus.8vo,pp. xii.,, 928.
FromHurd & Houghton, New York: The Last Knight: A Romance-Garland, from the German of Anastasius Grün. Translated with Notes by John O. Sargent.8vo, pp. vi., 200.—The Church Idea: An Essay toward Unity. By Wm. R. Huntington, Rector of All Saints’, Worcester.12mo, pp.235.
FromRoberts Brothers, Boston: Songs of the Sierras. By Joaquin Miller.12mo, pp.299.
FromCarlton & Lanahan, New York: The Mission of the Spirit; or, The Office and Work of the Comforter in Human Redemption. ByRev.L. R. Dunn.12mo, pp.303.
FromJ. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia: The Resurrection of the Redeemed; and Hades. By James Boggs.12mo, pp.145, 69.
FromHolt & Williams, New York: Art in Greece. By H. Taine. Translated by John Durand.12mo, pp.188.
FromPatrick Donahoe, Boston: The Four Great Evils of the Day. By Henry Edward, Archbishop of Westminster.18mo. pp.207.—Review of a “Treatise on Infant Baptism” by Thos. H. Pritchard, D.D. PartI.ByRev.J. V. McNamara, Pastor ofSt.John’s Roman Catholic Church, Raleigh, N.C. Paper,pp.46.
FromRobert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati: Who is the Pope? And Who is PiusIX.among the Popes? By F. X. Weninger, D.D., S.J. Paper,pp.15.
FromThe Free Press Association, New York: Appeal to the People of the State of New York, adopted by the Executive Committee of Citizens and Taxpayers for the Financial Reform of the City and County of New York, etc. Paper,pp.16.
FromD. Appleton & Co., New York: Philosophy of Style: An Essay. By Herbert Spencer, author of “First Principles of Philosophy,” etc.Pp.55.
International Congress on the Prevention and Repression of Crime, including Penal and Reformatory Treatment. By E. C. Wines, LL.D., Commissioner of the United States. Paper,pp.28.
THE
VOL. XIV., No.83.—FEBRUARY, 1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, byRev.S. T. Hecker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
Under the foregoing title, we propose to present to the careful attention of the wealthy class of American citizens a series of essays on some topics which concern them very nearly. We intend to make each one short, that it may be easily read, and that the reader who is interested in the matters we discuss may have time to think over each topic by itself. We address them principally to Catholics, and shall, therefore, always take for granted and appeal to Catholic principles and doctrines. Yet we are convinced that others not Catholics will find a great deal in them which they must acknowledge to be true, and likely to do them good, if they are at all earnest and conscientious.
Since we expect to say some things to the rich, and to those who are by other advantages besides wealth in an elevated social position, which will be severe, and perhaps to some unpalatable, we may as well begin by placing a guard against a possible misunderstanding of our intent. No careful reader of our magazine can suppose that we would sympathize with or encourage any movement hostile to the just rights or reasonable privileges of the wealthy class. Moreover, we cherish a deep respect for all the hierarchical institutions of the political and social order, as well as for their more sacred and elevated counterparts in the ecclesiastical system. We recognize the necessity, even in our republican commonwealth, of a certain elevated social class, in which men of wealth must unavoidably have an eminent position. Whatever we have which can check our ultra-democratic tendencies, infuse a conservative spirit into our public opinion, give dignity, decorum, and stability to our institutions, elevate and refine our social tone, and add a becoming splendor to our civilization, calls forth our sympathies, and receives our deliberate and reasoned approbation. Whatever censures, therefore, we may pronounce uponthe vices, follies, and delinquencies of the rich and the otherwise highly placed in social rank, and whatever admonitions we may address to them respecting the duties and dangers of their position, must be taken as coming from a friend, not only to themselves as individuals, but to their class. With these preliminaries, we address ourselves to our task.
We have placed the title “In Reference to Communism” at the head of our first article for one special reason. Communism threatens the wealthy class with a war of extermination. It is obvious, therefore, that the rich have more need to reflect on the duties and dangers of their position, at the present time, than they have ever had before. So, then, we call their attention at the outset to the war which the fanatics of revolution are preparing for them, in order that our words may have more weight, and that they may give more serious thought to the subjects we intend to discuss with them. And here we will explain that we employ the single terms “rich,” “rich people,” etc., for convenience’ sake, including under this designation other qualifications besides moneyed wealth, and other persons besides those who possess great fortunes; namely, all those who possess any species of privilege or power which gives them social dignity and influence.
We say, then, to the rich: your class, your privileges, your possessions, your lives, are threatened by an enemy whose character is disclosed by the bloody orgies of the Paris Commune. What application do we make of this grave and alarming fact? Simply this. The rich members of society ought to reflect seriously on all the questions which relate to their position in the commonwealth. They ought to think of their duties, to examine their own delinquencies,to consider the line of conduct they ought to adopt, to use their power and influence rightly and rationally, to educate their children carefully, and in every way to prevent and defeat the nefarious plots of the party of revolution. We say, earnestly and emphatically, that there is now a special necessity and obligation to use wealth, education, intellectual power, social influence, political power, moral and religious force, to avert the dangers which threaten society, and to promote its solid and firm establishment on a right basis. Moreover, the self-interest of the rich demands this of them most imperatively. All their private and personal interests depend on the peace and good order of society. Their own safety demands of them that they should work for the salvation of political and social order, when they are in danger, just as they would bear a hand at the pumps on board a leaking ship, or man the batteries of their own beleaguered city. Hostility between the wealthy and the laborious classes is a great evil in society. When the hostility of the masses against the aristocracy becomes violent, and tends to produce a revolution and an exterminating war of the former against the latter, there is a deadly sickness in the body politic which threatens its dissolution. This state of things exists at present in Christendom. We are not so deeply affected as yet in this country; but we are not altogether sound or safe from the infection, and there is reason enough to be on the alert to protect ourselves from it. The rich have duties toward society in general, and toward its several classes and individuals in particular. And they have, at the present time and in present circumstances, a special obligation to give these duties careful attention.
All this would he strictly true and sufficient to arouse the rich to a greater vigilance in fulfilling the duties of their high position, even if they were free from blame, as a class, for the disorders and evils of modern society; but, if they are chiefly to blame for these evils through their past neglect and delinquency, there is an additional and imperative motive in this fact for a strenuous effort on their part to repair the past in the present and the future by a redoubled fidelity and energy. We think they are to blame. It is our deliberate judgment that communism, and the whole mass of social disorders which have lately come to the surface of the body politic under this loathsome and deadly form, are principally to be traced to the abuse of power and wealth by the governing classes. Kings, nobles, rich men, authors, politicians, have, in part by their gross abuse of the trust committed to them, and in part by their neglect and indifference, generated the moralpetroleumto which demagogues and leaders of revolution, the Mazzinis, Garibaldis, Karl Marxes, Dombrowskis, and Raoul Rigaults, have applied the torch. There have been many great and good things done by kings, and by the members of the political, social, and intellectual aristocracy. There have been many admirable and excellent persons, many heroes and saints, among these elevated classes in society. Nevertheless, on the whole, they have been, especially for the past three centuries, grievously delinquent, and continually becoming worse; and even more extensively delinquent by neglect than by positive criminality. The greatest part of the miseries and crimes which darken the annals of history may be traced to kings and their associates in government. Their ambition, their selfish policy, theirunjust or unnecessary wars, their disregard of the happiness of the common people, their haughtiness of demeanor, their personal vices and corrupting example, have been the fruitful causes of misery and vice among their subjects. They have reacted against themselves by producing hatred and contempt of thrones and kings, of authority and government. The aristocracy have followed closely the royal example set before them. And the men of genius and intellectual culture, the princes and rich men of the realm of arts and letters, since the fatal epoch of therenaissanceof paganism, have prostituted their heaven-born gifts to the service of every destructive error and every corrupting vice. The greater number of those who have not positively aided the work of ruin have been apathetic and indifferent, and have not positively aided the work of salvation, at least with the zeal and energy which might justly be expected from them.
Moreover, kings, nobles, and the wealthy class have made war on the church. They have revolted against the Holy See, enslaved the hierarchy and the clergy, and despoiled the church.
They have robbed and well-nigh suppressed the monastic orders. In this way, they have sapped and undermined the foundations of their own stability; for it is the principle of religious obedience and reverence, first of all toward God, and then secondarily toward all powers established and sanctioned by the law of God, which is the source of the sentiment of loyalty. The rebellion of the state against the church must, therefore, terminate in the rebellion of the lower against the higher classes in the state. The monastic institution was the strongest of all links between rich and poor, great and humble, by reason of the fact that its members belonged to both classes at the sametime. The destruction of monasticism, therefore, resulted necessarily in a hostility of these two classes toward each other. So it has come about that the aristocracy, excited by kings against the church, turned next against the kings, the commercial and middle classes turned against the aristocracy, and now the masses are turning against the men of wealth, or, as their own leaders express it, against “the supremacy of cash.” The condition of the laboring classes is, at best, in many respects a hard one. It is a great and an arduous thing which is required of them; to submit patiently to the supremacy of the higher classes. Religion alone makes their position tolerable; religion, binding together both the superior and the inferior classes in divine love. The hierarchy and the aristocracy must be recognized by the people as holding their high position for the common good of all, and as working with a self-denial equal or superior to their own; that is, as reallylaborersin another sphere of action, but with a common end in view, in order that they may contentedly acquiesce in the inequality of rank, wealth, and social privileges which prevails in society. So soon as the people are convinced, whether wrongly or rightly, that the privileges of their spiritual or temporal superiors are mere privileges of a caste, which despises, rules, and taxes the people for its own selfish aggrandizement and pleasure, they begin to hate them with a deadly hatred. The Catholic people are content that the Pope govern, rebuke, and punish them; that he possess the wealth and splendor of a spiritual and temporal sovereign; that he reign as the vicegerent of God on earth—because they believe that all this is for their own highest good. They are content that bishops and priests possessall the honors and privileges of their office, and willing to sustain them in these, for the same reason. Take away this belief, and it is not long before they begin not only to withhold their contributions, to withdraw their allegiance, to refuse obedience, to lose respect and love for their spiritual superiors, but to cry out for their overthrow and even clamor for their blood. It is the same in respect to the secular privileged classes. And, at the present moment, since the greatest amount of external and material privilege, splendor, and worldly good in general has passed into the hands of the wealthy class, it is this class which is most immediately exposed to the brunt of the attack which is directed against caste and privilege. We will quote the language of one of the official organs of the International Society, theEgalitéof Geneva, in order to show with the utmost clearness what is their spirit and aim:
“When the social revolution shall have dispossessed thebourgeoisie, in the interests of public utility, as thebourgeoisiedispossessed the nobles and the clergy, what will become of them?
“We cannot answer with positive certainty, but it is probable that the new order of things will give them, to borrow an expression from one of our friends, an infinitely more precious wealth, that of labor, well paid, at their discretion; so that they may be no longer obliged to live by the labor of others, as they have hitherto lived. In case some of them should be incapable of labor, which will happen to a good many, seeing thathitherto they have never learned the use of their ten fingers, what then? Well, then they will be given tickets for soup.
“‘But that is too little,’ thebourgeoiswill howl.
“‘Too little!’ the workman will reply—‘too little to have work, at your discretion, well paid, and soup for the invalids! The deuce! You are hard to please. We could have been well satisfied with such terms formerly.’”[119]
This is the unavoidable conclusion, and the practical as well as unavoidable conclusion, to which the whole mass of the people must come, unless they are convinced that the rich labor more usefully for the common good, and for the good of the poor, by means of their wealth with its attendant privileges, than they would by manual labor. They cannot be convinced of this, unless rich and poor alike recognize the truth of religious and Christian principles, and act on them practically. On the materialistic, anti-theistic ground, you cannot get a foothold against communism. It is all a waste of words to show that civilization, art and science, social and political splendor, national greatness, etc., require the concentration of wealth in a few hands. What does the poor man care for these, if this life is all, material good thesummum bonum, and he himself miserable? His condition becomes insupportable, and he would rather burn the world with petroleum than bear it. It is very true that his desperate efforts will make his condition far worse. But he will not listen to you when you try to prove this to him, and, if you should even convince him, you would only render him more desperate. He must believe that he is under the government of God, that he has been redeemed by Christ, that heaven is opened to him by faith, that this world is a place for gaining merit by labor and suffering, that the difference in rank, wealth, and privilege is ordered by God for the good of all and every one, if he is to be contented with his lot. For him is the Pope, the bishop, the priest, the splendid church, the glittering vestments and chalices. For him, too, is government, for him is commerce and trade, for him science and art, for him are somemen rich. The church and the state are necessary for his good, and both church and state have need of men in whose hands wealth and power are deposited.
If the people are to be convinced of this, they must see that their spiritual and temporal superiors are convinced of it, and act accordingly. The rich as well as the poor must act on Christian principles—act as men who have a trust committed to them for the common good. They must, in a word, be zealouslaborersin their own sphere. And it is especially incumbent on them, at the present time, to do everything possible to ameliorate and elevate the condition of that class of society who are not merely doomed to a life of manual labor, but to a life of misery and degradation. The people have been taught that they possess political sovereignty, and universal suffrage has given them the right and power to exercise it. Can they be expected, then, to remain content for ever with a sovereignty which is united with a state of social abjectness and misery? Is it safe or prudent to neglect, despise, or insult them; or to swindle them and defraud them of their rights, and at the same time to flaunt before their eyes the gaudy insignia of what they believe to be ill-gotten wealth? Especially when we consider that they read the newspaper every day. We leave it to our rich merchants and our educated men to think over and answer to themselves these questions.
For ourselves, we are convinced that the only safety for the wealthy class, and for society, is to be found in a return to purely Christian and Catholic principles. And we shall proceed to give our views more definitely and in detail upon the part which devolves on the rich in this work of social regeneration, in our future articles.
[119]See theDublin Review, Oct.,p.459.
When the boat had slipped away from Indian Point, at one side, and Carl Yorke had strode off through the woods, at the other, Captain Cary lifted again the dingy canvas, and entered the wigwam that Edith had just quitted. In doing so, he was obliged to stoop very low, for the opening scarcely reached as high as his shoulders, and, had he stood erect inside, he would have taken the whole structure up by the roots.
Dick still lay with his arms thrown above his head, and his face hidden in them.
His friend bent over him, and spoke with an affectation of hearty cheerfulness which was far from his real mood. “Come! come! don’t give up for a trifle, my boy. You’re more scared than hurt. All you need is a little brandy and courage. Everything will turn out rightly, never fear!”
“Don’t talk to me!” said Dick.
Captain Cary’s heart sank at the sound of that moaning voice. When Dick Rowan’s spirit broke, there was trouble indeed, and trouble which could neither be laughed nor reasoned away.
“Do take the brandy, at least,” he urged; “and then I won’t talk to you any more till the boat comes back. You must take it. You’re in an ague-fit now.”
Dick was, indeed, trembling violently.But, more to relieve himself from importunity, it would seem, than for any other reason, he lifted his head, swallowed the draught that was offered him, and sank back again.
His friend leaned over him one instant, his breast, strongly heaving, and full of pity, against Dick’s shoulder, his rough, tender cheek laid to Dick’s wet hair.
The poor boy turned at that, threw his arms around Captain Cary’s neck, drew him down, and held him close, as a drowning man might hold a plank. “O captain, captain!” he whispered, “I’ve got an awful blow!”
When the sailor went out into the air again, all the Indians had retired into their wigwams, except Malie, and her father and mother. The child, wide awake, and full of excitement, was swinging herself by the bough of a tree, half her motion lost sight of in the dark pine shadow, half floating out into the light. Now and then, she stretched her foot, and struck the earth with it. When the stranger appeared and looked her way, she began to chatter like a squirrel, and, lifting her feet, scrambled into the tree, and disappeared among its branches.
Mr. and Mrs. Nicola crouched by the fire, and sulkily ignored the intruder. When he approached and stood by her side, the woman did not turn her head, but tossed a strip ofbirch-bark into the coals, and watched it while it writhed, blackened, turned red, shrivelled, and disappeared.
“I wonder if she would like to serve me that way?” he questioned inwardly; and said aloud, “I am going up to meet my man at the ship, and come back with him. It may save a little time, and I don’t like to keep you up any longer than I must.”
The man uttered a low-toned guttural word, the woman nodded her head in reply, but neither took any notice of Captain Cary.
“I am sorry to intrude,” he added stiffly; “but when a man is sick, he must be taken care of. Captain Rowan, in there, doesn’t half know where he is, nor what he is about. I will get him away as soon as I can. You shall be paid for your trouble.” He tossed a silver piece down between the two. “When I come back, you shall have more,” he said, and, turning his back upon them, walked off into the woods.
Neither of the two elders stirred till he was out of sight; but Malie slipped from her tree, darted at the money, and snatched it up. She was escaping with it, when her father seized her, took the money from her hand, and put it into his pocket. She only laughed when he let her go. She had no use for money, except to wear it on a string around her neck, and a string of beads was prettier. Besides, she had her treasure—the book the lady had given her that day. She threw herself on the ground, near the fire, drew this book from the loose folds of her blouse, and turned the leaves, reading here and there. The page looked like all sorts of bird-songs written out. Doubtless the birds and beasts had had a good deal to do with making the language of it. Who would not think thatk’tchitbessùwìnoawas averse from a feathered songster? Malie would tell you that it means a “general.” Probably the birds call their generals by that name. One looks with interest on a child who can read this chippering, gurgling, twittering, lisping, growling “to-whit, to-whoo!” of a thought-medium.
While she read, Captain Cary, tramping through the strip of woods between the encampment and South Street, recollected for the first time that his clothes were dripping wet. “What a queer, topsy-turvy time we are having!” he muttered, wringing the water from his cravat, as he hurried along. “The whole affair reminds me of that fairy play I saw last winter. There must be something unwholesome in this moonshine.”