A Model Letter.
New Zealand Tablet, Rōrahi XXX, Putanga 4, 23 Kohitātea 1902, Page 2
Mō tēnei niupepa
A Model Letter.
Barry O'Brien's recently-published volume has set the world once more a-talking of the late Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Russell of Killowen. Tennyson in his In Memoriam speaks of 'the noble letters of the dead,' but we doubt if there is anything more touching or edifying in the career of the great Catholic statesman and lawyer than the following charming letter which he wrote to a daughter who was about to embrace the religious lite My Darling Child, God's will be done You have now taken the first serious step towards final retirement from the life of the world. The thought that it makes for your happiness, and that it is the will of God, softens the blow to your mother and to me —for blow it, beyond question, is to vs —blow it is also, I know, to Lily (who has borne herself like the brave girl she is), and to Margaret also. We hoped, selfishly in part, no doubt, but not wholly selfishly, to have your sunshiny nature always with or near us in the world —a world in which we thought and think good bright souls have a great and useful work to do. Well, if it cannot be so, we bow our heads in resignation. We know you will do your duty, as it comes to you to do, well and thoroughly and unselfishly; and we have no fear that you will forget us. After all, it is something for us, poor dusty creatures of the world, with our small, selfish concerns and little ambitions, to have a stout young heart steadily praying for us. I know we can depend on this I know, also, you will not forget your promise to me, should serious misgivings cross your mind before the last word is spoken. I rely on this. God keep and guard you, my darling child, is the prayer of your father, Russell of Killowen.'
