San Francisco Mail News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 333, 5 September 1879, Page 15

San Francisco Mail News

(From onr Exchanges.) Mr. James R. Lycldy, of New York, publishes in Celtic Monthly for July a paper on his personal impressions of Pope Leo. He gives the following description :—": — " The head is bald over the front, and well back, with a fringe of silver hair over the ears, and continuing around the back of the head. The brow is a perfect dome from an imaginary line drawn from the junction of the eyebrows, across the face, to the middle lobe of the ear, and the upper portion of the head seemed three times the size of the base. His carriage was singularly quiet and gentle, but there is a world of strength and firmness in the mouth and chin, and square though delicate jaw. There is no physical index of power, as usually understood ; on the contrary, everything speaks of tenderness, delicacy, and winningness. I should say that, above all thing, Pope Leo XIII. will be much beloved by all who come in personal contact with him."

The question of a site for the Gough equestrian statue was discussed lately in the corporation. Home members favoured the site in Westmoreland street at the corner of the new bridge, while others pointed to Foster piace as more suitable, desiring to reserve the site in Westmoreland street for the statue of some hero more of their own choice than that of Lord Gough, who admittedly was a distinguished soldier and Irishman, but who had spent the greater portion of his life in the service of England. The matter was ultimately referred to No. 1 Committee for consideiation.

Two anchors have recently been fished up in Bantry Bay by fi.-hertnen. They are said to have belonged to the French fleet that anchored in the bay in 1795.

Bad accounts come from Ireland as to the harvest prospects. The wheat, which ought to have been far advanced, is scarcely visible, and green crops are lull}' two months behind.

An extraordinary discovery has been made in the vicinity of Athea, County Kerry. A human skeleton in a bog was found at a depth of five feet in a solid bank, which apparently had never bean disturbed. A lock of brown hair was attached to the skull.

The Dublin Police Magistrate has sentenced two gambling-house keepeis to a fine of £."30 each, gambling being of late rather rife in the city.

A late report says .-—Thousands of acres of oats, potatoes, and valuable feeding lands are submerged in the northern districts of the County Cavau, Ireland, in consequence of the late incessant rains.

Theie are off the coast of Kerry little islands called the Blaskets, inhabited by a poor and primitive population, whose nearest church is on the shoie of the mainland. On stoimy days they cannot cross " to hear Mass," but they kneel by their rocky coast bare-headed in the open air. The progress of the ceremony is made known to them by the wa\ ing of flags, and their prayers accompany those of the plies.

Mr. Mitchell-Hem y, who owns a great deal of propeity in L eland, thinks the troubles of the faimers are due not so much to bad seasons and American competition as to the English conn'-ction. He prescubes Homo Rule as the only remedy that will cure the ills now complained of inallpaitsof the couutry. If all the laudloias in Ireland were of Mitchell-Henry's stamp, some sort of cure would cerlainlv be found.

Cardinal Newman, in thanking the Catholics of Oxford, who had congiatulated him on the great honour confeii<_d on him by th« Church, says : " The name of Oxford bungs with itio me associations and raises a throng of affectionate feelings peculiar to itself. The ash. s of the mighty dead, the relics, of the time when it was Catholic, still live there and remind us from time to time of their presence, by the effort they seem to make to throw off the superincHmbeut errors which have so long kept tyrannical hold of them. The religious movement to which you refer was an exhibition of that latent energy and a token of what may take place at some future day. The present spread of Liberalism may be, for what we know, another movement towards some great triumph which is to come. Meanwhile, you the Catholics of Oxford, have a great and sacred duty in preserving'

the traditions of the past, and handing them down to happier times. That you may be prosperous in this work, and increase in numbers and in zeal, is the sincere prayer of, sincerely yours in Christ, John H. Cardinal Newman."

Mr. Gladstone still pursues theology. At the present moment he is writing an article for the dissenters' organ, the British Quarterly, on the " Decay of Evangelicalism in the Church of England." It is said that it will be a kind of continuation of some articles he wrote about two years ago on the currert of religious thought. It will be curious to see what relation Mr. Gladstone — ecclesiastically and theologically a son of the Oxford movement — will adopt towards the Low churchism with which during a great part of his life be was out of sym pathy.

In an article entitled " The Poets of the Oxford Catholic Movement, 1827, 1845," the new Quarterly Magazine (London), referring to Dr. Newman, says : — There is probably no Englishman who is not proud of this simple, grand old man, and who does not feel that hia country is honoured by the Cardinals purple, which is offered to Dr. Newman.

The educational value of a nun's dress is not appreciated by nonCatholics, but it is well known and appreciated by Catholics. Cardinal Manning s^id the other day :: — ■' And I say openly that when I see a school taught by nuns it is a joy to me, because I know that the religious habit teaches in itself, and that children who have been trained by nuns to the end of their lives bear in mind the recollection of the Sister from whom they learned the first lesson of their religion, whose name they hold in benediction, and to whom, in any sorrow or trial whatsoever, they turn with the greatest readiness."'

Bishop Hendricken of Providence, R.1., in whose diocese Newpoit, the summer residence of the American Bonapartes, is situated, had the melancholy privilege of pontificating at the Requiem Mass sung for the poor Prince Imperial. The more we read of his death and of the goodness of his life the more we regret his sad fate. Evidently he was the good son of a good mother.

In 1859, the New York Tribune's total outlay for news, editing, type-setting, printing and publishing, including the accounts of the editorial department, composing room, press room, publisher's department, correspondence and telegraph, was ] 30,198 dols. On the 13th of January, 1879, the outlay for the past year in the same departments was reported at 377,510 dols.

Buzzell isu't a good name in New England. The leader of the mob that burned the convent in Chailestown over 40 years ago was named Buzzell. Last week a man of the name was hanged for murder in New Hampshire; and there is another of the name indicted for a brutal child murder, and suspected of other dark crimes, in Massachusetts.

It gives some idea of what newspaper publishing is to read that one New York daily has ordered 125,000 worth of paper from a Lee (Mass.) factory.

Our esteemed contemporary, the Are Maria, of Notre Dame, Ind., acknowledges its indebtedness to a couple of Jewish merchants in Scranton, Pa., for a number of new subscribers secured through their exertions.

There was only one Irishman in the recent Socialistic parade in Chicago, and he wis thrown from his horse. Even the dumb animal couldn't stand hit nonsense.

Since Curistmas, 1878, Rev. E. J. Vattman, of Canal, Fulton 0., has received six convcits into the Church; three on Sunday, 15th June — two Episcopalians, and one Piesbytenan.

The ISoitth Bend (Lid.) Ken's. Protestant, says : " The Cleveland (O.) Leader is bent on destroying the Catholic Church. A Kakakee mosquito set upon Forepaugh's largest elephant the other day, and attempted to swallow him whole."

Americans manage to invent odd expressions. The other day a young American lady was at a London ball. Dancing heated her. " I feel a little dewy," she said to her partner, as she wiped the perspiration from her brows. — London Truth.

Rev. John Beitazzi, who died lately at Jacksonville. Fla., was one of the mo&t devoted attendants of the yellow-fever suffereis during the late scourge. May his soul rest in peace 1

There is a new paper at WestLibeity, Ky., called the Bed Hot Scorcher.

Dr. CogFy, a Chinese physician, of San Fiancisco, at a recent inquest in the case of a Chinaman, was asked, " How many lungs has a man 1 " He replied : " Seven." Dr. Cog Fy further stated that there are five holes in the human heait, and that the function of the heart is ' % to catch air."

M. de Lesseps attended the litciary congress in London, and having referred to the Suez canal, said he trusted in a few months to succeed in a further task — that of commencing the works of the canal through the Isthmus of Panama. He was warmly applauded. The Congress elected as members the King of the Be^iaiis, th^ King of Portugal, and President Grevy.

At Manchester an inquest was held on the body of,, a female named Annie Spencer, and evidence was given showing that death was in a great measure due to her having used a hair-dye, fcr tl c purpose of turning her black hair into a golden hue.

With respect to a note in the World on Lord Harrington's House of Commons reporting, an lntei 'V ng communication from a Scotch professor has been leceived which tel.* that, when the Prime Minister visited Glasgow in order to be installed Loid Rector, he met Some of the professors at breakfast on the day of the ceremony. Talking about the labours of office, he remaiked that, during the time he was leader of the House of Commons, he found it was somewhat a hard task when, worn out with the Libouis of the day, he had to sit down and write for Her Majesty an account of the salient points of anight"s parliamentary proceedings. Ho added that, when he visited the Queen after receiving the app^ ■■ ment of Chancellory of the Exchequer, Her Majesty took him mu> a room and showed him a collection of manuscripts bound, set ioith on shelves. These, she explained, were the leports she had leceivcd from Sir Robert IV el, Lord Palmerston, and Air. Gladstone ; " ard," she said, pointing to an empty shelf, " you see 1 have kept a place for your lettcis.' 1 A strike against a reduction of wages in Dt. mlaiUuLue,

considerable impoitance to the Vale of Leven district, las taken place among the female woikeis in Unee of the piinci] nl turkcv-ied dye works. It began on May 22 in Ciofteng. a (John Orr, Ewing & C 0.,) and on May 27 it was extended to Dillichip and Milton CAichibald Orr, Ewing & Co.) Lochmaben, Dunfriesshire, is in a fair way of obtaining a fitting memorial of Robert Bruce. The statue of the hero king (Mr Hutchison, sculptor), is to be unveiled on August 4. A correspond c/.t of the Louisville Courier-Journal, writing from Lebanon, Kentucky, and describing the fifty-ninth annual exhibition ot St. Catharine's Academy, near Springfield, in that state, which is conducted by the Sisters of St. Dominic, says :— " The reader will recognize in the Sisters of thisorder many heroines who distinguished themselves in New Otleans, Memphis and desolated Grenada during the trying times of the yellow fever scourge. Indeed, no less than ntty priests and sisters of the Order of St. Dominic died maityrs to charity during the time when heroes and heroines were the only friends of the yellow fever victims. It is easy to suppose, in fact it necessarily follows, that women who willingly give their lives in battling loathsome and dangerous diseases, are fit persons into whose hands to trust the education of our daughters. Southern oratitude shows itself in the fact that thn number of pupils of this institution is considerably laiger this yeai than last, while that of other academies is noticeably smaller. There is reason to hope that the persecution in France, of which the Education Bill of M, Jules Ferry is a feature, will have a healthful and stimulating effect on the Catholics of that great nation, which in the torpor of prosperity and peace allowed insidious enemies to gradually obtain and retain control of authority and influence. Already there is on foot an active organization of the faithful for the support of their schools. In the diocese of Paris, under the presidency ot M. Chcsnelong, there Las been formed a committee for the establishment of Christian schools. It has collected 250,000 francs and it has been able to empty and to close ten public schools, while it can point, in their place, to thiee schools under the Si-tors, counting a thou-and scholars, and to seven schools under the Bothers in which 2400 children and 800 adults are taught. In evciy pari-h parochial committees aie at woik, and it is a gloiious consolation to record that the pupils of the Bi others and Sisters who have been driven from their schools remain faithful to their old teachers and follow them from the public schools to these newly-established Catholic schools. Who shall M i y aliei this that Paiis is not Catholic, whatever its rulers may be ? Mgr. Meimillod, the exiled A r icar Apostolic of Gene%n has been received with great enthusiasm by bis flock on his letum iiom Rome. 1 hey went in large numbers to the Swiss frontier, vheie the Bishop met them and an open air niching was held, at which Mgr. Mermillod spoke with his usual eloquence in reply to an address, and in which having protested against the injustice of his exile, which has now cod turned for seven years, lie exhoited his hcaiers to be men of faith and action to be faithful to their religion, and aidently devoted to Geneva, and to their country. The oldest Biothcr of the Cluistian Schools, the veueiable Frere Nonce, has juit died at Namur, where for twenty-seven yeais he directed the novitiate. He was born in 1795. entered the Congelation in 1522. and was with othei membeis, expelled the country "by the tio\einuient of Holland in 182 G. They ictuined to Namur after the Belgian ie\olution. M. Hippolv te Feiry, cousin to M. Jules Feiry, foimcrlv an iiT-ui.ince agent, and lntteily governor of a Catholic "orphanage, has ]u-t Ixcume a Caitbusian at the age of seventy-three, after a \ain ai tempt to change his name in uidu to disclaim connection with his anti-Catholic ulatise. A punt entitled La Jttme Garde is selling by the thousand in 1 ans, but we jud-e that it will nut rind ia\our in London. It shf ws a ou-t of the Pi nice Impuial on a column, sunounded by a huge immoitelle. A l,on waiting at the fuut of the pillar. The point, and tneicispknly of it, lus m the legend, which reads as follows : — _ ills Inii cml Hmhne.-s the Piine Louis Napoleon, met his death in South Afnca, owing to the ci.waidice of his eseoit." • -u The Chuicll of St - I'itrie, Montmaitre, one of the oldest in Paris is about to be lestoicd. It is nch in treasures of ait and aichsuology. According to the la*t official census, m 1875, the total Piotestant population of the German Empite amounted to about 2fi,500,000, or ' 62./ percent of the total population ; while the Roman Catholics 1 number no moie than 15,400,000, or about 3(> pei cent. In the Inhn-s, M. Louis Veuillot has attacked Prince Jerome | Napoleon. He was, he says, the tiist unhappy' creation of the Amperor, and he it was who threw the first popular doubt on his destiny. Napoleon 111. made of him a prince, a general, a minister ot Algena, a senator. He succeeded nowhere, neither in politics nor in the aimy, noi in any kind of emph.jment. and estianged from himself the arm,\ . the Government, and the world. People did not even think him clever, though he was so. On the day iollowing that on which the law banishing God from the school was pa.vcd, h a\s the Cointdvfwnnel of Hasselt, numerous paiv: ts w.thdnw their llmlilhh from the Communal bd.ooK. so unpopuiai is the measure. The Ilolgian Catholic papers announce the opining of new Catholic sc horns— the cost in some places being cieii ay u\ by the local magnate— m various villages in every part of the country. hwanns of biitierflns ure upr.ited from Southern — I Cer.tial ± i.iiici-. Ilk} fli-t aj.piaKd in It.,'} and Spain. On J i.m- 21, the iUajnei.hscuast was louml with th- m. A e-'ond of white and vtllow ■ utt( lilies j.as-cd that <]. y rear Mont, limar Station iU- ja-a^e . i-img iifty miur.tes w1,,1e mailers followed f.>r another Iv.lf-hour. xhe invasion has extended as far as Al-ace. At Artzeis tl .re was '* "• r • '-? l , ■>! ■ ' aftii i a--ui'' dV i Mi.- | i.b io > i 1 , ..i;eisvi the UKd.l'i Mail at only a slight di.tar.cc uln.\c the J- i.m. _\ 'a: ibelou.-t oi Kurtanubi.au they were loss coin[a<t, consisting of groups of a dozen or twenty each. Westeily paUs and occasional thundei storms have occurred simultaneously with this unusual phenomenon. At a recent royal banquet at Copenhagen the guest- were served

with Lock of the year 1495, kept in the royal cellars of the castle of Rofenborg, and which is only drunk ps a ruiiosity, being so teiribly acid that several lumps of sugar have to be added to each glass before it is d linkable.

The official report on the sanitary condition of the Russian army of the Caucasus for 1878 shows that there were about 200,000 men in that army ; and that there were altogether 500,000 cases of illness repoited at military and private hospitals. This shows that each soldier of the army of the Caucasus was on the sick list about three^ times during: the year. There were about 20,000 deaths, or 100 deaths^J to each 1,000 men. The* principal disease was typhoid fever, which caused over 50,000 cases of prostration and nearly" 12,000 deaths. The Belgian Pilgrimage to Lourdes, lately, was a great success. Some very wonderful cures of long-standing infirmities are recorded. A. M. Degreef, of Malines, paralyzed from the age of two years, after praying fervently at the Grotto, suddenly rose up, completely cured. The excitement of the pilgrims was intense. A Mile. Broze, of Mousticr, a paralyzed person, prayed that, if it were the will of God, she might be cured, or that death might release her from her sufferings. Having communicated on the Sunday, while she was praying at the Grotto in the course of the day, suddenly she extended her arms, which she had not been able to do for many years, and then expired. The Liege committee are organizing a pilgrimage to Lourdes, Parayle-Monial, Issoudun, etc., for September next.