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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1898, Page 20

Let a boy once distrust the love or tenderness of his parents, and the last resort of his yearning affections — so far as the world goes — is utterly gone. He is on the sure road to a bitter fate. His heart will take on a hard, iron covering, that will flash out plenty of fire in its after contact with the world, but it will never, never melt !

One who has tasted the delights of the heights and suffered the agonies of the depths knows that a balanced life is the ideal one — a life in which the trials and sufferings of one time are offset and counterbalanced by delights and compensations at other times, in such ways that humanity is better adjusted, the divinity of man is better apprehended, and the fa-jt that God is infinite is somewhat comprehended.

did not plant average crops. The clerk of the Union, Oughtorard, states that upwards of 900 families did not plant average crops. The clerk of the Union, Castletown Berehaven, is of opinion that the number of families which did not plant average crops is very large. In the Clifden Union 800 families were unable to plant average crops, and 1,700 families in the same union only planted average crops with charitable and other external aid. The Chairman of the union has given me this information on April 14. As regards the future of the outlook there can be no more alarming circumstances than this inability of the people to sow their crops, and that ia why I ask the Government to provide -for next year. The people in the distressed regions, having lived for twelve months on insufficient and diseased food, are now suffering from those epidemics which pray on the bodies of insufficiently nourished people. It was a reproach to the Government that the people should be left in this condition. At the present time we hear a lot about the condition of Cuba, and we can see one of the greatest nations in the world about to take the awful step of declaring war in order to end a condition of things not even as bad as that which prevails in Connemara. I appeal most confidently to the Council to pass the resolution which stands in my name, and which is a last appeal to the Government to do its duty, as these unfortunate people must be supported either from public funds or private oharity until August 1 : " That , this Council b?gs to direct the immediate attention of her Majesty's Government to the acute and widespread distress and ' destitution at present existing in the counties of Kerry, Cork, Mayo, and Gal way. That we call upon the Government to send immediate relief and take such steps as may prevent a famine in these districts before the present crop comes to maturity, and to enable these poor people to make provision for the coming winter and spring months of next year." We need hardly add' that the resolution was pa&sed.

Assisting itlie St. Vincent de Paul Society.— a most successful bazaar and fete was held at the Rotunda, Dublin, recently, in. aid of the exhausted funds of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Dublin conferences of which during the past year visited and relieved 5,55S poor families, consisting of 22,634 individuals, and were obliged to refuse many other deserving cases through want of funds. The bazaar was opened by the Lord Mayor, and there was a very large attendance. The room was arranged with scenery to represent Old Paris, as i + was at the tiiiia of the foundation of the Society. Theru was the Church of Notre Dame, besides that of St. Sulpice, the Hospital des Invalides below the Bastille, and the Madeleine was represented in. the circle of buildings that extend around the historic Round Room. The Archbishop of Dublin, enclosing a cheque for £25, wrote as follows to Mr. Carton, President of the Society : — People nowadays are so easily attracted by new forms of charitable work that I am sometimes apprehensive of a serious falling-ofn in the support given to our old and tried charitable organisations. The poor of Dublin oould ill afford any curtailment of the relief which the generosity of the public, as well as of its own members, has now for so many years enabled your Society to give. Apart from the substantial aii in money which it may be relied on to bring to your funds, the bazaar will have the further advantage of keeping the Society and its work from being forgotten or overlooked by the public. You will kindly excuse my delay in writing this letter. The fact is that I have been obliged during the last few weeks to give a good deal of consideration to the question whether bazaars can any longer continue to be sanctioned as means of raising funds for Catholic purposes in this diocese. Undoubtedly abuses, some of them of a very serious kind, have been allowed to creep in within the last few years. If there is not a speedy and effective reform it will become my duty to do what hus already had to be done elsewhere, by refusing altogether my sanction to bazaars, or to works, however good, in aid of which they are held. lam very confident, however, that in connection with the projected bazaar in aid of the St. Vincent de Paul Society there "will b 9 nothing that could tend to hasten the taking of such a step. But I am bound to add I am not without fear that the taking of it must be looked upon as inevitable in the near future. LOUTH.— New Church at Tullyallen.— A memorable and impressive ceremony took place on April 17, when his Eminence Cardinal Logue laid the foundation of a new church at Tullyallen, County Louth, in the presence of a large number of the clergy of the archdiocese, the Mayor of Drogheda, the High Sheriff, the members of tie Corporations of Dundalk and Drogheda, and an immense gathering of people from the surrounding districts. The new church, when completed, will be dedicated to St. Christian O'Conarchy, the first Abbot of historic Mellinfont- Abbey, the ruins of which aro in the immediate neighbourhood. After the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone High Mass was celebrated in the old church, his Eminence presiding. At the conclusion of the first G-ospel, the Rev. T. A. Finlay, S.J., preached the sermon of the day. He took for his text the following passage :: — •' I have chosen and have sanctified this place that My Name may be there for ever." The preacher, in eloquent language, reviewed the history of Mellifont, and appealed to the congregation to assist the Rev. Father Taaffe to erect a church which would be a fitting monument of the faith and fidelity of those to whom the traditions of old Mellifont had descended, and who, in passing them on, had proved themselves worthy of the inheritance. At three o'clock Benediction was given by the Cardinal Primate from an enclosed altar on the green sward adjoining the ancient and historic abbey. The ceremony was most solemn and impressive, it being the first time for 359 years that a Catholic celebration took place there. The Mayor and members of the Corporations of Drogheda, with the civic sword and mace, kuelt in front of the altar.

MEATH— A fall of " Black Rain."— A fall of <; black rain" occurred one day in Meath recently. A number of people saw it, and its fall was preceded by two thunder claps. One gentleman' said it fell over an area of country thirty miles long- by six-

teen miles wide, and his account of the phenomenon is that the darkness of the rain was due to soot from the manufacturing towns of North England and South Scotland, which remained suspended in the drifting clouds until they broke. GENERAL. ' * " .' Letter from the Author of " Who Fears to Speak of '98 ?"— -Anything from the, author of this immortal song, the words and music of which we published as a supplement to our '98 number, will be read with interest by every Irishman. The Boston Globe of 'a recent date had the following reference to, and letter from, the venerable author :— Dr. John Rolls Ingram, L.L.D.. vice-provo3t of , Trinity College, Dublin, the venerable author of the stirring poem which will this year be the rallying cry of the scattered children of , the Irish race, has been much "interested in the sketch of his life, published in the Globe, accompanying the music and words of his. famous song. He has taken occasion to express his gratification ia the following letter :—": — " John O'Callaghan, Esq., Boston' Globe, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. Dear Sir, — I beg to thank you for the too kind things you have said of me in your article in the Boston Sunday Globe of the 6th of March, and for your courtesy in sending me copies of the paper containing the article. The biographical particulars given in it — though not in all respects exact — are much more correct than some that have appeared in English and Irish journals. There is much to be said on the political topics to which you refer, and I may in the future find an opportunity of explaining my views on these subjects more fully than I have yet done. — Believe me to be, dear sir, faithfully yours, Juhn K. Ingkam.