People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1, 7 January 1909, Page 28

People We Hear About

, In the presence of a notable assemblage, representing all classes and creeds, the monument erected to the memory of Mayor Patrick "A. Collins at Boston was unveiled and dedicated on Monday, November 2. . „ Few poets have had so "busy a life as the author of ' Father O'Flynn.' For the past thirty years, the Bookman says, Mr. Alfred Perceval Graves has been one of H.M. inspectors of schools, yet' he found time to serve for eight years as honorary secretary of the Irish Literary Society; has all along been an eager student of Irish folk song and story is a vice-president of the Irish Folk Song Society ; and has for long past been a moving and most potent spirit in the Irish literary' revival. "^ Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Harrington, British Re- V presentative at the Court of the Emperor Menelik, will not return to Abyssinia," as it is known among his friends that he is desirous of spending some time at home. It will not (says the London correspondent- of the Birmingham * Daily Post) be easy for,. Sir John Edward Grey to find scmeone to replace Sir John Harrington at Adis Abeba. especially at this juncture, when the Emperor Menelik's health is giving rise to some anxiety as to the future of Abyssinia. Sir . John has acquired' a very exceptional position there, and his strong influence with the Emperor has always sufficed to counteract any attempt to weaken British ,prestige in that part of the world. More than once, indeed, he has saved tlie situation as far as British interests in Ethiopia are concerned. Sir John Harrington is a Catholic, and was educated at Stonyhurst. The Right Hon. Sir. Wilfrid Laurier, the Liberal Prime Minister of Canada, -whose party was' successful at the recent general election, was born at Quebec on November 20, 1841, and was educated at L' Assumption College, McGill University. He first entered Parliament in 1871, and became a member of the Federal Assembly three years later. In the Mackenzie Government of 1877 he was Minister of Inland Revenue, but was defeated at the general election in the following year. He was, however, ■ elected immediately after -for Quebec East, which constituency he still represents. In 1891 "he became leader of the Liberal Party, and six years late Premier, in which capacity he has done yeoman service for his native land. Sir Wilfrid is an ardent Catholic, and is associated with two of the biggest books in the British Museum — a French and an English edition of Ms speeches, each running to upwards of 700 pages, with a prefatory memoir. His speech in denunciation of the execution of Louis Riel, the leader of two rebellions of the- half -breeds in Eastern Canada, was a remarkable effort of ' impassioned eloquence, while the pathetic tribute he paid to s the character and career of the departed Sir John Macdonald, his political opponent but personal "friend, brought tears to many eyes in the. Canadian House of Commons. Sir Wilfrid is equally fluent and eloquent in English and French. > One of the best known personages in the American Catholic literary .world (says the Catholic Citizen) is Father Hudson, editor of The Aye Maria. As far as reputation go.es, his fame is ■ wide. As £ar as he is personally concerned, he is the least known of men, so modest is he and so given to shirking from the public gaze. Dr. Hudson (Mount St. Mary's College made him an LL.D. in 1897) is a New Englander, of Irish blood on his mother's side. Old acquaintances in Boston say that his father was a man of the highest aspirations and character, the friend of Longfellow and Jared Sparks, and that his mother was remarkable for her piety; ' He was born in the middle fifties and educated in the Jesuit College at Boston. For over 25 years he has been a member of the congregation of the Holy Cross, during which .time his pen has never bejan idle in the defence of the mystery of the Incarnation. Father Hudson rarely speaks, never writes of himself. In less than 2€f years The Aye Maria has grown from a mere pamphlet to a magazine of the first importance. In numbers its' circulation reaches over 30,000, but its influence cannot be merely measured by that. It goes -everywhere; you find it in Paris, in London, in Florence;it is looked for eagerly' in Melbourne, in Bombay, in Cairo. Its influence is valued through the quality of its readers, Who' represent the best Catholics in every sense. Father . Hudson has written sufficient "* copy ' to fill many volumes. Those accustomed to the purity of his style can easily distinguish it even when it appears ' written into, an article where richness of epithet runs not ' ; it shows qualities which the young author, opulent in words, might imitate with advantage. Father Hudson is as conscientious editorially as the late Charles A. Dana, and no line passes without his careful revision. The qualities which distinguish him and... which have made* his success as an editor are his inflexible indiistry and his wide sympathy.

CATHEDRAL SQUABE