Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 13 April 1911, Page 674

Notes

A Genuine Conversion A contributor to the New York Sun, in a communication from Utica, N.Y., dated February 12, gives the following life-history of a present-day penitent. It illustrates admirably the thoroughly practical nature of true conversion; ‘Robert Caple died in his cabin at Clayville, ten miles south of here, to-day. at the age of seventy years. In his young manhood he engaged in various businesses and acquired a fortune. He was a noted dealer in horses,

always willing to swap, buy, or bargain, and invariably sure to come out ahead in the transaction ’ * ‘ A score of years ago Mr. Caple joined the Roman Catholic Church. One of the first things he did_ after joining the Church was to set about to reimburse everybody he thought he had defrauded in a business way. He gave away thousands of dollars in doing this. He went from village to village, from town to town, and city to city seeking out the men with whom he had dealt. In Watertown he found one man he had worsted to the extent of 175 dollars in a single horse trade. In many other places he found other men, some of whom had gone about for years with the consciousness that they had worsted Caple in swapping horses, and who were amazed when he called upon them and reimbursed them. This done as best he could, Mr. Caple set about giving the balance of his fortune to the poor. Families in Utica and all through the Sauquoit Valley were remembered in the distribution of goods and money until Mr. Caple was reduced to poverty. Friends in Clayville built a modest cabin for him and here for the last fifteen years he lived, prayed and fasted, leaving his home each day to visit the sick, to carry food to the poor, and to beg his own meals and clothing.’ Mr. Mealy as Advocate Commenting on the Edmondson-Avery case, the Westminstcr Gazette says; ‘Let us add a word of congratulation to Mr. Healy on his first appearance in a big case at the English Bar; he is clearly destined to play as prominent a part in this country as in his own.’ Stevenson’s Open Letter to Dr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson’s scorching letter to Rev. Dr. Hyde, of Honolulu—in answer to aspersions cast upon the character of Father Damien by Dr. Hyde in a letter written to a brother minister, the Rev. H. (3. Gagehas just been published in a shilling volume by Chatto and Windus. It is one of the finest philippics of any age or language—a scathing flagellation of the cowardly calumniator, and a magnificent vindication of the slandered saint. * It begins thus: ‘lt may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited, and conversed; on my side, with interest. You may remember that you have done me several courtesies, for which I was prepared to be grateful. But* there are duties which come before gratitude, and offences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. Your letter to the Reverend H. B. Gage is a document which in my sight, if you had filled me with biead when I was starving, if you had sat up to nurse my father when he lay a-dying, would yet absolve me from the bonds of gratitude. You know enough, doubtless, of the process of canonization to be aware that a hundred years after the death of Damien there will appear a man charged with the powerful office of the Devil’s advocate. After that noble brother of mine, and of all frail clay, shall have laid a century at rest, one shall accuse, one defend him. The circumstance is unusual that the devil’s advocate should be a volunteer, should be a member of a sect immediately rival, and should make haste to take upon himself his ugly office ere the bones are cold; unusual, and of a taste which I shall leave my readers free to qualify; unusual, and to me inspiring. If I have at all learned the trade of using words to convey truth and to arouse emotion, you have at last furnished me with a subject. For it is in the interest of all mankind and the cause of public decency in every quarter of the world, not only that Damien should be righted, but that you and your letter should be displayed at length, in their true colors, to the public eye.’ Displayed in their true colors both letter and writer undoubtedly are; and those of our readers who invest will find that the volume, though small, is excellent value for the money.