Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-11
Tarasa,a RiInI I'm Paris.

pool Journal] Tt.r lI3N.
However dear to the hearts of the Paris
ians may be the idol of the hour, the clever
Teresa, she is compelled to share popular
ity with a most terrible and dangerous
rival; one who is likely to shake her in
fuence among the middle classes, and dis
pei it, indeed, everywhere, save in the up
per ranks of society, where it has taken
too firm a roo to be destroyed in this
generation. The impression produced by
the preaching Of PSre Hyacinthe at Notre
Dame has exceeded anything of the kind
witnessed since tho days of the Able La
cordaire; and he has produced q reaction
which, if suffered to continue, may end in
turning the rush of the population from
the precipice before the first step is taken
over its brink.
Of all the disciples Of the Able La
cordaire Pere Hyacinthe is the one who
has inherited the most of his brilliant
qualities. Like the great orator he, too,
is a Dominican, and carries the costume
with a degree of ease and elegance which
displays the true and native high-breeding
of a gentleman. He is about thirty-four
years of age, of dark and vigorous com
plexion, softened by abstinence into a
smooth olive, beneath which the rebellious
protestatiOn of physical power is now
and then distinctly visible. bis whole
appearance suits 90 well tho architec-
ture of Notre Dame, his figure stands
out in such bold relief as he leans for
ward with the eager attitude of a hawk
about to pounce upon his prey, that
the artistic sympathies of this truly arts
tic people are Immediately enlisted in his
favor. His voice is one great element of
his success likewise. They say he has been
taking lessons for some time of the great
bass singer of the opera in order to acquire
a necessary degree of skill in modulating
his somewhat refractory tones according
to the size and height of the
building. One proof of the popularity
of Pere Hyacinthe may be found in the
quantity of legendary tales already aioat
concerning him. One of these tell of his
nracticing night after night alone, amid
the Knes n-sA--ea4 u;15o.uo-.oc
Notre Dame, the proper diapason Of his
voice and the change of tone which he
has carried to the highest pitch of
science. The whole scene of preach
ing carries us back to the middle ages-to
the conferences of Abelard-to the colo
quies of the Petit Pere Andre. The i'm
mense nave of the cathedral is filed with
the black mass of the male portion of the
congregation alone allowed to face the
preacher, while the ladies sit in exile out
side of a wooden barrier erected for the
express purpose of keeping them off the
sainted stones trod by the reverend Father.
An inner portion, Immediately below the
pulpit, is most holy of all, and reserved
for the clergy alone, being occupied BY a
crowd of black soutanes, on which shine
out the white hands of the rabat with an
propriate and picturesque effect, as each
closely shaVen countenance is turned up
wards toward the preacher. Was it a vain
and ~slanderous ~insinuation which reached
my ear as neighbor whispered to n
other that in the second row, around the
most venerable and holy portion of the au-
dience, sat two smooth-chinned abbes,
bearing the strongest likeness, the n to
Sand, tho other to the Princess
Metternich2 The logic and policy of re-
serving these foremost seats of alto listen
ers convinced beforehand of the truths
about to be uttered by the orator NAV be
questioned. Would it not be better to be-
stow them on the unbelieving defenders
Of Proudhon-the writers in the Circle
and the Opinion Rationale, and other pa-
pers, whose conversion might be thus Mt
? Nothing can be moro grand and
inspiring than the whole scene at Notre
Dame. The most fastidious taste can find
no fault with the expressions or
The gestures of Pere Hyacinthe. AS he
throws back the long white sleeve from
his bare arm, and disengages the cowl
rom his neck with an admirable and
seemingly unstudied grace in every move
nent, we cannot help agreeing with the
oroverb which declares that no el~oouence
AN possibly reside in a black ~broadclotb.
No man could produce the samo effect
With the tight armholes and scanty skirts
# our modern costume. Pere Hyaointhe I
himself, deprived of his picturesque monk
dress, would lose half the power he
possesses. The large white cloak, magni-
lcent in its humility, superb as the SOL
'isant attribute of poverty, is thrown
lither and thither with an art which
would never be initiated by the Maofar-
ane, or eve the Talma of the modern ,
inc gentleman. Faith and enthusiasm
eem to issue from its very folds, and as I,
'ere Hyacinthe points up to Heaven with ,
lervous fingers, we feel as If ready to ,
ling to the coarse white garment and fol- !
ow the wearsr to the Crusadqs or the !
or anywhere he might choose :
0 lead. 4.