The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-09-22
MoNs1GNoR CApEL SOCIALLY.


Irish Preacher-His Mistake in the Selec-
ton of American Friends.
Saratoga Correspondence Albany Evening Journal.
A gentleman eminent in the social, politi-
cal and professional circles in Philadelphia,
told me to-day some things about Monsignor
Cape the widely advertised English clergy
man now in this country. LET US get some
chairs" he said "and l will tell you about
him. | have met him more than once III
Europe, and was invited to meet him the
other day in Philadelphia but was unable
to do So 1 know him fairly WELL and
through Others very we'll. When heard of
his intended visit to this country l was
morally certain that he would be a failure
here, and was right. He has fallen very
fiat in Philadelphia and New York.
''The Monsignor is bright man, without
being brilliant; and he breaches a polished
kind of sermon, full of platitudes. There are
thousand clergymen in the United States
who are his superlors in both mind and
tongue. But he has fine manner in con-
versation and remarkably winning. pres
ence-and the rest his first family friends
did for him. He is not man OF good judg-
ment. Fancy preiate of the Roman Catho-
lie church giving lawn party at his resi-
dence on a Sunday afternoon. with con-
cert, in honor of Miss Emma Thursby. The
garden was filled with gay people. many OF
them actors and actresses, and the lively or
chestral muse was heard for blocks away.
And this was in London, at the house of
famous clergyman. whose example is sup
posed to be spotless. There was nothing sim
full about it, of course; Miss Thursby is an
irreproachable and an excellent woman, and
the guests were civil estimable people. But
it was such execraDle taste-a thing, for ex-
ample, which you could not imagine of any
American clergyman OF standing, whether
he wore the purple or not.
bad taste is thing which the English do
not recognize easily or quarrel fercely with.
They pardon much more for the sake or SEN
sation than American society will condone
or pass over. Well, Mgr. Capel is full of
that kind of bad taste. which springs from
an inability to distinguish between people
and actions And now want to tell you
what solecism this failing led him into on
his arrival in this country. An uneducated,
rough, Irish grocer amassed large fortune
in New York city, and left it to daughter.
She felt above her race and religion, and
shook off both going to the length of Angi
flying her name which had been dstintivey
Celtic. She was too we'll known in New
York to play aristocrat satisfactorily there,
and she went to England, where she cut
small swell as a rich American. She
welded there man named B. who had
an entree to society, and that was all. The
couple roamed Europe for a season, spend
ing money lavishly and getting themselves
talked about to their hearts content. They
were Just the kind of people to captivate
Mgr. OaDeI. MIS-. D. look q great interest
in his sermons, sought opportunities to make
his acquaintance ETC., and allowed him,
simple man, to convert her to Catholicism
he never dreaming that she was born of Irish
Catholic parents and thinking he had made
a great conquest A little while ago the
B--s returned to this country, and bought
a summer residence on the Jersey coast, not
far from New Brunswick. They made at
tempts to get into society in both New York
and Philadel phia. but were not very success
full. They did gather about them, though, a
circle of people from that indefnable class
which hoverS on the outer edge of respecta-
bility, dressing a little more extraYaganty,
talking and laughing louder driving Shower
rigs, and paying less attention to the emo
tions of their creditors than the rest. OF this
class Mrs. B became a leader and the
bosom friend of Mrs Colonel G.. of Phil
adelpha, who is very well described by say
ing that she is the most dashing and deuce
may-care lady of her set.
Now, mark you, it was these two ladies
who went down the harbor to meet the YES
sci in which Mgr Capel crossed the Atlantic
and he was simple enough to be impressed
with the fattery of the thing, and went
aboard their yacht and sailed with them and
their party to the summer residence of the
B-s where he stayed for days Nothing
bad about it, OF course. Had he been a pri-
vate gentleman, it might not even have been
in questionable taste. But he is prelate OF
hold, a famed preacher, and he came over
here avowedly on a religious mission, and
began it by putting up as the exclusive
guest of a lot of people who are not recog-
nized. AS if this were not bad enough,
when he finally began to make the calls of
ceremony on the church digntares and peo-
pie who had met him in Europe, like Mr.
Childs and Mr.. Drexe, which he should
have made at the start what does he do but
go around Philadelp hia under the guidance
of Mrs. Colonel c., riding through the
streets with her, and, in one of the cases [
have mentioned, taking her with him to
make the call.
''Of course, this has knocked his social re-
ception here into cooked hat. He has been
given the cold shoulder in the drawing
rooms of both cities, and will not be made
anything of by the people he is so intent
upon meeting, Mgr Capel is essentially
society man, and his failure to play the lion
here will cut him deeply. Then, too the
leading authorities of the church in both
Philadelphia and New York have received
him with only the most freezing formality
of politeness, and the opportunities of
preaching in great churches, to picked audi
snces, will not be afforded him. Later on,
the snub is likely to be made more marked
unless he takes the hint intelligently.
Queer, isn't it, that the standards of good
taste in England and the United States
should so widely differ"