Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-01-28
THE AGONY LOVER MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING.

From the 18th of Nov, 1887, to the
present, ecclesiastical circles and the
press of the country have been on tip-toe
abouta $ vellum copy of the Constitu-
ton, presented by the President of the
United States to Leo XIII. of Rome. Last
week we published a foreign dispatch
that it would never get there. We wish
to say it is there now. 1t went from the
President to the Cardinal of Baltimore,
thence to the San Office Democratic or
gan of the faith and the party J from a
Sun correspondent to the reporters gal
lery in Rome. then into the hands of the
Archbishop of Philadelphia he handed
it to the Rector of the American College,
who turned it over to the Pope, aad it is
there now if the cable reports are true.
The Philadelphia prelate made the pre-
sentation address, and President Cleve-
land finds himself what he never aspired
to before,-a man bearing the weight of
God s providence under supreme respon-
sibility, full of " wisdom. - fortitude, I"
" knowledge " and the fear of the Lord
-" wise, ~" holy. y" manly. one of the
pillars of christian civilization upon the
groundwork of truth.-all on account of
his politics and the ''vellum copy.
The venerable Pontiff s reply was brief
and in good taste,-remarks to which
everybody could subscribe,-tha this
was great country for which he had
especial love,-that the President of the
United States commanded his admira-
ton. and that he is pleased to have re-
ceived an offering from the American
President with those of other nations.
The report makes him conclude by ask
ing the " blessla, > of the President.
which is probably mistrauslation from
the Latin) for good will, kind favor or
remembrance. If the President has to
transmit "his blessing through all the
hands through which his :" vellum copy
passed it would lose much of its virtue
before reaching its destination.
The Cardinal of Baltimore had two
letters read in French at the presenta-
ton ceremonies, which, but for their
high source would provoke ridicule. for
the substance of them is that he receired
ttCo letters from the President, and that
the " vellum copy was to have been de
livered with the least possible delay.
1t is now two months, and after all the
other offerings and ceremonies were IN
and over, that the Presidents wishes are
carried out with great eclat."
The contrast between these principles
and practices and the humble life and
plain teachings of the Saviour is SO
great. that little minds with only the
humble conceptions of the world go as
tray from all good and grow hatred
unto death for all - figure heads" high
and low, of church, state or society.
No wonder then that next to the redemp-
ton the pooer but better educated peo-
pie should look upon Reign of Terror"
as the grandest accomplishment for hui
nanity freeing low-life, poverty and
obscurity from the clutches of a social
and religious status that fourishes in
revelry of high delights upon the sweat
and blood and drudgery of fellow
kindred equal under the law of creation
and salvation.
ThereIigious orders, churches. societies
and individuals sent many valuable pres
ents and costly contributions, but of all
these from the church 8 children not one
word is said,-all the prominence and
significance imaginable and possible are
centered upon an act of the merest form
atty and courtesy for the sake of effect.
1t struck sympathetic chord in political
feeling, and the vibrations are felt
thu ough the whole structure of church
government and membership. Agony
prolonged.
We are prepared to confess to showing
a $ little mind" but when reaction takes
place, and the whole proceedings are
placarded over the country in political
light in the next campaign, there will be
many = little minds" to keep us compa-
ny. We are taught that vain hattery,
words of double meaning, double-deal-
ing and subterfuge. are matters of con-
science. Here we find the highest pre-
lates stirring the commonest taffy" of
the lobbyist and the courtier. and from
their blind devotion to " formality" and
= figure head" diplomacy we are led to
believe that all that is necessary to wis
dom. holiness. " manliness." greatness.
grandness and goodness, is seat in the
Presidential chair or succession to the
royal throne.
Not that we have no respect and veneer
alton for lawfully constituted authority
in its proper relations toward human
welfare but if faith is to be popular only
in its ratio to administrative adherency,
or subject to the favor of royalty or i'm
perialism, no room is left free thought
or individual independence.
Much is said about example and disci-
pline aud practice. but all these virtues
are twofold. and are due more from the
greater to the lesser and from the higher
to the lower. Eloquence is cheap and is
no proof of practical virtue or heartfelt
sincerity. A poor woman, with blind
child to educate, passes though the
midst of the essence of Jubilee rejoicings
selling the Life of the reigning Pontiff.
Not one pastor, breathless with pontifi-
cal eloquence. invests dollar ; not one
has word of encouragement ; the key
note is you'll not do much here. y
Self-charity has for the time absorbed
all interest in the subject at heart.
One grand ideal in name and person.
Thomas Power O'Connor Gladstone Par
Dell,-reverend.-as the woman wheth-
er she expects him to go security for her
board within his lordly domains ,?
The defenceless woman weeps in secret; and
If the straw that fed the beasts that drew the
stones TO build the temple was of greater re-
ward than the gold and silver that entered In
the gate of /" formality." so these tears are
greater treasures than president or potentate
laid at the fisherman's throne. The writer Of
the Lie received the title of Monsignor, the
publisher decorated with the badge OF Ancient
Order of Aristecrats; what shall be the reward
of her who suffers for justice sake?
Little minds" have TO do with little things.
TO pick up and assert the rebuffs, snarls and
sneers that fall from the table ofthe great
masters.
But il prevents them not from failing to un-
lerstand how great minds and lofty aspira-
tions of intellect can reconcile themselves
to the observant shadows of council DEGREES
and eccleslastlcle customs that pass - the
figures p" through the cold" form of formality "
and rest content that all is done that God re-
qulres In figure heading" the people to
whom they have been sent to give the bread
of mutual forbearauce, sympathy and encour-
agement, and not the hard stones out OF the
quarry of cold and cruel formality that crush
everything that refuses to be ground to world
~ dust.