The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-04-19
BROADBRIM'S n. Y. LETTER


Gloria In Excelsis Dec; Jew and GENTLE
alike Joined in the anthem of praise. The
grand chorus that rang out from every |
Christian Church." +" "Our Christ is risen,"
swept heavenward with the Jewish song of |
deliverance, "Behold how mighty is IsraePs
God who hath delivered his children out OF
the hand Of the Egyptian spoiler." The
last day preceding the feast of the Pass
over Is held most sacred by every religious
Hebrew, and the observance of the sacred
feasts and fasts among the people OF
Israel is more reverentlY observed as the
wears 90 by. A jew to-day, earns no re-
spect in any community by being half a
Christian, And in New York and Brook
lyn bis surest passport to respectability
and consideration is found In the faithful
observance of his own religious duties.
It goes without saying that in the
Catholic and Episcopal Churches Easter
is one of the grandest holidays of the year,
hardly excepting Christmas. Flowers and
music, with bright songs of praise and
jubilee, crown I with especial JOY and
blessing. It is a symbol OF hope and eYel-
lasting promise, for Christ has risen from
the dead, and Is the mediator of man with
the Father foreyermOre. There was
time when your staunch old Presbyterian
would have perished at the stake rather
than have INDUCED in any OF the idOlatrous
mummery of the Papists and their imita-
tors; but that is all past now, dead, as
John Knox himself Every Presbyterian
Church last Sunday, from Harlem Bridge
TO East New York in Brooklyn, was more
like a flower garden than an old time
orthodox meeting house, and paid choirs
at a salary of eight or ten thousand dollars
year have superseded the sweet singers
of fifty years ago who sang for nothing and
found themselves, and made the old rafters
ring with Coronation and Greenland's Icy
Mountains. Oh, the flowers! fresh and
beautiful; flowers, flowers, everywhere;
roses, lilies, carnations, tulips, hyacinths,
painted in gorgeous hues, as God only can
paint these beautiful children of light.
The growth of our boy choirs In the
Catholic and Episcopal Churches has added
immeasuIably to the power and beauty OF
our sacred music. Who that has heard the
Easter service at st. Peters at Rome can
eyer forget while life remains the majestic
swell of that mighty chorus or ever eX-
pect TO hear its equal this side of the Gates
Of Pearl?
st. Patrick's Cathedral on the Fifth
Avenue Is beyond all question the finest
Christlon temple in the United States.
Its congregation is rich and powerful. 1t
Is the spiritual home of the archbishop,
and its choir is one of the finest in the city,
st. Thomas's Episcopal Church 1.-THE one
where they have no room for POOR sinners)
Is famous for its boy choir, liz which are
two of the most phenomenal voices in
America. Trinity, Grace, and many others
fairly outdid themselves. II was q gay
time for our Methodist brethren. The
New York and East New York confer
ence have been sitting hsre and in Brook
lyn all the week, "and the woods was just
full of 'em'-Methodists, everywhere, The
peace that passeth understanding was sup
posed to reign within its borders; but it
didn't. 1t is true they did not have to
wTestle with the thirty-nine articles, or the
Apostles creed. The Westminster Con-
fession did not worry them bit, and yet
there was trouble in Zion's camp, though
the cloud at first was no bigger than a
mans hand. The laity are struggling for
recognition, and they are bound to haye it.
Some of the old shell backs. who are still
wandering about the desert in search of the
Promised Land, attempted to block the
way, and one prominent miRister declared
that If the time had come in the Methodist
Church when = minister could have no
more voice in church government than a
laYman, then he was quite ready to turn
Presbyterian or Congregationalist, no
matter which,
In the meantime, new class of minis
ters Is coming up--young, strong, bright,
brRinY men, and most of them are with the
people and against the exclusive rule of the
old time priest.
The other afternoon dropped into the
Gabalda sale of pictures and bric-a-brac nj
the American Art Galleries, and it was an
hour most pleasantly and prohtablY spent.
We are continually railing against the ex--
travagance of the present age, but glance
at this admirable collection would convince
hA hot Atnn av.f ofxfIa ~
living is economy itself alongide of the ex.
traYagance of hundred or TWO hundred
years ago, and even away beyond that.
Here were articles of the date of the IA tn
and 10th century of a cost that no family
Of the present day would think of undetak-
ng. Common clothes presses covered with
as costly as ladies woTkbox. Tablets
inlAld with ivory and all sorts of precious
wood, worth a moderate fortune. Missals
Illuminated by the monks, a single volume
of which cost labor of a life. Against the
wall was an elegant Andrew Ferrara, with
which the knightlY owner cloYe his was
through many an opposing host. Here, too
was magnificent carved ivory, casket, the
same that Ferdinand and Isabella present.
ed TO Christopher Columbuse after he was
brought back from Hispanola In chains.
Hundreds were there to bid eagerlto secure
these precious relics of the past. The sale
Wieh lasted three days, realized many
thousands of dollars, and yet, save as orna-
ments or objects of personal gatiGction,
they were utterly useless. The cry of suf--
fering and want is heard all over the land,
and the question arises, are we poOr?T wen
hYe hundred dollars was paid for a dog at
the Dog Show, and a hundred and twelve
thousand dollars was recently paid for a
little picture. IL is said that Wannamacker
gave seventy thousand pollaTs for Munkacy
"Christ before PLATE, "and Mr.. Walters, of
Baltimore, gave eighteen thousand five hun
dred dollars fora little Insignificant piece Of
bric-a brac known as the "Peach BlOwVa ase
A little over week ago Governor Stanford
received nearly two hundred and forty thou
Fand dollars for a small string of horses,
and just before that Cornelius Vanderbilt
paid hundred thousand dollars for Turner's
Picture of the "GFand Canal Are we
poor, and If so, whence come these enOrm-
Gus sums of money! On Wednesday last
twenty thousand dollars in cash was taken
In at the Metropolitan Oprea House, a
gOOdly portion of wieh Patti will carry to
her castle In Wales, Are We poor, and II
O,WhY so? Speaking of Governor Stanfords
che Royal Family all Their fathers were
kings and their mothers were queens back
70 remoteft generation. No taint of pleb-
elan blood crossed that royal stock, and nc
bar sinister clouded that Imperial success
lon. Purchasers need no guarantee when
they saw the Stanford colors. They knew
the stock was good and straight as old
GOYerner himself, and no man who ever
doubted his word. His great sale proved
thls-that honesty in horse dealing is just
as good as honesty in anything else.
Bonner thought so when he paid fifty thou.
sand dollars for Sunol, but what of itP all
Royalty is costly, If Huntington could pay
half million for German Count, one oi
StAnfOrd's equine kings is cheap at hun.
dTed thousand.
am, yours truly,
BROADBRIM