The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1890-01-02
ALMOST FORGOTTEN.
The Vanished Popularity Of PsFe HyaeIntho
and Bis Doctrines.

rAe Vanished Popularity Of Psre Hyaeintho
and Bis Doctrines.
To see Pere Hyacinthe at his best.
you must seek him in his own church;
and to know the real man. one must
hear him In his pulpit The road 10
long from the centers Of Paris where
Americans do congregate. His church
Is reached at last through a narrow
little pathway of the Rue DArras.
Imagine an American country barn.
Take out the hay, leave the girders
and the rude whitewash Of the roof;
leave the shabby windows and pre-
serve the general air Of crude archi-
lecture, and only middling care-tak-
ing. Put In galleries small organ at
the rear over the main entrance, rude
seats on the floor. and o little white
painted counterfeit presentment Of Q
Roman Catholic altar at the end oppo-
site the entrance and you have the
church Of Pere Hyacinthe. It Is
timber and whitewash, artificial
flowers and bad music, except for one
baritone. q superb voice. It is q
phantom cathedral The powerful
and melancholy personality Of a great
intellect pervades Its shabbiness, and
lends TO It's poverty and meanness at
least . human nobility. Its lack Of
every thing that renders ritual splen-
did only brings into more distinct pro-
portions the strength and earnestness
Of man who Is living sacrifice Of all
that Frenchmen hold dear-applause,
power. luxury. magniHcence. That
such q preacher should occupy such
q pulpit, his polished eloquence
streaming from the tawdry cotton-lace
drapery Of an old Radical meeting
house, at once proclaims that the
former mighty Sulpician adheres to
the later religious dogmas Of his ma
turity; that the Catholic world has all
but forgotten him; that the Protestant
world has never signslized his access
sion; and that the world Of France,
which Is neither Catholic nor Prot
estant. but simply Paris. pays little
heed 10 his voice. and none to his
former glory or present needs. He Is
simply ignored.
Acolytes, very like those one sees in
any Roman Catholic church. are
busily arranging the altar and put
ting the little sanctuary in order.
There are six tall lights, three on
either side Of the tabernacle,a cruciHx
surmounts it The ornaments on the
altar-shelves are poor and few. Tho
meanest little chapel in the slums Of
London, or In the mining regions OF
Colorado, is not more woe. BECOME
Meanwhile the congregation is filling
the seats. Only in Paris can such a
human motley be discovered. French
men. small, swarthy. nervous. in
shiny broadcloth, most OF them old. a
few Of them young and full Of verve;
Frenchwomen, all old, so far as one
sees. poorly but neatly dressed. their
faces wrinkled and scanned, their ex-
preston anxious or cynical English
women, plump, oily, addressed. i'm
portant in their seli.consciouness, not
appearing to be able clearly TO follow
the preacher. but satisfied that he has
taken the right step. A few Italians.
Spaniards. Russians, In for sight-see-
ing, not caring at all for the realities
Of the occasion. Americans who
smile at the poverty Of the church are
aghast at the uncanny elements in
the heterogeneous congregation. The
actual membership Of the church can
not exceed 150or 200. A friend says
that there Is no stable congregation u
speak Of; the seats are filed BY
transients. chiefly American and
English. Paris Cor. N. Y. Tribune.