The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-30

are engaged. In any movement for socta
or moral reform he has been found on n
platform with leaders OF the establiahe,
church or with dissenting ciorEymen. IT
this that has mado him so popular. with III,
masses Of the common people in England
But the cardinal knows the common poo
pie OF London among whom no has worked
as few men do. Hls lifo has boon span
among them. His father Was a London
merchants in good circumstances and !,
mem Der Of parliament, n the cardina
vas 4ducatsd at Harrow and Oxford. " wa'
in 1SaD that ha graduated with high onors
was ohosen fellow of Merton college. ant
subsequently ono OF the select preaohers o
the university. Or coutse he fell under
the wonderful influences Of Newman. nj
most of the men OF his time did. but he dit
not go over to the Roman church wher
Newman did. He remained with Pussy
and the two wore thu lenders of their fellows
for MANY years. Indeed it was Not unit
1851 til nj he embraced the Catholic faith
and IL was in 1867 that he started in to
preach to tina poor OF London. His success
was won derful. 1t attracted the ATTENTION
Of Piux TX, who made him provost of the
chapter of Westminster. ana IN 1865 ap-
rointea him archbishop of Westminster to
succeed Cardinal Wiaenan. Ia the great
Vatican .souncil of 1870, he made u pro-
found inn, ression on his fellow bishops,
ma on the pope, who five years later named
him a Cara ,nal. Such in brief. is the story
But to see the great Cardinal at his best
one had to vi sit him at his Workshop. as no
is inclined to call it, AZ Westminster. 1t is
in a great squire building at tho corner of
Carlisle place and Victoria station, and was
formerly used i s a sort of barracks for the
uon-commissioned officers anu men OF some
regiments of the guards. just near II IL a
splendid sight Of seme -four acres whore a
gieat Roman Cstholio cathedral IL to be
erected.
The cardinal did not encourage curious
visitors. but he has bcsn by no means inao-
ccssible. He likes Americans, and when il
has been at all practicable, has not been
ayerse to granting thssa an interview. Ons
II sIruck by the intsllse simplicity of the
old man when you first see him in his
library. One at oncs thinks on seeing the
Caant form and striking features OF the
cardinal of two pen pictures of the man
drawn BY such an artist as John Morley,
who said of the appearance OF his face:
s.It was az it Wrinkied parchment was
stretched acros ca a fieshless skull, out Of
which, however, kindly blue eyes cleaned
brightly. while q pleasant smils gave life
and human humor to the features Of the
a~scetic.''
And that is a coed description of the car
dinal as he greeted me in his study. II the
dav in warm. YOU will find him at work in
his plain black cassock edged with red that
marks his rank and II skull cap drawn over
his head. IT cold, he will have on y coat
GTQWu over Hill. I1lSAAN AA1 ASSA 20 slv
gold chain and cross tf the holy see. The
great sapphire ring on his hnger was given
him by Plus TX.
An old family servant, who has been with
the cardinal for twenty-five years, ushered
me into his presence. ! passed through the
dance. then descended sume stone steps,
and was in the cardinals presence. Tho
first thing that struck me when l glanced
about the room Was the thought that
he is inclined to be an nntidy worker. Pa
psrs, books, pamphlets, letters ars heaped
on the floor, on chairs, every whsre in CON
fusion. Nearly a dozen tables provided the
room, all of them covered with letters from
everywhere. 5-
The cardinal does not himself work at
any of the tables. Hs sits in a great arm
chair in the middle Of the room, and whom
he writes it is upon a small pad that he
rests or his knee or in his hand l was SUR
prised by his oddly on tho last occasion,
whom / was granted the privilege of seeing
the cardinal in his workshop. He,notieed
this and smiled. ..#
II have written in this way for fifteen
years. he said simply, 'and it has become
second habit with me-"
Then the old prslate, noticing my glance
at the litter of letters about the room, again
smiled in his pleasant way.
You think my mail must be large" he
said. well, 50 it is. I.receive hundreds
of letters every day from almost everywhere
"a good many, indeed, from America. I
open them all myself, and ] assure you it
takes not a little time. Some of them I
answer personally, and the rest are answered
by my two secretaries. It is NO small part
of their duties. but keeps them at work
many hours every day.
Here tho cardinal reached a table near by
and picked up a small envelope 1t had on
it an American postmark.
"This.'' he said, sig from an American
HAh4~1 ASri = III ~ ~ thai a ~4n3 rn ~
letters ] receive come from children. They
write me from the United States, from
Canada, and even Australia, and / take q
good deal of pleasure in those letters, too.
Indeed, my greatest friends are among the
children. Or July Is, that ia my birthday,
they never fail to send me flowers without
number. They quite ill the house,"
The aged man here paused and mused for
q moment
1T is q long, long time since I myself was
young he said at length. When one
to feel old and rather feeble, just as 1 DO"
/ suggested that the cardinal was still
doing \ good deal of work despite his ad-
vanced age.
eyes" he replied, 'I have been used to
work, hard work all my life. I love work.
It is a part of my life. Beside there is SO
can DO idle. | have a long day. Begin
ming at six o'clock in the morning [ am FREE
quentiy still at work at IL at night. l dino
early at 1:30, and have tea at 1880. In ad-
dition to my other work read the princi-
Pal newspapers, paying particular attention
to foreign news"
Going on the cardinal said that since 1868
he had been 4 total abstainer from the use
of liquor and that of late years he has boon
almost a vegetarian as we'll.
1t is on record that when at Harrow. Car
dinal Manning WAS r famous cricketer,
and l called his attention to this and he
laughed.
II canno say truly that l was a wonder-
full player" he said. II was on the Har-
row eleven and played against Elton and
other schools. But my impression now il
that we usually got beaten. | do not re
member that l played any better or much
worse than my comrades. | was. in those
days, very fond OF shooting, riding, boat
ing and athletic sports generally. l had
some ambition to be Il BOAT builder, and
spent a good deal of time carving out rough
models"
HI II must admit" he said gaily, that I was
q very miachievous boy"
Then he went on to tell of one prank in
which he engaged in company with Chris
tcpher Wordsworth, late bishop of Lincoln,
and Charles Wordsworth, bishop of st. An
drews. The three future churchmen were
playfelloWs, and entered into a conspiracy
to loot the Manning winery. They did it.
too, entering through the roof and eating
ell the grapes.
"Ihero were no grapes for dinner that
day" said the ardinal with a twinkle in
his eye; "and | believe this is tho only case
on record whore three future bishops were
~ ~ orrnr-