The morning call., 1892-08-14

refer to the Behavior of the railroad. Stod-
dard was in the Levant, having been long
In the Orient, when sad news came and he
must return home He reached New York
nearly out of money, and so Steadman. the
poet, and applied for pass. Nix. never
heard OF the man. And so Steadman went
10 the late DR.. Holland. then editor of The
oentuiS ."iiu sot nlm TO advance money
enough on otoddard's work for him to get
home on!
Nowhere outside of his own country
could this man have encountered so much
ignorance OF his work or such treatment of
himself. He was coming to me in Rome
once from London when, by mistake, near
Geneva, he missed his ear. Nothing serious
In that, however, had il not been that. the
day being hot, he had hung up his coat in
the car, where he left il on getting out to
lunch. The awkward part of it all was the
coat contained his poeket-bOok, ticket, my
address IN Rome and all his fortune except
a few sous. But they brought him on
through. OF course the devout fellow
attributed all such civility as that 10 the
saints. have heard him say they are short
OF saints in America.
1t may be as we'll though to mention that
the saints let him sleep i'm the streets of
Rome that night, it being Saturday night
and the town booming with the carnival.
And he alept in the streets the next night
too, fasting all day Sunday as any good
Catholic ought 10, he said. For he could not
baggage at the station ON Sunday.
On going TO the bank for my mail Monday
morning pale, slim ghost crept out of the
shadows in the corner by the stove and laid
lis mead on my shoulder, while tears ran
down its face. l rated him sOundly and
Ioundly for depending on his saints all the
time. But he excused his saints by saying
that he had forgotten his saints for a second
10 think OF me and so got into trouble.
marveled that he did not take the fatal
Roman fever anpdie.
Die in the city of Saint Peter? lmpossi-
ble!' And brow, breast. left, right, cross
alter cross IN quick succession as led TO the
Cafe Greco.
had secured room for him with great
trouble; narrow, dirty thing truly, but
palace at such times. at looks like coz.
fin" he said, as he put his head in, 'and
smells like hell" He would not enter,
said the street was better, and so we
found pretty place, with a dozen pretty
girls 10 help him count his beads, and thank
the saints Tor deliyerance from that dirty
coffin.
1t was my fortune and pleasure to take
him to the statue OF Saint Peter in the
mighty cathedral, as it had been to take
Bret Harte TO the grave OF Dickens I'm West
minister, and | watched him most curiousy.
There stood the endless string of peas
ants, hats in hand, prince now and then.
p!umed and satin-clad lady in the line
at intervals-Ihis crowded, carnival time,
after countless crossings and bendngs of
the knee, took his place la line. and so
moved on, foot after foot, toward the great
bronze toe OF st. Peter.
stood close By the statue. where 1t stands.
or sits, on It's pedestal with lifted fingers
by the lofty wall; with the musicians, sill
yer trumpets to their liDs, half q mile in the
heaven-h held dome above.
Each pous peasant devotee touched his
lips To the worn toe and sandals, worn
Gu n Ind 1rAs
with his hat brm or the heel of his hand
wiped the toe and with a bow and cross
passed on. Those Of the better class always
used handkerchief of course. But our
eSthetic poet made the one blunder. not an
infrequent ono with US, of wiping the toe
before instead of after kissing. That is bad
taste. But let us get out from ST. Peters or
we shall never reach the end.
A few months after the carnival, Leman.
the banker, brother to Arthur Leman. the
artist, who has been here and will be here
again, came To our place with dismay and
told ME Charley was dying having had a
fall from his horse in a ride home at night
from Iivoli.
Priests came. Bishop aud Archbishop. 1t
is strange how this gentle poet got into
the hearts of them all. and stayed there.
While on this subject let me say that no
man, not even the President of the United
States, ever had or ever could have such
fav0rs ana such friendship as this man had
ana SLlli mas ABROAD. 90 ne Qiu not die
And when his restoring strength permitted
the liberty, again rallied him about his
saints.
"Yes. it surely was the saints" he in
sisted. ''ior see what friends this misfortune
has brought me-"
And his faith did not betray him, for
the Pope sent him a long letter, an auto
graph letter on parchment and in Latin,
which i, or was once hung up in the lrn-
clpai Catholic edlhce in San Francisco. We
heretlcS used to tell Charley as be lay there
that as this parchment forgave him all his
sins, past. present and future, he surely
would have good time from that day forth.
And so he has had let us thank his saints
with him. lie has from that misfOr tune
forth had good time-as good a time as
his heart is gOod-and that is saying it has
ever been good indeed, for no man has
ever lived so pure. a life so gentle and en-
tireiy good.
When he got well and the great Catholic
university OF America was established his
Holiness the Pope put out his hand over
the heads of the hundred thousand learned
men of Europe who would have een proud
OF the place and laid il on the head of
Charles Wsrrea Stoddard in choice. And
SO our poet bundled up his books and went
away from Rome TO the Washington uni
versity. TO be buried there oct of sight Of us
all with the monks, the incense, the rituals,
the music, the sacred things that he has
always so loyalty loved. He has gone out
OF the life OF Bohemia as the sunlight goes
In the afternoon, and we sit saying of him
as be sang when boy Of the sunlight of
California:
The sunlight has flown ike q butterfly
Brushing the gold from his wings