The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1893-11-18
By the Special Correspondent of
the New Dominion,
With its Forest of Columns anc
Mysterious Architecture.
Where Have Been Displayed the
fetes of Kings

FROM Time 10 Time NOUfe l)ame
is rediscoyered. There are thousands
of Parisians, / am SURE, who do not
pass by this marvellous basilieu once
in year. Their life is other where.
Notre Dame, enormous, and myster-
ious, sleeps her sleep of stone and OF
long memories in her isle--far from
disturbed and rumbling Paris. The
clergy even almost abandoned the old
editiee as too large, for it would hold
three or four modern churches. Scarce
ly is single mass murmured in some
forgotten corner. The forest of col
umns, the great house of God and OF
the people, where have been displayed
the fetes of Kings and the holiday OF
Fools, belongs to silence, to solitude,
and the past. 1t is now only historic
monument, witness of the centuries.
He who having entered there in the
morning, spends his evening at the
Eden Theatre, after having lounged
through the boulevard to his satisfac-
ton, may, If he knows how to see,
learn more than is written in the man
uals.
Il enter and pay fifteen confines
for the privilege of sitting in the great
nave. The poor do not often come TO
the Dame, or II they come perchance,
they belong to that simple and resign
ed class who accept without complaint
the poorest place in church as in life,
1t seems but natural to them
After giving some details of the ap-
pearance of the congregation, the wri-
ter goes on to describe the entrance OF
the priest himself.
1.-THE preacher at length appears
large jaw bones, square chin and wide
mouth, the head Of healthy peasant,
with the beauty of its kind. The
'sFigaro" lately made him out mar
quis. / have no preceneeiyed ideas as
to the appearance of marquises, 1t is
possible lie pire Monsabie may be one,
but it is known that he was born al
Blois, of simple honest folk-which Is
of itself good thing. His father was
a baker, as was the father of General
Dronot, and of NJ. Coquelin. l am
told that lie pire Monsabie is one Of the
most courageous of men, and that he
has the fresh gaiety Of a child"
'"The head of the preacher emerges
from the half shadows of his black
cowl, while his extended arms spread
wide the large white sleeves of his
robe. This costume Is peculiar to the
Dominicans, it is spotless, with a
touch of the theatrical. This order OF
preaching brothers is, i believe, at the
present moment, the most brilliant
and most enlightened of the religious
orders, and the most courageous. They
have inherited the fame of Lacordaire,
his liberalism and his frank courage.
''They persist in dreaming Of the
reconciliation of science and religion,
of religion and modern society. Illus
ions if you please, but on what | beg
to ask, rests the foundation of social
harmony, the peace of souls, and that
relative happiness of which man is
capable, if not on such illusions? The
Dominicans possess charity, they pride
themselves on tolerance. Do not tell
them that it was st. Dominique who
invented the Inquisition, they will
not believe YOU
"Their rule of life has nothing in it
oppressive or grasping.
'They respect individuality, and
leave to each large intuitive. They
also exercise powerful fascination
over the soul, particularly those of
women and young people. Their spirit
forms remarkable contrast to that OF
the Society of Jesus. In the latter
the individual is effaced, neglects to
put himself in evidence. They act
more upon souls through personal adj
vice, than by public preaching. They
find their happiness more in the knowl-
edge of their collective strength as a
society, to which each ones obedience
contributes, than in the liberal gov
erning of their faculties fordioine in
tereStS.
''Their influence is more extended,
more secret, and more sure. But the
might almost call them, the adventur-
ers of orthodoxy, have more charm
and more eclat. There is also about
them something more cordial and hui
man. Almost all of them are men of
imagination and wide charity"
The sermon of the day was upon the
subject of the confessional, its utility
and necessity, and the following are a
few of his expressions;
s'Of all the secrets we carry about
with us in that fragile vase-the heart
none weary us so greatly, none are
so hard to bear as the secrets of sim
Night and day, in the face Of our own
condemnation, we are overwhelmed
even to despair. We must stifie, if
we wish to live the honesty of our best
instincts, the holy love of good and
seek forgetfulness in the continual in
toxication of iniquity. Still the con-
science will return, the solemn hour of
remOrse sounds in our miserable lives.
Instead Of suppressing such griefs,
give them secret outlet. Open your
trouble to some heart capable of re-
ceiving the weight you can no longer
bear alone, and what mysterious
change takes place. All alarms, ter
rors, cares, pass through the flames Of
friendly word, and are purified. Then,
in answer to the objection that it is
not agreeable to expose ones faults to
the curiosity of priest, he replies:
Gentlemen, those who argue this
forget, that those confessions which
seem to you so terrible, are not new to
the priest, he has heard their like re-
ported a thousand, yes million times,
until they have become not the object
of his curiosity, but an occasion for