The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-02-14
II Is VALENTINES DAY.
Story OF the Modern Type Of the
Good Old Saint.
HE WASA NEW YORK PREACHER.
NOT Love Saint. hut n Priest of His
church-Hs Did Charitable Acts,
such AS St Valentine Did In the Days
Gone By.

Or. Houghton sat In his coy study in
the parsonage. of the Little Church
around the Corner" II was Saturday
night, and the doctor wore a peaceful
look as one who had done good weeks
work. Callers had come and callers
PAD gone, and the good doctor himself
had been out on many an errand OF
mercy. Surely, on Saturday night il
was pleasant to sit in the rays Of the
log fire and enjoy the pleasantcst of the
weeks memories.
But across the ray Of the freight
there fell shadow, and into the midst
OF the solid comforts of home there
came one as an intruder-the ubiuuit-
Gus newsgatherer-he who asketh
questions.
lis 1t true that l am the Saint Valen-
tine OF New York;" repeated the doc
tor with an amused smile, in answer to
question. "Most certainly not. do
not pose as being saint of any kind,
but l dc love young people, and if my
sympathy for them in their rights and
wrongs entities me to be a competitor
Of the good old priest who was be-
headed In the days Of Claudius on ac-
count OF his popularity with lovers,
way, then, 1 suppose that / may be
called the modern Saint Valentine.
How did get my free views? Well.
10 begin with, / have no free views.
And if people think so they mistaken.
am rigid churchman and teach and
preach only the orthodox teachings and
preachings of the church. / presume
that l have gained the reputation of
being somewhat free in my views
from the fact that / do things which
many orthodox clergymen, such as |
am, do not do.
For instance, oficiate at every fu-
neral TO which | may be called. IfCar-
lyle Harris were To die to-day, with the
uncertainty of guilt upon him. would
bury him as piously as though were
officiating at the obsequies OF Phillips
Brooks. would, of course. feel differ
emily, and | could not say tho same
prayers over his body. Perhaps. too,
the feeling of Christian resignation and
pious exaltation which / always feel
when praying over the body of great
and good man would be lacking. But
there would be other feelings present.
II should say TO myself: Here Is the
body of n talented young man-bripht,
learned, and too clever TO die so soon.
he has been in network of circum-
stances-mightily unfortunate. And
God only knows whether he did right
or wrong. As for me, | am going TO
give ham Christian burial and pray
every prayer that I can to comfort his
friends over his unfortunate fate
II have buried great many people |
whose lives were openly and avowedly |
bad. Women who have gone wrong
and who have died in the depths of
their degradation have received Chris
tian burials, and so have confessed muir
derers and suicides. For these people /
have service of my own which an
swers the purpose nicely and does not
in any way infringe upon the church
service, which, of course, cannot use.
There is common error In the
minds of people, but one which is not
shared by my brother clergymen, to the
effect that | use the regular church
service for the dead In such cases as
this.
The prayer book says that the reg
Mar church service cannot be used over
any who die unbaptized, or who are ex-
or who have laid violent
hands upon themselves Therefore, hav-
ng pledged to follow these rules, can