The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-03-05

ering place on the southern side of
Carnarvonshire. He obtained his early
education the old-esta blished school
OF Bottwnog, a village some six miles
away from his parental roof, which
distance he used to cover on foot on
Monday mornings, with his satchel
and shining morning face" but not, as
Shakespeare's sChoolboy, creeping
like snail unwillingly to school," for
one of John owens earliest character
istics was a fondness for learning and
a desire to climb upwards, character
istics which have marked him through
the whole of his distinguished career.
Little, however, did the good people of
Abersoch and Bottwnog think that in
the diminutive lad who left his fathers
threshold on Monday morning, return
ing on Saturday night, they saw an
embryo Bishop of st. DavidS. the sue
cessor of Laud, and Burgess, and
1hmawall men whose names are writ
ten large on the roll of English and
Welsh Church history. Indeed, the son
of isgyborwen had no designs on any
ecclesiastical honour or preferment
just then, for, though Bottwnog School
was a Church foundation, John Owen
was member of the "seiet," and prob
ably his fathers ambition did not rise
higher than a Calvinistic Methodist
pulpit, or, at the highest, a chair at
Bala or Trevecca.
The Bottwnog Grammar School OPEN
ed for John owen a door to oxford,
where, at Jesus College, in 1S72-just
twenty-five years ago-he gained a
mathematical scholarship, a remark
ably good stroke for raw youth from
one of the most distinctively Welsh
neighborhoods in the Principality. His
career at oxford was a series of sue
cesses, and he left his Alma Mater in
1876 as a double second classman. a de-
gree which it is not the privilege of
many Welshmen to possess, and which
shows the even balance of the new
bishops mental qualities.
On the appointment of Bishop Ed
wards to st. Asaph the Warden of
Llandovey followed his fortunes North.
and became dean. In one sense his de-
canal career was, perhaps, the busiest
and most active period of his life. The
air was thick with the spirit of revolt
against the Church. Disestablishers
secured the country, and the Diocese of
ST. Asaph became the battlefield be-
tween the contending parties. OF course
the Church was nowhere in want of a
defender, but it is not too much to
say that two men-the one the Bishop
of st. AsaDh and the other the dean
were equal to the whole force set
agains them, and succeeded in crushing
the Dsesta ablishment movement. The
Churchs enemies We're driven from
every position at he point of the bay
onet. Not charge was left unan-
swered, not an argument went without
an adequate reply So adroit was the
dean that he actually bearded the Den
bigh lion in his den-fought him in the
columns of his own organ, the Baner,
and the foes of the late eighties are
none the worse friends today. Once
more the dean was destined to disap-
point his friends. The principalship of
ST. DaVid's College became vacant.
The Dean of st. AsaDh became an ap-
plicant. Fortune has always favored
I. John owen, and he was selected out
of a great number of brilliant candi-
dates. Doubts were entertained in some
quarters as to the advisability of risk
ing so much. Fears as usual. proved
groundless, and doubts have long
been changed into unqualified praise.
ST. David's College has never been
more fourishing and its status never
higher than under Principal Owens
regime. Thus at all points in his car
eer, the Bottwnog lad of twenty five
years ago has fulfilled the eXpecta
tions of his warmest trends and is to-
day a man of whom the Welsh Church
and the Welsh nation are justly proud.
oxford proved a turning point in
the Jesus College scholars career. Com
ing under the influence of men who
read his character as an open book, and
felt that the strong man was forming
within him, he was induced to become
member of the Church of England,
step which he has never had cause to
regret.
The new bishop hal always disap-
pointed his friends on the best side. on
his first appearance at LamDeter, in
1879, as tutor classical lecturer, and
Welsh professor there We're d great
many who doubted the wisdom of his
appointment. But there was one man
at st. David's College-the present
Bishop of Chester, who was then prin-
cipal-who knew better than anyone
else what the college board were doing
and what Professor owen was capable
of. Within a comparatively short time
the young professor had won the con-
fidence of the whole college, and when,
some years later, he left Llandovery,
no departure was ever more sincerely
regretted by any collection of young
men. When, however, Professor owen
left for Llandovery, as successor to the
| present Bishop of st. Asaph, it was
| considered by even some of his best
| friends that he was taking wrong
step, as the work of a schoolmasteI
| differed in toto from that of a college
| dean. Never, however, did any fears