The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-23

not onIy a fine American city to admire,
but also fine American menu TO study,
1 assure you my lads never overlook the
dinner hour"
And the father smiles his quiet, in
| dulgent smile, the outcome or that
| broader paternity which is the only
family affection allowed to the Catholic
priest.
There are five of these strong,
healthy lads" under his sheltering wing,
/ all bound on career of island useful
ness. Young Father Bernardin, Ger
man who has resided in Spain and
| picked up a little French during a six
months residence at the mother
| house" in Paris, goes to the Mar
| quesas, where, thanks to civilizing in
fiuences, he will find few natives Ieft
| for him to devote himself to.
! Three others, Deacon Uric and Sub
| Deacons Theophilus and Aloysius, &C
| company Father Limburg to Honolulu,
| where he has already spent twenty
seven years of usefulness among the
affectionate gentle Kanakas. There are
twenty-one of these missionaries OF the
Sacred Heart in the Sandwich Islands,
and, curiously enough, though their
mother house" is in Paris, their ma
tionality is by no means mainly French.
Germany, Belgium and Holland are
equally well represented, though the
headship of France is upheld by the
Archbishop, who halls from Brittany.
Sixty-one years ago the fathers first
attempted the conversion of the Sand
witch Islanders, only to be prosecuted
and driven forth with ignominy; but in
$780, thanks to the efforts Of Captain
Laplace, they were enabled to return,
establishing themselves on a firm foot
ing, and ever since they have gone on
their gentle way, doing what they
could for the natives and keeping clear
of conflict with the whites of another
persuasion.
On the question Of annexation they
decline to have any views whatever.
'"The church bows to the powers that
be and does not NEEDLE with politics,
is the firm answer Of Father L1mburg,
or Father Matthias, as the provincial
is sometimes called. But he owns that
his sympathies naturally lie with the
Kanakas, to whom he has so long min
istered, and that it is a sorrowful thing
to see the race dying out. as dark races
| invariably die out under the influence
| of the white man. "A lovable, child
like, soft people," he says tenderly,
| tensely musical and emotional Suited
! to the religious life? oh, dear no, we
| should never think of allowing such
| thing; it would inevitably mean fail
| ure."
But 1t has been successfully tried
| with the Samoans,P we urge. The
Samoan nuns are exceptionally. devoted
and single minded
81 know" he answers, gray ely II
have heard of them; but the Samoans
are a finer, sturdier race with consid-
cradle character; they can be depended
| upon Our Hawaiians are lovable,,
without stability or backbone. We take
them as they are but we dare not per-
nit life vows that would only be
brokep.'
After all, though, in these days of
missionary ease and consideration, our
| s-,Ro 71f 10 wit
| priests laboring in the SUMMER Sand
witch Isles. 1t centers around that
| plague-stricken spot for which yon
| happy-faced lad is bound, and we
eagerly evoke Father Limburgs rem
| fniscences of Molokai and Father Da-
mien, he of the athletic frame and I'M
| finching nerve, who won his martyr
dom by his determined, sympathetic
| humanity.
Two priests devote themselves per-
| manently to the work with the assist
ance of four brothers. A fifth helper
| claims the spcia1 interest of Americans;
of their own kith and kin the so-called
| Brother Joseph Dutton went to Molo-
kai twelve years ago to nurse Father
! Damien. There he has remained ever
| since, held by no VOWS, for he took
| that Of brotherhood for one year only
and never renewed it; but devotion to
| the ostracised binds his heart to the Isle
of Sorrows, and he is noted among all
that little band of unselfish workers
for his loving self abnegation.
Even in Molokai, however, sunshine
slants across some lives. Lepers who
marry to share their misery frequently
become parents of happy, healthy chill
| dren, and these, in the case OF girls,
| are forwarded to the Receiving hos
| pital at Honolulu. where the good
/ Franciscan sisters train them and send
| them out into that world from which
| their parents are exiled. Neither are
! the young folks left in Molokai, with
the hereditary faint upon them, wholly
to be pitfed. Kindness and thoughtful
| intelligence do much to brighten their
| lives and there are gladstone traditions
of the day when Robert Louis Steven
SON. Father Damien's brilliant apollo
/ eist landed on the Isle of Sorrows,
! romped with the boys, taught the girls
| cricket and left memories behind him
of a laughing, sympathetic holiday.
/ He seems to be the only Protestant
| who has had the nerve or the viii to
bring sunshine to the Molokai Ieper;
so far. the Catholic alone, priest or nun,
| has landed on that dreaded isle for I'M
! selfish ministrationS; and with loving
| thought of the boyish hearted writer
/ who played with the Molokai leper we
| give one last glance at the boyish faced
| deacon, Victor, who is also taking
| youth and joy to gambol on the stricken
! isle. ROSE DE BOHEME.
\ \ ~ 4 \ y