The Irish standard., 1900-07-28
Known Far and Wide as q Great
Collector of Books.
DISTINGUISHED NATIVE OF IRELAND
Is Recognized as a Man of Fine
Literary Attachments.

| You must meet MIR. Onahan when
you go to Chicago" said Bishop Wat
tcrson to me one day some years ago.
| "Hc is one OF our stars, true cxpo-
ncnt Of Catholic culture, man of rare
nobility OF soul and thoroughly con-
sistent."
When few weeks later l had the
pleasure of handing to Mr.. Onahan the
dear bishops letter. and saw his almost
boyish gladness at hearing even in this
way from his friend | liked him at
once, writes Teresa b. O'Hare in the
Rosary.
I'm so glad TO get this letter." he
said; the last time | talked with him
the bishop told me that he seldom
writes a letter, and I am going to keep
this for his autograph"
AS he put the letter carefully away.
the thought flashed through my mind
that it was indeed an honor to be the
bearer OF message between two such
great souls, while all the time the strain
OF human vanity that is uppcrmost,
made me wish that he would say he
was glad to see me. But it took only
a second to dispose Of the letter and
then he came and warmly shook my
hand
"Why, I've known you for ycars!" he
said most kindly. You are in my scrap
book with all the immortals." That
settled it. ] was sure then that he was
even nicer than the bishop had claimed,
And how good it was to hear the bish-
ops ringing laugh and see his face light
up with enjoyment when ! told him
aiterward that among Mr.. Onahan's
qualifications he had neglected to tell
me he was literary critic of much dis
ccrnmcnt.
Some weeks after Bishop Watterson's
! death | again saw Mr. Onahan. "Fm
glad to see you" he said, although you
remind me of great sorrow. Our
friend is gone"
Once upon timc"-and here l am
quoting from one who told the story
long ago-"thcrc came to a restless,
growing Western city youth seeking
his fortune. He came from land
where the fields are always green, where
the trees bud green in the spring and
the leaves fall while they arc dull green;
where sleeping lakes lie mirror-green
under the moonlight, and where the
deep green waves Of the sea incessantly
watch emerald shores.
"And the memory of these things the
youth brought with him, and they were
very dear to him. So it came to pass
that while others in the fcverish new
city sought to pile up hard cold yellow
thing to gloat over and be their delight,
as the children Of Israel gloatcd over
the golden calf in the wilderness, this
youth turned aside from their sordid
ways and buildcd himself house OF
books. And 10! when the others lifted
| up their eyes and bchcld what the
youtf-now grown up to mans estate
had done, they saw that it was good.
And they ceased not to talk of it, and
this the more because the man had
been true to the memories of his youth,
and in his house of books the dear
green color slonc forth pre-cminent."
The youth with the high purpose in
his heart and the man who had gathered
books instead Of gold was William ].
Onahan. The fame of his library is
known to the book-lovers. Book COL
lecting is almost passion with him,
and he keeps on gathering new volumes
about him with untiring activity. In his
Chicago home every room is library.
One stumbles across books upstairs and
downstairs, in every available nook and
corner. With all the profusion, how
ever, it is easily seen that the collection
is that OF man Of rare literary taste.
of broad and many-sided culture, and
of ripe scholarship; so that today he
owns not only one of the largest, but
one of the best private collections in
America.
But it is not as collector OF books
that Mr.. Onallan is best known in Ca
tholic America. He is first of all
promoter and leader in Catholic prog
ress. He is the great American, as a
famous German ecclesiastic once said,
who made possible the movement for
Catholic congress. He stands out as
the foremost Catholic layman in the
United States. 1t was fitting that at