The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-08-09

grims anchored the "Mayf1ower" off
Plymouth rock While the little colony
OF Massachusetts was quaking with I'M
certainly of the future the Jesuit mis-
sions to the north and west were fairly
esta hlished and carrying their messages
to both friendly and hostile. Indians.
Why did they fail to impress their spirit
upon this continent. and the miserable,
starved Puritans succeed?
The form, color, display and ritual OBJ
servance of Latin Christianity must
have been more apt to please the red
tribes than the simple severity of a
John Eliot, and his moral exhortations
to observe the ten commandments. The
French were more humane than the
English. 1t was not uncommon for the
French traders who accomuan MED the
with women of their own blood, while the
attitude of the English was wholly OPP
posite. The French speaking to the In
dams called them brothers.
Why did the English win in spiritual
and material possession? 1t was not
alone Anglo-Saxon energy, Anglo-Sax
sincerity. 1t was for several great rea-
sons, and one of the greatest was this:
wherever the English Puritan went.
whether in missions or forts, the Eng
fish family went too, and a natural
order of life was preserved. In the long
run only the sane, natural, human
standpoint can prevail. All others must
go to the wall. The English occupation
was founded upon the institution as old
as humanity-the institution of the fam
lily.
The French brought no fixedly human
social order. Their leaders. the Jesuitss
were outsiders, a thing laid upon the
social order or disorder, a veneer. In
other words they were a caste, living on
and among the people, never of the peo-
pie. The arid thought of celibacy for it's
priesthood which had fitfully asserted
itself through centuries until final con-
hrmation at the council of Trent. was
claimed Through the run of centuries
it is nature and natural conditions that
prevail. Inevitable fate snuffS out all
else.
The Jesuit priests who landed on
American soil in 1911 and the subSe-
quent years of their mission, were OBJ
iged by rule to keep journals of their
work, and notes of what they saw and
heard. To this rule issued by the con-
trolling house, we are indebted for
many interesting accounts of their jour-
neys and adventures among the aborig-
ines. From the head house on this side
the sea, at Quebec I believe, a relation
of affairs was sent once a year to
France. This biography of Father Mar
quette is founded upon such diaries and
accounts.
The book is the initial volume in a
new series of American biographies :
of popular life histories of men tand
womenO who have pioneered our coun-
the subject of this eulogy was not an
American, and would himself have been
far from calling himself an American.
1t is my opinion he would rather dis
dain the appellation,-even the proud til
tie of old times, a Roman, not every
man would answer to-
Father Marquette was born in the
fortress town of Laon, France. in 1887.
The worldly Importance of the good
mans family, how for generations they
had hobnobbed with kings. and because
they loved royalty had '.sauced with bit
ter words circumventive feudal no.
bility and were the proudest family in
all Laon, the author Of this eulogy lays
great stress upon. Any such dwelling
upon ancestral pomp seems at war with
the best ideas of our democracy, and
as unAmerican as one of our penny
dreadful, yellow journals with its "ar-
istocracy" and plutocracy; and how it
belongs to or has any bearing on a pio-
neer servant of the carpenter of Naz-
areth is not clear. Greater explorers
greater men than Father Marquette,
have been born in cabins from genera
lions of cabin jewellers. and all the
pother about the worldly advantages OF
the Marquette folks only detracts from
the serene. simple. direct. earnest char