The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-05-21
SIXTY YEARS AGO
A Jesuit Father Describes His
RxpePlencesin This Country
1T That Time.
Catholics Enjoyed all the Rights
Of Citizenship In Theory,
Not In Practice.

The United States Catholic Historical
society has done we'll to publish in
book form that part Of the autobiog-
raphy penned by the late Rev. Angus
tus j. Thebaud, S. j., which describes
his experiences in this country during a
period of more than 10 years, including
the fourth and fifth decades Of the last
century, says the New York Sun. He
was close and discriminating, yet at
the same time sympathetic observer,
and he conveys very different i'm
preston of American life as it was in
the '3O's and '4O's from that derived by
Mrs. Trollope from somewhat earlier
visit to this side of the Atlantic. Before
marking some of his interesting COM
ments, we should say word about the
authors career. He was born in Nan
ties in 1907. At the usual age he en-
tered the seminary of his native place,
the age of % he went to Rome and was
admitted to the Society of Jesus, and
studied theology in the Roman college.
In 1888 he was in Paris, and in the
following year was made professor
in st. Mary's college, kentucky, al
though at that time he had little, if any,
acquaintance with the English Ian
guage. For the six following years he
taught chemistry in the Kentucky in
stitution; but in 1916 he BECAME rec
tor of Fordham college. Almost all the
rest of his life was spent in the state
of -,ew York, though for year (1S69-
'7O) he was at Montreal, and little
later filled the post of pastor of a secu-
lar parish in Hudson City, N. ]. He
died at Fordham on December II, 1885.
1t was on October %, 1888, that Fa-
ther Thebaud left the port of Havre for
the United States. The sailing vessel,
which was one of line of packets,
did not land him in New York until
December 10, after passage of IS
days. New York at that time had
about 100000 inhabitants, and Brook.
Ign about $4,000. He recalls how diff
ferent was the outward aspect which
the city of New York then presented
from that which it exhibits today.
What struck him most in 1889 was the
exterior appearance of neatness and
comfort visible everywhere in the STREETS
and squares. He admired particularly
the white linen Of the butchers and
milk vendors who came from the sub
urbs of the city every morning during
the week. All were shaved clean, and
the custom of wearing thick boards or
whfskers was as yet unheard of. He
remarked that the incidents criticised
by English travellers had been invested
with too much importance.
Father Thebaud soon discovered that
all along the Atlantic coast there was
an aristocracy of birth. In New Eng
land it comprised the descendants, real
or pretended, Of the Puritan founders
Of the Eastern colonies. In the state
Of New York it embraced the Knicker-
bockers, i. e., the posterity of the Dutch
founders of New Amsterdam and Fort
Orange. In the South, from Maryland
to Georgia, it consisted of the descend
ants of the cavaliers, or Of the large
landowners, who might be Of Puritan
Or HupuonOt dosconf
Having spent three days in New
York, Father Thebaud started for
Philadelphia on his way to st. Mary's
college in Marion county, KY. The only
means of quick communication be.
tween the two great cities was the
Amboy & Camden railroad. From the
South, where the plantations were much
den, kind of steam ferryboat took the
traveller around Staten Island to Am.
boy, where he found a train ready to
start for Camden. From Philadelphia
the line Of railroad running westward
did not, in 1880, go further than Ian.
caster, Pa. Thenceforward stages only
were available.
Father Thebaud recalls that in Ken.
lucky the whites formed, so to speak, q
class apart and different from those OF
| all other states. Outwardly, the Ken
tuckians are described as a splendid
race, tall and we'll proportioned; re-
markably handsome, sociable and alta
BILE in daily intercourse; talented, and
apt to become good scholars when edu
Gated.
Father Thebaud foresees that he may
be asked whether slavemasters could
properly be called ''goodnatured and
charitable" He testifies that, in the
main, the slaveowners treated their hui
man chattels kindly, and that no cor
rect impression of the facts is given II
"Uncle Toms Cabin" That book ht
prOnounces an ex parte statement
which leaves unmentioned counties.
facts opposed to those Mrs. Stowe pre-
sents. and leading to very differen
conclusion. Father Thebaud, indeed
would not deny that in the extreme
South, where the plantations were mucl
larger than they We're in Kentucky
and where, consequently, the task o.
supervision had to be confided to al
overseer, there may have been som,
men like Mrs. Stoves Legree The,