The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-09-03
Hawthorne's Dauqhter q Nun.

(I1erDeFJ lOulS III I'plIdHlt9 -iU-dilt.a'
Misfortune left Rose Hawthorne free from a.l
ties perhaps ten years ago Death took her only
child and her husband and closed her home ill View
London That sorrowful freedom she Immediately
consecrated to the most wretched among the poor.
If you have any dread of inevitable death bT tine
ordinary forms, fever, pneumonia, heart failure, p
take yourself to the tenements and study and cou-
sole the human being dying of cancer. Then YOU
will greet pneumonia as d blessed messengcr. and
heart failure as a direct interpo5ition OF God.
Since man must die, it Is seemly that his exit ue
made with dignity and decency. if not quite so
cooy as Bryant would like it: Like one who wraps
the drapery of his couch around him and lies down
to pleasant dreams. But to have the grave reach
up and seize your flesh before the time begin
rupting while life thrills the blood, to smell Of hs
charnel house and to repel the human kind in hor-
ror even as the ancient leper; to become dreadful
to those that love you, and abhOrrent to all Others
and to carry about your shame in the narrow, mean
hopeless limits of q tenement house; the mind tan5
before the merest details OF this misfortune.
Government charity has not yet found It's way
to this calamity it has hardly discovered how TO
deal with the acute cases of sickness. It's ady"-
Gates, believe, are often loud in proclaimlng their
ability to manage the whole body of human suffer-
ing without the cooperation Of individuals. Ia
the two cases of consumption and cancer the gov
eminent has done next to nothing for the sufferers
and the patients are nursed until death III their
homes. Such nursing. Not to be sneered at. since
it is prompted by affection. Yet what attention
can the poor give to their sick after earning day
wages and the work of tomorrow awaiting them.
Even when affection finds way to do something
ignorance leaves it only half done. Where aHcc-
ton fails as it easily does under too heavy bur-
den where strength is lacking, where skill and IN
telligence are absent, the patient IS only q
few degrees removed from the outcast and ADAM
dond lepers of ancient Palestine. OF all these llaT-
thornes daughter made herself the servant. She
dwelt in the slums and sought out the patients III
their homes, discovering conditions too sad for
description; with her helpers she redressed the
wounds of corruption and endeavored to throw
about the sufferers at least the appearance of hope;
and where it was possible stirred into life the hope
of nearing heaven.
Her mission aroused some curiosity at the time
and reporters called on her in the shabby quar-
tiers of her infrmary. Their surprise, increduIty
and kindly scorn illustrated one phase of American
thinking. Charity for many begins with the state.
They cannot understand individual enterprise and
devotion. 1t means for them lack of system. over
work and poor results If there need be charity for
widespread condition, this sort of American would
apply to the state legislature get all the money
equip fine hospital and see that every
official in it received adequate compensation Inc
reporters who visited the infrmary wrote Of it ndu
gently with sympathy, of course. but quite without
knowledge and their words suggested that the WORK
was superfuous and the lady eccentric The woman
reporter in the case reminded us that the Hav-
thornes were often queer and quoted curbstone
critic to the effect that this particular Hawthorne
was insane.
Nevertheless the work found an unoccuplcd
field, and In time the foundress secured house IN
Cherry street, which had been the nest of gentilT
sixty years ago The East river and the park were
part of the horizon. went there autumn after
noon, curious about the venture, interested IN the
unexpected phase of character. The charm of the
New London home fingered in my memory, from
heeting glimpse years before; and one does not
easily bridge the gap between the boudolr and the
charnel house. In this instance there was bridge
The same personality presided and had simply
brought the wretched into the boudoir The ancient
house touched the heart by its simplicity and ITS
pathOs. Whatever had been It's history. some Wor-
thness must have marked it to win this distinction
as climax. 1t the home of divine cour-
lge of heroic charity, of resignation under the Sc
verest affection. The nurses were dressed IN the
rough but picturesque and serviceabe costumes OF
Holland peasants. The grewsome did not show and
he odor of death was absent. If one had net
known, the refuge might have passed for a conya'-
escent home where hope of release solaced the slow
return to health.
Mans ideal is the truest expression OF his ma
ure, and the most potent agency in developing us
powers If the ideal we aspire to be IS below Us
ife's aim viii be downward, and the nearer we APP
1roach its realization the smaller and hitler we Dc
,ome But if our ideal is above us, it will OF nece9-
ity appeal to the very best and modest IN our ma
ure, and call for the exercise and development oL
'ur highest faculties and powers
Il L E