The Irish standard., 1906-01-20

ready as long as anything lasted to
share their scanticst allowance of
food with each other.
In 1S41 Father Mathew, in consider
alton Of his great public services,
was granted pension of $500 a year
out Of the Queens Civil List which
money went the same road as all other
which found its way into his hands, for
he was but the almoner of the govern
ment, as he had been all his life of
whatever funds he had in his keeping.
able penalty of the overwork and anN-
iety of the long years he had given to
the temperance cause, for he was
struck down With paralysis. Although
he made rally from this serious at
tack, and lived for eight years after
wards, he was never again the vgor-
Gus, sanguine man of the early days
of the cause. The blight of the famine
was on that great work, and ON al
that had been hopeful and happy in
ance had the heavy grief of seeing
his ranks thinned by death and de-
sertion.
In 1S49, while still suffering from
the stroke of paralysis of the year be-
fore, he determined (very much agains
the advice of his friends) to pay his
long promised visit to America. Hi
reception here was most cordial and
enthusiastic; but though he strove
manfully to repay the cordiality of hi
new friends with his wonted genialty
the effort of seeing and talking to
countless numbers of people was no
longer easy to him, and the contrast
of the joy and prosperity of the New
World, with the gloom and misery of
the dear old land. where he had re-
Gently witnessed such heart-rending
scenes of misery, saddened him. His
greatest pleasure was in seeing among
the well-to-do citizens of the cities he
visited, men and women, to whom he
had administered the pledge, in Ire
land, years before, and whose faithful
observance of it had secured them
good positions in the New World. To
many of them he was able to bring
tidings of their kindred, for he never
forgot a face he had known.
In spite of his shattered health he
toiled in America, as he had toiled at
home, and with the like happy re
suits. The Unitsd States Senate gave
him a place within the Bar, a privilege
which had before only been conferred
on Lafayette, and the President enter
tained him at a banquet to meet a
number of the foremost men, all eager
to know the Apostle. His stay in
America lasted two years and q half
for he visited twenty-five States Of the
Union, and administered the pledge to
half million Of people. For short
time of repose he dwelt in the solitude
of the forests of Arkansas, where he
said Mass in the open air under the
canopy of heaven, with a congregation
of only four persons.
On his return to Ireland Father
Mathew, now grown too invalided tc
be allowed to continue his mission
was induced to take up his residence
with his brother Charles at Lehenagf
House, near Cork. There, surrounded
by the loving care and ministrations
of his family, who did all that wa.
possible to comfort his last sad years
he awaited the coming of Death like
man whose life's work was done
and who pined for rest. But though
he could no longer seek out the drunk
ard, the sick, and the suffering. they
still knew where to find him, and tt
the very end those who sought hin
were not sent away unsatisfied. Nay
even after the final stroke Of paralysis
had stilled the voice which hat
pleaded SO lovingly and so long, hi:
dying hand guided to bless and sigr
with the cross the very last of the
millions to whom he had given tht
pledge.
He died on December 8, 1856, in tn
sixty-sixth year of his age, and tht
forty-second of his ministry and it 1!
surely not too much to say Of him tha
he was mourned by the entire people
Clad in his Franciscan habit, and will
the beauty and peace Of earlier day.
come back to his dead face, thu
Apostle lay in state in his own church
in Cork, where those among whom HI
had labored so long could take las
farewell of their beloved father ant
friend. The name and fame Of tht
apostolic Theobald Mathew, so Justly
dear to his own generation, still sends
thrill to Irish hearts, and is reveret
and cherished by thousands Of hi
countrymen and women who neve'
heard his persuasive voice, nor fel
! the clasp Of his helpful and beneficen
,, hand.
CATHOLIC POPULATION.