The Irish standard., 1908-10-10
FATHER i I JOHN B. TABB.
The Poet-Priest of Maryland
Who Has Become Blind.
iEYesight Fails Him at Thresh-
old Of Undying Fame.

one OF the sweetest singers VINO have
drawn their inspiration from Mary
land environs, is blind, says the Ealti.
tnere American.
s7s Some eight or nine eminent physi-
i clans have been consulted, but there
appears to be no hope, and the poet,
whose charming verses have delighted
the heart of childhood. struck syr,pa-
theric chords from the breasts OF mel,
and women Of mature years ana won
the unstinted praise of unbiased cri.-
les, now sits in darkness at st. Charles
College. beyond Ellicott City-his eyes
blinded to the beauty of the blooming
flowers and verdured hills that envi-
1 ron the campus where he was wont to
! draw his inspiration.
Father Tabb's eyesight has failel
him at the threshold of undying fame
Just as he was about to enter the por-
tails, in the estimation of the cri c,,
light was suddenly denied him. ana he
gropes about in darkness. Yet, who
knows? May it not be that through
his physical loss the spiritual vision
will become keener? May it not be
that the poets soul, unhampered by
the distractions of material things,
shall. through its loftier perception,
yet the better lead men upwards and
into the beauties of those spiritual
things which it is permitted but few
men to see? Is there not touch of
prophecy in these lines of his, written
before his affliction came:
All, if my grief his guerdon be,
My dark is light,
m count each loss felicity,
And bless the night.
Who knows but what blindness has
come upon him in order that he might
reach greater poetic heights, like bi MI
Milton, of whom he wrote:
So fair thy vision that the night
Abided with thee, lest the light,
A flaming sword before thine eyes,
Had shut thee out from Paradise.
MaryIander by Adoption.
John Banister Tabb is Il Virginian
by birth and a Marylander by atiop-
tion. He was born in Amelia county.
March 22, 1S45, and is, therefore. 63
years old. He received Il good educa-
tion at the hands of private tutors, and
ho oi1yj1 I,o
ed the Confederate navy. He was
prisoner Of war 1S64-5, and after the
conflict was ended came to Baltimore,
where he studied music. Subsequent
" he taught at st. Paul's school, Bal
timore, and at Racine College, Michi-
gan. In 1872 he became a Roman
Catholic and studied at ST. Charles
College, Maryland, later becoming ,n-
structor in English there. In 1884, he
was ordained a priest.
But little has been written of Father
Tabb-famed though he is-so modest
and retiring is the man. To a friend,
though. he once conflded tina. his
poetic vision fell upon him like a di-
rect gift from God, at a moment, when
following the War-he was in need
and knew not where to turn. His
sky was clouded. 1t was night witt,
not star to light his way. Suddenly,
1t was as though the heaven opened
and he caught glimpse of things s:pir-
itual. His eyes were touched and he
was impaired the power to peer into
the springs whence flows the la,lght:r
Of childhood and to search out the in
nermost emotions of the hearts OF men
and women. His ears were attuned to
the music of the flowers, the brooks
and the song birds. A hand swep.
across the strings of his heart, and
there was set into motion melodies
I which for brightness, delicacy an.
pervading sympathy have been, for
4 the most part, seldom equaled by thu
modern poets. Such is Father Tab,s
conception of poetry:
& "A CLEAN Of Heaven; the passion OF a
Star
Held captive in the clasp Of har-
mony;
I "A silence, shell-lilxe breathing from
s afar
The rapture of the deep-etern;ty.
AffIietion Pathetic.
5ss,ss The blindness of Father Tabb is a
pathetic thing, for he is shut off from
\ q sight of the things he loved will, a
passionate devotion. st. Charles C,l-
Aege is in the midst Of surprising
Il beauty. Old and quaint, with it's lofty
8 8 minarets, it is in itself pile to in
3 spire holy thoughts, while the campus
lin the foreground is in the spring and
u summer months garden spot, with
tts spacious green lawns glowing With
the gold and crimson of carefully cu.-