Evening journal., 1910-08-27
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Cardinal Who SurpriS-
ed a Clerk
BY @HclIand.D

No man Of the cloth has lately
been more I'm the public eye than
Cardinal Merry del Val. frst~on ac-
count Of the prominent part he played
In the series of incidents that kept
Colonel Roosevelt from being received
by the Pope. and, more recently. on
account OF his prominence in the
quarrel between Spain and the Roman
Catholic Church. What manner of
man is the cardinal?" is a question
that is now commonly asked. An
hitherto unpublished incident, which
occurred when the cardinal was in
this country about a decade ago, may
serve TO answer the query, in part
| at least II is told on the authority
Of the Rev. Father Connolly, who was
for some years secretary to the late
Archbishop Corrigan, Of New York
and Bahamas. and who was thrown
much with Cardinal Merry del Val
during his stay in America.
DO you know" began Father Con-
molly, Colonel Roosevelt missed a
great opportunity when, through
those unfortunate complications at
Rome. he was unable to come In per-
sonal contact with Cardinal Merry
del Val, for In the cardinal the col
onel would have found a man after
his own heart. ! suppose It is prob
ably true that almost all Americans
picture the cardinal as a grave, ex-
cessively dignified and solemn-visaged
man. but that is not so. He is so far
from being burdened with dignity and
solemnity that. had Colonel Roosevelt
been able to visit the American col
lege in Rome at a time when the stu
dents were playing baseball, he would
very likely have beheld Cardinal
Merry del Val himself engaged en-
Enthusiastically In the sport, and In him
he would have beheld an athletic
keen-eyed and quick-moving player,
one who, am told, can pitch a curved
ball equal to the best of them Then,
too. the cardinal is one OF the best
shots in all Italy and a superb swim
mer. and he could have told Colonel
Roosevelt Of HIS interesting expert
ences In those two branches of sport
without the aid OF an Interpreter for
the cardinal speaks English without
an accent and as faultlessly as the
colonel himself.
But the best illustration that
can give you OF the cardinals diversity.
of his practical nature, of his learn
ing and OF his keen sense of humor
is to tell you of an incident that
occurred during HIS American visit.
Some little time after he had been
here he mentioned one day that he
had become an expert I'm manipulate
ing the keys Of a typewriter, went
on TO say that no foreign typewriting
machine could be compared with
those OF American make. and finally
expressed n desire to be taken where
he could purchase a Yankee-made
machine. He was shown TO ware
house, where he would have a wide
range Of choice. ~
CARRIED simply as priest of the
church, and with no one suspecting
his identity. nor even that he was
| foreigner. because of his proficiency
| In English, the cardinal took his seat
before the first machine showed him
and clicked on a few sentences In
English The clerk tolerantly smiled
Ihis approval Then, as though cas-
ualiy. but with a perceptahle twinkle
In his eye, the Cardinal began writing
In French. This time the clerk smiled
I'm perplexed sort of way, and the
cardinal, quick TO note the change,
clicked off some italian. and right
below It several sentences I'm Span
ish.
by this time tthe poor clerk. and
the others who had come up, having
been attracted thither by the priests
expert manipulation OF the machine,
were utterly bewildered. Sull, one
of them managed to secure a machine
capable of writing German when the
cardinal politely asked for it. after
which that humorous twinkle still in
his eyes, he further mystifed the
once by writing German as perfeetly
and easily as he had the other Ian
guaPes.
Machine after mechiDe the cardinal
tested in this polvgl& fashion, so u
speak. At last he bought one that
suited him, and then. for the first
time the clerk who had waited on
him learned of the identity Of his dis
.tinguished customer, the cardinal or
derlng the machine sent TO him az his
address in Rome. And I presume thai
II is upon an American tvpewrilsns
machine that to-day he conducts muci
of his polyglot eorrespondence.
downright 1910, BY +. ]. Edwards
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