The Irish standard., 1911-04-22
ried later that they both give them.
calves tn God

your nedrC was DOrIl Win ven OIL Wiz
gin on;
l hear it rustic every time we meet
My heart was born with priestly vest
ments on;
Thou wouldst not take the vestments
from my heart
No more than I would tear the vel
from thine.
My vested and thy yelled heart part
tonight,
To climb our Calvary and meet in
God.
Go find your veil,
And | my vestments.
Abram Ryan and Ethel Dallas new
er met again on earth. In after years
he came across her grave and heard
her life story from the Superior who
had been to her mother in Christ.
Together they had vowed to part from
each other and the world forever.
Though they loved each other truly,
they deliberately chose the better part
in answer to higher CALL Miss
Sale Romanum, the common sweet
heart OF every priest, was generally
given by Father Ryan as the name of
his beloved one, when closely pressed
for her name There is no doubt that
marriage would have cloyed to death
the ideals of a life so priestly. 1t is
the general experience that if priest
satisfies Miss Sale Romanum and
pleases his bishop, he will not be
lonely.
Literary Work.
Besides his poems, Father Ryan
wrote much in prose in the form Of
articles for newspapers, magazines
and few books, but it is as a poet,
and especially as a Southern poet,
that his fame was permanently estab
lished. Some one has said that a poet
is a person who has beautiful thoughts
and writes them for others to read
Father Ryan says that "the poet is
great natures own high priest"
A poet needs no biographer, no
monument, other than his own songs
They are the true history of himself,
of his mind, his heart, his soul, and
are, if there be any good in them, a
monument that grows, not decays,
with time. If the messages they bear
to other hearts and souls be true in
tone, If they have the human power
to open hearts and the God-like pow
err to lift them above earths' sores
and cares. then they live and grow
with the human lives they brighten
and the poets name is linked with
the good words he brought, forever
and ever.
Father Ryan's works were collected
and published in 1880. They were Of
fered to the public with considerable
difidence on the part OF the author,
whose humility shone in the few
touching words of preface to the vol
ume. There was considerable diff.
dence also ON the part Of the publish
err and the few friendly critics who
introduced the book to the public.
Most of the poems had already ap-
peared from time to time in various
publications, North and South, and
they had in every instance pleased
the popular ear. The professional
critics remained almost altogether
dumb.
The sad, minor key OF the gentle
mystic, meant to touch hearts more
than heads, puzzled them. How could
they understand the priest-poet who
claimed that for happiness, crowns of
thorns endure, and are to be chosen
before crowns of roses? That Cal
varies and Gethsemanies take deep
est hold on humanity? In respectful
silence, however, they withheld their
formal verdict, while they tacitly
made a place for him among the i'm
mortals. Edmund Clarence Stedman.
who, long before, had secured for him
self q niche in the temple of fame,
gave honorable place in his Library
of American Literature" to Father
Ryan's Sweet Blessed Beads" and
"The Conquered Banner" William
Cullen Bryant placed "The Rosary
OF My Tears and Sentinel
Songs" among his Worlds Gems OF
Smith, whose opinion is valued in
these matters, in preface to the
thirteenth edition of Father Ryan's
Poems in 1894, testif1es to the genius
of the man who, with no technical
knowledge of the poets art, had all
the gifts and achieved all the success
of the true poet. Said Father Smith
He had the uncomfortable divine
impulse to sing the emotions Of his
i soul; his mental grasp took in the ex-
q istencies of time and eternity, the
Il 80