Evening star., 1919-08-31

cas- patriots; he proved that during
wartime when he helped and, later.
with peculiar satisfaction watched
the fruition of Americas crystallza-
ton Of public sentiment in irresistible
and unprecedented war effort.
Now. after the wars end, when he
notes the threat of other evils. he
urges a continuance Of that solidarity
Of thought. somewhat dixerently man
ifested; he hopes for the development
of O national emotion which. during
peace as during war, shall be an ar
dent power for good.
have seen him thrice of late and
each time he has spoken of these mat
ters. ! am tempted to begin my rec
ord with terse extracts which epito-
mize some vital element of his
thought. ~
Now he said. almost with pas
sion. Shaving saved the world. we
must strive to understand the mean
ing of that which we have saved"
4".The real good Of any nation" he
declared. must influence tho world
for good" .4A
Surely" he exclaimed little la
ter. mo work could be more truly
that of the clergy than the further
ance Of understanding of the Amer
lean Constitution"
Again: ITO the Constitution of the
United States all religion owes
great debt OF gratitude"
The cardinal is immensely vital de-
spite his wreath of years and his
vitality is all for others. Perhaps
that is why he is cardinal.
X 4 X X
That wonderful vitality expresses
itself primarily, of course. in an in
tensity of religious life. an intensity
which does not decrease with advance
ing age. but rather gathers force as
time rolls on; and his Interpretation
OF religious responsibility is very
broad-it permits him to shirk no
burden of thought or speech or deed.
deny no interest because OF creed.
I am sure he would have talked no
whit more freely to me, for instance,
II were a Catholic.
I'VE never must forget" he said,
at another moment of our conversa-
tion, that we must succeed fully be-
fore we can expect the world to fol-
low on the path which we have
chosen"
With the day Of the wars begin
ming. the great struggle became his
paramount interest and the burden Of
its sorrows fell heavily upon his
shoulders. while the glory Of the al
lied fight against great odds for hui
man freedom at the same time
brought a splendid glow to his sim
gularly youthful cheeks and a real
fash to his acute and unaged eyes.
I know. for I talked Of the great war
with him in Baltimore during its sec
ond year when had returned from
Europe principally for the purpose of
begging from his eminence an In
PRODUCTION to tho Pope, whom much
hoped to see. with the thought that
statement Of his views (which quite
fully understood had been widely mis-
represented) might do much to stimu-
late patriotism in America. and moro
especially in some Of the allied cOun-
tries. particularly Italy.
/ shall not forget that wartime day
in the gray and almost grim old house
In Baltimore when he told me the
good reasons why he could not give
tho requested letter to me. but that
he would write to friends In Rome
SO that when I went there (Which he
advised) I would find myself expected.
Later, when I arrived in Italy. I
discovered that he had done more
than to write; he had cabled. thus
preparing for me the way which led.
on rainy. clustering day, into the
seclusion of the Vatican and the pres
ence Of the Pope himself. graciously
privileged to ask questions to my
hearts content of the slender. dark.
ascetic man who had been selected
a. the spiritual leader OF more than
q hundred millions at time when
spiritual leadership meant more than
ever In the previous history Of the
world.
When, a week ago, again saw
Cardinal Gibbons in Baltimore. was