Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1926-02-26

tude was that which conveyed the
evil tidings Of the illness Of Bishop
John Gardner Murray in New
York.
The New York dispatch came, in
deed, almost like a personal and
household shock to all readers OF
The SUN, whether members Of the
Episcopal Church, or of other relig-
ious creeds, or of no creed at all.
For the leading and dominant fact
about Bishop Murray is that he
has somehow contrived to make
himself public property, TO make
himself eyerybody's Bishop, not
merely the Bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese OF Maryland and the Pre-
siding Bishop OF his church in the
United States. No greater tribute
to his life and his personality could
be had than this: that he is felt to
belong to us all, that his illness
comes home to us all as the illness Of
dear, strong and helpful friend,
whose loss would create a moral
and painful void in the community
heart.
Pneumonia is still among the
scourges against which medical sci
ence nights so many losing battles.
The doctors win many, doubtless,
but they are far from having gained
the upper hand, and they are prob
ably more perturbed when pneu-
monia develops among their clientele
than they are at the appearance Of
tuberculosis. In the treatment of
the latter great progress has been
made and medical science has a dis
tinct campaign of resistance and
cure, the elncacy OF which has been
demonstrated in thousands Of cases.
But pneumonia still remains largely
an unsolved medical problem in
which the doctor must trust largely
to nature and to such reinforcements
as he can send to her help. How
hard is his task has been only too
frequently proved this winter in
Baltimore in the sudden death toll
pneumonia has levied upon persons
OF all ages and all classes.
Bishop Murray's illness, there
fore, naturally excites keen anxiety
among the people OF this city and
state TO whom his exceptional quail
ties have SO greatly endeared him.
And if we shall be able to record
that he has been delivered from this
peril and is on the highway to health,
the good news will carry genuine
relief even to those who have never
known him except as Maryland's
Bishop, as a type of sincere man
hood, strength and charity such as
all men admire and reverence.
In the meantime more heartfelt
prayers will ascend to heaven IN his
behalf than are vouchsafed to many
persons OF supposedly greater public
importance. And in these commu-
nifty supplications, perhaps, the
prayers OF the unrighteous man may
avail as much as those of the right
eous, for the reason that the Lord
may feel that man for whom the
unrighteous offer up unprecedented
prayers must be a man who is pref
ty badly needed in this perplexed
and perplexing world of ours.
The above, which appeared in the
Baltimore Sun of Monday last, is
a just tribute TO an ecclesiastic
whose reputation for good works
and observation-disclosures and splendid
characteristics are so well known to
Marylanders. While not of the
same faith Of the distinguished
Bishop, we join with the members
of his church and many friends in
wishing him speedy and perma-
nent recovery and return to good
health that he may continue for
many years to come his good works.