Communications
COMMUNICATIONS WORD SHADOWS OF THE GREAT New York, N. Y. the Editor:—The review of Thomas F. Madigan's Word Shadows of the Great: The Lure of Autograph Collecting, which I contributed to the...
...In 1858 Hawthorne lost some ten thousand dollars invested in copper mines (in Spain, I believe) on the advice of O'Sullivan...
...The "Haughwouts," who seek to suppress writings with which they do not wholly agree (to quote Mr...
...In the face of the express prohibitions of Rome and one of the Councils of Baltimore I knew that he had, in effect, said, "Let the poor, who have no dime to pay at the door, bear the shame...
...In a very entertaining letter Mr...
...What of America during this same period...
...A friend who met her socially describes her as a most attractive and charming old lady, who in her girlhood had been a pupil of the old time fashionable finishing school of Madame Chegaray at Houston and Mulberry Streets...
...Became a very close friend of the Hawthornes, and was Una Hawthorne's god-father...
...If the King of England demands certain standards of decency in the people he receives, surely the clergy and hierarchy should refuse to sit at table or appear on public occasions with men who are nominal Catholics, but whose conduct is tainted with dishonesty, intemperance or immorality...
...I have compared the letter written by the Doctor against my review with another letter written by him about three years later, and the distinction is well marked...
...McCarthy became very solicitous about "converts...
...Reenan thus gives what he discovered about O'Sullivan and asks for further details: Born 1813, died 1895...
...but I am one of the number who have frequently expressed my admiration for that quality of his writing which, as Mr...
...McCarthy quite needlessly introduced a personal element when he referred to the fact that I am a "convert" in accounting for my "perversity...
...Was there anything interesting connected with her ? Or the mother ? There is a story that O'Sullivan made an address of some sort in French to the visitors from France at the time of the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty...
...And I thought no more of it then...
...All the best of them are on the Index, whatever that means, and the rest of them, at least many of them, ought to be...
...That a once barefooted boy from New England should have reached the heights and then passed on forever, only to be succeeded by a barefooted lad who grew up in the West, is a form of democracy that the antiquated European reads about but cannot understand...
...If he did, it is not mentioned in any of the newspaper accounts of the affair...
...America has, for example, a form of government that no European can possibly understand, or even conceive of, so different is it from the oligarchy of caste or privilege which has been his curse and misfortune since that day that Caesar crossed the Rubicon...
...He never saw a modern skyscraper in his life, poor boob, and thinks the ruins of Pompeii, or the grave of a dead potentate, the most precious thing on earth, except perhaps it is the hut of some benighted cave-dweller whose toe-nails are found still clinging to the walls...
...Mr...
...Reenan such details of the O'Sullivan family's local history as are available...
...let them 'go it' as best they may...
...Yet, since I already knew Dr...
...let us put into practice the golden rule, preach and write no longer, and "love" our neighbors into the Church...
...O'Sullivan was appointed Charge d'Affaires to Portugal in 1854...
...John L. O'Sullivan...
...Hawthorne and her daughters spent some months with the O'Sullivans in or about 1858...
...Doubtless she could have supplied many interesting details...
...In about eighteen months there appeared another letter, in which he counseled "Catholic publicists" who do not fall down and adore when Methodism is named...
...Just how one is going to separate the two, when he has before him a page of cold type, the Doctor, of course, neglected to explain...
...Belloc to affirm (on our side) that the Catholic mind, if it can have affinities with any other type of mind, must pass by the "evangelical" mind as its utter contradiction—whereas it is possible to respect a certain type of "sceptic mind...
...McCarthy was not content with a letter or two...
...hence he thinks America must be uncivilized...
...If I do not misunderstand Dr...
...TO the Editor:—Among your Communications in recent issues of The Commonweal I found the letters of W. A. Bixel and Denis A. McCarthy, and these, for several reasons, proved of unusual interest to me...
...There is an impression, with many it is a conviction, that Catholicity and democracy are synonymous, at least in New York...
...In a recent letter from Julian Hawthorne he speaks very kindly of O'Sullivan, and refers to how much his father thought of him...
...Propaganda stirs up opposition...
...Unfortunately I do not know the maiden name of Mrs...
...They had begun to attend the services of a Protestant denomination...
...Whereupon I thought it all out to the end and supposed that Dr...
...There also seems to be a story that he trounced Paul Jones once upon a time...
...Thomas F. Meehan...
...THIMBLES AND THUMBS Alexandria Bay, N. Y. TO the Editor:—I have read with pleasure and full approval the comments upon the mayor...
...Mencken in toto...
...It appears that a certain family of converts somewhere was offended because of faults discovered in the human side of the Church...
...O'Sullivan was educated in France, England and America...
...To him a pleasure car, or an airship, or a steam launch is a potential implement of war...
...McCarthy intended to reserve those oceans of tenderness and sympathy for "converts" who could "afford to pay...
...THE SAME SIZE SHOE Portland, Ore...
...The dog, of course, was immediately christened "Leo...
...In my opinion the silence of Dr...
...As for Catholic writers, the cynical view is that they are all "bought and sold...
...507, decided December 20, 1929) said: "It cannot be contended that there is anything dangerous to public health or safety or detrimental to the public morals or the general welfare in the conduct of a community store.' "The Court referred to a case recently decided by the Supreme Court of the United States (State of Washington v. Roberge, 73 L. ed...
...Walker what thousands of Catholics think of him...
...The Supreme Court (Spies v. Board of Appeals, 337 111...
...Your readers may recall that Dr...
...In fact, all propaganda in the interests of truth appears to be abhorrent to this party, the theory being that our priests have "answered objections" times without number without result and that we must now turn to "charity" for the key to the whole situation...
...Unfortunately our priests and some of our bishops lead people to believe that we are tolerant of the many crimes and derelictions of Catholic men in the political world...
...My interest in him has been revived by the letter in The Commonweal of July 16, notable because Dr...
...In one of her unpublished journals Mrs...
...Bixel) do "not suggest anything human, rather it makes one think of robots and the like...
...But that is by the way...
...But what kind of books...
...For every good European who came to this country, in that long period, not less than ten or fifteen cutthroats, outlaws and Bolsheviks accompanied him: men who often enough, in the name of God, or religion, or patriotism, or self, were ready and willing to kill everybody and everything, from a red man to a white man, if he (or she) did not think and believe and do as the barbarian wanted done...
...It is a pity the query did not begin before the passing away of the lamented Mother Rose Lathrop...
...Was for a time editor of the Democratic Review, in which a number of Hawthorne's early writings appeared...
...More recently Dr...
...William L. Reenan of Cincinnati who is preparing a memoir of Hawthorne...
...Well, America can show something that is different, and not worm-eaten with age...
...TO the Editor:—Apropos of your article in The Commonweal of August 13 regarding a zoning ordinance in Portland, Oregon, which in effect gives to neighboring owners a veto upon the building of a church or a school, the following article taken from the National Real Estate Journal of February 3, 1930, affords rather interesting reading: "The city of Decatur, Illinois, adopted a zoning ordinance with provisions for 'A' and 'B' residence zones...
...The Catholic writer, therefore, is regarded as a fair target for the ambushes they often lay...
...But the Doctor chose to ignore matter and to deplore what he considered a bad spirit in the reviewer...
...All this tended to show the Doctor's purpose of carrying on a vendetta against the truth...
...Perhaps some one of The Commonweal readers can give it...
...McCarthy, however, there are converts and converts...
...McCarthy is bound to strengthen the impression that he secretly sympathizes with about every effort that is put forth by meddlers, clerical or otherwise, in this country to crucify the truth in the name of "expediency...
...And so let us hope that once more the Catholics of Oregon will find that our "tradition of liberty" is kept in good working order by the highest court of the land...
...Only of late is there a sign of a return to sanity and civilization...
...The loss seems to have made no difference in the friendship...
...That the Doctor can be vindictive toward those so unfortunate as to believe that the truth has right of way over the expediency of the opportunist—I think—should be patent to your readers...
...Worst of all, is the practice of inviting to ecclesiastical functions and seating with dignitaries of the Church men whose defiance of morality and decency is notorious...
...And if you visit Europe today what have they (the barbarians) to show you and boast about but something that was done 500 or 600 or 700 years ago, or perhaps it was 1,000 or 2,000 years ago...
...I will appreciate very much anything you can add to what I have gathered about him...
...TO the Editor:—Your leader of July 9 is rather provoking, to say the least...
...they regard it as "something sinister...
...He bided his time...
...A permit being denied for the store in question, the owner appealed to the Court on the ground that the City Council had no power to subject him in the use of his property 'to the uncontrolled will of the owners of neighboring property...
...PECKSNIFF IN PORTLAND Dorchester, Mass...
...Can you give me any other details about him...
...THE "NEO-CATHOLIC" PARTY Huntington, Ind...
...Rev...
...McCarthy placed his emphasis on "manner" to the exclusion of matter (for it was never at any time a question with him as to my faithful representation of the Asbury book...
...And, besides, there is Mr...
...I believe that his mother was known to them as "Madame...
...The Court said in the Roberge case that the ordinance in question purported to give to the owners of less than one-half the land within 400 feet of the proposed building authority, uncontroled by any standard or rule prescribed by legislative action, to prevent the erection of such building...
...Born on a British man-of-war in the Bay of Gibraltar...
...This school was moved to Madison, New Jersey, in 1838, and three years later the Houston Street building was opened as New York's first convent and school of the Sacred Heart...
...He nursed the grudge against the "convert" who had reviewed Up from Methodism...
...I have sent Mr...
...Now, in the former letter, Dr...
...For the Doctor's opinion of Mencken and the Mercury is unimportant when seen against the background of the vindictiveness he displays toward all who presume to speak and write the truth without anticipating that Methodists or others may be offended...
...Bixel observes, makes him "different" from the "Haughwouts...
...Some insult to a lady, or something of that sort...
...It is another curious incident that the Chegaray building at Madison, New Jersey, in 1856, became the first Seton Hall College...
...Robert R. Hull...
...The members of the party have pursued, with a relentless vindictiveness, those who have not fallen down to adore the "beast" of political Methodism and its prohibition "image," when these were exhibited in the temple to gaping throngs of the "dead-alive...
...No Catholic, as far as I know, has avouched his agreement with Mr...
...Following the rule established by the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Illinois held that provision in the Decatur ordinance invalid...
...This father was, I believe but am not certain, at one time an officer in the British army...
...John L. Belford...
...A. B., Columbia University in 1831, and A. M., same place in 1834...
...39), which involved exactly the same question...
...and he apparently considered that, in this case to say the least, the broken reed should not have been broken and the smoking flax should not have been quenched...
...The poor simp laughs when he reads of Chicago which he fondly believes his colonials are turning into a European fortress for that day when he will come again to rediscover and reclaim America...
...When an animal is removed from his native habitat he becomes in time a well-bred domesticated creature, so a European freed from ancient fetters and unmanly traditions becomes a man again in a world of equality...
...The Catholic Church alone is the only institution that stood a light apart, and seemed to repel as well as to attract the barbarians...
...About the time the Reformation had disorganized the hegemony of Christendom and divided mankind into its warring groups, the Providence of God was opening up this new virginal land as a home for modern civilization, and here under God, in spite of bad and sinister influence at home and especially from abroad, civilization will grow and flourish, as it never flourished before, and even our political experiments, to say nothing of those of the social, spiritual and religious order, will work unto betterment so long as they remain rooted in the people...
...Christopher I. FitzGerald...
...His father was at that time United States consul to the Barbary States...
...I wish to give a biographical sketch of him in a little Hawthorne item I expect to publish...
...Europe is a land of barbarians who for more than four hundred years have done little or nothing except to start wars and raise hell (pardon me, I mean it in the Sherman sense...
...Community stores are permitted in such zones with the consent of the owners of 75 percent of all the property within a radius of 300 feet...
...Bixel expressed a curiosity to know "what your esteemed contributor, Denis A. McCarthy of Boston," thought of the role of Haughwout in the Hayes-Moon History affair...
...The Commonweal requests its subscribers to communicate any changes of address two weeks in advance, to ensure the receipt of all issues...
...He was called "Uncle John" and the "Count" by the Hawthornes...
...Their connection with the Hawthornes opens a novel and most interesting chapter, the treatment of which will be awaited with pleasurable anticipation...
...McCarthy has treated, as best he could, almost every other point raised but this in Mr...
...vide the reaction of the Protestant and Fellowship Forum to the "Catholic Hour" radio programs...
...He was interested in what was said of John Louis O'Sullivan because he had for some time had considerable trouble in gathering information about this friend of the Hawthorne family...
...McCarthy for a zealous advocate of the "pay-as-you-enter" church (on grounds of "expediency"), I naturally wondered...
...Then when, in 1844, this convent was moved to Astoria, Long Island, the Sisters of Mercy took the building and occupied it for many years until it was sold and turned into the plant of Puck and its kindred publications...
...for a state of permanent peace never crosses his bewildered brain...
...Oh, yes, I quite forgot: they write books, and then some more books...
...COMMUNICATIONS WORD SHADOWS OF THE GREAT New York, N. Y. the Editor:—The review of Thomas F. Madigan's Word Shadows of the Great: The Lure of Autograph Collecting, which I contributed to the issue of The Commonweal for August 6, attracted the special attention of Mr...
...McCarthy was aroused over my review of Asbury's Up from Methodism, although in that review I had been careful to present a faithful representation of the spirit and letter of the book and no more than this...
...William Allen...
...But he can give me very little biographical details...
...It is very well known that that "other neo-Catholic maestro," Colonel Callahan, has been the prime mover, in most instances, when, in Catholic circles, a campaign to suppress the writings and utterances of Catholics who "spoke out in meeting" was on...
...In the summer of this same year he was appointed Minister to Portugal, and served in that capacity until the summer of 1858...
...What was the maiden name of the woman he married...
...There is not so much as a single word about the Haughwout role...
...Catholic lecturers are even worse, for they are in the same category as "ex-priests...
...and the "lay popes" have brought pressure through the writer's employer to "make" the poor oaf "behave himself...
...Hawthorne notes that O'Sullivan gave Una, on her first birthday, a silver cup shaped like a lily, and a Newfoundland dog...
...From the role of "convert-baiting" he seems to turn to "convert-pampering" with little difficulty...
...And, besides, the many letters of the leaders of this party, albeit they have usually been marked "Not for Publication," are with us to show that they do not hesitate to resort to threats and other forms of intimidation, even against members of the American hierarchy, to gain their objectives...
...I am glad one Catholic paper has the courage to tell Mr...
...and that the delegation of power so attempted violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment...
...Be of good heart then, my boy, and let The Commonweal keep pounding away until the eternal verities take deep and lasting root in the soil of this new world, and you will endure to see a type of Christian civilization develop here such as the old world was not worthy of...
...The conclusion from this occurrence, that the Church ought to be made a more livable place for converts, was drawn by the Doctor...
...Bixel's letter...
...It is the Doctor's failure to gratify this natural curiosity that is significant to me...
...McCarthy has gone to some pains to conceal the springs of his action...
Vol. 12 • September 1930 • No. 19
