EMPIRE SELF-RAISING FLOUR The West AUSTRALIAN
41
Rises Above all Others.
RECORD
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1912
Father and Son
The Catholic Art and Book Depot
How Henry E. Abbey, Famous Theatrical Manager, Followed His Child into the True Fold-A Lesson (REV. JOHN TALBOT SMI r1-1, IN THE " AVE MARIA."') 1 was standing one moraine in the vestibule of the De La Salle !Gallsute, which faces the south side of ':ventral Park, in New Y ere city, hen the door opened and there entered a man carrying in his merle a boy of about thirteen, well do reed, plump and handsome in feature, but evidently helpless from the waist down. Even his arms hung limp. His vivacious expression, however,
showed that he was very much aloe. In reply to a polite inquiry, I was informed that the child east 'rein h,rn in that helpless condition , that be was incurable ; that he had become a ('atholic, and that his fs.Cher was
a distinguished theatrical manager of the time-Mr. Henry E. Abbey. Nothing more was known of the boy by my informant, and, although with the proser journalistic instinct I scented a good store , years were to Pass before the incident recurred to my mind. Conversions are very much alike to the experienced. It is true that each one carries its own peculiar morel something illustrative of the elleracter of the convert or of the times. Nevertheless, in our day they have a sameness not at all monotonous* which ta'ees the edgy off interest. A conversion, none the less, is to me a perpetual wonder.. In the days of persecution, wheth r of the ancient Reiman or the modern Protestant tone, when hostility to -Catholic truth was so hitter and so triumphant that Christ simply had to take a direct hand in strengthening His suffering disciples, a conversion, while
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astonishing, was not so astonishing as in our dal , tecauee now, in place of hostility to the Catholic faith, we
have a profound. placid, universal indifference to any religion at all. It woild ta'ee the hand of a Ne email to Analyse, explain and deserrte the present great stametion of the human intellect in matters of the soul. Hostility to the faith means intereet in two faiths on the part of the hostile ; indifference signifies interest in none. . . Mcdrn indifference i :mores religio n alto ;ether rerards it as rubbish which must !Jivedily disappear in the mesh of cieilisathen, and gi ees no time or attention to the question of the soul, because there is no soul. . . . Out of this ast. amiable, profound stagnation sew does a poor soul ever rise to the eonception of higher things .
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the case of Henry E. Abbey and son. conversion came t about in this fashion : The boy was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1881, to the helpless condition already de -aided. His mini was in no way affected by his disease, and developed with the rapidity peculiar to the es-dridden. The death of his mother :eft him to the care of his grandeeAber. When he was ten years elci father took him to Paris en a -.einees trip. and maces him in the -27' of the moet ferrous doctors ef Tr:
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ert -he
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Their examination reelltoi sal veriliet that life conIS ven to the paralysed ne H'enr was to" -en
fathf it atten lant into one of the -
eheree,e.s
of
Paris.
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practical knowledge of Catholic doctrine and asked his father's permission to become a member of the faith, The father had no onjections. Young Henry Abbey was instructed by his attendant, prepared by the Passionist Fathers of Paris and baptised by them at the age of ten. On his return to New York the lad was placed in charge of a Paulist Priest that he might be prepared for his First Communion, While perhaps regarding his convers.on as a pleasant whim, the father omitted nothing required by the circumstances. The hoe might have leeco.ne a Buddhist or a Christian Scientist or a Mahometan and et be humoured in his plans. Haeing become a Catholic it seemed only right and fitting that he should enjoy the privileges of his osition. The priest who prepared the lad tells with deep interest the details of that preparation. He made his First Communion at the regular time along with the other children of St. Paul's parish, except that he sat in his wheeled chair just within the sanctuary rail, a spectacle and an example to all the children. siis hap.%
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aid had been recommended to their Prayers. During the Mass he followed the service with his booS, and never once looked around. From that time he was a frequent eommunicani never lost his first fervour. He was sent to school in De I.a "alle Institute. A record of his daily life wo ild -make interesting reading. He never repined over his unhappy lot, anI spent much of his time reeding. He was mush heed by every one about him, and intensely so by his father. Having run his brief steers. and acco nnlietesd his little tag-. by the age of fourteen, he passed fleas; peacefully from pneumonia, after receiving the sacraments.
Naturally,
the father felt Se-nly the loss of his son, whose physical eea'ness had made him all the dearer yet he seemed to have been merely interested in the boy's religious life and not at all affected by it. His busy career allowed him little time for serious thought, although he followed sympathetically every step of his son's spiritual development. Mr. Abbey bad set a pace for all Am :lean managers from the moment he appeared in the New Yore arena in 177, and was finally hailed by enthusiastic admirers as the Naeoleion f r anazers. Executive head of a note; :e .r!'n. he won fame by indusing ,lietinelliehed European actors to an; eer :yon the American stage, am them Masiame Bernhardt, MadA-ee Haling and the famous CoqueT-is marazement of the Metro'. 1: -.Er. ("mere House introduced to r.-..r ^a the most celebrated singer' rod provided them e ith a fortune which they had ..cs=ed lief ere. His ventures -.voider of the time. an -4 -hem were as nrofitable four e;teod as they were daring and ;
Aryl
:ee-ais-htwar fell in love with _raid rehez He had to see them al: f.r. ree -f tire. end then ha:: "es -slier: ir the eloet ; eeet. a
to be instructed in the meaning of the beautiful ceremonies which on occasion he had witnessed in the churches. It was slit a short time after this step that he arrived at a be had
lessness had
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however. he met the
fate
ar erasnine at too rather anticieetine the Y1't
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- lerdoere of -'-"erg.
the
Hay -street, next door Celtic Club, opposite King
531
,recent
t int e. cankreptcy et reeer
Edward
Hostel.
Miss M. J. McDERMOTT Proprietress (LWAYS THE LATEST NEW BOOKS IN STOCK. Large Consignment of New Goods just opened. Pure Wax Candies, Floats, Incense awl Charcoal, Brass Candlesticks, and various other Articles suitable for Altars. Statuary, Rosaries, and Crucifixes, Stations of the Cross, framed and unframed Pictures. All Church and School requisites. All Irish, English, and American Newspapers and, Magazines in stock. Agents for all Inter -State Papers and Magazines. Good Magazines for the Home Circle, "Ave Marie" and "Catholic Fireside." COUNTRY ORDERS RECEI VE PROMPT ATTENTION. A
its influence, and was close to re-es-
notable of its time. Yainous actors, managers, singers, authors, journalists, business men and society haulHe died in New York on October 17, ers paid the last trinste to the 1896, at the age of tifteeeight. On the liant 'man who had shed lustre upon day of his death he sent for the them all. At his "month's mind " priest who had for years minister. there was an evening service, at to his eon. His disease was some which the whole world gathered to hear the singing of famous artists degeneration of the blood -vessels, which showed itself in frequent hat the feature of the occasion was hemorrhages. He could not speak the taking up of a collection in bewithout spitting blood, but he made half of the poor, according to the his explanation to the priest. "The wishes of the deceased. Most doctors have informed me that I h lye were astonished to learn of his coaonly a few hours to live," was t'o' as most people will now be substance of his explanation, "and I astonished at this story. So little is wish to die a Catholic. You have thought of religion nowadays in the only a brief time in which to pre literary and journalistic circles that Pare me for clath, father, hut I writers rarely set down a man's creed l' now' the chief, doctrines of the faith; in biographical notices. Thus in the I h'lieve them all. Do for me what records of the time Henry E. Abbey's brilliant career contains no mention you did for Harry. I want to be of his entrance into the Church. The with my boy." He was baptised and anointed, and most significant act of his life is therefore unrecorded, except here. Passed awae that afternoon. ApparIt is very remarkable bow far this ently his conversion was as etulden indifference to eminent facts is caras 'is death, hut. as we all ',now, ried in prix ate life as well as ir. the there is a growth in these thin . . not clearly visible at the time, hut public prints. In the school, in the court, in the appearing after the event in luminais Perspective. He had grown up as in- market, in the theatre, in the publishhouse. in the editorial sanctum different to religion as the people among whom he lived, hut, with the religion must I e kept in the backit was sacred or alert, tinprejudiced eye of his kind, ground. Once he had seen and remembered certain scorned; now it is flatly ignored, without scorn or emphasis, as a things among believers. . thing of no importance. This indifference must ha -e important and farNaturally, the fact that his son reacbine consequences in many direchail become a Catholic under strange tions. It affects even Catholics, circumstances made Mr. Abbey more e hese natural tendency c- ndemns in interested in the Church, and the re- di They supuress the prosult' of his observation of Catholic per and full expression of their own activity was later expressed in a faith rn order not to offend their impasssing discussion. "You may think mediate neighbours or to avoid atwhat you please about the Catholic tracting attention in public. Hence Church," he obsereed, "hut you will in this swarming nation they remain ba"e to admit one singu'ar fact nenno en to one another. . cesn'ne her. eh! is the universal The conversion of Henry E. AbbeY You Church. ha e only to ion% came about partly from the converaromd to know that. Wherever I sion of his son. partly from his own have gone i have seen her at ..vore. power of shrewd ohsereation in the You couldn't miss her pith yoiir eyes lace of that te-rible indifference shut. And her work is distinctive. hick new lies heavy 'loon the civilisimpressive and always notieesble. ed world. Quite likely lie would not Now, that's business." have waited for the hour of death to It was the besiress 'ide ef the c ,und before following his impulses Church which caught the sittefition--Istel the Catholics in his vicinity been and won the admiration of the bril- more ()Pen and spontaneous in the liant business man, who knew jrst expression of their faith, and less subwhat he wanted, could find the me- missive to the etiquette which indifthods to get it, and could measure ferentism has imposed upon us all. the sincerity, determination and s, ill There's the lesson in this simple tale. of others by his own. He .probatily kept thinking along these lines lip to TELEPHONE 8;7. the -moment when sorrow and adversity together prostrated him, and be suddenly realised the utter worthlessTENT, TARPAULIN and FLAG ness and futility of a world without MANUFACTURER. God. His last pathetic and fatherly ro6 BARRACK STREET. PERTH. sords, "I want to be with my boy." showed the point to which his reason and his heart had led him-the eternal life its great exponent, the (Hay -Street. opposite Masonic Chibl CONDUCTED BY Church its ereat King, the cbrist. With far greater depth of feeling than Misses Valletta 4 Burke many Catholics he could utter his THIS UP-TO-DATE AND WELLfirst and Islet ("redo : "I h.liese- in EQUIPPED (led. an:I in Christ. His Son. and in FORT .AND CAFE OFFERS COMTHE the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic TO CUSTOMERS. BEST SERVICE CLEANLINESS ('hunch. the communion of saints, the AND AN EXCELLENT MENU rereivereee of sins, the reserree'don CFA RANTEED. of the body and tb- life evirlastTHREE COURSE MEALS. is. ire." EARLY 1.1-xcFrEox ON ALL HOLI:ti= 'eneral ese held in DAYS. OPEN ALL DAY ON e "J'a .fist SUN-burch. New Yor'-, eni eels :he most DAY.
tablishment when a fatal disease struck down the brilliant manager.
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J. H. GRA HAM CELTIC CAFE
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