power, the Church robbed of her inheri- and in the fulness of time was sown tance. You have heard the crafty through the councils of Europe. Yes. pretexts, the specious wiles, behind But you ask, Have the days of truthful which the despoilers intrenched them-statesmanship then departed? Have selves. Yes; and you have seen we none to set the erring world a proven on the plains of Italy what model? I know of one-there may be was demonstrated in the purlieus of more-but I know of one who has been Paris, that no slave is so very a steadfast to his trust when dangers slave as he who is the bondsman of threatened, who has abided at his post license. unappalled by clamors, and unshaken Well, be it so. Italy is free they by affliction. I mean him, the desay. Free Ay, but she writhes in throned but ever glorious Pontiff of the the embrace of the phantom she has Vatican. The world does not call him invoked, she is immolated on the altar statesman, for it looks upon him as it of her own adoration. Answer me does upon his history, and sees only the you who read the story of the suffering prelate's cope, and not the ermine which land, do you recognize the cry of joy it covers. But if the part of a true which hailed the triumph of unification, statesman consists in devotion to in the wail that rises from the valley country, fidelity to the people's weal, of the Apennines? Do you hear it in and a strict observance of international the cry of the dying-yonder at Parma, courtesies, to whom, I ask, does the yonder at Modena, till it comes qua- name more truly belong than to Pius? vering from out the very shadow of the I do not see in all history any picRoman walls? The steams that rise ture so touchingly sublime as that of from the Campagna as from a charnel- this old man shorn of his temporal rule, house, but a week ago enfolded, God yet standing like the angel of Eden on knows how many wretches starving by the threshold of faith, and beating back the wayside; and even now the cellars the doubts and chimeras that gather to of the ghetto hide from sight a misery assail it. You, student of classic lore, that shuns the light of day. Crime, you, too, who explore the records of the too, urged by want forsakes its lurking- past, go back with me through the places for the highway; and the dagger ages. Select me your models of Grewhich rusted in the sheath of the cian and Roman virtue, choose me the Carbonari, now glitters in the hand of grandest characters of the Empire's the brigand. Oh, what a commentary day, point out the loftiest types of a on the short-sightedness of false states- later chivalry, and show me the man manship is this! How plainly does it who can compare with this captive show that the scourge which a God Pope in the majesty of his example wielded of old to pursue into captivity and the enduring merit of his works. an unfaithful people, has not in the To him alone as Head of a teaching flight of time lost a single thong. The Church, can society look for salvation. germ of the day's untruthful statesman- And in an age when scientists lay proship, then, is found in Bonaparte's fane hands on the most cherished trascheme which became Cavour's policy,ditions of the past, when the regions With the people of to-day do those issues rest. Accept they may, the awful responsibility of sending a thousand lies shrieking down the ages, and they may leave standing as many infamous precedents for injustice to shield itself behind, but it will be with the assur follows crime, will in time rest on them. Their authors may repent the errors of untrue statesmanship and untrue science. Regret them, they must. But there is only one way left to repair them. of the stars are explored and the bowels of the earth are searched for proofs to confound the word of God; when philosophers, with a supremely democratic contempt of ancestry, pluck up the genealogical tree and set a monkey at the roots, Heaven knows we need some barrier against an ill-defined ance that the obloquy, which always "march of progress." Remember how grave the trusts are which rest upon us, and which, in days like these, we never can discharge. We are a link in the order of time, between a past which we know only by the glimmer of its embers, and a future of which we As the sacred fires of old when exknow nothing. To the one, we are tinguished could only be rekindled by amenable for the just application of the great source of light, so banished its lessons; to the other, we owe the value of our example. How is this? We have discharged our duty to neither; we are hardly acquitted of a single trust. Tell me, then, have those buried multitudes lived and taught in vain will these coming generations have to upbraid our century for the falsehoods they have penetrated, or councils, and justice in the cabinets, of curse it for the errors it has transmitted men. to them? truth can only return at the bidding of its author. When the nations humble themselves before the altar of Him we call "Father," when statesmen and philosophers submit their calculations to His wisdom, and cast from them their vanity of intellect, then and no sooner may we look for knowledge in the J. B. FISHER. When walking he was careful St. Francis loved animals to such sister. degree that his habitual tenderness not to tread upon any insect in his towards them attached them to him, and gave rise to numerous miraculous legends pictured in many of the Catholic Churches. He believed that all created things had derived from God a portion of the same divine principle by which he himself existed, and, acting upon this belief, he was in the habit of calling everything brother and path, and would even pick them up and remove them to a place of safety, lest others should crush them. It is record ed of him that birds built their nests in his cell, and fearlessly picked up crumbs from his table; that when he walked in the fields sheep and lambs flocked after him, and hares and rabbits jumped upon him and nestled in his bosom. THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME, Mother of God. A modest chapel first marked the spot, which, through the piety of the surrounding inhabitants, was improved and embellished until, in 1094, it was transformed into a collelife,giate church by Godfrey of Bouillon. "What is the long Cathedral glade, About the middle of the 13th century it was rebuilt, and was regarded as one of the noblest triumphs of Gothic architecture. In 1521 Charles V laid the corner-stone of a new choir, and in 1533 the cathedral was destroyed by fire, only the choir and tower escaping. It was again rebuilt and has existed to The first object that attracts the eye of the traveller approaching Antwerp, is its famous Cathedral of Notre Dame. And of all the monuments which stand the present time. throughout Europe as grand evidences. The Cathedral of Notre Dame is five of the faith and devotion of their hundred feet long, and two hundred and builders, there is none more majestic fifty feet in breadth. The roof is supnor more suggestive to the beholder than this stately edifice, which ascends up from the level plain into the air as if it would bring heaven into direct communication with earth. The history of this cathedral is an interesting one. Away back in the early ages of Christianity a picture of the Blessed Virgin was found upon the spot where the Cathedral now stands. The faith of the men of those times was deep and reverent, and they accepted the discovery of the picture as a sign that heaven would be pleased to have erected there a lasting memorial to the ported by one hundred and twenty-five pillars, giving to one entering the edifice the appearance of a forest of architecture. The principal nave has double aisles, and there are six other parallel naves. The Gothic cupola which rises over the centre of the transept is in harmony with the general design of the structure, and adds to its dignity and impressiveness. The tower of the cathedral is its most notable feature, and has excited the enthusiasm of many travellers. It rises nearly four hundred feet above the level plain, and in all its details is a marvel of sim |