An Interview with Dr. Harrison

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 99, 9 February 1893, Page 2

An Interview with Dr. Harrison

♦ r Moving in accord with the spirit of the times, our reporter called upon the Dr. { the other day, for the purpose of obtain- | ing that gentleman's impressions of the j many places he has yisited. The talented . Doctor, who took his degree at the age of 21, ip now about 32 years of age. He I received our representative in a most ! genial and affable manner, and at once proceeded to submit to the inevitable with a good grace. He said " I came to New Zealand with Mrs Dr Potts in 1882, and passed about four months in its chief towns. Tou must uuderstand that in the States, where the Howns^are^so numerous, we generally pass by any places of less than 30,000 inhabitants. After visiting this country', we ''went over to Sydney, and spent over two years in Australia .-. and* Tasmsniar<^ioihgAthenoß direct to England. All the chief towns m England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland were duly locked in upon, during .this trip. We next went i qyer to/ America, doing all the principal cities and towns in the Eastern and Western, states." The Doctor very courteously allowed our representative to look through his scrap book containing a very large number of clippings bearing upon his career,. One of these cuttings, referring to ah audience which Dr Harrison had wjtll the Pope, was so interesting; that we print it in full. At the time of the audir ; ence, the- Doctor was acting as corres- ' pondent for the San Francisco Chronicle. We now proceed in his own words :.— " The Eternal City has a charm impos> sible to describe. Everything is conducted with much pomp and solemnity, One waits in an ante chamber until the Pope is at liberty, when the tapestries are drawn aside, and a cardinal announces jou. The Pope, seated in a large arm chair, makes a motion with his hand and and you kneel for the first time. Then rising yon advance, arrived at the oentrof of the room, you kneel a second tame| and on approaching his Holiness, you kneel a third tune, kiss the . large gold, cross on his slipper, and then the magnificent sapphire ring on his right; hand: His Holiness is dressed most simply, and one of the things which first strike you:' in his amazing slightness of figure. He is not emaciated in appearance, ( but, so; slight and ethereal, that it would, seem as if a breath of air would blow , him away. This was a special private' audience, but the papal procession , in St. Peter's Church is a much more picturesque affair. I had the good fortune t6 witness a special mass when Pope Leo officiated. Fully 70.000 people found places, by special invitation cards, in St. Peter's oh this occasion, wMle six ging, swaying crowds blackened the Piazza outside. Gentlemen had to wear full dress, while ladies appeared in black silk gowns, no bonnets, . but with black lace scarves arranged over their 'hair.' The Vatican court is the only one in which great picturesque splendour is kept up, and the dresses, uniforms, furnishings, and entire ceremonial are Oriental in their magnificence.- A blast of music from silver trumpets announces;, (he; approach of the papal procession headed by the Swiss Guards, then come a throng of ecclesiastics in trailing robes and ermine, tbe white plumes and helmets pt the 3uard de Nobeli, pages and chamberlains in scarlet, or black velvet and ruffs, 36 cardinals in violet' robes with high silk hats like a mitre, crucifixes and blazoned banners here and there, and at last the Pope himself, in his gold chair, . borne aloft on the shoulders jOi lackeys, resplendent in jewelled mi^re and gold cloth robes, white silk mits upon his jewelled hands, which he feebly raised, and with two fingers bestowed the Papal benediction. Enthusiasm ran Very high, and loud were the huzzas and acclamations " Long live" the Pope- King." No organ pealed forth its notes during this ceremony in the grandest of all churches but silver trumpets sounded from the vast dome above, like a blast from Heaven itself, The church within, Aas its own atmosphere which scarcely knows the seasons of the year without, and when the pomp and pageant of the Catholic hierarchy passed along its have, and the sunlight builds its ""gulden and slanting bridge of light from lantern to high alter, and the fumes of incense rise from the clinking censer at high mass, and the solemn thrill of the silver trumpets sounds and swells, and reverberates through the dim. mosaiced dome where the saints are pictured above, cold must be the heart and dull the senses when not touched to reverence." At the .con.* elusion of the interview, the.Doctor stated that he was most favorably impressed with London of any city that he , had visited, and there he would prefer to settle, down, rather than anywhere else in ~ the world. Our interviewer then left, gratified to find that a native born American ferred the capital of the. world, to any place which he has visited during ms tiavels. - :