A GOOD SEED DROPPED WHILE TRAVELLING

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 19, 9 May 1907, Page 7

A GOOD SEED DROPPED WHILE TRAVELLING

It was a long journey, this trip from Chicago to Pittsjbiurg, and although I was comfortably fixed in my Pullman, with Sunday newspapers and magazines, I • would have preferred abo th anf a night jourupy, when I could have slept all the way and wakened at my destination.. The fates were against me, and I made a virtue of necessity. The train had started, and, after the first quarter of an hour, had got into the fixed, rapid swing of the Limited, and 1 looked aimlessly oiuit of the window at the flying landscape and began a train of thought. Sitting close to the window, I had fastened a silk handkerchief lightly around my neck, which entirely concealed my Roman collar. Looking up after a few minutes, I met the' eyes of a gentleman of about thirty-five, who occupied the chjair *n front- of mine. He towed, and I returned the salutation. ' A long journey before us, sir,' he said. ' The first stop of the train is in Pittsburg, I believe.' ' Oh, no,' I answered ; ' there is "a stop or two befone tifoat. ( But it is a long journey even to that paint, which is my destination.' ' I am going straight on to New York, where I take the "E^truria" for Liverpool. lam a merchant, travelling »in the interests of X and Co. I am a member of the firm. My wife and children await me in> New York. ' 1 I trust the journey anil the voyage will be favorable. We hear of so many accidents of late.' 1 Thank you. I hope our party will have none. Then there was a pause. i Suppose we play a game of cards to pass the time.' ' I am" sorry to say uo, but I never played a game of cards in my life.' He looked at me in surprise. 1 Well, well, that is unusual. I am fond ol^, the game. Suppose I show you some tricks at cads, simple trichs, of course, but amusing enough to while away the .time.' ' I will be delighted,' 1 said. ' I en:oy these things very mnich~ although I am not "conversant with them. . In fact, 1 have never had the time.' He called the porter by a touch of the electric bell, and he soon had a portable table between us. Between the rejally amusing tricks- and clever conversation an hour "or two slipped by most pleasantly. Fin--ally the table was removed atnd, turning our chairs together, we biegiani to talk more confidentially. 1 You are an observing man,' he said to me, ' a student and a thinker ; I like to talk to you. -I also have riead a grent deal. There is only one thing that puzzles- me, so to speak ; one thine; I cannot swallow nor digest, and that is the doctrine of Roman Catholics.' ' Do you know much about, it ? ' ' Hardly a thing, except the traditions of my childhood, which have grown with my growth. Our ♦ childhood seldom plays us false.' • I don't agree with you in that, my friend. Anyhow, I am a Catholic*— a Roman Catholic as you call it.' He gave a start and looked squarely at me. I was smiling.

'' You a Roman Catholic ? I would never have thought so. I really beg your pardon.' ' And why would you never have thought so ? ' ' Well, because an intelligent man like you does not seem' to belong to that priest-ridden sect.;! ' ' But I am also a priest ! ' He fairly- stared at me. I was amused, for with all his assumption of extensive reading he evidently hjaid never been in such company before. ' I beg a thousand pardons ! A pries>t ! Who would have b)elieved it ? A priest ! I am glad it isn't one of those detvj:led monks that figure so largely in the Dark Ages,' he miurmured. '' But I am also a monk ; that >is, a, member of a religious Order, travelling from one monastery to another on business. He wheeled his chair around, then back again, Ms face betokening a profound amazement. ' A priest, a mon.k, and— a gentleman ! ' ' I hope -so,' I said. ' And now,' my friend; with out the slightest feeling of acrimony, let me tell you something. .You have gone through life and have- read, you say, a grea,t deal. It may be so, *but "it is my turn to be amazed that a gentleman of .your intelligence should have been- satisfied with such' a one-sided opinion of us as you seem to have. You have, pardotni me, been unjust and narrow in your prejudices ; you have mot looked at the " other side." You say you know hardly anything of the Catholic fa&th, you never met a priest, and you consider monks a product "of a period you call the " Dark Ages. 1 ' Ido not blame you entirely, but I say, in justice to your intelligence, to your manhood, why not look at the other side and weigh both in the balaive? Read up the Catholic si le from Cjatlnolic scourees. Study the Church from her own point of view, as a matter of justice, and then write to me, or, better' still, come and see me, and I will give you the very best hospitality of -our monastery and introduce y,ou to a dozien more monks, better mew (than) I. am.'- And I gave him a card with my name and that of my college on it. He listened without a word and accepted the card. Very little more passed between us, and I began to say my office. Not very long -afterwards we approached Pittsibiirg. As we paused »in Union Station I gave him my hand. He shook it warmly and gave me his card. I left the train, rushed over to an ' accommodation ' that took me to m-v destination, and lost sight of him. Many a time after he came to my mind, and I always uttered a prayer that he might at last see the ' other side.' But years passed by, and I entirely fcfr-goti him It was seven years after that .journey from Chicago that" a stranger rang the electric bell at our door and asKe'l the porter for Fattier . He would not; give his name. . I descended to the parlor. We looked closely at each other. Of course, I wore my hafbi't. ' ' Are you Father ' ' I am, and you are Mr. , of Chicago. We travelled once together.' ' How well you, remember ! I did not know you in your present garb/ Yes, I am the man. /Your pa-. ti'ence and courtesy with me that day, when I almost insaflted your faith, your priesthood, and v#ur voqatidn, deeply impressed me— 'impressed me and irritated me, too, I must confess. And when I got to Europe I determined to study, up the " other side," as you termed it, so as to prove by niv own experience -that I ;wa& rifchii and you were .wrong. I read Catholic boal.s, visited Catholic churches and monasteries, and found, as' ia always the case with a conceited ignoramus, that I was wrong and you were right ! I became a Catholic, and my \\*ife and children, too. And 'as I always kept your " caid, I have come all this way to call, on you and thank you for bringfng me as' you r vd to "that " other side," where only the true faith is found.' Needless to say, there was a joyful hour spent that day, and I was made blissfully ha' 1 ' v 1 v the conviction that Providence may mac i:,se, in His ineffable' designs on soiuls, of even an impatient and unworthy traveller.—' Catholic Standard and Times.'