christmas day was a day of undiluted triumph for father letheby. there were great surprises in store for me. that is one of my curate's few faults—is it a fault?—that he is inclined to be dramatic. as he says, he hates to speak of a thing until it is beyond the reach of failure. of all criticisms, the one he most dreads is, "i told you so." and so, on this christmas morning, i had a series of mild, pleasant shocks, that made the bright, crisp, frosty, sunny morning all the more pleasant. it was a slight, because expected, surprise to see captain campion at the altar rails. he appeared at eight o'clock mass. thanks be to god! i manage still to use the sublime privilege given by the church that morning, of being allowed to celebrate three times. i have not omitted it for fifty years. when i shall fail to say my three christmas masses, then you may take up your exequiæ, and practise the requiem æternam for poor daddy dan.
well, i had said the first two masses, commencing at seven o'clock. it is a curious experience, that of seven o'clock mass on christmas morning. the groping through the dark, with just the faintest aurora on the horizon, the smell of the frost in the air, the crunching of icicles under one's feet, the shadowy figures, making their way with some difficulty to the church, the salutations of the people: "is that you, mick?" "'tis, mrs. grady; a happy christmas to you, ma'am." "the same to you, mick, and manny of them." "good morning, mrs. mulcahy; 't is a fine christmas morning, glory be to god." "'t is indeed, ma'am, glory be to his holy name." "hurry up, bess, you'll never catch the priest at the altar." "yerra, sure, haven't we three masses to-day." the more polite people said: "the compliments of the saison to you, ma'am." "the same to you, sir; may we be all alive and happy this time twelvemonth."
well, just as i commenced the hymn of the angels at my first mass, there was a crash of music and singing from the gallery over the door, that made my old heart leap with joy and pride. i never expected it; and the soft tones of the harmonium, and the blending of the children's voices, floating out there in the dark of the little chapel, made tears of delight stream down the wrinkles of my cheeks. and what was the gloria, do you think? from mozart's "twelfth mass," if you please. nothing else would do. the pride of kilronan is gone so high since that famous concert, that i am almost sure they would challenge the seraphim to a fair contest, that is, if the latter would put aside their golden viols and sambucæ, and compete only with their voices against the "new choir of kilronan." i violated egregiously one strict rubric at the dominus vobiscum. i raised my eyes and took a good long look at choir and people. i couldn't help it. if martinucci and baruffaldi, gavantus and merati, gardellini and bauldry, and the whole congregation of sacred rites were there in the front bench, i couldn't help myself. i kept my hands open for at least a quarter of a minute, whilst i surveyed my little congregation. it was a pathetic sight. the lights from the altar shone on the faces of captain campion and bittra, and one or two of the better-class parishioners on the front bench; but all behind were buried in a deep well of darkness. i could barely distinguish the pale faces of the confused mass that stretched in the deep gloom towards the door; but overhead, about a dozen dark figures were outlined against the light of the two wax candles on the harmonium, over which, on this eventful morning, father letheby presided. and this was the object of the concert at last. i should have known that there was some supernatural object behind it. this young man does not care much to develop or elicit the dormant energies of the people, unless he can turn therewith the mills of god. but what trouble it must have given him! how many a cold night did he leave his room, and there, on that gallery, contend with the rough and irregular voices, until he brought them into that stream of perfect unison. i can imagine what patience he exercised, what subtle flatteries he administered, what gentle sarcasm he applied, before he succeeded in modulating the hoarse thunders of dave olden's voice, that rose like a fog-horn over the winds and waves whenever he ventured upon the high seas; and how he cut off remorselessly the grace-notes of abby lyden, who has begun to think herself an albani; and how he overcame the shyness of the fisher lads, and brought clear to the front the sweet tenors of the schoolboys, on whom, he said, all his hopes depended. and how his own rich baritone ascended strongly and softly over all, blending into perfect harmony all discordance, and gently smothering the vagrant and rebellious tones that would sometimes break ambitiously through discipline, and try to assert their own individuality. he sang an offertory solo, accompanying himself on the harmonium. who will say it was not sweet? who will say it was not appropriate?
"o vergine bella!
del ciel regina,
a cui s'inchina
la terra ed el mar.
"o tu che sei stella
del mare si bella,
ci guido nal porta
col tuo splendor."
and then when bethlehem was repeated, with all its lowliness and humility, there in that humble chapel; and the divine babe lay white and spotless on the corporal, the glorious adeste broke forth. ah me! what a new experience for myself and people. ah me! what a sting of compunction in all the honeyed delights of that glorious morning, to think that for all these years i had been pastor there. well, never mind; meâ maximâ culpâ! ignosce, domine!
i placed the sacred host on captain campion's tongue, and most heartily forgave him his unflattering epithets. tears of joy streamed down bittra's face as she knelt beside him at the altar rails. i was wearied and tired from the large number of communions i administered that morning. the last communicant was poor nance. she was hidden away in the deep gloom; but i am not at all sure that the child jesus did not nestle as comfortably in the arms of the poor penitent as in those of his virgins and spotless ones. and there were many such, thank god, amongst my christmas congregation that morning.
but the great surprise of all was in store. for, after mass was over, there was a great rush to st. joseph's chapel; and i am afraid i cut my own thanksgiving short, to move with silent dignity in the same direction. i heard gasps of surprise and delight, exclamations of wonder, suppressed hallelujahs of joy; i saw adoration and tenderness, awe and love on the dimly lighted faces of the people. no wonder! for there, under a rough, rustic roof of pines and shingles, was the bethlehem of our imaginations in miniature. rough rocks lined the interior, wet green mosses and lichens covering them here and there; in front of the cave a light hoar-frost lay on the ground, and straw and stubble littered the palace floor of him who walks on the jasper and chalcedony parquetting of the floors of heaven. and there was the gentle joseph, with a reverent, wondering look on his worn features; and there the conscious, self-possessed, but adoring expression on the sweet face of the child-mother; and there the helpless form and pleading hands of him whose omnipotence stretches through infinity, and in whose fingers colossal suns and their systems are but the playthings of this moment in his eternal existence, which we call time. three shepherds stood around, dazed at some sudden light that shone from the face of the infant; one, a boy, leaned forward as if to raise in his arms that sweet, helpless babe; his hands were stretched towards the manger, and a string held the broad hat that fell between his shoulders. and aloft an angel held in his hand a starry scroll, on which was inscribed gloria in excelsis deo. i stood amongst my awestruck congregation for a few minutes. some were kneeling, and uttering half-frantic ejaculations of adoration, pity, and love; some leaned against a pillar, silent, but with tearful eyes; little children pointed out to each other the different features of this new wonder-world; but all around, the fervid celtic imagination translated these terracotta figures into living and breathing personalities. it was as if god had carried them back over the gulf of nineteen centuries, and brought them to the stable door of bethlehem that ever memorable night. i think it is this realization of the incarnation that constitutes the distinguishing feature of catholicity. it is the sacred humanity of our lord that brings him so nigh to us, and makes us so familiar with him; that makes the blessed eucharist a necessity, and makes the hierarchy of bethlehem, jerusalem, and calvary so beloved,—beloved above all by the poor, and the humble, and the lowly. listen to this!
"oh, dear, dear, and to think of our lord with the straw under him, and his feet covered with the frost of that cowld night—"
"and the poor child! look at her; why, she's only a little girl, like norah; and not a woman near to help her in her throuble."
"look at his little hands stretched out, like any ordinary child. glory be to his holy name. sure, only for him where 'ud we be?"
"and poor st. joseph! no wondher he's fretting. to think of thim two cratures in his hands, and he not having house or home to shelter thim!"
"wisha, mary, 't was a pity we worn't there that blessed night. sure, 't is we'd give 'em the best we had in the world, an' our hearts' blood."
i shared to the full this feeling about st. joseph. and when, after father letheby's mass, i came down, and brought over my old arm-chair, and placed it in front of the crib, and put down my snuff-box, and my breviary, and my spectacles, and gave myself up to the contemplation of that wonderful and pathetic drama, st. joseph would insist on claiming the largest share of my pity and sympathy. somehow i felt that mother and child understood each other perfectly,—that she saw everything through the eyes of god, and that therefore there was not much room for wonderment; but that to st. joseph the whole thing was an unspeakable mystery of humiliation and love, infinite abasement and infinite dignity; and i thought i saw him looking from the child-face of his spouse to the child-face of the infant, and somehow asking himself, "what is it all?" even though he explicitly understood the meaning and magnitude of the mighty mystery.
father letheby has a new series of pictures of the life of our lord, painted by a french artist, whose name i can never recall except when i sneeze,—tissot. i do not like them at all. they are too realistic,—and, after all, the ideal is the real. i have a special, undiluted dislike of one picture,—the magnificat. i'd have torn it up, and put the fragments in the fire, but that it was not mine. but how in the world any catholic could paint my beautiful child-prophetess of hebron as tissot has done baffles comprehension. but he has one lovely picture, "because there was no room." the narrow lane of the jewish city,—the steep stairs to the rooms,—the blank walls perforated by a solitary, narrow window,—the rough stones, and the gentle animal that bore mary, treading carefully over them,—the jewish women, regretfully refusing admission,—the sweet, gentle face of the maiden mother,—and the pathetic, anxious, despairing look on the features of st. joseph,—make this a touching and beautiful picture. poor st. joseph! "come, take the reins of the patient animal, and lead him and his sacred burden out into the night! there is no room in the city of david for the children of david. out under the stars, shining brilliantly through the frosty atmosphere, over the white, rugged road, into an unknown country, and 'whither, o my god?' on thy lips, as the child at thy side shuddered, and no finger from heaven nor voice from earth directed thee; unless, indeed, that faint flashes of light athwart the net of stars told thee that the angels were cutting their way down through the darkness, and into the spheres of men, and that all heaven was in a tumult of expectation, whilst in yonder city men slept, as they always sleep unconscious when god is near. and then, when the feeble plaint broke from mary's lips, i cannot go further, and the gentle beast turned aside into the rocks and whins, and called to his companions of the stable, and the meek-eyed ox looked calmly at the intruders, and there—there—dear god! to think of it all—in mundo erat, et mundus eum non cognovit."
i sat quietly there until benediction at three o'clock, and then i remained rolling my beads through my fingers, and singing in my heart the grand majestic o's of the preceding day's offices, at the end of every decade, until five o'clock struck. from time to time my little children would come, and leaning on my knee, would gaze with wonder and affection at the child of bethlehem; and then, looking up into my face, put wonderful questions about deep mysteries to their old father. for all day long, a stream of visitors passed before the crib; and the next day, and the next, crowds trooped over from moydore and the neighboring parishes, for the fame of it had gone abroad over the land; and men and women came, jealous of their own pastors, and wondering at the sudden uprise of kilronan. then the climax was reached on the twelfth day, when the kings appeared, and the group in the stable was complete. the "black man" from nubia came in for more than his share of honors; and it was admitted all round that kilronan was immortalized and the other parishes were forever in the background.
"may god bless the man that gave us such a sight," said an old woman fervently, as i left the wondering crowd and went home to dinner.
"may god bless all our priests," said another, fearing that i might be offended.
"wisha, thin, father dan," said a third, "what a wondher you never tould us what you had in store for us. wisha, thin, it wasn't worth while keeping it such a grate sacret."
there is no end to the ingenious charity of these people. on my plate at the dinner table, amidst a pile of christmas cards, was a dainty little duodecimo. i took it up. it was from father letheby. and what was it? the imitation in greek, by a certain george mayr, s. j. wasn't this nice? my pet book done into my favorite language! it was the happiest christmas i ever spent. quam bonus israel deus! so too said father letheby. but i had some dim presentiment that all his well-merited pleasure would not be quite unalloyed,—that some secret hand, perhaps a merciful one, would pluck a laurel leaf or two from his crown. we had a pleasant academic discussion after dinner about the honorable retention of ancient irish customs,—he quite enthusiastic about them, i rather disposed to think that the abuses which invariably accompanied them made their final extinction altogether advisable. we put our respective theories in practice next morning with the most perfect consistency; for hannah drove indignantly from the door the wren-boys, just as they were commencing:
"a thrate, a thrate, if of the best,
we hope in heaven your sowl will rest;
but if you give it of the small
it won't agree with our boys at all."
and, on his part, father letheby listened with intense delight to this dithyrambic, which ushers in st. stephen's day all over ireland; and he dispensed sundry sixpences to the boys with the injunction to be always good irishmen and to buy sweets.
that night, just as i was thinking of retiring, for i am an early riser, i heard a gentle tap at the hall door, then a hurried colloguing in the hall; and hannah put in her head and whispered:—
"lizzie is afraid, sir, that the priest is sick. would you mind coming down to see him?"
"god bless me! no," i said, quite alarmed. i followed the servant rapidly and was ushered into father letheby's parlor, unexpected and almost unannounced.
"what's the matter, sir?" he cried; "what's the matter?"
"nothing particular," i replied. "'t is a rather fine night, is it not?"
"lizzie must have sent for you?" he answered.
"yes," i said, "she did. she thought you were unwell. are you?"
he looked ill enough, poor fellow, and at these words he sank wearily into a chair.
"i am afraid you're unwell," i repeated.
"i'm not unwell," he said, blubbering like a child, "but—but—my heart is broken."
"oh," i cried, "if that's all, it's easily mended. come now, let's hear all, and see if we can't put the pieces together."
"i wouldn't mind," he cried, standing up and striding along the little room, his hands tightly clasped behind his back, "but the poor little altar boys—the poor little beggars—they looked so nice yesterday, and oh to think of it! good god!"
"very dramatic, very dramatic," i said, "but not the quiet narrative and consecutive style that i affect. now, supposing you told me the story. there's balm in gilead yet."
and this was the story, told with much impressiveness, a fair amount of gesticulation, and one or two little profane expressions, which made the recording angel cough and look away to see how was the weather.
it appears that about seven o'clock father letheby had a sick-call outside the village. there are generally a fair share of sick-calls on the day succeeding the great festivity, for obvious reasons. he was returning home through the village, when the sound of singing arrested his steps just outside mrs. haley's public house. his heart gave a bound of delight as he heard the familiar lines and notes of the adeste. "thank god!" he said, "at last, the people are beginning to bring our catholic hymns into their own homes." as he listened intently there was a slight reaction as he recognized the sweet liquid notes, with all the curls and quavers that are the copyright and strictly legal and exclusive possession of jem deady.
"good heavens!" said the young priest, in a frenzy of indignation, "has that ruffian dared to introduce into the taproom our christmas melodies, and to degrade them into a public-house chorus?"
he stepped into the shop. there was no one there. he turned softly the handle of the door, and was in the taproom for several minutes before he was recognized. what he witnessed was this. leaning in a tipsy, maudlin way against the wall were the holly bushes, which, decorated with pink ribbons, and supposed to conceal in their dim recesses the "wren, the wren, the king of all birds," had been the great attraction of the morning. leaning on the deal table, with glasses and pints of porter before them, as they sat and lounged or fell in various stages of intoxication, were the wren-boys; and near the fire, with his back turned to the door, and his fingers beating time to the music in pools of dirty porter, was jem deady. as father letheby entered he was singing:—
"deum de deo, lumen de lumine,
gestant puellæ viscera—"
the most awful and tender lines of the glorious hymn.
he was unconscious of the priest's presence, and quite unconscious of his horrible sacrilege. father letheby continued gazing on the sad scene for a few minutes, with mingled feelings of anger, horror, and disgust. then, closing the door softly after him, he strode through the street, and knocking peremptorily at all the doors, he soon had a procession of the fathers and mothers of the children following him to the public house. what occurred then has passed into the historical annals of kilronan. it is enough to say here that its good people heard that night certain things which made their ears tingle for many a day. mrs. haley came up to my house the following morning to give up her license; and there was a general feeling abroad that every man, woman, and child in kilronan should become total abstainers for life.
"but that's all," said father letheby; "and now i am really sick of the entire business; and to-morrow i shall write to the bishop for my exeat, and return to england or go to australia, where i have been promised a mission."
it was rather late, and i should have been long ago in my comfortable bed; but the text was too good to miss.
"my dear father letheby," i said, "it is clear to me that you are working not for god's honor, but for your own kudos."
he started at these strong words, and stared at me.
"because," i continued calmly, "if it was the honor of god you had at heart, this calamity, the intensity of which i have no idea of minimizing, would have stimulated you to fresh efforts instead of plunging you into despair. but your pride is touched and your honor is tarnished, and you dread the criticism of men. tell me honestly, are you grieved because god has been offended, or because all your fine plans have ganged aglee? there! dear st. bonaventure, what a burden you laid on the shoulders of poor humanity when you said, ama nesciri, et pro nihilo reputari. you did not know, in the depths of your humility, that each of us has a pretty little gilded idol which is labelled self! and that each of us is a fanatic in seeking to make conversions to our own little god. and i am not at all sure but that education only helps us to put on a little more gilding and a little more tawdry finery on our hidden deity; and that even when we sit in judgment upon him, as we do when preparing for confession, it is often as a gentle and doting mother, not as an inflexible and impartial judge. here are you now (turning to father letheby), a good, estimable, zealous, and successful priest; and because you have been touched in a sore point, lo! the voice from the inner shrine demanding compensation and future immunity. everything has prospered with you. religion has progressed, with leaps and bounds, since you came to the parish; the people adore you, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are that most difficult of heroic successes, a conqueror because a reformer; and because you have met one reverse, you are going to turn your back on your work, and seek the curse of those who put pillows under their armpits and garlands of roses in their hair. did you imagine that satan, a living, personal, and highly intelligent force, was going to allow you to have everything your own way here,—to fold his arms while you were driving back his forces in utter rout and confusion? if you did, you were greatly mistaken. you have met a slight reverse, and it has become a panic. sauve qui peut! and the commander—the successful general—is the first to turn his back, throw down his sword, and flee."
"say no more, father dan, for god's sake. i am heartily ashamed of myself."
a good scolding is almost equal to a cold bath as a tonic for disordered nerves.
i went home with a satisfied conscience, murmuring, per la impacciata via, retro al suo duce. i think i know whither he is tending.
a demoralized, woe-begone, wilted, helpless figure was before me in the hall. if he had been under niagara for the last few hours he could not be more hopelessly washed out. it was jem deady in the custody of his wife, who was now in the ascendant.
"here he is, your reverence,—a misfortunate angashore! for the love of god make him now a patthern to the parish! cling him to the ground, or turn him into somethin'; make him an example forever, for my heart is broke with him."
whilst i was turning over in my mind into which of the lower animals it would be advisable to cause the immortal soul of jem to transmigrate and take up a temporary residence, i thought i saw a glance upwards from his eye, visibly pleading for mercy.
"it is quite clear, jem," i said, "that your christmas dinner disagreed with you."
"begor, thin, your reverence," broke in mrs. deady, setting herself in a rather defiant attitude, "he had as good a dinner as any poor man in your parish. he had a roast goose, stuffed by thim two hands with praties and inguns, until the tears ran down my face; and he had a pig's cheek, and lashins of cabbage."
"and why don't you tell his reverence about the rice puddin'?" said jem, in a tone of honest indignation. "'t is a shame for you, bess! she made a rice puddin', your reverence, that was fit for the grate house; and begor, your reverence might sit down to worse yourself. sich raisons and currans!"
"begor, i'm thinking you're thrying to put the comedher on me, you blagard, with your blarney," said mrs. deady with angry suspicion, drawing back and scrutinizing his face.
"thrying to put the comedher on you, bess? begor, i'd like to see the man that could do it. but i'll say this, in the presence of his reverence, and wid yerself to the fore, that there isn't in this parish, nor in the nex', nor in the nex' again, nor widin the four walls of ireland, a betther wife nor a betther housekeeper den you, bess clancy." and to emphasize this panegyric, jem threw his battered hat on the floor and brushed away a tear.
it was a pity not to come to the aid of such a superb diplomatist. no wonder the british diplomatic service is manned by irishmen from singapore to halifax. what would melikoff, and von schaffterhausen, and de laborie be in the hands of jem deady? he'd twist them around his little finger. i saw the angry wrinkles smoothing themselves on the brow of mrs. deady, as she melted under the gentle rain of flattery.
"i'd forgive you a good deal, deady," i said; "your repeated violations of solemn pledges, your sacrilege in bringing down to a public house the most sacred melodies of the church—"
"they were at me," said jem. "they said as how i couldn't get my tongue around the latin, and that father letheby—"
"i understand," i interrupted; "but even that i'd forgive. but to take the innocent lambs of my flock, my choir boys and altar boys, the children of sober and religious parents, whose hearts are broken by your misconduct—"
"childre' of sober and religious parents,—whose hearts are broken," chimed in mrs. deady. "wisha, thin, without manin' any disrespect to your riverence, would you be plazed to mintion these dacent people? an' if these religious parents wor mindin' their childre', insted of colloguing and placin' their nabors, their religious childre' wouldn't be lying drunk in mrs. haley's public house. but of coorse 't is jim deady here and jim deady there; and if the thruth wos towld, he's as good as any of 'em, though i shouldn't say it to his face. come along, you poor fool."
"i must do what i came for," said jem, solemnly. then, with an air of awful determination, as if he were binding iron bars and padlocks on his thirsty lips, jem took the pledge. mrs. deady, in high dudgeon, had gone down the street. jem and i were alone.
"tell me, yer reverence," he whispered, "did that mane scut of a tailor insult ye the other night?"
"oh, not at all, jem," i cried, fearing the consequences to the tailor.
"i have an eye on him this long time," said jem, "and faith, he'll come to grief soon."
"now, jem," i warned emphatically, "no violence, mind. the unfortunate fellow is sorry."
"all right, your reverence; we are not going to waste violence on the likes of him. but—"
here jem fell into a profound reverie.
"begor, your reverence, ye did that little job nately," he cried, waking up. "that woman's tongue didn't lave me worth tuppence. god bless yer reverence, and spare ye long to us."
he took my hand, and kissed it till it was blistered by the sharp bristles of his unshaven lips. poor fellows! how they warm to us! and how, with all their faults, we fling around them something more than maternal love!
