The Story of the Mountain
Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary

The cabinet is first mentioned in a letter of Father Gartland to President Butler, January, 1837, when he sent some articles to be there enshrined; among others, "an old pair of shoes said to have dropped from some fairy on the Green Isle of the ocean; they could be worn by the president on state occasions."

Father James O'Donnell writes to Father Butler from New York, Feb. 20, 1837:

New York, Feb. 20, 1837, at Rt. Rev. Dr. Druois' house.

My dearest Sir: Since your arrival, I have not had a line from you, which makes me apprehend that another spell, such as that almost fatal one of 1835, has taken you. The exposure on your route to Philadelphia, in the sickly and exhausted state in which you were, justified me in apprehending that you would be visited by some of your usual fits of pleurisy. I hope, however, that it has passed over without much injury. I am delighted by the Bishop's zeal in upholding the College at the Mountain. He has written to Borne for a branch of the Society of Saint Ligouri, which I trust will flourish and produce much fruit yet at the Mountain. He loves and admires all from the Mountain. I am happy in having such a model before me. He is everything that a priest, a pastor, a bishop and a scholar ought to be. ...

We have seen how Father Butler proposed, among other ventures, to hand over the college to Father Williamson, and now here is Bishop Dubois trying to get Redemptorists to take it, doubtless after consultation with Father Butler ; but of action on the part of the College Council in connection with this matter no word is to be found. It was, perhaps, this independent manner of acting, that caused Father Butler to be less in harmony with his associates, but especially with his successor, who, while he was in control, never dreamed of abandoning the institution to an order, and on assuming office began at once, though he did not always keep up, a constitutional government by the Council and the Faculty.

Father Quarter writes to President Butler from New York, February 14, 1837:

"I knew you were always a little headstrong. The Bishop thinks the Missionary Society of Rome (the Propaganda?) will make it a branch of their main establishment. He has written for two professors of theology, one for the Mountain and one for Nyack. Rev. Mr. McCloskey (Cardinal) will not return before the fall. The Bishop regrets it very much on your account.

The following letter concerns the same matter. Bishop Dubois to President Butler:

New York, Feb. 22^nd, 1837.

Rev. and dear Sir: I received with pleasure your favor of the 18 inst. and beg you would accept of my grateful acknowledgments for your punctual attention to the commissions which you had the goodness to undertake. I would have thought it unnecessary to answer it until the objects announced are arrived, but a word of your pleasing communication requires an explanation: "We are laboring hard to perfect the work by forming a society" You seem to have forgotten your request and promise to invite a society already sanctioned by the Holy See to assume the government of the two institutions, viz., Mt. St. Mary's and Nyack, promising to transfer the property in your hands, as I would the one in mine, to the Society. In consequence of this I wrote to the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda at Rome to make the proposal to either the Jesuits (which is doubtful) or to the Redemptorists, founded lately by the Blessed Liguori, on the condition of their fulfilling the objects intended by both, and recruiting themselves out of such of our young men as would join them. 1 applied only for a superior of great merit and a professor of theology for both, and as Nyack is not finished yet, that both superiors and professors should reside for one year or so at Mount St. Mary’s, until mine was completed. You must be sensible of the great advantages which both establishments would derive from being placed under the control of the same society, unconnected with any other in the United States. Being interested only in our two establishments and equally interested in both, as being under their exclusive control, they would help one another, relieve one another in case of difficulties and remove professors from one to the other when they will think it serviceable to either or to the professors themselves. The same system which is adopted at Mt. St. Mary’s would be pursued here, and a time may come when the whole diocese may be served by missionaries, members of that society, and as such under the control of the superior of the seminaries, and thereby relieve the Bishop from the surveillance of his clergy, whose appointment or removal he would leave to the superior according to his prudence. The utmost harmony would prevail among all missionaries as members of the same society, and when disabled they find a home among their brethren.

Meanwhile, young men would be educated for the ministry and teach the different classes as a compensation for their education, and having witnessed the spirit of the society might join it with perfect knowledge of what they were doing. Although neither the superior nor the professor of theology may speak English at first, the superior will easily govern by the means of an interpreter, and the professor of theology, giving his lessons, of course, in Latin, will need none. No education can be given on moderate terms in this country, but by the means of a society. Professors receive such enormous salaries that able ones would absorb the whole revenue of the College, unless enormous board and tuition are required; to give you an example: the professor of grammar in Columbia College here, gets $2000 a year. Nor can they depend long upon a good one, who, if eminent, will be bought by another institution which will offer a higher salary. No subordination and harmony can prevail among professors not united by the vow of obedience, and of course no subordination among the children constant witnesses of the misunderstanding among their teachers; nor can piety prevail as in a pious and religious order.

Should you have changed your mind respecting that plan agreed on between us, write to me immediately, as I must inform the Cardinal Prefect that it is given up, at least as far as it relates to Emmitsburg, and shall have to delay their coming until my establishment is ready to receive them. . . . Don't forget to put in the box of the picture an engraving of Mount St. Mary's, illuminated if possible; perhaps they would color it at St. Joseph's. The Redemptorists being under the special protection of the Leopoldine Society of Vienna will probably be considerably helped by it."

[The chronicler does not recall a historic parallel to this arrangement by which Bishop Dubois proposed to unburden himself of the care of the priests of his diocese.]

Some scurrilous, anonymous articles in the New York Truth-Teller and Green Banner relating to the College and its management were answered by Bishop Dubois, but they distressed Father Butler so that he insisted upon resigning, though Father Quarter and other friends encouraged him to have no fear, but contempt for his anonymous, cowardly assailant.

The Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph, August 17, 1837, says that "the attack on Father Butler is confined to vague generalities and very injurious and, we think, unjustifiable insinuations. The institution had a very heavy debt before the present management took hold. As to the idea that a feeling averse to Irishmen manifests itself in the conduct of the president or faculty, we do not believe that any reasonable ground exists for this complaint."

Bishop Brute' and Bishop Purcell visited the Mountain in April, 1837, and the former ordained two of the deacons, greatly to the admiration and delight of his old acquaintances amongst the farm-folk.

The Nyack Seminary, as we saw, was destroyed by fire this April, and there was no insurance, as Father Butler wrote to Deacon McCaffrey from Baltimore, April 18. Bishop Dubois had received warning that his college was in danger and had appealed to the authorities, but the thing was done. "I find a general seminary is to be again more formally proposed to the Council," continues Father Butler, "you had better write any sentiment you may have on that matter." People reading this last sentence think that Father Butler looked upon Deacon McCaffrey as the ruling spirit of the College, although he was only its Vice-President, and indeed Archbishop Elder tells us in his discourse at Father McCaffrey's funeral, that such was the fact. During Father Butler's illness and absence everything was in his hands.

On the 11^th of May, Archbishop Eccleston wrote to the President that he was coming up by way of Frederick and would "be with you on Friday or Saturday, according as I find a conveyance. The more I reflect on the business of your institution, the more deeply am I convinced of the duty incumbent on me to do all that is in my power to sustain it. Your difficulties, with the concurrence of pious and disinterested co-operators, will soon disappear. But obstacles however serious must not startle us. Since I conversed with you I have consulted the more experienced of my episcopal brethren, and am confirmed in the principles on which I told you I deemed it my duty to act. Pray that the Spirit of God may enlighten and guide me, and all who may be concerned in this momentous affair. I take this opportunity of sending my blessing to our pious and respected Mother Rose, and tell her that I shall shortly have the consolation of breathing the air of St. Joseph's. Respects and affection to you and yours."

During this visit the Archbishop ordered an investigation into the financial condition of the College, the result of which was the following report signed by the two reverend gentle­men appointed to make it:

The Most Reverend Archbishop of Baltimore having requested the undersigned to examine the present state of the finances of Mount St. Mary's College, have in compliance made a thorough investigation and submit respectfully, as the result, the following statement:

The total amount of the debts of the house from actual data up to the 1st of April, 1837, is $46,329.00.

The credits of the institution are included under the two following heads, viz. real estate, comprising a house and lot in Baltimore, land near Romney and Kanawha, and convertible into cash $11,600.00.

Current debts amounting in all to $27,237.24.

Of this amount we have deducted as doubtful, credits to the amount of $15,494.40, leaving a balance due the house of 811,742.84.

Thus making the aggregate of actual resources $23,342.84.

And leaving the college liabilities to the amount of $22,986.16.

In coming to the above conclusion the undersigned have examined rigorously the accounts pro and con, and have every reason to believe that the result is as nearly correct as it can be. All of which is respectfully submitted.

John McElroy (S. J.). Richard Whelan.

Mt. St. Mary's College, June 1st, 1837.

It is but proper to state that in the written schedule of the credits of the house, the item of $15,494.40, put down as doubtful, is made up of several outstanding debts, all of which were included in the report made by Rev. Mr. Whelan in 1835 as uncertain, although some of them may be recovered, no doubt. Hence to give another view of the finances of the house based upon former precedents, the above item ought to be deducted from the within balance of $22,986.16. Either view is quite consoling, and to find the affaire of this house in so safe and prosperous a state must relieve those interested from any apprehension or anxiety.

• Balance as within of debt - $22,986.16
• Sundry debts due as above -15,494.40
• Balance - $7,491.76

This with the foregoing is respectfully submitted. John McElroy (S. J.). Richard Whelan.

This report was accepted by the ordinary with this endorsement:

During a recent visitation of a portion of my diocese and at the request of the President and directors of Mt. St. Mary's College and Seminary I have made a thorough examination of the affairs of that Institution, and do hereby certify that the contributions to the Seminary fund as specified in the annexed account, have been faithfully applied to the object of the contributors. A just sense of the disinterested zeal of the gentlemen who conduct this Institution, and a desire to see it entirely relieved from the embarrassment of debt, induce me once more to recommend it to the benevolent and continued support of the Catholic community.

Samuel, Archbishop of Baltimore. June 7th, 1837.

Rev. Theodore Badin, the first ordained to the priesthood in the United States, at this time expressed a wish to end his days at the Mountain, which was honored by the choice and would have gloried in being made the shrine of his remains. As he belonged to the diocese of Cincinnati the bishop was consulted, and wrote to Father Butler: "It would be vain to pretend to say yes or no to Father Badin's proposition to spend the balance of his days at Emmitsburg. He is sui compos, and is, I presume, determined to continue so. The West has strong claims on him. which he has himself furnished to it. He will scarcely enrich any other soil with his must I say? sacred dust. Please present him my respects." He never came. Notre Dame glories in his log-chapel and his dust.

The Calendar of the College for 1836-7 gives the following list of Faculty and instructors :

Rev. Thomas R. Butler, President; Rev. John McCaffrey, Vice-president and Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy and Rhetoric; Rev. Edward J. Sourin, A. M., Professor of the Greek Language and Literature ; Anthony Hermange, A. M., M. D., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry; Pat. Corry, A. M., Professor of History and of the Latin Language and Literature; James A. Miller, A. M., Professor of Mathematics ; Rev. Michael Guth, Professor of French Language ; Rev. Honoratius Xaupi, Instructor in the French and Spanish Languages; Caspar Jordan Beleke, A. B., Instructor in the German Language and Literature.

Fathers Sourin, Miller and Corry had been absent for awhile, but are now found here again. Tutors in various branches:

James McBride, A. M., Daniel Byrnes, A. M., John McCloskey, A. M. (future President), Eugene Commerford, John Larkin, Thos. A. McCaffrey, Gardiner Jones, Isaac Howell, John Loughlin, Edmund Fox, Michael McAleer, A. M., Timothy Dannaher, A. B., James O'Donnell, John Hacket, Francis Coyle. The total number of students was one hundred and thirty-one.

A copy of the program for the commencement of this year will be of interest. How little did the brilliant and gentle valedictorian dream under what circumstances he would attend a commencement on that very day of the month fifty years after!

Mount St. Mart's College, June 29, 1837.

• March - Wm. Andre’.
• Overture to Tancred - Rossini.
• Distribution of Premiums. Minuet in D - Haydn.
• Andante Grazioso - Pleyel.
• Conferring of Degrees. Overture to La Dame Blanche - Boildieu.
• Oration on the Poetic Literature of Germany - Kobert Snyder, Pittsburg.
• Overture in F - F. Kuffner.
• Oration on Chivalry - Carroll Spence, Balt., Md.
• Overture to Figaro - Mozart.
• Oration on the Pleasures and Advantages of Tracing the Evidences of Design in Nature - Wm. Kuhn, Phila., Pa.
• Overture to Italiano in Algeri - Bossini.
• Oration on the Moral Sublime - Outerbridge Horsey, Md.
• Symphony in C - Haydn.
• Oration on Novel-Beading and Valedictory - Wm. H. Elder, Balt., Md.
• Sweet Home, arranged for full orchestra by - Wm. Andre'.

The following finds here an appropriate setting: William Henry Harrison, candidate for the Presidency, made a campaigning tour of some states in the fall of 1836. He found himself at Gettysburg on the day preceding the election, and as etiquette required that he should absent himself, and Maryland had not the same date, he retired to Emmitsburg and was invited to visit the College. He did so, and St. Joseph's likewise. The boys, of course, received him with great enthusiasm and Outerbridge Horsey, '37, made an address in their name, as he told us himself sixty-one years later. When Archbishop Elder, of Cincinnati, came to celebrate with us the Golden Jubilee of his graduation, June 29, 1887, he was called on for a "speech " in the refectory. He said: "My dear boys, your esteemed President asks me to make a speech to you. Well, when I was in the senior class fifty years ago General Harrison, the conqueror of Tecumseh, was running for President and paid us a visit. An address was made him, to which he replied: ' Boys, you have said many nice things about me and what I did, with God's help, for our country. But after all, boys, I have but done my duty as a soldier. Do your duty too, boys, wherever you may be placed.' I was very much struck with this short, soldierly speech. Those who heard it never could forget it, and I think I can say nothing better to you to-day than what that man who after­wards became President of the United States said to us half a century ago: 'Do your duty from day to day, wherever your lot is cast, and you will have done everything, all that God requires, no matter whether you occupy a high or a low place. If every one does his own duty the country is safe, the Church is safe, every one is safe for this life and for the next.'"

Deacon John McCaffrey, Vice-President, had for some time, as we saw, differed strongly with the President on matters of government, and at last he and his brother Thomas left the Mountain after commencement, 1837, and went to St. Mary's, Baltimore. Several others of the seminarians also went away and we have no record of their ordination, though we have of the McCaffreys, who afterwards returned to the house. A great number of our candidates have been ordained elsewhere, their own bishops wishing to perform the ceremony and other reasons uniting, and the practice continues to this day.

Father Hughes had to decline preaching a retreat to the seminarians, as he writes to Father Butler, July 15, 1837, and says:

I have heard of your difficulties and hope and trust that God has permitted them for wise purposes, and that out of the passing troubles of the present will spring the permanent good of the future. The application of the principles and rules that have been agreed upon between the Archbishop and yourselves may be the means of accomplishing this. I have seen with regret for some time past the existence, if not the growth, of misunderstanding which kept up the appearance but destroyed the reality of mutual confidence and the concentration of views. The cabinet should be a unit, and if this cannot be I would have the unit to constitute the cabinet. For a college or house of education, a republican form of government will never answer. Ideas destroy each other in the comparison and analysis of views and it will be difficult to secure that cordial and zealous action which is necessary when the executive in the case is called upon to do the thing which, in deliberation, he had opposed. The government is as the human body and it will not do for the hands and feet to enter into the deliberations of the head, otherwise they will oppose sometimes and having opposed, they will either not obey at all, or if they do, it will be with such symptoms of reluctance as will still manifest opposition. I hope above all things that the spirit of "qui vive," which has been among the seminarians, will be laid never to rise more. Let the whole building get a good shaking, if necessary, so as to remove the loose stones that are uncemented and are ready to drop, and the operation will only strengthen the walls though it may make them less cumbrous.

Bishop Purcell, writing to Deacon McCaffrey, July 21, 1837, when the latter was in Baltimore, expresses his love and high esteem for the young man, and intimates that if Providence should conduct him westward he (the Bishop) wishes to found a seminary in Brown county on land given by a Protestant, General William Lytle. " Will you not write something for the Telegraph?" [The Catholic press was then even more than now dependent on literary alms.] Father Patrick Corry became vice-president this summer of 1837. Father Sourin left the College. Bishop Dubois favored President Butler, notwithstanding the " power and intellect opposed to him," as we read in a letter of Rev. Patrick Danaher's, August 15, this year.

William Henry Elder, A. B., eighteen years old, made, August 20, application for the Seminary. He finds he can apply himself to nothing so long as he has time at his own disposal and must have some occupation "even if I turn merchant, that most unfortunate and most abused of classes." He was received, and so was John Harley, the future president of Fordhani.

On September 18th, the fiftieth anniversary of the ordination of Bishop Dubois, a concert was given at the College and a poem recited, from which we cull a few lines. The venerable founder could not come down to the celebration:

And, not the least his labors to proclaim Is Mount Saint Mary's venerable name; By many a tie to countless hearts endeared, By angels guarded and by men revered: Yes, it was he by persevering toil Who cleared this desert, broke this rugged soil And made these rocks an annual tribute bring As rich and healthful as our gushing spring: And it was he who reared these sacred walls And placed the chair of science in these halls; 'Twas his good heart and comprehensive mind That piety with science here combined; Instructing youth by the same path to go To bliss above and honor here below.

In October, 1837, the Sunday night recreation was done away with, and First Prefect Edward O'Neill resigned his office. This doubtless further embarrassed the President, especially as seventeen of the large boys, refusing to obey, were expelled. They went to Emmitsburg, but next day returned and accepted the punishment imposed. John Mitchell, '39, of Pittsburg, who tells of this "rebellion," recounting his experiences, says that he and his father " came from Pittsburg to Gettysburg by stage in a couple of days, dozing the first night in the 'bus. Two of the professors at this time were Francis P. McFarland, afterwards Bishop of Hartford, and James Clark, afterwards a Jesuit, both of them West-Pointers and ex-officers in the U. S. Army. President Butler preached once on dueling, as there were some students who had pretensions to it. It was handed down that John Hughes could not control the boys in his class, and did not like the job.

George Miles was "Fanny Miles." What Mitchell thought of John McCaffrey we shall tell further on.

Father Hughes informed Bishop Dubois of his appointment to be coadjutor of New York, which took place this year. Bishop Dubois replied:

New York, Nov. 6, 1837.

My Dear friend: Your fayor of the 31st ultimo which is the only information (official) I received of your nomination by the Holy See to the coadjutorship of New York, afforded me much consolation, in the hope that you will find in it, as I do, an expression of the divine will. May God guide you for his greater honor and glory; and be assured that, as I already proved to you, you have a sincere and devoted friend in Your humble servant, John, Bishop of New York.

Father Richard Whelan writes from Virginia asking for a teacher at Bath (Bedford Springs), Pa.: "The children are all small, rough, totally ignorant, and most of them, I presume, dull. He can get two hundred dollars a year and board. Mr. O'Ferrall will board him in compensation for teaching his four sons." How sad it is to record that one of those four sons of Mr. O'Ferrall, Charles, baptized at Martinsburg about the same time with John J. Kain (afterwards Archbishop of St. Louis), and elected Governor of Virginia in 1900, had lost the " Faith of our Fathers " and passed for an Episcopalian! The name of such in our country is " legion."

Bishop Brute’ had returned from France to Indiana in 1836 and had been warmly welcomed by Catholics and non-Catholics. He immediately entered upon a series of labors which were to be terminated only with his life. He established a Diocesan College-Seminary, St. Gabriel's, in his Episcopal city, an orphan asylum and free-school. When at home he was at once the bishop, the pastor of the congregation, professor of theology for his seminary and a teacher for one of big academies. Twice a month, we are told, he wrote to every priest in his diocese, every portion of which he visited repeatedly, and on these occasions performed all the duties of an ordinary pastor. Particularly was he interested in the large number of emigrants, mostly Irish, which the internal improvements going on in the state brought into it. In the great poverty of the diocese it was natural that the ministers of God should suffer many privations, but great as these might be, those of the bishop were greater. Everything he owned was at their disposal, and when they visited him they were at liberty to take whatever they needed shoes, clothes, even linen only they must leave their own cast-off things behind them, that some poorer than themselves might benefit by these. Sometimes even the bishop appropriated these things to his own use, and with his own hand altered them to fit his size. In visiting his clergy he would never permit his host to-resign his bed to him, but would insist upon his retiring before he did, and with the tenderness of a mother would smooth down the bedclothes and tuck them in to insure his being warm. Then if, as was most likely the case, the priest's sleepingroom were also the chapel, the bishop would spend the night before his divine Master, in preparation for the office of the morrow, which no length of custom had made less an act full of awe and solemnity. One cold winter's night, so the story goes, a few months before his death, a priest whose hut he had visited was very earnest in pressing him to make use of his bed. The bishop was not to be persuaded. At length a compromise was effected. It was agreed that they should put the bed on the floor and make use of it together. Before lying down the bishop did not forget to see that his companion was well covered. "But, sir," said the priest, "you are giving me all." "Oh, no," was the reply, "no, look, you have only half." During the night the priest dis­covered that the bishop was endeavoring to shift more of the covering to him. He at first made pretense to throw it back as if in the restlessness of sleep, but as he did this a second time, Bishop Brute exclaimed: "So! you are not asleep, I see!" The contest ended in a burst of merry laughter. And when the priest remonstrated with his superior on account of his imprudence, the bishop replied: "Oh, nothing can be of any consequence that happens to a poor old man like me."

One of his priests, who lived some fifteen miles away from Vincennes, was a great favorite with Bishop Brute'. As often as possible he would start off, staff in hand, employing himself in prayer the meanwhile, to walk the distance, in order to see this friend. On his arrival he would draw a piece of bread from his pocket, saying, "I have brought you something for dinner, for I was sure you had nothing to eat." To this was added, perhaps, a small piece of bacon, cooked in a little kettle, and set on the only plate the establishment could boast, and then the two would sit down, like Paul and Anthony, to discuss this frugal meal, each on a wooden bench at a table not made by hands to which a carpenter's tools were familiar.

A committee of the Faculty was appointed, October 19, to devise a plan for allowing the small boys to rise late and to regulate their intercourse with the other students. As a result they were placed in a separate dormitory with a prefect, so that they might sleep till half an hour before breakfast. Faculty meetings were to be held on the second and last Wednesdays of the month at 9:00 p. m. The ordinary extra-recreation days were to be the President's Patron Saint's day, St. John's day, St. Cecilia's day, Washington's birthday, one day after the First Communion day, and one day on the arrival of the Archbishop. In all discussions the President was to call on each member of the Faculty to give his views, and no member was to be excused from voting unless so agreed by a majority of those present. Decrees of the Faculty were to be executed and reported within twenty-four hours. Inviolable secrecy regarding the proceedings was to be observed. Some examples of discipline at this period are noticeable, for instance: At a regular meeting of the Faculty it was decreed that a certain student (offence not specified) " be put in solitary confinement for one week and that he translate into English each day three pages of Telernaque." December 13 "After much discussion, it was resolved that no student shall be allowed to go home at Christmas or spend the Christmas holidays out of the College." Jan. 10, 1838 "When a

student is charged before the Faculty with an offence, he shall in no case be condemned unheard."These are motions passed in Faculty. February 14 "All the prayers connected with the College exercises, except the Angelus, to be said in the English language." But presto! A change was coming. The Archbishop had cut the knot. On March 14, 1838, the last meeting under President Butler was held, and it was "Resolved, 1st, that the Faculty will meet the Rev. Mr. McCaffrey at the gate and accompany him to the parlor; 2nd, that the bells be rung; 3rd, that the literary societies be inited to join the company." For Rev. John McCaffrey was expected to return in a day or two as President.

On the 9th of the month he had been ordained priest at St. Mary's Seminary, where he had been studying and teaching, as he has recorded in his journal, and in a few days left Baltimore for Mount St. Mary's, " having received the appointment of its President from the Archbishop." [This is Archbishop Elder's statement in the funeral oration.] On the 17th of March, St. Patrick's day, he was welcomed with blare of trumpets and marching forth of youthful feet to escort him up the lane. On a fly-leaf in the archives we find an account of a meeting of the Council at which his election took place, the delegate of the Archbishop being present and approving. There is no date, but it is signed by John J. McCaffrey, S. S., P. of College, and marked "approved " by him, March 19, 1838. Father John McCaffrey was a native of Emmitsburg. He was born 1806, entered college 1814, and was ordained deacon 1831, refusing the priesthood till now.

And now that this breach is healed and the College accepts a new and long-enduring administration, the chronicler feels bound to remark that, as to these accounts of internal troubles, differences and disputes, it must be remembered that "many men have many minds,"and opinions must vary even amongst learned and holy men. As Father Faber says in his " Life of St. Wilfrid, Archbishop of York": "Saint Wilfrid was misjudged by saints, persecuted by saints and deposed by saints as one unworthy of the mitre." This furnishes a fertile theme for the carping criticism of the children of this world; for us Christians, it is a sign that this earth is not an abiding place, that the true reckoning is reserved for the day of judgment, and that the Church militant is not the Church triumphant.

Meanwhile Bishop Hughes, having gone to New York to be consecrated, finds that there are two copes at the Cathedral, none anywhere else ; other things in proportion. The Mountain presented him with a Pontifical. He was consecrated by Bishop Dubois, with the title of Basileopolis, Jan. 7,1838, and platforms were built outside the windows of the cathedral to help accommodate the crowds. When preaching his funeral sermon in 1864, Archbishop (Cardinal) McCloskey thus spoke of the appearance and demeanor of Bishop Hughes : " I remember how all eyes were fixed, how all eyes were strained, to get a glimpse of their newly-consecrated bishop; and as they saw that dignified and manly countenance, as they beheld those features beaming with the light of intellect, bearing already upon them the impress of that force of character which peculiarly marked him throughout his life, that firmness of resolution, that unalterable and unbending will, and yet blending at the same time that great benignity and suavity of expression when they marked the quiet composure and self-possession of every look and every gesture of his whole gait and demeanor all hearts were drawn and warmed towards him. Every pulse within that vast assembly, both of clergy and laity, was quickened with a higher sense of courage and of hope. Every heart was filled with joy and, as it were, with a new and younger might." [We can picture to ourselves the joy of the Celtic element in particular as they gazed upon the strong face of the champion, the "Lion of the Fold of Judah."]

Mar. 30, '37. Father Deluol S. S. was superior at the Convent now.

New York, June 22, '37. "I find the expenses at Mount St. Mary's heavy.We have some Seminaries close to this city and up the Hudson where they are much less, not exceeding $250 a year."

Georgetown College, Mar. 5, ' 34. '' I participate with my brethren of this College in the most sanguine anticipations of the future prosperity of that kindred institution which deserves so well of the Xtian Republic, and whose welfare cannot but be dear to all who feel an interest for the Good Cause. "Jas. Ryder, Pres."

July 29, '37. "The departure of Rev. Mr. McCaffrey from the College is deeply felt and regretted in this city (Philadelphia)."

Aug. 5, '37. "We desire that Willie should not be enrolled in the Rifle Company, as we do not like him to be exposed at his tender age to the dangers incidental to the use of fire arms." Thus do parents decide about their boy.

Sept. 16, '37. "The youngest of our boys is 7 and still requires females' care but masters' discipline." There are parents who willingly or otherwise hand over such children to be brought up at boarding-school.

George Henry Miles was now a boy in the College. The eminence he attained as a writer will make his report for this year interesting.

"2nd, English Grammar: Holds a first place among 20 members. Reads better than any other in class. Good taste. Improving fast. Conduct good. Memory and judgment excellent. Joins in the prayers." O'Neill. (Miles was not yet a Catholic.)

"1st, Arithmetic: Holds fifth place in 14. General knowledge very imperfect. Sometimes shows good talent. Generally very idle. Give him the chance and he'll play. Little taste for study. No ambition. Very tractable. C. McC."

"5th, Greek: Holds a 3rd place in ten. His second year in this class. Little improvement. Neither taste nor ambition. Good talents. No exertion. Conduct excellent. Disposition mild and even. J. J. Conroy" (Bishop).

"2nd, French: Holds a ninth place among 12. Progress very slow. No ambition. Pronounces very badly. Reads but poorly. Writes a very bad composition. Careless and inattentive. Ignorant of grammar. Shows great indifference. Conduct very good. J. J. C."

"4th, Latin: Holds last place in 7. Is too weak for this class; hence he finds no pleasure in the study. Is indifferent and without ambition. But he has fine talents and very amiable disposition.''

"2nd, Writing Class: 24 members. Holds a fifth place. Is very ambitious and successful. Conduct excellent. Disposition mild and obedient."

"1st, History: Holds a middle place. Is attentive and remembers well the substance of the lectures and has a good knowledge of Roman History from Constantine to Valentinian IIIrd. Is ambitious and industrious."

"Cheerful, intelligent, affectionate. Conduct excellent. Respectful. Led by kindness. 1st Com. Soc."

"Spanish Class: Holds 5th place in 12. Pronunciation good. Translates pretty well. Writes a good composition. Talents fair. Conduct very good."

"Drawing Class: Commenced in pencil sketching and has finished a perfect course. Has advanced to the more difficult and valuable branch of India ink shading. He has improved rapidly and exhibits fine talents."

While the Archbishop was at the Mountain the Rev. Father Ryan of Hagerstown died and Father Guth was sent from the College to replace him.

The new chapel spoken of further back (the stone house) was dedicated under the invocation of St. Vincent de Paul on March 17, 1837. Father McElroy, S. J. preaching. [This gentleman lived to an extreme age and died full of works and days in the last quarter of the 19th Century.]

In June a little boy came to the College bringing a letter in which his father recommended him particularly to the authorities and told how he had sent him up from Norfolk in the boat to Baltimore, but the brat had managed to get on board the returning boat and reached home the following morning, whereupon he was at once sent back. Such incidents entertain the Faculty. Professor Beleke brought some books from Europe and "paid four cents per volume duty" on them.

A certain Dr. McCoy, physician at Tampico, Mexico, left in 1833 a legacy of two thousand dollars to the College, and a letter from Father Quarter, New York, February 7, 1838, gives the first intimation of this legacy, the first, as far as we know, ever made to the College, but whether it ever reached the legatee we know not.

Of date Mar. 1, 1839, we have a letter of Rev. Josue M. Young, in which he speaks of the " eminent usefulness in the cause of good morals and piety among the students of the Mountain, of Thomas McCaffrey," the same who left the Mountain with John, who later was pastor of the new church of St. Joseph, Emmitsburg, for some years after its opening, and who died a martyr as we shall see. Josue Young became afterwards Bishop of Erie. When visiting Portland, Me., he called on the editor of the paper and "set up" a paragraph announcing the arrival of "Rt. Rev. J. M. Young, Bishop of Erie, who learned his trade in this office twenty years ago."

Oct. 4, "37. Father Obermeyer to Deacon McCaffrey: "Take my advice and write your 'moral philosophy;' it will be a benefit to the philosophy-world."

' Tis a far cry from ethics to tomatoes, yet we are fain to tell how Abp. Elder used to say that '' the first tomatoes cultivated in the United States were raised in our garden" (we had a French gardener in old times, one Marcilly), and "that Talleyrand taught the Americans that they were good to eat. Before that they were looked upon as mere ornamental plants and the fruit was called 'love apples.'"

In Father O'Donnell's letter quoted in this chapter, he acknowledges a '' mammoth ham'' sent from the Mountain to Bishop Dubois which the latter said he would keep for his golden jubilee in September. In letters of the Archbishop of Baltimore we find like acknowledgments, that go to show the simple manners of the time.

Anonymous Filius, a Sophomore, was afraid of a whipping or discontented with College life or College rations, and in the gloaming of an evening in October, 1837, took French leave and started rapidly on his twenty-mile tramp for home. He arrived there before breakfast and presented himself to Judge Anonymous Pater. The stern American at once passed sentence: "Trot along back, Fili," he said, "I'll catch up with you in a little while." Nothing else was said or done. Filius was not a mile on his weary return march when the Judge came up in his buggy and ordered him in. For five miles they sped on together, the father administering such chastisement and laying on such injunctions as the case required. He then issued final marching orders to his son, and turned homeward. The boy arrived at the College that night, "quite broken up with his excursion," as the President reported to the father. Three years from that, on Commencement day, Judge Pater drove to the College with a splendid pair of bays and carried home his young Bachelor of Arts, the proudest father on the road that day. It is the boy himself, a distinguished member of the bar, who used to tell the story.

At this period Emmitsburg was busier and more interesting than when rail­road facilities drained it of its young and vigorous blood and took its trade to the towns. A proof of this may be found in the fact that a book was published there in 1835, which has the honor of being quoted by Shea in his "Life of Archbishop Carroll," p. 539. It is called "History of My Own Times," by William Otter, familiarly known as Big Bill Otter, in contradistinction to Little Bill of the same surname. Bill was like Robinson Crusoe, a Yorkshireman, and like Mr. Dooley, the Chicago saloon-keeper of these latter years, kept the village tavern and entertained his bibulous guests with many "adventures" more or less credible and creditable, but clothed in language quite suitable to their taste and surroundings. He worked at the "Old White House," the home of the early Faculty and students, and also at the humble residence of Mrs. Seton; and his narrative of the riot at St. Peter's, New York, in 1806 (the only church the Catholics then had there), as well as his account of the simplicity of life at the "College," where he and his fellow-workmen found altar wine under a sand-heap in the cellar where they were resting during the noon-hour; and his tribute to the sisters who took care of him a fortnight when he fell sick at their place is exquisitely naive and simple, but for this alone of high historical value. A Governor of Pennsylvania, whose ancestor figures in the book, paid a large sum for a copy. A '' History of Emmitsburg" by a native came out in 1906, but was published at Frederick. St. Joseph's Academy printed and issued a little "Imitation" the same year, and thus has credit with some for the second book that comes from this village.

Frederick, or Frederick Town, as it is still called by its older inhabitants, a place often mentioned in this history, is twenty-one miles more or less south of the College, and before '61 was the nearest railroad station. It has always possessed great interest for us, as Father Dubois lived there at first while attending the Mountain parish; first voters must go thither to qualify before casting the ballot, and the delightful drive along the base of the Blue Ridge makes a memorable excursion. In former times the boys would make the grave of the author of the Star Spangled Banner an object of their visit, while after the war of Secession, Barbara Fritehie' s tomb and the house whence she waved the alleged flag of her country became a Mecca for many who were captivated by the rhymes of the Quaker Singer of Haverhill. Apart from all this, however, the Jesuit Novitiate stood in Frederick from 1814 to 1903, and the friendliest relations existed between the Jesuits and the College. Anciently, we are told, our seminarians would go down and spend a few weeks with the Jesuits, and the latter would reciprocate and stay awhile at the Mountain. We heard from one of those concerned, now a member of the Hierarchy, how on one such occasion Dr. McCaffrey was, according to custom, distributing the guests to the companionship of his own subjects, and calling one of the novices, asked him whence he hailed. "From Massachusetts," was the answer. "Here Eutaw!" said the Doctor, "you're from South Carolina, Show this young man around; you're a pair of rebels!" Happy indeed and sad are our recollections of the Kovitiate (now transferred to the distant banks of the Hudson), where we so often enjoyed the hospitality of the sons of Loyola, the successors of Father Dubois in that parish. In its garden, among other tombs, was that of Boger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the United States, whose remains were, at the removal of the Novitiate, transferred to the Parish Cemetery. And still

''The clustered towers of Frederick stand Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.''

Special thanks to John Miller for his efforts in scanning the book's contents and converting it into the web page you are now viewing.