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Philadelphia, Thursday, “August 26, 1847.
THE CATHOLIC HERALD -
{8 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
M. FITHIAN,
No. 106 North Fourth Street, Philadelphia.
HENRY MAJOR, Epitor.
* Terms.—T wo Dollars and Fifty Cents, if paid
in advance, or Three Dollars,pay able hal fyearly.
No paper discontinued until all arrearages are
settled.
~ All Communications, except from Agents or
Subscribers enclosing remittances, must be post
paid, and addressed ‘+ To the Editor of the Ca-
tholie lerald, Philadelphia, Pa.””
Poetry.
Sy 3 Ror the Catholie Herald.
¥ ota LDN ES,
Compre Bee to the memory of Dominick
March | 187.
: Sleep on, sleep on, dear brother,
<1. Let no earthly cares thy slumbers break,"
. Rest on the bosom of thy mother,
2 Tul ‘the trump thy slumbers wake. «
died at Cuba, un the V3th of | O
“Though i in a distant Jand it be,
Where from thy grave no prayer
Ts borne to heaven for thee,
_ By aril ve the ai
On thy, Creator's breast, ieiad
“In bliss which none can tell, |”
*Let thy pure soul rest
‘Where saints and angels dwell.
From that gentle repose,
‘Mayest thou with glory rise,
“To dwell in thatgbod
Far beyand the skies.
Teed feats
‘SILVESTER.
eet
Philadelphia, Jugusl 16th, 1847.
SE
GODFREY, “THE: LIT?LE: HERMIT,
From the German of Canon Von Schmid.
OF PROVISIONS.
3 a
"Thus for some time did Gidfréy continue
to sativfy the cravings of'nature with a Jitle
bread and his ‘few: nuts, and ‘throughout the
live-long day he assiduously sal‘ on whe’ sum-
mit of the rock to espy some merchant-vessel
or fisheriman’s boat approaching” the island.
lutently he gazed, and strained his viston, but
not a bark was seen over the vast expansive
bosom of tne deep,’ ‘The dreadful thought,
thathe must perish of hunger upon this desert
island, now seized upon him; and in order to
support hiniself as.long as possible, he saw
that he: must carefully economize bis scanty
store of victuals. With his poeket-knife,
therefore, he divided his bread into such: por-
tions as le could allow himself for daily con-
sumption, suflivient barely to satisfy the im-
perative demands of bunger. ‘This daily al-
lowance was not only slender, but hard as a
blone; aad in urder to enable hiwself tu chew
i,t was necessary for him to dip it in the
gurgling stream... With the same degree of
reluctance with which the miser parts with his
gold, did Godfrey consume bis nuts, and he
portioned them out into litte heaps—a heap
for each day's use. Gold, in fact, was not to
him of greater value, ,.. Though he never sa~
tiated his appetite, yet, day by day, his bread
diminished and his nuts grew. fewer, till, at
ast, the day, arrived on which he. was to
Consume the last morsel of bread and the last
Temaining not. Racked with anxiety, he laid
himself down at evening for repose, but on
the following morning bunger, pained him so
aeutely, that his sufferings were extreme, and
he felt faint and weak.
** Good God,’ he exclaimed, ‘1 .cannot
believe that ihou wilt abandon; me. to die of
hunger. Hitherto thou hast always lovingly
provided for me3;,thou hast bestowed upon
ine in this island a few necessaries, without
which T should long ago have perished. But
now the bread is consumed, the nuts are all
gone, so thou wilt enable me to discover some
other food, Iu thee do [ trust; thou wilt not
abandon m
bom
THE FAILURE,
tle now ‘proceeded 10 search the island from |.
one end tw the other, for. roots and herbs
ground was mostly rocky, he found | but few,
In the ‘stream, however. there grew a con-
siderable quantity of water-eress., , Of this he
eat voraciously, both the small green leaves
and the juicy bulbous root, From the source
even to the mouth of the stream’ be searched
itall most carefully. , But this sort of food
was far from quenching his hunger, and. was
moreover. shortly, consumed... Wasted with
amine, he sat himself down upon a_ jutting
rock by the sea-shore, and raised his eyes to-
‘wards the continent.
“Ah, my good God,” reflected he, ** Kow
manifold were the benefits I enjoyed from
thee, without thinking of them—without even
raising my. heart to thank thee forthem! ‘The
earth by a miraculous process produced sweet
bread, the frvit-trees grew and blossomed, the
bending branches groaned beneath their load
of juicy apples and highly-flavored pears,’ and
we could pluck them off atease.’ There fluw-
ed along for me streams of milk and, honey.
lh, pardon me, my God, because I have nor
thanked thee for, them !,. Alas! thy benefits
we recognize, only when we are no longer
permitted to enjoy. them.’
Whilst absorbed in these considerations, in
the clear transparent waters of the sea he es-
, pied aliutle fish, with ruddy fins and dark eyes,
swimming playfully about him.
“Oh, that] could but catch 1t,"’ thought he,
toe But I. have
got no net, and to catch, it with my hand. is
ible, o
“Twas teuly agonizing for the poor hungry
| Godfrey to behold the: little fish beneath - his
eyes, and yel unable to eateh it: and any
other way of fishing except by the net was tu
bim unknown. .
“O my God," he ‘exclaimed, thy beloved
Son has said thata father. when asked, by bis
son to give him a. fish, does not offer him a
serpent. Grani me then to become possessed
of this title ° fish, so that L may not Perish of
hanger." “
| At what moment there. feame a little bird ; 3 it
flew towards him, and alighted upon the branch
of a pine that reared its lofty trank upon the
shore, and Cast its shadow over the deep. In
its beak it bore a worm
: 0 good heavenly Father,” cried Godfrey,
‘ eed. he birds of the air, as thy Son
has “old us, and as I now see-with my own
eyes, allow, me not. theny a poor ebild, to
perish.”
The litle bird then Knocked ‘the restless,
writhing worm against a branch to kill it,
it fell into the water, and, like an arrow, flew
the Tittle ‘fish’ 16 seize. it, and jin an instant
swallowe At
“TL” thought Godfrey. «I were to fasten
such a worm to a piece of string, and the fish
were to swallow it, [could easily draw the
fish out of the water.”
By his side lay his straw hat. Godfrey
anlooseued the ribbon that was pinned around
it, twis ed a long string, searched for a worm,
fastened it to the end, and let it down into the
water. But the little fish would not come
near him. ” [le then tied the string to the end
of bis walking-stick, and again cast the worw
into the water. | Instantly a linle fish began
to nibble, instantly 1 swallowed the worm;
and, Godfrey pulled out’ the Jine—but no
ish
“That won't do,” thought. he himself;
“there should be a hook attached to the
string. by which the fish may be, kept se-
re.”
@
€
Accordingly he took’one of the pins, wih
which the ribbon had been fastened to his hat 5
he bentits point, fastened the string to the pin=
head, then stuck @ worm upon the, houk, and
casthis line into the sea., Instantly the fish
tushed towards it, and at the same moment
swallowed the bait. Godtrey with avidity
drew forth the line, and—oh, what joy—a Int
ue fish, all glistening as silver, was suspend
ed, Quickly be unbooked it, and frequently
repeated the experiment, though not always
with equal success, ein less than half-an
hour he had caught haf-a-dozen. , Who. was
now happier than he? Among \the other
sundry articles in the boat were a Aint, steel,
and tinder, Having gathered iogether a few
ry branches, he kindled a fire, and. upon it
he covked the fish, He was now enabled to
eat and satisfy his appetite; he did so, aod
then fell upon his knees, and thanked God
for it.
Thus did Godlrey daily amuse himself by
wherewith te support himself, Bus as the
fishing. Whilst seated on the rock, large fish,
disporting in the sea, caughthis view,
“Ab cried he, tif L could “only eateh
one of those, I should then have a supply for
several days,’
But he knew well that!to. secure so. large
a fish with his poor tackle, was impossible.
Long, long did te consider how be could fall
in with a, stronger hook, when at last the/re=
qembrance flashed across his mind, that in the
wreck of the shattered bark several iron nails
must be sticking... He hastened off, drew out
from a board a strong nail, sharpened its point
very finely upon a stone, bent it in the shape
of a hook, and by. twisting several breads to-
gether, which he had drawn out of his cravat,
he made for himself a strong line, fastened it
securely to the hook, baited the hook with a
worm, and was now enabled to, draw out the
larger fish. . At this he was. beside himself
with joy.
But Godfrey soon discovered that bis expe-
dieot frequently disappointed him. ; Often had
he, been on the. very point of raising the fish,
when his suspended , prisoner; dropped into
the wateragain. For along time did Godfrey
rack his brain to discover the:,cause of this
mismanagement. | Being from his childhood
a curious observer of ail he saw, and: withal
very inquisitive, it occurred to. him «that he
bade 4 in company with a huntsman, observed
in arrow (with which the sportsman in thaxé
daye killed his prey) and that he had asked the
huntsman what was the use of the two barbs,
when the-hunisman. told him that they .were
ueeful, because the arrow by means, of.them
stuck in the. wound, and was Prevented from
falling out.
, Godfrey accordingly determined to construct
a hook with barbs: his, two hatchets and his
knife he had to make serve him ‘as.-hammer,
anvil, and chisel... With onspeakable trouble,
and after much arduous Jabor, he brought 16
light at last a hook equipped at least with one
barb... He tried it, and, to his great delight,
it rarely. happened. that a single fish, : once
ho. »ked, escaped him.
Bull, however,
that some improvement night yet
upon his discovery.
be m
it was very trouble-
some for the young angler to have always to
hold up his rod to the same height, and care-
fully to watch whether a fish, was biting of
Once,
not, in order instantly to draw it outs
however, as a little peice of wood w
on the surfave, it becane entangled in th
occasion for him to keep his stick elevsted;
as, when he relaxed “the line, the) float, pre-
vented the hook from sinking to the. ground.
Ee soon acknowledged it to. be Inge, that the
piece of wood plainly told bim, even in | ruffled
water, wheuever a fish took the bali, and
Godfrey could already, with correctness, draw
the fish on shore. . lastead of this broken pirce
of wood, he next substituted a nice float, His
fishing tackle was now very light, and he con
sidered bis discovery as complete... He thought
it was quite a new invention; he knew. not
thatit bad been commonly ia. use before this,
and that the art of fishing was called + @n-
gling.” Av last, after completing the di.-
covery, his joy became unspeakable. | He, re-
turned thanks to God for His having given
understanding to,man to make such useful
discoveries, °
Grievous misfortunes at length came upon
poor Godfrey, and for some days he suffered
extremely from hunger. The sea. was so
stormy that he could not fish. The. waves
roared like thunder, and rode so high that he
dared not venture near the shore... After deep
consideration how he might in futere secure
himself from scarcity of. food, be finally came
lo the resolution of setting aside a lite pool
for fish, Not far from the stream he: disco-
vered a decently spacious hole in the stocky
ground, — He conducted the water into it, and
the. pool shortly became: full of clear water.
Here he kept the fish he had caught, and had
thus always a plenuful supply. ,- He wae: at
last delwered from the ever-preying dread of
hunger.
How glad I am,” said he, ‘that I need
no longer be under any apprehension of hav
ing 10 die of hunger ! how I thank thee, good
God! Now will I willingly reaain upon this
island as long as it is thy Divine will. In thy
own good time thou will release me e from my
imprisonment!” i
CHAPTER VI.
THE CAVERN IN THE ROCK,
‘No longer distracted with the pangs of han.
ger or the care of securing a meal, Godfrey’s
always. appedretl hint
Godfrey saw that there was-now’ no longer
thoughts reverted the more keenly to his | pa-
rents and aister and brother—the dearest ob-
jects of his heart, . Daily, yea. almost hourly,
did he gaze in. every, direction to catch the
sight of some vessel,
One morning, as he stood upon the rocky
island peak, he espied suddenly a large vessel.
She was scarcely.a mile distant, and her out-
spread sails were tinged with red as they glis-
tened in the golden sunbeams of morning. . A
ray of joy came upon the good child, but he
wavered between hope and fear, -lmmove-
ably he gazed upon, the ship, whose course
seemed direct, for; the island... Nearer aad
vearer, she approached. Godfrey. in’ haste
seized a long branch from a_pine-tree, soon
had it in readiness; to the end. of it he fas~
tened his red colored handkerchief, and then,
standing on the most elevated point of the rock,
waved his red flag to and fro as a signal for
those, on, board.'; But, ere the vessel came
within such distance of the ssland as to distin-
guish the signal, suddenly she. changed her
cou! was soon far away on the ocean.
Gollirey watehed her with his eye uniil she
was withdrawn from his view below the ulter-
most limi's. of the horizon, and then he sank
down disconsolate and in deep affliction upon
the rock...
For some time he. wept bitterly 5 at last he
called 10. mind the words of ,his father, which
he had heard from him on oecasion: of having
been disappointed in some hope :
«Frequently the assistance of ‘Almighty God
seems. close, at..hand,.when suddenly, itis
'| withdrawn 5 still we must, not on that account
despond—it is.only arial, to whieh God eub-
jects os in wishing to test our patience and
confidence in Him., ; He. will afterwards re+
ward us the more handsomely, .In faci, though
Ue were even to leave vs to die of our misery,
still we should. have no reasva to doubt of the
wisdom of His fatherly affection for us. Every
thing which He does for us is, for our happi-
ness,-if not in this world, i in the. world to
‘With these words hier tues Godteey cons
soled himeelf and resumed courage.
Sull he did not abandon the hope that, ere
long, another ship might come near the island
and take him witli. | But the season of the
year now’ gradually became more inclement;
the autumn commenced with heavy showers,
and for-a day and night it rained incessantly.
1 he dense shade of the pine trees, under whose
branches Godfrey had ‘hitherto spent the
nighis, now no longer. afforded him shelter.
He lay there. as under the eaves of a house;
the ground was ‘everywhere so thoroughly
soaked, that there was nota dry spot to be
it in the whole wood. ‘The long-continued
it tast abated, but the winter was com-
ing on apace. Cold bleak» winds arose, and
the litle woud> was not dense enough to op=
pose them. Daring the night poor litle God-
frey was so benumbed. that he shivered with
cold. -**O my! good 'God,’* said) he, one
motning, on’ awaking, stiffened: with! cold,
how shall [ endure -it when the: depth’ of
the winter arrives? If I shall have to sleep
vpon the frozen ground under: these trees,
through which the wind whistles, 1 shall un=
doubiedly be frozen to death. ° Sweet, loving
Goud, enable me to discover some’ spot where
I may be shielded from the frost and snow,”
He now commenced his s reb for the de~
sired spot. ' Between the lo! peak of the
island, whereon Godfrey daily tool, and an+
other rock, nearly equal in height, there lay
a narrow verdant vale. Oftentimes had God~
frey gazed with a‘thrill of pleasure from his
lofty position upon this spate but had always
hitherto omitted to visit it;‘for to surmount
the steep rocks that overshadowed it was im-
possible, At last, however, the thought struck
him. that perhaps some other approach to. it
might be- discovered. “ Looking around, he
espied, at some hundred Paces ‘distant from
the source of the stream, a rock’ which wes
apparently split’in two from ‘the: top. ‘He
clambered up ‘to the part that was split, and
ineking his way through the opening, fortu=
nately reached the little vale. In the side of
a rock, his eye rested ona hole, the natrow
entrance ol which was shaded by a couple of
aged pines, - He instantly intruded himself
into the comparatively spacious interior, and
in an ecstacy of joy exclaimed, ',
*-«'Phis hole is excavated purposely foe me.
Here can’ 1 with ease protect myself fom the
tains andthe bleak winds.’ Thoa providest
for all, good Father in heaven! As Jong as
Ihave been here, thou hast watched tenderly