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he was recreating from what he considered his more serious
whose personal qualities enable one not to forget , but to trans-
his picture from real life . The biography is not a record , it is
latter are but the mirrored image of himself , the adage that
thoughtful critic in the February issue of " The North American
that it was his religion . Father Sheehan demonstrated in his
nscenery and action to the parish of Doneraile or that of the
Seltic humor , the author fails to satisfy either the taste that
saint . On the whole , ' Father Sheehan's writings are the diary
plea that at all events clay lasts longer than ' Powers . I saw
sacred worship in his little church - the question why the biox-
corrected or revised his manuscript , that his calling as an author
ketches ecclesiastical life across the English Channel . For the
that which he habitually wore . In painting it I borrowed as a
est , his plots are not only uncompromisingly Catholic , but they
a likeness in which , as it were , only one consuming is used ,
olumes that possess no striking merit , not only deal with the
duties as a pastor-visiting the schools and the sick ; studying
Of these I wrote , mostly in his own terms , in the effort to paint
eighboring town of Mallow : part of one volume . Luke Delmede .
more enjoyable and beneficial than acquaintance with a man
of a country pastor , connecting the incidents of parish life . by
by daily contact the needs of his people . He farmers , the
Canon Sheehan only once , and that visit to his home added little
cent , differences of creed . A most religious man , a sincere
personal relations , more even than in his writings , though the
is , of his character , his aims , his methods , his hopes and ideals .
man that digs for clay may not see the flower ; or may bury it
conversed , because it gave him opportunity to instruct while
up entirely of things which , as the documents show , he himself
puzzling world there are few intellectual expressions that are
by the scholarly men who sought him in his solitude , or met
entre round the Irish priest's life . ' Here , too , while there is much
young folk ; perfecting educational plans and attending to the
was to him of wholly secondary interest : that he wrote , as he
said or wrote and did . I am credited with having " discovered "
finding his Goldsmith . But Canon Shechan's biography is made
religion is the most gentlemanly thing in the world . " A
the Irish author . That is true in the sense only in which a
Catholic . Canon Sheehan impresses the non-Catholic reader of
or nothing to my knowledge or impression of him as derived
uns to clerical gossip or the wish to read about a canonized
Review " Admirably expresses this when he writes : " In this
child going out on a spring morning discovers a cross . The
cyond the limited sphere to which they were directly addressed
local appreciation , presents a psychological problem .
from a previous correspondence of many years , and the reading
The answer is another paradox . Broadly speaking , I should say
s equally remarkable . His novels , if we except one or two
light upon the canvas , the estimates of him by his own people ;
education were to be discussed in his neighborhood ; but the
of his books . These volumes give an exact portrait of him , that
observations and reflections , but in such a fashion that they
implest commonplaces of parochial life . but they are confined
him on occasions when enterprises of mutual benevolence and
Catholic ; for his religion is an inseparable part of him . " Yes ,
the widespread attraction to the author of " My New Curate . "
One night , of course , suggest the case of Dr. Primrose
sketch complete scenes and figures . His object was of course
facifying their tenants , but also the man whose culture im-
to paint a moral .
gentry who often found through him not only the sole means of
celebrity . If one adds to them the fact that the writer never
raphy of such a man should meet with more than ordinary
That Father Shechan's stories should have become popular
The reader , then , may naturally ask what is the secret of
All in all , these are modest recommendations to literary
with the upturned soil and justify his action by the utilitarian
his books as a great human being , and the more so for being a
proved their own .
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