al man since Noah entered into the ark.

BY THE GRACE OF GOD HE WAS WHAT HE WAS.

ROSSELY DE LORGUES, a Catholic biographer.

Columbus did not owe his great celebrity to his genius or conscience,
but only to his vocation, to his faith, and to the Divine grace.

IN HONOR OF COLUMBUS.

Archbishop Janssens of New Orleans has issued a letter to his diocese
directing a general observance of the 400th anniversary of the discovery
of America. The opening paragraph reads:

"Christopher Columbus was a sincere and devout Catholic; his remarkable
voyage was made possible by the intercession of a holy monk and by the
patronage and liberality of the pious Queen Isabella. The cross of
Christ, the emblem of our holy religion, was planted on America's virgin
soil, and the _Te Deum_ and the holy mass were the first religious
services held on the same. It is, therefore, just and proper that this
great event and festival should be celebrated in a religious as well as
a civil manner."

The Pope having set the Julian date of October 12th for the celebration,
and the President October 21st, the archbishop directs that exercises be
held on both these days--the first of a religious character, the second
civic. October 12th a solemn votive mass will be sung in all the
churches of the diocese, with an exhortation, and October 21st in the
city of New Orleans the clergy will assemble at the archiepiscopal
residence early in the morning and march to the cathedral, where
services will be held at 7.30 o'clock. Sermons of ten minutes each are
to be preached in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian.

THE IMPREGNABLE WILL OF COLUMBUS.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, an American poet. Born in Boston, 1819; died
in Cambridge, 1891. From "W. L. Garrison." Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
Boston.

Such earnest natures are the fiery pith,
The compact nucleus, round which systems grow.
Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith,
And whirls impregnate with the central glow.

O Truth! O Freedom! how are ye still born
In the rude stable, in the manger nursed.
What humble hands unbar those gates of morn
Through which the splendors of the new day burst.

Whatever can be known of earth we know,
Sneered Europe's wise men, in their snail-shells curled;
No! said one man in Genoa, and that no
Out of the dark created this New World.

Men of a thousand shifts and wiles, look here;
See one strai