early bought even by the postponement
of his proper apostolate, and was ever glad of his labors as a
missionary.

They schooled him in public speaking. In his antecedents there was
abundant reason for diffidence, and he knew full well that what was
good enough language for an harangue to the Seventh Ward Democracy
would be ridiculous in a Catholic pulpit. Nor was he deceived into
the notion of his ability to preach because he could influence men in
private. Conversation is not public speaking, and the defects of
grammar, or any other such defects, if pardoned in an earnest and
honest man in private interchange of views, if committed on the
public rostrum are unpardonable and are usually fatal. Father Hecker
found in the incessant practice of the missionary platform, and in
the assistance of his present superior, exactly what he needed by way
of preparation. Besides the mission sermon at night--the great
sermon, as it was called--there is a short doctrinal instruction at
the same service and a moral one on the sacraments or commandments in
the morning. These became his share of the mission preaching, and the
school in which he acquired that direct, convincing, and popular
manner of discourse for which he was afterwards renowned as a
lecturer.

We find the following among the memoranda:

"When I came over to America with Fathers Bernard and Walworth,
Bernard wanted to know what I could do. Well, by that time I had
given up all hopes of any public career. I couldn't preach. My memory
and intellectual faculties generally were so influenced by my
interior state that theology was out of the question. The lights that
God had given me about the future state of religion in this country
were still clear as ever, but I thought that I should have to confine
myself to imparting them to particular and individual souls whom the
providence of God should throw in my way; for I was persuaded that
the Redemptorist community was unfitted for the future work I had
caught a glimpse of and I was entirely contented to live and die a
Redemptorist, and was quite certain that I should. So, when Bernard
asked me what I could do, I told him to get me some place as chaplain
of a prison or public institution of charity, as that was about all
that I was capable of. But he thought differently.

"My first instructions on the missions were almost word for word
given me by Bernard. I didn't seem to have a single thought of my
own."

To preach, whe