hat unity of character which was always
recognized in Father Hecker by those who knew him best. Change in
him, in whatever direction it seemed to proceed, meant primarily the
dropping off of accidental excrescences. There was nothing radical in
it. What he once held with the settled allegiance of his intelligence
he held always, adding to or developing it further as fast as the
clouds were blown away from his mental horizon. From the standpoint
of personal experience he could fairly criticise, as he did in
conversation some few years before his death, Cardinal Newman's
dictum that "conversion is a leap in the dark." "I say," he went on,
"that it is a leap in the light." _"Into_ the light, but through the
dark," was suggested in reply.

"No," he answered. "If one arrives at a recognition of the truth of
Catholic doctrine through one or other form of Protestant orthodoxy,
then the difficulties of ordinary controversy will indeed leave him
to the very end in the dark. But if he comes to the Church through
the working and the results of natural reason, it is light all the
way, and to the very end. I had this out with Cardinal Newman
personally, and he agreed that I was right."

It is true that his views were rectified when he entered the Church,
and that when once in it he was ever acquiring new truth and new
views of truth. But his character never changed. He was a luminous
example of the truth of the saying that the child is father to the
man, so often apparently falsified by experience. Boy and man, the
prominent characteristic of his mind was a clear perception of
fundamentals and a disregard of non-essentials in the whole domain of
life. To reverse a familiar maxim, "Take care of the dollars and the
cents will take care of themselves," might describe his plan of
mental economy. To the small coin of discussion in any field of
inquiry he paid little attention. One who knew him many years has
often heard him say, "Emphasize the universal always."

He was a teacher by natural vocation. No sooner was he satisfied that
he knew anything of general moment than he felt pressed to impart his
knowledge. Contact with him could never be simply for acquaintance'
sake; still less for an idle comparison of views. While no man could
be more frank in the admission of a lack of data on which to base an
opinion in matters of fact, or a lack of illumination on affairs of
conduct or practical direction, when such existed, yet to be certa