"A servant girl told the venerable Sister Anthony that a poor
lodger was dying in destitution in the west end of the city. The
lodger was Professor Vaughn. The Sister had the good man conveyed
to the Good Samaritan Hospital on April 1, 1879. She made him
comfortable, as he repeatedly declared. He died on April 6, 1879.
_Thoroughly conscious_ up to the last moment, _it was at his
request_ that the undersigned had the melancholy pleasure of
administering to him the last rites of the Catholic Church. It was
neither delirium nor senility that revived his faith. He was but
sixty-one years of age, and as rational as ever in life."
--EUGENE BRADY, S.J.
ETIDORHPA.
TO THE RECIPIENTS OF THE AUTHOR'S EDITION OF ETIDORHPA:
That so large an edition as 1,299 copies of an expensive book,
previously unseen by any subscriber, should have been taken in advance
by reason of a mere announcement, is complimentary to the undersigned;
and yet this very confidence occasioned him not a little anxiety. Under
such circumstances to have failed to give, either in workmanship or
subject-matter, more than was promised in the announcement of Etidorhpa,
would have been painfully embarrassing.
Not without deep concern, then, were the returns awaited; for, while
neither pains nor expense were spared to make the book artistically a
prize, still, beautiful workmanship and attractive illustrations may
serve but to make more conspicuous other failings. Humiliating indeed
would it have been had the recipients, in a spirit of charity, spoken
only of artistic merit and neat bookwork.
When one not a bookman publishes a book, he treads the danger-line. When
such a person, without a great publishing-house behind him, issues a
book like Etidorhpa--a book that, spanning space, seemingly embraces
wild imaginings and speculation, and intrudes on science and
religion--he invites personal disaster.
That in the case of the Author's Edition of Etidorhpa the reverse
happily followed, is evidenced by hundreds of complimentary letters,
written by men versed in this or that section wherein the book intrudes;
and in a general way the undersigned herein gratefully extends his
thanks to all correspondents--thanks for the cordial expressions of
approval, and for the graceful oversights by critics and correspondents,
that none better than he realizes have been extended towards blemishes
that must, to others, be not less apparent than they are to himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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