failure to study, but he was willing to suffer that external
degradation which was the complement of and the means of emphasizing,
the teaching of the Holy Spirit in his interior, as well as the means
of purifying his soul more and more perfectly. In after years he
related an instance of his lightness of heart, a natural quality
which he shared with his companion, Brother Walworth. The bishop of
some neighboring diocese, Aix-la-chapelle, if we remember rightly,
happening to visit the house at Wittem, was told of the two American
students. He conversed with them in the recreation, the language
being French. Then he said: "I know how to read English, but I have
never heard it spoken; can you not speak a little piece for me?"
"Certainly," was the answer. After a moment's consultation the two
young men in all seriousness recited together "Peter Piper picked a
peck of pickled peppers," etc. No wonder that the prelate was
astonished at the peculiar sound of English. Then he asked them for a
song. "Oh of course," was the answer, and they sang in unison "The
Carrion Crow," with full chorus and imitations.

Besides taking care of the sick, for which he was admirably fitted by
nature, Brother Hecker made himself generally useful about the house.
He spent much time working among the brothers in the kitchen, and the
writer has heard him say that for nearly the whole of his stay in
Wittem he baked the bread of the entire community. He also carried in
the fuel for the house, using a crate or hod hoisted on his back.

In August, 1848, Brother Walworth was ordained priest, and it was
decided that he and Brother Hecker, together with two young Belgian
priests, Fathers Teunis and Lefevre, should proceed to England, the
Redemptorists having been recently introduced there. As the cassock
is not worn in the streets in England they were sent from Wittem to
Liege and there equipped with clerical suits, the tailor being
cautioned not to be too ecclesiastical in the cut of the garments. He
produced a ridiculous compromise between a fashionable frock-coat and
a cassock, the waist being high and tight and the tails full and
flowing, and flopping about the young clerics' heels. As they
journeyed from Liege to Amsterdam, and thence to London, people
stopped and stared at them in their stylish array, and some laughed
at them. In this instance Brother Hecker's chagrin was not overcome
by his sense of the ludicrous, for he was naturally very sensitiv