JAMES GIBBONS 189 most. Though he has never folly recovered from that over- strain of his early years, he has by caref nl discipline of him- self been able to oathve most of the robust men of his genera- tion. Shortly after the war the young priest became secretary to Aichhishop Martin John Spalding of Baltimore, in which position he received valuable training in episcopal adminis- tration. In 1868 he was at the unanimous suggestion of the Gatfaolie bishops of the United States appointed Vicar Apos- tolic of North Carolina. The prospect in this new field of labor was far from inviting. Three priests and some eight hundred souls well scattered over the large state constituted his charge. But it would have required a much more difficult mission than this to discourage the apostolic spirit of James Gibbons. Having been consecrated bishop, he went to his ix>st oi duty with the will that always triumphs. Old Arch- bishop Spalding dismissed his beloved disciple and secretary in his Spartan manner: I have educated you, raised you to the age of manhood, I have given you a ring, and now go root for yourself or die." Frail as he appeared, the young bishop did not die, and root" was a mild enough term for his alternative. A sentence of the Bev. Dr. John Talbot Smith sketches the character of the Vicar's labors in North Carolina and later in Virginia: He traveled through these states as priest and bishop, carrying his own gripsack, progressing in any fashion that the law allowed, living among the people, accepting hos- pitality from pagan, Protestant, infidel, and Catholic, preach- ing wherever he might, in hall, church of any creed, schools, shanties and private dwellings, with as little money as an apostle, without the health or ruggedness of constitution so necessary to a missionary, learning the thoughts of the com- mon people, getting close to their hearts, and securing all that lore which makes him to-day the truest representative of the American people." Eight years of this pioneer labor formed the strenuous novitiate of the future CardinaL He was summoned to Bome in 1870 to take part among the bishops of the world in the great Council of the Vatican. On
