THOMAS 



5794 



THOMPSON 



THOMAS, SAINT, one of the Twelve Apostles, 

 commonly referred to as Doubting Thomas, be- 

 cause he was loath to believe that Christ had 

 indeed been raised from the dead (John XX, 

 24-29). His Greek name, Didymus, by which 

 he was also known, means twin, but there is no 

 mention in the Scriptures of a brother, though 

 tradition has attempted to make Thomas the 

 twin of Christ's brother James. Matthew, 

 Mark and Luke tell nothing of Thomas beyond 

 his name in the lists of Apostles, but John, in 

 the verses above referred to, adds an account 

 of the circumstances which won for him his 

 name. 



Of Thomas' later history the Acts of the Apos- 

 tles makes no mention, but tradition makes 

 him a missionary to Parthia or, according to 

 other accounts, to India. This later, or Indian, 

 legend declares that he suffered martyrdom at 

 Mount Saint Thomas, near Madras, in what is 

 now Southeastern India, and certain churches 

 in India which date from the early years of 

 the Christian Era, and which have most re- 

 markably retained their identity through all 

 the centuries, call themselves "Thomas Chris- 

 tians" and claim him as their founder. 



THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905), an Ameri- 

 can orchestra conductor, born at Esens, in 

 Hanover, Germany. His musical training was 

 received mainly from his father, and at the 

 age of ten he began to give public violin con- 

 certs in Hanover. A few months later he emi- 

 grated to America, played with various New 

 York orchestras for two years, and then accom- 

 panied Jenny Lind as a violinist on her first 

 American tour. In spite of his ability as a 

 musician life was a bitter struggle for him for 

 some years, and he himself declared that there 

 were many times when he was so nearly frozen 

 that he could not finger the violin unon reach- 

 ing the orchestra pit. 



In 1861 he began the formation of a great 

 orchestra, and within three years had raised it 

 to such a standard that he was invited by pa- 

 trons of music in New York to give concerts 

 there. By 1869 the organization was known 

 throughout the world, and was in constant de- 

 mand for tours of the larger American cities. 

 Thomas accepted the directorship of the Cin- 

 cinnati College of Music in 1878, but failed to 

 find there the scope of work he desired and two 

 years later again went to New York. He be- 

 came conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic 

 Society, and once more showed his qualities as 

 an inspiring leader by the skill and finish devel- 

 oped in the organization. 



In 1890 he went to Chicago, where again he 

 established one of the greatest orchestras of the 

 world. For years there was annually a heavy 

 deficit, but Chicago music patrons gladly paid 

 the debts incurred in presenting music of so 

 noble a standard. Thomas absolutely refused 

 to present music of a low type, and he lived to 

 see audiences able to appreciate his musical 

 ideals. In 1904 a recital hall costing $750,000 

 was erected in Chicago especially for his orches- 

 tra, but within a few months of its completion 

 overwork exhausted him and he died early in 

 the next year. His successor was Frederick 

 Stock.' 



THOMAS A KEM'PIS (about 1380-1471), a 

 religious writer, reputed author of Imitation of 

 Christ, one of the most famous devotional 

 books ever written. He was born at Kempen, 

 in the Lower Rhine District, of a family whose 

 name was Hemerken, was given a good educa- 

 tion and about the year 1400 entered the Au- 

 gustinian monastery of Mount Saint Agnes, 

 near Zwolle. In 1413 he was ordained a priest, 

 and thereafter lived in quiet at Mount Saint 

 Agnes, becoming subprior in 1425. He wrote 

 Meditations on Christ's Life, The Soul's Solilo- 

 quy and Garden of Roses, but these are prac- 

 tically unnoticed because of the greater fame 

 of his Imitation of Christ, which has passed 

 through many hundred editions' in all languages. 

 There is still, it is true, some controversy about 

 the authorship of this work, but it is almost 

 universally accredited to Thomas a Kempis. A 

 manuscript copy of it in his own hand exists, 

 but this is not positive proof, as all monks 

 were zealous copyists of good books. 



This book, which has been more widely read 

 than any other religious writing except the 

 Bible, grew out of the author's monastic life, 

 and aims to give counsel to all who are seeking 

 the path to righteousness. Thomas a Kempis, 

 whose piety seems to have been of the most 

 genuine and humble character, finds the root 

 of all good in love, the root of all evil in lack 

 of it. People of distinction and power in every 

 age since his own have been profoundly moved 

 by the book; Luther, Samuel Johnson, George 

 Eliot and Lamartine are but a few of those 

 who have admitted their indebtedness to it. 



Consult Scully's Life of the Venerable Thomas 

 a Kempis; Kettlewell's Thomas a Kempis and 

 the Brothers of the Common Life. 



THOMPSON, DAVID (1770-1857), a Canadian 

 explorer, the first white man to follow the 

 course of the Columbia River from its source 

 to its mouth. Thompson was an Englishman 



