Litchfield enquirer., 1868-12-31
From the Atlantic Monthly.l E
 4, NEW ENGLAND CATHOLIC PRIEST
BY JAMES PARTON. :

f2 witnessed Catholic service. q summer or two since, in the very heart of New Eng
 land which was chapter of Chas. O'Malley
 come to life-a bit of old Ireland transferred
 bodily to the New World. Toward nine
 o'clock on Sunday morning, the hour ap
 pointed for the semi-monthly mass, the
 people gathered about the gate under the
 trees, while the ruddy and robust priest l stood at the church door, accosting those twho entered with loud heartiness that
 made every word he uttered audible to the
 people standing without and to the peopl,
 kneellng within. He was iovial and sym
 pathetic soul who could land did) laugf
 with the merry and. gIieve with the sad
 but 1t was evident that the laughter came far more natural to him than crying. When he had concluded, at g. .15, a boisterous an jovlal conversation with Mrs. OFiynn at the door, every word of which was heard by every member of the waiting congregation, he entered the church, and proceeded to the altar before which he knelt, holding his straw hat in his hand His prayer en- ded. he went into small curtained alcove at the side, where his priestly robes were hanging. Without taking. the trouble to let the curtains fall, he took off his coat, in view of the whole assembly, and put on part ot hls ecclesiastical garments, unassis-
 ted pty his only acolyte,--a little boy in the
 usual costume, who stood by. He then
 went again to the altar, and arranged the various objects for the coming ceremonial
 after which he stepped aslde and coaapies. ed the roblng,--not even going into the al m for the different articler. He might have spared the congregation the pain of seeine
 his struggles to tie his strings behind him but no; he chose to perform the whole without help or without disguise. When | all was ready, he said the mass with per- feet propriety. and with unusual manifesto. tions of feeling. But the sermon, if ser. mon 1t could be called, was absolutely com lc, and much of 1t was intended to be SO. There had been fair recently for the re. decoration of the altar; and in the first part of his discourse the gratified pastor read list of the contributors, with the comments, in something like the style fol- lowing: &G.t,',.i ,,. .,- .'it ,3.15
 i. t'ttMrs. McDowd, SIS, ,5O; and very we'll done too, considering they had nothing utcake upon their table, mo, not so much as an apple. John Haggerty, $2s70; and in dade he IS only Q boy, mere. lad,-and 8 boy he is. Mrs. O'Sullivan, Ss379S; yes, and $27. 42 before. AhI but that was won derful. considering what sbe had to contend with. Mrs. ODonahue, $7.9O; and every cent of it got by selling ten cent picture.
 Very we'll done of you, Mrs. O'Donal1ne Peter Q Brian; $12 % good for you, Peter, and thank you in my own name and in the name of the congregation. :. = Total. S469, Nearly five hundred dollars!I It's really astonishing! and how much of it, my children (this he said with wink and a grin that excited general laughterG sand }.ryvx ysy,1f ,nfi %e<5n .l will kape for himself? Not much, I'm thinking. No indeed. Why should Ii kape it? What do l. want with it? I have enough to eat and drink and wear, and what more does priest want? I have no ambition for money,-not l; and you know it we'll. You know that the whole of this money will be spent upon the altar of God; and We shall spend 1t with the greates economy Not Brussels carpet, of course. That would cost four or five dollars yard. Good iu- grain will do we'll enough for us at present and last long enough too; for can't it be turned? You know it can. Twenty years from now. when we, are all dead and gone, they'll be turning and turning and turning It, and holding 1t up to the light, and say ing wonder who laid down this ould car
 pet? In all my life, I never saw such an altar as this in a-chgreh of this size' turn ing to the altar, ana Surveying it with an lndescrlbably funny attempt to look con- temptuOus), ,-so mane, so very mane! l tell you, if had been here when this altar was made, I'd have wheeled the man out of church pretty quick" (These last wor,ls were accompanied, with the appropriate gesture, expressive of taking the delin-
 quant carpenter by the back of the neck, and propeiling him thereby down the aisle)
 "But what shall I say of those who have given nothing to this fair? An! I tell you,
 when the decorations are all done, and you come here to mass on Sunday mornings, and see Gods house and the sanctuary where he 'dwells all adorned as it should be with theagifts of the faithful. and when you think that you gave not one cent tow ards it, I tell you you'll blush if there's a blush in you" 9iIGh 2 ooai'l"A la.isf#2l
 After proceeding in this tone for twenty minutes, during which he laughed Heartily himself and made the people laugh out right, he changed to. another topic which he handled in style we'll adapted to ac. complish the object intended. He said he had heard that some of the ..hotel girls had been swearing and eHarrelIing good deal that summer, .t'tAh," ".3 he continued, sI was sorry to hear it! The idea of ladies swearing! How wrong, how mean, how tcontemptible, how nasty, how tinchristian! l! Don't you suppose that the ladies and gen tlemen at the hotel have heard how many Protestants are coming into the, bosom of the Catholic Church? Don't you suppose they watch you? They know you're Cath olics. and. don't you suppose, they'll be indging the Catholics by-syou? And be- sides who would marry swearing lady? Tell me that? The most abandoned black guard that walks the streets wouId' mt mar " girl that he had heard swear, for he knows very well that she'd be a bad moth CT. Ii l were young man, and heard ,ay true love swear, do 70 think I'd marrvner? Hey ? do you think I would? By cno manesl
 And wish to God I had spoken about
 this before; for now the season IS almost over, and many of the Pr9testant people have gone home, and very likely are talk ing about it now in New York and Boston.
 You know what they'll say, If that's. the
 way Catholic ladies behave, you don't catch me turning Catholic. r sGesisl4a } ~74
 Al inc conclusion of his discourse he took up the collection himself, saying, as he left each pew, Thank you," in strong hearty tone of voice; and if any one took . little extra trouble to reach oyer, or put into the box something more than the us- uaI copper coin, he bowed and said, 1T thank you very much, madam, very much