The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-03-25
COMMUNICATIONS.
sUMaERYIL Twp March p. 1sY


" of her literary abilities by reading the fol-
lowing note, which is an exact copy of the first
or series of notes written and sent by Miss
Black TO parties in this township. But lest
some should be slow to believe that any person
so grossly ignorant as the writer of these notes
would have the presumption to apply for
schooi board to teach the rising generation at
the expense of the public, 1 enclose herewith
the original OF the note published below, hoping
that you will give all who desire to do so, and
especially our worthy County superintendent,
thus realize the great truth, that the common
school system, under the administration of so
position on the people and Il disgrace to the ma
ton Children arc not educated by the system,
other professional men, graduates Of the pub
lie schools, who are unable to write ID short,
simple letter, without committing the grOSsest
errors against orthography and good grammer.
But here is the note-let it speak for Itself:
Wilmore Jan %. 1871
find it my painful duty to inform
you that your Son Nj is doing no good in
school is rather keeping up an dIiOydnccS in our
school he with one two others are 71Ii1len this
once with the rod & 1 Go not think l will do so
ag3ln az an @ Tor 1t do$s no good thought it my duty
it has of late would be compelled to report to
the Directors And it is true he is not learning
would try other means TO have him Study but
he is now old enough to know his duty and to
do it & he must do it or cannot have him come
have written this to you for the good of your
Yours with respect
Teacher Maggie Black
This letter clearly shows that the communica-
ton from Wilnorc was not written by Miss
Black. The impression is that IA wolf in sleeps
cio5hlng composed it, and had the imprudence
and bad taste to induce Miss Black to put her
signature to it, thus dragging the fair maiden
into very unenyiable noUoriety-a position
which should be avoided as much rs possihie nv
every modest member of her sex Therefore
the author of the communica ton from Will
Is ma ,la
use or the reader will know how to make the
| never thought it a crime, as Mr. Maggie
intlmates, to pray or read the Word of God
My correspondence published in the Freeman
of the 4th inst shows that the gentleman's as
sertion is incorrect / taught to pray as
soon as [ came to the use of reason. and as /
grew in years, the Church deeply impressed the
Importance and necessity of prayer upon nv
mind. Although reared on a farm. and still
following the plough, it is safe to say that |
KNOW as much about prayer and the word of
God as MIR. Maggie" himself.
Mr.. Maggie" however, will bear with me
when tell him that Catholics cannot, in con-
| science, JON IN the prayers of mnbeliexers or
read their corrupt version of the Bible. We are
not of those kind that are rags upon every
bush and stick to none" We believe in .'one
faith. one baptism, one @ Cd and Father of all"
and per consequence in only one Church. Thus
convinced. would it not be base and hypocritic-
al in the extreme to join in devotional exercises
with those outside the pale of Truth? Others
may continue on in their inconsistent course,
but as for us we decline to follow in their train.
And Just here let me remind Mr.. Maggie that
Catholics pray at home and at church, and else
Q
ing with others, which in truth and in spirit
fulhls the precept to pray always and if Miss
Black and all other enthusiasts like her would
pursue the same course the peace and harmony
which should exist amongst all people would
not he so often disturbed by bitter dissensons.
There should be q time and place for all things,
and if Miss Black has any leisure time at her
command during school hours, it might not be
a bad idea to apply il TO the task of learning TO
spell, and thus acquire an accomplishment in
which she is very deficient.
Nor is it honest to intimate that I am an Athe-
ist because forsooth would not be willing to
Eead or ilsten to her fnutllatcd version OF the
Scriptures. lf this makes me an Atheist there
| are three hundred millions more like in the
world. But am Catholic, and not an Atheist.
StilI | am free TO say that Atheism, bad it is,
Is no worse in many particulars than Luther
anism. The first pushes its i'm piety further
than the latter, but, witGal, it is guestionably
more logical Lutheranism iSa sickly, decrepid
human Institution in which il is folly to live
and madness to die How can any man lash
himself into the belief that he save his soul
by the aid OF Il religion called into existence by
an apOstate monk?
Mr. "Maggie's" frequent allusions 20 this
land are no doubt intended TO convey the idea
that his claims upon it are greater than mine.
The kerry opposite is the fact But the gentle
man IS not posted, perhaps, and it may do no
harm to refresh his memory with a little histo-
ry. This land" was discovered by Catholic
and named in honor of a Catholic, and Catho-
lies were the first to proclaim liberty of con
pende1ce OF MS reDnbic let ms see Jy compaf,
isnn whar Catholics and Lutherans have done
to make the most abject of slaves, was Lu-
theran. A Lutheran German prince sent his
and stamp ont the life of this young republic.
Quite different was it with Catholics, however.
Erance sent rs men and means; the Irish re-
cruiaed the ranks thnned by Eessan bullets,
and immortal Washington could truly have
SaiFtha lie received Catholic aid and sympathy
from all quarters of the world. And yet not
withstanding all this, the very dcscendants of
rights of consciencc-rightS for which our &C.
reiigionists fought, bled and died, is abun-
dantly recorded on the pages of American his
Miss Black finds aPologist for her obscuri-
ty and bad spelling in Mr.. Maggie, - who puts
in the plea that she wrote to illiterate persons
This would certainly be no Justification, even if
true Tor it is much easier Tor even the lllterate
70 understand a correct than stupid letter
Miss Black wrote as well as she knew how, but
| assure her that those she styles uninteiligept
| were not slow TO detect her delicleucles; ana
they not now prepared to believe that she
could bring either ancient or modern lore in
TO requistion, no matter now much she might
/ fry. Moreover, some members of that family
/ to whom Mr.. Maggie" snceringly alludes, could
/ teach him and his proteSe more ABOUT ancient
and modern lore" in ten minutes than they ever
learned in their entire lifetime.
| My pedigree has also been handled in the
! cOmmunica tion from Wilmore, but on that sub
! ject tie gentleman is grossly mistaken. My
| father and mother were Irish, ana am Irish
/ too though born in his township. My origin
! is purely MileSian, and my ancestors lived in
/ the Green Isle long before the days of st.
/ Patrick. l know as much about the history of
/ that country as Mr.. Maggie but have yet to
/ learn that Catholic Ireland ever put any one to
/ death for reading the Scriptures. On the other
hand, let it be borne in mind that the first reli
! giOus persecution ever known in Ireland segan
| in the days of Henry the Eighth, and who can
be ignorant of the relentless cruelty with W hich
! it has been carried on against Irish Catholics
! from that day to the present. This, however,
! is delicate subject, and one that should not
/ have been introduced by the WirnOre gent.
The gentleman read something somewhere
about the "da rk ages, and as III the case of the
| ancient and modern lore" quotation, he pre-
! tends to know all about them. AS this COM
/ munication is already longer, however, than
! intended, l will say nothing now about those
! dark ages except to ask plain question or
| two. If LutherunfSm existed before the dark
| ages" why did it permit the ages to become
|
an effort TO ward off the darkness, for there is
no trace in history of the fact. We have no ev-
idence whatever that a Lutheran ever raised
his voice on behalf of Christianity at any time
previous to the sO-cailed dark ages II they
! existed in those days they must be held respon-
| sible for permitti the ages to become so dark,
and il is shameful for them to blame others for
| their own msdeeds. Again. if the early Chris
/ tians were LutheranS, the first Catholic must
have originally been Lutheran, and must