Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-08-21

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of children are deprived of that right, save
on Sunday. our readers will remember
that some weeks ago, over one hundred
children were expelled from the public
schools Of BraitCboro for being absent
| without the permission OF their teachers,
but by the consent ana direction of their
| parents, for the purpose Of attending rrli-
ginus Worship or mass on "Corpus Christi"
day. Soon thereafter, one or moro of the
parents, act ing for all, applied to Judge
| Wheeler for maudainus compelling the
| committee, superintendent or teachers,
! whoever might have the authority so 10 do,
to rcinstato these children in school which
| maudamuS he has refused to grant, giving
| his reasons therefor in an elaborate Opin-
| ion. As the real essence oi this ease aud
| of Judge WheClCr's decision lies In a very
narrow compass, We propose to examine it
| rs briefly rs possible, our attention being
| called 10 the subject by the Boston Pilot
| In doing this, We shall allow Judge Wheel
| or to speak for himself TO considerable
| cxtent-bclicving that he has answered
| himself more completely than we can--ac-
| companying the same with running COM
| ments Of our own. We do this with eX-
| treme dinidGncc, because Judge Wheeler
| Is n man learned in the law white we are a
mere layman. We have for our excuse
the desire to defend religious federation and
| liberty of conscience in the good old state
| of Vermont. We do not say that he is
| wrong in his law but we do say that eli
| thcr he is wrong or that the school com
| mittce of Braitlehoru have committed u
| most gricvous wrong against the liberty Of
| conscience which the courts can rectify
| and we firmly believe that both arc wrong.
| Let us see, IN the first place, the nature
| of the day ON which these children were
| absent from school, the day on which they
| were required to be present, aud Tor ali
| scnling themselves on which, 10y the dircc-
| tons Of their parents, they were expelled.
lot Il
| he, certainly, would not use any stronger
| language than ii would bear. lie SAYS
| "Popc Urban w., in the year 1864. Hp-
! pointed Thursday Of the week after Pcutc-
| cost for the celebration of the feast called
| Corpus Christi, aud since then this festival
| has been kept as one OF the greatest in the
| Roman Catholic church, and the day j. one
| ON which there is a STREET obligation on
| members oi that church to hear mass and
| refrain from sCrvilc works" For nOu-at-
| tendance at school on this day, these chill
drcn were eNpeiipd. They could not at
| tend school without violating their relig-
ious duties, yet they were refused pcimis-
sion to he absent. They could not violate
their conscience ant vows by attending
and were, therefore, expelled, and Judge
Wheeler refuses to Ioiusilto them. But
what reason dues lac give for his refusal?
After stating the constitutional provisions
in reference to the right To worship God ac-
cOrding To the dictates of their own con
science and that no person shall he de-
prived of their civil rights, he quotes the
statutory provision making it the duty of
certain officers to "adupt all rcuui site
measures for the Inspection, eNamni-
ton aud regulation of the schools, and for
the improvement of the scholars in learn
ing" We call prrlicular attention Ia this
provision ON account of the strange, and
AS it seems To rs ridiculous, use made
thereof hv the judge. lie then, after the
Ilt-fl
that the OratoIS-NhO arc the Representa-
tives of the childreu-hlVe ~ perfect a
right 10 Keep this festival as have the MEM
beers ul other religious denominations to
worship according To- their u~ug,S, but
that the constitution aud law. only regard
theSahbtth. In other woros, thu under our
constitution and laws, no pcl..n has
right To worship God except Sunday. and il
he docs so worship The laws alllil him no
protcctioH. We are very strong OF the
opinion tba, our laws protect MI {. .iics as
SemblCd for religious worship, no matter
what the day of the week may he; and that
the constitution expressly declare, that no
man shall be intpricrcd with an the free
| exercise of religious Worship" We are
strongly Of the opinion, moreover, that ar
ticle four of part one Of our constitution
has reference to something else besides
mere worship on the sabbath. Aud we
| challenge any ono to read that section. aud
| rise from the reading of it with the least
| idea that, except In one clause. ii was in
| tended to refer To Sunday more than any
| other day OF the week.
But let that pass ; and now 10 another
| point. Referring 10 the statutory proVi-
| sion above quutCd-giveu authority "tn
iu1Ie save. ,tI, N,c 49, ,r',lt,'l ~
ScLnt,rs rrnr, Ia,r;,,., ,, ,,,t ~
| oihnr raIioi,,,. .,ryi,,I az Is, r,,i,ii-
| church or otherwise keeping this festival,
and provided for their exclusion from
mit,ec nv natirn IL ,rn,,iI .,..,,,,,, f., ,,',,
| trnI Tho f,no nvnr,i.c ,rtha ,i,,Lt ~ -
shin aud lao ,nf,r.ioo IL ~, II J.,i,,
| me rriI,Ir.n Of tto ,r,iTrs AMI no,b,,-,t 49,,
| orators themsnIvc, Of a ciyil WHY >, \,
y,o,,,- f., ~. i,., 49, ~. - ~
vhnIe casa hnrn MA ,7,,,,i,i,, III 49, ~
tho rulc mai rbillrc,, sL,lj ,t,,,i .'.i,t''
| sn AMI :, l-rn.,i,,'. tI, r,,i,., ,,r ~ E.r,.,
liz. ,.hutrL iLcy attor,,,rod l, ~ m 80,
| mont to ICON al, s..I,,i ,,. o., ..,.,I
inc poss'i 1nd rr,,, ..l.eo,,i,,,, ,ti c',i,
val - and hac,usn the rhilirnn .,,I thai.
norapts ro.ar,Io1 y,J,t tl,o,. lt H.
| laws of Gnd rather tbnn NJ mn, ~ - a,,,,
milton n~poIirJ ~ i.,x,.uIi a., ,ii
| drrn from, srhnnI. If tl,is IL u,, ', '.i'',
| case of '.oSsunino to ront,oI tbn rrao o,.o,.
| ciso or tho ri,,his of ,vrr.bi,, ,, ana ~ +,
| docs not dpnrivn the nr,tnr. ,nI troi, ,t,ii
| drcn nrac iyil rinht we Know u', wilma
| snrh a cnsn c,n la C,nnl ~, H. i1
refuses to r.si,rc tin ,Iii,l.,, -, ~ ~
r,nse This ruIe .dnns r,,t a,,tn,,. va Ia
made i'm reference 10 any rnIi,i,n, ,,or-
| SHIN Run il is made tn onuIT ,,i,l ta.-
| rife G,rcn tn "relirinus vnr.tjmn ", G,r ~,
one hundred AMI twcn,v cbiidrnD vor vs.
| concerned we In moi Know vLo,hor a.,
| rule that a man il nrosnr,oI =, i,,,i
what bis octs n,ust ,r,eSsnrii,. 'oI,,tt ~,
| will onnIv in ms ,.oso or nat 49, =, a., w.
mon making he rnle noss".sad nr,lin' 'ro
intoilinarna no., ,'',, r., r,' VI ','a'{
| tbiS and Il tI,,Kt a. ,,,t
| iof theHi IL i lalr presumption that they
lowed and irso tI,9t If yvas nm ,,,,a,n,,, ' ~
control the Tree exercises ct the rlaht of
worship, and was therefore void 50 far as