The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-07-28

names are passed over unnoticed.
Bot this is Sc Ii should be. IndC stry AND
continuous application will generally, if no
alwsy come off victorious, whilst negligence
ond idIeness will be certainly defeated in tht
race.
Among the most successful in the higher
classes We remarked the names of L. D'Aquin
E. Dsville, ]. Fisher, J. MoPhillips. j. Buckley
D. Craven, A. Enderle, J. Grant, J. Henry, P.
Mortimer. J. MoEnaney and C. Doizs.
The Closing Exercises Of the Academy of tho vi,ita
ton. summervills, near Mobile.
On the 15.h of July we bad the pleasure of
messing the closing exercises of the Aca-
deny of the Visitation situated about three
miles rom the city of Mobile, on the Spring Hill
road. The audience in the spacious hall of ex-
hibition though not large was select, consist
| ing of the parents If the pupils, some special
friends and bsnefactors of the institution, the
Right Rsv. John Q ainlap, D. d, Bishop of the
Diooe Sc, the clergy of the city and several
Jesuit Fathers from sp!ipg Hill College. The
institution is one of the oldest in the United
States, having been founded in 1892, and is
conduct by the Ssters of the Visitation. 1t
would be difficult to find fer young ludi,s
better guides and teachers than the daughters
of the seraphio ST. Francis. The Convent is
beautifully located, and 80 far rs the health,
comfort and the necessary exercise of the
pupils is concerned, nothing more could be de-
sired. Here and there throughout the grounds
are few of the live oekr, perhaps q century
old, spared by the bloody hand of war. A
conclusive evidence of she healthaulnsss of
the Visitation Convent aad viefEity is the fact
attested to by old residents that no epidemic
disease has found it's veg within its walls,
even when suoh epidemios were me- ss virnient
in the city. Tho Academy of the Fisitation
aims at instrnoting young ladies intellectually,
morally and religiousIy. No words in the Eng
lish language give a clearer exposition of the
text of the Psalmss: Teach r1e goodness and
discipline and knowledge" Goodness, not
only IN the Sense Of piety owsTds God, Whic6
IS binding on the pupils at all times eqeally,
wards their nei ghbor, which excludes selfish
ness. In this sense, goodness is virtne Of
which there is great need, and at the same
time there special opportunities of ezer-
eising it amid the trials CT convent or
academic life.
The sound of the word discipline carries
younger daye. 1t is admitted by all scholars
that discipline enters into the very essense of
q solid education. knowledge is, oS COURSE
the end of all systems of instruction, and the
special acquisition looked for in all conveuts
and academies.
The good Sisters know but too we'll that a
system of education which aims at developing
the mental faculties without training the
= hos
learned that God lie the fret term, the middle
term and the end of Christian education. It
is the fact that the Sisters see God in all their
work that enables them to impress upon their
pupils' minds the leading idea with which their
own minds are charged. The Sisters look upon
the new pupil placed under their fostering
care as Michael Angelo, on one occasion, looked
upon the block OF marble which he was chisel-
ing. "There is an angel" said he, "hid in this
marble, and want to set him free."
A taste for reading light literatuTe-the
curse of this age-is not created in the minds
of the pupils of the Visitation Academy. The
morbid craving of the society in which they
move, after they have graduated. for pictorial
papers aud exciting and vicious stories too
often obliterates the taste acquired in the
convent for sounder studies and clearer views
.
pAtronized throughout the Southern States, in
proportion to the population, than in either
the Eastern or Western States. This is up-
doubtedly o danger which parents do not re-
alizs. The Sisters are not blind to the neoes-
| sities of the age. They do not teach their
pupils how to appreciate and talk Aippantly
about Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, OuidS,
Mrs. Henry Wood and other prolific writer's of
fiction they try to cultivate in them taste
for solid and useful reading, such as history,
biography, the natural sciences, 90 that their
young minds may not become dwarfed by
perusing the diluted and sickeniug thoughts
aad ideas of authors whose personal morality
is more than Suspicious.
1t would be interesting, not to cay astopish-
ing, to compute the numbers of young lady
graduates in our day who continue to read OF
study with profit to thsmselves We would