The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-12-24

iLcu nHlneS WeTc tNe names OIL CurlS III
men and women who rendered them illus
trlous by the sagacity oftheir lives. There
Is no improperly In imposing q Christian
natnc upon u child, savet the circumstances
create m / have not hesitated 10 give
q child In baptism the name OF briggs
albeit not u Catholic name, I knew him tC
DO n reputable man, II faithful friend, Il
Christian gentleman, d~eservedly held III
high esteem by the Christian community
H. which he lives, By Protestant and CatlI.
Ollie nike. Now | nm sorry 10 say that no
such honorable distinction attaches to tho
name Of Cleveland In tho city where he
lives or in the country ut large, and II !
treated your reporter with some
mental reserve on tho subject Of my
refusal 10 christen tho Shanahan
child by this name, l don't think It ought
to have been attributed 10 ''dishonesty"B 80
much MS to the d~elicacy any Christian
man, not 10 say priest, must feel when
confronted with n subject OF shameful rs.
soCiations. l do not think that because l
hive baptized children by my own sur,
nane-by tho names OF their reputable
neighbors-G am obliged, therefore, in Or
der TO maintain my Consistency to bap.
tiso tho child Of "Catholicus," for instance,
John brigham Young-iowler," or
"llenry Ward Beecher-Mngwump," or
still "Victoria Observation-Disclosures II
Its Sex protected 1t against the menace OF
tho former two. II your Correspondents"
must and will have 1t, Mr.. Editor, it il not
n question Of politics, but of high morals.
Does" Catholicus" think the rising genera.
ton Is not drifting to moral decay inst
enough, but We must needs send them
forth from tho very baptismal fonts
under tho auspices OF his impure
political deitics? 1t Is not ono OF
tho least OF my objections to the
Democratic party that have observed the
demoralizing influence it almost invaria.
bly, has exerted over mon OF my religion
and race. It has conducted to tho groc.
shop and gambling hell. 1t has manufac.
tured from the children OF Irish Catholic
parents "hoodlums' and STRIKERS" The
subject under agitation affords but anotll-
or case in point. For, whilst I was not
entirely surprised that a semi-savage from
the "Sixth" should, SO soon after election,
carry the atmosphere Of tho ward caucus
ever into the house OF God and endeayor
W iuuhC iliulscll sUllu Will tuc DOyS
at tho expense OF his unconscious oil.
spring, my religious scnsibiIities expert
enced n rude shock ut the presentation lin
tho Free Press Of IN Irish Catholic wife
and mother "crying" and feeling dread
full bad" because her child was not
christened by the name OF a self-con-
fessed dcbauchec. Permit mo to say,
in justice to Mrs. Shanahan, that l do not
believe IL word Of this. l know Mrs.
Shanaflan for n decent, respectable, do
mestic, Christian woman, whatever Provi.
dence may have meant by matching her
with such n mate. %"Catholicus," the
"%Shanahans," and company, aided by the
peculiar methods" OF the ''%party," may
succeed in coronatiny vice; but when they
proceed to confer domestic conservation
upon it, L beg leave to remind them that
Catholic Church is not tho place, nor
will l DO the officiating minister. i feel
to say these things. l feel keenly
humiliation Of having to confess their
truth, but il exception be taken to it l beg
to remind the reader that the ~"enter-
prise" Of the Free Press, and not your hum
BILE servant, is responsible for this unwil-
ling reference to the unsavory moral
record OF the political idol OF this unpatri.
otic hour. [REv.l CHARLES O'RErLLY.