The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-10-11
BosroN's SCHOOL EXCITEMENT.


excitement ever school matters in Bos-
ton. We have watched the course OF
events with much interest. No one
knows what the outcome is to be; those
who are the most certain that they |
know, really know the least. The ex-
cited leaders are enti ely unreliable as
| Judges. Only those who have been calm |
and diligent observers are in any condi- |
Jion to express an opinion, and we have
| vet to find the first such who has form
ed an opinion. No one out of Boston
can have any suspicion of the excite |
ment here. l,S45 is the largest number
of women that has ever voted in one
| year, and that was a year of excitement;
| his year %, l49 have been assessed, Up |
wards of 1000 have been assessed in a
single day. City Hall, the Park in front
# City Hall, and the street itself, have
neen alive with women, young and old,
IF all shades of belief. This has lasted
for a week, not only through the day,
but until 10 o'clock at night. Open any
church or hall in the city, at any hour,
and you can fill it as it has not been fill
ed before IN its history-not only all cit
ting room, but all standing room, will
be occupied. 1t is the one thing talked
Of in steam and horse cars, at hotels and
restaurants.
1t is difficult to give history of the
movement. A year ago Rev. j. d. Full
ton, d. D., came to this city and deliver
I'd course of lectures on Romanism.
Very few citizens of prominence or posi-
zion were in any wise identified with the
movement, although large crowds are
siad to have been in attendance. When
ne left Boston the general impression
I was that he left no perceptible influence
upon the thought or conviction OF the
/ people; that his positions were extreme
aud his statements unguarded. The Re
publican party year ago put common
P school plank into its platform. This was
warmly greeted by the convention.
p but was not pressed in the campaign,
and was fully offset by the prompt an
= nouncement by Mayor OBrien,
p the Chairman of the Democratic Ward
{ and City Committee, and other promi-
= nent Catholic gentlemen, that there was
no movement on foot against the public
schools, and an int rview with any
/ prominent Catholic layman called forth
prompt and hearty denial of any disloy-
p atty. The Democratic party at the Mu-
dicipal Convention unanimously adopted
a the following resolution, offered by Mr..
n Cuniff, the most influential Catholic
{ of the city
WHEREAS, The recent attempt by q
o partisan press and upon the stump to
= bring into the State campaign the public
e school question was entirely uncal ed
y for and unpatriotic; therefore,
q Resolved, That the Democratic party
1 regards the public school system as the
2 very foundation of our free ms buttons,
= and refers with pride and satisfaction to
4 its support and advocacy of all measures
calculated to make the public schools, in
fact as in name, free to all, whether rich
+ or poor, without regard to race, creed,
= or color.
l. When in the winter a movement was
4 made in the Legislature to have Stat
/ supervision of parochial schools there
= was almost no sentiment in its favor.
q There was then every reason 10 believs
: that neither Catholics or Professionals had
9 any desire to press or allow an issue be-
tween them on the school question.
Following DIR. FultOn's appearance
o and departure, Rev. Mr.. Kennerney, a
n Roman Catholic priest, at the laying Of
the cornerstone of a parochial school in
i Mlddletown, Ct, made an open and Wig
, Orous attack upon the common schools
: Us "heartless, headless, and goddess,
! which led to great deal of thought on
the part of non Catholic citizens. But
! Catholic laymen very generally disa-
vowed any sympathy with such senti-
, ment.
n Late in December, however Rev. F..
/ I. Mccarthy, S. j in a lecture at the
: Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help,
Boston, SAID, emphatically, that he was
, not giving his individual opinion, but
that il was the teaching of the Catholic
Church, when he pronounced the Amer
lean public school system National
fraud, subversIve of the rights of the in
@ dividual, of the family, of religion, and
of the divine rights of God himself
, THE State has no right to teach, no
right to educate. When the State steps
in and assumes the work of the teacher
then there is the Invasion of the individ-
ual rights, of the domestic rights, of the
, rights OF the church, and of divine
, rights. There are no circumstances uu-
der which the State is allowed to teach.
The Catholic Church teaches that if
; Catholics have other schools to send
their children 10, where they can receive
a fitting education, and they send their
children to goddess ochools they
are guilty of moral sin. We cannot al
low this state of things the public school
system to go on without imperiling the
salvation of your children and your own
salvation
This ut'erance lras about it many
things that give the most conservative
Protestants much anxiety. 1t was fol-
lowed by no disclaimer on the part OF
Catholic aymen-indeed,o our experience
was, whether due to our own anxiety
we cannot say, that Catholic rymen
seemed less inclined to speak as they had
two months before, in unqualified
praise of the public school system.
Whatever may have been the cause
there was very general anxiety among
non-Catholic citizens. This was much
heightened by the unprecedented actiy-
Ity Of pronounced enemies of the Catho- |
lie Church. As the saying goes, lit was
in the AIR." 1t was weather breeder"
and yet very little was said, and when |
one spoke it was simply query as to
how long the present condition of things
was to last.
The first Of June was as quiet a time |
as there had been for five years on this
subject, when suddenly the school com.
mittCe, at the closing meeting of the |
year, voted SwintOns Outlines OF His |
tory out of the schools, and transferred |
the teacher of bi5tory-Mr. Travis-to |
another department, at the request, rath-
er vigorously expressed in writing, of |
Rev. Mr.. Metcalf, a Roman Catholic
priest OF the city. Instantly the city
was on fire. Faneuil Hall and fremont
Temple were crowded to overlooking
the same evening and the audiences
were wild in their excitement. A series
of Sunday afternoon meetings was held
in Trement Temple many of the
churches were opened for special ser
vices. After vacation, fremont Temple
was packed, on a Monday noon, when
vigorous addresses were made, and since
then some thirty mass meetings have
been held in various parts of the city.
The Boston school committee almost
unanimously declines to rescind on eth
er the Swinton or the Travis matter,
What will be the result ? 1t is posi-
BILE that it will blow over and be looked
upon six months and six years hence as
phenomenon, like the yellow Day."
it is possible that it will grow more and
more intense until it rends society polt-
ically, socially, and industrially, culmi.
mating in extravagancies which will cost
more than is dreamed of. Probably
neither extreme will be experienced. Ii
it is confined to Boston it must inevitably
soon burn itself out; but if 1t spreads to ,
other large cities and to the country
towns, it will be many a day before we
see the end. If the non-Catholic citi-
zens believe that the Romon Catholic
rank and file are TO accept the idea that