The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-09-24
Be Sure You're Right. Then Go
Ahead.


There is one special lesson, deduct
bic from the sad case of Father
Butler, which in no degree depends
upon the ecclesiastical aspect OF the
case. With the latter we have no
mind to interfere. It%concerns Butler
and his wife and the church authori-
ties. 1t is purely a matter of con-
science and belief as among them.
and on the present occasion, SO far al
we can judge, they are all agreed, and
there the matter ends.
But there is a lesson to all young
men in the wreck that has overtaken
Buffers life. 1t is a lesson in the
shaping of their lives which they
should all take to heart. 1t is a les
son upon the anxious celebrating
with which a young man should mark
out and enter upon a set career, and
the steadfastness of purpose with
which he should follow it out when
once adopted.
1t is very poor business for a soldier
in the hour of trial to find that the
privations and perils of war are more
than he can stand. He likes the blare
of the trumpets, the flash of the tinsel
and the admiration of the multitude
that accompanies him on parade. But
the damp, cold air of the tented field,
the p~rivations of the march, and the
deadly storm of iron hail are too much
for him, and he deserts his colors and
goes home, a very ig%nominious spec
tacle indeed to all his fellows.
Similarly when a man adopts any
other course of life which calls for
special sacriices-the Roman Catholic
priesthood for instance-if he means
to play the part of a man, and pre-
serve his self-respect and the regard
of others, he must be very sure at the
outset that he knows his strength
that he has weighed the value of the
things he has to forfeit, and that he
can resist temptation and walk
straight to the end of the way.
AS Father Hanley said in THE JER-
sEY CRY NEWS yesterday, a priest is
not consecrated until he has reached
an age to know his own mind. He can
be under no possible misrepresentation
as to. the sacrifices he must make. He
incurs the privations of the office
with his eyes open and with
all possible elaboration. In truth
then, he makes but a sorry
s-,.-'e when he deserts his colors
,eld i temptation. 1t is not a ques-
ton of lvagion. 1t is simply n of
manhood, and it applies in one degree
or another to the careers of soldiers.
lawyers, doctors, carpenters, tailors,
newspapermen and all other workers
gust as well as to the priesthood.
The person most to be pitied in the
present lamentable case is the woman.
"A wife in the eyes of the law, she is
none in the eyes of her own con-
science. What will be her future?
OUR only competitor was guilty
yesterday of one of those mean and
unjournalistic acts which we have
from time to time noticed
with pain. In its first edition
it announced that the where
abouts of Mrs. Butler, the rejected
wife of Father Butler, were not
known. This was the truth. They
were not known to the Journal. But
THE JERSEY Cry NEWS discovered
her, and in it's four O'Clock edition
printed a long and very touching in
terview with the unhappy womaR.
In the five o'clock edition of the
Journal there appeared a hasty con-
d~ensation Of The JERSEY CRY NEWS
story.
There can be no doubt about the