Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-21
PROTESTANT CHILDREN ATTEND
And the Course is the Same as Elsewhere in
the State Save That the Bible
is Not Read.
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS ARE TAUGHT
In the Public School Buildings After the Regular
Term is Finished.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE D1srArcu.I 1

on the tops of these mountains. For that
reason it has been possible to consolidate
the public schools with the parochial
schools. To-day there are Is Catholic nuns
employed as regular teachers in six different
common school buildings in this neighbor-
hood. Five Of these schools are in Cambria
county. With the number ofteachers they
employ, they are distributed as follows:
Gallitzin borough, 4; Tunnel Hill borough,
2; Lily station, 8; Loretto, 2; Carrolltown,
4. The sixth school, with one teacher, is in
Blair county, Just over the Cambria line.
In each of the school districts the majority
o. the Board OF Directors, who elected the
nuns teachers, are Catholics themselves, ex-
cept in the Blair county district, where the
majority of the board are Protestants.
HOW THEY ARE EXAMINED.
The 16 nuns belong to the Sisterhood of
St. Joseph, the mother-house of which is
located at Ebensburg. The Sisters submit
to a regular examination at the hands of the
County Superintendent like any other ap-
plicant for provisional and permanent GER
tifcates. J. w. Leech is Superintendent of
the public schools in Cambria county, and
he has examined the ladies at various times.
He lives at Ebensburg, and on account o.
that village being the headquarters of the
order from which the nuns come, the exami-
nations have usually been conducted there.
1t is said that in every instance the Catholic
ladies received a very high percentage. At
the school house in Blair county the Sister
there has been reelected teacher year after
year by the Protestant directors.
The Superintendent OF Blair county came
IL L.
animation, but having watched her method
and the results of her work, be cheeriully
Endorsed the certificate which she had origi-
nally received from Superintendent Leech,
OF Cambria.
WHAT THEY TEACH.
But for the sacred habit and somber garb
OF the teachers, stranger visiting these
schools would scarcely notice any difference
between them and the average country
school in other parts of Pennsylvania, or the
larger buildings in Pittsburg. Exactly the
same branches of studies are pursued. There
is an attempt to form and maintain classes,
and keep the Institutions graded as we'll as
possible. Text books chosen by the board,
and approved by the County Superintend-
ent only are used.
1--WE can scarcely teach religion in geog-
raphy," laughed Rev. Father j. Boyle,
priest at the st. Patrick Church in Gallit- |
zin, nor there we tell the children about |
rivers, hills and valleys. Nor can we do it |
very successfully either in grammar, SPELL |
ing or arithmetic. In teaching these public |
schools our Sisters leave religion entirely |
out of the question. 1t wouldn't do other |
wise, Tor there are many Protestant children
under their charge. In the three schools of
Gallitzin and Tunnel Hill there are about
400 pupils and many OF them come from
Protestant families. When a pupil comes
into these schools no questions are asked by
the Sisters as to religion"
THE BIBLE NOT READ.
Yet, there is one omission from the routine
of common schools, which visitor would
quickly notice. and which makes a radical
difference between the school taught by the
Catholic nun and that taught by Protest
ant The Bible is not read in the public
schools here. There are no devotional ex-
ercises whatever at the opening OF the daily
sessions. The Catholic authorities excuse
this omission by saying that the reading of
the Bible in the schools is not compulsory,
and that especially as they have charge, re-
lIgion introduced there among the children
of mixed denominations would be exceed
inCly delicate. 1t is better left out alto
gther, they saw.
The school term here lasts six months
For that length of time the nuns are paid
their salaries out of the State apprOpria-
tion, and the buildings are kept up by the
taxpayers, both Catholic and Protestant.
Therefore in these six months the nuns do
not cathecise the Catholic children on re-
ligious education, as is done every day in
parochial schools, but conduct whatever
cathecism is necessary after school hours in
the church buildings.
EXTRA RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTIONS.
But after the six months public school |
iS fnishad tba SsStar-
school in the public school buildings, in
tended principally for the children of their |
own denomination. This free school lasts |
about four months in the summer, filling in |
the interim from the adjournment of the |
public school to the opening OF the fall and |
winter terms. Rev. Father Boyle explained |
to me that it corresponds with the "pay |
school" which country school teachers |
often conduct in the public school buildings |
during vacations, only in this instance no |
pay is asked by the teachers from the |
parents of the children
THE Sisters receiving no pay from the |
public school fund for these four months. and |
the public not wing to pay Tor the attend |
ance of their children during that time. we /
are of course not under State control for the
four months and the teachers are therefore
at liberty to instruct the children in our
church cathecism," said Father Boyle.
"But we never allow that in the six months
term, for of course it would not be proper
then"
CONFORMING WITH THE LAW.
In this manner the school authorities en-
deavor to obey the second section of article
K of the State Constitution, which reads:
No money raised for the support of the
public schools of the Commonwealth shall be
appropriated to, or used for, the support of
any sectarlan school,
This educational experiment has been
tried now for nearly eight years in this end
OF Cambria county. The people indorse it.
The very fact that it has been in vogue that
long Is proof OF the satisfaction it must give.
OF course, it is question whether if the
Protestants were in control of the schools,
by virtue Of majorities, they would not elect
Protestant ladies as teachers instead of the
sisters, but on the other hand there is the
Instance Of the school in Blair county where
the Protestant board year after wear elects
the Catholic nun teacher. They have given
her some high commentators. The writer
mingled with several Protestant gentlemen
at Gallitzin, and heard no complaints about
the system.
DON'T risk anything with a stubborn
cough when sa e remedy may be had in
DR.. d. Jayue's Expectorant. Sore lunps
and throat are speedily heIped bv IL