The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-20

you 10 God for your forgiveness. An,
yes. for with US the Catholics have
been found in every noble avenue OF
life. They have titled the virgin soil,
and made two blades OF grass to grow
where grew but one before. They have
tanned the wilderness, harnessed the
elements and employed the mountain
torrents. They have been heard in leg
islative hall and deliberative assembly.
They were never tories, but. gallantly
fighting, were with the patriots in the
revolutionary war. were with the he
roic pioneers in 1872, and they were
with those gallant boys in blue who
bore that dear old flag from wilson's
Greek to Shiloh, from Shiloh to Attain
ia, and from Atlanta to the sea,
During the century whose sun Is now
setting great strides have been taken In
another form OF liberty-the emancipa-
ton OF thought. But thought liberty
will never be realized until we can re-
spect and give weight to the opinions
of others. Bigotry and prejudice are
its enemies. Perhaps churchmen are
severely liable to this criticism. Be
tween the misrepresentation of the
church and the Misrepresentation of
the age, there has often been conflict.
The church herself is now and has ever
been the embodiment of progression.
She has preached the gospel to the
Athenians on Mars Hill. 10 the senators
in Rome, to the English at st. Paurs.
To the Irish at Tara. She has labored
with the emperor in his court and the
slave in his hut. She has penetrated
the wilderness of America, the bush
Of Australia, and the jungles of Africa.
During the dark ages. that dreamy
midnight OF the worlds history, she
kept alive the only fiickering flame in
the lamp of knowledge. But church
men are often slow to grasp the spirit
and thought of the age. This is not
strange. The great Aristotle taught
that the earth was fiat. and wise Sir
Francis Bacon believed that slavery
was n Divine institution. But let the
churchmen keep in advance of the
times. let them teach by tene: and ex-
ample the great lesson of brotherly
love. Clannishness, bigctry, race and
religious preferment-these are the arch
enemies of progress and enlighten-
ment We are no longer the colonies
of America. but we are the United
states of America. We are not Ger
man Americans, English-American ms.
French Americans, nor Iiish-Ameri-
cans. but we are Americans. We have
earned the distinction; we have given
luster. glory and honor 10 the name.
and we propose unqualifiedly to en-
JOY It,
As such we should fly only the
American flag over public buildings.
citadel or society hall. II is our flag
Erin's banner is green with the memor-
les of saints and heroes. The harp
thereon is golden-its last string
snapped because it could be attuned
only to life. liberty and love It's
beautiful to look up. Twill do for deco
rations, but never to lead our process
sions. Furl it, fold it, gently, softly.
till, in her own land, in brighter days,
epitaph of Robert Emmett" The flag
OF France is glorious one But
France is the mother of noble sons who
have taken Columbia as their bride.
and at the altar of holy union they
vowed the stars and stripes to love.
cherish and protect.
Religious strife is the bane of human
progress; let us do our part TO avoid it,
AS we are in a hopeless minority, IL is
not in our interest to do so. But the
fact remain that even i'm free America
TO be Catholic is a disqualification
The young Catholic will find his reli-
gion hindrance in many callings And
in this connection l wish to read to
you from letter written me by an old
time friend. He is a bright and am
bilious young man. blessed with the de-
cidedly Celtic name of Quinn O'Brien.
or course, no one would ever take him
to be Irish. He is. though. Now, my
only excuse for reading this to you is
that am something of a hero-worship-
er. l don't know whether you are or
not. But 1 am always willing that some
one else should be the hero / am-well
i also believe in the theory of evolution
and when find myself In danger be-
heVe in evolving myself from IL as soon
as possible. But this Mr.. O'Brien is a
teacher and has a very laudable ambi-
ton 10 become the principal of some
public school He writes applications
as usual. and is telling me of the re-
plies he receives He says, I'm one place
they replied asking me Creadng) to
what church ! Belonged" of course.
they thought from his name that he
was a-Mohammedan; also IL / attend
ed Dances" another town i'm this state
wrote to one of my references as fol-
lows: Mr.. O'Brien has applied for
our school. We infer from his name
that he is son of Erin. Please inform
us If we are correct This is evidently
equivalent that NO Irish need apply"
1t reminds me OF the hes something
of an orator himself" II reminds me
of the words OF Phillips, Though ge-
MUS fash from your eye, and eloquence
are Catholic" Merciful God, what a
state of society is this when thy wor-
ship is made a disqualification; thy re-
ligion traffic. and its founder a mo-
nopoly.
This is the spirit of know nothiugism.
IL Is also the essence of ignorance. And
when l say this, j am prepared to make
good my assertion that know-nothing-
ism and ignorance go hand in hand
and that the ignorant people OF Amer
icn composed the know-nothing party.
Let us prove this by the vote pOlled by
the know-nothing party in 1856. You
VIII find that party polled its largest
vote i'm states where the people were
most illiterate. For instance. in Geor-
gia, where 40 per cent. OF the people
can neither read nor write. the know
nothing party polled 43 per cent. OF the
total vote In Louisiana, where A. per
cent. cannot read or write. As per cent.
OF the vote went TO the know nothing
party. In North Carolina, where IS per
cent could neither read or write. as per
cent. Of the vote went to that party:
while in South Carolina. with i5 per
cent. illiterate. the know nothing party
had - per cent. Of the vote. Compare
this with Connecticut. where only per