The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-13

tan God, the stern punisher has given
place to the gentle Jesus of the Sacred
Heart, bleeding for very love of the souls
he is forever calling.
knowledge has come, too; statue is
not now looked upon as an idol, but a re-
membrancer of God or the saints whose
| lives were, like Gods, passed in doing
! good. A priest is not now a man to be
dreaded and tortured and driven away,
| but one whose influence for good is sought
and welcomed in every community, and in
| that community which is most intelligent
! most welcomed; the confessional is no
| longer a place for dark deeds, the getting
| of gold or the putting of iron chains on
| the Wills of people; but place of balm,
| of comfort of unburdenings, and of new
and better beginnings; the parish school
| is not now place where people are kept
| IN enforced ignorance, and where duty to
! church to the neglect of state is taught;
| but a place where love of God first and
| son, is awakened in youthful hearts, and
| knowledge needed for the right exercise
Of citizen duties and citizen privileges is
| thoroughly and conscientiously engen-
] dered every day.
The state schools have been changed
| and bettered, too. The public school has
| always been the boast of this land but
| the public schools today are very differ
! emit from the public schools of twenty
J nVs years and more ago. Then, for all in
| tents and purposes they were Protestant
! schools, and the Catholic in them. except
| In rare instances, was made to feel that
| he was an alien and should be continue
ously thanking the people whose good
| ness of heart afforded him place and a
| teacher. The public school has improved
| in methods and in the moral and scien-
| tine character of It's work. 1t has been
parish school In turn has been helped by
| the 'valry of the other, and its teachers
are Kept always on the alert with bur-
| nished weapons in hand and eyes open
against any surprise The abiding war
| fare is bringing out the best in each, and
the watchfullness is proving a blessing.
those races have IN them most improva-
bleness that have had the hardy virtues
| developed by battle, by strivings and by
| the eternal vigilance which is always the
price of life and liberty. And so 1t is now.
helped, in spite of all gainsayings, by the
parish school We keep the others faced
front, with eyes watching every point,
and while this is so there is small danger
OF stagnation in the school work for which
the citizens pay so dearly.
But the fight is most unfair. We are
the poor, and yet for conscience's sake
pay twice for the benefit given our chill
dren; Some day the sense of fairness.
which sooner or later will show, itself in
the conduct of the schools and their sun
port, Will set us general standard When
| our children reach that we should get our
share of the public tax; until our chill
dren reach it we were madmen to ask
Inc average cost per year for a child in
the public schools of Worcester county is
$20 al; in Hampden, $22. 1896; in Franklin,
$i6.29; hampshire. $l6.0S2, and Berkshire
/
Worcester county 1868 children, and their
cost 70 the county if in its schools, would
be $l59, 586 As; Hampden has 1888, and their
there. are 250 children, and their cost
would be S4O72 80; Hampshire has S30
which would equal $13, 34S.06, and Berx-
SHIRE has 1890, which would amount to
S44, 4Sl "a. In the Darochial schools of the
diocese we have 17.146 children divided
thus, the yearly burden put upon us for
conscience sake therefore is 1914, 1879 IA. It
IAN Z Il &c
ten years would count up $3441 997. 40
here is something for fair-minded men TO
consider, and those who believe them
selves born for duties of state were wise
70 begin to study now how best to tighten
| the burden; There is no sense in ever
| saving to Catholics: Give up what you
neither argues nor compromises.
II IS thirty-two years since first the
| Il9ur sisters Of Notre Dame came to us
NOW in our diocese there are ninety-one
/ in this sacrifcial calling. There are thir-
| teen hundred sisters of Notre Dame be-
| tween the Atlantic and the Pacific. and
me schools and academies which they
control have roof over twenty-eight thou
| S4no puplls. From the mother house in
| FManur, Belgium, where abides Rev
I iM9ther Annie OF Jesus, who recently was
and hfteen converts of the order in Eu-
rope africa and America are affection
ately GO CONTROLLED. In England the Liver
pool Training College, conducted by these
| sisters has sent out beyond two thou
sand teachers for work in the national
se Sc S1IS OF Great Britain, and the College
bids fair to rival the efficiency of its elder
sister The womanhood of our country
mas wistfql eyes and prayerful hands
| raised for the towers of Trinity
| Ihere came to you eight sweet-faced
sisters in September, 1911 You opened
tne parish p91 school doors for the first time,
ana ana 0oq little girls were welcomed. Today
your sisters are thirtv-four, your brothers
are seven, and both monks anu INNS bavs
i AZ the world of labor in the care of the
Wi i9ey ana 4ood more CHILDREN whom they low
| All these years, while church and school
dla tbifses51yteTy We're going up and We're
| peaptl1ed; all these years, while hospi-
| tal ana orphanage were reared; all these
| years while acres of church land were
proaoened ana smoothed till like velvet
iaue, tne sisters OF Notre Dame lived on
| unc9nplalnlngly between the thin walls
OF the old Bigelow homestead This at
| tdst could not longer shelter them. and
| the heart OF the pastor determined. with
your help, to rear a roof-tree whose mas
innocence would be in keeping with their
deserts and be some measure of reward
Tor me years of their patience.
| twenty years is a long time when ono
looks ahead to things we hope for: If is
but as yesterday when we look back +o
scenes we love. In two months now if
| Will be twenty years since first cams ~
| you and began amongst YOU the lsbnIs ~ "
| the priesthood. Two of us from the sans
nome came, and, as if but on yesterday.
as Father Griffin showed them to us thai
day. Dear old Sister Mary Bernard Of
| the young heart wise as the Wisesf If
wonanklnd, prudent and masterful as
her years and training warranted vet
ilgnt-hearted and sympathetic as a girl Al
school; and Agnes gone 10 God with eli
ner gltts; and she of the soulful eyes, she
whose word drew women and men 10 Tie
feet Of God. she whose like you can hardly
ever hope to find again, Sister Caroline ~
me me i heart q gold. You are making home
I1h
| where you may go between the new walls
ana catch the sweep of a sisters goan
there Will you again meet, even where the
| least of the novices labor. Bernard and
Agnes, and Caroline; for though one is
mere and two are gone, all the old house
hold 1--we and their spirits warm every
| fees iooIe Oh
How God has blessed the world in its
nuns ~ How dreary would Catholic life be
II, their heroisms were suddenly taken olIt
Of it! The materialism Of our age some
times seems as if about TO eneuIf all
dnings nigh and sacred; The great dis
coVeries in the physical sciences Of our
DAY; the ceaseless breathings of the
mighty engines of our industries: The
passing, swift almost as the lightning of
the myriad ships of commerce. bindin@ es
with iron shore and shore the feVegg Of Of
nope for riches; the insatiate hunger for
PLEASURES of sense, and the mad riyalries
o. na5lons, an XIII peace and keep men
| turned from the cool heights where is
lived the sublime life of the soul with
God. War, too and the rumors of war
clvilization in blood forced on peoples by
the bullet and bayonet, and not by the
meekness Of Christ's apostles; wild lib
erty which means the freedom TO talk
raise philosophy from the schools, the
pres S. the novel the platform: to teach
errcr shamelessly; to laugh at moral re-
straint; to- spread corruption and vice
which eats out the hearts of the Young,
| these too, are pouring down on us in toS
rents, and the outlook is saddening,
An! but God is in his world! Wherever
on our crowded streets, amidst the whirI
the dust, the turbulence and the beartIess
rush Of our eYsrN-daN life I catnt -