The Irish standard., 1908-11-21
The Social Condition of Ireland During That Period Shows
That the Inhabitants Possessed the
Love of Learning.
AN0N.CA7H0L|C HISTORIAN ON THE SUBJECT
Latin we'll as Irish Was Commonly Used a Spoken
Language by the Majority Of the Edu-
Gated Classes.

spread ignorance of Scottish history
among more picked pupils. A. large
proportion Of honor candidates who
wrote on Montrose confused him with
Dundee" Commenting on which
statement Mr.. Andrew Lang says:
who but ourselves is in fault If our
own history is neglected to such a
pitch that honor candidates do not
know from each other the two glories
Of the Gramas?" Certainly it is an in
tcresting evidence of the intelligence
and learning of the said Candidates
when they can't distinguish between
Bonnie Dundee and the MARQUIS of
Montrose.
Another sidelight on the days when
everybody was kept in ignorance and
slavery by. Rome" is cast by the Pro-
testant Bishop of Glasgow. In course
OF. a recent address to q Friendly So
-ciety,7'te said tffat in the Middle Ages
women were in q wonderful position
of equality They shared the duties Of
ffe quite easily and naturally with
men. There was then no question of
keeping them out of anything. Though
life in the fifteenth century was not
all rose-colored, yet there was very
substantial share of beauty to it. Wo-
men were freemen off, the various
Guilds: Great ladies occupied the
posts of high councillors and so forth
and yet those were by many called
the Dark Ages, in which people were
supposed to know nothing. In home
life, too, the women of the Middle
Ages were efficient. They did a vast
amount of skilled household work
which it might puzzle even some
highly educated young ladies Of the
present day to accomplish. AS time
passed"-and the Reformed religion
prevailed-"the women's position
changed. Some of the girls schools
M the reign of the Georges did not
teach much, and gradually women be-
gan to lose many of the arts in which
their predecessors were expert" "Ro-
manism" was not exactly ramnant in
the reign Of the Georges. Bishop
Campbell added that women now are
gaining much Of the lost ground. Still.
IT is not very long since another Prot
estant Bishop in Scotland was de-
ploring the shocking ignorance on mat
ters religious shown by candidates for
Confirmation, who had been educated
at expensive ladies' boarding schools.
And in the Dark Ages it was not
found necessary to offer money prizes
to mothers for the keeping alive Of
their infants for twelve months after
birth. Well has it been said that what
soever is best and noblest in the world
today, tenderness for suffering, it's
sympathy, its care of the sick ami
poor and helpless, its hospitals ami
orphanages, all are the results of CEN
turtles Of Catholic charity and self
denial. And to the Catholic love Of
knowledge and learning are due the
noble Universities and Colleges of
which Professionalism in those coun-
tries shamelessly robbed the faithful.
"Yes, we regard them as the most
important branch of our work. AS
you know, the government is grad
ually closing the primary institutions
conducted by the Christian Brothers.
When that occurs we reopen the school
IL the building happens to be our prop
erty, with lay teachers. who profess
the. same principles as the Brothers, so
that the work goes on as before.
II may say" observed the cure, his
face aglow with humor, that when
they close one of my institutions I
open two; a school and an orphan
age or a school and -dispensary.
There are certain powerful reasons
that are helping us to maintain our
schools in one form. or other. The
frst is that their total suppression