The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-10-15
VAGARIES OF MR.. SHAW.
Continued from Page ~


that he had heard from the old woman herself y
And in footnote to this Munchausen moonshine
story, Mr.. Rafael Shaw declares: The names of
the monastery and of all the people concerned were
given me. but | refrain for obvious reasons from
publishing them"
We of the opinion that Mr.. Shaw, before
publishing his legends. consulted the Wandering
Jew of Eugene Sue.
The reasons certainly obvious; he dare not
give any names, place, or date Why, the story
Is obviously absurd, the face of 1T. 1t is its
refutation for pious old woman, known and re-
spectacle, would never have been afraid of being
taken for midnight burglar. Mr. Shaw is as sim
pie as two old women And he is quite senile when
he has occasion to talk about arms and the monks
He says "The stories related of secret armng
and drilling in the churches at night are obviously
not capable of verfcation by layman and for
eigner, but that the Jesuits in Barcelona were
armed before the revolt began. and used their
weapons with skill seems certain. near relative
Of of these warke men of religion told me
that they had twice driven back the mob by firing
from their balconies, it seems fair to assume
that when the newspapers talked of the shooting
down of the crowd by the Jesuits they had some
ground for their statement. Civilians i'll Barcelona
found III the possession of arms were arrested even
though they had not used them, but it does not APP
pear that the Jesuits incurred any penalty for
using Inelr weapons on the mop. POSSIBLY they
never did them. Probably they had
pons. Oh says Mr. Shaw, in footnote. the Re
hgious Orders had weapons Il have been told by
English friend that Spanish acquaintance of
his has, to his knowledge, lately made substantial
sum by selling to the Religious Orders. Now
that is excellent. We longer deal with unknown
old women and unnamed young men; IN
touch with real persons. We have an English
friend and Spanish acquaintance. If Mr. Shaw
Will give us the name and address of his English
friend, and if that gentleman will give the name
and address of his Spanish acquaintance, and If
that Spaniard will give the name and address
of single Religious Order to which he sold arms,
we will hand over $50 to any London hospital, at
Mr. Shaw's choice, should the story turn out to be
true. 1t is a challenge. Mr.. Shaw cannot refuse
to meet 1t, if he is to retain his credit as honest
man. He has filed half book full and nearly
filled the other half, with tales about monks and
nuns that are absolutely absurd. He has no claim
to feel hurt when his veracity is not merely doubt
ed, but openly contested. His personal feelings
are not more sacred to than the feelings of the
monks and nuns. He gloas his stories IN their
disfavor He does not always profess to believe
them himself; but he tells them.
They are lies | am sure tie may not be a liar
himself. But he takes little to discover the
truth No hobo in Spain is half as credulous as
he is. He takes in shoals of lies and lying reports
as whale does sprats, by mouthfuls. Let any
witess old woman or youthful "socarron" throw
him a romance about monks nuns and he swa-
lows it with avid relish He is absolutely dead to
the sense of humor He lets anybody humbug him.
Here is an example of his simplicity and credulity
During the disturbances in Catalina it was said
that shipoads' of monks and being
landed in the middle of the night at sundry ports
along the coast and that they effectually be-
trayed themselves by their nervousness of manner
that the country people had not the slightest doubt
as to who and what they were. But as the people
had no to them
standing certain amount of talk about cutting
throats and hanging-they permitted to pass
unmolested though it is true that there
casional scowls at ill-clad individuals who wore
their trousers with difference as though they
missed the flowing skirts of their cloth They!
Who! The monks the nuns. That the nuns
should wear trousers with difference" is ntelli
gible But why should monks in trousers feel the
Inconvenience! Mr.. Shaw, Mr.. Shaw! Take
tour in Ireland. have talk with iarvey, and
learn how saving gift is humor. But must
not be too hard on you. our book has good parts
in it. When it deals with politics and taxes and
the poor who pay them, it might be much worse.
But picture of Spain 1t is spollt by the au-
thors credulity He believes any cock-and bull
tale He believes and proves not. Once he did try
to prove He was told "of a walledup nun found
iii convent in Barcelona during the July riots.
took some trouble to track this story he says,
land finally convinced myself that it was merey an
echo from the pasta tale of the Inquisiton,
Of some monastic crime"-or of some ufmitigated
liar. let me add. All Mr.. Shaw's tales are echoes.
echoes of his own credulous spirit He has no gift
of humor. no sense of proportion He believes
whatever he is told. because he likes to believe it.
He was not born for history. His trend of mind
is towards romance. Christmas is coming, and the
will soon be with Mr.. Rafael Shaw
should be able to produce good fairy tae he will
find plenty of matter in his present book