The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-12-13
MEN AND MONEY IN THE MISSION
FIELD.
DR.. Walsh Makes Some Comparisons
More for Chewing Gum Than
for Missions.

One Of the most brilliant features
of the mission congress in Boston,
was the reception given in the ball
room of the Copley-Plaza hotel to the
visiting dignitaries, men and women
delegates, and other guests, under the
auspices of the League of Catholic
Women. Cardinal O'Connell received
the guests, assisted by the members
of the League. Two delegates from
an Indian mission in Dakota, Chief
Eagle Hawk and Chief William, or
Flood, were present, respondent in
their native dress.
The address of the evening was
given by James ]. Walsh, M. D.,
LID, of New York, who gave sew
eral lectures in st. Paul some weeks
ago. DIR. Walsh after describing the
Christian spirit that led the early ex-
plorers of Portugal and Spain to their
great discoveries, said in part:
Here in America our annals of the
early days are full of noblest examples
of this missionary spirit. What the
Jesuits did for the savages at the
North their brother Jesuits and the
Franciscans and "other orders did for
the milder Indians of the South.
Wherever the missionary has had his
opportunity it has been happy thing
for the savage. Wherever missionary
influence was lacking they have
learned the vices of civilization before
learning to practice it's virtues and
the result was destruction.
There are any number of illustra.
tions which show us that the mis-
sionary spirit still lives in the modern
time. Men do not hesitate at the
danger of death, nor does the awful
est of incurable diseases deter them
ct is not the striking adventure
and danger of the missionary life
that are hardest, but long years of real
hardship under the most trying cir.
cumstances, when every modern mode
of comfort is given up and life under
difficult circumstances lived on. 1t is
this that makes the missionary a
living martyr, constitutes his highest
merit and makes the story of his life
an inspiration for those who live in
the midst of luxury and yet find sc
much to complain of and life so arid
People in our time sometimes com
plain that the money spent on mis-
sions could be put to much better use
at home. Nothing could well be sc
specious as this argument. AS mat
ter of fact, there is more than twenty
times as much money spent on chew.
ing gum, soft drinks and candy as
there is on foreign missions. There
is considerably more spent on these
trivialities than all the expenditure
of every kind of religion put together
when it is recalled what an in
spiration to lift oneself up above the
trivialites of life there is in the story
of missionary lives, it is worth many
times more than the price it costs il
for no other purpose than it's wonder
full ethical educational influence
When the other side of it is consid
cred, its significance for the super
natural in life, there is no value thai
can possibly be placed on it.
THE spirit of incentive to do fol
others that is the fruit of such ex
amples is one of the most preciou:
educational influences in the world
Those who are close to missionary
effort because of their personal inter
est and help in it cannot but live
their own lives, deeper and higher
because of it, and that is the only
way to get more out of life and tt
make life really worth the living"