The Irish standard., 1913-06-21

to keep small boys and girls from OBJ
i jectionable picture shows; he has
founded a boys club that is rather
famous among such enterprises, and
he has closed a few dozen fdisorderly
resorts that dared come too near his
. parish. g.,.s.rs,s,,
4 For Father Curry there exists no
delicate problem of how far the Church
may undertake social service; for him
there is no doubt as to the duty of
pastor to promote healthy marriages
and to wed only the fit. He was i'm
mensely interested when told of re-
cent vote Of the Episcopal clergy in
New York, six to one, in favor of I'M
, dertaking the promotion of marriages
between suitable young folk.
"You have been in the marriage
business long time-that Ii, not only
wedding but bringing about we'd
dings?" he was asked.
"Oh, yes,' the priest replied with a
cheerful twinkle. TT is an old story
with us"
His boys club, he said, was holding
its own nicely. Yes, the boys have q
fine gymnasium, but
% "You know, they tire of that sort of
thing,' commented Father Curry. with
hiimor. Now what really makes hit
with them ID the dances we arrange
for them on Saturday night. They are
allowed to bring their girls and it is
no trouble to get them to come. 1t suits
boys out Of tough dance halls but it
enables us rather to keep an eye on the
company they're keeping.
"Of course we encourage fitting mar
riages as much a. we can. / favor
t healthy marriages only, to be sure.
Health certificates would be an excel
lent thing. l have noticed that the
4, Italians among us have a tactful way
OF managing that.
1.-THE Italian father and mother ask
the young man who seeks their daugh-
ter if he il insured. If he is not they
urge him to take out insurance before
the wedding and sometimes they insist
upon it. They put the argument for 1t
on the usual grounds, the risk Of his
dying suddenly and leaving his family
penniless. But what they are often
most concerned about Is assurance as
to the suitors good health. They feel
satisfied that if he can get insurance
there is nothing serious the matter
with him.
Now that seems to me a happy way
of dealing with a delicate problem to
the satisfaction of all hands and the
embarrassment of none"
Father Curry likes Mayor Gaynor
and his methods generally, but perhaps
his greatest complaint now is about
Mr.. Gaynor's edict that took away the
police captains plain clothes men.
II miss those precinct men terribly"
said the pastor, hts brow wrinkling.
4'"rhey would no and did do numberless
= little things to help me keep order in
my district. OF them as a class it
was said that they took graft. l don't
-, know; maybe some of them did. But
they were responsible to the captain
and you could get some sort of relief
when you went to q police station.
W. "Now when there ia a robbery of any
sort, a burglary or any kind of theft, it
is useless to go to your police captain.
: He has the direction only of the uni
formed men and is concerned only with
open crimes or misdemeanors, deeds Of
violence. and so forth. In any sort of
theft you must go to detective leu
tenant, whose district is not confined
to the precinct you live in, but ia much
larger.
Father Curry was asked about his
war on the settlement workers whom
he has accused of trying to capture
children of his parish. He said that
why, do You KNOW" he continued,
:. there is one settlement down here
which takes children away from the
district bodily and you cannot get them
{ back except by writ of habeas COR
pus. suppose they get the parents
!. to sign paper, of whose meaning the
parents have not the least notion. l
don't know what they do with the
children. But even If they send the
youngsters away where they will be
better off (and I don't believe for a
moment anything of the kind), 1t is
truly an extraordinary. proceeding,
isn't it.
Irish and Italians make up Father
= Curry's fold. but the Greeks who live in
! his parish and crowd to their kaph-
pheneia Coffee houses) to read Allan