The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-05

were endowed and the proceeds went to
 the priests who had the obligation of
 chanting or saying mass at stated times Tor the founder, and ito teach gratis
 the poor. who humbly asked 1t for the love of Cod
 Guild schools. also hospital schools and city schools. had their origin in the thir- teenth century These were schools un- der the direction of guilds and hospitals. In themselves ecclesiastical foundations. and under the guidance of the church. Alexander III had a decree concerning 6 these same and recommending them since knowledge Is gift of God and talent is free Towards the close of the middle ages. various communities es- tablished for the express purpose of teaching elementary subjects were found- ed. The best known of these is perhaps, ,, The Brothers of the Commod Life. founded by Gerard Groot d3s0-sD at Deventer. It soon extended to Windes- helm. Agnetenberg and other towns in Holland and north Germany. St Thomas
 kempis, the author of the Imitation of Christ" belonged to this brotherhood. From the above it will be seen that MT Schools contention that common schools had their origin with Reforma- tion is not borne out by fact. since as a l matter of fact. they were in existence before Luther's day. Indeed Catholic historians. and in this they are supported by many non-Catholic historians, as
 shall show assert that the Reformation
 threw letters back, and retarded literary
 and intellectual advancement This for various reasons.
 l First of all, it was a revolution ac- l companied everywhere by turmoil and dis order. Force, rather than reason decided
 the fate of the conflict. Cabals and
 plots, surprises and coup dtats, wars.
 sieges and massacres, were the events Of the day. These conditions have never
 favored literary and intellectual progress at any period of the worlds history
 Secondly. such literature as most pre-
 vailed at the Reformation period was of
 the controversial order, and not exactly
 as charitable and courteously carried on, 1 as, say, this little controversy between Mir. School and myself, to throw our l selves some bouquets. but rather roughly violently disputatiously and many evl. denoes of the worst of temper.
 Thirdly for nearly 50 years p5a0-7o
 England produced no literature of notable value and in Germany the sterility and blight of letters lasted for 200 years. Noi 1 until Leibnitz, did Germany begin t, 1 possess a literature.
 Fourthly, the breaking up of the mon
 asteries. which constituted the common | school system of the middle ages, had al unfavorable effect upon literature, a. 1 well as upon the intelligence of tn
 masses. There was everywhere q fallins 1 off in the attendance at the universities 1 Fifthly, certain forms of Professionalism were distinctly unfavorable to literature l The Anabaptists deoried education ant burned libraries. Calvinism warred or l art and poetry as frivolous and diabolcal Among the Puritans there was a dIslik, 1 for all kinds of human learning tha l was not Biblical or theological. Tho l theatre was an abomination. Tho stud,
 of the classics, to which England owed 1 her literary renaissance. was likensd untt
 the pursuit of false gods.
 Now, lest 1t be said again that I an
 relying on Catholic historians alone, lei
 me quote a few from the opposite
 camp:
 l Froude "A greater man than either
 Macauley or Buckle or the German poet Goethe, says of Luther that he threw | back the intellectual progress of man. kind for centuries by calling on the
 passions of the multitude to decide or
 subjects that ought to have been Jeff l to the learned. The party hatreds