The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-16

Rasur Remount Depot, Mattigiri,
Qndia), July 25, 1916. ri
Dear Rev. Father:
| received both your letters today.
| nearly lost my breath when, on
opening them, / discovered two
cheques, one Of $40, gift from Fa-
Their W., and one of SIS from Miss M.
R. I am very grateful to you for
having thanked these kind benefac-
tors on. my behalf l shall certainly
write to them direct at the earliest
opportunity. AS regards the kind lady
who inquired about the motorcycle,
you may suggest to her that it would
be better to procure one in America.
Good motorcycles are not available
now in India owing to the war.
Owing to the bad state of the roads
in these districts, and because l shall
be under the necessity of having a
sidecar attached to it, a good strong
machine of H. P. is needed. A
cycle car or a small sized motor like
the Humberette would be the best
suited for my work, but the price is
prohibitive. A beggar may not sug-
gest his desires, his likes and dislikes
or look gift horse in the mouth. l
am ready to accept anything that is
given me. In the interests of the
donor, however, | thought | ought to
be explicit. 1t would be a great dis
appointment to them to find that, in
spite of the expenses incurred, their
gift would prove not quite serviceable
to, me.
l thank you very much for your
very kind and sympathetic letter.
May God bless you for the charity
you show a poor Indian priest. l
shall act on your suggestion as occa-
sion offers itself provided you look
after my English" 1 have already
sent you a letter but in these days
of torpedos and bombs one can't be
sure whether it has been blown into
the air or drowned in mid-ocean.
Hence l re-write the whole and leave
it to your discretion to use it as you
please. In case you have received the
first letter you may just publish such
parts as are new"
AS am in charge of about twenty
Christian villages and five chapels l
have to tour about, throughout the
year, staying a month or so In each
chapel so as to give the Catholics a
chance of making their Easter duty,
of having their children baptized, etc.
Just now am at the extreme corner
of my district. The chapel, built of
mud without stones or even bricks, is
old and like old people is trembling
at the foundations. The chapel has
no vestments of it's own, so that
am obliged.sto carry everything with
me when l go there. | have already
told your readers the state of my own
help to make these vestments better!
The altar is the nest of the white ants
and l have a busy congregation when
l say Mass. Except for three old
antique statues the altar is completely
bare. The statues have lost their
paint and varnish One statue there
may represent any saint in Heaven
according to the label attached to the
pedestal which Has been half de-
voured. The one of ST. Anthony has
lost it's right arm, poor recommends
ton for the great wonder worker who
dispensed and still dispenses charity
so bountifully. The dragons head in
the statue of ST. Michael is gone-an
indisputable evidence of fierce battle
and complete victory!
In this place there is no such thing
as market, postofice, etc. | have
become a pure vegetarian not out of
principle but from sheer necessity.
live now on a little rice and vege-
tables-not cabbages, carrots, salad,
ETC., that you may naturally think of,
but just some green's that your poul-
try may pick at. But that is a good
picnic l assure you: it gives the inner
machine some rest from the usual
grinding and makes one relish the
good things when they come. Just
now it is very warm and everyone
swears by the heat. We have, how
ever, cheap system of cooling our
system-not elaborate and com
plicated that Americans would invent
and patent. When Jupiter is propi
tious l have just to stay in my room
and l can have a shower bath free Of
charge as often as l want. During
the night need not be idle; if want
to brush up a few forgotten notions
of astronomy-a subject sadly
neglected during school days-tht
damaged and perforated roof serves
as natures own telescope. l look ou
for pisces" in the Aquarium" fol
"Aquila' on the helmet of Hercules
| provided he has one) and for the
Grow" on the Crater" my search
ends in the cloud of failure and m.
sleep in the morning mists with /;
hazy Dec Gratias.
| have just finished the administra
tion of this village. Before my ad
vent, the annual average of Com
munions was 200 but last year thu
total went up to $50, whilst this yea
it reached 1900. Every year, for. ont
reason or another, over Is would mis-.
their Easter duty. This year have
not even one to record, all have done
their duty. Dec Gratias. Again
must heave sign and say, Oh! L
| had motorcycle, if / could visi
these people oftener and not once {
year as l have to do now. / leave