The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-12-22
POVERTY OF MANY is HIDDEN
THROUGH PRiDE-ciTY MISSION
AIRY is MAKING STRENUOUS
FIGHT TO SAVE SOULS or POOR
FUNDS soRELY NEEDED-ANY
AND EVERY AMOUNT is VEL
COME.
Communicated

Coffee and little oatmeal in warm
water! Could you live on that diet for
week? No bread, no meat, no DO
tatoes-nothing but black coffee and
mixture of oatmeal and water that
would be more accurately described
as oatmeal soup rather than Cruel.
No, dear reader, this is not the ra-
tons of Belgian or of Polish refugees.
It is the only food that family in
Minneapolis had been able to get for
three days, when the city missionary
called upon them last week
The heart of the priest was touched
when he knocked at the door of the
hut that served as a shelter for a
mother and her five children; while
he noticed every sign of poverty about
the place. A girl of twelve opened the
door, and while she greeted him re.
specially she came out and stood in
the doorway as if anxious to keep him
from entering. Her mother was away,
working in a restaurant all day, and
this girl of twelve had to take care of
% l.
priest noticed her pinched face, her
shabby clothes and worn shoes, and
knew that she was unwilling to have
him enter the wretched home because
she was ashamed of it's poverty That
was just why he wished to enter it,
and he quickly told the little girl that
he must get acquainted with her
brothers and sisters.
The youngest of the children was
three years old Their famished bodies
were barely covered by ragged cloth
ing; their little feet were encased in
old and worn shoes: their blue lips
and pinched faces told story of cold
and hunger more quickly than their
bashful little tongues.
A little candy and good deal of
kindness soon won their confidence,
and presently they were chatting free
ly with the priest. He gradually drew
from their confiding lips the simple
story, not only of poverty, but of suf-
fering, of hunger and cold, and, worse
yet, of fear lest their neighbors would
find out how very poor they were, and
how much they were in need-unrea-
sonable timidity or native modesty,
whichever you will.
The city missionary took steps to
relieve the more pressing necessities
of the family 1t was the worst case
of distressing poverty he had met. 1t
was not, however, and is not, the only
case of such character in the city of
Minneapolis He has a large number
of families that need help throughout
the winter. He must depend entirely
upon the generosity of the Catholic
people to assist him with the neces-
sary funds for this charity.
But this work itself is only neces-
sary preparation for the real work
which the city missionary keeps con-
stantly in mind. 1t is their souls he
wants for God; to gather the children
into the mission of ST. Charles, where
dozen splendid Catholic teachers are
helping the priest to teach catechism,
to prepare the children for Confession
and Communion. There little boys and
girls come, attracted by the warm,
comfortable, cheerful room, the kind
teachers, the good priest.
Some of them have never heard a
prayer; many of them boastfully say
that they know all their prayers"
but when asked to repeat the Our
Father or the Hail, Mary" run
through wild combination of inarticu-
late sounds that mean nothing. They