The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-01-31

Of course you hadn't time. Too bad,
too bad! The trouble was that you
lad a little too much on the table.
rhe Bishop must have thought you
somewhat extravagant."
The young priest looked puzzled as
he returned: "You know, Father, I
should never have bought all those
things for myself; but l thought l
should prepare a supper like that for
a bishop
The older priest smiled and shook
his head slowly two or three times.
"The Bishop would have been content
with the soup, fish and fruit. You
know, for years he was a priest on the
mission. He has been accustomed to
roughing it more than half his life.
1t must have cost you quite a lot
Father Joe swallowed quickly, then
remarked calmly: cover twenty dol
lars, Father, for the three meals the
Bishop had with me. Some of the
things l did not have to buy. | don't
mind expense, but nothing seemed to
please the Bishop. In the evening
he complained of the darkness of the
hall. I had never thought to buy a
lamp for the hall; there was none
there when l came, and l managed to
get along without one. l was obliged
to go to the sacristy for an old lamp
that was there, and it took some little
time to clean and prepare it for light
ing.
"Then in the morning the Bishop
spoke to me of the necessity of keep
ing the altar linens clean. l had them
all washed last week, except the sur
plice l was wearing. 1 had forgotten
all about it, as it was the one that
hangs always in the confessional
had never worn it outside till that
morning. I had given the clean sur
plices to the other two priests, so
was obliged to wear the soiled one
All the other church linen was spot
less.
81 would not mind these things sc
much, Father, but l fear the Bshor
did not feel satisfied with the children's
knowledge Of catechism. | had in
structed them for six weeks and
thought them we'll prepared; but after
the examination the Bishop made no
comment
But do you mean to say that you
we're not present while the Bishop
was examining your children?" asked
Father Mcclure in surprise.
Father Joe nodded his head slowly.
then said, "No, Father, wasn't there
A man from the quarry called to see
me about some stone we were buying
20 repair the foundation of the church.
| and he kept me so long talking that
when l returned the Bishop had fin
ished examining the candidates and
had just begun to robe for the con-
frmation ceremonies
AS the young priest ceased speak
:ng, Father Mcguire said for the sec
ond time. ''If only you had come over
to see me BEFORE. You should have
been present when the Bishop was
questioning the children. Your pres
ence there would have given them
confidence The Bishop has special
method of examining them. He does
not wish to have any long answers;
so he asks his questions SO that the
answer will be nearly always yes
or no. Now, a week ago, when the
| Bishop was here, although l knew my
little ones were we'll prepared,
feared they might be little nervous
seeing the Bishop standing there in
| his great purple cassock and hearing
his great solemn voice, SO I just stood
| behind him, and when the answer
| was in the affirmative, / just nodded
| my head, and of course this gave the
little ones great confidence and they
answered quickly and clearly yes.
| negative I just shook my head slowly
from side to side and they answered
no. without the slightest hesitation
The Bishop was pleased with them.
| The young priest burst out laugh
ing, and the other priest regarded him
with those smiling eyes that the chill
dren knew so well. Father Joe was
beginning to feel glad that he had
come to visit Father MCGUIRE.
When the two friends went in tC
supper, they talked of different things
but towards the close of the meal, the
| conversation veered round again tC
the Bishops visit, and the young mar
! remarked that he would feel very
happy if only he knew that the Bishop
had been pleased with his children.
Father Mcclure looked at him wide
eyed. why. he said, do you NEAR
to tell me that you don't know wha
the Bishop thought of your childrcn?'
The young man swallowed ant
looked quickly at Father Mcclure
wondering where he had failed now
then he nodded his head and said
Eyes, Father
why, it is in the book; in you
parish register where the births ant
marriages are recorded said the old
er priest, and he stood up quickly ant
went into his little study. He re
turned Immediately with a larg
quarto, black-covered volume, with
small square piece Of white canva
, bearing the words Births and Maj
: riages" pasted on it. He opened
\ and read one sentence from til
. Bishops account of his visit to Clark
Cove, which ran thus: "And afte
examining the children, we foun
, them we'll prepared"
Father Mcclure looked at the youn
l s vx11 Il