The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-06-19
Rev Raymond Shea Quotes POIOnius in Splendid
 Address


 Many local friends of Rev.
 RaymOnd Shea, aeistant pastor
 of St. Pcter's church, Bridge
 port, will be interested to learn
 that recent address by Fath-
 CT Shea on justice dealing
 principally with It's application
 to economics and present day
 life, has won statewide com
 imendation. The address was
 given at the communion
 breakfast services of St.
 Peter's church and was given
 considerable space in the
 Brldgeport papers. The text of
 the addt'ess is as follows:
 "Men are accustomed to read thte plays of William Shakespeare to pass away an idle hour, to pro- vide for themselves some form of entertainment, or more scientific ally to study our English language as 1t was written and spoken in the Elizabethan era. But we can find many things contained in these plays to engage our attention and give us pause for serious thought. No one has yet ascribed to the
 immortal Shakespeare the title of theologian; there is question even as to whether or not he was a Catholic. But be that as 1t may, the student of Shakespeare who closely reads his lines will find that he has placed on the lips of his characters words that might well come from a pulpit.
 'In the first act of his tragedy called Hamlet which concerns the trials and tribulations of tile Prince of Denmark, we find the scene where young man, Laertes, prepares to take his departure for a foreign land. The young mans father, named in the play, Polo- nius, enters upon the stage to bid his son farewell, and naturally to give some parental advice. Let me quote from this scene. Polo riius is speaking:
 My blessing with you. With these few precepts in thy memory see thou character {. Costly thy habit as they purse can buy and this above all; to thin own self be true, and it must follow, as night the day, thou can'st not then be false to any man. : IN LIGHT OF TO-DAY "To-day we live in an age where these worsd of Polonius might well be taken in their entirety to feed our thoughts. Our present situa- ton clamors for re-adjustmen of the social order.
 We Americans arc now living in national crisis when the very foundations of government are be- ing rocked, when men in public office are seemingly grasping at straws to save our country from total destruction. We arc witness ing men whose names are indeed enrolled on the books of our cit- i;;enry striving for personal gain with no concern for national wel- fare. We arc witnessing to-day | American society being disturbed, molested and bounded by the racketeerlng practices of pseudo Americans. The American nation stands before the world to-day as glaring picture of the result of II Da6C CAGaNa6dAGGg bhb HWY AtAu" eous as . proof that conscience can be stified and man can outwit even himself.
 THE SPENDING MANIA "As we all know, just few short ||years ago, money rolled in Ameri- lean pockets, and the American II people began to spend. It was not la fair proportion and so the great ||system of credit was begun to turn 1.-the wheels of industry, and com merce and business were nutured whole of the American people were spending, spending, spending III. |. but what were they spend- ing?
 "That was the question that someone asked in the fall of 1929. "Then came the great awaken- ling, for the vicious circle had com |pleted it's devastating course. How hre you going to pay for this? Where is the money behind all this business? The answers to these questions were depression hnd the breaking down of all that seemed secure.
 we found out much to our chagrin, that there was money, but not enough of 1t to keep up this mad whirligig. And why? Simply because the American people spent dollars that they did not have. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick- maker--all were supplying tho needs of John Brown in view of his $S5.0O salary. But 1t was not known that John Brown was pur- chasing $50.00 worth of supplies. Of course that meant depression. Someone had to make up the de- hcit. And when the deficit was not made up, the buying stopped and industry ceased, and men became unemployed. A
 "Polonius was very careful to warn Laertes of this: Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy. In other words spend what you have