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Show SECULARIZING SCHOOLBOOKS. Paris Takes the Place of God Maternal Ma-ternal Affection Substituted s for Divine Love. Etc. The London Tablet finds amusement, rather a bitter task, in the curiosities which emerge from the pretended zeal for denominational neutrality in France. "In that country," says the Tablet, "school books are being diligently dili-gently expurgated, professedly in the interests of the non-Christian child, but really, of course, in the hope of de-Christlanizing de-Christlanizing the youth of the nation. Some of the absurdities which have been gathered together in an article In the Correspondent, and these go to show with what grotesque thoroughness the savage anti-clerical can do his work of darkening: the mind nf the viim t, regard to all that could serve to remind him of the Catholic traditions of his country and of the Catholic church. The writer describes how a series of popular school books, long familiar in French elementary education, have been recently, recent-ly, without warning, subjected to a process of reconstruction by which every mention of God and religion hlas been carefully erased. Managers of Catholic schools found on ordering a new supply of the accustomed books that while form, title, and general appearance ap-pearance were the same as hitherto, the contents had been silently revolutionized revolution-ized in the Interests of an anti-religious propaganda. Here are some specimen alterations: . "The 'original edition contained the sentence. God is great'; in the new edition for 'God' is substituted -Paris.' Where formerly 'Divine Love' was mentioned, is now read 'maternal affection.' af-fection.' The sentence 'God exists' is replace! by the maxim of Descartes, 'I thiaii, therefore I am. A reference to the festival of Easter appears as 'la Fete Nationale.' The words 'Pater, 'Ave,'- 'Te Deum,' formerly given as instances in-stances of foreign terms adopted into French are now left out The statement, state-ment, 'all nations have a distant recollection recol-lection of a deluge,' now appears as 'the Italians have a distinct recollection recollec-tion of the eruptions of Vesuvius.' 'Abel was killed by Cain' is replaced by Vercingetorix was conquered by Caesar.' Cae-sar.' The earlier editions taught 'if you break the commandments of God you will not attain the end for which you J)V3 on earth'; the new informs chil dren that 'if you break the laws of Nature Na-ture aa to hygiene you will suffer the penalty.' 0 "Even the poets are not spared from this kind of expurgation. Thus selections selec-tions of passages from .Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, and even Voltaire were excluded by the same censorship, evidently because these authors were sufficiently retrograde to retain in their vocabulary, the expressions, altar, prayer and God. English readers will learn with amazement that the writings writ-ings of Voltaire are considered to be too deeply infected with the views of religion for the sensibilities of the children of modern France." |