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Show 3 f iiicb j y I jhe Meadow Lark. fhp f prodtTick W. Carroll. '12.) I blitlie Hinder of the lea, l5 I Thv wstrol note I hear. ' 1 .',,rt n'Fponsive sings with thee, 5 A welcome fur the year. , j (f the earth, thy warble tells yZ f mvstic birth anew; 4s T, winter mows still crown the hills Tiwt mwt my distant viw. "hp v ,n field? bt-tray first signs of green J 3 H,.,uath the warm day-noon; TJ ww lfu' reoze awakes unseen Wl TlJJ. sympathetic tune. V i TUv iiumlMTs thrill me with delight rj iiii.Ih of summer rain; hf For now the dawn of life's true light R M.-ik' s .-artli grow young again. Q Missing Sunday Maes. y M'Fing mass on Sunday is the par-'J par-'J j it is the cause of causes when 'j viv i's a '4u-,-ion of Catholic defec-l defec-l I; ' :( "n iiumiin respect, scandal, mixed "Hj I niarriaos, secret societies, bad literacy litera-cy , 'r(, ami evil associations have slain 5 t.'iis of thousands. It has filled th.; " -iiir anl towns in America with an ij Irniv 'f hnd Catholics, who contributa n )'l;irp" a percentage of our population. j ,o' ini-itcd thriving parishes and : ii;.r;ily7.J(l the influence of the church in l) ni'sny American communities. It has n : a Mi?;ht upon the Catholicity of 4 j ny European countries, and by S! brVrliiig ger.ral indifference it has . 5 ,,nroiiniired .-.foliation end plunder on V i th" part of politicians, who rightly be- r" j ifV). tliiit they have nothing to fear t from people wno do not think enough n'f tlK-ir religion to turn out to mass I nn Sunday . It has scandalized believer n and unbeliever alike, and iupplied an j ! additional argument in support of the T ! pprnicions doctrine that o;;e religion is j as good as another. It ha3 ever tieen 5 ; thp first Ftep in the downward road that J )ead to the loss of faith, apostacy and J jrrWigiop : iii short, it is th basic wcak- nPf!jIi the pr.ivnt sin, at whose door al-- al-- m,,;,-t ov-ry form of present-day Catho ic h ' j dvfection can rightly be laid. I ! Philippine Friar Claims Unsettled. 5 ! Si ii;:te bill 2SC3, providing for the pay- ; ; nn nt "f the Philippine lriar claims of f jit.ooi) for rentals of converts by the ' gdvirmnent of the United States and ! (ianuifi' s to their property, which passed ' tin- Semite on January IS, and was u-1 u-1 forrtd to the House committee on war ' claims, was" favorably reported by that j committee Saturday, March 12, and was i to have tieen acted on Friday, March Is, j whh'h is the private calendar day. On i account of the political storm which j was then raging in the House, action in private calendar bills will have to i be postponed to Friday, April 1. Very little opposition has developed to the i bill, and the probabilities are that it I will pass. 1 This bill passed the Senate two years ! aco and was favorably reported by thc chairman of the Philippine committee of the House, Mr. Cooper of Wiscon-fin. Wiscon-fin. but was lost on the floor of th-Hotise th-Hotise by an objection raised by a member from Missouri. The chairman of the war claims committee. com-mittee. Hon. Charles B. Law of Brooklyn. Brook-lyn. N. Y., also reported favorably a bill (H. B. 21636) to pay the Catholic church authorities at Zamboanga, P. I., jr.iioo for a cemetery which the United States government seized in order to Tret thereon some buildings for its use. This bill will also be brought before the House on Friday. April 1. Width of a River. . It is necessary to make use only of the eyes and the brim of a hat to measure meas-ure the width of any ordinary stream or even of a good sized river, and here is the way to do it: S- lect a part of the river bank where thp ground runs back level behind you and, standing at the water's edge, fix your eyt8 on the opposite bank. Now move your hat down over your brow until the edge of the brim is exactly on a lint with the water line on the other skK This will give you a visual angle that may be used on any level surface, and if, as has been suggested, the f round on your side of the river be flat you may "lay off" a corresponding dis-tir.;e dis-tir.;e on it. To do this you have to hold your head exactly steady after get-tin?: get-tin?: the angle with your hat brim, supporting sup-porting your chin with your hand if ne-essary. and turn slowly around until your back is toward the river. Now takp careful note of where your hat lni;n cuts the level surface of the pround as you look over the latter, and from where you stand to that point will bo the width of the river, a distance that may readily be measured by stepping. step-ping. I If you are careful in all these details you can come within a few feet of the rivr's width. Destroying Churches in France. A: a result of the separation law the ('i'.tholic churches in France are now '"'ii'i; threatened with destruction. "With the coming into force of the law 1 e i hurches passed into the hands of the state officials. Still, the priests and i'dpl- have been allowed to use them for worship. Such a state of things is neeessarily very precarious. The use of th. churches by Catholics depending as it does or, the free will of the ministry, may be i-tnppcd at any moment. Another more cunning device has ew.ver. suggested itself to the anti-'rioals anti-'rioals by which they could slowly 1' :t surely do away with Catholic wor-K'l:P wor-K'l:P The churches need repair from 1;'-r- to time. The priests dare not meddle with them. It is not to the in-t'rest in-t'rest oi jiv anti-clericals to preserve tho Maoes of that worship they have ''"' rn to destroy. The churches from wa t of the necessary repairs go into ,l f:.y. They are by law declared dan-c'r dan-c'r i;s to life and are demolished. The 'h'tnc h.-ip hoer) fully worked out. So only a few churches have been de- firmly tpX, aW',,Tet " seems t0 be the thi Jl and wel1 Revised plan of those who would leave the fair plains o. France without a Catholic church. The Religion of Ease. r,h3he ReiiK'" of Ease" is the apt Phrase used by the Rev. . T. O'Connell. Ph-,7;, Pv0Ts fSt- Francis de Sales' h" ,Toledo' 0hi. in a recent sermon ser-mon dealing with some of the religious fade and fancies of the day. . n ThJi reHlon of the world today," e', r ,E0nne11' "js a religion of ease, a religion of elegance, a religion or propriety when it does not interfere too much with the pleasures of the day. it puts away all doctrine. There is no acceptance of truth because it is truth. There is nothing of absolute truth, nothing: of duty. There is all about the goodnesa and beauty of God but nothing of His power. His Justice, His wrath, His judgments. Of conscience con-science that brings remorse, that terrifies, ter-rifies, that reforms, this new religion takes no note. "It has oome to be a habit to think that the things of the past must be put away, must be rejected. So men ignorant ignor-ant of the history of the world will speak of the past as if it was a time when all was ignorance. It Is true that there was darkness and error at times In the pat t, but if we have escaped some of the errors of the past we have not escaped errors of our own day. We have ost the great body of faith, and we have not the great revelation of soul that made men great In the past. "We are not to regard lightly the advances ad-vances and material progress of the day. There are times when the things of the world did not completely engross the minds of men as they do today. Were not those men of a former and simplier day Just as happy in themselves? them-selves? Time was when we had less conveniences and luxuries than we have today. Was not family and social life less disturbed then than it is today? "What does the new religion of ease and elegance do for the soul? There is yet a longing for something than can ?ive comfort to the heart, but the new religion has nothing to offer. We must be watchful of this new religion. It is an easy thing for men who do not understand dogma to say, away with dogma. It is easy for men who live in opposition to Christianity to say, away with the commandments of God. "In this new religion of ease there Js no obligation, no conscience, no dogma, no commandments, no charity. There Is lothing that satisfies the mind or the heart. The only things that satisfy the -ravings of the soul are the things that ire eternal. The past ages have done their share in the development of the human mind. From the past we have ihines that have withstood the assaults of the greater minds, and why should we not cling to the old things, and walk in the old pathways? "And when you go away from the Catholic church, what do you find? No oellef, merely the opinion of some one of no more authority than yourself. Keep fhis new religion of ease out of vour lives, and cling to that religion that is sealed with the blood pf the martyrs and the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ." Irish World. Notre Dame Cathedral. Now that the waters of the great Paris flood have subsided, people are beginning to get an idea of the ruin and devastation wrought everywhere every-where throughout the French capital. The. whole sewer system, which cost countless millions, is practically destroyed. de-stroyed. Some of the city's finest buildings build-ings are tottering to a fall. The great bulk of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, however, so bulwarked in . its ancient strength that it stood scatheless in the 'iath of raging waters, was practically unharmed by the flood. It was perhaps oven more majestic than ever during the days of the disaster, rising apparently ap-parently from the surface of a lake. The snow-covered roof contracted with the dark clouds, and the outlines of the towers and buttresses were geutly softened by the falling snow. Many artists braved the cold and wet to secure a picture which it is not probable prob-able they will ever see again. One Hundred Years Ago. At the beginning of the year 1810, just one hundred years ago, the church in the United States numbered five Episcopal Sees, i. e., one Metropolitan and four Suffragans. New Orleans was not included. With the beginning of the ecclestastical and civil years, 1910, the church, after a century of growth, numberes in this country, including in-cluding Alaska, one hundred Sees with Bishops. Fourteen of these are Metra-politan, Metra-politan, eighty-seven Suffragan, two Vicariates-Apostolic and one a Prefecture-Apostolic. What a splendid growth! What will be the development of the Church in this country one hundred years hence, 2010? Saving the Moments. There is nothing we are so careless about as time, and yet how precious it is; once frittered away we can never make up. Time is so easily lost: it slips away without our noticing, unless we train ourselves to make the mort of it. And then, just as saved pennies grow into dollars, so the staved moments will sum up into years. A large mustard manufacturer manu-facturer is reported to have said that he made his fortune out of the mustard people left on their plates. If we were to occupy every hitherto wasted moment mo-ment we shoxild be surprised to see how much we would get done. There is a saving that the busiest people have the most time. That is because these people peo-ple have learned the value of saving time, making every moment count. No one should ever be found to speak of "killing tie" or of "time hanging heavy," when it is the most valuable thing we possess. There are many who waste more than , half their time, and then continually complain they have no time. There are many ways of wasting time, of which some never stop to think. How many precious moments get swallowed up in "the little ore sleep," the tardiness in getting dressed, taking a half hour for which ten minutes would suffice. A story is told of a person who lost a half hour in the morning and ran after it all day without being able to overtake it. Another thing which makes a great hole In time is needless talking. How quickly a half hour slips by, and perhaps per-haps there is nothing to show for it but perhaps remorse of conscience. Some conversation is anything but waste of time when one comes away having learned something good. But what about, the hole made by idle gossip, uncharitable un-charitable comments, listening to un-kindness un-kindness perhaps even about those whom we ought to defenr. Sometimes it is worse than a waste of time. It is time used for sin. Among the ancient Indians there was a set of men called Gymnosophists. They had a great aversion to sloth and Idleness, and they brought up their young men very strict, for when the tables ta-bles were set for their repasts no one was allowed to sit down until he could give a strict account of his time. If he had neither done nor learned anything useful he was turned out of doors to work while the others enjoyed the fruits of their Industry. |