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Show Now Is the Time to Work. Year after year, just before each St. Patrick's day, the land is flooded with picture postal cards that are, first, an Insult to the Catholic church, second, , to the Irish race, and third, to ordinary human decency. The shop windows and the counters of some great department stores are filled with these disgraceful things, and with gutta percha representations representa-tions of St. Patrick, with a pipe in his mouth, astride of a pig. In some instances in-stances he has been pictured, arrayed in a shameless directoire gown, killing snakes, with a cross carried in his hand. It is difficult to describe adequately ade-quately the multitude of insulting things that are suddenly put upon the market about the first of March each season. Cathoiic readers need scarcely scarce-ly be reminded of these Infamies. They surely hfive seen them often enough o know they exist. Seme of the worst we have seen so far have been prevalent in this section. sec-tion. Scranton, probably, may claim the most shameful. One is a cartoon picture postal a dumpy monkey-faced St. Patrick, bald-head, a halo above his head, clad in brown, sandaled, a club in his hand with the contemptible contempti-ble screed that is made do service as verse: ::St. Patrick freed old Erin, Of every twisting snake, So. if you've any troubles. Majr he give them all the shake." It certainly is a pity he cannot smash the head of the cartoonist and author of that verse. There would be another snake less in the world, most assuredly. The wretch who wrote the verse is evidently a blithering fool. Cartoon No. 2 is yet more disgusting. The saint is looking through a screen window. On either side of this window-are window-are sideboards on which jugs and glasses stand, funny little shamrocks are flying around the face of the saint' like so many bees trying' to light on h's shaven crown or sting the little hoop which passes for his halo. On the : right of the "screen stands a monkey-faced monkey-faced young Irishman clad 'in evening dress, a glass at his lips: on the left stands a loudly dressed young woman, a cup at her lips, both uttering this ridiculous toast: "Here's a health to St. Pat! May he wax strong and fat On the gracious libations we pour for whatever our creed, We all feel the need Of drinking to one saint more:" If the various temperance societies the country over do not condemn this brutal advocacy of the drink habit, then they are not doing their d"tv. The W. C. T. U.. the C. T. A. U: and Knight of Father Mathew ought to protest against this bedizened advice to get drunk. It is low wit and immoral. Cartoon No. 3 is positively filthy. A brown-robed, monkey-faced St. Patrick still threatened with a copper-ring j ' halo, is chuckling a prettv, young girl under the chin with a fat, over-r'amil-iar thumb and forefinger; she leaning forward as if she likes such familiarity, familiari-ty, her lip3 pursed to kiss him, her eyes full of intense passion. "A pleasant pleas-ant greeting from St. Patrick," says the legend at the side. It is 6afe to assert, however, that there was never such a monkey-faced St. Patrick seen upon earth. It is a repetition of? the ancient, scurrilous lie of fat, lazy monks who were over-familiar with young women. The postal authorities ought to suppress this indecency. j Catholic Light. |