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Show SWEETEN OpR SOCIAL LIFE - (By Elizabeth Kelly, Denver.) - A mission more glorious than anything toward which fraternal societies fostered by the Catholic church have yet bent their energies lies in the path of the Queen's Daughters, and it is theirs to embrace em-brace the. opportunity to accomplish good, such as will make , thq .organization .stand, .alone, distinct from any kindred society seeking to co-operate with the ministers of the church in spreading the gospel of religion, peace and happiness. . To 'women, -the very "salt of the earth," has fallen fal-len the work of rescuing the degraded, sin-stricken' soul, of bringing comfort to those whom the hand of death has left sorrowful in the shadow of darkness, dark-ness, of teaching the orphaned child the ways of truth and righteousness; but there is still a mission mis-sion unaccomplished which is beyond the scope of the cloistered nun, but which can and must needs reach fulfillment through the Catholic women who, not called to the cloister, seek a chance in the busy workaday yorld to be of. service to the church and to the great toiling masses. Borrowing the expression from no specific creed, though it be the keynote of many, "so much depends ,upon' love." There is that natural love which springs in the heart of the little child toward all God's creatures, but which is stifled as the years go by and supreme selfishness, for which the age is noted, gets .possession of the human heart, choking chok-ing out generous impulses save in rare cases, and implanting .instead the, seecl.pf materialism.. "The universal love of mankind," the doctrine of certain sects,- can easily creep into the heart, even after materialism has apparently deadened what is best in human nature. To promote this "universal love" 'can be , the aim of- the young women who seek to do good by stealth and in time into What a noble calling it will develop, v The cries of the busy world cannot always penetrate pene-trate the walls of the cloister, and perhaps it is better so. Sin-burdened souls find refuge with the good women there, but the misery of the more trivial triv-ial things of life is happily spared them. There is much that they cannot do, and which can easily be accomplished by the women who go out among the toilers) mingling day by day with real life. The doctrine of "universal love of mankind" man-kind" is so easily implanted in seeing the everyday miseries of, life. It. gives one less confio'erice in self and inspires a sympathy for the less fortunate,, which is so nearly akin to love that it might even be mistaken for it. Gradually the general love of all becomes "an outgrowth, of, this sympathy, and in time this knits closely together all. of the creatures of God, making the "universal brotherhood" an easy and natural sequence. Now what lies within the scope of the Queen's Daughters is this. Their .mission lies among the poor and lowly. It is for them to seek, and find those yearning for spiritual consolation as well as for the material necessities of life. These things they will do. It is their pledge and has iiot been disregarded in any town or hamlet where the organization or-ganization has gained a foothold. The needy have 'everywhere ' bund - friends in the young women who (-all 'themselves; Daughters of the" Qtufen - of Heaven, and they are year by year striving to become be-come nearer and nearer to the perfection established estab-lished by their heavenb -patron. But there is one other thing. It is this which we might call their noblest work. , Why cannot these young women, thousands strong throughout the United States, set about effecting- a reform in the social life of Catholics? So often the complaint is made that there is a spirit of friendliness lacking in the Catholic organizations. organiza-tions. You will always hear the same answer to the complaint. "Catholics come to church to pray and meditate rather than to see and be seen, rather th in to meet their friends ami form new acquaintances." But a little of the "universal love" spirit would do no harm. Mass or vespers would not of necessity neces-sity become merely meeting places; but for a few kindly words more than one weary heart would go back to the routine duties of the day strengthened and better, able to carry on the great fight. It need not be carried to extremes. Social dances and card parties are not by any means the link to bind members of a congregation together. Often there are those who cannot afford to attend these gatherings, whose domestic duties will not permit of their sparing the required time, or who will not feel that they are sufficiently attractive to grace such functions. There is always bound to be some drawback to this sort of a plan. The idea is to have a quiet spirit of friendliness permeate the church, to be ready to give a warm handclasp to the stranger or the unfortunate parishoner who has perhaps for years attended the church without meeting a friendly smile. 'The idea of accomplishing this has, perhaps, not yet occurred to the Queen's Daughters. They have had so many things to think of. But really. is it not worthy of some consideration? Could not social calls be made uion members of the parish who are not among those who ordinarily would be called to the attention of the visiting committee. They need not be of the needy. They can be any of those who come to church Sunday after Sunday Sun-day without seeing the countenance of a friend, going go-ing and returning with perhaps not even one "Good morning" extended to them. If the Queen's Daughters Daugh-ters would make it a feature of their philanthropic j work to spread the spirit qf love among the people of the various parishes in which they are scattered, they would soon find that they arc a power for good in the community. Philanthropy confined to the looking after of material waut3 is often less lasting than that which inspires a greater love of mankind. With love everything is easy. With that perfect sympathy for everything and for everybody, every-body, in prosperity and in adversity, it is easy to live and to make life worth the living. Almost every day an example of where a lack of friendly feeling on the part of members of a congregation toward a stranger has brought about pathetic results, comes to our notice. .Just the other tlay a story was told of a family, the entire period of whose residence in a western town was darkened becnuse the spirit of universal love had not found its way into a prosperous congregation. A Protestant gentleman was married to a Catholic woman, who, Sunday after Sunday, attended service serv-ice without receiving recognition from a single communicant of the church. When the family began to look about for a godmother for the little child that had come to bless their home, there was noone to be found. The husband worked in an establishment where a Catholic man was employed who promised to act as godfather to the little one, and also promised to find a Catholic woman willing to lend her services at the baptism. Days passed. There was no one to be found. The Catholic man became decidedly worried, but although he hail lived in the parish for many years he knew no women. Finally, .like a burden, he carried the Protestant father's re.que.st to the priest's house, where he was assured. that someone would be found. The day for the baptism came. The Protestant father, the Catholic mother and the baby were there, and the man who had promised to stand godfather was also on hand. But there was no prospective godmother. The priest in despair remarked: "Mrs. is not here today as usual making her novena. We will send around the corner for Mrs. ." ...And that .was the way the little one was received re-ceived into the church of God, the church which stands for all that is good and noble- and that confines con-fines its mission to seeking to make mankind better for having learned its truths. . That is the spirit which the "Queen's Daughters" Daugh-ters" should aim to check. Let it be the ambition of every young woman who is enrolled on the list of membership, not only in the western cities, but throughout the country for the society is known far and wide to spread the gospel of love and promote a spirit of friendliness among those who in the same manner worship the same Loving Father. - It is not only in western cities that the fault is found. It 'is perhaps more prevalent in the east, where the "clique" often creeps into church society, so-ciety, creating a barrier between a few clannish parishioners and the great masses who come for spiritual nourishment. In few instances is the parish priest to blame. He has his duties, none too few, and he can hardly hope to keep track of every new member of his parish. Often, too. it is because the people fear to be thought obtrusive if they call the attention of the. pastor to-the fact that they are new acquisitions acquisi-tions to his parish.' But wherever the fault may lie, it is easily remediable, and it doubtless will soon be corrected if the Queen's Daughters set about establishing a spirit of friendliness which shall not be confined to a few. This is why when the Denver council was organized it was given out that Catholic young women throughout the city were eligible to membership, no effort being made to close the ranks to all save the favored few. It is open to all, and the more who strive to'accom-plish to'accom-plish the purposes of the organization the sooner they will be accomplished and the more general will the noble work become. A |