"Because I have forfeited the right to seek your love. Listen, my dearest; I never sought a woman's love save yours. You were the dream of my boyhood, and when, after the lapse of years, I saw you again in the beauty of your womanhood, my love for you became the ruling principle of my life. For your sake I refrained from intoxicating drink; I became diligent in business; I avoided dangerous company; for your sake, and not in obedience to God's law, I went to Mass and seemed outwardly what I thought a Catholic should be. I fought a hard battle with my besetting sins, and you know how it ended-not in victory, but in shameful defeat." "But you have begun the battle again, and this time under the standard of the Cross; and it was said of old, 'In this sign thou shalt conquer.' The words were breathed rather than spoken; Frank saw that her eyelashes were wet with the tears that she was trying to repress, and her prayer-book trembled in the nervous little hand that held it. He went on: "Yes, through bitter suffering and humiliation, I have begun a new life, trusting in God to save me from myself. But oh, my dearest! dearer to me than ever, since the idol-worship with which I wronged you has passed away, your sweet pity makes me daring. Tell me-may I hope ever to win your love?" Softly but earnestly she answered: "God knows, it is yours already." They walked on in happy silence, tasting the first rapture of that joy which has so often thrilled the hearts of men and women "Since high in Paradise, O'er the four rivers the first roses blew." Frank did not reach Father Redmond's until a late hour that evening, but the good priest readily excused the delay, seeing the glad light in his young friend's countenance, and half divining the cause of it, even before he heard from his lips this new version of "the old, old story." "And I have concluded to remain in Greigsport and to accept Mr. Wilton's offer," said Frank, as he rose to bid good-night to Father Redmond. One morning a few months later, in the fair, white Easter-tide, Frank Rossiter and Mary Preston knelt before the humble altar of St. Joseph's to receive the nuptial benediction at the hands of their beloved pastor; nor could we deem it strange that the simple people who filled the little church afterwards declared that they had never seen a happier bridegroom, and that a fairer bride had never worn the orange blossoms. EDITORIAL NOTES. THE present condition of the Catholic Church in this country is a subject particularly interesting to our readers. Let us look on the bright side first. Churches are constantly being erected, many of them very beautiful and costly, the number of vocations to the priesthood is large, education is being attended to more than it ever was before, there is very little anti-Catholic prejudice in the country, and Catholics are growing in wealth and increasing in numbers. In addition to all these gratifying signs, neither heresy nor schism seems to trouble the Church in America. Yet there are numberless drawbacks to this pleasing exhibit. Are Catholics really united in heart and feeling with one another? Do not our organizations display very frequently a tendency to jealousies and petty strifes unworthy of the Catholic name? Is the standard of intelligence amongst us equal to the requirements and necessities of a skeptical age? Are we all ready and able to give a "reason for the faith that is in us," or are we merely Catholics because it so happens, but are ignorant of the why and wherefore, indifferent to Catholic interests, and unacquainted with the history and services of the Church to humanity, art, and civilization? Is there any intellectual movement towards the Catholic Church perceptible in the American mind; and, if there is none (and we confess we can see few, if any, traces of such a movement), is it our fault or not? Are Catholics showing the good effects of Catholicity practically before the world? Are Catholic legislators nobler than their fellows, and Catholic districts freer of crime? As a State or a city becomes more Catholic, does it, pari passu, become more and more industrious, sober, law abiding, and freer from political, social, and moral evils, or not? Are we neither better nor worse than our fellow-citizens, but about the same, perhaps worse? These are not trivial questions, they are vital ones. LORD MACAULAY says: "There is not, and there never was, on this earth a work so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of this Church joins together the two great ages of human civilization. No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheatre. The prevailing royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs." Lecky says of the Church: "No human pen can write its epitaph, for no imagination can adequately realize its glories. In the eyes of those who estimate the greatness of a sovereignty, not by the extent of its territory, or by the number of its soldiers, but by the influence it has exerted over mankind, the Papal Government has had no rival, and can have no successor." Mr. Gladstone says: "Since the first three hundred years of persecution, the Roman Catholic Church has marched for fifteen hundred years at the head of human civilization, and has driven, harnessed to its chariot as the horses of a triumphal car, the chief intellectual and material forces of the world; its learning has been the learning of the world; its art, the art of the world; its genius, the genius of the world; its greatness, glory, grandeur, and majesty, have been almost, though not absolutely, all that, in these respects, the world has had to boast of." These three conclusive testimonies to the greatness and power of the Catholic Church, from three well-known Protestant writers, should be enough to show Catholics who may not have bestowed a thought on it hitherto, how much they lose by non-acquaintance with church history. THE old story about the Pope having rec ognized the Southern Confederacy is revived. This assertion is based upon a letter which his Holiness addressed to Jefferson Davis, on December 3d, 1863, in which he begged him to second the efforts for peace made by the Most Rev. Archbishops of New York and New Orleans. The Pope addresses Mr. Davis as "President of the Confederate States of America," and as "Honorable Sir," dates his letter from "St. Peter's, in the 18th year of our Pontificate," and subscribes himself " Pius IX, Pope." This letter is not dated from the Vatican, nor is it signed by his Holiness as a sovereign, but only as Spiritual Chief of the Catholic Church, nor does it bear the countersign of the Secretary of State. The Church always gives the rulers of the earth their formal titles, and the Pope could not have addressed Mr. Davis as "The Rebel Leader," without insulting him and defeating the object in view. In short, the letter was worthy of the Vicar of the Prince of Peace, and of the highest of Christian Bishops, and it is contemptible in the last degree to use it as a weapon of assault. THE Blaine amendment to the Constitution (with the express provisions heaped on by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary) failed to secure the two-thirds vote necessary, and we shall hear no more of it, unless the exigencies of the political party now in power shall necessitate raising a hue and cry against Catholics, and their attempts to "destroy our public schools." Archbishop Purcell has issued a declaration and appeal, which positively states that Catholics are not desirous of overthrowing the public schools, but that they conscientiously disapprove of an education divorced "from religion." In justice these opinions should be recognized, and Catholics given their pro rata share of the funds raised for school purposes. England does this, Canada does this, and the Protestants of Austria and Hungary also are treated with justice in this respect. Still, even this the Archbishop waives, in deference to the public wish. But the question is not settled, and indeed cannot be, until either the just claims of Catholics are recognized, or it is found that an anti-Catholic "cry” does not pay politically. It seems a great evil that personal questions assume so much importance in the progress of the Presidential campaign. The issues are civil service reform, the condition of the South, and the state of the currency; and these issues are grave enough to demand the cool judgment of every intelligent citizen. A conscientious man finds it difficult, when he considers these questions with any degree of care, to form a judgment; but how much more difficult is not his task rendered by the cloud of obloquy and the charges against the personal honor of candidates, which are made frequently on very little foundation. The course of an ordinary lifetime, much less the space of a campaign, is not sufficiently long to enable any man who has his business to attend to, to investigate all the charges, and the effects of them are that citizens disbelieve all such charges, putting them down as "newspaper lies." Such a course of action also tends to the degradation of politics; it prevents highminded and honorable men from taking part in them, and perpetuates evils. THE Turks have been not only successful in repulsing the Servian invasion, but have in their turn invaded Servia. The terrified peasantry fled at their approach, and the mountain passes, with which Servia abounds, have been fortified. A large army, said to number 40,000, under General Tchernayeff, is prepared to resist the Ottoman hordes. So terrible have been the atrocities committed by the Turks, in Bulgaria, that the prospect of a repetition of them, in Servia, has caused a thrill of terror throughout Europe. The great powers are said to have interposed their good offices in favor of peace, but Ser via has for the present rejected these offers, and is prepared to defend her independence with heroic courage. The city of Alexinatz, on the southern frontier of Servia, is now the chief scene of action, and a succession of desperate conflicts have taken place there. The Island of Crete is also said to be in a state of insurrection; all business is suspended, and conflicts between the Turks and the Greeks are of constant occurrence. THE political campaign, thus far, is not very exciting. Those Republicans who wished to make the "school question" an engine for party success, brought in an amendment to the Constitution, which succeeded in passing the House, because the Democrats there were afraid to oppose it. In the Senate, however, it failed to secure a two-thirds vote. It must be admitted that both parties show to very little advantage in this question, Those who are at heart unfavorable to the centralization of education are too timid to meet the case on its merits. They are afraid of a "hue and cry" of Catholic sympathies being got up against them. Thus they dodge the question. Catholics must expect this. Political parties are not disposed to damage themselves for any abstract ideas of justice; and they will do nothing for any section until they are obliged to. SOME persons in Ireland have argued in this wise: Servia, with only a million of inhabitants, is bravely resisting Turkey, why cannot Ireland, with between four and five millions, make a brave fight for independence against England? The Dublin Nation answers this, and puts the difference between the two cases very strongly. First, England is much more powerful than Turkey. Second, Servia has a drilled army, Ireland has none. Third, the Servians are all armed, and accustomed to fight, Ireland is completely disarmed. Fourth, when war broke out there was no Turkish army in Servia, while in Ireland there is a large English army; and fifthly, Servia expected to be assisted by Russia. To all these reasons it may be added, that notwithstanding all these advantages which Servia possesses over Ireland, she has been unsuccessful hitherto. THE following facts will show that the cry that Catholic countries are backward in the cause of education, is not founded in fact: The school attendance compared with the population, is in Austria as 1 to 10; in Belgium, as I to 1012; in Catholic Switzerland, as I to 16; in England, as I to 17; in Bavaria, as I to 7. Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Ireland, have proportionately a larger school attendance than England. England and Wales, with a population of 22,712,000, of whom only half were registered, and not half of these attended with sufficient regularity to bring grants to their schools. Ireland, with a population of 5,411,416, had on register 1,006,546, or nearly half as many as England and Wales, though her population is not a fourth of that of these countries. THE Government of Servia desired peace, and obtained the mediation of the great powers. But General Tchernayeff, the Rus sian General who commands the Servian army defending Alexinatz, attacked the besieging Turks and was defeated, and now the Ottomans are enraged, and will not agree to peace, except on terms which are most humiliating to Servia, and which would reduce her almost to a state of vassalage. Surely a more unfortunate victory could not well be gained. The Turks now insist that Alexinatz be surrendered to them, a hard pill for the garrison to swallow, after having repulsed and defeated the assailants. Masses also is not ecclesiastical or devotional, and when they are rendered badly, far from promoting devotion they distract it, and cause the unhappy listener to wish for silence, as preferable to discord and harsh notes. The St. Cecilia Society, which met in Baltimore last month, is doing a good work in endeav oring to raise the standard of church music. THE campaign in the Black Hills prodistrict is about as large as England, and gresses. It must be remembered that this very easily defended, and very difficult to attack. To surround the Indians would re quire a million of men; to meet them in a square fight is impossible. Some 5000 men, under Generals Crook and Terry, are now converging on where the Indians are supposed to be. Perhaps they will meet them; either disperse, or escape to Canada. In but it seems most likely that the Indians will the latter contingency can they be demanded from the British government? THE assizes in Ireland show that crime has been almost reduced to a minimum in THERE was a debate on amnesty to the that country. There were only three murIrish political prisoners, on August 2d. Mr. der cases, and of those only one was conO'Connor Power, Mr. Kenelm Digby, Mr. nected in any way with a land dispute. Yet Joseph Cowen, Mr. Mitchell Henry, John the Lord-Lieutenant, at the banquet given Bright, and The O'Connor Don, all spoke at Cork, on the occasion of the meeting in well and thoroughly on behalf of clemency. that city of the Agricultural Society, said The motion for amnesty was rejected by a that English capitalists did not invest their vote of 51 to 117. Almost simultaneously money in Ireland, on account of the insethe six escaped prisoners arrived at New curity of life and property that was believed York, and have been received with delight to exist in Ireland. And this was also the by their fellow countrymen. It is said that reason why absenteeism was so frequent. those who are still in captivity will be treated with extreme harshness on account of the escape of their more fortunate fellows. THE escape of the Fenians, and that through the aid of an American ship, has roused the ire of the London Times. 'Tis, however, a bad rule that won't work both ways. England has always been the home of political refugees. In 1858 she risked a war with France in order to protect the accomplices of Orsini. Mazzini, Prim, and hosts of revolutionists have made England their home, and there plotted to destroy governments with whom England was at peace. England should not therefore feel aggrieved, if America offers an asylum to these six brave men, whose only crime was love of country and hatred of tyranny. CERTAINLY a reform is wanted in church music. Our choirs, in very many instances, endeavor to execute Masses much too difficult for them-Masses which require the best vocal abilities and a large orchestra to render them successful. The style of these THE terrible crimes of which the Mollie Maguires of Pennsylvania have been convicted, reflect no discredit on the Catholic Church; for long before the evil became manifest, the vigilant solicitude of those who are set as watchmen to guard the bulwarks of the City of God on earth, which is his Church, had detected the evils of societies which are practically, and to all intents and purposes, secret ones, although they may be No Mollie Maguire is a Catholic in name. practical Catholic. THE campaign against the Sioux has insucceeded in escaping the toils set for him. gloriously collapsed, and Sitting Bull has One of his bands went north and one south, and Generals Crook and Terry are employed in looking for them. Most probably they will be next heard of as descending on some miners' settlements, or as dexterous in running off cattle. The only net result of this year's events is that some valuable lives have been lost, and a large amount of money spent. NEW PUBLICATIONS. MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT REV. SIMON WILLIAM GABRIEL BRUTÉ, D.D., FIRST BISHOP OF VINCENNES; with Sketches describing his Recollections of Scenes connected with the French Revolution, and Extracts from his Journal. By the Right Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, D.D., Bishop of Newark (now Most Rev. Archbishop of Baltimore). New York: The Catholic Publication Society, No. 9 Warren Street, 1876. The history of the Catholic Church in this country is as yet unwritten. True, we have biographies of some of its prelates and eminent clergy, more or less complete. We have, too, compendiums and sketches of the growth of the Church in the United States, containing many interesting facts, but we have not anything like a full and complete history of the Church in this country. Nor is it, we apprehend, possible for any one to write it at this time. The materials are not yet collected or arranged in such a manner as to be available. The work of doing this must necessarily precede that of writing a full and complete history of the Catholic Church in the United States. Every biography, however, of a priest or bishop, every paper recording the labors of a Catholic missionary; of the establishment of new parishes or dioceses; of the introduction and growth of religious orders, is a contribution of more or less importance in the way of adding to the stock of materials to be worked up by the future historian of Catholicity in the United States. For this reason, apart from its own intrinsic merits, we welcome this volume from the pen of the Most Reverend author. But beyond and separately from this, the work is one of which we can scarcely speak too highly. Bishop Bruté, we need not say, was a most saintly character. The insight given us in these memoirs, of his youthful habits; of his consistent Christian life, whilst pursuing the study of medicine, amidst constant temptations of the most dangerous and dreadful kind; of his habits as a Seminarian, and as a Priest and Professor of Theology in France, then as Professor of Philosophy at the Theological Seminary in Baltimore, and afterwards as President of Mount St. Mary's College, at Emmittsburg, is most interesting and edifying. So also is the account given of his elevation to the Episcopal office, and his labors as Bishop of Vincennes. The Memoirs are composed in great degree of letters of Bishop Bruté, and extracts from his papers and journal. They give, therefore, an inside view of his character, motives, and interior life, such as would not be found in an ordinary biographical sketch. One of the most interesting and valuable parts of this volume, is that which is made up of Bishop Bruté's notes of his recollections of scenes of the French Revolution, which transpired under his notice and observation, and of the persecution of religion in France, in 1793 and the following years. To this Archbishop Bayley has added such portions of Bishop Bruté's journal as still remain. A great part of this journal was destroyed at some moment of danger and alarm by Bishop Bruté. In reading over these brief but graphic memoranda of the scenes Bishop Bruté witnessed whilst still a tender youth, the mind is filled with horror at the crimes that were perpetrated against humanity and religion, in the names of liberty and love of country; but, above all this, a feeling of admiration, of veneration, is excited for the heroic priests who, faithful to duty, labored devotedly and undauntedly, amid the dangers which continually surrounded them, and with death constantly staring them in the face. ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY. A Dramatic Poem. By Aubrey Vere de Vere, author of Alexander the Great. Henry S. King & Co., London. The Catholic Publication Society: New York, 1876. Among the great men and great saints of past ages over whom a cloud of obloquy has been cast by non-Catholic writers of English political and ecclesiastical history, is St. Thomas of Canterbury. Of late years, however, modern historical criticism has instituted investigations which have swept out of all scholarly minds the fabric of falsehood which, under the name of history, writers imbued with the diabolical spirit of the socalled Reformation of the sixteenth century, had laboriously reared. The true significance of the events, and the real character of the leading personages of medieval times, are coming to be better understood. One of the results of this process has been to bring more clearly into view, before the nonCatholic as well as the Catholic public mind, the greatness and sanctity of St. Thomas, his clear comprehension of the far-reaching, and momentous importance of the issues that were involved in the conflict into which he was forced by Henry II, in behalf of the rights of the Church in England; the severe struggles through which he passed in opposing that powerful, wily, and unscrupulous monarch-crowned in the end by the hor |