understand that is advertising, but this is the twentieth century, and we ought to advertise. We cannot always get information; even a policeman won't always be able to tell you where there is a church. I myself have had to hunt for a Catholic church. I was once living in a town quite prominent in educational circles, and I admit I was pastor there, and I neglected for ten years to hang out my sign. The business college in the town was frequented by young men from all over the United States. But I did it because the people in my little shanty were packed like sardines in a can. Now-a-days our churches are more commodious, and I think that every pastor should hang a sign in the educational institutions of his own city or village, and it would also be an excellent idea if pastors, or at least the Bishop, should see that one or more of the churches in every considerable town should have their name and location and the hours of service hung up in the principal hotels, because there thousands of teachers and students traveling during the summer months.

Is Religious Training as Necessary for the Student

of the High School and College as it is

for the Child of the Primary School ?

REV. EDWARD M'SWEENY, MT. ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, EMMITSBURG.

The subject as set forth in the program is as follows: "Is religious training as necessary for the High School and College Students as for the Parochial School Child?" The manner in which the writer received it from the secretary was as follows: "Is Religious Training as Necessary for the Student of the High School and the College as it is for the Child of the Primary Schools ?" I wish to remark that in the Eastern States somewhere there is an objection to the word "parochial" or "parish" in relation to schools, because of the malodorous assertion it has, and to the word "parochial" particularly, from the use made of it by the author of Oliver Twist, and to the word "parish" on account of the way it is being used in the city of New York, that is to say, to describe work amongst the destitute poor. You understand therefore why it is that the word "parochial" is objected to in some parts of the country.

"Is religious training as necessary for the student of the High School and the College, as it is for the child in the Primary School ?"

The answer is in the affirmative. In the Book of Proverbs XXII, 6, we read: "A young man according to his way ;even when he is old he will not depart from it." And elsewhere in the same book (XXX, 18), "Three things are hard to me, and the fourth I am entirely ignorant of: the way of an eagle in the air,

the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the Sea, and the way of a man in youth."

These words of the Wise Man are certainly of alarming import. The picture presented us in these few words is so eloquently descriptive of uncertainty, change and danger, that the longer we reflect upon it the more do we admire its truth as well as its beauty. The child is comparatively simple, quiet and obedient. It is when the age of reasoning, as distinguished from the age of reason, arrives, that the way of the youth begins to be erratic; and it is at this age, fourteen or so, that he is usually fit for the High School or the Preparatory Classes of the College. The first intellectual difficulties regarding faith and morals then begin to present themselves to his mind, the rebellious passions to assail his heart, the allurements of the world to attract him with inexpressible power. It is now when the desire of the knowledge of good and evil is quickening in him, and when his utter inexperience renders him liable to say to evil "thou art my good," and to take those steps in the wrong direction that may cause him to stray farther and farther and perhaps forever from the "way in which he should go," that he needs religious training, and this also of a kind suited to his awakened instincts, aspirations and temptations. As he advances in his teens the passions grow stronger, curiosity more powerful, doubts about belief, morality, governnment, property, marriage, life, spirituality, immortality, Heaven, Hell, as well as commercial morality, the Christian constitution of states, the condition of labor-all the tremendous problems that are eternally troubling thinkers, and so dividing men that one is forced to the conclusion that were it not for the authority of the Church, we would not know what to hold about any of them. It is not till a man has had experience of forty years or so, that he is able to pass a respectable judgment on many of these questions, even though he has been all along enjoying the teaching and the Sacramental aid of the living Church.

The Rabbis would not let a man read the Song of Solomon till he was thirty years old. This may suggest how long it takes to steady one in the presence of one class of temptations, and how necessary are the restraints of religion, how far more necessary in fact than in the quiet days of childhood. If the old man will

not depart from the way of the young man, and the latter's way is so unsteady, surely religious training is as necessary in the secondary schools and Colleges as in the Primary.

The matter is so plain, that I prefer to illustrate it by the authority reinforced by argument, of those of every state and degree, whose personal experience and observation have enabled them to give an authoritative opinion on the subject. Marcus Aurelius says in one place: "I learnt from my mother respect for religion and the habit of repressing evil thoughts. From my great-grandfather I have it that I did not attend the general schools, but employed good teachers at home, and learnt that for things of this nature it is wise to spend freely." (Meditations of Marcus Aurelius).

In the report of the State Prison Authorities of Wetherfield, Conn., 1905, we find this: "The comparative youthfulness of persons who commit the bulk of serious offenses is a fundamental fact in connection with the problem of crime. The period between 16 and 30 is the criminal age. It is likewise the age of character-building." It is also the age, we add, of High School and College training, and the conclusion as regards the necessity at this period, of religious training, is evident.

Louis Binsse of New York, sending his son of the same name who afterwards did such valiant work for faith and morals in the metropolis, to Mount St. Mary's College, writes under date July 27, 1831: "I think little of science if religion does not keep step with it, or rather, I do not believe there can be true science without true religion; hence I place my son with you, rather than send him to the New York (Columbia) College."

Pius VII addressing the Bishops of the world, July 10, 1800, says: "It is your duty *** in particular to watch over children and young men *** The mind and heart of young persons, like soft wax to which every one may give what form he pleases, are very susceptible of every sort of impression*** ** Examine, therefore, with the greatest attention to what manner of persons is confided the education of children, and of young men in colleges. and preparatory schools; of what sort are the instructions given them; *** of what sort are the teachers in the Lyceums."

Pius IX, in a letter to the Bishops of the world in 1849, tells them: "It is incumbent upon you to be vigilant in everything

that regards schools, and the instruction and education of children and youth of both sexes.” In his reply to the Bishop of Freiburg he says: "There is no doubt that the greatest injury is inflicted on society when the directing authority and salutary power of the Church are withdrawn from public and private education *** A system of teaching which not only is limited to the knowledge of natural things, and does not pass beyond the bounds of our life on earth, but also departs from the truth revealed by God, must necessarily be guided by the spirit of error and lies; and education that, without the aid of Christian doctrine. and of its salutary moral precepts, instructs the minds and moulds the tender heart of youth which is so prone to evil, must infallibly produce a generation which will have no guide but its own wicked and wild conceits, and which will be a source of the greatest misfortune to the Commonwealth and to the family. But if this detestable system of education *** becomes a source of evils *** in the higher teaching," (that is in Colleges), etc., etc.

Leo XIII on occasion of the Centenary of the Blessed Peter Canisius, writes to the German-speaking Bishops: "If it is true that no part of life, public or private, can be exempt from the duty of religion, neither is there any age when this duty can be less ignored than that early period when wisdom is lacking, when the mind is fresh, and when the heart is exposed to so many fascinating causes of corruption** Almost every science brings with it its own perils, which the young cannot escape if their minds and hearts be not held in check by divine restraints*** Let then the transmission of the various branches of human knowledge remain conjoined with the culture of the soul. Let every degree of instruction in whatsoever line, be permeated and animated by religion."

The Irish Bishops in 1850 say in their pastoral letter: "Separated from her heavenly monitor (religion), learning is no longer the organ of that wisdom which comes from above, which, according to St. James, is chaste, peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruit, without judg ing, without dissimulation; but rather of that wisdom which he describes as 'earthly, sensual and devilish'"***

Cardinal Vaughan in a letter to the clergy and laity of West