Life — July 19, 1906 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ce “While there is Life there's Hope.” VOL. XLVI JULY 19, 1906. No. 1238 17 West Tiurty-Fiast Starer, New Yors, ET us turn aside a moment from murder and muck-raking and refresh our jaded spirits with —contem- plation of re- ligious intoler- nee. Two very pretty cases both incidental to the commencement a season that was lately with us. Atthe Comins Grammar School, at Roxbury Crossing in Massachusetts, the diplomas were about to be awarded, when the Rev. Adolf Biewend rose and dis- closed that he had that moment learned that the diplomas were to be handed out by the Rev. Mr. Hurlihy,a Roman Catho- lic clergyman, and he deemed it his duty, as a citizen solicitous for the complete separation of Church and State, to protest inst anybody but the school com- mittee doing this service. ‘Thus protest- ing, he withdrew his daughter from the platform, without any diploma. In the other instance, the boot was on the other foot. Baldwinsville, in this State of New York, a village distinguished as one of the temporary homes of the late Artemus Ward, is now the seat of the pious labors of the Rev. J. MeGrath, a Roman Catholic priest. The Baldwins- ville Board of Education invited McGrath to come to the graduating ex ercises at the High School. McGrath said No, and what was more, if the Baptist minister was going to make the prayer, he (McGrath) would withdraw all the Catholic graduates from the school exer- cises. And he did withdraw them, all ex cept two,who disregarded him,and Bishop Ludden, of Syracuse, his superior, having sustained him in this devout course, the Baldwinsville folks are pretty sore, and have since burned McGrath's effigy and spoken with disparagement of his bishop. “LIP E* Alas, how uncomfortable a world this one becomes when manners lapse and stupid people mistake their duties! If it were only possible to put the Rev. Bie- wend, of Roxbury Crossing, and the Rev. McGrath, of Baldwinsville, in a suitable enclosure and let them discuss privately this question of the clergy at the school exercises, what a saving of bad blood that would effect! Bishop Ludden is quoted as declaring that the public school system is a scheme to teach clandestinely the Protestant religion, which is an awful charge, and, of course Il adapted to promote an increased provision of nour- ishment for the parochial school system. What, oh what, would Bishop Ludden say if he should learn that in the heretic ammar school at Roxbury Crossing the Rev. Hurlihy, a Catholic, had for three years past been handing out the diplo- mas! But, after all, these are only sporadic cases. As a rule, Catholics and Protest- ymen and laynien, get along together like lambs in this generation in country, Nothing but besotted mis- chief-breeding by stupid and intolerant individuals ever gets them by the ears. R. BRYAN, very sensibly and with some humor, declines to comeout at this time as a candidate for the Demo- cratic nomination. He says he feels com- plimented by the action of various State legislatures in declaring for him, but that he will not sue any of them if they transfer their affections between now and conven- tion time. ‘There are several likely Demo- crats, he says, besides himself, and, any- how, two years is too long a time to siton a stool and look pretty. He cannot spare two years. He will have things to say, he thinks, and proposes to say them, and he declines to be put in a position where it may scem politic to sit gagged. He is coming home, too, in spite of the efforts of his admirers to keep him out of the country until it is safe for him to return. It looks as though Mr. Bryan had come to be, like Colonel Roosevelt, a great deal better politician for himself than any of his friends are for him. There isa preju dice against canned things just now, and” a canned candidate would be about the t thing that would excite enthusiasm. BODY quotes Colonel Watter- nas saying that “President Roose- velt is playing his cards so as to compel the Republican Party to renominate him, and in a fight between Roosevelt and Bryan the latter will win on the single issue of third termism.” We guess the Colonel never said it. He knows that President Roosevelt will not run again, and that, therefore, he is not playing his cards to compel anybody to nominate him. The President, in our opinion, is playing his cards according to his best judgment to gain for the people of the country the utmost benefit his labors can bring them. What honor he may gain in the process he doubtless covets, Lut that is legitimate. R. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS said at the Harvard Commence. ment that Harvard, to make her comfort- able for ten years to come, needed about as much more endowment as she has already—about twenty million dollars. Mr. Adams regretted that he had not the moneyto give to her. Too bad he hasn't He might have had it, he said, if he had improved the opportunities that came and plead with him to pick them. But he wouldn’t bother to make himself very rich, and now he is sorry, because he would like to have twenty millions to give to Harvard College. Mr. Adams may as well save himself all repinings. If he had ever wantc’ twenty millions badly enough to get it, he would have wanted it badly enough to keep it, and Harvard wouldn’t have got itfrom him. Neither would it have had in him the particular variety of valuable alumnus that it has. No man can make twenty millions—even fiventy millions- and be at seventy the man he might otherwise have been. He may be a good man, but he won't be the same. It takes a good deal out of a man to make twenty millions.