d
weapon if worked as it should be; and its admirable publications
pushed into every home.

There is a temptation to belittle these works because they cost
only a penny. Though they are reduced to that humble price to
meet the wants of the millions, we must not forget that most of
them are the productions of the ablest pens, and some of them
contain more thought between their modest covers than many a
pretentious volume. They have the special advantage of being at a
price and in a form accessible to the young. There are many
thousands reading these booklets who would never venture, even if
they could, to face the four hundred paged volume. But the
Catholic Truth Society works do not cover all our needs. They do
two things--they serve to create a thirst for more knowledge, and
act as pedagogues to lead the child to the door of the parochial
library. Here we strike the goal.

[Side note: The Parochial Library]

The parochial library is the crying want of the hour. The one
weapon by which we must beat back an evil which threatens
appalling ruin. Our service of God must vary with the need of the
different ages. At one time He is best served by the pouring out
of martyr blood, at another by the building of splendid churches;
but to any man who watches the drift and danger of our
generation, it is clear as noonday, that the most effective work
a priest can offer God to-day is a well stocked library, open to
every child of the parish.

It has been said that if St. Paul were on earth now, he would be
found editing a Catholic newspaper.

We have seen the devil using the Press with terrible effect for
the destruction of souls; let us wrench it from him and baptize
it for the service of Christ.

The parochial library as an instrument of defence and propagation
is no new discovery.

[Side note: Encyclopedia Britannica]

"As Christianity made its way," says the "Encyclopedia
Britannica," "the institution of libraries became a part of the
organisation of the Church. So intimate did the union between
literature and religion become, that alongside every Church the
Catholic bishops had a library erected." Now, if in times past,
when not one man in twenty could read, the unerring foresight of
the Church led her to adopt the parochial library as her most
able auxiliary, the wisdom of that adoption applies with ten-fold
force to our times.

[Side note: The Blunder of the Past]

Fifty years ago we taught the people how to r