that they were helping to ruin their
darling girl's future.

I will now relate her history, as near as possible, the way she gave
it, which will be symbolic of the history of thousands of other
girls, and which is absolutely true. Her story follows:

"When one becomes an inmate of a convent, they become a prisoner, as
every act is scrutinized by the mother superior, and you have no
privilege any more than if you were a convict and placed behind the
bars for some heinous crime. With this exception, however, you are
allowed to receive letters from a priest without having the letter
opened and read before it reaches you, as there is always some mark
to distinguish a letter received from a priest, but all letters that
you write and all letters that you receive, unless they bear the mark
indicating that they have been sent by a priest, are carefully read,
and if the contents of either the letter you write, or the one that
has been written to you does not meet with the arbitrary opinion of
the "mother superior," they are destroyed, and you never have the
opportunity of sending the one that you have written, or to receive
the one that has been written to you, unless they can pass the
inspection of the "mother superior," who is nothing more nor less
than an agent of the Pope of Rome, as she receives her instructions
from the priestcraft, and they receive their instructions from the
Pope of Rome."

When an inmate of a convent receives a letter from a priest it is
handed her without being opened, as the "mother superior" is
instructed not to open such letters, and is told that all such
letters, of course, relate to the spiritual welfare of the nun.

In these letters the priest will tell the nun what day he will call
to give her a _general confession_. As soon as such a letter is
received the nun informs the "mother superior" that on a certain day
Priest So-and-So will visit her, and, of course, this "mother
superior" gives the permission, and on the day that the priest is to
arrive, this nun is excused from all duties for that day, and when
the priest arrives he is shown into what is called the _Retreat
Parlor_; and no matter how long he remains there, no one will disturb
him. He is supposed to be _talking_ with his penitent on the welfare
of her soul. Ah, could any one look through the door, they would find
this priest with his arms about the form of this fair penitent, or
perhaps in a far more compromising position!

Rig