ulprit would never be found, as
Catholic institutions are built with the purpose of sheltering her
abominable faithless in case these criminals' desire to hide
themselves therein, as the convents, monasteries and cloisters have a
labyrinth which would mystify any one who was not used to these
underground passages.

No one ever learned where the dignitary of this Catholic institution
at Vechta went, but we were thoroughly convinced that he was hiding
somewhere in a monastery.

At this point in my religious training I perceived the nonsense of
celibacy, and the Apostle's injunction: "Nevertheless, to avoid
fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman
have her own husband." (I Cor. 7:2.) But the teachings of my
childhood caused me to believe that it would be sacrilegious upon my
part to even allow myself to believe that the Pope of Rome could
possibly make a mistake, therefore I did as all true Catholics are
expected to do, and forced myself to believe that all of the
abominations practiced by this church were godly.

At this time I would conceal myself in privacy, and endeavor to
reason why a minister of the gospel should be expected to do things
which were unnatural and against the direct teachings of God, as we
find in _Gen. 21:18_ that our Creator said: "It is not good that man
should be alone, I will make a helpmate for him," but whenever I
would undertake to study and try to convince myself of the
erroneousness of the Catholic doctrines, her teachings would loom up
and blind my intelligent conception of things, as I had been taught
that I should not question a single mandate that the Pope of Rome
should see fit to promulgate, therefore I made up my mind that it was
a sin for me to use the intelligence that God had given me, and I
resolved to follow the Catholic doctrine, regardless of what it might
lead me to, consequently I closed my eyes to reason and common sense
and became a blind and superstitious follower of Rome.

When I came to America I beheld her great civilization and at once my
conception of intelligent action presented itself again, but I fought
hard to drive these feelings from my bosom, but the more I fought the
stronger I became convinced that I was wrong and that my early
training was wrong, and that the entire machinery and mechanism of
the Catholic Church was founded upon abominations and superstitions,
but the teachings of my mother would prevail and I would slink back
i