authority is an evil in itself; and may be the cause of leading
others in the same path of revolt--others who have not like
circumstances in their favor.

About the only person I know who might be justified in not sending his
children to Catholic schools is the "crank," that creature of mulish
propensities, who balks and kicks and will not be persuaded to move by
any method of reasoning so far discovered. He usually knows all that is
to be learned on the school question--which is a lie; and having
compared the parochial and the public school systems in an intelligent
and disinterested manner--which is another--he finds that the Catholic
school is not the place for his children. If his children are like
himself, his conclusion is wisely formed, albeit drawn from false
premises. In him, three things are on a par; his conceit, his ignorance
and his determination. From these three ingredients results a high
quality of asininity which in moral theology is called invincible
ignorance and is said to render one immune in matters of sin. May his
tribe decrease!

CHAPTER LXV.
SOME WEAK POINTS IN THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

SOME parents claim that their children do not learn anything in the
Catholic school. It is good policy always to accept this statement as
true in all its parts; it may be true, and it is never good to deny the
truth. All are not equally endowed with brains in this world. If a
child has it dinned into his ears that the school he attends is
inferior, he will come to be convinced of the fact; and being
convinced, he will set to work verifying it, in his case, at least.
Heredity may have something to do with it; children are sometimes
"chips of the old block,"--a great misfortune in many cases,
handicapping them in the race of life. It is well, therefore, not to
claim too much for our schools. We concede the point.

Another parent thinks that because he went through the public schools
and kept the faith in his day, his children may be trusted to do the
same. This objection has a serious front to it. It does seem strange
that children should not walk in the footsteps of their worthy parents;
but the fact is, and facts are stubborn things, the fact is that they
do not always act thus. And they might tell you, to justify their
unseemly conduct, that the conditions that obtained in life in olden
days are not the same as at present; that there were no parochial
schools then to offer a choice in matters of educ