ation and that kind
Providence might have taken this into consideration: that it was the
custom in those days for children to imitate the rugged virtues of
their parents struggling against necessity on one hand and bigotry on
the other; but that through the powerful influence of money, the
progeny of the persecuted may now hobnob with the progeny of the bigot,
and the association is not always the best thing in the world for the
faith and religious convictions of the former, unless these convictions
are well grounded in youth. The parent therefore who kept the faith
with less had a very considerable advantage over his child who
apparently has more privileges, but also more temptations and dangers.
The objection does not look so serious now.

Of course there is the question of social standing--a very important
matter with some parents of the "nouveau riche" type. A fop will gauge
a man's worth by the size of his purse or the style and cut of the coat
he wears. There are parents who would not mind their children's sitting
beside a little darkey, but who do object most strenuously to their
occupying the same bench with a dirty little Irish child. A calico
dress or a coat frayed at the edges are certainly not badges of high
social standing, but they are not incompatible with honesty, purity,
industry and respect for God, which things create a wholesome
atmosphere to live in and make the world better in every sense of the
word. There is no refinement in these little ones, to speak of, not
even the refinement of vice. There is something in the air they breathe
that kills the germ of vice. The discipline considers sin a worse evil
than ignorance of social amenities, and virtue and goodness as far
superior to etiquette and distinction of manners. If a different
appreciation of things is entertained, we grant the inferiority of our
schools.

"But then, it is so very un-American, you know, to maintain separate
schools in opposition to an institution so intensely American as our
public school system. This state of affairs fosters creed prejudices
that it is the duty of every true American to help destroy. The age of
religious differences is past, and the parochial school is a perpetual
reminder of things of the past that were best forgotten."

We deny that the system that stands for no religious or moral training
is intensely American. This is a Christian land. If our denial cannot
be sustained, we consider such a system radica