expected to guide
and direct popular movements affecting the well-being of society. And
this public esteem, is extended in due proportion to all who are
engaged in education, for it is universally realized that the standard
of morality and intelligence, which is to obtain in the commonwealth,
will depend largely on the training given to the young. The teacher is
directly employed in the making of good citizens, which is a more
important business than the extension of manufactures or commerce. He
is setting the ideals according to which the Republic must stand or
fall.

And, for persons of refined or intellectual tastes, the instruction of
youth must be a pleasurable employment. It is inviting to deal with
the young and innocent, who are eager to learn, ambitious to excel,
and who in return for their instructor's solicitude, give him
unstinted affection and gratitude, and render him loyal obedience and
respect. In the teacher's hands is the moulding and shaping of
character, the direction of talents which may illumine society. And
can any sphere of action be more elevated, more grateful than this?

And then, too, the educator is constantly engaged in the things of the
mind, in study, and the discovery of new truths or new applications of
old ones, and in imparting his knowledge to fresh, bright
intelligences. Nothing is so fascinating to a person of intellectual
bent as the pursuit and attainment of truth, and this is the steady
occupation of the teacher. Is not the outlook of such a life
infinitely wider and more refreshing than the dull routine of
business, the noisy rumble of a factory or the sordid dealings of
commerce?

But it is principally from the spiritual point of view that education
is considered by the Church and religious congregations. The mandate
of Christ, "Go ye forth and teach all nations," laid the charge of
teaching upon His Church; and on the pastors it devolves to see that
the faithful are instructed in Christian doctrines and obligations. To
rightfully carry out its mission, the Church has always felt obliged
to insist that the education of its children be permeated with
religion, and in fulfilment of this duty it has established parochial
schools throughout our country, where the young, while acquiring
secular science, can at the same time be grounded in the faith and
trained to virtuous lives.

It can be said, then, that the religious who conduct these schools
share in the apostolic mission