Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 18, 7 May 1908, Page 9

Current Topics

•Catholic Marriages'

As indicated in our last issue, the, pamphlet entitled ' Catholic Marriages ' was published, last week at the office of thjs paper. It contains the Latin text of the Decree of August 2, 1907, with an English translation; a popular explanation of the Decree ; the letters (both sides) of the recent controversy on the subject' in_the Christchurch * Press,' with copious notes and comments, both of a historical and general character ; and a lengthy exposition (running into 83 large and closely printed -pages) of the Catholic teachings and practice in regard to impediments invalidating marriage. The first part of this exposition is devoted to the consideration of certain fallacies ; the second, to a statement of the mission and authority of the Catholic Church j the third, to the relations of the Church to the marriage contract ; and the fourth, to a historical statemen of the invalidating legislation of the Jewish and the Christian Church. Detailed treatment has been given to every error and misconception that arose during the Christchurch controversy. A copious index affords the reader a means of ready reference, and the whole publication forms a book of over 150 pages demy Bvo. The price is one shilling per copy, with a considerable reduction for quantities for distribution. One private person has ordered 500 copies, and numerous orders have been received from the clergy for re-sale or distribution among their flocks.

Bad Mothers

A few days ago, an esteemed clerical friend of ours, who has had considerable experience as a prison visitor, spoke to us in substance as follows : ' The Church strives hard and successfully to train the child to walk in the way he should go ; the Catholic school does splendid work in the same direction. But the best efforts of both are, in too many cases, undone by the evil influences of a bail home. I have met in prison many young men who got a good start, so far as Church and school could give it. In the immense majority of cases, they owed their downfall to bad mothers.'

Catholic College of Music

The Bight Rev. Monsignor O'Haran's idea of a Catholic College- of Music has the warm approval of the CardinalArchbishop of Sydney, and there is every prospect that it will materialise in the near future. Catholic educationists on this side of the water, and in the other States of the Commonwealth, will watch with interest the development of this striking and apparently very practical proposal of Monsignor O'Haran.

The Common Lot

The Seddon monument is being proceeded with, quietly and unostentatiously. Perhaps we are a bit ashamed to remind ourselves too bluntly of the shortness of our memory, and of the manner in which we hasten to forget to-day the giant of yester-morn. We believe thatßichard John Seddon 's time is coming, and^ihat he will bulk very large in the perspective of fifty years hence. But the ant, that has an eye for a millet-seed, fails to grasp with" its limited vision, the massive contour of yon hill. ' Th' nearest army man comes to a conception iv his own death,' says ' Mr. Dooley,' * is lyin' back in a comfortable cofdn, with his ears cocked for th ' flattherin ' remarks iv th ' mourners. ' The remarks of the .others may not, be so 'flattherin." * When a man dies,' says Billings, ' the fust thing we talk about iz his welth, the next thing hiz failings, and the last thing his vartues.' Sic transit ! It is the -common lot.

Atheism v. Christianity

' The battle between Atheism and Christianity across the Channel ' (in France), says the London ' Saturday Be view,' *is not over. The Church is still in a perilous position ; but the thing which has suffered most in the fight has been the conception of the omnipotent State. ./ . . For Pius

X.,- with no physical force or diplomatic influence behind him to take up the gauntlet that French Jacobinism' had thrown down, seemed to the ordinary man the height of folly. It was an act of the highest heroism. Pius VI. when he flung the civil "constitution of the clergy" in the face of the National Assembly, Pius TIL when he defied Napoleon/ did no braver thing. But the brave thing was also the right and the wise thing. It brought home to French Catholics, clergy and laity alike, that French Christianity was at stake. And French Catholicism made a noble response. For tKe first time in the history of France, the French Church stood solid for the Pope" against' the rulers of the State. In a moment it' was apparent that Fronch Chauvinism had been beaten.'

Cockneyisms in New 'Zealand

The sporadic tendency to cockneyisms of speech in New Zealand is still exercising educationists up North. Two weeks ago we made an editorial reference to the subject. And' seven years ago, dealing with the same theme, we suggested that the fashion of dialect stories, and the crude vogue of coster songs and other such music-hall ' turns,' may possibly have some effect in producing the growing tendency towards the sort of speech that is heard within sound of Bow Bells. We. have (as indicated in a recent note) come across cockneyisms in unexpected places— in districts remote, . unfriended, solitary, slow, and in circumstances that it would be almost as difficult to-explain as to solve the mystery of the live toad in the heart of the solid rock. Can it be that cockneyisms, like Dogberry's reading and writing, come by nature ? Some fifteen, years ago Professor Morris, of the Melbourne University, grappled with this puzzle— with only a qualified success. During the newspaper discussion that ensued in the Melbourne ' Argus,' a correspondent told all abay't hay'w (about how), at a dance, a handsome lidy asked one of her guests to tike the kike (take the cake) first and have the gripes (grapes) afterwards. Coming from beautiful lips, such language recalls the ' creepy ' fairy-tale- about the intolerably lovely maiden from whose mouth, when she opened it, there issued a procession of frogs and toads.

One authority issued some years ago the warning that, unless the educational authorities are watchful, whole districts of New Zealand will become infected with cockneyisms as they are with Calif ornian thistles. *An Irishman,' says the Wellington 'Times,' 'does not say "gripes'" for " grapes," nor a Scot, nor an educated Englishman. The monstrosity is cockney, pure cockney, and, so far as New Zealand is concerned, will be found flourishing either where cockneys predominate, or where the teacher chances to have acquired the ' ' langwidge. " Even such ethereal beings as school inspectors have been heard to speak of the West Indiar Islands. But to say u that this is_ colonial is* a calumny. It is not any more colonial than the Edinburgh accent is Scotch, or the Yorkshire dialect is English. Gather Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh children into one school, and let each read the same passage — or better still, listen to them in the playground, and tell me which speaks Scotch or English. The fact is that in no country do the majority speak in the language as it is written. There is no colonial accent. We are too scattered, too young, and too mixed to have acquired this national feature. We believe it to be a fact that our colonial children speak as good and pure English as you will -find anywhere. The cockneyisms are local and accidental— importations,- and should be -trodden under foot of men. ' •

A Harmless Bogy.

A New Zealand contemporary has, so to speak, resurrected the ' buried alive * bogy. Figures are given purporting to represent the proportion of persons that are interred before they are ' fatally dead. ' But the figures are fantastic guesses without any solid substratum of truth on which to rest. This sort of "scare comes and goes like other epidemic fear. The first that we can recall occurred in. the early eighties, when a- foolish paper- was read before .the French Academy of Medicine, the writer s expressing his conviction that one person in every, five thousand is con-

signed to the dust before the 'vital spark of heavenly flame ' has ' quit, oh! quit his mortal frame.' The resulting panic was shown in the number of French wills in which instructions were given to have the testator's heart pierced by a qualified surgeon before, the coffin lid was finally screwed down. Curiously enough, this unnecesary fear haunted M. Nobel, the millionaire inventor of dynamite. He, too, had his heart pierced.. It was unnecessary, for the ex-dynamite maker was sleeping soundly when the surgeon's steel got beyond the fifth rib. * Various minor scares have occurred since the reading of that paper at the French Academy of Medicine, and the < buried alive ' bogy is still, so to say, over ground. Tn fact, he is, among some, ' an influential goblin ' (as Gilbert would say). And he has led sundry over-timid or eccentric people to form associations for the purpose of making sure that soul and body have dissolved partnership before dust is consigned to dust. One association, founded in New York, had a more practical and commonsense object in view —namely, to secure legislation to make compulsory certain tests to be applied to « suspected ' corpses ' (as we may term them) before certificates of death are granted or burials are permitted. The ancient Egyptians gave the ' corpse ' a chance of walking again among men by making four days the minimum between death and burial. The pagan Eoman ' wake ' lasted six days ; that of the Greeks —like that of our Maoris of rangatira blood— was a festival long drawn out. It lasted eleven days— by which time all reasonable doubts as to the condition of the chief actor in the affair must have been pretty thoroughly set at rest. But, dead or comatose, when we fall into the undertaker's hands, subsequent proceedings, above ground or beneath, will have little interest for us. And over our clay sympathetic friends or neighbours will pass the two trite remarks that (according to < Mr. Dooley ') are the common lot : ' How much did he lave ?'— and ; 'It's a fine day f 'r a walk to th' cimitry. ' m In the days of our grandfathers, ..one of the fears that haunted the dying— and, later on, the ' friends of the corpse '—arose from the operation of the ' resurrection-men ' or 'body-snatchers.' For nearly thirty years preceding 1832, this fear was no idle or groundless one. Details of odious and gruesome occupation are given in Andrews' ' Bygone England ' and in Bransby Cooper's ' Life of Sir Astley. Cooper.' The occupation of body-snatcher was followed in every part of the British Isles, and for the same purpose—to supply subjects for dissection to the numerous teachers of anatomy that then had the training of budding, medicos. Thieves and other such characters were the principals in the business of procuring ' stiffs.' They Were aided by the worse class of undertakers, by gravediggers, and by watchers appointed to guard the bodies. The competition for ' specimens ' was very keen, and nine guineas a body was often given to the < resurrectionist ' besides a < retainer ' of £50 at the beginning of each session of the anatomy school for an exclusive supply. The daring and insolence of the < profession ' knew no bounds, and it was by no means diminished when Sir Astley Cooper and other surgeons exerted themselves to keep convicted ' resurrectionists ' out of gaol, or provided funds for the support of them and their families during their imprisonment. Finally, the exhumers bethought them of an easier plan to secure < subjects.' A < dead-drunk ' was sold, in a bag to anatomist Brookes. And" finally, in Edinburgh, in 1828* the murders that took place (known as « Burkings ') compelled Parliament to take the matter in hand and to legalise dissection under restrictions regulated by Minister of the Crown. A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to investigate the matter. Sir Astley was examined by it. He gave some answers that tell their own tale. Here are some specimens :—: — < Q.— Does the state of the law actually prevent the teachers of anatomy from obtaining the'body of any person which, in consequence "of some peculiarity of structure, they may be particularly desirous of procuring ?'

* A. — The law does not prevent our obtaining the body of . any individual if we think, psoper j, for there is no. person, tet Bis sffiuation in life be wftat it may, whom,, iff I were disposed' ffo dissect, t eoulcf not' obtain..' > Another question was then put, and 1 Sir Astley replied as: follows : ' The law only enhances the 1 price, and does note prevent the exhumation ; nobody is secured by the law — it only adds to the pipice of the subject. T " « The upshot of the Committee's report was the legalisation) of dissection, which was permitted only after a proper certificate of death and the causa of death, and only to< schools licensed by the Government for the purposes -of ' anatomizing. ' This law greatly raised the credit of themedical schools and of the medical profession, and ;ife ended what has been aptly called « a startling chapter 'in the history of civilisation.'

That • Milliard '

In the fifteenth century there lived in Eome a satirical ' ciabattino ' or cobbler whose name was Pasquino. Pasquino bit with mordant satire the public men of his time. When he ' passed out,' other satirists wrote their lampoons upon persons and things, signed them * Pasquino,' and pasted them to the pedestal of a statute that still stands in one of the streets, and is known as Don Pasquino. Collections of the most famous of these lampoons have been, published, and among them are many, of extraordinary brilliancy and historic fame. Pasquino and his imitators have given to the world the word ' pasquinade ' and its foreign equivalents. Some cases in Paris have lately been giving a distant imitation of the compressed and" concentrated mordant of the Roman satire. A rumour (said to be inspired) was set afloat to the effect that the French Government was about to seize and plunder the French religious property in Eome, including the beautiful and historic church known as San Luigi dei Francos!, The news was contradicted by the Government. But (says 'Eome ') ' just as the " ballon d'essai " of the further intended confiscation was launched the following notice was pasted all over Paris and in many other places in France : ' ' ' Lost, between the Chamber of Deputies and the Palace of Justice, a Milliard (the alleged Milliard or £40,000,000, of the plundered Eeligious Orders), promised October 28, 1900, by Waldeek-Eousseau,- Minister, President of the Council, who declared that the confiscation of the property of the religious would mean a Milliard of francs for a fund for old-age pensions for laborers. ' " To-day the liquidation is over, the congregations dispersed, their charitable and educational institutions destroyed. ' ' ' The workingmen 's pensions have not yet come — there is no sign of their coming. '' ' And of the Milliard ! Of the one thousand million francs (£40,000,000) that were promised us, only nine millions (£360,000) have entered the treasury. The rest has slipped through the fingers of the pretended friends of the people, who have taken good care to think of themselves before thinking of pensions for the aged.' < So,' adds * Eome,' ' less than one per cent, of the milliard has been rescued from the " liquidators," and in the meanwhile the poor have been deprived of the many beneficent organisations with which the religious 'congregations had studded France. Certainly it was not the 'time for extending the liquidation to Italy.' ■ ] ' ■;;"'•