Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 12, 12 November 1908, Page 21

Notes

A Catholic Press Association An American Catholic Press Association was called into being some months ago in Cincinnati. The Catholic Times states that 'it has now a large membership.' When will Australia move? The • Unwritten Law ' The ' unwritten law ' in the United States has been pleaded in justification of sundry crimes from picking pockets to wilful murder. The ' unwritten law ' of the States also blocks, to Catholics, the path to the presidential chair. With all his popularity, Roosevelt's chances of another term \as President of the United States would be utterly destroyed if he' became a Catholic. Taft, the newly-elected President, is a Unitarian — at least nominally, for it does not appear that his practice of that faith is of a very strenuous or exhausting order. The American President's chair might bear the legend that long adorned the walls of Bandon, in Ireland : 1 Turk, Jew, or Atheist May enter here, but not a Papist.' Twain and the Burglars Some weeks ago a cable message described how two burglars _ had entered the home of Mark Twain (S. L. Clemens) in Connecticut, seized his big assortment of presentation and other plate, .and made off with the booty. The sequel was not told. The sheriff and the neighbors were aroused and a pursuing party was quickly formed. They chased the laden burglars down the railway line and, after a hot run, captured them as they were boarding a train at Bethel, with the plate in their possession. There was some powder-blazing- between pursued and pursuers, and two of the bullets found billets — but the damage done did not rise much abov& the level of that achieved in a French duel.

On his return from the chase, Twain posted the following notice on his front door : — ' To the next burglar. — There's nothing but plated ware in this house now and henceforth. You'll find it in that brass thing in the dining-room over in the corner by the basket of Kittens. If you want the basket put the kittens in the brass thing. Don't make a noise. It disturbs the family. You'll find " rubbers "in the front hall by that thing which has umbrellas in it — chiffonier, I think they call it, or pergola or something like that. Please close the door. — Yours truly, S. L. Clemens.' The Silence Cure In another week the cataract of election oratory will hava ceased to flow in the Dominion, and the peace of Nirvana will settle down for a time upon the land. Candidates, both defeated and successful, will hav.e an opportunity of poulticing their overwrought vocal chords, of tying up their tired jawbones in bandages, and of trying for a brief space the virtues of the silence cure. A lecturer of the Psycho-Therapeutic Society recently recommended this treatment to parliamentary candidates and others whose suppTe tongues are hung like the leaf of the aspen, jo that the slightest zephyr of circumstances sets them in motion. A great deal of energy (said the lecturer) is wasted by excessive talking. Nay, more, the excessive talker was described by him as ' a human vampire sapping the vital energy of those around him.' ' People who are silent by nature,' he explained, ' are seldom ill. Very often those whom the specialists receive in their consulting room are great talkers.' An English provero has it that speech is silvern and silence golden. An Irish saying couches this idea in the poetic phrase : ' There is melody in the closed mouth.' We are waiting for the gentle melody that follows the storm of electioneering words, words, words. The Eucharistic Procession High judicial authorities seem now agreed that the proposed Eucharistic procession was perfectly legal. Among them is so distinguished a lawyer as Judge Willis, K.C. , who is a Baptist in religion. 'In my opinion,' said he, ' the proposed procession was as lawful as a procession of the Salvation Army or a procession of brewers' draymen. If Mr. Asquith had threatened to put down the procession by force, the Archbishop of Westminster might have laughed him to scorn. No power was conferred on Mr. Asquith for dealing with the procession by the provision of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. Section 26 of that Act imposed a penalty of on all Roman Catholic ecclesiastics officiating save in their usual places of worship or in private houses. The penalty was to be recovered as a debt due to the Crown, by information to be filed in the name of his Majesty's Attorney-General.' On Sunday, September 20, an opportunity was offered to those who desired to test the legality of a Catholic procession through the streets of London. The part of the city selected was the Tower Hill part of the great metropolis. A beautiful and imposing procession moved through the streets. 'It had been whispered,' says the Catholic Herald of September 26, ' that there was just a possibility that the Protestant Alliance and Kensit crusaders would turn up to interfere with and endeavor to mar the success of the demonstration. In view of such a contingency, an extra large muster of Irish working men from the river side districts turned up to protect the processionists should need arise. There was no disturbance. It was noticed that many of the Jewish residents decorated their houses in honor of the event. Bishop Miller, of South Africa, marched in the procession in his purple robes, and continuously imparted his blessing to the crowds, who raised their hats in salutation as he passed by.' Mother-in-law When gold miners have worked out a claim, they pack up and go elsewhere in search of the yellow king of metals. If professional jokers followed this lead, there would be less of sadness in the so-called lighter side of illustrated journalism. The tortured torturers of reluctant ' wut ' have long ago ex- " hausted whatever of fun there was to be got out of the Weary Willy tramp, the mother-in-law, the stingy Jew and Scot, and the anthropoid ape that is made to talk in a barbarous dialect that is alleged to be ' Irish.' We are reminded of all this by a series of cutting's of mother-in-law ' wut ' that have been culled from various newspapers and sent to us by a Wellington reader for comment. We see neither wit nor humor in the collection. And behind all these elephantine efforts at witticism there lies the subtle inculcation of a contempt or disrespect which is hardly

calculated to make for goodwill in the household. They do some things differently in China. In this connection we may quote from a brochure published some years ago by Mr. Frank Browne, the Government analyst at Hong Kong. It is entitled The Experiences of a British Pharmacist in China, and contains the following mother-in-law story which illustrates in a rather drastic way the manner in which filial piety is inculcated in the Hwa Kwo or Flowery Kingdom : A man and his wife maltreated the husband's mother. The case was proven and confessed. The penalty was rather deterrent : The scene of the crime was cursed ; the active participants in the ill-treatment were put to death — in the Chinese fashion ; the mother of the wife was bambooed, branded, and exiled for her daughter's crime. The house inhabited by the offenders was dug up, students from the district were not allowed to attend public examinations, and even the magistrates were deprived of their office. The mother-in-law has rather a good time in that land of filial piety. And when the Celestial's visage expands in his slow, wise smile, it is not at some crude joke about a mother-in-law.