66 Life of The 



rise above their low condition, or how could they 

 pass the fiery ordeal unscathed, when the myriads 

 of temptations, to which a life of poverty and 

 destitution exposes them, were around them like 

 harpies? How would they escape, when unpro- 

 tected by proper religious instructions which would 

 serve as their safeguards? 



Though there are schools for the poor, with 

 well-paid teachers fattening on the spoils wrung 

 from the people in the way of taxation yet experience 

 has demonstrated beyond the possibility of contra- 

 diction, that the morals of the poor who frequent 

 these schools are not improved. Indeed, improve- 

 ment under the head of morals should not be expected 

 from them. — How can teachers in the world, pursuing 

 a wordly life, root out the seeds of vice and impiety 

 sown, deeply sown, amid the haunts of intemperance 

 and impurity? They cannot reach the disorder, 

 for they are not clothed with the sanctity that will 

 permit them to probe to the bottom the festering 

 wounds that are gangrening upon the face of society, 

 and, therefore, they cannot apply the remedy; but 

 the Catholic Church, the mother of the unfortunate, 

 has within her pale, communities of men and 

 women who have no worldly aims in view, and who 

 devote themselves to this sacrifice of love: the 

 bringing back into the fold the strayed sheep of the 

 flock, and sending them forth again, that their 

 example may improve their associates, and make 

 them better. 



