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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 7 CLERICAL LIFE—SOME OF ITS SERIOUS AND HUMOROUS SIDES By P. H. D. A recent article published in The Bulletin under the above caption attracted much favorable at tention. The Bulletin considers itself fortunate to be able to present to its readers a second article on the same subject from the same gifted pen: I have already spoken of my choir and the ex cellent music rendered by it. I had the aid of a good, old German from a neighboring city in train ing them. As I look back today, I am simply amazed at my temerity in attempting to train a choir, for truth compels the admission that the only musical instrument on which I could play was that commonly known as the jew’s harp, and as for vocal music I never could have made a living as a professional singer. Nevertheless, I managed to teach them the Sunday psalms for vespers. I remember well the first vespers by reason of the fact that just as I sat down at the commencement of the Dixit Dominus I noticed that the altar boy was laughing. I was just about to re prove him when looking toward the communion rail I noticed a large coach dog with his forepaws resting on the railing and gazing at me. In the front pew sat Henry F., a devout old German Catholic, who was joining with the choir in singing and was en tirely oblivious of the offending canine. Mrs. F., who saw the dog, nudged her husband, and Henry rose, prayer book in hand and walking out seized the dog by the neck, never ceasing his singing, though the poor dog kept up an accompaniment of yelps. Mr. F. dropped the dog down the steps—we were in the upper part of the building came back into the Church, still singing, and resumed his seat as if noth ing out of the ordinary had taken place. The custom of sending around a town crier still prevailed, and when one had lost or found anything valuable, this man went all over the town bawling out the news, first ringing a bell in order to attract attention. A little boy had wandered away from home and his anxious mother sent for the town crier to give notice of the fact and so recover the child. Some one else had employed the crier, and I was con siderably startled to hear a loud ringing of a bell, followed by an announcement in a stentorian voice: Hear! Hear! A little boy missing; six years old, with curly black hair, a check suit and no shoes and a straw hat. He has warts on his left hand and a red cow.” We had a police force of three men who preserved the peace. I never had occasion to use their ser vices but once. One winter evening I was sitting near the register, reading my office, when the bell rang. Knowing that my housekeeper was busy, I went to the door to meet a man carrying a large basket. He wanted to know if I would buy some of his goods. I brought him inside and to my delight the first thing I saw was a pair of vases. I had bought a similar pair in New York some months be fore, but was told at the store I would scarcely be able to duplicate them, as the kind were no longer made. The man had in his basket the exact duplicate of the ones I had bought in New York. I need hardly say that I at once purchased them. Half an hour after he left I took them over to the Church to place on the Blessed Virgin’s Altar where the other pair were. 1 took some flowers to place in them, having first half filled them with water. I was rather sur prised, on going to the altar, to find quite a bunch of flowers lying on the cover of the altar. An ex amination showed that the man had gone into the Church, stolen the pair of vases and then gone to my home and sold them to me. I went to police headquarters and the man was arrested and the Mayor made him return the money and sent him to jail for ten days. He was most certainly an en terprising business man, and I expect he has long ere this accumulated a large fortune, if he escaped the gallows. One night about 8:00 a “trusty” from the county jail came to my house with a message from one of the wardens, who was a Catholic; there was a very sick person there whom nobody could understand, but whom he felt sure was a Catholic, and he wanted me to come down to see him. I went at once and found a French Canadian who was ignorant of Eng lish. He was quite sick and I heard his confession, and then told him I would bring him Holy Commu nion the next morning. After my Mass the next day I carried the Blessed Sacrament to him, and as I was leaving the jail the warden asked me if I had ever seen “Big Frank.” I told him I had not, and he pointed to the cell where Frank was confined, and said: Go and look in the door and you will see him.” I declined, saying that the fellow wasn’t a beast to be stared at, but I told the deputy to tell Frank I was there, and if he wished to see me I would be glad to call on him. The deputy went to the cell and in a moment came back with the message that Frank would be very glad to see me. I went into the cell and there met for the first time the well- known criminal. He was, I should judge, nearly six feet high and weighed about 180 pounds. He had a very high forehead, large blue eyes and a very at tractive face. I believe if he were placed in a hall with some of the most celebrated men of an average city, lawyers, doctors and other professional men, and one was asked to find in the crowd the criminal, Frank would have been the last man to be suspected of wrong-doing. I had better state how it was he was an inmate of the prison. In the neighboring city of W. there stood, and yet stands, at the corner of Sixth and Market Streets, a bank. In 1874 it was then an old-fashioned two- story building, the cashier living in the same build ing. The front room facing Market Street was the bank, and immediately in the rear was the dining room. Upstairs was the parlor and bed rooms. Every day at 3 o clock the cashier locked and barred the door, closed the windows, put the cash in the vault and then went to dinner. One day, in the summer of 1874, he went through this program, and just as he sat down to dinner the door bell rung at the en trance on Sixth Street. A servant went to the door, where she found three men who wanted to see the cashier. The girl told them he was just sitting down to dinner. One of them said, "I will write him a note which you will please carry to him and I will wait here for his answer.” Saying this, he stepped into the hall and took a piece of paper from his pocket and placing it against the wall began writing. One of the men spoke to the girl, who turned to reply, and as she did she was seized by the man who was writing, another placed a gag in her mouth, and then they came inside, closed the door and tied the girl s hands and feet, and putting on masks they walked into the dining-room. At the table was the cashier, his wife, daughter and a lady friend. One of the men walked to the cashier and said: “Don’t be alarmed and don’t make any noise. We don’t propose to harm these ladies or you. But you will please walk into the bank with me and open the (Continued on Page 15.)