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w Iff rii w HI m The Bulletin of the Catholic Laymen'’s Association of Georgia .. 407 Herald Building, Augusta, Georgia. NOVEMBER, 1921 ISSUED MONTHLY w Iff m HI m *To bring about a friendlier feeling among Georgians irrespective of Creed. Eintered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post Office at VOLUME TT No 19 Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 1879. Accepted for mailing at special *’ ' * rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1921. $2.00 A YEAR ST. STANISLAUS’ COLLEGE DESTROYED NOVITIATE OF JESUITS AT MACON BURNED TO GROUND WITH LOSS OF $200.000—FATHER DE POTTER AND MERIWETHER BARELY ESCAPED FLAMES. Jagged walls, black ruins and a smouldering pile of coal are all that mark the spot in Macon where but a week or two ago stood the beautiful St. Stan islaus’ College, the novitiate of the Society of Jesus for the Province of New Orleans. Fire starting from an undetermined cause on the fifth floor early in the evening of November s reduced the building to ashes and a useless shell in a few hours, causing a loss estimated at $200,000, about $60,000 of which is covered by insurance. Very Rev. James De Potter, S. J., president of the college, and Rev. Wm. A. Meriwether, S. J., 88 years of age, barely escaped the flames. Father Meri wether an invalid, had hardly been taken from the third floor when the floor above collapsed. The Jesuit Fathers and the students at the col lege lost all their effects except the clothes they were wearing at the time. They chose to try to save the libraries rather than their own possessions, and snatched from the flames a number of Greek and Latin classics dating back as far as 1490 and 1492, a Spanish Bible of 1490, said to be the only one of its kind in existence, and another Bible dated 1510. Thousands of priceless volumes were destroyed. The fire is believed to have started in a clothes room at a corner of the fifth floor. The students detected on odor of burning cloth when going from supper to chapel, and located the fire after a short search. Finding they were unable to make any head way against it by fighting it with the fire hose, one of which was on each corridor, they attempted to ring the great bell in the tower, and thus give the alarm.