bigoted, and superstitious of men.  The masses of your church are deceived with pretended miracles and wondrous legends, such as the one currently reported respecting the holy house of Loretto, which seems so migratory, and flies hundreds of miles in a night.  These marvelous tales are credited by the uneducated; yet no enlightened man or woman of the present age, who has fully investigated this subject, can say with truth that they conscientiously believe the doctrines of the Romish Church to be those taught by our Saviour, or its practises in accordance with the general tenor of the Bible.  This may seem a broad assertion, yet none who calmly consider the subject in all its bearings, and consult the page of history, will pronounce it a hasty one.”

“Yet remember, Mary, that the sect in question is proverbial for charitable institutions.  One vital principle is preserved.  Surely this is a redeeming virtue.  Catholics are untiring in schemes of benevolence and philanthropy.”

“You will start, and perhaps condemn me, when I reply, that their boasted charity is but the mask behind which they disseminate the doctrines of the Romish Church.  I may appear very uncharitable in the expression of this opinion; yet hear me, Florry; facts are incontrovertible.  If you will think a moment, you cannot fail to remember Patrick, the porter at our friend Mrs. D——­’s.  Having received a dangerous wound in his foot, he was sent to the hospital, where several of the nurses were Sisters of Charity.  He remained nearly a month, and on his return related to Mrs. D——­, in my presence, some of the circumstances of his long illness.  His words made a lasting impression on my mind: 

“’Indeed, and I am glad enough to come home, ma’am; for never was I treated worse in my life.  The first week Sister Agnes, who nursed in my room, was kind and tender as could be, and thought I, if ever angels come to earth, this good woman is one; but I can tell ye I did not think so long:  she read some saints’ lives to us, and asked me if I was a Catholic.  I said no, I was no Catholic.  Then she tried every way to make me one, and told me if I refused I would surely die and go to purgatory.  Faith! the more she talked that way the more I wouldn’t be a Catholic; and then she just let me alone, and not another thing would she do for me.  I might call from then till now, and never a step would she come, or nurse me a bit.  It is no good care of hers that has brought me back alive and well:  I tell you, Sister Agnes won’t do for any but Catholics.’

“Florry, is such charity akin to that taught by the Bible?  Catholics boast of their asylums; and by means of fairs and suppers, large amounts are annually collected for the support of these numerous institutions.  I have been told by a directress of a Protestant orphan asylum, that on one occasion a squalid woman, accompanied by two boys, presented herself and entreated that her children might be received into the asylum.  The unhappy mother informed the directress that she was a Roman Catholic, and had claimed the protection of her own sect; but, said she, tearfully, ’Indeed I had no money to pay for their entrance, and they refused to take my children.’