good Catholic, but he has not the courage of his convictions; he possesses faith, and his life is blameless as far as he goes; but if he finds himself in society where his religion and religious observances are derided, his faith and his Catholicism are not manifest. He is silent, or perhaps even joins in the mockery and ridicule out of regard for others; that is in consequence of miserable human respect.
He allows the priests of his Church and her chief pastors to be mocked at and made the object of foolish witticisms. God Himself and His saints are not spared, yet he meanwhile does not consider it to be incumbent on him to stand up and defend the honor of God. Believe me, the hour will come when such a coward will hear these words: "I know you not! Depart from Me!" What will it then avail him to have been silent from fear of offending ungodly and unbelieving men?
4. A young French soldier who fought in the war with China was cast in a widely different mold. One day he heard an extraordinary uproar in that part of the barracks which was in his immediate vicinity, and he went to find out what was the matter. One of his comrades had discovered a rosary in the pocket of a volunteer, and a perfect tempest of contempt, blasphemy, and vulgar abuse had broken forth over its possessor.
Then the young Frenchman snowed himself to be a soldier in the true sense of the
