Excerpt from John Dale, the American: A Story

To an American who has not been abroad, the men who con duct the business of this house present a curious and interesting spectacle, Representing two or three religious orders they are attired in the several unique costumes that distinguish them. Their faces are rubicund and'rosy, and express composure and satisfaction. Their bodies have a soft flabby out line. They perform their various ceremonial duties in a kind of mechanical, half unconscious mood that is induced by the unremitted and unchanged nature of the business. Mentally and physically they exhibit the marks of a careless and easy life. In contrast with the busy world that surrounds them, the strain of mind and muscle that prevails in the commnnity in which they live, they appear indolent, droning and slow. Among these seven or eight men are natives of Ireland, Italy, Spain and Mexico, and not a single American. They teach that the rights of conscience and personal liberty we enjoy under our Republic are nothing compared with the eternal joy and happiness they are commissioned of God to secure to us under certain conditions and contracts. In the exercise of free expression and thought, in the avenues of success thrown wide open to merit, in the glorious spec tacle of liberty, contentment and happiness, in the easy acquisition of knowledge by a free school system, they can recognize nothing of God.

In the early morning of a day in summer, while the devout were tramp ing along the street one by one, and disappearing within this edifice to early mass, there came a man running at the top of his speed toward the vestry in the rear. When he had reached the door he pulled the bell violently, took off his hat, and crossed himself. Upon being led into the presence of Father Scully, whom he desired to see, he exclaimed, scant of breath.

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