n friars
appeared to be the least--and the Austins the most--polished of all.

The Spanish parish priest was consulted by the native in all matters;
he was, by force of circumstances, often compelled to become an
architect,--to build the church in his adopted village--an engineer,
to make or mend roads, and more frequently a doctor. His word was
paramount in his parish, and in his residence he dispensed with
that stern severity of conventual discipline to which he had been
accustomed in the Peninsula. Hence it was really here that his
mental capacity was developed, his manners improved, and that the
raw sacerdotal peasant was converted into the man of thought, study,
and talent--occasionally into a gentleman. In his own vicinity,
when isolated from European residents, he was practically the
representative of the Government and of the white race as well as
of social order. His theological knowledge was brought to bear upon
the most mundane subjects. His thoughts necessarily expanded as the
exclusiveness of his religious vocation yielded to the realization
of a social position and political importance of which he had never
entertained an idea in his native country.

So large was the party opposed to the continuance of priestly
influence in the Colony that a six-months' resident would not fail
to hear of the many misdeeds with which the friars in general were
reproached. It would be contrary to fact to pretend that the bulk of
them supported their teaching by personal example. I was acquainted
with a great number of the friars, and their offspring too, in spite
of their vow of chastity; whilst many lived in comparative luxury,
notwithstanding their vow of poverty.

There was the late parish priest of Malolos, whose son, my friend,
was a prominent lawyer. Father S----, of Bugason, had a whole family
living in his parish. An Archbishop who held the See in my time had a
daughter frequently seen on the _Paseo de Santa Lucia_; and in July,
1904, two of his daughters lived in Calle Quiotan, Santa Cruz, Manila,
and two others, by a different mother, in the town of O----. The
late parish priest of Lipa, Father B----, whom I knew, had a son
whom I saw in 1893. The late incumbent of Santa Cruz, Father M----
L----, induced his spiritual flock to petition against his being made
prior of his Order in Manila so that he should not have to leave his
women. The late parish priest (friar) of Baliuag (Bulacan) had three
daughters and two