the world should be committed to a kind of
spiritual rule of thumb."

[3] The following letter prompted by the reading of this very article
was received by the President of the Church Extension, dated, March 14,
1919, at a point of Saskatchewan we know quite well; it is illustrative
of conditions prevailing in many districts of our Great West:

Very Reverend and dear Father,--

I have just read your article in the Febr., 15 issue and I am so
pleased with your suggestion for relieving the situation for scattered
Catholics throughout the West that I must write my appreciation. I am
sure that very few people in the East realize what a veritable
necessity those _Free Lances_ you spoke of are to so many Western
people, or what a God-send those _auto-chapels_ would be. Western
homesteaders do not stray far from home for two very good reasons, lack
of transportation facilities and lack of funds.

We live 12 miles from the church, that is my own family. The others
live thirty-five and fifty miles away and up to this year we have had
nothing but a waggon to travel in, and now those that live farthest
away have still only a waggon. So you will understand that we have not
made more than necessary trips or not many more. And I wonder if my
brothers would make those, were it not for my mothers insistence. They
are surrounded by such bad influences. It's not that it is a sectarian
influence, but rather a total lack of religion altogether. The only
things that matter greatly are the material things of this world. To
confess yourself religious, especially Catholic, is to confess yourself
old fashioned and to cause people to smile. You know that is harder to
combat than bigoted opposition. Your plan to send out pamphlets would
be appreciated by many--But above all we need the personal touch of a
priest. We need it as our crops need rain, etc. . . .

[4] As an illustration of what in a simple and unostentatious way can
be done by any parish in the mission cause the editor of the Annals of
the Propagation of the Faith (N.Y.) refers to an invitation extended to
him to attend a Christmas sale. It took place in a parish of the
Brooklyn diocese on Dec. 3, 1919, the feast of St. Francis Xavier,
patron of the mission cause. Thanks mainly to the efforts of an
energetic lady, but with the consent and patronage of the pastor, a
Xavirian Mission Circle had been formed. Within eighteen months after
its organization the newly fou