e positive religious instruction. This
opposition was doubtless a menace to our time-honored and on the whole
very efficient school system, so that what the future of this was to be
no one could confidently predict. It was to be remarked, however, that
some of the warmest defenders of the public schools appeared in the
Catholic ranks; nor was there any evidence that, as a class, American
citizens of Irish birth and descent prized the free institutions of this
nation a whit less than the rest of the people.

A greater peril beset the nation in the decay which slowly crept over
our family life. The family has in every civilized age been justly
regarded as the pillar of the state, but the integrity which it
possessed among our fathers, their children invaded in many ways.
Mormonism, decadent if not dead, about which so much had been said, was
but one of these, and perhaps not the worst. If crimes of a violent
nature were becoming less frequent, crimes against chastity were on the
increase. Easy divorce was considerably responsible for this. The
diversity of marriage and divorce laws in the various States was a great
abomination. How to remedy it did not appear. Many called for a
constitutional amendment, lodging solely in Congress the power of making
laws upon this vital subject.

We proved very fortunate as a people in that our material prosperity
itself did not prove a greater curse. More than every other disaster was
to be feared the growth of a temper for mere material thinking and
enjoyment, the love of lucre and of those merely material comforts and
delights which lucre can buy. There was among us quite too little care
for the ideal side of life. Too many who purchased books loved them
only for the money they cost. Rich engravings and bindings were often
sought rather than edifying matter. Costly daubs were purchased at
enormous prices for lack of true artistic taste or relish. In sadly
frequent cases the great captain of industry was nothing but a plodder.
There was too great rush for wealth. We became nervous. Nervous diseases
increased alarmingly. We read, but only market reports. Think, we did
not; we only reckoned.

The outlook, notwithstanding, embraced much that was hopeful. Very
worthful as well as very beautiful was the new sense of nationality that
had been developed in this country in consequence of the war. While men
still differed as to the original nature of our Union, while the State
remained as ye