efforts to secure subscriptions to those petitions, I met with all kinds of people with all kinds of views. I came to a gentleman's house in Whitewater Valley, who readily signed the petition, but his wife thought religious instruction should be given in the public schools.

She said, ''Here is Mr. Y's family, who do not attend religious meetings, and they receive no such instruction at home; and if they do not receive it in school, they will not receive it at all.''

''If religion must be taught in the public school.'' I replied, ''what religion shall it be?'' Suppose you should secure a Catholic teacher for your school, and she should be required by law to teach religion, she would certainly teach her own faith, as she would consider that the truest and best. How would you like to have your little children taught to pray to the Virgin Mary, and adore her image? That they must confess their sins to a priest, and get his absolution or be lost? To be taught to believe in purgatory, and to pay the priest to say mass for the repose of the souls of the dead? To be taught that the pope is the infallible vicar of Christ? that all Protestants are damned, and outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation, and much more, equally abominable?''

''I would not like it at all,'' she replied emphatically.

''But would you not love to have your children taught the Catholic religion just as well as the Catholic would love to have his children taught your religion? And would not the Catholic have just as much right to teach your children his religion as you have to teach the Catholic children the Protestant religion? Again, there are thousands of infidels who do not want their children taught any religion. Would the Christians have any more right to teach the children of infidel parents the Christian religion in the public schools than the infidels would have to teach the children of Christian parents infidelity? And would not a law requiring the principles of the Christian religion to be taught in the public schools, ultimately lead to defining, by act of Congress, just what religion should be taught in public schools? Then would not we have our religion ready-made for us by the government of the United States? It must certainly come to that; for if teachers must teach religion, they must be examined in that branch of education. In order to do so, there must be a standard by which to test their fitness to teach religion, and that standard must be established by law; and if Congress establishes a standard of religion, and we should