IN A FEW WORDS

Traditional Prayers AFRIEND of our Dutch correspondent joined in with the night prayers of the family he was staying with. To his surprise they included three Hail Marys for the Vatican Council. They had been said in the family ever since 1869. Why shouldn't they? After all. the Vatican Council has only been adjourned!
The Essential Human Freedoms "WHAT are the Essential Human Freedoms," asks a correspondent from East Budleigh and he gives the following list: 1. To be able to go about one's lawful occasions without fear of being molested or insulted.
2. To be allowed to earn one's living in peace without having one's work or private business interfered with, or one's property damaged, or one s letters intercepted.
3. To live free from blackmail in all its forms.
4. To be allowed to use a wireless without it constantly going wrong.
5. To be allowed the peaceful enjoyment of one's own home. 6. To have as few electric fires as possible. 7. To he able to discuss the little ups-and-downs of life, without one's opponent turning a deep rich purple and becoming abusive and personal.
The Catholic Artists' Guild AREADER writes. in reference to ms observations about the Guild of Catholic Artists and Craftsmen: " As a Catholic artist I have made two or three attempts to join this Guild, but my inquiries have met with no response, although my works have been accepted by the R.A. and R.S.A. and other leading societies." This contrasts with my experience. I. who have had no works exhibited anywhere except by this Guild, was yet immediately admitted so much so that I have paid no subscription, as I don't even know how much it is. There seems to be some lack of organisation somewhere.
Judging Art THE selection of " modern " ecclesiastical work is a very difficult problem, and it links up with the controversy about the worth of the art bought by the Chantrey Bequest about which so much has been written and said. My own view is that there is but one valid test of good work, and that is the test of history. Obviously, it is a test that one cannot apply to contemporary work. The reason why the test of history is the only valid one, I suggest, is because only in the case of work belonging to an entirely different age can personal and transitory emotions be transcended. The emotion created by a work of art is actually much the most important factor in judging its merit, but it is only the emotion, as it were, universalised through time which has a measurable factor. Therefore with all contemporary work one man's meat may well be another man's poison. No one, once the sheerly banal and incompetent are put out of court, has a right to crow over anyone else.
New Style Parish Magazine HIGHLY attractive is the appear ance of the Taunton Standard with its strong Dominican look of black and white on the cover. Its editor tells me that special editions are prepared for local sale among non-Catholics, e.g., au issue dealing largely with agricultural questions. Even these are not too easy to sell to the people (who mix it up with Jehovah's Witnesses when sold at the market), but it's sometimes easier to sell to the farmers than to some of the very respectable types of parishioners who walk past the church-sellers with their faces turned away.
Good News for the O'Briens ACCIDENTALLY, rather than pro fessionally, 1 discovered the other day that Ireland recognises a Sovereign Principality. namely, the Principality of Thomond. The Prince, 1 deduce. is the head of the House of O'Brien, and his son, born last year, is delightfully called Prince Torlough, the Strong. Another strange thing is that he posseses what is described as the oldest State Order of Chivalry in existence, the Most Honourablq Dalcassian Order. If I
did not highly respect the source of my information, I should suspect another leg-pull for the Jotter. P.S.—Lunching with an eminent officer of the College of Arms since writing the above, I asked for further information about the Principality. He bad never heard of it.
Sympathy of the Aged Sympathy of the Aged TELEPHONING to us on quite another subject, a priest took the opportunity of relating this recent experience. After a confirmation. the priest was walking down the church where an old man was sitting praying. He asked the man how he had liked the unusual ceremony. " I think it's a shame," the man answered. " What do you mean?" " Well, with two strong priests available, why let the poor old bishop do all the work?"
The Spirit of Newman I HAVE a pleasant letter from a non-Catholic reader who writes: " At a loose end in Birmingham this week-end, 1 thought of Cardinal Newman and went, without notice,, to the Edgbaston Oratory. There, one of the Fathers was most kind and gave this Newman-admiring non-Catholic a thoroughly enjoyable opportunity of seeing the late Cardinal's room. and some of the precious reminders of his days on earth. To that Father, whose gnraanttefu.. eIl.did not learn. I am most The spirit and courtesy of Newman lives on, and it evokes the response which Newman must so often have met with.
Father James Sharkey HUNDREDS of Stonyhurst and
Beaumont boys will hear of the death of Fr. James Sharkey with the deepest sorrow. I have known him as a Stonyhurst master when I was a boy. and as the Superior of St. John's, Beaumont, where my own
children were being educated. I used to hear complaints from certain people who were without his genius that St. John's was a bit of beargarden in his day, and that the noise the little boys made was intolerable. But the boys were happy, Fr. Sharkey's control was unquestioned, and the scholastic and other results were as good as ever. Verb. cap. May he rest in peace.
German Catholic Papers FR. Edwin Quinn, a most know' ledgeable priest about Catholic conditions in Germany, writes to me with some indignation over the letter from a German which I printed last week deploring a low quality i in German Catholic papers. He instances the Rheinischer Merkur, a weekly the Frankfurter Hefte, a monthly and a daily in Augsburg as papers fully up to any standard set anywhere in Catholic journalism. Furthermore they share our "secret " of success, being entirely " lay and free." I am of course delighted by the information about these and other German Catholic papers, the more so as this fits in with the admiration I have always had for the intellectual, as well as devotional, quality of German Catholicity.
Self-Discipline pR. Ripley has told me of a con* versation which took place after one of his instructions to non-Catholics at the Cenacie.
Non-Catholic Prinfessor: It is quite refreshing to be able to obtain information about the Catholic Church.
Fr. Rilplev: Why ? it is easy enough to obtain.
Professor: Easy enough to obtain —with that Discipline of the Secret of yours !
Fr. R.: What Discipline of the Secret ?
Professor: The law which forbids your laity talking about their religion.
Fr. R.: There is no such law.
Professor: But there must be. I am a lecturer. Most of my life is spent in contact with teachers. Again and again I have tried to find out about the Catholic Church from your teachers and other knowledgeable members of your Church; but as soon as I mention religion they all shut up like oysters !
Authentic !
PROM a Cathiilic bookseller's list: ANDERDON. W. H.. S.J. Purgatory Surveyed. 1874. Slightly scorched. 2s. 6d.
JOTTER