My sister, Sister Cassilda, and myself corresponded with each other considerably after I left the sisterhood, and I received many letters from her that are exemplary of the Roman Catholic teaching. I would like to quote from one of these letters here:

Cranbrook, B. C., June 24th, 1915.

My very dear Sister:

Your two kind letters, May 24th, No. 13, and the other June 16th, No. 14, have both been received with the greatest pleasure. It is always a pleasure for me to hear from you and to know that you are well and getting on so nicely. It does seem negligent, dear Sister, for me to have delayed so long in writing, and I beg your pardon for the sorrow I have caused you. It was no ones fault, you see I have been changed from New Westminster back to St. Eugene Mission. I always intended to write as soon as I got settled, time passed so quickly, hence the cause of my delay. I am very well and as happy as any one can be in this world....

.... I would no more let anyone say anything against the religion I have practiced all my life, which was taught me by my own dear parents and which I love dearly. I would rather die than go and put my parents and people below those Bible preachers; they better practice what is in the Bible instead of talking about their neighbors. My love for you, my dear sister, is the same as it ever was, nothing can ever change that, but it grieves me to think that you have turned against our dear religion what you and I were taught together in our infancy. I surely would not compare Bible reading with that. I pray the Lord to give me strength to be faithful to it all my life and not to be deceived by false prophets. I have seen enough of the world to know which is right. Unfortunately there are many Catholics that are not what they should be; they will be responsible for themselves; that does not change religion any.

Now a little news about my mission. It is about the same, only we have a grand, new cement house, with all the comforts possible, and the government will build us new barns and stables, and renew all the fences, so it will be a swell place after that.... Hope to hear from you soon again, love and good wishes for yourself and your friends.

Your loving sister,

SISTER CASSILDA.

This letter shows how the sisters are duped about the Protestant ministers and the preaching from the Bible. It also shows how strong they are held in the faith of the Roman Catholic church. At the end of the letter you will notice that the government was building, or helping to build, the new institution at Cranbrook.

The Roman Catholic Church, from time to time, has broken away from the teaching of the Bible, and instituted practices, man-made and traditional. The adherent of the Roman Catholic Church accepts these teachings and practices because he believes, as I did for so many years, that the word of the Pope is God's word, and whatever is dictated to the subject through the pope, or his ecclesiastical representatives, must be obeyed. The reason he believes this, is that he is not allowed to read and study the Word of God. When the priest talks about the Bible, that is sufficient for the laity. In all my years of sisterhood life, I never studied the Bible, and when I say "I," I wish it understood that I was no exception.

Surely if Christ intended that all these practices, and institutions of graft, should be necessary for the salvation of mankind, He would have practiced some of them while He was here.

Since the combining of paganism and Christianity, forming the Roman Catholic Church, here are some of the man-made practices and the time instituted:

I copy this table from ex-Priest P. A. Seguin's book, "Out of Hell and Purgatory," and he asks, "How old is this popish combination?" And well might he ask it. If the popes and cardinals continue to add to the creed of the Roman Catholic Church in the next few centuries as they have in the past, God help the poor people who continue in that faith, for they must believe each and every one of the practices and innovations.

Why the pope, purgatory, seven sacraments necessary for salvation, worship of the Virgin Mary, the immaculate conception of Mary, worship of images and statues, sale of indulgences, etc.? Yes, there may be Christianity in the Roman Catholic teachings and practices, but if you wish to find it you must search for it.

If the Christianity existed in the Roman Catholic Church that should be there, why is there so much rottenness connected with it? Whenever there is any scandal (this is a great Roman Catholic word) in the Protestant churches, is it hidden and tried to be kept down? Verily, no! It is sifted through, and the cause of the wrong is found and righted. But Archbishop Christie knew there were wrongs being perpetrated right here in Portland, and he knew I knew it, but not once did he endeavor to right these wrongs.

Read this letter he wrote me soon after I left the sisterhood. In explaining this letter, I will say that the letter he speaks of from Mother Wilfrid was sent to him by me at the time I sent my letters for redress, and it was of such a nature that I do not understand how he could have forgotten it so easily; but, doubtless, he wished to keep it rather than to know that I had it.

Portland, Oregon, May 16, 1912.

Dear Sister:

I cannot remember having received a letter from Mother Wilfrid. You must have sent it to some other person and not to me.

I hope and pray you will do nothing what will cause any scandal.

Asking God to bless and direct you, I am sincerely in Xto

X A. CHRISTIE.

If the Roman Catholic system would clean up from within, there would be no need for the ecclesiastical authorities to "hope and pray" that any of the sisters who left any of their institutions "would tell anything that would cause any scandal."

It was ever so, dear reader, and it will always be. The same rottenness will always exist in the Church of Rome that has always existed. It was because of this rottenness and corruption that practically all of the ex-priests have left Romanism, and because of the wrongs perpetrated that practically all of the ex-nuns have left.

The conditions I have written about, as I have lived them, not only exist in the convents of the Pacific Northwest, but in other Roman Catholic convents and monasteries, as the teachings and practices here come from other convents and of necessity they must be the same. "Like father, like son." There may be a few exceptions, where there is convent inspection, or some other law governing them, but as a general thing they are as I have explained, and in a great many, the practices are rigorous to the extreme.

So, the great question arises, "How are we going to better conditions?" I could answer this question in a few words, and it would be the most logical answer, "Abolish all the convents and monasteries." Institutions of darkness and ignorance and evil are surely not necessary for the salvation of the souls of the women of this country, or of any other country. Christ did not institute any such specifications when He was on earth, or did He leave them in written form in His Holy Word. The secluding of girls and women is a man-made institution, and not for the saving of the souls of the poor girls, but for the profit of their work to the church. Is this Christianity?

How long will the American people be blind to this "religious cloak" for graft—school graft, hospital graft, laundry graft, and various other sweat-shop grafts? It is very convenient for the owners of the profitable "religious" institutions to operate them with sister service without paying either the wages or taxes required by the owners of legitimate industries. Think how it must affect competition and the wages of free workers.

Slavery of any degree is a curse to society as well as to the enslaved. I beg every American to look into this question seriously before it is too late. If you continue your sleepy indifference you may some day wake up to find that you have over-slept, to find that your own flesh and blood are being tricked and exploited into these "holy" institutions.

Under no condition should any institution, private or public, be permitted to immure girls and young women and keep them in servitude, hidden from their parents and friends and denied the common justice due every citizen. The laws of this country are made "by the people and for the people," and therefore, it is for the people of every state to see that there is a law on the statute books calling for the inspection of every institution where girls and women are incarcerated; the doors opened, that the truth may be obtained from every inmate and redress granted to all without intimidation.

As the convent system is now in vogue there is no redress, as I have shown you, nor is there any protection from the convent crimes, as they are absolutely under the government of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. From behind the convent walls the heartbroken cries of the victims cannot be heard by the deceived world, and therefore, there is no appeal for justice.

Open the doors of every convent and monastery and let the deluded victims return to the world and live useful lives if they so choose! Let them be free to come and go at will, like any other citizen, and grant them the liberty guaranteed by the Constitution to all within our borders.

For the nuns who desire to leave the convent system, there should be in every state a home where they can work out their own salvation, until such a time as they are prepared to make their own living. Such a home should be supervised in a manner to guarantee that the inmates will not be intimidated by the priests or other representatives of Rome. Convent work is all routine, and from the very day a girl enters she becomes as a spoke in a wheel; her thoughts, judgment and body become an incorporate part of the written rule and customary observances of the system. From long seclusion, peculiar dress, separation from people and all civil society, she becomes estranged to the habits and customs of the world. On account of these conditions, the sisters feel very sensitive and it makes them timid and shrink in embarrassment. If it was not for these difficulties and barriers, and perhaps humiliations, there are hundreds of sisters who would leave the convent system. Many of them stay, not because they desire to do so, but because they do not know where to go or what to do if they leave. I myself would have left many years before, had I known where to have gone or what to have done.

Another thing every American citizen should work for and see to, is that no sectarian school or institution of any nature shall receive financial aid from the State. We are blessed with one of the greatest and best public school systems in the world, and if they are not good enough for the people to send their children to, then this is no country for such a person. The taxpayer has enough to do without keeping up a school system for the purpose of teaching "Hail! Mary!" or the Roman Catholic catechism. Nor do we want sisters of the Roman Catholic sisterhood teaching in our public school, attired in their religious garb. These sisters have taken the vow of poverty, and yet draw their monthly salary from the State school fund. Who do you suppose gets this money? Surely not the poor sister! It of necessity goes to the church. In one county of this state of Oregon we have seven sisters of the sisterhood of the Roman Catholic church teaching in our public schools, attired in their religious garbs. This information comes direct from the county school superintendent's office.

Take away the parochial schools and the Roman Catholic system could not long survive in this country, and, as I have stated in the beginning of this book, the Roman Catholic system would not even have the parochial schools if it were not for our public schools. They must have some means of combating with the popular public education, and to do so institute the parochial schools and demand of the good members of their parishes to send their children to them.

So, it behooves us to have a law compelling every child between certain ages to attend the public school and to refuse further aid to sectarian schools.

Theodore Roosevelt in his "American Ideals" says:

"... We stand unalterably in favor of the public-school system in its entirety. We believe that English, and no other language, is that in which all the school exercises should be conducted. We are against any division of the school fund, and against any appropriation of public money for sectarian purposes. We are against any recognition whatever by the state in any shape or form of state-aided parochial schools."

Jeremiah J. Crowley says in his book, "The Parochial School, A Curse to the Church, A Menace to the Nation":

"The Catholic parochial school in the United States is not founded on loyalty to the Republic, and the ecclesiastics who control it would throttle, if they could, the liberties of the American people.

"It is my profound conviction that the masses of the Catholic people prefer the public schools, and that they send their children to the parochial schools to avoid eternal punishment, as their pastors preach from the pulpit, 'Catholic parents who send their children to the godless public schools are going straight to hell.'"

Again Mr. Crowley says:

"Catholic public school opponents declare that at least one-third of the American people favor their position. I deny it. I am morally certain that not five per cent of the Catholic men of America endorse at heart the parochial school. They may send their children to the parochial schools to keep peace in the family and to avoid an open rupture with the parish rector; they may be induced to pass resolutions of approval of the parochial school in their lodges and conventions; but if it ever becomes a matter of blood, not one per cent of them will be found outside of the ranks of the defenders of the American public schools.

"If a perfectly free ballot could be cast by the Catholic men of America for the perpetuity or suppression of the parochial school, it would be suppressed by an astounding majority."

The above quotations were written by Mr. Crowley while he was yet a priest in the church of Rome, and he evidently knew whereof he spoke. I will comment no further, as these remarks speak for themselves and very plainly.

Before I close, I wish to warn every Protestant parent about sending their children to Roman Catholic institutions for some special training which they claim to be superior in, and at the same time raise them to be Protestants. The instructors in these institutions will promise that they will use no influence to change the child's religious belief, but the sisters are bound by rule to convert every person to the Roman Catholic faith with whom she comes in contact, if she possibly can. If influence and coercion are not used, the environment is there just the same. Many times since I have left the sisterhood, mothers have come to me in tears and grief and asked me to help them keep their daughters from joining the Roman Catholic church or sisterhood. They would tell me that when they had placed their children in these institutions, the sisters had told them that no influence would be used to change their religious faith. Maybe not, but if such a person does not accede to the demands of those in charge and go to mass and say the prayers of a Roman Catholic, conditions are made very disagreeable for them and they soon learn that it is best for them to go through the performance, even though they do not believe it. Then, as time goes on, these practices become imbedded in their hearts and minds, until at last they become hypnotized, so to speak, by the superstitious teaching and practices of the Roman Catholic religion.

In this small volume I have told of the practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic church and convent as I have lived them. I am sometimes asked if I can prove this or that. If any of you, dear readers, will live these things as I have lived them they will be realistic enough to you. God's Word says, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

I may have written with prejudice, and I ask God to prejudice me against all wrong that I may live to do His work and glorify Him. He knows that I hold no ill-feeling against any Roman Catholic individual—laity, sister, priest or archbishop. But the system they represent—the system that I have served so faithfully for so many years—I have no sympathy for. Whatever a sister, priest or archbishop may be, the system has made them. I only hope and pray that they will all see the light and come out of their superstition and live the religious life they entered the Roman Catholic church to live. God's Word says, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

In the last lines of this book, I wish to plead with each and every American to stand for the right, and do not be afraid to show your colors. Stand for the true American principles; stand by that Wonder of Wonders, the Menace—which has been a Martin Luther in print; and above all, stand together. Unite—for without union there is no strength. Follow the Roman Catholic system in this respect. And when the patriotic men and women do unite on one common ground and for the one cause—love of God, freedom and country—there need be no fear of a second St. Bartholemew's Day; there need be no fear of a repetition of the terrible Inquisition of Spain; there need be no fear of internal strife as poor, blood-drenched Mexico is experiencing today.

All I ask is for you to think on the few thoughts I have endeavored to give you in plain words, and to take the warning as coming from one who lived for thirty-one years.

"THE DEMANDS OF ROME"

Yes, a church without a Bible
Is like a ship without a sail,
Trying to withstand the tempest
In some fearful, howling gale;
Yes, a church without a Bible
Is like a general in the fight,
Who is trying empty-handed
To put enemies to flight.
It will surely be defeated;
Foes without and foes within
Drag it onward, downward, plunging
In a deep abyss of sin.
In the Bible is many a remedy;
If 'twas hidden in its heart,
It from pagan rules and customs
Would forevermore depart.