After many entreaties and a sincere vow, it is now "mine to tell the story" of "The Demands of Rome" as I have lived them during my long life and faithful service in the Roman Catholic Church and sisterhood. I would sound this story in the ear of everyone who has the interest of the oppressed at heart—in the ear of everyone who has the interest of disseminating knowledge, the light and power of which would be a great help to the freeing of the captive from religious bondage. For as I view it now, religious bondage is the most direful of all.

In a few words, "The Demands of Rome" from the individual are from the "cradle to the grave," and they do not stop there, he is followed through "purgatory" and into eternity. In the commercial world, you must listen to "The Demands of Rome" or the Roman Catholic trade goes elsewhere, and the anathema of the church is invoked upon you.

The church of Rome demands property, and when they have it, demand that they be not taxed for that privilege; they demand wealth, never being satisfied, but forever demanding; they demand the suppression of liberty; they demand life; they demand death.

Now, as a sister in the church of Rome, it is demand from the very day she enters the convent, as I have explained throughout this book. The first demand is the hair of the victim. The Word of God says, "If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her," but what does the church of Rome care what the Bible says? It is the demand from the church, and blind obedience of the subject to that demand that Rome cares about. It is their endless demands for supremacy of heaven, earth and hell.

We have all heard of the dumb animal which would run back to his stall in case of fire; nevertheless, we must take an interest in the faithful old horse and use every effort to save his life from the horrible death that he would rush to.

How much more must we take an interest in the lives of the poor, oppressed humans, the over-burdened, entrapped nuns behind the convent walls, though she may imagine that she is enjoying the greatest freedom and the happiest life. Yes, we must all look well to the doors that stand between Liberty and bondage, even though those doors seem bright with "religious" paint.

Let me say with the poet, that I cannot hope to "live but a few more days, or years, at most," and my one aim is to give to the world a book that will stand the crucial time of the changing years—a book that shall be known and read long after the author is forgotten. I write it with a fond hope that it may be helpful to "those who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge," those who may be floundering in the meshes of a crooked and perversed theology. I want no other monument.

ELIZABETH SCHOFFEN.
February, 1917.