In his noble efforts to better their condition, he visited the Spanish officials in the country, he appealed to the chivalry of the Spaniards, and he went several times to Spain to interest the King and the Queen in his work.

It must be said that these rulers were strongly opposed to the way in which the Indians were being treated, and endeavored to have them protected.

In the year 1544, Father Las Casas was made the bishop of Chiapas. Here he labored zealously for the souls of his flock, but especially for his dear Indians.

In 1551, he returned to his native land; and at the ripe old age of ninety-two, in 1566, he died the death of the just.

His fellow Dominicans knelt around his humble couch and recited the prayers for the dying. Then the Protector of the Indians, holding in his hand the lighted candle, begged his brother Dominicans to persevere in their defense of the Indians, and asked them to join him in

prayer to God that he might be forgiven for any faults or sins which he might have committed.

Thus died one of the greatest heroes of the Catholic Church in America. But "for the thoughts, the words, the deeds of such a man there is no death. The sphere of their influence goes on widening forever. They bud, they blossom, they fruit from age to age."

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Where and when was Father Las Casas born? With whom did he come to America? At first what did he do? When was he ordained? Why was there general rejoicing? When was he made protector of the Indians? Whom did he interest in the Indians? What honor was conferred upon him in 1544 ? Where is Chiapas? When did he return to Spain? How old was he when he died? What was his dying request?

The facts of this story are taken from the "Life of Bartolomé de Las Casas," by the Rev. L. A. Dutto.

LAS CASAS

When Greed and Avarice held sway,
And exiled Justice from the land,
Las Casas' voice, in thund'ring tones,
Soon terrified that heartless band.

THE CHILDREN AND THE ANGELS

perils

terrors

When little children wake at morn

To greet once more the day newborn,
The angels take each tiny hand

And lead them forth from Slumberland.

When little children laugh and play
'Mid snares and perils of the day,
The guardian angels stand between
Each lure and pitfall dark, unseen.

When little children sink to sleep,
Above them white-winged angels keep
A loving watch from dark to light,
All through the terrors of the night.

And when in dreams they softly smile With hearts and lips that know not guile, Their souls forsake the haunts of men

And wander back to heaven again.

- MARY E. MANNIX.

JESUS HEALS THE TEN LEPERS

leprosy

obliged

disease

In the time of our Lord, any person who had leprosy was obliged to live apart from all other people.

66

Should a leper see any one coming towards him, he was bound to cry out: Unclean! Unclean!" SO that the other person may not catch the disease.

The poor leper's body was oftentimes one mass of sores from head to foot. No one could bear to look at him. He had no shelter, no food, no one to care for him. From a distance, he begged bread from the passers-by.

One day, as our Blessed Lord was going to Jerusalem, there met Him ten lepers who stood afar off.

They cried out to our Savior: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

When Jesus saw them, He said: " Go, show yourselves to the priests."