I Wish to say that I am here as a Catholic American citizen, speaking only for myself and my country, and in no way responsible for Mexico, South America, Spain, or any other country in the world.

The School Question is engrossing more and more the attention of all classes in the country. President Grant devotes a portion of his annual message to the subject, and calls for yet larger consideration of it by the Legislatures of the States. Politicians worry and fret over it, not knowing how the current may chance to run, and, consequently, which course they should take. Ministers and editors, from pulpit and press, flood the country with their learning and wisdom, well spiced with warnings and threats to all who dare differ from them. And yet the last to be heard and consulted is the one to whom the settlement of the question, first and finally, belongs,—the parent of the child.