Ever since Paul came to this house, in obedience to the advice of his
mother, as well as in accordance with the prescriptions of the excellent
religious education he received at home in the diocesan seminary, he
always read the "Prayers at Mass," accompanied by his sister Bridget,
first; and after having read them with her at home, he went across the
brook to Reuben Prying's, where his brothers lived, and taking them into
the fields, or to the barn if the weather did not answer, he read for
them the same devotions, causing them to answer "Amen" after the end of
each prayer, and reading to them a chapter of the catechism for
committal to memory. And to do justice to Reuben, whose wife was a
southern lady, there was no obstacle thrown in the way of the children
to prevent them from discharging their duties to their religion. On the
contrary, the fidelity of Paul, and his watchfulness over the faith and
morals of his younger brothers Patrick and Eugene, commanded the
highest approbation of Mrs. Reuben Prying. And such was her horror of
any thing like the domestic tyranny or intolerance of Amanda, that Mrs.
Reuben always allowed the two young lads to say their own prayers in
private, notwithstanding the advice of the ministers to the contrary.
The only times that Pat and Eugene were ever asked into the parlor to
pray was on some rare occasions, when Mrs. Reuben, through a laudable
curiosity, and to serve as an example to her own children, caused the
orphans to say their prayers aloud before retiring to bed. The two
little fellows, one five and the other eight years of age, joining their
hands before their breasts, repeated the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, the
Apostles' Creed, the General Confession, the Acts of Faith, Hope, and
Charity, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, the Prayer of the Angel
Guardian and Patron Saint, and Prayers for the Dead: these they repeated
aloud, and correctly, to the astonishment of the other children and the
edification of the mistress.