ROUGH ON LOVERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14235, 4 December 1909, Page 8

ROUGH ON LOVERS.

The Rev. Henry F. Xavier, known as the " strenuous clergyman," expressed in Yonlrers, U.S.A., from the pulpit in St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, his intention to publicly chastise every couple in his parish whom he finds spooning in secluded streets. "I intend in future," he said, "to use my cane upon all the couples I catch sitthg together upon the wall along North Broadway'. The sauntering of young persons of opposite sexes along shady lanes at night and spooning in dark corners must cease. There are too many long courtships in tha parish. Every young girl who is keeping company should not hesitate to ask her suitor what his intentions are if he calls frequently upon her, and yet shows no disposition to ask her to be his wife. Matrimony is too sacred a sacrament to be lightlv regarded." Father Xavier advocates early marriages. "An old maid," he said, "is as good around the house as a watchdog. An old bachelor is an abomination, generally a crusty individual who lives in a hall bedroom, and is ill at ease with his neighbours and himself. If I had my way I'd closet him in a cellar, the darker the better."