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CERTAIN CHURCHES IN THE WEST. 89
idolater. They are too intelligent and too well informed
as to the comparative history of religions to have any more
sympathy with such bigotry than they have with voodooism
or widow-burning. Their interest in Catholics, however, is
about the same as that taken in a consistent Buddhist who
could give a reason for the faith that is in him; and, while
many are liberal enough to assure you that dissent has no at-
tractions for them, and that, as far as they are concerned, it
must be either Rome or Reason, there are but few who can
grasp the great, the vital truth that Rome and Reason, in this
regard, are synonymous instead of conflicting terms.
Our first Sunday was spent in Denver. We were fortu-
' nate enough to be directedrto the Jesuit church, which we
found to be poor, small and dingy, unworthy alike of the great
Order and the growing city. We were assured, however, that
it was the best Catholic church in Denver, which is the more
surprising as our dissenting brethren have kept pace with the
progress of the city, fine Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist
and Unitarian churches having been erected. In fact there
was apparent truth in the remark of the hotel clerk of whom
we asked guidance-“the Catholic Church in Denver is slow,”
the more to be regretted as it appears to be the only slow
thing in the place. The congregation, however, was large and
devout, with a. gratifying proportion ot the male element.
The beauty of the sermon, moreover, consoled us in a measure,
for the short-coming of the building and its adornment. It
was on dear St. Francis of Assisi. and did such full justice to
the sweet ideality of the subject as to unite one more closely to
the rest of humanity in view of our common relationship.
After a week replete with the enjoyment of novelties, in-
cluding Pike's Peak, the Royal Gorge and Salt Lake City, we
reached San Francisco the following Saturday evening. The
Sunday morning was gorgeously, tropically lovely. Inquiring
for the Cathedral, we were fortunately, as it turned out, landed
by an unbelieving Philistine of a car conductor within a block
of the Jesuit Church. Architecturally there is nothing notices
able about the exterior of the edifice, as it is built adjoining