BX4216.M5 M56 1924 Miller, Neva Pinkham. Behind convent walls. Write P..O. Box 54, St. Paul, Minn., For “THE HOUSE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS.” PRICE 35c. RAULELUAUAUUDAGNERENRSEEOONEEDOGATONNNAOOCOGNLOOONCANTONOLAGCATCSNCNCSERNSUEUSCOOGACOCCLQUAUCNTOCUAULICOUGASANUNAUNSOUTRULESEDGUAUNUUSUGOUGNOUEOLASANESUCQ ERAN EUEESAESCAGAMGCTSUUATASUNSEUAASOGUSTEL AUN TANNA SCENES ROSSARCEA TEU AT AN TAATEERSCLECETE TAA A TURNRCNCEA ERSTE ATONE ARS seit = = AACCUAUGUENENEDODAGNOUEELOQNNSYOCNUGSUOUNCSCESELEOGASURENUAERELUOECCCOCCULATCGEANCUEEAANAEELUAAELEELAANUREAUUUCAREL AT UEEEVCCUCUETAAUACES EAT ANAMELE AA REEUAADETAT TUNERS EREU ANAS ETT AAAS OEUOLA ETT TAOTTT AOA S EATEN ei a rovuenecuconentancorencenneneeanansensegsnnenuncnscenconevcenenantcuanesnenoeseeanesendsaveegeacesneenennenceenencecesgeeoneseeneaonsgeegioneecsaneeocaseareevenvengegnnee! me AUTRUNRSEEASSEATENORDEGSDOQOOEDOUATDAAONAUODDEDEDOODEOLOOOUCRUOOEOSOEEOONECOOUUENOOUACAOOEENODEONNNOUDOELOOOQCMUAUEOCUNPEREESOCSESOLOO OUST TOROOEOOEDEDEOOUOO OVEN) ge BEHIND CONVENT WALLS BY NEVA PINKHAM MILLER MOSS NINTH LIBRARY GBRAGNCETON Pee me pPR 24 2009 THEOLOCICAL SEMINARY Printed in United States Price 50 cents MMe a 11 gquauauuunenggguucensggsnsuocnenegeuosvusesnscuasnesaratasnuesseegsuouasysennuoqsesasnnsqucessesnuoceseessnanageeesoquonsecensgsaqocsecsnsnnecereennvoneneseerannnensenoele Mi pneuseuuceessouunnsneceusnnacusuuacacacucauuucccceerscesaececerccereceeeeeeeceecesnegeneeenngenMM Neate ONOMMNAgeU MAMORU AECL U CURATORS Mo OH sq qgneNAGQNAQUNDEGULOLOGUONDSONUGRCRDOUUGNCOOUGACEDOGEAAUCUUONSUOOLOSCUCHUOACQUGERGGUCEOSGNCOCUOOUGAGS¢QUNUCENSUNGUAESSACUGCENDOSCORDUSUEOCGESONSENSNSUNOERQUUUGCEATOLUNENSSOQGGCOODEUNUENSUQUUCSOUHROAGHSAUASAUCUODACELNGHAGGGNESSREUNUEOOH AO ONORSORUGUCRRACUCERSHUaeadea ta nttecens: COPYRIGHT 1924 By NEVA PINKHAM MILLER “MOSS” WARNING All infringements will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law; and information regarding same will be appreciated. No books will be without serial number and copyright owner’s signature. DEDICATION To the citizens of America, who should know about these Catholic institutions of our United States, especially the House of the Good Shepherd; to the mothers, fathers and husbands of America; to all who love truth and virtue, this book is dedicated by THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION Religion is not composed of stone walls, steel doors and grated windows. The red- blooded Americans must fight more vigor- ously for the freedom of humanity. In every civilized nation on earth except America, these Roman prison houses have been suppressed. Yet nearly every city, large enough to support a laundry, contains one of these slave houses, supported by the surrounding Catholic and non-Catholic fam- ilies. We must protect the Constitution of our government, and deny certain foreign ele- ments the right to use our United States for their dumping ground. Yours faithfully, NEVA PINKHAM MILLER “MOSS.” > ” HER HUSBAND NEVA MILLER MOSS AS A BABY NEVA’S ADOPTED MOTHER “NOW AND THEN” Back from the time of Christ there came, His Book of Books Divine. we | This Book is the Holy Bible, my friends, and it’s right here in our time. Down through the reign of Caesar, who would be God of all. His command was—all must go to death who clung to the word of God, And these were the Protestant people who paid the awful toll. For the first Denomination was a church of the Tyrant in Rome. He called it Universal, or Catholic, we all know; And said that dear St. Peter was the first Pope we must have, And that His Site would be in Rome, this made the Romans glad. But as Peter never was in Rome, and was a mar- ried man, The ruler and the word of God could not go hand in hand, So he wrote himself another Coes and called it holy, too, | But God is all the Eternal ‘life, and Caesar, no hand work knew. Our minds are small, God’s ways not ours, so we don’t understand Why the beast of Rome, on the’ seven hills, ‘still flourishes in the lands. When Protestant blood was spilled, God sent a man, Neranea who knew the Roman gilt. Then came the Inquisition, and the Pope fled from Rome, So Constantinople opened wide her arms and took the papa home. From the year three hundred and twenty-one, the reign of Constantine, They had the Masses for the dead, and all such things were seen. The years passed on until 1715, and the day of Luther came. Who with a wife did fly from the beasts of Rome, into the light of day. He translated our Holy Bible, from the Greek to the German tongue, And so on down to the present day the reclamation comes. The book of Revelations, we start to understand, As the word of war in Mexico resounds to our dear land. The Tyrant on the Tiber will make an awful stall, But he will find that we have men who now work through the law; The Convent doors will open wide, the dungeons meet the sun; This work, my friends, for you and I, has only just begun. ; I see the white-robed figures a marching on parade, And somehow, I believe this work upon their head is laid. And so I guess, to do our bit, we’d better be en- rolled, Keep old Glory high and dry, her beauty still un- soiled. I’m only just a girl you know, fighting in life’s battle, With a husband who has a heart of gold—just two beneath one mantle. The Twentieth Century faces us—with the great work just beginning,— . So depend on us, we will be right there with those behind the linen, To keep America Protestant, free public schools and press, And the future generation will thank us, too, I guess. I’ve paid the price the Nunnery asked. I’ve fell beneath the. lash— America, I love you, yes, love you most of all. We have a work to do, my friends, so come on now— don’t stall. By Ex-Nun Neva Miller Moss. BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 15 WHAT HAPPENED IN YORK WHEN OF- FICIALS TRIED TO SUPPRESS “ THE TRUTH In the Court of Quar- ter Sessions of the COMMONWEALTH Peace of York County, OF Pennsylvania. - PENNSYLVANIA APPEAL VS. from Summary Con- NEVA P. MILLER MOSS | Viction before E. S. Hugentugler, Mayor of the City of York. _ OPINION ON HEARING ON APPEAL Defendant was arrested by the police of the City of York on a charge of “disor- cerly conduct,” and was ordered by the May- or to be held without bail. Defendant ap- pealed to this Court by writ of Habeas Cor- pus and was released promptly by us on bail. In the habeas corpus proceeding this court had no jurisdiction to inquire in- to the merits of the case, Comm. vs. Norton, 8 8S. & R. 72. Comm. vs. Keeper of Jail, 26 Pa. 279. 16 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS Dow’s. Case, 18 Pa. 37. Comm. vs. Ransley, 26 Dist. Rep. 1035. Comm. vs. Keeper of Co. Prison, 26 Dist. Rep. 511. and remanded the defendant back to the Mayor for a hearing. A hearing having been had and sentence imposed, defendant applied to this Court for leave to take an appeal, setting forth in a petition her rea- sons therefor. This Court passed upon the merits of that petition and allowed an ap- peal, in accordance with Sec. 14, Article V of the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Comm. vs. Johnston, 16 W. N. ©. 349. Comm. vs. McCann, 174 Pa. 19. Comm. vs. Eichenberg, 140 Pa. 158. Comm. vs. Menjou, 174 Pa. 25. The case now comes before this Court to be heard and tried upon its merits, de nove, and without a jury. Comm. vs. Waldman, 140 Pa. St. 89. Thompson vs. Preston, 5 Supr. 154. Comm. vs. Simpson, 33 Co. Ct. 188. The record sent up on this appeal does not show by whom the charge was made, whether by written complaint, or orally, what facts were alleged as constituting the BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 17 offense, nor what ordinance was violated. These are requisites in the record of a case of summary conviction, Comm. vs. Di- veskein, 49 Supr. 614, and on certiorari would have caused the sentence of the May- or to be recersed. Comm. vs. Nesbit, 34 Pa. 398. Comm. vs. Borden, 61 Pa. 272. Reid vs. Wood, 102 Pa. 312. The record shows “Summary Proceed- ings for the violation of City Ordinance,” and on the margin ‘“‘Charge, Disorderly Con- duct.” At the time of the hearing the Commonwealth was permitted, over the objection of the defendant, to stipulate a formal charge, which was in the following words: “It is stipulated by counsel for Commonwealth that Neva P. Miller Moss did, on the 13th day of January, 1927, in the City of York, Pennsylvania, violate an ordinance of the said City of York, which ordinance was passed by Common Council on March 4, 1901, and approved March 12, 1901, providing and directing the arrest and punishment of vagrants and any persons found begging or drunk or disorderly or committing any breach of the peace within 18 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS the limits of the City of York.” Here fol- lows in full the ordinance above cited: The Court then defined the issue: Was defendant guilty of disorderly conduct; and indicated that the Commonwealth might sustain this charge either by showing dis- orderly conduct on the part of defendant, or that she by word or action incited or pro- voked others to disorderly conduct. The facts proven at this hearing are as follows: The Mayor of the City of York notified defendant that he would not permit her to talk in the City of York on the day she had advertised to talk, and would not allow her to hold a public meeting here which she had advertised to hold. On January 13, 1927, defendant, agaipst the orders of the Mayor, proceeded to hold a meeting. The Mayor, being informed of that fact, ordered the police to go to the Knights of Malta Hall and if defendant was holding a public meeting to place her under arrest on a dis- orderly conduct charge.’ After the officers arrived at the Malta Temple defendant took the platform and was immediately placed BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 19 under arrest and taken to City Hall. The officers testified that before her arrest there was no disorder in the room, and the only words which defendant is testified to have uttered at any time, either before or after her arrest, were that she ordered all the men out of the room, (the meeting being for ladies only), and ‘‘asked if everyone was with her.” While defendant was detained at City Hall a number of persons collected on the public street outside of City Hall, which the Mayor characterized as-a disorderly crowd. While the facts proven in the case show disorderly conduct by others, it was not proved, or attempted to be proved, that de- fendant engaged in this disorder, or was present, or incited, or provoked it. The charge of disorderly conduct resulting in this first arrest remains undisposed of by the Mayor. After defendant’s release on bail from this arrest, she seems to have left City Hall and proceeded on East Market St., as far as Graybill’s store. Whether she ever return- ed to Malta Temple, whether she ever re- 20 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS sumed her speech, or attended any meeting at that or any other place was not proven, nor offered to be proven. What she did after that, what she was doing at the time of her second arrest, under what circum- stances the second arrest was made, are all facts left to the imagination. After she had been arrested a second time and after she had been brought to City Hall, it was shown that certain persons on the outside of City Hall created disor- der. At this time defendant was under arrest, inside City Hail, and as the Mayor frankly states, was creating no disorder, nor attempting to do so. The Commonwealth refrained from call- ing the public officers who made the sec- ond arrest, although at least one of them was present in court at the hearing of this case, and two of them had testified in the former hearing in habeas corpus proceed- ings. It was stated to the Court that one of them was sick; but no move was made to secure his testimony in this proceeding. The Court declines to go outside the record of this case. BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 21 This second arrest resulted in a hear- ing on a charge of disorderly conduct, and from the sentence imposed therein this ap- peal is taken. “Disorderly conduct” is one of rather nebulous and uncertain meaning, since it has been variously defined in different jurisdic- tions, and no definition of such precision is generally accepted as that it may always be readily determined whether particular conduct is or is not disorderly. One who commits a breach of the peace is, of course, guilty of disorderly conduct, but not all dis- orderly conduct is necessarily a breach of the peace, as where it is merely calculated to disturb or annoy. Garvin vs. Mayor and City of Waynes- boro, 84 S. E. 90. Mt. Sterling vs. Holtz, 57 S. W. 491. It has been held that noises, exclam- ations and outcries in the public street by which people are drawn together and the highway obstructed, constitute disorderly conduct. | Comm. vs. Spratt, 14 Phila. 365. Another Pennsylvania Judge has held that calling a non-union workman a scab 22 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS during a period of public excitement is dis- orderly conduct. Comm. vs. Redshaw, 2 Dist. 96. That riotously raising a liberty pole in a public place is disorderly. Comm. vs. Morrison. Addison 274. Exhibiting an effigy calculated to pro- voke a breach of the peace. Comm. vs. Haines, 6 Pa. lL. J. 2389. And solicitations by a street walker is disorderly and constitute her a disorderly street walker. Comm. vs. Supt. House of Correction, 38 Cc. C. 188. “In a broad sense disorderly conduct is any conduct that an orderly, well-disposed and law-abiding citizen would not engage in, but in the parlance of criminal law it is con- duct that disturbs the quiet of a neighbor- hood and affects the public; it is a species ef nuisance Tees: the public peace and tranquility.” Comm. vs. Moore, 12 York Legal Record, | 115. To convict a defendant of being a dis- orderly person, it is necessary to show that defendant committed a disorder. BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 23 Comm. vs. Supt. of House of Correction, 22 Dist. 423. The evidence in this case fails to show that defendant committed a disorder, or that she said or did anything which provok- ed or incited others to disorder. Although counsel for the Commonwealth stated that defendant had said things in her speech at the Malta Temple which incited others to disorder, they failed to produce witnesses to prove these statements. :The few words she is said to have uttered before her first arrest— ‘‘asked if everybody was with her,” are too vague and indefinite to draw a con- clusion that she was inciting her audience to follow her to City Hall and there indulge in a riot. And these words were spoken be- fore her first arrest and are doubtless _ in- cluded in the first charge for disorderly conduct which is still pending before the Mayor. . The burden of proving defendant guil- _ ty, as in all criminal cases, is upon the Com- monwealth. Defendant must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. ‘The Commonwealth’s proof does not measure up to this requirement. 24 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS And now, to-wit: March 7, 1927, this appeal came on to be heard, and after argu- ment by counsel, and upon due consideration © of all the evidence in the case, it is adjudg- ed, ordered and decreed that the defendant, Neva P. Miller Moss, is not guilty of the charge of disorderly conduct in violation of an ordinance of the City of York entitled, “An Ordinance directing the arrest and punishment of vagrants and all persons found begging or drunk or disorderly or committing any breach of the peace within the limits of the City of York,” approved March 12, 1901, and it is further ordered ; that the defendant, Neva P. Miller Moss, be and is hereby discharged. By the Court, BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 25 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS CHAPTER I At the age of three years, I went to live with my widowed aunt, Mrs. Richard Stev- ens. I do not remember that, however, and I grew, believing her to be my own mother. I loved her dearly. She was very wealthy, and no childish wish was left ungratified. We lived in Mount Rose, Michigan. Mrs. Stevens was of a haughty, reserved nature to all but me. There were incidents in life she evidently cherished or wished to con- ceal. . We would drive out daily. Oh! how I loved nature. Although only seven years old now, the constant companionship of my elder made me just a little bit old-fashion- ed. The flowers, the trees, everything seemed to speak. I loved music, too, and many hours were spent drumming away at the old Chicaron, all discords, perhaps, yet young as I was it lulled the wild little spirit within me. I could sing some and hour 26 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS after hour, seated at my supposed mother’s knee, I would sing with all my might. Even now I close my eyes—in fancy I see every- thing just as they were in childhood days. Why, I can even hear mother say, “Come, Neva, sit here and sing ‘Sweet Clover’ for mama.” -It was the year of 1901 and I was just past the kindergarten age, but my black- board and I were well acquainted. I had learned my time tables and many other use- ful things. Now, a teacher was necessary. So one morning, bright and early, I was in- troduced to Mrs. Mable Kitchen, who was to be my private teacher. She was a kind, even-tempered woman of about thirty-five years. Nearly three months went by nice- ly. I was not over studious, but the music hour was never long enough. Oh! If I could have seen then what life had in store for me. I noticed my mother was more si- lent; she would spend long hours locked in the back parlor, “she always did her writ- ing at her desk.” / I still played with my dolls and, so far in life, sorrow or trouble had never bother- ed me. In fact, I had never known a care. BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 27 But once or twice, traces of tears were on the pale face, and the proud lips would quiver as they kissed me. One evening— while I live I shall never forget it—-mama had been called away to Saginaw, Michigan, on business. She owned property there and I had often been there with her. Dear reader, let me here impress the fact that Mrs. Stevens was a strong Protestant and so far in life I had never even heard of a nun or a Catholic church. I do not know what prompted her mo- tive; perhaps will never know, but this I am positive of, that the next morning when I entered the “Saint Vincent de Paul’ or- phanage with my big doll clasped tight un- der one arm, I obeyed the nun as she bid me kiss mama good-bye. (I was to board there at seven dollars a week until mama came back, I heard them say.) The nun smiled at me very sweetly, and patted my yellow curls, but the big hat and strange dress of the lady made me shy. I answer- ed her with, “Yes, mam,”’ and was told to al- ways answer a religious with, “Yes Sister,” or, “No, Sister.” Dear friends, that day was the beginning of long, wasted years. From then on I gradually learned of life’s other side. 28 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS St. Mary’s Boarding School at Monroe, Mich., for- merly known as Sacred Heart Academy. Run by Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 29 CHAPTER II The exact date of my entrance at Saint Vincent de Paul’s I do not remember. The surroundings I see so plainly that it seems like yesterday. The first days were spent crying. I was so completely overcome with home-sickness that my health was endangered. The other girls and boys offered me no consolation, but helped deepen my misery by calling me a Protestant bed-bug. One evening the children had been amus- ing themselves. at my expense; the Sister, too, seemed to enjoy it. She sat smiling, and nodding at the Catholic children, when Bessie Lions, another Protestant girl, per- haps my senior by four or five years, took part in the affair. She was a beautiful girl, with long, brown curls and big sorrowful brown eyes. Her mother had died and she had been placed there for adoption by relatives. ‘We are both going to be baptised, aren’t we, Neva?” she asked. I never hesitated, but answered, ‘‘Yes.” Other incidents are 30 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS | blurred to my memory, but the result of my answer stands vividly out. The Sister made some smiling remark as she called me to her desk, took the keys and brought my big doll, “Hazel.” I was so glad to see my toy, it took me nearer home. I hugged and kissed her china face until I felt almost happy. The children nad all gathered around me; even the Cath- olics had forgotten I was only a Protestant “bed-bug.” But when eight o’clock and night prayers came, “Hazel” was replaced on her shelf and the door locked. That night and many others were spent in tears. The orphanage had no chapel, therefore we attended mass on Sunday and holy days only. We were marched two abreast, with Sisters at irregular intervals, six blocks away to Saint Mary’s church. Although my board .was paid, I shared no luxury. The regular “menu” consisted of oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. The meal was often burned and salt forgotten; the coffee, as I now remember, surely had lye and ink in it. BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 31 Dinner varied. We were given oleo once a week for one piece of bread. The even- ing meal was sure to be raw carrots, or stew, and tea with sugar and milk, boiled and reboiled. The tea alone finally became palatable. The first few months I was allowed to wander about the grounds unmolested; a ten-foot high wall surrounds the entire place. I never saw a school book. Every day a few of us took turns at washing. I had been at the orphanage a year now. Not once in all that time did I see anyone or receive one word from home. I now had a daily task of mending socks for the Priests of the town, except on Sat- urday, when another girl and myself were - named to scrub, wax and polish the Sisters’ hall floor. I had, through this work, learn- ed of their quarters. A little German girl, Mary Christie, had been suffering with ear-ache. The third day I finally decided to help her. I do not remember my own thoughts, but with Mary 32 BEHIND CONVENT WALLS by the hand I rapped at a door in the Sis- ters’ hall. I can plainly see the Sister as- she opened the door. “What are you do- ing here?” she asked, with an ugly frown that really frightened me. But the sight of Mary’s suffering gave me courage. “Please, Sister,” I said, ‘“‘would you do something for Mary’s ear? It has hurt her three days.” The clinched fist of this ‘holy” religious had come in contact with my little friend’s face. “Be gone, you bold child,’ she snarled. ‘‘How dare you come here?” Perhaps I was too young to under- stand how I had committed a crime, but time can never erase that cruel face from my memory. At Christmas Sister Saint Ann, our first mistress, showed me_ several boxes of candy, and farm clothes from home. She gave me one handkerchief. The boys and girls use the same dormi- tory; a Sister sleeps at each end of the room, but heavy white curtains surround’ their beds. At last the holidays were over. I had not been feeling well, and this morning my BEHIND CONVENT WALLS 33 head and hands were hot. When I did not respond to the bell the Sister shook me, but was soon convinced of my condition. One of the older boys carried me to the infirmary, a cold, dreary little room with a single white iron bed. I dare say the room was seldom used—but I had the measles. That afternoon the same young man car- ried me out to the Sisters’ black hack, and, after fifteen months’ absence, I was once more in my own beautiful room in my own loved home, with dear Doctor Wilson at- . tending me. Sick though I was, I could have jumped into my mother’s arms.