Page 26 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

6 A vocATIoN PRoBLEM
Ryken, because the Reverend Theodore Beels was the
only uncle on the mother's side.
Vor.g Ryken grew uP in the days that what
-preceded
we refer- to'as "compulsory education." He did managg
to attend some sori of school, where he was grounded
in the tool subjects. Apparently he received the amount
of formal eduiation that the ordinary peasant boy was
entitled to in those far'ofi days. This was years before
Altenstein, Minister of Education in Prussia, introduced
universal and compulsory education with equal treat-
ment for all faithi and'the apPortionment of school-
expenses among the heads of- families in the school-
district.
When Theodore was old enough, he was apPrenticed
out to learn the trade of shoemaker. Subsequently he
received his certificate. He always identified himself
as a shoemaker (cordonnier) whenever he had to apply
for a passport.
Ryken was Dutch, and the Dutch are a very serious
people. Their century-old struggle against the sea has
made them a determined people. The horrors of lvar,
religious and secular, have made them a grim-people.
In ieligious matters they are either intensely Calvinist
or intensely Catholic.
The Dulch do nothing by halves, and Mr. Rykel
was thoroughly Dutch' Writing of himself, he has this
to say: "From my fourteenth or fifteenth year to m)'
ninetbenth, I led i rather worldly life. It was then that
I experienced a deep humiliation. That was the reason
for my conversion ind for the fact that I fell in love
with the service of God.
"At this time I began to read spiritual books, and I
tried to find them in all quarters. After a time I had a
good collection.
"I decided to lead a contemplative life of the most