Page 29 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

WAITING FOR A SOLUTION 9
Le Sage wa$ not inviting trouble needlessly. He always
had a sufficiency of that. Five years previously in 1818,
he had thrown himself into the fight for Catholic
Emancipation. For the next thirty years, in his weekly
paper, "The Friend of Religion," he rallied and in-
spired the Catholic forces. "Meer en Bosch" was only a
minor activity, but one that he was devoted to.
All that Mr. Ryken has to say about his years at
Loosduinen is contained in one sentence: "Three years
later I entered a small establishment for children where
I had to teach catechism again." He did not have a
high idea of his ability to interest children.
One incident concerning Mr. Ryken at Loosduinen
is told in Father Gorris's "f. G. Le Sage and the First
Phase of the Catholic'Emancipation." In spite of the
precautions taken by Le Sage, "Meer en Bosch" was
suspect. The Sherifi visited the Institute in his official
capacity. He found much to justify his suspicions.
fn a report to the Governor of the Province, dated
July 6, 1824, he tells of his visit and of his surprise at
meeting there a man dressed in a monk's frock complete
with cowl and cincture. The Sherifi went on to say that
he asked Le Sage whether this was part of a carnival
masquerade and if it were not, to explain why this man
wore such a dress. The man, according to the Sherift,
was "the so-called shoemaker who seems to be chief
supervisor of the children."
Le Sage accepted full responsibility: "This man is
dressed that way in keeping with my instructions."
The Sherifi assured the Governor: "I threatened to
arrest this man if he ever dared to appear in public in
that strange dress."
The visit of the Sherifi was only a tempest in a teapot,
at least from the safety of a century later. The really
intriguing point is why did Mr. Ryken wear a monk's