Page:Anecdotescatechi00spiruoft.djvu/96

 the lady’s  husband  came  home  in  high  displeasure. She asked  him  what  was  the  matter. He told  her that her  dressmaker’s  eldest  boy  had  been  taken  up for  stealing  a loaf  of  bread. “ When brought  before the magistrate,”  he  said,  “ the  boy  put  all  the  blame on you,  because  you  had  so  long  withheld  payment from the  family  when  they  were  starving.”  Needless to  add  that  the  bill  was  paid  immediately,  and the lady  never  kept  working-people  without  their money again. Hence, we  see  that  those  who  withhold from  servants  and  working-people  the  wages due to. them are  responsible,  not  only  for  the  temporal misery  they  bring  on  them,  but  also  for  whatever wrongdoing  may  possibly  ensue.

''Q. What  is venial  sin? ''

''A. Venial  sin  is  a slight  offense  against  the  law  of God  in  matters  of  less  importance  or  in  matters  of great  importance  it  is  an  offense  committed  without sufficient  reflection  or  full  consent  of  the  will. ''

St. Augustine relates  that  his  mother,  St.  Monica, when still  but  a mere  child,  allowed  herself  to  fall into an  inordinate  liking  for  wine. It seems  that whenever her  parents  sent  her  to  draw  wine  from the cellar  she  would  put  her  lips  to  the  pitcher  and take a sip. By and  by  this  trifling  habit  developed into a serious  passion,  and  it  was  not  until  one  day, when a servant,  who  usually  accompanied  her  to  the cellar, reproached  her,  in  a fit  of  anger,  with  being a winebibber that  St.  Monica  was  aroused  to  her