Source: Ave Maria Readers: Book One (Barrett and Fanning, 1931)

A beach sand-building competition. One boy and girl finished a magnificent castle, and then wandered round looking at the other children’s efforts. When they came back they found a boy had occupied their castle and was making alterations and adding what he thought were improvements.
‘What are you doing—that’s our castle!’
‘No, it’s mine now. You left [...]

Two girls came to the surgery for another bottle of medicine for their mothers.
‘It did your mother good, then?’ said the doctor to the first. ‘Here’s another bottle, then. Make sure she has it after meals.’
The other girl said her mother wasn’t any better.
‘Too bad,’ said the doctor. ‘I wonder if I ought to change [...]

During the French revolution, when nothing was esteemed unless it were new, a philosopher named Reveillere drew up plans for a new religion which he considered would be a real benefit to humanity. He went to Barras, then a member of the Government, and asked his advice as to the methods by which the new [...]

In the War, two friends were out with a night patrol together. When the party returned under heavy fire to their trenches, one of the friends was found to be missing. By this time it was getting light, and almost certain death to be out on top, but the one friend insisted on crawling out [...]

A young friend of St. Philip Neri came to see him, and knelt by the old priest’s chair as his custom was. In reply to inquires, he said he was studying for an exam. and hoped to do well in it. The saint listened attentively to his plans for the future, nodding encouragement, while his [...]

Some boy school-friends decided to start a new club. Several of them came to the father of one, and asked for the use of an empty shed in the garden. He asked what the club was for.
‘Oh, just to have as much fun as we can. It’ll be called the P.Y.L. — Please Yourself League.’
‘Any [...]

A Protestant clergyman was visiting an orphanage, and the children were each reciting their prayers for him to hear. On little boy, who had previously been at a Catholic school, after finishing the Our Father began the Hail Mary. ‘No, no!’ said the clergyman. ‘We don’t want to hear about her — go on to [...]

A few months back, while going through some materials around the office, I came across a series of small books by a certain Fr. F.H. Drinkwater containing stories illustrating certain points in the Abbreviated Catechism of the Diocese of Birmingham (England). The stories themselves are charming and, on occasion, I may reprint one here (as [...]