(1894), in the case of Hysong v. School District of Gallitzin Borough, 164 Pa. St. 629, 30 A. 482 (Pa. 1894), stated:
We cannot infer, from the mere fact that a school board composed of Catholics has selected a majority of Catholic teachers, that therefore it has unlawfully discriminated in favor of Catholics, because the selection of Catholic teachers is not a violation of law or, which is the same thing, is not an abuse of discretion.3493
Nor does the fact that these teachers contribute all their earnings beyond their support to the treasury of their order, to be used for religious purposes, have any bearing on the question. It is none of our business, nor that of these appellants, to inquire into this matter. American men and women, of sound mind and twenty-one years of age, can make such disposition of their surplus earnings as suits their own notions. We might as well, so far as any law warranted it, inquire of a lawyer before admitting him to the bar, what he intended to do with his surplus fees, and make his answer a test of admission. What he did with his money could no way affect his right to be sworn as an officer of this court.3494
But it is further argued that … they ought to enjoin from appearing in the school room in the habit of their order. It may be conceded that the dress and crucifix impart at once knowledge to the pupils of the religious belief … of the wearer. But is this, in any reasonable sense of the word, “sectarian” teaching, which the law prohibits? … The dress is but the announcement of a fact, that the wearer holds a particular religious belief. The religious belief of teachers and all others is generally well known to the neighborhood and to pupils, even if not made noticeable in the dress, for that belief is not secret, but is publicly professed. Are the courts to decide that the cut of a man’s coat or the color of a woman’s gown is sectarian teaching, because they indicate sectarian religious belief? If so, then they can be called upon to go further. The religion of a teacher being known, a pure, unselfish life, exhibiting itself in tenderness to the young, and helpfulness for the suffering, necessarily tends to promote the religion of the man or woman who lives it. In sensibly, in both young and old, there is a disposition to reverence such a one, and at least, to some extent, consider the life as the fruit of the particular religion. Therefore, irreproachable conduct to that degree is sectarian teaching. But shall the education of the children of the Commonwealth be entrusted only to those men and women who are destitute of any religious belief?3495