rotestants, we were as far apart almost as if one was a pagan.
Protestantism in France always has seemed to me such a rigid form of
worship, so little calculated to influence young people or draw them
to church. The plain, bare churches with white-washed walls, the long
sermons and extempore prayers, speaking so much of the anger of God
and the terrible punishments awaiting the sinner, the trials and
sorrows that must come to all. I often think of a sermon I heard
preached in one Protestant church, to the boys and girls who were
making their first communion--all little things, the girls in their
white frocks and long white veils, the boys with white waistcoats and
white ribbons on their arms, making such a pretty group as they sat on
the front benches listening hard to all the preacher said. I wondered
that the young, earnest faces didn't suggest something to him besides
the horrors of eternal punishment, the wickedness and temptations of
the world they were going to face, but his only idea seemed to be that
he must warn them of all the snares and temptations that were going to
beset their paths. Mme. A. couldn't understand my ideas when I said I
loved the Episcopal service--the prayers and litany I had always
heard, the Easter and Christmas hymns I had always sung, the carols,
the anthems, the great organ, the flowers at Easter, the greens at
Christmas. All that seemed to her to be a false sentiment appealing to
the senses and imagination. "But if it brings people to church, and
the beautiful music elevates them and raises their thoughts to higher
things--" "That is not religion; real religion means the prayer of St.
Chrysostom, 'Where two or three are gathered together in My name I
will grant their requests.'" "That is very well for really religious,
strong people who think out their religion and don't care for any
outward expression of it, but for weaker souls who want to be helped,
and who are helped by the beautiful music and the familiar prayers,
surely it is better to give them something that brings them to church
and makes them better men and women than to frighten them away with
such strict, uncompromising doctrines--" "No, that is only sentiment,
not real religious feeling." I don't think we ever understood each
other any better on that subject, and we discussed it so often.

* * * * *

Mme. A., with whom I made my round of calls at the neighbouring
chateaux, was a charming comp