only glanced at it; produced, like many other faulty
things of the kind, by illogical superstition on the part of
Christian clergy, most of whom preach a half-belief, some a whole
belief, on the efficacy of prayer for temporal good. Then comes the
hard unbeliever, delighted to prove, as any child can do, that such
prayer cannot be proved to avail anything. He is incapable of
understanding the deeper and truer kind of prayer, but he convinces
many that all communion with God is fruitless, or perhaps that
there is no God with whom to hold it. This may not be the drift of
the article, for, as I said, I have not read it, but it _is_
the drift of much that is talked and written nowadays by men and
women of the author's school. I wish there were no schools in that
sense. They always have done and always will do harm, and prevent
the independence of thought which they are by way of encouraging.

_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _Christmas Day,_ 1872

I do indeed feel with you how wonderful the goodness and the
contented spirit of many thousands of poor, pent-up, toiling human
beings, who live in God's glorious world and leave it without ever
knowing its glories, whose lives are one struggle to maintain life;
and I think with you how easy it ought to be for us who have
leisure for the beauty of life, in nature and in books, in
conversation and in art. And yet, it was to the rich that Christ
gave His most frequent warnings. Is it then, after all, easiest for
the poor to do His will and love Him and trust Him in all things?

The summer and autumn and winter had been spent almost entirely at Pembroke
Lodge, but when Parliament met early in 1873 they moved to London, where
they had taken a house till Easter.

_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_

LONDON, _February_ 19, 1873

Scene--a drawing-room; hour 11.30 a.m. A young lady playing the
pianoforte by candle-light. An old lady writing, also by
candle-light. An old gentleman five minutes ago sitting reading
also by candle-light, but now doing the same in a room below. Three
large windows through which is seen a vast expanse of a
semi-substantial material of the hue of a smoked primrose; against
it is dimly visible an irregular and picturesque outline, probably
of a range of mountains, some rocky and pyramidal, others
h