loved tenderly, and with whom I never had a shade of difference of
opinion nor a whisper of even argument, and to whom I was always devoted.
I seem to have been destined to differ from other mortals in a few
things: one was, that I always loved my mother-in-law with whole heart
and soul, and never considered our _menage_ as perfect unless she were
with us. She was of very good and rather near English descent, a
Callender, and had been celebrated in her youth for extraordinary beauty.
Her husband was related to the celebrated beauty Miss Vining, whom Maria
Antoinette, from the fame of her loveliness, invited to come and join her
court. At the beginning of this century no great foreigner travelled in
America without calling on Miss Vining in Delaware. There is a life of
her in Griswold's "Republican Court." It is without any illustrative
portrait. I asked Dr. Griswold why he had none. He replied that none
existed. I said to him severely, "Let _this_ be a lesson to you never to
publish anything without submitting it first to _me_. I have a
photograph of her miniature." The Doctor submitted!

This summer at Cape May I made the acquaintance of a very remarkable man
named Solomon. He was a Jew, and we became intimate. One evening he
said to me: "You know so much about the Jews that I have even learned
something from you about them. But I can teach you something. Can you
tell the difference between the _Aschkenazim_ and the _Sephardim_ by
their eyes? No! Well, now, look!" Just then a Spanish-looking beauty
from New Orleans passed by. "There is Miss Inez Aguado; observe that the
corners of her eyes are long with a peculiar turn. Wait a minute; now,
there is Miss Lowenthal--Levi, of course--of Frankfort. Don't you see
the difference?"

I did, and asked him to which of the classes he belonged. He replied--

"To neither. I am of the sect of the ancient Sadducees, who took no part
in the Crucifixion."

Then I replied, "You are of the _Karaim_."

"No; that is still another sect or division, though very ancient indeed.
We never held to the Halacha, and we laugh at the Mishna and Talmud and
all that. We do not believe or disbelieve in a God--Yahveh, or the older
Elohim. We hold that every man born knows enough to do what is right;
and that is religion enough. After death, if he has acted up to this, he
will be all right should there be a future of immortality; and if he
hasn't, he will be none the worse o