moved Roland
deeply.

Eric, Roland, and Adams were now led out of the hall, and received back
their money and jewels, the Major remarking,--

"You did bravely, young--forgive me--my brother!"

On returning to the hall they all rose; and Weidmann, bidding Roland
and Eric take Adams's hand, began as follows,--

"Here, while we clasp our dusky brother in our arms, you see what we
are! Through the jubilations of our century, a sound pierces, which, in
time to come, shall be heard no more: it is the sound of clashing
chains, of the fetters wherewith our fellow-men have been bound.
Henceforth, these chains shall be but an emblem, a melancholy symbol.
We who are men, and who want to be men fully and entirely, we take one
another by the hand, and form a living chain. My brothers, you will be
told, and, perchance, will tell yourselves, that our Order is
antiquated, without significance in these modern times; but I tell you
it will never be antiquated, never insignificant, for they who are
dedicated to the service of the free Spirit must ever hold one another
in a living clasp.

"We know the deficiencies of our Order. It is a matter of great
difficulty to found an association firmly upon a universal thought
apart from any historical basis. This is our principal disadvantage as
compared with the Church. Hence enthusiasts and hypocrites seek for an
historical foundation; nevertheless, our Order is the stronghold of
virtue; and its unity is doubly formidable in that it is a league of
free men; for free men will not suffer themselves to be bound. Yet our
league, were its name never mentioned, would have a most important
bearing upon the solution of the social problem, as it is called, of
which the slavery question is only a part. And it is the thing we want,
not the name. No deliverance was ever wrought by mere calculation, and
there can be no permanent effect produced without the co-operation of
love. The lust of pleasure and the lust of gain would seem to be the
essential characteristics of our time; yet I, and we all, proclaim
aloud. Great is our century! Europe, with her ancient culture and her
waning nobility, is endeavoring to lay all men under an obligation to
labor: America and Russia, to render all labor free. Ever since I
beheld the great millennial wave bearing down upon me, I have lived a
new and happy life. I have been filled with holy confidence; and, all
unseen, our league is working towards the same end.

"Two