e marriages of all his acquaintances. Everywhere he found a clouded
sky, and, in the semi-darkness, lightning and thunder. Only one
marriage stood before him bright and clear in the sunlight of
happiness, in the raiment of peace, and that was ultramontane. That
ultramontane principles had produced this happiness and peace, the
professor's industrious mind saw with clearness. He raised his head and
said solemnly, "Marriage is an image of religion. It proceeds from the
lips of God, and is perfected at the altar. The marriage duties are
children of the religious sentiment, fetters of the divine law. Ida was
faithful and true so long as it agreed with the longings of her heart.
But with the cooling of affection died love and fidelity. She
recognizes no religious duty, because she has progressed to liberty and
independence. From this follows with striking clearness the
incompatibility of Christian marriage with the spirit of the age.
Marriage will be a thing of the past as soon as intellectual maturity
conquers in the contest with religion. Sound sense, liberty of emotion
and inclination will supplant the terrible marriage yoke."

The professor paused and examined his conclusion. It smiled upon him
like a true child of nature. It clothed itself in motley flesh, and
passed through green meadows and shady forests. It pointed
encouragingly to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, long
in possession of intellectual maturity. Sensual marriages, intended to
last only for weeks or months, danced around the professor. Cannibal
hordes, who extended to him their brotherly paws and claws, pressed
about him. In astonishment, he contemplated his conclusion; it made
beastly grimaces, knavish and jeering, and he dashed into fragments the
provoking mockery.

In strong contrast to the animal kingdom, stood before him again the
Christian marriage. He cunningly tried to give his new conclusion human
shape; but here the carriage stopped, and the speculation vanished
before the clear light in the house of the "Angel of Salingen."

FOOTNOTE TO ANGELA.

[Footnote 2: This argument is not conclusive, nor is it at all
necessary. Animals have memory; and there is no more reason why their
waking sensations, emotions, and acts should not repeat themselves in
dreams than there is in the case of men. The difference between the
soul of man and the soul of the brute is constituted by the presence of
the gift of reason, or the faculty of