of good Catholics to Huguenots. "My dear
sir," I said to him, "have you been baptised?"

"No," answered the Quaker, "neither I nor my brethren."

"_Morbleu!_" I replied, "then you are not Christians?"

"Swear not, my son," he said gently; "we try to be good Christians; but
we believe not that Christianity consists in throwing cold water on the
head, with a little salt."

"_Ventrebleu!_" I retorted, "have you forgotten that Jesus Christ was
baptised by John?"

"Once more, my friend, no swearing," replied the mild Quaker. "Christ
was baptised by John, but himself baptised no one. We are disciples of
Christ, not of John."

He proceeded to give me briefly the reasons for some peculiarities which
expose this sect to the sneers of others. "Confess," he said, "that thou
hast had much ado not to smile at my accepting thy courtesies with my
hat on my head, and at my calling thee 'thou.' Yet thou must surely know
that at the time of Christ no nation was so foolish as to substitute the
plural for the singular. It was not until long afterwards that men
began to call each other 'you' instead of 'thou,' as if they were
double, and to usurp the impudent titles of Majesty, Eminence, Holiness,
that some worms of the earth bestow on other worms. It is the better to
guard ourselves against this unworthy interchange of lies and flatteries
that we address kings and cobblers in the same terms, and offer
salutations to nobody; since for men we have nothing but charity, and
respect only for the laws.

"We don a costume differing a little from that of other men as a
constant reminder that we are unlike them. Others wear the tokens of
their dignities; we wear those of Christian humility. We never take an
oath, not even in a court of justice; for we think that the name of the
Almighty should not be prostituted in the miserable wranglings of men.
We never go to war--not because we fear death; on the contrary, we bless
the moment that unites us with the Being of Beings; but because we are
not wolves, nor tigers, nor bulldogs, but Christian men, whom God has
commanded to love our enemies and suffer without murmuring. When London
is illuminated after a victory, when the air is filled with the pealing
of bells and the roar of cannon, we mourn in silence over the murders
that have stirred the people to rejoice."

_II.--Anglicans and Presbyterians_

This is the land of sects. An Englishman is a free man, and goes to
Heaven by any road he pl