he beautiful, and aimed to adorn life with festivals. Fate has
decreed otherwise, and it is well. There should be no feasting, while
there is so much suffering to alleviate. I felt so happy while wearing
the one crown--and now I must bear the other willingly.

"I was, at first, pleased with your remark that the lists of the
members of beneficent institutions are the only true church record of
modern times; but, on second thought, I could not help finding that you
free-thinkers are terrorists as well. The church has rights, too, as
long as she is willing modestly to place herself side by side with
other educational and charitable institutions, and accord them equal
rights with herself.

"As patron of various charitable institutions, I have been brought into
personal contact with ladies of the middle class, and find many of them
exceptionally cultured and well-bred. As you can readily imagine, it
cost quite an effort to get some burgher names to be used for more than
mere show. Minister Bronnen has been of great assistance to me. My
committee for the blind asylum includes a charming Jewess, Madame ----,
who is just as modest as she is firm and decided in character. I think
you once mentioned her to me.

"At the last examination of the blind, I was quite indignant at the
clergyman, who referred to their fate as a wise dispensation of
Providence. The only way in which I could show my displeasure at this
piece of unctuous barbarism, was to ignore his presence.

"I read much religious history, and when I review past ages, I feel as
if sitting by the waterfall which we have so often looked at together.
The stream flows unceasingly and, though the water is ever changing,
its source and its channel are ever the same. Its waves and its eddies
remain in the same place; the rocky masses, where they were on the day
of their creation. In time, the rocks become covered with mosses and
flowers, and in the course of many thousand years, new channels become
hollowed out by the gradual action of the waters or by some sudden
convulsion of nature. Such is the course of history. We are mere drops
flowing down the foaming, bubbling stream.

"I observe that I have left several of your inquiries unanswered. You
express a wish to learn my views of the various charitable
institutions. But here I experience both the advantages and the
disadvantages of my position. I am never quite sure whether my visit
has not been announced in advance and pr