lly bungles, and require
periodical prison culture. At present we need policemen for the
transplanting; but it is hoped that, in the course of an era or two, the
automatic method will be so much further developed that a member of the
higher civilisation who gets very drunk, or steals, will put himself to
prison at once, by reflex action. I told you about that: it is a lengthy
subject; but the kingfisher and I quite mastered it one day, and I
daresay you will. It is much easier than portions of the Thirty-nine
Articles.'

'I know what that is,' said Queen Mab; 'the missionaries were talking
about it once.'

'I have taken a good deal of trouble,' said the Owl, 'but there were
parts of the Thirty-nine Articles I never could make out. They are a
kind of tinned theology, and so much tinned that no one appreciates them
but the theologians.'

'Why is the theology tinned?' asked the Queen. 'Why don't they have it
fresh and fresh?'

'They like it old,' said the Owl. 'They have tried various ways of
treating it, for theology does not keep well in a scientific atmosphere.
Frozen theology has been experimented with by Archdeacon Farrar and
others, and has some vogue. But the popular taste prefers it tinned.
And yet it is very tough, in Articles. I am surprised that no one
has written a simple explanation of them: "Primer of the Thirty-nine
Articles," "The Thirty-nine Articles made Easy," or "Thirty-nine
Articles for Beginners;" but no one ever has. It is a book that is very
much needed, and if I had any influence with the theologians I would ask
them to do it at once. In days like ours, when floods of Nonconformity
and Socialism are pouring in on every hand, the very foundations of
Church and State are being sapped for want of a plain popular guide
ta the Thirty-nine Articles, that a child could understand. A child
couldn't expect to find them clear in their present condensed state,
could he now? But then, when I come to think of it, perhaps there is no
reason why he should.' And the owl fell into a reverie.

After this they departed in search of a more sequestered resting-place,
and ultimately alighted in Kensington Gardens. And there they came
upon a Democrat and an Aristocrat who was also a landholder, and the
Aristocrat was saying:

'What will you do without an aristocracy? What will you look up to?' 'We
shall do,' said the Democrat, 'very well indeed. We shall do, in fact, a
good deal better; for we shall be an aristoc