ve been visited upon me--that I am now paying in part the
penalty for their criminal zeal."

The explorer sat for some time in silent meditation. "Perhaps," he
said, "your family fell under the spell of old Saint Dominic. You
know the legend? How God deliberated long whether to punish the
wickedness of mankind by sending down war, plague, or famine, and was
finally prevailed upon by Saint Dominic to send, instead, the Holy
Inquisition. Another choice example of the convenient way the
world has always had of attributing the foulest deeds of men to the
Almighty. No wonder religion has so woefully declined!"

"But is it so up in the great North?" asked Jose. "Tell me, what is
the religious status there? My limitations have been such that I
have--I have not kept abreast of current theological thought."

"In the United States the conventional, passive submission to
orthodox dogma is rapidly becoming a thing of the past," the explorer
replied. "The people are beginning to think on these topics. All
human opinion, philosophical, religious, or scientific, is in a
state of liquefaction--not yet solidified. Just what will crystallize
out of the magma is uncertain. The country is experiencing a
religious crisis, and an irresistible determination to _know_ is
abroad in the land. Everything is being turned upside-down, and one
hardly dares longer say what he believes, for the dogma of to-day is
the fairy-tale of to-morrow. And, through it all, as some one has
tersely said, 'orthodoxy is hanging onto the coat-tails of progress in
a vain attempt to stop her.' We are facing in the United States
the momentous question, Is Christianity a failure? Although no one
knows what Christianity really is. But one thing is certain, the
brand of Christianity handed out by Protestant and Catholic alike is
mighty close to the borderline of dismal failure."

"But is there in the North no distinct trend in religious belief?"
queried Jose.

The explorer hesitated. "Yes," he said slowly, "there is. The man who
holds and promulgates any belief, religious or scientific, is being
more and more insistently forced to the point of demonstration. The
citation of patristic authority is becoming daily more thoroughly
obsolete."

"And there is no one who demonstrates practical Christianity?"

"No. Do you? Is there any one in your Church, or in the Protestant
faith, who does the works which Christ is reported to have done? Is
there any one who really tries