sic, but I am a bad hand at the new orthodoxy of the day, and the
eager discussions as to whether a sermon is according to strict church
principles. Among my fellow-workers in the Church, there is an
incessant feverish anxiety for the souls of their mutual parishioners,
inducing them to exchange religious exhortations, which appears to me a
very vainglorious system. It is with that, like education; the less
teaching parents bestow on their children, the more incessantly they
talk on the subject. Live a good life, and a pious one, and you can
train up both your children and your parishioners, without possessing
much learning, and without such endless wear and tear of care and
anxiety. I know that I teach a pure faith so far as my ability goes,
and moreover, I am averse to all innovations. We must grow old along
with those on whom we wish to impress our doctrines. In a well
organized government, a man remains in the same situation, but is
gradually promoted in his office. I only applied for the vacant Cure in
the Odenwald because I feel that I am becoming too old for the
dissensions and strife which prevail here, and also because I have not
the power to prevent a piece of cruelty at which my heart revolts--but
now, let us sing."

He rose, went to the piano, and began the symphony of his favourite
melody, and his wife and her young brother sang, with well taught
voices, the duet from Titus--"Joy and sorrow let us share."

The two voices, blending harmoniously in this impressive melody, were
like friendly hands clasped, or a cordial embrace.

While they were singing, a sound like the cracking of a whip seemed to
ascend from the road before the house, but they did not pay much
attention to it, mutually agreeing that it must be a delusion on their
part. Now, however, that the song was at an end, the sound of a
carriage and the loud cracking of a whip were distinctly heard. The
pastor's wife opened the window, and putting out her head, into the
dark night air, called out "Is any one there?"

"Yes, indeed," answered a gruff voice.

She closed the window quickly, for a current of biting icy air rushed
in and made the singer's cheeks all in a glow. Her brother wished to
look out also to see who it was, but his anxious sister held him back,
as he was so heated by singing. She sent the maid down, and in the mean
time, bewailed the possibility of her husband being, perhaps, obliged
to go out on such a night.

The maid quickly