duty well if you bind
them with chains; but it is not in that direction you should look, but
to a Christian bond of sympathy and common interest, as a rule."

"You are a keen observer, Herr Pastor. It is so," said Hardy.

"It is not necessary to be a keen observer to see it," replied Pastor
Lindal. "It lies so near the surface that it is not seen, when deeper
causes are looked for and ascribed as producing results they are far
from effecting."

"Your criticism is hard on the English country parishes," said Hardy;
"if you were here longer, you might alter the decisive character of
your opinion."

"It is possible, but the contrast strikes me," said Pastor Lindal. "I
speak as I see."

"That I do not doubt," said Hardy; "and I think the impression of
contrast between your own parish and that of mine is wide."

"There is but one principle, and that is that 'charity suffereth long,
and is kind,'" said the Pastor; "and when you came to Denmark and said
that kindliness is the real gold of life, there was nothing struck me
so much. It was my very thought in a phrase. I cannot therefore
understand why it should not be a more active principle in your
churches."

"It is in the hearts of a great many English people," said Hardy.

"It may be," said Pastor Lindal, "but it is not apparent to a stranger
in your parish church. But there is another matter cognate to us if
not to you, and that is the relief of the poor. Your system is costly,
but it creates the evil. You assist the poor to be paupers; we assist
the poor not to be so, and it costs us less. You train up children in
your work-houses to look to the poor rate or poor box, as we call it,
in after life as something to fall back on, in case of need, or
without need. The system is bad, as it creates more claimants on your
poor rate. This we prevent by teaching the children to earn a living.
The interest your clergy have in this is indirect, and it appears to
me they have little power to be of use, if they had the wish to be so,
which with many men must be a strong wish."

"It is so;" said Hardy, "and it does not appear to me so extraordinary
that you should observe it, as the contrast between what exists with
you and in England is so marked."

The Pastor left for Harwich to meet the Danish steamer, and John Hardy
and Helga accompanied him. Helga was cheerful until her father had
left, but for a long time wore a sad expression on her face. John
Hardy and his mother did