set a fatal example to the poor, and has
brought about intervals of too long duration when men have faltered
in their allegiance to God. Such ascendency as we have over our flocks
to-day depends entirely on our personal influence with them; is it not
deplorable that the existence of religious belief in a commune should
be dependent on the esteem in which a single man is held? When the
preservative force of Christianity permeating all classes of society
shall have put life into the new order of things, there will be an end
of sterile disputes about doctrine. The cult of a religion is its form;
societies only exist by forms. You have your standard, we have the
cross----"

"I should very much like to know, sir," said Genestas, breaking in upon
M. Janvier, "why you forbid these poor folk to dance on Sunday?"

"We do not quarrel with dancing in itself, captain; it is forbidden
because it leads to immorality, which troubles the peace of the
countryside and corrupts its manners. Does not the attempt to purify the
spirit of the family and to maintain the sanctity of family ties strike
at the root of the evil?"

"Some irregularities are always to be found in every district, I know,"
said M. Tonnelet, "but they very seldom occur among us. Perhaps there
are peasants who remove their neighbor's landmark without much scruple;
or they may cut a few osiers that belong to some one else, if they
happen to want some; but these are mere peccadilloes compared with the
wrongdoing that goes on among a town population. Moreover, the people in
this valley seem to me to be devoutly religious."

"Devout?" queried the cure with a smile; "there is no fear of fanaticism
here."

"But," objected Cambon, "if the people all went to mass every morning,
sir, and to confession every week, how would the fields be cultivated?
And three priests would hardly be enough."

"Work is prayer," said the cure. "Doing one's duty brings a knowledge of
the religious principles which are a vital necessity to society."

"How about patriotism?" asked Genestas.

"Patriotism can only inspire a short-lived enthusiasm," the curate
answered gravely; "religion gives it permanence. Patriotism consists
in a brief impulse of forgetfulness of self and self-interest, while
Christianity is a complete system of opposition to the depraved
tendencies of mankind."

"And yet, during the wars undertaken by the Revolution, patriotism----"

"Yes, we worked wonders at the time of