urprised that man,
His creature, should express himself in a varying scale of excellence!

* * * * *

There was nothing of Jack Falstaff about Francis Schlatter, whose whitened
bones were found amid the alkali dust of the desert, a few years ago--dead
in an endeavor to do without meat and drink for forty days.

Schlatter purported, and believed, that he was the reincarnation of the
Messiah. Letters were sent to him, addressed simply, "Jesus Christ,
Denver, Colorado," and he walked up to the General-Delivery window and
asked for them with a confidence, we are told, that relieved the
postmaster of a grave responsibility.

Schlatter was no mere ordinary pretender, working on the superstitions of
shallow-pated people. He lived up to his belief--took no money, avoided
notoriety when he could; and the proof of his sincerity lies in the fact
that he died a victim to it.

Herbert Spencer has said all about the Messianic Instinct that there is to
say, save this--the Messianic Instinct first had its germ in the heart of
a woman. Every woman dreams of the coming of the Ideal Man--the man who
will give her protection, even to giving up his life for her, and
vouchsafe peace to her soul. I am told by a noted Bishop of the Catholic
Church that many women who become nuns are prompted to take their vows
solely through the occasion of an unrequited love. They become the bride
of the Church and find their highest joy in following the will of Christ.
He is their only Spouse and Master.

The terms of endearment one hears at prayer-meetings, "Blessed Jesus,"
"Dear Jesus," "Loving Jesus," "Elder Brother," "Patient, gentle Jesus,"
etc., were first used by women in an ecstasy of religious transport. And
the thought of Jesus as a loving, "personal Savior," would die from the
face of the earth did not women keep it alive. The religious nature and
the sex nature are closely akin: no psychologist can tell where the one
ends and the other begins.

There may be wooden women in the world, and of these I will not speak, but
every strong, pulsing, feeling, thinking woman goes through life, seeking
the Ideal Man. Whether she is married or single, rich or poor, old or
young, every new man she meets is interesting to her, because she feels in
some mysterious way that possibly he is the One.

Of course, I know that every good man, too, seeks the Ideal Woman--but
that deserves another chapter.

The only woman in whose