s name alone would rescue it
from such oblivion."

"I like the Germans, I confess," broke in the Colonel. "I served with
Arentschild's Hanoverians, and never knew better or pleasanter fellows."

"Oh, I by no means undervalue Germans!" said Ogden. "I think we, at
this very moment, owe to them no small gratitude for suggesting to us
the inestimable practice of examination for all public employment."

"In my mind, the greatest humbug of an age of humbug!" said Layton,
fiercely.

"Nay, doctor, you will, I 'm certain, recall your words when I tell
you that my friend here, Mr. Ogden, is one of the most distinguished
promoters of that system."

"The gentleman would confer a far deeper obligation upon me by
sustaining than by withdrawing his thesis," said Ogden, with a sarcastic
smile.

"To undertake the task of sustaining the cause of ignorance against
knowledge," said Layton, quietly, "would be an ungrateful one always.
In the present case, too, it would be like pitting myself against that
gentleman opposite. I decline such an office."

"So, then, you confess that such would be your cause, sir?" said Ogden,
triumphantly.

"No, sir; but it would partake so much the appearance of such a
struggle, that I cannot accept it. What I called a humbug was the
attempt to test men's fitness for the public service by an examination
at which the most incapable might distinguish himself, and the ablest
not pass. The system of examination begot the system of 'grinding,'--a
vulgar term for a more vulgar practice, and a system the most fatal to
all liberal education, limiting study to a question-and-answer formula,
and making acquirements only desirable when within the rubric of a
Government commission. Very different would have been the result if
the diploma of certain recognized educational establishments had been
required as qualification to serve the State; if the law ran, 'You
shall be a graduate of this university, or that college, or possess the
licentiate degree of that school.'"

"Your observations seem, then, rather directed against certain
commissioners than the system they practise?" said Odgen, sarcastically.

"Scarcely, sir. My experience is very limited. I never met but one of
them!"

The Colonel laughed heartily at this speech,--he could n't help it; and
even the host, mortified as he was, gave a half-smile. As for Ogden, his
pale face grew a shade sicklier, and his green eyes more fishy.

"To question the post-