the doors, and I find it within, but it is Latin. A portion of it reads thus: "The illustrious and reverend doctor of divinity John Dionysius de Vienne consecrated this church and the greater altar on the 24th of September, 1776."

I have said to Pierre that I supposed that the law excluding the public was to prevent ecclesiastics from coming and haranguing the children; but he tells me that the curé and the mayor are the only persons in the commune who have permission to visit the public schools. Also the Brothers in all France can visit the schools conducted by the Brothers, but not those under lay teachers.

When we were at the village of St. Alban, where we could not visit the school, I said to Pierre, "There is illiberality here." "Yes," he replied. "What are the politics?" I asked. 66 'Republican,-the strongest republican commune in our canton." On another occasion he says, "The republican cantons are the most illiberal. You saw that the Brothers admitted you. The Brothers are never republican, nor the priests. I do not know one who is, and I do not believe there ever will be one.” "But why are they not republicans? Do not you hear them speak upon the subject?" "They come here to visit us; we talk about the schools, the harvests, and so on, but never upon politics, because they know that I am a republican; and rarely on religion, because I do not always frequent church.” I tell him about a person I met in Paris,—a free-thinker,— and how some of her acquaintances thought that she had told me a falsehood. He thinks it very probable that she had, and says that free-thinkers are great liars. I recur to a former subject, and tell Pierre that I want him to ask a Jew what are the first two commandments. He says that he knows one at Romilies, and that he will ask him. "You have told me," he says, "that we ought not to make

a statue or effigy of the Eternal Father, and why so? I myself find nothing more stupid than to say that one should not make an image of anything whatever. You take photographs. You are superstitious." I try to explain to him that the priests of the Jews had much trouble with them because they would worship images. "But," he says, "those were images of animals; it was not prohibited to make an image of the Almighty, when man was made in his image, in order to have an image of the Supreme Being constantly before his eyes.'

Afterwards, when we are talking upon the front porch, Pierre himself introduces the subject. "There," he says, "is the Eternal Father; see how he extinguishes the fire; he only can do it." I look where he points towards the great gateway coming into the court-yard, but I see no wooden image, nor any other. I find that he alludes to the little bright new sign of their insurance company, La Paternelle, which bears the picture of a man hovering over a globe. He tells me that this is one of the oldest insurance societies in France. I tell him that there have been persons with us who did not want to have their own pictures taken on account of its savoring of idolatry. "They were not well baked," he says. He quotes an expression which he says is from the gospel: "Whoso has the image of God constantly before his eyes cannot sin." We dine alone as

* The following passage will be found in the version of the Hebrew Scriptures (Philadelphia, 1859) by Rev. Isaac Leeser, of the Hebrew faith. It is from Deuteronomy, chap. v. :

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

"Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, any likeness of any thing that is in the heavens above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

"Thou shalt not bow thyself down unto them, nor serve them."

usual, and at dinner I say to him, "Now I see why the Catholics are so much opposed to the Protestant version; I never understood it before." He answers, "It is because they don't like lies, or new things,-invented things, if you like that better." "Then you do not think that the Catholic Church is opposed to republicanism, if the clergy are?" "No; Jesus Christ was a republican; he said, 'Love each other;' he did not say, 'Make war upon each other.'"

Speaking of the clergy, he says that some are partisans of Henry V. (of the old Bourbon line), some are Orleanists, and some Bonapartists. I ask him what the workingmen are. He answers that some are republicans, some Bonapartists, and some Orleanists; but that they hate Henry V. as the devil hates holy water.

One of their neighbors, a man with whom they are very intimate, comes to see them in the afternoon, and the subject of divorce is up. He says that divorce exists in France. for defects of nature. We speak of the law of divorce in my country, divorce for infidelity, and one or two of them say that if this were ground for divorce here there would be thousands divorced, and some of them ten times. And Pierre adds, smiling, "We have more liberty than you."

Madame Lesmontagnes has told me that there were lately a man and woman upon the road near their village with two children. They had an ass, and a poor wagon or cart, and the woman had just given birth to another child. The first who found them went to inform the mayor, who said that they must be put into a tavern, and that the bureau de bienfaisance, or office of charity, would pay the expense. The curé baptized the child, a man who was drinking at the restaurant was godfather, and there was a mason who

said that if the man would behave himself he would furnish him with work. The curé sent the woman a piece of forty sous, and gave her a pound of sugar when the child was baptized, and without doubt it was for this child that the langes were made at the girls' school, as I have told.

I inquire what is this office of charity just mentioned, and I am told that at the mayor's office they keep a list of the poor of the commune, and every year a sum is voted for their succor. This office also receives presents from different persons; sometimes persons in dying give to the bureau de bienfaisance. It does not distribute money, but gives clothes, meat, bread. The nuns give out the bread every Monday from their house, and meat for the sick poor. There are also asylums for the poor and for old men, perhaps six or seven in this department; and two orphanages are supported by the department.

I ask what is the pay of the curé. They say that here the government pays the curé one thousand franes (not a heavy salary), and the abbé who assists him six hundred, about one hundred and twenty dollars; the commune gives them their house and garden. Pierre adds, "For the burial of my brother we paid the curé one hundred francs, which included the expense of candles. At the time of the vintage the curé sends from house to house to collect wine, his passion, as we say. He sends two men, each to a different part of the commune, and every one gives what he chooses, some giving nothing. our commune collected thirty-two hundred and forty-eight gallons]. marriages, the baptisms, etc., he thousand francs a year." His assistant receives the six

Last year the curé of hectolitres [about eight Counting the wine, the probably receives two

hundred above mentioned, and he also says masses for the repose of the dead or for the living, for which people pay him. For each mass he receives two francs, which he gives to the curé to pay for his food.

I use the expression making masses, but Pierre says that they were made by Christ and his apostles eighteen hundred and seventy-eight years ago. He adds, "You may remark that there must have been very great events at that epoch to change the era; it was the year 4004 of the ancient era, and you see that there must have been very great events to change it."

I reply, "But that was the era of the Jews, not of the Romans; the Jews were an insignificant nation, conquered by the Romans." "The Jews were not insignificant," he replies, "because they are the most ancient of all nations. The Romans came from the Jews, and you Americans and all other nations. You must buy an Old Testament at Paris and inform yourself."

I ask, "And at what epoch did the Romans issue from the Jews?"

He replies, "Take an Old Testament, and you will see. How funny you are not to know, when you are older than I! The Jews were the most ancient people; all others must have come from them, as they could not fall from heaven." "The Romans themselves said that Romulus and Remus were sons of Mars."

I say,

"But that is their mythology," he replies: "it is not history." He tells me that he never heard it said before that the pope or the Catholic Church has the keys of heaven. It is St. Peter. The curés say that if they refuse to any one absolution or the last sacraments that this person cannot enter heaven; but more than half in the country, and more than three-quarters in cities, do not believe it.