and that from another; affection and also marriages were contracted among the distant mountaineers, and thus the useful, the good with piety and an inclination for the wonderful, as well as the love of nature went hand in hand." "All this," said Edmond, "however much you may speak in its favour, the Huguenots call idolatry."
"It would be so too," answered the old man, "if persecution, hatred and malice, were excited by this love and festivity. It might be perilous to celebrate the festival now, especially if it should be interrupted by enthusiasts of the other party. In bygone years, however, I have seen even protestants, who were unable to look upon the puerile ceremony without shedding tears. For it is just in a similar way, when man suffers himself to yield to his most cherished sentiments as if he were at home, when in an entirely childish and artless spirit he draws near to his God, or to his representative, his mother, or the saints, (whom he
