Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/312

328 into points which less vigorous or less honest minds would willingly have turned aside from, and by the importance which he ascribes to the part of the Holy Spirit in the creation of the new time, and particularly of the church of the future. He is neither a perfectly lucid nor yet logical thinker, but he introduced much light into many questions by his honest and deep investigations, and the real geniality of his mind. Finally, M. Geltzer, in Basle, and Edmund de Pressancé, in Paris, are the Swiss minds which, whilst they ally themselves to this centre, open their monthly publications, Protestantische Blätter and Revue Chretienne, for discussion on every important topic in the realm of mind, on a high, true, liberal, evangelical basis. Such is the position of little Switzerland in the region of spirit and thought, between the great neighboring countries of Germany and France, and in the power of the Word active in both.

At the present moment Neufchâtel does not promise much in this department for the future. At the great annual examination of the schools generally, at which I was present, the male portion of the youth was severely blamed for their want of earnestness and perseverance in their various studies, for their deficiency in the feu sacre.

All the children of the home which was now my own—remarkably well endowed by mother nature—obtained each one a prize in their class. The eldest daughter carried away the highest prize which a female pupil could obtain.

“We have all got something!” said the little ones