CHAPTER VII.
SEQUEL TO THE ORPHAN'S TALE.—WHO CAN HE BE?—ELEMENTS.—THE ASTROLOGERS.
On Monday morning, our merry party at the Grange breakfasted rather earlier than usual, and Mr. Wyndham and Alice Bolton set off for Philadelphia, full of eagerness to hunt up an uncle for little Margaret Roscoe. Charlie told him, laughingly, that he was sure he would persuade some one to be her uncle, if rich Mr. Roscoe did not prove to be the right man: he could pick one up somewhere along the streets. But Mr. Wyndham replied, with an offended air, that he was sorry he had not yet learned his worth: good uncles, like him, were not to be met with every day—they should be valued accordingly.
"Do you remember the anecdote about Frederic the Great, of Prussia?" asked his wife.
"There are many funny stories told of him," answered Mr. Wyndham; "which is the one you refer to?"
"One Sunday, a young minister preached an admirable sermon before him, showing uncommon talent and erudition. Frederic afterwards sent for him, and asked where he was settled. 'Unfortunately, Sire, I have had no opportunity of being installed anywhere: I have never had a living presented to me.' 'But what is the reason?—you preach an excellent discourse, and appear to be an active young man.' 'Alas! Sire, I have no uncle.' 'Then I'll be your uncle, said Frederic. And he kept his word: the next vacancy in the ecclesiastical appointments was filled up with the name of his adopted nephew."
"But, Aunt," said Harry, "I can't see what his having no uncle had to do with it."
"You know that in most other parts of Christendom, where the stars and the stripes do not float in the breeze, what we call the voluntary principle in church maintenance and government is not the rule at all. Here, people choose their own clergymen, and of course it is their business to support them. But in nearly the whole of Europe, rulers are so very paternal as to take that trouble and responsibility off the shoulders of the people: they are kind enough to do all their thinking for them. The subjects pay very heavy taxes; and from these, and from old endowments, all the expenses of the national establishments are discharged. They look at it in the same light as your parents do, when they pay your school-bills—it's a duty they owe you to see that you are properly taught; but it would be very weak in them to consult you as to which teacher you preferred, and what school you chose to go to—they're the best judges, of course."
"But, Aunt Lucy! you surely don't mean to say that the governments are the best judges as to what church the people shall attend, and what ministers they shall have?"