"'Child, what utterances,' said my aunt, who had known the young lady since childhood.
"Indeed, I perceived several tokens of disapproval amongst the elder ladies and gentlemen.
"The candidate for the ministry pushed his chair about impatiently, like a great Power that is preparing for war; and only two of the young ladies indicated their concurrence.
"I remarked that in this holy circle divers parties were formed, and did not hesitate for a moment under which standard I should take my oath of allegiance.
"'So much dead Christianity,' continued Frau von Salden, intrepidly, 'reigns in the world, so much benumbedness; streams of life must be conducted into it again by the elect.'
"Then the candidate rose from his chair, and, with the gestures of a zealous accuser, asked--
"'Who, then, are these elect? Surely not those who deem themselves to be such--not those preachers who prowl about the streets, and give out the inventions of a diseased brain for words of revelation; not those who have their peculiar secret doctrines, of which nothing is to be found in the Scriptures, and who, as rumour says, allow themselves to be idolised by their disciples? True piety is far removed from the assumption of being able to teach something better than that which the Holy Scriptures proclaim.'
"'Then all thinkers would be condemned to eternal silence,' suggested I. 'I have heard that prophet speak; they were new bold thoughts that must enchain the people's mind.'
"'We require,' cried Frau von Salden, 'a new key to the comprehension of the secrets of Nature and history.'
"The candidate stretched out his long neck towards his valiant opponent, and said--