150 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



speech of all. For these " privileges," everyone 

 who desired them had to pay. In the Church, on 

 the other hand, was refinement of speech, habits 

 of culture, quietness of atmosphere, an ordered 

 service, mollient music, an inspiring Choir, and an 

 endeavour to take the minds of men above the 

 level of the bestial topics which constituted the 

 mental staple of the visitors to the houses on 

 either side. These things were free to whomsoever 

 chose to have them. Will Dr. Cobbett tell us who 

 commanded that some men should go to the Church, 

 which was free, and that other men should congregate 

 in the public-houses, which demanded a price of all 

 who entered ? Was it Parliament, or the Priest, 

 or the Publican ? If it was not by the edict of Man, 

 will he tell us in virtue of what social influences it 

 was that some chose public-houses and others the 

 Church ? The one costly and the other free ! Can 

 the experiences of mankind as expressed in its pro- 

 verbs better answer the question than the senti- 

 mentalists and the " reformers " who have enshrined 

 their hopes on the altar of futility ? When, from 

 the traditional experiences of life, the old proverb 

 was formulated : " That birds of a feather flock 

 together," did it then, and does it now, express the 

 central fact in this problem of social life ? Does it 

 explain why some men love the public-house with its 

 attendant features and others prefer the culture of the 

 Church ? Dr. Cobbett cannot contend that people went 

 to the public-house because it was easier and cheaper, 

 for the reverse is the truth. The Church stands with 



