A FAITH-CURE HOTEL 245 



log/' was the reply, and not long after he was introduced to 

 Father Blumhardt, the presiding genius of the place. At the 

 early supper he was placed at his right hand and otherwise 

 treated as one worthy to be his brother. The meal was pre- 

 ceded by a chapter from the Bible read by a young acolyte, 

 followed by prayer and song. The next morning at breakfast the 

 same procedure was gone through with, all of which took a good 

 deal of time; moreover the company seemed to be made up 

 chiefly of the halt and the blind. At the early dinner, to shorten 

 the time spent at table Mr. Shaler concluded to evade the for- 

 midable preamble, likewise the closing exercises. The day was 

 slipping away and as yet he had done no geologizing. There- 

 fore, although it was Sunday, he determined to venture forth ; 

 since, however, the sentiment of the place seemed to be strictly 

 religious, he and his wife secreted his hammer and bag for 

 specimens and started off in the direction of an interesting 

 locality toward which his thoughts had been travelling for 

 many months. On his return tired and heavily laden with his 

 treasures, he was obliged to confront his fellow pensionnaires 

 assembled on the front verandah. Curiosity was aroused as to 

 the nature of his burden, and when it was found to consist 

 of rocks it flashed upon the inquirers that after all the stranger 

 was a geolog, not a theolog as the clerk's mistake had led 

 them to suppose. The consequence of the discovery was a 

 considerable lowering of Mr. Shaler's dignity in the eyes of the 

 public ; he was in a measure obliterated, shifted down to near 

 the foot of the table instead of feasting as before under the eyes 

 of the master. He in his turn likewise received light, and now 

 for the first time saw more clearly into the nature of his sur- 

 roundings: the place was a high seat of the faith cure and 

 Father Blumhardt was its prophet. On Mr. Shaler's left sat a 

 youth whose eyes were so badly injured as to make it painful to 

 look at him. He was praying daily for a miracle to be performed. 

 Near by was a woman whose hip was out of joint : she too was 

 waiting to develop the faith that makes whole. A sprained 



