154 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



days on which they eat onions, what you 

 might call " retreats," or their " Thursdays." 

 The act is in the nature of a religious cere- 

 mony, an Eleusinian mystery ; not a breath 

 of it must get abroad. On that day they see 

 no company ; they deny the kiss of greeting 

 to the dearest friend; they retire within 

 themselves, and hold communion with one of 

 the most pungent and penetrating manifes- 

 tations of the moral vegetable world. Happy 

 is said to be the family which can eat onions 

 together. They are, for the time being, sepa- 

 rate from the world, and have a harmony of 

 aspiration. There is a hint here for th,e re- 

 formers. Let them become apostles of the 

 onion ; let them eat, and preach it to their 

 fellows, and circulate tracts of it in the form 

 of seeds. In the onion is the hope of uni- 

 versal brotherhood. If all men will eat on- 

 ions at all times, they will come into a uni- 

 versal sympathy. Look at Italy. I hope I 

 am not mistaken as to the cause of her unity. 

 It was the Reds who preached the gospel 

 which made it possible. All the Reds of 



