Philosophical and logical, truly!"
"You seem to have acquired a little knowledge of men and women, my
good friend, without encumbering yourself with a wife and children."
"Would you like to go to the same school to which I went?" asked
Thurnall, with a look of such grave meaning that Frank's pure spirit
shuddered within him. "And I'll tell you this; whenever I see a woman
nursing her baby, or a father with his child upon his knees, I say to
myself--they know more, at this minute, of human nature, as of the
great law of 'C'est l'amour, l'amour, l'amour, which makes the world
go round,' than I am likely to do for many a day. I'll tell you what,
sir! These simple natural ties, which are common to us and the dumb
animals,--as I live, sir, they are the divinest things I see in the
world! I have but one, and that is love to my poor old father; that's
all the religion I have as yet: but I tell you, it alone has kept me
from being a ruffian and a blackguard. And I'll tell you more," said
Tom, warming, "of all diabolical dodges for preventing the parsons
from seeing who they are, or what human beings are, or what their work
in the world is, or anything else, the neatest is that celibacy of the
clergy. I should like to have you with me in Spanish America, or in
France either, and see what you thought of it then. How it ever came
into mortal brains is to me the puzzle. I've often fancied, when
I've watched those priests--and very good fellows, too, some of them
are--that there must be a devil after all abroad in the world, as you
say; for no human insanity could ever have hit upon so complete and
'cute a device for making parsons do the more harm, the more good they
try to do.
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