The organ was played by a master, the processional was splendidly staged, the rector looked prosperously pious, prayers were read and confessions uttered without any disquieting, spiritual agony, and the anthems were correctly sung by the picturesque boys' choir. The curate preached a sermon on manliness; a sermon so thin and emasculated that even the Frau Directorin, whose English is limited, could understand it, and said she would like to come again "for the good English." I left the church deeply disappointed, and to the Herr Director's taunts about "improvements" I did not reply, realizing more than ever how difficult and dangerous is this task of introducing the _Spirit_, especially when one goes to church in the spirit of pride, rather than in the spirit of meekness. No clergyman can spoil the whole of Sunday, for there is always the dinner, and having found a _table d'hôte_ in harmony with the Herr Director's national and religious ideals, we continued our discussion somewhat fitfully, if, at times, rather vehemently. One of the things the Herr Director missed in the church where we tried to worship was reverence. He missed it everywhere and thought it due to the fact that we do not teach religion in the public schools. This was rather amusing to me, for just prior to that statement he had told me of one of his nephews who, upon approaching his final examinations, said: "If it were not for this accursed religion I could get through without trouble;" and I called his attention to the fact that although I had no difficulty with my "exams" in religion, invariably having an "_Ausgezeichnet_" which is equivalent to an A, I was always "_Schlecht_" in conduct. I had found religious instruction a very irreligious procedure, for the man who taught it was irreligious enough to whip me so that I could not lie upon my back for a week, the cause being that I would not say yes to his credo. Moreover I told the Herr Director I thought all religious instruction irreligious which did not teach the child its whole duty to society, but taught religion from only the narrowing racial or sectarian standpoint. Religion, I pointed out to him, can after all not be taught; it has to be caught. It is a contagion which comes from a spiritual personality, and our public schools are not religious or irreligious because certain subjects are found or not found in their curricula, but because the teachers have this spiritual personality or lack it. I am convinced that this ethical quality predominates in our public schools, not only because so many of our teachers are women, but because we are fundamentally a religious people.