"Too big a subject for the present time and place," responded the referee of the little company. "To-morrow is Sunday; let us keep it for to-morrow, and come out here, or to some other place, and discuss it." "That is delightful!" cried Maggie clapping her hands. "Now, what were some of the other things, Ditto?" "About the Saxons. But Mr. Murray did not hear our first story." "Oh, I know. I guess he knows. You do know about the old Saxons, don't you, Uncle Eden?" "I know there was such a people." "And you know they were very good and very bad--both at once; and we wanted to know _how_ they could be so much worse, and yet so much better, than people nowadays." "How 'so much better'?" "They told the truth, Uncle Eden." "There were no cowards and no marriage-breakers among them," Meredith added. "And then how 'so much worse'?" "Oh, they were cruel! they offered human sacrifices; they were frightfully cruel." "Yes," said Mr. Murray thoughtfully; "the contrast seems strange. They were a noble people in many ways." "But Pastor Harms says they are not half so good now that they are Christians," Maggie went on. "If that is true, there must be a reason for it." "Yes, Uncle Eden, of course." "And that reason cannot be found, in their Christianity." "But how is it, Uncle Eden?" "Human nature is very much alike at all times, my child." "But the old Saxons were not like the old Romans, Uncle Eden. The word of a Saxon was better than a Roman's oath." "And the modern Saxons are not like their forefathers," said Meredith; "at least, according to Pastor Harms." "I have no doubt he is right." "And Frenchmen are very different from Englishmen," added Flora. "And both from Americans. And the Dutch from all three. We might go on indefinitely." "Yet they are all descended from Noah's sons," Meredith remarked. "It is a very curious subject, and rather deep for some of the present company. Many things go to make the differences between one nation and another. In the first place, the several families of Shem, Ham and Japheth are all strongly marked." "Are they, sir?" "Then, among the tribes of any one family, differences grow up from many causes. From the sort of country they inhabit, the climate that prevails, the scenery their eyes rest on, the ease or difficulty of obtaining food, and the means necessary to that end; from the religion they believe in, their situation with respect to commerce and intercourse with other nations; their habits of life superinduced upon all these." "But the modern Saxons live where the old Saxons did, sir?"