“‘But you cure and give certificates,’ I suggested? ‘Certificates be damned,’ he said with disgust; ‘I might as well snap my fingers, and say that the wind shouldn’t blow again. Every time I have this hateful business to do I wish the Viceroy or the Commander in Chief had to do my dirty work, they would soon stop it if they had to make every soldier a eunuch, unseminare them. It is only a trick or deception to delude the soldiers to think they are safe, and let them go on from bad to worse.’ “I expressed surprise that those who made the law did not understand. ‘Understand,’ he replied, ‘they did not want to understand. They wished to please the soldiers, even if it was by deception, and so made their regulations, forgetting that the Almighty had made His laws some time ago. We cannot frustrate the plans of God.’ Much more the doctor told me. I hope Mr. Japhet,” said he, “that I have not detained you too long.” I replied that I was in no hurry, as I had no special business on hand. He asked, “Were you ever in Naples?” “No,” I replied. “I want to tell you a little incident. One morning, while visiting a friend who had long been a resident of that city, we were seated at an open window, looking out at the belching fires of Vesuvius. I remarked, ‘Why not bore a hole or tunnel from the sea, and let in the waters to drown those infernal fires? Wouldn’t there be a muttering and a spluttering, and a—’ “‘Stop, stop!’ he exclaimed. ‘You do not know what you are saying! Should you dare suggest such a thing here in public, the Neapolitans would mob you at once!’ After a little hesitation he continued: ‘Why, it would be a crime! What a catastrophe would happen, and where would Naples be, or even the globe itself, if such a thing should be done?’ “As my friend was of a religious turn, he went on: ‘It would be the most stupendous attack on God’s order in nature that man ever attempted. The building of the Tower of Babel would be children’s play compared to it. It would be an eternal sin, involving not only the doer of it, but the entire human race. Why, your suggestion will give me the nightmare as long as I live in Naples, fearing that some God-defying man might do it.’ “I have often thought of his remarks, and the lesson of them to me was, that we cannot, or ought not to think of defying the physical laws of nature, any more than we should outrage the moral laws of the God of nature.” Thus ended my first call on Mr. Jasper. On returning I had these thoughts: It is pitiable to think of the thousands of loving Christian mothers praying daily for their soldier boys in India, unaware of the cheap temptations furnished by the Government within a few steps of their barracks, and to be with them in camp, to march with them for their convenience.