"If one will work upon you so With ticing words that you shall go In the broad, cursed way of sin, Be strong, permit him not to win--" "No, do give over Erik! The hymn is nice enough, but everything in its own time."--"Yes, yes, father, that is true,--everything in its own time:-- "Oh I every minute, every hour Is Thine, it is Thy due, Our hearts must beat to own Thy power, And call to prayer anew--" "No, no, Erik, or prayer itself would lead into temptation; you might become a Catholic, and go into the monastery--"--"God forbid!" said Erik, and opened his eyes wide, then shutting them, he began: "As earth and dust to pure gold, Are Catholics--" "Now Erik if you can't be quiet, you must go out with the rest of it. Where was it we left off?" But Odegaard, much to his amusement had been following Erik, and could not remember. Then it came peacefully from the shawls: "I was saying that THAT cannot give rest or be the fruit of our labours, that--"--"Now I remember: that there was temptation in,--and then Erik came and proved that there may also be temptation in prayer. Let us therefore see, what these things may lead to. Have you ever observed that cheerful men work better than the dejected? Why?" Lars caught the drift of this: "It is religion that makes us cheerful," he said.--"Yes, when it is not desponding; but have you never seen that there is a religion that makes everything so gloomy, that the world itself is like a prison?" Else was sighing so, that the shawls began to move, Lars also looked sharply at her, and she gave over.--Odegaard continued: "Always the same, whether it is work, prayer, or play, makes you stupid and gloomy. You may grovel in the earth till you become an animal, pray till habit makes you a monk, and play till you are nothing better than a doll. But combine them and the mind is strengthened; work prospers, and religion becomes more cheerful."--"Then we have to be cheerful now!" said the young man, and smiled.--"Yes, and then you too would win sympathy: for it is only when we are cheerful, that we can see and admire the good in others, and only by loving others that we can love God." As no one at once contradicted this, Odegaard made a second attempt to bring the bundle to the point; "Those things that disenthral, so that the Holy Spirit can work in us, (for in bondage He cannot work) those things that assist us, must have a blessing in them,--and that this does." The dean rose, he had again a pipe to put out.