3^3 I feel convinced that we possess a third stomach, for the feeding and sustension of our spiritual life, and that is the soul. Consequently, just as the dinner-bell announces that dejeuner est servi to stomach No. i, so does the church bell call stomach No. 3 to the heavenly feast of worship, prayer and praise. I notice, however, that directly the dinner-bell clangs, every one flocks with nimble foot and watering mouth to the burdened table, to lay hold of soup-spoon, knife and fork, with hands agitated by hungry expectation, whereas, when the spiritual call sounds from the old church-tower, there ensues little or no response ; and that for a very good reason—there exists no appetite for the things of the spirit. At Freiburg in Switzerland, the Capuchins are famous for their skill in cooking a great delicacy—edible snails. When a feast off Helix pomatia is ready, the convent bell is rung, whereupon from every door in the High Street issues a gastronom, and the street is crowded with students, professors, officers, merchants, lawyers, County Councillors, Aldermen, State officials, pressing forward to secure a place and a plate in the refectory, each with a franc in his hand as payment, and all dreading lest they should be too late, and see a board set up at the gate announcing that " No more snails are available." Two hours later, one day when I was at Freiburg, the church bell rang for Evensong. The ears that had been cocked to catch the first note of the snail bell were drooping at the chime of the church bell. I saw only two old men, one on crutches, three women and some children responsive to the call to prayer and praise. Those men who had feasted on snails were clever, intelligent, cultivated, most of them good classical scholars or well fed on history, geography, mathematics, physics, and military tactics. Having had their one franc's worth of snails, they would return home, occupy a lounging-chair, light a pipe, and compose themselves for either a snooze or a look into the newspaper. But had a summons come from the cook to a leg of roast pork, or to steaming German sausages, they would leap from their chairs and go whither called with the utmost alacrity. But as for the things of God, for such they had no partiality, no appetite whatsoever. One of my grand-aunts in her last sickness was found to have
