devil; all pursuits of nature’s treasures in metals, light, water, air, and the vegetable and animal worlds is now anathematized as magic; and before our eyes the learning, skill, and wonderful attainments of the Moors of Spain have been trodden down in blood, until Spain can neither feed herself, clothe herself, build her houses, nor cultivate her, fields. Such is the dire result of the truculent sentimentalism that I denounce. Such a spirit is not Bohemian; it never was Bohemian; and Bohemians will repudiate such sentimentalism to their latest breath.
“Permit me now,” resumed Lord Zawis, “to present to my wife a most fitting emblem of the practical, artistic genius that especially distinguishes Bohemia. It is, my dear love, the same casket intended by the lamented King Otakar as the expression of his parting affection for his queen. I am happy indeed to be able to present it now, as being a true symbol of the scientific, industrial, and simply religious tendencies of our countrymen; and let it be also a token from me that I cherish the memory of my lamented prince, and honor him by my love for you. It is also asymbol of the reunion of loving hearts for long dissevered.” Zawis recounted the story of the casket; its recovery, preservation, services on different occasions, and its happy restoration on the auspicious day of their marriage.
Kunigunde received the gift with much emotion, and profound gratitude. “It shall be,” she said, “forever a most cherished evidence of the generous devotion of my husband, and a reminder of the honor and reverence that he merits.”
