family, in the individual, in society, in the relation between the tribes and in the attitude of the government." The statistics of this society in 1909 report 2,118 communicants, 155 missionaries and $62,803 income.

BOOK II.--GERMANY

CHAPTER I.-STRASBURG AND ITS MAJES

T

TIC CATHEDRAL.

HE first place in Germany where the Reformed doctrines took root was the city

of Strasburg in western Germany, a few miles distant from the Rhine. It is to-day a large city of about 175,000 inhabitants. It was originally a part of Germany, but was captured by France under Louis XIV, and recaptured by the Germans from France in 1870. Under France the city became French, and since Germany has acquired it, they have been trying to make it German, even forbidding the teaching of French in the public schools, much to the disgust of the inhabitants. Still since 1870 a great many Germans have moved in, and the city by this time has become pretty well Germanized. Germany always keeps a large garrison of soldiers there, as it is the citadel of southwestern Germany and she will never permit France to have any chance to retake it. It has almost impregnable fortifications and the German soldiers,

of whom there are 15,000 in the city, are everywhere in evidence.

Strasburg is a quaint old-fashioned city, its houses having steep roofs, meeting at a peak and surmounted on top by a tall chimney. On many of the chimneys is a stork's nest, with perhaps one of these white birds sitting or standing thereon on one leg. These storks look like the white watchmen over the city. And while the German soldiers watch the city below, these birds of peace, like silent sentinels watch it above. The storks go away in winter to warmer climates but return every spring to the same nest. It is considered good luck to have a stork's nest on the house.

There are many interesting sights in Strasburg. Sometimes the visitor in walking along the streets, will catch a glimpse of a woman with an Alsatian headdress a large black bow tied on top of the head, whose ends flap up and down like kites while she walks.

The most important edifice in Strasburg is the cathedral, a large building covering a square of ground. It has two towers in front, but only one of them is capped by a spire, which rises up like a tall gigantic stone needle, piercing the heavens.

It is one of the highest spires in Europe, 465 feet above the ground. The distance from the roof of the cathedral to the top of the spire is 200 feet, but the view from the roof is fine. Over the wedgeshaped roofs and storks' nests on the chimneys, can be seen the flat plain around the city, on the east of which flows the river Rhine. The interior of the church is imposing. Its nave is 99 feet high, and the building is 135 feet wide. In it is the famous Strasburg clock. This is about fifty feet high and is very old, having been begun in 1352, and its last improvement having been made in 1842. It is, therefore, the growth of centuries of inventions and has become a wonder in mechanism. On its first gallery an angel strikes on a bell in his hand, while a spirit by his side reverses the hour-glass. Over him is a skeleton who shakes the hours. Around are allegorical figures, representing youth, manhood and old age. The clock goes through its performance only at noon. Then the twelve apostles move around the figure of Christ. On the highest pinnacle is perched a rooster which flaps his wings, stretches his neck and crows, awakening the echoes to the remotest part of the cathedral. The clock in a wonderful way regulates itself,