Nevertheless, grander men have never been than some
of these modern republicans of France; Americans might learn many
lessons from them.
Besides all these there is another class, comparatively small, having
neither the prestige of fashion, rank, or wealth, but true, humble,
evangelical Christians, in whom the simplicity and spirituality of the
old Huguenot church seems revived. These men are laboring at the very
foundation of things; laboring to bring back the forgotten Bible;
beginning where Christ began, with preaching the gospel to the poor.
If any would wish to see Christianity in its loveliest form, they
would find it in some of these humble laborers. One, with whom I
conversed, devotes his time to the _chiffoniers,_ (rag pickers.)
He gave me an account of his labors, speaking with such tenderness and
compassion, that it was quite touching. "My poor people," he said,
"they are very ignorant, but they are not so very bad." And when I
asked him, "Who supports you in your labors?" he looked upward, with
one of those quick, involuntary glances by which the French express
themselves without words. There was the same earnestness in him as in
one of our city missionaries, but a touching grace peculiarly
national.
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