As the reverend gentleman had proceeded the murmurs and objections of the audience kept increasing, until at last it broke forth in a storm of howls and execrations which completely drowned his voice.  The whole audience—­I could see their faces from where I sat on the platform—­were infuriated.  Arms were waving in the air, and the scene was like Bedlam.  I requested the clergyman to sit down, and, as soon as he did so, the storm began to subside.  A man rose in the midst of the audience and mounted a bench.  Loud cries and applause greeted him.  I could distinguish the name on a hundred lips, “Kelker!  Kelker!” As I ascertained afterwards, he was a professor, of German descent, a man of wide learning, who had lost his position in the university, and in society as well, by his defense of the rights of the people.  He now earned a meager living at shoemaking.  He was a tall, spare man, with gold eyeglasses (sole relic of his past station), poorly clad; and he had the wild look of a man who had been hunted all his life.  He spoke with great vehemence, and in a penetrating voice, that could be heard all over that vast assemblage, which, as soon as he opened his mouth, became as still as death.

“Friends and brothers,” he said; “friends by the ties of common wrongs, brothers in misery, I regret that you did not permit the reverend gentleman to proceed.  Ours is a liberality that hears all sides; and, for one, I should have been glad to hear what this advocate of the ancient creeds had to say for them.  But since he has taken his seat I shall reply to him.

“He tells us that his religion is the one only thing which will save us; and that it is better for us to be miserable here that we may be happy hereafter.  If that is so, heaven must be crowded now-a-days, for the misery of the earth is unlimited and unspeakable; and it is rapidly increasing.” [Laughter and applause.] “But religion has had control of the world for nearly two thousand years, and this is what it has brought us to.  It has been, in all ages, the moral police-force of tyrants.” [Great applause.] “It has chloroformed poverty with promises of heaven, while the robbers have plundered the world.” (Continued applause.] “It has kept the people in submission, and has sent uncountable millions through wretched lives to shameful graves. [Great applause.] “With a lot of myths and superstitions, derived from a dark and barbarous past, it has prevented civilization from protecting mankind; and, Nero-like, has fiddled away upon its ridiculous dogmas while the world was burning.” [Great cheers.]

“When have your churches helped man to improve his condition?  They are gorgeous palaces, where once a week the women assemble to display their millinery and the men to maintain their business prestige.” [Laughter and applause.] “What great reform have they not opposed?  What new discoveries in science have they not resisted?” [Applause.] “Man has only become great when he has escaped out of their