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"no; you said last week, when you first called me in, that her name was Miriam."

"Sarah," was the imperturbable answer.

Not caring to dispute the point, my friend wrote his prescription and departed. It was not until afterward that he was made aware that in cases of serious illness the Jews rename the patient. "You see," say they, "when God sends out the Angel of Death, he will instruct him to call for the soul of Miriam. But when the angel arrives he will find not Miriam, but Sarah. Therefore, having received no commands respecting the soul of Sarah, he will return whence he came, and leave us our child."

On a similar principle, they frequently sell the sick person for a nominal sum. "The Almighty," they argue, "desires to punish us by taking from us our most precious possession. But, if the invalid is no longer ours, he cannot take from us what is not our own." Ingenious reasoning, to say the least of it.

But it is time to take leave of these Courlanders. What will be their condition under the new order of things it is difficult to conjecture. That the prestige of the noble class is declining, cannot be denied. The literaten themselves are being overtaken by the Letts, many of whom, after a course of study at Dorpat, now occupy the position of pastors and doctors. Old barriers are being broken down. Russification is being enforced more strictly year by year. Lutheranism, as the established form of religion in the Baltic provinces, is being threatened. The idol of the people has been snatched away, and his successor is of a very different stamp. Time alone can solve the dismal problem; and in the mean while, in memory of the many kindnesses received, and of the numerous social pleasures dotted about the space of my two years' residence, I would fain record my humble wishes for the ultimate peace and prosperity of the province of Courland.