"But, indeed, there must be. I frequently see in the _Times_
accounts of armed men entering into the railway carriages and robbing
the passengers."
I had to admit such things did occur, but as they happen in the Far
West, and her boy now lives in New Rochelle, the danger did not seem
imminent. But as the good lady did not seem to know whether New
Rochelle is a suburb of New York or of Omaha, I gave it up.
Indeed, I soon learned that there were spiritual enemies to be feared
more dreadful than those of flesh and blood.
She suddenly said: "You have a great many dissenters in the 'States,'
have you not?"
"Oh, no," I said. "We have none."
"You surprise me. Roy [her son] has written me that there seem to be
more of them than of church people, and that their chapels are often
more beautiful than the churches. I was also sorry to hear that he
had gone with a young lady to one of their places of worship, 'The
Fifteenth Avenue Church,' I think he called it."
"Oh," I said, "I see, you mean non-Episcopalians. Yes, there are
millions of those. But, as we have no established church, of course
there can be no dissenters."