au fond

   the Priestess of Esoteric Buddhism herself adores the Dragon.'

   'That is enough about

    that

   . Are there no patent religions warranted free from Dragon worship?'

   'Well.' said the Owl dubiously, 'there are the Altruists. '

    They

   worship humanity. As a rule, you may have noticed that adorers think the object of adoration better than themselves,—an unexpected instance in most cases, of the modesty of their species. But the Altruists worship Humanity.'

   'And they don't think Humanity better than themselves?'

   'Far from it. Their leading idea is that they are the cream of Humanity. Their principal industry is to scold and lecture Humanity. Whatever Humanity may be doing—making war or making peace, or making love to its Deceased Wife's Sister—the Altruists cry out, "Don't do that." And they preach sermons to Humanity, always beginning, "We think;" and they publish their remarks in high-class periodicals, and they invariably show that everyone, and especially Mr. Herbert Spencer, is in the wrong, and nobody pays the slightest attention to them. In their way the Altruists do to others as they would have others do to them, To my mind, while they pretend that Humanity is what they worship, they really want to be worshipped by Humanity.'

   'Are there many of this sect?' asked Mab.

   'There were twenty-seven of them.' said the Owl, 'but they quarrelled about canonising the Emperor Tiberius, and now there are only thirteen and a half.'

   'Where do you get the fraction?' said Mab.

   'That is a mystery.' said the Owl. 'Every religion should have its mystery, and the Altruists possess only this example; it is a cheap one, but they are not a luxurious sect.'

   'Well.' said Mab mournfully at last, 'I must go back to Samoa; there is too much mystery here 

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