The most atheistic nation in Europe hath come unto enlightenment. Where else but in Bohemia, cradle of modern atheism, could the seeking of mankind’s new salvation be so successfully fulfilled? By chance or by the workings of providence, ’twas in the very heart of decadent Europe that humanism did reach its culmination in love through the non-human.
He is not man. And yet through him floweth pure humanity. ‘Twas the Czechs who succeeded in knowing him who is not a being among beings, and yet unto whom in moments of solitude they do speak aloud, hoping that they might be heard. He maketh no distinction and is companion alike unto souls left in loneliness, misery, and hunger, as unto those who in earthly existence do enjoy happiness and love. In his presence do they feel his unconditional love, of which they themselves are not capable.
There, where human hearts are as distant as solitary shepherds with their flocks of sheep, as men in furs upon vast and frozen plains, as in the Czech wilderness of human indifference, ’tis he who doth soften, who openeth the mind and causeth that suddenly men do wish smiles and hearing unto neighbors and strangers alike. It is the dog