NIRVANA AND THE YANKEES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:] SIR,—The close of your article on "Transmigration" vividly recalls an incident that, without being fanciful, one may re- gard as strangely corroborative (in anticipation) of your difficulty in conceiving of a good Yankee's accepting Nirvana as a heaven worth effort to attain. It was in the saloon of a P. and 0. steamer, where an old American missionary, leaning against the mast, concluded the time-honoured service with a short sermon. He had been controverting the view of heaven as a place of rest, and ended with the following quaint bit of realism:—" No; depend upon it the first thing you will see when you get there will be, No admission except on business." The effect was very droll ; and the general after- remark was "How thoroughly American !" I never after- wards passed that preacher on the Calcutta maidan without
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