profound appreciation and sympathy, but it was not reverential or
religious; the religious side of Christ's mission was ignored. Christ
was a social Democrat, Dr. Brownson maintained, and he and many of us
had no other religion but the social theories we drew from Christ's
life and teaching; that was the meaning of Christianity to us, and of
Protestantism especially."

In penning the reminiscences just given Father Hecker probably had in
mind the whole period lying between his fourteenth year and his
twenty-first. In the autumn of 1834, when he first made acquaintance
with Orestes Brownson, Isaac Hecker was not yet fifteen, while the
reform lecturer was in his early thirties. But the boy who began at
once, as he has told us, to put philosophical questions, and to seek
a test whereby to determine the validity of his mental processes, was
already well known to the voters of his ward, not merely as an
overgrown and very active lad, always on hand at the polling booths,
and ready for any work which might be entrusted to a boy, but also as
a clear and persuasive speaker on various topics of social and
political reform.

Politics of the kind into which the young Heckers threw themselves so
ardently were not very different in their methods fifty years ago
from what they are to-day. Reform politics are always the reverse of
what are called machine politics. The meetings of which Father Hecker
speaks were spontaneous gatherings of determined and earnest men,
young and old, held sometimes in public halls, sometimes, when
elections were close at hand, in the open street. Often they were
dominated by leaders better able to formulate theories than to bring
about practical remedial measures. The inception of all great parties
has something of this character. It generally happens that principles