El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-20
~HoUGH the hem1et of vespignano.
BY Abel Kermant.

"HOUGH the -hemiet of vespignano.
| where Giotto the painter was
- born, did not amount to much,
| II did contain two or three quite Wen
to do families and in one Of these
! son. Of II years, named Jean was eX-
pected to become very great man or
| to say the truth, was already greatly
| admired
! He was so handsome and well built
that the fresco painters when design
| ing the face of Saint Sebastian never
| conceived nobler features nor more
delicate outlines. His weI-set eyes
were soft and almond shaped and their
| color was that of the palest violets
| with an expression Of the greatest
| tenderness reminding of the fragrance
of the flowers.
But it was not his physical and fleet
ing charms that were admired the
| most
He was so good, so charitable, that
nobody ever asked of him favor IN
vain. He wiped away the tears OF
those who cried, even If he did not
know them.
For his goodness and inexhaustiole
| charity he was known in Vespignano
| and even in Florence.
He had inherited this reputation by
| his elevated mind which was always
| occupied with the highest subjects he
| knew nothing Of the tribulations OF
| Of love, common to his age, nor OF
! friendship which is the honest pleas
ure and dearest illusion Of common
nortals. and if his relatives had not
thought of food and drink, undoubted-
i " he would have forgotten nourlsh-
ment for his thoughts were always OF
! eternity only
The future of this young man was
all laid out in advance, he must study
l enter holy orders and set an example
! to others by his virtues The minor
prophets already bet on his future nap
piness and promised him beatifica ton
| as the crowning reward Of his brilliant
career.
Did he not already enjoy the bless
ings of Paradise down here and was
/ not his occupation that OF the elect In
heaven? He saw God face to race
/ talked to Him as If He were present
/ l. there a better way to escape the
! sufferings OF life than not to live II!
! 1t is really surprising how Few peo-
! PIE have discovered this. Jean DC
| Vespignano thanked the Lord every
dav for having granted him this priv
| ilege.
He was too good a christian to say
like the Pharisee in the gospel;
thank you. Lord, for having given me
all virtues" but at the same time ne
said something like this: on, LORD
7 thank you. that you while making
me a man, have made me as little ike
other men as possible, that you nave
gifted me with character that is angel
ic rather than human II l may nus
| express myself without sinful price.
His father sent him to Padua 10
| s+udv at the famous university anc
! he was received with. the greatest re-
( spect by students and teachers aIlke-
| Onlx- one among the latter rather dis
onnroved of him 1t was Renend de
! Rrescia. an exceedingly ugly man, with
a face marked by smallpox, VINO al
all seasons of the year walked arouIiu
| in an old overcoat He was very
| learned and as able as anyone to 1ore-
/ +og+a the pleasures Of Paradise while
| ~, earth but instead Of this he chose
70 live like a trooper, not even despls-
! inc the coarsest of pleasures, saying
that the only part Of eternity we Were
sure of was the part we were HNihS
here below He insisted that IL was
1 the will of God that angels shoulo De
angels and men men, and dlo not au
rnire Jean de Vespignanon's attempts
! m combine both. He had besides
very sharp tongue and his sarcasm was
unusually biting
| loan gave very good proof OF MS
nraiseworthy humility, for instead OF
| looking down upon this teacher VINO
1-ae the only one who did not admire
| him he missed no opportunity to honor
him He listened to and remembered
| all his savings and pondered over 1heh
/ when he was alone, and one nleht ne
| could not fall asleep because the ola
| teocbar had said: "A person does not
/ mould his own destiny and cannot es-
! cane the train of events, even II he
! tries as much as he likes. Providence
| will often place obstacles IN the way.
The truth of this saying was soon
! to be verified
loan was very fond of walking
4! through the many arcades Of the OLD
| city. which gave Padua the appear
| ance of a cloister He always walked
| clone sometimes reading. sometimes
noaditating. What and whom he met
! did not interest him for he did not see
| Thorn and could even walk past the
/ church of St Anthony which was be-
| ing erected without noticing II the
! work on the the domes had made any
! progress. But his blue eyes were even
| more beautiful because they did not
seem to look at anything but TO De
| lost in deep thought.
One day he subconscious1y slackened
his mace and then stopped entirely He
! looked around and discovered young
girl of Padua. named Rosalie. looking
| Al him with an expression Of admira :
| tion. But as soon as he looked at her
and she caught sight of his wonderful
ewes. she no longer admired, but loved
| him From that moment he became
! more necessary to Rosalie's life than
| the air she breathed.
A few days later he was Informed
| that Rosalie had fallen into mortal
| illness. and then that the doctors had
| given up all hope Of her recovery.
I soon afterwards he heard that the
priests had gone to administer to her
| the last rites of the church, but she
! refused the offers of the church and
kept on repeating the name Of Jean.
He was both touched and surprised
| by this manifestation of passion, and
! his conscience began to trouble him.
| a young girl was going to die for his
| sake-this was nothing, but as she re-
| fused the extreme JUNCTION, a soul was
| TO be lost. This worried him so much