Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-16
FRANCIS OF ASSIST.
By DR.. Frank Crane.

There is no story out of gray. medieval
days that so moves me as that of Francis
of Assist. 1.-The little poor man.
We think We are lovers when We love
the beautiful, the gifted and the gentle;
but We know not the taste OF Love AL
mighty until like Francis. we love the
ugly. the repulsive and the mean.
He went TO extremes. He had to, i'll
order to SHOCK a cruel age to its senses
The crusades had introduced into Europe
that strange plague of the east. leprosy
IL was regarded with superstitiOus hor-
ror: those smitten with it We're stunned
by all. To these unfortunate being Fran
els became a reincarnation o. the Mas
ter. With a fearlessness greater than
any warrior on the shotted field he tend
ed them. washed them. kissed them upon
TIE ms.lth. ate porridge from the same
bowl with them.
1t was foolish. unhygienic wrong-but
how splendid.
ST. Francis is dead. but that love of
which he was the voice and living person
lives on.
1t is rot the affected sanctity and ghast-
" other worldliness we see in medieval
pictures. 1t is the sane, healthful, life
giving force that POUNDS and keeps the
family. melts all ancient and new priv:-
lege. the eternal enemy OF the individual,
as the sun melts at last ali iceberss. and
INCREASINGLY demanus of all power the
rights of man.
1t Is hard 10 believe in love- or TO I'M
derstand how being so gentle il can he
strong.
God, though We forget Him. sways men
and the kingdoms of men to His WILL and
love. though il seems so feeble among
the currents of destiny. in the end has
its way with the world.
The supreme wisdom of Jesus Law in
His choice of love as the foundation of
His rule. To think of attempting to be-
come master of men simply by loving
them. IL was like sending a little child
into the arena with gladiators.
What chance had Love to live not to
mention conquering. among such vrle
passions as ambition, greed. lust and all
the forms of selhshness? And who could
have guessed that Love at last could drive
all these iron monsters to his will?
Ii took the genius of Jesus TO see this
II took the genius OF a Francis to believe
IL.
Love operating upon the individual was
all men could grasp a first and for over
"A thousand years the highest strivings
were for personal sanctity.
Now We are learning there is larger eff
ticiency. Operating upon governments
Love produces democracy.
The labor movement is to the eve of
the seer only an appeal to Love.
Hospitals and asylums are its modern
fruits.
Face TO face with the horrors of heath
enism. il throws out missionaries instead
Of armies.
Appearing Enthusiastically in chivalry, il
becomes the keynote of all fiction.
1t is Love that has made the ages of
great terror the ages of great hope" by
raising up st. Paul in the days of Nero
q ST. Francis in the times of Simon de
Montfort.
Francis was but Voice, the utterance
of that of Love which bears hui
manity with all its weaknesses upon its
bosom.
Love is power. All power is mysterious
The inventor draws il from the clouds or
discovers il in the steam; all the centuries
men passed by its secret.
The Nazarene saw the power of Love.
He came not striving nor crying, nei-
Their was his voice heard in the streets
Francis came. a little poor man.
whom the bees loved and the sheep and
birds and the wild things in the wood
These two never doubted Love. How
right they We're, As right as Edison or
Watts. They saw what no man saw. the
secret of power.
For power is not in the strong wind, nor