Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres
CHAPTER I SAINT MICHIEL DE LA MER DEL PERIL The Archangel loved heights. Standing on the summit of the tower that crowned his church, wings upspread, sword uplifted, the devil crawling beneath, and the cock, symbol of eternal vigilance, perched on his mailed foot, Saint Michael held a place of his own in heaven and on earth which seems, in the eleventh century, to leave hardly room for the Virgin of the Crypt at Chartres, still less for the Beau Christ of the thirteenth century at Amiens. The Archangel stands for Church and State, and both militant. He is the conqueror of Satan, the mightiest of all created spirits, the nearest to God. His place was where the danger was greatest; therefore you find him here. For the same reason he was, while the pagan danger lasted, the patron saint of France. So the Normans, when they were converted to Christianity, put themselves under his powerful protection. So he stood for centuries on his Mount in Peril of the Sea, watching across the tremor of the immense ocean,-immensi tremor oceani,-as Louis XI, inspired for once to poetry, inscribed on the collar of the Order of Saint Michael which he created. So soldiers, nobles,
un for books." However, Jonesville was still without its library, when,
one August day, the stage dropped a gentle, forlorn figure at the door
of Dyer's Hotel.
"I'm Nat May," he said; "well, it's good to get home!"
He brought with him, as the sum of his possessions, a dilapidated
leather hand-bag full of strange wheels and little reflectors, and
small, scratched lenses; the poor clothes upon his back; and
twenty-four cents in his pocket. He walked hesitatingly, with one
hand outstretched to feel his way, for he was nearly blind; but he
recognized old friends by their voices, and was full of simple joy
at meeting them.
"I have a very wonderful invention," he said, in his eager voice, his
blind eyes wide and luminous; "and very valuable. But I have not been
financially successful, so far. I shall be, of course. But in the
city no one seemed willing to wait for payment for my board, so the
authorities advised me to come home; and, in fact, assisted me to do
so. But when I finish my invention, I shall have ample means."
Jonesville, lounging on the porch of Dyer's Hotel, grinned, and said,
"That's all right, Nat; you'll be a rich man one of these days!" And
then it tapped its forehead significantly, and whispered, "Too bad!"
and added (with ill-concealed pleasure at finding new misfortune to
talk about) that the Selectmen had told Mr. Dean, the superintendent,
CHAPTER I SAINT MICHIEL DE LA MER DEL PERIL The Archangel loved heights. Standing on the summit of the tower that crowned his church, wings upspread, sword uplifted, the devil crawling beneath, and the cock, symbol of eternal vigilance, perched on his mailed foot, Saint Michael held a place of his own in heaven and on earth which seems, in the eleventh century, to leave hardly room for the Virgin of the Crypt at Chartres, still less for the Beau Christ of the thirteenth century at Amiens. The Archangel stands for Church and State, and both militant. He is the conqueror of Satan, the mightiest of all created spirits, the nearest to God. His place was where the danger was greatest; therefore you find him here. For the same reason he was, while the pagan danger lasted, the patron saint of France. So the Normans, when they were converted to Christianity, put themselves under his powerful protection. So he stood for centuries on his Mount in Peril of the Sea, watching across the tremor of the immense ocean,-immensi tremor oceani,-as Louis XI, inspired for once to poetry, inscribed on the collar of the Order of Saint Michael which he created. So soldiers, nobles,