A STUDENT OF AQUINAS 147 



in a low, even, firm voice. At once the folio 

 was closed and put back on a cobwebby shelf. 



The episode interested me; I sympathised 

 with that priest. In spite of his unsavoury 

 physical condition my heart went out to him. 

 His life must have been appallingly empty, for 

 he had not, like Father Simon, the saving 

 grace of responsibility and the opportunity of 

 expressing his individuality in administrative 

 work. He was nothing but a more or less 

 superfluous cog in the wheel of a cranky 

 machine driven by a despotic hand. The 

 Adam within him cried out for an opportunity 

 of attracting the attention of the only visitor 

 from the outside world he was likely to see for 

 the next six months. I found that little trifle 

 of deception very human — very pitiful. I 

 wonder did he, after all, read his Aquinas at 

 times ; perhaps he did. But I fear his develop- 

 ment would rather have been in the direction 

 of the " dumb ox " than towards the angels. 

 Poor, lonely, unwashed human creature. 



The only way to save one's soul alive in the 

 desert is to wrestle with and Overcome diffi- 

 culties — as Jacob wrestled with the angel, and 

 all the cobwebs ever spun by all the School- 

 men would not give so much strength to the 

 human spirit as a gallop of ten miles over the 



