LITTLE man. For him there was no preferment he knew too 

 JOURNEYS much! As long as he kept near home and did his 



priestly work all was 'well, but a trace of ambition or 

 heresy, and he would be dealt with. The Universities 

 and all prominent churchmen were secretly ordered 

 to leave Copernicus and his vagaries severely alone. 

 Q But the stars were his companions they came out 

 for him nightly and moved in majesty across the sky. 

 "They do me great honor," he said. " I am forbidden 

 to converse with great men, but God has ordered for 

 me a procession." When the whole town slept Co- 

 pernicus -watched the heavens, and made minute rec- 

 ords of his observations. He had brought with him from 

 Rome copies made by himself from the works of the 

 prominent Greek astronomers, and the "Almagest" of 

 Ptolemy he knew by heart. 



He digested all that had been written on the subject 

 of astronomy ; slowly and patiently he tested every 

 hypothesis with his rude and improvised instruments. 

 " Surely God will not damn me for wanting to know 

 the truth about His glorious works," he used to say. 

 Q Emerson once wrote this, "If the stars came out but 

 once in a thousand years, how men -would adore ! ' 

 But before he had written this, Copernicus had said, 

 "To look up at the sky, and behold the wondrous 

 works of God, must make a man bow his head and 

 heart in silence. I have thought, and studied, and 

 worked for years, and I know so little all I can do is 

 to adore when I behold this unfailing regularity, this 

 miraculous balance and perfect adaptation. The majesty 

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