of it all humbles me into the dust." <J It was ostracism LITTLE 

 and exile that gave Copernicus the leisure to pur- JOURNEYS 

 sue his studies in quiet undiverted, undisturbed. He 

 was relieved from financial pinch, having all he 

 needed for his simple, homely wants. The mental 

 distance that separated him from his parishioners 

 made him free, and the order that he should not 

 travel and that none should visit him made him mas- 

 ter of his time. There were no interruptions " God 

 has set me apart," he wrote, "that I may study and 

 make plain His works." But still that he could not 

 make his discoveries known was a constant, bitter dis- 

 appointment to him. 



Astronomy afforded him a means of using his mighty 

 mathematical genius for his own pleasure and amuse- 

 ment. In seeking to subdue him, the Pope had merely 

 supplied the exact conditions he required to do his 

 work yet neither knew it. So mighty is Destiny we 

 work for one thing and fail to get it, but in our efforts 

 we find something better. 



The simple, hard-working gardeners with whom Co- 

 pernicus lived, had a reverent awe for the great man ; 

 they guessed his worth, but still had suspicions of his 

 sanity. His nightly vigils they took for a sort of relig- 

 ious ecstasy, and a wholesome fear made them quite 

 willing not to do anything that might disturb him. 

 So passed the days, and from a light-hearted, am- 

 bitious man, Copernicus had grown old and bowed, 

 and nearly blind from continuously watching the stars 

 and writing at night. 



27 



