Essays on Life 



Joachim, for he was pained and shocked at 

 my having said that his Joachim was some 

 one else and not Joachim at all. I said I was 

 very sorry, but I was afraid the figure was a 

 woman. He asked me what he was to do. 

 He had known it, man and boy, this sixty 

 years, and had always shown it as St. Joachim; 

 he had never heard any one but myself ques- 

 tion his ascription, and could not suddenly 

 change his mind about it at the bidding of a 

 stranger. At the same time he felt it was a 

 very serious thing to continue showing it as 

 the Virgin's father if it was really her grand- 

 mother. I told him I thought this was a case 

 for his spiritual director, and that if he felt 

 uncomfortable about it he should consult his 

 parish priest and do as he was told. 



On leaving Montrigone, with a pleasant 

 sense of having made acquaintance with a 

 new and, in many respects, interesting work, 

 I could not get the sacristan and our differ- 

 ence of opinion out of my head. What, I 

 asked myself, are the differences that un- 

 happily divide Christendom, and what are 

 those that divide Christendom from modern 



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