of our second charity we must go far away from London
to the little town of Assisi in Italy. There, on a spring day of the
year 1209, a young man kneeling in a little church heard the priest
reading the Gospel for the day:--"As ye go, preach, saying, 'The
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers....
Provide neither silver nor gold nor brass in your purses, neither scrip
nor two coats, nor shoes nor staff." The young man felt as though
Christ Himself was speaking to him. "From henceforth," he said, "I
shall set myself with all my might to live thus."

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[Illustration: NO. 9. AN EXCITING GAME: OLD CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON]

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If you had asked the people of Assisi about him, they would have
answered you in some such words as these, "Yonder man? He is Francis,
the spendthrift son of the cloth-merchant, Pietro Bernardone. He to
make such a vow! he, the idle companion of the foolish young nobles of
Assisi, the waster of his father's wealth! It is true he has changed
of late, but his new way of life pleases his father not at all, for he
has given away all he possessed, and says he has taken Poverty as his
bride. He visits the lepers, and labours to repair some of the poor
churches of the town."

Yet Francis kept his vow. Dressed in a simple grey gown, he went in
and out amongst the poorest of the people, preaching to them and
tending the sick. In return they could give him but a scanty meal or a
night's lodging; money he would not take; it was, he {33} said, of no
use to him. And wherever he was, whatever he was doing, no matter what
hardships he had to bear--and he had many--he was always full of
happiness.

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[Illustration: NO. 10. ENTRANCES OF THE OLD CHRIST'S HOSPITAL AND OF
CHRIST CHURCH, LONDON]

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In those hard cruel days men thought little of pain and suffering; but
Francis had love and sympathy, not only for men, but for animals and
for all things. In one of his poems he calls the moon his sister, and
the sun his brother; and he gives thanks for "our sister water, who is
very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean," and for
"our brother fire; he is bright and pleasant and very migh