ttle cemetery of Saint Croce, the
grave unmarked.

So the last few years of Galileo's life were years of comparative peace
and quiet. He needed but little, and this little his few faithful,
loving friends supplied. His death came painlessly, and his last moments
were sustained by the faith that he would soon be free from the
trammels of the flesh--free to visit some of the worlds that his
telescope had brought so near to him.

Galileo was born the day that Michelangelo died; the year of his death
was the year that Sir Isaac Newton, the discoverer of the law of
gravitation, was born.

[Illustration: COPERNICUS]

COPERNICUS

To know the mighty works of God; to comprehend His wisdom and
majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful working
of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode
of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance can not be more
grateful than knowledge.

--_Copernicus_

COPERNICUS

When a prominent member of Congress, of slightly convivial turn,
went to sleep on the floor of the House of Representatives and suddenly
awakening, convulsed the assemblage by demanding in a loud voice, "Where
am I at?" he propounded an inquiry that is indisputably a classic.

With the very first glimmering of intelligence, and as far back as
history goes, man has always asked that question, also three others:

Where am I?

Who am I?

What am I here for?

Where am I going?

A question implies an answer and so, coeval with the questioner, we find
a class of Volunteers springing into being, who have taken upon
themselves the business of answering the interrogations.

And as partial payment for answering these questions, the man who
answered has exacted a living from the man who asked, also titles,
honors, gauds, jewels and obsequies.

Further than this, the Volunteer who answered has declared himself
exempt from all useful labor. This Volunteer is our theologian.

Walt Whitman has said:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid
and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of
owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousan