ous, there were plenty of Orders
they could join which would not be so austere. Even the Bishop of
Assisi, who always called Francis his son, said to him once,

"Your way of living, without owning anything, seems to me very harsh
and difficult."

[Sidenote: _On the Right Lines._]

Francis, sure that he was on the right lines, replied,

"If we possessed property we should have need of arms for its defence,
for it is the source of quarrels and lawsuits, and the love of God and
one's neighbor usually finds many obstacles therein! This is why we do
not desire temporal goods."

As the months went on, Francis and his doings attracted more and more
attention. They were the talk of the country. The families of those
brothers who had given away their possessions could not forgive them
for so doing, and attacks from these quarters were bitter and severe.
Disappointed heirs could find nothing too evil to say against the
foolishness and madness of their friar relatives. From this point of
view, many families found the brotherhood very alarming, and parents
trembled when their sons took any interest in it, lest they too should
join it. The clergy naturally felt somewhat distrustful of the doings
of these strange lay-workers. So, taking it altogether, whether he
liked it or not, Francis was the most talked of man in Assisi. The
more people flocked to him and got converted, the more his enemies
slandered him.

It was this state of things that led him to take his entire
force--numbering twelve--to Rome, and there beg the Pope to sanction
their mode of work. It was a bold undertaking, and when it was first
presented to the twelve they shrank back in horror at the presumption
of such a thing! But Francis had made up his mind and nothing could
move him.

How was he, Francis, young, without any interest, and a stranger to
all churchly usages, to get to see the Pope? the brethren asked him.

Francis didn't know. Probably he cared less. Anyway, God had told him
to go.

Then the brethren pleaded their simplicity. How they should
look--travel-stained, bare-footed, and coarse-robed, at the court of
Rome! This argument carried no weight whatever with their leader, and
his faith prevailing, they set out. Just as they were about to start,
Francis said "Let us choose one of us to be our Chief. We will go
whither he wills to go, we will sojourn where he wills us to sojourn."
The rest agreeing, Bernardo di Quintavelle was chosen as leader