two Pfaffs were disputing together in the church;
the one to whom the St. John belonged said to the other, 'You rogue,
you have stolen my St. John;' and this dispute they carried on for some
time.

"Although it appeared to me that there was something not quite right
about Popery, I still intended to become a priest. I wished to be
pious, to administer my office faithfully, and to ornament my altar. I
prayed much, and fasted more than was good for me. I had also my saints
and patrons, and prayed to each for something especial; to our Lady,
that she would be my intercessor with her child; to St. Catherine, that
she would help me to learning; to St. Barbara, that I might not die
without the sacrament; and to St. Peter, that he would open the door of
heaven to me; and I wrote down in a little book what prayers I had
neglected. When I had leave of absence from the school on Thursdays or
Saturdays, I went into a confessional chair in the monastery, and wrote
the omitted prayers on a chair, and counted out every sin one after
another; then rubbed them out, and thought I had done my duty. I went
six times from Zurich with processions to Einsiedeln, and was diligent
in confession. I often contended with my associates for the Papacy,
till one day M. Ulrich Zwinglius preached on this text from the gospel
of St. John:--'I am the good shepherd.' He explained it so forcibly,
that I felt as if my hair stood on end; and he showed how God will
demand the souls of the lost sheep at the hands of those shepherds who
caused their perdition. I thought, if that is the true meaning, then
adieu to priestcraft, I will never be a Pfaff. I continued my studies,
began to dispute with my companions, listened assiduously to the
sermons and to my preceptor Myconius. There still continued to be mass
and images at Zurich."

Thus far Thomas Platter. His struggle in life lasted some time longer:
he had to learn rope-making in order to support himself; he studied at
night, and when Andreas Kratander, the printer at Basle, had sent him a
Plautus, he fastened the separate sheets on the rope by means of a
wooden prong, and read whilst he was working. Later he became a
corrector of the press, then citizen and printer, and lastly rector of
the Latin school at Basle. The unsettled life of his childhood was not
without its influence on the character of the man; for however great
his capacities, he displayed neither energy nor perseverance in his
undertakings.