untenance of
a condemned man as in that of this man. Some women who had got up
early out of curiosity to see the procession stood crowded together at
the street corner. But when they saw it their mood changed, and they
broke out into loud lamentation, over the unheard-of horror. Jesus
raised His trembling hand towards them, as if He wished to warn them:
"While your husbands murder Me, you are melted to tears. Do not lament
for Me, lament for yourselves and for your children, who will have to
suffer for the sins of their fathers!" One of the women, heedless of
the raging mob, tore the white kerchief from her head, and bent down to
Him who was carrying the cross in order to wipe the blood and
perspiration from His face. When she got back to her house and was
about to wash the cloth, she saw on it--the face of the Prophet. And
it seemed as if kindness and gratitude for her service of love looked
out from its features at her. The women all came running up to see the
miracle, and to haggle to get the cloth that bore such a picture for
themselves. But its possessor locked it up in her room.

When Jesus fell beneath the cross for the third time, He was unable to
get up again. The guards tugged and pulled Him; the Roman soldiers who
accompanied them were too proud to carry the cross for this wretched
Jew. So the crowd was invited to chose someone to lift up Jesus and
drag the cross along. The only answer was scornful laughter. A
hard-featured cobbler rushed out of a neighbouring house, and, almost
foaming at the mouth with rage, demanded that the creature should be
removed from before his door. "Customers will be frightened away," he
cried.

"Let Him rest here for a moment," said one of the soldiers, pointing to
the fallen man, whose breast heaved in short, violent spasms.

Then the cobbler swung a leathern strap and struck the exhausted man.
He pulled Himself together in order to totter a few steps farther. An
old man, full of years and very lonely, stood by. He had come from the
desert where great thoughts dwell. He had come to see if Jerusalem was
ascending upwards or sinking downwards. He desired its descent, for he
longed for rest. The old man stood in front of the cobbler and said to
him softly: "Grandson of Uriah! You refuse a brief rest to this
poorest of poor creatures? You yourself will be everlastingly
restless. You will experience human misery to the uttermost and never
be able to rest. The