pelled to obey, although
his children, being frightened, cried and made a great noise, upon
which some women quieted and took charge of them. Simon was much
annoyed, and expressed the greatest vexation at being obliged to walk
with a man in so deplorable a condition of dirt and misery; but Jesus
wept, and cast such a mild and heavenly look upon him that he was
touched, and instead of continuing to show reluctance, helped him to
rise, while the executioners fastened one arm of the cross on his
shoulders, and he walked behind our Lord, thus relieving him in a great
measure from its weight; and when all was arranged, the procession
moved forward. Simon was a stout-looking man, apparently about forty
years of age. His children were dressed in tunics made of a variegated
material; the two eldest, named Rufus and Alexander, afterwards joined
the disciples; the third was much younger, but a few years later went
to live with St. Stephen. Simon had not carried the cross after Jesus
any length of time before he felt his heart deeply touched by grace.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The Veil of Veronica.

While the procession was passing through a long street, an incident
took place which made a strong impression upon Simon. Numbers of
respectable persons were hurrying towards the Temple, of whom many got
out of the way when they saw Jesus, from a Pharisaical fear of
defilement, while others, on the contrary, stopped and expressed pity
for his sufferings. But when the procession had advanced about two
hundred steps from the spot where Simon began to assist our Lord in
carrying his cross, the door of a beautiful house on the left opened,
and a woman of majestic appearance, holding a young girl by the hand,
came out, and walked up to the very head of the procession. Seraphia
was the name of the brave woman who thus dared to confront the enraged
multitude; she was the wife of Sirach, one of the councillors belonging
to the Temple, and was afterwards known by the name of Veronica, which
name was given from the words vera icon (true portrait), to commemorate
her brave conduct on this day.

Seraphia had prepared some excellent aromatic wine, which she
piously intended to present to our Lord to refresh him on his dolorous
way to Calvary. She had been standing in the street for some time, and
at last went back into the house to wait. She was, when I first saw
her, enveloped in a long veil, and holding a little girl of nine years
of age, who