gh incredible thing it seemed, to look upon this
man on the height of his pillar, preaching and praying constantly, and
enduring night and day the inclemency of the seasons and the weariness
and discomfort of his narrow standing place. For the pillar, massive
as it was, was so narrow where the marble curved over in big acanthus
leaves at the four corners that he had not room to lie down at length
to sleep; and indeed he slept but little, considering slumber a waste
of the time of prayer, and the dreams of sleep so many temptations to
beguile the soul into false and fugitive pleasures. No shelter was
there from the wind, but he was bare as a stone in the field to the
driving rain and the blaze of the sun at noon; and in winter the frost
was bitter to flesh and blood, and the snow fell like flakes or white
fire. His only clothing was a coat of sheepskin; about his neck hung a
heavy chain of iron, in token that he was a thrall and bondsman of the
Lord Christ, and each Friday he wore an iron crown of thorns, in
painful memory of Christ's passion and His sorrowful death upon the
tree. Once a day he ate a little rye bread, and once he drank a little
water.

No man could say whether he was young or aged; and the mother who had
borne him a little babe at her bosom, and had watched him grow to
boyhood, could not have recognised him, for he had been burnt black by
the sun and the frost, and the weather had bleached his hair and beard
till they looked like lichens on an ancient forest-tree, and the crown
of thorns had scarred his brow, and the links of the chain had galled
his neck and shoulders.

For three summers and three winters he endured this stricken life with
cheerful fortitude, counting his sufferings as great gain if through
them he might secure the crown of celestial glory which God has woven
for His elect. Remembering all his prayers and supplications, and the
long martyrdom of his body, it was hard for him, at times, to resist
the assurance that he must have won a golden seat among the blessed.

"For who, O Lord Christ!" he cried, with trembling hands outstretched,
and dim eyes weeping, "who hath taken up Thy cross as I have done, and
the anguish of the thorns and the nails, and the parched sorrow of Thy
thirst, and the wounding of Thy blessed body, and borne them for years
twenty and three, and shown them as I have shown them to the sun and
stars and the four winds, high up between heaven and earth, that men