When I finished my plea for the children and turned around, there
sat the Cardinal yet behind me, though it was an hour past his
bedtime. He came forward and gave me his blessing then and there.
I was never so much touched and moved. Even my mother, stanch old
Lutheran that she is, was satisfied when I told her of it, though,
in the nature of things, the idea of her son consorting in that way
with principalities and powers in the enemy's camp must have been
a shock to her.
Speaking of which, reminds me of the one brief glimpse into the
mysteries of the universe I had while in Galesburg, Ill., the same
year. I had been lecturing at Knox College, of which my friend
John Finley was the President. It rained before the meeting, but
when we came out, the stars shone brightly, and I was fired with
a sudden desire to see them through the observatory telescope. The
professor of astronomy took me into the dark dome and pointed the
glass at Saturn, which I knew as a scintillating point of light,
said to be a big round ball like our earth, and had taken on trust
as a matter of course.
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