noon
Holding mine off , and looking at it alive with desires holy and unholy , I detected in it a yearning for hermitage . How beautiful solitude appears ! In what condition can one wishing to change his nature for the better more certainly attain the end than without companionship except of God always present ? The spirit of prayer is a delicate minister ; where can we find purer nourishment for it than in the silence which at noon is deep as at midnight ? `` In this mood the story of the Russian St. Sergius reverted to me . He was born at Rostoff . Filled with pious impulses more than dissatisfied with the world , of which he knew nothing , with a brother , he left his father 's house when yet a youth and betook himself to a great woods in the region Radenego ; there he dwelt among savage beasts and wild men , fasting and praying and dependent like Elijah of old .