St. Antony, surnamed the Great, or Anthony of Thebes, the father of monachism, was born about the year 251 a.d., at Koma, near Heraklea, in Upper Egypt. His parents were both wealthy and pious, and bestowed upon him a religious education. Having sold his possessions, and distributed the proceeds among the poor, he withdrew into the wilderness, where he disciplined himself in all these austerities which have hallowed his memory in the Catholic Church and made him the model of monastic life. When thirty years of age, he penetrated farther into the desert, and took up his abode in an old ruin on the top of a hill, where he spent twenty years in the most rigorous seclusion; but, in 305 he was persuaded to leave his retreat by the prayers of numerous anchorites, who wished to live under his direction. He now founded a mastery, at first only a group of separate and scattered cells near Memphis and Arsinoe; but which nevertheless, may be considered the origin of cenobite life. After a visit to Alexandria in 311, he returned to his lonely ruin.

In 355 the venerable hermit, then over a hundred years old, made a journey to Alexandria to dispute with the Arians; but feeling his end approaching, he retired to his desert home, where he died, 356 A. D. Athanasius wrote his life.

Giants And Dwarfs. The most noted giants of ancient and modern times are as follows:

Many of the great men of history have been rather small in stature. Napoleon was only about 5 ft. 4 in., Wellington was 5 ft. 7 in. One of the greatest of American statesmen, Alexander H. Stephens, never exceeded 115 pounds in weight, and in his old age his weight was less than 100 pounds.

The more notable human mites are named below: