Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-14

the clouds. As we were approaching the
edifice we were met and heartily wei
coined by three of the Augustiniar
priests clad in the sable garments of theii
order, whose cordial y toward us during
our stay among them was only in keep
ing with that traditional hospitality fol
which Great st. Bernard has been par.
ticularly remarkable. A brief converse
tion with one of these monks was enough
to confirm me in the idea that their mar.
tyrdom. SO to speak, had by no means
concluded with the railway tunneling OF
st. Gothard. Nearly all these devoted
priests die young, despite the precaution.
ary measures taken for relieving them as
often as possible from duty, and allow.
ing them to enjoy for several months
every year the milder air of the valleys.
Three or four of them remain at the
monastery throughout each winter, and
their posts are quite the reverse of being
sinecures, especially in the very early
spring, when the agricultural laborers,
too poor to travel by rail, have to follow
the beaten track of old, and are often
lost in the snow, as thousands have been
before them, when the steam engine was
not even an undeveloped possibility.
These unfortunates cross from one coun-
try into the other in search of employ
ment, and are always well provided for
by the priests of st. Bernard. None save
the most robust of the monks are per-
mitted to take up their quarters for any
considerable time in the monastry, and
even these, after few years hard work,
interrupted though it is occasionally by
much needed repose at Aosta and else
where, succumb to pulmonary affections
brought on by the killing atmosphere OF
the mountains. We enter the monastry
by one of the lateral doors and reach a
large hall, escorted by the monks, who
are always eager to supply any informa.
tion of interest that may be required of
them. Over the chief portal of this
apartment we see large marble slab
bearing the following inscription: 'Na-
poleoni Primo Francorum Imperatori
semper Augusta" which, for the benefit
of the classically INITIATED, may be trans.
lated thuswise: ''To Napoleon the First,
the ever august Emperor of the French. F"
One OF the priests explained, In answer
to query of mine, that this slab was
erected in 1904 as token of the monks
gratitude to the 'Little Corporal for
his kind and benevolent patronage of the
monastry after the victory of San Ma
rengo, The grand salon of st. Bernard re-
semoles the sale a manger of a first class
hotel with lis large bay windows and tes-
selated pavement; while its walls are
adorned with magnificent cornices cut
by Gerome and presented to the prior
several years ago by Signor Augusta Gag.
liani of Milan. There are three princi-
pal flats in the monastry, each of which
contains from sixteen to twenty roo rs.
Each fat is provided with a corridor Of
superior workmanship in iron, and each
room is furnished with two beds, the
linen Of which is scrupulously white and
the blankets very comfortable. The light
that streams through the windows is,
however, dull glare, produced by the
eternal boulders of snow that rise in
ridges almost all around the edifice.
After a walk around the monastry and
personal examination of one of the out
houses, where long ago the corpses of
belated travellers used to be preserved
for months from purifying, thanks to
the peculiar atmosphere of the locality,
we adjourned to the dining-room, where
two lay brothers waited on us, and we
did justice to some exquisitely cooked
venison, washed down with the 6zzling
red wine of Piedmont. At 9 o'clock P.
M, the convent bell rang out solemnly
through the solitude, and warned us to
our respective cells where we enjoyed
good rest till 5 next morning, when the
Angelus tintinnabulated from the belfry,
and soon afterward we were assisting at
the Prior's mass in the chapel of the
monastry. After divine service we had
mutton cheps and fried eggs, few bot.
ties of Bordeaux and jug of black cof.
fee. after which we scaled the mountain
overlooking st. Bernard, and enjoyed
one of the most magnificent spectacles
imaginable. Certainly, admit, the view
is less diversified than that from the
heights of Righi, and more limited than
the panorama seen from st. Gothard,
but in glory and grandeur it outrivals
both. Before us are the majestic circles
of the Alps-so many rockbound, snow
clad chains extending beyond the dis
tant horizon. Here is Mount Blanc, By.
ron's Monarch of Mountains" raising
its venerable white head over the pleas.
ant fields on the bank of Lake Leman;
there our fascinated gaze falls upon the
Grivora and the Gran Paradise with their
gorgeous paraphernalia of sun-lit morn
ing clouds, while below us stretched the
picturesque Swiss Canton de la Vallee.
alive with chalets and wild deer, and
behind us lie the undulating vineyard.
and mulberry plantations Of ''la bella
Italia" Standing as we were some g..
900 yards over the level of the sea, wo
could not feel but awe-stricken at the
immensely Of the tableau that nature
presented to our gaze. We slowly de-
scended the fissured rocks, and after
having evidenced our gratitude to the
good monks by the customary ad libitum
contributions-on which, by the by, they
have to depend entirely for their sup.
port-we had to hurry our way rapidly
down the mountain to Sc. Remy, as
snowstorm was brewing in the heavens
and woe betide MS if we were caught in
its meshes. Before concluding this paper,
allow me to render the scantiest justice
to the noble priests of st. Bernard, by
the simple expression of my opinion that
humanity has not only owed them in the
past, but still owes them in the present,
obligations which can never be repaid.
Cor New York Mail and Express.
DREAMING.