Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1891-07-23

face. A second well has also been
dug, in order to provide auxiliary
resources. The monks will there
fore be trained in the methods of
Saharian culture as well as in the
use of arms, while the neighbor-
hood Of the illimitable tracts of the
desert will enable them to acquire
the more savage accomplishments
of camel-riding and hunting by
uncultivated for want of water.
and measures have already been
taken for its reclamation by the
creation of an artificial supply.
A WELL IL THE DESERT.
A well was sunk to a depth of 53
metres, the water of which. declar-
ed to be practically inexhaustible.
rises naturally to within 32 metres
of the mouth of the we'll. and is
thence raised by pumps to the sur
practice. The house occupying an
area of 20 metres by 10, with the
kitchens and Offices in eut-build-
ings, has the grOund-floor solidly
built of stone instead of the sun
dried mud bricks generally used by
the Arab.
The choice of Biskra for the
headquarters of the order is for
tunate one, for the town, which is
situated in an oasis, commands one
of the principal routes of the Sou
dan. The town proper is composed
of one large street full of European
houses, and intersected by a num-
ber of smaller streets. The oasis
which is five kilometres long and
half kilofnetre broad, forms a
forest of $50, 900 palm trees and
5000 olive and fruit trees. The
population is cosmopolitan, and in
cludes French, Tunisians, Arabs,
Moors and Israelites.
A few days after the Inaugural
ton of the mother house of the
order at M'salla the ceremony of
consecrating and of administering
the vows to the first batch of these
Warrior Monks took place. The
postulants were IL in lumber, every
one of whom belonged to the French
aristocracy and had held the rank
of officer in the army. Among
them are two young army lieuten-
ant-colonels of the general staff,
who had abandoned brilliant mil
itary career to devote their lives
henceforth to the good of humani-
ty in the most terrible of all des-
erts.
PARlSIAN CLUBMAN.
But probably the most notable
of these neophytes was the Vicomte
Guy de Brissac, one of the best
known and most popular of Parish
an club men. His achievements
on the turf as the owner Of small
but exceedingly choice stable were
only equalled by his successes in
the salons and boudoirs of the gay
capital and if ever there has been
one who has merited description as
a spoiled child of fortune Guy de
Brissac was the man. A year ago
his fiancee, whom he worshipped,
died of rapid decline-that strange
malady which seems to etherealize
the beauty of its victims, and to
illumine their eyes with a strange
light.
She rests beneath "a snowy mar
BILE cross in the pretty little ceme-
tery that nestles among the pine
trees at Arcachon, and to-day, her
lover the pleasure-seeking, skepti-
cal and worldly Guy de Brissac,
who had disappeared from all his
accustomed haunts since her death,
turns up at Biskra, on the borders
of the great desert, in the guise of
the newly consecrated Warrior
Monks of the Sahara.
To those who are accustomed to
consider the life of u monk as de-
voted entirely to prayer, fasting,
meditation and fagellation, the
mode of existence of Cardinal La
vigerie's newly founded order will
appear strange anomaly. Fast
ing is dispensed with altogether,
and the only dietery restrictions
imposed upon the monks are that
they shall invariably content them
selves with the food of the district
to which they are assigned.
Thus, for instance, in places
where it is impossible to obtain
bread, they will have to be satisfied
with dried dates. There is no fixed
time appointed for their devotions.