The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-03
1HE TRAPPIsTs OF GETHsEMANE.
A Kentucky Monastery Where No
Woman Ever Enters.

Christian Advocate.
Wont you give me an apple, please?"
He slowly raised his head while his face
flushed crimson and placed the aSked-fOr
apple in her outstTetcbed hands.
She was a laughing, bright-eyed Ken
lucky belle, and he was handsome man.
large and Well-prOpOrtiOned with clean
smooth face and brown eyes-a man that
would attract any woman-but he wore the
long, brown robe of the Trappist monk
There was group of them returning from
the field, bringing in some baskets of APP
pies. They were pale and haggard looking,
with the exception of the one referred to,
and he had not been long from the world,
and had not yet lost his worldly beauty Of
form and feature. Aud the miSchievous belle
with malicious pleasure had compelled him
to raise his eyes from the ground and look
at her. HE will be punished for such a
sin" said her companion, as they rode
away. little while ago she had looked
into the eyes Of one of the fathers, and
asked, Father Joseph, what if | should
inclosure?' Then you would be very
wicked the ,gray-haired monk had replied,
as he quickly closed the gate to prevent
any such dreadful sacrilege.
And so there is one spot in the United
States where the modern Eve may never
venture, a threshold she may never cross;
and that is at the Trappist Monastery at
Gethsemane, short distance from Louis
vile.
band of religious enthusiasts left the land
of their birth and journeyed across the
ocean to found, on American soil, society
of their order. They landed at New Orleans
and made their way northward to Ken
lucky and here they founded GethSemane
Abbey and began their life of humiliation
latng, as a community, parge properly
and much wealth Through long avenue
of beautiful elms the building is approached
where these monks immune themselves ana
think by life of abstemiousnesS and IN
heard-of sacrifices to win high place In
heaven It is built after the European
CIV 10 of raE q O.
ing surrounding an open courtyard Out
side are green fields and Towering shrubs,
warm sunshine and the blue sky; cross the
threshold, and one is in another world-a
world that is filed with gray floors ana
walls damp air. painted pictures of sol
emn-loolIing monks in the garb of the order
reading holy books, or on Bonded knees be-
holding visions of plain-faced angels ana
madonnas, and living pictures OF men IN
rooms mumbing prayers or shutting ABOUT
doing the duties and penances that nave
been imposed upon them.
The dining room is as cold ana COMFORT
less as the rest of the SOmber building, ana
the one meal day must be a cherries al
fair to the half-famished men who gather
about the long table with its covering or
brown oilcloth And If the guest-for there
are guests now and then, those VINO come
here for a little rest from worldly cares
and those who come from cur1oslty.-ls at
all inquisitive and propounds question 10
his neighbor, it will be received with stohd,
incorporating silence. And II me least
noise is made, knife or fork dropped upCn
the floor or a plate ratified, the unfortunate
monk who caused 1t must do instant PEN
ance-perhapS fall PROSTATE upon the floor,
and remain thus until the abbot gives him
permission to rise or he may have to tall
before each monk and kiss his feet in hu-
mility. The one meal consists OF bread
and vegetable soup, and it is always regu-
lar and even, always the same quantity;
for every portion of bread is weighed ard
every spoonful of soup meaSured-bread
and soup and cold water and, when i'll,
little meat; and this is the diet that sUs-
t9inS these
years. Nothing that has ever had life
passes the lips of the silent brotherhood,
except in sickness.
In contrast to the chilling pictures, the
adoring of saints, and the st. Stephen mar
trydoms in the other rooms, in the cherries
transept of the abbey there is one beautiful
showing the crucihxion. and it was carved
by an old monk with but a single instru-
ment-a blunt penknife Near the high al
tar are figures of st. Joseph and other
saints and unlike the dirty brown and
white habits of the monks who daily pass
and worship before them, they are adorned
with the tawdry flowers and tinsel trap
pings one usually sees on the images in the
Roman churches. Behind the vestry there
is an imitation of the Chapel of Notre
Dame de Lourdes, which a few years ago
created such q sensation throughout the
Catholic world. The walls are painted to
represent the landscape, and there is a
rock-formed grotto containing images and
crosses Above the door are the words:
''Penitence Penitence! Penitence!"
The rooms for guests are light and airy,
and not uncomfortable, containing as they
do, the modern convenienceS of bed, table,
washstand and wardrobe. There is also
crucifix and font Of holy water These
rooms are much different from the cells of
the monks, which contain nothing but a
palette, a crucifix, a font of holy water
themselves. What need Of wardrobe and
washstand have they when they never take
a bath and never take off their filthy brown
robes. except when they must do penance
by haggelatng their bare backs?