Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-29
A SUMMER VISIT
TO LoURDES
OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT DE-
PICTS IN STIRRING WORDS THE
REMARKABLE RELIGIOUS SCENE
THAT is NOW BEING ENACTED IN
THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.

Paris. July Al have returned from a
pilgrimage to Lourdes. and, though the
Paris sunshine is warm and the FAR
isians gay and care-dispelling. it will be
many a day before l cast from my mind
the shadow which fell over it at Lourdes.
Most ~well-informed people know that
Lourdes is a village in the south OF
France, about 10 hours ride from Paris.
The village is noted for the presence or
a grotto which is perched high upon a
hill. In this grotto a vision of the Blessed
Virgin appeared to Bernadotte years ago,
and it has since been held sacred. In one
corner of the grottO there stands an
image of the Virgin in the very spot
where Bernadotte saw her. ana overhead
is a high arch. while the grotto looms up
| dark and forbidding round the blessed
figure.
The sacred story which clusters round
| the Virgin is that she will heal those who
| visit her in the grotto at Lourdes. and
every year thousands make the pilgrim
age. Last year there were 100000. Ihis
year. SO far, there have been $4,000 WIS.,
itors.
A VIEW OF LOURDES.
Loudres, besides the grotto, has a beau
tiful little chapel. the Basilica, hewn out
of solid stone. 1t also has a healing well,
where the sick may dip and be healed.
Then there are hospitals and sheds for
the reception of the needy sick. VINO can
stop there without price.
When l resolved to journey TO Lourues
I was advised to 60 by the White Train,
or the Blue Train, as these would give
me a better opportunity of studying the
sick and of afterward comparing the
cures.
impossible to do this. The White Train
is one that is run by the French govern
ment every year to the sacred shrine for
the benefit of the poor alone. A merely
nominal sum. ofttimes none at all, is
asked, and the poor invalid can get
transportation to the grotto free. The
train starts at the Care st. Lazare, and
the Care de Lyon; and, though l tried
hard, by the payment of money, to be-
come a passenger, l was unable to obtain
a ticket.
So took the express to Lourdes, leav-
ing Paris at 3 in the afternoon, and ar
irving at Lourdes next day at noon.
Even on this train the sight was too
awful. With me was a little, lame boy,
the child Of wealthy parents, who ac-
companied him. The child's limbs were
s%hrunken to the size Of an infants. and
his poor head dropped between his shoul-
ders, which We're too shrunken to bear it's
awful weight.
In the next compartment there was a
consumptive with a horrid cough. AS a
companion, she had a girl with assesses
on her. in hip and knee joint and spine;
ler SulleIllSS were tcIllDIc
The great train load of misery moved
out in deadly silence, for not a sound
escaped the lips of those trusting souls.
Behind them they had left all earthly
remedies; their cure was pinned to a
trust in the Blessed Virgin of the grotto.
We arrived at LOurdes in time to see
them unload the White Train of suffer-
ing poor. Here was every species of mis-
cry, each one a little worse than the
other. each in more desperate straits.
There We're litters waiting for the hun
dreds, and wheel chairs and crutches:
each sufferer was lifted from the train
and tenderly deposited in these as his
or her case required. and then began the
march toward the grotto, for not a min
ute was wasted.
All did not go, for in the train lay six
motionless forms with glazed eyes that
had lost their sight watching at the train
windows for Lourdes to appear.
AT THE GROTTO.
The holy group, consisting of chapel,
grotto, baths and shrine, stand upon the
hill back of the village, and upon this hill
the procession winds twice a day. 1t
(passeS the grotto, goes on around the
chapel, makes a turn and comes Jack
past the shrine. Holy fathers make ad-
dresses along the route, and sisters
march. chanting the ave Maria,'' in the
procession. At the shrine all kneel and
pray, and here the cures take place.
I am of a different religion, but l swear
I saw some of the most marvellous cures.
The little girl with ulcers, who had come
with me, marched in the procession with
crutches and with limb in iron frame.
After the march she knelt all night before
the shrine. Next morning at daybreak
she unbound her limb, threw aside her
clutches and plunged into the icy pool
of sacred water.
When she emerged, believe me, she was
1 1N-,a Oh al -n: that H. ga
the stiffness go out OF her leg, that her
hip snapped as though resuming it's
shape, and her ankle bent for the first
time in years. At 10 in the morning.
j., walking joyously by the side of her
mother, she visited the grotto, knelt be-
fore the Virgin, and on arising threw her
crutches, which she was carrying on her
shoulder, for she had not used them since
the bath, to the left of the shrine, and
walked on singing Ave Maria The
crutches, testamentary evidence Of many
cures, make a heap that fills the whole
side of the grottO, and outside are iron
frames, crutches, filters and other appli-
ances Of the sick piled as high as a
house.
The most skeptical must believe that
these persons are cured, even though they
may call it only a faith cure" The de-
vout see in it a miracle.
The most impressive scene at Lourdes
is the GrOtto of the Virgin itself. 1t is a
great stone room, hewn naturally from
the rocks. High upon a stone ledge
stands the beautiful image of the Vir-
gin. serene and exquisite in whiteness.
Above and around her the grotto is
smoked black from the thousands of can
dies that are burned annually in the
grotto. None too poor to buy a candle,
and the wealthy purchase many. Candles
burn there always.
The great White Train makes its pill
grimage annually. but on the return