The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-31
A SUMMER VISIT
TO LOURDES.
Our Own Correspondent Depicts
in Stirring Words the Re-
markable Religious Scene.


Paris, July Al have returned from a
pilgrimage to LOurdeS, and, though the
Paris sunshine is warm and the Paris
ians gay and care-dispelling, it will be
many a day before 1 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 twenty hours ride from
Paris. The village is noted for the
presence of a grotto which is perched
high upon a hill. In this grOttO a Wis
ion 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 Berna-
dotte saw her, and overhead is a high
arch, while the grOtto looms up dark
and forbidding round the blessed fig
ure.
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
were one hundred thousand. This year,
so far, there have been fifty thousand
visitors.
A VIEW OF LOURDES.
Lourdes, besides the grotto, has a
beautiful little chapel, the Basilica,
hewn out of solid stone. 1t also has
healing WELL where the sick may dip
and be healed. Then there are hos
y
the needy sick, who can stop there
without price.
When I resolved to journey to
Lourdes I was advised to go by the
White Train, or the Blue Train, as
these would give me a better opportu-
nifty of studying the sick and of after
ward comparing the cures.
But on inquiry I found it would be
impossible to do this. The White Train
is one that is run by the French Gov
eminent every year to the sacred
shrine for the benefit Of the poor alone.
A merely nominal sum, oftlmeS none at
all, is asked, and the poor invalid can
get transportation to the sacred grottO
free. The train starts at the Care St
though tried hard, by the payment of
money, to become a passenger, 1 was
unable to obtain a ticket.
So I took the express to Lourdes,
leaving Paris at in the afternoon, and
arriving 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 chiId's limbs were
shrunken to the size of an infants, and
his poor head dropped between his
shoulders, which were too shrunken to
bear its awful weight.
In the next compartment there was a
consumptive with a hOrrid cough. As
a companion she had girl with alb
Scesses on her, in hip and knee joint
and spine; her SufferingS were terrible.
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
trust in the Blessed Virgin of the
grottO.
We arrived at Lourdes in time to see
them unload the White Train of suf-
fering poor. Here was every species of
misery, each one a little worse than the
other, each in more desperate straits.
There were filters waiting by the hum
,71,o 1V~cy 1f1ln hos
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
minute was wasted.
All did not go, for in the train lay six
motionless forms with glazed eyes that
had lost their light 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 up this
hill the procession winds twice a day.
1t passes the grotto, goes on around
the chapel, makes a turn and comes
back past the shrine.
I am of a different religion, but I
swear saw some of the most marvel
Gus cures. The little girl with ulcers
who had come with me marched in the
procession with clutches 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 cured. She afterward said that
she felt the stiffness go out of her leg,
that her hip snapped as though resum-
ing its shape, and her ankle bent for
the first time in years. At 10 in the
morning, walking joyouslygby the side
of her mother, she visited the grottO,
knelt before the Virgin, and on arising
threw her crutches, which she was car
rying 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,
The most skeptical must believe that
these persons are cured, even though
they may call it only a faith cure"
The devOut see in it miracle
The most impressive scene at Lourdes
is the Grotto of the Virgin itself It is
a great stone room, hewn naturally
from the rocks. High upon a stone
ledge stands the beautiful image of
the Virgin, serene and exquisite in
whiteness.
The great White Train makes its pill
grimage annually, but on the return
there are songs of praise as we'll as
songs of prayer, for some come back
to sing the praises of Iourdes forever.
TOWNSEND z. LEE