The Republican journal., 1900-09-27

enough for the good it did me-"
DR. Pierces Pellets cure heartburn
dead Their hours for devotion are from
eight to nine in the morning: from three
to four in the afternoon; and again in
the night, winter and summer, they are
aroused from their slumbers to pray,
beginning at half past ten and continu-
ing to half-past two A. Min all six
hours, or just one-quarter of the twen-
ty-four. Think what a volume of prayer
is this going up night and day without
ceasing, through century after century,
like cloud of incense before the Most
High-but not only i'll this monastery,
but i'll all others of the order. scattered
in lonely places throughout the world,
Thought concentration is without
effect, looking at it from the purely
phychic standpoint. The rooms of these
auStere monks are as cherries and
naked as prison cells. The floors are of
stone and walls perfectly bare, with a
tiny opening III one corner where the
shivering occupant may light few
Goals to keep himself from freezing dur
the severest winter weather Each
monk lives apart from his brethren, not
even taking his meals socially. His
scanty portion of food is brought to
him from the refectory by one of the
convent servants and placed at a hole
in the wall, through which it is drawn
in, as by a convict in solitary coniine-
I ment. Overhead i'll the cell is the sleep
ing niche containing only coarse
sacking stuffed with straw, a low stone
shelf for crucihx and candle, and a
stone step on which the monk kneels to
say his prayers.
Some distance ont of Burgos in an
opposite direction from the monastery
| is an equally quaint and characteristic
institution for Cistercian nuns. 1t is
called Las Huelgas, and was founded
| by the wife of Alfon2o Will, the beau
tiful Eleanor of England, daughter of
L..
de Leon. OF course only women visit
ors are ever admitted here, and they
do not get very far inside-though we
| fingered as long as possible in order to
''turn the table," on the male members
of our party who had enjoyed them
selves so well III the monastery while
| we poor women waited among the beg
gars outside. Through the grille which
divides its splendid church you may look
upon the choir, whose stalls, during ser
vice-time are occupied by picturesque
white-robed Cistercian nuns and a
beautiful picture they make, that fingers
| in the memory long after the arches
and pillars have faded away. The tran
septs are very lofty and narrow, with
! two chapels i'll each banking the chan
eel, one of which is the Chapel Royal,
or burial-place of early Spanish kings.
Here are the tombs Of Alfonso VIII.
and his English Queen; of Alfonso VII,
Alfonso VIII. and his wife, Leonora;
| Alfonso y, lei Sabio") although his
body rests at Seville Several kings
of CASTLE were knighted in this edi-
flee, after performing their nocturn-
al vigil before the altar, among whom
were st. Ferdinand and Alfonso ri.
Here also the English Edward /. was
knighted in the year 1854, by Alonsi ell
SabiO.
No convent ever had more extraordi-
nary privileges than this. The abbess
was a princess palatine, and second in
dignity to no one but the Queen. She
was mitred, like an archbishop, and
possessed the rights of a ''Senora de
horca y cuchillo''-that is, with powers
of life and death. She was also styled
''Por la gracia de Dios'-by the grace
of God. Every nun housed here must
belong to the nobility and bring with
her 10 mean dowry. Among those who
have taken the veil in this convent were
Berenguela, daughter of Saint Ferdi-
nand; Maria of Aragon, aunt to Charles
V; and many other royal personages.
In the Capilla de Santiago is still pre-
served the articulated statue of Saint
James, which, moved by mechanism,
was made to perform the ceremony of
knighthood, and also placed the crown
on the head of monarchs. This inter
esting relic of the Middle Ages is now
rarely shown to visitors, and we failed
to get peep at it.
Another interesting convent, but rare
ly visited by strangers, because it lies
some eight miles from Burgos, over a
dreary meadow unmarked by wagon
track, is San Pedro de Cardena, of the
Benedictine order. 1t was founded as
early as 537, by Queen Sancha, in memory
of her son, Theodore, and her husband