The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-30


tire absence Of life and movement. II
was not till we had arrived at tha en-
trance gate that there was any in
, dication that the place was not de-
serted. A busy, busting little brother
in a brown monks robe, with hood
and a leathern girdle, then rushed out
to welcome US. His head was bare, his
brown beard long and flowing, his face
rather handsome, with acquiline nose
and worn. He insisted on carrying
our luggage himself with many a "Je
vous en- prize" to the guests quarter
on the right, which contained by. far
the most comfortable rooms in the
house.
Everything our eyes encountered was
monastic. The entrance hall contained
large statues of the SaclN Occur, Notre
Dame de Lourdes. and St. Joseph. The
long cloister along which we passed
was hung with sacred texts and Dious
ma&ims in Latin and Japanese.
sacred Pictures.
The hotellerie were profusely decor
ated with sacred pictures and en-
blems, as well as with photographs
and portraits of prominent members
OF the order including the superior
general who lives in Rome, and the
founder of the Hakodate establish
ment, who died last year in the Chi
nese monastery near Picking, owing to
the anxiety caused him by the Boxer
! outbreak. A crucifix met the eye at
! every turn, and porcelain crosses with
small holy water fonts attached We're
| TO be found at the entrance to every
! room. In the hOtellerie, we are told
| les Voyageurs Sont recus ct traites
pauvrenlent," but really the chambers
placed at their disposal are better
than anything Hakodate has to offer
/ the casual visitor unprovided with
letters of introduction, as is also. to
a much greater degree, the food.
1t seems that we were not received,
| however, exactly according to the man
ner LAID down in the rules, but it can
! be easily understood of course that
some unimportant changes in matters
OF detail may be advantageously made
! IN this country. According to the old
! rule OF the order two recording relig-
leuX present themselves first of all be-
lore the visitor and PROSTATE them
selves fiat on the floor, remaining in
! that position few seconds their fore
heads pressed against the threshold.
This is as may be seen, exactly sim
liar to the ordinary everyday method
| OF salutation in use among Japanese
|
ing japanese visitors would rather
serve to amuse them. This, [ sup
pose, is why this custom has been
abandoned.
Next the two religieux invite the Wis
| ltor, by signs only, to follow them to
| the church "parce que lie Maitre de la
malson, c'est Dieu." On returning to
the hotellerie, one of the two takes up
religious book and reads a chapter
| OF 1t for the benefit of the newcomer.
La chapltre que vOus entendez lire
parait toujours avoir etc ecrit pour
! vous'
| As I have already remarked, NV
friend and l were conveyed directly
10 the hotellerie, and. as it was near
noon the lay brother who had taken
charge OF us from the beginning. and
who seemed to have charge also of the
guests quarter, fastened to order tiffin
! Tor us, deploring at the same time thar
we had not warned him beforehand of
our coming so that he might have had
something really nice ready for us.
The Chapel.
This lay brother was, strange To
say Dutchman, and he told us that
the cook was a Dutchman also. It was
only for guests, however, that this
Dutch friar No. 2 oficiated in the
kitchens, the ordinary cook of the
community being q Japanese brother
and, considering that the Trappists
are strict vegetarians and only eat
very simple dishes a Japanese ought
to suit them very well.
There are twelve foreigners in the
communicative Dutchmen, one Ital-
ian, and the rest, including the Prior.
F'renchmen. Strange to say, the Ian
anese monks outnumber the foreigners.
as they do, thirteen. Fight of them are
novices.
While tiffin was being prepared
Brother Leonard, the Dutch lay broth
er who had received US on our arrival.
conducted us to the chapel, which was
necessarily small and similar to other
monastic chapels. Besides the high
altar, there was an altar to the In
FAINT Jesus and statues of SITS. Ber-
nard. Benedict, Francis Xavier, and
Antony of Padua. An unusual feature
was the shape of the 'prie Dieu," or
stall, the upper portion of each being
made so as to support an enormous
missal, about twenty-four inches by
fifteen, bound heavily in brass, and
with very large print runnig between
rows of musical notation of an I'M
usual kind, probably adopted for the
! Gregorian chant. These miSsals con-
| tain the ancient monastic offices-eight
in numbered the Roman Catholic
Church, and are all read or rather
CndnIeu, every DAY Dy the monks. The
printing and binding of these books
are carried out in Belgium, and are
magnificently done, the initial letters
of the various psalms and prayers be-
ing worthy of the old days, when the
sons of st. Benedict copied with in
finite pains and Incompatible skill the
chefs d'Ouvre of Greece and Rome.
A Trappist's Life.
The monks work with their hands
for six hours day, and pray little
more than six hours, the rest of their
time being devoted to domestic affairs
or to reading. In winter, study is
their principal occupation, which
means that they study a good deal,
| for winter lasts six months in this
! part of Japan, which is further north
! than Aomori, where 200 soldiers were
! lost in the snow last January During
! that period of the year the cold is in
! tense, and the snow sometimes at
tains great hight. so that the monks
| have to issue in straw snow shoes to
| gather fuel on the mountain. For the
! same reason great care has to be taken
| to heat the monastery thoroughly, and
we could observe that the wall of ev-
/ cry chamber was pierced to allow of
the passage of a stovepipe Brother
Leonard told us that in winter water
is frozen in the chapel, even at a short
! distance from the stove.
The wind. to, is sometimes very
! strong, and on that account there are
| double windows in at least one cham
Der, chamber set apart for guests.