The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1910-11-18

uOok dioIiihNhys WIN
nearly half a million In less than
year, Is a mamber OF the order. A
farmer who drove me over to the
monastery from Bardstown, and who
knows mere about the monks than
anyone the country round, pointed
out the former Count de Bourbon.
Baron de Saumur and Oscar Bach
stetz as they left the gate. There are
many others, especially important In
their early days, in this living tomb
The gusstmast@-a French monk
expelled from La Trappe by the re-
cent action of the French govern
me around the abbey.
First We went to the church where
the monks spend one-fourth of their
time in silent prayer and meditation.
We visited the dprmitcries. Whre
they sleap on hard planks in little
stalls not unlike those to be found
at th3 summer bathing beaches.
single blank5t a washstand and
hard pillow is all each one has. Not
even a chair is placed in tho stalls
for thair comfort. In the refoctory
two monks were setting the tables
for the midday mGal-the only sal
in twenty -four hous for the MEM
bars OF the ordsr. The ohor of vege-
table soup could b. detected from
she kitch m, and that with br5ad
boilad in watLr and little rice, is
the daily faro. In Lent only bread
ard wat.r arc partak an of and tn src
are fr,qu ut 9th r fa1ts
In spite of this SEEMING hardship
the Trappist monks are noted for
their h ,alth and vigor and the gcodly
age to which they live. When later
in thu afternoon va went into the
shops and cut into the ii Ids whore
the monks wsre at work, was aston
ishod az ttp,r muscular dav slopment
and the hla.thy color OF thsar skin.
Nearly all of thsm are good speci-
mems of physical manhood.
The only rooms in the abbey that
are comfortably furnished arr the Ii
brary and the abbots department. All
the ether rooms are pTf sclly BAR
except for wood IN tables and chairs
and Biblical Inscriptions on the
walls. Thu is a musty cdor that
sS,ms to pervade everything and it
is a great ralicf TO get out into the
moLls,8ry garden with its gcom etri-
cal flower beds and shrinss. Thu
most attractive part of the abbey is
its 1000 acres of lard, which con-
sists of wooded hills, fields where
hundreds CT cattle Craze and some OF
the finest farming country in the
state of Kentucky. The Trappists ara
good farmers. They also make fine
butt,r and che Sc, some of which is
sod in tbs markets in Louisville.
Few vis.tcrs go 20 G Ghsemanc
any mOr4. Bardstown, the nearest
town, is twelve mil IS away, making
a visit rather difficult task. Years
ago when James Lane Allen wrote
TIL White Cowl," his descriptions
Of tn, abbey brought many visitors
there from all over the United States,
but to-day monastery is almost
forgot IN by the outside world.
Whom the members of tie order di .
they are laid TO rest in the littla
cemetery outside THE monastery
walls. There the original founders
Of the abbey are buri5d and the in
scriptions on the tombstonss are as
strange as the customs behind its
walls.
The abbey ow IS its direct origin |
10 the abbey of La Meilleraye, in the
department OF Lolre-Inferiau ,
France. The abbot of the latter in !
made an arrangement with |
the French government back in the |
Early forties TO lay the foundation
'or a monastery OF dheir order on
property situated on the island of
given to them by Louis
Philippe. After the downfall of the
the original plan was
abandoned in favor of a colony in
the United States. and this was
established at Ge.hssmane in 1S4S.
The Trappist order was found in
he Twelfth century. ROTOR, count
Of Perche. built the abbey of Notrs
Dame de la Maison-Dieu de la
rrappe in 1l40 at Soligny la -Trappe,
a village of Haute-P erohe, depart
nent of the Orne, nam I'd La Trappe
after the narrow gorge which forms
It's entrance comparable to trap
ioor. During the Middle Ags the !
was captured and pillag-
I'D many times and 1t was not until |
fha nliHHIa nf tha cauAptaanFh oan-