Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-05-12

tween the fertile Umbrian plain
III and the barren heights of
Monte Subasio, has an inde-
scflbable charm for all who bend
their steps thither to visit the famous
Shrine of ST. Francis. The white
towers and domes rise out of a sea
OF dusky olives, it is encircled with
massive old walls crowned with ru-
med castle, and entered only through
It's battlemented medieval gateways.
IL Is guarded on the side that drops
abruptly towards the plain by the for
tltfied monastery, whose mighty but
tresses and long lines of arcades
form so picturesque feature in the
landscape.
The beautiful churches, converts
and palaces of Assist are all built of
q flne creamy stone, quarried hard by.
a stone that is veined with rose and
gold, and seems to hold the sunlight
The dwelling houses in the main
street, with their solid masonry.
| pointed arches and narrow windows
| date mostly from a time when Assist
was liable to attacks from her war
| like neighbours, Perugia and Foligno.
and when fire and sword ravaged her
iair beauty st. Francis must have
trodden this street seven centuries
ago; but it Is in the olive woods
round the Convent of San Damiano
and on the stony track leading to the
Hermitage of the Carceri that his
memory is all-abiding.
At the beginning of October each
year Assist wakes into unwonted ac-
uVity for the Feast of St Francis
The religious festival of the Saint Is
held on the 4th, when the townsfolk
and clerics from the neighborhood
and visitors from Perugia throng the
services in the frescoed Lower Church
of st. Francis. But it Is on the 9th
that the country people pour into the
city to attend the great annual Cat
tie Fair. NY c. -. co~-e from
afar and start overn ght, snatching
an hour of rest and sleep by the road
side. Nearly all the houses at Assist
have balconies overlooking the plain,
and 1t is thrilling to stand at an open
window long before dawn and to lis
ten for the distant murmur that tells
of an approaching multitude, as vet
invisible in the morning mists. BY
degrees, as the light strengthens. one
can make out the long white ribbon
like roads that cross the level pIajn
and mount the hill from various di-
rections. Strings of figures are NOV
ing along these roads, all with one OBJ
jective-the field outside the walls.
where from time immemorial the fair
has been held. The men and women
are mostly on foot or on mule-baok.
but there are also carts with creakipg
wheels drawn by oxen, which contain
whole families of fifteen or twenty
souls. Smaller carts are harnessed
to donkeys and little hand-carts are
filled with every variety of live stock
for sale. The carts enter by one of
the great gates and traverse the town.
and pass out of another gate close to
the market-feld, but the pedestrians
and the long string of white cattle |
take short cuts through the olive
yards.
There is hum of voices on the air. |
the shutting tramp of the oxen, the |
tinkling of bells, the soft padding of |
bare feet; but when the sun has sent |
one shaft of light over the hillside all |
other sounds are lost in the wild clang |
of bells that heralds the approach of !
day. The whole hillside awakens into |
life, and in the freshening breeze the |
tips of the olive branches are silvery |
white, the vines and poplars are gold
en-. Under the dark archways and |
up the steep paved streets climb the
carts with their heavy loads, and |
there is much shouting and shutting
as the oxen and mules struggle and
slip in their efforts to gain a firm |