The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1911-02-18

and the barren heights of
Monte Subasio, has an indie
scribable charm for all who bend
heir steps thither to visit the famous
Shrine of st. Francis. The white
lowers and domes rise out of a sea
IF dusky olives, 1t is encircled with
massive old walls crowned with a ru-
ned castle, and entered only through
is battlemented medieval gateways.
It Is guarded on the side that drops
abruptly towards the plain by the for
lifted monastery, whose mighty but
tresses and long lines of arcades
form SO picturesque a feature in the
landscape.
The beautiful churches, converts
and palaces Of Assist are all built of
fine 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.
late mostly from time when Assist
was liable to attacks from her war
like neighbors, Perugia and Foligno.
and when fire and sword ravaged her
tair beauty st. Francis must have
trodden this street seven centuries
ago; but 1t 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.
ivity for the Feast of ST. Francis.
The religious festival of the Saint is
neld 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 1t is on the 9Th
that the country people pour into the
city to attend the great annual Cat
tie Fair. Many of them come from
afar and start overnight. 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 yet
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 plain
and mount the hill from various d.
rections. Strings of figures are NOV
Ing along these roads, all with one OBJ
tective-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-back.
but there are also carts with creaking
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-field, 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