Putnam patriot., 1913-09-12
A Red Letter Day

In spite of the increasing hea l. IL seemed impossible to tear ourselves away from Rome; but my chum in- sisted 1t lwas then or never Tor the uHia Cities,n and 1 was dragged away. not dreaming what awaited us in the wonders of Perugia and the suo- tie half religious half esthetic charm of Assist. On the train going from Rome to Perugia Fortune kindly threw in our way a delightful English couple, at least he was delightful while she, tiresome at times, at others was anus ing in her hteralness and absolute lack of humor. During our conversation we found our destination was the same, Brufanis at Perugia, and with the rapid growthtof travellers friendships bv bed time we had planned to motor to Assissi together, the following day. Such a day as 1t was, St. Francis him self must have blessed it, |, in fact, through 1t all, he was very near and living Presence. Starting from Fer ugia in the cool of the morning, with the feeling that unknown delights were before us, and stopping only moment to visit the Etruscan Tombs outside the city walls, we flew on, through the wonderful bracing air over the hills and by fields and fields of scarlet pop pies, growing as it seemed ever higher and higher into another world where all wonderful and miraculous things seemed possible and life grew ever simpler and more primitive.
 Just before entering Assissi we stopped at lhe church of santa Maria dei Angeli' A hich was the birth place of the Frnuriseian order. As we en. tered the church the very air seemed charged with A spirit of devotion al- most medieval, which increased when n very young monk in the garo of the | Order appeared out of the gloom and in broken English offered himself as our guide Architecually and artistic ally the church Is inferior to the ta- nous church of St. Frances in Assissi, of which more later, but for real tat mosphere,n that much abused word 1t stands apart. Our little guide was humble, unlettered and poor, not even clean, but the strength of his faith and conviction in his tone as he told us the story of St. Francis, while showing us the church, filled us with envy and respect. As we came to the little Or alory where St. Francis said the first mass Of his Order, he told us with an impressive manner that "At lourdes one has the physical miracles but here are the spiritual ones, and went on to relate the tale of many conversions which have taken place in the church. Just at this time our English lady, who was diligently reading her Baed- eker in the dim light exclaimed, "it ! says this is the cradle of the FranoiSeian Order, where Is it2 l don | see any cradle, evidently expecting to see real cradle with all the parapha- nelia of an early Italian baby. From the church we went to the cloisters and sacristy, then to the pathetic little rose garden with its miraculous thorn less roses. In tender earessing tones our unworldly little monk told us the old stories of St. Francis with the birds and beasts and at parting gave each of us a medal of the Saint to protect us from all evil as well as much literature on the subject.
 From the church we motored on, up and up again into the town itself i'iie certainly has stood still in Assist, the very stones speak te one Of the past; all Is primitive and of the middle ages; the hotel is the most modern thing thele hat that is only compafs- 1