The Washington herald., 1914-03-08

=, be brought many miles, for there Is not
mouthful OF grass for them anyWhe-e
near the Hospice. The carriage drivers
have to bring with them even the straw
for their horses to lie on.
The Call of the Gross.
The air is as unfavorablc to human life
| as it is to the dumb animals. Candidates
| for the brotherhood who have served
| their six or seven years novitiate at the
Hospice rarely keep their strength until
! middle age. When the dread signs of
failing health appear. usually while the
! brothers are yet only in their thirties, the
| strongest are sent to be parish cures in
| the lower country, while the weaker take
] refuge in the monastery at Martisny.
| where Napoleon made his headquarters.
1t is called the House of Convalescence.
but it is almost certain to be their house
| Of death.
They return to the Hospice on the
mountain only to rest beneath the chapel
floor with the brothers who have been
gathering there for a thousand years
the ice and the snow and the bowling
tempest cannot disturb their slumber.
Their repose is guarded by st. Bernard
de Mention from a frame on the wall
of the chapel above. faithful dog look
ing up into the tender eyes of the young
| dreamer, who in the depth of the dark
IaEes quit a world filled with hate and
war to set up the cross on the lofty and
peaceful heights of the Alps as bes-
con along the pilgrimage road TO Rome,
as a sanctuary for the storm-beaten way
| farer.
Although the railroads and highroads
under and over the Alpine chain have
largely reduced the necessity for this
rescue work in our time. gentle souls
| still harken to the call of ST. Bernard's
cross and. leaving self and world or
selfish strife below. so up in the noun
Peace and War.
The portrait Of the peace loving found
er of the order has a strange compan-
| ion in the chapel the sculptured monu-
ment of a war-loving youth. This is
| Gen. DesaiX, to whose death in battle
we shall be witness in another chap
ter. The white marble memorial OF him
as a testimony to his admiration and
regret for a brilliant young general, who
crossed the Alps only to meet his death
on the field of Marengo.
| I was turning away from the chapel
| when I CHANGED 10 see on its dimly light
| ed wall little box on which were print.
We have all read of the shameful neg
! lect of many travellers to leave Sift to
4 the Hospice in return for the open-handed
| hospitality which il offers without price
| and without thought of creed or nation
| ality. But the sight OF that little box,
4 that shy little hint tucked away in the
| chapel where il would be easy not to see
| it. suggests that the failure of some OF
| the guests to reIuite their hosts may be
due in measure to the excessive mod
esty of the Latter, as well as to the heed
| lessnesS of the CORNER.
One traveller at least, the most cele-
| brated of the guests of st. Bernard, did
not forget his obligations. for Napoleon
| left with the monks a purse of $4,000
| Generations of them have cherished the
| traditions of his hour of rest AT the
Hospice. and the goblet from which he
drank is treasured to this day.
NapoIeon's Toboxgan.
As Napoleon came away from the mon-
astery and proceeded past the lonely
| statue of st. Bernard on the bleak plain
beyond the lake, he saw wonderful
| toboggan chute glistening in the Italian
sun. 1t had been worn smooth by tho
thousands of soldiers who had seated
themselves in the snow and slid down tho
steep mountain side. Following the exy
ample OF his men, he himself took the
| toboSgan and was fairly shot into Italy,
where the Austrians were IS surprised to
see him descend upon them as IL he had
dropped from Mars with parachute
Copyright. lsl5I. by James Morszn.)