:1 ~
5 ., 1 {fiction from facts not fully understood. I
3. ER 'fi‘he restriction to seven hours (NI
:=:~;',' 51;: Sleep. Seven limirs of silenthard man--
5‘ f; “i; ‘ual labor-,1 seven. hours of church de1I
_ “’~ yotion and three hours of silence :md
31" A} religious contemplation. all supported]
2' [physically upon one vegetable meal a.
L. 1 :3: day and a narrow plank bed, (‘1‘)\"(-,l‘(‘:dl
: " with a thin straw pallet. seems to most '
.2 'men to be the discipline of a gloomya
; 7‘“ I prison house for the mortal body and;
" perhaps for the soul. It may be $0,?
: ‘;_'___. 39);: 5 but at Gethsemaui, among the eighty- ‘
E -1 seven silent members composing the“
1- 553 ‘house, one sees at least only smiling;
; faces, active concentration upon every}
; ‘“ duty in hand for the moment. with a'
.. " if: gracious, simple kindness and hospi-l
. ‘tality that speaks volumes for some
: V":"‘.:..-f;_‘, bi 'kind of happineSs reiging there.
.»'« l Whether of soul rising supreme above
.';1. i l the wants of the body. or of body and
* soul united above the rivalry of world- l
- " ‘ ly strugglemevery observer must solve -
,. .- r} the facts of those peaceful and snail-t
‘ 5?: insr countenances for himself. 7
.‘ 1:; The rigor of the Trappist life has;
' i5‘ served to surround its members with.
" 3:; such isolation from the world that it!
_ _ has inevitably attracted the imagina-
_‘;.'~"- '{jfi tion of those who have observed it at!
g .- a distance. It has been the inspira—
' tion of some fine fiction and poetry,
- and every monastery is invested with
f—‘. traditions, romantic, tragic or curious,
‘ r;— ; concerning the personality of monks
2% buried there from worldly contact.
2. This is not the place to consider that
3: i; l 5 aspect.
f; l . * >l< *
' .1" ‘ 1 The first half century of the Abbey
' 3‘; 5 of Gethsemani were years of bitter
f' 5 _ and hard struggle-for bare existence,
1 g , during which its members barely rose
. .. in numbers above forty. They 1a-
bored with Spartan fortitude with theI
.' 5: poor and stubborn soil, gradually ris—1
j.-i‘s. ":7; ing from log huts to a brick shelter,‘
1 year by year and acre by acre, con-
., _ verting the sour and acrid wilderness!
& to a blossoming garden' of grain, earthI
_ g? fruits,‘vineyards and orchards. FireI
;: fii destroyed their mills and schools,I
.1 but the work thus lost was patiently
Iresumed, and in 1885 the brickl
«5:; quadrangle was completed, the lay and
Ilabbey churches were consecrated in}
all'their bareness. and the labor at
_ 'beautifying and accumulating treas—
Iures for the splendor of the sacred§
__edificrevwasflbegun. Nevertheless, the;