seems to delay, but strikes at last, was stretched forth, and Yong-Tching was called to his account. In 1735 he expired, and his son Kien-Long reigned in his stead. 6. One of the first acts of the new emperor, in the year which followed his accession,1 was to order the release of the surviving princes, who had so long been buried alive by his father's command. As the noble band, of whom one was the tenth son of Cang-hi, passed on their way to the palace from which they had been banished for fifteen years, the people knelt with respect, and filled the air with acclamations. E' IV. T. W. M. MARSHALL.2 67. THE GROTTO OF LOURDES. LEVEN years have now elapsed since the apparitions of the most Holy Virgin. The great church is almost finished; it has only to be roofed, and the holy sacrifice has long since been celebrated at all the altars of the crypt below. Diŏçesan missionaries have been stationed by the bishop near the grotto and the church, to distribute to the pilgrims the apostolic word, the sacraments, and the Body of our Lord. 2. The pilgrimage has taken dimensions, perhaps, quite without precedent, for before our day these vast movements of popular faith did not have the assistance of the means of transportation invented by modern science. The course of the Pyrenees Railroad, for which a straighter and cheaper route had been previously marked out between Tarbes and Pau, was changed so as to pass through Lourdes, and innumerable travelers continually come from every quarter to invoke the Virgin who has appeared at the Grotto, and to seek at the miraculous fountain the healing of all their ills. 1 Accession,coming to the throne. 2T. W. M. Marshall, an English convert to the Catholic faith. He is a brilliant writer, widely known through his great work on "Christian Missions," and also by some clever satires, the best of which is the "Comedy of Convocation." 3 Tarbes (tärb). 4 Lourdes (loord), a town in the Upper Pyrenees, in the diocese of Tarbes, where the Blessed Virgin appeared in 1858 to a peasant child named Bernadette Soubirous. This account was written in 1869. The pilgrimages still continue, and the miraculous cures still multiply in frequency. 3. They come not only from the different provinces of France, but also from England, Belgium, Spain, Russia, and Germany. Even from the midst of far America, pious Christians have set out, and crossed the ocean, to come to the Grotto of Lourdes, to kneel before these sacred rocks, which the Mother of God has sanctified by her touch. And often those who can not come, write to the missionaries and beg that a little of the miraculous water may be sent to their homes. It is thus distributed throughout the world. 4. Although Lourdes is a small town, there is a continual passing to and fro upon the road to the Grotto-a stream of men, women, children, priests, and carriages, as in the streets of a large city. When the pleasant weather comes, and the sun, overcoming the cold of winter, opens in the midst of flowers the gates of spring, the faithful of the neighborhood begin to bestir themselves for the pilgrimage to Massabielle,1 no longer one by one, but in large parties. From ten, twelve, or fifteen leagues' distance, these strong mountaineers come on foot in bodies of one or two thousand. 5. They set out in the evening, and walk all night by starlight, like the shepherds of Judea when they went to the crib of Bethlehem to adore the new-born infant God. They descend from high peaks, they traverse deep valleys, they cross foaming torrents, or follow their course, singing the praises of God. And on their way the sleeping herds of cattle or of sheep awake, and diffuse through these desert wilds the melancholy sounds of their sonorous 2 bells. 6. At daybreak they arrive at Lourdes; they spread their banners and form in procession to go to the Grotto. The men, with their blue caps and great shoes covered with dust from their long night march, rest upon a knotty stick, and usually carry upon their shoulders the provisions for their journey. The women wear a white or red capulet. Some carry the precious burden of a child. And they move on slowly, quiet and recollected, singing the litanies of the Blessed Virgin. 7. At Massabielle they hear Mass, kneel at the holy table, 1 Massabielle (măs'sa be ĕl'). 2 So nō'rous, loud-sounding. 3 Căp'u let, a sort of cape with a hood to throw over the head. and drink at the miraculous spring. Then they distribute themselves in groups, according to family or friendship, upon the gråss around the Grotto, and spreading out on the sod the provisions they have brought, they sit down upon the green carpet of the fields. And, on the bank of the Gave, in the shade of those hallowed rocks, they realize in their frugal repast those fraternal agape 1 of which tradition tells us. Then, having received a last blessing and said a parting prayer, they set out with joyful hearts upon their homeward way. 8. Thus do the people of the Pyrenees visit the Grotto. But the greatest numbers are not from there. From sixty or eighty leagues' distance come continually immense processions, brought from these great distances upon the rapid wings of steam. At the request of the faithful, the Southern Railroad has established special trains, trains of pilgrimage, intended exclusively for this great and pious movement of Catholic faith. 9. At the arrival of these trains, the bells of Lourdes ring out their fullest peals. And from these sombre carriages the pilgrims come out and form in procession in the square by the station; young girls dressed in white, married women, widows, children, full-grown men, the old people, and the clergy in their sacred robes. Their banners are flung to the breeze; the crucifix and the statues of the Blessed Virgin and the saints are displayed. The praises of the Mother of God are on every lip. 10. The innumerable procession passes through the town, which seems, on such occasions, like a holy city, like Rome or Jerusalem. One's heart is elated at the sight; it rises toward God, and attains without effort that elevation of feeling in which the eyes fill with tears and the soul is overwhelmed by the sensible presence of our Lord. One seems to enjoy for a moment a vision of paradise. HENRI LASSERRE.? fulfillment of a vow, he undertook to write a history of the apparitions of our Lady at the Grotto, which has been published under the title of "Our Lady of Lourdes," and has received the approbation of the Holy Father. V. 68. ON A PICTURE OF OUR LADY. HIS is that blessèd Mary, pre-elect 1 THIS God's Virgin. Gone is a great while, and she Unto God's will she brought devout respect, And supreme patience. From her mother's knee Strong in grave peace; in pity circumspect. 2. So held she through her girlhood; as it were An angel-watered lily, that near God Grows and is quiet. Till, one dawn at home, SECTION XIX. I. 69. THE TIDES. HE moon is at her full, and, riding high, TE Floods the cälm fields with light; The airs that hover in the summer sky Are all asleep to-night. 2. Thêre comes no voice from the great woodlands round That murmured all the day; Beneath the shadow of their boughs, the ground Is not more still than they. 1 Pre-e lect', chosen beforehand. 2 Cir cum spěct', careful; prudent; watchful. 3 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, an English poet and painter, born ir. London in 1828. 1 3. But ever heaves and moans the restlèss Deep; Afar I see the glimmering billows leap: 4. Each wave springs upward, climbing toward the fair Springs eagerly, and faintly sinks to where The mother-waters lie. 5. Upward again it swells; the moonbeams show, Again it feels the fatal weight below, And sinks, but not to rest. 6. Again, and yet again; until the Deep Recalls his brood of waves; And, with a sullen moan, abashed, they creep 7. Brief respite !s they shall rush from that recess And fling themselves, with unavailing stress, 8. O restlèss Sea! that in thy prison here Through the slow centuries 5 yearning to be near 9. The glōrious source of light and heat must warm And on those mounting waves a nobler form 10. Then only may they leave the waste of brine And rise above the hills of earth, and shine In a serener sphere. Crěst, the highest part or summit; the foamy, feather-like top of a wave. 2 A bǎshed', much confused. 3 Rěs pite, a putting off of that which was appointed; delay; rest. |