4 A PILGRIMAGE TO RRUNX 



elapsed before dinner was announced and we descended to the first 

 floor or basement, to the diiiing room. This is a long room with 

 high ceiling, well lighted by a row of windows on one side. Walls 

 and ceiling are absolutely devoid of all decoration. In the center of 

 the room and extending nearly its whole length was a long 

 U-shaped table with chairs arranged along the outside of the U, 

 the inside providing a free passage-way for the waiters who served 

 the meals. In the dining room, when we entered it, were over 

 twenty monks assembled, all dressed in long black gowns, their hair 

 cut short and crowns shaven. Father Barcina took his place at the 

 center of the U, placing me on his right and Doctor Iltis on his left, 

 the monks then arranging themselves along the sides. After a short 

 grace spoken by Father Barcina a simple but bounteous meal was 

 served. Eatables and drinkables of various kinds were there in 

 abundance, but being a teetotaler, I was permitted to devote my 

 attention chiefly to the former. After the meal was finished, all 

 stood while a lengthy responsive thanksgiving service was chanted, 

 one long, thin, hollow-eyed monk taking the solo part, the rest 

 responding in unison, making the great hall resound with their 

 sonorous voices. This was all in Latin, of course, and as 1 had been 

 forgetting in eleven years what I had learned of Latin at Antioch 

 in as many weeks, few r of the words were intelligible to me, but the 

 fervent expressions and the music belonged to that universal lan- 

 guage which is neither learned nor forgotten ; they were understood. 

 ( After dinner, in company with the Abbot and several other 

 monks, we made a tour of the buildings and grounds. Several of 

 the reception rooms have been purposely kept essentially in the con- 

 dition in which they were when occupied by Mendel, even to hav- 

 ing his chess-board resting open on a small table and arranged ready 

 for his favorite game. A second favorite recreation was bowling, 

 and the monks pointed out on the walls of the bowling-alley pen- 

 ciled scores which they declared had been placed there by the 

 former prelate. On the third flcor, which is occupied by an exten- 

 sive library containing many very old books, Mendel's telescope 

 still stood on the ledge of one of the small dormer windows, for it 

 must be remembered that Mendel's scientific interests were not 

 narrowly limited to the problems of heredity, but he studied sun- 

 spots, and made important contributions to meteorology as well, 

 faithfully collecting for many years the first climatological data f( 

 that section of the world. The splendid results of his investigations 

 in heredity tend to obscure the importance of his work in othei 

 lines. Just beside the Monastery is. the little garden spot in whicl 

 the classic pea-experiments were performed, still enclosed by a pick- 

 et fence, but not now used as a garden. On a high terrace back of 



