DIONYSOS IN HIS CELI. 



Photo by Carroll S. Alden 



gloomy window, as I judged but little 

 used; but if the monks have nothing of 

 a library it may be remarked that books 

 and learning are not their specialty. Af- 

 ter groping along a pitch-dark passage 

 we descended into a huge, cobwebby cav- 

 ern in the mountain, where water was 

 dripping in a dozen places from the rock 

 ceiling and the sides. 



Here I saw what certainly could not 

 be regarded as commonplace, for there 

 were gigantic tuns of wine that would 

 have been a credit to Heidelberg. It is 

 in their wine cellar that the monks of 

 Alegaspelseon excel, and as I watched 

 two monks who had brought the pilgrims 

 down here and heard them explaining 

 what I could easily guess was the extra- 

 ordinary capacity of the tuns and the ex- 

 cellent quality of the wines, I observed a 

 flash^ of pride and enthusiasm such as 

 nothing else had elicited. 



On the stairs we had met the keeper 

 of the cellar — a rough, square-built fel- 

 low — carrying on his shoulder a wine- 



skin which he had just filled and was 

 taking up for the morning's distribution. 

 In the hall above, where there hung a 

 row of 15 or 20 wine-skins, old and new, 

 the wine was doled out, each monk re- 

 ceiving his pitcher full and also a loaf of 

 rye bread. 



The Greeks eat scarcely half what the 

 northern European nations require. The 

 II o'clock breakfast was the first meal 

 of the day, and at the monastery con- 

 sisted of the same articles as I ate for 

 supper the preceding evening. While for 

 this vicinity it was a sumptuous repast, 

 it would have seemed like Spartan sim- 

 plicity to a hungry German. 



When breakfast was about to be 

 served I made a move to join the pil- 

 grims at a large table, for I sought inti- 

 mate acquaintance with their life. But 

 no, the Xenodochos was a stickler on 

 class distinction, and again I had a room 

 and a table all to myself, where I might 

 eat with great dignity and loneliness. 



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