APPENDIX. 
289 
xA&ii, and much to my surprise, talked with wonderful volubility. 
Which excited in me almost as much surprise as Robinson Cru¬ 
soe in his island, felt, when his parrot addressed him. He invited 
me into the watchmaker’s shop, for they carry on several trades, 
to assist in supporting the institution. The shop was well fur¬ 
nished ; part was occupied as a laboratory, and library; the lat¬ 
ter but indifferent; a few medical works of no repute, and the 
dreams of the Fathers, with the miraculous wonders of the world 
of Saints. Several men were at work, and some boys busily 
employed. One poor fellow, ten or twelve years of age, attract¬ 
ed my attention and pity. He was seated by a stove, mak¬ 
ing strokes on a slate, and appeared to have just risen from the 
bed of sickness, or ratner from the tomb. Emaciated to the last 
extreme, his face was pale, cold and bloodless, his lips purpled, 
his sunken eye marked by a livid streak, and his countenance 
overspread with a listless stillness. Had it not been for the fee¬ 
ble motion of his hand as he drew it over the slate, and the occa¬ 
sional raising of his heavy and languid eyelid, 1 could have be¬ 
lieved that the tenant of this sad and melancholy ruin, had gone 
to seek a happier abode. I felt my heart swell in my breast.— 
Alas! poor lone creature, thou hast no mother, no sister, to watch 
over thee with the tenderness and solicitude which none but a 
mother or sister can feel! I was pleased when I saw Father 
Joseph advance towards him with a tenderness and benignity of 
countenance, which does not belong to a monks he endeavored 
to cheer,him by speaking pleasantly to him, but the poor fellow 
had lost the power of smiling ; his physiognomy was locked up 
in rigid coldness, which nothing but returning health, or the 
the warmth of parental affection could soften. 
Father Joseph inquired whether I had dined, and being in- 
formed in the negative, had something prepared Mv fare was 
simple; consisting chiefly of vegetables; though not less accep¬ 
table for it was given with good will. Having returned thanks 
to the Father for his hospitality, I took my leave, 
I learned that the family of the Trappists consists of about 
eighty persons, a considerable number of whom are not at home. 
The boys are generally American; the men principally Ger¬ 
man and French. They expect a considerable accession frojn 
n n 
