a quarter circle about half way across each side of the Place. I will send you a postcard picture of a Procession; but the crowd was nothing to what we saw on Sunday. The half-past four o'clock Procession took an hour and a half to pass. At six the whole Place resounded with Hosanna au Fils de David! After Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Bishop of Verdun addressed a few words to the multitude assembled ; and with a last prayer for France the crowd dispersed. At 8 p.m. there is another Procession, and this time the entire Place is filled by the processionists carrying lighted candles. They go from the Grotto up one side and down the other of the approach to the Crypt round the long plot of grass behind the statue of Our Lady Crowned; and then zigzag up to the steps of the Rosary Church, singing Ave Maria all the time. When nearly everyone of the processionists is in the Place, there is a "hush" sent through the crowd by the officiating priest, and then he starts the Credo, which is chanted right through by people standing in rows, or leaning against walls, etc., from the Grotto to the top of Calvary Hill. It is wonderful how in that immense space and with over fifty thousand people each word sounds as distinct as a solo. At the Et homo factus est there is a very slight pause, and every one kneels. Then the voices burst out again, and the last part seems even grander than the first, till for quite a minute at the end of the Credo you might hear a pin drop. Then the Bishop again addresses a few words of exhortation, and the crowd disperse, some to the church, some to the Grotto, and some (like ourselves) to bed. On Sunday the first Mass was said at midnight, and from that till half-past eleven o'clock Masses were being said at all the altars in the Crypt, the Basilica, and Rosary Church, which were all crammed with people. It was almost impossible to get to the Grotto or to the drinking fountains. It was a magnificent day, clear and bright, and the air was fresh and cool: so we went to the Pic du Jer by the funiculaire and had our lunch at the top. It is a superb panorama; and we were lucky enough to see the point of the Grand Vignemale, also a glacier near it. There is a glorious view. We saw the Spanish mountains beyond Biarritz, but I cannot say that I recognized the Rhune. We went to the Procession at 4 p.m., and saw eight people cured. One was a child about eight years old who was quite crippled and could not walk from rheumatism. As the Blessed Sacrament passed in front of her, she got up from her stretcher and walked a few steps. The people all shouted Hosanna! and the branchardiers had the greatest trouble to keep the crowd from crushing her. After Benediction one of the branchardiers (such a fine, good-looking man!) took her in his arms, and, surrounded by a cordon of other branchardiers, carried her to the Bureau de Constatation, where she was examined by the doctors. She was then carried to the Piscine where she was bathed-then to her lodging, always by the same branchardiers and with the same precautions to keep off the crowd. This is done with each of the cured, and it is a most necessary and difficult task, for the people seem quite to lose their heads in their eagerness to touch the favoured one, and the temper of the escort is sorely tried, but I never saw or heard of its failing in the least. What I have said of this case applies to all the cures. They are made to go home in the same manner as they arrived at the Procession, and are not allowed to declare themselves cured till the doctors have carefully considered the case. Among the branchardiers I recognized O-. His was the only green hat and feather. The sick are all taken home before 6.30, except those in the Piscine who remain till 7.30. At 8.30 the Basilica, the Rosary Church, and the Statue of Our Lady are lighted with electric lamps; and the Procession of all the pilgrims, each group with its own banner and all carrying lighted candles, takes the same route as last night; but on Sunday evening there were over 50,000 people in it, and it was not over till 10.30 o'clock. After the Procession the Rosary Church was opened, and great numbers went in to pray, others to go to Confession. The priests were kept busy most of the night; and Holy Communion was given during Mass at the three high altars from midnight till 11.15 a.m. The branchardiers and branchardières on duty at the hospitals during the night (from 8 p.m. till 4. a.m.) went to Mass and Communion at 5 o'clock. The Marquise de Puybusque said the churches were all crammed at that hour. On Monday several of the pilgrim bands from near Lourdes went home, so the Monday-night Procession was not quite so large; but still it was very imposing, and during the day there were several miracles at the Piscine and two cures during the afternoon Procession. It was at this last service that I saw Madame Puybusque. She asked if we should like to visit the hospital. Of course I jumped at the offer. She told us to ask for her between 10 and 12 o'clock on Tuesday, and she would take us round. We went about 11.30, which was dinner hour for some of them: so we saw everything. In the wards the ladies were charming to us. They were all branchardières of experience, and drew our attention to the most interesting cases, and told us about the miraculée, etc. In Madame Puybusque's ward there were three of Sunday's cures; and the thirty-seven who were still uncured seemed as pleased as if they had been cured themselves. All of them said: "Well, we know that, even if the doctor sees no improvement, we must have got some grace. God will grant me a good death -or the conversion of my family-or (who knows?) I may be cured on the way home." There was a young woman from London with cancer in the breast who could not be operated on as the disease had gone too near the heart. She did not go to the Piscine, but they kept compresses of Lourdes water on the wound. She said she only wanted to be cured that she might convert her family. She went away without any improvement, but very cheerful and resigned, and very grateful to those who had taken care of her. At the Procession of Tuesday afternoon a blind man was cured and ran after the Blessed Sacrament. I must tell you that to see the cures was such a very minor part of the whole thing that I did not take sufficient notice of them: so I shall send you the official account of them when it is published. This Tuesday evening Procession was much smaller, but the fervour of the processionists had not diminished, and the Hosannas seemed even louder. Towards the end a great storm of wind sent whirls of dust about us and put out a grea many of the candles. Some lighted their candles again, and some did not; but, as the rain kept off, the Procession closed as usual with the chant of the Credo, and a most touching dis VOL. XXXIV.-No. 400. 2N course exhorting the people to pray for all Catholic priests, especially for the priests of France who are sure to have now to face a time of severe trial and privation. During the night several crowded trains were sent off; but the train blanc with its load of sick did not start till 4 p.m. on Wednesday. It was even a sadder and more touching sight than the arrival; for everyone was more or less tired from the religious exercises, and those who had been tending the sick were disappointed that all had not been cured. The sick themselves were resigned and very grateful and cheerful. The same order and care were displayed by the branchardiers ; but it was a sad procession, for everyone felt that it was likely to be the last really National Pilgrimage, at least for many years, and that Catholic France would have no money tc travel next year. I am so glad to have seen it. Good-bye, dear Bee. M. McE. N. "BY THIS SIGN CONQUER" WEARY with toil, oppressed by heat and cold, Pondering the riddles left by sages old. Deep cut on front of stone with chisel bold, Yet o'er thy spirit breaks another day. R. M. G. "S THE "MOUNTAIN" WEET is the voice in the Land of Gold." So sang the when, of a harvest-day, I heard the murmur of the tide beyond dunes of yellow sand. It was in Wexford County, by the sea. There was yellow gold upon the sand-dunes, and upon the ribbed borders of the Little Sea. There was yellow, like gold dulled by shadow, among the autumn reed-beds on the wide flats about the Cul, lone places that give shelter to fox and rabbit, crane and curlew, sea-pie and plover. The fields in every townland were yellow as gold, whether with the bound sheaves of "first harvest" or the standing grain of the later reaping, when the September moon had given ripeness to the spring sowing. "Sweet is the voice in the Land of Gold." We heard the sea-voice only. It was high summer, and the birds had no song. The thrush began to lilt on the darkest day of last mid-winter, of a still twilight when the air was thin and dry. In frost and snow the brave bird sang for us, and whether the wind blew east or west. But he will not break the silence of high summer. This is the time for sounds that are not sound: for the click of the grass-hopper, and the buzz of darting dragon-flies, and the noise of bees that hum like fairy spinning-wheels, heard in sleep, and turning softly. The thrush falls silent, and with him lark and linnet and blackbird. They will let the little brothers, winged and voiceful like themselves, have their day. But these, also, at the height of noon, seem to hush their pretty talking. The sea-voice only, quietly disconsolate like a dove that keeps up incessant sweet moan, follows the way of the wind. We were faring to the "Mountain." We were there before; we will be there again, by the Will of God! Every person coming into the "Bar'ny" must have his day upon the "Mountain," that is, if he be making holiday in the right spirit. We went, then, by the winding, silent, white roads; between trees that overshaded us with green light as cool as dew; between broad sweeps of barley which the wind combed as if it were tresses |