To pass three days in a
Trappist Monastery certainly promised a novel experience, but I
pointed out that I was a Protestant, and that I could hardly
expect the monks to welcome me with open arms. He answered that he
would explain matters, and that the difference of religion would
be overlooked. So off we started, and after an interminable drive
reached a huge, gaunt pile of buildings in very arid surroundings.
The "Hospice" where visitors were lodged stood apart from the
Monastery proper, the Chapel lying in between. It was explained to
me that I must observe the rule of absolute silence within the
building, and that I would be expected to be in bed by 8.15 p.m.
and to rise at 5 a.m. like the rest of the guests. It was further
conveyed to me that they hoped that I would see my way to attend
Chapel at 5.30 a.m., afterwards I should be free for the remainder
of the day. Talking and smoking were both permitted in the garden.
I was given a microscopic whitewashed cell, most beautifully
clean, containing a very small bed, one chair, a gas-jet, a prie-
Dieu, a real human skull, and nothing else whatever.
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