Bernard

ber-nard', Great Saint, a pass of the Alps. It lies in the mountain road midway between the town of Martigni in the valley of the Rhone and Aosta in the Piedmont on the southern side of the mountains. It is the most celebrated of the passes by which travelers may go in passing from Germany to Italy. In May, 1800, Napoleon scaled the pass with a force of 30,000 men, dragging their cannon and supplies with them. Their descent upon Italy was a complete surprise, as the pass had been considered impassable for military forces. Other armies have followed the same route.

The famous Hospice of Saint Bernard is situated on the pass. It is the highest permanently inhabited spot in Europe, 8,120 feet above the sea. The Hospice was founded in 962 by the monk whose name it bears. It was intended to afford food and shelter to wayfarers, especially pilgrims on their way to Rome. There are two large, stone buildings, cared for by a dozen Augustinian monks and half as many servants. During the short summer twenty horses are employed in bringing wood and provisions on their backs from a valley twelve miles distant. The position of the Hospice is in winter the most dreary imaginable. This season lasts nine months. Travel is, of course, easiest in the summer time, when from three to six hundred people have been fed and afforded shelter in a single day and night. In winter the roads are blocked with snow and are exceedingly dangerous. The monks maintain a number of the well known St. Bernard dogs, animals of great intelligence and strength, and with a keen scent. The monks struggle through the snow with these dogs in search of benumbed travelers. They save many lives. The remains of those who are frozen to death are placed in a morgue near by, where they are wrapped in linen and laid away for the possible identification of friends. The climate is so cold,-ranging from 25 degree below zero in winter to 68 degree above in midsummer,-that bodies keep for a long time. Unclaimed bodies are finally deposited in a rocky place where a large accumulation has been made. There is no earth near to cover them.

The monastery is supported by charity. Everyone who comes is fed and, so far as possible, given a bed for the night. No charge is made for entertainment. A box is placed for the reception of such coins as travelers may care to give. Thirty thousand tourists call each summer. It is little to the credit of human nature that the donations are a small fraction of what would be required to pay hotel bills, and that the monks are dependent upon the general charity of the churches throughout Switzerland to provide the Hospice with necessary food, fuel, and bedding. In 1905 King Edward of England sent the monks a piano.

One reason why so much life is lost in the pass is no doubt that the people of southern Europe are not accustomed to arctic weather. They live in the plains below and are not clothed warmly enough to make their way with safety through the drifts and terrific storms of the pass. The construction of railroads, particularly of the one passing through the St. Gothard tunnel, has lessened the necessity of forcing a winter passage over the Great Saint Bernard. It gives an air of reality to this account to read a newspaper dispatch dated Geneva, January 9, 1905, "The death roll in the Alps during the recent blizzard reaches a total of twenty-four. The dogs at the Hospice of St. Bernard recovered three more bodies from the snow yesterday."

Read Longfellow's Excelsior for a vivid picture of the alpine village, the ardent young pilgrim and his banner, the pine tree, the avalanche, the glaciers, the pass, the hospice, the monks, their prayers, the frosty air, the faithful dog, and the frozen traveler of the Great Saint Bernard. See Simplon; Cenis; St. Gothard