all days, makes you very comfortable for next to nothing.

The fact is, this noble plateau, commanding as splendid a natural
panorama as any in Europe, at the time I write of the property of
Monseigneur of Strasburg, was once a famous shrine and a convent of
cloistered men and women vowed to sanctity and prayer. The convent was
closed at the time of the French Revolution, and the entire property,
convent, mountain and prospect, remained in the hands of private
possessors till 1853, when the prelate of that day repurchased the whole,
restored the conventual building, put in some lay brethren to cultivate
the soil, and some lay sisters, who wear the garb of nuns, but have taken
no vows upon them except of piety, to keep the little inn and make
tourists comfortable. No arrangement could be better, and I advise any
one in want of pure air, superb scenery, and complete quiet, to betake
himself to St. Odile.

Here again I must intercalate. Since these lines were jotted down, many
changes, and apparently none for the better, have taken place here.
Intending tourists must take both M. Hallays' volume and Maurice Barres'
_Au Service d'Allemagne_ for recent accounts of this holiday resort.
The splendid natural features remain intact.

The way from Barr lies through prosperous villages, enriched by
manufactories, yet abounding in pastoral graces. There are English-like
parks and fine chateaux of rich manufacturers; but contrasted with these
nothing like abject poverty. The houses of working-folk are clean, each
with its flower-garden, the children are neatly dressed, no squalor or
look of discontent to be seen anywhere. Every hamlet has its beautiful
spire, whilst the country is the fairest, richest conceivable; in the
woods is seen every variety of fir and pine, mingled with the lighter