The Argosy — page 150: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

In the Black Forest. 135 could be conceived than the situation of Allerheiligen (‘‘ All Saints ” by interpretation). Here, in one day, had’ the usual order of things been reversed ; for whilst a lake is not generally found on the top of a mountain, and a monastery frequently buries itself far up some lonely height, the Mummelsee had been found only after hard climb- ing, and the monks of Allerheiligen had sheltered themselves in the depths of the earth. But, to do the old monks justice, they were as secluded, as retired from the world here, as they would have been perched upon some Alpine peak—whilst the situation was infinitely more depressing. The monastery is said to have been founded in 1190 by the widow of the Count of Altdorf, brother of the Duke of Bavaria. After a. wedded life of great unhappiness she bethought herself of founding a. monastery, and the site was to be determined by an ass laden with: bags of gold. Where the gold first touched .the ground, there the monastery should be erected. In this lovely and secluded spot the abbey rose. First, a small building ; then, as it increased in wealth and strength, it extended to- larger and yet larger dimensions. For centuries it was rich, famous, and sought after: by those unhappy men who had found the world too much for them, and were thankful to bury themselves in a living tomb—the dead alive, one might say ; or by those novices who had not yet tried the world, and through mistaken zeal and fervour—the lofty aspiration and ideal which so often accompany youth, alas, so. seldom outlive that period !—hoped to find their dreams realised in the daily round of monotonous duties, the exercise of a narrow and narrowing creed—and hoped in vain. But—to pause one moment—why should our aspirations and ideals: so seldom outlive the period of youth and romance? It is true, we seldom find our dreams realised in this world. Nay, the world does its best to disillusion and destroy what it cannot comprehend. As continual dropping wears away a stone, so contact with the world: proves too much for most men who set out on the road of life with: aims and hopes that world calls utopian, chimerical. Nevertheless, no: matter how our dreams and ideals perish, as perish they will, it 1s well for a man, come what may, to keep before him an ideal standard which he feels sure exists, however seldom it is discovered. And he who has found even his one hero may be thankful, and go on his way rejoicing. It is not given to all men to see the longing of their soul satisfied. For many centuries the monastery flourished. Then there came a time when monasteries were abolished; and finally, in 1803, the Abbey of Allerheiligen was struck by lightning and destroyed. It now remains a picturesque but not extensive ruin; a monument of departed glory ; a wreck of wrecks—type of the lives it once shel- tered. It lies in a deep, narrow hollow or ravine. Closely, abruptly sur- Conmmicbooolks (C(O)