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by the government for making the move advantageously, and the inhabitants, who had been long provoked by the scorn and ridicule with which they had treated their time-honoured observances, held a rejoicing at the deliverance.†

At the farther end of the valley is Zell, which, though smaller in population than Fügen, has come to be considered its chief town. Its principal inn,-zum Post,-if I recollect right, claims to be not merely a Gasthaus, but a Gasthof. The Brauhaus, however, with less pretension, is a charming resort of the old-fashioned style, under the paternal management of Franz Eigner, whose daughters sing their local melodies with great zest and taste. The church, dedicated to S. Vitus, is modern, having been built in 1771-82; but its slender green steeple is not inelegant; it contains some meritorious frescoes by Zeiler. In the village are some picturesque buildings, as the Presbytery, grandiloquently styled the Dechanthof, one or two educational establishments, several well-todo private houses, and the town-hall, once a flourishing brewery, which failed-I can hardly guess how, for the chief industry of the place is supplying the neighbourhood with beer.

A mile beyond Zell is Hainzenberg, where the process of gold-washing on a small scale may be studied; but the most interesting circumstance in connection with Zell is the Kirchweih-fest, which is very celebrated in all the country round. I was not fortunate enough to be in the neighbourhood at the right time of year to witness it. On the other side of the Hainzenberg is a little sanctuary called Mariä-rastkapelle, and behind it runs a sparkling brook; of the chapel the following singular account is given :-In olden time there stood near the stream a patriarchal oak sacred to Hulda ;‡ after the introduction of Christianity the tree was hewn down, and as they felled it they heard Hulda cry out from within. The people wanted to build up a chapel on the spot in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and began to collect the materials. No sooner had the labourers left their work, however, than there appeared an army of ravens who, setting themselves vigorously to the task, carried every stone and every balk of wood to a neighbouring spot. This happened day after day, till at last the people took it as a sign that the soil profaned by the worship of Hulda was not pleasing to Heaven, and so they raised

*Scherer Geschichte von Tirol, sec. 31.

It is a curious commentary on the results of this measure, that while preparing these sheets for the press, I happened to observe in the columns of a contemporary paper (Westminster Gazette,' Sept. 1868) an account of a meeting held at Hippach in defence of the Austrian Concordat. Hippach is a remote, scarcely known village, at some little distance from Zell. In 1837, the year of the above exodus, it was not reckoned worthy to be called a village, but merely a Häusergruppe, and now it raises its voice in the face of all Europe in maintenance of the rights of the Church.

'Hulda was supposed to delight in the neighbourhood of lakes and streams; her glittering mansion was under the blue waters, and at the hour of mid-day she might be seen in the form of a beautiful woman bathing, and then disappearing.'— Wolf, Deutsche Götterlehre.

their chapel on the place pointed out by the ravens, where it now stands.

After Mayrhof, the next village, in the neighbourhood of which garnets are found and mills for working them abound, the Zillerthal spreads out into several branches of great picturesqueness, but adapted only to the hardy pedestrian, as the Sondergrundthal, the Hundskehlthal, (Dog's throat valley,) Stillupethal, &c. The most important of these bye-valleys is the Duxerthal, a very high-lying tract of country, and consequently one of the coldest and wildest districts of Tirol. Nevertheless, its enclosed and secluded retreat retains a saying perhaps many thousand years old, that once it was a bright and fertile spot yielding the richest pastures, and that then the population grew so wanton in their abundance, that they wasted and destroyed the good things wherewith God had blessed them. Then there came down upon them from above an icy blast, before which their children and their young cattle sank down and died, and the herbage was, as it were, bound up, and the earth was hardened, so that it only brought forth scarce and stunted herbs, and the mountain which bounded their pleasant valley itself turned to ice, and is called to this day die gefrorene Wand,* the frozen wall. The scattered population of this remote valley numbered so few souls, that they depended on neighbouring villages for their ecclesiastical care, and during winter were shut in by the snow within their natural fastnesses, and cut off from all spiritual ministration, so that the bodies of those who died were preserved in a large chest, of which the remains are yet shewn, until the spring came, and enabled their removal to Mattrey. In the middle of the seventeenth century they numbered 645 souls, and have now increased to about 1400; about the year 1686 they built a church of their own, which is now served by two or three priests. For the first couple of miles the valley sides are so steep, that the only level ground between them is the bed of an ofttimes torrential stream, but yet they are covered almost to the very top with a certain kind of verdure; further on it widens out into the district of Hinterdux, which is a comparatively pleasant cheerful spot, with some of the small cattle which are reared here as better adapted to the gradients on which they have to find their food, browsing about, and sundry goats and sheep, quite at home on the steeps. But scarce a tree or shrub is to be seen-just a few firs, and here and there a solitary mountain pine; and in the coldest season the greatest suffering is experienced for want of wood to burn, the only resource is grubbing up the roots of trees remaining from that earlier happier time, which but for this proof might have been deemed fabulous.

The hardships which the inhabitants of this valley cheerfully undergo ought to serve as a lesson of diligence indeed. The whole grass-bearing soil is divided among them. The more prosperous have a cow or more of their own, by the produce of which they live; others take in cows from I have preserved the ordinary translation of Wand already adopted, as more striking; otherwise it would here be fairly rendered by precipice. VOL. 7.

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PART 39.

Innsbruck and Hall to graze. The butter they make becomes an article of merchandize, the transport of which over the mountain paths provides a hard and precarious livelihood for a yet poorer class; the pay is about a halfpenny per lb. per day, and to make their wage eke out, a man will carry a hundred and a woman fifty to seventy pounds through all weathers and over dangerous paths, sleeping by night on the hard ground, the chance of a bundle of hay in winter being a luxury. They make some six or seven cwt. of cheese in the year, but this is kept entirely for home consumption.

The care of these cattle requires a labour which only the strongest constitution could stand-a continual climbing of mountains in the cold, often in the dark, during great part of the year allowing scarcely four or five hours for sleep. Nor is this their only industry. They contrive to grow barley and flax, which though it never ripens, yet produces a kind of yarn, which finds a ready sale in Innsbruck, and with which they weave a coarse linen, which helps to clothe them, together with the home-spun wool of their sheep. Also, by an incredible exercise of patience, they manage to heap up and support a sufficient quantity of earth round the rough and stony soil of their valley, to set potatoes, carrots, and other roots. Notwithstanding all these hardships, they are generally a healthy race, and remarkable for their endurance, frugality, and love of home. Neither does their hard life make them neglect the improvement of the mind; nowhere are schools more regularly attended, although the little children have many of them an hour or two's walk through the snow. The church is equally frequented; so that if the great cold be sent, as the legend teaches, as a chastisement, the people seem to have had grace given them to turn it to good account.

(To be continued.)

CORRESPONDENCE.

A MORNING IN NOVEMBER.

WANDERING about the precincts of Winchester Cathedral after Matins one sunny November Saturday, looking at the huge fabric which stood so shelteringly between me and the cold north-east wind, and listening to the sweet voices of the choristers practising in their old school-room, built over the passage by which Charles the Second and Nell Gwyn used to pass into the Cathedral from the Deanery, once the Prior's house-my curiosity (and being an old maid I have a fair share of that quality) was roused by seeing, as the great hands of the clock crept on towards eleven, several ladies one after the other hurrying by me, and disappearing through a dark arch-way abutting on the south transept, and very many poor women all with bundles in their hands hastening in the same direction, and finally a man staggering along under the weight of some huge blue bags; and all, ladies, poor women, and overweighted porter, seemed to know each other, and exchanged friendly words, without however slackening their pace. I wondered what this could mean; and at last determining to gratify my ruling passion, I went in the same direction, and encountered a young girl, who looked, in spite of a most business-like air, sufficiently

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genial for me to venture to ask the reason why so many passers by were all going in the same direction and with so much haste. 'It is the Work Society morning,' was the reply, which however did not convey much information to my unenlightened mind; and seeing that she was too impatient to be on her way to be able to explain what it was to me, I proposed accompanying her; so we also disappeared under the dark arch-way, and going by a flagged path through the sunny Water Close, emerged by a low door-way into a decidedly poor street. There is the school where it is held, Ma'am,' said my guide. I felt rather nervous now, for I knew not what the it was into which I was plunging. Might not an indignant company of needlewomen rush at an intruder and stab me with sharp pointed scissors, or even use me as a needle-cushion? but suggesting that my presence might not be acceptable, the girl laughed, and said, 'Oh, the ladies are very kind;' and lifting the latch of the schoolroom-a large one, built under Government, and called the Central School-she ushered me into a new and strange scene; (new and strange to me, at least ;) three long tables with two ladies at each, a desk with another lady, and on benches round the fire were seventy or eighty poor and respectable women, some tolerably well dressed, others looking as if their last rag was in the pawn-shop in the vain endeavour to find bread for the little ones.

I was utterly bewildered; but a lady came forward-the President, I afterwards found-and asked if I should like to see something of the arrangements of the Society. I gladly closed with the kind offer, and was conducted round the room, after she had explained the objects of this (to me) mysterious association. It is first to supply the industrious poor with needle-work at their own houses, and second to enable them to buy useful articles of clothing at a cheap rate. To which end the following means are employed: materials are cut out by many ladies in the town, the work being then given to such poor as are recommended by the Subscribers, each recommendation entitling them to one shilling's worth of work; the payments for work are defrayed by the subscriptions.

We went first to the examiner's table, where two ladies were inspecting the work brought by the women in the wonderful little bundles which I had noticed before; passing this examination satisfactorily, the women carry it on, and deposit it on the next table, where it is folded and laid in heaps by two other ladies, who also sell it to anyone who may wish to buy; and such wonderful heaps were there. Flannel petticoats, shifts, shirts, pinafores, frocks, blouses, night-gowns, pillow-cases, of every size and shape; and the President told me that this was nothing compared to the great stores they had. Ah! that is our trouble,' she said; we cannot find a ready sale for it. The very poor cannot afford to buy it, cheap as it is; and the rich know so little about it.'

We proceeded now to the desk where an eager crowd were waiting to be paid for their week's work. Eh me!' said an Irishwoman, and what would I do without the work? my old man can earn just nothing.' And many like remarks passed among those women, differing in so much, yet all claiming the sisterhood of common suffering. After being paid, those who had recommendations from the Subscribers came to the third table, where was unmade work of every description, the contents of the porter's bags; and very perplexing seemed the work of the two ladies there; they were assailed on every side by Will you be so very good as to let me have flannel work, for I suffer so from rheumatiz;' or 'Will you give me coarse work, for my eyes are failing;' another, I've a lot of little ones at home, and if you could give me coloured work maybe I should keep it cleaner;' and yet all the work must be disposed of equally. However, in the end, they all went off apparently well pleased at the prospect of another shilling, or perhaps two, on the next Saturday.

I now turned to the table where the made clothing was, and bought a few articles, all of which were well made and of good patterns, and moreover very cheap, for buying the materials wholesale enables the Society to get them at wholesale price; and the work, as I have already said, being paid for by the subscriber, one buys ready-made clothes for really less than one would give for the material: the only exception in the subscriptions paying for the work is when ladies get their own clothing made there, as they sometimes kindly do; and then the work is paid for, as it entails more trouble than the usual run of clothes.

I thanked the lady very heartily for the trouble she had so courteously taken for me; she assured me that it was a pleasure to show anyone the working of the Society; adding, 'If you have been really interested, and really sympathize in our endeavours to lighten a little the load of poverty borne so bravely by our poor sisters, let me ask you to beg all your charitable friends who give away clothing at this season of the

year to give us orders; a ready sale would help us very much, and would enable us to give out far more work than we can venture to do at present.

And this, dear readers, is the way in which (by the kindness of the Editor) I have complied with the lady's request; and I appeal to any of you who wish to buy clothes to give away in your own parishes, to send abroad to missions, or for emigrants, to send to this Work Society to supply your needs. You will get cheap and honestly made garments, and will materially benefit a most useful charity. The Society makes every kind of under-garments and children's clothes, and will execute any orders, which must be addressed to

MRS. H. E. MOBERLY,

KINGSGATE STREET, WINCHESTER.

Dear Mr. Editor,

ST. MARTIN'S HOME, LIVERPOOL.

May I venture, through your pages, to appeal for help for our Sisterhood? We are a little band of four Sisters, working in one of the very poorest districts in Liverpool, with 10,000 people to care for. We are now entirely dependent on the charity of others, for our own maintenance, and to provide for the needs of our sick and poor.

We are now considerably in debt, and have been obliged to give up our Orphanage and Home for Girls from want of funds. Will you kindly lay our cause before your readers?

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Contributions will be thankfully received by the MOTHER SUPERIOR, St. Martin's Home, Liverpool.

SOCIETY OF THE APOSTOLIC RULE.

'I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.'

'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts.' 'If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.'

APOSTOLIC RULE.

"That women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.' (1 Timothy, ii. 9-12.)

'Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of GOD of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in GOD, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands.' (1 Peter, iii. 1-5.)

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