thorns was exchanged for that of roses, the superior saying, "Inasmuch
as thou hast chosen the crown which thy Saviour wore, He rewards thee
with that which is a shadow of the heavenly crown reserved for His
spouses in heaven." This bridal token the new nun wears during the
whole day.

To a few ladies and to the angiolini a special permission to enter the
enclosure was given in honor of the day: a festive meal was served in
the bare, cool refectory, the rule of silence being relaxed for the
special occasion, and the nuns wearing a happy, child-like expression
that hardly varied in the face of the youngest novice and that of
the septuagenarian "mother." The strangers were shown through the
dormitories, the kitchen, the laundry, the garden, the community-room,
where embroidery, painting and study diversify the labors of the broom
and the dishcloth, and everywhere the same exquisite neatness
struck the eye. Everything used in the house was of the coarsest
description--the linen like sack-cloth, but speckless; the delf as
thick and rough as if made for sailors; the floors mostly of brick or
stone; the furniture of unpainted deal. Over each bed, which is only a
board on trestles covered with heavy sacking, is a common crucifix and
a sprig of box or olive blessed on Palm Sunday. The sisters sleep in
their tunics. The library is common property, but no one may use or
read any book save by permission of the superioress. The rules of
fasting and abstinence are not exactly the same in every convent of
the order, but the broad rule is that meat should be eaten only on
great holidays, vegetables and farinaceous preparations, such as most
Italians are not unskilled in, forming the staple of the nuns' food.
Fish is almost as rare a luxury as meat. Their bread is coarse and
brown, and their drink indifferently water or a wine so sour that it
is practically vinegar. Not that these nuns are not good cooks and
bakers: witness the delicate sweetmeats, biscuits and pastry they
offer to strangers on such festival days as the one just described,
the fruit-preserves in blocks sold for their sustenance by the nuns
at Funchal, Madeira, and the fairy frostwork of sugar seen on great
occasions in French convents. No womanly art is a stranger to the deft
fingers of cloistered nuns. Bookbinding is a pursuit well known among
them, as is also the mounting in delicate filigree of the "Agnus Dei"
or waxen representation of the Lamb of God, blessed by