asses, there is built what is
called a hospice, which means hospitality, the same word from which we
get our word hospital. These buildings are erected for the entertainment
of poor travelers, who are compelled to cross the mountains in the
winter. There are a number of monks, who live in each of these places of
entertainment. On each of these mountain passes the monks have some
large dogs, which are known as the dogs of St. Bernard. In the winter
when it is snowing, and travelers are likely to be exhausted by their
efforts to ascend the mountain, and are liable to be lost in the
snow-storms which prevail almost every day, these dogs are sent out by
the monks with a supply of food and wine suspended from their necks, and
they go all over the mountain, barking and making a great noise. When
they discover a poor traveler who is perishing in the snow, they allow
him to take the food and the wine in order that he may be stimulated and
revived, and then these faithful and intelligent dogs lead the way to
the place of safety and security.

Oftentimes they find men who have become nearly frozen, who have fallen
down in the snow in an unconscious state and are ready to die. If left
for a time these men would soon freeze to death beneath the snow that
falls very rapidly upon them. These dogs are very intelligent, and
immediately they will begin to scrape the snow off the traveler, lick
his hands, and if he does not give any indications of life they will
then lie down upon his body, that the warmth from their own body may
quicken him again into consciousness, that he may drink the wine and eat
the food and be stimulated enough to do something toward getting himself
on to the place of safety. If the man is not too heavy, the dog might
even be able to carry him.

[Illustration: Dogs Rescuing Traveler.]

At the hospice on the St. Bernard pass they once had a faithful dog
which had been successful in thus rescuing sixty-eight persons from
freezing to death upon the mountains. The dog was very sagacious, and
seemed to know exactly what to do when he found a poor traveler dying in
the snow. One day he found a man who had evidently been lying for some
time in the snow, which had already quite buried him. The man was
entirely unconscious, and when the dog found him he began immediately to
scrape away the snow and then lay down upon this dying man, that the
warmth of his own body might quicken him again into consciousness. When
the man