home-loving people, and pine like the Swiss, if forced to
leave their native land. They are brave soldiers and good sailors.
'Their vices,' as a Breton writer says, 'are avarice, contempt for
women, and drunkenness; their virtues, love of home and country,
resignation to the will of God, loyalty to each other, and
hospitality.' Their motto is, 'En tout chemin loyaute.'

They are very superstitious, and some of their customs are curious. At
New Year pieces of bread and butter are thrown into the fountains, and
from the way in which they swim the future is foretold. If the buttered
side turns under, it forebodes death; if two pieces adhere together, it
is a sign of sickness; and if a piece floats properly, it is an
assurance of long life and prosperity.

Girls throw pins into the fountain of Saloun to tell, by their manner of
sinking, when they will be married. If the pin goes down head-foremost,
there is little hope; but, if the point goes first, it is a sure sign of
being married that year.

Their veneration for healing-springs is very great, and, though at
times forbidden by the Church, is still felt. Pounded snails, worn in a
bag on the neck, is believed to be a cure for fever; and a certain holy
bell rung over the head, a cure for head-ache. 'If we believe in that
last remedy, what a ceaseless tingling that bell would keep up in
America!' said Lavinia, when these facts were mentioned to her.

In some towns they have, in the cemetery, a bone-house or reliquary. It
is the custom, after a certain time, to dig up the bones of the dead,
and preserve the skulls in little square boxes like bird-houses, with a
heart-shaped opening, to show the relic within. The names and dates of
the deceased are inscribed outside.

Saint Ives or Yves is a favourite saint, and images of him are in all
churches and over many doors. He was one of the remarkable characters
of the thirteenth century. He studied law in Paris, and devoted his
talents to defending the poor; hence, he was called 'the poor man's
advocate:' and so great is the confidence placed in his justice, that,
even now, when a debtor falsely denies his debt, a peasant will pay
twenty _sous_ for a mass to St. Ives, sure that the Saint will cause the
faithless creditor to die within the year or pay up.

His truthfulness was such that he was called 'St. Yves de verite.' He
was the special patron of lawyers, but he does not seem to be their
model.

The early monks taught th