Part 6 (1/2)
XV
”Are they here, The dead of other days? And did the dust Of these fair solitudes once stir with life And burn with passion? All is gone; All, save the piles of earth that hold their bones, The platforms where they worshi+p'd unknown Gods, The barriers which they builded from the soil To keep the foe at bay”
_The Prairies_
The antiquity of ”Monk Mound” is a circumstance which fails not to arrest the attention of every visiter That centuries have elapsed since this vast pile of earth was heaped up from the plain, no one can doubt: every circumstance, even the most minute and inconsiderable, confirms an idea which the venerable oaks upon its soil conclusively demonstrate With this premise admitted, consider for a moment the destructive effects of the elements even for a limited period upon the works of our race Little more than half a century has elapsed since the war of our revolution; but where are the fortifications, and parapets, and military defences then thrown up? The earthy rao by the levelling finger of ti out the line of defence The same is true with these works all over the country; and even those of the last war--those at Balti as fast as the elements can melt them away Reflect, then, that this vast earth-heap of which I a in its nature than they; that its superfices are by no means compact; and then conceive, if you _can_, its stupendous character before it had bided the rains, and snows, and stor floods of the ”Father of Waters” had ever circled its base Our thoughts are carried back by the reflection to the era of classic fiction, and we alainst the heavens--
”Conati imponere Pelio Ossam-- --atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum,”
if a quotation from the sweet bard of Mantua, upon a topic like the present, e an army of labourers, without the use of iron utensils, as we have every reason to suppose was the case, would be required for scraping up froe pile; and how many years would suffice for its completion? No one can doubt that the broad surface of the Aether with all the neighbouring region on either bank of the Mississippi, once swar men and animals, even as does now the depths of its soil with their remains
The collection ofto describe would seem to indicate two extensive cities within the extent of five roups of the same characterof those within the n of these mounds, as has been before stated, was various, undoubtedly; many were sepulchres, some fortifications, soer class, a which ould place Monk Hill, were probably devoted to the cereion
The number of the earth-heaps known as the Cantine Mounds is about fifty, s the southern and eastern bank of Cahokia Creek, occupying an area of some miles in circuit They are of every form and every size, from the mere e, to the gigantic Monk Mound, of which I have already said so much This vast heap stands about one hundred yards from the creek, and the slope which faces it is very precipitous, and clothed with aged timber The area of the base is about six hundred yards in circumference, and the perpendicular altitude has been estimated at from ninety to upward of a hundred feet The for north and south; and upon the latter extremity, which commands a vien the bottom, is spread out a broad terrace, or rather a steppe to thethe whole length of the side, and is one hundred and fifty feet in breadth At the left extre pathway from the prairie to the summit of the mound For from the middle of the terrace, ten feet in breadth and twenty in extent, and seeraded for that purpose at {166} the erection of the mound This declivity yet remains, but now forms part of a corn-field
The view from the southern extremity of the mound, which is free from trees and underbrush, is extremely beautiful Away to the south sweeps off the broad river-botto surface variegated by all the nificent hues of the sue is flung back the flashi+ng sheen of a silvery lake to the oblique sunlight; while dense groves of the crab-apple and other indigenous wild fruits are sprinkled about like islets in the verdant sea To the left, at a distance of three or foura surface naked and rounded by groups of liht of the huht roup of h the belt of forest by which it is ined In this direction, far away in the blue distance, rising through the liayly in the rich summer sun The base of the mound is circled upon every side by lesser elevations of every form and at various distances Of these, some lie in the heart of the extensive maize-fields, which constitute the far a beautiful exhibition of light and shade, shrouded as they are in the dark, twinkling leaves Thedirectly opposite the southern extremity of the principal one, at a distance of some hundred yards, in close proximity to each other, and which never fail to arrest the eye There are also several large square in of the creek to the right, and groups are caught rising from the declivities of the distant bluffs
Upon the western side of Monk Mound, at a distance of several yards frohty or ninety feet in depth; the water of which would be agreeable enough were not the presence of sulphur, in some of its modifications, so palpable This well penetrates the heart of the mound, yet, from its depth, cannot reach lower than the level of the surrounding plain I learned, upon inquiry, that when this as excavated, several fragments of pottery, of decayed ears of corn, and other articles, were thrown up from a depth of sixty-five feet; proof incontestible of the artificial structure of thethe water of this well, united with its peculiar flavour, are not of the most exquisite character, e reflect that the precious fluid has probably filtrated, part of it, at least, through the contents of a sepulchre The present proprietor is about entle here a house of entertainn is carried into effect, the drive to this place will be the htful in the vicinity of the city
Monk Mound has derived its name and much of {168} its notoriety from the circumstance that, in the early part of the present century, for a number of years, it was the residence of a society of ecclesiastics, of the order _La Trappe_, the most ascetic of all the inally situated in the old province of Perche, in the territory of Orleannois, in France, which noith a section of Normandy, constitutes the department of Orne Its site is said to have been the loneliest and dom The order was founded in 1140 by Rotrou, count of Perche; but having fallen into decay, and its discipline having become much relaxed, it was reformed in 1664, five centuries subsequent, by the Abbe Armand Rance This celebrated ecclesiastic, history informs us, was in early life a man of fashi+on and accouished as a classical scholar and translator of Anacreon's Odes At length, the sudden death of his mistress Montbazon, to whom he was extremely attached, so affected him that he forsook at once his libertine life, banished himself from society, and introduced into the monastery of La Trappe an austerity of discipline hitherto unknown[129] The voere chastity, poverty, obedience, and perpetual silence The couch was a slab of stone, the diet water and bread once in twenty-four hours, and each member removed a spadeful of earth every day froe relative to this monastery I find quoted froe and senti it entire
”_C'est la que se retirent, ceux qui out commis quelque crime secret, dont les remords les poursuivent; ceux qui sont tourieuse; ceux qui ont oublie que Dieu est le plus misericordieux des peres, et qui ne voient en lui, que le plus cruel des tyrans; ceux qui reduisent a vieu, les souffrances, la ion que du cote effrayent et terrible: c'est la que sont pratique des austerite qui abregent la vie, et sont injure a la divinite_”
During the era of the Reign of Terror in France, the monks of La Trappe, as well as all the other orders of priesthood, were dispersed over Europe They increased greatly, however, notwithstanding persecution, and societies established therated the society which planted themselves upon the American Bottom They first settled in the State of Kentucky; subsequently they established themselves at the little French hamlet of Florisant, and in 1809 they crossed the Mississippi, and, strangely enough, selected for their residence the spot I have been describing[130] Here they made a purchase of about four hundred acres, and petitioned Congress for a pre-es which they occupied were never of a very durable character, but consisted of about half a dozen large structures of logs, on the suht {170} of the largest This is twenty feet in height, and upward of a hundred and fifty feet square; a well dug by the Trappists is yet to be seen, though the whole s, stables, granaries, &c, which were numerous, lay scattered about on the plain below Subsequently they erected an extensive structure upon the terrace of the principal arden, while the area of the summit was soheat Their territory under cultivation consisted of about one hundred acres, divided into three fields, and e several of the mounds
The society of the Trappists consisted of about eighty monks, chiefly Gerovernance of one of their number called Father Urbain[131] Had they remained, they anticipated an accession to their number of about two hundred monks from Europe Their discipline was equally severe with that of the order in ancient tietables, and of these they partook sparingly but once in twenty-four hours: the stern vow of perpetual silence was upon them; no fe their own graves Their location, however, they found by nothe severe si the su extent; few escaped, and lois, a native of Quebec, more familiarly known as Francois {171} Marie Bernard, the na the monastery He often officiated in the former Catholic church of St Louis, and is still remembered by the older French inhabitants arreatly beloved
The Trappists are said to have been extremely industrious, and some of them skilful work; insomuch that they far excelled the same craft in the city, and were patronised by all the unruly tiion
They had also a laboratory of some extent, and a library; but the latter, we are infor chiefly the day-dreaion of saints, together with a few obsolete works on medicine
Connected with the monastery was a seminary for the instruction of boys; or, rather, it was a sort of asylum for the orphan, the desolate, the friendless, the halt, the blind, the deaf, and the dued and destitute of the male sex They subjected their pupils to the same severe discipline which they iues but two hours a day, and then very _judiciously_: instead of exercising that ”unruly esticulate with their fingers at each other in marvellous fashi+on, and thus to communicate their ideas As to juvenile sports and the frolics of boyhood, it was a sin to dreas They all received an apprenticeshi+p to some useful trade, however, and were no doubt trained {172} up o The pupils were chiefly sons of the settlers in the vicinity; but whether they were fashi+oned by the worthy fathers into good American citizens or the contrary, tradition telleth not Tradition doth present, however, sundry allegations prejudicial to the honest monks, which we are bold to say is all slander, and unworthy of credence
Soossips of the day hesitated not to affirm that the monks were marvellously filthy in their habits; others, that they were prodigiously keen in their bargains; a third class, that the younger entler part of creation as they _ht have been_; while the whole community round about, _una voce_, chiht, could, would, or should speak, were a little worse than duly However this may have been, it is pretty certain, as is usually the case with our dear fellow-creatures where they are perood people, in the overflowings of worldly charity, iainst the poor Trappist, and seeht to violate his property and insult his person whenever they, in their wisdoht proper to do so But this was soon at an end In 1813 thefever and ague to their persecutors, and the old mounds to their primitive solitude, forsook the country and sailed for France
{173} Though it is not easy to palliate the unceremonious welcome hich the unfortunate Trappist was favoured at the hand of our people, yet we can readily appreciate the feelings which proly strange uise of a distant land, uttering, when their lips broke the silence in which they were locked, the unknown syllables of a foreign tongue; professing an austere, an ancient, and re themselves, with the sternest severity, the siethemselves in the depths of this Western wilderness, and, by a fortuitous concurrence of events, planting their altars and hearths upon the very to their austerities at the forsaken tee to behold the devotees of a faith, thetheh places reared up by the hands of those orshi+pped the Great Spirit after the siular order of ends had shadoith ht leaf of poetry and romance, and with them were associated many a wild vision of fancy And here they were, mysterious as ever, with cowl, and crucifix, and shaven head, and the hairy ”crown of thorns”
encircling; ecclesiastics the e must it all {174} have seemed! and it is hardly to be wondered at, unpopular as such institutions undoubtedly were and ever have been in this blessed land of ours, that a feeling of intolerance, and suspicion, and prejudice should have existed It is not a maxim of _recent_ date in the minds of men, that ”whatever is peculiar is false”
_Madison County, Ill_
XVI
”Let none our author rudely blaress'd”
DAVENANT
”Nay, tell me not of lordly halls!