Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/158

174 The principal object of attention in this little city, seems to be the memory of Nicholas de Flue and his hermit-cell, in the neighborhood.

This man, the most celebrated saint of the Catholic Cantons, was born 1417. He was a wealthy man, and of the nobility of the country. At the age of fifty, he left house and home, and a large family, the youngest of which was still in the mother's arms, in order to devote himself to a life of poverty, fasting, and prayer, in a solitude far removed from mankind. Thus would he live, alone for God and heavenly things. He practised this mistaken service of God for more than five-and-twenty years, during which time, it is said, that he performed many miraculous works.

We have, during the day, made an excursion, under umbrellas, to the romantic Melchthal, where he lived his hermit-life, and where the whity-gray Melch roars wildly through the narrow valley. Its surroundings are, however, soft, shadowy trees, and green slopes. The dwelling of “Bruder Klaus,” under which name Nicholas de Flue was known in his monastic life, is still standing on the rock near the river,—a miserable little hut, with small, four-paned windows. Here you find still, the wooden board, worn smooth with use, which served him for his bed, and also the stone, smooth also, which served him for pillow. The walls of the hut, and still more those of the little chapel in the neighborhood, are covered with votive tablets in his honor. The chapel contains, besides these, a series of paintings, representing scenes from his life, the greater number miraculous incidents, more