two until
six o'clock
Not a soul was breathing nearer to me than the poor old monks , who , hours ago , had crept to their dormitory in the farthest cloister of the Abbey . The order among whom I was , was that of La Trappe , which is by far the most austere sect in Christendom . They allow themselves but five hours ' sleep , and that on a bare board , without putting off their clothes . They perform masses each morning , from half-past two until six o'clock ; they deny themselves any meat whatever , their meal invariably consisting of some oaten bread , with a little poor wine of their own growing , disguised in water ; and -- they never speak ! When we reflect that what is not only the great characteristic between man and the brute , but perhaps the most wonderful and beneficent gift of God to man should be thus rejected , we can not but be possessed with a very sorry opinion of such an unjustifiable institution . I have now spent a few days with two of them , both of whom were as agreeable , truly well-bred men , as I ever met with ; but what is the more remarkable is that these two old men , who have lived , or rather but just existed under such privations , were as good-tempered , kind-hearted old persons , as it is capable for human frailty to attain ; and when we consider that each day is a day of penance , and that , too , a monotonous penance , with not a prospect beyond their walls , and none within , save their burial-ground , perhaps there is nothing in the character of man so unaccountable as such overwhelming immolation , unless it be that they esteem this life as so insignificant , such a nothingness in comparison to eternity , and that endless glories are to be earned by , comparatively speaking , momentary deprivation , that they endure it as martyrs . And when , as I was , in the stillness of the crumbling Abbey , while its bell tolled the hour and reverberated through the courts and deserted cloisters , I remembered that these poor old men , so kind , so hospitable to the stranger , so denying , so unsparing to themselves , had here buried their youth under such belief , I could not but from my heart wish them compensation as extreme as their delusion .