things that helped them in their
work.

The lad enjoyed his tasks at the Abbey, and, above all, delighted in
seeing the beautiful things at which the brothers were always busy; yet,
as he now drew near the gateway, he could not help but give a little
sigh, for it was so bright and sunny out-of-doors. He smiled, though, as
he looked at the gay bunches of blossoms with which he had quite filled
his hands, and felt that at least he was taking a bit of the April in
with him, as he crossed the threshold and entered a large room.

"Good morrow, Gabriel," called out several voices as he came in, for the
lad was a general favourite with the brothers; and Gabriel, respectfully
taking off his blue peasant cap, gave a pleasant "good morrow" to each.

The room in which he stood had plain stone walls and a floor of paved
stone, and little furniture, except a number of solidly made benches and
tables. These were placed beneath a row of high windows, and the tables
were covered with writing and painting materials and pieces of
parchment; for the brotherhood of St. Martin's was very industrious.

In those days,--it was four hundred years ago,--printed books were very
few, and almost unknown to most people; for printing-presses had been
invented only a few years, and so by far the greater number of books in
the world were still made by the patient labour of skilful hands; the
work usually being done by the monks, of whom there were very many at
that time.

These monks, or brothers, as they were often called, lived in
monasteries and abbeys, and were men who banded themselves together in
brotherhoods, taking solemn vows never to have homes of their own or to
mingle in the daily life of others, but to devote their lives to
religion; for they believed that they could serve God better by thus
shutting themselves off from the world.

And so it came about that the brothers, having more time and more
learning than most other people of those days, made it their chief work
to preserve and multiply all the books that were worth keeping. These
they wrote out on parchment (for paper was very scarce so long ago), and
then ornamented the pages with such beautiful painted borders of flowers
and birds and saints and angels, and such lovely initial letters, all in
bright colours and gold, that to this day large numbers of the beautiful
books made by the monks are still kept among the choicest treasures of
the museums and great libraries of the wor