t be very old, for
Mary is saying in this Latin scroll coming out of her mouth, 'Behold,
the servant of the Lord,' and only the earliest painters, unable to
express their idea by the vivacity of their figures, made their mission
apparent by the scrolls coming from their mouths." They were still
examining the engraving, when the padre came to take coffee with them
and to ask if they would go down to mass, which would commence in a few
minutes. There was only time for him to say that he hoped the owls had
not disturbed them, adding, as they were on their way to the church,
"They are our bane, devouring the chickens and keeping us awake. It is a
never-ending, but perhaps needful, discipline."

Fra Lorenzo was officiating at the altar as they entered the large
church, before a small number of peasants, the women making a
picturesque group in their light flowered bodices and their red
petticoats visible from beneath their tucked-up gowns, and their gay
cotton handkerchiefs knotted about their heads, since no woman's head
may be uncovered in the Catholic Church.

The padre came soon to escort them about the church, and "to show them
what little had been left," he said, pointing to the empty chapels. They
found enough, however, to fill them with admiration in dear, good Fra
Giovanni of Verona's marqueterie-work in the backs of the stalls, which
extended the whole length of the long church, as is customary in
monasteries where the monks are the sole participants at the holy
offices. "While Fra Giovanni was here as one of our order," the padre
explained, "he finished the stalls which are now in the cathedral of
Siena. They were taken from us in 1813. After we were allowed to come
back, we asked to have our stalls replaced by those in a monastery in
Siena which was being torn down, and so these stalls were sent us: they
are by Fra Giovanni's own hand. He has never been equalled in this kind
of work, for which he invented the staining of the woods to produce
light and shade, and perfected the perspective which Brunelleschi
invented while resting from his labors on the Florentine dome. The
different Italian cities on the hill-sides, the vistas down the long
streets, with palaces and churches on either side, half-open missals,
Biblical musical instruments, rolls of manuscript music, birds in gay
plumage, all perfectly represented in minute pieces of wood, excite the
wonder of every one whose privilege it is to examine them at leisu