llestre began to meet together for religious purposes,
which they did at first in the upper chamber of an inn. There the Rev.
Mr. Freemantle found them when paying his first visit to the valleys
in 1851. He was rejoiced to see the zeal of the people, holding to
their faith in the face of considerable opposition and opprobrium; and
he exerted himself to raise the requisite funds amongst his friends in
England to provide the Guillestre Vaudois with a place of worship of
their own. His efforts were attended with success; and in 1854 a
comfortable parsonage, with a commodious room for public worship, was
purchased for their use. A fund was also provided for the maintenance
of a settled ministry; a pastor was appointed; and in 1857 a
congregation of from forty to seventy persons attended worship every
Sunday. Mr. Freemantle, in a communication with which he has favoured
us, says: "Our object has not been to make an aggression upon the
Roman Catholics, but to strengthen the hands and establish the faith
of the Vaudois. And in so doing we have found, not unfrequently, that
when an interest has been excited among the Roman Catholic population
of the district, there has been some family or hereditary connection
with ancestors who were independent of the see of Rome, and such have
again joined themselves to the faith of their fathers."

The new movement was not, however, allowed to proceed without great
opposition. The "Momiers," or mummers--the modern nickname of the
Vaudois--were denounced by the cure of the place, and the people were
cautioned, as they valued their souls' safety, against giving any
countenance to their proceedings. The cure was doubtless seriously
impressed by the gravity of the situation; and to protect the parish
against the assaults of the evil one, he had a large number of crosses
erected upon the heights overlooking the town. On one occasion he had
a bad dream, in which he beheld the valley filled with a vast assembly
come to be judged; and on the site of the judgment-seat which he saw
in his dream, he set up, on the summit of the Come Chauve, a large tin
cross hearted with wood. We were standing in the garden in front of
the parsonage at Guillestre late in the evening, when M. Schell, the
pastor, pointing up to the height, said, "There you see it now; that
is the cure's erection." The valley below lay in deep shadow, while
the cross upon the summit brightly reflected the last rays of the
setting sun.