tion
of the Christian world."

The first aim of the Passion Play has been the training of the common
people. To its various representations came the peasants of Bavaria,
Wuertemberg, and the Tyrol, on horses, on donkeys, on foot, a long and
difficult journey across mountain-walls and through great forests. It
was the memory and inspiration of a lifetime to have seen the Passion
Play.

About forty years ago the tourist world discovered this scene; and
since then, on the decennial year, an ever-increasing interest has been
felt, an ever-growing stream of travel has been turned toward the Ammer
Valley. All, prince or peasant, are treated alike by the simple,
honest people, and the same preparation is made for the reception of
all. The purpose of the play should be kept in mind in any just
criticism. To have the right to discuss it at all, one must treat it
in a spirit of sympathy.

We came into Oberammergau on Friday, the 1st day of August, 1890, to
witness the performance of the Sunday following. The city of Munich,
seventy miles away, was crowded with visitors, all bound to the Passion
Play. The express-train of twenty cars which carried us from Munich
was crowded with people from almost every part of the civilized world.

At Oberau, six miles from Oberammergau, at the foot of the Ettal
Mountain, we left the railway, and there took part in a general
scramble for seats in the carriages. The fine new road winds through
dark pine woods, climbing the hill in long zigzags above wild chasms,
past the old monastery of Ettal, and then slowly descends to the soft
Ammer meadows. The great peak of the Kofel is ever in front, while the
main chain of the Bavarian Alps closes the view behind.

Arrived in the little village, all was bustle and confusion. The
streets were full of people--some busy in taking care of strangers,
others sauntering idly about, as if at a country fair. Young women, in
black bodices and white sleeves, welcomed the visitors at the little
inns or served them in the shops. Everywhere were young men in
Tyrolese holiday attire--green coats, black slouch hats, with a feather
or sprig of Edelweiss in the hat-band, and with trousers, like those of
the Scottish Highlanders, which end hopelessly beyond the reach of
either shoes or stockings. Besides the rustics and the tourists, one
met here and there upon the streets men whose grave demeanor and long
black hair resting on their shoulders proclaimed t