My Own Servants
Were Excellent, And Never Quarrelled Or Complained; They Appeared To
Have Been Mesmerised By The Placid Character Of Their Position, And To
Have Become Angelic; Especially In Not Fatiguing Themselves Through
Over-Exertion.
With the monks the case was different.
In this quiet
retreat, where man reigned alone, as Adam in the Garden of Eden; where
the cares and anxieties of married life were unknown within the sacred
walls of celibacy, a single representative of the other sex existed in
the ubiquitous shape of a "maid of all work;" and as Eve caused the
first trouble in the world, so the monastery "maid" disturbed the
otherwise peaceful existence of Neophitos.
This maid's name was "Christina," and she received the munificent sum of
one hundred piastres per annum as wages, which in English money would be
fifteen shillings and sixpence every year. The world is full of
ingratitude, and strange to say, Christina was dissatisfied, which
naturally wounded the feelings of the good monks, as in addition to this
large sum of money she received her food and clothes; the latter
consisting of full trousers, and a confusion of light material, which,
having no shape whatever, I could not describe. Christina, though young,
was not pretty, and she was always either crying or scolding, which
would of course spoil any beauty; while at the same time she was either
washing all the clothes belonging to the whole establishment of monks (a
very disagreeable business), or hanging them out to dry near the spring;
or she was sweeping the monastery; or arranging the very dirty rooms of
the establishment; or baking all the bread that was required; or cooking
the dinner; or repairing all the old clothes which the monks wore when
they were only fit for a paper-mill.
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