It is
sufficient amusement to them to sit on the steps, or lie about under the
shadow of the trees, and neither say anything nor do anything, but simply
breathe, and look at the sky and at each other. We saw scores of such
people just resting instinctively in a kind of blissful waking dream.
Others saunter along the walks which have been cut in the woods that
surround the hospice, or if they have been pent up in a town and have a
fancy for climbing, there are mountain excursions, for the making of
which the hospice affords excellent headquarters, and which are looked
upon with every favour by the authorities.
It must be remembered also that the accommodation provided at Oropa is
much better than what the people are, for the most part, accustomed to in
their own homes, and the beds are softer, more often beaten up, and
cleaner than those they have left behind them. Besides, they have
sheets--and beautifully clean sheets. Those who know the sort of place
in which an Italian peasant is commonly content to sleep, will understand
how much he must enjoy a really clean and comfortable bed, especially
when he has not got to pay for it. Sleep, in the circumstances of
comfort which most readers will be accustomed to, is a more expensive
thing than is commonly supposed. If we sleep eight hours in a London
hotel we shall have to pay from 4d.
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