experience. One may imagine the most aggravated form of
cruelty, the most heart-rending agonies, yet I do believe
the conception of the most active imagination would fall
far short of the horrible reality. I do not believe there
was one happy individual in that convent, or that any
one there, if I except the lady Superior, knew anything
of enjoyment. Life with them was a continual round of
ceaseless toil and bitter self-denial; while each one
had some secret grief slowly but surely gnawing away the
heart-strings. I have sometimes seen the Abbess sitting
by the bedside of the sick, with her eyes closed, while
the big tears fell unchecked over her pale cheeks. When
I asked her why she wept, she would shake her head, but
never speak. I now know that she dare not speak for fear
of punishment.

The abbesses in the various parts of this convent are
punished as much as the nuns, if they dare to disobey
the rules of the priests; and if the least of these are
broken in the presence of any one in the house, they will
surely tell of it at confession. In fact, they are
required to do this; and if it is known that one has seen
a rule broken, or a command disobeyed, without reporting
it, a severe punishment is sure to follow. Thus every
individual is a spy upon the rest; and while every failure
is visited with condign punishment, the one who makes
the most reports is so warmly approved, that poor human
nature can hardly resist the temptation to play the
traitor. Friendship cannot exist within the walls of a
convent, for no one can be trusted, even with the most