They were, besides, centres around which there gathered a numerous tenantry who worked the lands of the monasteries, which were mainly gifts and bequests from kings and nobles who realized how much good was being accomplished by the monks, and who hoped thus to make up for evil in their own lives by foundations which would continue to do good. Monasteries, quite contrary to the tradition of elazy monks?' of a generation ago, were really hives of busy in dustry. It is only since we have established agricultural schools that the realization has come that the old monasteries represent an an ticipation of these schools (Goodell Presidential Address Massachusetts Agricultural School). For the tenantry were taught how to raise their crops to the best advantage; good breeds of stock and seeds which would grow to the best advantage under the conditions were provided for them. The monastery itself diked. ditched and drained the territory, often brought water from a distance for irrigation. It was no wonder that the tradition arose that it was to live under the that is under the rule of an abbot or abbess, for the convents for women shared all of the privileges and ad vantages of the monasteries for men. These monasteries became centres of trade and indus try as well as of education and of letters. They cultivated particularly architecture and the arts of painting and sculpture, but also the minor arts and crafts, so that beautiful wood work and iron work, as well as carving in stone and stained glassmaking, were developed to a high degree, while the convents accomplished similar artistic purposes in lace-making, needle-work, tapestry, book illumination and like occupations.
The Benedictine nuns were founded by the twin sister of Benedict, Scholastica by name, and the nunneries came to be refuges for women who wished to pursue an intellectual and spiritual life, similar to that which the monasteries provided for the men. At all times in history, a certain number of women do not feel the vocation to be wives and mothers and to assume family cares. Some provision must be made for them and the failure of such provision brings serious social evils in its train. For centuries these Benedictine nun neries provided an opportunity for these women and besides accomplished wonderful work. Mrs. Putnam (dean of Barnard Col lege) goes so far as to say that the modern college for women has not as yet provided op portunities for the exertion of woman's influ ence equal to those given her by the Benedictine nunneries in the Middle Ages. We know al most nothing of the life of Saint Scholastica, except the famous story told by no less an authority than Pope Saint Gregory I, that when she came to die and her brother., who was with het, was about to leave, in order to keep his own rule that no one unless compelled should stay out of his monastery over night, Saint Scholastica prayed that he might be kept near her, and a great storm arose which prevented Benedictine from leaving her side until after her passing. Her convents, like the monasteries of Saint Benedictine, are still in existence all over the world, many of them very flourishing and all engaged in good work. The word originally nonna or nanna, was a form of the word amother,D because these women who denied themselves personal maternity be came the mothers of the needy all around them.
As the result of the large number of slaves which had accumulated in Roman times, the Middle Ages began with the very serious handi cap of an immense problem of serfdom. Dur ing the first century of the Christian era, when Rome had a population of about 2 000,000, it has been calculated that about 1,200,000 of them were slaves. This state of affairs grew worse with time. The condition was not so bad in country places, but opportunities for becom ing freemen were much commoner in urban than in rural life, though everywhere piogres sive individuals were able to secure their free dom in one way or another. The defeats of the barbarous peoples in preceding centuries led to the capture of many prisoners who were made slaves, and these were distributed through out the country places and their descendants were serfs. By this was meant that they were bound to a condition of service, though their masters were bound also in certain obligations toward them. These serfs went with the land whenever it was transferred, and as the land was divided into manors or villas (Latin for a country estate), they were called villains. This word afterward became villain in our sense of rascal, because serfs who ran away from their masters so often found themselves under the necessity of making their living as best they might, by their wits or even by violence.
The serf belonged to the lai1d but the land owed him a living. In a certain sense, there fore, he was better off than the lowest classes have been since the industrial revolution. While some masters were harsh, a great many of them tried to make conditions reasonable for the workers, and persons of special talent and energy who were able to make their own way could usually obtain their freedom. If a serf were absent from his master's domain for a year and a day, the master had no further claim on him. The brighter boys from the country went into the towns, rose from apprentices to membership in the guilds and thus secured their rights as freemen. At this time, no one was supposed to have any rights unless they had been specifically conveyed to him by some authority. This condition of villainage con tinued for centuries, the conditions of it being gradually ameliorated. Villas or manors were transferred by bequest or gift to monasteries or convents and the serfs on these were treated so well that it came to be a tradition that it was good to live on the domains of abbot or abbess. Their children sometimes entered the convents and monasteries and were given the oppor tunity to rise. Some of them became priors or abbots and sometimes bishops, and occasionally the descendant of a serf might be made Lord Chancellor of the kingdom. The presence of all these serfs or slaves to whom the hard manual labor of the time was entrusted made the doing of manual labor by others seem dis graceful, and it was not until the foundation of the monks of the West with the provision of the Benedictine Rule for manual labor by all, that the dignity of labor was restored. It took centuries of Christian effort to bring i abouta definite improvement in social conditions in this regard.