Having received this reply, Bernadette withdrew.  When she next saw her vision she delivered the message of Peyramale, but it was not regarded.  The apparition commanded her to go as far as she could on her hands and knees, and when Bernadette had done so, to the great wonder of her observers she was commanded to drink.  She rose, and was about to go to the stream, when the vision called her back and told her to drink of the fountain, not of the stream.  Now, there was no fountain, but Bernadette instinctively dug a small hole in the earth with her hands, and a very small stream of water flowed forth from the earth and filled it.  She dipped some up with her hands and drank.  This little stream continued to flow, and increased in size.  On the following day it was many times its original size.  Travelers are to this day shown the stream near the grotto of Massabielle, which, it is declared, thus sprang from a miraculous source.  Three hundred people are declared to have seen this miracle, and in different regions of France many people may still be found who declare that they were present upon that occasion.

After this, still greater crowds flocked to the grotto of Massabielle, and again the authorities interfered.  MM.  Massy and Jacomet for a long time waged their war with the people until the emperor telegraphed, ordering that all interference should be stopped.  Thus the people were left in peaceful possession of their fountain, and reports of its marvelous cures filled all the papers, and visitors came from far and near, bringing cans and bottles to fill at the wondrous stream.

It will be remembered that Peyramale had demanded that the brier should blossom before a church should be built.  In spite of his decision there now stands not far from the grotto a church that has already cost two and a half millions of francs, though not completed, and numerous convents are projected to occupy sites in the vicinity.  A statue of the Virgin stands in the grotto where the vision appeared, and on the rock are hung numerous crutches and staffs, which it is claimed were left there by those cripples whom the waters of the spring have healed.

Bernadette became day by day an object of still greater interest—­in some cases of reverence.  Many offers were made to provide for herself and her family, but they were declined, and both her parents died poor, her mother so late as December 18, 1866.  Marie Soubirons and a brother, it is said, still live at Lourdes, but Bernadette became a Sister of Charity, and is now an inmate of the Hospice of Nevers, under the name of Sister Marie Bernard.  At this institution she took the veil, and she occupies herself, when health admits, in tending the sick.  She lives a life of great seclusion, and is almost utterly ignorant of all that occurs outside the hospice walls.  From the letter of a graphic writer I quote as follows:  “She is now twenty-five.  She is not beautiful in feature, but in expression.  Her look has a soft, melting attraction.  She is a great sufferer, and is tried by cruel pains in her chest, which she bears very patiently, saying the Virgin told her she should be happy in heaven.”