As to Bernadette, the interest and veneration attached to her have not in the least affected her candor and simplicity. She has retired to the convent of Sisters Hospitallers of Nevers, and nothing distinguishes her from the most humble of her companions. OUR LADY OF PONTMAIN (DIOCESE OF LAVAL).--1871. "France, having been invaded by the Prussians, was conquered; Paris was besieged and suffered the horrors of famine, aggravated by the rigors of an extremely cold winter. It was at this period the Blessed Virgin vouchsafed to appear, bringing words of hope and consolation to the people of her predilection. The place favored with this apparition was the little town of Pontmain, situated about four leagues from Fougères, on the confines of the dioceses of Laval and Rennes. It was Monday, January 17th, 1871, about six o'clock in the evening; Eugène Barbedette, a child aged twelve years, looking from the door of the barn where he was occupied with his father and younger brother, Joseph, aged ten years, perceived in the air, a little above and behind the house of the family of Guidecoq, which was opposite him, a tall and beautiful Lady, who smiled upon him. He called his brother, his father, and a woman of the village who was talking to him at the moment. But his brother was the only one except himself who saw the vision, and both gave exactly the same description of this wonderful being. The Lady was clothed in a wide-sleeved blue robe, embroidered with golden stars. Her dress descended to the shoes, which were also blue, fastened with a clasp of gold-colored ribbon. She wore a black veil, covering a portion of her forehead and falling behind her shoulders to the girdle. Upon her head was a golden circle like a diadem, and with no ornament but a red line passing through the middle. Her face was delicate, very white, and of incomparable beauty. "In a little while, quite a crowd had collected around the barn-door; Madame Barbedette, the Sisters in charge of the parish school, the venerable curé, and more than sixty other persons, but of all these, only two shared the happiness of the Barbedette children. These two were also children, boarders at the convent. Frances Richer, aged eleven years, and Jane Mary Lebossé, aged nine and a half. The other spectators were witnesses only of the joy and happiness of the four privileged ones, but all were convinced that it was truly the Blessed Virgin who had appeared.