The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-07-25


morn threw its broad light on the scene.
Thus closed Lent, and thus commenced
Easter-Sunday. Thus terminated the
ceremonies of Holy Week,--begun in
penance and prayer, and ended in frolic
and fun. That such celebration can
substantially promote the cause of piety
and the propricties of life, must surpass
the belief of any enc whose faith has not
lifted the ceremonies of his church above
the reach of human fallibility.
MONDAY, APRIL 13. The climate Of
Lima has no extreme variations. The
mercury on Fahrenheit's scale rarely ris-
es in summer above eighty, and rarely
falls in winter below sixty-five. The
prevailing temperature is about seventy
five. But there is a surprising sensitive
ness in the inhabitants to these slight va
riations. Let cooler current of air
sweep from the Cordilleras, and you will
encounter everywhere the ample cloak
and heavy shawl You hardly feel the
change yourself, and think for the mo-
ment you have got among invalids.
The effect of the climate on the con-
stitutional habits Of the European, soon
betrays itselfin n relaxation of his encr-
gies He loses his enterprise, enthusi-
asm and hinty endurance, and sinks into
that dreamy listlessness which pervades
the great mass His descendants dwin-
BILE in intellect, and are dwarfed in person.
Tfwhite, his complexion becomes bronzcd
if black, it is bleached into hues less
sable. The climate acts like the crucibe
which fuses the different metals which it
contains into one mass
The climate acts with the same soften
ing and subdung effect on the force and
and ferocity Of animals. The dog be-
comes spiritess, the tiger ceases to spread
dsmay and terror when he leaves his
lair, and the Wild bull brought within the
arena, has to be goaded to the combat by
a system of refined cruelty and torture.
No animal fights save in his own de-
fence, and the men, if reused and forced
to action, rarely pursue an enemy beyond
the limits of the field where fortune has
favored their arms
TUESDAY, April II We visited again
to-day the Franciscan convent This
magnificent establishment had once some
four hundred inmates, and ali income
suited to the easy and sumptuous style
in which they had lived. But in the
i, Revolution its funds disappeared, and
the monks sought an asylum elsewhere.
We encountered in its vacant halls but
one, and he darted out upon us seeming
ly to frighten away an American lady
whom we had in our company. He
appeared, as he fitted along the silent
corridors, more like dusky ghost than
aught of flesh and blood. His long robe
drapcd his person; his cowl half con-
cealcd his wan features; his thin hand
nelu ciucinA aui hi, st.p- sldoh
over the pavement noiseless as his shad-
ow. He was here, and there; now in
the faint light; now in the shadow of the
wall now in his cell now in the chap
el, and then sweeping tn long, dim cor
ridor. You saw no motion of any limb;
you heard no sound and if the glance
of his eye fell on you, it was hut for
moment.
"Beware beware of the black frnr,
Who fits through these halls of stone,
! For he muttcrs his prayer in the midnight air,
And his mass of the days that gone.
| His form you may trace. but not hi face
'Ts, ,Ghadow'd by his cOwl;
But his eyes may be seen from the fol- between,
And they seem of parted soul
WEDNESDAY, APRIL H. The most i'll
tolerable feature of legal process in
Peru grows out of the claws delay
A foreigner may be imprisoned for weeks
and perhaps months, without being able
to secure hearing before the proper tri-
bunal. If he applies to the functionary,
who represents his country at this court,
his case then takes diplomatic charac-
ter, and wanders back and forth, in shad-
owy shape, while moons wax and wane.
His case is loaded with all grievances,
piques, and prejudices, which have agita.
ted the parties, who have the manage
ment of it, through series of years.
Till at last he finds it quite as difficult to
get out of the Peruvian law.
Now our commodores have II very
brief mode of settling there difficulties.
They man their batteries and demand the
release of the prisoner in twenty-four
hours He is then held amenable to the
laws which it is alleged he has offended.
If innocent, he pays the penalty. There
are no stately forms of court etiquette,
no subscriptions of having the honor to
be, with high consideration, your excel
lency's most humble nincompoop. ln-
stead of this demand is made. founded
in humanity and justice, and enforced by
argument which the wise will not and
the timid dare not resist Such is one of
the advantages OF having navy. Dis
band it and our citizens 60 to prisons and
our commerce to pirates.
In the general tumulr of Saturday
night one ofour junior officers came in
conflict with an irregular detachment of
the military police. Weapons were
drawn; the leader Of the file was dis
armed by him, and several others re-
ceived slight wounds, when he was over
powered by numbers and led of to the
guard-house His liberation was prompt
~ ucH"Hucu bJ '"P'' 'u ""'' ""' "'9
amenability to the laws of Peru, of course,
recognized The demand, after the re-
sponsibility of the case had been shutiled
from the intendente to the project and
from him to the criminal Judge, was COM
piled with.
As soon as it reached the lawyers of
Lima that case of this kind had got
into their courts, they gathered around
the young officer like forty rival lovers
for the hand Of the same lady Some
profiered their services for half the usual
|, fee; some for what he might please to
give, and several said they should charge
him nothing except for stationery, Some
pressed their pretcnsions through the le-
gitimate character of their diplomas /;
some through their relationship to the
] tn1,,a an1 ..n.t.l half og tha Ia.