Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-05-06


Christ carried at the head was |" the dead
Lord, " a fair, corpselike figure, under a
glass case. 1t was taken to the church
and placed on a lofty tomb guarded by
TWO angels and watched by Roman sol
dlers. The wind whistled shrilly around
the ancient building and the people dis
persed slowly when the doors were
closed; but the strangers, lingering long
there, could hear the measured tramp of
the Roman soldiers keeping vigil over
the Christ of us alp throughout the
Watchnight." The morning of Holy
| Saturday dawned in clouds and soon
after daybreak the rain poured down in
| torrents. Then said the miners with en-
tire conviction, "The Lord brought it
when He moved His hand"
The awful solemnity, the picturesque
| beauty and the startling strangeness of
| the scene to be beheld on Good Friday
must surpass those even of the Passion
play at OberAmmergau because of the
terrible reality of the place and the man
| ner of 1.-THE center of an immense
square, thronged with thousands of peo-
| pie, and the actual processes of the exc
cution, which are all gone through to
the accompaniment of the heart-rending
Passion music in the face of the multi
tude, in bright-hued dresses, standing in
the full, golden sunlight, hemmed in by
the low-roofed houses, with the snow
capped ridge of the Sierra for
their outer boundary. Through this
brilliant crowd, all still and 81
lent, comes a row Of men, two
deep, robed and hooded, and bearing
large candles, and they clear a pathway
for the first procession of the condemned
The King of the Jews, delivered to the
people, is borne by four penitents; the
derisive robe of His mock royalty is rich
claret color, gorgeously embroidered in
gold; crown of thorns IS pressed down
upon His brow, and His hair (real human
hair), dabbled in blood, falls down over
His shoulders. He has fallen upon one
hand from exhaustion, His head droops a
little, His nostrils are slightly widened,
| as of one who pants for breath; mute
l. eproof, utter WEAKNESS, accomplishing
suffering are all in the face
The figure passes slowly up the square,
severirg the thronging populace, and is
followed by 100 Roman soldiers, march
| ing tWo-and-two, some mounted on fiery
Andalusian chargers, some on foot
These are "the Ccnturion's Guard" The
band steps to one side, the Roman sol
dlery form round the Condemned, the
| penltents once more clear way, and
Saint Veronica comes to make her lowly
obeisance, and STOPPING down to wipe
| the sweat and dirt and blood from the
Lords face. AS she does so the handker-
chief is rolled up by means of a spring,
ana another appears in her hands, with
| the image of Jesus upon it. Now comes
the Virgin Mother, and there IS not one
covered head or single standing figure.
The image OF the Virgin is marvel OF
art. Her arms move, she wipes her
eyes, her pale face is expressive of SIM
pie, sheer, unapproachable grief, and, as
the many bands play the most plaintive
strains of Bach's Passion music. at the
most wailing note she draws near and
puts her arms round the neck and across
the breast of her fallen, fainting and
bleeding Son. So the first procession of
Holy Friday passes out of sight amid an
| orderly, eager crowd, and when it has
vanished the prisoners, manacled indeed,
but free in sense during the blessed
hours, walk about the city and solicit
aims. A little before nighlfall with the
same crowds, lights and music, come the
final scenes. Through the way cleared
by the penitents comes the Savior and
washes Peters feet; the attitudes beau
tifully expressed and the music exquis-
lite. Then He comes, praying in the
Garden of Gethsemane figure bowed
with anguish, amid real shrubs, dexter
ously lighted. Again He is bound to a
pillar, and the fearful scourging is repre-
sented with realism almost too dread
full to be borne. Then He carries His
cross, fainting, lacerated, weary beyond
all telling. Night has fallen now; the
crowds are denser, the plaza is all dark :;
but in the center are moving forms and
the blaze of lighted candles Profound
silence reigns, so that the night wind,
blowing in ftful gusts from the mount
aims to the southwark, can be distinctly
heard For the last time way is cleared.
Now the Christ was raised aloft in that
dim, silent, but teeming Plaza, nailed
upon the cross-a public spectacle, His
dying figure barely lit up by the torch of
a penitent or ruthless soldier. Little,
| thin, red streams O. blood flowed down
from His nail-pierced hands, crossing
each other at the wrist and passing to
the armpit, and thence trickling down
the sides, and soaking in gore the linen
cloth at the waist. It was too fright
fully real. The two thieves were on
either side and beyond them stretched
the long line of penitents whose lighted
candles shed a fitful ray over the whole.
When the scene was finished a troop of
children with silver wings went by, car
rying banners inscribed with the words