The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-12-14

n-utiiclent in obstinate cases, and bones are
metlmes unearthed not vet quite Dare OF
'esh, and skulls with capillary adorEments
= III clinging to them. IT, walking through
these campo santos one { ines upnn ribs, mar
rew-pones sections OF yertebre, bits
OF shrouds ant broken collins at every
rep. But this is by no means the worst of it
In tho rear OF each graveyard is a smaller en-
closure, which one with weak nerves had bit
ter not visit The first glimpse is enough 10
make the strongest man forego his dinner; but
one gets used to all mtnner of things in time,
yon Know, and generally enus-as / did-by
boxing over the bones with his umbrella to
ind a nice, white skuil for au ink bottle! The
bones are carted to t,is charnel house and left
IN hears, until the annual cremation time comes
around, when they are burned and left for the
Winds to scatter. Poor Gabriel! what a time he
VIII have on that last great day trying to fulfill
HE contract in this country! Golg,tha must
have been an Eden 10 this place! Every step
reveals a new horror. Here are scores Of we'll
preserved c%ofins, still halt-full of the lime,
which failed 10 complete its work, mixed with
sraye-clotbes in which the bodies have rotted,
their gay colors scarcely faded! Scattered ali
about are babies tiny shoes; leather enough in
halt-decayed b ,ots and slippers TO starta shoe
making establishment; women's combs and
piles of bones in the corners of the walls
higher tnan a mans head. Here is q skull
mat ed with gray ha r; another with a long
b'ack tress attached, which doubtless loving
hands caressed in other days; and another
smaller ne-wh md shining like ivory
evidently that of q child. Sometimes the
stencil ia intolerable, enough to give the whole
country the cholera in any other atmosphere;
and we Americans retire from the spot, firm in
the determination not to die in Mexico, what
ever else we may do.
AT A FUNERAL.
lhe other dav a prominent citizen of Co
ahui'a gave up the ghost. aud we determined
to attend his funeral, dispito the custom ey
GLIDING women. l5y We" | mean the com
pnnion of my wanderings, who calls herself
my frequent pardner"-a la Sairy Camp and
b tsy; aud the adventures which one doesn't
fall mo, the other is pretty sure TO find). The
cafhedrals are always open, and under pretext
Of performing our devotions earlier than
usual, my friend and l hied us thi,her.
Imagine gray November morning,
at the wi'ching hour of five. The dim old
cathedral, full of ghostly shadows, with here
and there a few pions souls-mostly women
knceling upon the floor, murmurinS the pray
ers or whispering at confessional windows.
Can anybody tell why it is that most Of the
PRAYING in this wicked world Is done by
women? II Heaven is to be won only by that
means, ! am seriously afraid that the Sweet,
Bye and Bye Will be only q vast colony of
glorifed saintesses. The funeral pyramil-pine
boards painted black, ornamenred with skulls,
cross bones and Latin memento mort inscrip-
tions- occupies the center of the church. This
PYRAMID and its four side-uieces (which arc
shaped exactly like coft:ns) are stuck full of
spu'tsring candles. in whose fl cksring light
the shadows seem to sway back aud forth, like
ghostly ~visitants trailing their shrouds behind
them, getting ready to go back int, the vaults
below, after a nocturnal revel. For Betsy's
encouragement, l whispered that cheerful
stai!Za:
Som where. in desolate. wind-swept space
In Twilight land. in No-mau's land
Two shivering shapes IN eat, face to face,
Aud bid each other stand.
AND who are your" cries one agape,
Shuddering in the cleaning light;
I know not" says the second shape,
i only died last nightl"
Now tho funeral procession enters (of course
all mem, friends and neighbors of the de-
cea ed, who bear the coffin upon their shout
ders, and deposit it upon the black palied dais
in front of the pyramid. AS usual, there ia no
cover upon the coffin, and the wida-npen eyes
with no more Speculation" in them-stare
straight up at the great white cross over the
main altar. But the blood-stained Christ there
on gives no answering sign to this unhoused
sonl which seems to say This day shalt thou
the side OF the cathedral, an image of the vir-
gin-with clasped hands aud the dagger stick
lug in her heart-looks down upon the dead
man, as II mourning for the wife and mother
who should be thore. Now enters a procession
of white-robed priests, preceded by a bow
bearing a huge brass c%ruci6x, which he places
at the head of the cofin. Then follows a long
mass. chanted by the priests in a monotonous
minor tone-as weird rs any Indian ihcanta-
ton in the wilds of our own Northwest-dur-
ing which much holy water is sprinkled
and incense shaken. till the whole
vast pile is full Of the spicy odor.
Meanwhile the sun has risen, and his
first beams, coming in at the barred windows
high up under the roof, fall aslant the cruci-
fed Savior, about whose feet some white doves
(who make their homes in the church, are iov-
ously twittering. Now all has been said and
done for the dead man that can be, and on the
bors of this thing to-day called ait"
the coffin is borne toward the campo santo,
followed by the multitude, each with his
lighted candle. Outside a slight shower is just
passing over, and . rainbow arches the ancient
city, its ends appearing to rest upon the mount
ain tops at either side. Looking down the
narrow Gale at the slowly vanishing process
sion, our thoughts revert to the weeping
women in the desolate home, who may not
oven accompany their dead on its last short
Journey. N BRIGHAM WARD.