Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-12-07

Insufficient in obstinate cases. md bones are
ssmetlmes nnearthed not vet quite mare Sc
aesh, and skulls with capillary adore naaiits
Sill clinglng to theIn. II walking thr'pug Ii
THESE campo sautos one cs,nes ups,n ribs, mar
row bones, sections "A OF vertebs;e, bits
Of shrouds AMI broken collins at every
fep. But this is BY no means the worst Of it
In the rear of each graveyard is 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
me gets used to all manner or things in time.
you know, and generally ends-as / did-by
tiad q nice, white skull for On ink bottle! The
bones are carted TO this cllarnel house and left
in heaps, until the annual cremation time comes
around, when they are burned and left for the
winds to scatter. Poor Gabriel! what time he
will have on that last great day trying to fulfill
his contract in this cou try: Golgotha must
have been an Eden to this place! Every step
reveals new horror. Here are scores Of we'll
preserved collins, stll halt-full of the lime,
which failed 10 complete its work, mixed with
grave clothes in which the bodies have rotted,
their gay co|ors scarcely faded! Scattered ali
about are babies tiny shoes; leather enough in
hal'-decayed 'ots and slippers 10 starIa shoe
making establishments; women's combs and
otner parapnernalia; skulls Of all sizAs, and
piles of bones III the corners Of the walls
higher than mans head. Here is a skull
mat ed with gray ha r; another with long
hands caressed in other days; aud another
smaller one-white md shining like ivory
evidently that of child. Sometimes the
stencil is intolerable, enough to give the whole
country the cho "a in any other atmosphere:
and we Americans retire from the spot firm in
tho determination not to die in Mexico, what
ever else we may do
AT A FUNERAL.
The other dav prominen5 citizen Of Co.
ahua gave up the ghost aud we determined
to attend his funeral, dispute the custom OK
Guiding women. (5y I'VE" mean the com
my frequent pardner"-a la Sairy Camp aud
B tsy; aud the adventures which one DOESN'T
fall mo, the other is pretty sure to fnd) The
cathedras are always open, aud under pretext
Of performing our deyotions earlier than
usual, my friend and I hied us thither
at the witching hour Of FIVE The dim OH
cathedral full Of ghestly shadows, with here
and there a few pious sOuls-mostly women
knerling upon the floor, murmuring 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? If Heaven is to be won only BY that
mans, am seriously afraid that the Sweet
Bye and Bye will be only vast co'onv of
glorifed saiatesees. The funeral pyranlid-pine
boards painted black, orpamen'ed with skulls,
cross bones and Latin memento mort iuscrip-
tons occupies the center Of the church This
pyramid and it's four side-pieces (Which are
shaped exactly like cof6ns) are stuck full of
sputterlng candies, III whose Il ckerlng light
the shadows seem to sway back aul forth, like
ghOstlv visltants trailing their shrouds behind
them, getting ready to go back int the vaults
be.ow, after nocturnal revel. For Bstsy's
encouragement, I whispered that cheerful
stanza:
Somewhere. ia desoIate, wnd-swept space
In Twilight land, in No-mans land
Two shivering shapes n eat, face to face,
And bid each other stand
And who ara you? cries one agaDe,
Shudderine in the cleaning light:
Il know not" says the second shape,
Il only died last nightl'
Now the funeral procession enters (of course
all men), friends and neighbors Of the de-
cea ed, who bear the coffin upon their shout
ders, and deposit it upon the black paIed dais
in front of the pyramid. As usual, there is no
cover upon the crfin, and the wild '-open eyes
with no moro ''sp-culat on" in them-stare
straight no at the gr' ct white cross over the
main altar. But the blood stained Christ there
on gives no answering sign to this unh FUSED
SOIL which seems to say, 'Tnls day shalt thou
be with me in paradise" From her shrine at
the side of the cathedral, an image of tn, Vir-
gin-with clasped hands and the dagger stick
ing in her heart-iooks down upon the dead
MAJ, as if mourning for the wife and mother
who should b. there. Now enters procession
Of white-robed priests, preceded by boy
bearing huge brass crucifx, which he places
at the head Of the cofin Tnen follows a long
mass, chauted by the priests in monotonous
minor tone-al weird as any Indian ihcanta-
ton in the wilds of our own NOTWITHSTANDING
ing which much holy wafer is sprinkIed
and Incense shaken, till the whole
vast pile is full of the spicy od,r.
Meanwhile the sun has risen, and his
first BEAMS coming in at the barred windows
high Up under the ro,f fall aslant tha cruel
fed Savior, about whose feet some white doves
(who make their homes in the church) are jov-
ously tw'ttering. Now all has been said and
done for the dead man that be, aud on tue
shoulders OF those who yesterday were neigh
bors of this thing to-day called Sit"
the coffin is borne toward the campo santo,
followed by the mu titude, each with his
lighted cxndle. Outs de a slight shower is just
passing over, and rain bow arches the ancient
city, its ends appearing to rest upon the mouat~
narrow Gale at the slowly vanishing process
sion, our thoughts revert to the weeping
women in the DIES late home, who may not
even accompany their dead on its last short
journey. FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.