The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-12-14
NJ EXICANS AND THEIR DEAI
The Dismal customs Which Render the Pres
ence of the Reaper ar Exceedingly
Unpleasant Occurrence.
The Graveyard a Pot Pouri of Bones Calcu-
lated 10 Give Gabriel q Deal
OF Trouble.

OF Trouble.
EsTADo DE CoAHuILA DE ZARAGozA, Specia'
CORES. ondence, Nov. 19.-The days Of All
saints and All Souls. through which we have
just been passing, are the saddest of the year
to religious Mexico-and that means everybody
of La i'll blood within her borders. In our own
older republic few church festivals, except
Christmas and Easter, call for special obeerv-
ance from the people at large; but in Mexico
despite the new epoch since the war of
church and state. in which the latter is nov
supposed to rule) the church Is still the all
prevailing power. Ills said that the holy DAYS in
her calendar far outnumber the days OF the year,
but among them all none touches every heart
so tenderly as these two days de-
voted to the dead. Black Friday
commemorative of the crucitixion-is sad
enough; for then 10 sound of wheel or ham
iner or human labor is heard; nc carts or car
riages are permitted upon the streets; and the
whole nation, clad In black, goes to church to
mourn with The Virgin Mother. But that far
away tragedy, with nearly nineteen centuries
between, does not come home to all hearts
ike the common sorrow of every household
for death Is alike a tragedy in palace or howell
GA All Saints day, after early mass, the people
crowd the ccmeteries-and it is the only day in
the year when those cities of tho dead are ever
visited, except by sightseeing strangers. But
this day is more especially devoted to the re-
membrance of those who died in other
years-the saints and martyrs and g orious
army of Gust men made perfect who
are supposed to have safely passed the
pains of purgatory and long since become
acclimated to the atmosphere OF Heaven. On
All Saints day eaci, prays in church for his
own dead, and-as "there is 10 flock, however
watched and tended, but some dead lamb is
there"-evcry family, high and low, rich and
poor, senos its iamenting Rachel. Cathedral
scenes on that day are long to be remembered.
For hours the bells tolled dismaiiy and the
streets were full of mourning figures, with
black shawls or rebosas covering their faces,
silently vending their way to the place of
prayer. In the center of each darkened
church the b,ack-palled funeral dais was
erected. with its Pickering candles and grim
suggestions. The affairs were draped with
Grape, the usual Gaudy roses replaced by black
ones, and sombcr banners bore, in Spanish, the
words, Remember the Dead. The kneeIing
crowd, all with devou, faces turnod toward tho
cross-the symbol Of their Lope-repeated
their prayers so earnestly that the
united voices sounded like the distant roaring
OF the sea. They were mostly of that sex who
are 'frst at the cradle and last at the tomb,
and 1t was easy to read in the upturned coun-
tcnances whose sorrows were freshest There
were orphaned children, the widow in her weeds,
the white-halred mother, bereft of sons and
daughters-every face had its history. And it
did not dotract from the solemnity of the oc-
| casion to know that the floor upon which thew
kn@lt was a succession of trap-doors, covering
vaults filed 10 the brim with the bones OF a
century's dead. .
DISMAL CEREMONY.
A Mexican funeral liz very different from the
same sad ceremony in the United States, for
here all that is ghastIy is brought to the front
and every comforting suggestion carefully e1-
Guided. Apparently these people mean to en-
joy 'the luxury of grief to the full, and de-
C inc to be robbed Of a single pang. Here no
floral tributes are sent by sympathizing friends
no pillows of white carnations, with Crest
i'll pur.le immortelles; no crosses and anchors
of ~spotless lilies; and the dear departed are
not laid away in beds of blossoms, with tube
roses upon their bosoms If flowers are used
at all, they are generally the gaudiest of arti-
fetal, with leaves and little s,reamers of gilt
papers. precisely like those fastened to
iron hooks which are thrust into the
bulls hide during the Sunday advertisement Of
the Plaza de Torros. l have seen bunch of
these floral monstrosities as big "a a cabbage
in the waXen hands Of a dead lady, and tho
| gray head of au old man crowned with a wreath
of blood-red roses, which gave tho corpse n
rakish air, most comically grotesquo. At
whatever hour OF day or night a person dies
in Mexico, it is customary to appoint the fu-
neral services just twenty-four hours ,hereaf-
ter, or as near to it rs can possibly be ar
ranged. 1t is a well-known fact the wide world
over, that the majority of souls go out OF bodies
at that mystic, E,on hour between night
Of life are at their lowest ebb; there's
fore-ip consequence Of the national custom
| aforesaid-most funerals are conducted before
sunrise. All bodies must be carried to the
| church before being laid in consecrated pround
but it is net the fashion here for women to at
tend funerals. So the wife, the mother, the
sisters, tho daughters, take their last farewell
zen casa and the dead are then borne by
male relatives and friends, first to the cathedral.
and then 10 the tomb. How mothers can en-.
dure this, when their children die, passeth
American comprehension, but the iron hand of
custom is even more memorable here than in
our own country, and none dream of defying
1t. About The saidest sights l ever saw, sufi.
clent to make any mother's heart ache.
are frequently met in the twilight of
the carly morning; a little PROCESSION of
men on foot with never a woman among them)
vending their way to the campo santo-feid
of saints, as the cemetery ia called. The be-
l lShN wy iAh' NhNo al iAottp w tIl5 llktlc
blue-palnted coffin balanced upon his head.
The male relatives follow with lighted candles.
and the rear is brought up by a boy, carrying
the coffin lid. The dead child is plainly Wis
lble within the open box, dressed in the ga, est
clothes. adorned with many paper flowers, and
often the little features eau scarcely be recog-
nlZed from the dusG of the sire
which settles upon it before the sdusi
to dust" process begins, Except among the
wealthy, the coffin is rot buried with the body,
but is merely rented for the journey between
house and cemetery, the same Pine box, which
FOR Adults is painted black, outlined with white
and yellow stripes, serving the purpose a great
humber of times. Learned the wisdom Of OK.
Guiding women from the last horrible rites in
this country during my FIRST visit to q ''feld OIL
saints" Arriving at the grave, whether the
DO iy be inferred with or without a coffin, it i.
always first covered With lime, that it may tho
corpse IS taken out of the coffin, laid in the
dirt without any covering tthe sightless
eyes wide OPEN and a quantity OF
unslacked lime thrown in, and earth shovelet
upon 1.-THE sexton now and then jumping il
aud stamping down with his feet to mako al
snug. Even then the poor cadaver cannot be
said to have gone to his 'Iong home" for
though buried like a dog, he is not sure Of hi
grave long enough to decay decently In. 1t il
an actual fact, ali over the length and breadth
OF Mexico, that Except among the few who ar.
rich enough to own family vaultsj the grave,
are mostly rented for from three months t
not more than a years time.
A MELANGE OF BONES.
Most of these ancient cities have only one
small campo santa veritable Goods acre
in point Of size-whercin the dead OF severa
hundred years have been disposed OF. That il
the secret of the quick lime. ! have looked
down into many freshly-dug graves, and al
presented the sane appearance-the sides
perfect sandwich of layers upon layers o
crumbling bones and bits of collins which til,
spade had cut through, looking like huge slicel
of chicken salad Or old-fashioned ttmarbls'