Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-23

1891.
ident, denouncing him bitterly as hereto
and corruptor Of all that is good, and pop
ular sentiment ran SO high that revolution
seemed much more probable than it, did
month before the present war began. I
think it was in 1884 that President Do
mingo Santa Maria (Balmaceda's prede-
cessor) settled the matter judicially by in
ducing Congress to pass a law which threw
all the public cemeteries of Chile open to
people of every religious faith, or Of no
faith at all. Previous to that date they had
been the exclusive property of the Romish
church, and had yielded large revenue.
Besides the IS tax on every cadaver,
burial lots were sold at high price. In
the big cemetery at Santiago the longest
time for which lot was sold was four
generations, about 80 years. An average
lot, about two yards long by one yard wide,
cost $50 for a period Of four generations;
the same size lot for one burial, one year,
So; for the privilege of erecting family
monument after the lot was paid for, $50
additional. A record was kept, and when
the stipulated time expired, the friends Of
the deceased could continue in possession
only by renewing the lease and paying
another $50. If the family had moved to
dead, their lot was resold when the lease
expired and the former tenants evicted;
but if they desired to remove their dead to
another place, $50 was charged for permis-
sion to do so. The Church Of Santiago owns
tirst-class hearse, which is used only for
great dignitaries at the cost of $50 for con-
veying the corpse on its last journey. 1t
also has second class hearse, for common
people," the fee for using which is S12; and
third-class hearse, for So. And so on
down the social garnut to the sixth class,
composed of the Church's most devoted
servants, who, having no money to pay for
any hearse,, carry their dead on a stretcher,
and lay them, cofinless, in the rotos
dragged people's'') corner.
THE CEMETERY AT SANTIAGO.
The great cemetery at Chile's capital,
with its more than 300, 900 registered dead,
is certainly the most populous, if not popu-
lar, public resort in the country. And the
population, still constantly increasing, is
permanent one, disturbed by no May-day
moving, or revolutions, or changing Gov
ernments. 1t is divided into five parts
one for dignitaries of the church, one for
wealthy and influential people, another
for common clay, and another for "rotos,"
who are too poor to pay anything. Passing
into that City of Silence through a lofty
arched gateway topped by tall cross, one
stands amazed at the multitude of
bronze and marble statues. many of
then executed by the most famous sculptors
of Europe, crowd of costly and artistic
shapes, far exceeding in number those to be
found at Greenwood or Mount Auburn.
Thousands of the monuments are in the from
OF crucifxes, reminding the visitors of some
ones thought, 'Let us hope they have
gained the crown. for behold the multitude
of crosses they have left behind" Ever
greens, willows, Towering shrubs, roses and
forget-me-nots riot everywhere, with t, at
uncanny lu1uriance peculiar to graveyards.
Should you tarry to watch the sexton dig
ging a grave, you would observe that his
spade soon encounters something hard in the
sandy earth. 1t is only the fragments of
some forgotten persons coffin which, with
skull and marrow bones are carelessly ratified
out upon the sward. A little deep down he
is sure to come upon another "poor Yorick,"
and yet another; four layers Of them being
about the average.
IT KILLED THE BISHOP.
It is still spoken of with bated breath in
Conception, how, when the famous "ceme-
terry bill, which compelled the authorities
to permit the burial of Protestants and
other heretics in the public pantheons, had
passed both Houses Of Congress and re-
ceived the signature of the President, the
Bishop of this diocese, the most influential
Jesuit in all South America, man of pow
erful physique and in apparent health,
dropped dead from the shock of the news.
Pending the Presidents signature, he was
waited upon by delegation composed of
hundreds of the wealthiest ladies of the
country, who besought him to veto the OBJ
ha
daughters of the Chilean aristocracy-the
same class of ladies, still swayed in all
things by the church, who are to-day es-
pousing the cause of the revolutionists,
which in reality is question of the Liberal
party against so-called conservatism, of tho
aristocracy against the common people, free
schools and enlightened progress against
circumscribed education and return to the
priestly rule of half century ago.
A few years ago wealthy Chilean died,
leaving 81, 900 in the hands of an executor
to be expended in masses for the repose of
his soul. The native priests would not
consent to perform more than 800 masses for
that amount of money; and so the thrifty
executor wrote to Spain, and after consider
able haggling procured thousand masses
for $500, pocketing the remainder for the
comforting of his own soul. Thereupon the
ocal priests brought suit against him-not |
or detrauding the dead, but for cheating
he church out of its legitimate business.
THE HOLY HOST PROCESSION.
Even the Holy Host procession, which
possessed such weird fascination for us in |
Peru and Bolivia, is here losing its power.
Formerly in all parts of Chile it was con-
'eyed to the dying with bells and lights |
md burning incense, and great pomp of |
military; but in recent years so many diff
ulties have arisen between the natives and
leretic foreigners-the latter sometimes re-
using to kneel in the street when the sa-
red procession passed-that the authorities
AVE forbidden these outward demonstrations
n the principal cities, though they still
ontinue in the interior villages. In San
iago and Valparaiso the holy viatico, or
lost, is now conveyed to the bed of death
y priest under red umbrella, preceded
les. 4 ~ - wy "-'- . '''i anu AA's0 JAIL
In Conception one may sometimes meet
in numbering coach, drawn by donkeys.
nth driver dressed in red seated in front
nd black-robed priest inside. The latter
arries the consecrated wafer in q small box;
Thile boy, also dressed in red, walks be-
ore ringing bell to call the attention of
assersby.
1t is strange sight Even politicians of
he Liberal" type, who are most bitter
q their denunciations of the church, in
arlably stop and uncover their heads and
,any Of them spread their handkerchiefs on
he dusty sidewalk and kneeI upon it,
lille the lower class fall upon their knees
t once. When eross-road is reached, all
ne people for the distance of block, must
ncoyer their heads or bow to the earth, and
ood Catholics murmur prayers for the de-
arting soul, to which the sacred wafer with
s mysterious significance is nassinr So