The Republican journal., 1896-05-14

AA saoSs liz Simple reason is
because foreign markets are unwilling to
pay the prices of the finer qualities. and
flch New Yorker hardly feels that he can
afford such hammock as +be noorast
ooa'clan sleeps IN. AS in other tropical
regions, they are used for beds through
out the country, being cooler, cleaner
ana less likely to be infested with ver-
min. In the north, where millions of
hammocks are sold every summer as low
as a dollar apiece, we think two or three
dollars ought to buy very respectable
qualify; but here, where they are made
Ihe cheapest is 81, and so on up to SIS.
S2o, even to $50. The poorest we can find
mere are far better than any | have seen
elsewhere outside of Brazil: and the hest
ones are tine as lace yet strong as iron,
made with great care from the choicest
flbre and warranted to last a life-tim
Though about feet square, they NAV be
rolled into the compass of a pocket hand
kerchle1, and thus one may easily carry
his bed about with him.
u before returning to aImuer.o. or sssec
oud breakfast in the Hotel Mexico. we
have just about time to take a look at the
most interesting thing in modern Merida
the monastery of San Francsc OF what
remains of it, now utilized as a barrack
and spoken of as Ell Castillo. Within five
years after the Spaniards had so ruthless
ly destroyed the aboriginal city and driven
out the Caciques and their people by the
sword, the church took possession and
began the building of tins vast pile. upon
a partially-leyelled mound which had late
ly been crowned by the affairs Of other
Gods. 1t was constructed entirely OF
materials taken from the ancient temples.
in the form of a fort, with bastions.
towers and battlements, for the Indians
made many valiant attacks to regain their
lost domains. 1t occupies five acres, en-
closed by walls 40 feet high and s feet
thick, much of which is now in rains.
Here, for 800 years, the Church of Rome
remained triumphant; until 1920. when
the new constitution, which few Next
can patriots had obtained in Spain.
reached the colonies and was promulgated
in Merida The Jesuits, bound to sus
tain the old order of things as long as
possible, held out against it and, conf
dent OF their hold upon the populace.
openly defied the new laws of the "Liber-
aP' party. Finally feld-pieces were
brought out, the doors of the monastery
battered down, and 300 monks expelled at
the point of the bayonet And thus the
vanquishers, with tie vanquished, became
numbered among the shadowy things that
were.
Passing through portal in the massive
wall we enter weed grown court yard,
and thence into series of immense
rooms whose walls are decorated with
symbols of the Christian faith and en-
blems Of once potent priesthood one
of them, evidently the refectol'y where
the Friars took their meals, has been turn
ed into a stable, where mules and horses
are contentedly munching their ramon.
In another, whose ceiling is frescoeG with
lying ecclesiastical figures, arms are stack
ed, and above them, painted in red letters.
Spanish OF cour>e,) is inscribed First
SQUADRON Second Squadron,' etc
while under golden gloria. which must
once have been the pride of the place,
appear the words. "Company II. Light
Infantry.' Remains of holy affairs are
scattered all about, and upon their ruins
swarthy soldiers are squatted PLAYING
cards or awkwardly repairing their dirty
linen. Beyond is great square, whose
sides are lined with tumbled- down chapels
and cloisters, windowless, doorless and
covered with ''ivy green In the middle
OF this court yard are two trap doors, be-
meath which a flight of stone steps leads
to an apartment 6 feet high by Il feet
square. 1t is said that this mysterious
cell, which may once have been a place of
punishment, has two secret passages,
leading-nobody living knows where; but
it is now filled to the brim with human
bones, having been used during the great
epidemic of 30 years ago as receptacle
for those who died of cholera Arms are
stacked around the ancient fountain; a
blacksmith's forge fills the air with the
sound of the hammer beating upon iron,
where TIE Deums and Ava Marias used to
resound and along the floors bevies of
half naked Indians are noisily engaged in
making gun carriages for artillery. Be-
yond this is an ancient garden with
gnarled fruit trees and the remains of
walks and fountains and bathing reser-
voirs; and beneath the whole is perfect
labyrinth of underground rooms and pas
sages, in which one may much more east
ly lose himself than find the way out
again. FANNIE B. WARD
WASHINGTON WHIsPERINGs. bill to
provide for the purchase of the birthplace
of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky was in
troduced April 3Oth by Representative
Lewis of that State. A national soldiers
home, to be known as the Lincoln National
Soldiers Home, is to be erected upon the
site, and 500, 900 is appropriated for this
purpose. Secretary Olney, at 3 p. III.
May LIST, received the following cable from
United States Minister Mcdonald: ''Shah,
visiting shrine near city to-day for devo-
ton, on entering the inner sactuary. was
shot by an assassin disguised as a woman,
bullet entering the region of the heart
He expired in few minutes ". Official
treasury figures made public May LIST
make the government deficit for the 10
months of the fiscal year to date s23, 49,
100 Interest CHARGES show an iucraaca