The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-03-20
$65,OOO,OOO IN GOLD.
A Mexican Cathedral's Paris Bank Deposit
Happy and Comfortable on IS cents
A Day-Mexico, the Beggars'
Paradise.


A Day-Mexico, the Beggars'
Paradise.
NEW ORLEANS, La, March z, '96.
A traveler-even an edtOr-maSing as
hasty tour of a strange country as ours
has been, has small right to make too sweep
ing statements concerning the manners and
customs of the people visited. His views in
the very nature of things can be hardly more
than superficial impressions. He is apt to
Judge a whole people by the very few he
meets and charge up his chance experiences
to the nation in general. This would be
true if the traveller understands the Ian
guage and can ask and answer questions and
comprehend explanations. How much more
then is it the case when his entire stock in
the native tongue is limited to good
morning." chow much," and "too much"
wish this to be understood by the people
who may have read this correspondence, 1t
pretends to convey nothing more than inn
presSions, except when some historical fact
is stated and even then If it concerns the
early history of Mexico, it is largely mat
| ter of conjecture.
| No sketch of Mexican travel, no matter
how superficial, would be complete that
failed to notice the religious life of the coun-
try. Cortez came in 1919 and found all the
various tribes given to idolatry; the Offering
of human sacrifices on a scale that almost
surpasses belief, with at least portion OF
oapnihalism Ten
years later we find churches in most of the
cities, occupying the sites of destroyed tenn
pies, large number of the natives confess
ing Christianity; (notice that L say con-
Tossing; even to this date the small num-
ber who practice the teachings of the church
is out of all proportion to the vast number
of communcants); and zeal in missionary
effort that was truly remarkable. The re-
suit is what would be expected with such a
beginning. The Mexicans as people are
almost solidly Catholic. The only strange
feature being that the most devoted adher-
ents to the rites of the church are not those
who trace their parentage to the conquerors,
the naople who first raised the Cross in Mex
| leo, Dul tlC uCoCObuOheo Va thO NchteSASN
Aztecs Of the twelve million inhabitants
fully eleven million are in the communion
of the church of Rome. The remaining
million are Protestant and Agnostic or Ath-
eist, With the Protestant very small mi
nority. There are only 200 Protestant
churches in Il Mexico, so a missionary told
us. Yet there Isperfect religious federation.
The government all, ws no religious parades'
not even of Romanlsts, and all the clergy
priest included, are obliged tG wear Ol,Ga.na-
ry civilian dress on the street. Let me give
an incident to illustrate how faithfully this
provision is enforced. The Virgin of Quad
: alope is the special patron of Mexico.
: Only ten years after the conauerors came
the virgin appeared to poor Mexican and
bade him tell the bishop to build cathe-
dral on that spot. To prove the message to
the bishop the messenger was commanded
! to gather the flowers that sprang from the
bare rock at the virgins feet. The flowers
were put inthe Mexican's shawl, or serape
as they call 1t; but when the serape was un-
: folded before the bishop, behold! there was
an image of the virgin upon it. This winter
they have completed beautiful cathedral
to hold the precious serape; and when they
were dedicating it and started to remove the
serape from the old church to the new in
solemn procession, Notwithstanding the pres
sure of one hundred thousand worshippers,
the leaders of the procession were promptly
arrested, though the distance from one
: church to the other was not over one hun
dred feet.
Nothing in Mexico has surprised me more
than the catholic cathredas. They are
wonderful and beautiful buildings. The
great cathredal in the City of Mexico is the
largest church ON the continent. Worship
is conducted there with all the pomp and
circumstance of European service. The
affairs in the nave tower to a height of over
one hundred feet. are made of beautiful
and costly stone and fairly blaze with gold
and silver. The distance from floor to roof
In this temple of worship is one hundred
and seventy-nlne feet. The building is
three hundred and eighty-seven feet long
and one hundred and seventy-seven feet
wide. Many of these cathedrals compare
favorably with those of European capitals,
in fact, never saw, outside of Rome, such
a wealth of gold and silver ornamentation
The high affairs in the cathedrals at Pueba,
Mexico, Guadalupe, near Mexico, and Quad
alope. near Zacatecas, fairly blaze 'yith
gold and silver, - lt'~
crown suspe