The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-10-08

Intense Dssollen aad Ferseat PIsiy o
the Common People.


ths Common People.
From The New Review. The amount
OF real feryor-for going to church
here Is not dreamed OF as thing that
looks well; II Is too common. too uni.
yersal. too vulgar az may say sol TO
be In the slightest degree respectable
Is. OF course. quantity known 10
God alone. Yet. II We may Judge by
certain exterior signs. lukewarmness IL
by no means the shorlcomlng Of Polish
Catholics. Look at that old woman
hObbllng into church. She bears on
her arm. am sorry to say. her pur.
chases from the market. sometimes
couple OF fowls are heard cackling In
her basket; sometimes heavy thump
on the pavement breaks bottle OF
vinegar. or OF sour beetroot Juice for
the barszez At dinner hut she comes
In. kneels down. and lifts mp both
hands in prayer In the attitude OF a
priest saying the collects. Presently
signs are heard. tears triekle down
her cheeks. she Is 20 absorbed that she
does not hear the crowd passing 10 and
fro. and iostllng her; for she has knelt
right In the middle OF the passage up
the nave and now she bends down.
touching the pavement with her fore
head. In an ecstasy Of devotion. and re-
mains In nat posture an the end Of
mass Her action Is not at all ex-
traordlLary; you may count hundreds
In the very same attitude. Sometimes
a peasant or working man will
stretch himself PROSTATE on the pave
mcnt. with his arms extended aud his
hands open. o. II erucihed | have n
painful remembrance % one such case
The church was crammed. and those
who wanted to got 10 the communion
table had 10 push and struggle. 80
dense was the press one Of them. not
noticing the man lying on the ground.
accidentally set his foot upon the
penltents fingers saw the lifted
heel from a distance. and. unable 10
prevent Il coming down. could hardly
keep from calling out 10 church. Hut
the man who lay there dld not even
stir AZ the moment of the elevation.
and often at any very striking passage
In sermon. people will be heard 10
utter a long "Ah-h-h'" Of astonish.
uent and devotion. These simple.
childish outbursts (which. intruth. are
the reverse Of extraordinary. n we re-
member that al Catholics believe that
Christ becomes really present on the
altar at that solemn momentl ara
urcr IN towns. but very frequent In
the country. ! once was present al the
opening sermon Of mission preached
hy four jesuit, fathers. Al the rate Of
six sermons a day. for a couple Of
weeks. 10 a congregation Of about
twelve thousand peasants come from
all the neighboring villages. The ser
mons were. Of course. delivered In th'
open air. outside the church. tn,
father spoke 10 vigorous. homolj
language. and waxed louder an,
louder. more and more yehementlj
earnest. as he went on. After SOM
time. became aware Of strange
thrilling tremul0ns sound. somevha
like the many noises OF runninl
brook. that filled the pauses between
each sentence Il was the supresse,
weeping Of the whole assembly. unahl
90 repress their emotion. and I say
not only the women bu, the men viii
big tears running down their rougl
cheeks Il made a peculiar and cult
unexpected impression upon me. 70
the stolid. heavy faces had seemed q
denote anything bat an impresslonabl
race.