The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-20

about the human nreS see one oA WHICH
a father is probably lying. cold blast comes up
from the Ganges, and his lift up their gowns
and their bare legs by the frying fat of their
departed parent
CEMETERY LIZARDS-GHOULS OF SAN JUAN.
1 saw thing this morning which will take
place among such memories. l refer to the lizards
of San Juan. Lizards are. you know. carnivorous.
They like vegetables; but 1t is said they will eat meat
as we'll The soil of the cemetery Is sandy. and La
looking down upon it today I that it was honey
combed with holes like snakeholes Out Of these
holes crawled great lizards They ran this way and
that. They crawed up the mounds and looked
at me. 1t was hard to keep from stepping upon
them. There lizards large and small lizards at
and lizards in action lizards everywhere. Some
of them, thought looked at greedily out OF their
beady eyes, though they wished that were dead
and were sizing me up for meal They are prob
ably the ghouls Of San Juan
A CURIOUS FUNERAL CUSTOM
One of the odd funeral customs here is the re-
joicing over the death of little children. When a
baby dies it is laid out in upon table. A fine
white cloth is placed under it and its little body
fully dressed is covered with flowers Then all the
friends are invited in and there is music, dancing
and feastng. That is to show their rejoicing that
the little one has escaped all the troubles Of this life
and gone to heaven.
Porto Rican artist the head Of the free art
school at San Juan, has painted such wake 1t
shows the inside Of a cabin, where the little
lies upon table, and the family and all it's friends
are carousing. A hog has been roasted whole upon
a spit and all drinking.
RELIGION IN PORTO RICO.
Speaking of funerals makes think of churches.
The religion Porto Rico is the Catholic religion Of
the sixteenth century. 1t is largely confined to tho
rich the priests having not the hold upon the poor
that they have in other Catholic countries. This Is
especially Of the male element of the population
many of whom have nothing to do with the church,
excepting three times in their lives; when they
are born, when they married and when they
buried.
The women more religious, and those Of the
better classes Of the cities devoted to their
church as we are In the cathedral here 1 saw
thirty Porto Rican girls taking their first communion.
They were dressed in white with long white wells
hanging down their backs. They ranged in ages
from ten to thirteen and looked very pretty and In
nocent they stood before the altar.
Some Of the churches here are very fine. In the
villages they by far the largest of the buildings
and in the smaller places they Outshine everything
else. One of the most beautiful is in the city Of
Guyana, on the south side of the island. There are
several large churches in Ponce, and some very old
at Arecibo and Aguadilla. The only Protestant
church the island at the time Of occupation Of
belonging to the Church Of England
UNCLE SAM AND THE CHURCHES.
The church property is quite valuable, and by our
treaty with Spain understand that all of the Catho
lie churches Of Porto Rico belong to Uncle Sam if he
to take them. About sixty years ago the gov
eminent of Porto Rico made agreement with the
church pay the salaries the priests with the I'M
Outstanding that it to have possession of tho
churches. The government was believe, to collect
arrangement regular priestly salary list was
formed the fathers receiving from $50 upward for
their services. These salaries cut off by the
war. and many Of the priests went back to Spain
The arrangement all told was bad one for Porto
Rico. The collections for church funds which the
government received amounted to 100000 year
but the priests chosen were not among the best tne
island being sort of dumping ground for the poor
est of the Spanish clergy
The Catholic church here is in fact nothing like
Catholic church. American Catholicism is a real
and up-to-date religion. which does vast deal Of
good in all branches Of religious life. The Porto
Rcan priests seem to pay but title attention to the
conversion of souls. Many of them are immoral and
not a few are cock fighters and gamblers l have
spoken Of the parson at Abonto, who owns the best
fighting cocks the island There are many others
like him.
One, for instance, friendly with an American
SaIoOnfSt III one or the interior towns. The chief
saloon of this town owned by the mayor whose
trade was in lager beer and whose chief customers
were our soldiers. The American opened his saloon
just opposite the saloon of the mayor and as he I'M
ported ice to keep his beer cool he got the bulk
of the custom This angered the mayor and he
warned the salOOnist that he must move. Hereupor
the priest stepped in and said
Bring your saloon up to house | own in an
other part Of the town. will fix it up for you an6
let you have it for the rent l will see that yo,
get the custom, too and will see who is the big
Sest man ia this town. the mayor or the priest
He did move, and he got the custom
GOOD FIELD FOR MISSIONS
doubt whether there is better field for missfo,
work anywhere just than down here in Por1
Rico The field is open to modern Catholicism am
to Professionalism. The people simple and super
stitious but the priests have looked upon themseye
as politicians and oticehoders rather than as Das
tors The people also associate the Catholic religion
with the Spaniards who have been depressing them
and for this reason the Protestants will have NOR
chance. l believe that it would take very little 7
arouse a religious interest. among them. They nav
already reverence for the cross as you can Sc
from some Of their customs. A man on going OH
of his house often ties his door shut and makes tn
Cip Of f1A TIL.