The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-08

Died June %, 1892
The family invites the persons of
their friendship to attend the masses,
which, for the eternal rest of his soul,
will be celebrated in the Church of
San Miguel Wednesday, the 22d of
June, 1898, from to 10 a. m. The fam
lily will assist at the mass at 10
o'clock"
In response to this notice all the
friends and relatives of that family
were expected to attend this mass.
There were servants at the church to
receive their cards as they went in, and
those who could not go in person sent
cards. AS soon as the family got back
from the mass they probably looked
over the cards. and the person who
had sighted the corpse now dead six
years, undoubtedly received the resent
ment Of the family. Every Argentine
watches the newspapers that he may
keep track of the masses said for his
dead friends and the deceased friends
Of his friends that still live The Ar
gentines respect funerals. Every one
takes his hat off and stands reverently
still as the hearSe passes, and it is
etiquette to bare your head when pass
ing a house that has crepe on the
door.
CITIES OF THE DEAD.
There are fine cemeteries in all of
the Argentine cities. Buenos Ayres has
230 acres of them, 10 a large area as
! compared with some of our cemet eries.
but big enough when it is considered
how South American. cemeteries are
built. The South American cities of the
dead are genuine cities, in which the
deceased are as closely packed and
crowded as the living in New York
| Stfeets, their narrow courts and even
their tenement houses or vaults, where
| the poorer dead are laid away to rest
! Tor so much per year for a season. /
saw such cemeteries in Peru. Chile and
BoilVla, ard l have found them also
IN the Argentine. l have as vet. how
ever, seen no cemetery so crowded nc
the Recoleta, the fashionable grave
yard OF Buenos Ayres It covers thir
teen acres and it contains, 1 am told.
2e1,cOO inhabitants. There are enough
corpses IN 1t to cover the ground two
deep without crowding, and there is
men stone wall about 1t strong
enough | hope to keep their ghosts in,
Inside this wall there is a central street
or avenue, paved with marble, cutting
the city in halves. AS you walk M
TINS you find at the center a place
where eight other streets branch off
az angles. All or these streets are nav
ed with marble or mosaics. and fhey
are cut by smaller streets dividing the
cemetery into great number Of
blocks u
In looking over this beautiful civ oe
the dead you notice that the houses
resemble those of city of the LIVING
They are of all sizes and Conditions
sfnail and big, costly and mean: the
palaces OF the rich and the tenements
Oh the poor. Each house is a vauIt
anu each contains from one to hundreds
VI inmates. Some Of the houses are
! IN blocks, marble structures from
elsht to hfteen feet high and eight TO
ter rect wide. each the property of one
family. Some stand alone with onIIr
| a crack between their walls and those
! OF the vaults next door, All have but
| one room that can be seen. and tbis
room is in all cases the same shape.
! although furnished in different degrees
! OF magnificence and taste. 1t might be
called the chapel of the dead.
IL IS four feet square or more and
/ I'VE feet high. being entered by a door
at the level of the. street. In the back
/ OF 1t there is a marble slab or table set
INTO the wall. and upon this sometimes
rests colin. The slab is covered with
! q iambrequin of fine lace. and in its
center stands crucifx with the diving
! Christ upon it, or perhaps a waxer
image of Mary. the Mother of God
/ Upon some such affairs are silver
candle sticks and above many of them
lamps burn incense from one years
end to the other. On the marble floor
| there are flowers sometimes real, In
! the shape of growing plants. some times
bouquets placed there fresh for the