The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-15

Philip u-red and white for Corpus Chrlstl'
blue and white for the -virgin-execute vari-
Gus simple evolutions in front OF the high
altar, much as David may have danced
before the ark. They sing an anthem
which sounds like a Mozart minuet and
are accompanied by flutes and violins, and
at certain stages in the dance the boys use
castanets. Certainly there is plenty of
scriptural precedent for religious dancing;
but it must be confessed that the casta-
nets-so intimately associated with worldly
gayety-do sound decidedly out of place in a
dim and echoing cathedral. But. after all.
is not that merely a matter of prejudice
and the Imagination? II one musical in
strument is acceptable TO the Lord, why not
another, and who shall say whether He is
better pleased with drum or VOL. flute or
mandolin or the the primeval pipes of Pan,
from which the organ was evolved?
Only upon this one august occasion of
the year does the Seville Cathedral permit
all it's fabulous riches to be exhibited, and
the dazzling display is worth coming far TO
see. The pillars and walls are hung with
crimson brocade, embroidered with gold,
whose gorgeous folds relieve the twilight
of the interior, which is still further deep
ened during Holy Week by the black dra-
perry that wells the stained glass windows.
There are eighty of those superb windows,
each a triumph of art wrought by a
master hand, and they cost $4,000 apiece
at the present value in Spanish money.
The monument" with it's jeweled lamps
and thousand tapers. is erected only for
this occasion, and the monstrance placed
within it; and in front of IL stands the
tenebrario-an enormous bronze candle
stick, twenty feet high, carrying a candle
that contains half a ton of wax. Masses
are continuous in the various chapels. and
the music of the service, comprising the
best compositions of Handel and Mozart.
chanted by hundreds of trained voices, &C
! companied by the laundering peals of two
| of the finest organs in the world. is inde-
scribably solemn and impressive.
On the afternoon of Holy Thursday &C.
ours another strange ceremonial called the
washing of the feet. The archbishop. in
all the glory of his purple robes and snowy
| mitre. with the archepiscopal insignia-the
| crozier and double cross-borne before him,
enters the choir, where twelve men with
bare feet sit awaiting his arrival. His
Excellency proceeds at once to business,
kneeling down before the first man in the
row and washing his feet, then moving
along on his knees to the next and per-
forming the same duty till all AVE been
similarly treated. 1t is considered a most
distinguished honor to be given a place
among 1.-The twelve" and large sums OF
money are bestowed upon the church i'm
the way of aims to secure it.
BULL FIGHTS FOLLOW PRAYERS.
After the prayers and penances of Holy
, Week, the rigorous fasting of Good Friday,
the chanting of the Miserere and the ex-
elements of the paso the joyous festival of
| Easter comes as a powerful reaction. Not
only does Spain lift up her voice, in COM
mon with all Christendom, in TIE Deums
and anthems to celebrate the resurrection
of our Lord, but she goes a trife further
than most countries and gives character
istic expression to her rejoicing in a grand
bull fight. On Easter Sunday the first bull
| fight of the season takes place, from which
| time on there are performances every Sun
day afternoon throughout the summer.
In this poverty-stricken, dilapidated.
| gray old Cordova, with less than 10000.
shiftless and discouraged Inhabitants. 1t is
hard to recognize the splendid capital of
the Caliphs-the Saracen Athens, whose
| population once reached a round million.
If the Mcsle chroniclers are to be believed,
| this city of Prince Abdurrahman, whose
| personal revenues amounted to sixty mil
| lion dollars a year, contained six hundred
| mosques, eight hundred schools, eighty
| thousand shops, three hundred thousand
houses. fifty hospitals, seven hundred inns.
/ "a lhrorv IF nine hundred fhouSand vol
umes, and a thousand public baths, besides
three thousand private baths of wealthy
Moors along the Guadalquivir. 1t was the
capital of the richest and most powerful,
a well as the most cultured monarchy in
Europe. the center Of eighty large cities,
| three hundred towns of the second class
| and innumerable villages, of which twelve
| hundred lay along the banks of the Guadal-
| quivir. But even the historic river has
| dwindled and shrunk since that golden
| day, like everything else I'm Spain. Then
il was a noble, full-tided stream. and now
its shallow and muddy current is hardly
worth bridging at this point.
In Abdurrahman's time neither Rome,
| Damascus nor Constantinople could hold
a candle to Cordova for riches and mag
nihcence; and to this seat of learning came
students from all parts of Europe, to be
instructed by Arab sages in the arts and
| sciences, music poetry and astronomy.
| All those glories vanished with the tur-
baned Moors, who carried away with them
to their own Morocco even the secret Of
making the once-celebrated Cordova
| leather; leaving behind neither trade nor
manufactures and almost no life Of any
kind. The town of to-day impresses you
as being about the drowsiest. as well as
the saddest and shabbiest on earth. It's
ill-paved streets. lined with crumbling
casas, whose bullying balconies almost
touch overhead. are so narrow as to pre-
serve perpetual twilight. and so crooked
that you are warranted to lose yourself
In their dirty labyrintbs within three min
utes after leaving the hotel, IL you ven
ture out without a guide.
FANNIE b. WARD.
A Dukes LaughabIe Adventure.