The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-11-02

Dlego's face breath so icy cold that he droppe
down like a dead man. But, senior, fools luc
saved him and when he was found in the morning
he was recovering. 1t is said that this ice COLI
breath of hers, freezes into death who ever feel
it. Then after the person falls dead, she rushe
onward again, shrieking for her lost ones but the
who speaks to her is found the next morning
dead and on his face and in his wide open eye:
there is look of awful horror. Did [ ever NEE,
her? God forbid, but heard her shrieks and vail
ings and the patter of her feet, she ran on the
cobblestones of the Gale de San Esteban.
PRIEST AND HOLMAN.
AS we drew near to the inland village where !
intended to put up for the night the country bore
all the appearance of having lately been swept by
a tornado of wind and rain. swirling OF
water must have swept over the lowlandS for rocks.
trees and powders lay everywhere in confusion and
encountered the roads. Many of the fruit trees
uprooted, houses unroofed and outbuildings
dismantled. Sure enough when we entered the town
it bore all the marks of cyclonic wrath. With diff
fculty we obtained accommodations for the night.
When | strolled out early next morning to take a
look at the town and the damage done by the
storm, the entire population apparently, men, wo-
men and children gathered around their
church which had been blown down by the cyclone.
Some chipping stones some carrying lime.
mixing mortar, some pulling down the shaken
walls, splitting shingles for the roof, some
strengthening the sprung beams Everybody was
busy about the church and seemingly, not one was
engaged about any of the houses. A sudden shower
drove me into protected part of the building for
shelter, and got into conversation with man who
turned out to be the priest, but not being quite as
good a bricklayer, as he was a theologian he was
then serving holman to his own clerk or sexton
the mason of the village Not knowing at the time
that l addressing the cura parish priest, |
asked him how all these people were paid
"PaidW said the reverend holman, "why they |
all belong to this parish"
Yes replied, "but how are they paid?-I II
mean," continued l, hesitating and turning over in
my mind what was Spanish for church rates or
dues, Chow do you raise the money to pay all these
people their days wages"
The hodcarrer laughed. "Why," he spoke back |
and [ now from his face and accent began to sus-
pect he somebody, "why, you do not pay peo-
pie for doing their own work 1t is the house of
God, their own church which they are repairing |
1t is mine, it is theirs it is their childrens Until
the church is ready we have no place to assemble
to pray to God and publicly to offer up to him the
holy sacrifice. There will be no work done by us
till we have repaired Gods temple, our own
church" Who it who wrote: 90, for the
touch of vanished hand, and the sound of the
voice that is still" And for the simple piety and
child-ike faith of the days of old In the presence
of this example of rugged faith and zeal for the
house of God on the part of this priest and his
flock [ called back to my mind the ages of faith
and the sublime heroism and devotion of the early
Christians Beyond doubt the church was theirs
Not day did these simple people go to their work
till they had assisted at the mass offered up by the
priest who was now, a holman, helping in the
rebuilding of their temple Not time did any OF
them start out on a long journey without first re
ceiving holy communion from the hands of this
man of God Yes and many time, too, when
sickness entered the home or when trouble came
to some one of the family, might you see an anX-
ious wife trembling mother kneeling before the
tabernacle, who had stolen away from the noise
and distractions of home, and had come unto the
altar of God to pray for herself and her loved
To these honest souls their church was as neces-
sary as their sleeping rooms or their kitchens and
was used as much When it was blown down they
felt the want of it as much as they did that of
their houses. The church always open
and they came and went when and as often as they
liked. Surely it was their church and they made
good of it.
| remember well the day I came down from the
Sieretta mountains and was passing foot
through the little city of Aguas Coloradas, the
church of which was well worth seeing. | had my
camera and field glasses hanging from my should
ers, some few samples in a canvas bag, was wear
ing a suit of rough kahaki and was not altogether
the figure for the inside of church
"What shall do with these things " [ said to
my guide.
Put them down here on the church steps" said
he.