The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-03-07

is OF doubtful origin. Somewhat akin
In origin TO that period when tho Feast
| or Oesta. now called Easter. was OBJ
served forty days subsequent TO Mardi
Dras, which means eat Tuesday,
gras (fab. Mardi (Tuesday)-and the
word carnival, meaning simply a fare
we'll to flesh; derivation is carnis
dicsh). vale (farewell)--so the com.
bined words make Tho Carnival OF
Mard! Gras" And as Nardi C;ras is the
next day before Ash Wednesday, the
beginning of Lent and Lent means
days, commemorative OF that OF our
Lord, is observed still i'm the Episcopal.
the Church of England and the I.u-
theran. as well as in the Roman Cath
Ole Church, In the latter whore IL Is
made more salient by the spriukling
Of ashes on the head, and in the cx-
preston, one should repent in sack
cloth and ashes. =.
The reader Will pardon n little piece
of egousm. If so I can better tell of
my attendance at Rome. Paris and New
Orleans at the Carnival of Mardi Gras.
SO L VIII confine my thesis TO Rome,
but naturally for newspaper article
much or interest must be omitted for
the sake Of space and brevity, of
course. Well. Rome under the papacy
of Plus TX is the time and place OF
this recital, which occurred when pins
"
Tick AlaXimus. or IN plain English
Pope or Holy Father of the Roman
Catholic Church. before his temporal
power was wrcsted from him by King
Victor Emmanuel, who united Italy by
absorbing or confedcrating the petty
kingdoms OF Naples. Genoa, Eombardy
and Venice, as well as Rome into the
kingdom OF Italy.
So wherefore in this union OF these
small Kingdoms and municipalities the
papacy lost It's temporal power over
Rome, but still claims il. and exerts
It's spiritual power over the whole Ro-
man Catholic Church. and wherever
that church is situated it yields oDe-
dience and fealty to the Pope. The
reader Will please pardon my very
brief syllabus, through necessity, which
might be of special interest at this
carnival period of Mardi Gras, and let
his fancy revert to the Mardi Gras of
forty-two years ago. bearing in mind
that Plus TX. was also King of Rome
as well as Pope, and that he recoE-
nlzed the Independence of the Confed-
crate States of America, better known
as the Southern Confederacy, and the
only sovereign who ever did so in the
years Of 1S6G-1S67. Many noted OK
Confederates were still in Eur opc. not
ably General John c. Breckinridge. the
last Secretary of War of the Confed-
crate States, who after Appomattox
'ppN IciuSc III 80 the PODo
rocog nlzed General breckenridge. al
though his government was dc facto
since AppomattoX He received at his
audiences any eXConfederates. so it
became my privilege as such, and also
10 be at one OF these memorable car
nivals of Mardi Gras which. like Eas-
ter. is dependent upon it's arrival, be-
ing q movable feast, on the first Sun
day after the fun moon, after March
81.
So briefly now lot tho reader imagine
the time when Pope Plus N was King
of Rome. So, too. let fancy picture
the myriads of dignitaries both of
church and state and. of course the
thousands of visitors to Rome at Mardi
Gras; city so replete even now with
grandeur and yot so much richer in
her past glory. when Rome was mis-
tress of tho world. Wei. the main
street OF Imperial Rome. known rs the
Corso tNia Della Corso), on Mardi
Gras is thronged with thousands of
ALI sorts and conditions or men," i'm
domino. ca gown and hood, carrying