Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Spain ;is a nation can never be re proached for insincerity as far as religion is concerned, for there is, perhaps, no nation on the face of the glob< which clings to the Catho lic Chur.'h with a greater tenacity. To be s ire,' there is a certain ele ment among the younger men who have made an attempt to copy the modern Frenchman and boldly de clare tha: they stand for no religion, hut thfse unfortunate creatures form a v::ry small part of the popula tion. Spain is wholly Catholic and likely to remain so for many years to come. Her long fight with the barbarians and later with the Moors, has mac.t! her cling closely to the Christian religion, and her people seem to be imbued with an unwaver ing faith in the dogmas taught by her religious instructors. The Spaniard will make sacrifices ?which the American would never think of doing in order to assist in huilding some great church. This is as true today as it was a hundred years ago, for in the city of Barcel ona a great church which has al ready cost eight millions of dolhars is in the course of construction. This money has all been collected from the poorer classes of Spain. "The Church First," seems to be the ?watchword. When the outbreak against the convents took place in Barcelona, two years ago, the attack ?was not on the church as was gener ally supposed, but on the commer cialism of the church. Barcelona is a manufacturing town and when the convents and monasteries of that city hegan to turn* out articles cheaper than some of the factories and this lowered the wages of the working * the Str classes, the wage earner rebelled, and urged on by the anarchists and labor disturbers *rom various coun tries, they destroyed 56 convents and, churches, entailing the loss of thous ands of dollars. After it was all ov er the same poor people gave Liber ally of their small earnings to aid in reparing the damage and for the purpose of caring for the nuns and priests. Of course, to r.he uneducated 01 Spain religion is a mere superstition and their prayers to the saints mean little. A story illustrating this is told of a servant girl of Selville who prayed to San Antonio to send her a sweetheart. The girl spent her small wages in candles and other offerings trying to propitiate the saint, but the sweetheart came not. Finally the girl became angry and jerked the wooden figure from her little altar and hung it in the cellar, declaring that it should remain there until her wish was granted. A month later a lover appeared and ?an Antonio was [ once more installed on the altar and tapers were burned in his honor. Hanging figures of saints until a prayer is granted seems to be a com- i mon thing in Southern Spain. ,In Madrid, when San Isidoro, the patron saint of the laboring classes, had the bad taste, as they considered it, to send rain on his feast day, several I workingmen bro':e the windows of the church mimed for him in order to teach him not to err again. Later in the day when the skies cleared eei& af Seville Zy these same workmen gave their sav ings to replace Che windows with even finer ones than they had brok en. 1 With the better class the supersti tion is absent, and there is a genu ine love of the church and a desire to further its cause in every way. At times they may not be as subser vient to the Pope as the Catholics of other countries, but they are none the less faithful to their church. These little Incidents may serve to make the reader understand more clearly just what the Holy Week cer emonies mean to the Spanish Catho lic,'for that week to him is the very crowning glory of all church festi vals. Shops are often closed for sev eral days and employes given a holi day to participate in these services. As the weather at Easter is delight ful hundreds of Americans are al ways on hand to witness these elab orate ceremonies, and hotels always charge double the regular price. In every nook and corner of the country there is a celebration of some sort. In many of the smaller towns a fig ure of Judas is set up and stoned until it falls to pieces, and in others little plays of the life of Christ are given. At one of these a few years ago there was a scene in which Christ entered bearing the cross. He was followed by young men representing Roman soldiers. One of these, who was a particularly fine actor, was rather rough in his handling of the Christians. The audience became Jon wildly excited and in order to keep him from being mobbed the curtain had to be run down. Even the Span lish gypsy is Catholic, and any day during Holy Week these dark-skinn ed, dark-eyed people may be found kneeling in prayer before one of the many crosses set up in aiie Albacin district of Grenada. Madrid and Seville are both inter esting places at Easter season and the ceremonies are entirely different In Madrid the church bells are silent for 48 hours and no vehicles are al lowed on the streets. Gravel is spread over certain places?the route the royal family will take on Good Friday wrhen they walk to the seven churches where the Holy Sepulchers are displayed. On Holy Thursday the famous foot-washing takes place. Twelve beggars are brought to the royal chapel at the palace. The en tire court is present when the beg gars are lined up in a row. The Queen then washes the feet of each one while the priests chant and pray. The spectacle is most solemn and im pressive. Outside of court circles it is whispered that the beggars are selected as early as February. They are said to be kept closely confined from that time until Easter and treated to several baths each day. tue aT?ie Virzin in ihe 'TZ a ': .V'. C^tVsC ?>WI2 <3S 'l?7jCpil*<3Cj0Z2 " After the ceremony they are given a small sum of money and sent away with the Queen's blessing. Seville, however, is the best place to study Catholic Spain at Easter, and inside and around the great Ca thedral are enacted many scenes which impress the Christian world. The magnificent processions, the sol emn services and the great number of people who take part, their devo tion and the discomforts they endure prove a source of wonder to the American. These parades are In charge of different Catholic brother hoods and are managed entirely by them. A large stand is erected in front of the City Hall and the mayor greets the procession as it wends it way through the narrow streets. Huge images and litters bearing thousands of candles are carried on the shoulders of the men. In .ront march the gendarmes, who are known as Romans; these are follow ed by the masked members of the brotherhood, girls wearing white robes and members of the town council. The long line of men pass thrcigh the narrow streets and finally into the great Cathedral, where the flickering candles light up the ghostly recesses of that vast edifice. Here and there at the dif ferent private chapels one finds peo ple kneeling in prayer, and in the central church there is a service with a full choir. It is impossible to fully describe the impressiveness of these scenes in the space of a newspaper article. Procession after procession takes place and every one of a dif ferent character. Holy Week begins with the march on Palm Sunday, after which there is the com-ecration of the paims in the Cathedral. On Wednesday there Is a great procession of thousands of people followed by music in the Ca thedral with an accompaniment of thunder; with the veil of the Temple rent in twain. In the evening there is the parade of men bearing the Sacrament to the Chapel of the Se gario. On Thursday the consecra tion of the oil takes place in the presence of a large number of digni taries. Later in the day comes the outdoor procession in which hun dreds of the cigarmakers take part. Seville is the home of the tobacco industry of Spain. The factories are run by the Spanish government and thousands of people are employed. They have their own church brother hoods, and the parade of "Maundy Thursday" is in their charge. There is also a procession on Good Friday early in the morning. Services are held throughout the day in the dif ferent churches, the one held In the Cathedral being interspersed with peals of thunder and the ringing of bells. The whole thing savors of the supernatural. As the treasury of the Cathedral of Seville is one of the richest in the world, many of the figures and litters carried are worth a fortune in themselves. The Virgin of "Csper enza" is practically hidden by the sil ver ornaments which adorn the litter on which the figure rests. The won derfully hand-carved sides are set with precious stones and the canopy is held in place by solid silver sup ports which are an inch and a half in diameter. The canopy is of the finest French silk. It requires twenty men to carry this litter. The image of Christ known as Ex piracion is hand carved ivory and rests on a solid silver base. Over one hundred candles are used to light up the exquisitely formed statute. An mi af<3 Cjw&& other famous piece carried in the processioi. is the gold litter contain ing the statute of the Virgin known as La 0. This is one of the priceless treasures of the church. The Virgin in solid gold is in the centre of a mass of glittering candlesticks set with precious stones. The great gold en figure is almost hidden by this mass of precious stones. Another is a figure of the Virgin In white and gold with a halo of prec ious stones about her head. A gold en statute of Christ on the cross is carried by ten or more Spanish noble men. Dozens of magnificien:ly carv ed statutes of pure gold ar d silver set with precious stones of the rar est type are carried during this great religious festival. The W?,y leads through dark and narrow streets, and the jewels are unguarded savsj by those who carry the figures. Even the thieves of Spain have a supersti tious fear of religion. Holy sepui chers are displayed in all of the churches and Saturday is spent in prayer. On Easter morning there Is a grand service of praise, and the day winds up with the greatest bull fight of the season. At least six bulls are tortured to death and twice as many horses meet a horrible death by being gored by the bull after he is goaded to desperation by the mat adors?a strange ending to the sol emn scenes of Holy Week. Truly, Catholic Spain is a wonder ful sight at Eastertime. - I The Exception. It was married men's night at thft revival meeting. "Let all you husbands who have troubles cri your minds p*.and up!" shouted the emotional preacher, at the height of his spasm. Instantly every man in the churca rose to his feet except one. "Ah!" exclaimed the preacher, peering out at this lone sitter, who. occupied a seat near the door and apart from the others: "You are one in a million." "It ain't that," called back this one helplessly, as the rest of the congre gation turned to gaze suspiciously at him. "I can't get up; I'm para lyzed!" OUR WASHINGTON LETTER, CFrom our special correspondent, Frank Fuller.) The President's return to the city a few days ago brought the cabinet together and a general consideration of the Mexican situation was the re sult. No further information wa& given out regarding the matter and the mystery surrounding it is stil. maintained. It is now understood that the President in his message to Congress will allude only incidental ly to the movement of troops to the frontier, but that reciprocity and the tariff will be the burden of his ap peal. This, however, will not satisfy Congress, especially the House, ana a request will be made for full in formation leading up to the ordering the trooos out. Miss 'Margaret V. Kelly has just "been appointed acting director of the Mint, which will at short intervals place her in charge of the Govern ment co .nage system. She is the highest salaried woman in the Gov ernment service. She entered the classified service from Neww wwwww classified service from New Hamp shire more than seventeen years ago at a saU.ry of SG5 0, but rapidly rose until her last promotion gives her $2.500. It is given out here that Mr. Bryan will be in the city to be present at the opering of the special session ef Congress. His presence here at that time is thought to be to assist in the organization of the House along lines favorable to his faction of his party. He is not pleased with some of the committee selections and has given the leaders to understand it, hut influences eminating in New York have so far prevailed against his suggestions. He will be at the capitol during the caucus of the House democrats and in consultation with leaders, but he may not be able to swing them into line for his rec ommendations. The forty-eight postal savings banks established January 3 received deposits of $133.S69 up to March 1, and fro en this it is believed that if banks ere establisned at all money order postoflices, they will receive at least $200,000,000 in a year. Clifton Forge, Va., ran the lowest in average amount of deposit, its twen ty-seven depositors placing only $245 an average of $9.07. The leader in per capita deposits was Globe, Ariz., where the average for 13S depositors is 570.U3. In gross deposits Lead ville, Colo., leads with $21,253, with 3C2 open accounts. The Democrats Win. With the exception of three coun cilmen and the Police Judge, the Democrats regained control of the city government of Joplin, Mo., Tues day, waich they lost two years ago. ints and * Finis for Your Home f there is s shabby surface in your home to be d, enameled, stained, varnished or finished in any we have just what you need for producing the finish desired in the line of s i ACME QUALITY PAINTS AND FINISHES Let us show you colors for painting your house or$ j ja_>i, samples of finishes for floors, woodwork, walls, || ceilings or furniture. Let us help you make shabby places look new and attractive. COME IN and get a copy of THE ACME QUALITY PAINTING GUIDE BOOK. It tells what Acme Quality Paint, Enamel, Stain or Varnish to use, how much will be required and how it should be put on. It not only enables you to tell your painter or decorator exactly what you want, but it makes it easy for YOU to rennish the many surfaces about the home that do not require the skill of the expert?the jobs that a painter would not bother with. Ask for a copy. IT'S FREE. . - - Orangeburg,