mportuned as a matter
of course. Cannot the priests do something to mitigate this great evil?
In Spain evidence is not lacking to show that the Roman Catholic faith
inspires deep religious sentiment, but without religious principle. The
more blindly ignorant the masses of the people are, the greater is the
influence of the priesthood. Not one of the famous Spanish cathedrals
but has within its vaults so-called sacred treasures of great amount, in
gold and silver plate and other material, the intrinsic value of which
in each instance large, being aggregated, would furnish a sum nearly
large enough to liquidate the national debt. At Toledo, for instance,
the mantle called the Robe of the Virgin is covered with precious
stones, so large and choice that its value has been estimated at a
million of Spanish dollars; and this is but one item of value stored in
that rich church. So at Malaga, Seville, Cordova, and Burgos, not to
name other places of which we can speak with less personal knowledge,
each is a small Golconda of riches, yet the common people starve. A
horde of priests, altogether out of proportion to the necessities of the
case from any point of view, are kept up, the most useless of
non-producers, and whence comes their support but from this very
poverty-burdened mass of the common people? When Philip II. was told of
the destruction of the great Spanish Armada, which had cost a hundred
million ducats, he only said: "I thank God for having given me the means
of bearing such a loss without embarrassment, and power to fit out
another fleet of equal size!" And yet there were starving millions in
Spain at that time as there are to-day.

From Cordova to Madrid is nearly three hundred miles, the first half of
which distance we passed over in the daytime, lightening the journey by
enjoyment of the pleasing scenery and local peculiarities. Though it
was quite early in the spring, still the fields were verdant and full of
promise. More than once a gypsy camp was passed by the side of some
cross-road, presenting the usual domestic group, mingled with animals,
covered carts, lazy men stretched on the greensward, and busy women
cooking the evening meal. Long strings of mules, with wide-spread
panniers, came winding across the plain, sometimes in charge of a woman
clad in gaudy colors, while her lazy husband thrummed a guitar, lying
across one of the mules. Towards evening groups of peasants, male and
female, with farming tools