on the deluged streets. She was roused
from her reverie by Mary's entrance.

"Florry, I have come in quest of you. Pray, how are you amusing
yourself here, all alone?"

"Communing with my own thoughts, as usual. Here, Mary, stand beside
me. As you came in I was puzzling myself to discover how those
Mexican women across the street are employing themselves. They
seem distressed, yet every now and then chatter with most perfect
unconcern. There, they are both on their knees, with something like a
picture hanging on the fence before them. They dart in and out of the
house in a strange, excited manner. Perhaps you can enlighten me?"

Mary looked earnestly in the direction indicated by her cousin, and at
length replied:

"You will scarcely credit my explanation: yet I assure you I perfectly
understand the pantomime. Florry, look more particularly at the
picture suspended in the rain. What does it most resemble, think you?"

"Ah, I see now--it is an image of the Virgin! But I should suppose
they considered it sacrilegious to expose it to the inclemencies of
the weather."

"Look closely, Florry, there are praying to the Virgin, and imploring
a cessation of the rain. I once happened at Senor Gonzale's during a
thunder-storm, and, to my astonishment, the family immediately
hung out all the paintings of saints they possessed. I inquired the
meaning, and was told in answer, that the shower would soon pass over,
as they had petitioned the images to that effect. Those women have
repeated a certain number of aves, and withdrawn into the house, but
ere long you will see them return, and go through the same formula."

"It is almost incredible that they should ascribe such miraculous
power to these little bits of painted canvas," replied Florence,
gazing curiously upon the picture which was suspended with the face
toward her.

"No, not incredible, when you remember the quantity of relics annually
exported from Rome, such as 'chips of the Cross,' 'bones of the
Apostles,' and 'fragments of the Virgin's apparel,' which Papists
conscientiously believe are endowed with magical powers sufficient to
relieve various infirmities. I doubt not that those women confidently
expect a favorable response to their petition; and if such
intercession could avail, it was certainly never more needed. Absurd
as the practise appears to us, a doubt of the efficacy of their
prayers never crossed their minds. They are both devout and
conscientious."