wrinkled, bare-limbed woman, poor and decrepit, sat upon the stones at
the entrance of the church offering rosaries for sale. She did not
speak, but held up a cross with its attachments, accompanied by a look
so cadaverous, so weak and pitiful, that she got the silver she desired
and kept her beads. The poor creature, so aged, emaciated, and ragged,
had somehow a strangely significant look about her, suggestive of having
known better days. It was a festal occasion, and many bright-eyed
senoritas, casting stolen glances about them while accompanied by their
duennas, were passing into the church. What a contrast of youth and age,
between these fair young creatures so richly clad, so fresh and full of
life, and the faded, hopeless vender of rosaries resting her weary limbs
on the flinty portal!

The Mexican ladies have none of the languor of their continental
sisters, but are overflowing with vivacity and spirit. We remember these
buds of humanity at the church door; they seemed to be "spoiling" for a
chance flirtation, looking out from deep black eyes full of roguishness.
Within the dimly-lighted church the smell of burning incense, the sharp
tinkling of the bell before the distant altar, the responsive kneeling
and bowing of the worshipers, the dull murmur of the officiating priest,
the deep, solemn tones of the great organ,--all combined to impress
themselves upon the memory, if not to challenge an unbeliever's
devotion.

At midday, on the occasion of our second visit, the priests were clad in
the gayest colors, the robes of some being red, some blue, others white,
and all more or less wrought with gold and silver ornamentation. The
attendants and the priests who were not officiating carried tall palm
branches. The marble floor of the nave was covered with kneeling
devotees, among whom every class of the populace was represented; rags
and satins were side by side, bare feet and silken hose were next to
each other. Indians, Spaniards, and foreign visitors mingled
indiscriminately; there were few men, but many women. The choir was
singing to an organ accompaniment, while the military band was playing
in the plaza close at hand, opposite the open church doors, causing
rather an incongruous mingling of sounds, and yet with the remarkable
surroundings it did not strike the ear as inharmonious. Here and there,
along the side of the church, a woman was seen kneeling, with her lips
close to the little grating of the confessio