the babies about once a year. But now I am getting
interested in these people as an American and, I hope, a Christian who
tries to work at the business. What did you say your other name was?"

J.W. hadn't said, but now he did, and the two settled to their talk.
This William Tanner, some sort of retired business man, certainly seemed
to know his Mexico. And he had that most subtle of all stimulants
to-night, a curious and sympathetic hearer. By consequence he was eager
to give all that J.W. would take.

Before long J.W. had edged in a question about the church. He said, "You
know, Mr. Tanner, we have a pretty good Roman Catholic church in my home
town, though Father O'Neill doesn't tie up much to what the other
churches are trying to do, and some of his flock seem to me pretty wild,
for sheep. Now, these churches down here are all Roman Catholic too, yet
they certainly don't look any kin to Saint Ursula's at Delafield. Are
they?"

It was the sort of question which William Tanner had asked himself many
a time when he first came to Mexico. "This is the way of it, Mr.
Farwell," he said. "The church came to Mexico, and to all Latin America,
from Spain and Portugal. It had a few great names, we must acknowledge,
in those early times. But in a little while it settled down to two
activities--to make itself the sole religious authority and to get rich.
It was a church of God and gold, and as a matter of course it preached
that it was the supreme arbiter of life and death in matters of faith,
and extended its authority into every relation of life. It brought from
the lands of the Inquisition the idea of priestly power, and there was
none to dispute it in Latin America, as there was in the colonies of our
own country. It gave the people little instruction, and no
responsibility or freedom. It made outward submission the test of piety
and faith. And so when Spain lost its grip on the western hemisphere the
church found itself with nothing but its claim of power to fall back on.
Well, you know that would work only with the ignorant and the
superstitious."

"Mexico, and all Latin America for that matter, clear to the Straits of
Magellan, is a land of innumerable crosses, but no Christ. The church
has had left to it what it wanted; that is, the priestly prerogatives;
it marries, baptizes, absolves, buries, where the people can pay the
fees, and the people for various reasons have not cared that this is
all. If they are afraid, or