Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1887 — The Great Mexican Cathedral. [ARTICLE]

The Great Mexican Cathedral.

The cathedral, rising conspicuous!J nbove all the buildings of the city, is ol great size, and possesses considerable architectural elegance, the facade, in particular, being elaborately decorated with stucco work. The design is Moorish, and the bell towers, from which come a constant clanging of old Spanish brass, command an extended view of the city, the lakes, and the distant mountains. The interior of the spacious house, wh ; b was erected by the Spaniards, contains many rare ornaments, and the nave is surmounted by a vaulted roof, supported by handcarved beams and pillars, among which hover somber shadows. At one time, that during the reign of the Spaniards, the altar was laden with solid objects of gold and silver and precious stones, but to-day it has lost all, or nearly all, of these, and is covered with tawdry images and imitation ornaments, while there is everywhere apparent the extreme age of the building. Entering the nave at almost any hour of the day, I have never failed to find odd groups of Mexicans and Indians telling theii beads and lisping their prayers, while at regular mass the cold stone floor is covered with devout worshipers, and the place is filled With the whisperings of those who pray. And what a heterogeneous crowd one sees. The poor and the rich, the hungry and the well-fed, the half-naked and those clothed ii silks, are all together. Here an Indian, kneeling by his tattered sombrero, and ' with his heavy load near by, prays witl ' his soul upon his lips; there a dimpled t flenorita, demure but conscious, reads from her gilt-edged book. Incense 1 odors fill the air, the monotonous chantlings of the priests are heard, and sil* ! very-toned bells ring out the holy com- ' xnands of the church, and send the wor- . shipers to crossing themselves and bowing in holy penitence. Set into one oi ' the outer walls of the cathedral is the sacrificial or calendar stone of the Aztecs, hewn out of black porous lava and Covered with hieroglyphics, reminding, io it always seems to me, the ignorant Indians who sell their bits of pottery near by of the greatness of their forefathers, who had their palaces and temples in the square which is now the busy center of a great city. Juarez was an Indian, but he became the Lincoln of Mexico, and in good time the other descendants of Montezuma may yet regain their old-time power.— City of Mexico Cor. San Francisco Chrorn icle.