Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1888 — for Great Mertan cathe[?] [ARTICLE]

for Great Mertan cathe[?]

The cathedral, rising eonspicuoualj above all the buildings of the city, is erf great size, and possesses considerable - architectural elegance, the facade, in particular, being elaborately decorated With stucco work. The design is Moorth, and "the bell towers, from which come a constant clanging of ol( Spanish brass, command an extend* •d view of the city, the lakes, and ths distant mountains. The interior of ths spacious house, which wcs erected by the Spaniards, contains many rare or naments, and the nave is surmounted by a vaulted roof, supported by hand* carved beams and pillars, among which hover somber shadows. At one time, that during the reign of the Spaniards, the altar was laden with solid object! •f gold and silver and preoious stones, fait to-day it has lost all, or nearly all, ' of these, and is covered with tawdry images and imitation ornaments, whits there is everywhere apparent the ex« tretne age of the building. Entering the nave at almost any hour of the day, I have never failed to find odd group! of Mexicans and Indians telling thafa beads and lisping their prayers, whi|| Bi regular mass the cold stone floor 11 covered with devout worshipers, and the place is filled With the whispering) of those who pray. And whal a heten ogeneous crowd one sees. The poor ans the rich, the hungry and the well-fe<| (he half-naked and those clothed b •flks, are all togoWwr. Here an Indian kneeling by his tattered sombrero, an/ With his heavy load near by, prays will fas soul trpon his lips; there a dimple! •enorija, demure but conscious, read! from her gOMdged book. InomuM odors fill the air, the monotonous chan! tags of the priests are heard, and sU bells ring out the holy com ttumds of the church, and send the wow nhipers to crossing themselves and bow fag fa holy penitence. Bet into ope d (beoutftt walls of the cathedral *th sacrificial er salendar stone of the A» tecs, hewn out of black porous lava mw covered with reminding, so it always seems to me, the ignore®! Indians who seH their bits of potter, bear by of the greatness of their fore fathers, wbe had their palaces and tens pies In the smuts which is now th fatty center of a great eity. Juare* Was an Indian, fart ho became the Lfa «NBWf Mosfae, and fa good time tht othmr descendants of Nontesuma maj ret Ttfnh their old-titne power.—Ctt, yMK—fait Gar. San JVouobcw Ghrt>