Through Five Republics on Horseback | Page 9

are divided into three enclosures. There
is the "cemetery of heaven," "the cemetery of purgatory," and "the
cemetery of hell." The location of the soul in the future is thus seen to
be dependent on its location by the priests here. The dead are buried on
the day of their death, when possible, or, if not, then early on the
following morning; but never, I believe, on feast days. Those periods
are set apart for pleasure, and on important saint days banners and flags
of all nations are hung across the streets, or adorn the roofs of the
flat-topped houses, where the washing is at other times dried.
After attending mass in the early morning on these days, the people

give themselves up to revelry and sin at home, or crowd the street- cars
running to the parks and suburbs. Many with departed relatives (and
who has none?) go to the _chacarita_, and for a few pesos bargain with
the black-robed priest waiting there, to deliver their precious dead out
of Purgatory. If he sings the prayer the cost is double, but supposed to
be also doubly efficacious. Mothers do not always inspire filial respect
in their offspring, for one young man declared that he "wanted to get
his mother out of Purgatory before he went in."
A Buenos Ayres missionary writes "There are two large cemeteries
here. From early morn until late at night the people crowd into them,
and I am told there were 100,000 at one time in one of them. November
1 is a special day for releasing thousands of souls out of Purgatory. We
printed thousands of tracts and the workers started out to distribute
them. By ten o'clock six of them were in jail, having been given into
custody by a 'holy father.' They were detained until six in the evening
without food, and then were released through the efforts of a Methodist
minister."
The catechisn reads: "Attend mass all Sundays and Feast days. Confess
at least once a year, or oftener, if there is any fear of death. Take
Sacrament at Easter time. Pay a tenth of first-fruits to God's Church."
The fourth commandment is condensed into the words: "Sanctify the
Feast days." From this it will be seen that there is great need for
mission work. Of course Romanism in this and other cities is losing its
old grip upon the people, and because of this the priest is putting forth
superhuman effort to retain what he has. La Voz de la Iglesia ("The
Voice of the Church"), the organ of the Bishop of Buenos Ayres, has
lately published some of the strongest articles we have ever read. A late
article concludes: "One thing only, one thing: OBEY; OBEY
BLINDLY. Comply with her (the Church's) commands with faithful
loyalty. If we do this, it is impossible for Protestantism to invade the
flowery camp of the Church, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman."
Articles such as this, however, and the circulation of a tract by one of
the leading church presses, are not calculated to help forward a losing
cause. The tract referred to is entitled, "Letter of Jesus about the Drops
of Blood which He shed whilst He went to Calvary." "You know that
the soldiers numbered 150, twenty-five of whom conducted me bound.
I received fifty blows on the head and 108 on the breast. I was pulled

by the hair 23 times, and 30 persons spat in my face. Those who struck
me on the upper part of the body were 6,666, and 100 Jews struck me
on the head. I sighed 125 times. The wounds on the head numbered 20;
from the crown of thorns, 72; points of thorns on the forehead, 100.
The wounds on the body were 100. There came out of my body 28,430
drops of blood." This letter, the tract states, was found in the Holy
Sepulchre and is preserved by his holiness the Pope. Intelligent,
thinking men can only smile at such an utter absurdity.
An "Echoes from Argentina" extract reads: "Not many months ago,
Argentina was blessed by the Pope. Note what has happened
since:--The Archbishop, who was the bearer of the blessing and
brought it from Rome, has since died very suddenly; we have had a
terrible visitation of heat suffocation, hundreds being attacked and very
many dying; we have had the bubonic pest in our midst; a bloody
provincial revolution in Entre Rios; and now at the time of writing
there is an outbreak of a serious cattle disease, and England has closed
her ports against Argentine live stock. Of course, we do not say that
these calamities are the result of the Pope's blessing, but we would that
Catholics would open their eyes and see that it is a fact that whereas
Protestant