| Show SCENES I I THE SOUTH A Hush Fell Upon the City When the Bishop Died DARK TALES OF PRIVATE LIFE The Church Customs of BolIviaA Magnificent Magnifi-cent Funeral Monrniiie in Outward Appearance Li PAZ Bolivia Aug HSpecill correspondence cor-respondence of Tile HERALDI hush has fallen opon the city for the bishop is dead This is a more startling announcement than the stranger at first appreciates for Bishop Juan de Dios Bosque was the foremost fore-most man in Bolivia a functionary of more importance than the president of the Republic Re-public and with far greater power NEITHER RESOLUTIONS NOR CHAXGIXG GOV ItNIIENT could affect his state and position he directed di-rected rulers and shaped public events and his word was a law from which er was no appeal His influence was more potent because not observable on the surface but it penetrates to every home in all the walls of life swaying the strongest through their superstitions and maintaining its firmest bold though the women and the children He was only 01 years old when he succumbed suc-cumbed to what surgeons name visical calculus cal-culus a terrible disease for whose treatment treat-ment he went to Europe eight years ago anti returned apparently cured He was V appointed to the diocese by the pope in 0 IST and from that time to tho present has r enjoyed an income much greater than that 1 of the president ranging between 630000 and 100000 per annum Ho was extremely charitable and not only founded but sup ported the great orphan asylum of La Putout Put-out of his private means besides dispensing dispens-ing large sums of money in daily charities OF COUUSE DARK TALES AUE TOLD concerning his private life and alleged methods of adding to his income circulated now that he is dead by those who a few days ago dared not speak his name except in the most respectful manner Slander like death loves a shining marlc and doubtless most of these falsehoods arc attributable at-tributable to the petty jealousy that always follows those who are elevated in purpose or position above the common herd The hestthat can be said of him or of any human being in the final summingup of the earthly record is that he was not wanting want-ing in charity the greatest of the Christian virtues Some time ago Bishop Bosque cot himself so deeply under a cloud at Rome that the Pope suspended him fora year or two The trouble began with the discovery that he had bestowed two or three livings apiece on certain poor curates Of course the gossipers gossip-ers insist that the latter divided the spoils with their patron but as the cures receive the merest pittance from the government the salary of each being about 100 per annum an-num there could not have been very much to divide The suspension of the too sympathetic sym-pathetic bishop was precipitated bj his marrying a cabinet minister to a widow three of whose children by a former husband hus-band having been godfathered by the minister min-ister aforesaid No remotest tie of blood V existed among them but the church expressly ex-pressly forbids such marriages on the ground that a spiiitual relationship sacred though unexplainable exists between com padres as parents and godparents are called During the period of suspension his salary from the government 0000 a year I was stopped but the grateful minister i presented him with 1500 and his parishioners parish-ioners made up a purse of 30000 more so that he managed to worry along S XOW THAT HE IS DEAD the aspect of the whole city is suddenly changed Martial music no longer fills the air flags are at half mast and tied with crape black banners are drooping from the windows of aU the houses immediately surrounding sur-rounding the episcopal palace while the latter the huge prisonlike structure occupied occu-pied during Melgarejos time as a barrack is literally covered with symbols of woe In the second story apartment which that illustrious il-lustrious general used for a dining room the bishop breathed his last and from that very window through which the former marched his men to a fall of fifteen feet and broken bones merely to show off their obedience to a friend a sable pall is hang ing V According to a church custom 5n Bolivia the bishop must lie in state four days and meanwhile people of every class are in deepest mourning All day long from 10 nin till midnight a throng of people is seen wending its way in one direction to pay the last token of respect to the holy lather There are monks graycowled bareheaded and barefooted priests in black robes and shovel hats friars all in white from head to foot processions of boys who are being educated for the priesthood sisters sis-ters of charity and nuns of all orders various va-rious societies going in a body delegations of citizens troops of employees from every branch of the government Inpians Cholos I and ladies of high degree By the way the women of South America Amer-ica can MOUKX MOUE IX OUTWARD APPEAKAXCE than any other class of people on earth I All wear straight scant gowns of black wool entirely untrimmed and slightly trailing trail-ing and manias or shawls of the same material draped in straight lines over the F J l V 7 I shoulders and body and covering the face sc that only the eyes are visible A company com-pany of these funeral figures gliding slowly through the streets with bowed heads 1 calls to mind some of Dores illustrations in Dantes Inferno I Since everybody is not only invited but xpecte3 to call upon the illustrious dead let us join the multitude and proceed to the house of mourning The Indians and half breeds go in their everyday brighthued toggery having no other but custom decrees crees that other people must dress entirely in black the gentlemen in tall hats with a band > of crepe around them and the ladies with no hats at all but universal manta WOrn over the head The palace though very extensive looks shabby enough outside the lower floor on the front side occupied by several poor shops and its once white walls now Tellowgray with dirt and time Passing owna side street we find a pair of double doors like those of a barn standing wide openand enter a big bare patio paved with small round stones the same In which vleltrarejo drilled his troops Doors are thickly set on all sides of the enclosure but there iso is-o MISTAKING THE RIGHT ONE Through a halllike salon we go whero soldiers stand on guard and rows of black gowned priests arc perched around the I edges like so many overgrown birds of prey and come at last to the inner room I in which the prelate is holding his last reception re-ception It is a large square sofa the walls coy I ered with wreaths of white and purple flowers each chaplet tied with long black ribbons to which the caril of the lonor is attached Monks priests and friars stand all around each holding alighted candle while hour after hours constant procession of mourning people pours in at one door I and out at another V The bishop never looked better in life despite the sufferings of his last days The I proud dark face Moorish in type wears a calm though by no means a happy smile a Sphinxlike expression that will long haunt the beholder He lies at an angle of forty five decrees on what appears to be a solid bcd of roses his tall and stately figure dressed in the richest vestments of purple and gold with splendid lace beneath and sparKling with jewels with the mitre on his head and V GOLDEN CROOK BESIDE HIM I The right hand which has dispensed so I many blessings lies at his side within reach of the passing multitude It is covered cov-ered with a black kid glove and on the middle finger is the wellknown ring set witn a big fiat diamond which has been worn by other bishops long gone to glory 1 and pressed by the lips of successive generations gen-erations It is said to be worth 50000 and being the property of the church will be removed before the body is interred There are two other jewels on the back of the same glove each set in a rosette of red ribbon the significance of which I do not know and everybody ascends two black palled steps kneels beside the flowery bier and kisses tne dead man three times once on each jewel Meanwhile scarcely a sound is heard but that of sobs andsighs and the purple robe is stained with tears V I As itis not every day that a bishop dies I the citizens of La Paz improve the occasion making it a general holiday and an opportunity op-portunity for the military and civic display they most enjoy Several thousand invitations invita-tions have been issued to the services elaborate cards or large sheets folded in quaint fashion with heavy black borders and other funeral emblems announcing that performances will begin at 10 oclock a m and close at 3 in the afternoon It is only two squares from the palace to the cathedral but the whole army is out to escort the illustrious corps ana a procession proces-sion so vast that it requires nearly two hours to accomplish the short journey THEUE ARE HUNDREDS OE MUEST3 V Monks and friars in white gray and black robes with scarlet hoods all chanting and upholding candles or crucifixes There are children from the public schools boys from the Jesuit college and redskirted acolytes singing with piping voices nuns of every order Daughters of Mary Sisters of Charity female seminaries female Beno iicenciaries congregations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Rosario San Merced and many others and the murmur of their united prayers sounds like the distant voice of he sea There fs the president and his cabinet the diplomatic corps municipal council national institute lawyers and judges Iwmbcros firemen the Hayden choir Catholic choir Philharmonic and other musical organizations the Workmen Work-men of the Cross Brothers of San Jose Mutual Beneficent brotherhood and no cnn of other societies Even the gambling and dancing clubs are represented in separate bodies and thousands of citizens have joined the parade intending wallcfrom the palace to the cathedral and afterwards to the cemetery a distance of about three miles The military brings up the rear and the most striking leature of this part of the pageant is the cavalry a thousand men in scarlet and gold from top to tee on splendid splen-did white horses riding five abreast A SCORE OF BRVSS BANDS marching at equal distances are playing t all at once and numberless banners and emblematic devices are Hying along the line In the midst enveloped in clouds of incense in-cense the body of the bishop is borne on an uncovered catafalque whose black pall isstrewn with fresh roses It is carried by priests but the black ribbons extending from it are held by the president of the republic re-public the vicepresident ministers of justice and the foreign ministers The impressiveness im-pressiveness of the scene is somewhat marred by the spectacle of the empty hearse dressed all over in purple and white guaze put on in billowy puffs to represent rep-resent uds spangled with silver stars and hung with wreaths of roses careering career-ing to fro to show itself off Arrived at the churjh the catafalque is q 5V TV fV I J deposited on a dias raised at such an angle that the corpse still dressed in its splendid robes and jewels with mitre and golden staff is almost standing The great funeral elias hung with sable curtain spangled with stars a beautifully illuminated cross at the head and weeping figures stacding at the sides occupies a considerable portion of the centre of the cathedral I THE ENTIRE EDIFICE IS DRAPED with black crape and ribbons lighted by I thousands of candles and perfumed with j flowers and incensebut above all these i another odor may be plainly distinguished which together with the swollen hands that have almost burst their gloves and the face that still wears its sphinx like smile but has grown many shades darker proves that the embalmers did not do their work well enough for so long an exhibition The great sanctuary is packed to its utmost I ut-most capacity the most distinguished guests having been supplied with seats and every men or standing room occupied The service is exactly three hours long Dean Malinas requiem mass being magnificently I rendered by a fullstringed orchestra and a hundred voices Then follows the oration delivered by a brother canon after which another reverend father discourses at great length in the name of the regular and secular secu-lar clergy Meantime tho faces of those sitting nearest the catafalque are seen to grow pale and paler and the standing multitude mul-titude even the soldiers who are used to it shift about wearily from one leg to the other while the crowd outside hearing nothing within and impatient for thesbow to continue aro talking and laughing in groups AI length about 3 oclock according accord-ing to program theprocession is reformed to escort the hero of the day to toe Pantheon Pan-theon THE SAME CHVXTIXG OF PRIESTS and burning of incense and singing of choirs is resumed interrupted several times on the way when the catafalque is set down in the road and the procession halts I while another oration is delivered The i devotion of many faltprs as the miles and I I hours lengthen and by the time the city limits arc reached most of the private citizens have deserted I The cemetary of La Paz is one of the I finest in South America most of the dead I being deposited ii niches just large enough I to slip in a coffin or Oitener a corpse I without a coffin placed tier above tier in I the hlgh walls that surround the enclosure I en-closure Tomorrow the newly sealed door of one of these will be lableed in letters I let-ters of gold Hmo Senor Doctor Don Juan do Dios Bosque Ovispo de La Paz I The highsounding title if translated into English which doubtless would have i I mightily shocked his highness would be plain John Wood or if literally rendered Illustrious Sir Mr Doctor Johnof God I Wood I Hastening to our hotel ahead of the crowd we watched the stragglers from the precession coming back in small bodies and the clock in the congressional tower strikes the hour of six before all have returned re-turned Tho soldiers come last and are marched three times around the piazza no longer to funeral music but gay waltzes and national airs then Up the hills to taelr barracks bar-racks TROOPS OF GRAYCOWLED FRANCISCANS glide away to their cloisters groups of whiterobed friars hurry to thc San Merced Mer-ced priests canons and clergy hasten homeward many in carriages all inclined to be jolly after the labors of the day some even convival An evening paper contains this squib Tut tut I my friend Camacho why do I find you thus inflated meaning intoxicated intoxi-cated Without embarrassment or hesitation he replied What is more proper and natural amigo mio than to inflate ones self when a bishop dies especially one who never turned his own back upon a good glass J It has been a magnificent funeral but among thc multitudes that witnessed the display probably there was not one poor Indian who though often cold and hungry would not rather bo himself alive on the top of Gods green earth than the dead prelate in all his pomp and glory Musing in the twilight we wonder whether could the lately departed soul return to its old haunts tonight itmightnotbedisappointed to find the world going on as contentedly > ever and even its closest friends forgetful forget-ful So true it is that in this world of graves one more death is like the dropping of a stone into the seaa momentary vacancy va-cancy then the waters close over and leave no sign Meanwhile though darkness has descended de-scended below and wrapped the city in deepest shadow the heavenpiercing snows of the lllill ail are gloriously illuminated by departed suna hint of things unseen by mortal eyes FANNIE B WARD |
