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Show today iim history! FRIDAY, MARCH 25. Good Friday. Good Friday has been hold as a festival fes-tival by tho church from the earliest limes. In England today all business Is suspended, and in the United States! Good Friday Is observed as a logai holiday iu Alabama. Connecticut, Delaware. Florida. Flor-ida. Louisiana. Maryland. Minnesota, Now Jersey. Pennsylvania, aud Tennessee. In commemoration of I ho cruulllxion of our Lord this day Is Itopl. a.s a day of mourning and of special prayer, and Is the most sacred of all of tho church festival days of tho year. In America there is no speelllod ob-servanee ob-servanee of the day. other than tho special spe-cial Easter services In the Catholic and Protestant churches. In Rome, moro than In any other city, arc the services of a most solemn character. The pope carries out his part of the ceremony habited In a rod cope, and the cardinals dress In purple, which is their mourning color, aud wear no rings. The morning sermon ser-mon Is preached by a conventual friar, and the "Miserere." chanted in the ss-tlne ss-tlne chapel, in the afternoon, draws a vast throng. After tho "Miserere" is chanted, the pope, cardinals and other clergy proceed through a covered passage to St. Peter's, in order to venerate the relics of tho 'True Cross." tho "Lamec" and the "Vollo Santo." which are shown by tho canons from the balcony above the. statue of St. Veronica. In London, and all over England, the morning of Good Friday is ushered in with the universal cry of "Hot Cross Buns!" A parcel of them appears on every breakfast table. It Is a rather small bun. more than usually spiced, and having Its brown, sugary surfaco marked with a croas. Thousands of poor children and old. frail people take up for thin clay the business of disseminating thc.io qunpl-rollglous cakes, only Intermitting Intermit-ting the duty during church hours. The oar of every person who has ever dwelt In England Is familiar with the. cry of the street bun vendors: "Ono a penny, buns, Two a penny, buns. Ono a penny, two a penny. Hot cross buns!" A superstition regarding bread baked on Good Friday appears to have existed from an early period. Bread so baked was kept by a family all through the ensuing year, under the belief that a few gratings of It In water would prove a specific for any ailment. The ancient archlepiscopal city of Treves, on tho Moselle, rrussla, claims the possession, among its cathedral treasures, treas-ures, of the coat reputed to havo been worn by our Saviour at His crucifixion, nnd for which tho soldiers cast lots. This coal was the gift of tho famed Empress Helena, the mother of Constantino the Great. It Is very rarely shown, and the history of her possession of it has never been wr.lt ten. In the Good Frldav processions of penitents, peni-tents, which takes place in the southern Italian cities, the persons who form them aro so completely enveloped in a pecullnr dress that nothing but tho eyes and hands arc visible. A long white gown covers the body, and a high-pointed hood envelops the head, spreading like a heavy tippet over Ihe shoulders: holes aro cut to allow of sight, but there are none for breathing. Each penitent in the procession wears upon the hood a crown of thorns twice twisted round the brow and over the head. A thin rope is passed round the neck and looped in front of the breast. In -which the uplifted hands of the penitent peni-tent rest in the attitude of prayer. Thus, deprived of sight, the slow movement of theso' lines of penitents through the streets Is regulated by tho clerical officials of-ficials who walk beside and marshal them. Jn I his section Is the most picturesque observance of the day. March 2f. up to ITS?., was reckoned as New Year's day. Today. In K.fl.1. William Wil-liam Bradford set up the llrst printing press in England. It Is Lady day In England: tho date on which Lord Baltimore Balti-more landed in Mnryland lo establish his first colonlv In 1031. and it is the birthday birth-day of Archbishop John Williams (1SS2); Stephen Col'well. the financier and author au-thor (1S00); nnd General Elwcll S. Otis US3S). |