"It rains--what lady loves a rainy day?
She loves a rainy day who sweeps the hearth,
And threads the busy needle, or applies
The scissors to the torn or threadbare sleeve;
And blesses God that she has friends and home."
ANON.
"Mary, where is your cousin? I have not seen her since breakfast,"
inquired Mrs. Carlton, as the two friends sat conversing in the
chamber of the latter.
"She laid aside her book just now, declaring it was so dark she
could scarcely read. This gloomy day has infected her spirits; she is
probably in the dining-room. I will seek her." And rising, Mary left
the apartment.
For two days the rain had fallen in torrents, and now on the third
morning, the heavens were still overcast, and at intervals of every
few moments the heavy clouds discharged themselves in copious showers.
The despondency induced by the unsettled times was enhanced by the
gloomy weather, and many an earnest wish was expressed that sunshine
would soon smile again upon the town.
Weary with pacing up and down the dining-room, Florence had stationed
herself at the window, and stood with her cheek pressed against the
panes, gazing dreamily out upon the deluged streets. She was roused
from her reverie by Mary's entrance.
"Florry, I have come in quest of you. Pray, how are you amusing
yourself here, all alone?"
"Communing with my own thoughts, as usual. Here, Mary, stand beside
me. As you came in I was puzzling myself to discover how those
Mexican women across the street are employing themselves. They
seem distressed, yet every now and then chatter with most perfect
unconcern. There, they are both on their knees, with something like a
picture hanging on the fence before them. They dart in and out of the
house in a strange, excited manner. Perhaps you can enlighten me?"
Mary looked earnestly in the direction indicated by her cousin, and at
length replied:
"You will scarcely credit my explanation: yet I assure you I perfectly
understand the pantomime. Florry, look more particularly at the
picture suspended in the rain. What does it most resemble, think you?"
"Ah, I see now--it is an image of the Virgin! But I should suppose
they considered it sacrilegious to expose it to the inclemencies of
the weather."
"Look closely, Florry, there are praying to the Virgin, and imploring
a cessation of the rain. I once happened at Señor Gonzale's during a
thunder-storm, and, to my astonishment, the family immediately
hung out all the paintings of saints they possessed. I inquired the
meaning, and was told in answer, that the shower would soon pass over,
as they had petitioned the images to that effect. Those women have
repeated a certain number of aves, and withdrawn into the house, but
ere long you will see them return, and go through the same formula."
"It is almost incredible that they should ascribe such miraculous
power to these little bits of painted canvas," replied Florence,
gazing curiously upon the picture which was suspended with the face
toward her.
"No, not incredible, when you remember the quantity of relics annually
exported from Rome, such as 'chips of the Cross,' 'bones of the
Apostles,' and 'fragments of the Virgin's apparel,' which Papists
conscientiously believe are endowed with magical powers sufficient to
relieve various infirmities. I doubt not that those women confidently
expect a favorable response to their petition; and if such
intercession could avail, it was certainly never more needed. Absurd
as the practise appears to us, a doubt of the efficacy of their
prayers never crossed their minds. They are both devout and
conscientious."
"But, Mary, such superstitious ignorance is entirely confined to the
degraded and uneducated classes. No really intelligent mind could rely
on yonder picture to dispel these clouds, and win a ray of sunshine.
I think you are too hasty in supposing that the enlightened portion
of the Catholic Church place such implicit confidence in images and
relics."
"What do you term the enlightened portion of the church? Would not its
prelates be considered as belonging to that class?"
"Most certainly they would, Mary: for doubtless many of the greatest
minds Europe has produced, were and are still to be found among the
Roman Catholic clergy. Yet you would not insinuate that these rely on
the efficacy of such mummery as that we have just witnessed?" replied
Florence, fixing her eyes inquiringly upon her cousin's face.
"Allow me to ask one question ere I reply. Florry, do you believe the
days of miracles have passed away, or do you suppose that the laws of
nature are still constantly infringed, the harmony of cause and
effect destroyed, and wonderful phenomena still vouchsafed to favored
Europeans?"
"Of course I do not advocate the theory that miracles occur at the
present day. It is too preposterous to advance in this enlightened
age. There are perhaps natural phenomena, only to be explained
by scientific research; yet in the common acceptation of the term
miracle, I unhesitatingly declared that I believe none have occurred
since the days of Christ and the Apostles."
"Then, Florry, your position is untenable, for Romish prelates of the
present day do most unquestionably defend the theory of the annual
occurrence of miracles. Bishop ----, whose intellectual endowments are
the constant theme of encomiums, has recently visited Italy. On
his return to America, he brought with him a valuable collection of
relics, which he distributed among the members of his church. Florry,
I can vouch for the truth of what I now say. He declared himself
extremely fortunate in having happened at Naples during the
anniversary of the death of St. Janarius. Said he, 'I repaired to the
place of his martyrdom, and took into my own hand the vial containing
the blood of the blessed saint, now decomposed. As the hour rolled
around I watched the holy dust in breathless anxiety; at the appointed
moment I perceived a change in its appearance, and while I held the
vial in my hand the ashes liquefied and became veritable blood; while
the dark spots on a neighboring stone turned of a deep crimson.' Now
the bishop related this miracle far and wide and priests ministering
at the altar repeated his words to their listening flocks. Sanctioned
by the example of their prelates, do you wonder that the ignorant
masses of the Romish church should implicitly rely upon the
intercession of saints, and place unbounded confidence in the
miraculous powers imputed to relics? Again, the Manuals placed in
the hands of the laity, are compiled under the special supervision of
these ecclesiastical professors, who necessarily indorse all we see
there advanced. In the Ursuline Manual I find this assertion: 'The
Hail Mary was composed in Heaven, dictated by the Holy Ghost, and
delivered to the faithful by the Angel Gabriel!' Now, Florry, does
not this seem blasphemy, bordering on the absurd? What conscientious,
honest, enlightened Christian would unblushingly defend such a
declaration?"
"But, Mary, admitting as you do, that you believe there exist
many truly conscientious members of this sect, why indulge your
apprehension at the promulgation of its tenets?" replied Florence.
"I might answer you, Florry, in the words of Henry IV., who inquired
of a celebrated Protestant divine, 'if a man might be saved by the
Roman Catholic religion?' 'Undoubtedly,' replied the clergyman, 'if
his life and heart be holy.' 'Then,' said the king, 'according to both
Catholics and Protestants, I may be saved by the Catholic religion;
but if I embrace your religion, I shall not be saved according to the
Catholics.' Thus Henry most unquestionably adjudged Protestants the
more tolerant of the two sects. Here, Florry, you have the clew to
my anti-Romanism. I fear the extension of papal doctrines, because
liberty of conscience was never yet allowed where sufficient power was
vested in the Roman Catholic clergy to compel submission. To preserve
the balance of power in ecclesiastical affairs is the only aim of
Protestants. We but contend for the privilege of placing the Bible in
the hands of the masses--of flashing the glorious flambeau of truth
into the dark recesses of ignorance and superstition--into the abysmal
depths of papal iniquity. Unscrupulously employing every method
conducive to the grand end of disseminating Romish dogmas, the
fagot, the wheel, and all the secret horrors of the Inquisition, were
speedily brought to bear upon all who dared to assume the privilege of
worshiping God according to the dictates of an unfettered conscience.
If the bloody tragedies of the Middle Ages are no longer enacted upon
the theater of a more enlightened world, it is because the power so
awfully abused has been wrested from the scarlet-robed tenants of the
Vatican, The same fierce, intolerable tyranny is still exercised where
their jurisdiction is unquestioned. From the administration of the
pontifical states of Italy to the regulation of convent discipline, we
trace the workings of the same iron rule. No barriers are too mighty
to be overborne, no distinctions too delicate to to be thrust rudely
aside. Even the sweet sacredness of the home circle is not exempt from
the crushing, withering influence. Ah! how many fair young members of
the household band have been decoyed from the hearthstone and immured
in gloomy cells. Ah! how many a widowed parent has mourned over the
wreck of all that was beautiful in a cherished daughter, snatched by
the hand of bigotry from her warm embrace, and forever incarcerated
in monastic gloom. Oh! tell me, Florry, if compulsory service is
acceptable to all-seeing God? If the warm young heart, beating behind
many a convent grate, yearns to burst asunder the iron bands which
enthrall her, and, mingling again upon the stage of life to perform
the duties for which she was created, oh! where in holy writ is
sanction found for the tyrannical decree which binds her there
forever--a living sacrifice?"