THE TOWN OF CART AGO AND ITS LIFE 49 



and lay himself open to rebuke and dislike or stronger 

 measures. 



Early Easter morning — long before light — the church 

 bells began to ring with a great clamor and the band was 

 heard playing its gayest march as it conducted a procession 

 from church to church. 



On Sunday, June thirteenth, we walked about the streets 

 to see the celebration of the last day of Corpus Christi. Being 

 market day there were many visitors in town and large 

 crowds around altars erected at the street crossings. These 

 were large wooden platforms each with a high back support- 

 ing a canopy. They were all differently decorated and fin- 

 ished, but all had much tinsel, many beautiful flowers and 

 enormous quantities of white paraffin paper crumpled up 

 over the whole background for clouds. The effect of this 

 background was astonishingly good and pleasing. There 

 were four altars in our part of town, forming the corners of a 

 large rectangle two blocks on a side. Along the streets con- 

 necting the altars men had set up branches of trees so that 

 the streets were lined with green. Many of the houses were 

 decorated with coarse lace curtains hung outside the windows 

 and doors, and looped up with crepe paper festoons, ribbons' 

 or banners bearing the words "Viva Jesus Sacrementado." 

 The crowd of celebrants passed along the street from one 

 altar to the next, headed by the band. When they reached 

 the altar there was a service and singing, the crowd kneeling 

 in the streets. The altars now were occupied by half a dozen 

 little girls dressed in pale blue, pink or yellow, with huge 

 wings, representing angels, who were disposed among the 

 white paper clouds very prettily. All the men who happened 

 to be near stopped during the service and stood bareheaded 

 until it was over. As soon as the service was ended at an 

 altar the latter was taken down and we saw the little angels 

 being lifted from their resting places among the clouds, before 



