The Garden of Souls 



When my cross had been duly consecrated, I ventured 

 to inquire in what manner its establishment would benefit 

 my soul ? 



" Perhaps you may not be aware," he replied, " that 

 every cross which is set up here on earth deprives the devil 

 of a soul ; for the number of souls received into heaven will 

 be exactly measured by the number of crosses set up on 

 earth. As I have nothing particular to do, I make fifty of 

 these holy symbols of our faith every morning, and set 

 them up here in my garden every evening before sunset. 

 You see I drop in a few onion-seeds beneath each. When 

 the onion comes to be of a good size, I pull it up and 

 the cross with it. The onion goes into the o/Zo, and the 

 cross (which is by that time nearly rotten) into the fire. 

 But at the moment when I pull up the onion and the cross, 

 a man dies, and a soul is saved." 



" But when you pull up my cross and onion, shall I die 

 too ? " 



" Es regular que si (probably) ; but what signifies that ? 

 You will be saved as sure as my onion is cooked." 



" But if the devil is continually losing souls in this 

 wholesale manner, I wonder he does not come by in the 

 night and pull up your crosses." 



" I should like to see him try, or any of his demons. 

 They dare not, my son, — they dare not touch my crosses 

 with their own impious hands ; but they do what they can 

 to instigate wicked little boys to come by when I am out 

 of the way, and pull up my crosses in great numbers. And 

 sometimes the demons will undo the sneck of the gate, and 

 drive in a score or so of malditos puercos (cursed pigs), who 

 make great havoc both with my crosses and my onions ; 

 and I have to plant them again as it pleases Providence, it 

 being impossible for me to tell, unless I were a prophet, 



354 



