278 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
wax, life-size, and in full costume, each having 
a complete separate wardrobe, but more tawdry 
and shabby, let us hope, than the originals ever 
indulged in. Hereare Saint Francis and Saint 
Isabella, Saint Peter with a monk kneeling be- 
fore him, and Saint Margaret with her dog, 
and the sceptred and ermined Saint Louis ; and 
then Joseph and Mary sitting amicably upon 
the same platform, with an additional force of 
bearers to sustain them. For this is the pro- 
cession of the Bem-casados or Well-married, 
in honor of the parents of Jesus. Then there 
are lofty crucifixes and waving flags ; and when 
the great banner comes in sight, bearing simply 
the letters S. P. Q. R., one starts in wonder at 
that mighty superstition which has grasped 
the very central symbol of ancient empire, and 
brought it down, like a boulder on a glacier, 
into modern days. The letters which once 
meant Senatus Populusque Romanus stand 
now only for the feebler modern formula, 
Salve populum quem redemistz. 
All these shabby splendors are interspersed 
among the rank and file of several hundred lay 
brethren of different orders, ranging in years 
from six to sixty. The Carmelites wear a sort 
of white bathing-dress, and the Brotherhood of 
Saint Francis are clothed in long brown robes, 
girded with coarse rope. The very old and the 
