314 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
Church in America, the Fayal churches impress 
one as vast baby houses, and the services as 
acted charades. This perfect intermingling of 
the religious and the melodramatic was one 
of our most interesting experiences, and made 
the Miracle Plays of history a very simple and 
intelligible thing. In Fayal holiday and holy- 
day have not yet undergone the slightest sepa- 
ration. A festival has to the people necessarily 
some religious association, and when the Amer- 
icans celebrate the Fourth of July, Mr. Dab- 
ney’s servants like to dress with flowers a 
wooden image in his garden, the fierce figure- 
head of some wrecked vessel, which they boldly 
personify as the American Saint. On the 
other hand, the properties of the church are as 
freely used for merrymaking. On public days 
there are fireworks provided by the priests; 
they are kept in the church till the time comes, 
and are then touched off in front of the build- 
ing, with very limited success, by the sacristan. 
And strangest of all, at the final puff and bang 
of each remarkable piece of pyrotechny, the 
bells ring out just the same sudden clang which 
marks the agonizing moment of the Elevation 
of the Host. 
On the same principle, the theatricals which 
occasionally enliven the island take place in 
chapels adjoining the churches. I shall never 
