TAKING THE BLACK VEIL. 



211 



throughout the city, cannon were fired in the plaza, 

 and rockets and fireworks set off at the corners of the 

 streets. At nine o'clock crowds of people were hurry- 

 ing to the Church of La Concepcion. Before the door, 

 and extending across the streets, were arches decorated 

 with evergreens and flowers. The broad steps of the 

 church were strewed with pine leaves, and on the plat- 

 form were men firing rockets. The church was one of 

 the handsomest in Guatimala, rich with gold and silver 

 ornaments, pictures, and figures of saints, and adorned 

 with arches and flowers. The Padre Aycinena, the 

 vice-president of the state, and the leading member of 

 the Constituent Assembly, was the preacher of the day, 

 and his high reputation attracted a large concourse of 

 people. The pulpit was at one end of the church, and 

 the great mass of the people were anxious to hear the 

 sermon. This left the other end comparatively va- 

 cant, and I placed myself on a step of the nearest 

 altar, directly in front of the grating of the convent. 

 At the close of the sermon there was a discharge of 

 rockets and crackers from the steps of the church, the 

 smoke of which clouded the interior, and the smell of 

 powder was stronger than that of the burning incense. 

 The floor was strewed with pine leaves, and covered 

 with kneeling women, with black mantas drawn close 

 over the top of the head, and held together under the 

 chin. I never saw a more beautiful spectacle than 

 these rows of kneeling women, with faces pure and 

 lofty in expression, lighted up by the enthusiasm of re- 

 ligion ; and among them, fairer than most and lovely as 

 any, was one from my own land ; not more than twen- 

 ty-two, married to a gentleman belonging to one of the 

 first families of Guatimala, once an exile in the United 

 States. In a new land and among a new people, she 



