Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/143

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DELUDED PIETY.
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officiating priest, and with sobs and tears she handed over every rial of the money to him. He then gave her his blessing and a promise in exchange and turned upon his heel. Then a kind of trembling ecstacy appeared to seize her, and her tears fell faster; but they now seemed to be tears of joy. Clasping her hands convulsively before her, she raised her eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, "Blessed Virgin, I thank thee! I have now purchased the release of my parents from five thousand years of torment in purgatory! Oh! how I long to see them when they shall be free! Blessed Virgin, I thank thee for this indulgence!"

As the traveller passes through some of the lesser cities in this country, he will probably observe, close to some lofty, awful-looking buildings, a pair of iron pillars, with sockets attached to them. A stranger may know by these ominous tokens that the buildings belong, or once belonged, to the Holy Inquisition. A few years ago these iron sockets held a chain which was suspended across the street, and used to be "an indulgence" to the inhabitants! During one week in each year, every criminal, of whatsoever offence he had been guilty, was not to be amenable to the