Page:Life in Mexico vol 2.djvu/64

44 but the strong, stout man in rags, who prefers begging to working—the half-naked woman who would consider herself degraded by doing anything to better her condition, except asking for alms—the dogs which wander up and down during divine service,—all these might be brought to order by proper regulations.

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, I have sometimes compared, in my own mind, the appearance of a fashionable London chapel with that of a Mexican church, on the occasion of a solemn fête, and the comparison is certainly in favor of the latter. The one, light, airy and gay, with its velvet-lined pews, its fashionable preacher, the ladies a little sleepy after the last night's opera, but dressed in the most elegant morning toilette, and casting furtive glances at Lady 's bonnet and feathers, and at Mrs. 's cashmere shawl or lovely ermine pelisse, and exchanging a few fashionable nothings at the door, as the footmen let down the steps of their gay equipages—the other, solemn, stately and gloomy, and showing no distinction of rank. The floor covered with kneeling figures—some enveloped in the reboso, others in the mantilla, and all alike devout, at least in outward seeming. No showy dress, or gay bonnet, or fashionable mantle to cause the eye of the poor to wander with envy or admiration. Apparently considering themselves alike in the sight of Heaven, the peasant and the Marquesa kneel side by side, with little distinction of dress; and all appear occupied with their own devotions, without observing either their neighbor's dress or degree of devoutness.