Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/162

136 pastimes, which consist wholly of bull baiting, cock fighting and gambling, they are not disgraced by either riotousness or drunkenness.***The priests give countenance to these recreations, if they may be so called, both by their presence and participation. ***The men, women, and children, as soon as they had concluded their ceremonies, started, in a body, with revolting precipitation, to the gaming tables, which had been set forth in the ruins of an old convent adjoining the sanctuary where the procession had just been dissolved. Here we found all classes of society, male and female. The highest ecclesiastical and civil dignitaries were there, hob and nob with the most common of the multitude." ***Such is the testimony of Mr. Norman as to some of the disgraceful habits of the clergy in Yucatan. Mr. Stephens in his travels in the same Mexican state, remarks that "except at Merda and Campeché, where they are more immediately under the eyes of the bishop, the padres, throughout Yucatan, to relieve the tedium of convent life, have compagneras or, as they are sometimes called, hermanas politicas, or, sisters in law.*****

"Some look on this arrangement as a little irregular, but, in general, it is regarded only as an amiable weakness, and I am safe in saying that it is considered a recommendation to a village padre, as it is supposed to give him settled habits, as marriage does with laymen; and, to give my own honest opinion, which I did not intend to do, it is less injurious to good morals than the by no means uncommon consequences of celibacy which are found in some other Catholic countries. The padre in Yucatan stands in the position of a married man, and performs all the duties pertaining to the head of a family. Persons of what is considered a respectable standing in a village, do not shun left hand marriages with a padre. Still it was to us always a matter of regret to meet with individuals of worth, and whom we could not help esteeming, standing in what could not but be considered a false position. To return to the case with which I set out;—the padre in question was universally spoken of as a man of good conduct, a sort of pattern padre for correct, steady habits; sedate, grave and middle aged, and apparently the last man to have an eye for such a pretty compagnera."

As the United States is now interested in the history of California, it may not be uninteresting or unprofitable, in illustrating this