Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/75



In the shadow of a pillar of the Portales sneaks a miserable looking wretch, wrapped in his tattered blanket—a lépero, porter, beggar, thief, as the occasion offers; and he takes the advantage of the latter employment in this moment of excitement, to ease an unsuspicious stranger of his handkerchief!

A tinkle of a bell at the door of the Cathedral sacristy, and a roll of drums calling out the guard of honor at the palace gate, give warning of a change of scene.

Slowly issues a gayly-painted coach with glass windows on all sides, drawn by spotted mules; a priest in his vestments sits within; a band of boys walk on each side, chanting a hymn; and in a moment, a deathlike stillness pervades the whole square. From the tradesman, selling his tapes under the Portales, to the thief, who has barely time to conceal the handkerchief in his dirty blanket, the whole crowd is uncovered and kneeling: the is passing to the house of some dying Catholic!

The carriage turns a corner, and the square is alive again; the tradesman to sell, the lépero to steal, and the lesson of death is forgotten for ever!