or clumsy; and in their persons they are scrupulously clean, in marked contrast to the aborigines of Mexico.

Both sexes were clothed in white cotton garments, those of the women being trimmed with colored embroidery. Some of the men wore very handsome cloaks made of stuff that resembled fine damask of many hues.

Society was divided into three classes: the nobility, comprising the priests and military chiefs; citizens, who were the tax-payers; and slaves -these were either purchased foreigners, prisoners of war, or thieves, who by law were always condemned to slavery. A serf could be ransomed and become a citizen, but if a free man or woman married a slave they henceforth belonged to that class.

Every district had a supreme judge, nor were lawyers wanting. Cases were always argued by word of mouth, justice being administered as soon as the sentence was passed. The punishments were severe, and appeal useless. Noblemen condemned to death could, if they desired, have the sentence commuted for that of perpetual slavery. The traitor, homicide, and incendiary suffered death. In cases of adultery, unless the affronted spouse wished to pardon the offense, the guilty man was stoned to death. The faithless wife was considered sufficiently punished by her disgrace and the death of her accomplice. This was among the Mayas. The Nahuatls and others were barbarously cruel to the erring woman. Minor offences were punished by fines, or imprisonment in large wooden cages placed in a thoroughfare, where every one could gaze at the culprit. Similar cages are used in Japan. No favor was shown to evil-doers of high rank. A certain prince, having by force wronged an innocent maiden, was stoned to death by order of his brother, the monarch.

The public treasury, formed by taxes and tributes, served to defray the expenses of the church, the government, the military, education, roads and other public works, not the least important of these being the asylums, in which all deformed and helpless persons were sheltered and cared for. certain people being employed to look up such cases. Charity, hospitality, and veneration for the aged were very marked characteristics. As parents they were stern. Girls were strictly brought up, industry and modesty being specially insisted upon. "Even if they raised their eyes to a man's face their mother would rub pepper in them," says Landa. To-day, when a young woman is not circumspect, they say, "She seems to have grown up without a mother."

There were colleges for both sexes of the higher class, also convents. The nuns lived after the manner of the Roman vestals, and she who failed

to keep her vows was killed with arrows.

But if one desired to leave the convent and marry, she could do so by special permission of the high priest. A perpetual fire was kept burning in the temple; if the vestal in charge allowed it to go out, she forfeited her life, as in Rome and Greece.

Young men were likewise treated with severity; and as it was considered disrespectful to amuse themselves in the presence of their elders, they had large public buildings where all the youths congregated for recreation. Their favorite diversions were athletic sports, acting, singing, and dancing.

In reading the old Spanish records that treat of the customs and habits of these people we come to the conclusion that their code of etiquette must have been as tiresome and minute as that of the Japanese. They had a great fancy for making presents to each other, if only a bunch of flowers, with which they loved to adorn their persons. They were exceedingly fond of fine perfumes.

It must not be supposed that they were idolaters. Ages ago, as far back as we are able to trace them, the Mayas regarded the great mastodon as a fit emblem of deity because it was the largest and most powerful creature known to them. But it was a symbol only, not a god. They also adored the sun as the source of all light and heat on this planet; hence their worship of the fire as an emanation of the great orb. The serpent form was likewise revered, having first been a representation of their country, Central America, then of the earth, next of the universe, and finally of the Creator. But they believed in one unseen, incomprehensible Power, Ku (Divine Essence), which they did not venture to liken to anything. In the sixth century the Nahuatls introduced their own peculiar cult, the worship of the reciprocal forces of nature, emblems of which are found only in the cities where they ruled, and re-ornamented the buildings to suit their own ideas.

To-day the Indians in Yucatan are thorough idolaters, having blind faith in the wooden saints or other images before which they kneel to promise that they will do certain things as a sacrifice, provided the favors they ask be granted.

All statues, big and small, found by the Christian Fathers were condemned as idols and promptly destroyed. It is to be hoped that in the far distant future no iconoclasts, laboring under a similar impression, will commit like acts in Christian churches and demolish the beautiful works of art now in our cathedrals!

The priests were amazed to find baptism and confession practiced among the Mayas. The baptismal rite was called Zihil, a word that means "to be born again," and was celebrated when the children were between three

and twelve years old. It was a very lengthy ceremony, but the principal thing was to sprinkle the child with water.

Husband and wife confessed one another, the confessor afterward making it public, so that all might implore Ku to forgive the sinner. Unmarried people confessed to their priest or physician.

It was their belief that in dying they passed to a place where they suffered for their wrongdoing, and later progressed to a happy state; but that after a lapse of ages they would be reincarnated on this globe.

They feared to see death, grieving excessively at the loss of a friend, though personally they did not dread passing away. Landa says: "They were very prone to hang themselves to escape any little trouble." After the decease of a relation they fasted, especially the husband for his wife.

Anciently they cremated their dead, keeping the ashes in clay or wooden heads, made in the likeness of the departed. The upper classes preserved the ashes in urns that were placed in mausolei with stone statues of the deceased.

At the time of the conquest the lower classes had adopted inhumation, the grave being dug in the house or at the back of it. They filled the mouth of the corpse with corn and some of their money-tiny copper bells and bright red stones. With the body they put some article indicating the past calling of the defunct, and a few provisions. The house was then generally abandoned, unless the family was large, in which case they were less afraid to run the risk of seeing the ghost. The posture given to the dead was the same as that in vogue among us. One tribe only, in the mountainous district of Uzumacinta, between Guatemala and Chiapas, doubled up the limbs and put the face in contact with the knees, binding the body and placing it upright in a round hole. Before covering it they put provisions within, for the departed soul to partake of in his journey to the other world; also uncooked grain to distribute among the animals whose bodies he had eaten, so that they might not try to harm him. For the same reason tortillas were provided for the spirits of the tzomes—small, hairless dogs whose flesh was much relished: they were bred and fattened for the sole purpose of being choked in a pit, cooked, and eaten.

The fact that they furnished food for the souls of the tzomes and other animals shows that these people believed in a future life not only for themselves but for all creatures.

Alice D. Le Plongeon :

A PATRIOTIC PARSON

Rev. John Cleaveland, of Essex, Massachusetts, was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, April 22, 1722. Little is known of his early life. Probably, like most country boys of his time, he worked on the farm; but he must have been of a studious turn, and have made the most of his opportunities, for in his nineteenth year he entered Yale College. During his college life he met with an experience that showed the independent stamp of his character which marked him all through life. While at home, on vacation, he attended, with some of the members of the family and neighbors, a "Separatist" meeting, so called, conducted by a layman. This coming to the knowledge of the college authorities, he was called to account on his return, on the ground that the act was a sanction of measures deemed subversive of the established order of the churches "-which looks, at this distance of time, as if the churches must have felt their position to be a somewhat precarious one, since such an act on the part of a college student was felt to be so dangerous. Young Cleaveland, refusing to submit tamely in the matter, was duly expelled. As some reparation for the injustice, however, his degree was conferred upon him in 1764, and his name entered on the catalogue among the graduates of the class of 1745. But this tardy justice was not done until he had gained a somewhat wide reputation for ability and piety.

Soon after he left college, Mr. Cleaveland was licensed to preach, and his well-known attachment to what was known as the "New Light" movement, and his boldness in its defense, secured for him a call from a society worshiping in a brick building built by the Huguenots, in School Street, Boston, to become their pastor. This call he declined, although he acted as pastor for the society some two years, which connection, no doubt, helped secure for him the honorary degree of A.M. from Dartmouth College. About the same time he was invited to take charge of the "Newly Gathered Congregational Church" in Chebacco Parish, now Essex, and was ordained February 25, 1747.

The visit of Whitefield to New England in 1740 resulted in a marked attention to religious things in the community, which, however good in its results on the whole, was accompanied by many eccentricities and extravagances. Not a few of the churches and ministers of the "Standing Order" were violently opposed to Whitefield's measures, although they

had the sanction of the great name of Jonathan Edwards, then in the zenith of his pulpit influence and power. In September, 1740, Whitefield preached in Ipswich, on the hill in front of the meeting-house, “to some thousands," it is said. In his own diary he wrote, "The Lord gave me freedom, and there was a great melting in the congregation." He also visited Chebacco at this time. One of the consequences of his visit and preaching was the withdrawal of some members from the church and the formation of the "Separate" Church, before mentioned, in 1746. Mr. Cleaveland published a pamphlet on the revival in Chebacco, entitled, after the fashion of the times, "A Plain Narrative," etc. Boston, 1767.* Edward Lee, of Manchester, Massachusetts, "the apostolic fisherman," whose Life was published by the American Tract Society with others, united with this church, the Rev. Benjamin Tappin, pastor of the church in Manchester, not being in sympathy with the "New Light" movement.

In 1758, the patriotic ardor of the Chebacco pastor led him to accept an appointment as chaplain of Bagley's Massachusetts Regiment, the "Third Provincial Regiment of Foot." His commission was signed by Governor Pownal and Secretary Oliver, March 13, 1758. He joined the regiment at Flatbush, five miles above Albany, June 9, traveling on horseback, by way of Worcester and Springfield. His journal embraces sixty-nine pages, and gives an interesting and instructive narrative of General Aber crombie's ill-managed and disastrous campaign at Lake George. There are quotations from the journal in Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. 2, pp. 77, 115, 117, 118, which show the writer to have been a man of quick intelligence and independent mind. Bancroft makes mention of Mr. Cleaveland as one of those "chaplains who preached to the regiments of citizen soldiers a renewal of the days when Moses, with the rod of God in his hand, sent Joshua against Amalek." But this use of the Old Testament was almost universal in his day, and had been since the times of Cromwell and his Ironsides. Mr. Cleaveland's brother, Ebenezer, chaplain of another regiment under Abercrombie, was settled at Sandy Bay, now Rockport.

Causes were already at work which resulted in the revolt of the Colonies from the British Crown. Mr. Cleaveland threw himself with characteristic zeal into the contest of ideas and principles. He wrote largely for the newspapers, especially for the Salem Gazette, then, as now, an influential organ of public opinion. His writings and sermons did much to crystallize public sentiment on the great problems at issue, which were finally referred

* A copy of this rare tract is in the library of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, and another in that of the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.

In Essex Institute Collection, vols. xi., xii.