BLASPIIEMOUS CEREMONIES.

425

The sight was wondrous to those who had heard teil of" educated" Prussia and tlie " philosophic" Germans—tobeliold government ministers, noblemen and generals, judges,advocates, physicians, and professors, as well as the greatmajority of tlie people, all out in the streets, singing anthemsat the tail of an old gold-beplastered priest, who went stalkingalong under the bed-canopy called the himmel, and with abellman at Ms side, ringing away as he displayed thebugaboo "Monstranz" to the awe-stricken multitude, everyone of whom bared the head and feil upon the knees at themere sight of the silver Ornament.

Such street-displays as the above are far from being un-common occurrences in the Rhenish capital, for, during ourstay there, scarcely a montli passed but what there was somesimilar religious show going on in the thoroughfares. Eitherit was the feast of St. Aloysius, the patron saint of littlechildren, and then every Catholic school in the town turnedout with the boys and girls, duly " got up" for the occasion,squalling along the highways; or eise it was Green Thursday,i. e. the Thursday before Easter, when good Catholics liveprincipally on " green-stuff," and the priests go in processionto administer the sacrament to all the sick in the town; andthen the silver chalice, called the " Ciborium," which the simplepeople teil you contains their gods (Ang. wafers), is carriedostentatiously through the principal Strasser, and the multitudego down on their knees in the gutters at the mere sight of theholy wafer-box.

Not only, however, are these street religious shows got upby the priests, but they are even indulged in by private iiidi-viduals, who seem to be by no means anxious to " retire to theircloset and shut the door" when they are about to pray, but,on the contrary, take especial care to obtrude their piety uponthe notice of the public in general. This spirit of public