early evening they went out, clad in their woolen shirts; their hands extended in the form of a cross, were bound to a piece of wood; and from each hand hung a very heavy stone.  In this manner they went about the village, halting finally at the church whence they had set out.  There they remained a long time on their knees, offering their penance to God our Lord.  The children had practiced this penance before; for during the Shrovetide festival (at which time there are so many disorders among our Christians of long standing) they formed themselves in pairs, and went forth with great devotion, having their hands extended, in the form of a cross, on a piece of wood, with heavy stones hanging at each side.  For this purpose one child bound the other, accompanying him until he returned to the door of the church; there, unfastening the other’s bonds, he himself took the stick and stones, and thus they again went forth, and he who had first borne the stones now accompanied the other.  Thus did each one acquit his obligation to the other, with more devotion and understanding than the Shrovetide season demands from persons of greater age, judgment, and obligations.  In this way does our Lord bestow upon them His mercy—­as happened to a young boy, whose story, as it is very attractive, I am unwilling to omit.  There was a child, about five or six years old, who was suffering from a disease of the eyes; the little one in his pain went to a father, to whom he tenderly made his plaint.  The father, inasmuch as a few days before he had taught the child the Ave Maria, bade him enter the church, and on his knees to say that prayer and offer it to the most blessed Virgin, our Lady.  The child did thus, and when his prayer was concluded went out from the church, and began to play contentedly with the other children of his age.  The father, perceiving him so merry with the rest, called to him and asked him if he were well.  He answered that as soon as he had said the Ave Maria to our Lady, the pain left him and he became well.”

Among the occasions when Ours have gone to make excursions into the country, and to despoil the enemy of his former possessions, there is one which Father Mateo Sanchez describes in a letter to the father vice-provincial, as follows:  “The voyage of the fathers who were sailing for Ogmuc and Sebu proved to be unfortunate; for they suffered many hardships through contrary winds, being finally driven into a small bay, where they remained as long as their provisions lasted.  When these were consumed, they determined, as the weather remained unfavorable, to return to Carigara.  The two of us who remained had made, in the meantime, some important visits, especially in Tunga, where the village was in great excitement on account of some murders among the Indian chiefs.  It pleased our Lord that our fathers should begin to calm and soothe the respective factions, and reconcile their differences, and establish friendly relations between them.