FRENCH IRRELIGION.
LTO THE EDITOR 07 THE " SPECTATOR."] Stn,—The downfall of Christianity amongst the French country people is abundantly proved by the kind of shows which are most popular in their fairs. No English fair is complete with- -out the " fat woman " and the " living skeleton ;" and, in like manner, no French fair is without its show bearing some such name as " Cinq Minutes a la Chaudiere," " Cinq Minutes aux Biafora," or "Les Noces de Satan." I have seen these shows in several places ; but in a fair at Avranches some short time ago I saw two of them. I was a spectator at the performance in one, bearing the first-named attractive title. The performers were marionettes, and represented the devil and his attendant angels awaiting a company of human beings who were on their way to their doom. As each mortal arrived, he was seized by a fiend and thrust into an abyss amidst fire and smoke. The two prominent figures in the human procession were a priest and a nun. The showman made a running comment, in a most cynical vein, on each person; but the priest and nun completely exhausted his vocabulary. They were vile in the extreme, and as he heaped up infamy on them he was vociferously applauded by his audience. This fact, combined with the eagerness with which men, women, and children crowded into the show, amply proved that Christianity had no power over them.—I am, Sir, 8r,c.,
Previous page
