hurch in Florence. They are taken out once every year, and
the people are allowed to look at them, and are also permitted to
light their candles at the sacred flame. They count that a great
blessing.

"The burning of the car is an interesting ceremony, and thousands of
people come from far and near to see it. Two yoke of pure white
Tuscan oxen are chosen to pull the car into the Piazza del Duomo for
the burning; and proud is that peasant whose oxen are chosen for the
ceremony.

"They are driven into the city on the night of Good Friday when
everything is very still, and are taken early the next morning to the
enormous barn where the great car is kept.

"The car is built of wood and is hung with festoons of colored paper
and garlands of flowers. Fireworks of many kinds are hidden among the
flowers and paper,--some which make loud noises, and others which burn
with a bright light.

"The oxen are harnessed to the car and draw it slowly through the
street to its place in the square in front of the cathedral,--'the
very great heart of Florence.' A wire is then stretched from the high
altar of the cathedral to the car in the square, and everything is in
readiness.

"In the meantime a priest takes the holy light, very early on Saturday
morning, and walks with it to the cathedral, lighting the candles of
the people as he goes. On either side he is accompanied by a servant
in livery from the house of Pazzi.

"Crowds of men, women and children, dressed in holiday attire, collect
in the square in front of the cathedral, and there is a babble of
voices, with much merriment and laughter.

"Just before the hour of noon a great silence falls upon the crowd,
and the priests begin the Mass. At the moment when the 'Gloria in
Excelsis' is reached, the Archbishop places a lighted taper in the
bill of an artificial dove, and sends the dove down the wire to the
car. Then all the bells in the city begin to ring.

"Down to the car flies the dove, and the taper in its bill sets fire
to the fireworks. Then it flies back to the high altar, and if the
trip is successful and the fireworks go off with a great burning and
banging, there is rejoicing among the crowds in the square, for it
means that the autumn harvests will be plentiful.

"Then the prize oxen, all beautifully decorated with garlands, and
with blankets embroidered with the arms of the Pazzi family, are again
harnessed to the car; it is refilled with fireworks, and the burni