Inside: Oliver Ellsworth letter to Nabby Ellsworth, 1779 January 9

for your amusement, & that is how I kept
Christmas_ I went among the papists & attended
divine service in a romish chappel; where I
confess I was wonderfully struck with the shew
of the place, the superstition of the ceremonies
& devotion of the people. I did not arrive
to smell the burning of frankinsense, nor
to see our savior carryed about in a cradle
under pretense of his having been born the
very night-before; but I saw him extended
full length upon the cross, seven golden cand[...]
sticks burning upon an alter before him, &
one in the midst with a candle as larg[...]
a mans arm. At this alter stood things
covered with a mantle bespangled w[...]
& two boys, in white, to hold up the [...]
it, & occasionally to ring a little [...]
held in thier hands. The alley leading [...]
[...]

those who had no book, had strings of beads
in their hands, which they counted over & an-
swered the same purpose- The priest admi-
nistered the sacrament to a number, but
I observed after he had put a small wafer
in to their mouths, he drank all the wine himself
& when his glass was out one of his boys stepd
up & filled her again, & so on until the cruise
[...] when the kneelers arose & that priest