The town is small, the population a miserable mixture of black, white, and indian elements.
Few of the couples living there have been legally married.

The parish is one of the worst in the whole diocese.

The bishop warned the padre that it was an undesirable field, but it was the only one then unoccupied.
But the padre was working wonders and the church was then undergoing repairs and decorations.

The actual _curato_ was long ago seized by the government and is now used as a schoolhouse.

The priest lived in a rented house close by the river bank.