391 
 J5 
 
4 
 

 f 
 
 i 
 
Joupi^alistz' Isctl'eps 
 
 DESfKII'TIVK OF 
 
 Je//^s pip /T\e;(i^o. 
 
 -a ■- 
 
 KDI'I'I-:!) VA 
 
 Secretary Pennsylvania !::VrATE Editorial Association. 
 
 •• The classic, »Uiy.s, those mother.s of romance, 
 Tliat roused a nation for a woman's glance, 
 The age of /nystery with its lioardeil power. 
 That girt the tyrant in his storied tower 
 Have past and faded Uke a dream of youth, 
 ^^ And riper yeare ask for history's truUi," 
 
 —Olive?- Wendell Holmea. 
 
 FARMKI^S' FltlKN'I) I'UINT, 
 
 Mechauicsljuri;, Pa, 
 

 ] 
 
 
 .<:fexV-<-^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Seldom was ever knowledge given to keep, but to imi^art. The grace 
 of this jewel is lost in concealment." Was there ever a self-immured 
 savani possessing all the love of the early Athenian days or the science of 
 the magic present. Avho gave one atom of l)eneflt to the eager world. Fol- 
 lowing this premise, inspired by the words of the learned Bishoj) Hall, 
 with a conclusive Eryo^ it is upon the traveler and the man of letters 
 the obligatory duty falls of giving to the public new experiences, new 
 observations, new ideas and new conditions, which are concomitatit 
 with a pilgrimage through a new country and among new scenes. An 
 increase of knowledge and a desire to ''tell if naturally accompanies new 
 experiences, although that most caustic of writers. Josei)h Adison, in the 
 manj' shakings he gave to the English public, said, '' jNLen may change 
 their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man who goes out 
 a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.' This vitupera- 
 tion was, however, hurled at our kin across the sea by a man whose 
 irascibility impelled himtoeallhispubliL'ations'*»S^jc'C^((i'or"'and'" 'J'at(Ii)\" 
 and whose maledictions were s])ent long before theprogres.sive nineteenth 
 century American had declared his disposition " to penetrate to the far- 
 thermost corners of the planet," and before he had contributed his brilliant 
 quota of descriptive records to the literature of the day. 
 
 The travelers of the National Editorial Association are among the for- 
 tunate people who have much to tell of a comprehensive trip through 
 that portion of our own country which lies to the far Southwest and of 
 our Sister Ilepublic, Mexico. 
 
 Texas is reaching out her hands and showing her store of agricidtural 
 and mineral wealth. This Lone Star brought more dissension into our 
 Union of States than any one other State, but now she invites the trav- 
 eler and home seeker to come and share her vast resources. To come, 
 bringing knowledge, industry and progress into this country "that knows 
 only by promise of the transmutations the wit of man can work." To 
 come bringing taste, wealth and science and make the desert to smile. Its 
 people are of two nations, and that they are amalgamated so well would 
 be astonishing but for the fact that centuries have given them a brother- 
 hood. Just across the ^^o G^rancZe del Norte live the foreign kin. In 
 this Valley of Mexico, the Eldorado which Spain clutched in her avaricious 
 
6 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 hand, and where the iron hand of a Cortes ground to the earth the Aztecs 
 and their rulers, are a people as historic as any of tlie old world citie-i. 
 The dark hued. lustrous eyed senoritas, peeping from behind that most 
 dangero s of womanly weapons, a well-manipulated fan. The high bal- 
 conies, Moorish architecture and prison looking houses recall tales of the 
 Alhaii'braand Don Quixote, and throw a wierd fascination and mysticism 
 about the most commonplace scenes. All this section of country, this 
 region of perennial sunshine, needs an impetus in the way of commerce. 
 It nec'is activity, energy and enterpri-e. and it is to the Press or America 
 it looks to make ku(»wn its wants and needs and to stand an encouraging 
 liKUie to all its lau<lable ffort-. 
 
 The Nat onal Editorial Association cou ts scarcely five natal days since 
 its promulgation, but itsoutlook promises much for the profession and the 
 country. Itwasan outgrowth of thegrreat Industrial and Cotton Centennial 
 Exposition at New Orleans during 1884-5, and it is a matter of record that 
 on the 19th of February, 1885, a large number of journalists, represent- 
 ing eighteeii different States, met at the headquarters of the Exposition 
 Press Committee, in the Main Exposition building at New Orleans, and 
 there completed the organization of chis National \sH)ciation. Amwng 
 those who were most active in this work wete B. B. Herbert, Bepubli' 
 can. Red Wing, Minnesota; W. H. Brearly, Evening News, Detroit, 
 Michigan; J. R. Bettis, Democrat, Little Rock, Arkansas; R. R. Gil- 
 bert, Gase^ile, Fort Worth, Texas; W H. H. Judsou, Times-Democrat, 
 New Oileans ; John G. Elliott, of Dallas, Texas; Ezra Whitman, of Bal- 
 timore, Maryland; J. A. Brewster, Times, Los Angeles, California, and 
 R. H. Thomas, Fakmeks' Fkiknd, Mechani(«burg, Pennsylvania, the 
 latter gentleman being the Commissioner from Pennsylvania to the Ex- 
 position. A number of very pleasant meetings were held after the or- 
 ganization and during the continuance of the Expo4tion. Through 
 this means the various editors from all parts of the Union, who visited 
 the Exposition, became interested in the work of the Association, and 
 seeing here the greatest of all opportunities for building up a more frater- 
 nal feeling between the different sections of the country, lost no time in 
 improving it, and thus laid the foundation for a National organization 
 that is conferring great benefits upon us as a Nation. 
 
 The first annual meeting convened in Odeon Music Hall, Cincinnati, 
 Ohio, on the morning of February 23d, 1886, and continued in session for 
 three full days, with a large attendance of leading editors from every 
 State in the Union. 
 
 The next annual meeting, Denver, Colorado, having been chosen as 
 the place, the Association assembled in that city on Tuesday, September 
 13, 1887. The number in attendance was not so great as at the Cincin- 
 nati meeting, but the interest in the Association was none the less and 
 the proceedings show three days of good work in behalf of journalism, 
 and adjourned to meet in annual session in San Antonio, Texas, in 1888. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 7 
 
 In accordance with the above the Association assembled at San Anto- 
 nio, Texas, on November 21st, with an attendance of about 150 represen- 
 tatives. And after a three-cays' pleasant and harmonious session the 
 members were conducted on a tour ot observation through a large portion 
 of the great State of Texas and a thousand miles or more through our 
 sister Republic of Mexico to the Capital city thereof and other historic 
 places of note. It is sights this company of editors saw and have so 
 graphically described in their respective journals, which will make up the \ 
 contents of this volume. 
 
 There will, of a necessity, be a repetition and detail in thcsp Iv^'tera. 
 Ilepetition, because of but one subject; detail, for the reason thai w iihout 
 it no adequate idea of so prolific a subject can be given. By brilliant 
 rhetoric an idea may be made afTecting to the imagination, but descrip- 
 tion needs perspicuity and detail. There will also l)e contradictory opin- 
 ions, for each pen tells its own story as it saw with its own eyes. One 
 observer will insist that in making TordUas the native spits upon his 
 hands, another will distinctly refute this. So the virtues of a salivous 
 fluid for bread stufls will remain a standing issue. The reader 
 will learn from Dakota that a "Norther" in Texas really equals a 
 "blizzard." P>om Illinois that old Boreas sweeps as high and as con- 
 tinuously in Texas as in the Hoosier State. From the Keystone vicinity 
 that Texas weather demands a Pennsylvania midwinter overcoat. Kan- 
 sab lains are gentle showers compared with Texan torrents anil Texan 
 mud is beyond every thing in the way of deceiving depths. The zephyrs 
 are no balmier than in other States, and by some happy faculty in human 
 nature each writer returns to his Ico'es and penates echoing " Sweet 
 Home." 
 
 The tourists had rare opportunities for obser\-ation. Probably never 
 within the annals of this country has any section of it been so thoroughly 
 traveled, so minutely des-rribed and so unanimously appreciated, nor were 
 there ever ^ue ts so royally received and courteously entertained. The 
 citizens of the Border State and their next door neighbors, living under 
 the mighty shadows of Popocataptel and Iztacchuatl brought forth their 
 abundant store of gracious and cordial hospitality and won the hearts of 
 the visiting fraternity. 
 
 The purpose of the compilation and editing of the sketclies is to give 
 the reading publican idea of Texas and Mexico, the country, the peo- 
 ple and tbe prospects as they are at the present time. From several hun- 
 dred letters the best of each has been selncted, but it remains rej^retable 
 that ammig so many gO'd things each bon mot anH happ.v thouiihi and 
 expression cannot bn recorded A curnory glaui e at the recorded early 
 history oi this almost unknown and certainlv foreign s-ection will in- 
 duce a better and more interesting uu<lersiandin<> ot tlin ^keU'lies. 
 
8 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Texas has had a stormy time with the Indians inside and Mexicans 
 outside her borders. As early as 1B87 La Salle, the Frencli explorer, 
 erected a fort on Matogorda Bay. In 1690 a Spanish settlement and mis- 
 sion was formed. All this was soon abandoned. In 1715 the Spaniards 
 made a settlement and called the country New Philippines. But even 
 this attained no permanent success on account of the Apache and Com- 
 anche Indians. It was not until 1803 that the United States roused to 
 the importance of claiming Texas as territory. Spain also claimed it 
 and it remained disputed territory, experiencing the usual turbulent times 
 of such unfortunate States. In 1813, 2,500 Americans and Mexicans were 
 killed in an encounter between the rival powers. The names of Mina, a 
 Spanish refugee; Uafitte, a Gulf pirate; Moses Austin, a respected 
 American, are mingled with Texas history. In 1835 a provisional gov- 
 ernment was formed. Sam. Houston was commander-in-chief, and the 
 Mexicans were driven out of Texas. On March 6, 1836, occurred the 
 memorable episode at Fort Alamo. Originally a mission founded by the 
 early Franciscan Fathers, it was metamorphosed into a military station 
 and became the scene of the most notable and desperate struggles in mod- 
 ern times. No spot within4,he domain ot the Stars and Stripes tells so 
 glowingly of American valor. For twelve days Colonel Travis with a 
 small body of patriots resisted a Mexican army of ten times their num- 
 ber. To the bitter and painful end this Leonidas and his band main- 
 tained the siege, but numbers overpowered them and, rather than sur- 
 render, they " perished to a man." Gen. Santa Anna, President of Mex- 
 ico, was entirely routed at San Jacinto in 1837. Mexico never acknowl- 
 edged the independence of Texas until after her war with the United 
 States, popularly known as " The Mexican War." The battlefields of 
 Buena Vista, Palo Alto, Cerro Gord) and Monterey, the march of 
 Scott through the passes of the Crodilleras, over the very i)aths of Cortez 
 and his followers down into the Valley of Mexico. The heroic deeds and 
 tenacity of purpose ot Taylor, Shields and o'hers, will be graphically de- 
 scribed in the sketches from able editorial pens. 
 
 l^EIXICO. 
 
 The discovery of Mexico by the civilized world dates almost to the 
 time of illustrious Ferdinand and Isabella. Charles I., their grandson, 
 was upon the throne of Spain at the time when Cortez, a student of Sal- 
 amanca, whose heroic deeds rivaled the fabulous history of the Iliad, ar- 
 rived in 1519 in the country of the Aztecs, and saw spread before him 
 the teeming city of Mexico. 
 
 The Toltecs were the aboriginal Mexicans and were displaced by dif- 
 ferent tribes of Indians and finally by the Aztecs. The teruis " Kingdom 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. ^ 
 
 of Mexico or Empire of the Aztecs " is incorrect, ns tlie Aztecs were only 
 a tribe or community witliout State, nation or pnitical society. Wh'lo 
 history records Montezuma I. and II. it als-o records that among the 
 Aztecs the prerof^ative of liereditiiry nobility was not acknowle 'sied. 
 Cortez found a bold, hardy, perseverinj^ race fnniiliar wi'h mechanical 
 arts, mathematical and as tronomical attainments clos^ely resemblinK 
 the people of ancient Eii:ypt and Assyria. Ancient Mexico, or Mchican in 
 the native tongue, had no idea of abstract ownership of soil. Each tribe 
 had its unit of organization and possessory rights were vested in them a>< 
 a community, not as individuals. The Aztec husbandry evinced much 
 intelligence in alternating crops, irrigating and cherishinjr forestry. The 
 Indian pottery of the jiresent day is made after that of the early Aztecs. 
 
 The events and attainments of one tribe of ancients closely tallies 
 with the record of others. The decline of one followed by the ascend- 
 ancy of another marked the i)r<)gress of the time. Seven trines had held 
 sway in ^Mexico until the rule of the Aztecs. This i eople had reached 
 the age of their enlightenment yet their religion required human sacri- 
 lices eighteen times a year ; polygamy and slavery flourished; their do- 
 mestic manners were rather refined and th^y might almost be accused 
 of an eflJete civilization, as they used iierfumed tobacco, smoked through 
 tortoise shells and silver tuljes. U.ider Spanish rule Mexico lost all 
 individuality ; everything native was subordinated to the foreign power. 
 This course led to the revolution of 1810, which was followed bj'a sanyui- 
 nary guerilla warfare ai)d a pronunclame'nto managing of affairs. The 
 ISIexicans would acknowledge no fo eign rule. President Juarez, whose 
 hand did much in the shaping of Mexican policy is a descendent of the 
 Indian race of the Taputecos. He it was who ordered the execution of 
 the ill-fated and noble Maximilian in 1807. In 1SG3 Napoleon III, a 
 calamity be(iueathed to the French l)y aC'or-ican adventurer, not know- 
 ing how' to cut loose from his INIexican war, jiroposed that Maximilian of 
 Austria, a king both by inheritance and nature, should be elecleti! 
 F]m])eror of Mexico. This scheme was aecomplished and the Emperor 
 reluctantly adopted these turljulent and distiaeted dounnious. His reign 
 lasted scarcely three years. After all kinds of military losses and defeats 
 the crowni ng disaster came through the treachery of Col. Lopez, an oflicer 
 of his staff", who betrayed Maximilian while asleep in his tent, into the 
 hands of the enemy. A quick trial was given him and a sentence of 
 death pronounced against this most noble of men, although all powers 
 united in a protestation against the sentence. Juarez, who was mas- 
 ter of the situation, to his everlasting censure, confirmed it, and ''hands 
 the rod of empire might have swayed" cut down in the zenith of useful- 
 ness. This tragic event is Austria's remembrance of the Mexican llepub- 
 lic. In the words of Maximilian's last letter to the Empress, he "fell 
 gloriously as a soldier, as a monarch vanquished, but not dishonered." 
 
 Mexico is now in a comparatively tranquil state. According to the 
 unwritten law of all nations, society is divided into classes; five distinct 
 ones are counted in this sister Bepublic : 
 
10 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 1. The Whites or Creoles, descendants of Spaniards, constituting the 
 upper classes of the country. These people are rarely ever seen upon the 
 streets. 
 
 2. The progeny of Hispauo — Indian parents, who chiefly follow the 
 military profession and the Government offices. • They consider them- 
 selves quite on a par with the whites. 
 
 3. The Indians reduced to a miserable state and constituting the agri- 
 cultural class. These speak the Aztec tongue and retain many of the 
 original Indian customs and practices. 
 
 4. The Mestizos, or mixed races. Under this head come all the In- 
 dians, negroes to the eighth or tenth shade of color. 
 
 5. Europeans and foreigners, who are nicknamed Oachvpmos. 
 With these few explanations the editorial sketches are given to the 
 
 public, feeling assured that, although they may be twice told tales, if 
 they be perused with the spirit advised by the great historian Hume to 
 travel in correspondent emotion with the writers, they cannot fail of en- 
 tertainment. 
 
±Lciitoria.l Letters. 
 
 Oettyshurg Compiler^ Oettysburg^ Pa., Dec. 4th. 
 
 Sax Antonio, November 23, 1888. 
 
 Texas is an Empire, and Sau Antonio is claiine<i as itH largest city. 
 The National F^litorial Assiwiation mei hereon Wednesday afterumm. 
 Pennsvlvaiiia. Ohio and several other deleRations did not get in until 
 WediiHsday night, detentions not in the bills having prolonged the ride 
 from St. Louis to more than sixty hours. 
 
 The route through Mis-souri is mostly on a ridge barren of everything 
 but scrub oaks, though there are exceptions, where wheat and corn are 
 grown along watercourses. In Arkansas timber began to make a better 
 show, and in the Indian Territory I noticed tracts of oaks almost as good 
 as in our own Adams county. 
 
 Texas has timber, and sells some, but it had better be spared for more 
 us fulness hereafter. The whole country is a plane of dried grass, covered 
 by herds of cattle that live and thrive upon the succulent green leaves 
 down close to the ground that can hardly be noticed from the cars at this 
 season. As a rule the cattle, Durham and Devon grades, look well ; but 
 are not to be compared with the fat bullocks sold in the Spring by our 
 farmers at home. The old, big horned Texan steer I found quite rare. 
 The Jersey and Fresian are also here, and will make their marks. 
 
 The farming in this State is mainly of cotton, which in a fair season 
 yields well and profitable. In several sections a bale is grown to the acre; 
 in others half that amount, and in still others four or five acres are re- 
 quired for the production of a bale, 500 pounds. The bale brings from 
 forty to forty-flve dollars. Cotton land mutt be kept very clean in order 
 to prevent the cotton worm from coming into existence and destroying 
 the crop. Corn and wheat generally do well, but they differ with locali- 
 ties. 
 
 The young wheat south of St. Louis is short, much shorter than in 
 Pennsylvania. Ohio has a large acreage, mostly in cornstalk ground, all 
 looking well, and the same may be said of Indiana. Illinois has little 
 wheat out where I passed across it (from Indianapolis). 
 
12 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 The wheat in Texas seems to be sown very thickly. The last of it is 
 now (Nov. 23d) being put in. Cotton-picking will soon be over, and 
 preparations for the next crop beghi. Corn is usually planted in Febru- 
 ary ; cottoo later when danger from frost is no longer to be feared. 
 
 After a long spell of cloudy weather it is now clear and bright, but as 
 cold as it usually is at home about the holidays. All the men now wear 
 overcoats and the ladies furs and heavy wraps. It is pronounced an ex- 
 ceptional spell of cold. 
 
 San Antonio has 40,000 people and a large share of energy. It has 
 fine stores and business places, with screet cars, gas and electric lights and 
 plenty of water in a deep river through the centre. 
 
 The Mexican face is still common in some quarters, but it is gradually 
 leaving and will soon disappear as a type of the population. 
 
 So far we have met no rough people. This city is especially quiet and 
 sober. The instance from St. Louis to San Antonio is 1,165 miles. 
 
 H. J. S. 
 
 Wisconsin Reporter^ Edgerton^ Wis., Nov. 30th. 
 
 Sax Antonio, Texas, November 23, 1888. 
 
 'Twas IMonday morning, Nov. 19th, that the writer slipped his yoke 
 of business cares, grabbed his valise and set his face towards the far 
 South, to attend the meeting of the National Editorial Association at 
 San Antonio, Texas, to which he was an accredited delegate from Wis- 
 consin. Our tickets from St. Ijouis were by the 'Frisco route, from St. 
 Louis to Paris, Texas, a distance of 548 miles. This road cuts the State 
 of Missouri diagonally across, leaving it near the southwest corner. The 
 opinion one gathers from a ride through the State on this line is not a 
 favorable one by any means. The country is broken, though not rough 
 and covered nearly the whole distance with scrub white oak grubs. The 
 soil over the greater portion is light, and not apparently very productive 
 under the loose methods of cultivation of the average Missouri farmer. 
 The impression is given of a poor country and a thriftless people, though 
 we are told our observation does not give a fair criterion to judge this 
 State by. 
 
 A stop was made at Newberg for a genuine Missouri dinner at a 
 country hotel and immediately thereafter we commence to climb heavy 
 grades until we reach the high table lands of the Ozark mountains. In 
 a run of eight miles an elevation of 500 feet is gained and a few stations 
 further on it is raised to 1500 feet and this elevation is maintained for a 
 hundred miles or more as the road keeps along the divide. The towns 
 passed through are nearly all small, consisting of a half dozen stores, its 
 complement of saloons and a church or so. i he only city of importance 
 passed through was Springfield. 
 
 The Indian Territory is a continuation of Missouri— immense white 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 13 
 
 oak openings skirting an occasional small prairie — only the timber seems 
 larger and the soil more productive. The people along the stations were 
 about eijually divided between whites, negroes and Indians. The whole 
 country is a vast grazing district with only an occasional negro squatter 
 or white pre-emptor who has a squaw wife and can obtain title to a 
 l)iece of land, and then farm just enough to supply the family needs. 
 Heavy rains had fallen throughout the entire South a few days previous 
 to our visit and mud was the distinguisliing characteristic of the whole 
 country. The soil through Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, a 
 heavy white or red clay seems just suitable to make the deepest and 
 almost impassable muds, such as no northern person can form any con- 
 ception of. When we reach Texas the black ru-h soil mixes into a mud 
 not so heavy and sticky, but reaches a depth su lii.ch greater that it 
 makes up for these qualities. 
 
 We enter the State of Texas by crossing the Hed Iliver, -10 miles 
 north of Paris, the terminus of the "Frisco Line, 5 IS miles from St. 
 Louis, which we reached at 8:40 Wednesday morning. Here our Pull- 
 man Butlet was transferred to the Colorado, Gulf and Santa Fe road, 
 belonging to the ir^anta Fe system, and without delay began a run of 80 
 miles to Dallas. The recent rains had left the surface of the road-bed in 
 liorrible condition and the track being old and poor the train was com- 
 l)elled to crawl along at a rate of not over 12 miles per hour. The 
 " gumbo" soil, of which the road bed is constructed, acts like a sponge, 
 )naking the track soft and unsafe. Even on the highest grades the water 
 stands between the ties and you s.ihk at once into the soft mud that sticks 
 to you like a brother the moment you step upon it. Once our Pullman 
 left the track by the spreading of the rails on this soft road bed, but the 
 delay was only for a half hour. It was nearly 4:30 before we reached 
 Dallas — seven and a half hours to make 80 miles. Think of this for 
 Texas railroading. 
 
 Our route through this State thus far has lieen over the best agricul- 
 tural I'egion of Texas. This riile of nearly 400 miles has shown us tiie 
 best portions of the State and giv^en an impression of the magnitude and 
 advantages of the country that might furnish many columns of inter- 
 esting reading. The country is yet sparsely settled, probably not over 
 one-half the iand occupied by actual farmers, the balance owned by rail- 
 loads and speculators, throughout the northern portion of the State. 
 Even in the older settled sections the traveler is struck by the absence of 
 faim barns and condition of the nomes. This is partly accounted for 
 because stock need no shelter in this State and graze the year around, but 
 the absence of comfortable farm houses can only be charged to the gen- 
 eral shiftlessness of the southern farmer. 
 
 Cotton is the staple production of the State — the crop depended upon 
 for money, all others seemingly neglecteil, or a side issue. This with cat- 
 tle and horse raising comprises the business of Texas farmers. Corn is grown 
 for stock-feeding puri)oses only and hog raising seems entirely neglected. 
 
14 JOURNALISTS' YIEWS OF 
 
 The soil of northern Texas is a black, rich prairie loam that is cropped 
 year after year without any effort to fertilize or replenish the eleme.,t ex- 
 hausted. Further south the soil passes by easy gradations from a light 
 clay to sand, and here at San Antonio we arrive at the outpost of the 
 cattle and sheep herding industry, where the cactus and chapperel are 
 ever present. One of the surprises of the trip thus far is the climate. 
 Frosts have extended even as far south as this point and the air is so 
 chilly and penetrating that I find my light overcoat scarcely sufficient 
 for the cool air of morning and evening. F. W. C. 
 
 Sunday Herald, Columbus, O , Dec. IGth. 
 
 '' We don't want it," was the sage conclusion of Editor Ed. S. Wilson, 
 of the Ironton Register, after taking in the Republic of Mexico. And I 
 agree with him. The soil is fertile and the climate delicious, but the peo- 
 ple would not be welcome additions to the ranks of American freemen. 
 They are not built the right way. They are not our kind of people. No, 
 we don't want Mexico annexed to the United States, but there is a fruit- 
 ful field for American capital, American enterprise and energy on the 
 other side of the Rio Grande. But before these three products, in which 
 the Yankees are so rich and the jNIexicans so poor, are showered upon 
 the " sister Republic" they should be given a chance in our own State of 
 Texas. Editor W. S. Cappeller, of the Mansfield Neivs, says he does not 
 believe in Americanizing Mexico until they (piit plowing with wooden 
 sticks in Texas, as they still do in some of the back counties. There i^ a 
 good deal in this. 
 
 Texas is certainly a State of magnificent possibilities as well as of 
 magnificent dimensions and distances. 
 
 The time has come for the recognition of the undeveloped wealth of 
 the Lone Star State. The climate is delightful and healthful ; farming 
 lands are yet low in price and rich in soil, yielding early and frequent 
 crops. Winter is unknown. To be sure, there is no sleighing or skating, 
 but neither is there need of hot-air furnaces nor plumbers' bills for steam- 
 heating. 
 
 The i:)eople — well, they are not what they have been pictured to us. 
 They do not all go about loaded down with Colt's revolvers and bowie- 
 knives, looking for Tenderfeet to slay, as we have been taught to believe. 
 Neither is it a common occurrence for people to be shot down in cold 
 blood for declining to imbibe ardent spirits, as I had been taught from 
 my youth. The people of Texas are not outlaws nor terr.irizers. They 
 are a hospitable, whole-souled people, who warmly welcome Northern 
 men with capital to invest and theories to put into effect in the develop- 
 ment of Texas. 
 
 Why is there a Democratic majority of 150,000 ? One reason is that 
 the Republicans are not and never have been organized. They have no 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 15 
 
 party organization. Thej' have no tickets printed at elections. They 
 seem stupefied by the tremendous Democratic majority and seem to 
 think it tutile to attempt to cut it down. Audtherreason is that Texana, 
 who were Wliigs, were so strongly prejudiced agains't the so-called car- 
 pet-baggers who came among them to hold the offices in reconstruction 
 days that they consider that they are voting in the interest of their 
 homes in casting their ballots for Democratic candidates. Again the 
 Mexcans— the ignorant, disreputable class of them— resident in Texas 
 and swarming over from the sister Republic on election days are voted en 
 masse by shrewd Democratic leaders for a drink apiece of wild Western 
 whisky with the bark on. 
 
 Now, something on the cities of Texas. San Antonio, probably the 
 oldest city of the Lone Star State, was founded in 1G91. It now has a 
 population of about 50,000. The population includes decendants of the old 
 Aztecs, native Texans, Mexican greasers and energetic men Irom the 
 North who, on account of the fine climate, celebrated for its curative 
 properties in pulmonary and bronchial diseases, have removed with their 
 families and their business to this old Aztec city. Standing in the most 
 visited portion of the city is the Alamo, which was originally founded as 
 a mission under the name of San Antonio de Valero in 1720 by Catholic 
 monks. It afterward became a fort for the Spanish and subsequently a 
 garrison and fort for American troqps. 
 
 As such it was the scene of several battles, the most memorable of 
 which was in 1S3G, when Gen. Santa Anna, at the head of a Mexican 
 army of 7,000, besieged it, and where on the 6th of March of that year 
 he carried it by storm, after being three times repulsed by Col. Wm. R. 
 Davis, Davy Crockett, James Bowie and their 172 heroic companions, 
 who died fighting for Texas and liberty, and whose bodies were burned 
 by the savage Mexicans after the battle. 
 
 Galveston is the haiidsomest city in the State and is destined in the 
 near future to become ojie of the most popular Winter resorts in the 
 world. Situated on the Gulf of Mexico, it has one of the finest beach 
 fronts in the world and with its splendid hotels and active, pushing citi- 
 zens, undoubtedly will continue to come to the front in spite of the eflbrts 
 made to retard its progress by other jealous cities of the State. The 
 greatest drawback to Galveston is its low level. It is but a few feet 
 above the sea level and the timid are fearful that some daj' the gulf water 
 will arise in its majesty and sweep the city from the face of the earth. 
 There is, however, no real dansrer of such a catastrophe. 
 
 Dallas is another active, progressive city, of some 45,000 inhabitants. 
 It has more real business push and enterprise than any of the other cities 
 and is destined to be one of ihe great cities of the future. 
 
 Corpus Christi is a beautiful little city of about 5,000 inhabitants, sits 
 upon a bluff overlooking the bay, and bids fair to eclipse more Cf lebrated 
 seaside resorts. Foreign capitalists, invited by her unequaled situation, 
 safe harbor, and cool gulf breezes, are spending large sums in beautifying 
 
IG JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 the bluff and providing hotels and galling and bathing ccnvenience?. 
 
 Aransas bay is 20 miles long by 7 miles wide, and is land-locked and 
 safe. Yachts, sail boats, and skiffs explore the waters from Christmas to 
 Christmas with impunity, and sea- fish are caught without encountering 
 the dangers of the deep. St. Joseph's island, lying between the bay and 
 the gulf swarms with deer and water-fowl. 
 
 LareJo, the Gate city, situated on the Ilio Grande, is also a live city. 
 The population is very largely Mexican but there are enough Ameri- 
 cans to make themselves felt. At this point the Northern tourist who 
 intends to take in the Republic of Mexico leaves the land of the stars 
 and stripes, and on the Mexican National railroad starts on his journey 
 through the land of the cactus and the Spanish dagger. 
 
 If these few crude ideas on the State of Texas, hastily thrown 
 together, fail to interest the reader, it is not the fault of the subject, but 
 the writer, for the Lone Star State is certainly a most interesting field 
 for observation, and to one who has never given it attention presents 
 many surprising features, not the least of which is the desirableness of 
 its fertile soil and healthful climate. John M. Doane. 
 
 Booneville Advertisel' , BooncviUc , Mo. 
 
 DIVERSIONS ON THE ROUTE — PRETTY MARTHA — JESSE JAMES, JR.,— 
 FINE WOOD IN .TEXAS — ANTIQUITY OF SAN ANTONIO— THE "SWEET 
 HOME ECHO." 
 
 ''^ FaciUs est deccnstfs avcrni via the railroad Mexicano Naeionale-'''' 
 It was half after six o'clock one Sunday evening, when the Scribe and 
 the Pharisee left Sedalia for the South. The Pharisee represented the 
 Pilot Grove ie«r?er and the Scribe the Advertiser. Shortly after it was 
 discovered that the Publican was on the M. K. & T. Train also, in the 
 person of the distiguished editor of the Sedalia Bazoo, Col. J. West 
 Goodwin. Publican, Pharisee and Scribe were soon on terms of good 
 fellowship, and had jointly and severally a magnificent time in the Lone 
 Star State, a State of magnificent distances. 
 
 The trip to San Antonio, the Mecca of these pilgrims, was devoid of 
 interest. The beautiful Indian Territory, with its large amount of red 
 soil and its small number of red men, was passed through Monday. 
 Breakfast w^s had at Eufaula and dinner at Denison. In the absence of 
 aught else, the conductor and the peanut boy were subjects of peren- 
 nial interest. The latter brought a supply of literature, yellow-backed 
 and cinder- covered, and tossed it into the Pharisee's lap. " Oh, he can't 
 read. Bring him some picture books." This was the Publican's remark, 
 as the Pharisee gazed in an uninterested and listless way from the car 
 window. The peanutter looked down in pity and passed by on the 
 other side. The two sleeping-car conductors on this train were in marked 
 
TEXAS AXD MEXICO. IT 
 
 contrast. Ooe was a tall thin chap from Iowa, the other a little sawed-ofi" 
 fellow of twenty-three from Texas. When the Iowa man found out that 
 the newspaper men were from Missouri, he proceeded to discourse on 
 this State. ''I am from Iowa, where it is equally a part of man's re- 
 ligion to serve God and hate Missourians." This was the burden of the 
 conductor's song, and he rung frequent changes upon it. Before they 
 got through with the beanpole chap the Missouri editors tiuight him 
 a thing or two about the character of the Imperial State that made him 
 open his ej'cs. 
 
 It was a day's ride afterreaching Denison before San Antonio came in 
 sight. Texas was a revelation, ^ fairasagardon of the Lord to the ej'es of 
 the famished" who had missed breakfast at Taylor. The streams were 
 clear as crystal and bubbled out from the solid rock as they did of old 
 at Closes' word. At San Marcos, near which Frank jNIcKinley once 
 made the welkin ring with his wit and wisdom, the water from which 
 the town is named gushes from the rock and dashes fortli across the plain 
 a full-fledged river. The San Antonio and San Pedro rivers do the same. 
 Indeed everything in Texas appears to be full-grown from its very birth 
 There is no moss on anything except the trees, and from these, it drapes 
 down in fantastic form, as though fashioned b3' fairy fingers in honor o^ 
 elfin carnival. 
 
 All along the road the barbed wire fences were seen. The top rail is 
 of wood, in accordance with Texas law, to protect stock from injury. It 
 looks queer across the field, to see from a distance that does not permit 
 the wire to be detected, one lone rail apparently forming the division 
 fence. The tract distributor was on the train as usual. He gave his liter- 
 ature alike to the just and the unjust. The Phaiisee was handed a pam- 
 phlet on the "Sin of Worldly-mindedness," while the Scribe was soon deep 
 in the pages of a tract with this encouraging title: "Salvation Free." 
 The PubMcan was not given a tract. Possibly the man who distributed 
 them knew him. 
 
 The citizens of San Antonio were more than hospitable. They gave 
 their guests the freedom of the city, and this meant open sesame to their 
 homes and hearts. 
 
 Side by side with the pushing, progressive American civilization 
 in the Alamo City is to be found the Mexican with his barbarism, his 
 stolidity, his superstition. Over against the six-story building he sets his 
 adobe hut. Instead of shoes he wears sandals or goes barefoot. F'or a hat 
 he dons a sombrero, broad-trimmed and ponderous. Around his shoul- 
 ilers and his body he drapes a .9e?'«/)c or blanket He is cautious, polite 
 and obliging, but never forgets an enemy or forgives a wrong. The sti. 
 letto is less frequently met with than in former times, but it still exists 
 and its point often settles difficulties in short order. On the plaza at night 
 the Mexican is abroad in all his glory. It was here one evening along 
 towards the hour when churchyards and other things yawn that the 
 Scribe had his first Mexican repast. It was a queer combination of 
 
18 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 stuff that Martha, the pretty, black-eyed signorita dished up. The 
 coffee w^s the only reminder of home and it was delicious. The chile- 
 non-carne, or meat with pepper, was like a section of sheol, served up a la 
 Dante. The rest of the supper was of similar character. When the vis- 
 itors finished the novel repast they drank a dozen quarts of water to cool 
 their parched tongues. Everything the Mexican eats is pepper3^ He 
 is not satisfied with ordinary condiments, but demands red pepper galore. 
 The tamallas are not as bad as the other food. They are made out of 
 what nobody knows done up in a cornshuck. The tortilla is a variety of 
 griddle-cake, composed of ashes and a little meal. Martha watched 
 intently the antics of the Pharisee as he endeavored to master and masti- 
 cate the supper and laughed immoderately at the grimaces he made. 
 
 Probably the most noted ex-Missourian met in San Antonio was Frank 
 James, of bandit fame. He was the center of an interesting group one 
 evening at the Menger Hotel when he recalled his trial in Boonville, and 
 asked after Capt. F. P. Brouaugh and others. James is apparently in 
 very good health. He is largely interested in horses and spends a good 
 portion of his time at the various Texas fairs. His steel-blue eye, lustre- 
 less but alert, his long, thin and pointed nose, his peculiar face, would 
 attract attention anywhere. He looks more like a preacher than an ex- 
 outlaw, and talks more like an orator than a bandit. In speaking of Gov- 
 ernor Crittenden he said : 
 
 " If the Governor caused Jesse's death his testimony went a long way 
 in liberating myself at the time of the Windsor train robbery. By the 
 way Jesse James, Jr., is in the employ of Gov. Crittenden's son, a real 
 estate agent in Kansas City. It is a coincidence and came about in 
 this singular way. Crittenden advertised for a bright office boy to call 
 at his number. Young Jesse was on the lookout for a job and called at 
 the hour stated without knowing to whom he was applying for work. 
 There were about twenty boys around the door when Crittenden arrived. 
 He told them to each write a business card on any topic. When the 
 test was made Crittenden chose Jesse before he asked the lad's name and 
 he is working for him to-day. His mother is a resident of Kansas City." 
 
 Until another time, adieu, as we Spaniards say. 
 
 Denver liepublican, Denver, Col. 
 
 Before reaching Fort Worth we learned from the papers that the rain 
 and its associations had fallen upon and enveloped San Antonio like the 
 shadow of death. They wore holding a fair in that ancient city ; because 
 of this its citizens were especially anxious to impress all comers favorably. 
 But with their usual luck — and I presume this sort of luck pervades the 
 world, with complaints against the special interposition of ProvideKce— 
 rain had set in and mud was the result. Texas ought to be proud of her 
 mud ; it is black and rich, and ricli even where it is red ; she can't have 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 19 
 
 every thins? good on the earth and she ought to be satisfied to bear the palm 
 for mud instead of deprecating it. There is an affeetionateness about 
 it that shc.uld commend it to the favorable consideration of its possessors 
 and command the admiration of stringers. It afforded me pleasure, I 
 know, the very luxuriousness of it tilleci and covered me \xith astonish- 
 ment. I did not conceive mud capable of such volume; it fairly goes 
 to waste in a reckless prodigality une^ualed, T am sure, on the face of the 
 globe. 
 
 I complained of the cold and thought it singular that I should be 
 chilly, coming from a cold climate. But the Fort Worthian to whom 
 1 cautiously imparted my condition said they had been visited by a 
 norther. If anything mean happens to the weather down here they lay 
 it to a norther, if one has not visited the country fi)r a year. Blister the 
 tongue and wither the quill that would say or write auglit against 
 the weather of Fort Worth or any part of Te.Kas. as Texas exhibits her- 
 self naturally. Everything disagreeable is imported. TexaS is broad and 
 incapable herself of producing anything mean, even weather. If any- 
 thing appears disagreeable, one has only to look at the other side of it 
 and he forgets how to be wretched. 
 
 "Whj', sir, wo have the loveliest and healthiest climate in the world 
 light here in Fort Wortl;." 
 
 •■Well, we claim that distinction for Colorado." 
 
 "•Colorado — and— yes, hut Colorado is dry, dry — while witli us it is — '' 
 
 "Wet." 
 
 "Exactly— it comes from the north — beg i)ardon I I mean from the 
 East, Southeast, and it is essential to health — you'll en^oy it. 
 
 Each of tlie ten gentlemen who inquired of me how I felt and to 
 whom 1 divulged my condition, reassured me in precisely the same lan- 
 guage, and I concluded the tiling had been set up, just as we explain mat" 
 ters to the llaymond excursionists. 
 
 It did not rain during the day, and when evening came, and the town 
 was ablaze with lights, every one was leg- weary and impressed with the 
 belief tliat Fort Worth need have made no ajtology for the weather tliat 
 had come in from the soutlieast, for we had been made to enjoy it. 
 
 We started off on the ISIissouri Pacific 
 
 "Stop I" says a friend at my elbow; "You have been complaining al)out 
 poor fare ; I know you had something to eat at Fort Worth." 
 
 " How do you know it V" 
 
 " Why, because you have said nothing about it; that's just like aman- 
 When Ins food does not suit one hears from him : when it does he enjoys 
 it in silence." 
 
 " That's because he feels too mucli pleasure to talk." 
 
 " Well, you should return thanks after meat, anyway." 
 
 " We arrived late in Fort Wortli, Supper was over, and the dining 
 room closed at the Ellis." 
 
 " You don't mean to say they allowed you to go to bed supi^erless ?" 
 
20 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 " Certainly not. The house is conducted by a Frenchman. Another 
 Frenchman— a little one— popped out of some recess, held a \vhispered 
 conversation with the landlord. Presently the dining-room doors were 
 thrown open and we were invited to enter. The little Frenchman who 
 had popped into and out of the office pojiped into the dining-room. He 
 was wonderfully suave. He appeared to slide around all smiles and he 
 had a habit of tickling his ears with his shoulders. When we were all 
 seated he rubbed his hands, smiled, bowed four times to the second, tickled 
 his ears times innumerable and declared in a voice that sharpened our 
 appetites : 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, we," not you, " are late, ze bup,)areisconclute, 
 but you shall have-a to eat; rest tranquile, you shall have ze nice suppare, 
 you shall be fill, you shall be please." 
 
 He rubbed his hands and tickled his ears with his shouk'ers until 
 they rejoiced, and the supper was nice and we were filled and were not 
 only pleased but happy and blessed that little Frenchman, and this 
 sounds like an advertisement for the Ellis House. 
 
 " Did you not pay your bill V" 
 
 "•Certainly." 
 
 " Well, then, it is a just tribute to merit and liot an advertisement." 
 
 " I conclude I may proceed ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 We started off on the Missouri Pacific late in the evening for San 
 Antonio, 278 miles distant. As a matter of course we did not see enough 
 of the country before daylight to inspire us with any sort of emotion. 
 But the road was just outof the hands of tliat broad-gauge gentleman, Mr. 
 Gould, and if he had Avalked over the ties himself with the direct pur- 
 pose of making everything pleasant in his way lie could not has'e left the 
 road in a more animated condition. The extinguishment of the lamps 
 in the sleeper every little while ceased to be a novelty. I went to sleei) 
 and dreamed that I was riding over a Denver highway in my own 
 buggy, and some time in the night a carriage mender presented me with 
 a bill for repairs. I realized that the bankrupt law had been repealed and 
 I was ruined. This was my nightmare, and as I had not enjoyed one in 
 many years I felt under obligations to the little gentleman, who had been 
 the direct means of adding to my pleasure. Did I pray for him ? Cer- 
 tainly. I am always generous with whatever cop.ts me so little. I recog- 
 nize the efficacy of prayer, and his poverty in this regard moved me to 
 offer up orisons in his behalf. I enjoyed it, too, as one always will when 
 doing the right thing. Litigation is pleasant to dwell upon, A little 
 after daylight we liad reached a jwint beyond the whilom jurisdiction of 
 the little gentleman, and I W3S swindled out of my weekly stipend during 
 a long disability, and my heirs — v^ell, a man can have no heir until he is 
 dead, and this is no paradox— they, too, had been left in the lurch. 
 
 We had halted at a town, and were to wait ten minutes for something 
 or somebody. Looking out of the window I noticed a sign, " Drugs and 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 21 
 
 Coffins." One will encounter objects in the course of life possessing sueh 
 exquisite harmony that one may wonder if he has not been suddenly 
 transported to a new planet. Here was a man, civilized, no doubt, saf- 
 ticiently indeiendent of the conventionalities of civilization to be sincere, 
 and bold enough to express it. Drugs and coffins! Could anything in 
 the eternal fitness of things dovetail with greater exactness V I felt a rev- 
 erence for the man capable of this legend avowing his trade and sought an 
 excuse in my mind for an interview. I harl no need of a coflrtn. A few 
 hours since it promised fo be my i ext necessity, but now J was under 
 disappointment and feeling like one lieaten in a bargain. I wanted to live, 
 however, having ascertained I had a chance hold on the beauties of this 
 life, and I had no need of drugs. I thouglit of toothpicks, but the mo- 
 ment I should smile the man would detect the di'(">'':<>M. Spirits I was 
 not in need of, and being new to medicines I was puzzled. The owner 
 stood in his front door without any coat — the man, I mean, was coatless. 
 He had possessed the enterprise ta lay a walk of cinders from the track 
 to his door, and with these irresistible lures drawing me on I ventured 
 out and accosted him. 
 
 He was a thin man, when I reached him, possessiii; a bountiful crop 
 of hair, and a beard that would have filled Shakespeare's apothecary 
 with mortification. Ho took his hands out of his pockets, rubbed them 
 together in a brisk way, an<l met me with the assurance that it was " a 
 tine morning.'' This was a lie to begin with, and I was weak enougii 
 in my admiration of the man to uelieve for the moment that it was a fine 
 morning ; perhaps it was, for him. He invited me in, and desired to know 
 what he could "do for me." Did I want a coflin ? He had them ranged 
 along one side of his establishment, all sizes, and tne drugs encumbered 
 the other side. I saw several that I judged to be about my measure, and 
 the man seemed to be so obliging that i half regretted my wants lying 
 in another direction. I told him I had been coughing a little, and would 
 take some Number Seven, if he could oblige me. 
 
 " Certainly, certainly : how much a ill you have?" 
 
 " A (juarter's worth will do." 
 
 He disappeared, and returned in a few moments driving a cork into a 
 Hat pint bottle as he came. 
 
 " You'll find that Al," and he proceeded to wrap uj) the llask iu a 
 worn newspaper. 
 
 " But that is not what 1 want. I asked for No. 7." 
 
 "Exactly. I'm not particular about names.'" 
 
 " But I desire abottle of Humphrey's Specific No. 7, a homeojtalhic 
 preparation for colds." 
 
 " Homeopathic preparation I" he whispered, with one hand on the bot- 
 tle and the other behind his ear. A look came into the man's face such 
 as I hope never to see bestowed ou me again ; it was a combination of 
 pity, surprise and a doubt of the advisability of brushing it up with a 
 great deal of contempt. The idea of taking homeopathic remedies for a 
 
22 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 cold when a mau could commaud whisky was so far removed from his 
 experience that it rendered him dumb. 
 
 " Have you any No. 7." 
 
 He shook his head slowly and unwrapped the flask. 
 
 '•Not that kind." 
 
 1 am afraid, though, that some of my friends will think I do not like 
 Texas, but that would be a mistake. Its possibilities are patent; we 
 can find some of the same oddities farther north with less promise. 
 
 We are in the same rolling country we encountered above Fort Worth. 
 The moss of the live oaks is a little more abundant, perhaps, but these 
 festoons make the trees interesting. The houses have the same weather- 
 beaten appearance and you know if you should stop at one and rub your 
 finger across the grayish boards the surface would give way and roll under 
 the pressure, leaving a whitish mark as though the dry rot were deep and 
 you might, with patience to your fiuger, rub a hole through the board. 
 The same wfrm fences, the dead grass vieing with the dead cornstalhs 
 in attitude, and depressingcotton-fields without any fault of their owners 
 enter into a cou'^piracy to make the stranger believe that the half that is 
 done is only half done. The blue haze that lingers on the far reaches of 
 timbered slopes over dead fields on a cloudy day inspires melancholly. But 
 what would the view present under the warm Spring sunshine V The 
 haze would have resolved itself into a dainty veil, the intervening fields 
 would be rich in green and gold, the rude fences encumbered with creep- 
 ing vines, the corners rich in the wealth of flowers and the soft air musit 
 cal with the songs of the birds. It is not always cloudy here nor is it 
 always November. The sun came out before we reached San Antonio 
 and kissed the Autumn tints into loveliness and crowneil each bush by 
 the wayside with liquid gems. 
 
 But the people of San Antonio, at least those we encountered, were 
 younger, and they entertained us light royally. When the hotels failed 
 to afford quarters for the overflow, private residences wei'e thrown open, 
 and to make welcome ''the stranger within our gates" .seemed the mission 
 of every one. 
 
 I saw people from everywhere ; all the races could boast of a represen- 
 tative. The INIagnolian, the Indian the Negro and the white man head- 
 ing the list and herding the lot ; the mossback and the tenderfoot, old men , 
 and now and then an old young man. The latter always makes me feel 
 that I had no business being born, and I am certain to encounter him. 
 This time he appeared in an ulster, a stiff collar, Derby hat, kid gloves 
 and a cane. He shook my hand coldly, looked at me coldly, talked coldly, 
 and was altogether so uncompromisingly frigid that he added to the 
 rawness of the day. The next time I met him he seemed as cold as ever, 
 but as he did notrecoguize me at all I failed to experience any chill. I 
 felt very much obliged to him for allowing himself to forget me so soon. 
 He never i)layed marbles, truant, peg-top or anything else ; he must have 
 been born with the belief that life is a burden; he never surreptitiously 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 23 
 
 visited a neighbor's orchard or filled the pomologist with wrath. Texas is 
 largeenoughfor three States the size of Colorado, but if that young man 
 should ever be elected a Justice of the Peace, Road Supervisor or be made 
 a Texas Solon the citizens of the empire would have to start in quest of new- 
 conquests or extend the boundaries by treaty. I don't know what his 
 business was or is, but presume he has none ; no busines-s could stand 
 him and be a success ; he would loom over it and destroy it. He would 
 not do so wantonly, I dare say, but he could noi absolutely prevent its 
 freezing to death with dignity. 
 
 Then I met a Mexican Don. He had red hair, blue eyes and a tender 
 red moustache. He was dressed in pale olive green knit trousers of silky 
 texture with a red silk sash around his waist ; a blue jacket heavy with 
 silver braid, a vast sombrero towering conelike and covered with silver 
 cords ; his feet were handsome in shape and dainty in size, and lie carried 
 over his arm a poncho of bright orange and red. A bewitching daughter 
 of the sensuous clime, with great eloquent black eyes and blue black 
 hair neatly dressed, accompanied him; I do not mean to say that her hair 
 only was dressed, but the mysteries of the Mexican feminine toilet are a 
 sealed book to me. She waited for him at the door of a cigar store while 
 his royal highness addressed the keeper : 
 
 "A mild cicar av you plaze." 
 
 The brogue was manifest with the hair on, thou genial son of Erin ! 
 
 " Casimerio," lisped the damsel, a little impatient perhaps at the delay, 
 and no looking glass being handy. 
 
 " I'm wid yer, darlint," and he joined her with a smile on his auburn 
 countenance. 
 
 I saw kis mate afterwards dealing monte, and they were near enough 
 alike to be twins. There was no mistaking the tones of the latter 's voice ; 
 he was a Mexican, pure and simple, save in the matter of gambling, I dare 
 presume. 
 
 Then there was the aged Southern darkey, such as you never see in the 
 North. He is long and broad of foot, turns out his toes, and treads upon 
 the outside or uppers of his shapeless brogans. His face is wrinkled and 
 black, and his ragged garments betoken a poverty unapproachable except 
 in the matter of patches. There is a wealth in these that would have 
 mortified Joseph's tailor, and would serve as the grandest model extant for 
 a crazy quilt if it were not for the sorrow of it. But the black face is 
 alwaj^s a cheerful and a bright face when you wake it up with a word or 
 even a friendly nod. How the wrinkles will multiply, and the ivory 
 shine, and the cramped hand go to the limber hat-brim ; though the 
 " misery" in his back may prevent his standing erect when he has re- 
 sponded to your address, he waits patiently for a further exchange of 
 courtesies, if it be your pleasure, or passes on to oblige you. 
 
 And then I met an old friend from Colorado, and the first thing he 
 .said to me was : 
 
 " This is the wettest i>lace I was ever in. I've been here two weeks 
 
24 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 and have uot seen the sun. I'm obliged to remain here a month and 
 have contracted ';\ith an artist for a photograph of the sun for fear I'll 
 forget what it looks like. Rain, rain, rain, nothing but rain." 
 
 *' But we brought sunshine with us ; look there," 
 
 "Oh, yes, you can look straightat it by the hour and youi' eyes will not 
 suffer. You call that the sun ; it is only the ghost of it. I'm afraid the 
 sun is dying." 
 
 I endeavored to cheer him up, but he could not cheer, and gave me 
 the following as expressive of his feelings : 
 
 Drip, drip, drip. 
 
 From the cold, gray clouds, oh rain, 
 And I would thai my prayers might waft me 
 
 To the land of sunshine again. 
 
 O well for the Indian buck 
 
 That he pounds his squaw on the tiy ; 
 O well for the Mexican lad 
 
 That he'd rather be wet than dry. 
 
 And the weeping clouds sail on, 
 
 Without one token of rest, 
 But oh, for a sight of the hidden sun. 
 
 And the tones of the beautiful West. 
 
 Weep, weep, weep. 
 
 Through the dull, cold days, oh sky, 
 But, oh for a place where the sun can shine, 
 
 And the clothes on my back may dry. 
 
 Taggarfs Times, Fhila., Dee. 2d and iGtJi. 
 
 FLITTING THROUGH DIXIE LAND TO TEXAS— SOUTHERN CITIES— AR- 
 KANSAS TIMBER AND ARK ANSAS ENERGY — SAN ANTONIO BY GAS- 
 LIGHT — EDITORIAL ARISTOCRACY — THE CLIMATE OF TEXAS- 
 TEXAS AN EMPIRE— THE BALTIMORE FULTONS. 
 
 San Antonio, Tex., November 24. 
 
 The third annual meeting of the National Editorial Association was 
 held here this week. Taking advantage of the occasion and for a little 
 rest after the election, your correspondent joined the Pennsylvania dele- 
 gation led by Chairman Thos. V. Cooper and wife, trom Media : Secre- 
 tary, R. H. Thomas and wife, of Mechanicsburg ; Wm. Keunedy, or 
 the Chronicle, of Pottsville ; J. Irwin Steele, of Sunbury ; H. J. Stehle, 
 of Gettysburg ; J. W. Woodside, Oxford Presfi (Pa.) ; D. L. Sollenberger, 
 Times, Sharaokin ; W. H. Dewart, Daily, Sunt ury ; Taggart, wife and 
 s-^n, Philadelphia, which left Philadelphia oa Sunday, 18th inst., by the 
 deserved popular route of the Pennsylvania railroad to Pittsburg, and the 
 VandaliaLine, to St. Louis, making connection with the new and pop. 
 ular 'Frisco line to Paris, Texas, passing through the States of Missouri, 
 Arkansas and the southeastern corner of the Indian Territory. 
 
 There is not much local travel on the railroads, the stations being 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 25 
 
 generally five and six miles apart. Wire fencing: is extensively used in 
 the Southwest. The outlook in passing through Missouri is very poor 
 The people and towns, after leaving St. Louis, are lazy, and everything 
 looks as if >;oing to decay, the bad effects of slavery being plainly 
 noticeable. Emigration, as a rule, avoids Missouri, especially the Ger- 
 mans, who prefer to locate in what is called a " free State," where social 
 caste will not be used against them. 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF TEXAS 
 
 is excellent, and the soil being black and very rich, emigration is coming 
 in rapidly in this section. Northern men with a little money and energy 
 are catching on rapidly at Dallas, Temple, Sau Antonio and other im. 
 portant towns in the State, The outlook in Texas is very bright and is 
 well worthy of a visit from investors and those who have little show for 
 the future in the crowded cities of the North. 
 
 Of course, Texas is Democratic by 150,000 majority, but political opin- 
 ion is as free here as it is in Pennsylvania. In San Antonio, which is Dem- 
 ocratic by 1,500 majority, the District Judge is a Republican, and has 
 held the position for 25 years. The district attorney is also a Republican 
 
 TEXAS DAXGERS EXAGGERATED. 
 
 CoRrus CiiRiSTi, December 8, 1888. 
 The dangers of railway travel in Texas have been greatly exaggerated 
 t,o the Northern mind and the lone highwayman appears to have shaken 
 he dust of Texas and gone into business in Crdifornia. At Texarkana re. 
 cently a deooented drummer from St. Louis whipped out a revolver and 
 shot an innocent passenger who was looking out of the car window. 
 This cannot b< charged to Texan outrages, as such acrime is likely to 
 occur in Philadelphia or New York at any time, among our army of 
 dyspeptics and cranks. 
 
 TEXAS AX EMPIRE. 
 
 Texas, with its 274,303 square miles, is the largest State in the Union. 
 It has a lergth, east and west, of 825 miles, and a breadth of 740 miles. 
 Tfce population in 1880 was 1,591,749, but it is conceded that there has 
 been an increase of 50 per cent, since then. Six ne ^ States could be carved 
 out of the Lone Star State, but as they would all be Democratic, it is not 
 likely it will be accomplished under Republican rule. The Southern 
 Pacific Line traverses 19 out of the 22G counties of Texas, and some of 
 these are larger than several of the Eastern States. In the eastern section 
 the country is divided between timber and prairie, the land generally 
 being very rich The Germans compiise a large portion of the popula- 
 tion, and in pla es, like Kerville, Brenham and Fredensburg, they stdl 
 maintain all their Europein habits and customs, and very little English 
 is spoken. Philadelphia capital is found hero, one of your syndicates 
 having bought two whole counties for oil territorj'. 
 
 TROGRESS AND REFINEMENT. 
 
 During my visit to Dallas, Laredo, Corpus Christi, Galveston and San 
 
26 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Antonio I found ss refined and cultured people as you do in Philadelphia. 
 At Galveston the citizens gave a brilliant reception and ball to the mem- 
 bers of the National Editorial Association at the Tremont Hotel, the 
 leading hotel of the city, on the eveniny; of December 5th, which was at- 
 tended by many of the prominent society ladies of the city. 
 
 GALVESTOK WANTS A DEEP AYATER CHANNEL'. 
 
 Mr. A. B. Homer explained to all those interested in Galveston's 
 harbor facilities, using for this purp se statistics hitherto embraced in the 
 official report of Major Ernat, the engineer in charge of the harbor im- 
 provements along the Texas coast. He showed the harbor area of 
 24 feet depth ot water, Galveston, 1,304 acres; Sabine Pas >, 100 acres; Ar- 
 ansas Pass, 60 acres. Harbor area of 18 feet depth of water ; Galveston, 
 2,725 acres ; Sabine, 450 acres ; Aransas, 146 acres. Harbor area of 30 
 feet depth of water. Galveston, 436 acres ; Sabine, 56 acres; Aransas, H 
 acres. Showing the vast excess of safe anchorage and harbor as possessed 
 by Galveston, and accessible after the lemoval of the bar, a harbor ca- 
 pable of accommodating a larger fleet than all the other ports of Texas 
 combined. The present depth of water over the bar is only 14 feet. 
 
 GREAT RIVALRY BETWEEN GALVESTON AND CORPUS CURISTI TO 
 SECURE A DEEP WATER HARBOR AT ARANSAS PASS. 
 
 It is claimed that it will cost $10,000,000 to improve the baibor of 
 Galveston and $2,000,000 to make a deep-water channel at Aransas Pa?s, 
 which will give Texas two great seaport cities on the Gulf of Mexico. 
 The editors took much interest in the controversy, having enjoyed the 
 hospitalities of both places. The sentiment of the party however, favored 
 the claim of Galveston, which is the commercial metropolis of Texas- 
 Col. C. W. Stiles, an Alabama editor, proj^osed three cheers for the city 
 of Galveston, her hospitable people an i her local press, which were given 
 with a vim and a tigei*, after which the party landed, having enjoyed a 
 very delightful trip, accompanied with an abundance of joy and good 
 cheer. The Ohio and Illinois delegations were especially partial to the 
 St. Louis beer on board. 
 
 A SKETCH OF GALVESTON. 
 
 Galveston claims a population of 38,000, and is situated at the north, 
 east extremity of Galveston Island. The streets are wide and handsomely 
 laid out, and a magnificent beach, thir'y-two miles long, borders the 
 city on one side. The public buildings are handsome and imposing, 
 and some of the merercantile establi-hments are vtry exten ive. Gal- 
 veston would remind you very much of Atlantic City, N. J., being flat 
 and sandy. All its supptiet come from the main laud and back cjuntry. 
 The Gulf, Colorado and Sante Fe Railway, the International and Great 
 Northern, in connection with tbe Missouri Pacific and the Arausas 
 Pass Railroad, and the leading railroads running into the city, over 
 bridging for several miles, would remind one of crossing Barnegat Bay, 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 27 
 
 N. J., by the Peuusylvania eoast line to Long Branch. Solid trains with 
 all modern improvements, run through between Galveston and St. Louis 
 without change of can-", and only one change at St. Louis to Chicago i 
 Louisville, AVashington. Philadelphia Cincinnati, Bilt'more, New York 
 and Boston. 
 
 There are many elegant frame residences in Galve&ton, the Southern 
 s'yle predominating, with first and second flo-^r piazzas in front. There 
 are churches of all (Jenomination-, but the Catholics are in the majority- 
 Wooden pavements are u^ed, it being claimed that the sa t water pre- 
 serves them, one h'lving been down sixteen > eirs. The Hebrew element 
 controls the business of the city. Mr. Leon B'um is the wea'thiest of his 
 (l-iss He is a liberal and charitable man, and highly respected by all 
 classes. 
 
 KIVAL CITIKS TO GALVESTOX. 
 
 Tin trade ami prosperity of Galveston, however, are leing seriously 
 cut into liy Fort Worth and Dallas, lival and growing cities further north' 
 which have large whole ale and jobbing hous s to sui)ply tbe trade of 
 the interior of t^e State, and buyers save a longer journey to the coast 
 city. The cotton crop l-as fallen Hat, and vrifcs are so low that farmers 
 are holding oa to their crops, consequently' business and shippinar at 
 Galveston have teen very dull this year. There were only four or five 
 Knglish tramp steismer^ Hipre during my v sit, while in Vrisk times 
 the wharves are lined with them. The shipping brokers said politics bad 
 no liing whatever to do with the present stagnation in trade. 
 
 LARKUO AND CORPUS CIIKISTI. 
 
 The editors will never forget the kind and hearty leceptiou they le- 
 coived from the citizens of Lared land CorpnsChristi. In passing through 
 Laredo, the "Gate City," over the Pvio Grande, en route to the City of 
 Mexico, over the new Mexican Xuti nal R -ilway, they served an elegant 
 luncb going and reti.'rning. Th-a Laredo Boatd of Trade had charge of the 
 matti-r, and many thanks were showered upon Secretary Henry Plslier, 
 and the Mayor of the city. Oo th-a return of the editors tromMexici they 
 wu-e receive! at the City HhU i i Laredo Mitb the usual speeches of 
 w. Iconic and grod feeling. 
 
 AT uocKrouT. 
 
 Be''ore reaching Corpus Chri-li our party stepped one <'ay st ilockport, 
 which 13 situated on the Wes'ern shore of A^ran a^ Bay, not far from 
 Aransas Pass. It was first settled in 1857, and rapi.Hy grdw into a 
 thrivirgtown of 1,200 to 1,500 inhabitant^. For a tinae it wattle lead- 
 ing cattle shippitg port o:i the Tex's coast, » ut the trade is at present 
 tmall. It bids fair, however, to increase to handsom? proportions in the 
 near future. 
 
 During its days of greatest prosperity several beef packing establish- 
 
28 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OP 
 
 mentswere erectecf at and in the vicinity of Rockport, whicli gave em. 
 p!oyment to a large number of men, and was the mains of developing a 
 large tra-ie for the town. At Fulton, near Rockport, was established 
 the largest and bfst equipped b:^ef canning business in the State, by Boston 
 capital, known ssthe B s'oa Beef Packing Compaay. Since the intro- 
 ductioa of the rdilrcad and rapid trarsit, the enterprise has feibd an I 
 the works are cloed. 
 
 Rockport is prettily situated on a beautiful bay, where all the advanta- 
 ges of a seaside resort may be obtained. The people are Whole-souled 
 and generous, and society good. There are good schools and churches, and 
 several social organizations. Dallas capitalists have purchased property 
 there on a large scale, and propose to lay it off into lots and blocks, ai d 
 make a seaside resort of the little city. A $50,000 hotel is being built, and 
 other improvements are promised. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass 
 Railroad has extended a branch there, and for the tirst time in its his- 
 tory the littletown is connected by rail with the outside world. 
 
 Fish and oysters are plentiful in the bays near, and quite a trade is 
 carried on with the interior towns ot theState. At Fulton is a successful 
 canning house and ice factory, where a superior article of canned green 
 turtle is prepared. Fine turtles, weighing from 100 to 500 pounds, are 
 caught in Aransas bay. With deep water at Aransas Pass, Rockport, 
 Corpus Christi, Ingleside across the bay and other towns in that vicinity 
 will flourish as they never have before. 
 
 ONE OF THE FULTON FAMILY. 
 
 Your correspondent did not join the sailing party to see the sandbar at 
 Aransas Pass, but remained on terra firma and enjoyed the hospitality 
 of Col. George \V. Fulton at his elegant residence at Aransas City, three 
 miUs from Rockport. He has an elegant home, surrounded by a beatiful 
 park, containing coach, boat and bath houses, overlooking the bay. Col. 
 Fulton is a brother of the Fultons, the owners of Vaa Baltimoi-c American* 
 who were apprentice boys with Col. J. H. Taggai t to the late Wm. Fry, 
 of ihe old National Gazette^ of Philadelphia. Col. Fulton, of Texas, is 
 now 79 yeari of age, and well preserved for his years, and continues to take 
 aa active part in his ranch and other enterprises. He was a citizen of tlie 
 State in its early days during the period that tried men's nerves. He 
 was a young man and a surveyor, as well as a so'dier. He married the 
 daughter of the Governor of Texas. In 1838 he became Collector of Cus- 
 toms at Aran?as, and after that removed with h's family to the North. 
 Later he was President of the Kentucky Central railroad and a success- 
 ful railroad man. In the construction ofthe Cincinnati Suspension Bridge 
 Col Fulton was chief ass isfcint engineer to John A. Roebling. Iq 1868 
 he removed to Fulton, a little town named in his honor, now called Aran- 
 
 *The Baltimore Am,eriGan is now conducted and partly owned by 
 General Felix Angus, a son-in-law of tbe ]ate Caas. Fulton. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 29 
 
 sas City. Here be has built up a large cattle business, aud is President 
 of the Coleman and Fulton Pasture Company, one of the largest and 
 wealthiest pasture companies in the Stife. Col. Fulton is thoroughly 
 progressive, contributing to every public enterprise that promises benefit 
 to his section of the State. His son manages the ranch, which contains 
 168,000 acres, located about eight miles froaa Rockport. They have a tele- 
 phone from their office here of 25 miles, connected with all sections of the 
 ranch, which covers 206 square miles of what is regard d as the very 
 best pasture land in Texas. Five or six artificial lakes for wa erlng cat'la 
 (the Winter rains being stored) ; before this thousands of cattle \v«uld d e 
 from thirst. One of these lakes is 5 miles in length and 50 to 60 yards 
 wide, while the Chilltopin River forms its northern l)ouudary. Frequently 
 thera are 35,000 head of cattle on the ranch. The me?quite gra s i>; ■^1 
 most as valuable for fiitteuing cattle as oats and corn, teing as nutnuvjus 
 when dried in Winter as it is in midsummer. The cattle look after them - 
 selves in Winter. 
 
 AT CORPUS ClIRISTI. 
 
 While at school in Philadelphia I often heard of Corpus Christi in my 
 geography lessons, but I never expected to see the place. Well, it would 
 remind you very much of the city of Cape May on the New Jersey coast. 
 It is located 150 miles southeast of San Antonio, in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and called the "Gem of the Gulf." The bay was named by the Spaniards 
 early in the sixteenth century in honor of the day of Corpus Christi, 
 when they first entered with their vessels aud sailed upon its waters. The 
 town received its name from the bay. The railroad crosses the bay for 
 several miles before reaching the city, which makes the trip a very pleas 
 unt one. 
 
 There is a charming bluff overlooking the city, and miles of bay ex- 
 panse, which makes it the handsomest site for residences on the Gulf 
 ceast, commanding a sea and shore view that is simply unsurpassed. 
 There are many cottages on the bluft', which is called Broadway. Here 
 one can see for miles to the northeast and south, till sky, water and shore 
 lines seem to meet. Looking eastward, no land is in sight — nothing 
 but the broad bosom of the bay, heaving beneath the southern breezes 
 that temper the tropical sun, and make this one of the most delightfu 
 coast resorts in the United States. Some New York capitalists have pur- 
 chased part of this bluff for a hotel site, which they propose t© improve 
 in the near future. In 1845, during the Mexican war. Gen. Taylor 
 landed his army at Corpus Christi It now has a population of 5,000, and 
 •is the Gulf termini, the Mexican National and the San Antonio and 
 Aransas Pass, building rapidly north and east, connecting it now with 
 San Antonio, Galveston and Houston. 
 
 The climate is delightful and invites the people of the North who 
 desire to escape the rigors of a northern Winter or are seeking a climate 
 of nearly uniform temperature, for the benefit of weak lungs, throat and 
 catarrhal diseases. The nights aud mornings, however, are quite cool. 
 
3o JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OP 
 
 but it is springlike during tlie day. Game is plentiful, oysters are gnod 
 and fish excellent. The oj'-sters grow wild, but are not as palatable as the 
 cultivated Chesapeake and Delaware Bay oysters. 
 
 There are ten churches, five white and four colored, and one Mexican. 
 Theformer are Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist and Presbyter- 
 ian. There are good public and private schools. The town now possesses 
 an energetic Board of Trade. As a delightful seaside resort, Corpus 
 Christi has many advantages and bids fair to become the great coast 
 resort of the South. 
 
 The citizens of Corpus Christi entertained the editors handsomely 
 over night and gave them a reception in the City Hall, during which the 
 merits of the place as a seaport town, and the advocates of an appropria- 
 tion by Congress for a deep water channel at Aransas Pass, had full sway. 
 While in Corpus Christi I noticed several Cleveland posters left after the 
 campaign, but no Republican banners were exhibited. A Ilepublican 
 ticket is a curiosity in Texas, they being generally run under the disguise 
 of people's tickets. There is no registry law in Texas, and a State Senator 
 in this district was defeated by Mexican voters, because he advocated a 
 new registry law. One-third of the population is Mexican, which gener- 
 ally opposes improvements. 
 
 THE RAILROADS. 
 
 One of the pleasant reminders of home is the large number of Philadel_ 
 phia locomotives (Baldwin's) used on the Texan and Mexican railroad^. 
 They do excellent work, and seb^om get out of order. The ra Iroads in 
 Texas are not as comfortable as those in the East, and on some of them 
 you imagine ynu are b-ing rocked in the cradle of the deep. The tracks 
 are laid in rich black soil, and after heavy rains the ties and track tink 
 below the surface, and traics getting off the trask is a common occurrence. 
 
 DRINKING WATER. 
 
 Cistern water is generally used all through Texas, and all classes invest 
 their mon^y in first-c'ass tanks and keep them in excellent order. A few 
 artesian wells are sunk for business purposes, as the surface water is hardly 
 fit to drink. Wood is used for fuel. Hard coal is $12 and $15 a ton, and 
 is oDly used by the rich. H. L. T. 
 
 Mirror^ Maiden., 3Iass., December :i'Dth, issri. 
 
 That favorite scenic line, the Erie Railroad, carried us from New York 
 
 to Cincinnati. 
 
 At Cincinoati we met Henry G.Hardy, of Mulden, on the street, and 
 he sai 1 Cincinnati was s'ow ; that Cincinnati depended largely upon 
 Southern trade ; that Western freight was sent by way of St. Louis and 
 Chicago, and tbat during the past four years of Democratic administra- 
 
TEXAS AND MKXICO 31 
 
 tion the Southern trade had fallen off, to the detriment of Cincinnati''s 
 business prosperity. There will t)o a ditferent state of tilings after the 4th 
 of next March. The city has a population of about oUU,OUU, and occu- 
 pies tlie nortli banii of the Ohio river, and confronts the Kentucky cities 
 of Coviui^ton and Newport. It lias a river frontage often miles, and ex. 
 tends baclv over the higli hills which border the Obio valley at this point. 
 In Fountain Square is the beautiful Tyler Davidson fountain, the gift of 
 INIr. Henry Probasco, and from which nearly all the horse and cable car 
 lines radiate. The great suspension bridge aci'oss that mud hole, the Oliio 
 river, connects Cincinnati with Covington on the Kentucky side. This 
 bridge is second only in lengtli totlie big Brooklyn biidge in New York. 
 After a day's stay in tlie Queen City we concluded it was after all a pretty 
 lively place, and being convinced that the supply of beer would not give 
 out right away, we changed our base, proceeding southward over the 
 Queen and Crescent road. A night's ride of 335 mdes iu the comfortable 
 Mann boudoir cars brought us to historic Chattanooga early iu the cool 
 morning. The mist bung around Lookout Mountain as on the day of the 
 memorable battle above the clouds, Nov. 24 and 2o, 18(53, At Chatta- 
 nooga we begin to see what northern people and northern capital have 
 done and are doing for the South. Under the fostering care and enter- 
 prise of northern people, new and prosperous industries have been started, 
 and Chattanooga is now one of the liveliest business cities of the "new 
 South." It keeps up an even pace with the other growing and ambitious 
 rival cities which try to distance it. The Chattanooga mineral district is 
 one of the richest in coal, iron and copper on this continent. The climate 
 is temperate and remarkably equable. Snow seldom comes. The popu- 
 lation has increased in the last six years from 11,000 to 18,000. In making 
 a tour of the city the visitor will naturally desire to visit Lookout Moun- 
 tain. Two railroads take the traveler to the top. One, a broad gauge 
 load, coils around the mountain, giving splendid views of Missionary 
 Ridge, and beyond the battlefield of Chattanooga, the broad Tennessee 
 river, and a splendid panoramic view of the city of Chattanooga, and the 
 rich valley, 70 miles in extent. On tiie summit are dwelling houses and 
 hotels. A walk across the mountain brings us to a narrow gauge road on 
 the westerly side, which skirts the cliff, connecting with an incline 1,400 
 feet long, on which cart^ ascend and descend by a wire rope worked by a 
 steam engine. Next, one may visit ihe National Cemetery, where "rest 
 in peace 12,963 citizens who died for their country in the years 1861 to I860." 
 Among the number are 4,000 unknown. There .are seven completed rail- 
 ways running into Chattanooga, and it is safe to say that the status of this 
 thriving city is fixed on a strong and enduring basis. 
 
 Next in order was Birmingham, Alabama. Would you believe it, that 
 eight years ago there was no such place as Birmingham? Now it is a 
 city, with 40,000 inhabitants, 22 iron furnaces, rolling mills, foundries, fur- 
 niture factories, and other maimfactories, furnishing profitable employ- 
 ment for a thrifty and rapidly increasing population. There are nine 
 
32 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 banks, twelve railroads, and a splendid union depot for all the roads, and 
 the largest hotel in the South nearly completed. The j;;reat Red mountain 
 only a mile from the centreof the town, is a mass of ahnost soUd iron ore. 
 Eight coal mines furnish the coal for coking, with plenty of limestone 
 almost at their doors. Birmingham is well styled the Pittsburg of Ala- 
 bama. The streets are wide, well graded and drained. 
 
 South of Biimingham the cultivated land is mainly devoted to cotton 
 culture, where the great southern staple is grown to perfection. The 
 Queen and Crescent road from Birmingham to New Orleans runs through 
 a rich cotton country. But cotton is no longer kins:, and the South is 
 awakening to that fact. The new iron and coal and manufacturinj; 
 industries, so long undeveloped and neglected, are becoming a more profit- 
 able investment, and the cry is, come here with your men of enterprise 
 and capital and help us develop our rich resources. The colored people 
 are numerous in all this Sotithern country. It will not he long before they 
 will be employed at remunerative wages paid to them in cash, and by 
 education and well paid labor they will rise in the scale of manhood and 
 their " rights," political and otherwise, be ar-knowledged and respected. 
 Education and manufactures will, in a great measure, tend to solve the 
 perplexing " negro question." 
 
 New Orleans is the largest cotton mart in the world, and thft river 
 front presents at all times an animating spectacle. Canal street, the 
 principal thoroughfare, is two hundred and forty feet wide. Our head- 
 quarters were at the Hotel Royal on St. Louis street. This hotel was for- 
 merly the slave market in the days before the war, and the building is 
 still owned by the State. We got out early Sunday morning and took in 
 the French market on the levee near Jackson Square. This is one of the 
 most interesting and unique sights in this city. Everything from ants to 
 antelope in the way of meats are found here, and a thousand and one 
 things not to be eaten with people of every nationality and shaiie of 
 color. In the same vicinity is the old St. Louis Cathedral an«i Jackson 
 Square, which contains a bronze equestrian statue 'f General Jack-on. 
 The Square i^ t>eau'iful!y laid out, flowers aii<l shrubbery abounding, with 
 roses in full bloom. What we most admired was the warm, dH-isrhtful 
 climate, the soft, balmy air, with the cooling breeza, quite unlike the cold 
 weather and chilling air of the North wh had left a week before. The 
 gardens wee filled with roses and other flowers in full bloom, and orange 
 trees loaded with ripe oranges. New Orleans is a very old city. It is a 
 strange city, and a babel, of human tongues. French is the prevailing 
 lauiiuage, which is sp'ken as fluently by the negro population as by ttie 
 whites. Its beautiful buildings, its drives, its cemeteries, are objects of 
 inter* st never to be forgotten. The cemeteries impress the visitor more 
 than anything else, which, owing to the system of intramural burial, are 
 among the points possessing special interest, being at once unique and 
 beautiful. The tombs are miniature marl)le palaces ari-anged with wide 
 avenues between, and shaded with stately magnolia trees. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 33 
 
 After two days devoted to seeing New Orleans, and enjoying the tine 
 weather, on Monday noDii we left for 8 in Antonio, Texas, oTT miles west, 
 by the famous '' Sunset Route." We cro.-sed the Mississippi river ny the 
 railroad ferry to the westerly side, and the railway journey begins at the 
 httle town of Algiers. The road crosses a ricli and productive section of 
 Louisiana, and on every hand are seen the fields and mills of great sugar 
 plantations. Here are to be seen the typical plantation darkies in all their 
 glory. Their children are numerous, and well covered with rags. Their 
 habitati()ns are board shanties, in many cases sadly dilapidated. Tlie coun- 
 try is generally tlat, but far from uninteresting. There are stretches of 
 forest, and the bayous are bordered by the live oak, the cypress and other 
 iiard woods. Tlie branches are heavily drapetl with Spanish moss, liaug- 
 ing in gra(!eful festoons. We also pass many miles of swamp country, 
 where alligators abound, and where it is frequently found necessary to 
 stop the trains and drive the slumbering alligators off the track. Be- 
 sides sugar, there are vast lields of cotton, corn, tobacco and rice, and 
 nearly all the fruits known to civilization are cultivated along this fer- 
 tile section of country. At Morgan City, eighty miles from New Orleans, 
 the road crosses on a fine iron bridge tlie Atchafalaya river, and enters 
 the famous Teche country, the land of sugar plantations, through which 
 we journey for many miles. At Orange we cross the Sabine river, and 
 from Louisiana into the great State of Texas, the State of magnificent 
 distances. 
 
 The Lone Star State, with its 274,366 square miles, is the largest State 
 in the Union. It has a length, east and west, of 825 miles, and a breadth 
 of 740 miles, and is nearly six times as large as the State of New York. 
 Our course takes us through its most productive an^i likewise its most pic- 
 turesque sections. The population m 1880 was 1,591,749, but there has 
 l)een an increase of at least fifty per cent, since then. Texas was admitted 
 into the Union December 20, 1845, having been for nine years previous an 
 independent republic. The Texan settlers revolted against Mexican rule 
 in 1835. December 10, 1835, San Antonio was captured, and ten days 
 later the independence of Texas was declared. Gen. Sam Houston be- 
 came the first president of the new republic, and was inaugurated in Oc- 
 tober 1836. In the eastern section the ( ountry is divided between timber 
 and prairie, and the land generally being very rich. We crossed success- 
 ively the Neches, Trinity and Harris rivers before reaching Houston. 
 
 Thn city of Houston has about 30,000 inhabitants, and is a prosperous 
 and progressive place. From Houston we continue westward on the 
 Southern Pacific Company's line, passing through several thriving towns 
 in this section ot the "' wild and wooly west," reaching San Antonio, 
 Tuesday noon, Nov. 20th, on the ninth day after leaving Boston, having 
 traveled 2,500 miles through the fairest portion of the "sunny Soufi." 
 The National Editorial Association was most hospitably entertained four 
 days, as quests of the citizens, in this historic city of southeastern Texas, 
 until Saturday noon, Nov. 24th, the convention adjourning Friday night. 
 
34 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Its charmine, bracinsr, 1 ealth-giving climate, its historic renowp, its 
 pleasing scenery, its hospitable, contented, thriving people, and its rapid 
 growth in population and wealth, make San Antonio to-day one of the 
 most complete and attractive resorts on the American continent, and 
 we ghall endeavor to give our readers some idea of its excellence in our 
 next i?sue. 
 
 TEXAS THE KEY TO THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION— IRON HEEL 
 OF THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF. 
 
 Ledger, Mexico, Missouri, December iWi, ISSS. 
 
 San Antonio, Texas, November 22d 
 
 The editorial excursionists from Missouri reached this quaint city at 
 noon to-day. The weather is glorious, but I am told that it is only 
 what the inhabitants of this beautiful city are used to. As I stepped 
 from my train I exclaimed, " What a beautiful day !" whereupon several 
 gamins and two or three Mexicans, who were standing near, looked at 
 me in amazement, then they broke into a loud laugh. I am of the opin- 
 ion however, that the day was unusually beautiful, in spite of the deris- 
 ion I was subjected to for saying so; and I think my deriders at the 
 railway station were mere boomers of the town. By the way, this place 
 is infested with this class— everybody has the town lot craze. 
 
 All the States are represented at the editorial convention by about two 
 hundred delegates. The International Fair is also in progress and this 
 Spanish city in the United States is receiving a waking up. 
 
 The thing that first attracts the visitor is the famous Alamo. The 
 Alamo is an old adobe structure, half church, half fortress, situated about 
 the centre of the city. It is now owned by the State. Some years ago 
 it feU into the possession of a gentleman from Jerusalem, and was used as 
 a store-house for his goods. The sentiment of the State revolted and the 
 Legislature authorized the Governor to buy the old building and preserve 
 it for the State. The gentleman from Jerusalem saw that he had a 
 chance to drive a good bargain, and the State had to fork over $20,000 
 before the vulgar trader would evacuate the temple of liberty. But the 
 old structure is now owned by Texas, and one of these days it will be 
 used to shelter all the relics of the war for Texas independence in the 
 possession of the State. 
 
 ******* -x- 
 
 Texas, I think, will hold the key toth' next Presidential election. 
 The next census will give her more than twenty-t\vi', instead of her 
 present thirteen, electoral votes. 
 
 ******** 
 
 After doing San Antonio we set our faces toward the wonderful sights 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 35 
 
 of the Land of the IMontezutiias. AVe have been treated right royally 
 here by the hospitable Texans during our stay, and we leave the City of 
 the Alamo with regret. We are now to visit the land of song and ro- 
 mance ; of the dark-skinned, black-eyed senorita, of whom the poets sing; 
 the laud of wondrous sights— where women, aged and bent with toil, 
 do the labor of beasts of burden. We will visit the land where Cortez 
 came a conquering hero, and ground to death t'e followers of Montezu- 
 ma, and our editorial feet will tread the self-same ground. 
 ^f * ^ * * * 
 
 Since we crossed the border into ISIexico I have not seen a frame 
 house, and cveryttiing else I have noticed is proportionately crude. Farm- 
 ing of any kind is yet in its infancy here, and a sight of the rough im- 
 plements used by these tawny tillers of the soil would cause a smile 
 to cover the faces of our good Missouri farmers. But if the Mexicans 
 cannot show much in the line of farming and manufacturing they have 
 some beautiful scenery to ofler the visitor in their stead. The mountains 
 are grand and one can gaze for a day at the ever changing scenery before 
 him and never tire. It is like a wonderful panorama. The country im- 
 mediately hereabout i-s very high, as we have been riding through the 
 clouds for some time. The air is very cold and wet, reminding me very 
 much of a disagreeable Winter day in Missouri, when the wiiid is blow- 
 ing from the east. It is so chilly that every member of the party is en- 
 veloped in a big blanker, and as we stride up and down the floor of the 
 eating house, stretching our legs, the scene presented suggests a camp of 
 Indians, but it can hardly be said that the members of our party handle 
 their blankets with the ease of the red man. It is quite an awkward 
 garment, but we are compelled to make the best of it." 
 
 The Angora goats on the sides of the Sierra Madre mountains add to 
 the general primitiveness of the surrounding.-. The horses are of mud 
 and the towns are surrounded by mud walls that the Ledger ca,nuou could 
 shake to their foundations at a single shot. 
 
 From one lit'.le State to another the revenue officers examine our 
 baggage. My grip has been overhauled half a dozen times by low- 
 browed inspectors, who looked at my .socks and change of shirts in a sus- 
 picious sort of way, i^assing the former to a superior officer to inquire 
 their use, and in order to be sure that their introduction into the State 
 wouldjin no way endanger the welfare of the community. \Vc have two 
 interpreters who do our talking for us. 
 
 •)«•** -x- -:;- ■:; 
 
 I find my first impression of Mexico to have been correct. It is an 
 immense territory of wonderful, undeveloped resoiu'ces. The protective 
 tariff has kept down all enterprise and industry, and effectually barred 
 immigration. Plows cost from $60 up, and in the absence of the niocey 
 the farmers use wooden sticks to turn over the soil. The duty on wagons 
 is $25 per wheel, and again the absence of money compels a resort to a 
 
36 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 more primitive mode of transporting mercliandise ; patient little mules, 
 on which there is no tariff, are used. 
 
 We are all hard up to talk. When we get away from our interpreter 
 we get robbed. 
 
 " If you ever go to France, 
 Be sure to learn the Lingo ; 
 If you do like me. 
 You'll repent, by jingo." 
 
 Education is compulsory here, but I can see no really good lesults. 
 In this city of 450,000 people you can shake hands across most any of the 
 principal streets. 
 
 I don't think there is a stove in town — people cannot afford them on 
 account of the high tariff. The iron heel of a protective tariff is grind- 
 ing out the life of thrift. The possibility of a future for Mexico is grow- 
 ing less each year. The subscription price to the weekly uewspajiers 
 here is $10. The duty on a bundle of paper costing $G is $12, making the 
 publisher pay $18 for what we get for $5. 
 
 The public buildings and hotels of this quaint city are on agrand s(-ale, 
 for these Mexicans believe in enjoying life as much as possible. But after 
 you are dead no one ever thinks of you again. You are not given a 
 coffln and in the clothes in which you walked while alive you are hastily 
 put under the ground, only to be disinterred in a few months and thrown 
 over the fence to make room for immigration. 
 
 Our small hats furnish food for amusement for the natives. Jiesidents 
 of Mexico wear hats as lirge as bushel baskets. Some of them are 
 pretty, as well as costly. A brother of President Diaz, a bull tighter, 
 has a hat trimmed in gold with diamonds and other precious stones 
 as ornaments. It cost $2,500. 
 
 The girls here reach maturity at an early age, the majority of them 
 finding husbands and settling down as married at twelve or fifteen years. 
 
 I am reminded of a door at the residence of Diaz, which, I was told, 
 cost $100,000. From this an idea of the cost of the impregnable castle 
 may be obtained. Bon. 
 
 Free Press, Carbondale, III., December 16. ISSS. 
 
 HOW THE TRIP CAME ABOUT. 
 
 As indicated in the letter published two weeks since, the session of 
 the National Editorial Association was held for the present year at San 
 Antonio, Texas. The State of Texas has an axe to grind — yes, two of 
 them — on the public grindstone, and it was lor the purpose of hitching 
 the editorial fraternity to the cr^nk that the meeting was held at San 
 Antonio. In other words, the State of Texas is alive to the necessity of 
 securing deep water for tMo of their harbors— Galveston and Aransas 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 37 
 
 Pass. A glance at the map will show that a long line of coast is wa.fhetl 
 by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, about 6u0 miles. Th'> onlj' harbor 
 of note is Galveston Bay; and even this is rendered comparatively 
 valueless because of immense bars obstructing a passage to the gulf. 
 Aransas Pass connects Aransas Bay with the gulf and here a similar 
 trouble exists. The people of Texas are very anxious that the United 
 States governmnnt shall make nj propriations for the improvement of 
 the>e harbors in the way of providing deep water. In order to lay before 
 the people of tlie United States the benefit to be derived by the country 
 at large by the proposed improvements, it was deemed a wise thing to 
 secure the meeting of the national press association within the borders of 
 Texas and to place the editors on the spots for which legislation and 
 funds are desired. As an inducement to thus hold their meeting, the 
 Texas people promised the members of the association a fre ^ excursion to 
 the City of Mexico. It need not be remarked that the bait was quickly 
 swallowed. The average editor knows a good tiling when he sees it. 
 
 THE STARTING POINT. 
 
 At 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon, November 24, our party left San An- 
 tonio for Laredo, arriving at about 9 o'clock. We were transferred to the 
 Mexican National railroad ; crossed the Rio Grande, and for a time bid 
 farewell to the Stars and Stripes. All of us regretted the impossibility 
 of "doing" the city of Laredo, but we were in the hamls of the 
 railroad company, which had the arranging of the program of tr.-vvel. 
 The city con ains a population of some 8,000, about two-thirds of which 
 are Mexicans. It is lorated as far south as Orlando, Florida, ye' it was 
 another surpri>e to find the weather quite cool, vve were told that there 
 was really no winter at this point. The soil is said to be rich and will 
 produce two crops yearly. Figs, pomegranates, bananas, oranges and lem- 
 ons are Lirown. 
 
 SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 25TII, 
 
 Found us skimming along the seemingly interminable plain of Mexico. 
 It was evident to the observer that we were gradually ascending, remind- 
 ing one in a degreeof the plains of Western Kansas. But our eyes opened 
 to gaze upon siiihts we had never before seen. Scarcely a tree was visible, 
 and what were in view were dwarfed and scragged, somewhat resembling 
 our postoak. Giant cactus was seen in every direction. As further south- 
 ward we went this cactus increased in its proportions, until at last it be- 
 came a tree, rather than a plant, towering up full twenty feet above the 
 ground. The same species is common to every greenhouse and many 
 private residences throughout our section, but it is extremely small when 
 compared to that grown in its native soil. In places it was made to answer 
 the purpose of fencing and with its great lobes covered thickly with thorna 
 probably serves a good purpose. 
 
 MOUNTAINS. 
 
 It was about 9 o'clock in the morning when our first view of the moun- 
 tains was obtained ; and frotn that to the City of Mexico I think they are 
 
38 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 visible. At Monterey 170 mi'es distant from Laredo, we approach quite 
 nearly to them. They are grandly beautiful. In speaking ot these moun- 
 tains I suppose it will answer my purpose very well to term them gener- 
 ally the Sierra Madres, thougb they have local (and very unpronouncable) 
 names. 
 
 MONTEREY. 
 
 This is a city of 20,000 inhabitants ; is the capital of the State of Nuevo 
 Leon. Its elevation!^ neatly 2,000 feet above the sea level. An American 
 colony has a foothold liere. Near the city, and connected with it by 
 street railroad, are the celebrated hot springs of Topo Chico. Splendid 
 bath-houses have been erected, and are controlled by the American com- 
 pmy. The water is said to possess valuable curative properties; the 
 temperature 106 degrees. Our company, to a large extent, tried the baths 
 and pronounced them pxoellent. The Mexican plaza is what we would 
 ordinarily term our public square or park. Every city and town we 
 stopped at had one or more of them. The plaza at Monterey is beautiful. 
 It could properly be called a garden, in the midst of which is a quaint 
 fountain, and fruit and flowers abound. Obtaining permission, I here, 
 for the first time in my life, plucked ripe oranges from a tree growing in 
 the open air. The city is kept scrupulously clean and neat Need I tell 
 my young readers some of the history of Monterey ? If so, I must neces- 
 sarily be brief. The city was c .ptured by Gen. Zaehary Taylor's army 
 Sept. 26, 1846, after a pretty severe battle, in which he lost some 500 men 
 in killed and wounded. Let the youngsters turn to their books, or hunt 
 up some old Mexican soldier, and they will learn more than I have time 
 to tell them. 
 
 Leaving Monterey it was not long before we passed over the 
 
 BTJENA VISTA BATTLE GROUND. 
 
 I went to Mexico with my ears and eyes open and my mouth shut 
 —as a rule. Not so with all our party. Some of them wanted to show 
 off all the knowleiige possessed, and wagged their jaws incessantly. At 
 times they appeared ridiculous, for the information they gave was any- 
 thing but correct. It was announced on leaving Monterey that the train 
 would stop on the battle-fieid of Buena Vista, and torrents of in forma- 
 t on ran from the vnouths of the wise. Frequently I felt my own noth- 
 ingness, though in liood truth I had read, when quite a small boy, the 
 newspaper accounts of our army in Mexico, and in later years had scanned 
 a few pages of history. Very unfortunately I made some bad breaks, one 
 of which I will relate. N 'twithstandiug the assurance of the train nffleers, 
 a rumor gained cr^^dence throughout the party that, owing to the steep 
 grade, the train would not stop as promised. Determined to make most 
 of the opportunity, sucli as it was, I took my station on the rear plat- 
 form of the car. Here I found an old gentleman from a Western State 
 who was always happy to give information ; his enthusiasm was at the 
 high-^st. Soon he announced thit we were on tiie tieM of battle, and 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. • 39 
 
 began : " Here is the «por,. Here is where G-^neral Tiiylur'sarmy lay ; 
 there is where Col. Jellerson Davis' men were posted ; yonder is the 
 spot on whic i Col. Clay was killed ; Santa Annacameupfroiu the South 
 over that ridge ; throui^h that ravine Santa Anna sent his cavalry to <-ut 
 off General Taylor's retreat; ourartillery was posted on that ridge; Taylor- 
 had 5,(i(tU men ; Santa Anna had 35,0U0, but we charged on them and 
 swept them from thejield .'" In the innocence of my soul I suggt st-d: "O, 
 you were here yours./lf !" "No, no," he replied, '• I mean our anny— 
 the Americ-au army !" So excited was the old gentleman that he dodged 
 from under his hat, and that useful article of clothing was borne on the 
 wings of the mountain wind beyond his reach. It is cruel to say so, yet 
 the fact remains, that in about the space of twenty minutes the triin 
 stopped oi. the aforemeutione 1 historical spot ! Then a gentleman who 
 claimed to have been on- of Taylor's soldiers and protessed to know all 
 about the battle, spun out a considerable narrative not unlike that hur- 
 riedly illustrated by my old friend. I concluded both had read the same 
 guide-book. 
 
 To one who had experienced something of military life, it is not sur- 
 prising that sogreat a victory should have been gained. General Taylor 
 chose his own field of action, and in that dir*played his military genius. 
 The astonishing thing is that Santa Anna was fool enough to attack 
 him. The surroundings were such that five regiments of infantry, armed 
 with the weapons of to-day, could bid defiance to an army of lUO.UUO. 
 But notwithstanding the pleasure I would derive in the exhibition 
 of ''what I know about the old Mexican war,'' I am admonished that I 
 must move on. 
 
 At San Antonio we had laid in a supply of provisions, but in the 
 course of time the bottom of our lunch baskets began to show from the 
 top and a trial of Mexican cookery became necessary. My mind was made 
 up t*) not eat that which I knew to be unclean ; but then my knowledge 
 was limited. I would eat no tortillas and drink no pulque. Tortilla is a 
 kind of bread, made of beaten or ground corn soaked iu alkalme water, 
 well seasoned with pepper, baked. In making them the women mould 
 the dough into cakes, and to prevent its sticking, spit on their hands. 
 Pulque is a beer manufactured from the pulque or maguey plant. The 
 juice is taken from the plant by sucking it through a reed into the mouth 
 and then spurted into a vessel. My first meal consisted of bread, butter, 
 mutton chop, coffee and fruits. Bread is made into loaves of about a half 
 pound each and is very hard and dry. Butter is made from goat's milk 
 and contains no salt. When brought into market it is iu shape similar 
 to ears of corn and packed in corn husks. I believe I tell the truth 
 when I say that Mexican butter is a delusion and a snare. Coffee is quite 
 hitler, but I soon acquired a taste for it. Sugar seems to have been man- 
 ufactured along our route, as it was plentiful and cheap. Goat's milk was 
 
40 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 used for the coffee. I was pretty huiiirry and enjoyed the meal. The 
 price paid was 50 cents, Mexican coin. 
 
 A peculiarity noticeable along the route was that when the train 
 stopped at stations a squad of soldiers made their appearance. At first it 
 was supposed that we were not to be permitted to leave the cars, but this 
 was not the case. I stepped from the platform to the ground, keeping my 
 eye on the soldiers to learn whether or noc 1 was trespassing. Finding 
 they gave me no attention, I roamed around at will. I learned that the 
 soldiers were doing police duty, and were only at the trains to prevent 
 any disorder that might occur. J. H. B. 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF TEXAS— THE POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF ITS 
 INHABITANTS— ITS STRONG SUPPORT OF COMMON SCHOOLS — 
 BRIGHT PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE, 
 
 Delaware American^ Media, Pa., December 19th. 
 
 San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 28, 1S88. 
 
 Dear American : — The National Editorial Association left San Anto- 
 n'o Texas, with some regrets, for the city was hospitable beyond com- 
 parison. It paid all our bills — hotels, hacks, fares, etc. — and threw open 
 its clubs for our free use. It is a rapidly growing city — a so-called frontier 
 Qlly — and in its life it is frontier. Here you see within the same hour 
 the picturesque cowboy, riding a pony as small as himself, the half-breed 
 Indian , the greaser and the would-be Mexican grandee, solely distinguisheii 
 by a hat worth $40, h blanket worth $20, and all other clothing, the entire 
 remaining outfit, worth about 17 cents. The city is said to contain 45,000 
 people; discount this hv HO per cent., and you have it, but it will soon 
 reach what it claims, for improvements are booming. 
 
 The old part of the town is as quaint and as full of early Spanish lore 
 as St. Augustine in Florida. Here still stands the old Spanish missions, 
 built of adobe in 1719 and 1732. one almost three hundred years ago. They 
 combined the Catholic church, the nunnery and the fort. It was in one 
 of these, still frcmting the main plaza of the city, that Davy Crockett and 
 his companions laid down their lives in fighting for Texan independence 
 
 \^Q most romantic and the sad<iest baitle known to our frontier history 
 
 l^^l of the Alamo. The building is kept in good repair, and the spots 
 
 where each hero fell is pointed out to the visitor. 
 
 The older streets are narrow, so narrow that you can shake hands with 
 your opposite partner across them. The paveuients even on the newer 
 and wider streets are of cypress blocks or cement and from three to seven 
 feet wide. There are many modern and very fine store.-*, a magnificent 
 opera house, and some good hotels. Beer gardens and concerr saloons 
 and even lower forms^ of amusement abound, and keep the city iwan upioxr 
 until the weesma' hours. 
 
 San Antonio is to many preferable as a Winter resort to Florida, be- 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 41 
 
 cause o*^ the rir^'ness of its climate and the wetness of its politics. 
 
 The leading citizens* here are Democrats, but most of them carefully 
 explain that they are Randall Democrats, and if the wiser Democratic 
 statesmen were to visit the busier marts <jf the South they would see signs 
 of an approaihing revolt within the party against its more recent free 
 trade couiihels. It is the plantatitui, and the desire of the planter of the 
 South for i^'heap lah(ir whirh makes the South favor free trade. Imt soou, 
 and very soon, every developing section will strike for Protection either 
 under llandallV lead, or that bridge failing, more directly under the Re- 
 publican flag. The movement is already broached by men of advanced 
 thought, an 1 if Mills, Watterson, Breckinridge and other Democratic and 
 Southern leaders continue their efTort to hold the Democracy in line with 
 their proposed advances toward free trade, not alone VVes^ Virginia, Old 
 Virginia, North Carolina and rennes>ee will swing over to the Republican 
 party, Itut Texas will join in the movement. Thisat tirst glance looks like 
 a foolish prediction, but the great and unresisted majority in Texas will 
 all the more readily disappear because it has not been resisted save by Inde- 
 pendent Denncratic movements, and when that for thn tarifl begins it 
 will call into active political efforts all of the small farmers, manufacturers 
 and merchants. 
 
 If you talk politics to a Southern man he is surprised at the statement 
 that the North completely dropped the bloody shirt in the late campaign, 
 a' d he tells j-ou that the fact was not known to the South, and hence the 
 South kept on with its bloody shirt in order to keep the ex-Confederate 
 soldiers solid. But the results, seen after the election, occasion surpris^^ 
 and very little bitterness, for all know enough to suspect that the tariff 
 did it, and many are ready to take a new look at that question, with many 
 more anxious for a new departure '" It is coming, hail mighty day !" 
 
 Texas is just the kind of a State which can readily break away from old 
 prejudices and conditions She has variety of jxipulation, almost equal 
 variety of products, and except a few old Bourbons who continue to hold 
 great plantations along her rivers, and the cattle lands chiefly owned by 
 Northern capital, the small farm prevails. State pride is everywhere 
 seen, and extends to the emigrant, and this pride is a complete block to 
 the schemes of Southern politicians, who would like to parcel the State, 
 and thus balance power in the United States Seiiate with the Territories 
 of Dakota, Washington and Montana, now fully ripe for atimissicm. The 
 Texan, not an officeholder, is opposed to division, and the officeholder is 
 compelled to respect this sentiment. Indeed, it is n)ore than a sentiment. 
 There is i)ublic interest i i the great Commoii wealth, so great that you can 
 ride about 8(io miles in any direction without passing its boundary — so 
 great, that it quadruples Pennsylvania in territory. This interest is in 
 the landrs held for the common school fund, 12,000.000 of acres of which 
 yetremairu The proceeds of these lands go to a perpetual public school 
 fund, and separate public schools are maintained for the whites and blacks 
 wherever the population warrants them. 
 
42 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 It is the only Southern State which looks without fear, and with public 
 favor, upon the common school system. 
 
 It was Phil. Sheridan who said that if he owned Texas and sheol, he 
 would rent out Texas and live in sheol. Sheridan, however, did not rec- 
 ognize the new -Biblical translation when he made the remark referred to, 
 but it ought to be modified under the new conditions which everywhere 
 present themselves. Railroads civilize and quickly uproot lawlessness, 
 and Texas has a n*^twork of these iron civilizers so vast and close as to 
 surprise all observers. The men who have built and are yet building them 
 have looked a generation ahead, and their forecast is wise from every 
 point of view. Aransas Pass — a wtiter pass opening from the Gulf of 
 Mexico into a Bay upon which fronts Corpus Christ!, and which has a 
 depth of 30 feet of water— is nearer to Denver than is Chicago. This is a 
 portentous fact, and it means quick transportation to the ocean from a 
 va-t section which has hereofore sought the Northern lakes and railways. 
 With an American policy such as Blaine will inaugurate when Secretary 
 of State, this will prove another highway fully competent to meet the in- 
 creased demands of trade. Texans see it, and have already built part of 
 the road. When Congress enables them to dredge the inlet and oi^en the 
 harbor, an American port as fair as Vera Cruz will smile upon the gulf. 
 This spirit of enterprise is so commendable to the South, that it ought to 
 find universal encouragement. 
 
 As we close this letter the National Editorial Association are packing 
 trunks for their start to the City of Mexico— an eight-day trip, thence back 
 to Galveston. Banquets and receptions are the order of the day, and it is 
 diflacult to find suflQcient time to write. T. V. C. 
 
 PECULIARITIES OF THE EDITOR — HIS CONTEMPT FOR COMMON 
 
 MORTALS. 
 
 Oxford Press, Oxford, Pa., December 5th^ 1S88. 
 
 San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 22, 1888. 
 
 The National Editorial Association was organized in New Orleans 
 February, 1885, and conventions have been held since at Cincinnati and 
 Denver, and when we received an invitation to attend the convention this 
 yefir in San Antonio, Texas, we did not hesitate to say yes, notwithstand- 
 ing our limited experience in an editorial capacity. 
 
 ******** 
 
 With the most excellent service of the Pennsylvania R. R., the trav- 
 eler cannot help but, enjoy a trip over the very best railroad in America — 
 in fact, in the world, and with good comjjany time flies swiftly by, and 
 St. Louis is reached early Tuesday morning. Thirty-six hours after wo 
 were quartered at the Menger House, the leadhig hotel of San Antonio, 
 and after enjoying a bath anii the first t^quare meal we had seen for a 
 
TKXAS AND MEXICO. 43 
 
 couule of ciav s we attended the meeting of the National Editcirial Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 Thf delttites v. ere carried on with much earnestne-s and good humor. 
 Senator Cooper taking an active part and ehciting niucli applause by 
 his familiarity -.vith parliamentary rules in calling pointsof onierin favor 
 of the minority. As we s;it watching the proceedings the thought oc- 
 curred, you c:in always tell a newspaper man; there is sometldng inde- 
 finable yet di.-tinctive about him which sr^ldom misleads or l>etrays. 
 The cut of his hair, the fit of his boots, the set of his coat, or the tilt of his 
 hat have at ditferent times been accused of setting the trade mark of indi- 
 viduality upcm the exponents of the art-preservative. It is more likely 
 the expressions of the face should reflect the responsibilities ol his vocation. 
 The man who labors at the desk glancing scornfully at duns, patroniz- 
 ingly at invitations to church fairs, and wrathfully at the delinquent sub- 
 scriber list ; who in one minute dashes off a merry item concerning the 
 Jirrival of a ten-pound bal)y boy at Jones' house, and the next sticks his 
 tongue out, shuts one eye, wets the end of his pencil and plunges into a 
 four-column editorial on th'^ affinity between Mormonism and the ancient 
 fire worshipers of Persia; who shears through exchanges, getting out. 
 matter which he claims as original and writing matter which lie credits 
 to contemporaries ; who works and perspires and swears, and wears old 
 clothes, and blushes before a $5 bill and swiftly but surely piles up treas- 
 ures in heaven. Wh^-u begets out on his ammal holiday he has a look 
 about him hs if he meant to enjoy it, and he does. 
 
 We judge that San Antonio appreciates the character of her present 
 visitors from the following in one of her dailies : ''It is not often that San 
 Antonio has the opportunity to entertain so distinguished and represen- 
 tative a body of guests, and among our citizens the stiitement is univer- 
 sal that the chance must not be thrown away." And our experience im- 
 presses us with the desire of the San Antonio people to «ontribute to the 
 comfort and enjoyment of her editorial visitors. The badge of the Asso- 
 ciation bespeaks for thu wearer a cordial welcome everywhere in this an- 
 cient city. The San Antonio Club has thrown open the doors of their 
 elegant house and citizens vie with each other in courtesies to the stran- 
 gers within their gates. 
 
 When we come to describing San Antonio we feel like doing what a 
 distinguished Aniencati was accused of— hunting up the encyclopedia. 
 San Antonio is one of the ancient settlements <»f America, having been 
 founded by the Franciscan Fathers early in the eighteenth century, and 
 like most of the frontier missions of that day the buildings were de- 
 signed as a fortress as well as a place of religious instruction. The Alamo 
 is still standing, and being builtentirely of stone looks as if it might with- 
 stand the storms of centuries yet to come. Within its walls Santa Anna 
 with 4,000 Mexicans murdf^red 144 Texan patriots, including Davy 
 Crockett, the great hunter of his day, and Colonel Bowie, the inventor of 
 the bowie knife. The old missiotis of La Concepcion and San Jose, near 
 
44 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 the city, are Interesting,- and the old cathedral of San Fernando, where 
 Santa Anna had his headqaarters in 1835, is slill in a good stat o preser- 
 vation. 
 
 The city claims a population of 40,000, many of them being Mexicans, 
 or greasers, and is the centre of a large wholesale trade. A grand opera 
 house and many modern buildinifs add beauty amid theirquaintsurround- 
 ingsof ancient times; but thn people are now progressive, a^ d have tele- 
 phones and electric lights, and a very large number of saloons. A little 
 dose of high license would no doubt be beneficial, as Texas is not yet 
 ready for prohibition. The streets are well paved, but the mud from the 
 surrounding country is carried in on the wagon wheels, and being well 
 soaked with the rain makes real estate very active at present. 
 
 We had a white frot-t this morning, but the warm sunshine makes 
 it very comfortable without an overcoat. The climate in Winttrisde- 
 iighttul, and many individuals from ihe North prefer this location to 
 Florida for a Winter residence. 
 
 Last evening we went to a Spanish opera and he a'd the Prima Donna 
 of Mexico warble in notes of great sweetness, although the words were 
 all Spanish to us. 
 
 Friday nightthe citizens tendered the Association a magnificent recep- 
 tion and banquet, where we had theopporfunity of wearing oiirclaw-ham- 
 mer coats and meeting the best people of San Antonio. We leave the an- 
 cient city with resiret, having been entertained and treated more like 
 princes than plain, ordinary Nt)rth America editors and newspaper writ- 
 ers, but the committee of arrangements had fixed the time, Saturday 
 noon, Nov. 24th, for the departure for the City of Mexico, and we can 
 only ^ack our trunk and say adieu to our new found friends, and lo* k for- 
 ward to the pleasures of a visit to our sister Republic. J. W. W. 
 
 ARKANSAS AND TEXA>S— MATERIAL, RESOURCES— SAN ANTONIO BY 
 ELECTRIC LIGHT. 
 
 Herald^ Urbana, III., Bee. 19th. 
 The occasion for the Southern trip was the meeting of the National 
 Editorial Association at San Antonio, Texas. We were taken at St. 
 liouis by the Iron Mountain people and transported to Texarkana. 
 This railroad traverses the State of Arkansas in a region that is notattrac- 
 tive to the eye of the denizen of tlie prairies of Illinois. Yet it is rich 
 in resources, sucb as timber and ores of the ba-er so;t, such as lead and 
 iron. Almost every s-tation reveals an extensive saw mill engaged in 
 making lumber, much of which is from hard wood. There is a field 
 there for the Yank >e who knows a good thing when he sees it. An 
 English hard wood dcale, who occupied the s^me palace car with us, 
 said that he had just visited oi e of the mills where the native mill owner 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 45 
 
 was sawing into railroad ties some of the very best hard oak timber for 
 furuiture on this continent, worth nearly doable what he was getting for 
 it in railroad ties, and a good market awaiting him at the higher price 
 had any one known he had such an excellent grade of timber for the 
 modern fashionable antique oak furniture. 
 
 This dealer also said that their mills are not run for the purpose of 
 getting wealth, but a living is all that is desired. He graphically de- 
 scribed the mill hands at one place tossing up in the morning as to whether 
 they would " run" or layoff that day. More northern enterprise, which 
 isfindingitsway there constantly, will sweep the Arkansas forests from 
 the earth, although now, as you spend a night and a day going at a 
 good rate of speed through its forests, it seems that the supply is ex- 
 haustless. 
 
 The name of the town Texarkana is made by taking one syllable each 
 from Texas and Arkansas, and the '" ana" from Louisiana. 
 
 On arriving at San Antonio we proceeded at once .to sight-seeing. 
 It must be borne in mind that San Antonio is an ancient city with a his- 
 tory that reaches back for more than 220 years. The ruins of five Cath- 
 olic missions tell of the judgment and zeal of the Franciscan fathers who 
 planted the cross here ere other white men trod the soil of Texas. 
 San Antonio was the centre of their great system. Long before rail- 
 roads came it was the great distributing point for a vast territory. 
 The railroads centering there have added to its wealth and prestige as 
 the metropolis of the Southwest. 
 
 The first and most important historic spot is the Alamo, near the 
 Menger Hotel. Here in this building, more than 200 years old, the gallant 
 Texans, commanded by Bowie and Crockett, in 1836, defended their po- 
 sition so long against great odds of Mexicans, and here is where the brave 
 little band were put to death and their bodies piled up in the plaza and 
 burned. Not a man was left to tell the horrible tale of cruel slaughter. 
 We turn from this story of woe with mingled feelings of admiration for 
 the matchless courage of the Texan cavaliers and of contempt for the 
 cruel Mexican savage who could not appreciate such heroic conduct 
 as was there witnessed. 
 
 In the evening we saw the city, not " by gas light," but by electrio 
 light. 
 
 In the plaza the Mexican residents are numerous at night with im- 
 provised tables and portable cooking utensils. Here they make the chile 
 con carne which is so famous when you read about it. It is meat cut 
 into small pieces and gravy, consisting mostly of pepper, poured over 
 it, or in which it is cooked. It taste** like a plate of boarding-house hash 
 when the top of the pepjier box has fallen ofFand you get the contents on 
 the single dish. Of course we liked 'em because Major Newcomb, for- 
 merly postmaster of San Antonio, was doing the elegant, and we ate it, 
 although it burned so that it was with difficulty we could tell the truth 
 
46 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 for twenty-four hours. A dark-eyed signorita seductively suggested 
 Tamales to take the taste out of our mouth. We informed her in elegant 
 Spanish that if there was anything on which we " doted" it was " Tam- 
 ales." She made a pass or two at a questionable pile of something and 
 fished out two or three corn husks which had a mixture of corn-meal and 
 something else wrapped up in them, and we dextrously removed the 
 covering something after the manner of skinning a banana sideways, 
 and proceeded to compliment the taste of the dark-eyed damsel by eat- 
 ing it without a grimace or an expression of surprise. She did not know 
 but what we had been raised upon Tamales. We have learned in our trav- 
 els never to be surprised, but to look wise and to keep up a sort of com- 
 mon, everyday expression on your face, just like an old settler. The 
 tortilla is another number on the program that a man must taste before 
 the entertainment can be said to be over. They are originally designed 
 to be made of meal like unto a pancake, but in the primitive style of 
 baking resorted to, to wit : rolling them in the ashes and coals, it requires 
 an expert to tell which predominates, meal or ashes. 
 
 The military headquarters of the Department of Texas was visited. 
 The city is being built in modern style ; it seems to us that it is much 
 more difficult to build a city here amid the adobe huts of the Mexicans 
 than it would have been to have commenced on virgin soil. 
 
 These huts, in time, must go ; but the Mexican is never in a hurry about 
 anything, and it is not likely he will increase his gait to meet the demands 
 of the enterprising white man. This city is the leading wool market 
 of the South, which may account for its going for the Republican candi- 
 date for Congress last Fall. It is a large hide, cotton and live stock mar- 
 ket and it is claimed by the business men to be the trade centre of the 
 largest area of territory on the continent. It now has direct connection 
 by rail with the City and Republic of Mexico, over the Mexican Na- 
 tional railway, which will add much to its business. Many instances 
 were brought to our personal attention of those who had come there some 
 years ago to die, now in robust health and praising the healthful cli- 
 mate that had snatched them from the jaws of death. One man, now liv- 
 ing and well, compromised a $10,000 policy in a leading life company by 
 taking $1^,000 to live upon during the few months he expected to breathe 
 the air of his new home. This was fifteen years ago, and he is good for 
 twenty-five years yet. The citizens are liberal, thrifty, enterprising and 
 hospitable to an unusual degree. 
 
 The City of Roses— Schools— Churches— The Vegetation of 
 Arkansas — The Resources of the State, &c. 
 
 Gazette^ Bellevue, Mich., Deo. 27th. 
 Little Rock, Arkansas, is appropriately designated the City of Roses. 
 It is a beautiful town, having an intelligent and go-&head people. On ^ 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 47 
 
 every hand are fine churches, commodious school-houses and handsome 
 residences of modern styles of architecture. It is the chief city of one of 
 the best cotton States of the South. There are other fine towns in the 
 State, but none to equal Little Rock. This State is yet undeveloped, 
 but is makiug rapid strides in manufactures and agriculture. The rep- 
 utation once given Arkansas is no longer enjoyed, the "Arkansas tooth- 
 pick" is a thing of the past, and the laws against carrying concealed 
 weapons are very stringent, even prohibiting the s^ale of cartridges for 
 revolvers. Prohibition of the liquor traffic is in operation in some of the 
 counties of the State at least, and is enforced as far a^ the colored popula- 
 tion isconcerned, anyhow, and strangers will find it difficult to get their 
 toddy, whether residents do or not. The State is one where capital 
 is seeking investment in every direction. Railroads, cotton compresses, 
 oil mills and factories are driving out the primitive habits, and are cre- 
 ating a conditition of affairs that in the next decade must bring the State 
 into an advanced position in our great sisterhood. Last year Arkansas 
 exported $20,000,000 worth of lumber, and 100,000 cars were necessary to 
 handle the product. Given the shipping facilities of the North, our lum- 
 bering interests would soon be transferred to the South. The State claims 
 more miles of navigable rivei's than any other in the Union, and in a trip 
 from north to south across its territory we crossed the Black, White, Ar- 
 kansas, Ouachita, Saline and Red rivers of the South. The State has 
 19,000,000 acres of timber land, and lumbering will remain one of the 
 leading industries ibr many years to come. The timber includes pine 
 cedar, cypress, white and black walnut, locust, linn birch, maple, oak, 
 gum, poplar, mulberry, hickory, pecan, magnolia, red and white elm, 
 ash, holly, persimmon, and many other kinds. There is little prairie in 
 the State, and the clearing away of the timber will drain the swamps, 
 and the malaria will largely disappear. Arkansas produces all the fruits 
 and cereals of the temperate zone, as well as many of the semi-tropical. 
 It is rich in minerals, has 2,500,000 acres of coal lands, produces lead, 
 zinc, iron, antimony, maganese, and gold and silver in paying quantities. 
 Of land containing iron ore it has 1,500,000 acres, and 10,000,000 acres 
 are especially adapted to the raising of fruit. There are waste lands and 
 swamps, but also rich plains, valleys and table lands. The Ozark moun- 
 tains cross the State, and at Hot Springs and Eureka Springs are healing 
 waters whose medicinal powers have made those places world famous, and 
 bring to them yearly thousands of afflicted health seekers. Coal oil has 
 recently been discovered in the State, and experts declare it one of the 
 richest fields in America. Within the State are nearly six and one-half 
 million acres of Government lands. Every county in the State except 
 one has United States lands, and twenty-one have over 100,01)0 acres each, 
 which are for sale at $1.25, or open to settlement under the homestead 
 laws. A trip through the State is extremely interesting and full of in- 
 struction. In the beginning of this article we spoke of prohibition being 
 in force through Arkansas. The railroad men told us that the jug 
 
48 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 business existed to a wonderful extent, and that Saturday night's trains 
 will carry an express car loaded vvith jugs to be distributed at the smaller 
 stations along the line. At Texarkana we made a half day's stop. It 
 was here that we tirst visited an ice manufactory, and saw ice artificially 
 frozen. The article is very pure, being made from distilled water, and 
 retails at a cent a pound. During the forenoon we wandered down to the 
 cotton compress and watched the compressing of the cotton bales to less 
 than one third tlieir original size by hydraulic pressure, and listened to 
 the negroes siny;ing their weird plantation songs as the press closed upon 
 the bales. The colored workmen were all of the true Southern type, and 
 all of the older ones had been slaves in the days antedating the rebellion. 
 Adjoining was a large cotton seed oil mill, representing an investment of 
 $40,000, now idle because of the manipulations of the cotton seed oil trust, 
 and its machinery rusting, while the building is going to decay. Leav- 
 ing Texarkana at 3:30 in the afternoon, until darkness shut the country 
 from view, we were whirled through a country almost wholly engaged 
 in lumbering, mostly a pine country, although some oak and other tim- 
 ber is discernible from the car windows. We had entered a country 
 where great festoons of Spanish moss hung from the limlis of the trees, 
 and grew more plentiful as we journeyed southward. To a Northern man 
 it is a peculiar sight. The trees look as if they might have been sub- 
 merged during a mighty flood sweeping over the country, and the moss 
 looks not unlike the catchings of grasses and slender weeds from a 
 stream. The next morning the scene had changed. We were passing 
 through an immense prairie of black waxy loam, and the country pre- 
 sented a very different aspect from that through which we had passed 
 the previous afternoon. Here we were south of the frost line at that time 
 of the season (November 21st). Very little timber, except mesquite 
 bushes, was seen except along the Colorado river, which we crossed at 
 Austin. From the train we had a fine view ot the new State capitol, de- 
 signed by the same architect as ours at Lansing, and being very similar, 
 though somewhat larger. The State gave a Chicago syndicate 3,000,000 
 acres of land for erecting the building, and while the Commonwealth 
 got a good capitol, the syndicate got one of the richest contracts ever 
 made, the land being then valued at 50 cents an acre, and now being worth 
 $3.00 an acre. Texas boasts of one of the best school systems ot any State 
 in the Union, having an immense school fund that will be perpetual. 
 The schools are for blacks and whites separately, and notwithstanding 
 the almost shameless promiscuity existing between the two races through- 
 out the South, it does not extend far enough to embrace the school days of 
 the young. It is apparent it begins later in life. The negresses— the 
 younger portion — exhibit a wonderful partiality for the whites of the 
 male persuasion, and it is to too great an extent returned. Add to this 
 condition the race question, as at present agitating southern politics, and 
 we find a queer state of atlairs. We reached San Anton o at shortly 
 after noon of our third day Irom home. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 49 
 
 Frosts are unusual in that Southern climate, and the Winters are mild 
 and pleasant. The city is high and very healthful, the climate being 
 especially adapted for the relief of convumption and lung troubles. It is a 
 strange city, full of romance and historical interest, and its old missions 
 afford seasons of pleasure and study to the visitor. It is the oldest incor- 
 porated city in the United States, but, having been under the control of 
 this Government but a few years, the State of Texas being annexed in 
 1845, it is not so recognized. It has a population of about 50,000, a large 
 portion of whom are Mexicans, and it possesses many features peculiar 
 to th^t people, especially in its plazas, chief of which is Alamo plaza, made 
 famous in the Texas war as the scene of a battle between the forces of 
 Santa Anna and the Texans, under Davy Crockett and Col. Bowie, who 
 were quartered in the Alamo. The Mexicans carried the garrison by 
 storm, and murdered the little band of brave defenders of the strong 
 hold. The Alamo is now owned by the State, and is being preserved as 
 a place of historical interest, being daily visited by people from all 
 quarters of our country. Originally it was a Spanish mission, of which 
 there are several in the vicinity, some quite well preserved. All are of 
 Moorish design of architecture, and were noted for the fine sculptural 
 work of their columns and facades. San Antonio is a pushing, enterpris- 
 ing city. Its public enterprises are successful, because backed by money 
 and energy. O. W. P. 
 
 A Pennsylvanian "s Opinion OF Arkansas. 
 Weekly Times, Shamokin, Pa., December Sd. 
 
 When the Creator manufactured this earth he presumably had some 
 rubbish left. I take it he bunched the rubbish all togetherand christened 
 it "Arkansas." When I stepped off the train with gripsack, high 
 hat, cane and a smile, you should have seen the natives grin. They all 
 look like Beeswhack's Auten. It is a wonder the citizens did not laugh 
 outright ! However, after parleying, I induced a native to carry me astride 
 a mule to my destination in the God-forsaken country. All Shamokin 
 would have laughed at the spectacle. 
 
 But to Texas. It is God's country. While it is colder than when I left 
 Pennsylvania, it is no new Summer snap. The Sif tings says it is an " all- 
 year round resort, from whose radiant fielils and laugh mg skies the 
 changing seasons snatch no jot of beauty." To continue, neither the 
 shiver-storing refrigerator nor the chinchilla overcoat can possibly have 
 any appreciable future in Texas. The dry and breath-sustaining atmos- 
 phere of the State, pure and beautiful — even magnificent — answers every 
 purpose to which an ice-box could be put. Meat cures itself in open Texas 
 air, and retains its freshness and goodness for heaven knows how long; 
 while on the other liand Winter nev'^er gets a smell, but skips by with 
 
50 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 its job lot of snow and sleet and slush, and leaves Texas sitting serenely 
 and smilingly in the lap of everlasting Summer. It is a beautiful land 
 in every way. The cowboy browses peacefully in his pampas, and long 
 horns toss their giddy heads (patent pending) in gladsome sport as they 
 roam the grassy ranges and put slabs of fat upon their insides for the mar- 
 kets of not only the effete East, but the entire beef-eating world. Nature's 
 lavish hand has been induced to do a great deal of good work for Texas. 
 I don't suppose there is a thing nature has got or could lay her hand on 
 that Texas hasn't received its share of. Fertile soil and teeming fields, 
 appetizing stock range:*, and hundreds of crystal streams, mineral and 
 agricultural resources that take a blufl from no other region on the face 
 of this gyrative globe — all these abound in Texas, with a climate thrown 
 in that can be relied on to do what it promises, and any man, woman or 
 child can get his or her share of them by doing the fair thing, and riding 
 the many railroads that straddle the State. Solly. 
 
 Corpus Christi's Great Possibilities— Mistakes of Southern 
 
 Sentiment. 
 
 Journal, Amboy, Jlh. Dec. 19th. 
 
 That there is such a place as Corpus Chris ti has always been known 
 to the people of these United States, but the knowledge of it has always 
 been rather misty in its nature, and, as a general thing, the name 
 only serves, in the mind of the average American, as a sort of a land 
 mark in considering the history of the war with Mexico. In reading 
 that history the outlandish name of the city naturally attracts attention, 
 and when its English translation is discovered (body of Christ) it serves 
 to fasten it upon the mind and to give ocoasinn for a trifle of mild wonder 
 as to what sort of people are living under such a formidable title, and 
 whether it may not be possible that the sacred name of their city indicates 
 that its inhabitants have reached such a state of superlative goodness 
 that they only need to be translated when the proper time comes. A 
 very short visit to the city will convince every one that this idea is not 
 entirely the proper one, although it is entirely possible that he may arrive 
 at the conclusion that living there, as well as a residence of a few years 
 in several other towns of that portion of the world, ought to entitle a per- 
 son to a very short probation, to say the least, before he receives his re- 
 ward of eternal bliss. 
 
 Nature has done all that is possible for Corpus Christi. She has given 
 it a delightful climate, a productive soil, set it down upon the shores of 
 one of the loveliest bays in the world whose waters are stocked witk oys- 
 ters and fish and there are living there some of the most open-hearted, 
 generous people that we have ever met. The people, like those of all 
 Southern cities, are thoroughly awake to the fact that the one thing which 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 51 
 
 they need is men with skill, enersry and capital who will utilize the un- 
 bounded opportunities existing there and build up their city by starting 
 some of the thousand enterprises in the way of manufacturing which are 
 possible as well there as everywhere else in the Southern States. 
 
 Just now they are straining every nerve in the effort to obtain an ap- 
 propriation of about two million of dollars for the purpose of obtaining a 
 deep water pass into their harbor. At the mouth of Corpus Christi bay 
 is a bar with a pass through it called Aransas Pass, which will admit 
 vessels of small draft and which is kept open by the current formed by 
 the waters of the river and the strong tide. Inside the bar they have a 
 beautiful land-locked harbor, and from a depth of thirty feet inside to 
 the same depth outside the bar is only a distance of a mile and an eighth. 
 The cost of the work is estimated by competent engineers at $2,000,000, 
 and the people of Corpus Christi are prepared to dredge out the bay at 
 private expense, making a channel from the pass to their wharves. If 
 this work is done it at once makes Corpus Christi a seaport with a safe 
 harbor which could float the ships of the world. It would make Corpus 
 Christi a city of importance and the expenditure of the money would, 
 without doubt, be a profitable investment for the United States. There 
 is no question in the mind of any man who honestly and carefully considers 
 the situation, that the making of a seaport and safe harbor at that place 
 would, by the increased prosperity and added wealth to a single city in 
 our Nation, amply repay for the expenditure of the amount of money 
 called for from the public treasury. The money is there idle, and its only 
 possible judicious u»e is for the improvement of some portion of our Na- 
 tion and the consequent advantage of some portion of our people. 
 
 Righthere, however, comes in a matter in which the people of Corpus 
 Christi cut up the same foolish caper that is thrust into sight in two -thirds 
 of the South. If capital and enterprise go to Corpus Christi it must go 
 from the North, and there are unbounded supplies of both anxiously look- 
 ing in that direction, ready and willing to go at the first possible mo- 
 ment. If two million dollars are appropriated for the improvement of 
 Aransas Pass it must be done by the votes of Northern men, who are 
 Republicans. Northern men and Republicans are not only willing, but 
 they are anxious to see thebroadStatesof the South, with their lovely cli- 
 mate and their delightful people, prospering and growing in wealth just 
 as the Northern States are growing. They look down there with pity, 
 not alone for their lack of growth and prosperity, but pity that the peo- 
 ple of that section will not, or cannot, see that their misfortunes are not 
 the result of enmity on the part of Northerners, but entirely the result of 
 their own acts. They cannot compel Northern capital or Northern en- 
 terprise to come to Corpus Christi. Neither can Northern people compel 
 them to go. They cannot compel Northern Congressmen to vote for the 
 improvement of Aransas Pass. The only way to accomplish the first of 
 these desirable ends is to show that the capital and the enterprise will be 
 so welcome that they will be just as safe and just as free as in any North- 
 
52 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 ern city, and the only way to accomplish the second object is to show that 
 if Aransas Pass is mproved the co nditions at Corpus Christi are such that 
 capital and enterprise will be attracted to that point to such an extent 
 that the investment wi'l be a profitable one to the Nation bj'^ taking ad- 
 vantage of and improving the opportunities which will thereby be offered. 
 
 In face of all this and in face of the intense desire of Corpus Christi to 
 obtain these two inestimable blessings, a newspaper of that place last week 
 printed the following intolerable slush in an editorial : 
 
 " That intense partisans of the Blaine, Ingalls and New type will hold 
 the various portfolios is to be expected; but the real danger consists in 
 the seeming admission, which is being made, that it is in the power of a 
 President and Cabinet of certain political proclivities to harrass, impede, 
 or in any way obstruct the march of progress in the Democratic South. 
 Cotton, sugar, corn and rice will still flourish in a soil unsurpassed for fer- 
 tility, and the discoveries of mineral wealth which are beingmade within 
 its borders must attract capital seeking desirable investments. Nothing 
 short of a change in physical conditions affecting soil and climate can de- 
 prive us of the advantages which we possess." 
 
 Do Corpus Christi people expect men to break their necks in efforts 
 to emigrate to their city if it is their deliberate opinion of the emigrants 
 that they desire to harrass, impede, or in any way obstruct the progress 
 of Corpus Christi ? Do they endorse that editor in his painful wail to 
 the effect that Northern people (or perhaps more fairly. Republicans) are 
 determined to prevent their march of piogress, and they can only depend 
 upon mother earth as a friend who will not forsake them, even if they 
 do vote the Democratic ticket ? 
 
 How long will it take these people to understand that the question of 
 what political ticket they vote in Corpus Christi or any other city will 
 never be asked or cared for by those whom they desire to attract to their 
 beautiful little city if they will vote it as it is voted in Democratic New 
 Jersey or West Virginia — voted with the full understanding that every 
 man has a perfect right, in this Republic, to his own political belief, and 
 that defeat at the polls is no excuse for calling everybody a thief who did 
 not see fit to vote as the writer did. The following is the beginning of the 
 same slushy editorial from which we have already quoted : 
 
 " When this issue of the Caller shall have gone to press a month 
 will have elapsed since, owing to Democratic treachery in New York and 
 Republican rascality in Indiana, and elsewhere, the fact has been defin- 
 itely settled that Benjamin Harrison, of Indianapolis, lud., (aided by 
 certain individuals, more or less objectionable, of his own political stripe), 
 will run the executive branch of this government for the next four 
 ye^rs." 
 
 So long as this editorial fairly indicates the feelings and opinions of Cor- 
 pus Cliristi it is our candid opinion not only that Aransas Pass should not 
 be opened, but that the one now existing had better be filled up, the three- 
 mile trestle across the bay torn down and the people of that section 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 53 
 
 allowed to enjoy the pleasure of close coinmunieii with themselves and 
 each other until the approach of the milleanium makes the rest of the 
 world good enough to associate with them. By that time perhaps an 
 earthquake will get in its work upon Aransas Pass for them without their 
 being obliged to perform such a distasteful act as to ask Northerners or 
 Republicans to help them. 
 
 South Cakolixa and Col. James. 
 Daily Star, Charleston, South Carolina, December 20th. 
 
 In a former letter we spoke briefly of San Antonio and its citizens. 
 Our letter was necessarily brief, many incidents of a humorous, interest- 
 ing and instructive character being omittpd. Frank James, the reformed 
 Missouri outlaw, with whose name and deeds the majority of young 
 Americans are quite familiar, was among those in atteinJance at the San 
 Antonio fair. Knowing him well by sight, while not having had vn 
 introduction, and being rather anxious to "interview" the outlaw, we 
 stepped up to where he was standing and asked, " Is this Mr. J^mes ?" 
 to which he replied, in rather a chilling tone, " No, sir !"and turning on 
 his heel walked off, leaving us, an inexperienced and modest news- 
 paper man, to get ourself together as best we could. The main reason for 
 our ignominious "sit down upon," was the fact that Mr. James has had 
 all the newspaper notoriety he wants, and has a perfect horror of the in- 
 terviewer or reporter. He is a thin man with the swinging, almost dang- 
 ling, gait peculiar to people ot that build. His arms and legs seem too 
 light for the appended hands and feet, which are of full size, a little large, 
 perhaps, for his weight. His uose is long, thin and pointed and his 
 face is narrow, distinct in contour and thoroughly executive in expres- 
 sion. He wears no beard but a light mustache. His hair is blonde and 
 fine, but is not very abundant. His ej'e is peculiar; it is a steel blue, but 
 looks prematurely dim. It is almost lustreless, but is alert and well under 
 command; it betrays none of his emotions or mental workings. His 
 skin is rather pallid and shows more age than one would expect in a 
 man of his years. He never drinks whisky, but chews tobacco excess- 
 ively, and expectorates at a rate that may account, in some measure, for 
 his attenuation. 
 
 While in San Antonio we made the acquaintance of Col. Norton, of 
 Waco, Texas, the man of whom many have read, who vowed that he 
 woul'i never shave his beard or cut his hair until Henry CJay was pres- 
 ident. He has kept his word, and though his iKjard and hair are now 
 frosted with age, neitiier have beon touched by scissors or razor since 
 his novel vow was made. But io our tour thruugli Mexico. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon, November 2ith,th8 writer was oueof ap irtyof 
 175 — thirty-four ladies and one hundred aiid forty one gentlemen — the 
 
54 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 latter well known journalists, representing 26 States of the Union, who 
 boarded a train at San Antonio, bound for the City of Mexico. The train 
 was a special one furnished by the International and Great Northern 
 Railroad Company, and consisted of the engine, baggage car, three coaches 
 and the general manager's private car. 
 
 The engine carried flags, and the handrails, footboards, cab and tender 
 were festooned with the national colors. Between the doors of the bag- 
 gage car was the device of the road, a square white ground bearing the 
 shields of the United States and Mexico, the Lone Star blazing between 
 their parted upper corners, and words above the shields, " The Inter- 
 national Route," and below, " International and Great Northern R. 
 R." Below this device were broad red, white and blue bars, on which 
 rested a large red star. The external decorations of the coaches and the 
 general manager's car were alike. Festoonsof the National colors hung 
 from each car roof and bordered the black lettered sign on white ground, 
 " Nntional Editorial Association," which occupied the whole panel 
 space under the windows. The train was the handsomest ever seen on 
 that road, and was cheered by the populace at each station. Laredo, a 
 prosperous and rapidly growing city of nearly 20,000 people, situated on 
 the Rio Grande, was reached shortly after dark, where the excursionists 
 partook of an elegant banquet tendered by the citizens of that place. 
 After the usual routine of inspection by the customs officers, a special traiH, 
 furnished by the Mexican National Railroad, was boarded, and leaving 
 " God's country" behind, the party sped on its way to the City of Mex- 
 ico. As the trip from Laredo tn Monterey was made by night, we will 
 take this opportunity to say a few words regarding the Mexican Na- 
 tional railroad, the management of which extended so many courtesies 
 to the Association. This road is doubtless the longest narrow gauge in 
 the country. It extends from Corpus Christ!, on the Gulf of Mexico, to 
 the City of Mexico, a distance of 1,000 miles, the elevation of the road 
 varying from the level of the sea to over 13,000 feet above, passing 
 through valleys, then gradually rising and traversing the plateau region 
 of Mexico. At times it keeps well up along the mountain border walls, 
 while at others it dashes boldly out into and across the boundless plains. 
 The scenery along the line is perfectly grand and is simply indescribable. 
 At one time you are looking out of thf* car windows admiring a beauti- 
 ful valley many hundred feet below, while perhaps an hour later you are 
 crossing a plain where on all sides every variety of the cactus, Spanish 
 dagger, magney and other plants may be seen growing. 
 
 West Virginia on " Col. Francis James," the es-Banditti — 
 
 The Junior's "ide-ars." 
 
 Herald, Wellsburg, W. Va., Jan. 4th. 
 
 ********** 
 
 We struck San Antonio in unusually bad weather. Although tliere 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 55 
 
 has hardly been a speck in the sky since our arrival here, at the conclu- 
 sion of an extremely wet season, the peculiar cold breeze cuts through 
 and through and many of the Northern editors remark that they did 
 not expect to come to the sunny South to catch the worst colds of their 
 lives. Heavy overcoats and extra bed clothes have been the accepted 
 program, but the atmosphere is becoming warmer and today (Thursday, 
 the 22d) is what the Junior calls perfect weather. 
 
 The Press Association convened at the Casino at 10 a. m., Wednesday, 
 and consumed considerable time in routine work, organization, etc. We 
 will not attempt an account of the business transacted — our space forbids. 
 
 The President, Mr. A. B. White, of our State, whose election in 1887, 
 caused some comment that the office should be awarded such a backwoods 
 State (so-called) as West Virginia, amply sustained the wisdom of the 
 choice, und no abler, prompter and more courteous presiding officer 
 could have been found. This is the conclusion not only of our own dele- 
 gation, but of the representative mind moulders of the nation. West 
 Virginia has very good reason to be proud of him. 
 
 Probably the next most interesting of the literary exercises was the 
 discussion on "Sectionalism," between Joseph Maccabe, of Boston, 
 and A. J. LaFargue, of Marksville, Louisiana, in which the represen- 
 tative of "culture" might have held up his end to better advantage. 
 Both speakers pronounced "ideas" " ide-ars," reminding us of Col. 
 Moore's insistance on the pronunciation of "yeast" as " yest" in the 
 Baker trial. There are about 160 editors in attendauce, representing 22 
 States and Territories, and there is naturally some variance in the English 
 spoken, but " Boston" and " Louisiana" agreed on the "ide-ars." 
 
 "Col." Frank James, now a quiet citizen of Dallas, Texas, but a few 
 years ago the famous murderer and outlaw of the nation, was a familiar 
 figure in the usually crowded lobby of the Hotel Menger. He had come 
 down to attend the races and talked glibly to those who sought his com- 
 pany, hut his nervous actions and the furtive glances from his peculiar 
 grey eyes gave the impression that possibly he might not be so at peace 
 with the world as he seemed. His features are sallow and somewhat 
 shrunken, possibly from the excessive use of chewing tobacco, a quid of 
 which he was industriously munching. He has been an abstainer from 
 liquor for a long time. As he is said to be irascible towards newspaper 
 interviewers we did not ask if his parents or relatives had not at one time 
 been residents of Hancock county, nor join the group with whom he 
 was shaking hands. The last we saw of him he was joking about a device 
 for spreading out Cleveland's big majority in Texas so that it would count 
 more. 
 
 San Antonio being a border town has a motley citizenship. Mexicans 
 and Spaniards have what is known as their quarter, and negroes, Indians, 
 Italians, Jews, Germans, Frenchmen, Chinamen and the American cow- 
 boy can be seen upon the streets. The cowboy has lost much of his pe- 
 culiar freedom by reason of the strict city government, but he "blows in" 
 
56 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 his earnings as of old in the numerous gambling (!ens, saloons, dance 
 halls, etc. In the newer portion of the city "there are many flue resi- 
 dences and a number of handsome churches. 
 
 The centres of the plazas or public squares are well taken up at night 
 by Mexican venders of chiliconcarne and tamales. Chili-con-carne is 
 made of bits of boiled beef and red };epper seemingly in equal proportions, 
 and tamales consist of corn meal wrapped in husks and boiled. Neither 
 is a favorite dish with us, but the Texans and Mexicans, who want 
 something hot, consider the stands great conveniences, and in the glare 
 of the smoking torches patronize them all night long. The coming of 
 the dawn is the signal for the chiliconcarne merchants to reload their 
 wagons and pull out for home, to repeat the program next night and 
 so on. S. J. 
 
 The Live Oak of Texas— Rich Soil— The Handsome Editor. 
 Mountain Echo, Keyser, West Virginia, December 2d. 
 
 Dear Echo : Our route from Texarkana to Austin and San Antonio 
 was not through the best part of Texas if we may trust the statements of 
 citizens of the other parts. A portion of the country is fine prairie land 
 with a good deal of mesquite and live oak. The former we have found 
 everywhere since we entered Texas. It appears to adapt itself to all soils 
 and situations, and to make the best of ?ts opportunities. On some bar- 
 ren, rocky, gravelly or sandy plains it is a little shrub, hardly larger than 
 a currant bush. On soil a little better it compares in size with the scrub 
 oak of the pine barrens, srowing ten or twelve feet high and two to four 
 inches in diameter at the butt. On rich prairie soil or river bottom it is 
 a timber tree, eighteen inches in circumference, and thirty to forty feet 
 high. It is used for a great variety of purposes — fire- wood, paving blocks, 
 furniture — it seems to serve almost equally well for each and all. As a 
 wood for fine cabinet work it is hardly to be surpassed by any wood, do- 
 mestic or foreign. The color of the heart wood, which, in trees large 
 enough for cabinet work, is by far the larger portion of the tree, is of a 
 very rich, dark yellowish-brown color, between black walnut and ma- 
 hogany in tint, with a handsome grain. It is a very close-grained, hard 
 wood, and is capable of as tine a polish as ebony. The live oak is an 
 evergreen tree, and, like the other, adapts itself to circumstances. Its 
 leaf is shaped much like that of the myrtle, and is of a deep, glossy green 
 above, like that of the lemon and orange trees. There are immense quan- 
 tities of this timber in Texas and there is no better timber for ship 
 building to be found in this country. 
 
 A portion of our route, near Austin, the capital of the State, was 
 through a limestone region, some of it being as rocky as tbe rockiest part 
 of New England or West Virginia. 
 
 From Austin to San Antonio, however, there was a marked improve- 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 51 
 
 ineut. The cotton and corn were much finer, and the weeds surpassed 
 anj'thing we had ever seen, some of them on the borders of the cultivated 
 fiehls being from twelve to fifteen feet high. This proves that the soil, 
 under proper cultivation, is capable of producing almost any crop that 
 could be desired from it. One is at once impressed with the idea that 
 there is no scarcity of land in Texas. Land that would produce forty 
 bushels of corn to the acre is left to yield enormous crops of weeds, and 
 anything like clean cultivation corn or cotton fields seems never to be 
 thought of. Certainly it is never practiced. With thorough and sci- 
 entific agriculture Texas alone could feed and clothe the continent. 
 
 San Antonio, which used to be known as San Antonio de Bexar, is a 
 city claiming about forty-five thousand inhabitants, and they are a 
 " mixed multitude." A member of the committee of citizens which en- 
 tertained us, in a short address which he made to the Association, in- 
 formed us that "San Antonio is the oldest city in the United States." 
 One will see from this that the San Antonio people, not content with 
 claiming the most perfect soil, water and climate in the world, are dis- 
 posed to claim everything else that is in sight, and would arrogate to 
 themselves remote antiquity as well. The San Antonio Times, in its 
 illustrated " Fair Edition," speaks of the " Franciscan Fathers" who 
 founded in 1716, when, not to mention St. Augustine, Boston, New 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and some other place in the country 
 were already staid old towns. But San Antonio has enough to distin- 
 guish her, even when the claim of antiquity is disproved. There are few 
 cities in the world which have such a horizon. The surrounding coun- 
 try, as far as the eye can reach, is a slightly undulating prairie, dotted for 
 miles away with residences ranging all the way from the squalid jacal of 
 the Mexican to the palatial suburban residence of the Texan " colonel." 
 
 One of the most interesting objects in San Antonio is the Alamo, the 
 old stone church in which, in March, 183(5, Colonels James Bowie and 
 Davy Crockett, with one hundred and forty-five exan patriots, were 
 massacred by the Mexican troops under command of the crafty, blood- 
 thirsty, ambitious, perfidious and cruel General Antonio Lopez de Santa 
 Anna. 
 
 The people and press of San Antonio " showed us no little kindness." 
 
 The climate of San Antonio is very equable, and in Winter per- 
 fectly delightful. There was a rain storm, cold and drizzly', the day before 
 our arrival, but the day on which we reached the place was clear and 
 sunny and we had no more rain. We found an " International Exposi- 
 tion " in progres^s, and were treated to a ride out to it, a distance of about 
 three miles, and to free admission to all its departments. There was a 
 very creditable showing in all the departments, most of the machinery, 
 of course, coming from the North. Reapers, mowers, and other ma- 
 chines, were in motion in the machinery hall ; run by a stationary engine. 
 
58 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 This fair was a cosmopolitan affair, a good many nationalities being rep- 
 resented. 
 
 Among other attractions at the fair was a Mexican band from this 
 city. It consisted of nearly fifty musicians and discoursed excellent music. 
 As we entered the hall we were greeted with the soul-stirring strains of 
 " Hail Columbia," and this was followed by " Yankee Doodle," and 
 "Away Down South in Dixie." At this place a competitive examina- 
 tion of the editors was held, in which, it is needless to say, we did not 
 compete. Bro. White, of the State Journal, took a handsome gold medal 
 as the handsomest editor, and a Swedish editor from Minnesota the silver 
 medal as the homeliest man in the crowd. We d«ujpt if either was pro- 
 perly adjudged, save that to Bro. White might have been on the 
 principle " Handsome is that handsome does." J. O. T. 
 
 The Alamo— The Missions— Police of Santa Anna— Old Ruins. 
 Weyauwega Clironicle, WisG07isin, December 12th. 
 
 My last letter closed as we left Temple. Just before we reach Austin, 
 we pass Round Rock, where Sam Bass and others attempted to rob a train 
 in 1882, but were pursued through the streets and riddled with bullets. 
 A little further and we come to Duval, a small station, where only last 
 May the train w^as held up and the passengers relieved of $4,000 in cash. 
 Austin, the capital of the Lone Star State, was reached at 8:30 a. m., 
 and while the balance of the party are still sleeping the sleep of the right- 
 eous, with a new acquaintance I sally out to partake of a cup of coflee 
 and sandwich. At a few moments past noon San Antonio is reached, and 
 it may be well to explain at this point, to those who have forgotten or 
 are unacquainted with the early history of Texas, that it was settled by 
 the Spaniards in 1715, under the name of New Philippines, and when 
 France ceded Louisiana to the United States, in 1803, Texas was claimed 
 by both Spain and the United States, and became disputed territory. 
 
 In 1833 a convention of settlers, numbering 20,000, attempted to form 
 an independent Mexican State. In 1835 a provisional government was 
 formed, Sam Houston chosen commander-in-chief, and the Mexicans 
 driven out of Texas. Santa Anna, president of Mexico, invaded the 
 country with 7,500 men, and, after some successes, was routed at San Ja- 
 cinto, April 21, 1836. Texas beeamean independent Republic, acknowl- 
 edged by the United States, England, France and Belgium, but never 
 by Mexico, and when, in December, 1845, Texas was annexed to the 
 United States it was invaded by Mexico, which originated the war with 
 the United States. It will be well to bear these few facts in mind, as in 
 future letters I shall touch upon some points in the history of that war. 
 
 San Antonio was founded 198 years ago. No other city in the United 
 States, perhaps, possesses so much early historic interest as this. Among 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 59 
 
 the early Spanish works still in existence are the Missions and acque- 
 duct. With the exception of the Alamo, originally founded as a Mission 
 under the name of San Antonio de Valero, in 1720, the other three Mis- 
 sions are located at intervals outside and south of the city, the fartherest 
 being about six miles away. The second Mission, known as Mission 
 San Jose de Aguayo, was founded in 1720 and the celebrated artist Herica 
 was sent here by the king of Spain, and devoted several yea s to carving 
 its various ornamentations and statues. All the Missions were scenes of 
 memorable conflicts during the Mexican war. 
 
 The Mexican Cathedral, built in 1732, is situated to the southwest of 
 the Alamo plaza. M-om this church Santa Anna, with his 7,500 men, 
 displayed the flags, which showed to Col. Bowie and Col. Davis and 
 their 172 followers in the Alamo, that death alone awaited them. The 
 Alamo received its present name from a Cottonwood tree at its eastern 
 end, still standing (Cottonwood being the English for Alamo). It was 
 built of stone, with walls four feet thick, and was originally entirely 
 arched with stone work, but the nxjf crushed in years ago, and at the 
 time of the siege was without cover, save certain rooms, which were still 
 protected by stone arching. Thick as were the walls, they were unable 
 to withstand the ordnance of the Mexicans, and several windows now 
 mark where breaches were made, which allowed the Mexicans to enter 
 and butcher the entire command, save an old woman and a child. 
 Davy Crockett, who had been defeated for a third term in Congress, had 
 gone west to retrieve his political fortunes, and reached the Alamo only 
 a few weeks before the horrible butchery took place, and, with the rest, 
 he fell, ridiUed with bullets. From the old lady whose lite was spared 
 were obtained the details of this fight. 
 
 A few years ago the State purchased the Alamo, which is now in the 
 custody ot the city. During the late war it was used as a military post, 
 and the interior was divided into two stories, and the whole covered, in 
 which condition it now remains. 
 
 San Antonio is divided into the old or Mexican town, consisting of 
 one-story stone structures with plastered walls, and streets so narrow that 
 vehicles can scarcely pass, and the modern city, which is well built of 
 brick and stone structures. However, the streets are quite narrow, and 
 on Commerce street, the principal business street, the side walk in places 
 is so narrow that two can just comfortably walk abreast. It has one of 
 the finest club houses in the West. Electric lights, street cars and water 
 works are among thp modern comforts. It is the second largest military 
 post in the United States . and being a distributing point for military stores, 
 has a large number of officers stationed here, who occupy beautiful resi- 
 dences on the road to Government Hill, where are located the soldiers' 
 barracks. Eleven companies are stationed here. 
 
 One of the most beautiful points in the city is at San Pedro Springs, 
 where the San Pedro creek bursts from the parent rock in numerous 
 
60 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OP 
 
 places, clear, cool and sparkling. Fine groves, shady walks, a large pa- 
 vilion, and a museum, are among the attractions at the Springs, which 
 are at present private property, though the city is looking forward to 
 their purchase. 
 
 Expecting to find the weather hot and sultry, I found it comfortable 
 at noon, while the nights were uncomfortably cold. The city contains 
 50,000 inhabitants, is 700 feet above the level of the sea, and is the great- 
 est Winter resort for invalids on the continent. Large, commodious 
 hotels, with reasonable rates, make it a desirable stop over for the 
 pleasure seeker as well. Conspicuous by their absence in the city are uni- 
 formed police. Whether they are required or not ^ do not know, but 
 during my two days stop in the city I saw but two policemen, and that 
 was just before leaving the city. Another conspicuous object one sees 
 here are the 'buses, which are omnibuses in the true sense of the word. 
 Think of a 'bus carrying 44 grown persons? Yes, that was the exact 
 number carried by a 'bus in which I rode to the depot the afternoon we 
 visited the fair. However, there were but 24 inside, the other twenty 
 being on top. It was drawn by four horses, and there were others as 
 heavily loaded. Should any who read ihis letter contemplate a trip to 
 the South for their health, pleasure or profit, I should say, fail not to visit 
 San Antonio. 
 
 Old Ruins— England's Critique in Error— The "Greaser" and 
 THE Polecat in Their Native Lair. 
 
 Evening Chronicle, Pottsville, Pa., December 20th and 21st. 
 
 The poet Longfellow was accustomed to tell, with evident enjoyment, 
 of the visit of the English tourist, who explained : " You see. Mr. Long- 
 fellow, you have no old ruins in this country, everything is so young 
 and new, don't you know, and so I thought I would come and see you !" 
 This Englishman was doubtless a pupil of John Ruskin, who has dispar- 
 aged America because it has " no picturesque relics of primitive condi- 
 tions." Possibly Mr. Ruskin never saw, and the Engish tourist never 
 heard of, the ruins of the old Missions near San Antonio. We have 
 already spoken of the Alamo. There are three others of equal antiquity 
 and interest in the immediate neighborhood. The "Mission Conception" 
 is situated on the San Antonio river, two miles below the city. It was 
 founded in 1716. Two miles further down the river is the " Mission San 
 Jose." It was founded in 1720, and the famous artist Herica, sent over 
 by the King of Spain, devoted several years to carving its various orna- 
 mentations and statues. This mission has been the scene of many memor- 
 able conflicts, and the hands of vandals have exceeded the ravages of 
 time in its defacement. A famous Parisian architect, in a recent tour 
 through this country, pronounced it the finest piece of architecture in the 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 61 
 
 United States. The San Juan Mission, :i few miles further down, is but 
 a crumbling ruin. In its day it was so larj^e that many families lived in 
 safety and comfort within its bounds. Now there is little to be seen but 
 a small chapel and decaying walls. Edward King in a contribution to 
 Scribner's Magazine, gives a graphic description of the Conception Mis- 
 sion, which in the main will serve for the others. He saj's : "■ Indians and 
 friars had toiled for twenty-one years upon one of the noblest churches 
 ever erected by Catholics in America, but to-day it is a ruin. It was at 
 sunset that I first saw, at a distance, the twin towers, with a thrill ap- 
 preciative of their beauty and grandeur, just as hundreds of weary travel- 
 ers over the great plain saw them a century ago — a welcome sight, for 
 they guaranteed comparative security in a land where nothing was abso- 
 lutely certain save death. The towers arose above a massive church of 
 grayish stone, once highly ornate and rich in sculpture and carving, but 
 now much dilapidated. The portal was destroyed. Here and there 
 were hints of the Moorish spirit, in the arch and vault one sees so much 
 in Spanish architecture. The great dome, over the main hall, was a 
 marvel of grace and precision. Throughout it is a grand piece of masonry. 
 Built of the soft stone of the country, it has crumbled in many places, 
 but looks as if it would last another century." He might have added 
 that the crumbling ruins serve only to attest the magnitude and mag- 
 nificence of the original structure. Near the San Jose mission are the 
 ruins of an ancient aqueduct, built of solid stone, crossing the river and 
 conveying the water of San Pedro spring to the Alamo and other missions. 
 It has been superseded by modern water pipes in the city, though it is still 
 used for irrigating purposes in the outlying districts. At the point it 
 crosses the river, this piece of stalwart masonry, defying the assaults of 
 time and storm, with a roadbed on top on which women are crossing with 
 jars of water, looks like a scene transferred from modern Rome. If Mr. 
 Ruskin and his British pupil should visit Southern Texas they will dis- 
 cover that there are greater ruins here than even Henry Wadsworth 
 Longfellow. 
 
 Saturday noon arrived, and with it came the order " On to Mexico!" 
 One hundred and seventy of the excursionists had registered their purposes 
 to set foot within the " Halls of the Montezumas." We reached Laredo 
 Saturday night. The distance from there to the City of Mexico is 837 
 mile?, nearly nine hundred miles shorter than the Mexican Central route, 
 by way of El Paso. It is a narrow gauge road — possibly the longest nar- 
 row gauge road in the country — built in the most substantial manner, 
 ballasted in many places with stone, and with American-built cars of the 
 most approved modern pattern. This is the road of which General Grant 
 was made president, and it brings the city of Mexico forty-eight hours 
 nearer St. Louis. 
 
 As time and train speed along the excursionists discovered that they 
 
^2 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OP 
 
 were passing through a country that differed in every material aspect 
 from their own. On either side, as far as the eye could reach, the ground 
 was covered with the maguey plant, the cactus and palm. The maguey 
 needs but little cultivation, and is one of the mo.'-t profitable of plants. 
 It is propagated from sprouts, and reaches its maturity in from five to 
 eight years. Out of its sap is fermented the pulque— pronounced polke— 
 the principal beverage of the Mexican population in the interior. Itgrows 
 to a height of five or six feet with great broad leaves, and during a period 
 of from four to six months, each plant will yield on an average nine 
 quarts of juice a day, and bring a return to its owner of $20 or $30 during 
 the season. Favorite method of extracting the sap from the leaves is by 
 human suction. It is then deposited in big bottles made of hog-skin and 
 thus carried to market. Pulque tastes like sour milk, with just enough 
 yeast in it to make it lively. The prevailing impression that this is the 
 beverage that has upset so many of our American ministers in Mexico 
 is unquestionably erroneous. Judging from the limited percentage of 
 alcohol it contains, it would be impossible for any full grown man to 
 drink enough of it to lose his reason. There is, however, a liquor dis- 
 tilled from pulque, called mescale, which is said to be very insidious in its 
 action upon the human system. Many of the poorer people plant the 
 maguey plant around the borders of their land, it thus serving the pur- 
 pose of a hedge. In the more thickly settled regions it is planted in reg- 
 ular rows in immense fields or along the hillsides. The pear cactus, which 
 is nursed in greenhouses in the States, grows wild on the plainsto a height 
 offifteen or twenty feet, audits big green leaves, covered thickly with 
 thorns, are sometimes three feet in diameter. Some varieties bear luscious 
 fruit in a thorny shell. The Mexican Indians gather them, and stripping 
 the pears of their thorny coverings sell them to travelers at three cents 
 a dozen. 
 
 The Mexican National road has been completed only a few months, 
 and at every station the natives crowd around the cars, and gaze on the 
 travelers with fully as much interest and wonder as the travelers gaze 
 upon them. They form a motley group. In color they are of that bronze 
 peculiar to most of the natives of the American continent. The men are 
 of medium stature, well proportioned in arm, with small feet and hands, 
 coal black eyes and straight black hair. Their dress consists of a pair of 
 dirty rough muslin pantaloons, a shirt of the same material, which they, 
 like most oriental people, wear outside the pantaloons ; a serape or rough 
 woolen shawl or scarf, which they wrap around the shoulders, and a 
 broad brimmed straw hat. Many of them are bare-footed, and others 
 wear raw-hide sandals, tied to the feet with rude leather straps. They 
 stand, apparently without a sensation of discomfort, on the cold flag- 
 sttmes, and yet, whether at work, or lounging in the sun, they keep their 
 scrapes well around the throat and breast. The movement is peculiarly 
 graceful and stately by which they throw the end of the scarf over the 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 63 
 
 left shoulder. It is the one distinctive national gesture and gives dignity 
 to the Mexican in every walk of life. 
 
 Some of the women have beautiful eyes and modest and expressive 
 faces. They wear loose, sleeveless waists, with a straight piece of cloth 
 pinned or sewed around the hips for skirts. They, too, wear a scarf, or 
 shawl, called a rebosa, wrapped around the head and dropping over 
 the shoulders, and from out the folds on the back may be seen the every 
 where present Mexican baby. A Mexican girl or woman without a 
 baby strapped to her back would be almost a novelty. Their favorite 
 attitude in most of the rural towns is "sitting upon their hunkers" in 
 the sunshine, while the more energetic and thrifty gather around the 
 car windows with pulque, candy, oranges and other tropical fruits to 
 sell. 
 
 "While the train was speeding on the car was suddenly pervaded with an 
 intolerable stench, and everybody began loiiking suspiciously' around for 
 the cause of the unpleasant odor. "Phew !" said the conductor, "struck 
 another polecat !" " Scat I " chorused the tourists. Polecats seem to be 
 quite numerous in Mexico, and they have not yet learned that respect for 
 the iron horse which their brethren in more civilized communities have 
 acquired. Doubtless they are actuated by the same spirit of bravado 
 that prompted the two-legged natives to take one of their idol gods and 
 place it on the railway track to stop the train. The locomotive proved 
 to have as little reverence for idols as it has for skunks, and from that day 
 there was one divinity less in the neighboring Mexican temple. 
 
 The home of the rural Mexicati is of the rudest description. Exter- 
 nally it consists of a few boards driven endwise into the ground and cov- 
 ered with a thatch of straw or corn fodder. The doorway is its only 
 ventilation. A cocoa or corn husk mat serves as a bed for the entire 
 family. A few clambering vinesserve to furnish shade against themid- 
 day sun, and at the same time to hide some of the squalor of the home, 
 if home it may be called. Two or three noisy parrots sit on perches about 
 the doorway and swear at the intruder in wretched Spanish, while a 
 pig and a l)urro are tetheied at the side of the house. Even in such a 
 hovel as this the visitor is received with uniform kindness and courtesy. 
 In the larger towns the people live in stone and adobe structures one 
 story high — but as barren of comfort and convenience as they could well 
 be made. There is one characteristic that seems to be common to all 
 Mexican houses, and that is a peculiarly disagreeable odor. It doubtless 
 comes from uncleanliness of personal habits and an inordinate use of 
 garlic, and adheres to the individual as well as his domicile. On the 
 return trip, when an unfortunate feline of the mephitian species met its 
 death under the wheels of the locomotive, an observant tourist touched 
 a responsive chord when he remarked: "Another good Mexican 
 gone." 
 
 K. 
 
64 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 NATIONAL PRESS— HUMAN NATURES — TENDENCY TOWARD RUTS. 
 
 Star and Times, Hudson Wis. , Dec. 14th. 
 
 The National Press Association is a delegate body of newspaper men, 
 selected ft'ona the various State organizations to mSfet in convention annu- 
 ally for mutual conference and general edification. The compact was 
 formulated four years ago at New Orleans, and three very enjoyable ses- 
 sions have since been held — the first atCincinnati, which included m com- 
 mittee excursion through the State of Florida; the second at Denver, 
 which embraced the magnificent trip through the picturesque State of 
 Colorado, and the last, so recently held, at San Antonio, Texas, which 
 was by all odds the most satisfactory event in the history of the Associ- 
 ation. 
 
 There were some two hundred newspaper men, all told, present, 
 representing for the most part members of the provincial press, though 
 a few of the great dailies had representatives in attendance. The body as 
 a whole was a strong one — the papers, discussions, parliamentary debates 
 and the bent of purpose were such as would compare favorably with any 
 assemblage from any other walk of life. It was also a good-looking as- 
 semblage in the aggregate ; though thei-e wer« but few delegates who 
 eould pose successfully as an Adonis, or be by any chain of circumstances 
 mistaken for a fashion plate ; still they formed a solid, sensible conven- 
 tion of " public sentiment steerers," bent on a good time and a general 
 exchange of mutual information. 
 
 It is quite the thing in certain quarters to belittle gatherings of this 
 kind, but it is a great mistake. The whole tendency of the human race is 
 towards the ruts — towards narrowing the scope of human vision to the 
 rims of a single hat or a single community. Newspaper men are no 
 exception to the rule, and a convention, with a junket attachment, 
 if you please, serves to shake up the dry bones, by drawing men from their 
 Fabers and types to swap experiences with their fellows, and learn how 
 people are solving the life problem under other skies than theirs. Half 
 the world does not know how the other half lives. The great majority 
 are never afforded an opportunity to learn by observ^ation. If they can 
 now and then send forth an ambassador in the shape of a toiling, over- 
 worked newspaper man, who really needs an exchange of ozone, to learn 
 the facts and impart it to them, there is no reason why the experiment 
 should not be mutually profitable to patron and paper. At least this is 
 the view the National Press Association takes of the case, and the good 
 people of San Antonio demonstrated that they shared the same impres- 
 sion by kindly inviting us to hold our recent annual Association there, 
 and showering upon us the most hospitable attentions. 
 
 San Antonio, or " Santone," a^ you hear it on nearing the Texas mar- 
 gin, is about 1,800 miles from Hudson, and consequently has ample room 
 to expand without serious danger of being overslaughed by petty rivalries 
 or m.enaced by local jealousies. The Star will indeed take the liberty, 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 65 
 
 thus early, to declare that Hudson will never stand in " Santnne's" way, 
 if she can help herself, and will never lend a citizen to Dallas to be counted 
 in the census against " Santone." At least so much of a mite I will take 
 the liberty to contribute for the very handsome manner in which the 
 Venus city of the Lone Star State treated the editors during their busy 
 sojourn. 
 
 There are various ways to reach San Antonio besides going afoot or 
 workint? your passage as a brakeman. The one resorted to by the Star 
 pilgrim was to exchange for transportation some of his valuable adver- 
 tising sjjace with such railway liues as were most anxious to avail them- 
 selves of the rare opportunity at existing rates. Sufficient blocks of space 
 were taken by the Omaha, Illinois Central and " Frisco " lines to make 
 the journey easier than the cour.'-e of true love, from Hudson to Chicago, 
 St. Louis, and then to Paris, within the Texas border, cutting the upper 
 corner of Arkansas and the lower corner of Indian Territory at a bias 
 in the transit. Here, by a hitch in the management, the scent was for a 
 time lost, but like Rome of old all roads eventually fetch up at "Santone ;" 
 so after enacting the Moses role sufficiently to test the reserves stock of 
 patience, our party found themselves safely in the arms (metaphorically 
 speaking) of their stranger friends. 
 
 San Antonio now ranks as the second city in the State, Dallas taking 
 the first honor by a small margin. The census takers, however, are 
 soon to make a recount and they say it is no more than fair that the cour- 
 tesy should change about, so the date is probably not far distant when 
 Dallas will have to swap pegs with San Antonio, at least until another 
 directory is needed. 
 
 It is the home of the ancient Spanish Missions in Texas, the scene 
 of many hard fought and dearly won battles beween blood-thirsty sav- 
 ages. Frenchmen, Spanish Mexicans and adventurous Americans, Free- 
 booters, Royalists, Republicans, Texans Confederates and Federals. Dur- 
 ing almost two centuries of bloodshed and strife contending armies have 
 baptized nearly every foot of soil within the city's limits w ith the blood of 
 heroes, and seven flags in turn have claimed the allegiance of its inhabi- 
 tants, and thirteen times has it been captured and recaptured. 
 
 Its historic ruins, acequias and points of interest make it the Mecca 
 of every tourist, and with probably the most cosmopolitan population of 
 any city in America it offers to the historian and sightseer delights and 
 pleasant surprises. 
 
 It has a varied history, but its present advantages under the reign of 
 peace and prosperity, together with its health-giving climate and freedom 
 from snow, malaria and fogs, make it a most desirable place of residence, 
 especially during the Winter months. 
 
 It has not only historic and climatic advantages, but also much to 
 amuse and interest visitors in its modern acquisitions, among which is the 
 United States Military Post, wihch is pronounced to be the finest in 
 
66 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 America, with every arm of the service fully represented in the troops sta- 
 tioned here. This also being the Military Headquarters of the depart- 
 ment of Texas, a fine military baud forms a part of the establishment, 
 and the beautiful dress parades which artillery, cavalry and infantry 
 take part in twice each week, with special inspections, reviews and fre- 
 quent parades. 
 
 Its churches include every Christian denomination, and are well sus- 
 tained. Its public and private educational institutions are the boast of 
 the State. 
 
 Its social advantages are unsurpassed and its people are characterized 
 by true Southern hospitality. 
 
 Most of this were the excursionists able to see and learn during the 
 charming carriage drives arranged by the public spirited citizens, and 
 while visiting the magnificent new Industrial Exposition then in progress. 
 
 Of Texas in general a great deal might be said ; but the public is prob- 
 ably sufficiently well infrmed as to make extended review unnecessary. 
 lu area it is about five times as large as Wisconsin, and in population 
 nearly equal at the present time, that is, 1,592,000. Traveling through 
 its entire length one would journey 825 miles or in breadth 740 miles — 
 a distance farther than from St. Paul to St. Louis, by way of Milwaukee 
 and Chicago, or nearly as far from San A.ntonio to the City of Mexico. 
 It has 6,841,705 acres of land under cultivation. 46,302,500 in timber, 
 and 105,279,000 still in the virgin state. Cotton, corn, sheep, cattle and 
 horses are the principal products. What Kansas has been for the past 
 twenty-flve years to the Northern States Texas has been for a like period 
 for the more thickly settled Southern States ; but latterly many settlers 
 are going in from all parts of the North and from some parts of Europe, 
 giving the people a more cosmopolitan bearing and creating a healthy 
 competition in the arenas of commerce and agriculture. 
 
 With a salubrious climate, modified only by an occasional "• norther" 
 and a semi-occasional ''souser," with its attendant mud, and with resources 
 so varied, vast and lavish, Texas cannot fail to take her place as one of 
 the bright particular stars in the great galaxy of States. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE NEGROES— A DEEP WATER HARBOR. 
 
 State Beporter, Waterloo, Iowa, Dec. 13th. 
 
 Passing through the Indian Territory at night, we enter Texas 
 through the gate city of Denison. Texas, like Iowa, has no chief town 
 largely overtopping all the rest, but it has a number of splendid, thriving, 
 pushing cities, with from 15,000 to 40,000 or 5(1,000 people each, and all of 
 the larger class willing to wear the t-hampion belt and to proclaim to the 
 world that the particular town in which they are interested is larger, has 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. C7 
 
 more railroads, or more prospects for railroads, a more enterprising citi- 
 zenship, larger business interests, than any other city in Texas. Denison, 
 Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Galveston — all good 
 towns, with l^rge business interests, have been forced somewhat by con- 
 centration of railroads, which has brought in Northern capital. Northern 
 citizens and Northern push and enterprise. The native Texan is not a 
 pusher, but seems to be well enough satisfied with the results which the 
 other fellows accomplish. 
 
 The eastern half of Texas is pretty well covered by railroads. The 
 western half, including the Panhandle country, as several leading lines, 
 but the country is all new and largely unsettled. There are a number of 
 lines in advance of civilization, but that is the practice nowadaj's, and 
 there will be some weary waiting, by those who have furnished the money, 
 for dividends and interest. But this extravagant extension of long lines 
 of railroads through uninhabited sections is i ot peculiar to Texas any 
 more than to half a dozen other States and Territories. The railroads de- 
 velop the country instead of waiting for the country to develop and build 
 the railroads. 
 
 Texas, densely populated, would be a mighty empire. It has an area 
 of 265,780 square miles — nearly tive times greater than our own big 
 Towa, and is divided into 228 counties. It is a fertile State, with many 
 advantages, but it is not altogether a reliable agricultural State. Droughts 
 and hot wind:* sometimes destroy, and in some sections the rainfall is 
 inadequate. Irrigation is practiced in some sections and would be in others 
 if there was a water supply to draw from. Artesian wells are being 
 sunk, and there is some talk of having the State aid in devel«pingan 
 immense water system, which would make productive millions of acres 
 of good land now devoted to grazing purposes alone. 
 
 Cotton is one of the most important Texas crops, corn coming second. 
 A bale (500 lbs.) of cotton to the acre is claimed to be a fair crop, although 
 a bale and a half, and even more, is sometimes produced. Texas farming 
 is not of the highest grade, and the colored brother who raises his patch 
 of corn and cotton wants his crop to mature with the very least expendi- 
 ture of laboi'. We saw a colored boy 16 or 17 years old at one of the stations 
 in Texas and asked him what he did for a living. "Nothing," he re- 
 plied. ■' How do you live, then ':"' Scratching his head, and looking 
 somewhat puzzled, he replied, "Why, I just live.'' He was fat, jolly, 
 reasonably well clothed, and was content. Political economy, the sur- 
 plus, free trade or protection, had no interest for him. All he wanted was 
 to "just live." And the South is full of such colored people. A few, 
 enough to prove the exception, are as eager to push ahead and acquire 
 wealth as their white neighbors, but the vast majority seem to care very 
 little for to-morrow so long as they have sufficient for to-day. 
 
 Political topics were discussed somewhat as opportunity presented. 
 The old-school Texan does not take kindly to Negro suffrage where the 
 
68 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 votes are numerous enough to decide, and naakes no concealment of 
 the fact that the ballots or 'eturns are manipulated or doctored to meet 
 the emer'jjency. " We don't do such things in my district, but it is done" 
 — somewhere els^e. The ways are many and always in one direction and 
 that is toward the supremacy of the whites. A.nd in justification you are 
 told "you would do the same if you lived here. You would not permit 
 an ignorant colored man to control affairs. You would do as we do." 
 
 We spent three delightful daysat ftan Antonio, and the hospitality of 
 the citizens was unstinted and lavishly generous. The latch-key was out 
 in the wildest sense and the guests departed carrying only the pleasantest 
 memories of their visit to one of thequaintest cities in the west. 
 
 A visit to Texas will also open the eyes of travelers to the necessity of 
 a deep sea harbor somewhere along the coast. At present there is t.othing 
 of the sort — no port where larsre sea-going vessels can enter west of Mobile. 
 Cities and corporations at different points in Texas have been pounding 
 away at the doors of Congress for appropriations, large and small, with 
 which to procure the development of proper harbor facilities, but •without 
 much success. The contest now seems to be between Galveston and Ar- 
 ansas Pass, and as it has been shown, or (Claimed to be shown, that the 
 removal of the opposing sand bars at Galveston will cost $7,000,000, and 
 at Aransas Pass less than $2,000,000, there is a strong presumption that 
 the latter will be the favored spot. San Antonio and Western Texas are 
 said to favor Aransas Pass. Eastern Texas is said to favor Galveston, 
 with the exception of the Sabine Pass promoters, which form a third 
 party. 
 
 The best reason, perhaps, why Congress should develop a deep water 
 harbor on this coast is ultra Texan. The next 10 or 12 years at the 
 farthest will celebrate the opening of an Isthmus canal — a water line of 
 communication between thePaciticand Atlantic fordeep sea ships. This 
 short cut between the Chinese coast, Japan, the Pacific Islands and the 
 American and British ports will largely revolutionize the world's broad 
 ocean traffic tracks. Great volumes of freight that have hitherto reached 
 America and Europe by the Cape of Good Hope and Suez routes will 
 then move towards the East. Only the heavy slow-time freights will 
 seek western Europe ports by the old western routes. Consequently a 
 vast bulk of the American bound freight will naturally debark at a Texan 
 port for distribution through southwestern and western markets of the 
 United States. Granted adequate capital at such a port to handle cargo 
 lots, it would be folly to imagine that these freights would go to New 
 York for final distribution to the west and the southwest. If Aransas 
 Pass or the Galveston ports be made the point for a deep water harbor, 
 then the only question le't is that of adequate capital. A great port 
 means great capital to do its business. 
 
 The isthmus will be cut. Great western railway corporations are 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 69 
 
 already taking in the situation, and are turning their tracks toward the 
 gulf. Our great Rock Island system is already before Congiess for a per- 
 mit to pass southward through Indian Territory. This means more than 
 mere State traflBc. It means the meeting of Pacific ocean ships at a 
 Texas port. 
 
 MERRY HOOSIERS. 
 
 New8, Clarksburg, W. Fa., Dec. 15th. 
 
 The object of my Southern trip was to attend a meeting of the Inter- 
 national Editorial Association, to which I was a delegate from West Vir- 
 ginia. San Antonio, Texas, was the place fixed for the meeting, and 
 there was no mistake made in the selection of this historic city. The 
 journey southward was without sp)ecial incident, although it was not 
 the least enjoyable feature of the outing. It was my good fortune to meet 
 two Hoosiers in St. Louis, fellow delegates, and if they are a fair sample 
 of Indiana newspaper men the State of the President-elect contains some 
 of the most royal good fellows with whom it has ever been my pleas- 
 ure t<^) travel. It required about four minutes and thirty-five seconds, 
 by the watch for Tom Adams, Doc Sefritand myself to become acquainted, 
 and only about twelve minutes and a half to be sufficiently familiar to 
 slap each otlier on the back and be recognized as hail fellows well met, 
 out-on a-lark, determined to have a frolic or to know the reason why. 
 Everything goes, was the rule, and it is hardly necessary to relate that 
 the rule was strictly obeyed, not excepting funds, as an inventory of the 
 cash account upon our return revealed a pooling surplus of about twenty- 
 three cents. 
 
 Our first relay was at Texarkana, Texas, or Texarkana, Arkansas, 
 just as you please. The imaginary line that divides the two great States 
 of Arkansas and Texas passes through this city, near its centre. My friend 
 Adams stood in Arkansas, when I saluted him while standing on Texas 
 soil, and we shook hands across the line. Adams stepped across into 
 Texas and Doc. Sefrit, a two-hundred pounder, dealt us a Hoosier right 
 and left handed blow, straight from the shoulders, and knocked us into 
 Arkansas. He escaped into Arkansas and was safe from the speedy pun- 
 ishment that is dealt out to such as are so unprogressive as to commit an 
 assault with the fist. Texarkana is a lively little city of about ten thou- 
 sand hustling inhabitants. It is located in the midst of a productive 
 cotton belt and contains one of the largest oil mills in the South. This 
 mill was erected at a cost of more than a quarter of a million dollars, 
 and affords employment to about one hundred hands. The workmen are 
 well paid and the productions and profits of the concern are fabulous. 
 
TO JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Cotton seed oil, a substitute for olive oil, is manufactured and is so clev- 
 erly manipulated as to require an expert to detect the difference. The 
 oil is considered healthful and requires little practice to acquire a raven- 
 ous appetite for it. The colored employees of the mill use it in great 
 quantities. At noon they spread it on their bread, meat, pie, and 
 nearly every article of diet. It is very fattening in its eflect. The 
 employees to whom I have referred look as fat and sleek as ground 
 moles, and their condition is attributed to the lavish use of the oil. 
 After the oil has been extracted from the seed a cake is made, which is 
 used for feeding horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. It affords very rich and 
 nutritious food requiring but a small quantity to satisfy the proper de- 
 mands for nourishment. The daily consumption of seed is about one 
 hundred and thirty tons. The use to which the cotton seed is adopted 
 is a recent and profitable discovery in the South. Five years ago the 
 greater number of cotton producers permitted this valuable product to 
 go to waste. Texarkana is not an exception to the greater number of 
 Southern towns in the matter of need for better hotel facilities. There 
 are two or three " leading houses," of which the well-worn expression of 
 regret applies. No matter to which hotel you go, you will wish that you 
 had gone to the other. Railroad facilities are excellent. The Iron Moun - 
 tain, Texas and Pacific and Cotton Belt routes afford outlets, and aftord 
 good rates for transportation. The great misfortune seems to be in its 
 peculiar location. Two postofRces, two city governments, in fact two- 
 every thing that is required by a well-organized town. A smack of bor- 
 der life still lingers about the place. It is not startling news there any 
 morning to hear that some man was shot, or " held up." the n*ght be- 
 fore. The proximity to either State line affords an enviable opportunity 
 to those who delight to be known as " bad men." I think a bright future 
 awaits this city. It bears the marks of a steady growth, and possesses 
 the elements of permanent prosperity. I could not, if I would, and would 
 not, if I could, omit to mention the generous hospitality of the citizens of 
 San Antonio before relating experiences in Mexico. Immediately upon 
 arrival in San Antonio we were captured by reception committees, and 
 provided for in a most royal manner. It was our good fortune to register 
 at Hotel Menger, a house famous for its excellent cuisine and splendid 
 service. This was the headquarters of our Association, and the rapid 
 manner in which the venison and jelly, wild duck and prairie chickens 
 disappeared, to strengthen and refresh recreating and hungering news- 
 paper men must have been an alarming omen to the purveyor of those 
 toothsome viands. Business meetings were continually interrupted by 
 the leading of invitations to visit this, that and the other points of inter- 
 est throughout the city, and as the newspaperman does not like to miss 
 anything, all invitations were accepted and placed on file. After a weary 
 struggle for three days with the matter of rates for advertising and 
 wrangling over the better plan to be adopted with such advertising 
 agents as clamor for top of column and next to reading matter, the 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 71 
 
 meeting adjourned, and such points of interest as we had time to visit 
 were seen. 
 
 Special trains were provided for the journey to the City of Mexico, 
 and over all the stars and stripes of the tlag of our country floated, un- 
 furling itself in the sunny breezes that fan the cheeks of Southern 
 heroes, Southern gentlemen, Americans and loyal citizens of the 'grand- 
 est country with which God has blessed mankind. G. B. 
 
 TEXAS CLIMATE— GATEWAYS TO MEXICO. 
 
 Leader, Montevideo, Minn., Deo. 28th. 
 ********** 
 
 "When we arrived at San Antonio, and were conducted to the HotelMav- 
 erick, the <;enial proprietor congratulated us upon having brought fair 
 weather with us, which they all so much need, and a dark eyed, heavy- 
 browed showman, whose business has evidently been poor, confides the 
 information that it has rained steadily in San Antonio for forty -one days 
 and nights, and inquires where we moored our raft. A circus proprietor, 
 who catne to " Winter" on account of the dry climate, says he shall put 
 to sea, ark or noark, for fear of l)eing drowned, and Brother Ttxld blows 
 up an air pillow, hitches it around his waist by a shawl-strap, and says, 
 " Fetch on your showers, your tropical climate and your ancient ruins \ 
 We are here to take in all your first-class wonders." Then to bed, and 
 up at dawn again to witness a glorious sunrise and a clear sky, the air 
 freighted with the fragrance of flowers and as fresh and crisp as on a 
 June morning at home. The first sight from our balcony reveals a true 
 Mexican in sombrero, serape and sandals, on a diminutive donkey, fol- 
 lowed on foot liy a couple of half-clad youths with baskets of fruit and 
 vegetables on their heads. The elder sits his " burro" as if he was born 
 there and spurns both bridle and saddle, directing the animal's course by 
 a cuff on either ear with a s-hort rope. He is evidently cold, for he keeps 
 his red serape close about his neck and over his mouth. His dirty white 
 linen breeches are hardly suited to the season, and his stockingless feet 
 get little warmth out of the rawhide sandals that cover the soles only. 
 His hat or sombrero makes amends, however, for any lack elsewhere. 
 It is tall, conical-shaped, broad-brimmed and nearly white, and the heavy 
 tinsel-braided band stands out in bold relief and gives an air of dignity 
 and distinction to tiie wearer, not at all in keeping with the rest of his 
 clothes. Without it he might be, and probably is, a plebian, but thus 
 surmounted, he looks and acts, and evidently feels himself, a king. 
 Shortly after we hear music on the street, and a spare-built, dark-eyed 
 Mexicano— a cripple evidently, for he pushes himself about in a three- 
 wheeled car — appears and plajs a queer shaped accord eon, and does it in 
 
72 • JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 a way that commands our respectful attention and our enthusiastic admi- 
 ration. He is an artist, and his soul as well as the little instrument 
 is full of music. He plays with exquisite touch and pathos, and revels 
 in grand symphonies and harmonies such as a master might feel proud 
 to draw from a pipe organ. Crowds greet him everywhere and cheer his 
 playing and dimes and nickels are liberally showered into his contribu- 
 tion box. After a late breakfast we attend the convention and listen to 
 some good speeches and essays on the proper way to run a country news- 
 paper ; on the ethics of journalism ; on the power of the press and on the 
 wisdom ot accepting old rails and frosted turnips on subscription ; on the 
 necessity of securing an occasional libel suit, and of dealing gently with 
 the advertising agent who insists on taking everything but the usual 
 commission, and a part of that. These things we heard— or some of them 
 at least — and then we went boating in a tiny steam yacht on the beau- 
 tiful river which is lined on either side with stately trees and tropical 
 plants — bananas, figs, and shrubbery and roses in full bloom — and which 
 winds its way about the city, spanned by numerous bridges. 
 
 San Antonio was first settled in 1691 — nearly two hundred years ago 
 — and is full of historic interest. It is charmingly located in a rich valley 
 and enjoys the distinction of being the metropolis of southwest Texas. It 
 claims to be the gate city to Mexico — an honor also claimed by Laredo, 
 Eagle Pass, EI Paso, and some fifteen or twenty other places. In fact we 
 have come to the conclusion that Mexicoholdsover any other country we 
 ever heard of in the matter of gateways, and, lest we might not be 
 thought patriotic, we herewith put in a claim for Montevideo — a truly 
 Spanish name — as one of the northernmost gateway cities to Mexico, 
 and invite the traveling world to make future pilgrimages to that fair 
 land via this beautiful gate city. Seriously, however, San Antonio has 
 some substantial claims to this distinguished title. She was once a Mex- 
 ican town, and then, as now, was the metropolis of this section of country. 
 She has many landmarks left to show her former supremacy. She has 
 an extensive and well established Mexican trade and was largely instru- 
 mental in establishing the several lines of railroad that extend across the 
 Rio Grande and into the heart of the sister republic. San Antonio is lo- 
 cated on the line of the Southern Pacific, the International and Great 
 Western, and the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railways, and is a sub- 
 stantial and well built city of some 50,000 inhabitants. It claims to be 
 the largest wool market in the world, the largest wool and lumber market 
 in Texas, the trade centre of a rich and productive territory larger than 
 all New England, and one of the healthiest spots on the planet. For a 
 couple of centuries the climate of this section has been celebrated for its 
 curative powers in cases of pulmonary and bronchial diseases, and it is a 
 popular resort for invalids from all the States and from other countries. 
 Yet the annual death rate is said to be only a fraction above 17 in 1,000. 
 There are many new and elegant residences and business blocks being 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 73 
 
 erected and an air of thrift and prosperity that s-peaks well for the town 
 and its people. 
 
 One of the charms of the city is the f^rouping together of puch strong 
 contrasts in architecture, in methods of business, in customs and man- 
 ners, and in historicixl events. Here, by the side of the modern, well-ap- 
 pointed hotel, we tind the ancient and battle-scarred Alamo, founded in 
 1720 as a ('atholic Mission, and afterwards used by Spanishand American 
 troops as a fort, and the scene of many a hard-fought battle, the most 
 memorable being that of LS36, when Davy Crockett and Cols. Davis and 
 Bowie, with their 172companions, heroically held it for many days against 
 the terrible siege of General Santa Anna and his 7,000 Mexican troops, 
 who finally carried it, and captured, tormented and put to death these 
 brave defenders of Texas and liberty. Not far from the beautiful expo- 
 sition buildings are the ruins of ancient missions, magnificent in decay, 
 and near by the ruins of several old aquias or aqueducts, built by the 
 Aztecs for purposes of irrigation ; the old Mexican Cathedral, built more 
 than 150 years ago, from the tower of which Santa Anna displayed the 
 red and black fiags to inform the patriots in tlie Alamo of their certain 
 doom. The rich carvings and decorations, the statuary and paintings 
 within and about the Cathedial and Missions that have been desecrated 
 by vandal hands more than l)y " time's defacing fingers." 
 
 ********** 
 
 But here we may not tarry. Our train and the courtesy of the Inter- 
 national and Greit Northern Railroad await us, and we are ofl to Mexico. 
 
 PHYSICAL FEATURES OF. MEXICO PULQUE— SCHOOLS. 
 
 Standard, M^Minnville. Tenn., Dec 30th. 
 
 With a subject of such vastidity, and with limited space in which to 
 treat it, one is somewhat puzzled to know just where to begin, just what 
 to write, and what to leave unwritten, for absolutely everything to be 
 seen and heard in Mexico is intensely interesting to any observant North 
 American. However, we shall make no attempt at an exhaustive article 
 upon the subject, but shall merely note a few observations of a brief jour- 
 ney of eight days through the republic. The people of the United States 
 have a more meagre knowledge of Mexico, its people, condition and cus- 
 toms, than perhaps any other country on the globe. It is only within the 
 last few years that railroad communication has been opened between 
 this country and our sister republic south of the Rio Grande. There are 
 now three lines of railroad from the United States completed and in oper- 
 ation to the City of Mexico, the Mexican Central, from El Paso to the 
 city, 1,231 miles; the International, from Eagle Pass to the city (using 
 the Central route a portien of the way), about 1,000 miles, and the Mex- 
 ican National from Laredo to the city, 830 miles. 
 
 The National Ekiitorial Association, 165 in number, 34 of whom were 
 
t4 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 ladies, left, Nuevo Laredo at 11 o'clock on the i-\v^\\\ of Nov. 24th, and took 
 breakfastabout 10 o'clock at Saltillo —the Mexicans pronounce it Saul-tee-o. 
 Some time during the day, as we reached more mountainous country, the 
 train was divided into two sections, iind on the second day it was made 
 into three sectiwns. 
 
 Very good meals are to be had at Acambara and Toluca, but the break- 
 fast we had in a freight car at San Luis Potosi one morning at 4 o'clock 
 was the toughest spread we ever sat down to. We had drank indifferent 
 coffee before, but the stuff we got there was meaner than castor oil and 
 ipecac mixed. The bummer who ran the establishment made us pay a 
 dollar for it all the same. Oranges, bananas and other fruits are to be had 
 quite cheap at most of the stations along the line, and at many of them 
 native venders (.just as noisy as the American type) offer various articles 
 of Mexican diet for sale at the car windows. Our party sampled every- 
 thing offered. Some of the articles are very good, while there are others 
 which nobody on earth but a Mexican could eat without a dastardly out- 
 rage upon the stomach. 
 
 The country, in its physical features, like the people, presents very 
 striking contrasts at almost every turn. The train moves successively 
 through fertile fields and over sterile plains. One hour you are rushing 
 over a level plateau, and the next winding through rugged mountain 
 ranges. Going toward the city the road climbs gradually up into the 
 mountainsuntil just beyond Toluca an altitude of more than 10,(iOO feet 
 above the sea level is reached. Then begins the descent into the valley 
 of Mexico, and in a run of 30 or 35 miles you go down about 3,000 feet. 
 There is some beautitul scenery along this part of the route, and from 
 many places you look down dizzy heights that almost take one's breath. 
 Along some parts of the road water is so s(iarce that tanks for supply- 
 ing the engines are long distances apart, and the engines have to carry an 
 extra tank of water in addition to what the tender will hold. The ag- 
 ricultural sections have to depend upon irrigation for their crops, and dur- 
 ing the rainy season water is collected in large ponds or basins, and drawn 
 off through ditches as needed. The nice system of irrigating ditches to 
 be seen along the route show, that the Mexicans are quite skillful in this 
 work. 
 
 The greater part of the country is almost destitute of timber. Many 
 varieties of the cactus are to be seen, and some of them are very large, 
 often with a trunk two or three feet or more in thickness. One variety 
 grows up as tall, straight and slender as a telegraph pole, and is fre- 
 quently seen answering the purpose of a hedge fence. Another variety, 
 known there as the maguey plant (called the century plant in this country) 
 is one of the principal staples of Mexico. Many large plantations of it are 
 to bo sien growing along either side of the railroad. The juice, as it is 
 drawn from the plant, is called pulque, and forms the great national drink 
 of Mexico. The natives all drink it with avidity, as a German drinks 
 lager beer, as a Frenchman drinks wine, or as an American drinks any- 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 75 
 
 thing and everything which contains alcohol. It is like very thin, sour 
 butternjilk, tastes meaner than pig swill, and every place where it is sold 
 stinks worsM than a still-house going to rot. It is not intoxicating unless 
 drank in very intemperate quantities, or after it has undergone consider- 
 able fermentation. Large quantities of it are brought into the cities 
 every morning in jugs, hog and goat skins, barrels or any other vessels 
 which will hold licjuids. The hog and goatskins are the filthiest looking 
 vessels we ever saw used to hold anything for human consumption. An 
 American would not u«e them to carry feed to swine. When pulque has 
 reached a certain stage of fermentation it is distilled, and the product is a 
 liquor called mescale, which is quite similar to our ct>rn whiskey. They 
 make several other distinctively Mexican liquors, but we did not learn 
 the process of manufacture, or of what materials they are brewed. The 
 fiber of the maguey plant is used for making mats, baskets, and various 
 other useful and ornamental articles. It is quite a tough and durable 
 material, and the Mexicans w^ork it up into many beautiful and artistic 
 designs. 
 
 All the vessels used by the natives for cooking purposes are of pottery. 
 They are very skillful in the manufacture of this ware, and some of it is 
 almost as durable as iron, while it has the advantage of being much 
 
 lighter. 
 
 Thereof the principal articles of food are tortillas, tamales and chili- 
 
 con-carne. These, with fruits, form the staple diet of the masses. The 
 
 tortilla is made from corn which has been soaked in lime water until it 
 
 is softened and freed from the husks. The corn is then mashed quite 
 
 fine on a kind of stone tray, by means of a smaller stone, pressed into a 
 
 thin cake with the hamls, and baked on an open pottery vessel over a 
 
 small charcoal fire. The chili-con-carne is meat of various kinds 
 
 chopped up into hash, mixed with almost or quite an equal quantity 
 
 of red pepper, and stewed together. For the tamales, corn is mashed up 
 
 the same as for tortillas, a roll of it is made about one inch in dinmater, 
 
 with a small quantity of meat and j)epper through the center ; the whole 
 
 is then wrapped in a shuck and boiled for several hours. A hungry man 
 
 can make a very satisfying meal on tamales. We have eaten lots of 
 
 things in United States hotels and boarding houses not near so palatable. 
 
 Through the country scarcely any other but adobe buildings are to be 
 
 seen, and they are rarely ever more than one story high. In the cities 
 
 many of the buildings are of more substantial structure — stone, concrete, 
 
 etc. — and numbers of them of very imposing appearance. The adobe 
 
 is a large square of mud dried in the sun. They are about four inches 
 
 thick, from nine to twelve inches wide, and twelve to eighteen inches 
 
 long. One course of them generally forms the wall. Many of the 
 
 houses look like one good rain would wash them down, but they 
 
 stand for ages. The adobe is also largely used for fences or walls around 
 
 large enclosures. Adobe houses all have dirt floors. In the majority of 
 
 them no furniture whatever is to be seen ; the inhabitants sleep on mats 
 
T6 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 and sit on the ground. The family, the goat and the pig are frequently 
 seen occupying the same room. We noticed one of these primitive me- 
 nageries, as it were, where the goat and pig seemed very much disgusted, 
 while the other occupants appeared perfectly happy. 
 
 Schools are yet practically unknown through the country. The great 
 mass of purely Mexican population, and this class form^ probably three- 
 fourths of the population ot the country, are ignorant^ superstitious, pov- 
 erty stricken and priest-ridden to a most pitiable degree. Smallpox is 
 almost as prevalent among them as bad colds in this country. The 
 filth and dirt which they live in is little more than a hot bed of disease, 
 and their poverty is simply appalling. The poorest classes of this country 
 would be nabobs among some of them. Like in thiscouutry, and we pre- 
 sume every other one on the globe, there are various classes among them 
 and they grade up to cultured, enlightened peojjle. from medium to afflu- 
 ent circumstances, who are surrounded with comforts and luxuries of life. 
 The com ments on Mexican life we have given above touch only the purely 
 Mexican population — a people more nearly related to our Indian tribes 
 than to the Mexicans of Spanish descent. Among the better (lasses of 
 genuine Mexican, however, are many excellent people. It is said that 
 President Diaz has but a trace of Spanish blood in his veins, and he is cer- 
 tainly a fine specimen of noble manhood. 
 
 THE CHANGE FROM WET TO DRY ACCOUNTED FOR — CUPID'S VIGILANCE. 
 
 Compiler, Gettysburg, Pa., Jan. 8th. 
 
 According to Prescott, the ancient city of the Montezumas occupied 
 the centre of a considerable lake. The present city of Mexico is built 
 on a high and dry plateau, eleven thousand feet above the level of the 
 sea. Whether Prescott's information was exaggerated or not, is one of 
 the questions in considering the present changed conditions. 
 
 Cortez landed in the country 360 years ago ; advanced rapidly into the 
 interior, conquering enemies and making them his allies ; and in an 
 incredibly short space of time planted the Spanish banner on the shores 
 of the lake environing the capital city of Aztec nation. The Indians de- 
 pended on the causeways connecting with the shores for safe defense, and 
 in the first encounter they proved all that was expected of them. Dur- 
 ing an impetuous attack by Cortez the causeway suddenly opened, and the 
 whirlpool of waters rushing through the gap, in the darkness and confu- 
 sion, caused the loss of nearly all his followers by drowning, he himself 
 escaping by the merest accident. 
 
 (As an old local story has it, the indomitable commander felt so 
 crushed by the disaster as to retire to an umbrageous tree, and weep. The 
 tree is still pointed out, and the historic event related, with the implied 
 understanding that the vehemence of his grief was in equal ratio with 
 the extent of the calamity. That is, Cortez was loud that day. But he 
 got there all the same.) 
 
 There are, however, present indications as to how the process of filling 
 
TEXAS A NI> MEXICO. 77 
 
 up the lake begau and continued. The whole country points to ivash— 
 the gradual wearing away of the mountains an the deposit of the debris 
 at the lower points. This is apparent all along the railroad route, and 
 about the city especially. 
 
 Upon leaving, "homeward bound," one fresh and bright morning 
 (Nov. 30th), with two stout locomotives to a train not heavy, the ride 
 became simply enchanting. The grades were given at from 100 to 225 
 feet to the mile, the whole rise to Toluca forty miles, being nearly 3,000 
 feet. Up— up go the low " crawlers"— " how tliey stick down to their 
 work!" — the train all the while hanging over the edge of a can(y)on 
 hundreds of feet deep ! A rear view has the city spires and the snow 
 mountains in sight all the way, and as evener ground is after awhile 
 reached, farming again comes into view. But the panorama from the 
 city out to or near Toluta, 10,000 feet high, is pronounced by accom- 
 plished tourists as a combination of the beautiful and striking not to be 
 seen in such perfection anywhere else in the world. Certainly the writer 
 will never forget the picture. 
 
 Now for the point in contemplation. The immense canon or gulch 
 along which the railroad runs has evidently l>eeii worn so " wide and 
 deep" by wash many years ago and still in progress, the early debris 
 tindiug lodgment in what was once the lake of the Indian city. Other 
 similar washes from the mountains are evident in all directions, except to 
 the southeast, from which point the old canal enters through a flat 
 country several miles back. 
 
 Having settled this " burning question," attention may be given to 
 a few lighter things. The train made several stops to give our party 
 time enough to take in the varied beauties of the whole field, and the 
 pulque venders a good opportunity to get in their work. They brought 
 in all sorts and sizes of earthy pitchers and jugs, and one fellow had a 
 hogskin full of it, the skin being nicely dressed and almost transparent. 
 There was no dispute about the extent of a tirink, two cents buying as 
 much as anybody, or a half dozen bodies, cared to have. Our party 
 lacked a pulque drinker, or the score might have been different. The 
 "tortilla" was numerous, but no more attractive than in the city. 
 Among the peddlers of this little corn cake was an Indian girl of about 
 fourteen, very pretty for her race, and dressed with a taste quite peculiar. 
 Her full dark hair came down to the shoulders, a neat Jersey was covered 
 by a light shawl, and a web of rich, red-brown woolen cloth fastened 
 around the waist for skirts, completed a toilet not gay nor gaudy, but 
 becoming and to be admired. How the gentlemen struggled to pay her 
 compliments ! but — as already said in these papers — before going to 
 Mexico it is best to learn a little Spanish I She probably did not under- 
 stand a word they said, but, somehow seemed happier for their presence ; 
 and, somehow, many of the ladies of our party seemed entirely satisfied 
 that the train should start ! 
 
 The sides of the gulch alluded to are at places farmed to the very top, 
 
78 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 break-neck steep as they are, ou the east bank at least. The pulque or 
 maguey or " century" plant is here cultivated to the highest degree, and 
 a field of it in full growth is a real delight to the eye. The plant grows 
 wild in most parts of the country, but its thorough cultivation seems to 
 pay, as growing rye and corn does in this, to furnish a " national drink.'" 
 Pulque is propagated by cutting a leaf into pieces and dropping them 
 wherever more stalks are desired, roots fornaing at once and growth 
 going right along. Good and clean farming gives it great size and 
 increased sap. At five years it is ready for tapping, and runs several 
 gallons a day. 
 
 In passing through a farming region towards the close of the day 
 there came in sight what here might be talked of as a " plowing match ;" 
 about twenty pairs of oxen to as many " forked sticks," and one riding 
 corn plow drawn by mules, all working on three or four acres. As the 
 train approached the teams stopped, but one pair of oxen galloped off 
 with the plow bouncing violently behind them. The driver, as if obliv- 
 ious of the hilarious or vicious conduct of his beasts, took in the moving 
 train with all his faculties on the stretch, and so remained as long as 
 we could see him. The steers were no doubt captured and brought 
 to a realizing sense of their delinquency and may have behaved better 
 since. But if we ever make the trip again we shall count dead sure 
 upon meeting the wondering face of the same plowman " there or there- 
 abouts." 
 
 The building of the " Nacional Mexicano" railroad has furnished a 
 
 new means of time killing (as well as labor) to the natives along it, and 
 they must naturally be more contented with their lot. 
 
 But they can go further and stay longer to see a train pass than any 
 district yet heard from. 
 
 The polecats are numerous along the railroad, especially at night, and 
 all carry enormous handkerchiefs. H. J. S. 
 
 [The mouchoir being an evidence of progress, we are pleased to note 
 that the polecat is inaugurating that branch of effete civilization among 
 the indigenous Mexicans. — Ed.] 
 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE LENIENCY — THE INEVITABLE TRUNK— TRAIN REGU- 
 LATIONS — THE "only" SAN MIGUEL. 
 
 Daily ^ Sunbury^ Pa., Dec. 4th. 
 
 Our party, numbering 175, crossed the Rio Grande, and after an inter- 
 view with the Mexican custom house officials were soon on our way 
 toward Montezuma's kingdom. The dusky gentlemen were not very 
 strict with ua. They would open a trunk, slip their hand down to the 
 bottom with their eyes half-closed and a cigarette in their mouth, siam 
 the Ud shut, paste a red piece of paper on the lid, and the trunk was ready 
 to pass. The writer had never been out of the land where the Stars 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 79 
 
 and Stripes float before, so he left the management of his trunk in the 
 hands of his friend from Mt. Carniel. This gentleman had been through 
 a custom house before, having been in her Majesty's domains in Canada. 
 He had insisted on taking and packing our trunk, and after placing 
 every stitch of clothing, Summer and Winter, he owned himself in it, 
 he finished thejftb by tilling it with all the clothing owned by the writer. 
 We had missed the trunk uptoLorado,and there saw it for the tirst time 
 since we left home. There the custom house officers took it and kept it 
 until we returned from Mexico, because, under the rules, we did not claim 
 it, although we supposed they would put it on the train without any 
 interference on our part. The gentleman from the coal region said they 
 had in Canada, and we should leave it to him, and it would be all right. 
 We did, but they didn't, for they corraled it, so for all the benefit we 
 derived from the trunk we might as well have left it at Selinsgrove, and it 
 wouldn't have been so hard on the trunk. 
 
 THE RAILROAD. 
 
 Chief Engineer Abercrombie and his assistant, Mr. Hoke, of the Sun- 
 bury division of the Pennsylvania railroad, would never have built such 
 a road with so many curves and twists as the Mexican National. It 
 Beverattempted to run through, but always around. At one place, after 
 traveling two miles, we passed the track we had lately passed over, not 
 one hundred yards away, but about sixty or seventy feet above us. I 
 asked the conductor the reason, and he said the Mexican government 
 had given the company a subsidy of $13,000 a mile, and the engineers had 
 not been particular about the length. The Government recpires each 
 train to carry two guards, they are armed and go to sleep in the baggage 
 car as soon as the train starts. The engineers and conductors are all 
 Americans. An engineer draws from $180 to $200 per mouth, and the 
 conductors from $140 to $150. They are paid in silver, about the loth of 
 the month, and are paid by the month and not by the run. The fire- 
 men and brakemen are Mexicans and get $35.00 per month. They burn 
 wood on the engines, and on some divisions carry an oil tank filled with 
 water, next to the engine, as the supply is limited. We asked one of the 
 engineers how he got along witha fireman who could not talk to him. He 
 said he didn't want them to learn to speak English, for now he pointed 
 out to him what to do, and made him do his own work, and part of his, 
 while if he talked English he would soon become a kicker. Around pay 
 day the men carry a sack with them to hold their " dust." Tha law 
 is very strict with the roads, if a train killed a " greaser " the engineer is 
 arrested and tried. At the stations a body of police attend all trains 
 to keep the people back from the track. The trains run on Mexican 
 time, which is tbirty-five minutes slower than Central or Chicago time. 
 They do not measure the distance by miles but by kilometres, which is 
 five-eighths of a mile, or, to be exact, sixty-two one hundredths. They 
 run different classes of cars, charging four cents per mile in first- 
 
80 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 class cars, three cents in second and two cents in third. Tlie tliird 
 class have benches strung around the cars. As you near the City of 
 Mexico the railroad has an elevation of 11 ,000 feet, the grade is very heavy, 
 in some places 213 feet to the mile, and two engines are required to pull 
 up four cars. The automatic air is changed to straight air so that the 
 engineer has more control of the train. The track hands consider them- 
 selves well paid at the rate of 37 cents per day Every switch is 
 guarded by a Mexican employee of ihe I'oad, whose presence is necessary, 
 or the natives would steal the switch. 
 
 After crossing the Rio Grande the road runs for the first hundred 
 miles through prairie land covereil with ecrub oak, level and flat. The 
 land is mostly used for grazing purposes and is but thinly settled. A 
 hundred miles further and everything is so different from that which we 
 see in the United States that it seems like another world. The tropical 
 vegetation, the cultivation by irrigation, the immense flat-roofed, quad- 
 rangular adobe houses, each one of which accommodates from one to fifty 
 families, the Indian habitations dug out of a bank or of a cliff, the pic- 
 turesque dress of the people, crowned as they are with high, conical 
 sombreros and wrapped in many colored blankets, the orange orchards, 
 the adobe wall fields, the quickly alternating prospects of high cul- 
 tivation and seeming utter barrenness, all these make a deep impression 
 upon the spectator unaccustomed to them. 
 
 As we stopped an hour at iSaltillo a great number of Mexicans 
 (Spanish, Indians, half-breeds and variously mixed races) crowded down 
 to the station, and although they could neither talk nor understand 
 English, they and the members of our party managed to have a jolly good 
 time together, and such of the natives as could write willingly exchanged 
 autographs with those of us that desired. The Indians and half-breeds 
 were particularly good-natured and good-humored, and several of the 
 editors took liberties with their hats, clothing and persons which a pure 
 
 Spanish Mexican might have resented with a thrust of the stiletto. 
 
 ********** 
 
 From Saltillo to San Miguel we were placed in the light of original 
 explorers. This was the new part of the railroad and probably not fifty 
 people from the United States had ever been through this section 
 of the country before. The people in their strange dress and often in 
 very airy costumes crowded around us at the stations. A few pennies 
 thrown in the crowd would not only start a riot among the boys, but 
 some good sized men would take a hand. In this State we pass over the 
 tropic of cancer into the torrid zone, but we are in the uplaud or great 
 table land region of Mexico, from 6,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of 
 the sea. The weather is perfect, like a June day in Pennsylvania, 
 but the nights are cold. You see no clumps of trees or forests as are seen 
 in our State, but the yucba palm attains formidable size and the cactuses 
 the size of a large tree. 
 San Miguel is exclusively an Indian city. It has 15,000 inhabitants, 
 
• TEXAS AND MEXICO. 81 
 
 occupies the sides of a great cave in the mountains, obtains its water from 
 a single spring which flows down from the mountain side, and has a 
 church or cathedral with a spire 200 feet high, designed by a native 
 Indian. It is an ancient seat of Aztec civilization, and in architecture, 
 language, manners and customs, and, indeed everything except religion, 
 is as much Aztec to-day as it was a thousand years ago. 
 
 Our train reached the railroad station in the City of Mexico at 1 
 o'clock Tuesday morning, and we found that the program laid down by 
 Mr. Pierce, of Colorado, called for our passing another night in the 
 cold cars. Then the •' Only Solly " made a speech filled with 
 
 dashes. "• He would be if he wasn't going up street quick," 
 
 and he went. The ticket agent talked a little English and he said the 
 best hotel was the Humboldt; there was a street car that would take 
 us within a few squares of it, so our party boarded the car. The streets 
 were all lighted with the arc electric light, and another thing we noticed 
 was, that although the car was pulled by two small donkeys, they 
 raced it along at a fifteen-mile-an-hour rate of speed, when suddenly we 
 dashed into a carriage standing close to the track. The driver yelled, 
 the carriage was shoved in a heap with a wheel off on the side of the 
 track, while the occupant, a lovely senorita, with large liquid blue 
 eyes and pearly teeth, was hurled out on the ground. In two minutes 
 there were a dozen policemen around us, several of them on horseback. 
 The " Only," who had brought all this trouble on us, pretended to go to 
 sleep in the corner of the car. It was some time before we were allowed 
 to proceed, and when we did it was in company with several policemen. 
 We landed in the plaza and then the police pointed out to us the way to 
 go, but we hadn't gone a square tefore we were at sea again. The 
 " Only" then took the crowd in charge, and going to a policeman asked 
 him the way to our hotel. 
 
 The policeman could not understand the " Only," although he yelled 
 at him as if he was deaf. It was a strange fact that all the time he was 
 in Mexico he yelled at the natives on the supposition that the louder he 
 talked the better they would understand. The policeman did not under- 
 stand, and in a few minutes our party of a dozen was surrounded by five 
 or six police. One of them at last understood that we wanted to go to 
 the '' Humbolt," and they escorted us about two squares to the hotel. 
 The "Only" tried to talk to his men all the way, but he could not make 
 it go. At last we reached the hotel, and the sleepy porter left us in. 
 The " Only" waited until last, and just as the door was being closed he 
 popped his head out and said, in a loud voice to the platoon of police on 
 the sidewalk, " You are asetof ignorant fools." W. L. D. 
 
82 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 MEXICAN CUSTOMS AND DKESS — AFFINITY BETWEEN RACES— SOAP 
 
 A LUXURY. 
 
 Northwestern, Oshkosh, Wis., Dec. 12th. 
 
 The population of the republic of Mexico is about 10,000,000 people, of 
 whom five-eighths are of the native aboriginal stock, the balance being 
 of Spanish descent and more or less mixed with the native element. 
 The natives resemble in appearance our North American Indians and 
 have many of their habits. They have the same black hair and eyes 
 and their complexions are several shades darker. The costume of the men 
 consists of a wide sombrero, white cotton trowsersand shirt, and a serape, 
 generally of some bright color. The serape is a cross between a shawl 
 and a scarf, and is worn universally by the men, just as our Indians wear 
 a blanket. On the feet they wear sandals of leather, similar to the san- 
 dals used in Asiatic countries. These sandals are sold in the stores at 
 half a dollar a pair, but a Mexican can probably make a pair much 
 cheaper. One of our party tried several times to buy a pair of these odd 
 pieces of footwear, but either his Spanish was not sufficiently effective or 
 the Mexican was not willing to trade, for he did not succeed. The dress 
 of the native women would not enrich an Oshkosh dry goods man or 
 bankruj^t the average husband. First, a white cotton chemise cut low 
 in the neck and short in the sleeves, and then a skirt of some coarse, 
 rough material belted around the waist, and lastly a rebosa or scarf 
 around the head and neck. The rebosa answers to the serajoeofthe 
 men, and is usually of some bright color or woven in stripes or plaids. 
 At Maltiata, when the train stopped, a crowd of seventy native women 
 swarmed around the cars selling tropical fruits, and every one of them 
 wore a rebosa of bright blue. They wear the hair in two long braids 
 down the back, but they wear neither shoes or stockings or lingerie 
 of any kind, as I verily believe. They are by no means comely or 
 attractive in personal appearance, although they look strong and robust. 
 Frequently you will see a man and his wife walking side by side, or 
 rather running on a sort of dog-trot. The man will invariably wear san- 
 dals and the woman go barefoot. If there is a baby the woman carries 
 him on her back with the strap around her head, exactly as our Indians 
 handle their young. Children of all ages who take care of the native 
 babies carry them in the same way, thus developing the habit of carry- 
 ing loads upon the head. The natives will frequently carry upon their 
 heads bundles, bags and packages weighing 300 pounds, and the dexterity 
 with which they will move around under such an immense burden is 
 simply marvelous. The City of Mexico has few drays or express 
 wagons. Work ordinarily done by these vehicles is performed either by 
 the donkeys or the native porters. 
 
 It is a curious fact that since the discovery of America the Latin races 
 are the only ones which have been able to assimilate even in the 
 slightest degree with the aborigines. Whenever the Anj'lo-Saxou came 
 
TKXAS AND MEXICO. 83 
 
 in contact with the Indian the pale face crowded his dusky brotlier 
 further west and into a premature grave. It was only the French 
 settlers in Wisconsin and the northwest who amalgamated with the 
 Indians and the only half-hreeds are French or Spanish half-breeds. 
 Cortez, when he conquered the Aztecs nation, took unto himself a native 
 wife, but no Puritan in Massachus-etts or Dutchman in New York ever 
 followed his example. There seems to be a natural attinity between the 
 French and Spanish and the Indian races and this will exi)lain some of 
 the ethnological peculiarities of the Mexicans to-diiy. One of these is the 
 religious tendencies of the people. The Spaniards found the Aztecs 
 worshiping one God and the worship under the control of a strong body 
 of the priesthood, whose brilliant and spectacular ceremonies pleased and 
 dazzled the eyes of the natives. The heathen ieocalli m the city of 
 Mexico, which for generations resounded with the loud invocations of 
 the Aztec priest, was torn down to give place to a lofty cathedral 
 devoted to the worship of the true God. But the brilliant vestments, the 
 divine music, and the imposing ceremonial of the Latin church pleased 
 and satiated the desire of the Aztec race and the religion of Rome 
 penetrated the iniierniost regions of Montezuma's empire, even where the 
 language of Spain was unknown. The soldiers of Cortez intermarried 
 with the Aztec women and every importation from Spain added fresh 
 levies to the number who joined their blood to that of the natives, until 
 in time half of the population became of mixed blood. Then came the 
 Hidalgo's revolution against Spanish domination, the wars against 
 ambitious usurpers, the overthrow of Maximilian's empire, and suc- 
 cessful reorganization of the Mexican government, by Juarez and Diaz, 
 until to-day the Mexican nation is as homogeneous as that of France or 
 Germany. Ask any of the people if they are Spanish, and the reply is 
 universal, "No, Mexican." There is a strong national feeling, and 
 under the vigorous hand of Gen. Diaz there is a strong national gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The City of Mexico in its streets, public buildings, parks and private 
 residences is said to resemble a Spanish city. Every house or building 
 has its inner court, and all the streets radiate from a plaza. Even the 
 hotels are not American, but European. The only elevator in the 
 Republic of Mexico is in the Hotel Iturbide. None of the hotels furnish 
 meals. If you get a room that is all the hotel can give you. The Hotel 
 Iturbide was formerly the palace of the Emperor Iturbide, and is the 
 largest hotel in the city. The offlce is. a room about twelve feet square 
 in one corner of the court. The manager sits with his hat and over- 
 coat on in an easy chair, and there are no guests loating around the office 
 to remind you of an American hostelry. There is no reading-room, no 
 waiting-room, and no place to lounge around. If you want to write a 
 letter or read a newspaper you go to your room. In your room you are 
 lighted with a tallow candle. No soap is furnished. When I called for 
 
84 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 soap I was told that it would be "a medio" (sixpence), but, nothing 
 daunted, I heroically insisted on having it. "When my Castilian waiter 
 brought it he demanded "a real'' (shilling). His explanation, delivered 
 in flowing Spanish, was to the effect that the soap was a medio, and 
 going after it another medio, so I paid the real, and resolved to bring 
 my own soap next time. Sandy Broad. 
 
 SERVITUDE OF THE PEONS — CASTE— GOOD MANNERS. 
 
 Telegraphy Kalamazoo, Michigan, Dec 24th. 
 
 City of Mexico, Dec. 8th. — The common sights on the street here, 
 and the people who form them, are a curious chapter, and the one least 
 read by sightseers. It is a little presumptuous to jump at conclusions on 
 this subject, with only a few days observation, and such conclusions must 
 be subject to change on future light. Common life here is in a measure 
 ignored. A gentleman who wished to get photographs illustrating 
 this side of Mexico searched among hundreds of subjects in several cities 
 before he found one of so common a scene as that of the burro pack 
 trains, which abound everywhere, and wholly take the place of vehicles 
 in parts of the country that are not yet provided with wagon roads. 
 
 The people met in going a few blocks in the national capital are of 
 many hues and nationalities. Mexico contains not a few pure Span- 
 iards. Nearly 10,000 Spanish born reside in this country now, and their 
 relation to business and the business centers make them disproportion- 
 ately numerous in appearance. A stranger attending the opera in the 
 capital or other large cities finds the prominent parts of the house chiefly 
 filled with handsome society people, light-hued as those of New York or 
 St. Louis, Castilians by birth or descent. 
 
 The hard toil of the city is borne by a class strangely different. It is 
 chiefly the descendants of the Toltecs, who succumbed many centuries 
 ago to the Aztec, as the Aztec did subsequently to the Spaniard. 
 
 THE peons. 
 
 The Toltec is born to a life of severe and unrequited drudgery. He is 
 held to his employer or master by a system of keeping hopelessly in debt 
 to him. The inflexible Mexican law of contracts renders the bondage 
 inexorable. The common name for these toilers is peon (pronounced 
 pa-oan, two syllables). They are under size, dark skinned, and have low 
 heads. They are industrious and show a well developed sense of respon- 
 sibiUty. They carry almost impossible loads on their backs and heads. 
 When going any considerable <iistance their gait is a jog trot. It is no 
 unfamiliar sight to see four or five of them loaded up with a heavy piano 
 resting on their beu<led backs as it is being curried from one part of the 
 city to another. Fancy Anglo-Saxons doing that ! They are water 
 carriers for parts of the city not supplied with pipes, and the three or 
 four water jars they manage to carry at a load contain together a third 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 85 
 
 of a barrel or more. The peons are busy in every branch of druds^ery in 
 the cities, and carry on the work of the field and mine in country and 
 mountain. Their earnings iu field labor are said to be 18 cents a day in 
 our money. 
 
 The peon is a great figure in the domestic and industrial economy 
 of the country, but a cipher in most other respects. 
 
 ********** 
 
 How these people live, in a city like Mexico, is a marvel to the 
 stranger. It is partly ex])lained when he opens his eyes on one fact 
 after another. If he comes into his hotel late some evening from the 
 theatre, the immediate response to the heavy iron knocker reveals sev- 
 eral forms curled up in blankets 
 
 ON THE STONE FLOOR. 
 
 He learns in time that this inexpensive method of lodging is not excep- 
 tional, but the common practice. A French lady here, commenting on 
 the difficulties about servants, and her own experience with the night 
 nurse of her eight-months old child, said that she had to give her per- 
 sonal attention to the habits of the nurse, provide her with clothing, and 
 make it a rule that she occupied abed with the infant. Otherwise the 
 nurse would have rolled herself in a blanket and slept on the floor in 
 such part of the houne as suited her fancy. 
 
 Old Mexico is inured to caste, and the distribution of wealth is very 
 unequal. A few great estates occupy a territory oidy covered by daj's 
 of travel. The recent laws will gradually undo that wrong, but the 
 destitution of the very poor is extreme. Not a few of the poor creatures 
 here have no habitation when night comes but a door-step on the side 
 walk, exposed to cold night air, and lightly clad at that. In some 
 respects, however, there is no distinction between persons. The 
 humblest peon kneels in worship on the floors of the grand cathedral, 
 side by side with the wife of the grandee. 
 
 The picture of satisfied poverty here is one part of the country that 
 must be seen with the rest. It is a part that shows how heroic is the 
 spirit of the public men who have entered on the task of uplifting their 
 country and bringing a better day to the people of their own patriotism. 
 
 The shops and bazaars on the principal business streets are many of 
 them very handsome and are said to have nearly everything that can 
 be bought in Paris. The merchants are European, while many of the 
 most eminent public men have a good deal of Aztec blood in their veins. 
 
 SILK HATS 
 
 are common on the business streets, and Paris fashions are dominant in 
 society circles. The fineries and jewels displayed at the inauguration 
 ball dazed the eyes of the American guests. The dress and loveliness 
 witnessed on the paseo (pas sai/-o) or fashionable drive in the late after- 
 noons are scarcely' rivaled anywhere in the United States. The spirit 
 
86 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 of courtesy which marks the manners of the whole people, aristocratic or 
 humble, has a certain superficiality, but it puts our plain democratic cus- 
 toms to the blush. 
 
 A well-informed member of the Mexican Congress, who had had several 
 years' experience as a consular representative in one of our large cities, 
 commented privately to-day on two or three Americans whose conduct 
 was an impeachment of their good breeding, but in the same connec- 
 tion he added a tribute to American character in one respect which is 
 worthy of remembrance. While the people of the United States are plain 
 in their manners their respect for women, he said, was a trait that com- 
 manded his admiration, and American women were worthy of that 
 respect. His observation reflected a sentiment in Mexico which will one 
 day be strong enough to reform the divorce law here. It s ia law which 
 degrades woman. It establishes one standard of morals for the wife and 
 a much looser one for the husband, and considers nothing short of the 
 persistent keeping of a mistress or offenses actually committed under the 
 domestic roof to be a violation of the vows of marriage on his part. 
 The conflict between 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 over the civil and sacred status of marriage and the high fee charged 
 for the marriage service is operating in several of the Spanish Americas 
 to encourage people in living together without the customary deference 
 to the ceremony and the contract. The law of gravitation is as certain 
 in its operation in morals as in physics, and the effect of the above cir- 
 cumstances on both men and women is degrading. 
 
 The courtesy of manner here, already alluded to, impresses the visitor 
 at every turn. The humblest person on the street raises his hat when he 
 replies to your inquiry for information, and the face of the grandest 
 Mexican merchant lights up with a response of pleasure if your departure 
 from his counter is accompanied by a polite salutation. Some of these 
 ways are pure orientalisms, but they impress the transient visitor agree- 
 ably. W. L. E. 
 
 BURROS, THE BURDEN-CARRIERS OF MEXICO — MEXICAN POTTERY. 
 
 Daily Herald^ Steubenmlle^ O., Dec. 28th. 
 
 * ***** -X- * * * 
 
 Considering the numbers on the streets in the Mexican capital, they 
 are exceptionally quiet. The wheeled vehicles are not numerous, and 
 as they roll along,the spongy soil under the paving-stones deadens the 
 sound, so that the principal racket is the voice of the street fakir, of 
 whom there is a large family. The hoofs of the burros, as they carry 
 most of the traffic of the city, are almost as noiseless as though they were 
 muffled. By the way, these burros, or little donkeys, are a feature of the 
 country not to be despised. In fact, I am not sure but that they rank 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 8t 
 
 among the most useful class of citizens. Scarcely foui-Jfeet high, they are 
 exceptionally strong, and patience personifled. Their ears are the most 
 conspicuous part of the body and their large eyes have a look of quiet 
 endurance. They are not a lively animal, and not one was ever known 
 to run away. The pater- fiimilia might load one up with all his chil- 
 dren (provided he did not have too many), place half of them facing 
 towards the head and the other towards the tail ; at a signal the beast 
 would move off just ?o fast and no faster. Previous to the advent of rail- 
 roads they and the oxen carried nearly all the productions of the country, 
 and they do the bulk of the carrying trade yet. They can be driven lu 
 herds like sheep, and their appetite is as eclectic as a goat's. They are 
 so cheap that all but the very poorest families can possess one, and cost 
 practically nothing to keep. It is curious to see them coming in with a 
 load of hay strapped on their backs, with only their eyes and ears 
 visible, or h load of cord wood, bricks, tile, street refuse, a pair of babies 
 and every imaginable thing. In the mining districts the ore is carried by 
 them in sacks to the railroad, or other point of destination, and on 
 our way home we noticed far up among the mountains a mining town of 
 15.000 people which had never had a wheeled vehicle within its limits. 
 Those who make t<tout boxes of a certain peculiar size at the Steubenville 
 glass works, which when filled are intended, I believe, to weigh 100 
 pounds, probably do not think that their weight and size has been deter- 
 mined by the carrying capacity of this little animal under a tropical sun, 
 but so it is. One box hung on each side makes a load in marching 
 through the mountain pas^ses. I have a great respect for the burro. He 
 does the best he can while in this world without making any particular 
 fuss about it, and that is a good deal more than can be said of many of the 
 so-called higher orders of intelligence. 
 
 Before leaving Guadalupe we procured a few specimens of native pot- 
 tery, after some dickering with the ancient dames who had their stands 
 here. The pottery here is hand-made, unique and cheap, and no more 
 interesting memento of the country can be taken away. On this matter 
 a writer in the December Century says : " Each province— in fact almost 
 every village— in Mexico produces a ware having more or less distinctly 
 marked characteristics. In Guadalajara the pottery is gray, soft-baked 
 and unglazed, but highly polished and often decorated with stripings of 
 silver and gold bronze ; the caraffes, examples of which are common with 
 us, are made here. In Zacatecas the glaze is as hard and brilliant as a 
 piano top, and the small pulque pots and pitchers look like polished 
 mahogany or highly colored meerschaum bowls. [The Guadalupe pot- 
 tery is mostly of this character.] * * * ^\^q potters are these much 
 despised, degraded peons, who not only work in clay, embroider in feathers 
 with exquisite results— an industry of their ancestors— but make the 
 finest saddles of stamped and incised leather made in the world, beside an 
 
88 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 infinite variety of horse equipment unknown outside of Mexico." The 
 condition of a race capable of this class of work ought not to be considered 
 as hopeless. It may be of interest to add here that the treaty of peace 
 between the United States and Mexico in 1S47 was signed at Guadalupe. 
 
 D. 
 
 THE COLONEL'S EGGS — THE CATHEDRAL — LEGEND OF THE CITY — THE 
 
 RECEPTION. 
 
 Weehly Truth, Baton Rouge, La., December 21st. 
 
 The American editor is an omnipresent animal. He is brimful of 
 gigantic ideas regarding the United States, and possesses undying belief 
 that the editor knows more, and sees more for less money, and can 
 pick up a foreign language with greater ease than any man on the 
 face of the globe. Verily, he does the latter, as was evidenced in Mexico, 
 by these linguistic acrobats. Now, our neighbor, the Colonel, unlike 
 the majority of editors, did not attempt acquiring the language of the 
 natives; he believed in the power of reiterating the plain Anglo Saxon, 
 and a volume of sound to penetrate the Mexican cranium. When order- 
 ing breakfast he began gently : " Four hard boiled eggs, if you please, 
 waiter." The party appealed to, looked questioningly at him, shook his 
 head with a soft "noentiende, senor!" "Eggs!" the Colonel continued, 
 in an insinuating manner, drawing an oval figure with his fork, to 
 illustrate his longing, " Eggs! Eggs ! ! Eggs ! ! ! (holding up four fingers 
 to convey the number wanted). EGGS!!!! man alive, don't you 
 know what eggs are?" exclaimed the exasperated Colonel, his voice 
 running a chromatic scale during hiseff(trts to penetrate the shrouded 
 intellect of the servants. The theory of sound conveying intelligence 
 being exploded, the Colonel resorted to pantomime, and happily dis- 
 cerned a man at a table near him eating the desired article. The servant 
 understood his gesticulations. " Quarto ?"' he asked. " Yes. Oni ! Si — 
 and hard." Noting a doubtful expression, the Colonel conveyed the 
 proper information in the following graphic style : Four fingers in air, 
 and frowning violently, rapj)ed on the table, saying " boom ! boom ! 
 boom !" to signify the adamantine quality desired. The Mexican waiter is 
 an intelligent creature, for these demonstrations might have meant pre- 
 parations for war, followed by a brisk canonade. Pantomime perform- 
 ances were engaged in by all the delegation, and were as easy to inter- 
 pret as the hieroglyphics on the Aztec dial. 
 
 The Plaza de Armas is in the centre of the city and all thoroughfares 
 converge from this point. It is itself a picture of rarest tinting, and n( - 
 where does the sun seem to pour such radiant beams as on this plaza, 
 where hundreds of the floating populace (a peculiar feature of Mexico,) 
 bask in the sunshine. Half clad, half starved, these creatures live 
 upon the plaza that covers fourteen acres and is embellished with trees. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 89 
 
 shrubs, flowers, fountains and statuary, while a handsome pavilion 
 stands in the centre, and a fine liand furnishes oiusic to the multi- 
 tude every evening. Yet, with all the poverty, these peons seem a 
 happy people. Starvation has no pangs for them, for custom has 
 dulled the sensibilities ; they feel no dread of the long cold nights, for, 
 like Dickens' " Smike," they might say pathetically, "■ I am not cold, 
 I am used to it." They have nothing, and have nothing to fear, in con- 
 sequence are philosophers. Of God's glorious light no man can deprive 
 them, the blue skies, the moonlight, the stars, music and flowers are 
 theirs in common with the patrician. There was a charm about this 
 old plaza, and a subtle spell fell over me that there was no resisting, and 
 the inclination was wanting to dispel it. The passing to and fro of tiny 
 vendors of matches and "vistas" of fruits and confections, the beggars so 
 picturesque and filthy, the grace of the women, the sullen look of the 
 men, all combined to make the scene strange and thrilling. Here we 
 were in the very arms of nature, and could feel her warm, rebellions 
 heart throbbing, see her wild flights untrammeled by conventionalities; 
 we could note her brown, l:)are arms giving her sweetest gifts to these 
 nomadic children of hers. Her skies were their thatched roofs, the streets, 
 their hearthstones, the plaza embodied their sweet word, " home." Her 
 sunshine was health, light and warmth to them. A little " beggar 
 maid," with luminous brown eyes and dimpled cheeks, always greeted 
 us with a soft cooing, "Una, centabo, chicita mujer," and with gentle 
 caresses, there was no resisting, she plied her trade, and without fail won 
 the coin requested, then with a laugh bounded away to the next comer 
 and crooned her plaintive taleanew with the same mournful cadence and 
 expression of countenance. I wonder if these people ever dream of the 
 great range of human possibilities, if thoughts like those that some- 
 times stir within the humblest of us ever come to them as they bask in 
 the sunlight on the plaza ? If better and purer impulses float down 
 to them on the wings of night when slumbering on the stone benches, 
 with only the star spangled dome above them ? Do they feel the 
 loveliness, the beauty about them, or only know the wretchedness, the 
 squalor and degradation of their surroundings? There is loveliness and 
 beauty indted, at all hours, and particularly when " the lights are lit in 
 the city " and the trees throw tender, tremulous traceries upon the 
 plots of grass and flowers, and upon the walks. The grand old cathe- 
 dral appears like a mighty etching against the i-ky — soft, gray and mihty 
 are a portion of the outlines, while others appear as if some Titan hand 
 had sketched them deep with sepia. Shall we leave the wonder place of 
 this city — the plaza, with its music and lights, its noise and shadows, 
 and enter the Cathedral by daylight ? The exterior is of Renaissance 
 style, and is adorned by a fine dome and two open towers oyer two hun- 
 dred feet high. This Cathedral is shaped like a Greek cross, and is the 
 largest and most sumptuous church on the American continent. My 
 pen halts before an attempted description of so much magnificence, 
 
90 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 for the church I am accustomed to worship in might be set down in 
 one corner and forgotten there in this mighty edifice, which has two 
 great naves, and three immense aisles, down the sides of which twenty 
 altars range. The Doric style prevails throughout the interior. The 
 centre altar took our United States breath away and my fair com- 
 panion de voyage and I leaned on each other for support as we gasped, 
 "How grand! How lovely!" the latter expression being the acme of 
 feminine praise and admiration. This altar was supported by blue 
 onyx columns, capped with massive gold filagree work, and surrounded 
 by balustrades of the same rich metal. The handsome carved choir was 
 also enclosed in gold balustrade. This Cathedral represented millions and 
 millions of dollars, and lo ! the people starved at its portals, and beggars 
 infested its aisles. I believe when the ignorant masses are appealed to 
 through their sense of sight the effect is more potent. The faith, the 
 abject devotion, as seen demonstrated here, is wonderful and yet pathetic. 
 The women wear black dresses and rebosas to service at the Cathedral, 
 and kneel in the aisles. In making their genuflections they press their 
 lips to the bare dusty floor with such reverence and gaze at the high 
 altars with such great love, such veneration and ecstasy that the unbe- 
 liever stands rebuked and touched by their simple, beautiful faith. 
 This Cathedral was completed in 1657, eighty-five years having been con- 
 sumed in its construction. It stands on the site ot the great pyramidal 
 temple of the Aztecs, dedicated to Huitziopoctli, their titular God. 
 
 At the museum we were shown the "original eagle" from which 
 the emblem of Mexico was derived, we smoothed its feathers and 
 remarked "it looked very fresh to be f>jur hundred years old." I 
 shall- tell you the pretty legend as it was related to us by Mr. Alberto 
 Martinez, a handsome son of this fair republic, who served as our inter- 
 preter and made our visit to Mexico delightful and instructive. I can- 
 not tell it in his way, but here is my version of it : 
 
 THE LEGEND. 
 
 Once upon a time the nation that lived beyond the mountains 
 that encircle the plains of Anahuae, heard at midnight a bird of strange 
 species call " pee wee, pee wee!" Doubtless we, with experience and 
 stoicism, would have thought nothing of this but the Aztecs were differ- 
 ent, and listened to the voices of nature and imbibed her teachings; so 
 when the mysterious bird continued to call plaintively " pee wee, pee 
 wee !" the wise men of this nomadic tribe interpreted it as " Let us 
 gol Let us go!" and the intelligent bird served as a guide, and was 
 probably gifted with the unerring instinct of the vulture. However, the 
 people followed him, which was well, else there would have been no 
 legend to relate. I am only sorry I don't know what kind of bird it 
 was, but its mission was at an end as soon as the mountain was reached, 
 because the Aztecs saw an eagle flying with a snake in his bill, and 
 looked upon it as an omen of good, and Montezuma said to his people. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 91 
 
 "• Wheresoever the eagle alights there we shall rest and build our city." 
 History does not relate what became of the intelligent " pee-wee" bird, 
 but I dare say the Mexicans made "•chilli-con-carne" of it before they 
 followed the eagle, who never relaxed his hold on the serpent, and sailed 
 majestically' ahead until he reached the plateau of Anubuac, then he 
 circled slowly and settled upon a cactus (prickly pear species) that grew 
 from a rock in the middle of Lake Tezcuco. Hence, oh, skeptics! the 
 City of Mexico was built upon this lake, otherwise it might have been 
 
 located on terra tirma. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The Flower Show every morning, on the north side of the main 
 plaza, was quite a feature in our sight-seeing. The pavillion was a pic- 
 ture, with the men, women and ctiildren, dark and swarthy, amid the 
 beauty and fragrance of their flowers. Great heaps of lilies and roses, 
 long trailing bunches of fuschias and honej'suckle, marguerites and 
 daisies, violets and pansies, woven into fantastic shapes, curved in cres- 
 cents, bent in stars, or arranged in clusters. The air was heavy with 
 perfume, and still the flower venders came, laden with their sweet 
 burdens. It was literally a " feast of roses." 
 
 I wonder who buys all these fragrant treasures daily ? J suppose the 
 wealthy classes, for the handsome floral decorations seen at the market 
 are quite in keeping with the elegant homes of the influential and rich 
 Mexicans. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The reception of the National Press Association by President Diaz 
 was a memorable occurrence, and as we passed through the great arch- 
 way of the National Palace, guarded by the military, and down the 
 courts and up the massive marble stairway, I was weighted down by 
 the importance of the occasion. Was depressed by coming events to such 
 an extent that I could only murmur to my companion a classical quo- 
 tation that seemed touchingly appropriate as the editorial menagerie 
 toiled upward and onward, 
 
 " The animals came in two by two. 
 The monkey and the kangaroo." 
 
 " Hush ! How can you V" was the unfeeling response ; " we are going 
 to see the President." 
 
 And ao we were, and saw him. A.fter we had wandered through a 
 suite of magnificent apartments we came to the reception room, with 
 handsome carved doors, hung with exquisite paintings by Miranda, 
 and a chandelier that held a thousand prisms of light. We clung in 
 circles about the walls— six layers deep — breathless with expectancy, 
 our eyes fixed on the doorway through which President Diaz was 
 to enter. '' He came, he saw and he conquered" — to revise Caesarine doc- 
 trine — the editorial fraternity. The tension on our nerves gave way 
 at his appearance, and our representative grew noticeable for his volu- 
 
92 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 bility. President Diaz is of medium height, has a face remarkable for 
 its power. Firmness is delineated in every line of his features. He is 
 dark, with straight black hair, combed pompadour, and wears a mous- 
 tache, which is slightly gray. He looks like a soldier and has fine mili- 
 tary bearing. But his eyes are particularly attractive, keen, bright, 
 questioning, and reminds me of black onyx through which streaks of 
 amber run. His reception of us was cordial and his remarks warm and 
 hospitable. He said he was striving to model the Republic of Mexico 
 after the United States, which was his ideal of a prosperous Republic. 
 We were noisily appreciative of this remark. 
 
 Addie McGbath (Vivian). 
 
 STRANGE INCIDENTS — A SAPIENT PENNSYLVANIAN— CUPID LETS FLY 
 
 AN ARROW. 
 
 State Journal^ Columbus, O., Dec. 12th. 
 
 I shall set down here a few incidents of my tour through Texas and 
 Mexico, which, in the hurry of daily correspondence, were omitted. 
 
 One of the most picturesque characters in the expedition was H. J. 
 Stehle, of the Compiler., Gettysburg, Pa. He is an old ujan, short, thick, 
 heavy set and fat. He seemed to move with considerable difficulty even 
 from one compartment of a sleeping car to another, yet wherever the 
 party went Stehle was always sure to turn up, full of life as any boy of 
 twelve, jolly as a sailor off duty, observing with an exceptionally keen 
 eye everything that took place, and crammed to the brim with minute and 
 interesting information. He is a Democrat from way back and has much 
 influence in the counsels of his sadly hojDeless party in Pennsylvania. 
 When we first entered Texas Stehle was rampant in the expression of 
 his Democratic views, expecting, of course; to receive loud applause 
 therefor from the people of a State which gives 145,000 Democratic ma- 
 jority. Everyone traveling in the South, however, has observed, if he 
 kept his wits about him, that the Southern people by no means consider 
 Northern Democrats as the salt of the earth. In some inscrutable way 
 and for reasons which it is difficult to analyze they are regarded as " off 
 color." Stehle, with his keenness of perception, was not long in finding 
 this out. His Democracy at every step took on milder and milder forms, 
 until finally near Temple, in Texas, he permitted himself to be con- 
 versed with as a Republican by two or three Texans without protest or 
 remonstrance. Some of the Republicans on the excursion afterward ral- 
 lied him upon this. " Why didn't you tell them you were a Demo- 
 crat?" was asked of him. '• Well," said he, "I don't consider it 
 necessary to make a fool of myself on every occasion even to let people 
 know my politics!" A loud and good-natured laugh greeted this reply, 
 and from that time on very little was heard of Stekle's Democracy . 
 
 Mr. Stehle was a citizen of Gettjisburg when the great battle took 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 93 
 
 place, and his personal reminiscences thereof are wonderfully graphic 
 and entertaining. It was to his house that Col. Dudley, of Indiana, was 
 brought after receiving the wound which cost him a leg. Stehle nursed 
 him and cared for him as if he were an infant, and it is to the credit of 
 both men that between them and their resjiective families a warm friend- 
 ship sprang up, which has continued unbroken to the present day. 
 
 The one thing which seemed to strike him with most force in Mexico 
 was the wonderful canal, the Viga, upon which so much of the internal 
 traffic and commerce of the Valley of Mexico is carried on. He spent a 
 whole day upon it and beside its banks. Afterward he never tired of 
 telling about it, and his loud, sonorous and hearty voice could frequently 
 be heard above the roar of the cars, and almost the full length of the 
 train, exclaiming, as he wound up the story about the canal to each group 
 of listeners, " It is the Pennsylvania railroad of Mexico, sir I" 
 
 At the Hotel Humboldt, in the City of Mexico, I noticed, the morn- 
 ing after our arrival, a fair, blue-eyed young girl gazing curiously down 
 into the court upon the members of our association gathered there She 
 was talking Spanish with a Mexican maid, and yet it struck me that 
 she could be neither Spanish nor Mexican. I spoke to her at the first 
 opportunity and had my impression confirmed. She was 11 years of 
 age, although she looked about as large as a girl in the States at 14. 
 Her name is Mary Florence Galloway. She was born at St. Paul, Minn., 
 and when 3 j'ears old her parents went to Mexico, where they have ever 
 since resided. But they have never slacked in their efforts to keep 
 Mary talking English. She saj's she likes that tongue better than 
 the Spanish, but spite both of herself and her parents her Spanish has in- 
 fluenced her English, and she Uilks the latter with a peculiar balance, 
 intonation and softness that are [)erfectly charming. Next year, she says, 
 she is to be sent back to St. Paul to school, and the prospect greatly 
 delights her. One needs to go to Mexico before he can appreciate the 
 pleasure one experienced in finding this sweet Northern flower amid 
 the tropic bloom of that faraway southern land. I shall not soon forget 
 her, for to her society was due several of the pleasantest hours that I 
 passed in the Mexican capital. 
 
 The strangest incident that befell me was the following : The day I 
 went out with a party <jf a dozen or more to visit Guadalupe and Cha- 
 pultepec there joined us at the former place a man of middle age and 
 of dark complexion, whom I took to be a Mexican. He was versed in 
 Spanish and full of information concerning the things we saw. What 
 particularly struck me was the correctness and purity of his English, 
 which he spoke without break or flaw. This is very unusual for a 
 Mexican, and I listened to him closely. Several times I asked him ques- 
 tions and had a number of brief conversations with him At night we 
 parted. The next morning, at the Hotel Humboldt, Mr. Fletcher, of 
 Illinois, came uji to me, saying that a man was present and now resident 
 
94 JOURNALISTS' VJEWS OF 
 
 in Mexico who used to know me in the States, and thereupon he pre- 
 sented the very gentleman whom the day before I had taken for a Mexican, 
 and conversed with under that impression. "You are Furay!" he 
 exclaimed with some excitement. ''Yes" I replied, '"and who are 
 you?" "Why," said he, ''don't you know Albert Sher win i*" And 
 sure enough it was an old schoolmate of mine at Antioch College, whom 
 I had not seen for twenty-nine years. He had seen my name upon 
 the hotel register, else he aud I would have met and parted recognizing 
 each other no more than had we been denizens of different worlds. 
 
 W. S. Furay. 
 
 NEED OF WATER IN MEXICO— POVERTY— FAMILY AFFECTION. 
 
 Shelby County Democrat^ Sidney^ Ohio. Jan. 11th. 
 
 ****** **** 
 
 As we have already intimated, Mexico is a comparatively dry country. 
 What a Mexican farmer needs most is water. He takes every advan- 
 tage possible to get the benefit of all that falls in the form of rain, and also 
 of that which flows through the streams. In thickly settled portions of 
 the country, whenever it can be done, water is stored in tanks for the use 
 of stock, where stock-raising only is pursued, and in reservoirs to be used 
 for irrigating the crops when the benefit of the rains have been ex- 
 hausted. Mexico, except along the coast, is a series of high, level 
 plains, divided by mountain ranges. These plains average in elevation 
 above the sea at from 2,000 to 8,000 feet, with a very few peaks reaching 
 into eternal snow. Therefore, being in the torrid zone, or near it, 
 unlike Colorado aud California, the rains or snows, when they do fall on 
 the mountains, flow ofT through the streams much sooner, and are not 
 stored up for the benefit of irrigation as in the States named. In view 
 of these facts the Mexican, wlio has all the warm climate he needs, and 
 none of the cold, plants aud sows so as to take every advantage of mois- 
 ture possible. 
 
 Where he can get full advantages of moisture, natural or artificial, 
 all the year round, he raises two aud three crops to the year. He can 
 do this without the aid of fertilizers, as the soil is very rich and fertile. 
 
 A Mexican is a very pious individual after his own fashion. His 
 religion is usually formal, and with a very large majority of them laid 
 aside as soon as the formality is over, to be taken up again as often as his 
 uneducated priest directs. The wants of a Mexican are not numerous, 
 and among the poorer class, if he has a wife, aud they are pretty sure 
 to have one at an early age, an adobe building, or the share of one, and an 
 acre or two of ground upon which he can produce enough corn, beaus 
 and squashes, he is satisfied. He dresses in cotton pants and cotton 
 blouse, usually white, with feet bare or supplied only with sandals, he is 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 95 
 
 prepareii for the world. If better off the sombrero, or hat and shawl is his 
 aristocratic outfit. His wife is sure to go barefooted, has a white blouse 
 and blue skirt, without bustle, corset or bangs. She usually possesses 
 a reboza, which is a long, narrow shawl, which she uses around her 
 shoulders or head or to carry the baby in. The Mexican women all go 
 bareheaded, unless the reboza is thrown over the head. It is usually 
 used for the more important purpose of carrying the inevitable baby 
 swung on the back or bosom. Mexicans, especially those of Indian 
 blood, are small in stature and squarely built. The women are tine 
 formed and not inclined to corpulence. All have black eyes and fine 
 teeth, and yet from their sedate looks they cannot be called pretty. 
 They are dark complexioued, those of pure Indian blood being the darkest. 
 All Mexicans are polite and sensitive in their manners. The wealthier 
 class in the cities are well educated. 
 
 Many of the Mexicans are poor and homeless, but poverty in a 
 country of perpetual Spring and Summer is notsuch a hardship as in a cold 
 climate. A Mexican with a dollar's worth of clothing on him or her can 
 accustom themselves to sleep anywhere, and a few cents a day will fur- 
 nish enough tortillas, their corn cakes, frijoles, beans, vegetables and a 
 little dried meat to sustain life. A Mexican woman may be so poor 
 as to have no home, but she is always a devoted mother. Whether 
 workingin the field, washing by the stream, or at her household duties, 
 which is chiefly rubbing soaked corn into dough on a stone and bakibg 
 it in flat cakes on a griddle, her child is either swung on her person or 
 near her side, and though it may be as naked as when she gave it to 
 the world, as we sometimes saw them, she loves it dearly. While we 
 saw thousands of babies in Mexico, we never heard but one cry, and 
 saw very few smile. 
 
 MEXICAN BEAUTY AND STYLE. 
 
 Clinton Republican, St. Johns, Mich., Dec. 37th. 
 
 Through many a clime 'tis mine to roam 
 Where many a soft and melting maid is ; 
 
 But none abroad, and few at home. 
 May match the dark-eyed girl of Cadiz. 
 
 The prevalent idea of the Spanish- Mexican girl seems to have been 
 absorbed from the above lines of Lord Byron, for everybody asks : " Is 
 the Mexican girl really as beautiful as she has been described ?" We 
 dislike to shatter such poetic dreams, but the fact is that the Mexican 
 descendant of the "' girl of Cadiz" compares with Byron's ideal about as 
 much as the marvelously beautiful hero of the ten-cent novel compares 
 with average femininity. The Mexican girls all have sparkling black 
 
96 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 eyes and white and regular teeth. Many have good forms and good 
 features, but they lack that intellectuality which lights up the face of the 
 Northern girl, and lends beauty to faces which might not otherwise be 
 beautiful. There may be a host of beautiful girls concealed somewhere 
 about the great Republic of Mexico, but they were not present at the 
 ball or the theatre attended by the writer, or on the fashionable drives 
 and promenades. There were twice as many handsome girls at the 
 leap-year party in St. Johns as we saw during eight days in Mexico. 
 
 At the first village at which the train stopped in the morning a score 
 of curious Mexicans greeted our party, and they stared with as much 
 apparent interest at the Yankee costumes as our party did at their gro- 
 tesque raiment. The aver-ige Mexican is dressed in a sombrero with a 
 rim eight inches wide, a gorgeous band around it and a two-story top, 
 reaching up into the atmosphere something like a foot. His hat is men- 
 tioned first because the pride of the Mexican rests in his hat. It costs 
 more than all the remainder of his costume. Next, a serapa, or woolen 
 blanket, adorns his shoulders and is generally so wrapped about him as 
 to cover his nose and give him the appearance of the fiamiliar fiend 
 of the dime novel of our boyhood days. Then comes a coarse woolen or 
 cotton shirt, a pair of trousers made out of cloth that looks like our grain 
 bagging, and a pair of sandals. The latter are merely a piece of sole- 
 leather cut the size of his ample feet and fastened on by leather thongs. 
 When, to this " layout," a native Mexican can add a mustang and a 
 gorgeous silver-inlaid saddle his happiness is complete — he is a picture of 
 supreme contentment and every glance and every motion teem to say : 
 
 "■ A land that boasts inhabitants like nie 
 Can have no lack of good society." 
 
 The dress of the native women is, in some respects, like that seen at a 
 full dress ball in a northern centre of fashion, but it doesn't cost any- 
 where near as much. Their arms and breathing apparatus are dressed 
 only in the glorious ozone-laden atmosphere and the rich nut-brown tan 
 peculiar to this land of sunshine. Their visible wearing apparel consists 
 of only a Mother-Hubbard of coarse cloth tied at the waist and abbrevi- 
 ated at both ends and a rebosa or shawl, generally black or dark blue 
 over their heads. Most of them go barefooted. Mexico bears a striking 
 contrast to the United States in the line of dress. The men put on most 
 of the style in Mexico. 
 
 FURNISHINGS OF THE PRESIDENT S QUARTERS— AUTOCRATS OF 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 Commercial, Pine Bluff, Ark., Dec. 23d. 
 ******** * * 
 
 The Association in a body cajleil on the (.Tovernor of the State of 
 
TKXAS AND MEXICO 97 
 
 Mexico, but as he was at Vera Cruz we had to ooiitent ours'^lves by being 
 formally receiveil by an one-eyed old man, the Secretary of State, quite 
 to the disappointment of several. We visited the different State Depart- 
 ments, however, and were surprised at the uniform manner in which 
 all the business of the Stiite is conducte'l. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon 
 the Association called, by invitation, upon President Diaz. We were 
 received in the large " satin" room. The furniture of this room is simply 
 grand and the inner walls are of the finest and heaviest pink satin, bril- 
 liantly figured. This room was furnished and decorated by the un- 
 fortunate Maximilian. After we had formed the President entered 
 from an east door, when tlie president of our Association greeted him 
 with a few remarks, and then each passed him and shook his hand. 
 There were several babies along ; each of these Diaz kissed. After this, 
 at the President's request, some four or five gentlemen of the Associa- 
 tion addressed him and he replied to each in a most becoming way. 
 The speakers spoke in English and their talks were interpreted by 
 a Mexican gentleman and Diaz answered in Spanish, which was by the 
 same interpreter given us in English. 
 
 Gen. Diaz is a fine looking man, about six feet two inches high, of 
 a soldierly bearing and is rather light of complexion, being of the 
 pure Castilian blood. He possesses a very fine black eye and has a 
 splendidly shaped head, equal in size to his magnificent form. He 
 seemed pleased at the Association and in the several speeches he made he 
 often referred to the '' model republic of the world— the United States." 
 He is undoubtedly a great man and has succeeded very well in eon- 
 trolling to a great degree a people whose viciousness aud irresponsibility 
 no human being can be acquainted with except by personal contact and 
 observation. There are two classes in Mexico — prince and peasant — 
 and the latter are, in our opinion, inferior in every respeci to any 
 race we have ever been thrown with. The *• greaser" of Mexico is 
 filthy, dishonest, vicious and in every way looks and acts like a villain . 
 There are many complexions among the lower class, and may be easily 
 accounted for, and these, like the mulattos of our country, are not 
 allowed to associate with the whiter and more i)rincely natives. The 
 rich Mexican (or Spaniard) is a perfect autocrat, and when he allows a 
 greaser to speak to him thn lower order of man must, take and keep off 
 his hat until theconversation iseuded. In truth, Mexico is not a republic. 
 It is a monarchy. The only liberty these lower class of people have 
 in the city is to take full charge of the narrow sidewalks, because the 
 higher classes never travel by foot, only in carriages. The " greaser" is 
 the dirtiest human ever seen by us. These people are devout Catholics 
 —in fact, they carry their religion to real idolatry. This is deemed 
 necessary by the princes and priests, the better t) keep them in ignor- 
 ance and fear and thereby prevent insubordination, for there would be no 
 safety, whatever, 'tis said, if there were notconstant and everlasting wor- 
 
«8 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 ship and, as before stated, the religious portion of the duty of these 
 strange people is kept up with a regularity that amazed several Catholic 
 ladies and gentlemen of our Association. Nor is this worship alone con- 
 fined to the lower classes, but the better people, we were told, are truly 
 devout, but do not carry on worship to the extent of the peon. 
 
 CHAPULTEPEC AS THE HALL OF THE MODERN MONTEZTJMAS. 
 
 Standard^ Marion^ Ala. ^ Jan. 16th 
 
 We finally reached the great gate that admits you to the court of the 
 Palace, which we found guarded by cadels, for in connection with the 
 Palace is the " West Point" of Mexico. After a few preliminaries we 
 were finally admitted to the celebrated Hall of the Montezumas, which 
 was improved and fitted up by Maximilian as his palace. Such magnifi- 
 cence as we beheld here it is impossible for this feeble pen to describe. As 
 we ascended the self supporting marble stairway, with its nickel balus- 
 trade, we began to prepare for the splendors that soon opened to our view. 
 
 The furniture of the Palace we were told cost six millions of dollars, 
 and even one door, which was then incomplete, we were told would cost 
 $60,000. We entered the reception room in which, if we remember aright, 
 the walls were of morocco, and its coloring, as well as that of the tapestry, 
 furniture, etc., was maroon and gold, the curtains were of felt lined with 
 satin and api)liqued with morocco and gold. We passed through the 
 various officials' rooms, wliich were fitted up in the same sumptuous style. 
 In President Diaz's office was an elegant oflSce desk inlaid with pearls. 
 To see the dining room was a feast of itself. The massive carved furni- 
 ture of mahogany and embossed leather, the window curtains were of 
 terra cotta plush, bordered with brown embossed leather, embroidered 
 heavily with silver and gold. The floor was inlaid in squares, octagons, 
 etc., with a light yellow wood, walnut and mahogany. The ceiling of 
 this room, as well as of all the others in the Palace, was beautifully 
 frescoed by the best of artists. The smoking room was a paradise to 
 most of the male members of the party, with the same elegance of 
 furniture, the frescoing represented wreaths of smoke, half burnt cigars, 
 pipes and all the conveniences of the smoker. In Mrs. Diaz's music 
 room we saw a parlor grand piano, upon which our better half played 
 "Homp, Sweet Home." This room was elegance itself, with its beauti- 
 ful frescoing, its lovely tapestry, each chair, sofa and ottoman was a pic- 
 ture representing a different scene or figure. The sewing room was in 
 pale blue and pink plush, the walls were covered with pink silk embossed 
 with plush flowers, outlined with genuine gold thread. Her bedroom 
 was furnished in blue and silver, but we must hasten on and leave our 
 readers to picture to themselves all of this magnificence. We ascended 
 to the roof where was a gran<i garden with its tropical trees and plants, 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 99 
 
 its lovely flowers, fountains, etc. From here we had a grand view of the 
 city, of the kikes, the majestic saow capped mountains, the battlefield of 
 Chapul tepee, the " noche triste " tree, under which Cortex is saiii 
 to have passed the niglit in tearful vigils, when he had despaired of 
 conquering the country. Part of the Palace had been the " Halls of the 
 Montezumas," and a portion the guide informed us was nine hundred 
 years old. As we passed out of the grounds by the carriage way we passed 
 trees that were forty-eight feet in diameter. 
 
 A PRIVATE RESIDENCE — STAGE COACH — HOTELS. 
 
 Orant County Witness, Plafteville, Wis., January 9th. 
 ********** 
 
 A dozen of the editorial party started out to see the sights, and desir- 
 ing to hire two victorias, were on the lookout for a livery stable. Passing 
 along the street a carriage was observed standing in one of the courts, 
 and thinking that perhaps our wants might be supplied there we en- 
 tered. We were met by a gentleman who, noticing that we were Amer- 
 icans, addressed us in English. We told him what we were looking for. 
 He smilingly told us that we had gotten into the wrong place, but 
 that if he could ho would gladly serve us. He was the Secretary to the 
 Q. M. of the above named gentleman, and he went into the office and 
 informed his employer of the situation. Mr. Sanchez kindly dispatched 
 one of his men to find the carriages and invited us to take seats in the 
 court until the vehicles should arrive. While we were waiting he sent 
 his chamberlain to ask us whether we would not like to look through his 
 residence, whereupon we were conducted up the wide marble steps, the 
 marble rail being surmounted by a nickle-plated rod, and on the other 
 side, against the wall, a large plush rope was arranged to support those 
 passing up or down. The balcony on the second floor was a perfect 
 wonder. All kinds of tropical plants, and statuary, many of them rare 
 and curious, abounded. The furnishings of the house were magnificent. 
 The parlor drawing-room, library, dining room, kitchen, pantry, in fact 
 every iiortion of the interior arrange-ment was most magnificently fur- 
 nished —superior even to the President's palace at Chapultepec. The 
 occasion gave us a glimpse at the higher runkri of Mexican living such 
 as we probably would not have enjoyed in any other way. 
 
 THE OLD-FASHIONED STAGE COACH. 
 
 There being but comparatively few railroads, the old fashioned six 
 and eight mule stage coa<^h, accompanied by a guard, is no unusual 
 sitrht in the street? — either starting out or arriving from some neigh- 
 boring city. The mules are harnessed, two at the tongue and two at the 
 lead, with four animals abreast between them. Each vehicle is sup- 
 plied with a driver and a whipper. The latter is well skilled in the use of 
 the lash and is sometimes seen descending from the coach while in mo- 
 
100 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 tiou and to run ahead and strike the forward mules and then regain his 
 seat with unfailing accuracy. He also carries aliberal supply of stones 
 
 with which he pelts the leaders who are out of reach of his lash. 
 
 ******* -x-** 
 
 All the Mexican hotels are kept on the European plan. They have 
 no general waiting room except in some of the largest, where a carpeted 
 room is provided for the accommodation of the guests. The office 
 is usually a small room, six to eight feet square, in which the clerk 
 serves you through a small window like at a bank or postoffice. 
 Anyone going to the hotel goes at once to his room, and while there may 
 be a hundred guests scarcely anyone is ever seen lounging about as is 
 customary in the hotels in the States. The several stories are provided 
 with balconies and with the doors of the rooms opening toward the 
 court, and many of the rooms have no windows except the one in the 
 door. Some of the courts are paved with stone and others are filled 
 with tropical shrubs and in some cases with large eucalyptus trees, and 
 some of them have beautiful fountains playing, rendering the scene 
 from the balcony very charming. The roofs of all Mexican houses are 
 fiat and are utilized as promenades and the more practical use of dry- 
 ing clothes. The price of a room varies from $1.00 to $5.00 and more, 
 Mexican money, per day, and it makes no difference how many occu- 
 pants it is to contain. This includes attention, towels, water, one star 
 candle, but no soap or matches. The bedsteads are of iron, and after 
 three nights at an attempt to rest we concluded that the mattresses and 
 pillows were pretty closely related to the same material. The water 
 for drinking is always kept in bottles — such a thing as a water pitcher for 
 drinking purposes was not seen in Mexico. At the Comonfort filtered 
 rain water is used and it was quite palatable. Only manufactured ice 
 is used in Mexico and it was said to be quite expensive. We took 
 most of our meals at the American restaurant. The food was well 
 cooked and every thing gave good satisfaction except the cofJee and 
 butter. The former is thick and muddy and must be reduced nearly 
 half with milk before it is drinkable. The butter is nearly white and 
 unsalted, and is generally served in little patties formed like a geranium 
 leaf. We tried it once, and not liking it concluded to do without it 
 while we remained there. 
 
 There is only one hotel in the Republic of Mexico that is provided 
 with an elevator and that is the Iturbide (pronounced It-ur-bid-e) in 
 the City of Mexico. 
 
 STREET CARS — AN EDITORIAL MENU. 
 
 Capital-Commonwealth^ Topeka, Kan.^ Dec. 23d. 
 ********** 
 "Hotel" is about the same word in all modern languages, and in 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 101 
 
 all countries visited by travelers, but the thing it represents differs in 
 different countries, and nowhere else has it the wide significance of com- 
 fort or luxury that it has in the United States. The American sojourn- 
 ing in other lauds finds an "aching void " that the foreign caravansary 
 «annot fill. 
 
 San Carlos is an adjunct, or " annex" (to use the centennial phrase), 
 of the " Iturbide hotel," intimately connected with it, and enjoying 
 what all oriental hotels have, the tasty inner court, filled with shrubs 
 and fountains, and in this case stately eucalyptus trees, with a covered 
 ■balcony in the second and third stories surrounding and overlooking 
 this pleasant court. It was at the San Carlos that we found rooms, and 
 from this balcony enjoyed the concert by the Mexican band (a band 
 almost as famous as Gilmore's, and by some esteemed more highly) ten- 
 dered the National Press Association by the Press Association of the City 
 of Mexico on the evening of Tuesday, November 27th. 
 
 The hotel is of stone, with walls and doors like a fortress. Indeed, 
 the Iturbide is said to have formerly been the Palace, and, in that sense, 
 the stronghold of the ruler whose name it bears. Our room was large and 
 airy, on the third floor ; the entrance was from the inner balcony, and two 
 broad glass doors, protected by outside blinds and inside shutters, opened 
 on a balcony overhanging the street, whence to the eastward and to the 
 westward the surrounding mountains could be seen, while beneath, in the 
 narrow street, the moving burdens borne by men, women or burros, were 
 Ijassing — the burdens often so bulky that the bearers of them were hidden 
 from view. Vehicles for commercial purposes are few in the city, yet 
 pleasure carriages and hacks for passengers are quite suflicient for all calls. 
 The i)assenger hacks, like the street cars, are all grouped into two or 
 three classes, designated on the hack by little tin signs, colored white, red 
 or blue, according to grade. However, at this distance we will not state 
 for a fact which of the three colors represents the first class. On the street 
 car (which, by the way, are all made by Stephenson, in New York, aad 
 owned by American.s) the classes are designated in words " primera" or 
 "segunda," as the case may be. For the first you pay "una real" 
 (12i cents), for the second, " una medio" (6i cents). Here the obsolete 
 currency seems to be recognized, as among the peons, instead of the 
 decimal coins. But, to return to the hotel : the room we have mentioned 
 is floored with tile overspread with Brussels carpeting, supplied with two 
 iron bedsteads, evidently not made for "Og, King of Bashan," as to size. 
 (Let not the reader think of a Yankee bed in connection with the spring- 
 less matress and split-log bolster that is supplied here). The other furni- 
 ture of the room is ample enough for a large family. You buy your 
 own soap and matches with which to light your candle, or else you do 
 without, but towels and water are supplied. For such a room the price 
 per day for two persons is three Mexican dollars — $2.25 American money. 
 None of the hotels in this city of 300,000 people furnish regular meals, 
 
102 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 but many of them conduct a restaurant in connection with the house. 
 We ate at an American restaurant, No. 14 Calle de Vegara, in the 
 next block, and fared very well at 50 cents, Mexican, per meal. The 
 proprietor of that establishment was a facetious caterer, as was indicated 
 by his bills of fare. For instance, at dinner on the 29th (Thanksgiving 
 Day in the United States), the menu ran in this wise : 
 
 SOUPS. 
 
 Ox Tail, a la Colonial " Echo." 
 
 FISH. 
 
 Baked Red Snapper, a la Vincennes • 
 
 " Commercial." 
 
 ROASTS. 
 
 Loin of Beef, dip Gravy, a la Mansfield 
 
 " Buckeye." Saddle of Mutton 
 
 Brown Sauce, a la Nebraska 
 
 "Call." 
 
 ENTRIES. 
 
 Chicken Stew, a la Hastings " Gazette." 
 
 VEGETABLES. 
 
 A la Oshkosh " Wisconsin." 
 
 REMOVES. 
 
 Ala Topeka " Capital-Commonwealth." 
 
 SALADS. 
 
 A la Hinsdale " Standard." 
 
 PIES. 
 
 A la Amboy " Journal." 
 
 DESSERT. 
 
 A la " Farmers' Friend." 
 
 The above, amplified as it was to include a large number of the papers 
 represented, caught the editors very effectively. The restaurant was very 
 satisfactory to all who patronized it. 
 
 In general the hotels have no elevators ; the Iturbide is an exception ; 
 but the stairways are wide and easy of ascent. The noise and confusion 
 that attend the American hostelry is conspicuously absent, and there is 
 no all-important clerk to overawe you by his diamond flash and his 
 royal commands to the bell boy. You may call by the electric bell, and 
 a polite and willing servant responds, and with commendable patience 
 tries to understand the order you issue. 
 
 Let it be recoi-ded that the woes of tourists in Mexico are much 
 mitigated by the innate and ubiquitous urbanity and patience of the 
 people with whom they come in contact. The Yankee would hold up 
 the unfortunate foreigner to ridicule if he made the blunders that these 
 people politely pass by apparently unnoticed. In the matter of personal 
 courtesy the Mexicans possess what in the United States is almost a 
 lost art. Ij- II- E. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 103 
 
 MEXICAN FETE DAYS— INAUGURATION OF A PRESIDENT, AND ITS 
 
 FESTIVITIES. 
 
 Ledger^ Fairfield^ Iowa, Dec. ISth. 
 
 Like all Roman Catholic countries, Mexico has a surfeit of festival days. 
 Indeed, it is said, there are so many that they can't be crowded into the 
 year and lap over on one another. It was our good fortune, however, to 
 be in the Mexican capital for the great secular holiday season — the inaug- 
 uration of the President of the Republic. It was a great occasion for the 
 visitors, as well as for the natives, and we are somewhat surprised that 
 Porfirio Diaz stood it all as well as he did considering the honors paid 
 him by the Gringo editors a day or two previous. A call from such royal 
 guests and three days of celebration was spreading it on a little thick. The 
 first day of the notable three was a Saturday, and it was ushered in with 
 the ringing of all the church bells in the city, 400 or oOO in number, and 
 many of them are beautifully toned and sound sweetest harmony, and the 
 booming of cannon. Many business houses were closed, and the streets 
 were thronged with people. There was, however, an almost utter absence 
 of decoration , aside from that displayed on the Government buildings, 
 and an occasional flag of the Republic— red, white and green, and an eagle 
 with a serpent in his beak on the centre stripe. Thronged as all public 
 places were, there was even a better opportunity to study the characters 
 of the people than we had before. The whole mass seemed to resolve 
 itself into two classes, the rich and the poor, and both were seen at their 
 best. The white cotton garments of the former looked fresher and cleaner 
 for the holiday, but the array of the latter was simply gorgeous. A Mex- 
 ican dude once seen is a sight not soon to be forgotten. Generally 
 he is several shades lighter in complexion than his poorer brother, and 
 is seen on horseback or ready to mount. His top piece is a hand- 
 some sombrero, bell crowned, broader than a lady's sunshade and orna- 
 mented as to crown and rim with handsome gold embroidery. The 
 price of an American suit of clothes can go into one and not be noticed, 
 and they are ofTered for sale in the stores at $40 to $100. A short, tight 
 fitting jacket of bright coloring adorns his body, while his legs are en- 
 cased in buckskin breeches, generally " foxed" with a darker shade, and 
 rows of buttons as big as silver dollars down the outer seams. His saddle 
 with its handsome ornaments may be worth hundreds of dollars, and 
 his spurs fashioned out of precious metals. He is a beauty and he 
 knows it. 
 
 The common people appear, in turn, to have divided themselves into 
 two classes, buyers and sellers, and there are more itinerant vendors to 
 accost you than " fakirs" at a State fair. Of course holiday goods are 
 their principal wares, and they run most to sweetmeats. 
 
 It was the barbaric splendor of the ancient Aztecs that invited the 
 Spanish invader and nerved him to conquest, and the love of display 
 still lingers. In atfairs of Church and State, in the customs of the people , 
 
104 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 it still has a place, and the " pomp and circumstance of war" are used by 
 the Government to please the national taste, as well as to serve to keep 
 the national peace. The regular army of the Republic numbers about 
 50,000 men, and to one not accustomed to military it looked as though 
 it had all been massed at the capital for this occasion. From daylight 
 on troops of cavalry, regiments of foot soldiery and batteries of artillery 
 are marching through the streets in all their gorgeousness, banners are 
 flying, bugles blowing, drums sounding and bands playing. At 10 
 o'clock the protest or oath of office is administered to President Diaz for 
 a second time at Casa Disputados or Congress house, and he and his 
 Cabinet and members of Congress are driven in carriages to the National 
 Palace. Perhaps 10,000 soldiers participated in the parade which fol- 
 lowed. The infantry would be put to shame by our own State militia, 
 and it is not to be wondered at when we know that they are recruits from 
 the lowest classes. But the cavalryman ! He is a different creature. He 
 is splendidly mounted, and movements of horse and man are so har- 
 monious that they appear to be the same animal. And finer horses 
 never were seen. Small, blocky, squarely built animals, solid colors, 
 many of them stallions, with arched necks, fiery eyes and beautiful, 
 sweeping tails and manes, they look the ideal horse as they go gallop- 
 ing through the streets, their hoofs keeping time on the cobble stones 
 with the beat of the drum and the blast of the bugle. The Western 
 cowboy is a marvel of equestrianism, but the Mexican cavalryman can 
 give him many a pointer. 
 
 At night the great plaza is a beautiful sight. The national colors are 
 displayed in a row of bright lights along the entire 600 feet front of the 
 palace, and thousands of lanterns of red, white and green light up the 
 beautiful garden. Probably 40,000 people are assembled here to witness 
 the display of fireworks. It is indeed a gala occasion. High and low, rich 
 and poor mingle together, and the magnificent silk of the grand dame 
 whom one would not see except in her carriage at other times brushes 
 the coarse garments of the half clad Indian woman. Lines of policemen 
 and soldiers are stationed here and there, but there appears to be little 
 for them to do, 'for every one is happy and smiling and good humored, 
 and there is an utter absence of drunkenness and riotous conduct, such 
 as might mark a similar occasion in this more highly civilized land. 
 And such a display ! Around that great square were dozens of splen- 
 didly fashioned exhibition pieces, high enough in air to be seen from any 
 point within its limits, and discharged with military precision, and with- 
 out accident, by a troop of handsomely uniformed men. For three hours 
 or more the square was fairly ablaze with the bright lights of many col- 
 ored fires, and rocket and candle and serpent hissed and whirled through 
 the air. Beautiful as was the display of the set pieces the grand finale 
 was yet to come. All at once the great cathedral, from tower to founda- 
 tion, was a mass of flame and colored light, from red to green and white 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 105 
 
 and all their tints and shades— now brilliant, now subdued, now a solid 
 mass of fire, now a million flames, darting and quivering like serpents' 
 tongues. And the bells in all the towers rang out an accompaniment of 
 sweet, sonorous tones, and in richest harmony. It was a magnificent 
 spectacular panorama, the like of whicla our party had never seen and 
 probably will never see again. But in all that vast audience there was 
 no cheer, no applause, no sign of appreciation or approbation, not an 
 oh, an ah, or exclamation of surprise. Why, one good Cleveland or Har- 
 rison shouter in the last campaign would have shown more enthusiasm 
 over a coal oil torch than 10,000 Mexicans over this Aladdin-like display. 
 We wanted to yell, but Mexicanized ourselves for the time, and took it 
 all in as a matter of course. 'Mid strains of sweetest music— for Mexican 
 bands do make sweet music— the great crowd dispersed as quietly and 
 orderly as it had gathered. 
 
 Sunday was citizens' day, as Saturday had been soldiers' day, and the 
 round of festivities was taken up again. In the morning came a parade 
 of business and trade associations, of educational institutions and civic 
 societies. In the evening came the grand inauguration ball. The deco- 
 rations of the ball room were superb and its costumes magnificent. So 
 agree all who saw them. It lasted all night and many a belated par- 
 ticipant was going home when other people were taking their coffee next 
 morning. For the common people Monday was the great day of all, 
 lor it brought three free bull fights, and as we rode through the streets 
 early in the afternoon thousands were then on their way lo the rings 
 where this barbaric sport is the only attraction. 
 
 Didryou ever see a bull fight ? Yes, we did, and we don't want to 
 see another one. Invariably it is a Sunday afternoon sport in Mexico, 
 as it is in Spain, whence it came, and Mexicans of all classes go to it as 
 Americans go to a circus, only more so. Every large city in Mexico 
 has its " Plaza del Toros," or bull ring, and there are three or four 
 in the City of Mexico. We chose the "•Paseo," a high-toned place, 
 if such there be. Admissions range from 25 cents for children and seats 
 in the sun to$l for general admission in the shade and $10 for a box 
 and eight entrances. The Paseo is a huge wooden amphitheatre — the 
 largest wooden structure we saw in the country — built around an arena 
 perhaps 200 feet in diameter. Between the ring and the lowest tier of 
 seats is a barricade perhaps six feet high, over which the bull tighter 
 vaults when closely pressed by taurus, a narrow footboard aiding his 
 agility, while here and there around the ring are heavy wooden barri- 
 cades, behind which the men may dodge to escape the bull's horns. 
 Everything is painted a dingy white, but huge black bull's eyes, Uke 
 a rifle target, mark these places of refuge. Perhaps 10,000 people could 
 find seats in this huge amphitheatre. Half that many are here to-day, 
 and all classes, colors, ages and sexes are represented. The peon ami 
 the grandee are both at home here, and respectable looking fathers and 
 mothers, accompanied by their entire families. A brass band furnished 
 
106 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 music and a company of soldiers preserved order, for there is often riot- 
 ing at a bull fight. Every bull ring has its judge's box, and the gentle- 
 man who presides is an alderman, that being a part of his official duties. 
 By his side stands a trumpeter who signals the various changes of the 
 program. There are several classes of bull fighters and supers. The 
 espada or matadore— the killer — is the big man of the ring, the pet of the 
 ladies and the idol of the populace. The banderilleros tease the bull and 
 torture him to madness with their red cloaks and cruelly barbed darts. 
 The picadores are the only fighters who appear on horseback, and their 
 business is to repel the charges of the hull with their long spears. 
 
 All bull fights begin with a grand entree, like a circus, the lassoers 
 who are sometimes called into requisition, and the gaily caparisoned 
 mules, who drag out the carcasses, and their drivers bringing up the rear 
 of the parade. Ata blast of the truiui:)et a door opens and a wiry little 
 bull dashes into the ring, a banderilla — a stick three feet long wound 
 with bright colored papers and flowing ribbons, with a huge barb in its 
 end, being stuck into his shoulders as he makes his entry. His eyes flash 
 fire as they sweep around the ring and his tail lashes his sides as he bel- 
 lows out defiance to his antagonists. The shouts of the excited crowd 
 confuse him for the moment, but he dashes madly at the banderilleros, 
 who shake their great flowing red cloaks in his face and then dart away 
 to escape his sharp horns. The audience soon tires of this featu re 
 of the play, and a shout goes up for the horses. And thej come, poor 
 old jades that they are. Their eyes are blindfolded and they tremble in 
 fear as their brutal riders force them into the arena. Their breasts 
 and rear parts are protected from attack by shields of heavy leather 
 which the bull's horns seldom penetrate. Not all bulls will fight a 
 horse, and if one refuses to attack his comrade of the range his removal 
 from the ring is demanded in a manner which always brings the answer. 
 After some preliminary play in which the picadore often turns the 
 infuriated animal by his stout spear, the bull lowers his head and 
 makes a fierce charge. His horns strike the poor horse in belly or 
 flank, penetrate their full length, and with an angry toss horse and 
 rider are thrown to the ground. Great, gaping wounds appear in the 
 poor brute's body, and blood pours from them in streams as he attempts 
 to rise to his feet. Then is seen the enthusiasm of a Mexican crowd, and 
 the amphitheatre fairly trembles with their hoarse shouts and blood 
 thirsty yells, while an American shivers and grows faint at the horrible 
 scene. The sight of blood moves this people to emotion when fine music 
 and beautiful display have no effect. A second and a third horse went 
 down belore the second bull, which came into the arena, and it was not 
 until he sulkily refused to make another charge that the mob quieted 
 down, and the poor horses were taken from the ring only to have their 
 wounds bandaged and return as targets for another bull as long as their 
 trembling limbs would sustain them. Then the banderilleros get in 
 their fine work. Always facing the bull, they carry a barbed ban- 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. lOT 
 
 dillera in either hand, and by a quick dash at the animal endeavor to 
 fasten them in his shoulders ere he can charge them. A successful play 
 again moves the crowd to cheers, and the agility in making the thrusts 
 and getting out of harm's way is the nearest approach to skill in the 
 entire program. Now blood begins to pour from the poor brute's 
 wounds, and bedashes wildly at whatever presents itself to his gaze. But 
 his charges grow less frequent, and mannerless infuriated, and the espada 
 is called for. He carries a red blanket on his arm and a sword, with a 
 blade perhaps oOiuches long, in his hand. His thrust must be made when 
 the bull is facing him or charging. His aim is at the rear of the bull's 
 neck, near the shoulders, and a single skillful thrust will sever the spinal 
 cord and death ensues immediately. This was done but once in this 
 day's barbarity, when the blade was driven into the poor brute's body 
 clear to its hilt — he stopped in his mad charge, trembled and sank to the 
 ground lifeless. Often the lighting is wors^e than butchery, for half a 
 dozen unskillful thrusts fail to kill, and the poor bull dashes around 
 the ring with blood gushing from wound of blade and barb at every step, 
 and befalls to the ground from sheer weakness. Once taurus is down, 
 however, a butcher runs in and cuts his throat and the mules — the most 
 respectable animals in arena or amphitheatre — drag out the carcass. 
 Thus were six bulls tortured and killeil on this afternoon. Two were 
 brought in, refused to tight and were removed. Sometimes, when a bull 
 grows sulky in the last stages of the fight, the banderillas are tired and 
 burned down into the flesh to goad him to madness. Often the lassoers 
 dispose of a cowardly bull. They are finely dressed and mounted. One 
 ropes the bull's head, another his hind legs and the animal is stretched 
 out in the ring in less time than it takes to tell it, and the butcher's 
 knife dispatches him. The unsportsman like feature of the bull ring is 
 that bravery has no reward. The brave bull must go to beef, while the 
 coward escapes. Then the bull has no show whatever. His wildest at- 
 tacks are made with his eyes closed, and he seldom follows up a charge, 
 even if he has the advantage of his human opponent. If a bull fighter is 
 unable to reach the target or vault oyer the barricade his dozen comrades 
 generally manage to attract the infuriated animal's attention long 
 enough to permit the escape of their fellow. A skillful play has its re- 
 ward in the uproarious approbation of the crowd, and hats are often 
 showered into the arena like boquets upon a commencement stage, but 
 hisses and jeers are heaped upon a blunder on the part of the bull fighter. 
 But the mob awakens to the greatest intensity of its emotions if the bull 
 kills the man, which sometimes occurs, and the sad end of the two- 
 legged brute is forgotten in the shouts of " Brava Toros," which greet 
 the bull. Such a scene is said to beggar description. The bull's head is 
 cut ofi" and hung in the place of honor under the judge's box, where it 
 hangs until another one proves a maukiiler. Pity, like honesty and 
 virtue, seems to have little place in the Mexican heart. If it had there 
 would be no bull fight. The torture of the bulls and the brutal, yes 
 
108 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 bloodthirsty, treatment of the horse, moves the average American to 
 wish, after the first bull is killed, heartily for the death of his tormentors. 
 Bull fighting is not sport. It lacks every element of it save only agility. 
 It is cruel, heartless, un jMtj'ing torture of the poor animals and is without 
 one single redeeming feature. A Spaniard or a Mexican may enjoy it, 
 but it is revolting in the extreme to most other people who see it. One 
 bull fight is enough for us. We do not care to see another, nor do we 
 wish to meet in the great hereafter with the people who indulge in such 
 cruel and bloodthirsty work, for we feel satisfied that there is a special 
 place reserved for them where punishment is most extreme. 
 
 THE BULL FIGHT. 
 
 Democrat-Gazette, Davenpwt, Iowa, Jan. 3d. 
 No matter what they undertake, they want God on their side, and in 
 some way tell Him so. Dice-gamblers, so mediaeval Christian history 
 tells, so waved their hands, while shaking up the cubes, as to trace in the 
 air the monogram of Christ — since this would give them fortune. In 
 Mexico the other day many a wandering journalist from tlje sober States 
 — an average Christian lot, as such things go— were taking in the city. 
 To give a sample case of enter prising goodness, let us summon Mr. Brown, 
 a man of standing worth and more than average piety at home — his home 
 up in the North, where bulls are killed for canned corned beef for picnics, 
 camp-meetings, and the like. You may call him Brown, but that is not 
 his name. On Sunday, Nov. 30th, Brown quit his bed at an early 
 sunrise hour, sipped some coflee, ate a roll and sauntered off to mass. 
 The cathedral mass is very fine in Mexico, the altars most impressive, 
 the organ loft a very grand affair, and the piety deep and pure, italicized 
 with organ swells and tinkling bells, anil many a cloud of incense. As a 
 profane man I never could tell which engaged me best, the music, the 
 service, or the crowd. The first is very grand in large cathedral towns, 
 the next is most impressive -a heavenly ceremonial, that takes its time 
 and hour whether few be there or many. The service waits for none. 
 If none or only one should come, the intoned phrases, the prostrations, 
 robings, music, sacraments, are ever quite the same. And the crowd — 
 it seems to have no care for dress, but each drops in as happens — the well 
 dressed, the poorly clad — men in tatters, women with market baskets, 
 the country lad with chickens on his arm, the fruit and flower dealer, 
 the men with fancy horse gear — come you in brave raiment or in rags, 
 come all ye that labor and are heavy laden— the door is closed to none. 
 It is not the clothes that worship. Clothes are not going to heaven 
 — hearts are wanted — warm, faithful hearts and trusting souls! And all 
 are on their knees, for all are Catholic, and lips all move in prayer, 
 for all are praying. Yet while lips move in prater faces of lads and 
 faces of senoritas oft turn toward the gringos, and look you ! That black 
 haired, snapping eyed mantilla over there is flirting with her fan! Dear 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 109 
 
 Psyche, what a profile ! Her ripe lips move in prayer, but she flirteth 
 with her fan— wafts words to a curly pated brave across the nave. For 
 their is a fan language in Spanish lands by which kind lovers chat from 
 box to box in theatres, from balcony to street, from Inez to Felipe In 
 the sweet hour of prayer. Look you, Inez goes out. Sure; and there 
 goes Felipe. And we go also. O, human nature ! 
 
 Brown, having worshipped, returned refreshed, and, keeping up that 
 frame, went to the street office and lx)ught a ticket — a pasteboard slip 
 which later on admitted him to the bull fight — saw six bulls killed that 
 Sunday afternoon —watched every move most eagerly, as one who is 
 charmed beyond all power of speech ; then afterward condemned the 
 contest for a cruel bore ; then went to the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation and cleverly and touchingly addressed the Protestants assembled 
 there; then dressed for a stunning ball and danced the Sabbath out — 
 even until the morning. It was a good day's work — a little mixed you 
 say, but rather a handsome average. 
 
 Bull fights are a very old amusement. Just when or by whom in- 
 vented no (.ne pretends to know. They were practiced in Pharsalus and 
 Heracleum, in Thes?aly before the Christian era, and were introduced 
 into Rome by Julius Cicsar after his fight with Pompey in the year 45 
 B. C. When or by whom they were discontinued in that capital is not 
 known. That they were popular among the Moors is certain since they 
 introduced them into Spain about 800 years ago, and so firmly en- 
 grafted them upon that people that they became the leading national 
 pastime — divided the honors, so to speak, between the cathedral and 
 the coleseo. One of the curious episodes of ecclesiastical history is the 
 long and unsuccessful warfare made upon them by the Popes, the 
 origin of which being not in the amusement itself, but in its human 
 victims. 
 
 In Rome in 1333, in Pope Benedict's time, bull fights were yet the 
 rage ; great contests in the Colloseum. One held that year is the most 
 noted one on record. The foremost noblemen of Rome, to the extent 
 of thirty-eight, became the matadors — each one to meet one untamed 
 bull with single spear — even such men as Malatesta, Corsini, Cafar- 
 ello, Conti and Corsi. But the bulls had the best of it, for of those who 
 fought them that day nine were wounded and eighteen killed outright ! 
 The populace had a rare entertainment ; also another, a second one at 
 the subsequent Junerals at St. Maria Maggiore and St. John Lateran, 
 when the noblest families mourned their patrician slain. Bull fights 
 were also popular at Romagna and Spoleto, but though long held in 
 Spanish thrall, they never cursed fair Naples. 
 
 In Spain a single bull that had slain seven men became an object 
 of reverence — was painted at great cost, and his life-size picture shown 
 with pride within the public plaza. Pope Pius V., in 1566, promulgated 
 a bull against bull fights, prohibiting on pain of excommunication all 
 who should engage in or patronize them. But eight years later Gre- 
 
no JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 gory XIII. annulled that bull except as to fast days and ecclesiastics. 
 Yet Clement VIII., in 1596, removed all prohibitions, except as to monks 
 — only enjoining caution. Later on the great Si^anish Jesuit Mariana 
 opposed them vigorously, but to no effect — the fights went on and 
 Christian Spain enjoys them yet, unchallenged by the Church or State. 
 
 Charles IV. of Spain, about 100 years ago, partially abolished them, 
 but a few years later were restored by Joseph Bonaparte in deference to 
 the popular demand. Tliey crossed the sea to Mexico before the Pilgrim 
 fathers sailed. They reached England in the form of bull baiting, which 
 was a great Sunday sport, attended by ladies of the highest rank and 
 most finished education ; yet not without some opposition. Queeu Eliza- 
 beth decreed their banishment upon Sabbath days. Yet in 1618 she took 
 occasion to rebuke " some puiitanes and precise people in prohibiting 
 and unlawfully punishing of our good people for using their lawful 
 recreations and honest exercises on Sundayes and other holy dayes" 
 after the church service. Bull baiting was defended by such men as 
 Canning and Windham, but finally died out in the eighteenth century. 
 In other days in Spain bull fights were the special care of monarchs, 
 but now in all countries where they exist they are a matter of private 
 speculation, and not infrequently figure in the support of benevolent and 
 public institutions, and, strange as it may seem, these barbarous displays 
 have, at times, been given in Spain in support of the society for the 
 prevention of cruelty to animals. They have in many instances held 
 the favor of the Christian courts, and the actors in these tragic scenes 
 have enjoyed the favor of great queens and high born dames, who be- 
 stowed their chosen colors to deck the ribboned darts that pierce the tor- 
 tured toros' necks. 
 
 But the bull- fight. The place of this public meeting is the eole?eo— the 
 Plaza de Toros, if you please. These are larger or smaller amphitheaters 
 of stone or wood. The largest one in Spain seats 18,000 people. The 
 smaller ones in Mexico seat about half as many. All hive large oval, 
 uncovered arenas, hedged by curtain fence or barrier, beyond which rise 
 tiers on tiers of seats, and circling, roofed-in boxes filled in with chairs. 
 The fighting hour comes. It is Sunday afternoon. The presiding officer 
 takes his seat. He is sometimes a government official. In Mexico an 
 aldermanic magnate fills the chair. Prayers are said in the private ante- 
 room, and priest and physician, with sacraments and surgeon's tools, 
 await results. The band is in place— the seats well filled. At the trum- 
 peter's signal, the combatants enter. The sight is indeed superb. The 
 picadores, in gorgeous jackets and long pikes, sit upon their steeds. The 
 others afoot, shining with gold and silver braid on scarlet, blue, bright 
 green and safTron, carrying cloaks of crimson, violet, and canary. They 
 strike acro?s the well-raked sands and salute the president, whose signal 
 is a white handkerchief. All these take their places. 
 
 At a signal a gate opens — a furious, black-necked, sharp-horned, 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. Ill 
 
 little bull bounds in. Passing the barrier alley he is pierced by a barbed 
 banderilla, which hangs from his flesh and goads him to madness. He 
 has lately come in from a wild mountain pasture, and has been for some 
 time confined in a close and darkened pen. Darting suddenly into light, 
 amidst strange scenes and loud voices, he rushes about, looks up and 
 around, and paws up the dirt. He is dumbfounded and mad in a minute. 
 Instantly his glaring eyes see the red cloth that a chulos flaunts out, 
 and he rushes at it. He hooks it with his wicked horns, but the man 
 has jumped nimbly aside Maddened all through, he plunges desper- 
 ately toward one of the blinded horses mounted by a picador, armed with 
 a steel-capped pike. This pierces him in his nei-k or side, and maj turn 
 him off. If not, he makes a furious lunge, gets at the horse, lifts him 
 from his feet and floors him. The peeple shout tremendously, '•Bravo, 
 toro!" " Viva toro!'' and the chulos rush in with flaunting cajies and 
 attract Lim away; the picadore extrieates himself from the horse, 
 which is frightfully gored, but struggles to his feet, and the mad fight 
 goes on. If the horsH should be unable to regain his feet, he dies, and is 
 hauled away by bravelj'-harnessed mules. These horses are of small 
 value — played out hacks, and the bull ring seems to be the place to finish 
 them. They have close blinds over one eye, the one kept next the bull, 
 and the body is protected by a thick leathern blanket, reaching to the 
 knees. The legs of the picadore are also protected from the thrusts 
 of the raging brute by thick chain armor, worn beneath his pantaloons 
 of tawny leather The now enraged brute charges another horse and 
 pitches him upon the sand and a third would have fared no better 
 had not a mighty lance thrust checked him and drawn a stream 
 of blood from the thick, burly neck and sent him back to charge a 
 hectoring chulos. A trumpet blast now sends the horses out, and 
 the banderilicros begin their work. There are four of them, each armed 
 with short, barbed darts— light javelins feathered with ribbons, red, and 
 white, and green— the national colors. The bull is tre mbli d g— losing 
 strength, but yet is full of pluck. He charges to and fro upon the chulos, 
 but as he stands to rest, a banderillaro approaches face to face, raises his 
 arrows threatingly high — their s-harp, barbed points advanced, and se- 
 cures the bull's attention — then rushes forward and within a step of the 
 mad monster's horns, and before the quivering brute can make a spring, 
 plants both into his fleshy neck and jumps aside unhurt! The bull is 
 at him in a flash, pursues him to the barrier, over which he nimbly 
 springs. The other lancers follow up the trick until from the neck of the 
 infuriated beast hang Irom the bleeding flesh eight gaily ribboned spears. 
 
 Goaded to fury the mad bull charges everything that's red, and 
 bellows out his rage. But his time is stiort. The supreme moment has 
 come. At a signal by a secret door enters the matador, the slayer. He 
 bows before the President, throws down his cap in token of respect. His 
 left hand holds a muleta, a crimson silken flag. This he flirts in the 
 
112 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 foaming creature's face to exasperate him. In his right gleams forth a 
 long, slender Toledo blade, a sharp, death-dealing weapon. With springy 
 step he approaches his terrific adversary, flirts the muleta, cautiously 
 advances, his eyes fixed firmly, magnetically upon him. The audience 
 holds its breath, the fans stop waving, even the fruit sellers for the 
 first time desist to watch the coupe de maine of Quatra Dado, the tall 
 four-fingered swordsman, the coleseo king. This is what these thousands 
 came to see, this crowning act of artistic slaying. The picador is of small 
 consequence, the banderillaros attract some loud applause from sola side, 
 but fail to lull the gossip of the sombra tiers and boxes, but the spada- 
 dor, the swordsman, is the star that dims all else beside. See him advance, 
 flaunt his small crimson flag — and see ! the bull resents, dashes at it — is 
 eluded by the swordsman, who upon the bull's first charge is not 
 allowed to thrust. But if he return — renews the charge, let him take 
 care, for that slim whetted blade will find his vitals. See, the bull re- 
 turns ! Whisk ! Through the air the steel leaps forth so swift the eye 
 scarce follows— is driven to the hilt ! Both spring at once. The swords- 
 man saves himself. His thrust was not con elusive — it pierced the mon- 
 ster through, blood rushes from the wound it made at entrance and exit, 
 and more comes from the aaouth and nostrils. Another sword, more 
 flirting of the muleta — the bull is pluck all through, resents each flaunt- 
 ing insult. Vociferous is the cheering — for the bull. More wary steps, 
 nearer and nearer — now another charge and recharge — another lightning 
 flash — the bull drops dead — stone dead. Cheering is deafening. Specta- 
 tors' hats fly to the ring— the bull is slain — the audience glorifies. 
 
 Great cruelty ? Yes; but this is but one scene of six that makes up 
 two hours' sport. But the bull has no chance for life, you say. True ; 
 his only chances are to gore and kill some worthless horses, to catch 
 and toss and tramp to death some luckless tormentor ; no other chance 
 save in abject cowardice, for which he is driven forth, hooted out ; 
 and if he be horror bound and will not go, the men ride in, rope his 
 head and heels and drag him down there to be slain by tbe common 
 butcher's knife and dragged out by the trinity of skittish mules — even as 
 must have been had he fought them to the death. No chance — no more 
 than at the shambles or at an Armour packing house. What becomes of 
 them ? Butchered and eaten by the soldiers. Ugh ! Yes ; but you buy 
 such in tin cans, and eat them. What's the difference ? But bull-fight- 
 ing is barbarous. So is any killing. And debasing. Granted; but 
 awfully alluring. And wickedly degrading. Granted again ; yet with 
 his bull-fights and his churchly pageantry the Catholic Spaniard has 
 done more to manage. Christianize and utilize millions of native Indians 
 than all the Protestant forces of these 250 years — yes, ten to one. There 
 is no excuse for cruelty. No; so let's quit fishing, hunting, trapping. 
 Whence came your rich fur robes, dear sir and madam V Sheep's wool 
 will keep you warm ; but to contribute to your vanity, do men go mur- 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 113 
 
 derins: harmless seals ? So, before entirely condemning brother and sister 
 Christians who were educated to, and surely dole on bull-tights, consider 
 your own ways — your own well-nurtured vanities. At all events, please 
 set yourselves quite right ere you too sharply criticise. 
 
 Will I go to another bull-tight V Not till I have another chance. Do 
 you defend the game ? No; but life has many a pastime to which men 
 somewhat incline, that none care to defend. 
 
 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE BULL FIGHT. 
 
 Press, Washington, Iowa, Deo. 12th. 
 
 All barbarous peoples have fought beasts for fun. We Christians fish 
 for fii'n, chase fox and deer and buffalo, for fun, fight cocks, and we can- 
 not get off by cursing the infinite cruelty of bull fighting. Besides, when 
 you go to Rome, do Komanly. So we went to the Coliseo to see the one 
 thing characteristic of the Mexican mind. You couldn't hire me to see 
 another bull fight, but I am glad I !?aw that one. Now let me sketch it: 
 
 The coliseo is a circular structure 50 or 60 feet high, an amphitheatre 
 rising round the central arena that is 250 feet or 300 in diameter, open to 
 the sky. Half the seats are but the unshaded boxes, etc., are covered. 
 It will seat 10,000 to 15,000. An Alderman has to i)reside at each of the 
 several places. He sits opposite the grand entrance, and gives all the sig- 
 nals. He sounds his trump, and in come all the performers, the matador 
 and assistant in gorgeous cloaks which they fling before the un)pire, the 
 banderillenjs who shake red blankets before taurus, the two horsemen 
 with spears, picadores, the javelin hurlers and three mules who snake 
 out the dead bulls. It is a grand entry, as at a circus, and they all salute 
 and the baud plays. They retire. At a signal the banderilleros re-enter 
 and take places opposite the bull gate. Signal, the door opens, half closes, 
 and a pair of horns struggles to enter; a man above sticks into his right 
 shoulder a rosette barb that drives the beast frantic ; he leaps into the 
 air, astonished at the blazing light (he has been in the dark), the shout- 
 ing crowds, the red cloaks, and maddened by the dart ; he charges the 
 men iu turn, bellowing and jiawing ; these first movements of his are the 
 only ones that have a touch of comedy. He keej^s on the run four or 
 live minutes, dashing at this man and that, and is visibly blown. Sig- 
 nal ; enter the horsemen, each horse hung round with heavy leather, 
 like the old-fashioned valance to a bed ; one eye bandaged ; old crowbaits 
 worth $10. They stand blind side to the bull, close to ; he charges them . 
 if quick enough, the rider sticks his &pear in the bull's neck and holds 
 him off by main force and skill, and the crowd yells with delight, or 
 if the horns do not get beiow the leather, the horse is safe. But the 
 second bull got in his work below, threw the horse on his haunches, and 
 rolled him over, the man beneath, killing the horse. If the bull will 
 not charge a horse, and he will not if raised among horses, the crowd 
 
114 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 yells to expel him till next Sunday. The only chance a bull has for his 
 life is to be a coward, an unlikely thing. After he has dashed at the 
 horses several times, they retire on signal, and four dart-stickers, in turn, 
 each armed with two gaily ornamented iron barbed lances 20 inches long 
 signal taurus. Standing a rod away, they throw out their arms, and rush 
 head on to the bull, jumping swiftly to one side past his horns and 
 planting a barb deep in each shoulder. Agile work ; a slip is fatal. 
 This infuriates the bull, and he charges everything in sight. Six more 
 darts go into him and wildly toss their ribbons and spangles as he 
 moves. Blood streams down his legs ; he has lost force. Signal; matador 
 (death-doer) enters with red cloak and sword of straight blade 3 feet long. 
 He must not strike till the bull has charged him, wheeled and charged 
 again, then he plunges the blade into the top of the neck, aiming to hit 
 the spinal cord. He rarely did, tho' he was famous in Madrid arenas^ 
 His assistant had better luck. Once he thrust the blade in almost to 
 the hilt, but missed the cord. Usually the unskillful thrusts penetrated 
 but a few inches, and the sword was whipped out by cloaks. A bad 
 throw was vociferously hissed and guyed, a good one was rewarded with 
 shouts, and hundreds of hats were flung far into the arena, and men and 
 women danced on the benches in frenzy. One thrust sent the blade a 
 foot out of the bull's side. He soon drops on his knees and a dagger 
 ends his 15 or 20 minutes of torment, and his carcass is snaked out on 
 a gallop. 
 
 O, it is wicked sport. Your sympathies are all with the bull, and I 
 prayed fervently that he would throw a half dozen of those devils 100, 
 000,000 miles into space. The matador was finally hissed out of the arena 
 the mob would have it, and the alderman had to sound the signal of dis- 
 grace. Popular opinion must be respected there. The crowd wants 
 horses killed. Ifa horse is gored in the bowels and that plucky bull is 
 dropped in paralysis by a thrust reaching the cord, they howl like all 
 fury with intensest passion and delight, hug, kiss, jump up and down and 
 darken the arena with hats. 
 
 It made me faint and sick, but I stuck it out and saw six bulls and two 
 horses killed, two bulls howled back as no good into covert, and one bull 
 lariated like lightning, head and heels, to bo killed by a dagger when 
 the sword failed. One poor bull moaned all thro' his torment, with tongue 
 lolling out, running from his persecutors and turning to look at them, as 
 if saying," You are Christians what must the devils in Hades be?" His 
 e.yes went to my heart. I now know what Sheol was made for — to 
 punish people who love bull-fights. And it will be awfully full. 
 
 THE FATE OF INJUDICIOUS REPORTERS IN MEXICO-SACRIFICIALSTONE. 
 
 Journal^ Newton^ Iowa, Jan. 9th. 
 The City of Mexico is located in a valley, about 200 miles in circum- 
 ference, along the crest of the mountains which completely encircle it. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 115 
 
 the valley being about 55 miles long by 37 miles wide. The city itself 
 is 7,500 feet above sea level, and its temperature, according to official 
 data, being 34 to 79. " These are from observations made at night and 
 day, the latter being taken in the shade. The mean temperature, Sum- 
 mer and Winter, shows exactly 60." It has a population of from 300,000 
 to 350,000. The stree s are generally not more than forty feet wide, but 
 to this rule are some notable exceptions. The streets are well paved, 
 neatly kept. The city has a most complete system of street ears (which 
 all converge on the grand plaza or " zocalo"), has gas and electric lights, 
 is about sixteen miles in circumference. Each block is a street (and this 
 is decidedly confusing to the stranger). The language spoken is a mix- 
 ture of Spanish and Mexican, and is very musical, when not uttered 
 too hastily. 
 
 From the dirty little " Continental" we made our way to the Hotel 
 de Jardin (literally the Hotel of the Garden), where the Dean of the 
 party, determining to improve on the first quarters we had, engaged the 
 grand parlor, in which he had erected seven single beds, and where 
 the Iowa party made their resting place during their stay in the city. 
 The hotel is tliree stories high, was formerly a Catholic convent, the 
 walls of which are from five to seven feet thick, and the roof (as are all 
 in the city), flat, paved with brick and cement. The hotel formed two 
 sides of a square, one side of which was a wall twenty feet high, and the 
 fourth side was enclosed with the wall of a high building. To this 
 there is but a single entrance, and the whole can be closed at night 
 as securely as a castle. The enclosed space is one of the finest gardens 
 of flowers, plants and trees in the city. A palm, with stems 18 to 20 
 feet long, and leaves from 16 to 2-1 inches wide, being of the most inter- 
 est to us. The number of potted plants could only be numbered by the 
 thousand, and almost every temperate and tropical shrub and flower 
 was grown here. It being mid-winter, the display of blossom was not 
 the best. 
 
 The native women to be seen here are not such as will command gen- 
 eral admiration. They are below medium height, fat, aged and beyond 
 their years, not too clean, and it is the exception for them not to have 
 with them a young baby. When it is remembered that some of the.'e 
 women become mothers before they are 12 years old — all of them very 
 young— their old look' is accounted for. In fact we saw very few women 
 that could be called at all handsome. We are told these market women 
 literally live on this square — sleeping on the cobblestone, with their little 
 ones, with only a piece of matting for a bed. The women seem to be fond 
 of their children. In this square all the street car lines of the city have 
 their starting place, and little waiting rooms for each line are here located. 
 On one side and in front of the Cathedral is a fine flower and shrub gar- 
 den, with a large music stand and public fountain. Each evening a 
 
116 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 brass band of fifty or sixty performers is stationed in the music stand and 
 furnish music from seven until ten o'clock. Ices, fruits, cakes, nuts, 
 etc., are peddled about, and 3,000 to 5,000 people are found there every 
 evening. It is brilliantly lighted with electric lights, with iron seats 
 at all available points. It is the outing place of the poorer classes, and 
 for the visiting strangers a never ending seurce of surprises and enjoy- 
 ments. 
 
 " The Two Republics'''' is the American newspaper published in Mex- 
 ico, and we had fully expected the speeches made at the President's recep- 
 tion to be printed, or we would have tried to remember more of it. But 
 it was not, and, asking the local reporter the reason of this, we learned 
 that reporting in Mexico was not what it was in the Uuited States by a 
 long shot — that if you happened to report something that was not ap- 
 proved of by the authorities that your chances of a three to six months' 
 residence in jail were most excellent — that at the time of our visit two 
 or three rash reporters were ''playing checkers with their nose" for 
 knowing too much, and telling their readers about it. 
 
 The sacrificial stone exhibited in the Musuem is perhaps 16 feet in 
 diameter and five feet thick — is circular in form and its sides are carved 
 with figures of warriors and other designs. Ou the top is a deep inden- 
 ture where the head and body of the victim were laid, and a deep, 
 sht^htly declining depression is made to carry off the blood. The age 
 of the stones is lost in the mist of the past and tragic interest centres 
 about the latter when we read that the number of victims that has 
 been sacrificed upon it ran up into the thousands annually. 
 
 THE MEXICAN OPINION. 
 
 The Two JRepuhlics^ Mexico^ Nov. 2Sth. 
 [The followin<> is a report from a Mexican- American paper, of the 
 
 reception giveu by President Diaz to the American editors.] 
 
 ********** 
 
 The party of editors, with the exception of a very few, remained 
 in the coaches on Monday night, which brought them to the city. Yes- 
 terday morning at the break of day they were astir, and at eight o'clock 
 were to be found in the corridors of the principal hotels of this city. At 
 nine o'clock they commenced to assemble in the Humboldt Housfi on 
 Jesus street, and by ten o'clock nearly all of them were there impatient 
 to take up the program of the day. A rejiorter oi The Two Bepuhllcs., 
 who arrived at an early hour at the hostelry, was introduced to many 
 of the representatives ol the United States pi-esn, and, duriug the time 
 the National Editors' Association was rest<')riug order from chaos, he had 
 an opportunity of looking over the editorial timber from the Northern 
 Republic. In entirety the body has a very distinguished appearance, and 
 it is very seldom that so much intelligence is observed gathered in one 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 117 
 
 place. Men who have grown gray in moulding public opinion were seen 
 sprinkled about iimong the 3'ounger knights of the press, who are rung 
 by rung, mounting the ladder to editorial fame. The wives of the 
 various journalists also have that intellectual look which characterizes 
 the fairer sex of the great American confederation. Of the thirty-four 
 ladies in the party, two of them are professional journalists ; there is also 
 an artist among them, who has already sketched some of the finest views 
 along the line of the National railroad. 
 
 It was a few minutes after four o'clock yesterday afternoon when a 
 reporter of The Two Jiejniblics entered the zaguan of the Humboldt 
 Hotel. About the doors of this popular caravansary was a crowd of 
 street venders selling everything from a glass opal to a carved walking 
 stick. Two policemen, sjiecially detailed by the chief of police of the 
 city to keep this horde of itinerant salesmen from entering the hotel, had 
 their hands full and deserve a word of thanks for their elliciency. The 
 patio of the building was crowded with the editors and their wives 
 who were all talking at once, reminding one for the nonce of a modern 
 Babel. Precisely at four o'clock the local press committee appeared, 
 and within less than five minutes afterwards the editors, in State delega- 
 tions had fallen into line, and were on the march for the National Palace, 
 where they soon arrived, and ascended the stairs of the middle court- 
 yard and passed through the waiting rooms to the red satin room, which 
 was furnished by Maximilian under his short-lived reign. After they 
 had all assembled in the beautiful room President Diaz emerged from 
 the east room. Mr. McCabe of the journalistic party made a short im- 
 promptu speech, in which he stated that the National Editorial Asso- 
 ciation had pacifically invaded Mexico with the object of better under- 
 standing its people, its customs, and its laws, and was assured that in the 
 end better relations and stronger feelings of friendship for the southern 
 neighbors of the United States would be the outcome of the excursion. 
 He also spoke of the pleasant experience of the party so far in Mexico 
 and was of the opinion that the country would prosper under the present 
 wise administration of the government. He kindly thanked President 
 Diaz in the name of the Editorial Association for the distinguished con- 
 sideration which he had conferred upon it by granting it an audience. 
 This address was then interpreted to the President by the well known 
 journalist and linguist, Mr. Jose Godoy. At its conclusion President 
 Diaz made a notable speech. As the words of welcome dropped from his 
 tongue one was reminded of the late President of the United States, 
 Ulysses S. Grant, from the fact that his language was to the point. No 
 superfluous expressions were used. Moreover he spoke feelingly. He 
 referred, with a commendable understanding,tothe weight of the press in 
 sustaining thegreatand indissoluble confederation of States lying north of 
 the Mexican boundary. He also stated that the United States had 
 served his people a model from which to pattern. In a word his greeting 
 of welcome could not have been more sincere nor put in better language 
 
118 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 for it touched the hearts of all present. After Mr. Godoy had interpreted 
 the presidential address, the chief magistrate of Mexico was cheered by 
 the journalists. Followiiag this he warmly shook hands with the editors. 
 
 OSCULATORY OCCURRENCES. 
 
 Pope County Mail, Atkins, Ark., Jan. 12th. 
 ****** **** 
 
 Mexico is a very healthy city. Its altitude is 7,347 feet above sea level. 
 The climate is delightful, the average temperature being 55 degrees. 
 Frosts are almost unknown, and all the flowers known to us of the tem- 
 perate zone, and many unknown to us, bloom there the year round. The 
 ground whereon the foundations of the city rest has sunken, until now 
 the waters of Lake Tenochtitlan are several feet higher than the city. 
 There is, in consequence, a constant dread of the waters of the lake burst- 
 ing the levees that hold them in and overflowing the city. 
 
 All the windows', in both residences au(i husines^s bouses were pro- 
 tected with iron grating giving them the appearance of prison windows. 
 
 This is done to protect the houses from burglary. 
 
 ********** 
 
 We knights of the quill were tendered a reception by Diaz, President 
 of the Republic, in the Palace or Capitol. The rooms where we were 
 received were gorgeously furnished, a short speech was made by Mr. Mc- 
 Cabe, of Boston, acting president of our party, which was interpreted 
 to Diaz, and replied to by him in Spanish, the native tongue of the 
 Mexicans. Of course it was very interesting to those of us whose knowl- 
 edge of the Spanish language was embraced in about four words which 
 we had learned the previous day. After the addresses a line was formed 
 and each passed by and was formally introduced to and shook hands 
 •with the President. Our party numbered then about 165, including 35 
 ladies and two small children. The President kissed each of the children. 
 Bro. Folsom, of the Augusta (Ark.) Vidette stood by this writer aud 
 watched this proceeding. We noticed an interested look on Brother F.'s 
 face. He turned to us and said almost in a whisper, as if afraid some 
 one would hear it who would tell his wife (whom he had left at home). 
 
 " Do you know what I would do were President Diaz now ?" 
 
 " No ; what would you ? " we asked, noticing in him an expression 
 of a probable desire for the president's opportunities. 
 
 Casting a sly look at several of the prettiest ladies of the party who had 
 just passed the president, he replied: " I would not only kiss the babies 
 but all these pretty women, too." And we have since thought he put a 
 good deal of earnestness into that last sentence. He talked as if simply 
 thinking aloud, and we almost felt, that we had intruded upon his 
 thoughts, and that what had been said was said in an unconscious sort of 
 way, not realizing that any one heard him. Of course it will not do for 
 this to reach his wife's ears, for he is sure to want to go along again 
 sometime. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 119 
 
 HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Southern Standard, Arkadel^ihia. Ark., Dec. 21st. 
 ********** 
 
 Our train, rushing toward the heart of the Aztec country, stopped for 
 a few minutes on the renowned battle ground of Buena Vista, where 
 Gen. Zachary Taylor, commanding the Americans, fought the famous 
 battle against the Mexicans under Santa Anna, in 1847, and where he 
 issued his well known order, "A little more grape. Captain Bragg." 
 The mountains come close together, on either hand, at this point; 
 indeed it is rather a low pass, between the mountains, from one plateau 
 to another. The eminences, on either hand, occupied by the Americans 
 and commanding the pass, were pointed out to us, as were also the deep 
 gullies worn by water along through the plain, along and by the protec- 
 tion of which the Mexicans attempted to pass, and where they were 
 slaughtered by the hundreds. Here it was that Jefferson Davis so distin- 
 guished himself that Gen. Taylor, whose daughter Davis had stolen 
 away and married, called to him and for the first time grasped his hand 
 and said he not only recognized him as a son-in-law, but as Col. Jefferson 
 Davis, a brave soldier. 
 
 San Francisco, Chronicle, Cal. 
 
 FLORA OF MEXICO. 
 
 There is a curious story current in Northern Mexico of a tree which 
 would seem to be closely akin to the fabled upas trees. It is described as 
 of the size of a large apple tree, with himilar foliage, and it is said that 
 the ground round about it is literally carpeted with butterflies and 
 other insects that are killed by its distilled venom. The larger animals 
 also fall prey to its noxious properties, though cattle and such creatures 
 for tiie most part avoid it, as if by either instinct or observation. A ro- 
 mantic tale is also told of a young Mexican. I believe the story runs 
 he was a vaquero on the hacienda, who persuaded his successful rival in 
 the affections of a fair muchacha to lie down to rest beneath this vampire 
 tree. The hated rival, being a stranger to that section and ignorant 
 of the toxic properties of his leafy canopy, complied — and never awakened 
 from his siesta. 
 
 THE " PALO DE LECHE." 
 
 Less mythical and perhaps more striking are the accounts given of the 
 palo de leche of Tierra Caliente — the hot coast lowlands. The term palo 
 de leche means simply milky plant, and is applied from the milky char- 
 acter of the sap exuded from all the plants of this genus. All these trees 
 belong to the Euphorbiaccaj, one of which is the Euporbia poinsettia or 
 Pulcherrima, whose scarlet whorls of bracts are so effective in gardens or 
 conservatories. This splendid Euphorbia is known in Mexico as " the 
 flower of the nativity." It is used as a remedy in pulmonary affections. 
 
120 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 I have never seen anything Uke the luxuriance of its growth around Cuer- 
 navaca, the city where MaxmiUau had his Summer residence. A great 
 many of the euphorbaceous plants, if not all, are called palo deleche,aud 
 their uses are diverse. The Indians of the coast use it for fishing, simply 
 throwing the leaves into the water, when the fish, stupefied, rise to the 
 surface. 
 
 The principal use among these people, however, is a far less innocent 
 one— destroying life instead of contributing to its support. The thick, 
 acrid, milky juice or sap is extremely poisonous. If thrown upon a fire 
 it gives out fumes which produce an agonizing headache and nausea. 
 Taken internally, it is a deadly poison, which causes, according to the 
 way it is prepared and administered, death or insanity. It is popularly 
 supposed that the madness of the ill fated Empress Carlotta was caused 
 by palo de leche. Mexicans often deny this statement, but they admit 
 and fear its deadly power in other respects. 
 
 It is strongly asseverated that the Indians can so prepare the poison 
 as to regulate the period of time in which it will prove fatal. Foreign 
 chemists with whom I have talked scoff' at this idea, but it does not seem 
 so utterly improbable, in view of the exactness with which can be deter- 
 mined the operation of various germs and microbes. The fact remains 
 that palo de leche is a most powerful and deadly substance, and many 
 are the tragedies enacted through its instrumentality in the Tierra Caliente. 
 The negation of the chemists and doctors is also weakened in force by 
 their vehement denunciations of the practice of the Indians, whose reme- 
 dies, nevertheless, often accomplish results which all the science of the 
 colleges has failed to attain. In diopsy, for instance, in cases where all 
 the treatment and repeated operations by regularly appointed practicioners 
 had proved totally inefficacious, the simple herbal remedies of ignorant, 
 barefooted, half-naked Indians have in three days almost entirely reduced 
 the distension and in a short period produced a radical cure, as may be at- 
 tested by the patients, to-day alive, strong, well and active in Mexico. 
 
 ALONG OUR SOUTUERN BORDER. 
 
 Forest Leaves* Philadel2')hia. 
 To one familiar with the rich flora of the Uulf region and the even 
 more striking one in California, that of the intervening area is always in 
 strong contrast. Texas, Arizona, and adjacent Mexico, in large part, 
 have impressed upon them peculiar features, which come mainly from the 
 high temperature and lack of properly distributed moisture. In a word, 
 one might say, that of all the factors which determine tree growth, 
 moisture i-t the most important. High mountains within this dry area, 
 
 *The monthly publication, '■'■Forest Leaves,''"' is conducted by the 
 Forestry Association of Pennsylvania, and is devoted to the dissemination 
 of forestry news and the protection of forest lands. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 121 
 
 intercepting more moisture, as a rule are timber-clad, while their bases 
 tire bare of trees as the plains around. On the low land it is generally 
 only along the stream margins that trees are found, and these are of but 
 few species. While with us we ordinarily expect to find a stream grow 
 larger as we proceed from the hills to the low lands, there, on the con- 
 trary, a good-sized stream may decrease in size as we follow it down until 
 the thirsty soil and the superheated air have combined to blot out the 
 silver thread entirely. 
 
 There is nothing which more clearly shows the changed surroundings 
 than such an illustration as our red-oak furnishes. With us it is a tree 
 of ample expanse of limb and foliage. In Texas it has become smaller 
 and the specific gravity of its wood is enormously increased. Of course 
 we all know of the unique cactus flora of that region. It were almost a 
 waste of words to do more than merely allude to the fact that they are 
 there found of all shapes, simple and branched, stout and slender, from 
 the merest knob of prickly vegetation just rising out of the sand and 
 gravel to the towering Cereus which stands out against the sky like the 
 skeleton of a tree. 
 
 Almost as striking is the leafless Canotia of the Gila valley. Though 
 it sometimes is nearly twenty-five feet high, a tree in all its proportions 
 and strength, yet it never hangs a leaf on its branches to flutter in the 
 breeze. 
 
 The Pinus ponderosa, yellow, or bull pine, as it is called, does extend 
 from British Columbia down into Texas and Mexico, and we might almost 
 say it was the one tree which connected the region with the rest of the 
 western half of North America. Oaks there are, but we miss the tall, 
 vigorous trunks of our most valued kinds, and in their stead, find low, 
 branching, hard forms, often, too, like theliveoak, with evergreen leaves. 
 Sage brush, grease, wood and agave predominate on the drier grounds, 
 and constitute a flora as unattractive as can be imagined. Yet we should 
 do a great injustice to the soil if we were to assert that it is barren because 
 it does not contain the elements of plant life. Give it water, and in a 
 season the most hopeless looking desert may blossom as a garden. 
 
 The Mesquit is one of the most important, though by no means the 
 most striking tree. Low, branched, rugged in appearance, it is still full 
 of use. It is one of the last species to disappear as we approach a treeless 
 waste. Its wood furnishes the best of fuel. Even the roots grow on, 
 though the tops have been destroyed year after year by fire, and branch- 
 ing masses of five hundred pounds weight are dug from the ground to 
 use as " fire wood" in Western Texas. The bark furnishes a good subs- 
 titute for gum arable, and the green, sweet pods contain enough sugar 
 to give them special value as a food for stock. 
 
 All in all, the flora of this region is, if not as attractive as that of our 
 own homes, nevertheless rich in its individuality ; and serves to show 
 how, under the most unpromising conditions, the land and the plants it 
 contains may still be in harmony with each other. 
 
 J. T. ROTHROCK. 
 
122 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 BUENA VISTA ! CHAPULTEPEC ! 
 
 Pottsville Chronicle, J'a., Dec. 22d. 
 
 The patriotic American citizen is always ready to " point with pride " 
 to scenes and incidents in the history of his country ; and when, toward 
 the hour of noon, the train stopped in a picturesque mountain pass, and 
 it was announced that ten minutes would be given for a look at the battle- 
 field of Buena Vista, it wasn't long before the male portion of the party 
 had clambered down and out of the cars. Thus far the line of the Mexi- 
 can National railroad had practically followed the line of General Tay- 
 lor's advance into Mexico in the Winter of 1846-47. After the successful 
 siege of the fortified town of Monterey, old " Rough and Ready " ad- 
 vanced southward and occupied Sal tillo— pronounced Salteo. Meanwhile 
 General Scott had landed at Vera Cruz and ordered a considerable por- 
 tion of Taylor's forces to join him on the gulf for the conquest of the 
 capital. With his numbers materially reduced, Taylor received intelli- 
 gence that Santa Anna was advancing against him from the south with 
 an army of 20,000 men. After leaving a sufficient garrison at Monterey 
 and Saltillo, his effective force amounted to scarcely 5,000 men. With 
 this small but resolute army he wisely concluded to chose his own battle 
 ground. Four miles south of Saltillo there was a narrow defile through 
 the mountains, not unlike and but little wider than the break in Sharp 
 mountain and the Gobble Berg below Mt. Carbon. He fortified his posi- 
 tion as best he might and awaited the approach of the Mexican host. On 
 the morning of February 22, 1847, the Mexicans came pouring into the 
 gorge from the south. At daylight on the 23d the battle began with an 
 effort to flank the American position on the right. The Mexicans dis- 
 covered, however, to their great discomfixture, that between them and 
 the American lines there intervened a series of " barrancas " — gulleys 
 fifteen and twenty feet deep with precipitous sides — while immediately 
 adjoining these ravines, and holding the centre of the line. Captain Wash- 
 ington's famous battery — in which so many Pennsylvanians fought and 
 fell — rained slaughter upon the ranks of the astonished Mexicans. Later 
 in the day an effort was made to scale the mountain on Gen. Taylor's 
 left, and this was likewise repulsed with great slaughter. Then the flower 
 of the Mexican army were massed against Captain Braggs' famous bat- 
 tery at the foot of the western hill. Decimated by successive volleys of 
 grape, their lines began to waver. A cavalry charge was ordered by Gen- 
 eral Taylor and the ranks of Santa Anna broke in fight, leaving their 
 dead upon the field, many of whom were buried by the American troops 
 in the deep gulleys that nature had already dug for their graves, and 
 where to-day their skeletons may be unearthed. The Mexican loss was 
 2,000 men, while that of the Americans, in killed, wounded and missing, 
 amounted to 746. If this brief and imperfect discription serves to awaken 
 anything like the interest and enthusiasm created by the brilliant word- 
 picture of Lawyer Terrell, of San Autouio, who has made the battle and 
 
TEXAS AND xMEXICO. 123 
 
 the battle-field a study, the purpose of the writer will have been more 
 than accomplished. 
 
 Within a half circle of six miles are the battle-fields of Contreras, 
 Cherubusco and Molino Del Ray. The Mexican guides very naturally 
 cared to know very little about these stirring events in their history ; but 
 fortunately for the tourists there were gentlemen of the party who had 
 participated in those engagements, and who displayed considerable enthu- 
 siasm in fighting their battles over again. After the surrender of Vera 
 Cruz on the 27th of March, 1847, General Scott at once began his march 
 from the coast upon the City of Mexico. A stout resistance was made by 
 Santa Anna at the rocky mountain pass of Cerro Gordo, but his forces 
 were fcoou put to route. Santa Anna escaped with his life, but left be- 
 hind private papers and his wooden leg. The way was now open to the 
 imperial city. The American army swept unopposed through the passes 
 of the Cordillei'us, and General Twiggs was ordered to storm the Mexican 
 position at Coutr.3ras. About the same time General Pillow .led a 
 column against the heights of Cherubusco. Both positions were driven 
 in, and the Mexican garrisons fell back into the fortifications of Chapul- 
 tepec. On the 7th of September the only remaining outpost, Molino Del 
 Rey — the Mill of the King — which was used as an arsenal and a foundry 
 for the casting of cannon — was carried by assault. These positions wei'e 
 held by 14,000 ]Mexicans. With the capture of Molino Del Rey, Scott's 
 artillery was brought to bear on Chapiiltepec itself, and on the 13th of the 
 month that frowning battlement was carried by st«rm, after a heroic 
 defense by the mifitary cadets, who defended the citadel to the last with 
 great bravery. This practically ended the Mexican war, and on the 2d 
 day of February, 1848, a formal treaty of peace was signed at Guadaloupe. 
 Near INIolino Bel Rey, on a hill facing Chapultepec, there is a marble 
 monument bearing this inscription : "• To the memory of the American 
 soldiers who perished in this valley in 1847, whose bodies, collected by 
 their country's order, are here buried." Further on is the public ceme- 
 tery well named "• Dolores " — the city of sorrows — and almost every day 
 you may see a funeral train on the street railway carrying its load of 
 mourners to the city of the dead. A special car, draped in black, is pro- 
 vided for the corpse and a reasonable charge is made for the train, so that 
 funerals in Mexico are not so expensive as in some of our American 
 cities. K. 
 
 HOT SPRINGS — THE MEXICAN NAME. 
 
 New Era, Rolla, Mo. 
 ****** **** 
 
 One of the rarest attractions to Monterey is found in its wonderful 
 
 health-giving springs of 
 
 TOPO CIIICO. 
 
 These famous Hot Springs are situated four miles north of the city of 
 
124 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Monterey, and are connected by the Monterey Street Eailroad. One of 
 the largest and handsomest bath houses on the continent has recently 
 been erected at the Springs. All of the latest improved baths can be had 
 — hot, cold, electric and swimming baths of the finest mineral waters on 
 the earth. The analysis of which were made by world-renowed scien- 
 tists who accompanied Emperor Maximilian when he occupied this 
 country a few years ago. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 One imperial gallon of Topo Chico Hot Springs Water contains 14,507 
 grains of mineral constituents, as follows : 
 
 ^ Iron Oxide 0.171 
 
 Carbonated Salts. > Lime 3.025 
 
 ) Magnesia 2.021 
 
 ) Soda 3.987 
 
 Muriatic Salts. > Lime 0.861 
 
 5 Magnesia 0.058 
 
 ) Soda 2.649 
 
 Sulphuric Salts. > Limp 2.201 
 
 ) Magnesia 0.204 
 
 Silica 0.(106 
 
 Subphosphate of Alumina 0.001 
 
 Phosphate of Soda 0.003 
 
 14,507 
 
 Temperature, Fahrt., 106. 
 
 The Sulphur Springs contains White Sulphur, Silica, Iodine, Magne- 
 sia, Potash, Soda, and Sulphuretted Hydrogen. Flow of water, about 
 60,000 gallons per hour. 
 
 The Mexican is very fond of a long name, and many a poor ragged 
 fellow has a name that will stagger an ordinary American. This is pret- 
 tily exemplified in the following stray bid of verse that we chanced across 
 lately : 
 
 " In ancient Mexico 
 There dwelt some time ago, 
 A person whom I know. 
 
 Called in this way : 
 " Senor Don Rodrigo 
 Jose del Armijo 
 Hermanos TobaJK," 
 
 Likewise "el Rey." 
 When we got through with it. 
 If fools or wise of wit, 
 Not one in ten could hit 
 
 What it all meant ; 
 Not one in twenty could 
 Pronounce it as he should ; 
 If one had time he would 
 
 Think it misspent. 
 
 So when we spoke this man , 
 This titled Mexican, 
 We all pursued this plan, 
 Thinking it meet ; 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 125 
 
 Dropped evei'y el and del, 
 
 Jo«e and Don as well. 
 
 All names we couldn't spell — 
 
 Just called him " Pete." 
 He, with his wealth of name, 
 Took this one just the same, 
 And thus his card became. 
 
 After that date, 
 " Senor Don Rodrigo 
 Jose del Armijo 
 Hermanos Tobago 
 
 El Rey y Pete." 
 
 GUADALOUPE OF TO-DAY. 
 
 Grand Junction News, Colorado, Dec. 20th. 
 
 Guadaloupe is a place of many shrines' chapels and votive oflferings. A 
 devout ^lexican will travel fifty miles to utter one prayer to the "Vir- 
 gin of Guadaloupe." 
 
 The ears that run to Guadaloupe start on the north side of the great 
 plaza, I'ight under the shadow of the old cathedral. They are divided 
 into first, second and third classes — like everything else in this city. In 
 the third-class ride those people that we can see from here sitting on the 
 steps of the cathedral. 
 
 The story of Guadaloupe in brief is that i!i the early days, 1531, a poor 
 Indian, Juan Diego, came one day to the priest in charge and told him 
 of a miraculous appearance of the Virgin. The priest doubting his state- 
 nieut told him if he would go to a certain spot, which was utterly barren, 
 and gather roses he would believe. The poor Indian went and soon re- 
 turned with his tllma folded at the corners and filled with fiowers. On 
 opening the sheet behold the miraculous iniMge of Our Lady imprinted 
 thereon. Juan Diego was added to the Saints of the Church, the only 
 Indian so exalted. 
 
 The spring, over which a splendid little chapel has been built and lit- 
 erally loaded down witli gems and rare paintings, is simply a good min- 
 eral si>ring, which possesses all the virtues that the Virgin is said to have 
 given it. 
 
 What diplomats the old priests were to be suie ! 
 
 So sanctified, Guadaloupe has been for over three hundred years the 
 load-star of religious eyes, and wealth in the way of native offerings has 
 piled up in its chapels andcathedial. 
 
 Attempting to enter the church where the miraculous spot is pre- 
 served we find it crowded with worshipers — mostly Indians. They have 
 come, Villegas tells us, some of them one hundred miles on foot merely 
 io burn a candle before this altar, say a prayer and return, contented and 
 well paid. 
 
 We crowd to the door with the admonition, " hang unto your 
 
126 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 watches." Yes, yes. These people never forget to discriminate between 
 mine and thine. 
 
 It is impossible to get in. But by tiptoeing we get a glimpse of a 
 weird and impressive spectacle. The chapel is filled with kneeling figures 
 all dressed in white, all heads crowned with raven hair, all holding 
 gigantic lighted candles, all droning prayei-s and looking towards the 
 great altar. The effect is uncanny in the extreme and we tighten our 
 clutch on valuables and back out to return later when worship and thiev- 
 ery do not so much jostle each other. 
 
 By winding steps we climb the hill. Vendors of Mexican pastry 
 and Mexican broths line the ascent. The lame, the blind, the deformed 
 — all muttering for alms and presenting a spectacle which makes one 
 sicken. Reaching the top we stop to look at the valley before inspect- 
 ing the old cemetery. 
 
 Words fail ! Is there anywhere else on earth such a panorama ? Ono 
 that more delights a dweller in the Rockies, where scenery is supposed to 
 hold the age V The whole of this world-famed valley lies at our feet. It 
 sweeps in magnificent distance from range to range, circling itself with 
 granite walls over which no disturbing breath of scorching Summer or 
 freezing Winter may come. It is carpeted with a rich, strange and beau- 
 tiful verdure and dotted on its even surface with white walled towns all 
 centering about the great white city in the centre of the royal plain. 
 Above it bends the concave of an eternally smiling firmanent and to the 
 east, looking out over the turbulent Atlantic, rise to heights of perpetual 
 snow, like great silhouettes, the twin volcanoes, Popocatei>etl and Ixtac- 
 cihuatl. I do not wonder that Cortez thought he had won a new world 
 — nor that he risked all to win it. I do not wonder at the civilization of 
 Montezuma, nor at the more wonderful works of the Toltees who pre- 
 ceded him. If anywhere on earth is the Happy Valley— anywhere the 
 land of love and flowers, anywhere the spring of perpetual youth — it is 
 here, in this sun-kissed, semi-tropical, dream, hazy land. 
 
 KiNGSLEY. 
 
 GRAVE OF SANTA ANNA— HISTORIC AND LEGENDARY GUADADOTJPE. 
 
 Free Press, Carbondale, III.^ Jan. oth. 
 
 * -X- -)(■ -X- * * * * * * 
 
 Whether true or false, the Indians of Mexico implicitly believe the 
 Legend ofGuadaloupe ; sodo the priests at the present day, or at least they 
 profess to. The Pope of Rome at first received the account of the appari tion 
 with some grains of doubt, but through the persistent demantls of the 
 Church of Mexico the 12th of Dacembar was set apart to commemorate 
 the Lady of Guadaloupe. 
 
 The spot where Juan Diego cut the bunch of roses — not far from the 
 cathedral — is marked by a chapel. Of the building itself there is noth- 
 ing of peculiar note, but its surroundings are interesting. The site of the 
 chapel seems to have been cut out of a solid rocl<, and is some hundreds 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 127 
 
 feet up a hillside. To the rear is a cemetery where repose the dust of 
 many illustrious Mexicaus. I stood at the grave of the great chieftain, 
 Santa Anna, aud plucked a llower therefrom. In the immediate vicinity 
 is a grotto, said to be the grandest thing of the kind in the world, an ex- 
 hibition of the patience and skill of the native Indians. The grotto is 
 an excavation in the hillside, and consists of several rooms. There are 
 seats, arches and ornamentation hewn out of the solid rock. The walls 
 and ceilings are completely covered with pictures of birds, animals, ser- 
 pents, scenes from life aud allegorical figures, rivaling in beauty the finest 
 mosaic work. The materials used in the pictures are broken glass, china- 
 ware, shells, etc. There is a life-size picture of a peacock in all its gaudy 
 colors. Inside the grotto trees, vines, plants and flowers are growing. 
 
 Also near the chapel is a curious structure of stone bearing the sem- 
 blance of a shii^'s mast aud sail, connected with which is another legend. 
 Many years ago there was a very rich family who employed most of their 
 wealth in sending out ships to foreign nations. One vessel laden with 
 costly merchandise, became overdue, but no tidings of her could be had. 
 If the ship were lost, the rich family became bankrupt. At a certain 
 time the family gathered in the chapel and prayed to the Lady of Guada- 
 loupe to save their property from the waves, and vowing to erect a monu- 
 ment to her memory. At the same hour the sailors of a tempest-tossed 
 and rudderless ship prayed to the Lady for deliverence, and vowed to 
 take the mast to her shrine and set it up as a memorial to her protecting 
 power. The prayers prevailed. The vessel landed safely at Vera Cruz ; 
 the sailors brought the mast and sails to Guadaloui)e where they set them 
 up, and the rich family erected the (jueer looking monument around 
 them. 
 
 I do not vouch for the truthfulness of this story, either, but there 
 stood the wall bearing considerable resemblance to the mast and sail of a 
 small vessel. 
 
 Another chapel I will mention is that of the holy well, a magnifi- 
 cent though small building. To enter the chapel you pass through an 
 ante-chamber, where the well is located. The water, it is believed, con- 
 tains curative properties. The legend of the well is to the eftect that the 
 Lady of Guadaloupe here met a poor peasant laden with water from the 
 mountains for the people who were suffering from a great plague. Filled 
 with compassion for the tired and foot-sore Indian, the Lady promised 
 an inexhaustible supply of water that should not only quench thirst but 
 cure diseai^e. At once there gushed up at her feet a spring of water of 
 peculiar taste. I drank of the water and found it cool and not disagreea- 
 ble, though as a rule the party pronounced it the vilest sort of stuff. The 
 natives have full confidence in its efficacy and visit it at all times in vast 
 numbers. 
 
 It was at Guadaloupe the treaty of peace between United States and 
 Mexico was signed, February ii, 184S, hence we are familiar with the 
 term treaty of," Guadaloupe." By this treaty the UnitedStatesacquired the 
 
128 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 territory of Texas, New INIexico, California, etc. , aud Mexico received an in- 
 demnity of $15,000,000 and was relieved of an indebtedness of $3,000,000. 
 The building in which the treatty was sigued was pointed out to us by 
 the guide. 
 
 ADIOS MEHICO. 
 
 Bulletin, MarkvUle, La., Dec 29th. 
 
 The Stars and Stripes always make us wondrous kind. The time came 
 to bid good-bye to a foreign land and to turn our faces homeward. 
 
 Just as the shades of evening were gathering together, aud the earth 
 was being fast enveloped in a darkness which was only broken by the 
 million stars that bedecked the sky above us, and seemed to whisper to 
 our ears "welcome," the historic Rio Grande was reached. Its wavelets 
 seemed also to join the stars in their gladsome " welcome." What was 
 there about the stream that made us feel so glad V Was it the beauty of 
 its placid waters which reflected in myriads the beauteous star-gemmed 
 sky above us, or what ? 
 
 A loud cheer suddenly disturbs these reflections. Then the familiar 
 " Star Spangled Banner," is heard to swell sweetly on the night air, but 
 drowned now and then by cheers, which seemed to make the welking ring. 
 What is it ? We recognize the old " rebel yell," as it is yet called. It is 
 the huzzas of our Texas brothers, and the happy thought bursts upon the 
 mind, we are, thank God, once more. 
 
 In the land of the free, 
 The home of the brave. 
 
 It was thei welcome of Laredo to the Editcjrial excursionists. Bosoms 
 swelled, cheeks blanched, and theeyegrew moist, in reverence aud joy, ms 
 we set foot again upon our "• native soil " Our heart went out to every- 
 body, aud everyone we met seemed an old friend, v\ horn we grasped cor- 
 dially by the hand without introduction. And what introduction did we 
 need, weren't we all Americans — brothers. 
 
 FINALE. 
 
 " The hour was late, the tire burned low, 
 The landlord's eyes were closed in sleep 
 And near the story's end a deep 
 Sonorous sound at times was heard, 
 As when the distant bagpipes blow. 
 At this all laughed, the landlord stirred. 
 As one awaking from a sound. 
 And. gazing anxiously around 
 Protested he had not slept, 
 But only shut his eyes and kept 
 His ears attentive to each word. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 129 
 
 VARIORUM NOT^E. 
 
 Opinion is divided as to this elevation, Chapultepeo ; whether it is nat- 
 ural, or a mound constructed by the Indians. At the foot of the hill, to 
 the east, is a largo spring, from which the city is partially supplied with 
 water. Around the base is a grove of very nncieut cypress trees. From 
 a date hoary even in tradition Chapullepec was the seat of power. Here, 
 without doubt, was the palace of the Montezumas, and here it was that 
 baked babies were served on the tables of the royal chiefs. At the foot of 
 the hill is Montezuma's favorite j)ark, which was the scene of battle dur- 
 ing the war of 1847 between the United States and Mexico. The park has 
 large cypresses, the first trees that we have seen in the Republic of Mexico, 
 covered with Spanish moss. One of these huge trees is 170 feet tall and 
 46 feet around the trunk. In the park is Montezuma's Bath, which is 
 now being used by the Water Works Department of the city, which it 
 supplies through an aqueduct of 900 arches. On another side of the hill 
 can be seen a large rock covered with ancient hieroglyphics. — Farmers^ 
 Friend^ Pa. 
 
 At Vera Cruz we had for supper I First, soup. They serve soup three 
 times a day in this country. Then a white kind of fish, like cod, parboiled 
 and nearly raw, served cold. Then a fried fish like red snapper, but not 
 fresh. It was a table d' hote dinner and the ^iece de resistance was some- 
 thing like an Irish stew. It contained meat, peas, beans, carrots, onions, 
 corn on the cob, red pepper, large leaves, and several other substances 
 wnich we could not recognize. It was the best thing on the table, but I 
 use the adjective only in the comparative sense. There were five or six 
 other broad dishes filled with meats of different kinds and cooked in a va- 
 riety of ways. Cheese was served in a powdered form like granulated 
 sugar and bread in long, flat loaves, lay on the table without any plates. 
 Coffee, oranges and a small cake completed our meal, notwithstanding 
 the entreaty of our waiter to take the " bino" (wine). — Oshkosh {Wis.) 
 Northwestern. 
 
130 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 An eflfbrt has been made to introduce wheelbarrows. The peons filled 
 them with dirt, and instead of wheeling them, put them on their heads 
 and carried them to the dumps. In the same way, instead of rolling a 
 stone down an enbankment, they picl^itupand place it on their shoulders 
 and carry it down the hill. These things show how slow and perverse 
 they are in adopting anything new. In the country women wash clothes 
 along river banks. They do not use tubs, but pound the clothes with 
 rocks. In fact every thing I saw was new, yet old and odd. 
 
 To mail a letter to the United States costs five cents and newspapers 
 two cents. But in Mexico the postage is ten cents for a letter and five 
 cents for a paper. The only thing purely American I saw was mosquito 
 nets over the beds, and they were a novelty to northern people at Thanks- 
 giving time. — Sha7noMn, (Pa.) Dispatch. 
 
 The Mexican Nacional Railroad was completed to the City of Mexico 
 only November 1st. It is 800 miles shorter route than by the Mexican 
 Central, via El Paso, and 255 miles less than by Eagle Pass, via the Inter- 
 national. The road is managed by progressive men who at once com- 
 prehend the situation. 
 
 It is calculated that the Association represents 1,900 newspapers which 
 are read by 9,000,000 people. Hence the importance of such an advertis- 
 ing medium. While the National jumped at the chance to take the edi- 
 tors free and to give them every possible attention, the Central and Inter- 
 national simply off ered reduced rates ! Too late, they saw their error and 
 on the way back wished us to switch off on to their roads ! We had lost 
 our appetites in that direction. — Manhattan (Ka.) Bepubliean. 
 
 Oneplaceof note in Texas was Folsom. Folsom, I afterwards discovered, 
 has a hotel painted pea green, not the fresh green of the newly-plucked 
 vegetable, but the disagreeable green of the canned article, that reminds 
 one of the faded scum on a frog pond. We were invited to supper at 
 Folsom, and we accepted the invitation, and were presented with the fol- 
 lowing bill of fare, couched in the customary French : 
 Napkins, au glaize, Stoneware, chipped. Knives and Forks, Antique Plate, 
 Beef de Mosaic, Pomme de Terre, au naturale, Du Pain a la 
 Hefty, Butter ! a la Hercules, Salmon phantom. Coffee ! 
 The vocabulary fails. 
 
 — Denver {Col.) Bepubliean. 
 
 It is impossible to project on paper an adequate idea of this civiliza^ 
 tion ; of a people who live outdoors, and dress according to the notions 
 that such climates evolve. Remember, that in nineteen years the tem- 
 perature has never gone above 89° nor below 36° — hence the opportunity 
 for diaphanous dress and peculiar personal habits. 
 
 The canal presents a novel picture. Kneeling along it are long lines of 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 131 
 
 women washing — their linen (V) an(l themselves. As naked as when they 
 came into the world, they calmly lie in the sun or lazily lave their brown 
 limbs. It is the custom of the country, and they think nothing of it, nor 
 do the passers-by, save only the uncivilized contingent of Americanos, who 
 blush and turn away. — Grand Junction (Col.) News. 
 
 The following are some of the wholesale prices of some of the leading 
 Mexican products : 
 
 White linen, per vara (about a yard) 9 to 17 cents ; domestic, per bolt 
 of 28 varas, $2.50 to $3.75; silk twist, black and colored, per pound, $9.50 
 to $11; cocoa (chocolate bean) good, 100 pounds, $50, grain coffee, 100 
 pounds, $20 to $22; frijoles (a kind of bean), according to class, 300 pounds, 
 $5 to $9; flour, 100 pounds, $7.50 to $10.50 ; refined lard, 25 pounds, $6 to 
 $6.75 ; corn, 300 pounds, $4 to $5 ; salt, 25 pounds, 50c to 70c ; sugar, com- 
 mon white, 25 pounds, $2.25 ; sugar, refined white, 25 pounds, $2.75 ; 
 sugar, dark good, 25 pounds, $1.75. The foregoing prices are, of course, in 
 Mexican money. — Orant County ( Wis.) Witness. 
 
 Beyond Toluca, but a little distance, the highest point on the Mexican 
 National Railway is reached. A height of ten thousand feet above the 
 sea and the second highest point by rail reached on the continent. It is a 
 droj) of two thousand five hundred feet from this point down to the City 
 of Mexico, an hours' distance as the train moves, and fitting close to the 
 long journey the grandest scenery of all is to be found in the remaining 
 distance As the route leads downward, winding around the mountiiiu 
 sides, villages in the valleys a thousand feet below look like toys of a 
 child, while long before the descent is ended and before the night has 
 fallen, the great valley of Mexico becomes a panorama. — Sunday Call., 
 Lincoln., Neb. 
 
 The young Mexican women are still kept apart from the other sex, and 
 make love chiefly from their balconies in the good, old-fashioned, romantic 
 style. They attend balls ajad indulge in a slow waltz, called the danza, 
 so slow as hardly to be considered a dance at all, which is chiefly an op- 
 portunity for conver.-iation. They don't flirt on the streets like our Ameri- 
 can girls, but are very meek and submissive in their movements. 
 
 The principal shopping hours are from 4 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon. 
 From one till three, or even four, little is done. Even the horse cars do 
 not run in the middle of the day. There is a general stoppage of affairs 
 for dinner. — Farmers^ Friend., Pa. 
 
 The palm had 300 uses ; our Indian birch nearly as many ; and many 
 are the uses of cactus. They make fences and fuel of it, and a fine muci- 
 lage, needles and thread ; the burro eats them ; they grow a red prickly 
 fruit that is cooling and delicious as the strawberry ; they can make rope 
 
132 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 of its twisted fibres and believe they can make print and writing paper ; 
 it is said to be a specific for Bright's disease in its incipient stages, and if 
 man is bitten by a fattlesnalse, he needs no whifliy if he have cactus, A 
 thicket of it is a perfect shade and wind-break for hovels ; populous com- 
 munities are concealed in cacti groves. — Washington County {Iowa) Press. 
 
 " Young and pretty, 
 
 Bright and witty, 
 
 Flock the maidens to the city, 
 
 Texans handsome, brave and gritty." 
 
 " A Texan true is a jolly soul, 
 
 As free as a mountain bird. 
 
 For his own big State he'll ne'er be late 
 
 In saying a good word." 
 
 — Manhattan {Kan.) Hepublic. 
 
 To get the effect of the serape, take a common blanket, not too large, 
 and double it so that it will come within about six inches from tbe ground 
 when it hangs from your shoulders. Caich the newly made fold at about 
 the centre with your right hand, your left as a result being at the left 
 corner of the blanket, throw it over your shoulders, and draw it around 
 you so that the left edge will be parallel with the buttons on your vest, 
 then gathering the right edge of the blanket throw it in front of and over 
 the left shoulder. Now draw the front fold-up over your mouth, strike 
 an attitude, and you have it I. — Denver {Col.)Daily News. 
 
 This is a great world ! 
 
 If you were never convinced of the magnificent truth contained in the 
 foregoing jmragraph, take a trip to Mexico. You will find there a Re- 
 public ruled by a President, who is King ; a city that is peopled by beg- 
 gars, and beggared by its rulers ; a climate that is the wonder of the world, 
 and a death rate that is phenomenal in its greatness ; a street car line that 
 cannot be equaled in America, and streets that can be surpassed in Se- 
 dalia ; a cathedral in which Dives might worshijD, and at its doors a thou- 
 sand Lazaruses asking alms. — Booneville {Mo.) Advertiser. 
 
 Mrs. Diaz's music room was invaded, and we found its walls hung 
 with ta,pestry, the furniture upholstered in handiwork of the Mexi- 
 cans, each chair, ottoman and sofa picturing different scenes and figures. 
 Her sewing room was a symphony in pale blue and pink plush, the walls 
 being covered with pink silk, on which were embossed plush flowers, out- 
 lined with pure gold thread. The bath room adjoining was fitted up in 
 pure white marble, with silver pipes. Her bed room was furnished in 
 blue and silver in great magnificence. — Baton Rouge {La.) Weekly 
 Truth, 
 
 In all human probability there is no man who has spent three days in 
 Mexico possessed of any insane ambition to go to that country to live. In 
 
TP^XAS AND MEXICO. 133 
 
 the party which went from the National Editorial Convention atSan An- 
 t<^)nio to Mexico there were a number of gentlemen who would adorn the 
 otiice of Minister to Mexico, and might, before they went, have been in- 
 duced to accept the place without any great exertion of President Harri- 
 son's powers of persuasion. They are all cured now. There is not a can- 
 didate for the Mexican Ministry among them. — Columbus (O.) Herald. 
 
 In passing through Pennsylvania, en route for Mexico, the train made 
 a short tarry at the city of Lancaster, at one time the capital of Pennsyl- 
 vania, when the British troops occupied I^hiladelphia, an in later years 
 the residence of President Buchanan and glorious old Thad. Stevens. At 
 Harrisburg, there was another stop of a few minutes. An immense depot 
 covered many tracks and nothing of interest could be seen, as the train 
 moved through the city, save the dome of the unpretentious capitol build- 
 ing of the great " Keystone " State.— jVa^icA;, {Mass.) Citizen. 
 
 The bull fight is brutal and debasing. Whether we are in shape to 
 throw stones at the Mexicans b cause of their fondness for the sport may 
 be doubted. A slugging match here in America may be a little more 
 gamey, but is it any more elevating ? And if prize fights could be held 
 under Government direction would not the attendance be as large as a 
 first-class bull fight could secure in Mexico V With all our boasted civili- 
 zation isn't there some work for the missionary here in America as well 
 as in Mexico ? — loiva State Reporter. 
 
 The Academy of Fine Arts was a dream of beauty and revelation. 
 Nothing in the United States can compare with it. We doubt if the Cor- 
 coran Art Gallery, St. Louis Academy of Fine Arts and New York's best 
 collection combined would approximate in value to the paintings by 
 Muriilo, Floris, Rembrandt and other great old masters gathered in Mex- 
 ico, while the collection is very complete in other respects. The master- 
 pieces of the Gallery are "Abraham oflfering Isaac" and "The Lost 
 Sheep." — Farmers'' Friend, Pa. 
 
 The boasted beauty of Mexican women is but a boast. Those who claim 
 Castilian blood have large and fine black eyes, jet black hair, with creamy 
 complexion and still rose-tinted cheeks, but we saw less than half a dozen 
 beautiful girls, and fewer fine looking women. An hour's walk on Chest- 
 nut street, Philadelphia, will show more fine looking girls and ladies in 
 middle life than a year in Mexico. Here woman matures early and fades 
 early, even among the pure Indians, and more so with the mixed bloods. 
 — American, Media, Pa. 
 
 A fat woman and her three daughters came to our trains both ways, 
 quite smartly dressed, clean, bare-headed, but hair nicely combed. She 
 was rich as Crcesus ; owned a hacienda of 6,000 or 7,000 acres, had 7,000 
 
134 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 horses and mules, 6,000 goats and no end of cattle. She gave me one glance 
 that was like mingled moonlight and music on a lake. But theeugine- 
 b-11 rang and I came right away. Spanish or Mexican brunettes do not 
 go to the spot like our American blondes any way.— Washington Count}/ 
 {Iowa) Press. 
 
 The tomb of Juarez is the most elaborate we had ever seen. It is built 
 in the shape of the Parthenon, covering a reclining statue of Juarez rest- 
 ing in the arms of Literty. The anniversary of his birth is always ob- 
 served and the numerous wreathes and flowers and other emblems, which 
 are hung within the enclosure, attest to the love and devotion of the people 
 towards the man who was instrumental in establishing liberty in Mexico. 
 They proudly say, Juarez was their Washington.— (^raw^ County ( Wis.) 
 Witness. 
 
 The Virgin of Guadalupe has attaching to her a political significance 
 quite as important as the significance that attaches to her in her religious 
 capacity. She is deemed as the embodiment of national character and the 
 defender of the nation's life— a divinity greater than all others. The 12th 
 of December is celebrated by the people with the greatest enthusiasiam 
 throughout the whole country. Thousands of them make yearly pilgrim- 
 ages to her shrine in the town bearing her name. — Farmers'' Friend., 
 Pa. 
 
 The police system of the cit^' is perfect. There are 2,200 of them for 
 a city of 400,000 people. They are dressed in a blue suit, long overcoat 
 with a cape, carry a club and large revolver in their belt and a lantern. 
 The latter they set in the middle of the street at the intersection of two 
 streets, so as far as you can see at night there is a row of lanterns. They 
 work four hours per day and receive for their wages one dollar a day. Be- 
 sides the foot police the mounted squad numbers 100. — Sunbury{Pa ) Daily. 
 
 Of the stores, the jewelry establishments are the handsomest and also 
 the most numerous. Three-foui ths of these are small, but nevertheless 
 rich. The counters in nearly all stores run crosswise, and when one en- 
 ters he is confronted with a line of salesmen, a number of whom will be 
 found smoking cigarettes. The Mexicans do not chew much tobacco, and 
 a woman told this scribe that she had been in that country twenty years, 
 and had never seen a Mexican smoke a pipe. — Forest City (Ark.) Times. 
 
 The taxable values of the State of " magnificent distance" foot up $800,- 
 000,000 ; it produces for shipment annually $475,000,000 ; 8,000,000 head 
 of cattle and 6,000,000 head of sheep graze upon its vast prairies ; the wool 
 shipped annually exceeds 30,000,000 pounds. It has 4,600,000 acres in 
 cotton, and its timber land covers over 46,000,000 acres. With a popula- 
 tion of 2,500,000, the growth of Texas has surpassed all calculations and 
 will continue to puzzle the statistical compiler.— i^arme/-s' Friend, Pa. 
 
TKXAS AND iMEXICO. 135 
 
 On the highway we saw novel sights. Two-wheeled Mexican carts, 
 drawn by four yoke of oxen loaded down with produce. At one point in 
 the road we saw a Mexican funeral ; the corpse was on a bier, resting on 
 the shoulders of four men ; the body was coffioless, and seemed to be 
 tightly wrapped in clothes, plainly showing the form of the deceased. The 
 mourners were few, and the cortege was winding its slow way towards a 
 Catholic church in the distance. — Natick (il/ass.) Citizen. 
 
 The first thing we had for breakfa-t in the City of Mexico was straw- 
 berries. There is no aristocratic portion of the town. The rich and poor 
 live side by side, while auotlier striking thing is that everybody lives up- 
 stairs and rents the ground iloor rooms of their houses for stores and shops. 
 The richest man in the city rents the one side of his house down stairs to 
 a cigar store, and the other is the office of the ]S^ew York Mutual Life In- 
 surance Company. — Nortliumherland {Pa.) Democrat. 
 
 There is always two sides to every question, and the result of Buena 
 Vista was not an exception. While the victor3' has been given to Taylor 
 by the world at lari^e, there are those who were in sympathy with the 
 United States, who acknowledge that from the position of the forces at 
 the end of the engagement the Mexicans were in better situation, while 
 iSanta Anna was wont to say, '• I had Taylor whipped three times, but 
 he never found it out." — Weyauwega ( Wis.) Chronicle. 
 
 We visited the private residence of Don Delfiue Sanchez, the president 
 of the railroad from the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz. This residence, 
 though presenting the regulation front, with large, heavily-carved doors 
 leading into the court, through which carriages, horses, servants and 
 •master, all had to enter, the building being a two-story plain structure, 
 with windows barred and bolted with heavy iion, similar to our jails, was 
 a palace in itself. — Baton Rouge {La.) Advocate. 
 
 It w^as a queer sight to go into a store and see a clerk smoking as he 
 waited on his customers. But queerer still to see his customer, a dark- 
 haired, darkened Castilian girl, calmly ask him for a light and smoke a 
 cigarette while she chatted of the fabric before her, and of its price. Im- 
 agine such a performance in Trigg's or Sauter's if you can ? The public 
 baths in this dirty city are the tiuest in he world — and no people need 
 bathing more. — Booneville {Mo.) Advertiser. 
 
 INIexican markets are peculiar to Mexico and crowded with fine fruits, 
 vegetables, and a good quantity of meats, which are sold in small lots to 
 buyers, the articles lying all over the pavement and sold by all sorts and 
 conditions of people, jabbering about their wares in Spanish, and to our 
 eyes it was an interesting study. You can buy besides articles of food, an 
 endless variety of every conceivable kind of merchandise in and about 
 these markets. — Oloucester {Mass.) Times. 
 
136 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 One of the Pennsylvania party selected an honest looking lad to carry 
 his overcoat. He gave him fifty cents and a good dinner. When he was 
 ready to return to the city the good little boy had skipped with the over- 
 coat. Stahle comforted himself with the reflection that the coat never did 
 fit him. He purchased a Mexican serape, as a protection against the cool 
 morning breezes, and looked like an Aztec prince of the royal blood. — 
 Pottsville (Pa.) Chronicle. 
 
 There arrived in Laredo last night ten car loads (600) fat hogs, the 
 property of Dr. A. E. Carothers, of San Antonio. They were purchased 
 in Kansas City, and are destined for the City of Mexico market. This is 
 the first shipment of the kind which will go into Mexico via the " short 
 route" — the Mexican National, but it will scarcely be the last, as parties 
 engaged in making such shipments claim that good returns are realized. 
 — Laredo {Texas) Times. 
 
 Santa Anna did not regard General Taylor as a real scientific soldier. 
 Said he : "I defeated him at Buena Vista five or six times, and he never 
 knew anything about it." It was a feature of the American campaign in 
 Mexico that the American troops never knew when they were beaten, 
 and this ignorance carried them from Palo Alto and Vera Cruz to Cha- 
 pultepec and the City of Mexico without a real defeat. — Herald and Pres- 
 byter, Cin. 
 
 Mexican carts have large wooden wheels, clumsy and awkward, with- 
 out any iron as we could see. The manner of attaching oxen to the cart 
 itself, instead of fastening the yoke on the neck of the oxen with a bow as 
 we do in this country they tie the yoke to the horns of the oxen with raw, 
 hide strips ; and instead of driving them with whips they goad them with 
 sticks in the ends of which are fastened sharp irons. — Times-News, Gads- 
 den, Ala. 
 
 The class system generally prevails in Mexico. The railway cars, 
 street railways, hacks, theatres and bull rings are all on graded j-cales. 
 First class railway rates are about three and a half cents a mile ; second 
 class, two and a half; third class, one and a half. The first class coaches 
 are similar to ours ; second class have cane seats, and third class a plain 
 board seat, running lengthwise or the cars.— ibtwa State Reporter. 
 
 The religion of the country is largely Catholic, but in the city several 
 of the Protestant denominations have missions and services. The Meth- 
 odists are building a church, the Episcopalians another, and there are sev- 
 eral other places devoted to missions. There is also a branch of the Meth- 
 odist book concern in Mexico, which publishes a paper and a number of 
 religious works in the Spanish language. — Iowa State Reporter. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 13T 
 
 The business men of Laredo are almost universally Ajiierican. The 
 increase of population by immigration is American. In the social rela- 
 tions in towns where there is a mixed population the line of separation 
 is almost as distinctly drawn between Americans and Mexicans as in 
 Ohio between the white and colored people. Marriages between Americans 
 and Mexicans seldom occur. — Democrat, Sidney, O. 
 
 The climate along the coast of Texas is oppressively hot and extremely 
 unhealthy. The average temperature of the old city is about 80 degrees. 
 Tlie rainy season begins in June and terminates in September, thus leav- 
 ing the Winters dry and bracing — a magnificent Winter resort. A rain 
 in December is very unusual and is alluded to as " crazy weather " by the 
 natives.— Oot^fey {La.) Signal. 
 
 As the sun went down behind the western mountains they cast a 
 shadow first over the plain, and then over the mountain side east of us. 
 This was grand and magnificent. With such a view before our eyes, and 
 many such can be seen in this part of Mexico, we are not surprised that 
 the Aztecs and those who preceded them were worshipers of the sun. — 
 Democrat, Sidney, Ohio. 
 
 A Mexican woman with a stone jar on her head, held in position by 
 bare arms, rounded and brown, always fills one with a longing to put her 
 on canvass. She wears a scant crimson skirt, showing feet and ankles 
 like highly polished mahogany, dark blue rebosa over head and shoulders. 
 Her eyes are dark and submissive, reflecting the slavery of generations. — 
 Carson City (Col.) Clipxier. 
 
 As a Winter resort, and as a residence for those afflicted with pul- 
 monary diseases, San Antonio offers many attractions and advantages. 
 Its dry, pure atmosphere, equable climate, freedom from snow, fogs and 
 malaria, its social advantages and the true Southern hospitality of its citi- 
 zens, all conspire to make it a most pleasant place to dwell in.— New Phil, 
 adelphia (O.) Advocate. 
 
 In the entirety the American editors make a very distinguished ap- 
 pearance, and it is very seldom that so much intelligence is observed gath- 
 ered in one place. Men who hava grown gray in mouldiut; public opin- 
 ion were seen sprinkled about among the younger knights of the press, 
 who are, rung by rung, mounting the ladder to editorial fame. — JRolla 
 {Mo.) New Era. 
 
 Our lunch, purchased in the city, was as follows : One pound of im- 
 ported sausage, $1.00 ; 2 pv>unds of crackers, $1.00 ; 5 loaves bread, 75 
 cents ; 2 boxes deviled ham, $1.50 ; 1 pound of cheese, 50 cents ; 1 small 
 bottle pickles, 75 cents, and other items at corresponding prices, American 
 breakfast bacon and ham being worth 50 cents a pound. — Baton Rouge 
 (La.) Advocate. 
 
138 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 The National Mexican road is now building immense shops at Laredo 
 and the land in each direction is laid out in lots, held at reasonable prices 
 by a company whicii is composed of men who are fully alive to the fact 
 that it is the selling of a thousand lots at fair prices that will benefit them 
 rather than of a dozen lots at outrageous figures. — Amhoy {III.) Journal. 
 
 So ignorant and poor are the great masses of people that the Govern- 
 ment finds it necessary to depend much upon military power. The sol- 
 diers are by no means a clever looking body of men, but as a resident gen- 
 tleman remarked, "they make a very good sort of breast- work behind 
 which the better class of citizens may find refuge." — Orowley (La.) Signal. 
 
 The system of irrigation is said to be less perfect at present than under 
 the ancient Aztecs, and the cultivation is the same as that used in the 
 earliest days of Egyptian and Asiatic history. Much of the water used for 
 irrigation is collected during the rainy season in artificial ponds made by 
 dams across ravines on the high ground. — St. John^s [Mich.) Republican. 
 
 The one absorbing question in Texas and, indeed, in all the southwest 
 that has commercial drift that way — New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, 
 Indian Territory and Louisiana — is to get a deep water harbor on the 
 Gulf coast. There is not a good harbor, save Mobile, on all that vast coast 
 line, either in the States or in Mexico. — Washington County {Iowa) Press. 
 
 Mexico is a laud upon which nature has bestowed her gifts with a 
 most lavish hand. Her mountains are store houses for gold, silver, opals 
 and the baser metals and minerals, while plains and valleys give forth in 
 abundance the products of both temperate and torrid zone, with scarcely 
 an effort on the part of the inhabitants. — Indian Chieftain, Ind. Ter. 
 
 It is said that five cents' worth of Mexican whisky will keep a man 
 drunk a week, and that drinking it is like swallowing a torchlight pro- 
 cession. Immense quantities of it are made, and all is consumed in Mex- 
 ico. No restriction is placed upon the sale of either liquor, and the Gov- 
 ernment derives no revenue from them. — Fairfield {Iowa) Ledger. 
 
 In our brief experience with these people — the full-blooded Mexicans 
 or Indians — we found them kind, obliging, mild-mannered, polite, and 
 fairly well-disposed to do the right. They may be ignorant ; they may 
 be immoral ; but they have never had a white man's chance; no, not 
 even an American negro's chance. — Opelousa {La.) Courier. 
 
 Another amusing and puzzling peculiarity is, that everybody lives 
 over a shop. Even the millionaires rent out the first floor of their resi- 
 dences for business purposes, and live in the third story. The handsomest 
 in all Mexico has a railway ticket office on one side of the entrance and 
 a cigar shop on the other. — Sharnokin {Pa.) Daily. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 139 
 
 Said an old priest : " It is a motto of the Church of Rome, that it is im- 
 possible to convert an idle man, and this is the secret of the success of the 
 Church in heathen lands. The early fathers gave the Indians employ- 
 ment here, and taught them to labor for the good of the Church and their 
 own preservation. — Cape Ann {Mans.) Advocate. 
 
 By a committee of ladies President White was awarded a gold maltese 
 cross medal as the handsomest journalist in the entire collection, and Mr. 
 S. G. Turnblad, of Minnesota, carried off a silver trophy as the ugliest 
 man anywhere betw^een the Polar Sea and the pulsative murmurs of the 
 Mexico gulf. — San Antonio {Texas) Express. 
 
 No matter how much men may differ about things political, social and 
 revealed, there is now and then a point upon which all are agreed, and 
 one of them is a well-cooked dish of beans. And pulque ? Well, there 
 is room for argument, yet for a prohibition delegation thelowans did fairly 
 well. — Davenport {Iowa) Democrat-Oazette. 
 
 The plantation negroes of Louisiana are princes when compared with 
 the p«or Mexican. The dissatisfied white laborer of the United States, 
 who is joining Orders and strikes to protect his rights, and secure him 
 good, living wages, should visit Mexico and study the condition and wages 
 of laborers i)AQVQ.— Crowley {La.) Signal. 
 
 There is no country in the world which furnishes the admixture of 
 L'o many races and sub-races as Mexico, and there is noothercountry with 
 which I am familiar in which the experiment of mixing races has been so 
 long continued, or which offers a better field of study for the sociologist or 
 statesman. — Sunday Herald^ Nashville. 
 
 John M. Doane, of the Columbus Herald^ distinguished himself at the 
 Editorial dance. He swung the young ladies around with great promis- 
 cuousness, being equally at home with the northern girls, the American 
 lasses of Corpus Christi and the Mexican maidens who live this side the 
 Rio Grande. — Ohio Slate Journal. 
 
 San Antonio, although originally a Spanish or Mexican town, is fast 
 losing all that appearance, adobe structures, have given place to ele- 
 gant and massive stone and brick edifices. The city enjoys a large trade 
 from Western Texas and Mexico, and shows every evidence of prosperity. 
 — Maiden {Mass.) Mirror. 
 
 A majority of the Mexicans natives are vagrants, and the distinctly 
 criminal element numbers about 30,000. The police force of some 1,400 
 men stand at the intersection of streets with the ordinary open lantern. 
 In one year, however, there were 5,370 knife attacks and 3,250 robberies. 
 — Strealor {III.) Press. 
 
140 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Chapultepec is the site of the National Military School, and is the Sum- 
 mer residence of the President of the Republic. It is a rocky plateau, 
 some 300 feet above the level of the plain and several acres in extent. 
 Upon the top is located the " castle," now the military school.— Boone 
 (Iowa) Standard. 
 
 A Mexican driver does not bawl out, American fashion, at his team, 
 but utters a sharp hiss between his lips for more urgency in getting over 
 the road, and the beasts respond with a switch of the tail and a waving of 
 the head which are grotesque in the extreme. — Boone (Iowa) Standard. 
 
 The liberty of the press is somewhat abridged, and the incarceration 
 of an editor is almost a daily occurrence. I met the manager of the Asso- 
 ciated Press, who had just been released. His crime was in giving a derog- 
 atory report of an operatic performance — Weyauwega ( Wis.) Chronicle. 
 
 There is not that freedom at elections which is found here. Men dare 
 not even intimate their opposition lo the party in power, whichever that 
 may be, and much less vote as they otherwise would like to. Freedom of 
 speech and of the press is necessarily abridged , — Markville {La.) Bulletin. 
 
 The Mexican costume is pronounced picturesque. The chief part is 
 the blanket, red or gray, with pantaloons or leggings, sometimes wearing 
 store shoes or boots, but mainly sandals or soles of leather strapped to the 
 foot. Stockings would seem a superfluity. — Oettysburg {Pa.) Complier. 
 
 Texas is full of cows, but good butter is a rarity, and cream for coffee 
 an unknown quantity. Condensed milk is used at many hotels as a sub. 
 stitute for the genuine. The best butter comes from Minnesota, Iowa and 
 Wisconsin and commands a high [)rice. — Montevideo {Minn.) Leader. 
 
 So scarce at one time was iron in Mexico that the peons would draw 
 the railroad spikes to make mule shoes, and links and pins of the freight 
 trains had to be all taken out and locked up in the caboose so eager were 
 the people to lay covetous hands on them. — Rolla {Mo.) New Era. 
 
 The main part of Mexico is its worst part. The great majority of its 
 people are Indian and ignorant. Ignorant people are not the worst of 
 people, but to be ignorant and lazy — and to this add dishonesty and dirt, 
 and the prospect lacks in promise. — Daveniport {la.) Gazette. 
 
 The poverty in Mexico is sickening. We have nothing like it in 
 America, and its equal is hardly found in the old world. At the same 
 time, there is almost unlimited wealth in the adornments of the cathe- 
 drals and churches. — Herald and Presbytor, Cincinnati. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO, 141 
 
 Two marriage ceremonies are necessary to meet requirements of the 
 law. A civil marriage is performed by an official first. This marriage is 
 reconled, and at any time afterward, as desired, the marriage is consum- 
 mated in the church. — Clark.ibunj ( W. Va.) News. 
 
 Every human being is an artistic study, every house a picture, and 
 every scene a poem. A Mexican, of rich bronze color, with bare limbs of 
 wonderful symmetrj', though not of large proportions, constantly appeals 
 to the artistic sense. — Carson Citij (Col.) Cllpver. 
 
 In Mexico you find the two extremes of great riches and poverty. The 
 field hands and laborers generally earn but 12i to 25 cents per day, while 
 the leisure class revel in sombreros and rebosas of gold and silver lace, 
 costing $50 to $100 each. — 2'eche (La.) Pilot. 
 
 A lady writer who once visited the city has said that there were " 500 
 separate and distinct smells in the City of Mexico." On our recent visit 
 we found at least 475 of them. The city has no sewers and very little or 
 no drainage.— iVasAv/We (III.) Democrat. 
 
 The Ethiopian, once in bondage, is a prominent figure in Mexico, not 
 so much because of numbers as by reason of his usefulness. He is the con- 
 venient go-between, often acting in the double capacity of sei*vant and in- 
 terpreter and guide. — Free Press., Wis. 
 
 The San Antonio river cuts San Antonio in every coilceivable direc- 
 tion. Each of the leading streets has its bridge, and the difficulty of ac- 
 curately locating landmarks is somewhat embarrassing to strangers. — 
 Hastings (Minn.) Oazettc. 
 
 In the coming years the Empire State of the South will far outstrip 
 the Empire State of the North. Its broad acres, its rich soil, its genial cli- 
 mate will place it foremost among all the States of the Union. — Buck- 
 hannon ( W. Va ) Banner. 
 
 The retiring President of the Press Association, Mr. A. B. White, of 
 Parkersburg ( W. Va ) Journal, has the happy faculty of saying the 
 " right thing at the right time" and smoothing over rough spots. — Little 
 Pock (Ark.) Democrat. 
 
 The streets in Mexico present a lively appearance, being at all hours of 
 thedi^y crowded with people of all kinds and classes, from the beggars in 
 their rags to the Spanish ladies with their lace mantillas. — ITie Sun, 
 Moundsville, W. Va. 
 
 The device of an eagle, with a serpent in its beak, standing on a cac- 
 tus that grows out of a rock, has become the escutcheon of Mexico. It is 
 found on the National flag and on the gold and silver coin. — Oreenmlle 
 (La ) Advocate. 
 
142 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 The water supply of the city is brought from the source of supply, the 
 lakes, by an immense stone acqueduct erected by the Spaniards three hun- 
 dred years ago, and which is still sound and serviceable. — Atlanta (Ga.) 
 Argus. 
 
 With twelve hundred firms engaged in mercantile pursuits in San 
 Antonio failures are very rare ; there are forty-five firms quoted as worth 
 over $100,000, six of which are rated $1,000,000 each. — Farmers'' Friend, 
 Pa. 
 
 Underneath the Chapel of the Kings a dozen monarchs are buried. It 
 is difficult to grasp the greatness of the great cathedral and it is beyond 
 power to describe it in all its magnificence. — Fireside Guard, Centralia, 
 Mo. 
 
 In comparing the condition of the peons of Mexico with the negro in 
 our Southern States, we find that the negro of this country is five hundred 
 per cent, better off than the poor Mexican. — Marion* (Ala.) Standard. 
 
 Mexico elects its President every four years. He has a Cabinet of six 
 Ministers. In case of the death of the President the Chief Justice suc- 
 ceeds to the office. Suffrage is universal. — Pottsville {Pa.) Chronicle. 
 
 San Antonio has three daily newspapers, the Express, the Light and 
 the Times, all of which extended every pDs^ible courtesy to the members 
 of the Association during the meeting. — jS'outhern Standard, Ttnn. 
 
 It i^ a curious fact that while opals are plentifully found in the mines 
 of Mexico the people do not wear them on account of the superstition 
 which exists generally against them. — Albany {N. Y.) Journal. 
 
 The Cathedral of Mexico, located on the site of the Ancient Aztec 
 Temple of Sacrifice, cost $2,000,000. Of the forty-eight bells two weigh 
 14,000 and 15,000 pounds each. — Pottsville (Pa.) Chronicle. 
 
 At Celaya, a city of 18,000, the Nacioual Mexicano railroad crosses the 
 Mexican Central, which is the first railroad cros4ug we have come to 
 since crossing the Rio Grande. — Rolla {Mo.) New Era. 
 
 A new city hall of San Antonio is in a fair way of completion, 
 costing $150,000. It has a little of historic value attached to it, being in 
 the center of Military plaza. — Wisconsin Free Press. 
 
 The Mexican joeon is generally of Indian blood, be occupies the place 
 of the Southern slave with no more freedom and barely as much intelli- 
 gence.- Lake Charles {La.) Coimnercial. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 143 
 
 The cotton mills lately established in Dallas are a great source of pride, 
 as the city is enabled to manufacture cotton, instead of sending it to other 
 S'.ates. — Sun, Moundsville, W. Va. 
 
 President Diaz complimented the United States in frankly admitting 
 that they were patterning as largely as possible after our form of Govern- 
 ment.— -4<Zanto {Oa.) Argus. 
 
 The name of the acting Governor of the District Government of Mex- 
 ico is Mr. Islas y Bustamante, the secretary is Mr. Ignacio Bejaraut. — 
 Oloucester{Mass.) Times. 
 
 Mexico has a railway system of 4,650 miles, and the telegraph system, 
 under the control of the Federal Government, of 11,160 miles. — Steuben- 
 ville (O.) Herald. 
 
 At Corpus Chribti, on December 3d, we had for dinner new potatoes 
 and green corn, both from the second crop grown during the year. — Ohio 
 State Journal. 
 
 " Y" means in the Spanish language " and." Tilma is the front fold 
 of an Indian garment made of the rough fibre of the cactus. — Farmers'' 
 Friend, Pa. 
 
 San Antonio is said to be the largest wool and horse market in the 
 world. Hoi.-e.« range in prices from $15 upward. — New Philadelphia (O.) 
 Advocate. 
 
 No matter how much or how small a factor an editor may be in his own 
 community, when away from home he is a nabob. — Sireator {111.) 
 Press. 
 
 A lady's bat or bonnet is rarely seen in Mexico, but they all carry para- 
 sols instead. — Nashville {III.) Democrat. 
 
 The Mexican calendar stone disinterred in 1790 weighs nearly fifty 
 tons. — Opelousas (La ) Courier. 
 
 Popocatepetl is 17,720 feet above the sea level and Iztaccihuatl 15,705. 
 — Opelousas (La.) Courier. 
 
 It takes $25,000 to procure a burial place in the great cemetry of Mex- 
 ico.— i^ireside Guard, Mo. 
 
144 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Our party for several days took their meals at the American Restaurant, 
 next to the National Theatre, where English is spoken by the proprietors, 
 and a few of the waiters, who are principally colored and Mexicans. Dur" 
 ing our stay they gave us the following bill of fare, with a humorous allu- 
 sion to the newspapers represented by tbe excursion party : 
 National Press Association, 1888. 
 
 MENU 
 
 Wednesday, November 27th, 
 
 Soups. 
 
 Consomme. Vermicelli. 
 
 Fish. 
 
 Baked Red Snapper, a la Two Republics. 
 
 Boiled Meats. 
 
 Mutton, Parsley Sauce, a la Keyser Echo. 
 
 Roasts. 
 
 Loin of Beef, Drip Gravy, a la Memphis Appeal. 
 
 Saddle of Mountain Brown Sauce, a la Kalamazoo Telegraph. 
 
 Loin of Pork, Apple Sauce, a la Davenport Gazette, Veal with Dressing, 
 
 a la Taggarts' Times. 
 
 Entrees. 
 
 Beef, a la Rocky Mountain News. 
 
 Chicken Fricasse, a la Opelousas Courier. 
 
 Stewed Tripe, a la Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 Vegetables. 
 
 (a la Oshkosh North-Western). 
 
 Mashed Potatoes, String Beans, Cabbage, Stewed Tomatoes. 
 
 Removes. 
 
 (a la Topeka Commonwealth). 
 
 Lettuce, Radishes, Green Onions, Pickled Beets, Salads. 
 
 (a la Salt Lake City Tribune). 
 
 Potato, Tomato, Pies. 
 
 (a la Sedalia Bazo-o-o-o.) 
 
 Custard, Bread Custard Pudding, Tea, Coffee, Chocolate. 
 
 — Taggarts'' Timcs^ Phila., Pa. 
 
 GOOD-BYE TO SAN ANTONIO. 
 
 Before leaving San Antonio the National Editorial Association testi- 
 fied its appreciation of the many courtesies received by the adoption of 
 the following resolutions : 
 
 Whereas, The National Editorial Association at this, the fourth an- 
 nual session, with a representation covering twenty-one States, and includ- 
 ing twenty three press organizations, desires to express its acknowledg- 
 ments for courtesies received from 
 
 The city government in the form of munificent hospitality. 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 145 
 
 The San Antx)nio Club, for freedom to its elegant rooms. 
 
 The Board of Trade and the Citizens' Association, for constant and 
 courteous attention. 
 
 The Casino Association, for the use of the pleasant room in which the 
 sessions of the Association were held. 
 
 The San Antonio street railway, for transportation to the railroad 
 depot. 
 
 The San Antonio and Aransas Pass railway, for transportation to the 
 fair grounds. 
 
 The San Antonio Fair and International Exposition, for the privilege 
 of witnessing the enterprise of the people of the city, county and State as 
 there exhibited. 
 
 To the daily press of San Antonio, in whose columns the proceedings 
 of our session they have so ably reported, whose editors have been unceas- 
 ing in their efforts to make our visit pleasant. 
 
 To the Mexican band, whose sweet strains and martial airs made the 
 air melodious with music during our visit to the exposition. 
 
 To the Southern Texas Imigration Society for valuable printed infor- 
 mation regarding the natural resources of the rich and extensive country 
 lying south and west of the Colorado river, known as southwest Texas. — 
 Maiden {Mass.) Mirror. 
 
146 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 TEXAS. 
 
 POPULATION OF PRINCIPAL CITIES. 
 
 San Antonio 50,000 
 
 Galveston 47,000 
 
 Dallas 45,000 
 
 Fort Worth 45,000 
 
 Paris 25,000 
 
 Austin 25,000 
 
 Laredo 15,000 
 
 Houston 10,000 
 
 Dennison 8,000 
 
 Matagorda 5,000 
 
 Marshall 5,000 
 
 Corpus Christi 5,000 
 
 Rockport 2,000 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 POPULATION OF PPaNCIPAL CITIES. 
 
 Mexico 250,000 
 
 Guadalajara 9.3,875 
 
 Puebla 76,817 
 
 Guanajuata 63,000 
 
 Zacatecas 62,000 
 
 Merida 56.000 
 
 Queretaro 48,000 
 
 San Luis Potosi 45 000 
 
 Monterey 40,000 
 
 Tlaxcala 36,403 
 
 Aguas Calientes 35,000 
 
 Colima 31,774 
 
 Mazatlan 31,000 
 
 Durango 28,000 
 
 Oaxaca 26.708 
 
 Campeche 26,000 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 147 
 
 Matamoras , 25,000 
 
 Morelia 25,000 
 
 Satillo 20,000 
 
 Orizaba 20,000 
 
 Chihuahua 16,000 
 
 Toluca 16,000 
 
 Hermesillo 16,000 
 
 Tehuantepec 15,000 
 
 Vera Cruz 15 000 
 
 Pachuca 15,000 
 
 Cerro Gordo 15,000 
 
 Cuernavaca 12,000 
 
 Jalapa 10,000 
 
 Aeambaro 10,000 
 
 San Christobel las Casas 10,205 
 
 Culiacan 9,647 
 
 Tixtla 8,000 
 
 San Juan Bautista 8,000 
 
 Ures 8,000 
 
 Jimenez 8,000 
 
 Acapulco 7,000 
 
 Cuatro Ciengas 4 ,000 
 
 La Paz 4,000 
 
 Chilpancingo 3,000- 
 
 PRINCIPAL CAPES OF MEXICO. 
 
 Cabo Roy's ^ Coast of I San Lucas 
 
 Catoche S Yucatan. | Corrientes (Coast of Jalisco.) 
 
 San Ignacio. 
 Angel de Guardia. 
 Salsipuedes. 
 
 PRINCIPAL ISLANDS OF MEXICO. 
 
 Tortuga. 
 del Carmen. 
 Cozumel. 
 
 PRINCIPAL BAYS OF MEXICO. 
 
 Bay of Campeche. 
 
 Aseencion Bay. } on East Coast of I Acapulco Bay. ) on Pacific 
 
 Espiritiu Bay. *i Yncatan. | Mauzanillo Bay ^ Coast. 
 
 PRINCIPAL C4ULFS OF MEXICO. 
 
 Gulf of California. I Gulf of Tehuantepec. 
 
 Sea of Cortez. 1 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 PRINCIPAL RIVERS OF MEXICO. 
 
 Length in 
 miles. 
 
 Rio Brava (Rio Grande) 1,800 
 
 Rio de Santiago 924 
 
 Rio de los Balzas 483 
 
148 JOURNALISTS' VIEWS OF 
 
 Rio Coucbo 390 
 
 Rio Yaqui 390 
 
 Rio Mezquetal 365 
 
 Rio Panuco 330 
 
 Rio del altar 324 
 
 Rio de Sinaloa 321 
 
 Rio del Fuerte 312 
 
 PRINCIPAL MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF MEXICO. 
 
 Height in 
 feet. 
 
 Popocatepetl 17,720 
 
 Orizaba .' 17,370 
 
 Ixtaccihuatl 15,700 
 
 Nevado de Toluca 14,567 
 
 Cofre de Perote 13,400 
 
 Ajusco 11,477 
 
 Cerro Mercado 8,201 
 
 FORESTRY OF MEXICO. 
 
 Spanish. English. 
 
 Robles Oak tree 
 
 Quiebrohachas A kind of Fir 
 
 Pinos Pine 
 
 Olmos Elm 
 
 Nogales 
 
 Hayas .Beach tree 
 
 Encnias Live oak 
 
 Abetos 
 
 Cedros Cedar 
 
 Caobas Mahogany 
 
 Guachapillines 
 
 Palmas reales , Royal Palmetto 
 
 Sabinos Satiue 
 
 Palo Amarillo Yellow Wood 
 
 Ebaiios Ebony 
 
 Palo de hierro Iron Wood 
 
 Palo Rosa Roi-ewood 
 
 Naranjo Orange 
 
 Palo bianco Huckleberry 
 
 PaJe de leche 
 
 Acacia A shrub 
 
 Campeche Logwood 
 
 Fresno Ash 
 
 Picea Silver fir 
 
 Alisco Alder tree 
 
 Palo Colorado Redwood 
 
TEXAS AND MEXICO. 149 
 
 Arrayan Myrtle 
 
 Guayacau Lignumvitte 
 
 Azafran Saffron 
 
 Madera flauca Whitewood 
 
 Euebro Commou Juuiper 
 
 MEXICAN VOCAULARY. 
 
 Mex ico — Me-y hi-co . 
 
 San Luis Potosi — San Lou-ee Po-to-si, A city in Mexico. 
 
 Tortilla — Tor-tee-yo, Small cake made of corn . 
 
 Porfirio Diaz — Por-fl-ri-o Dee-ez, President of Mexico. 
 
 Alamo— Al-a-mo, A fort in San Antonio. 
 
 Saltillo— Sal-tee-yo, A city in Mexico. 
 
 Buena Vista — Bwah-nah-Vees-ta, Beautiful view. 
 
 Guadalupe — Gwad-a-loop, The location of a shrine. 
 
 Iturbide — It-ur-bi-de, Name of a Mexican ruler ; also of a hotel. 
 
 Mesdale — Mes-cal-e, Mexican whisky. 
 
 Pulque — Pool-kah •. . . Drink. 
 
 Tamales — Ta-mah-lees, Mexican dish, 
 
 Chili-con-carne — Chil-i-co-car-ne, Pepper with meat. 
 
 Granada — Gran-nah-da, Banana. 
 
 Reale — Re-al, Twelve and one-half cents. 
 
 Peons — Pay-ons, Mexican hireling. 
 
 Sombrero — Som-brer-o, Mexican hat. 
 
 Serape — Ze-rap-ee, Scarf. 
 
 Rebosa — Re-bo-sah , Scarf for the head. 
 
 Hacienda — Ha-she-en-da, A ranche or farm. 
 
 La Silla— La-Sil-la, The saddle. 
 
 Friyoles — Fri-yo-las, Red beans. 
 
 Bonita — Bo-nee- ta, Pretty. 
 
 Juarez — Wau-rez, A Mexican Geceral. 
 
 Griugoe— Grin-go, An American. 
 
Ib held annually, tlie last week in August, 
 
 —AT— 
 
 Thirteen milen Southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 
 
 K.. m:. TM:oii<rjPss, 
 
 General Manager, Meciianicsburg, Cumberland Co., Pa. 
 
General Manager's Cottagk. on Grange Avenue. 
 
J^he /nf^ex^sf^af^e ^ieme:Q^^hibif^wn. 
 
 lIEiiiU'i'sUitePicuic Kxhiltitionaumially held at Williams' Grove, 
 CuinbcM-land county, Ponnsylvaiiia, under the auspices of the Pa- 
 trons of Husbandry, has become an institution of great magnitude 
 and is attracting wide-spread attention. A brief recifcil of the history of 
 this great agricultural gathering may not be void of interest to the read- 
 ing public. Some sixteen years ago, when this spot was just beginning to 
 attract the attention of tourists and i)leasure-seekers as a resort for those 
 who for one day sought surcease of care in the cooling shade of the woods, 
 prominent leaders of the Patrons of Husbandry selected the place as one 
 best suited tor the i)urpose of holding a social reunion. A few thousand 
 members of the Order fi'om difterent States assembled on the day desig- 
 nated and pass d the hours in such recreations as are usual on occasions 
 of that kind, liut a few observing minds siiw in this gathering a bright 
 promise of something hitherto unattempted in any section of the country 
 — a way to bring the farmer and manufa<^turer, the producer and con- 
 sumer into closer communion and fellowship, and to a better understand- 
 ing of the relationshiii they sustain to each other. Between these two 
 classes, which up to this time had remained estranged, it was determined 
 to bring about an luuinonious feeling, because their interests are so inter- 
 woven and so ble ded that whatever operates unfavorably against the one 
 does harm to the other. With this object in view another picnic was 
 announced for the next year, to which manufacturers were invited to 
 bring the w'ork of their shops, fiictories and mills, and farmers to jilace 
 on exhibition the products of the field, the garden and orchard. It is 
 true that the number who came in the earlier yeai-s of the enterprise was 
 comparatively small, but the opportunity thus afFcirded the manufacturer 
 to learn frona the practical farmer himself just what agriculturists re- 
 quired for the successful carrying on of farm operations was so well ap- 
 preciated and used to such effect that others engaged in the same pursuits 
 soon realized that they. too. must avail themselves of this source of in- 
 formation or be practically shut out fioni the market. This, in 
 brief, was the origin of the National Farmers' Exhibition. It is the work 
 of the Patrons of Husbandry, and its present unrivalled proportions are 
 due to theii advanced and libe al views and to the wise guidance of the 
 management of the enterprise. 
 
 From this small beginning the institution has grown, until to-day, it 
 is unapproached by any similar undertaking in any part of the country. 
 
?Ei3ffiZl 
 
 
 u UY TV p t w.PHii*i;^:^iti 
 
 Pagoda over Spring, in Centre of Lake, at Williams' Grove. 
 
r 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 645 598 %