Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-12-28
THE CITY OF HEALTH.
A visit to San Antonio, Texas.
Ernm Gcrihnar'S Mannzinn

San Antonio is the only town in the
United States which has a thoroughly
European aspect, and it is more, in its
older quarters, like some remote and
obscure town in Spain than like any of
the bustling villages of France or Ger
many, with which the grand tour"
traveller is familiar. Once arrived in it,
and safely ensconced among the trees
and fiOwerets ON Flores street, oron any
Of the lovely avenues which lead from
it out into the delicious surrounding
country, there seems a barrier let down
to shut out the outer world; the United
States is as strange land. In San
Antonio, too, as in Nantucket,
you may hear the people speak of go
ing to the States, " ''the news from the
States" etc, with utmost gravity and
good faith. The interests of the sec
ton are not so identified with those of
the country to which it belongs as to
lead to the same intense curiosity about
American affairs that one finds mani
tested in Chicago, St. Louis, and even
in Galveston. People talk more about
the cattle trade, the Mexican thievery
question, the invasion Of Mexico by the
French, the prospects Of the opening
up of silver mines, than of the rise and
fall of the political mercury, and the
General Government comes in for con-
sideration and criticism only when the
frontier defenses or the Mexican boun-
daries are discussed. 'What General
was that down here with Gin'ral Sher-
MANI" said man to me at an out
Of-the-way town in Western Texas
Reckon that was one o your North
ern Gin rails" He had never heard of
Secretary Belknap, for he had no inter
est in following Cabinet changes.
Although every thing which is brought
to San Antonio from the other
world tolls over eighty miles of stage
or wagon transit, the people are well
provided with literature, but that does
not bring them any closer to the United
States; nothing but railroad ever will;
and the majority of the elder popula-
ton rebel against the idea of railroad.
Steaming and snorting engines to defile
the pure air, and disturb the grand
serenity of the vast plains! No, deed;
motif the Mexicans can have theirway,
the older MeXicaps, the apparently i'm
mortal old men and women who are
preserved in Chill pepper, and who, as
their American neighbors say, have
been taught that they will have but
short shifts when the railways come in.
1T will bring you all sorts of epidemics,
and all kinds of noxious diseases, they
have been told by those interested to
prevent the roads building. This the
venerable moneyed Mexicans ac-
tually consider valid rea-
son for opposition, since San
Antonio now has the reputation of be-
ing the healthiest corner of the Ameri-
can Continent. The local proverb says,
"If you wish to die here, you must go
somewhere else;" and, although the
logic is not quite clear, it is certain that
there is a fond de Uef'ite. For many years
consumptives have been straying into
San Antonio, apparently on their very
last legs, only to find renewed life
and vigor, in the superb climate
of Western Texas; and so certain
is it that consumptiyes and those poor
in general health can be cured IN San
Antonio and the surrounding region,
that retreats and quiet residences for
people to enshrine themselves II during
recovery are going up in all quarters
there. A few of the golden mornings
"a few of those restful evenings, when
the odorous dark comes SO gently that
one cannot detect its approaeh-and
one learns the charm of this delightful
corner of the world.