The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-10-15
LIFE IN NEW MEXICO.
Advent into a Mexican Town-Adobe
D0miciIes-AstrideO of . sBurro =.
The Pueblo Indians. efc.. etc.

l. A@ - ~ ~ --A-A~-A-NOs
Advent into a Mexican Town-AdObt
1 DOmiciIes-AStride of q " "B9rr0 :
The Pueblo Indians. etc. etc.
From a letter in the Chicago hiter-Ocedr
from its CORES sp0ndeRt with Lientenan,
Wheeler's expedition, we make the followl
ing interesting extracts: .t.t
ADVENT INTO MEXICAN TOWN.
As | have said, like Culebra, like Abiqui
and every other Mexican town ever faith
cred by padre, in the outskirts of Cule'
bra lariated hog attracted general atten-
ton. Then there We're numerous repre-
sentatives of the species billy-goat, an ami
Nmal which has always seemed TO ME 10 be
first cousin to the devil himself. An old
woman, the town fool, garrulous and
cackling, brandished crushed OysUer-can
! high in the air as she whistled and danced
the way into the middle of the road to in
7 1qUire how many tons burden the Odome-
! ter vehicle was. Two damsels were wash
| ing clothes by the stream. A trough was
| their tub, and was fleaped with mass OF
/ fOamy sudS, the product of the soap-rOOt,
a plant Indigenous here. Young and
skittish, and fearing advances from Tweed,
they fed to shelter on our approach.
Through the population Of loaters, we
rode as through a gauntlet. The men
were slOuchy; the children were stark and
absolutely naked, and the women were
smeared with red paint, not with that de-
cent regard for tone and finish which our
civilized ladies practice, but recklessly, in
daubS, stTeaks, and patches. The crucl-
form church is the center of the town. 1t
is surmOunted by steeple, each of the
four standards of which seems to hold diff
terent views concerning the direction of
Heaven. I'm il is bell with no sign of a
rope attached. How do they ring it? The
mystery is solved by that rickety ladder
which leans against the outer wall. by
which route the bellman climbs to oScillate
the clapper by hand. However, this
cathedral is gorgeous and like New Je-
rusalem to the simple minds of those who
worship there, because of its possession of
glass windows, the only ones i'll town.
True, l have seen private and pretentiouS
mansions with an empty sash as medium
of illumination, and an obstruction and
perpleXity TO the invading rain-drops, but
never a vitreous slab has been there. The
streets are narrow as Edinburgh streets,
and where they might as well wind in
flowing curves, are broken with abrupt
elbows and angles, in the turning ofwhich
a fleet rider would be dismounteG. They
stllNl W uNil OllN u lliNil
labyrinth i'll patient search of the pOstoflice
and the sound of the roll of an English
speaking tongue, he may find himself at
the bottom of cuL de sac, where lean three
women against the house interesting as
mummies, or just as likely nc will be
scraping the two walls ofa gOat-path which
leads to the back door Of some human
habitatiOn.
ADOBE DONICMES.
The house of the nOn-progressive MeXi-
can is not whit better than that of his
fathers. In external appearance it is a
square pile of brown bricks, and [ have
ridden a mile through the suburbs of a
town thinking what a flouriShing place
must be my destination in order to sup
port so many brick yards. Not one of
them ever aspires beyond one story.
Whenever you find a people too lazy to go
up stairs you will find on the tip of the
tongue the earthquake theory againsthigh
houses, and so it is here. Some of the
towns, as, for instance, TERRA Amarillo,
are situated in groves of magnificent tim
Der, but dirt is still plentier and cheaper,
and hence they buid themselves homes of
it. The floors are. bf dirt, hard and well
packed; the walls are of dirt and about
ten feet high, and the roof is of dirt, roll
ing in furrows, like a potato field. In
truth | have seen good growth of corn
thriving on the ranche-roofS up North
but not here, where the Omnipresent goat
would crop it in its youth nothing more
edible than a cactus has long promise of
life here. Now, in passing, let me prick
another delusion, all concerning this build
ing called a rancho. which is too often seen
from the East through the optimistic glass
of the imagination, its utter absence of
comfort and convenience being kindly
filled in with romance. Having partici-
pated once in the uprearing of one of these
shams, l presume to know whereof
speak. Take the lOwliest Irishmans
shanty or the poorest peasant hut, and
they are more like dwelling-hOuses than
the rancho of a man who counts his cattle
by the thousand, and welf-ordercd stable
is palatial in comparison. A rancho is
built in day and fUrnishad in an hour.
First, there is piled structure of logs like
a child's dollhouse, and a rectangular
aperture cut through and called door.
The roof has but slight inclination. and,
in place Of rafterS, pine poles are laid snug
ly side by side, upon whchis spread a lay
er of gunny-sacks or hay to restrain from
leakage the load or two of earth which
forms top-dressing to the whole. That
is all the rancho is done. OF course, if
the proprietor is aristocratic and uppish in
his tastes, he may. in some leisure hour.
take ak, saw and auger and pin together a
few puncheons for door and table; or
if the weather promise 10 be cold, he may
chink up the cracks between the logs and
plaster up a Fireplace in one corner, but
the man who would think of desiring a
floor other than natures bosom would be
hOOted and mObbed as a pampered tender
foot, or respected as an eXilel prince. In
rare cases | have seen the walls papered,
the Days DOilgs being thus utilized, but
such instances of leanings toward luxury
are rare. Before the door the viscera of
game and the heads of fish are profusely
and carelessly scattered, serving as attrac-
ton to draw hither all the flies between
here and the next rancho, which is like
unto this. Yet the occurrence of one of
these rude cabins in an unsettled country
is of geographical importance. and often
of vital importance to the traveller, and re-
cent maps of New Mexico give their loca-
ton with all the space and precision al
lotted to villages.
AsTRIDE OF A ''BURRO,"
When Mexican wants to go anywhere,
he rides, and like Mazeppa, he rides with
out saddle, stirrup, or bride; but, unlike
Mazeppa and Jehu, he does not ride fu-
riously. His charger is gentle and dis
passionate little donkey, a bwTo, a dimi-
nutive creature which a righteous man
would not think of consigning to harder
lot than to be plaything for his baby and
a companion for his kittens. Great men
will ride these objects of oppression and
much abuse, and l have seen two men
comfortably jogging along on a little
pigmy of donkey which | am confident
1 could easily lift, and across which my
mercy toward the brute creation would
have checked me from stepping, fearing
lest might sit heavily on my steed and
crush him. OF the animal in question
nothirg but the hOOfs and ears We're visi-
Bile, and with the four legs of the men and
the four legs of the beast touching the