Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-06-02


Capitalists who come here to lv'
not only surround themselves witt
every elegance and luxury, but fine
as polished society and as man.
sources of enjoyment as in the mos
favored cities of America and Eu
rope. The idea that the place i
somewhat out of the world, OF OF
a rufianly border, is soon dispelled
The climate is delicious and health
giving, Although thedays are hot il
summer, the heat is not prostrat.
ing sunstrokes are unknown. The
air is pure and the nights delight
fully cool and breezy. 1t is only
about one hundred miles to the
Gulf of Mexico, and the purifying
effect of the salt air is percepuble
all the night long. AT the time
we were there the first blazing hot
weather Of summer occurred and
the residents were complaining
of it and keeping close in the
shade. Yet we were constantly ex.
posed in the sun two or three days,
without the exhaustion often suf-
fered in Memphis, st. Louis, or
New York. In building the houses
here the quaint old adobe Mexican
and Spanish on the river, of a cen
fury and a half ago, as well as the
modern villas retired back among
the trees and surrounded by a
stone wall, the sanitary ard delight
full luxury of the bath was always
kept in mind. All the houses on
the river, ancient and modern, have
white bath houses erected over the
water. A cold water plunge can
be taken in the heart of the city by
those favored residents with impu-
nifty. Some of these a%ccommoda-
lions are mere tents, pitched, like
Moses amcng the ~bulrushes, where
beauty can sit, as it were, under its
own vine and fig tree and see its
own form unmolested in the dark,
bright waters. Private arrange
ments are SO complete and univer-
sally respected that public bath
houses are almost as scarce in San
Antonio as in Memphis.
1t was Sunday morning when
we frat beheld this unique,
anomalous and marvellous old-new
city. The new putting off the old,
the old clinging to the rocks and
walls, where planted a century ago,
like the ivy to the oak. In the
midst of a scene of novelty and
enchantment We turned instinctly
to the Alamo, where Crockett,
Bowie and Travis and all the illus
trious heroes fell in an unequal
strife, indicating American valor
and bequeathing heroic and most
precious memories to the true men
of Texas, Tennessee aud the whole
nation. When our little party,
gathering around the corner of that
old church where Crockett is sup
posed to have fallen, the last Of
his two hundred compatriots
who had held at bay Santa
Ana's army Of four thousand men,
we felt, indeed, as if on con%secreated
ground. The name of Crockett
will ever be held dear by Tennes-
seeans, and especially by those of us
who have been over the ground
where he performed in early life
his greatest exploits as hunter and
woodsman, and who had now the
rare and unexpected privilege
of standing upon the spot
where his blood watered the
tender plant Of Texan independ-
ence, and adorned by his deeds the
faireSt and saddest pages of Ameri-
can history. He fell to c-onsecrate
q noble cause, TO live IN the affec-
tionate memories of a chivalrous
people, and to have his name in
scribed highest in the pantheon Of
their heroes. Turning from this
historic spot, and putting aside the
flood OF "reminiscences and sugges.
tons, we attended the Mexican
Catholic Cathedral, a fine stone
structure, with an organ, altar,
and pictures and images, compar-
ing well with st. Peters of
Memphis. 1t was Whit Sunday,
aud the services were conducted in