Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1879-07-24
come on you anywhere and is almost

!
: as bad.
If you are to stay here the next
thing is to hunt Furnished rooms, -
: for boarding In a Denver hotel would
swamp bonanza, in time. Room
renting is one of the principal branch
es OF business in Denver, and little
!: red and blue signs announcing the
fact adorn about every alternate
house on the uptown streets. Eve
rybody hunts rooms, and the very
living horses are trained, too. At
least the one l had WAS and wanted
me to enquire at every hitching post.
L could recommend him for hunting
rooms (even mush rooms.) You
get out, and after sampling every
thing, from a grain bin to a double
; parlor, you select one within your
income, coop yourself like Il canary
and call it located; which you are
till your landlady begins system of
reduction of conveniences and in
crease of rent till you are on the verge
of desperation and you move. "Three
removes" do not "equal fire" out
here else Denver would have Il pau
per population never equaled by Chi
cago.
Denver is a beautiful city. You
have heard that remark before: but
If you were here to-day you would
prefer a little less beauty and more
solid comfort, for the light air is on Il
''tare" and the sand-dust from the
streets and cotton from the cotton
wood trees are in strong sympathy.
The broad streets are white with the
cotton seed aud the sky is grizzIed as
with snow cloud. The cotton
wood is fast grower, a splendid
shade and they are Dcnver's orna-
ment and beauty, but there are few
weeks, about the first of June, when
they receive almost sufficient male
dlction (malc and female) to make
them wither. This is quite a regu-
lar city with quite an air of comfort
III its residence and business in its
commercial localities. Every one
seems comfortable and busy, or at
least strive to appear SO. The very
tramp has an air of means about him.
Pompous and pretentious in lis pau
perism, Il have trcmblcd lest [ in
suit mining millionaire as | have
sought an assistant tapeman among
group OF them. 'Il 90 and see
how you do these things out vest
lie ii say, with assumed curiosity and
all concealed eagerncss, and drop the
coin you pay him throught the hole
III his pocket into his boot with the
air OF man who has mines in the
mountains. | have met but one who
seemed conscious of his poverty, and
even he would have been bloated
with small capital. mistook him
for an expressman, as he stood drink
ing at the hydraut (more as if to sat
isty hunger than thirsty and asked
him if the horse and wagon in nv
line Of sight were his. ''God bless
you, no stranger; if owned that rig
I'd call it a bonanza" He never
knuckles. 1t is not popular here.
He may borrow but not beg. He
sustains his manhood while he can
sustain his life and the newsbov's
shrill cry, morning paper! all about
the dead man found i'll the Platte" is
the only plea he ever makes to the
public purse.
Socially this people are in no way
strikingly peculiar. A hurried cour-
tesy for visitors, mingled with sort
of contempt for those uninitiated in
the ways of the west Gnvolved in the
local eplthet Of "tenderfoot") to-
gether with general lack OF criti-
cism and indifference to it, seems to
be their characteristic. There seems
to be much of "society" here, So
called, and much fine dressing and
fashionable driving rigs may be OBJ
served. Still l do not think this
could be called truly sociable city.
a certain eXclusiveness exists, most
ly from the fact that the population
consists largely of fragments of fami-
lies and is to so large an extent mi.
gIatory. One thing peculiarly i'm
presses a stranger: While tic ladies |
are all well (and many of them ex-
travagantly) dressed, they are, as |
class, extremely homely. The Den
vcrite admits your insinuation and !
says domestic work can't get help"
but to you it simply seems as though |
ugliness had gone west when young
and grown up with the country"
Business of every kind is rushing
and the prospects of a strangers get |
ting employment here depends great
ly upon his energy and usefulness.
The great mining influx has hoisted
real estate TO a marvellous height and |
not few fortunes have been realized |
this season oil of this branch of spec
ulation alone. Building is quite
brisk. Wages are not correspond
lngly high, but material, &C., is rath-
er eXpenslye-something as follows
Carpenters, per DAY, 81 to So; ma
son, 81 ; hod-carriers, 81 so; teams,
So to 81; ordinary hand, 81 to $1.5O;
Clerks, $40 to $50 per month; plas-
tering, 25 cents per yard, or 81 per
day; painting about cents per coat,
per square yard excavating, 20 cents
per yard brick, Sc to 81, at the
yard and 50 to SO per NJ IN the
wall lumber, S22 so per thousand
(rough) &c, &c. The Colorado
material is very inferior to eastern
or Chicago lumber Gas they call it
here) ana the Colorado brick is quite
ordinary, the sample corresponding
to our salmon, being easily crushed
with the fingers and holds water like
a spounge. An ordinarily furnish
ed room costs from 81 SO to Sc per
week lowing to trimmings and loca-
tion) and meals can be obtained from
81 to Sc per week. An unfurnished
house with to rooms rents from
$40 to $50 per month, owing to locali-
ty. Staple groceries and canned
goods are quite reasonable, but vege-
tables, fruits (except lemons and
oranges) and luxuries of all kinds are
quite intolerable. Eggs 80 cents;
butter 80 cents; beef steak 20 cents;
domestic help Sc per week and a cir
Gus ticket costs you dollar.