Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-15
SANTA FE.
A City Whose Past is Of Great In
tGrGSt,- .-ThG Cathedral Built
300 Years Ago.
Peculiar People Who Dwell Among
Ruins and ItcliCs--Dusky Red
Men and Boys in Blue.
corrcsrondence Of the penver News.

Correspondence of the Denver News.
SANTA Fg, n. NJ, Aug. 8, 1S93.-Did
you G err visit n city of the past and linger
so long amid tumble down old ruins that
you began to feel as if you were yourself
a representative of dead ages? If you
have undergone this torture you will be
able to appreciate our feelings, when tired
and dusty, with weary eyes and aching
limbs we dragged hotel-wards, after
"doing" Santa Fc, the Mecca of t%ouriats
who revel IN antique things. Perhaps it
is very beneficial for persons, at least
once in a life time, to make a pilgrimage
to n town composed of ruins and relics;
but it is most dreadfully wearying, and
last evening when we returned to the
hotel we felt as if we had lived n few
hundred years, and bright, active, 60
ahead Denver seemed a long way off.
Santa Fe is u city not of the present or
future, but Of the past. People do not
tell you of what they are doing, nor of
what they are going to do, but over and
over again yuo hear of what was away
back in the fifteenth and sixteenth cent
uries. After a little this sort of thing
grows wearisome to the average Amer
lean, who prefers the new to the old, but
for a short time it seems very good to
drop out of the hurry and confusion of a
nineteenth century city and find yourself
in a place that speaks plainly on all sides
of its antiquity. The hotel is about the
only thing that is not old, and some of
the viands are altogether too ancient for
the comfort of the guests. The first
place that the tourist hears of and
consequently the first place
one starts forth to see is the cathedral of
San Miguel. The most credulous cannot
doubt that the building is old, dirty and
tumble-down-a regular ruin. The sign
on the door, "Ring the bell twice for the
usher. Admission, % cents, is the only
modern thing one sees. The bell is rung
and a youth, j. A. Ancheta, (the bright.
est and most wide awake Mexican We
have seen,) makes his appearance, pockets
the quarters, ushers you in and begins
his story. You are informed that the
bell you have rung was made in Spain il
1856. It's a good long while ago, but il
is old looking and cracked enough to Civ,
a proper coloring to the story. Anchet;
informs you that the cathedral was erect
ed in 1852, destroyed by the Indians, ant
restored in ITO. The gallery and severa
of the beams are from the original build
ing erected 301 years ago. The cathedra
is of adobe; it looks as if u good, hare
push would tumble the dirt right down
but it has stood the storms of centuries
The exterior presents the appearance o
being little better than a dirt hut, bu
!, the interior is more interesting. Their
is an old confessional used in ITO, an
! one feels a sort of reverence in lookinga
8 the tiny cell which has listened to tn
penitcnts Of centuries gone. Did the.
do foolish, wicked deeds rs do the inhab
4 itants of the earth to-day 1t seems hard
! ly possible.
= There is a sort of hole in the wall,
place not high enough for a door, nor j
it n window, peering into it, you see tina
: it leads into n low, dark room, and you
guide informs you that here it was tina
e the dead were deposited during service
Turning from this rather gloomy subject
he picks up a ~hurdy-gurdy and prepare
= to make u most awful noise, and tells yo
r that during holy week this is used instea
of the ancient bell. Around the altar ar
pictures of all ages, two of which, you ar
informed, are between six and nine hur
dred years old. The building is not ger
orally used for service and it is probabl
that it viii be kept as along as possibl
without repairs. 1t is interesting enoug
. to repay one for a long and tedious triI
) A fine school for boys and the conver
for young Women are close at hand in fin
buildings surrounded by queer old ga
dens, walled in by high brick or adot
fences. Going from. the hotel to I'll
cathedral you pass through the old qua
ter which is laid out after n fashion r.
markable for its startling originate,
4 There do not seem to be any streets AZ
all over the whole city it is difficult to to
when you are on the sidewalk or on som
q body's gallery, and if particular care
sd not used you find yourself wandering in
80 a back yard. Doors and windows are wiz
open half the time and everythii
y wears n sort of free and easy al
:, If a Mexican woman sees you lookii
~ curiously at her adobe dwelling 81
Up throws open her door and bids you ente
nd Hospitality they offer you. None are t.
q. poor to do that. Yet they are a que
set, these Mexicans. The women VIZ
- n shawl, usually a black one, around the
heads, and the much talked of beauty
similar drapery worn by the Mexici
senoritas is lost sight of when the ma
tilla is n dingy old shawl and the dar
eyed Spanish maiden is a copper-color
old hag. The very children are old
everybody is tired, the children are DO
tired, and you cannot get informant
from any one. They are all polite enoug
but the probability is If your inquiries
quirc long answers your informant W
80 to sleep before he has told you all y
want to know. The Mexican, both IN
and women, drop down on the sidewg
Gf there happens to be any in the stree
or on the doorstep, The burros 10
weary, only now and then Showing a
nation enough to kick. 1t cannot
the climate, for the air is clear and br
ing. No one seems to know exac
what is the matter, but everybody WEI
a sort of ~listless, dreamy air.
The majority of the Mexicans do
work, and yet the shoplieepers assure y
they.have plenty of money, They ga
BILE a great deal and perhaps much of
filthy lucre is used now in that W
: Santa Fee is most lively at night, {
music is played in the saloons, gambl
rooms are brilliantly lighted up, men q
women saunter up and down the sire
and until past midnight the revel is k
q up.
There are very few buildings which
, modern or handsome. The houses
: the most part are built around Il SOU