Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-28
Aspects of santa Fe.

TOOrrsgpOudenCe or the BCstOn HerAl0.
 Six in the evening is good hour at which to reach Santa Fe. The cool, pure air, de- scending straight from 8 cloudless sky, the peaceful streets, running of like alleys stretched apart little, and the sheltering rim of mountains, whose sides the sun Is warming with purple and red, inspire feel ing of relief and comfort. One need not hurry to mount bus to avoid contact with the groups of black native women and low -browed men who gather at the in coming train, for they huddle like tinaid sheep, but 1t is pleasanter to look at them from slight elevation, where you wonder if their faces might not be set in an adobe wall without anyone detecting the counterfeit. A roomy American frame hotel is one of the welcome innovations in the old town. Just now it does 8 thriving business, as it needs to do to offset two years of steady drainage of the purse of it's proprietor, who put small fortune in it with the idea that people would flock to enjoy Santa Fe's unsurpassed climate if they could be sure of enjoying it comfortably. The scheme went agley, and the white haired landlord waited valnly for months for enough guests to keep up ex- psnses.
 From the spacious balconies one may over look the town and region as far as the noun tains Long lines of mud walls define the streets and window or doorway cut here and there shows where the wall is partitioned off inside into a dS elling. Near the hotel are isolated houses, usually of one and half I stories in height and quite broad occupied mainly by the white tradesmen whose shops surround the plaza, or public park, in the center of the town. The common height of houses is a single story. Nearly every struc- ture in town is of adobe, although some of | the shops and some of the residences of the well-to do are coated to resemble stone or
 brick The prevailing tint, however, is | brown, like caked mud. Builders mould the mud, which is of clayey nature, into brick | like shapes, which harden under the sun. Then the mouldings are piled up nine or ten | feet high, perhaps, and of thickness vary l ing from three to four feet. The cracks be-
 tween the layers are stuffed with mixture of adobe and straw, which acts as mortar 1 and cement. When the walls are finished, young trees like bean poles. but thicker, are stripped and laid across as the basis for roofs. Courtyards are not uncommon. Wherever I they occur the street door opens on hall ! way which leads, after a few feet, into the | yard. The dwelling in such cases faces the ! yard. and there are apt to be no windows or ! other openings from it on the street. Adobe | seems to be as imperyious to weather as I stone Army officers say it makes the warm ! est houses in winter and the coolest in sum- ! mer of any material within their knowledge. A walk through the town at evening fur | nishes commentary on the loose moral con- dition of society. It is certainly within ! bounds to say that in one third of the houses | surrounding the plaza, and on San Francisco street for block from the lower corner of I the plaza, open gambling goes on nightly. | Concentration attractions are in some in ! stances introduced to bait visitors, who enter f to find one side of the room bar and along the opposite wall gambling tables few feet l apart When the games are not going on 1 right under the nose, 8 printed card directs | the way to the back room. This is the case l in the saloon through which until lately was l the only entrance to the hall in which theat- | rical performances are given, whenever company ventures so far. There happens | now to be also side door to reach the thea ter without going through the saloon. At 8
 table in one of the resorts gaudily dressed | young Mexican woman presides. There are
 | private gambling rooms in the same neigh | borhood frequented by tradesmen and militia
 i " people. The officers formerly had club, l where, salaries were transferred oftener than
 | pay-day warranted, but it was luckily broken
 up, and there is no likelihood of it's revival On almost any of the streets leading of from
 l the plaza are dives quite as perniclous as the
 1 gambling houses. Many of them are dance
 houses, and there nightly are held what are
 known as bGiles (bisle), or balls. There is
 l no admission charge, and visitors have the
 1 privilege of selecting their partners without
 | formality. After each dance all hands march
 1 to the bar. Beer is the common drink on
 such occasions, and 25 cents 8 pony is the
 l price of it.