The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-03

price, although generous people give him tip
to the extent of real tl21 eentsh The foOtman
is called mozo, and acts as a sort of apprentice
or private secretary to the cocnero or driver.
When you hire a hack the n1ozo rushes OFF to the
nearest store, looks at the clock. and brings you
back a card upon which the hour is written
When you finish your ride he hands you the
card again and y0u pay from the time you
started ON feast days charges are doubled, and
as feast days are frequent. when all the stores
are closed. the hackmen make good thing of it.
Trey drive IN a most reckless manner, and as
the pavemeEts are rough the passengers are
bounced about
The City of Mexico has an excellent police
system. AT night there is "A policeman at every
corner. He never patrols the streets. but has a
lantern which he sets in the center of the inter
secting streets, and then retireS to a convenient
doorway and sits silent until relieved. In con-
sequence there is row of lanterns in the middle
of every street Each policeman carries a club
and q revolver and wears blanket around his
shoulders. The roundsmen who patrol the streets
are mounted and carry carblnes and sabres,
looking like ealrymen- Policemen are invariably
polite, and will stop street car and assist lady
to enter it CALAMITY as the proudest Castilan.
There rs a great deal of drunkenness in Mexico,
but very little fighting. The poems drink puldue,
the fermented milk Of the cactus. Tits queer
stuff, and costs about three cents a quart so
that 1t is within the reach Of the poorest. There
are said 60 be 30, 600 pulque shops in Mexico,
and they are all profitable, even at the price of
happy and three will give him the blind stag
gers; but the after effects of pulque ntoxication
are not disagreeable, for it leaves no headache.
The Spaniards drink eognae and sour wines.
Whisky is not a safe beverage for this climate.
American mixed drinks are not popular, and
the scarcity of ice makes juleps and that sort of
thing expensive.
The stranger in Mexico is always very thirsty
The rapid evaporation makes the mouth and
throat dry. and water furnishes only temporary
relief. The most refreshing drink is lime juice
in appolinaris water. All the ice used in Mex
leo comes sixty miles from the top of Popocata
petl, being brought down to the railroad station
on the backs Of natives, and costs ten cents a
pound
From tbs top of the cathedral spire you can
see the entire city, and the most striking feature
of the view is the absence Of chimneys There
is not chimney in all Mexico, not stove. or a
CRATE, or a furnace. All the cooking is done
with charcoal in Dutch ovens, and, while the
gas is sometimes offensive, one soon becomes
used to it. Coal costs $25 ton, and wood SIG a
cord The former is imported from England.
and the wood is all brought from the mountains.
On the railroads mesquite is used for fuel.
This shrub abounds on all the hillsides, and is
OF very tough fibre Fuel constitutes about 80
per cent of the entire costof railway operation.
railroad manager reports that his purchasing
agent secured 800 wooden saints for fuel which
he bought at fifty cents apiece from the natives
who stole them from the churches.
About half the churches and cathedraS in
Mexico are no longer used for worship, and they
have been stripped of everything that will burn
Or can be sold Since the revolution which
ended with the death of Macmillan, the church,
at one time more potent than the government,
has been in state of seeming decay. It still
controls the minds and morals OF the common
people, and in the country provinces the padre
is the most influential citizen; but the revolu
tionists deprived him of his political power, and
robbed him of the wealth he held in the name of
the church Every monastery and convent was
seized by the government, all the church prop
erty was denounced and confiscated and the
church is no longer permitted to hold real estate
Most of its revenues are cut off, and private cit
zens are now invested with the titles to church
property which they hold as trustees.
Many cathedrals have been stripped Of their
gold and silver ornaments, the shrine of the
Miraculous Virgin of Guadalupe alone having
been spared and that only because she is
the patron saint of Mexico In this church,
which stands at the top of a hill FIVE miles from
the city, on the spot where the Virgin is said to
have appeared to the shepherd there is bal
ustPade seventy feet long and three feet high of
solid silver. Not long ago an enterprising Amer
lean offered to replace it with silver-plated
affair of the same design, and pay bonus of
$500 000 but the church authorities declined the
offer. The solid silver chandelier in the cathe-
dral at Puebla was recently melted down, and
made sixty thousand silver dollars.
One of the most curious features of Mexican
life is the manner of conducting funerals. Some
of the funeral professions go to the cemetery on
the street-cars, coffin and all. The poorest peo-
Pile, who cannot afford to pay for carriages or
even streetcar fare, carry their dead through
the streets on their shoulders, and borrow or
hire coffin for the occasion. When the GENE
terry is reached and the obseques are over the
body is transferred to box, if the friends are
able to buy one, or wrapped in blanket, and
the coffin is returned to its owner. The scarcity
of wood makes collins expensive. tits the custom
to set photographs of the dead in the grave
stones. Some of the tombs in the fashionable
cemeteries are very expensive, the beautiful
Mexican onyx being used in the most lavish
manner.