, 1886-04-14
4 cHAaMIna oLp MEXICAN TOWN.


~"
Leaving the City Of Mexico very early
in the morning by the aforesaid Ameri-
can railroad Qhere known as h Mexican
NationaD you arrive at the outskirts OF
Morelia after dark. and are bundled, bag
and baggage. into a tramvia, which takes
you to town. A distinctive popularity
of the Mexican railway system is that all
its stations are located in the remote
suburbs of every city by order of the
governments; the citizens being still too
much afraid Of the iron horse and too
distrustful OF the American employees TO
permit a closer approach. But the
-tramviasr (street cars imported from
the United States) are everywhere, those
ment as the railroad.
You proceed to the hotel-presumably
Ell Michoacan or La Soledad-and after
the usual amount OF Mexican ~red-tape-
find yourself incarcerated in an apart
ment whose general'air inclines you 10
the belief that you have inadvertently
strayed into the p~enitentiary or a lunatic
asylum. These two hostleries are large
rambling ex-convents which were occu-
pied by nuns or monks for a hundred
years or more. 1t is romantic, to say
the least OF it, to sleep in some musty
cell where pious r~ecluses have done equal
penance in other years, and the effect is
not lessened by the carven cross or lugu-
brious head crowned with thorns which
appears above the doorway, quite in
keeping with the tiled or plastered floor
and the small, grated windows.
AT the first glimmer Of dawning the
great bell of the cathedral, booming like
a cannon, together with a hundred
smaller bells in the churches, will awaken
you, and before noon, especially if it be
on Sunday, you will come to the conclu-
sion that the anti-church government
does not hold the belI-ropes here and reg
ulate their ringing. as in the City of Mex
leo, but that in Morelia they clamor in
cessantly.
The first thing to DO done, according to
the custom OF the country, is to take"
coffee-and if by any series of bowls and
poundings you can attract the attention
of a servant, there being nc bells, the
universal light morning repast, called
desaguno, will be served in your room
without extra charge. Nothing more
substantial can be had ~for owe OF
money" before noon. 1t consists of o
small loaf OF Mexican bread resembling
a cannon BALL, minus butter, accom-.
panied by only a small cup of coffee OF
chocolate. Should you be so
able as to require a couple Of eggs, they
may be obtained for a small considera-
ton from the astonished host, who mar
wells within himself at the greediness OF
~Los Americanos.r
Strolling out into the principal street,
called the Gale N%acional, you soon dis
cover that Morelia has not been over.
rated, though its praises have beeu
sounded in your ears ever since you
reached the border of Mexico. 1t is Ger.
tainly a most charming old town-a city
set on a hill that can not be hid-in the
midst of most delightful rural sur
roundings. Its one-stoeied casas, EN-.
powered in perennial bloom, look Older
than they really are, being mostly bull
of a pinkish trachyte (q,Iarried about Q
mile from the city,, which quickly takes
on a we~ather-beaten aspect. The town
was founded about the year 1880 by
that famous S%paniard, hon Antonio de
Mendoza, and for nearly three centuries
was called Valladolid, till changed to its
present name in 1928, in honor of the
patriot cure. Juan Maria Morelos Fan.
ME b. Ward in Philadelphia Record.