Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-05-15
LAND OF REST AND ROMANCE
,,or,r Miller Indcrendrnt.

Is INIlO - MtNltp. lNN lhuAlCt alltl
rest is about all that can iva said or Mexico as |
| now aud It, For good many years | |
wandered about ltaly and patiently saw her |
people ridden 10 death aud hnrno down to |
the earth 10y priests, because there was some |
thing more than all that to ha said saw
behind those priests the preservation oi art
and civilization. Much could be set down
aud said in their favor, oven while Garibaldi
and the King Ot Italy were driving them out
and closing up their converts. But here
" hat is here but rest-lhe rest of death
tiud these people, after centuries shut mp IN
little mud hnts without ar aud without
light
Literally without light, these pcople--a
warm-hcartod, polite aud gentle peOple-sre
shutup In mud huts, soul and body. they
seem ~ II they had hardly yet escaped from
the clay from which they were fashioned on
the day Of creation.
And vet this is tho sweetest land to look
on. tn breathe in, To- lr iu. l'ai l.N.. vet
found. February flowers ate "a IA, u,ud,
and ON my table, as l write in the heart or
Mexico IN chihuahua. The day has been
warm, sweet rs May, almost sultrv.
:" How many such sweet days in the wear
have ven hero, scnur "'
| asked this question ol the polite aud
kindl V old bOOthlack, born at Chihuahua as
! cIimhed up the crazy stairs IN this crazy
old adobe house iust now tu begin nv work
lie looked ~ me, scratched his head with his
long ClaH-lIkc nails, and ! ask Ell him the
question again. tie got the idea full in his
head finally and tnen, yre "A true, old.
iashioncd generous taStililn, who always
| likes Ia make everybody happy, he said
"the thousand -
| / gave him a Mexican quarter inr his huge
| and generous account Oi the many good dsvs
! in the Year down here and he insisted on
] "a
! same claws ON my bald, hlra head and giv-
! ing me his greasy blessing.
| Speaking ut this Mexican money, may
! mention that | am at this moment loaded
! down with IL True have only what WAS.
| Whom sat out To cross the border, titty dol
| lars But for that riity dollar green back |
| have IN my pocket about siNty-tive massive
! Mexican silver dollars Even their silver
| mere |" say nothing OF til 'lr paper is sold at
| about soNenty.tiVe cents, aS against our
/ American silver dollar.
They are pl0wiuG here now and planting
| The ioCkcd stick, such aS they used in Italy
/ before the people arose and drove the priests
| out, l. the only pillow have been able 10 find
among the people in this fertile plain. The
| grain j. trnddeu out 10y goats. The wagon.
are only old logs sawed of aud bored
| through the centre, with oak poles put
! through Tor aNle~. Tho oxen still have poles
| tied Ia their horns Tor yuheS, ~ seen ia tn,
Old Greek pictures or stone rut~ ora time out
| OI history.
went up on the hills, far ont Of the city
| this morning, among the people. Goats and
sheep and pigs We're being herded together.
| Old Bible times, it seemed to me- Mexican
men lay about, under the old walls and
watched me- and their fOcks at the ~amt
time, Americans you meet wandering about
. here or working on the railway, tell yOI
, they are vicious, and that you will ba shot nj
, ! knocked down and robbed. | know better
These are good people TUT oh : - helpless
, ! and so hOpclessIY bonighted. | shall @,
: ! among them with m .f fall II III
, aS long ~ 1t lasts, aS went among the poo
, ! laie oil Italy and yuu will ind that | shal
, ! suier no harm To- the end.
All around at the bottom Of these brown
and lazy mountains found little mud huis
iull OF pretty, brown children tull OF silent
| patient, hiick-eycd and miserably Clat
women. And all So shy. And such dons,
, / Ignorance everywhere. Not one OF the pen
. | pie can read or do aught but tend his few
, / Eoats and sheep and swine, aud drive thu
/, | patient little " burrO,' with burrs in his tai
and All over his enormous gOOd-naturet
) ears. Not one OF these people, big or little
|. old or young, but takes everything from tn,
, lips OF the priests for gospel. Great lazy anr
dirty fellows these priests are, too, 10 Iool
upon.
But, mind You, do lot think tn
, priests are inTdural or mean in any wav a
, rule. only think they are pitiiuIly IuiS
taken. Talk with them | talk with then
all the time about the country about til,
, people about all things uf which they know
, ANY Nlillies - tNt'tl Ia IN ptitT lands. Ana
they all tell me that this ~ the best that thez,
, people are capable Of
= the priests OF Italy used Ia say that. AnC
r vet see bow tail and proud that same pros
r. | tTate Italy stands now
The Mexican women Away IN here il
| the mountains, far away from temptation
thsy are purity itself Even the most ira
I ! patient American can lind no cause of com
! plant against these modest and most viTtu
OuS women up here in the mountains The,
| are tDnu oil their children tit !, l4pr
t little bit Of tTinket or color they can find goe
to the little brown baby.
. And there - mnch color here. They max
for Themselves, with their own hands
. these modest hToSn wumen-many Crri0u
! and beautiful bits of color tn wear. The
. weave sllk-ih "A very primitive way, it i
: rue-and they make their fabric glnrinu
= with color And how gracefully the lii
a tie ladies wear what little they have l.
j wear.
h ] am struck with the possibilities in ever,
loot 0t this fertile land. True, not every ioU
l. OF Mexico i fertile, not by great deal bu
, where the ground Is rich, il is very rich
q And this republic that now has only eight o
9 ten million souls, all told, may very wei
II sustain one hundred millions.
o To give you some idea OF the extent G
Il Mexico, may mention that am now, her
e IN Chihuahua, several hundred miles in tn
i interior and yet am more than one thou
e sand miles still from the city OF Mexico. w
= have too small an opinion OF the extent, th
- ''7''hi't- anu lllt power fl tnls stored an
Il glorious land.
l. Mako IT a part OF our republic? No. Tn
q sooner that notion ~ disposed Of the bette
Y for Us and the better by great deal Tor tn
/ MeEicans
y What they need and must have il a hnl
n IN the mud hut for the light to enter in a
l. What they want for soul and body is sim pl
: light
II these great, brown, lazy Mexican mour
II tans that | was wandering over this mOrr
j. Ing, after brisk ride on a - burro" are ia
o Of strange little settlements, without a sing
:, hut with light in it. Yet they are clean, a
clean as they can tie with four or five laz
" dogs, pig or two tied to the door by on
@ foot four or five goats, a sheep or two, au
It all that sort Of thing.
q | never yet came upon such land. Tn
+ relations between the mud aud the man seer
hardly interrupted. And am told they dI
3 "a lazy aud patiently they live. Not ia
& from here little town was attack ed la,
" winter with the smallpox. Four thOusan
Il people died and not "A muTmur was made b
70 any one No lectures, no subscriptions Nc
a even paragraph in capital newspaper
o thousand miles or more away. Nor did tn
% priests abandon them or turn aside. lie
the truth all be- set down, The Mexican
not coward. Priest or laymen, he will no
run away.
~ And will not tho railroad wakeu tho sleeu
ing people with its scream and rumble
has not yet done so up here in the moun
i tains, whatever it has done elsewhere Yo,
ii. a. 81. "a.