, 1886-04-23
ON a MEXICAN STREET CAR.


H.. "
Let US go by Mexican street car to st.
Angel, II you please. And lat US take
the second-class car. This is the best for
several reasons. In the first place it IS
safest from disease and vermin. For the
f~rst-class car is cushioned. while the sec
ond-cfass is hard wood and washed white
every day. Andthen it only costs a "bit, "
while the first-class car costs a quarter.
We do not van TO take the third-class,
because hat carries freight, as a rule,
and you have to stand up. Nor do we
care TO take the fourth class IL we can
help it. For the fourth-class car is a
black car, and carries only the dead.
Yet they all go at the same time and in a
solid line, every hour, starting from the
grand plaza before the palace, where all
the street-cars in Mexico City start from.
You may ask. If you hike. why they all
start at the same time and travel in solid
line. You will be politely told that it is
done to protect the street cars from
bigands. And, maybe, the little Amer
lean lady traveller will gasp and find her
smelling bottle; and, most certainly. the
special correspondent gentleman will
whip out his notebook, write it down,
INT believe the nonsense 10 the letter.
The secret Of it all is ~tips.- The street
car driver Inc conductor and collector
OF fares-it takes three men to run one
car-only receive 81 a day-a Mexican
dollar equals 10 cents-and so they nave
TO be pretty sharp TO live. One Of their
resources for revenue is TO tell startling
things to travellers, brighten them a little
If they can, and so secure a Tip" out Of
them in return for information of this
sort along the historic routes. But the
truth is there is as little danger of
brigands or anybody else in going from
the Mexican palace to st. Angel as there
is in going from the Battery to Harlem,
New York. ..f.l ff.
The driver. with a big brass horn, blew
a long blast in the hall, the other drivers
followed, and we Chamber in as the ten
packed. crowded cars trundle on down
the paved and brilliantly-color street.
On down the streets we trundle, going
out by the very street by which Gen.
Scott entered forty years ago next sum
mer. Colorl Colorl cheap color, and
bad art, it is true, but still it is color.
These painted horses. with impossible
horsemen and dancers and all sorts of
things painted on the walls are gin
mills" = pulque shops. Thousands of
flags futter about and above the doors.
But o the flag of Mexico. The govern
ment forbids the use OF the national
colors for such a purpose.
What kind of people in the cars? Look
and see; listenl Cocks are Growing on
aifhar hand and ,tnI.r r~1rrr a..t A.
least half a dozen big fellows-not Aztecs
but Mexican 'gentlemen--have fight
ing-cocks in their laps and are on their
way to Tacalya, where Gen. Franklin
Pierce fought his way to the presidency,
and where there are at least fifty monte
tables and ever 80 many cock-fights in
full blast at this season OF the year. This
busy, tumultuous and most popular place
in all suburban Mexico is, Just half way
to st. Angel. We pass the gates by
which the Americans entered up the
long, lofty and graceful aqueduct, like
that one in ruins at Rome, only smaller;
on, on, out the long lane of trees, over
the "~causeway7 on which Cortez fought
and where so many of his men found
muddy graves with their loads Of gold;
on, to the base of CT lpultepcc. And the
red-headed and belligerO t roosters crow
ing and strutting, trying to get at zach
other as much as they can. a
There are at least a dozen dogs in tie
cars. They growl and bark and snarl.
Blu they are too lazy to fight, these
dozen Mexican dogs. Heavensl From
the feas climbing up your legs and turn
ms somersaults there you would think
there was nothing but dogs and fieas in
the car. This is a good place to tuck
your p%antaloons inside your boots.
-Chapultepecl" cries the conductor.
And the driver blows his brass horn. The
crowded cars stop in a park. Some old
Mexican women with heavy baskets get
out with great effort, every man helping
them. Sometimes a pretty Mex
Spanish, or half-Indian girl gets in or out.
II she is very pretty you must not notice
her much. You may give her a seat If
you like; but it is bad taste to ever look
at her for a second. She, on her part,
will not lift her eyes TO yours all day; nor
will you be permitted, under the laws OF
OF polteness here, to leak re- or
glance at her, or even seem to know she
is near you. But, il you are very polite
and want to do some a favor, you are
permitted to exhaust your attentions on
the old and ugly ones TO your hearts
content, and these are plenty. Yes, we
can teach these people down here by the
warm seas to pillow. to plant, to cut
grass, make money and machinery; but
for solid, and honest, and unselfsh
politeDess commend me to the Mexicans.
The poorest Mexican in all this latitude
can teach any New York American good
manners any day in the year,-Joaquin
Miller's Letter in Chicago Times.