Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-02-02
GOODBYE TO. MEXICO.

see all classes OF people OF the country
in their natural and National habits,
manners and customs. Their incli-
nations and the pleasant climate lead
them to a great deal of outdoor life,
and many hundreds of the population
are to be seen plying their numerous
vOcatiOns in the streets all day long.
The manufacture of shoes by hand is
a great industry among them, and a
great deal of this work is done by
men, women and children. Long
rows of them are to be seen sitting
down in the street, just off the side
walk, busily engaged in sewing and
other work.
1t is no unusual thing to see a girl
from - to Is years old carrying a
baby-her own offspring-in her arms
or swung in a kind of sack over her
back. Mother and child in such cases
are always very pitable looking OBJ
jects.
Beggars are both numerous and inn
Fortunate, but they have to keep a
sharp lookout for the police, as they
are not allowed to beg on the streets.
Mexican policemen, however, are not
overly vigilant in this or any of their
other official duties.
The streets and many of the build
ings are lighted by electric lamps,
and we presume that they also have
gas, but do not remember now to
have noticed any in use. Tallow
candles are still used to a large eX-
tent. One of the leading hotels
of the city, the Humboldt, still
uses this primitive method of
lighting. 1t is a three story build
ing, with nicely furnished rooms, and
is said to have cost 100000, upon
which sum its proprietor derives an
annual income of 20 per cent. He
is native born Mexican, but speaks
English quite we'll. The rates at this
hotel are $500 day simply for a
room with single bed. There is a
good restaurant in the building, run
by another man, where the charge for
meals is 81 90 each. All the hotels of
the city are run upon this plan. In
none of them are the rooms and res.
taurant under the same management.
You can secure your room at one ho-
tel and take your three meals at three
different restaurants if you choose.
The charge for rooms varies from SO
cents to $500 per day, and for meals
from % cents upward. The Iturbide
is the principal hetel Of the city. 1t
occupies an entire block, is three sto.
ries high, portion of it perhaps four,
and has some very luxurious apart
ments.
Prices as a general rule are high,
particularly is this the case for any.
thing one from this country wants.
Some of the articles of their own
production are cheap enough, but
anything which they have to import,
and which can be reached by their
tariff laws, is very high. For a few
examples, common soda crackers
sell at 374 cents per pound, all can
ned goods sell at about three times
the prices charged in the United
States. Apples sell at from to u!
cents each, while fine oranges and
bananas are only cent each. Straw
berries, saucers of the average church
festival size, cost Is cents. Wax
matches( they have no wooden ones
to strike at either end, sell for /
cent a box containing about two
dozen. Cigarettes are worth from
two to three cents a bundle of one
dozen. They all smoke, but we new.
er saw Mexican chewing tobacco.
Hundreds of laborers were at work
in all parts of the city on the streets,
laying "Nicholson pavement" and
putting down water and sewerage
pipes. All of the public buildings,
and many stores and private resi-
dences were also undergoing extern
sive repairs. We spent a few hours
very pleasantly in the National Mu'
scum and Art Gallery. The old Az
tee calendar stone, which at one
time formed part of the Cathedral
wall, is now in the museum, as is al
so the sacrificial stone. These are
two of the most important and inter
estings relics that yet remain of pre-
historic Mexico. They weigh sever
al tons each, and are both covered
with unintelligible hieroglyphics.
Nothing in the condition of the
Mexican people is more pitiable thar
their slavish adherence to the Cath
ollie phurph In M other country oT