The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-04
PELIPA.
A STORY OF TINE SOUTHWEST.

NlOh1 VI TIE NOOlIW Eols
Santa Fe can have little meaning to one
who has never visited that quantity inter
esting seat of a civilization now rapidly
passing away. Nor can mere visitor
gain much knowledge OF the place or its
people unless he spends more time than
the ordinary tourist can afford TO give TO
one locality. But to anyone who has ever
lived there the name Immediately calls to
mind groups OF low fiat adobes, with here
and there two or three-story brick or
frame building looking proudly down on
its unpretentious neighbors; narrow
streets, swarthy Mexicans sitting in the
sun, with the ever-present cigarette; gaily
dressed Indians Offering bits of pottery
for sale; patient little burros, loaded with
wood and over all sky as blue as that OF
Italy, and pervading all an air whose
sweetness and purity are unsurpassed;
while on every side are mountains-on the
east, so near that they seem to form a
wall over which the sun climbs every
morning, and fading off to the west, till at
night old "Sol' drops behind the blue mist
into golden sea. Away to the north
east "0ld Baby looks down from his
hight of more than $1,000 feet on the
little town nestled in the valley below; and
the people OF the little town, some OF them
at least, look up at the snow-crowned head
OF "Old Badly" with something of the love
of children for father, or as kindly
deity keeping watch over their welfare.
Those who have never lived near noun
tains can know nothing OF the charm OF
their presence. / used to wonder at the
poor Swiss boy, in a novel read long years
ago, who, when diving, far from home,
moaned, 'Take me back to my mountains!
Take me back TO my mountainsP" / Won
dered that the mountains, and nOtthe face
of any loved companion, should seem to
him the sweetest earthly sight. But they
we're his friends, and he felta kinship with
them and an affection for them that moth
ing could replace. They are like the air
and the sky; they are yourS-blessed
treasures of which no one can rob you
The native New Mexicans are interest
ing for time: but the novelty soon wears
off, and their aimless lives and sluggish
movements become exceedingly tiresome
to an onlooker One invariably finds them
winter and summer sitting on the sunny
side OF their houses, men and women
smoking cigarettes, while their little ones
play in the dirt much as other children do
though in a more quiet and subdued way
than the average young American. This
can scarcely be marveled at, considering
the exceeding inactiOn of the elders, whose
chief exercise is an attendance at mass
three or four times day, when the women
don their black shawls, thrown over the
head with a careless grace, suggestive OF
Spanish beauties in lace mantillas, and
carrying or leading their offspring, trudge
to church, followed in a stumbling fash
ion, by the men. Ignorant and slothful,
their only apparent aim is to get through
this life without eXertion and into the
next, where all will be lovely in proper
ton as they give to the church every
penny that can be spared from the bare
necessities of life Their ideas of right
and wrong are far from clear; in fact they
exist in a sort of intellectual haziness, in
which two things only are plain to them
that they must attend as many masses
as possible, and put into the box as MANY
reales as can be gathered together. Yet
they are not vicious. Though they will
carry off your door-mats and potted plants
if left out at night, they never go inside
your house for anything. You may lay
your portmanteau, well filed, beside your
pillow. and 90 to sleep with your door
open, perfectly sure that no Mexican will
rob you.
Whether a people, so child-like and pill
able in some WAYS, but so content with
their ignorance and superstition, will In
time arouse themselves sufficiently to
break their bonds and receive education
and enlightenment. or whether, as they
see themselves overwhelmed ~ a more
powerful class, they will flee to Mexico,
whittier the mythical Montezuma is re-
puted to have gone, is a question for
thoughtful men and women.
A more monotonous place of residence
than Santa Fe cannot well be imagined;
but going as did solely for the benefit TO
be derived from the air at an altitude of
1000 feet above the sea, and caring little
for society, l could be as happy there as
in a more lively resort. A bachelor not
endowed with an abundance of this worlds
goods, especially if, in addition he be a
cOnsumptive, is not an object possessing
many attractions for society; and so, al
though / met some pleasant people OF my
own race who were cordial and gracious,
yet / was nor pressed into any of the
numerous cliques so common in a small
town. For this / was indeed thankful, as
l had the better opportunity to study the
native element, and to regain health and
strength in the outdoor air.
In the above characterization of the
Mexican people, by no means include
the few families of wealth, education and
refinement They are essentially Ameri-
cans, though fondly clinging to certain
pride of ancestry and as long as possible
to their own language. With only one OF
these families, the Riveras, became ac-
quainted. Indeed, but for Felipa Rivera 1
should not be indulging in this bit of rem
iniscence. Felipa! The name carries me
back to that spring day, long ago. when l
first saw those sparkling eyes and that
half-melancholy smile. But 1 must not an
ticipate.
One day in September, nearly a year
after my advent to the town, happening
TO pass the station, and seeing smoke in
the distance, l stopped and waited for
the train. AS the whistle sounded, the
three cab-men and the proprietor of the
omnibus aroused themselves from the
apparent stupor in which they had been
awaiting the one important event of the
day. The train time was 3 D. m., but
it was now 80 and the worthless
just mentioned seemed surprised that the
train should be so prompt, as they were
in the habit of waiting from one to five
hours, or even longer, for Santa Fe is on
branch of the main line, and the train is