The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-11

real Partisan, the perfumes, the
jewelry, the exquisite laces and
feathers, the silks and gloves.
the thousand dainty articles of genuine
value for which so little is asked. The
shopkeeper is sometimes Mexican, often
little dark-skinned Frenchman, OCCASION
ally Chinaman. All of feminine Ell Paso
Americana does its shopping here, Drawing
the custom house officer, running thrilling
risks of detection and smuggling to their
dear hearts contents. 1t is said that the
ladies of Ell Paso come across to buy articles
easily obtained in their own town, but they
do it ''just for the excitement" Anything
up to So is exempt, but ali beyond that in
ours duty that swallows up all the profits
of purchase.
Lounging in the doorways or lying prone
on the ground and fairly stepping in the
hot sunshine are the Mexican inhabitants
of the little brown mud huts, with dogs of
every breed and descriptiong swarming
over Them for the Mexican is both sociable
and hospitable. and when he has not enough
of mis- own he invites his friends AID their
dogs. Quite frequently a whole family live
in a tent which is so thickly inhabited that
dogs and children spill out at the doors and
you are convinced that they even take
boarders. The occupation of male Mex
lean seems to be selling wood-the mes
quite roots which make the native fuel,
piled in cart, drawn by burro or an OK
team, which drowsily plods along
at its own gait, the wood
merchant frequently stretched asleep on
top of the load. Nov and then you meet
Mexican woman mounted on donkey. her
baskets and jugs hanging on either side,
head wrapped IN gay shawl, with the
same charming. natural grace that dis
tinguishes her race from the senorita to the
peon. Her olive skin is clear and smooth,
her eyes are fine and if she is still quite
young her figure is graceful and SYMMETRY
cal; it sic is 30 or past she has been overtaken
by the fatal embonpoint that is the doom of
the Spanish blooded. These women are
generally fruit sellers, and in their season
their baskets of rich, glowing fruit and
melons and their own gay attire make
them very picturesque-at a distance;
nearer approach is not advisable
on account of the aforesaid
chronological objections. The vendors of
small wares soon pick up enough English
to cry them off to an American as they
also do in Spanish. Oldcrones sit about with
their primitive stove ovens baking tortilas
for street sale, piping hot. The tortilla is
thin cake made OF cracked corn, and
baked on a stone slab Then there is the
tomali, also made ON the street-a mixture
of dashed meat and corn meal mush, tied
up in corn shucks, and boiled ia their jack
cts. In the dark little shops one finds still
the mandllla. the identical cookie that Joe
jefferson writes of as figuring in the Span
ish cafe in Matamoras SO long ago.
The principal church OF this Mexican
town is said to be 300 years old, AID stands
on an elevation which, taken with its pon-
derous antique Spanish architecture, gives it
quite a warlike appearance; it might easily
be taken for fort. Yne popularity about
it is that there is not seat in its vast
auditorium; tie devotees kneel bolt upright
oil he. and Ia ;GoI
the irreverence of seating themselves.
The handsomest building in Paso del
Norte is the depot of the Mexican Central
railway, which here has It's initial point.
1t is painted a dazzling white and is built in
true Spanish style-a hollow square, whose
inner courts are musical with falling fount-
aims and fragrant and green with lovely
flowers and grass, the palm tree and the
aloe. IL is an exquisite picture in its huge
white frame, and the last place 10 the world
one would take for railway station.
This is the spot where, Dec. s of each
/ year. and continuing for several days, is
inaugurated the festival of sour Lady of
Guadaloupe," and very high jinks it is.
| There are many Joyous bull fights and the
gambling booths are in full blast. Then it
is that the dwellers of every hacienda, far
and near, pour into the town in all kinds of
conveyances and crowd the beloved arena
The most vicious animals are saved for this
exciting occasion, and the encounters in
the ring are of the most deadly description
| The bulls are killed one after another, and
frequently the matadore is included, which
is much more interesting Altogether this
| festival is one to which the good Mexican
looks forward from one years end to the
other, and in one way or another he con-
trives to get great deal of fun out of it.
| Some day, perchance, American push and
pluck will prove too inch for our easy-going
neighbor and we viii trade him or bully
him out of his ancient city; but in the
meantime he sits in the sun with the flies
buzzing on his eyelids and cares no more
for the Americana than a wisp of straw
floating in the air COyrE nOIrcrAS