Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-20

Bring your eyes nearer home and take look
at the city below. 1t is as big as St. Louis, and
Minneapolis and st. Paul could be lost in its
borders Its form is that of one of the great
cities of Europe, and like the cities of Spain its
streets cross one another at right angles and
the center of the network of squares is the
plaza filed with green trees which lies at our
feet There are number of these spots Of
green squares through the network and there
at the right is the long strip of forest where
fashionable Mexico walks for an hour or so
on Sunday and where there is music every
afternoon the year round. Further on is
tine wide avenue known as the Paseo, where
you may see any afternoon as gay q set of turn
outs as you will find in Hyde Park or the Bots
de BouloSne, and all around and below you is
the great cheeke-board of Mexico City. Sup
pose yourself hanging still in balloon above
a 5.O0O-acre farm. Let this farm be divided I'D
into little square fields and pave these fields
with brick and make the fields fiat butat differ
emit levels, and you have an idea of how Mexico
looks from the skies. The roofs of all the
houses are fat There is not chimney in the
whole city, and YOU could number the furnaces
and the cooking and heating stoves on the
fingers Of one hand. The Mexican capital does
all of its heating by charcoal. and a
base burner would be as much of
wonder here as fve-legged calf. Ii
you will take your glass you will note
that each field is made up Of houses and that
each of the houses has great well or hole in
Its center These are the patios or courts
around which every Mexican house is built and
which IN many cases constitutes the only gar
den of the family. Where there are horses this
Is sometimes used for the storing of the car
riages, and you note that all the houses stand
close up to the street and that the most of
them are of less than three stories On the
tops Of many of them you see white and CAV
colored patches floating to and and fro in the
breeze. These are family washings, which are
and
spires and domes which spring up OH every
side OF you are the buildings of the church.
which are fewer now than ever before, and
which few years ago were the richest and
the most important buildings of the city
The government now owns these and not the
priests. They are allowed to use them only on
sufferauce and when they were confscated it is
said they were worth millions and that the gov
eminent then took from the church property to
the amount OF $500, 100000 This building
upon which we are standing cost -. 00O, 900 to
build and its roofs shingled with enough
brick TO pave a town of 10. 900 people. Bricks
are the shingles of Mexico. They are fas-
tened down III mortar, and there is much ma
sorry on the top of every one of these churches
and houses as there il in its sides.
THE GREAT CATHEDRAL.
Take look at this cathedral as YOU stand
here above it. 1t covers acres and you wander
for hours in going from one place to another
within it. 1t has been gold mine in its costly
decorations and its choir has balustrade Of a
mixture of silver, copper and gold which
weighs $1,000 pounds and which is worth more
than this weight in solid silver. The walls Of
the church alone cost two millions Of dollars
and the treasures of the interior have made
rich some of the families of the Mexico of to-
Gay Ii had single statue Of gold set with
diamonds which was worth a million of dollars
and one OF the great lamps which lighted it in
the past cost $4,000 and IT'S workmanship was
so intricate that 1t cost a thousand dollars to
clean IT, The affairs were once set with precious
stones: anu IL was q second building like that
which the Shah Jehan and Akbar had
al DEM IN India, and like their buildings
u has been plundered by the unbelieyer.
~ was right here that Cortes despoiled the
Aztecs, and that long, low, two-story building
whlch faces the plaza and which looks more
like great stable than ANYTHING else i. the Ma
uonh faiace where the senate Of Mexico is
now sitting aud in which the treasury and the
government Offices are located There vas tbe
palace OF Montezuma and that site formed tho
resluence OF the successors of Cortes Back of
It Is the post Office and farther ON is that bee
hive OF ant-like men and women. the great mar
ket OF the City of Mexico, which is ms much a
sight today as II was when the Spanic rtls en-
tered II ana described its wonders. At your
Feet Is the market for flowers and dozens OF
men under big hats and pretty pirls nnder No
hats at all are there selling the most beautifnI
| OF fnii-blown roses for almost nothing. and Won
can buy $50 bouquet for 25 cents
Come down from The cathedral and take q
walk along the streets. The crowd which
| moves with and by YOU il as COSMOPOLITAN n
that OF any European capital. You are in the
Gale de San Francisco, where the foreign shops
are located and near the principal hotels. Here