The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1891-04-30


a finish between strong colors,
On Sunday attended divine worship
at the Mexican cathedral in San Antonio |
1t afforded me u grand opportunity to
look at the clothes of the congregation
as we do at home, also to study the
faces of the people as they came out
Religion does not seem to afford the
Mexican much joy or comfort, He
goes through it, however, as one gets
his teeth repaired-not for the delirious
thrill of joy he finds lurking in the job
itself, but as a precautionary measure
and as an evidence of his powers of en-
durance.
The ladies of the congregation, it
seemed to me, showed better taste in
proportion to their means than the gen.
tlemen. They dressed plainly and seemed
to favor deep mourning wherever there
was an excuse for it. Some of them, /
judge, were mourning on very slight
provocatioD-that is, if they were mourn
ing the loss of such husbands as was
permitted to see samples of.
The men wore large hats, heavily en-
broidered, and whatever else they could
get in the way Of clothes. never saw
people run so much to hats or seem so
Indifferent to outer clothes. saw one
man at church who wore massive Mex
lean hat with two or three pounds Of
silver braid on it, and leather cinch
with two silver buckles for band. He
also wore a beautiful pair of lilac trou-
sers. One man in the amen corner Of the
cathedral wore no coat or vest, but had,
a shirt made of buff calico, with grim
figures on it, and it was made with
pulled sleeves and Stewart collar. He
had also socked his inheritance into u
hat, and wore heliotrope trousers of the
time of Queen Elizabeth.
Dallas is probably the most prosperous
OF Texas cities. Some well known
writer-up of towns possibly Charles
Dudley Warner-states that il you draw
q circle, using radius of 100 miles, with
Dallas as the center, you will have there
in thirty-four counties was too tired
to try it while at Dallas, and could not
get a 100 mile radius at any of the places
where | looked, Some of the stores
didn't seem to have any radius at all
These thirty-four counties produce
nearly half the cotton of Texas, also
more imam ha1r the oats ana wheat. IL
is very fertile district indeed. The soil
is rich and deep, and cotton just natu-
rally grows here with the very slight
est encouragement. never saw so muc h
cotton anywhere before as | have seen on
this trip. Down near Waco-pronounced
Wayco-there is an old time cotton
planter who runs his plantation just as
they used to before the war, only, of
course, he can't show as good an abstract
Of title to his help, but he has the large
black negro with the white eye, and that
negro knows his place. He is fed, wa
tered and looked out for every day. The
mules are locked up also, so that there is
no frolicking over the country at night
with the stock. Severe system is the
rule and 100000 year is the cotton
crop, while the negroes themselves are
any of them fat enough to kill, and theii
happy songs in the cottonfelds show
that healthful discipline, regular hours
and regular meals agree with them.
In this way they have also very little
, temptation to monkey with the flowing
bowl. Rum is highly injurious to the
negro. While unquestionably beneficial
to the white man, making him bright
and highly conversational, it is not prop
er for the negro. 1t dulls his sensibih
, ties and makes him almost coarse.
+ met one Of them here in Texas who hat
become somewhat addicted to the use o.
liquor for medical purposes. He sale
that he lost his wife several years ago
5 and had been ever since trying to drown
his sorrows in the flowing bowl. He ad
mitted, though, that it was not success
He said he had drowned several of hi
more sickly and feeble sorrows in tina
way, but he said they always swelled Vi
T. and came to the surface on the follow
$ ing day bigger and more disagreeabl
{ than ever.
0 said that was good sintlle.
!. He said he didn't know what it was
but it was so.
found that he was laxative, and 81
; / conversed with him. He said that h
= had got all his work done up ahead ant
= got all over the rush before | came, s
, that he could have real good visit wit
me when got here, judged that
had been several years since he had bee
busy, however.
He said that Texas was advancing RAP
idly, he thought, in the matter of civil
t cation. I said "YesT with a rising in
Election. He said that she was noV
safely past the crisis, he thought, b.
$ tween the customs of the cliff dweller
and finger bowls. 'Some of rs, of c'ost
is raw yit, but we are advancing.
would like to have you the guest of on
/? club here this evenin', sab, if you wi
4 come down-the Upper Congo club it
y called, sab. We run it on economics
principles, sab, but it is quiet, HON,
If like place, whah you kin go for hor
O. or two, check you old razor and injoi
IS youseff.
tt was a auiet and rather unDretar