Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21

down in mortar and there Is as much ma
sonry on the top Of every one of these
churches and houses as there is in its sides.
Take look at this cathedral as you stand
here above 1t. II covers acres, and you
wander for hours In going from one place to
another within it. Il had gold mine
| in Its costly decorations and its choir has q
balustrade Of a mixture of silver, copper
and gold which weighs 50, 900 pounds, and
which is worth more than thisweight insolid
silver. The walls of the church alone cost
s., ,000,0 600, and the treasures of the interior
have made rlch some of the families Of the
Mexico ofto-day. It had a single
Statue Of Gold Set With Diamonds,
Which was worth $4,000 and -one
of the great lamps which lighted il
in the past cost S7o,0 and itsworkmsnsirip
was so intricate that 1t cost 81, 900
to clean it. The eltars were once set
with precious stones, and it was second
building like that which the Shah Jehan
and Akbar had at Delhi In India, and like
their buildings it has been pIundered by
the unbeliever. After all, however, it
stands only as a monument Of retributiye
justice. Akbar plundered tae people, the
Church plundered the Indians and then the
Mexicans or Indians under a pure Indian
leader, President Juarez plundered it.
It was right here that Cortes despoiled
the Aztecs, and that long, low, two-story
building which faces the Plaza and which
looks more like great stable than any,
thing else is the National Palace where the
Senate of Mexico is now sitting, and in
which the Treasury and the Government
Offices are located There was the palace of
Montezuma, and that site formed the resi-
dence of the successors Of Cortes. Back Of
it is the postofice, and further on is that
beehive of ant-like men and women, the
great market of the City of Mexico, which
is as much sight to-day as it was when the
Spaniards entered it and described its won
rders. AT your feet is the market for flow
ers and dozens of men under big hats and
Epretty girls under no hats at all, are there
selling tho most beautiful of full-blown
roses for almost nothing and you can huya
go bouquet for Is cents
Its Cosmopolitan-Charact
Come down from the cathedral and take-a
walk along the streets. The crowd which
moves with and by you is as cosmopolitan
as that of any European capital You are
in the Gale de San Francisco where the
foreign shops are located and near the prin-
cipal hotels. Here are Frenchmen, English
men, Germans, Spaniards and Americans,
and mixed with them are the diverse ele-
ments Of the great Mexican people. A swell
carriage with great coach horses dashes by
you, its silver-mounted harness glistening
in the sunlight, and its coachman wearing
gorgeous sombrero and his pants lined
with silven It contains the wife and
daughter of rich haoendado who are going
to take their afternoon ride on the Paseo
Behind them rides rich Spaniard in Mex
ican costume, with saddle, hat and harness
as gorgeous in their gold and silver as money
oan buy, and at the side of the street runs q
half dozen little burros with great bales Of
hay almost hiding their little bodies from
view, while in their rear is q poor Indian
driving them with a like bundle of hay fast
enened on TO his back and held there by q
strap thatoomes over the front-of the-fore-
head
TheBrigand and the Dude.
Hereds brigand-like peon from the coun-,
try IN blanket as red as the opal which
shines out of its diamond setting on the
necktie of the American dude at bis side,
and yon note that his feet are dirty with
miles of travel, as they show out through
his leather sandals There are two ladies
in black on their way to the cathedral to
mass, and the younger one casts q sly but
modest look at you out of her shawl as they
pass On the other side Of the street there
is an Indian girl, whose wealth Of black
hair streams IN q frowsy way down her
shoulders, and whose plump form is bent al
most double under the great load of red jars
she is oaryir !, and now through them all
comess squad of soldiers, dark-faced and
sullen, under the command of an officer who
looks down as proud as Lucifer out Of his
saddle
There are water carriers and peddlers;
millionsires and psupers; the rich and the
poor; the great and the small-au mixed up
together in one Of the most picturesque and
viii find anywhere in the world. Every
way your eye turns it meets anew sight and
everything is strange. You glance about
you in bewildement and wonder where you
are You put your hand to your head and
almost ask when the curtain will fal14and
hide the great show from view.
Scenes in Wonderland.
Asyou 60 on you are accostedbypeds
-dlers and good-natured highwaymen in big
hats and red blankets, who offer to sell YOU
opals and queerly carved canes, and little
Indians In ragged clothes thrust boxes Of
matches into your face and beg YOU to buy,
The newsboy In here in all his glory, and a
dark-faced old ppen looks out Of the stray
gray locks which fringe his wrinkled face
under his broad-brimmed hat and asks aims,
You give him copper and he hobbies off
happy, and makes youfeel like benovo-
lent prince
And SO you 60 on along the street of the
silversmiths, By jewelry stores, whose gold,
diamonds and rubies fash their multi
tudinous rays back at the setting sun, by
drygoods windows, whose stocks of Paris
made goods are as gay as those of Fifth ave-
nue., and on down to the great doors which
with their portals of carved stone admit vn,t
to the big palace of the Emperor Iturbide,
try Of Mexico has fallen from its high es-
tate and,is now turned into an immense
hotel FRANK 6. CARPENTER.