The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-04-19

Alliance Of Kansas on the north with
the romantic yet peppery Quixote of the
south. Here the sad and solemn lubri-
Gator, vulgarly called the greaser, spends
his patrimony on an S-pound hat, and
with what he has left he buys horse.
l never tire of looking at the delirious
clothes of prosperous greaser. They
are wildly beautiful to one who loves
as do, to see hand to hand contest to
finish between strong colors.
On Sunday attended divine worship
at the Mexican cathedral in San Antonio
Itaforded me a 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 precautionary measure
and as an evidence of his powers of en-
dnrafce.
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
provocation-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. l saw one
man at church who wore a 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
. 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 a
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 if you draw
q circle, using radius of 100 miles, with
Dallas as the center, you will have there
in thirty-four counties. l was too tired
to try it while at Dallas, and could not
get a 100 mile radius at any of the places
where l looked. Some of the stores
didn't seem to have any radius at ell.
These thirty-four counties produce
nearly half the cotton Of Texas, also
more than half the oats and wheat. 1t
is avery 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 much
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 |
= 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 $4,000 year is the cotton
crop, while the negroes themselves are
any of them fat enough TO kill, and their
happy songs in the cottenields 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, 1t is not prop
er for the negro. 1t dulls his sensibil-
ties and makes him almost coarse. l
met one of them here in Texas who had
become somewhat addicted to the use Of
LIQUOR for medical purposes. He said
that he lost his wife several years ago.
and had been ever since trying tosdrown
his sorrows in thsHowing bowl. He adj
mitted, though. that it was not success.
he said he had drowned several Of his