Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-04-07

ture?. They are at his door. Will he
dance! Nowhere more gayly than In Mex
leo. Will he read? 1t bas ancient lib.
raries and modern book-stalls. In fact.
all that is ancient, all that is modern, all
that is western, all that is eastern, all that
is pagan, little that is christian, all that
is poll shed, far more that is primitive but
not rough, all that is charming to the
senses and much that is revolving to the
soul, is in Mexico to degree nowhere else
in the world.
Those who have never been in lands
where mountains are higher than clouds.
who have never watched for hours through
instantly changing wells of vapor begin
nlng with the deep rose of tropical sun
rise and extending into the clear high
gold of meridian comulus, now seeming
cloud, now seeming peak, have nc concep-
ton of the sybiline nature of the atmos-
phere or the weird fascination of altitude
and distance. Far above the ordinary
level of mems habitation atmospheric eff
fects are rapically unlike those lower
down. Doubtless science would account
for this difference easily enough; poetry
prefers to leave science out and deal with
the air and its ceremonias purely in Hell
| lenic mood. The cloud effects of mountain
| neighborhoods have been from the begin
ming of time the marvel, the delight. the
defiance of men. At certain points in the
| Alps one sees within few minutes change
of focus nearly every imaginable aspect of
nature-the pleasant dales, the little
white-winged vessels on the mountain
lakes 5000 feet beneath, the dim towers
of hamlets, the winding ribbon of silver
streams. In another direction there is
storm and stress, furious winds are out
from all the caves, thunder growis and
Eightenings leap from crag to crag. Else.
where clear skies smile on deep tranquil
ty, and suddenly as from nowhere the be-
holder of these marvels of Gods pastimes
finds his own face wet with cloud, his
| nearest companion invisible, his feet
nailed to the soil lest single step should
| find unsupported verge of gorge; and in
| another instant the majestic food of sun
light again envelopes the mountain, and
the SHOWS, that have not melted no one
knows for how long on the distant daz-
zling terraces, blind the astonished eyes
with heavenly radiance.
But that is Switzerland. The two great
sentinels of the valley of Mexico, when
| the writer hereof saw them, were in early
spring majesty, how many miles away no
one knew. Whether the mass OF fleece
were cloud Or cap no one dared assert. As
| the train kept It's steadfast way up tao
gradients they seemed nearer. nearer,
nearer, soon to be unveiled. soon to be
hailed with open salutation Of homage
but farther, farther, farther they grew as
we grew nearer, Now they swept as if
angrily out of vision, and the sky was
| overborne With gray, lavender, silver and
opaI Now the sunlight rested on their
cones like gold on a bishops mitre. Now
the clouds wheeled swiftly about like
squaGrons drilling and manuevering
Now mighty winds clutched cloud masses
and threw them about IL caprice or fury.
Still ever they went farther away, ever re
firing, hiding, eluding the eye, escaping
from the heavens utterly. All phenome-
non Ruskin notes in the myth of Athena
of the air were visible, inglor1ous but
elusive PROFESSIONS. What Aztec deities
may not have fought upon their met al
sides. What fables of prehistoric ages
must have been drawn from their tremend-
eous frowns, their demon like furtiveness;
colossal humors. Why, in such presence,
should not man as before the Himalayas
and the Caucasus fall upon his knees and
worship fire as the god of gods, fire that is
in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, in the
Eghtnipgs. in the clouds, and fire that
from time to time belched forth from these
uplifted hel.s, of snow and poured down
death from a hundred living rivers on
villages that awoke only to die? At last;
as if Toltec Jove with electric finger
drew back the curtains, the mighty pair
sat before us, opal azure Of the Mexican
sky investing their eternal calmness, the
MONDAY sun glittering on their SHOWS, all
other elemental forces invisible, silent, in
presence of their majesty.
Every day during the dry season in
Mexico, Jay Gould can see these visions
F., The two great peaks are his nearest neigh
bors. The Palace of Chapultepec stands
on rock that is master of hundreds of
miles on mountain, valley, and plain. It
is solidly built of stone, its architecture
characteristic only of the country, neither
Roman Dor Gothic, neither Greek nor
Moorish, square, massive, spacious. So
mild is the air that the covered prone
nades are frescoed in modern Italian taste.
The rooms are large and during the &C.
cupancy of Macmillan and Carlotta were
all refurnished with the newest upholstery
and carved light woods of Paris. The
furniture would have been equally at home
in the Tuileries. Every foot of the adjac-
ent grounds is historic. On no other part
of the American continent can he read and
feel so much in so short time. The
story of Cortez and the glory
of the cactus rearing Aztec is here
Near by is the Mill of the King (Molino
del Ray), where one of the sha1 pest battles
III the history of Mexico was bloodiIy
fought. There, Oh the for i6cation walls,
he will see where the brave, bleeding feet
and hands of the American soldiers
grasped the serrated edges of hard stone
and drew themselves up inch by inch IN
til the batteries were strangled and the
parapet gained. Here, alas! he will walk
where Carlotta walked, beneath and with
in interlacing, tall cypress trees, as per-
feet, in the gothic roof, they make, as the
lordly grove at Versailles. The wizard
should not linger here alone. Pensive
spirits haunt these shadows; weeping
dryads hide within these trunks.
The melancholy Spanish moss, funereal
and wailing, drops its hairy ORA
peries across the walk. Lizards dart from
out the bark of the trees and ground rep
tiles cross the gravel necessarily harmless
out ominous. Carlotta' S walk remains to
tell the sadest tale Of diiapidated mon
archy putting aspiring foot on freedoms
new world only to give up life, reason,
in futile pursuit of spurious diadem
But the wizard of Wall street need not
tarry under the expresses. He can mount
to the frescoed terrace, smoke where en-
perors held court and speculate betimes
what to do with Central securities and
City of Mexico bonds Chicago Sunday
Herald.
Kleptomania.