The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-02-23

ment. After awhile you surrender ana as
soon as nature secs you have learned sense
enough to pay attention she begins to show
you sightslsure enough. EShe presents you with
mountains single and mountains double,
mountains in rows and mountains out of order,
mountains in platoons and mountains IN regi-
ments, mountains square and mountains round,
mountains pinnacled and mountains fiat They
stand, they lie, they roll, they lean back, they
como forward. They are blue. They are
gray. They are brown. They are black.
They ok solemn They look jocular. They
jut square up from the earth, they rise by
gradual ascent. They welcome you, they
defy you. They elicit your admiration. they
remind you OF your littleness. Friendly
enough now to bid you abide in their presence.
Now lonely and forbidding enough to make
you dread the accident that would keep you
in their sight an hour. They seem to be the
symbols which nature used in her attempt to
utter some awful and great message to man.
They speak directly to the soul, and in a
language that no one can translate. yet
language one must be without q soul not to
understand. They constitute the literature
of some primael time, and speak in
prose- poetry, comedy and tragedy. The
great period of Grecian history was when the
national life was expressed in the genius OF
her generals, her statesmen, her poets, her
artists and her philosophers. Those noun
tains were lifted up in the lIomerG period of
the worlds formation, and as the wealth
of Greece transmitted into the spirIs OF her
great men is fixed in everlasting form 80
the earth's fires that lifted themselves into
these magnificent works of natural art are
stereotyped forever Mr.. Forrest Adar and
myself expressed our utter amaze
ment at the scenes we were
passing through, when Mr.. j. j Howell.
an Atlanta boy, and the polite conductor OF
our train said: "You have not seen anything
yet; just wait till you approach the City OF
Mexico"
1t is to me a matter Of uuaccounta5le Won
der why people, who have time and opportu-
nifty to travel, do not como to Mexico first.
When this country is seen nothing in natural
scenery will ever surprise any more. In the
esteem of most people Switzerland has
had monopoly on the sublime
in mountain scenery tor long
time. Mont Blanc, the MatterhoTn
and the Jung Frau nave been the acknoWl-
They have prc-cmptcd the sky by triple
aristocracy that will be hard to down. But
when the tide OF travel turns toward tho
Tropic OF Cancer. X they maintain their stand
inc, it will be By grace, and not by altitude or
snow. Popocatepetl has on its top as much
snow as Mont Blanc, and about 1000 feet tho
advantage in altitude The events which
have TRANSFERRED around the Alps are on record
and are known the world around. Napoleon III
the act of crossing them is fixed by the artists
brush and hung in the palace at Versailles
This is all in favor of the Alps. But many
Tottec warrior has crossed the Sierra Madrcs
whose name has been forgotten, and many
dusky maiden has lived III cottage u
at their base whose sorrows furnish themes for
romance rare Us any ever woven from the
grief Of woman in Italy or Switzerland. She
wept her tears and uttered her signs amid the
cact which encrcled her humble home, and
no famous romancCr ever heard her story 10
publish it TO the world This is
all against the Sierra A!adres. Ii
some one could only do for
these mountains what Sir Walter Scott did fer
the Scotch lakes every block head in Europe
and America would want to see them. One
thing is certain, whether any story-teiler ever
comes to place the charm Of legend around
their hoary heads not, they are are here,
and having stood the meager place they have
held in the worlds esteem without regret,
they will receive the praises of men when they
come without vanity.
The Mexican National railway people have
raised a pyramid exactly or tue line
between the temperate and the
torrid zone AT this place the tram stopped,
that the passengers might contemplate tho
point at which they passed from one zone in,o
another. A kodak man took snap on our
patty as we stood beside this pyramid So, in
addition to all unparalleled ride through the
mountains, we had the good fortune to sec our
pictures hung on the girdle of the earth.
San Luis Potosi is little over half way be-
tween Laredo and the City of Mexico:
1t is the capital of the state Of
San Luis Potosi The city contains
many fine buildings the most notable being
the state capitol, the business exchange, the
state museum, the mint and the public library.
The public library contains between seventy
and eighty thousand volumes. There are
more two-story buildings here than in any
other city have seen III the republic There
are many fine churches, and q bronze statue
of the patriot Hidago This patriot
is called tho Washington of Mexico:
He was unlike Washington, in that he added
to the qualities OF great warrior, the merits
of noble, self-sacrticing priest, and while
seeking to win tho independence of his coun-
try from the Spaniards, he put i'll his spare
moments in trying to save his people from the
thraldom of the devil. j. w. LEE.