The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-29


teen miles. the fare varying according I,
distance. A strange feature of the street
car traffic is the funeral car. The cemeterie
are all reached by street cars, and insteas
OF hearSes black cars, specially co~nstruetea
run upon the tracks. followed by the PRO
cession" in ordinary oars, distinguished
merely by white curtaina ovar the windows
Mexico is a city of churches, of priests
and of apparently faithful devotees OF tn
Roman Catholic faith, which was hrouglh
here three centuries age by the Spanish
Most of tho churches look as though the,
came from Spain with tho conquerors
They are, In fact, old Spanish structures
with u wealth of aefaced carvings and |
profusion of images and paintings, whict
indicate the absorption for II long whilS O.
the fruits of the countrv's production ny
the ecclesiastics who built and fitted w
these costly fnnes. Still more wealth was
absorbed by tho old orders and religion.
foundations which were ruthlesaly rootSu
out y few years ago. There is to-day more
OF accumulated value represented IN the
churches Of Mexico thar in all her indus
trial Institutions, but it is safe to say that
the day Of absorbing the fruits of human
effort in these monuments of superstltlor
has passed, or Ia passing away. Inc
churches are all old, and it is doubtful II
funds could DO raised for a new one on
anything like the old scale, though much
IA @oCA ~ ~ VA " ~ SAt -
ssoration. The hugo cathedral an the site
OF the old Aztec temple Mt tho Zoculo, with
its great altar in the middle of the nave
and the numerous side chapels, is always
open, and its mummeries are seen to be
always going on, With very deyout worship
ers scattered about kneoling on the dirty
floor or on their wide hat hrims.
So in all the churches there IS much
going In and out by the faithful all through
the day. This shows that the hold of the
church is still strong upon the ignorant ana
superstitious, but the day of it's DONNA
leo, is over. The,e is among the intelligent
and w~ide-awake peopls an admission that
the church kept the country back to a mod
laval darkness and still hinders the enlight-
eminent and rrogress Of tho people, and it
will DO forced more and more to a subordi-
nate place. II is easy to understand why
the opposition to the policy of Diaz, and to
his reelection, is known as the clerical
party, and why all efforts at revolution are
suspected of having their instigation and
support nlnong the priests. Tbs church
was once all powerful, n evidences Of its
domination cover the land and fill the cit
les. Its power has been broken; it is losing
its hold upon the resources of the people,
and progress and development in the mod
e;n direction mark the departure of its
glory and the possible destruction of some
of Its Monuments.
Much might be said about the character
lstics, habits and ways of these people, but
though they seem novel and interesting to
the newcomer, the account would probably
not have the merit of novelty or OF new
These things have been written about be-
fore.
Tho hotels are rather disappointing.
have been mostly made out of old
or converts OF something else, and
there is nothing of the c~onyeniences and
n ~ nrf ~ = thn A ~ r. n =, h~%a1 af,o-% xHa.,
They give a guest only his room, which is
shabbily furnished and badly cared for. and
charge him a frst-class price. The
best known is the 1turbide. in a structure
once occupied by an emperor, but the rooms
face upon an interior court surrounded by
shops. The Jardin is much plessanter in
arrangement. extending along two sides of
the old gaaden of San Francisco. 1t is in
fact part of the old convent, and the rooms
I'LL the whole width OF the wings and open
upon the garden. There are only two
stories of them. But as in the other cases
the office is q mere place for registering,
keeping accounts, and paying bills; there
place, no reading room or facilities for
writing.
In short, the hotels are establishments for
letting lodgings. They have restaurants,
as they are, but & good restaurant
does not exist in the City of Mexico. They
are much alike, cold, unattractlve places
with bare floors and poor service, the best
of them. The prices would be moderate if
what you got were worth even the moderate
charge. 1t is strange how little English is
understood III the restaurants. One of the
best has 4 French name, and the entrance
is covered with French signs, one indicat-
ing that it is conducted 'I'instar de Paris"
and yet it is Spanish in it's bill of fare and
it's walters, and nobody in the place could
speak or understand either French or Eng.
lish. The Cafe Anglais" is almost equally
Mexican. The city sadly moods a good
hotel in the American sense.