Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1892-12-15

suAiSs ia Cdilaua. Inc trace OF the
old French civilization is refreshing.
In some respects it seems almost
Continental; their drays, their har-
ness, their dress and their speech
are characteristic. | "called" my
first cab to-day The English al
ways "call cab," you know.
passed by half dozen earnest So
licitors - refusing all - went over
on the other side of the street ard
'called. p" Ny! how they came
tiocking to me. l was in the En-
gllsh novel at once, and l leaned
back in my luxurious cushions and
almost felt l was in the Strand.
Then | went down into the French
market. Not word of English
not an English speaking person
present except me. No middle man
here. The huckster and the con-
sumer meet in common level and
twang their Gallo noses at each
other TIL catarrh seems in the very
air. The fakir was there in French
and the merits of Kola Bitters were
proclaimed in a slush of "ongs,"
"zhais." I sailed into it with char
acteristic impudence. l tried to
buy dead goose from the worst
looking huckster 1 could see. He
seemed too ignorant to understand
even a patois, not to mention my
English. I slung slang at him,
talked my new Boston to him, quot
ed the little Latin I knew and
spluttered few German "gehabt
haben gehabts. !" They pluck only
few feathers off of the back and
front Of their poultry here, for the
average Canadian does not know a
turkey from goose unless he sees
the head feathers and feet. l told
the old man his goose was n. g. and
said, so, get outl' ssCome- offl,,
and Pull down your vest!" at
what I suppose was each protesta-
ton Of his birds merits. 1 said it
was not properly dressed-some
portions of it's toilet had been neg
lected; that the V-shaped back and
front were not sufficiently extensive
and that it was defectively decollete.
The old mans scorn when I offered
him our five cent nickel for it was
something worth remembering. l
| think l never so completely COM
pretended the worthlessness of the
base little disc tina t we dignity into
value with a stamp.
Later 1 lounged into the Church
of Notre Dame and saw an extern
sive requiem mass over some dead
fellow whose relatives could pay for
it. 1t was an imposing affair, in
deed, and being in the largest Cath
Ole Church in North America | con-
sidered myself fortunate.
The faces of most persons here
are very different from those of our
states. They are either decidedly
French or English. The middle
lines of the American, as we call
ourselves, are absent. I am glad
once to be in country where I look
like myself and no other. l have
often thought my face must be like
one of those composite photographs
I am always reminding some one O
some relative, usually dead an
tglad to know-but still [ am always
reminding. l have never gone
trip and escaped it. 1t was type
writer girl in st. Louis that caugh
me early this time. On my las
trip east l thought l was going t.
escape it, but away down there abou
Harper's Ferry a fellow plumpet
himself down before me and said
81 beg pardon, sir; isn't your nam
McCauzle?" l rose and grasped hi
hand. I said, "My dear sir, I hav
been looking for you ever since l lei
st. Louis, and here away down il
these West Virginia hills you dro
beside me. am awfully glad to Sc
you and if you had my friends Bo
Arnold, Wash Fowle and Bill Keit
here you would think your frien
5 McCauzle was cut up into four re
mustached pieces. By that tim
he had got loose from me and too
his seat in another car.
However upright man may wis
to live it is impossible for him to G
: straight in Boston. "Keep rigf
r straight down this street." they wi
s direct you, in the same sort of wa
= that blind man speaks of color {
!. says he saw his friends. l suspet
I
i their crookedness has been the
: salvation. 1t has kept their heart
i warm to the interests of the QUITE
i world which SO frequently comes
e Boston and "wants to go: some
: where. !" Then the denizen of thes
lizard streets turns guide and dire,
g tory, in classic phrase, and you pas
II on to your destiny feeling freshl
!, oiled for the trip.
i. Do you know / like these pc,
d pie? They have treated me well.
0 think the mistakes they have mad
II