San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-04-19

IL
of glory that encompasses the old CITY
round about is as bright to me as 1t
was in my boyhood days. The spell
has never bsen broken and L never
put my foot in the city that my blood
does not leap at the thought OF its inn
mortal his tory. / see not the modern,
rushing, busy city that =! know full
we'll exists and fiourishes here, pulsa-
ting with the rich blood OF young and
robust life. But instead l see
the city of romance; the city of his
tory; the city of mighty tragedy. My
mind runs back to the time, some
two hundred years ago, when the
missionaries established themselves
upon the banks of yOn beautiful river
to lead the wild man to new life. l
still see place where heroes died. L
see spot where two civilizations have
contended for the mastery-the battle
| tie ground between the Castillian and
| the Anglo-Saxan dominions. zee
the moss covered mission and the
modern sanctuary side by side, and
between them I discern religious
romance more thrilling than man
ever wrote. see the time. stained
adobe and the modern commercial
block, on the same street, and on
their walls is written the history of u
century of progress, see the old
Mexican cart of a past era, with Its
| solid wheels, rotting beside the rail-
| way track, while the express train
whizzes by at the rate of
forty miles an hour. see the electric
cars whirling beneath the shadows
of the NOES grown wall of the past
century. Every where turn / find a
bewlldering mixture of the old and
the new, suggesting romance, poetry
and progress, and all claiming atten-
ton. But my thoughts tarry in the
my sterious aisles of the past. L
love to wander down to the
old water-mill. love to
stand on the banks of your beautiful
river and read tales of a past age in
its flowing waters.
But there Is more than romance and
history in San Antonio, If we but
arouse from these delightful day
dreams to see it. Here we witness
the mellow twilight OF an old civilizs
ton and the roseate dawn of the new.
The Castillian lie giving place to the
Auglo-Saxon, or rather, l should say,
all the best features of both. The trace
of the one lends q charm to the other.
Here we still see the beautiful dark.
eyed senorita about whom poets have
raved and lovers have fought; but be
side her we see the blooming, fair and
radiant American young woman,
and while am not insen-
sible to the charms of the former,
declare that the latter cannot be sur
passed in loveliness by any other
creature under the shining sun.
Here we see today q magnificent
| city of $4,000 Inhabitants, with an
annual commerce of nearly 500, OOO,-
| 600. You have climate that far
famed Italy cannot surpass, If indeed
she can equal it. You are far enough
south to escape the billiards. that
make life burden and existence an
uncertain struggle on the northern
plains. You are far enough west TO
get that dryness and purity of at.
mosphere so priced by the seeker after
health, and far enough south to have
| the heat of summer tempered by
the gentle and soft breezes that
| steal up from the Gulf of Mexico
and make life here q dream of peace.
You are surrounded by rs fine
country as heart could wish, watered
as If the A mighty bad made it His
browning portion of creation.
You are located mid way between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans on a great
continental highway which is never
blocked by winters SHOWS, you are
the great gateway to mighty and
growing sister Repu bile, with no com.
petition on the west or the south
within ], 900 miles. You already have
q great commercial, manufacturing
ana railway centre, and see nothing
to prevent San Antonio from becom'
American Union. The enterprise and
pluck Of her people are prover6ial,
their faith is strong and their hopes
high, and know 1 out
voice the sentiments OF every memb Der
of the Texas Press association when l
say that we earnestly hope and trust
that their brightes tanticipations may
be fully realized. Our interests and
sympathies are as broad as the great
state of Texas, and we claim San An
tonic as our own. Why? Although
1 live far up toward the northeast
corner of the state, San Antonio is
near neigh Dor, thanks to the modern
railway which has almost obliterated
distance, for I can take breakfast In
Greenville and supper in SanAntonio,
the same day.
And there has been a factor In the
growth of San Antonio that feel
justified In abiding to. Why is
~ that this city has made more
progress in twenty years under
the decentralization than it did in two
hundred years under the old civiliza-
ton? 1t Is because the new American
civilization has long enjoyed the