The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-11-02
CHARMS OF MEXICO.
rho Way to Travel In This Country oil M
Ancient Civilization.

Tho Way to Travel In This Country oil nj
Ancient Civilization.
Mexico Ia so enormously interesting, sc
wonderfully picturesque, that every winter
and spring it will continue to be invaded
by travellers who, when they are kindly,
courteous ard we'll behaved, are welcomed.
The Mexican people are always pleased To
meet intelligent and appreciative travellers.
One meets with charming people tn out OF
the way towns, who throw open their houses
with pleasure and display their treasures
for the foreigners qualification. -.
When you come to Mexico, You should
bear in mind that this Is a country with an
ancient civilization, that you will not find
here tho barbarism of the frontier, that
there are hundreds OF old houses filled with
relics Of the romantic past, that the fine old
Spanish traditions survive with the best
families, and that in many respects we
Americans may we'll learn Of the descend
ants of that indomitable race that over
threw the Moorsr in the old and gallant days
when Spain was a camp of armed men.
The charm of Mexico comes when one
travels in leisurely fashion--when one has
loafed the golden days away in interior
towns-in still and delightful Queretara,
in Guadalajara, that enchanted city, that
bit of Andalusia transplanted to the west
ern world; when one has sat under the
trees and near the fountains of Morelia,
that archive Of courtesy, that repository Of
good will and kindness. In the hush of
ancient gardens, planted, perchance, before
a rose bloomed on the Atlantic coast of the
United States, one may abandon ones self
to the e%nchantment of the hour, turn slow
ly and distractedly the pages of a sixteenth
century author in n vague dream of peace,
of falling waters, perfume Of flowers and
song Of birds. ,
To mo the witchery of this land of sun
shine is its suggestion of the past. One
may often imagine the clock of time to
have been set back several centuries, and
that one is living the slower, more tranquil
and leisurely life of those days when good
books were distilled from the brains of men
of genius, insensibly and without effort.
Who could imagine Montague, Cervantes
and their glorious company writing under
pressure for the magazines or the modern
press syndicates' Drop by drop their
thoughts, like honey, fell upon their pages,
and books that have the charm of perma-
nency, of strong and deep humanity, were
produced.
In this modern world, in this age of the
t~ireless, rumblipg presses, of the ever click
ing telegraph, of ceaseless hurry and whirl,
some lands should be reserved for those OF
us who are not wholly and unreservedly in
love with our century. Mexico, Algeria,
the high and solitary places of Peru, where
the great silences are still unvexed, lands
such as these should be kept as charming,
restful rooms In the mansion of humanity,
for the use and occupancy of those to whom
modern improvements are not necessary,
indeed too often a huge and horrible bore.
Sometimes one comes to think that the
best use of the locomotive is to whirl one
out of the country where it is made.-Bos-
ton Herald.