Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-07

the conventionalitfeS In attire, ana dis
position Is noted 20 take a daily fashion
hint from the garden of Eden instead of
from Paris, the children iiscarding even
the lis leaf. The water-carrier of Cairo is
much like his brother of Guanajuato, where
a long leathern jar is used The groups
about the fountains all over the republic.
with jars of rounded pottery borle on the
wcman's head on a protecting turban-like
ring, or balanced on the mans shoulders,
are also oriental. Corn is ground between
two stones in Asiatic fashion.
The Egypt of the New World.
Egyptian sand spouts are common: also
Egyptian types of domestic utensils of pot
terry. The Mexican woman. with her baby
at her back, sec rely fastened in tho
reboso, watch throws the infants weight
on the mothers shoulders, is to be com
pared with the Egyptian woman, whose
''reboso" covers her face while the child
straddles her shoulders, holding to her
head. and leaving her hands as I'M
fettered as in the Mexican fashion. There
are no Egyptian camels, but even more
numerous donkeys, the patient b1rros.
The Indian villages. whether of adobe or
of bamboo, with matched roofs and organ
cactus fences, and whether alive with
goats, donkeys or snarling ours, are Afri-
can in effect. There are Aztec picture writ
ings resembling the Egyptian, the paper
being 3de from the maguey instead OF
great public works, as in Egypt. Mex
leo thus has pyramids, much broader
based than those of Egypt though not
IL ariy so high ard Idols quite as ugly.
Gold ornaments. beads, masks and other
highly priced antiquities are found in the
tcmhs IN Egypt.
Wherein Mexico Falls Short.
There are disadvantages and annoyances
on the Mexican trip. After crossing the
Rio Grande an arid desert waste annoys
the traveller with heat and dust for many
miles. The railroad trip to the City of Mex
leo is, however, not so far as to San Francis
CO. four days nineteen hours from New York,
and is quite comfortable. AS in southern
Europe. the houses and people are, speak
ing generally, unprepared for the cold. and
natives often suffer. The hotels are, with a
few exceptions, poor, but they are. very
much better than the reports concerning
them prevalent in the United States lead
one to expect. Ore can fare as we'll
as in Spain. The foreign language is
an annoyance to the American who has
done little European travel. But Americans
ought to learn Spanish. Next to English
it is the language of the Americas, and in
view of present growing commercial rela-
tons and manifest destiny. Spanish should
have the preference over every other mod
ern language in our public schools and col
leges The worst nuisances that the tourist
encounters in Mexico will also remind him
of southern Europe and the Mediterranean
countries in general in the uhiquity and
the excessive energy of the insect kingdom.
There is not the slightest trace of the
proverb.al Mexican procrastinaton in the
opera tons of the bed bugs, fieas and
lice. Whatever they have to do. they do
promptly and with all their might. The
bulk of the MeXicans need public schools
and soap and water; varied Industries and
insect powder. But today | am considering
them, not in the more serious phases of
their conditions and needs but exclusively
from the sightseeing point of view. which
discovers picturcsqueness in rags and dirt
Mexican "Bi,:Gcst Things on Earth"
Mexico boasts the richest and most pro
ductive silver mines in the world; the cradle
of civilization in this continent; the ruins
and romance of historic and prehistoric
America: the Garden of Eden, if it was sit
uated on this continent, and in the Cholula
pyramid the Tower of Babel of Indian ira
dition: the spot where the first known Eu
ropean set foot this continent to which
he gave his name-the place the coast near
Tampico, the man, Americas Nespucci;
the largest meteorite in the world: in
the statue of Charles " on the Paseo in
the City of Mexico the first and according
to some authorities the largest bronze
ever cast in America, and according to
Humboldt the finest equestrian statue in
the world next to that of Marcus Aurelius
at Rome; the stouteSt tree on the continent
and perhaps in the world at TUE, ia feet
two inches IN circumference six feet from
the ground: according to the latest figures,
which reduce Mt st. Elias and exalt Orizaba
the highest mountain on the continent; the
largest American church building in the
Mexican Cathedral and the most beautiful
in that of Puebla; the first pulpit and first
church structure in the new world
at Tlaxcala: the argest bell in Amer
lea and one of the largest in the
world in the Mexican Cathedral. 1t is
said to be nineteen feet high. The Monarch
of Bells in the kremln at Moscow is
twenty feet high and weighs IA 600 pounds,
but it is cracked and useless, while Mexicos
bell is sound and serviceable Finally Mex
leo boasts the most pretentious theater on
the continent. That of Guadalajara is an
immense structure with an imposing front
of numerous columns of the Greek style of
of Guanajuato, which is one of the showiest
and most elaborate buildings of the kind
In the world. 1t is the sight Of Guanajuato.
1t Is under government control. and official
permit to visit it is issued by the governor
of the state. 1t has been dozen years in
building, at great expense, as II 1t were a
European cathedral or an American state
capitol or the Washington post office.
They do not hurry things in Mexico. 1t is
the land of "manana," tomorrow. The ma
tional coat of arms as depicted in the in
itial at the beginning of this letter repre-
sents an eagle standing on cactus, with
a serpent in its mouth. 1t is popularity
known as the bird and the worm, and 1t
has been hastily inferred therefrom that the
national motto reads: 1T Is the early bird
that catches the worm" But only a few
days of Mexican experience demonstrate
the fallacy of this Interpretation, and sug-
gest that the real national motto Is either
More haste, less speed" Some day. some