The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-07-28
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THE LAND OF THE MONDAY
sUN.-MEXICO IN MID WINTER.
BY JUSTICE WALTER CLARK, LII, D.
From Arena for June.

NN-S w. -
the Central at Celaya, the candy"
town, and passing through Dolores
whose parish priest, HidaIgo, began
the war of independence in 1910; then
on past the town and hamlet, river and
mountain, till we reach San LUIS Pota
81, three hundred and sixty-two miles
from the capital. This is a city Of over
seventy thousand inhabitants and is
the capital of the State of that name
It lies in midst of q great level fertile
plain stretching away to mountains
that are filled with silver and gold. 1t
has many interesting buildings, the
State capitol, the cathedral, the library
and museum with one hundred thou
sand volumes, the State college, etc.
has several factories, and the street
car lines run u to the neighb0ring
villages. On q Sunday afternoon l
was strolling through the streets of this
of nearly seventy. five thousand peO-
pie among whom l knew not a single
human being, when on turning a COR
ner l heard music which at once ar
rested attention. 1t was g we'll known
hymn of Charles Wesley which had
come across the deep waters and many
a vanished year to be anthemed be
meath the shadow Of Cathtdra covers
on the great central plains of Mexico.
Could the voices be traced, there l
should surely find friends and coun-
trymen. As l proceeded the music
foated out full and free, and, falling
upon the nick fading twilight,
''moothed the raven down Of darkness
till it smiled" l found the band Of
worshipei and their beloved leader, a
Methodist missionary, who is devOtiDg
his life to the work which he has found
to his hand in this great field. Only
when straying in a foreign land does
one know the strong bond of sympa
thy that lies in the accents of ones
native tongue. The Protestant mis-
sions in Mexico are active and fairly
successful. There is absolutely free
dom of worship, and ali religions are
protected. There is no State church,
in which respect, az least, Mexico is in
advance of England, Scotland, France
and many other countries.
The Tampico branch of the Mexican
Central crossing the line OF the National
here goes down 20 Tam:co. Its claimed
By many that the scenery in the six
thousand feet of decent to the terra
culiente e this line is more magnif-
cent than between tina capital and
Vera Cruz. 1t is certainly very grand
but it is entirely of a different kind.
The desert 10 the coast is by terraces
In the first forty seven miles we fall
fifteen hundred feet. Further on, at
the mouth of the great T8masopO Can
on, you seem to have gotten to the
jumping eff place." for you can see
the rails as they begin to bend down
ward. For seventeen miles you roll
down by gravity, with every brake on
to hold the train back, with the moua-
tains rising on both hands thousands Of
feet above you, ard between them the
canon opens a thousand feet below
you. At n point is the DEVILS
Backbone" a great veine Of rough
granite extending up the mountain,
and reminding one of the Devils
Slide" in the Wahsatch Valley on the
Union Pacific. After passing out of
the canon and while descending the
mountain, our track 80 turns and winds
that at one point SIX tracks are seen.
At the mouth of the canon is the strik
ing succession of waterfalls known as
Ell Saito del A0ra. Along here are the
coffee groves, then a little lower we
reach the hot lands" the terra cali
ente, and, rolling along the banks OF
the broad river Panuco, are soon at the
Tampico. This is in appearance the
least inviting town in the Republic. 1t
is dirty and untidy, many of the houses
are of wood IA very rare thing in Mex,
ico), and rains are frequent. But six
miles further down, at the mouth of
the river, are the jetties, which have
given the port already twenty six feet
of water up to the whRrves, and will
give three or four feet more. This
will make it the port of the country,
for Vera Cruz cannot compete with
this, and already a railroad is contem
plated between the City of Mexico and
Tampico. Near here I found an Amer
lean who already, in January, was
shipping tomatoes by the carload to
Chicago and Cincinnati. From Tam
pico it is three hundred and twenty one
miles over the Mexican and Gulf Rail
way to Monterey. Ia building this