San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-10-28

We exhausted our vocabulary
upon the series of cascades call
ed Gel Salto del Abra de Cabal-
leros." The water descends some
800 feet and reflects a greenish
hue, making scene beyond pen
| picture.
Each mile traversed seems to
increase in grandeur. Adjec-
tives have failed and we can but
sit and wonder.
Exhausted with the intensity
of nature we are almost glad to
reach the high plateau upon
which San Luis Potosi stands.
We welcome a few barren rocks
and salute the flecks of brown
in the landscape we can now rest
our tired eyes without "missing
the prettiest point along the
road"
"San Luis" reached we find
we are within the fourth city in
Mexico, with population of 64,-
600. 1t has wealth and enter
prise. It's churches are old, but
well preserved, one boasting of
Il clock which was the gift of
Spain. The market bears all
the luxury of the temperate and
tOrrid zones, but with many
strange fruits unpalatable to the
American taste, still such va
riety that only a Chronic grOwl-
err would complain.
Your table and rooms need
never lack for decoration, for %
cents will supply you with more
flowers than you can carry away.
To visit a palace whose int
riOr alone is valued at a million
or more is not an every day treat
for mortals whom fate leads a
long ordinary paths.
The Obliging mOzO (servant
ushered us into an elegant recep-
ton room hung with richest tap
estry priceless souvenirs filed
the hooks and tables.
\ tiny spark of envy filled our
souls and the feeling grew as we
passed into the library, but we
cOnsOled ourselves with the
thought chat one head was TOO
small to contain all the wisdom
of the ages and one life too short
to read half the books" No
doubt, even the good bishop like
the passing crowd" has to keep
some of his knowledge "On the
shelf"
Through bed rooms and guest
rooms we were led into the
bishops private chapel.
Here the bishop kneels before
an alter of exquisite workman
ship.
The richness of the material,
bold and onyx, would prove an
inspiration to the most prosaic
workman, but the goldsmiths of
Mexico have never had superiOrs.
eyes, even in Cortez's time the
Spanish had to admit this fact;
the natives could not only cut
metal, but basalt, porphyry and
amethysts; they fashioned gold
and silver in a delicate manner
and could even mix the metals in
such a way that the feathers of
birds or scales of fish should be
alternately of gold or silver"
said the frivolous one.
"The frivolous one" is wound
up" whispered one.
That's Prescott, sure" laugh
ed the little school marin.
Everybody laughed, the frivo-
lOus one made a face, so amidst
confusion, in which the noisy
parrot in the patio took no small
share, we wendell our way out
into the streets of San Luis.
Poems were passing to the mar
ket, most of them with heavy
crates upon their backs.
Here a great bundle of wood,
there a great square of hay. Go
ing, like poor patient animals, at
a slow, even trot, and if the bur
den was heavy, the poor patient
faces showed no sign Of grief, re-
belliOn or envy.
From these half sOrrOwful
street scenes, from the crowds
of half-clad beggars, one is glad
to escape.
We again enter another life
there is no happy medium in
MexicO-the portals of their the
alter.
One glance around shows US It
is worthy of the praise bestowed
by enthusiastic travelers-"the
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