Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-05-24

%3ts s4l in a stones throw
sslz - of one another, but
.-- in them the life o.
the town is conferred, and they offei
at all hours of the day scenes az
strange and foreign as they are inter
esting and enjoyable. The market Il
open from early morning until late al
night, and except at noon, when each
and every Mexican tradesman and
country ranchero takes a restful siesta
the multitudinous wares are Justify
called and eagerly offered for sale by
the cigarette-smoking owners, who sii
on rush mats beside their potatoes, ap-
pies, corn, pumpkins. pinons and deco
rated jars. The Market Place is with
In an Enclosure formed by the four
walls OF a large building, and arched
entrances lead to it from the outside
streets. On the sidewalk-or, rather,
with their heads on the walks and their
bodies almost filling the narrow streets
stand long rows Of burros. Their
heads droop and their eyes are closed
as though in sleep, while the crates
they have carried In from the country
are being emptied into large baskets
n carried inside. The animals are
net tied, for they seem to be imbued
with that Wis inertiae so characteristic
OF their masters, and would not run
away If one of Virgins storms were to
strike them.
Passing through one of the large en-
frances the Market Place proper is
reached. In every direction piles of
goods are exposed, consisting of cigar
ros, pottery, onyx, fruits, vegetables,
corn, fowls, birds, beans, colored
prints, cheap jewelry, candy and the
thousand and one other articles too
numerous to mention and too varied to
remember. The place is a perfect Bed
lam. Harsh. shrill voices are heard on
every side; packing and %unpacking is
going briskly on; men stagger in
with heavy burdens; women are sort
ing and asserting, piling up and plac-
ing in punches of three and four their
onions, fruits and potatoes, while
tlacos equal to a cent and a half are
rapidly changed from hand to hand,
and their heavy clinking adds yet
another sound to the general pandemo-
mum.
The Cathedral is the most elegant
building in the city, conspicuously rls-
ing far above all its surroundings, and
visible when one looks at the city from
the fields and meadows reaching far
away on every side. The architecture
10 decidedly Moorish, and the church,
built during the first quarter of the
eighteenth century, is a fine old speci-
ment of adobe, stucco and wood-carv-
ing. 1t stands facing the Plaza, and the
facade, bordered on each side by two
high towers, is filled with elaborate
carvings, and inches holding time
SCARED images of saints and apostles.
Over the doorway there is an illuminat-
ed clock with a dull-sounding bell, on
which the hours and quarters are
struck throughout the entire day and
night. In the towers, which taper grad
ually to a diminutive dome from just
above the solid masonry of the facade,
are hung half a dozen bells, the wild
tones of which call the worshipers to
church, or give peals OF victory on fete
days and national celebrations. The
other entrances to the Cathedral, be-
side that facing the Plaza, are on each
side Of the building, and the heavy
oaken doors vie with the ~stucco-work
around them in fantastic but sadly
soiled. carvings. Over the altar, and al
lowing soft rays Of light to fall through
1t upon the gaudy decorations within
the church, is a fnely-constructed
dome, almost as light and graceful as
that which is reflected in the waters of
the Arno. in far-away Italy. Yet time
has been very busy with the Chihuahua
Cathedral. 1t has nipped the noses
and plucked the ears off many a statue
standing in the dusty inches, turned
the stucco-carvings dull and yellow,
eaten holes in the woodwork and
Clipped off the edges Of pillars and