The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-03-14

| eCuOOI pupil III MEXICO city VINO earns
a prize or diploma can be sure of re-
ceiving it direct from the hand of the
president of Mexico. All commence
ment and graduating exercises are
made brilliant social and government
tai affairs. My introduction to this
feature of Mexican life was from the
box of the diplomatic corps in the hall
of congress-. On alighting from our
carriage, l passed, ON the arm of
gentleman Of our party, through line
of soldiers, the advance guard OF the
president, to the door of the senate
chamber, where stood the reception
committee in evening dress and white
kid gloves. Each usher advanced
with bow and offered his arm to a
lady, and thus escorted, our Ameri-
can gentlemen following in our wake,
we were conveyed to our seats. In
the balconies about us were the aris-
tOcracy of the liberal party; in the
| body of the house were the pupils in
evening dress, even the smallest boys
being arrayed in white vests and
white kids, and on the platform we're
the non- professional musical celebrI-
ties of the capital. A band outside
the building struck up the beautiful
national air that always announces the
coming of the president, and instant
ly we were all on our feet, and l was
taking my first curious look at the
man of Indian ancestry who has
moulded nation and people to his
will.
He Is a handsome man with Indian
features and strength in every Inca
ment. He has the almost saturnine
repose that marks his race, and during
the several evenings | have been in
his presence | have not seen him
smile.
This extreme quietness of the Mex
lean people saddens and Expresses me.
Is there FIRE underneath?
Although an intensely patriotic peO-
pie, they receive their president and
their national anthem In perfect ST.
lence, standing with uncovered heads.
They are a dec0rous as we'll as mu-
sical race, meeting any discordant or
discOurteOus noise during an enter
tainment with low, sibilant kissing
that warns the transgressor into ST.
lence.
THIS morning sat in box IN the
Conservatory of Music, which he's
wonderfully fine acoustic properties,
listening TO snch melody as | have
never before heard anywhere. Diplo-
mas were 10 he awarded in the schools
of law, of mines and engineering, of
music and of commerce.
The line of soldiers at the entrance
and down the street told us of the ex-
pected presence of President DIaz.
As the first note of the national air was
heard in the distance, the audience
rose to its feet, the music grew louder,
every eye was fixed on the door, and at
the instant Disz appeared the great
orchestra of forty pieces inside the
conservatory, took up the hymn, and
the air thrilled with such a swell of
martial strains as made my blood tin
gle to my finger tips. Then followed
the work of pupils, graduates, profess
sors, all Of high grade. The nation
that excels in music and art, as do
the Mexicans, must surely be under
the inspiration of former civilization
that history has lost sight of.
A few days ago Mexico lost by death
her aged and beloved poet and patriot,
Guillermo Presto. As soldier and
statesman of the liberal party, he had
fought relentlessly through a long
life for the disenthraIlment of his
country from the letters of the church.
In beautiful casket on catafalque
in congress hall his body was laid
among wealth of floral offerings and
draped with the national colors. All
the architectural beauties of The SEN
ate chamber were shrouded in black
draperies, relieved only by wreaths of
green everlasting.
Green lights burned in the urns