The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-07-31
Is iess pronounced among the men, VINO are
generally we'll educated and travelled Rl,t
u IS fault easily lost sight CT among their
TPny VirtuaSssA
al9ci;ll Notes.

sasssxSsSI e"eS'esl anu eentIest disposition
TSsaa5G able Though contented to spend most
cir. lives swinging idly in their ham
S(Esocks, they are devoted to their husbands and
children and the tenets of the Romish church
Truly the densest ignorance is better than that
| dangerous thing, "a little learning" which
| lsi the North sometimes begets those unsexed
| monstrosities, petticoated politicians :rhe
| Nlcaraguans are much more social in dis
position than the other people of Central
America. They have their tertulias, near
relation to the high tea and balls, and are
h'ucn gwen to dinner parties, at which latter
entertainments the greatest imported deli
cacy IS Goldfish. Everybody in society rides
on horseback. the favorite hour being before
a. M, when the air is deliciously fresh and
cool. Five o'clock p. M is the fashionahle
Time 1or ful! dress parade in the plaza; then
nome to dinner or tertuia, and by o'clock
everybody is abed. The climate at this time
Oi year is as near perfection as one is aDt to
t1nu in this world, a little too hot at midday,
put then the siesta reigns and nobody minds
IL. The wind which always sweeps up to-
ward evening carries a refreshing cooIness
winch makes warm wraps and blankets agree
able necessities after sunset.
The great annual holiday of the Mica
rasuens Is known as Ell Paseo al Mar, "ex-
curslon to the sea- 1t occurs toward the end
OF March, when the dry season is we'll ad
Nanced and everything buried deep in dust.
after the harvests are gathered and the crou
sold, and While paterfamilias feel flush on the
proceeds. Preparations are made long in ad-
vance, and as soon as the March moon comes
carts are packed with little furniture and
a good many trunks and the exodus bepins
II Is only about fifteen miles from Leon to
one OF the best bathing beaches along the
whole Pacific coast, but the journey is made
the occasion Of as much planning and prep,
aratlon as many people expend Oh trip to
Europe Everybody goes, the peon as we'll as
the hidalgo, and for O. fortnight Leon is
deserted city There are no hotels or board.
ing houses at the beach, but each family takes
along tent, or sets up bamboo shack and
lives in neglige under the shade of the splen-
aid forest trees, which extend almost to the
oceans edge. The government sends down
a battalion of troops, ostensibly to preserve
order among the picnickers, but in reality as an
excuse for giving the officers and soldiers
share In the annual holiday. 1t is said that
social laws are very much relaxed during THIS
Peseo, and that Cupid is king during these
few weeks of the Nicaraguan year. There
are no bathing houses and no bathing dresses
are worm The people go into the surf as
nature equipped them, the ladies on one side
OF a long sand spit that stretches out in to the
sea, the men on the other side. The Paseo al
Mar is the perpetuation of a semi-religious
Indian custom, which has something to 10
with the baptism of st. Peter to insure plenty
OF fish during the rest Of the year.
Leon has more churches than all the other
cities of Nicaragua combined. Every morn
by wonderful chorus Of bells, compared to
which Poe's Naturalization was as nothing.
olllng booming, jangling, big bells, little
bells, base bells, and tenors, all fused into enc
huge dlscordant uproar, which effectually
murders sleep and makes one glad to fee cut
OF doors with the populace
Majestic Monotombo.
The thing that we have enjoyed most in
Leon Is watching the ever-varying aspect Of
Monotombo's top, from hammock slung
under mango tree. I am ashamed to tell
you now many hours we have spent in this
idle occupation; yet the psalmist knew what
he was about when he wrote, II will look unto
tho hills, whence cometh my help" Old
Tombo, rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,
stands 1900 feet In his stockings, about
twelve miles from our doorway. He seems
to combine every quality which frst-clIss
volcano ought to possess. He is bald headed,
and he smokes necessarily, after the manner |
of his tribe and all Nicaraguans; but age has |
cooled the passion Of his youth and though |
he even now mutters and frowns darlly at |
times he is no longer considered dangerous. |
He is one of the highest purely volcanic |
masses in the world, waving his white plume |
Just a mile and half above the lake which !
ripples at his feet. True, Cotapax1 measures !
nearly three times as much, but its base, |
properly speaking, begins at an elevation of |
IA 500 feet; while here we have the whole |
grand pile, standing on a level with us, in !
view at once All climates are found along |
its sides. The first 1000 feet of gradual rise |
is covered with dense tropical forest, dark |
and dismal--the haunt of monkeys, serpents, |
and singing things innumerable, the huge
trees all draped and tangled with vines and
Orchids Above this is second bit of wood |
land, diversified by wide spaces of barren |
rock and grassy glades with trees of pine and |
oak. whose acorns furnish food for herds of
wild hogs, which claim the region by right
of conquest and hold their title by superior
numbers against the more powerful mountain
lion. At an elevation Of 1000 feet all trace
of vegetation disappears and the vast cone
rises abruptly-an unbroken mass Of lava and
scoria, to the yawning crater into whose
mysterious depths human eyes have never
gazed Always glorious and ever changing,
Monotombo is perhaps most beautiful after
sunset. Long after night has drawn her
mantle over the lower world the high crest
If the mountain remains aglow with rosy |
light, the deep gorges that scar its sides
raced in dark blue lines on an amethyst
ground; while from the depths OF the crater
/ luminous cloud spreads out like canopy |
If gold FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.