The National tribune., 1899-07-13
THE NATIONAL TRBUNE WASHINGTON C., THURSDAY,

set barrels of water and it is said that this
is the real Rio Grande-that the channel
is barreleI to keep it from drying up and
thus bringing confusion to the boundary
line.
Every year in the early Summer this
incolveEient river threatens TO become
torrent; first. when ths SHOWS on distant
mountains melt. little streams are quicken
ell and the waters rush down to the sea:
again. when the rainy season comes ana II
rains by the bucket. then the Rio Grande
threatens to flood the cities on Its banks.
Sometimes this great wetneSS does not
materialiZe, but the Rio Grande has ram
! PACED way beyond its banks, driving the
MeXicanS from theiralr1leS to the mesa and
| washing away crops and cattle. After a
short rainy SeasoB it subsidies back to
dustiness, and the country dries up again
| for a lack of drink.
There is much talk OF an international
dam to collect some of this SuperfiuouS
water in great artificial lake and put 1t
under curb and rein. so that 1t may
| bring crops and prosperity to the country,
instead of terrible waters one month and
terrible drouths the next. 1t is said that
an amusing feature of the floods is that the
Mexican always saves clock and dog
from the waters, if nothing else; that he
usually waits till the last minute to leave
his abode, and then, with a clock under his
arm and dog at his heels, seeks safety
and leaves his hut to the waters.
CITY OF JUAREZ.
Juarez, the sister town in Mexico, is a
| collection of adobe houses whose whitened
walls glare at the sun and sands; an i'm
maculately white church overlooking the
town, long row of low white buildings.
serving as arsenal, jail and city offices;
and the roofed-over market places spilling
the stores of Mexican pottery, bags OF grain
and baskets of fruit out on the very side
| lie md F.Et nf M
Women with black shawls over their
heads glide about and men in their pointed
| crowned som mhreroS and scarlet SaSheS
lounge in doorways. The houses are built
right out to the street, have barred win
dow, only half screened by cheap lace
curtain and giving one glimpse through
the rude, dark interior to the patio and its
green vines beyond.
The patio is feature of the Mexican
adobe house and is an inner court, some
times very pleasant place, with its grass
and vines and flowers. On shadowy even
ingS 1.-the and duSky SenoritaS sit IN the
windows, while the senors pose in adora-
ton on the curb close at hand-there ism
any curb, they stand where the curb would
he If there were one. Sometimes the dark
fingers clasping the bars are kissed-even
as story books say-when lover Is dGrlng:
1t is unfortunate that the senorita will
sometimes powder, and her dusky skin, with
its dull red glow in the cheeks, CLEANS in
a ghastly way through the white, white
powder. When n slim Mexican girl puts
a pink ribbon in her shining black braids-
Of all coors, these senoritas love best those
of the roSe-and shadows her dark face
and bright eyes with her Sunday mantll!a
of Spanish lace, she is n very attractive bit
of femininity; but when she powders and
wears n hat hanged up in the back, she Is
unlOvely. It's all that very pretty Amerl
can girl can do to look wei! under such
handicaps, and the little Mexican peasant
girl loses al! her charm when she tries to bt
stylish.
| MEXICANS AS SEEN AT HOME.
Whenever the Mexican departs from the
picturesque lines laid for him by our story
writers, one feels dcfrauded; no matter il
the change be for the better, he srols {
story. If there were one thing that ! fell
certain of it was that many romance
budded and blossomed at the bull fights
Then dark-eycd senoritas smiled from
under their mantillas at the brave mata
dors, picadors, toreadOrs-whatever The
/ technical term for the hero may be-anC
sometimes rewarded Valor with a rOst
thrown into the dreadful arena. Hero
beauty watched vaIor and Mrs. Grumpy