The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-20

Triste" and you learn 10 say this easily
It means the Tree Of the Disma
Night" Back to the plaza You sit dow
| again and think how completely tina
Aztec temple has been wiped out. Al
that is left of it, you find in a corner o
the church yard, little column and base
made of one piece and building stone o.
two OF course the Cathedral has tn,
rock of the Aztec temple but it has al
been re-fashioned. Under meath this plazs
must be thousands of relics. Those pos
sessed were dug up out of this plaza. in
| Guiding the sacrifcial stone and the idol:
! you see in the museum. The plaza is moi
| pretty and needs remodeing. The Mexi
can government should thoroughly exca-
vate this site, probably will some day
You begin to let your mind wander along
| the centuries, to dwell on the generations
| who have gone there TO worship, over
here to rule, right on this spot to trade
| Of f1fty-seven vfceroys who entered that
| building as virtual sovereigns, Of Hidalgo
] Of JuareZ. Iberators of Macmillan and
! Carlotta, who came out Of the palace and
went into the Cathedral to be crowned
Here RevoIutionists and Loyalists had
| in the government building the king s
! battle after battle. Out of the great court
troops rushed through the big doors upon
| the Revolutionists in the plaza and sent
them flying back through the streets.
That explains why the windows are
| boarded up and the doors are thirty feet
| high, double, and why when you want to
get in at night, you find a little window
in the big door opening cautiously and
the man, the portero, who sleeps against
It, asking who knocks, and why you say
amigo" 1t is a custom which, born of
necessity, survives the necessity. There
have been bread riots around this plaza,
looting and big fires, one of which it is
claimed was fought by the archbishop
heading all the priests, taking the Holy
relics from the Cathedral and holding
them I'D to the flames.
But the clothing of these buildings ana
the place with these scenes must be by
the Imagination. What is seen today is
busy people, a people of such diverse
types that the mind despairs of classify
ing them. They are mostly small and
Indian-Iike You wander what the Aztecs
looked like. Over in the national art gal
1ery you find a big painting, representing
the Spaniards roasting the feet of Monte
zuma's brother 20 compel him to say
where the Aztec treasure was hidden. 1t
was thrown into Lake Texoco and is lost
forever. In this painting the Aztec Is
shown to be as large as a large Com
anche or Cheyenne and not unlike him.
This portion of the Aztec race has evil
IDENTIFY passed away. The little people we
see today must have been the big fell
NH f9
them coming up from the Viga canal,
their backs loaded with vegetables. by
whole families, 1 mean great grandfather
and grandmother, four or five grand
mothers and grandfathers, ten or twelve
mothers and fathers and twenty or thirty
children They travel in a fashion some
what resembling Indian-file.
Around the plaza everything is sold, in
the plaza principally refreshments, and
pulque, the national drink in particular.
1t tastes exactly like yeast and cider
mixed and looks like thin milk. Some
drink it out of individual earthenware
cups, some drink it out of big vessel,
passing it around, as Indians pass a pipe.
All drink it, rich and poor alike. 1t Is
not as intoxicating as beer and is more
sleep-producing. It is a big feast day
and YOU board a car for the Viga canal.
1t is a small, dirty ditch, full of fiat
boats which are poled by men who stick
the pole in the mud and then run forward
on the boat There are thousands Of
these boats. On this day business was at
a standstill and the population was out
on canal excursions. Occasionally 1 saw
a young man ara his sweetheart sitting
on one of these long boats making the
most romantic sort of love in broad day
light. 1 travelled miles along this canal
and saw but one guitar, played by girl
in a boat while her companions, male
and female, lounged around and sighed
audibly. She played the instrument
poorly. At town called Santa Anita the
people were having big celebration, the
evidence of which was the
browning one another with wreaths OF
roses. this among the more well-to-do,
for in the case of the men, L saw no
wreaths that were not on derby hats. At
this place are the floating gardens"
little oblong tracts of ground surrounded
by bitches and not floating at all. Back
again to the plaza, winding, in the late
afternoon, in the street car which almost
scrapes the sides of the buildings,
through the narrow streets. The feast
day has been well celebrated. A ire
menduous amount Of pulque has been
Pulque produces an exceed
inglv affectionate shade of mind, not of
a boisterous turn. but of a mildly star
ing eye-sinSleness of helpless alteration.
I saw scores Of tipsy men hugging women
along the streets ard frequently man
pleading, with pot-eloquence. his cause
before a shy fair one. As the trip pro-
crossed I came to the conclusion that II
is something of a fashion for man to
get comfortably full Of pulQue, slide down
against a wall and sleep. You see so
many OF this attitude. not drunk but
sleeping. lacking the helplessDess Of in
Still for the preservation of
thu nerves Of tourists there should be a
law against any man with legs going to
sleep in a narrow street which has a
street car line. l noticed along the route
that many of the women had on their
temples little patches Of what appeared 70
be court-plsster. Upon inquiring learn
81 these are small leaves and are pu,
there TO cure the headache. They have
the effect that menthoI does with u.
When I get back 70 the plaza X IS brill
iantly lighted with little four-cornered
blue ard red glass lanterns. myriads OF
them. The front Of the government build
ing is ablaze with electric lights. The
crowds increase in the plaza until it is
iammed and the band strikes Up in the
band stand
The thing which comes 70 you as you
study this people here is thai it is bound
along that road which leads from ire IN
1olence and happiness OF established