The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-05-24

Mrs. Lyon Writes of Interesting Scenes
and Sights in New
Mexico.
THE ROMANCE OF THE PUEBLO
Little Picture of the home and Haunts
of one of the Famous Indian Tribes
of tire Great West

Mr.. Editor:-No lover of the romantic
and picturesque who visits New Mex
leo should fail to include Taos in his
line of travel, though in order to do so
he will be obliged to abandon the 1uxu-
rious ease of a Pullman and even the
more limited accommodations cf a
narrow gauge railroad. For nothing
more modern than a stage route pene-
trates that dreamy, sunsteeped valley
dotted here and there with Mexican
p1azas, and crossed this way and that
by irrigation bitches, in which the
water often seems to be exhausted1y
making its way up hill. The Taos
valley is one of the best watered tracts
in New Mexico, and fruit and grain are
raised and cared for in a primitive
style that makes one feel he has been
carried back two thousand years.
Threshing is done with burros or
horses on a hard beaten earthen
threshing floor, and the trodden out
grain is then winnowed by the women
in huge sleeves of leather, punched full
of holes and fastened to a frame.
Side by side in the midst of this val
ley are two typical towns-Taos,
quaint, placid and thoroughly Mexican;
and Pueblo de Taos-busy, prosperous
and thoroughly Indian. To say that
Taos is thoroughly Mexican, means
that the houses are adobe, built around
a court, with no more architectural de-
sign than dry goods box, and much
less color: the streets narrow, stray
Cling and one so like another that you
can scarcely tell where you are at or
where you are going to; the native in
habitaats well content to enjoy life
with as little exertion as possible,
happy, indeed, to forego many things
that we consider necessaries of life in
order that he may sit in the sun and
dream. You seldom seeS them more
actively engaged than in coaxing the
ever patient burro about the streets,
bearing on his sides and back mar
ve1ous1y constructed pack-1oad of cedar
or pinyon, from the sale of which he
expects to derive proceeds sufficient to
keep his entire family week.
But, as you leave Taos and drive to
the Indian village, between fields of
ripening wheat, through thickets of
wild plum trees and past punches" of
fat cattle and sleek horses, there is a
very perceptib1e change in the atmos-
phere, an air of earnestness and in
.dustry creeps in, together with sense
of mystery that stirs your curiosity
and keeps you on a tiptoe of expeCta-
ton.
Before I say more about these In
dams, let me explain that the word
pueblo applies alike to the tribe, their
villages and their large community
houses. Also, that they live, not on a
government reservation, but on lands
granted them by Spain and confirmed
to them by United States patent, max
ing them, therefore, United States
citizens. "The Pueblo, the most
striking ethno1ogic figure in America
today, is emphatical1y an Indian who
is not poor from any point of view
Physically, mentally, morally, social
", he need not shun comparison with
the average of his lately acquired
countrymen, and he even affords lux
uries to which the superior race has
mot yet risen. AS an Indian he is a
paradox; as d human he is unique in
the whole world. He is the one racial
man who enjoys two religions, irrecon-
ci1ab1e, yet reconci1ed; two currencies,
mi11enniurns apart in the worlds rip
ening; two sets of tools as far asunder
as the stone age from the locomotive;
| two sets of laws, one Coeva1 with Con-
fucius and the other with the Supreme
Court He is the sole aborigine on
earth who inhabits many storied build
Jugs, and the only man in our land
who ever achieved such architecture
| of sunburned brick. " Thus wrote
| Charles f. Lummis, who is considered
the Pueblo's greatest historian, and a
visit to their villages would convince
| any one of the correctness of the
statement. There is something about
their personality that, while it impels
| a friendly interest and admiration for
YOU cannot help admiring their cheer
| full appearance and refined manner),
vet prevents any familiarity and eff
| regularly puts d Li4CtLtS OAl al y dlICiu ~
to secure a glimpse of their inner life,
an example worthy the emulation of
the modern Knights and Ladies of
Columbia.
It was a pleasure, indeed, to be d
welcome guest of Pamoseno and his
pretty little wife during the ce1ebra-
ton of the Feast of San Geronimo,
which is a fusion of modern ecclesias-
teal notions and prehistoric rites.
Every village has a patron saint, and
the celebration of his natal day is at
tended with much enthusiastic demon
stration. AS San Geronimo (St. Je-
rome) the patron saint of Taos; was
born September thirty, it behooves
the Christian spirit Of the Pueblo
to make merry on that day; and
as it is about the time the grains are
gathered and the years harvest is
ended, it becomes his ancient tribal
spirit to celebrate the harvest festival,
so he combines the two and becomes
4o.11afxv Glad The familiar Iinp about