The St. Johns herald., 1901-03-23


 :, here, where she is we11-known,
 now located at Tu1e, Apache coul
 ty, Arizona, where she will rt main until March ?. Miss Fel
 nandez has been there for severa months and following her profes
 sion of teacher. In a communi
 cation received by one of he
 friends in this place, Miss Fer
 nandez has the following to sa,
 of her surroundings:
 The most favorable feature o-
 Apache county is the delightful
 climate. So extremely hea1thful
 IS 1t that only the physicians die
 and they are forced to adopt oth-
 CT means of gaining a livelihood
 than their chosen profession.
 'One would hardly credit the illiteracy of the people here.
 While the public school system pevails, schools are maintained only about five months in theyea-. With indifferent teach CTS and no home incentives to- ward the acquisition of an edu- cation, small wonder is it that the pupil of IS years leaves school with the knowledge Of a third grade pupil of an up-to-date school. Nearly every source of refinement and culture being ab- sent, life is naturally confined to narrow limits. A newspaper is regarded as a curio-only one paper being published in the en- tire county and that contains only the cattle brands of the various ranch owners. A railroad train Is an object of reverence and awe, the nearest railroad station being 90 miles distant in Navajo county. Quite recently I made the trip from Tu1e to St. Johns with a Mexican family enroute to Wins low, Arizona. With a sudden the head of the family exclaimed: Pasada manana we're mos e1 treni" (''Day after to- morrow we will see the train.
 Vel humo tambien," (And the smoke also), sage1y replied the the sonora.
 HorSeback-riding is universal in this country and we'll it may be, as 1t IS the most satisfactory l mode of travel over these rough | dangerous roads. Fences and | guideboards are unknown so one must be adept to find his way on the trail.
 Almost without exception the !! houses are one-storied and of ! adobe structure. A woodshed of | east would compare favorab1y | with the altogether one-room house of the frontier with its mud floor and walls. Churches are conspicuous by their absence. Ministers like physicians seem to 'hun this region. One aged | Catholic priest of Costa Rica has he mission of tie entire country. l Between the Rocky Mountains on he west and the grain growing 'ection on the east is a belt of country too dry for either farming 'r for forests. On these plains he chief vegitation is bunch srass which grows in clusters. It S coarse but excellent food for ;attle. Some of these great tock ranches are nearly as large IS the smallest New England tate, There are few fences and he immense herds roam about rom one part of the country to he other. Twice a year the lerdS of each ranch are collected or a round up in order to brand he young stock. Some times ,oung animal tries to escape but quick as a flash the COW boys are liter 1t on their swift ponies. One throws his 1ariat around its 1eck, another 1assoes its hind legs md in an instant it is prostrate on the ground. With a hot iron the animal is quickly branded and then liberated.
 In place of these herds of cat tie once roamed over these plains the wild bison and instead of the the cowboys, the Indian hunter. Now all is changed. The bison have all been destroyed and the Indians confined to their reserva-