Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1902-03-13
OLD MEXICO AND NEW.
Ono Must Go to Small Interior Cities
to Find Reminders of the
Former.

Ill tuc huge 1dCCOIy "uACu Ill 4AAPCA ACSt
civilization calls palace of progress,
in reality an edifice resounding with
the clank of machinery, the irksome
tinkling of telephone bells, and the
racket of the typewriters, it seems al
most incredible that there really does
exist fairer and more delightful world
outside that great, sunny, cheerful
Mexico, which, as time goes on and
the din and hurry augment, recedes
before our mental gaze.
Not so many years ago this ancient
city was filled with something of the
charm of the middle ages; no one hur-
ried, life had q broad margin of
leisure; all had "time" to gather the
flower of pleasure by the roadside Of
existence. True, the streets were badly
paved, the drainage was most unscien-
tific, mails were not any too punctual
and to 60 far from the capital involved
journeys somewhat perilous and al
ways romantic.
To find that lost charm one must
now visit the interior cities, and, above
all, the smaller ones, where Mexico
holds still to the pleasant ways and
the unhasting pace which are SO in
contrast with the rapid commercialism
of these new times. Old foreign resi-
dents of the City of Mexico will, almost
to man, tell you that, while there is
vastly more business" more security,
better furniture, and more people
wearing modern clothes, that, some
how, something has departed, a some
thing that made life very agreeable.
What has been lost is the character
istic features of Moro-Spanish civiliza-
ton, a ripened product, mature with
long centuries of formation. The
apostles of progress, wearing knitted
brows, their eyes always peering into
some future calculation, will deride
all this as rubbish" But they are
wrong; many doubtful things have
been gained; life has more pressing &C.
equations; there is a growing hurry,
much more social show, but far less
enjoyment.
The old Mexico was comfortable, en-.
chanting; under the arcades of the
cities one felt the charm of Spain
vast and sunlit plazas where people
idly talked-great stone mansions
with balconies haunted by las damas,
an air of careless leisure, happiness
and dolce far niente. For all these
things one must now 60 into the re-
moter towns. They, too, are menaced
by the crashing car of progress; the
clangor of its harsh gong is heard as
it advances and people are told to
make ready for the great change which
is to efface all that is characteristical
ly Mexican. We are to be transformed,
says the Mexican Herald, made nerv-
Gus, pushed into the dollar chase and
all things are to be treated by the
standard: ''Does this pay?"
The hurrying crowd will eventually
be tanned, the climate, the sun, which
is the master magician, will make over
the new conquistadores. They will
have to submit to nature, and, warned
by formidable nervous diseases, con-
sent to relax. The spectacle of cities
like New York and Chicago, where
millions of the unsuccessful find the
game of competition hateful, is not en-
couraging. It is not the sort of civil.
cation that suits these southern lands.
1t cannot long endure when trans.
planted here.
So there is hope that what is essen.
tial to happiness in these lands will be
saved; that the new Goths and Vandals
will be subdued, will feel the spell OF
an old civilization and consent to be
happy as men should be in a world
where nothing. good lasts to long.