The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1904-12-27
LAZY, SUNNY MEXICO
LAND OF REAL DELIGHT AND
TRUE REST.
Never-Falllng Charm for the faded
and Weary Pilgrim From the Hust-
ling Marts of Her Great Neighnoi
to the North.
(special Corresnondence-l

NOpecldl correspondence
Sit here with me on Stone bench
1T tie inn door at Cnietla, Mexico. II
is a little town in the tropics, witt
great snow-capped volcanoes not fai
away; lot so tar but that the ice
king Of their glaciers may peer curl
ously into the valleys beneath, valleys
of eternal warmth, where the great
palms are even now rustling in the
.norning breeze, and the odor coming
rom tie orange groves makes you
know that you have left the far table
and country. The thought glldes into
your lazy mind, WAS there ever
more beautiful land than this sunny
New Spain?'"
There is a tinkling of mule bells Up
the long white road, and the shouts
of the muleteers recalls familiar
scenes in the leisurely pages of Don
Quixote." Mexico is always New
Spain and one may wander over the
land and marvel at tie true instinct
that brought the Spanish conquista-
| dores there. They came to Mexico as
the bees seek the flowers along the
roadside, or in some distant field.
Here they built and wrought, leav-
ing indelible traces of their presence
great churches, ancient houses In
lonely places with walls five and ak
feet thick; and, best of all, their full
voweled, sonorous speech, which lends
dignity to the most trivial waysile
talk Our rough, clipped English
down here seems harsh, and its cor-
sonantal combinations are uncouth in
| the hot lands.
The people are quiet, the women go
about almost noiselessly, stopping per.
haps to exchange greetings in a low
| musical voice with "comadritas," and
the men, in white cotton garments. are
| as ceremonious to one another in the
royal road" the kings highway. az
IL they were courtiers in the Vallado
lid of Charles and his son Philip.
Real Haven of Rest.
have tried to read Spanish novel
one about a little town in Spain OF
the Andalusian coast. during our wal
with that country, and my brain failed
after ten minutes, to catch the impor
of the words. One drowses at IL a. m
1t is a delicious sensation. Dinnel
will come soon, at noon, and after tina
a siesta Is the rule, ia costumbre.
To the man or woman from the high
placed city this is surely a place o
rest. Nerves long strained, brains to-
busy, here relax.
A letter came after dinner, but it re
manned unopened till the evening.
was too sleepy to think of readini
even letter. and the Spanish sayini
tells you that to do so following
meal is to imperil your digestion.
was from a friend in the far north
My friend asks: Tell me where t
pass the cold weather in your Mexico
/ wish to make the adventure of Me1
leo with my wife, and to get a littl
out of the beaten tourist paths"
Well, to my friend l can only say
"Come!" Take the by-paths of trave
see the charming little towns. 10
pueblitcs, in the warm valleys wher
snow has never fallen; seek out hal
forgotten towns like Taxco in lh
state of Guerrero, where the climat
is singularly equal all the yea
through. and you have no railwa
nearer tran FIVE hours ride ava!
, Iook at historic Cuernavaca, orce I'll
winter home of the Conqueror He
nan Cortes, and of the Emperor Max
milan, and then seek out other va
leys like that of Atlixco in Puebl
whittier l am bound, lovely plac
> where. amid fertility, a prosperou
people finds our modern progress
mere futility.
Get down to Oaxaca and look at III
great tree of Tule visit the ruins I
Militia; then, if aboundirg in courag
visit the gulf coast, and go dow
among the rorts and the river town
| o-a Movfr