Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-08

The name OF Don Pedro Alvarado,
the peou millionaire Of Parral, Is one
to conjure with, and many have al
ready found in 1t basis for legend and
romance. Little is really known of
this interesting character, except that,
although a man Of unbounded wealth,
/ he Is still a friend of his old friends,
and although he might set himself up
as one OF the great men Of the earth,
he Is still one Of the poems who were
his friends in the old days and are
now his devoted admirers.
on the visit Of the excursion OF the
biologists to Parral, a few were for-
tunate enough to be allowed to enter
the famous house. and to talk with its
more famous owner. The Herald cor
respondent was one of those.
The house OF Don Pedro stands just
above the banks of the Parral river,
and far from being the gaudy. over
done palace, which 1t is generally sup
posed to be, is, on the outside, a WE'LL
balanced house, of considerable pro-
portions, of course. but carved richly
and artisticaly, with little Of the gin
gerbread" which one would expect
from the reports of 1t. 1t Is elegant
to q considerable degree, and the carv-
ings of the white native stone, on which
500 of Don Pedro's friends worked for
many months, are very handsome.
1t was while standing watching the
house and the crowd of worknen and
beggars waiting about IL, on this calm
Sunday morning. for their pay and
aims, that an old gentleman, dressed
In "store clothes and walking with
an imposing cane, came up to the
party and invited them, with all the
cordiality possible, to come and see
the house. He hobbled along in front,
garrulously pointing out the bits of
the exterior which were of interest,
and led the way into the main patio
of the house. Here, he said, was as
far as he could take us, but he stood
for a quarter of an hour, pointing out
the beauties of the patio, the really
handsomely carved pillars and Cor
inthian capitals, the figures on the
keystone of every fairy arch, and the
paintings which lined the walls. The
patio corridors were full of material
for the furnishing of the new hotel
which Don Pedro is building on one
of the plazas of the town, which, when
it is finished, will be one of the hand
soonest in the republic.
An onyx stairway led to the upper
floors of the house, and the self-ap-
pointed guide rlppled on garrulously
with his wonderful tales of the beau
ties above, while we looked about us
and uttered half-hushed words of 9p-
probation as he ratified on, lisping
through his grizzled mustache.
Then he suddenly turned, and in the
midst of us stood little smiling man,
not much over five feet five inches
tall, little black eyes sparkling out, oe
q white face, on which grew a little
beard and mustache. Our guide in
troduced us as the jefe of all this
wealth the unico dueno de la casa"
He greeted us with a certain gentle
dignity, and invited us to come up-
stairs and see the house, at the solici-
tation, indeed, of our guide.
So up the onyx stairway we climbed,
past half a dozen poems who worked
and scrubbed to make it shine as the
day, and rose respectfully as we passed.
The upper corridor was a repetition
of the lower, with the windows of the
rooms opening on it finished in more
of the beautifully carved stone, and
very evidently planned by master
hand, and executed by much labor,
well paid.
The dining room is at the back of
the patio. and here we were given our
first glimpse of the interior of the
house. The room was furnished in
light oak furniture, made, Don Pedro
told us, in San Luis Potosi, for every
thing in this rich peon's house was
made, as far as possible, in his own
country. 1t was not particularly
beautiful furniture, and it's pseudo
old-English lines were almost gro-
tesque. but the cabinets were filled
with the many goblets of the finest
crystal, and the windows hung with
rich curtains, quite too gaudy, par
ticular lady might say, and on the top
of the table was a sheet of well-worn
oilcloth. But it was Don Pedros dim
ing room.
Next we We're led to the famous
chapel of the house, which rumor has
it is hung in cloth of gold and where
incense burns night and day. 1t was
not at all as it was advertised, but
the effort to make it superbly elegant
was apparent. 1t was not built in
chapel form, as might have been eX-
pected, but was merely one of the