Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-09-19
FRIENDS in OLD MEXICO
Interesting Letter From Alta
jenkins About Our Sister Re-
public,
public.


Most everyone has sort of curiosity
about foreign people and foreign lands
and | believe | am even little more
curious than the average person sc
when my parents and l were in FL
PaSo, Texas. last fall on our way tC
Arizona we did not miss the oppOr.
tunity to visit our Sister Republic.
Mexico may not seem very far from
our own country but it is unmistdk-
ably foreign and gives one the Impress
ion of being very far from home.
1t is but a short tide on the electric
car from Ell PaSo, in fact. little more
than across the Rio Grande. By the
way, L was very much disappointed in
| tue Rio Grande. AS it's name signi-
! tieS. [ expected it to be great river,
raging and waving over mighty
boulders and | was getting ready to
gaze in awe on something hardly
second to Niagara Falls when all l saw
was little, muddy, sluggish, stream
scarcely bigger than creek and not
half as good to look at
My mind was soon taken from my
Disappointment, however, for just on
the other side of the river was the
United States Custom Otfice-a thing
[ had never seen before. A wild
eyed ,llong- bearded man of questionable
nationality boarded the car and al
though he searched, no one there
seemed to know why and one wondered
if. his eyes had not an X-Tay quality
in them.
The first thing that attracted our
notice as we alighted was low, white
plastered, abode building with our
name in immense black letters above
the door 1t was curio store kept
by some very nice white people. Here
we purchased some trifles as souvenirs
and some postals to mail to our friends
and | took a childish delight in put
ting Mexican stamps on them bought
from a native who could hardly speak
English.
We walked down the ''cable" street
and strange feeling, as OF being out
of place, stole over US for every way
we turned or looked something foreign
confronted US. The buildings were
all abode mud bricks dried III the
SUM some were plastered over the
bricks, but the majority were not.
They were Gil built in a solid front
like a great wall with one door for
each apartment and here and there
small opening for a window-theSe
were Scarce-hung with a piece of
guny Sacking, for no other purpose
that | could see but to keep the fresh
air out and the foul air in. Through
the open doors we could see into the
little bare dark rooms with their few
pieces of rude furniture and nothing
but mother earth for floor, but this
was beaten as hard and smooth as
that of ball room. In each room, we
beheld, huddled together like a flock
of terrified sheep in a snow storm, a
dozen or SO dusky-skinned, half naked,
''ninoS" each clinging wildly to the
"madres'' skirts. Along by our side
continually ran first one and then
another tiny ragged urchin with his
little brown hand outstretched mum
bling over and over ''deme un CEN
tavo'' (give me a cent and, being
given the object of all his earthly,
and in fact heavenly desires, he
would let out yell Of triumph and
gallop away still shrieking like one
possessed. Here and there one would
see miniature tienda (store) with a
sign in Spanish over the door, ard
through the streets ran men with
heavy loads of fruit and vegeta bles on
their heads, also the pretty soft eyed
senoras, with their baskets and i'm
mense pieces of pottery, glided noise
lessly in and out not seeming to mind
in the lease the heavy weight on their
head. With the exception OF these
and the curio stores kept by Ameri-