The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-08-14
OBSERVATIONS OF A GADDER
BY FLORENCE JOHNSTON

7 as accompanied US through Kansas
Colorado, eastern New Mexico and
still it was the dust-the white alkaH
dust that the cowboys beat off their
hats when they spring upon the stage
in the Wild West dramas, rather than
the heat which Stifled US. Because
on these plateaux it is never really hot
as we know heat in Kansas II have
Travelled in Central and South Amer
lea, Mexico, Cuba, Florida Louisiana,
Mississippi and southern Arizona, all
in the summer time" says Mr.. Gaunt,
land except southern Arizona, the
hottest of these is Kansas" The sky
was a vivid blue except for some piles
of fleecy clouds, which in Kansas
would promise rain before night,
whatever they may mean here, just
above the western horizon, and the
sun beat down pitilessly, but the clear
dry air of these attitudes is never OPP
pressive.
Arrival at FL Paso.
Typical scenes attended us-the
binding desert with its sage brush,
chaparra1 and mesquite-the fringe of
green cottonwoods and willows along
Grande, the struggling, dingy adobe
villages, the little Mexicans playing
in the purple shadows which the
buildings paint so sharply on the
dazzling sands. now and then cow
boy galloping up to the station plat
form, for all the world as if he were
riding out of the third act of the Vir-
ginian or the SQuaw Man. At Las
Cruces there were women with bask-
cts full of the canteloupes for which
this valley is becoming almost as ia
nous as the Rocky Ford country
Strange indeed 1t is to see the fire.
quent wildly green wales, where grain
and fruit, grass, trees and flowers
have followed irrigation But for all
the cultivation, the areas of waste
land are still overwhelming.
Ell Paso doesn't look attractive as
you approach it from the desert. The
buildings seem to hang on the races
of the chalky cliffs on which the
town is built, and not a tree or blade
of grass is visible. One passes through
an adobe village on the outskirts
dirtier, meaner, poorer and d1ngier
than usual, and looking up at the big,
substantial modern buildings In the
binding glare of the sandy heights,
wonderingly demands the answer In
a minute you see one clause OF the ex-
PLANTATION in the great Portland &C.
ment Company works past which the
train whizzes. Then you see a net
work of tracks, freight cars loaded
with the products of the ranch and
mines of the great rich territory tr1ou-
tary to Ell Paso, and which is the ex-
cuse for existence And the town i'm
proves on acquaintance. The station
is a great handsome spotlesSly clean
building and we had an appetlzlng
luncheon in the clean, cool, attractive
Harvey cafe. We had missed the Mex
lean Central train, and would have to
stay over night, and the ride to the
hotel up town revealed new advan-
tages We found that blade of grass
we were seeking, good many of
plaza around which the town is built,
in Spanish style, and which our hotel
faces.
This evening after dinner we took
trolley ride around the town and
crossed the border to Juarez, the Mex
the old church dating from 1879, and
to offset that, stopped at a gambling
house and squandered small sum at
Keno. In the plaza of Juarez we
found typical gathering of the popu-
lation of a border town--Mexicans.
Americans, Indians, Negroes and
Chinese, children dancing on the pa
vilion, the men noddinE on the
benches, groups of chattering women,
here and there a priest.
Ignored by Custom Officers.
Forgetting that we were in Texas,
and unmindful of the Jim Crow laws,
we kept getting into the 'tculled" sec
ton of the street cars and although
we assured the conductors that we
didn't mind, the black folks probably
did, because we were always politely
but firmly told to move to our own
side of the color line. We were all
prepared for real adventure when
we crossed the border and came for
the first time under the inspection of
the customs officers. but much to our
disappointment, they not even so
much as glanced at us. All the Mex
leans and others on the car had to
give account of the packages they car
ried. 1t reminded Charlie Gaunt of
a story of course-"You remember
Dan ? dams? Dan used to be about
the best looking chap in Topeka-big,
tall. broadshouldered. good head of
hair, white teeth and smart clothes
Dan went up to Chicago once, taking
all his good clothes with him. The
first night he went to the theater-
dressed up in his evening clothes,
bought a seat way down front, and
went in late so as to give the house
a treat, sauntering down the aisle
with his opera hat under his arm And
would you believe it? he said they
never even looked at mel"
We leave Ell Paso tomorrow
(Friday) morning over the Mexican
Central for the City of Mexico, which
without further delays, we will reach
Sunday morning in time for high mass
and a bull fight. 1