Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-04-14
OLD AND NEW IN UNION
Modern Methods and Oriental
Ways Side by Side in the
Mexican Republic.
LEGENDS OF ANCIENT TOWNS.
Sleepy Tourists Awakened at 5
O'Clock A. NJ. by the Jangling
of Sweet Bells.

Every high school girl knows that
Across the Alps lies Italy," but how
many educated, well-informed AneTi-
cans know what lies beyond the Rio
Grande river in Mexico? l have now
been a month in this wonderland
Old Mexico-writes an Omaha Bee cor
respondent from Guadalajara, and
every minute of those thirty days has
been filled with delight Our eyes
have feasted' on a riot of color in sky
il the tinted coIors on old cathedral
walls. Every morning tumUltuous
ringing of church bells din in our
ears-not ringing slow-funereal- Sc
date or in Sunday chime as with US,
but each individual bell ringing like
our old-time fire bell, all at the same
time. Little tenor bells that can be
heard only in quiet ponder
Gus booming brass bells brought from
old Spain before our pilgrim fathers
took ship on the Mayfower. The little
bells swinging in eXuberant excitement
clear around the wooden beams to
which they are strapped with bands of
iron or with leather thongs. The great
bells disdaining to move are struck
with huge iron hammers on the out
side rim or with pOnderous clapper
from within. Such a deafening hurly-
burly of bell-ringing never Weakened
a sleepy tourist at a. N. in any coun-
try but Mexico.
The scent of jasmine, of orange and
lemon blossom and of roses and the
new, almost overpowering odors of
gorgeous tropical flowers fill the sun
laden air you breathe. The strange
new fruit, sweet and luscious, that
tickle our palates and the peppery
dishes that surprise our conventional
beefeating Anglo-Saxon stomachs. All
these pleasant, new surprises to our
senses make the physical man happy.
But rich as are these sensations, they
sink into insignifcance when com
pared with the appeal this old land
makes to our Imagination and to our
sympathies. No town or hamlet but
has its legend Of old Aztec days or
castle or church of Cortez, the con-
queror.
This is Egypt over again. The ORR
ent at cur gates, and nothing charms
the western mind as. does the mys-
terry that lies behind this old civiliza-
ton. 1t is as if we saw our ancestors
come to life again after 1000 years.
We can see here what was meant by
the command, Take UP thy bed and
walk" when we see the native unroll
himself out Of his serape-the garment
OF one piece-that is at the same time
his protection against the weather and
his bed by night. We know that to
go up on the housetop to pray-here,
as il Palestine, is to do the conYen-
tionaI-the fiat roof Of the house is
intended to live upon as we'll as to
shelter the one-story rooms below. The
sandals on their feet, the bottle made
OF whole pig or sheep skins-to carry
water or 'pulque," the native beverage
are the same we hear about in the
lesson for the day" in our church
at home This is the simple life-and
a more contented, carefree, devout PEG
pie l have never seen.
Side by side with this oriental life,
unhampered even with the rudiments
of sanitary science, are evidences of
the latest word in scientific mining
and electrical apparatus, magnificent
state and municipal buildings enlight-
ened provision in the way of state
theaters, beautiful public parks, foun-
tains and statuary and, mirabile dictu,
we have a new Paris in the City of
Mexico, with fine, wide asphalt streets
that challenge any city in the world,
most beautiful public buildings of the
latest French architecture, costing
from $4,000, coo to $12,000,000 each;
model electric street car lines and
cleaner streets than can be found else
where on this continent A vigilant
police administration that makes us
ashamed of our great metropolitan
cities in comparison.