The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-24

| of La Guayra. / am often careless
about spelling to amuse the school
care. I also use will frequently
when t'shalP' would be better, because
the school teachers like to sniff when
| reading.)
There were nine cars in the special
train, including a baggage car occu-
| pied by ship stewards. There were
| one hundred and forty passengers.
and plenty of room for all. One of
the cars was an open observation car
which was always crowded. The cars
were as fine as Venezuela affords. and
everywhere the train attracted great
attention. The people seemed to
have heard of it, and were on the look
| out for it, to see what kind of people
live in North America We passed
through a rural section where strang-
ers are not often seen.
| For the first hour, the train ran
through valley, where irrigation was
the rule. We saw dozens of sugar
refineries, and hundreds of fields of
sugar cane. The sugar refineries were
small affairs. We saw many farmers
blowing, always with two oxen. The
plows were invariably crooked sticks,
| of the kind seen in India At every
station there were always crowds of
people, evidently waiting for the ex-
cursion train At the end of an hour,
we began climbing mountain, and a
| second engine was attached. This
| railroad ride proved as wonderful as
| the mountain ride from La Guayra to
Caracas. The mountain up which we
| climbed was desolate; no houses in
sight for miles, except small shacks
occupied by railroad laborers. After
reaching the top of the mountain, we
descended. with one locomotive.
About noon, we reached what SEEM
| ed to be the beginning of a valley, and
small farms began to appear. The
valley widened, and we ran into a
we ran along the shores of an ex-'
| tensive lake. At place called Vic
toria, we ate a picnic lunch. Some
hotel man had been employed to pro-
vide lunch for a hundred and forty
people, and there were two sitting at
tables spread under great bamboo.
trees. The members of the Atchison
party drew the second table, and they
Jared about as children. do who wait.
But I didn't mind waiting, as the
crowd surrounding the tables was
worth watching. There were thou
sands in the crowd: men, women and
children. I am not certain that ex-
cursions were not run, to let the coun-
try people look at the North Ameri-
cans. We didn't see the town, which
| was quite a distance from the station,
but a horse railway is operated at
Victoria; q car came down from town
| just as we arrived and the driver re-
| manned all the time we were there:
table, and the women and children
began taking things before we
were through. Paper napkins were
used, and these seemed to attract
most attention. Every paper nap
kin was promptly appropriated, after
it had been used by North Ameri-
can. One old woman came up to the
table where I sat, and deliberately
took bananas, oranges. etc., and L
helped her. The lunch was a very
chicken, beef, ham, etc. Wine and
beer were also served, although there
was an extra charge. A waiter at
| the table where the Walkers sat. was
arrested: an American ordered bot
tie of beer, and the waiter charged
him a dollar. Complaint was made.
and a policeman Carrying a musket
slung over his shoulder, led the wait
err away. This excited or angered the
other walters at the table, and they
followed their companion, and the
| Walkers waited on themselves. But
| it was all very enjoyable, and a very
unusual picnic lunch.
After the lunch, the train passed
| through a cattle country, and we saw
| thousands of cattle; cattle of good size,
resembling what we call long horns.
Much of the land seemed to be wild.
and all the roads were very dusty;
believe nevei saw so much dust. In
this section, we saw no farm houses,
| except straw covered shacks. The
train stopped at a lonely siding, and
we entered farm house of this de-
scription, evidently belonging to a farm
| Iaborer. 1t was about twenty-five feet
| long, and fifteen wide. First there had
been a frame built of bamboo, and
then covering of straw on the roof.
| The floor was of dirt, and there was
| 10 nf
| of straw. Neither the roof nor the
partition was made of what we know
as straw, but seemed to be OF some
sort of fiat grass. The sides of the
but the other room was protected with
| thatch. On enc side was the cook
stove: a platform of sticks, covered
with dirt. This platform was about
as high as an American cook stove,
and on the dit top was fire. Dinner
was being cooked, in several pots.
There was no flue; the smoke went
out at the gable. The house was full
of chickens, pigs and chlldren. Re
family seemed to sleep, On mats. The
house, and everything in it, did not
cost to exceed ten dollars: The man
and his wife were poorl-- dressed, ana
| the children were half naked. All the
houses we saw in the pasture district.
and in the cane district, were of this
| character, except that some houses had
| walls Of earth. covered with thatch or
straw 1 suppose the houses we saw
were occupied by the poorer farm
| laborerS.
And everywhere in the dusty roads
| we saw professions of donkeys, carry
| ing loads or packs Occasionally We
saw man riding a very good horse.
Occasionally, also, we saw man
riding a very good mule, and every
mule had crIpper under its tail, and
| 7 wondered how the rider managed to
| get a crupper under the mules tail,
| since mules are great kickers.
| About the middle of the afternoon,
we came to Valencia, the capital of a
| state in Venezuela. It was rather an
Imposing town. but the country around
| it suggested Arizona it was SO dry. At
| this nlann the valley was MANY miles