El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-03

ExICO CITY. April SITUATED
M on the one time floor of an ex-
tinct volcano, of which the sur
rounding mountains were the walls,
perched so high above the sea as to
make it the highest capital on earth
Mexico City is indeed distinctive. With
its days so warm that linens are not
out of place, and it's nights so cool
that an overcost is comfortable; with
its new American section beautifully
built up, and its slums so sQualid as
to make the East Side in New York
seem fairly clean; with its wonderful
Paseo de la Reforma a block wide, and
its San Francisco avenue only 25 feet
from curb to curb; with it's social
queens whose beauty is that of a
thousand years of culture, and its
barefooted indian queens whose charm
is that of the wilderness: with its cot
ton trousered poems and its fashion
ably tailored men, Mexico City reflects
all the lights and shades of life
All Nations Represented.
/ And it is most cosmopolitan city
Walk along it's streets and within a
single block one may see London
clothing store, a German hardware
store, a French jewelry store an
American drug store. Spanish wine
store, a Canadian bank and a Mexican
tebacconist's shop. Go into one of it's
fashionable restaurants and one will
seem to have walked into congress
of nations. Here is a continental pair
wearing flashing diamonds and drink
ing sparkling wine; there a New Eng
lander. as plain as a Quaker and as
abstemious as a Puritan At another
table is a rudy young Englishman
with his whisky and soda. his cane
and red necktie; at still another a
party of Germans enjoying a Dutch"
treat. Someone describes the scene in
this way: Painters of canvas and
sculptors OF stoneI Students OF Ian
guages and fighters OF bulls! Models
for Carmencitas of the kind John SaT-
gent paints, and maids as demure as
Miles Standish wantedi Youths who
have come to cut their wisdom teeth
and women who have come TO assist
theml Men who have travelled many
lands and wives who have travelled
nonel The gaudily rich and the re-
specially poor. the respectfully rich and
the gaudily poori A crowd forever
merry but never maudlinr'
Tho Show on the Avenue.
Another place where the. visitor gets
a fair idea OF the cosmopolitan make
up of Mexico City is on San Francisco
avenue when the daily promenade of
FASHION takes place Tne street IS only
half a dozen blocks long and % feet
from curb to curb. Yet every fash
ionable carriage in the city, every
handsome man. every beautiful wom-
san. descends from everywhere at once,
and such a jam of carriages. cabs, au-
tomobiles, taxis. and pedestrians can
be found nowhere else in the world
Down one side the street and up
the other. moving at a funeral pace.
the throng passes. everybody looking
at everybody else and IN turn enjoy
ing the sensation OF being looked at
1t has been described as longer than
the Ramayana and more respondent
than an inaugural. Certainly it IS
more powerful than the government,
for how often has the government
sought to direct the procession down
San Francisco street and back through
the Cinco de Mayo; and how often has
social Mexico successfully insisted on
its right TO return the way it camel
For Mexican society likes to look at
itself and that capnot be done with
all the equipages travelling in the same
direction. Also there have been ef-
forts to adjourn the parade to the