The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-02-16

us are fat There is not a chimney
in the whole city, and YOU can number
the furnac $ on your fingers and toes.
These people do all their heating and
cooking with charcoal, and hot-watcr
plant would be as great n wonder here
rs the Siamesc twins or II iivc-leSged
calf Now look Il little closer at the
great eXpansc OF brick fields which
mako up the houses. Each house has
y hole in its centre. That is the patio
-. or court around which tho rooms run
This often constitutes the garden OF
the family, and we can see trees ris-
ing here and there over the roofs.
The tops OF the buildings are almost
i level, save where public Office here
and there rises higher or where thu
many churches with their spires and
towers stand in evidence of the days
when this land was ruled by priests.
Their roofs, like those OF all of the
buildings, are covered with bricks laid
in lime mortar, and there is almost as
much masonry on the top cf Il house
rs there Is in its walls
Mcxico's big Cathedral.
Take this mighty cathedral on which
! We are standing. IL is the largest on
the North American continent, and its
/ roof covers acres. 1t is paved with
! bricks, containing enough, L venture.
! 10000 people. THIS building cost mil
! lions, and tina tower upon which we
! arc standing aiose cost 100000 or
more. It's choir has a balustradc form
/ ed of an alloy of silver, copper and
| gold, which weighs almost three tons
! and is worth more than that weight
{ in solid silver. Inside tho cathedral
was once q single statue OF gold set
| with diamonds. valued at Il million
dollars. and the affairs contained preci-
! Gus stones before they were plundered
in some of the revolutions OF the past.
The cathedral has one bell so heavy
that it would take forty horses to haul
1t If 1t conld be broken up and loaded
on wagons. The clapper OF that bell
IS two feet tailor than President Taft
and it weighs 200 pounds more. on
clcar days 1t can be heard six miles
away. The church has altogether
forty bells, and when they rinG nj
midday the poems who hear them take
off their hats. Their sound is also the
call to lunch, and the clerks then dror
their work and rush for the street cars
to go home to cat and TO rest.
i. This cathedral is not only the big
gest church on the continent but il
is also the Oldest The corner stone
was laid in 1913, upon the site OF tn,
great Aztec temple which Cortez de
stroyed. y small church was erected
there two years later, and then nifty
years sftcrward came the Foundations
OF this mighty building, whose wall:
were completed five years before GU
puritan fathers first came to America
The walls of tho cathedral are sal,
to have cost more than million dol
lars, and when tho church was opene,
the richest OF the Spauiards gave vi
their jewels to decorate it. Somethin.
l like two million dollars worth of or
naments, were presented and anon!
them Il chalioe covered with gems val
ued Mt 100000. This was given by
rich miner who later, falling into fl
nancial distress, begged that his gift
be returned 1t is said that he so
back slO0.o50, but L doubt it.
In the Grcnt Plaza
( But let us go down from the towc
t and take a walk through the streets
;. The cathedral faces the Plaza Maio
t or the Plaza de In Constitution upol
1 which faces the National Palace, thu
5 new city hall, the Monte de Piedad o
a government pawnbroking shop an'
: other great buildings, II is just
y o'clock as wo come out of the churcl
4 and as we stroll along by tho palac
i we see that soldiers are massed at on
q Of tho entrances where a great crow
has gathered Wo AFRO told that tn
president is coming. We walt mo
& ment and soou see an automobile n
q up The soldiers present arms an
r tho bugler gives q blast In way O
3 salute. At the Same time the peopl
IS raise their hats and cry "Vival Viva
o Maderon' The automobile opens an
q little man with a fiat race covere
v witn brown beard takes OH his ha