The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-02-28

The chairs with their DackS 10
the wall look like a well-drilled
regiment. The furniture is usually UNI
der covers; 1t is arranged with a pre-
cision which gives one an icy feeling
round the heart.
b On the walls will probably be pic
lures. Let us not speak of them, but,
like Virgil and Dante, glance and
pass by" Very unconventional house
holders may have some photographs
showing, and eve a few books, not,
Of course, lying about, but in a case
or on a shelf. Rooms do not seem to
be lived in. They are like show
rooms" in some great house" through
which a glibly respectable parrot
housekeeper leads parties of gaping
tourist visitors.
Yet there is one ~unfaillng charm
about Mexican houses, writes H.. Ham
ilton F'yfe in the London Daily Mail.
That is the charm of flowers. All
Mexicans love flowers. Their homes
present to the street bare, unlovely
walls, with barred and close-curtained
windows. Very often, though, you get
a glimpse, as o pass the open door,
of a patio where the sunlight flickers
on green leaves and vivid blossoms.
Always you may count upon such an
interior even If you cannot see it.
1t is the custom to build houses
round a green plot pen to the sky.
Sometimes there is a loggia on three
sides of this, a loggia into which all
the rooms open (there being no up
stairs") and where the household lives
in warm weather, cooled by the plash
and tinkle of a fountain in the center.
Or else the ground floor may be given
up to offices or stabling, and mount
ing a stairway you come to a broad
balcony screened from the sun by
thick trails of towering creeper
WeIl-Seasoned Dishes.
Most hotels are built more or less
on this plan, which almost makes up
for the hardness of their pillows. The
Mexican idea of a pillow is that 1t
should by its extreme discomfort pre-
vent you for as long as possible from
falling asleep. Otherwise hotels are
tolerable.
The food is usually pleasant enough.
Mexican dishes are always highly sea-
soned, sometimes painfully hot i the
mouth" But a mole" which is a fowl
or turkey served with a thick, dark
brown, slightly sweet sauce all over
it, is as good as any curry; they have
attractive modes of cooking pork for
those who are hardy enough to eat
it in Mexico, and there is always fruit
and always drinkable coffee. This is
the land of coffee and l was told how
it really ought to be made"
A small quantity of coffee, very,
very strong, should be prepared (of
course, from berries freshly roasted
and ground, and in each cup a little
Of this should be poured; the cup
should then be filed up with hot wa
ter. The hotels are not cheap. From
ten to twelve shillings is the usual
charge for a room. But they are clean
as a rule, ever those in small places,
and in towns of any Importance SAM
tation is now looked after.
Mexican kitchens, being open to the
air like the other rooms, are fresh and
ilBul anu dppSliZluS' VI SPEAK OF LnOSe
l have seen.) Cooking is done on a
"brasero," which is a charcoal stove
in the center Of the kitchen, with sew
eral glowing nests in it, on which sew
eral pots or pans a simmer or
frizzle at the same time. The stove
is on one side, followed into a semi
circle; the cook stands inside this and
is able to look after all the operations
at n
The cook is frequently a Chino"
(Chinaman). Possibly his knowledge
of Spanish is limited to a few words,
yet somehow with mods and becks
and wreathed smiles" a system of com
m%unication is est blished. A friend of
mine has a capital Chino" who for
a long time could only say ~ do