Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-07-07
FORMER AUGUSTA
GIRL WRITES FROM
TURBULENT MEXICO
Miss May NJ. Badger in Letter
from Mexico City Tells of
Conditions There AS She
Finds Them.

The following extracts from letter
written by Miss May NJ. Badger, for
merly of Augusta, but who is now To-
Gated in Mexico City, to a friend in
Augusta, under date Of June S, will be
of interest to Miss Badgers many |
friends here, and especially at this /
time, when Mexico is in the throes Of
civil warfare:
1T can hardly be said that our cor
respondence has been rushing-your ,
letter of Feb. from Augusta. Georgia. /
came yesterday. We have had no
trains for weeks. Your letter with
three from mother, also written in
February, came in by automobile and
this letter to you will probably be
mailed in Texas by a friend who is
leaving next week with several hun
dred foreigners who are leaving in
wagons and automobiles for Pachuca.
on the Mexican R. R., thence to Vera
Cruz
You ask me if 1 comprehend the sit
uation here From this side it seems
TO be struggle between three fac
tons as to which can coin money fast
est, appropriate the most property and
assume the highest position with the
original principles of the revolution
quite lost sight Of. President Wilson's
recent note is making them sit up and
confer on the possibilities of making
peace but the general feeling. even
among Mex:cans themselves, is that
= Ii .-l.
stable government without the aid of
foreign power.
We have seen some exciting times
here, especially for six weeks in Feb
! ruary and March when Zapatas forces
Were besieging the city, and l went to
sleep at night lulled by the distant
sound of cannon. But battles in MeXi-
co are unique and one must keep in
mind that the Mexican soldier has a
great regard for his life and often acts
on that excellent principle of he who
fights and runs away etc. The first
report Of a battle gives thousands of
dead and wounded, sitting down next
day 20 four men and a mule.
I am keeping a journal-account of
events and descriptions of things that
interest me. Here are a few bits
which nav interest you. Imagine low,
tinted adobe houses arising from mar
row streets. Surrounding the town
and making a background fer it in
every direction are precipitous hills of
soft 2ray-green, and against these
again in almost any direction ones
eyes may turn are churches with
rounded Moorish domes and tall square
towers that have been white but are
now softened and streaked by the
weather. each sheltering one or two
groups Of beautiful bronze green bells
San Angel lima place of thick adobe
walls quaint angles, narrow winding
staircases. domes, towers, colored tiles,
a dreamy patio and from the azotea
(roof) a view CT softly rolling hills.
neighboring villages, distant city, blue
sirdle of mountains, and to the south
the two now-ca pped volcanoes.
Some of the signs over the pulque
shops: FL Nido de Amor, Las Flores
de April, Ell Destino, La Isla Sacri-
ticios. FL Infiernito. Ell Delirio. La Sc
ductcra, La Media Noche, La Idea. In
plaza: Big-hatted carzadores (por-
ters), burroS, each with four great
ccbblcstones on it's back, biblical look
ing girls bearing water from a cir
GUAR fountain lined with light blue
tiles, old men who vail at intervals
that they have ice cream to sell, old
women with handouts Of lottery tick
cts. basket sellers. sellers of flowers, mo-
Zos (servants) who you are sure have
tean sent on an GRAND and told to
come right back but who apparent
~ have no intention of returning for
several hours; ladies draped in black
mantillas on their way to church, a
frail looking man with a bath tub on
his head, flock of sheep followed by
a shepherd in white cotton and red
serape. pack train of mules loaded
with alfalfa: yellow brown of burlap,
drivers in yellow straw hats, blue
shirts and scarlet serape; a dos fight;
another dog fight, an Indian woman
with a whole poultry farm on her
back, and always a swarm Of child
rem.
Bits of paper tied to a balcony rail
or window bars indicate that the house
is to let. Palm leaves from Palm Sun
day are twisted through the ratings
to protect the house and its inmates
from evil. Ell Desiesto, formerly a ru-
raj retreat Of the Carmelites-now pa
ito, cloister, corridors, cells, chapel,
are crumbling in ruins. There are
bits of rich coloring, saintless nices in
the old walls. long arched Corridors
damp chambers of penance and sun
ny gardens chol1ed with moss"