The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-25


thought of enjoyment. Haste in eat
ing is the one thing utterly detestab1e
to well bred Mexican. Breakfast is
a five-c urse affair which begins with
orange juice, grape fruit, or some such
dainty. Then oatmeal and cream. fol-
lowed by bacon and eggs. Hot cakes
and syrup or a sort of sweet roll are
the fourth course. The final one is
coffee-which the Americans did not
find to their taste. Always it was
strong enough to walk even when d.
luted fifty per cent with hot milk.
Lunch and. dinner usually ran seven
courses, each course being plentiful,
but OF one thing only. For instance,
II 1t was the meat course, meat was
all one got. No potatoes or anything
else. The typical meal started off with
a cocktail or two of the kicking va
| riety served before taking seats. Then
| one took glass OF cognac with his
caviar. Next in order was SOUP and
the first glass Of white wine. Then
fish and more wine. Then turkey,
chicken, goose, duck, or frozen quail,
| with more white wine. A salad and
the first glass Of red wine. Then meat
| ana more red wine. Then came the
sweets, cakes or cookies with ice
cream, and the first champagne. The
Iouowlng courses were mostly cham
pagnes and speeches. Finally demi-
tasse of coffee, black and strong, fol-
lowed by a glass OF rum. Then the
diner was ready to dine again without
| interval.
The door porter at the Hotel Prin-
| cess, where the Kansas delegation was
housed in Mexico City, was a large
and burly negro, once of the United
states. He was possessed of an equal
ly ourly voice. Every morning, every
were in the City of Mexico the deni-
zens of that hotel knew the Kansas
| delegation was there. By some power
unknown Col. Charlie Mitchell had
prevailed on the aforementioned por-
ter to page. him with the call Gen
eral mitchell! General Mitchell! Gem
eral Mitchell of Kansas! Your car Is
waitin' without And the suddenIv
promoted colonel nonchalantly would
answer in bored sort of way, 'fWell.
just tell it to wait"
But the car was not a thing ~
imagination. 1t was a glittering. fnliv
equipped, fully Manned reality. II
was the personal car of Governor Ig-
| naclo Enriquez of the State Of Chi
nuahua and was loaned to Lieutenant
| Governor Huffman and the Kansas
delegation for the duration of the visit
1t was real automobile, too, a Hud-
! son super-six, 1920 model of fine
seven-passenger variety Also it was
equipped with a chauffeur, a footnan.
anu an the governors own private secre-
tary as an aide. To all intents ana
purposes, the car. its personnel, and
atS equipment were our to do with a =
we chose, when we chose, and how we
chose.
| Which brings up the subject of mo-
tor, traffic regulations in the Civ
OF Mexico. In language not of the
pest. there amt no such thing there
IN the City of Mexico, tho there are
trafflc cops at every intersection. the
rignt OF way belongs to that driver
VINO IS clever enough and daring
enough to seize it. There is no sucfl
impediment to progress as a speed
law. A traffic cops duties consist
solely OF seeing that a procession OF
VehlcIes DO not too long block the
street intersections. At least fhosa
were his duties unless he happened to
spy flag of Mexico and a flag IF
the United States flying from the
radiator cap of a car. In this event
ne promptly stopped all traffic until
the flag marked machine had passed.
me flags marked the official auto
mobiles of a guest of the Mexican
government and people and gave that
car the right of way over any and ali
traffic But the flag marked cars
were not SO numerous that traffic was
unduly held up. There were only five
such in the City of Mexico of which
the car loaned to Lieutenant Cover
nor Huffman and the Kansas dele
cation was one.
Getting back to the personnel of
our automobile. I said it was equipped
with chauffeur and a footman. In
one sense that description of the riders
o. the front seat is true, but it does
not near say it all. The duty of the
"footman" is of two parts. One duty
is to open the car doors, and so on.
The other Is to take an active part N
driving the car. Traffic in Mexico
City Is such that the actual drissr
needs both hands on his steering wheel
and both feet on his pedals all the
time he is threading the narrow.
crowded streets of the business Sec
II tion. At such times the footman as