Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-08-29

PERTH AMBOY EVENING NEW
who wants to see the country. There is at
least one organization which makes a business
of taking the tourist nywhere he wants to go
and telling him all about it. and there are sew
eral shops where he can get the load OF Indian
blankets, pottery and baskets which every trav-
eler to this part Of the country brings home
with him.
The Indian Country.
New Mexico is a country admirably adapted
to the entertainment of the man from the East.
1t is a land Of level plateaus broken by noun
tain ranges. Scattered over this wilderness are
the villages of the Pueblo Indians-the only
Indians in America who still live much as they
did in pre-Columbian days. These Indians have
every summer a number of dances and festas
which provide spectacles of barbaric beauty.
In addition to these living Indians, there are
the dead cities of the cliff jewellers, wonderfully
preserved.
The roads across the mesas are smooth and
good. The mountains supply scenery that will
bring an ejaculation from the most hardened
sight-seer. There are hundreds of mountain
streams alive with trout, and good hunting In
the fall. In addition to this, the southwest mas
a certain fascination that is indefinable. Wheth-
err it is the ever-varying beauty of the country,
or the peculiar stimulating quality of its AR,
or it's ~restful, good-natured, unbusinesslike at
mosphere. or a combination of all these things
the Southwest has the power OF attaching people
to it. The man who has been there once nearly
always resolves that he VIII come PACK some
time. There are thousands now who come back
every summer
The New Mexicans have been quick to realize
that 1nelr COunlTy has IL SltdI I 10 :" 'NO
al playground, and that that future depends
upon keeping their country the odd and peau-
tiful place that it is. They are preserving tnen
ANTIQUITIES. they are cooperating with the gov
eminent for the protection of their forests anu
fish and game, they are building roads and trails,
they are even making over their toWHS u"
houses they live in.
You must go to Santa Fe to see this last pro,
cess at it's best. A large number OF artists anu
q few writer's and archaeologists have settled IN
Sa nta Fe. and these have been Joined by the
more forward looking natives in an effort TO
make Santa Fe, which is the second oioess ~
in United States, also one of the most pictures-
Que. A new hotel, a new post office, ana a new
theatre are now being built about Its ancleht
plaza, and all of these are being oone ~ ~
pueblo Indian style of architecture. and decora-
ted by artists of high ability. In addltloh 10 theoe
public buildings, many private resiaeh ms ~ a.
being built in the same curious style. IHe e
sult is that Santa Fe is acquiring an appearance
extremely exotic and foreign.
America is said to be more UNIFORM III az
nearance than anv other country in the world.
An American town of a given SIZE II Just ~
same from coast to coast. MAN StreeL 40 a -
standard an article as a given brand OF soup ~
chewing gum. Well, in Santa Fe, Main street
is an ancient square with a lawn and tnlch sha Ia
trees. Half of the buildings ABOUT ~ ar nv
odobes with projecting roof beams. Many OF its
shop windows show gaudy Navajo blankets, POI
terv and all the other colorful wares OF tne
Pueblos. Along its sid eI Mexic oaInN make up the
crowd. main Street is here a place individual
not to say bazarre.
Tho Fastener Adorned.
Among this crowd is always a certain numpel
of individuals whose dress is picturesque almost
beyond the dreams of a movie fan. Ihey Weal
his brown hats, creased in the center, Wooieh
shirts, often of a bright color. with a SIX pann-
anna of another bright color around the heSn.
Their khaki trousers are thrust INTO riolh5 ~
Often they adorn the whole with a great pan
of silver spurs or a rattlesnake hat band.
These striking figures include women as VIZ
as men, and the women are dressed apou, II
same as the men, always in trousers, and usually
with the addition of some fetching lhuiah jew
cir. in silver and turquoise.
Who are these people, you ask? Ihey ~
sun-burned, grinning, happy. They seem 10
have nothing to do. They seem to know az
about the country, and be famllar Win an -.
its bi-linqual slang. You think they are the most
picturesque natives you have yet seen. But they
are not. They gre tenderfeet. whenever you
see a man dressed like Billy the Kid, or Buffalo
RiIl' YOU NAV safely bet that he is from New
York or Chicago. Yon cute thing who looks IKE
a Chip OF Flying U is a freshman in wellesley
and was never before west of .he Mississippi.
These are the dudes" They need a certain
amount of care and direction, and those who
make a business of supplying 1t are known as
dude-wranglers.
In Santa Fe or Albuquerque, the tenderfoot
can find some one who will take him anywhere
he wants to go any way he wants 10 go there;
An old lady in feeble health will be shown all
that can be seen from the seat of a touring car
For those who want to rough 1t a pack outnt
be taken into some of the widest parts OF the
Rock Mountains. You can get exactly what you
want, and you do not pay three prices Tor II
either. When it comes to taking the money,
New Mexico has much to learn from such old
tourist countries as Florida and New England.
But the New Mexicans know their country, ana
they will show you just as much of 1t as you are
physically able to travel. They will lead you
to peaks far above timberline, and into gorges
a thousand feet deep. They will show you In
dian dances as strange as anything in Africa,
and they will make your hair stand on end at
the spectacle of men shedding their own blood
in q religious orgy. They will lead you to the
hest trout fishing, and they will find you a bear
or a mountain lion to shoot at, if that is what
you crave.
New Mexico has not as yet achieved any of
the conventional summer resort atmosphere.
Gclf links and tennis courts are scarce. The
broad hotel veranda with it's rocking chair flirta-
atoms, the dancing pavilion, the band concert,
are yet to come. But if you want to see a land
that is different, the dude-wranglers will show it
to you.