The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-12-15


sunshine and the blue bonnet state
OF Texas, having covered the entire
distance from Old Mexico to Man
kato in eight full days Of driving
200 miles day. The roads were very
/ fine, weather was ideal and had
very little car troubles. We have
been very fortunate to have escaped
all the food, tornadoeS, and storms
that were all around US. Travelled
about $4,000 miles since last we left
or about the distance of hallway
around the world. We have both
been well and have certainly enjoy
ed the many strange and thrilling
Experiences that we found In the
sunny south. In some parts OF this
southern country one would think
you were in foreign country, many
of the people cannot understand OF
speak the English language. "
Our visit to San Antonio was one
! OF the interesting features Of oul
trip. or course one of the special
/ the visit to the Alamo and other oil
, the early missions. The Alamo built
] in 1718 is zone OF the most noted and
one of the historic landmarks oil
Texas. 1t is in the heart of the city
and was the scene Of much bloodshed
during the early days of Texas his
tory. The other missions are out OF
the city a considerable distance! and
are all wonderfully preserved con-
sidering their age. We took a num-
Der of snap shots which turned out
very well. The sunken gardens al
Breckenridge park were wonderful
beyond description and we also took
some good views of the Jap Tea
gardens and the many artistic walks
bridges, the lily ponds, vegetation
also the landscape gardening. The
view by night is exquisite as the en-
tire gardens and surrounding walls
which enclose them are brilliantly
lighted with myriads of electric
lights. 1t seems as though one were
in a fairyland you read about in
books and one would have let his
Imagination work overtime to get a
comprehensive idea of those sunken
gardens by night. The rest of the
park is quite wonderful too. They
have large zoo, reminding one OF
the Lincoln Park, Chicago, more
than any other place. San Antonio is
rightly called the playground of Tex
as. The large number of palm trees
make the city very pretty place.
The Kelly Air field and number of
other points together, with Fort Sam
Houston make San Antonio quite a
lively place all the year around. Fort
Sam Houston is the largest fort In
the U. S. A. and is within the city
limits. One of the interesting ports
of the city is the Mexican section
and one can do well to spend deal
of time just sightseeing. The Sunset
deCot is one Of the beautiful spots as
In, Sorh
in the heart of the city with its
Mexican cactus and semi tropical
vegetation.
While there we met Mrs. Gladys
White, formerly of Mankato and
daughter OF Mr.. and Mrs. Jepson OF
this city. Mr.. White is in the aerial
service at Kelly field.
OF interest to all tourists and of
almost international fans Is the fam
Gus Buck Horn Restaurant" for
nterly the Buck Horn Saloon. The
large room is literally covered with
all kinds of horns, small and large,
every variety known and among
others some very valuable specimens
The total value of the collection Is
estimated way up in the hundreds of
thousands. Then we were convinced
that we we're in the land Of the Long
Horn Steer. We were very much i'm
pressed with the provincial expires
sion used In the south. How are you
Right smart" Pretty day. or
sorry weather." That's how come
me-, etc, surely sounded queer to us
at first. Sure enough" and please,
nam and please sir" we're phrases
used by most everyone. If they led
their mule to town they carried
their mule to town" If the boys
threw stone at dog they were
"chunking the dog" Relatives were
spoken of as hnsfolk and IL you car
ried your soft water upstairs you
packed it up stairs. "Over yonder''
and Il reckon" were frequently used.
Every porch was known as gal
fery" and the r at the end of word
is silent. ~. "a. .a'
Southern hospitality was very
much in evidence, especially in
smaller towns. Everyone would speak
to you on the street and men tipped
their hats. For a while Mrs. Sherk
her, but we soon learned that ii was
customary down south. A man tips
his hat on meeting another man
They consider it a breach of court
esy If vol do not speak when spoken
to whether properly introduced or
not. They told us they knew we were
from the north because of our &C
cent Said they enjoyed listening to
our brogue and it was just as enter
tanning to hear them. Whenever we
mentioned we were from Minnesota
they began to shiver and pity us for
not knowing better than to live in a
land, where some of them think, the
frost never gets out of the ground.
Their houses are very differently
built from those up north. Most OF
them nave fire places, no furnaces.
They burn natural gas for cooking
and often use it for heating; the gas
meter usually is out in the front yard
(not very decorative we often re-
markedly The houses are built with
out plaster or lath, they take paper
to this. They are built yery slimpsy
and when a northerner hits you just
can't keep warm. We nearly froze to
death for an entire week while at
Lonzales. Seems as though we never
worst part of it all was there was no
place to get warm. The people down
south don't use much paint, especi-
ally in the rural districts. Many
houses and farm buildings have
never been introduced to this ami
NAL. Even in many of the toWns the
houses are seriously in need of a
coat of p1int. When asked why they
didn't paint their houses we were
told one reason was that for the past
three years their cotton crop had
been taken by the boil weeviI and
people were too hard up, also that