Evening star., 1923-12-25
Esprit OF OLD DAYS
| 0vERHANGS JALAPA
Capital Of Mexican State
Barely Tinted by Progress
of 10th Century.

"Jalapa. capital of the Mexican state
Of Vera Cruz, which was one of the
first towns to fall to the insurrection-
lists in Mexico's newest revolution, is a
cul-de-sac in which old Spanish and
Indian customs and the flavors of past
centuries linger to a greater extent than
in most of the other cities of Mexico
says a bulletin from the Washington
headquarters of the National Geographic
Society.
There the milk wagon is a jar laden
mule, lovers nightly play the bear be-
fore their sweethearts' barred windows
and with each booming of the hour by
the cathedral bells. watchmen sound
their whistles and call out the tidings
of the night
only in the past few years." contin-
ues the bulletin, has there been added
dash of twentieth century apparatus
and twentieth century ways, and as yet
those traces of modernism serve only
to accentuate Jalapa's quaintness as the
few grains of salt that an expert chef
scatters bring out the flavor of a GUS
tard.
Human Burden Bearers.
The railroad bound for Mexico City
passes Jalapa by on lower level.
Spread out and upward on its hiHsides,
the OLD city has gone on its ancient
way little disturbed by the trains that
roll by several times each day. Some
OF the freight that goes UP to the city
from the station is carried on mule
drawn tramcars, but most of it is borne
on parallel poles. each end Of the de-
vice serving as shafts between which
plod solemn mules. And competing
with the mules is an even more ancient
method of freight transfer, that of the
cargador. Your trunk. il you stop off
at Jalapa, will probably be taken to
your hotel balanced on the sturdy back
of one of these human burden bearers.
the weight held forward by his broad
head strap.
LAS in modern cities Of the United
trucks in JaIapa But while horse
drawn vehicles are becoming passe
in Yankeeland. their age has never
even been reached in Jalapa- All day
bells as trains of the animals pass
along the streets laden with sacks
of coffee and sugar from nearby plan
tations, cans of milk from small
far farms; Sub bags Of charcoal from pits In
native pottery for the market. The
city is in the edge of rich planta-
ton country and its big warehouses
fairly bulge with coffee and sugar as
sembled there before it is sent to
Vera Cruz, seventy-five miles away
across the hot country for shipment
abroad.
Mule Yard Forums.
THE prominence of the mule in
Jalapa gives rise to one of it's most
characteristic features. Scattered over
of narrow rooted stalls where are
Quartered alike mules and muleteers.
while against the walls are piled
great tiers of pack-saddles. These
places, reminiscent of the wagon
yards of our old west. are Jalapa's s
Fishers boarding houses for her dry
land mariners. Fires glow in the
courts in the evenings and about
them the mule drivers loaf and joke
and settle to their liking the affairs
of their turbulent republic.
To many Mexicans Jalapa is the
city of caves. Its one climatic curse
fog ike those Of Scotland at 'pRiHE their
worst, that settles down on the town
during the rainy season and blots out
the sky for days at time. Pious and
impious alike humble prayers on
such occasions: Holy virgin, let the
drizzling fogs the caves of the houses
are extended over the narrow side
walks. Pedestrians, like the citizens
of medieval London, hug the walls,
and the water drips harmlessly into
the streets and trickles off in a single
gutter down the middle of the road
way. The queer name given to these
dense fogs is believed to be an effort
of the 1ndians-and a good one-at
onomatapoefa, the words Stimulating
the continual half-gurgling, half
chirping sound of water running
from the caves.
Law of the Pot Shot.
In Jalapa live old Spanish families
whose history there runs back almost
to the days of Cortez. Some have
palatial city homes and also wide
spreading haciendas and commodious
country houses not far away. In the
early days much dependence was
placed on 'miradores,' tower-like
lookouts on both town and country
houses, between which signals could
be exchanged. Only q few 'miradores'
linger on old Jalapa houses, but the
conditions that made them necessary
have not altogether passed They
were most useful in the days when
Jalapa was a post station on the old
highway-named like most other
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