Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-01-27
DIR. HOWARD HI. SCOTT WRITES
INTERESTINGLY OF MEXICO
Mexico Farms To The Mountain
Tops, And Then Over

Mexico FarmS 10 Ine mountain
Tops, And Then Over
When l saw the abundant prairies
and rich soil of Texas, I wished l
could remove all the hill farmers of
the Blue Ridge country to the Lone
Star state. Those : farmers finish
with. mattocks what is too steep for
the plow. But Mexico! They farm
the steepest mountains to the top,
and then over! The steep angle is
often fifty degrees. II oxen are used,
they stand one above the other. We
were amazed to see men, dressed in
white, working in twos and threes,
1900 feet above US, and working in
the rain.
Corn we saw in every stage of
growth, from fresh plowed fields,
recently planted, up through the
tassel stage, to corn ripening or in
the shock. They take marvellous
care of the fodder, in nice ricks or
in bales which they carried on backs
of borros. The corn is white, is
made into tortillas, but we saw
many cOlors besides white.
The spectacle of the mountains
rising on both sides of the Pan
American highway, tier beyond tier
was grand. Grander sights we have
never seen. Great chasms lay be.
low us, with buzzards flying across
the chasms. The road is blasted
from solid rock of the mountain
side, great engineering feat. Our
party screamed with admiration for
hundreds of miles as we passed over
the top of the Sierra Madre chain.
70 81 q
dios"-as beautiful as the face of
Cod. Job exclaimed II have heard
of thee with the hearing of the ears,
but now mine eye seeth thee"
Two separate tribes are here, the
Otumi and the Huastecas. They are
primitive, small dark almost black,
(many other Mexicans are lighter),
vigorous, full of industry, smiling,
kindly, lOvable. This part of Mex
leo is an ever changing panorama
of beauty and high horizons. Trees,
shrubs, flowers, birds change from
mile to mile in infinite variety.
Flowers here have no fragrance.
Yucca blossoms as big as bushel
basket, acres of them, the color a
rich lemon or cream.
We reach sign "Tropic de Can
cer." The moon, the Pleides and
Orion are Immediately over our
heads at night, the North Star near
the horizon. A monument at 5000
feet records the dedication of the
road, and was placed there by the
Americans of Mexico City Hundreds
of old churches decidedly medieval
dot the landscape. Wood is the only
fuel. The native takes his machete,
cuts it into fagots, loads them on
the borros, or the women or little
children, who bear them to the
shacks The smoke passes through
the palm leaf roofs, for they have
no chimneys. Every shack has it's
garden. They wash clothes in the
river or public wash place. Drudg-
cry seems to be written on every
face
Tourists take great interest in
the market places. Articles of every
sort are so different. Pigs and 9TH
er animals are led to market Chick
ems in cages are brought. Process.
sions of poems line the road for
scores of miles as they come to the
market. All drinks and foods dis
tinctly Mexican engage the atten-
tion of strangers. Pulque, the most
popular drink, sweet-sour, and LOOK
ing like buttermilk, is drawn from
the maguey plant. We mingled
freely with the natives, helped TO
grind the sugar cane, pushing the
sweep around the circle, and enjoy.
ing the sweet juice when expressed.
The Most Weird Monuments OF The
Human Race
The Pyramids of Mexico are diff
ferent from those of Egypt. Almost
as high, they are broader at the
base The most striking are those i
Teotihuacan, which means "Place |
of the Gods" Here Is a temple 10 !
the sun, the moon, and the plumed |
serpent Quetzalcoatl. These weird |
were covered with soil, !
trees, grass and shrubs, and re /
sembled high hills when uncovered /
in 1917 The serpent is well repre-
sented in stone carving at the base I
of the temple. 1t is believed they /
were covered by the worshippers 70 I
protct them from injury from invad-
ers until these sacred edifices might /
be used again at later time. Prob