(circles) each three hundred feet in diameter, some of which contain colossal statues, especially the monument of Columbus, and the memoral statute of Montezuma III, the last Aztec prince. On the south side of the Paseo, near the Columbus monument, are the finest bath houses, one of which runs its own line of street cars free to all purchasers of bath tickets. The holder of a bath ticket also gets a piece of soap and a Mexican washrag. The wash-rag is better for a curio ornament than for use. It is a structure resembling a bird's nest in shape, made of Gisalfibre, and has the effect of a horse The Hotel Iturbide was the palace of an emperor of Mexico who was first a royalist, but became a loyalist, and after victorious battles was hailed as "Iturbide the Liberator," and he and his wife were crowned Emperor and Empress in the Cathedral July, 1822. Officially he was Augustine I, and had but a short career. Crowned in 1822 he was banished in 1823, and upon his return to Mexico he was arrested and shot as a traitor in 1824, and now the traveler sleeps in his bed chambers and treads the corridors of his once splendid palace, while he lies sleeping in his tomb in one radish grater rubbed up and down the spinal column. The hotels of the city of Mexico are also worth visiting. One may sleep in a convent and dine in a palace without paying more for the privilege than at any other hostelry. The Hotel Jardin occupies the site of the once famous monastery of San Francisco; the chapel is used as the hotel and bar room, and the refectory of the monks as a livery stable. How has the glory of the once renowned "seven churches of San Francisco" departed! of the fourteen chapels of the Cathedral where he was crowned. After banishing him and shooting him they buried him gloriously, according him in death as in life the title of "Liberator." The lotteries are of highest interest. The visitor is invited at every turn to take the chance of making his fortune, and the buildings vie in size and elegance with any of the public buildings of our American cities. Time would fail to tell of the markets, mint, libraries, art galleries, national palace, etc., etc. The National Museum contains rare and cu rious specimens of Aztec antiquities, and one may make acquaintance here with all the hideous gods of Mexico, and with their unpronounceable and well-nigh unspellable names. Huitzilopochtli Mexitli is the chief god of Mexico, the two-faced god of war, done in rich porphyry, nine feet high. Next in importance comes ChaeMol, the fire god. These head a long list of lesser lights, a numerous and a goodly company, but with appalling names. Then here is the famous Calendar Stone of the Aztecs, a cast of which is in our own Smithsonian Institution at Washington. It certainly is a wonderful study. It is an immense block of porphyry twelve feet square and about three feet thick, weighing twenty-five tons, on which is engraved a disk eleven feet or more in diameter; in the center is carved a man's face, and around this seven circles of symbols are arranged. The latest interpretation of this stone is that it has rather to do with sacrifices than with seasons, and is considered by high authority as having served as a sort of nether millstone on which victims were sacrificed. Whatever its history, it is indeed an interesting relic of antiquity. Aside from the places mentioned, the White House of Mexico must not be neglected. The Paseo terminates at the hill of Chapultepec on which is situated the presidential residence, the Castle of Chapultepec. A pass to the buildings must first be obtained from the governor of the National Palace in the city. The Castle stands in what was Montezuma's favorite park, and from its wide galleries such grandly magnificent views may be had as cannot be excelled by any spot in the civilized world. The majestic forest of cypress trees which surround the castle is said to date back more than twenty centuries. All along the dim aisles the gray moss hangs in festoons, draped from limb to limb, swaying softly in the weird, shadowy light. Passing on between these gloomy giant sentinels to the summit, one looks upon the most beautiful landscape in all the world. Far across the Valley of Mexico, with its pleasant fields and waving trees, high up above the purple line of mountains rise the radiant cloud-crowned heads of Popocatapetl and Ixtaxeciharatl. All other mountain scenery pales in comparison, because the vast plain in the foreground, with its changing color and undulating lines of hills, lends a serenity to the view which no other scene can rival. On*every hand the wonderful panorama unrolls itself, constantly changing, yet lovely as a poet's dream of paradise. dream of paradise. First the volcanoes, twin monarchs who preside over all this splendor of earth and sky; then the historic fields of Cherubusco and Molino del Rey; again the view changes to the city, with its stately towers and fine avenues; and still again to the distant lakes, the plain dotted all over with villages, and in the immediate foreground the mighty cypresses of the park, the steep hills, the rocks, and the old aqueduct with its nine. hundred arches, which was constructed three hundred years ago, and yet serves as the city's water supply. The Castle is a magnificent building, with interior in Pompeiian style, and has been the home of rulers for hundreds of years. So much space has been allotted to the City of Mexico and its environs, because the history of the capital is practically the history of the country. Yet many other cities are equally interesting. Perhaps the most noted for its manufactories is the fine town of Leon, situated on the banks of the Rio Turbio. The chief industry is making leather, and everything made out of leather; shoes, sandals, saddles, etc. Also great soap factories are located here, and cutlery and crockery manufactories. The making of thousands of zarapes and rebosos annually, is another great in industry of this flourishing and charming town. A zarape is the chief garment of masculine wearing apparel, an overcoat, a cloak, a scarf, a shawl, in turns by day, and a blanket at night. The brighter it can be made with many colors, the better, and the average male Mexican clad in his great sombrero and gay zarape is dressed for any occasion. The reboso is the universal wrap of the common class of Mexican women, a cotton shawl or scarf, gener. ally blue or brown. The better class of women wear a black garment of the same shape but called a tapalo; and the highborn women wear still the same sort of fact it is one of the celebrated theaters of the world. The entrance of this magnificent pile of stone is an immense square vestibule with a glass dome; flower beds, fountains, and singing birds are on every hand. The galleries of the theater open into this beautiful vestibule by flights of broad stone steps; and behind every eighth group of seats lattice work doors give exit into the galleries of each of the four stories. No serious results could come from the wildest possible panic. Leon is perhaps next in importance to the capital, and is identified with almost scarf made of fine lace or wool called the mantilla. Leon, like the capital and like most of the larger towns, has its cathedral, great plaza, innumerable small plazas, and its paseo, paved with stone and shaded by rows of great trees bordered by orange hedges. Not the hedge-orange, but the orange tree where the promenaders of this fine boulevard may inhale the delicious fragrance of the white blossoms and catch the gleam of the golden fruit mid the glossy green leaves. The theater at Leon is far more beautiful than the Teatro Nacional at the capital. In every manufactured article of commerce in the country. No Then to the lover of fine gems, Gueritero is interesting, even exciting. finer opals can be obtained than in this quaint old town where it is always "A.D. 1640, and 4 o'clock p. m." The town may be sleepy and it may be slow, but the traveller who buys opals in its market must needs get up pretty early in the day and keep his eyes wide open, as well as be a judge of fine stones and bargains. There are opals and opals as well as buyers and buyers, but it is safe to say that since the year 1640 not one of the long line of generations of sellers has ever lost antavo on an opal trade. Aside from its interest as an opal station, Gueritaro goes back to remotest antiquity beyond the records of man, and its legends and traditions are as abundant and as beautiful as its opals. The country between Vera Cruz and the coast offers some especially fine scenery, and abounds in a luxuriant tropical vegetation. Fields of bright green sugar cane, groves of dark green coffee plants, trees gorgeous with orchid blossoms and festooned with soft, gray moss, banana gardens, and orange orchards make Southern Mexico a veritable fairy land. At every station guavas, pomegranates, pineapples, bananas, and oranges are offered for sale. The chief agricultural products of the country at large are wheat, corn, and beans. In fact the common people do not revel in pomegranates and pineapples, but subsist chiefly on tortillas-cakes made of pounded corn, frijoles, and chile-stewed beans highly seasoned with red pepper. They are poor, very poor; yet God has given them contented, cheerful dispositions, and nature has lavished upon them a mild climate and sunny skies. As a whole, no country in the world possesses so much of interest and resource. Lying right at our gates, so easy of access and at so little expense, not the least wonderful of all the wonders is that it is still to most, a far-off land. And yet a land so fair, albeit not after the fashion of these times. A land "asleep in the lap of legends old," yet a sleeping giant who will one day wake refreshed, and impinge the vigorous present upon the mighty deeds of the past, great land of the Monte zumas. THE FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND. Behold, they come, those sainted forms, That drove them from their own fair land,Their own fair land,-refinement's chosen seat, Art's trophied dwelling, learning's green retreat, By valor guarded, and by victory crowned, With streaming eye, yet steadfast heart, Haunts where their sunny youth was passed, In peaceful age to die, Friends, kindred, comfort, all they spurned, And to a world of darkness turned, For them, his dearest and his best, With him the waste who trod,- In grateful adoration now, Upon the barren sands they bow. What tongue of joy e'er woke such prayer As bursts in desolation there? What arm of strength e'er wrought such power As waits to crown that feeble hour? To fair creation's farthest bound Must crumble from that day; Before the loftier throne of heaven The hand is raised, the pledge is given, One monarch to obey, one creed to own, That monarch, God, -that creed, His word |