| OCR Text |
Show I J Journey to I crw.ndow ZT a J Gllmpao! ol tho Mexico... Sou,h-I Sou,h-I J:' J ral iwiMlsiwaMii i-nrin..!,,. nan (Mexican Letter) It has only been a short whllo since the writer made a trip to Mexico. I went by the way ot St Louis down the Irru Mountain Houte, nnd In doing so, got a new lesson about Missouri that wu something of a revelation as, since my boyhood days I bad a fancy that "Mecsoory," as wo sometimes called It ws fsrawny backwoods placo Indeed Instead, the country through which the writer passed was ono of slreat fertility, with mines of richest ore ond with streams lined with the finest timber to bo found anywhere, any-where, whllo the people bore every evidence evi-dence of prosperity and refined civilisation civili-sation Ilut what quickly Impressed mo wss the great orchards to be seen along tho way and Missouri may prop-erly prop-erly be called the state of "tho Mk red apple." while peaches and cherries and grapes are so prolific In production Wine made from Missouri grapes Is now sold In the markets ot tho world Tho scenery was also beautiful, but whllo nature was nttrnctlve, tho fine farms I saw made me change my views about Missouri "It Is a fact," said ex-(lov Krancls of Missouri to mo, ' that If our stale were fonrod In away from all Uio world wo have enough resources within Missouri to enablo aATimniNO rnAcnss is uissouni. our people to llvo comfortably In tho section traversed by the Iron Mountain railway system there has b"cn wonderful won-derful development within a faw years i Ilefore the railroad was built South-''western South-''western Mlaaourl was a pretty wild section, but now tho mining, farming and fruit Interests there mako It a very rich section. Indeed " I Boon after passing Poplar llluff, rf ' city ot commercial Importance to n i wldo area of country, we entered Ar-J I knnsas, where tho country, while rich In soil, Is not developed as much as Is Missouri, nnd tho people seemed much given to tho lumber business. Hoc-ecr, Hoc-ecr, extcnslvo pouch and npplo orchards or-chards wcro observed, and with the mild climate ot Arkansas It will doubtless rank high with tho fruit producing pro-ducing states at nu distant day. It waa noon tlmo when I reached San Antonio, the City of the l'Ulni, and It looked very much Moxlcsn to mv, for I now saw for tho first tlmo many Mexican people, who had corns hero and niado their homes with Uncle Sara. Here, also, I now saw the adobe house made ot dried mud bricks which are thoroughly cured In the eoa-a eoa-a taut sunshine, and what Interested me very much was the Alamo, the old adobe church building. In which or,- BraBnsntfBB-gflBQflESaEBDDSWuaiSHSKSHBU eorrtd the hand to hand fight between Mexicans and Americans, when not as American waa left to tell the story of tl atruggle That was the last tht o( David Crockett who haa told the world, "Tint be euro you are right, tlen co ahead " Dr Howie, who In-Vented In-Vented the Howie knife, also saw tho last of earth In that engagement, and ether, brave nnd true, met an awful fto la the old church huuae It was St Saa Jacinto, a short distance sway, a few f ceks afterward, when, with the Utile cry of "Itemember the Alamol" that tie Americana took vengeance Upon General Santa Anna and the account ac-count aa squared forever That was la thtlong, long ago before tha era ot peace and good will dawned, San Antonio An-tonio lll always bo an Important city for southern Texas, nnd la already the metropolis for that station. It Is a very tralthy city and has n population madcap from every state In tho Union, fho climate Is nttrnctlve to many, and It U iilte a resort during the winter 'leases. The society Is of the brat and srtthe government has n fort there, the fir season Is quite popular with the amy officers. From Ban Antonio soulivard toward Laredo thrro are wide stretches ot mcnqulte brush lobMu much like willows, but which produces a bean that Is very nutritious. nutri-tious. Tha cattlo nro very fond of this bean, and tho young brnncbes of ths biihos, and while they do not fatten fat-ten oa tho fare. It la qulto capable ot isstiblng life In the dry srctlon vhcri the gross Is short. This Is ths loroi of tne Jack rabbit which aro kctit, almost any time from tho car )uV?and now and then a coyoto Is fcenoff In tho distance watching ths tralntp by. At Laredo there Is hurry and taitlo as Uio train arrives nt ths dcpoiTand tho groups ot Mexican mon and somen Indlcato that tho land ot Montauma Is near. It has only been a fewrcars slnco Laredo got n placo on tbsmap, and alnce It has become the pteway bctweon tho republics. It has crown to Importance, Hero the Interiitlonal and Great Northern rait-wayuds, rait-wayuds, and across the Itlo (Irando rlvcrjjhlch Is spanned by a substantial substan-tial itcel bridge, tbo Mexican National Rallniy begins. It has been an In-tereiuog In-tereiuog Journey across the country fronijChlcago and I have received new Impressions ot a. part of my native landjlut aa I look forwnrd to a con-tlnuioca con-tlnuioca ot my Journey, In what might bo called a now world, I contemplated thatjiblcli waa In prospect with a pe-eulliAplcasure. |
