Opis: Mexico - Moler A. B.

Excerpt from Mexico: The Diary of a Trip Taken by A. B. Moler and Wife, February 1912

Today, February 6th, we are on our way to Mexico, and we want to take you with us. We are leaving the Park Row Station of the Illinois Central at 9:40 A. M., and as we walk down Michigan Ave., the chilly wind of this zero day cuts and bites as it sweeps from the sea of ice that now covers frigid Lake Michigan.

After due deliberation on account of Mexican war talk, we have decided to make this trip, not that we have a desire for war or to leave the cold, for this has been a splendid winter, but rather that we hear the call from far distant mountains, missions, monasteries and monks, and have a thirst for the romance and historic adventures that abound in them.

As we steam away on our pilgrimage that has been long in anticipation, the snow-covered fields of Illinois form a picture in rare contrast to what we expect to see upon awaking in the morning. We find here in this country well stocked farms, substantial farm houses and mammoth barns, but February in Illinois affords no scenery or sights of special interest until Cairo is reached at dusk, when a very pleasant view from the bridge across the Ohio is afforded of the river filled with floating ice.

The next morning, February 7th, breaks bright and fair, and we find ourselves in Mississippi, but to our surprise the weather is crisp and somewhat colder than is usual this time of the year for this semi-tropical climate. Strips of water by the track are covered with sheet ice, thin frost covers the fields, clouds of smoke climb briskly skyward from each cabin chimney, much as it would on an early April morning appear in the North. This country's panorama from our view is one of much small timber, a profuse growth of under-brush, small fields, swamps, bad roads, and the hookworm. We have left the fine farms and their
thrifty husbandmen and in their place we have the cabin, the cotton and the
colored population.

Our morning ride is interesting on account of the change from snow to starting grass, and shubbery just beginning to show green and we arrive at New Orleans at 3:30, three hours late. New Orleans is always the same old city, quaint and antiquated, on one side of the town, the old French quarters, and up-to-date and stirring on the other. We never hear or think of New Orleans without the lazy old river, the docks and the army of deck hands to be seen there.

Not all tourists are favored with a home at each stopping point, but we are. We take you to our Southern Ancestors' abode, to a good southern dinner, a short visit, and away again at 10 P. M. on the "Southern Pacific", the second leg of our journey.

Thursday morning, February 8th, finds us in Texas. We are at breakfast in the diner as we pull into Beaumont, a city that fairly flowed into prominence from a small village almost over night as it is in the midst of rich oil fields. Rice fields are also here. They are low level tracts so ditched and dammed that thousands of acres can be drained or flooded at will. Oil derricks are everywhere and on all sides, and the one good road of this country parallel with our track, is well patronized by oil wagons and heavy motor cars.

The weather here is about the same as in New Orleans, just a little cool for this season of the year but very pleasant for us Northerners. Farmers are planting, the grass is green, and the vast tracts of cultivated lands show
an extremely black soil.

All through this country the trees are covered with a hanging moss and mistletoe, very picturesque indeed, but we are told by natives that this is an
unwelcome growth that saps the life of the tree.

We stop at Houston, and are again met by friends for a short chat. We arrive at San Antonio at 8:30, two hours late, and spend the night at the Menger Hotel, that is situated on Alamo Plaza adjoining the historic mission of that name. San Antonio,

Szczegóły: Mexico - Moler A. B.

Nazwa: Mexico The Diary of a Trip Taken by A. B. Moler and Wife, February 1912 (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Moler A. B.
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781332091584
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 22
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: Mexico - Moler A. B.