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In winter the spray covers every bush and tree near the foot of the Falls and as it freezes almost instantly, strange forms are built up on the twigs and branches. Then in the bright sunlight the world around seems like fairyland. Masses of ice are carried along with the water of the cataract and become piled up below, making a bridge of ice across the river.
The children who visit Niagara Falls are sure to wish to enter the deep cave in the cliff directly under the falling waters. No matter how carefully they may enter, they will be drenched by the spray unless they are clad in waterproof from head to foot. They have a strange feeling while they are in the cave. The loud rumbling of the water and the trembling of the earth fill them with a sort of fear and they are glad when they are once more out in the sunlight and at a safe distance from the mighty cataract.
A Peep at Big Cities
There are many large and beautiful cities in the United States, each of which is particularly dear to the children who live there. Sometimes they think of their brothers and sisters of a hundred years ago who warmed themselves in winter before burning logs in big fireplaces, who traveled in lumbering stage-coaches and were lighted to bed by home-made candles or smoky whale-oil lamps. Many of the children of to-day have steam-heated houses, lighted by gas or electricity; they travel short distances in electric cars or automobiles, and longer ones in comfortable trains moved by steam-engines; or perhaps they take water trips in roomy steamboats where they can move about as freely as in their own homes. They talk with distant friends by merely taking down the receiver of a telephone. Steam, gas, electricity – all these conveniences are found not only in the cities of the United States, but on the distant prairies for the use of farmers and their families.
Washington is the capital of the United States. It is the place where the business of the country is attended to and the laws are made for the protection of the people. It is a wonderfully clean and beautiful city, and has many grand buildings which may well be called palaces. The White House, the home of the president, is the copy of a palace in Ireland which was built for the Duke of Leinster. The National Library is very large and some people think the building devoted to it is the most beautiful in the world. The Rogers Bronze Door which opens into the Capital is a great work of art. The most important things in the life of Columbus and the discovery of America are pictured in the bronze. This one door cost thirty thousand dollars.
There are large art galleries in Washington and many other buildings where you can pass day after day and constantly find new things to interest you. But before you leave the city you must be sure to visit the beautiful marble monument built in honor of George Washington.
At the mouth of the Hudson River is the great city of New York, next to the largest in the whole world. It contains many beautiful homes, fine churches, lovely parks, and business buildings many stories in height which, like others in Chicago, are called “sky scrapers.” On an island in New York Harbor stands the famous Statue of Liberty given to this country by France. Persons who wish to do so may climb up into the head of this statue which is in the form of a beautiful woman with a torch in her uplifted hand. The crown on the head is composed of windows from which there is a fine view of New York Harbor.
Another island in the harbor is called Ellis Island, where most of the emigrants who have left their homes in other countries, land when they reach the United States. Irish and Poles, Italians and Russians, men with children clinging to their sides, and women with arms clasped around tiny babies, all dressed in the fashion of their old homes, step from the big ships and take their first breath of the free air of America almost under the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.
New York is the greatest manufacturing centre in the United States. Clothing, books, cigars, furniture, leather goods and many other things are made here for the people of this and other countries.
The good old city of Boston is on the eastern coast of Massachusetts. It has a fine harbor like its sister city in New York, and many large ships from all over the world are seen at its wharves.
Ten years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth the Puritans founded Boston. It is a quaint city with narrow, winding streets, much unlike Chicago and New York and many other cities built later on. The State House on Beacon Hill has a gilded dome which can be seen in the sunlight for miles around. This is often called “Boston’s breastpin.” There are many old buildings in the city, around which are woven interesting stories of the early days of this country. Here stands Faneuil Hall where many stirring words were spoken. For this reason it is spoken of as the Cradle of Liberty. Then there is the Old South Church a “meeting house” of the olden times from which the Boston Tea Party started out to throw the tea which had come from England into Boston Harbor. The cemeteries, in which some of the greatest men of the early days of the country were buried, are still kept with the greatest care and are visited by travelers throughout the year. Boston is a manufacturing city and is the largest market in the world for boots, shoes and leather goods.
In the state of Pennsylvania, settled as you know by the Quakers, is the city of Philadelphia. This name was chosen for it by William Penn because of its meaning, “brotherly love,” and the peaceful spirit of that great man is felt even now in the quiet streets, lined with quaint old houses.
Philadelphia was once the largest city in the United States. It is still a very busy one. Quantities of coal from the mines not far away are sent to this city and from there shipped to other places. Iron and steel goods are made in its factories and many of its people are busy in the cotton mills. On the river front near by there are large shipyards where ships have been built for the United States navy.
The children of Philadelphia are especially proud of Independence Hall where the famous Declaration of Independence was signed and the bell rang out to tell of what brave men had dared to do. This “Liberty Bell” has been carefully preserved and may be seen even now after all these years.
There are many other large and beautiful cities in the country. One of these, San Francisco, lies on the far western coast, on the borders of the Pacific Ocean. It has a deep harbor, into which come sailing many ships from China and Japan, bringing cargoes of silk and tea. Many Chinamen are to be seen on the streets of the city, and pretty Japanese children with black eyes and soft yellow skins play in the parks with the little Americans. More wheat is exported from the city of San Francisco than from any other in the United States.
There is so much to tell of this great country and of the children who live here in happy homes, that it is hard to stop, but we must leave it for the present and travel south to Mexico.
CHAPTER VIII
Little Folks of Mexico
Long ago, when we ended our visit in Canada and Newfoundland, we left behind us the polar bears and the icebergs and all those things which are to be found in the cold parts of the earth. Then we traveled over the United States with its temperate climate, where neither heat nor cold are severe. Still moving south, we come to Mexico.
At the time Columbus discovered America Mexico was the home of gentle little Indian children. Their skins were not as red as the rest of their people in North America, but were of a brownish tint. Their lips were rather thick, and their voices were soft. They called themselves Aztecs.
These children went to school and learned lessons while the other Indians of North America were living like savages. They were taught music and painting and the history of the Aztecs. They studied strange-looking books written in pictures, each of which stood for a certain word.
As they grew up they were taught to worship many gods, some of whom they believed to be very cruel. They feared these gods and offered sacrifices of human beings to them. It was a dreadful belief indeed that could make people do this.
A great king named Montezuma ruled over the whole country. He lived in a magnificent palace far up on a lofty plateau in the middle of the country, with mountains on either hand, as though to guard him. He wore rich garments which he changed many times a day. He ate the choicest food from dishes of silver and gold. Hundreds of people waited upon him, ever ready to do his bidding.
Montezuma made the city where he lived very beautiful. There were gardens filled with flowers, and ponds stocked with different kinds of fish. There were menageries where birds of brilliant plumage were cared for so tenderly that they could not miss their free homes of the forest, and there were wild animals of both hot lands and cold. Altogether, the city was the wonder of all who visited it.
There came a time, however, when all this was changed. A few years after Columbus discovered the New World a Spaniard named Fernando Cortez sailed along the shores of Mexico with his fleet of ships. He entered a harbor and landed. The simple Indians who stood watching, bent low before the strange white men, for they thought them gods from heaven who had come to visit them, and they gladly told all they knew about the country. Gold and silver? Yes, there was plenty to be had in Mexico. Furthermore, they described the wonderful city on the plateau above, where the great Montezuma held his court.
Cortez listened with great interest. He was a brave man; he was also cruel and greedy. His eyes flashed as he thought of all the riches to be gained if he could conquer the natives. But he used only soft words and begged to be shown the way to the wonderful city among the mountains above him. He declared that he wished to pay respect to the ruler of the country.
The Indian guides led the way while Cortez and his train of knights followed.
On, yet ever upwards they climbed, soon leaving the hot, damp lowlands behind them. The air became cooler and fresher, and the fruits that grow only where the heat is great, were soon passed. On, yet ever upwards! The pathway now became steep and rough, but it brought the Spaniards at last out upon a broad plain on which stood the city described by the natives of the lowlands. The king came to meet the strangers in all his glory. He lavished gifts upon them, too – gold and silver and precious stones, – all those things which he thought valuable in the eyes of his guests. He entertained them royally and gave feasts in their honor.
While the cruel Spaniard was looking at the rich gifts, he was planning how to conquer Montezuma and his subjects and get all the wealth of the country into his hands.
It was not long before this was done. Montezuma’s reign was brought to an end; the beautiful buildings of the city of which he was so proud were destroyed, and the Indians of Mexico became the slaves of the Spaniards.
For nearly three hundred years Spain ruled over the country, during which time many boys and girls crossed the ocean to make their home in Mexico.
Some of the Spaniards married gentle Indian maidens and their children were called half-castes, to show that they were half-white and half-Indian. For this reason there are three kinds of children who call Mexico home, – first, creoles, whose people came in the beginning from Europe; second, the Indians, and third, the half-castes. Many of these last are so fair in the skin that one would scarcely think they could have any Indian blood whatever.
Although the white people came in the beginning from Spain, they have lived so long in Mexico that they now have a name of their own. Many of their children are very beautiful. They have soft black eyes which grow sharp and piercing as they become excited. They are usually very gentle, but if they are crossed they show a quick, unruly temper. They are not fond of work, but like to be waited on by their servants. Many of them are rich and live in grand houses built around courtyards whose fountains play all day long. The air of these courtyards is filled with the odor of lovely flowers growing there.
The mothers of the little creoles dress in dainty lawns and laces, following the latest fashions from Paris. They are proud of their tiny hands and feet and are careful to do no hard work that may spoil their shape. They embroider, and do other fancywork, and they sing and play. They are very loving, and bring up their little ones to be polite and respectful. They, as well as their husbands, are ever ready to show kindness to visitors and strangers.
The Indian children of Mexico lead a very different life from their creole brothers and sisters. After the Aztecs were conquered by the Spaniards they lived the life of slaves for such a long time that it became a habit with them to look up to the white men as higher beings, so that to this day they are as humble as slaves although they are now free and the country is a republic.
The little Indians have few clothes, but that does not matter, for they do not need more in the warm climate in which they live. As for shoes, their people in the good old times before the coming of the Spaniards wore none, so why should they? Sandals are certainly far more comfortable, besides being the best foot-gear possible for mountain climbing.
In the warm lowlands the Indians live in simple huts of wood or bamboo, with thatched roofs of palm leaves. Farther up on the table-land where it is cooler the homes are still small and easily made, but they are of unburnt brick, called adobe. The roofs are flat and covered with clay. No matter how poor the family may be the home is not complete unless it has an oven large enough for a person to sit in, also made of adobe. Stones are piled in this oven and heated. Then water is poured over them, which makes a heavy steam rise, in which the people take their baths.
“It is good,” the little Indians would tell you. “So good, that as the sweat bursts out over your body, it will take out all the badness, and make you feel well and strong.”
The poorest children need not be hungry, for fruits and vegetables are cheap and plentiful. Besides these, there are the tortillas the Indian mothers make every day for their families.
Outside of every house there is sure to be a field of maize, big enough to furnish the family with all they need during the year. When the maize is ripe it is gathered and put away for future use. Every evening the women of the household take some of it and place it in jars of hot water. They add a little lime to soften it. When morning comes, they take it from the jar, and spreading it on a stone bench, make it into paste with a stone roller. Now it is put into a dish, and enough water added to make it into a batter thick enough for pancakes. One by one these are baked before a fire of charcoal. Hours are spent each day preparing tortillas. Even the rich people of Mexico are fond of tortillas, and hire special cooks to prepare them for the table.
The Indian children are very strong. The boys practice running and learn to carry heavy loads on their backs with ease. Many of the men are porters, or work in the silver mines carrying out the ore; some of them, however, are busy on the farms. As the boys grow up, they generally follow the same trade as their fathers. The pay is small and the work is hard, but it seems easier for the Indians to keep to the same old habits that were formed under their masters, the Spaniards.
Wherever you may travel in Mexico, you will meet Indian porters with heavy loads on their backs, moving along at a steady trot. Hour after hour they will keep this up, carrying seventy-five or a hundred pounds at a time. The Indian farmers may be fifty or even a hundred miles from a market for their goods, but it does not seem to trouble them that the vegetables they wish to sell must be carried all the way on their backs.
Besides the Indian and creole children are the half-castes whose skins are darker than those of their white brothers and sisters, though many of them have rosy cheeks. They are pleasant and good-natured, but are apt to be sly and lazy.
The fathers of the little half-castes are generally farmers or mule drivers. Their older brothers and sisters are often servants in the homes of the wealthy creoles, where they learn the ways and fashions of the white people and try to copy them.
Most of the boys and girls of Mexico go to school which they must reach by seven o’clock in the morning, and where they spend about ten hours of each day. The seats and desks are not comfortably arranged as they are in most places in the United States. Those children who can have chairs are fortunate, for many of them sit on benches and even on the floor. They study aloud, so you can imagine what a chattering there is. It is hard to understand how they manage to get their lessons.
There are many holidays in Mexico, when the tiresome schools are closed and both big folks and little give themselves up to feasting and dancing.
One of these, Good Friday, is celebrated in a curious way. All day long men go through the streets carrying figures of the traitor Judas hanging from long poles. They stop from time to time as children come running up to them to buy a Judas. Now comes the sport, for the figures can be blown up. Bits of lighted punk are held against the figures, when they suddenly burst like fire-crackers and make noise enough to deafen the ears of the passer-by. It is no wonder the children save up their money for Good Friday so that they can buy numbers of Judases.
The evening is the best part of the whole day, for then immense Judases are hung up on lines across the streets and crowds of people gather to watch them while they are blown up and exploded. At the same time the city bells ring out the glad news that Judas has been destroyed. The strangest part of all is the crackling noise that now follows, representing the breaking of the bones of the two thieves who were crucified at the same time as Jesus. The Mexicans certainly have a queer way of celebrating Good Friday.
On the Coast
Although a part of Mexico lies in or near the torrid zone, all kinds of climate are to be found in the country. Let us see how this is. Along the shores of the Pacific on the west, and of the Gulf of Mexico on the east the land is low and the air is hot and moist, and for this reason there is much illness there. The children of these lowlands know only two seasons, the wet and the dry. Many of them live on ranches where herds of cattle feed on the high, coarse grass. Here and there small streams flow through the land from the mountains above, and there are lakes shaded by tall palm trees. These are the places where the tropical fruits of Mexico grow, – vanilla, spices, bananas, cacao, and oranges. Mangoes, cocoanuts, and alligator pears, besides many others seldom sent to temperate lands, also grow here in plenty.
The lowlands are not perfectly flat, but slope upwards toward high hills where the air is clear and much cooler. The children here can gather yellow oranges and clutches of bananas, like their brothers and sisters of the lowlands, while they may also pick peaches and apples in their orchards. Flowers and trailing vines grow everywhere about them. The palms of the hot lands wave in the breeze on one side, while the roses and honeysuckles of the temperate zone bloom on the other. It is a strange and beautiful country.
Slowly we bid good-by to the little homes nestled among the trees, and with the help of a big double-engine we climb up the steep slopes to still higher lands. The trees are of a different kind now, for strong pines and oaks are about us everywhere.
The long climbing comes to an end at last. The double-engine has done its work and is used no longer, for we move out upon the plateau of Mexico where cactus plants spread over many acres, and wheat and barley fields greet us like old friends from the United States.
Vera Cruz
When Cortez arrived on the coast of Mexico his ships entered the only good harbor on the eastern side of the country. He and his men landed at a place to which the Spaniards gave the name of Vera Cruz, or “True Cross.” Afterwards they built a city there, which to-day is one of the two principal ports of Mexico. Every year many ships are loaded at the wharves of Vera Cruz with limes and hammocks, silver and copper, which they carry to the United States and other countries.
Vera Cruz is a beautiful city. Tall palm trees shade many a lovely home, in whose gardens children are playing throughout the year. Before it stretches the Gulf of Mexico, while at its back the lofty volcano Orizaba reaches far up toward the sky. The people of Vera Cruz work hard to make it a clean city, and they are helped by the vultures – big, ugly-looking birds who are ever ready to swoop down into the streets and house-yards to devour any decaying matter to be found. Bits of fruit and vegetables, scraps of meat, and dead animals whether big or little, are greedily eaten. Although the city is kept clean from one end to the other, it is not a healthy place for a home. Fever is in hiding everywhere and visitors find it wise to make only a short stay in the place.
Getting Vanilla
Few people live in the low country around Vera Cruz except Indians and half-castes. Here and there on the banks of the streams you may find a group of palm-thatched huts with Indian children running in and out among the trees. The weather is so warm here throughout the year that they wear scarcely any clothing and many times in the day they plunge into the river to cool themselves. Sometimes the boys take long tramps into the forests on the slopes above them in search of pods filled with vanilla beans. They must seek only dark and moist places, for vanilla plants do not grow well in the sunlight. Swarms of mosquitoes buzz about the boys’ bare legs, and snakes and lizards often cross their path. Many times they are obliged to crawl between tangled vines and push thick underbrush aside. But they care little for these things. Their minds are set on finding enough vanilla plants to yield them a goodly load of pods, which they will carry home and dry with the greatest care before sending them to market.
Acapulco
On the western coast of Mexico is the city of Acapulco, with its deep and beautiful harbor. Many large steamers are loaded with cattle and hides, timber and fruit at its wharves.
The Mexican Farms
Many of the children of Mexico have their homes on tobacco and sugar plantations which are found on the slopes rising from the lowlands along the shore. Still other children live on the plateau of Mexico on large farms which stretch over miles of country and seem like small towns in themselves. The men on these farms are busy in various ways. Some of them have the care of large fields of wheat or barley. Others tend herds of cattle or flocks of sheep.
The owner of such a farm is usually a rich man who lives with his family in a large stone house surrounded by high walls. There is a courtyard where beautiful trees and plants are growing and fountains are playing. The wife and children of the owner wear dainty garments and are waited upon by many servants. They have the choicest food, – fruits of many kinds, chicken cooked in different ways, tortillas of course, besides all sorts of delicacies prepared by excellent cooks.
The workmen have very different homes. They live in small huts of one or two rooms, and built of mud or adobe. Inside are rough stone fireplaces, and a few mats are spread on the floor. Here the children and their parents sit while they eat their simple meals of tortillas and black beans, and here they stretch themselves at night for sleep. They are quite happy, however. Outdoors are the birds, the flowers, and the beautiful sunshine. They need few clothes and they do not go hungry.
There are usually large dairies on these farms where women are busy making the rich milk into butter and cheese. Thousands of pounds are often sent to market from one such farm during the year.
You have probably seen century plants in the hot-houses you have visited, and have been told that they belong to the aloe family. When the Spaniards first came to Mexico they saw the Indians making paper from the pulp of the leaves of the aloe plant and twine from its fibers. The sharp thorns on the edges of the leaves furnished needles for the Indian women, and the sap of the aloe was made into pulque, the favorite drink of the natives. They also made hammocks from the fibers and thatched the roofs of their huts with the big leaves, lapping one over the other like shingles. In fact, the Indians made so many uses of the aloe plant that the Spaniards thought it worth while to raise it in large quantities for themselves.
The aloe has thick, pointed leaves sometimes ten feet long. It blossoms about once in ten years, when it sends a flower stalk twenty or thirty feet up into the air. At the very top an immense cluster of greenish-yellow blossoms appears. All the strength of the plant goes into these blossoms for, as they open, the leaves wither and die.
The Indians have learned to tell when the plant is getting ready to send up its giant flower-stalk. Just before it appears they cut out the heart with a sharp knife, leaving only the thick, outside rind of the stem. The sweet sap that should have gone to feed the flower-stalk begins to ooze into the hollow and continues to do so for several weeks. The Indians, who have discovered the right time to cut into the plant to prevent its flowering, have also learned that the sap can be used in making the drink which they call pulque.
The city of Mexico is a beautiful one, with high stone walls around it, a large square in the centre, and broad streets running at right angles to each other. Nearly all the houses are built of stone, with flat roofs on which the people sit in the evening to enjoy the cool breezes and watch the stars twinkling merrily in the heavens above.
The children of the big stone houses can play in inner courtyards among flowering plants and fountains. But when they leave their homes to go out into the city they must pass through heavy doors studded with nails and heavily chained. The house windows that face the street have iron bars across them, so that at first these houses seem like fortresses. But when one passes to the back part of such a building and looks out through the windows there upon the pretty courtyard with its fountains and flower-beds, or takes a comfortable chair on one of the balconies, with its gilded balustrades covered with trailing vines, he begins to feel as though he were in a beautiful palace.
The great square in the middle of the city is beautiful with trees and flowers, statues, and walks paved with snowy marble. In the long-ago a temple stood here where hundreds of people were sacrificed to the gods in whom the Aztecs believed. On one side of the square stands the house of the president, and on another there is a grand cathedral where the Mexicans and their children go to worship. The cathedral doors are always open so that any day you may go inside and find people kneeling there. Rich and poor, grand ladies in delicate muslins and jewels, and the poorest Indians with their packs of fruit or coops filled with chickens still on their backs, kneel in prayer side by side.
Many of the children who have been to the cathedral to worship, stop as they leave it before the flower-decked stands under the trees, where women are busy selling cool drinks and sweetmeats. Or perhaps they are more interested in the Indians wandering about with cages of humming-birds and parrots, and they beg their parents or older friends who are with them to buy one of the birds to carry home.
As the children go on their way they pass many a horseman riding through the streets with broad hat shading his face, and with leggings trimmed with buttons and silver braid. Silver spurs shine brightly at his side in the sunlight, as also do the gorgeous trappings of his horse.
There are all sorts of people to be seen on the streets of Mexico. There are Indians with packs of all sorts on their backs. There are girls in gaily striped skirts selling fruit. There are water-carriers in leather aprons with large earthen jars on their backs and smaller ones hanging down in front; there are bird-sellers with flower-trimmed cages; there are the Indian policemen who carry lanterns at night, which they place in the middle of the street while they nap in the doorways close by. These naps must be very short, however, because every fifteen minutes it is the business of the policemen to blow shrill whistles, and at every hour to call the time.
The Big Market
The boys and girls of the city often visit the big market which is only a short distance from the cathedral. It is surrounded by high stone walls and on every side there is a gateway through which the people are constantly passing.
The sides of the market are lined with shops where people are busy selling all sorts of goods. There are the stalls of butchers where only meats are to be seen. There are stands of fruit that fill the air with sweet odors. There are vegetables of many kinds, furniture, and dress-goods of all colors. There are shops where fried meats are sold to hungry people in need of a lunch. There are great piles of cocoanuts and bananas heaped upon the ground. There are fish from both lake and ocean. Strangest of all are the cakes made out of marshflies. These flies are found in great numbers along the muddy banks of the Mexican lakes. There they lay their eggs among the flags and rushes and are killed by the Indians and made into a paste.
The middle of the market is filled with Indians who shade themselves and their wares from the hot sun by large squares of matting perched on poles. Here is one man with coops filled with chickens, and another with a stack of earthen dishes made at home. Just beyond him is a woman with a baby on her back. She is standing by the side of a patient donkey with panniers filled with melons or peaches, hanging from its sides, and a happy little two-year old child on its back. Some of the people who are busy selling their wares have come many miles and left their homes before sunrise. They have brought their families along with them, so that half-naked children and babies of all ages are to be seen everywhere. Some of them are munching fruit, others playing hide-and-seek among the crowds, while many a tiny baby is nodding itself to sleep on its mother’s back or crying with all its might for a little attention.
