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such as only a Mexican sky can be, when the sun's rays wove gorgeous oriflammes across the snowy mountain peaks; an atmosphere, translucent to the eyes and an elixir to the lungs, bearing on its health-giving wings the perfume of a thousand flowers; all these were the delightful accompaniments of a holiday jaunt on which we set out in gay spirits one brilliant afternoon in October.

Our party consisted of Madame de C—— (whose guest I was) and her bright little daughter, Lotita, and servant. The objective points of our excursion were Toluca and Morelia, on the Ferrocarril Nacional, and as the railway had then been opened only a short time to the latter place, it was an event of no small magnitude, our visit to these famous old cities. In a charming letter to the Two Republics Madame