Page:Our Neighbor-Mexico.djvu/185

Rh

Cortez was told he must not go in a certain direction or to a certain place, he always went straight thus and there. His success was in no small measure due to that quality of his nature. When he came to the wall of Tlascala he went through its gates, not around it. His battles with the Tlascalans assured his success with their Aztec foes. So when they told him he must not go to Cholula, since the priestly city was too cunning for him, into it he marched.

If when in Rome one must do as the Romans do, in Mexico it is worldly-wise to follow the footsteps of Cortez. Puebla had been held up as an especial object of fear. "It is very fanatical," they said. "It got up a riot, and drove out the Protestants three years ago. It is a city of priests, and the sacred city of Mexico. Keep away." So we went to Puebla. Where should a clergyman go but to the city of clericos? Where an angel of the churches but to "The Town of the Angels," as it is always called?

It was Friday, the 7th of February, that two of us essayed to take the eleven o'clock train for a ride thither of about one hundred and twenty miles. The time had been changed to twelve, and we occupied it in lounging through a park adjoining the station, which has swings, dance-sheds, a little amphitheatre for gymnasts and theatrical performances, and a level tract of open prairie, edged with trees. This is a great Sunday resort, and is then busy with