Some one had told me that the war was a tabooed subject; that the few older members still left were fighting the battles over. When I met the oldest member of the colony, who had left the United States in 1865, the impulse came to test this subject. I mentioned the fact that my own father had served in the Union army and fought for his country on that side. This old man, who was past the allotted three score and ten, and who had fought with that intrepid warrior, Stonewall Jackson, then told me the whole history of the colony, and the causes that led to its establishment. “It was a mistake,” he said, “but we did not realize it then, and afterwards it was too late to sacrifice what we had here and move back. We still love the old flag.” When I left, he gave me the Brazilian embrace as a special mark of favour; and I verily believe that I left a good friend in this old man who had the traits that we all love in the Southern gentleman. When Senator Root, then Secretary of State, visited Brazil four years ago, a new station was named Elihu Root in his honour on the Paulista Railway, and this name stands out conspicuously on every time-table of that line. The special train conveying him passed through the Villa Americana, and he was asked to stop and address the Americans. When the train stopped many of the older residents met him with tears in their eyes; and, I was told, the eyes of the distinguished American were not dry; and he has said that it was the most pathetic incident in his trip. He was asked whether it would be better for the colony to remain in Brazil or return to the United States. “Stay where you are,” he said, “and be good Brazilians. You will find the States so changed that they would no longer seem like home.” The Secretary was right. A few months before my own visit one of the prosperous members of the colony went, with his family, to his old home in Texas, with the intention of remaining there. He left his property in the hands of an agent for sale. A few weeks after his arrival in Texas he cabled to his agent not to sell the property, as he was coming back. In a few months he and his family returned to the Villa, giving as his reason that the old neighbourhood had changed so much that it did not seem so much like home as Brazil. The members of this colony are now Brazilian subjects, the younger ones because of their birth in that land, and the older ones by virtue of a general proclamation. Few of them actually take any part in the politics of the land. All of them, of course, speak the Portuguese language, but use the English in their homes. They are still Americans at heart. My visit to this little American settlement in the very heart of the great Republic of Brazil will always remain a pleasant memory of a most delightful trip. CHAPTER VIII THE TEMPERATE ZONE