Society is agog here; it is the first appearance on any scene, since my arrival, of the _erste Gesellschaft_. A young man shot and killed another at a famous club, and then died as the result of an accidental wound to himself. He was married on his death-bed to the mother of his children; the whole is a story for the pen of Ibañez or Echegaray. For hours the streets were filled with carriages and autos taking floral tributes to the stricken mother. Oh, the hearts of mothers! So many crimes, social, civil, and national are being committed all over the world, but everywhere some souls are yearning for perfection--to keep it all going! _December 6th._ My little luncheon for American women went off very well. The dishes Teresa knows--the classic _huachinango_, cold and "well presented," with a good mayonnaise sauce, the small, fat-breasted ducks with peas, that every one is serving at this season here, were the "chief of our diet." Mrs. Kilvert, Mrs. C. R. Hudson, Mrs. Paul Hudson, the wife of the editor of the _Mexican Herald_, Mrs. McLaren, Mrs. Beck, Mrs. Bassett and the ambassadress and her sister came. This is just a word while waiting for Mrs. Wilson to come back for me to go on a calling bout with her. She goes home to spend the holidays with her boys, so I shall have to do what Christmas honors are done--a tree and incidental tea. I inclose a little verse by Joaquin Miller that I cut out of the _Herald_ this morning. Though outrageously bad, the line "glorious gory Mexico," is unforgetable. MEXICO Thou Italy of the Occident, Land of flowers and summer climes, Of holy priests and horrid crimes; Land of the cactus and sweet cocoa; Richer, than all the Orient In gold and glory, in want and woe, In self-denial, in days misspent, In truth and treason, in good and guilt, In ivied ruins and altars low, In battered walls and blood misspilt; Glorious gory Mexico. _Evening._ Among our visits to-day was one on Madame Creel. They have a very large and handsome house in the Calle de Londres, not yet quite finished. Everything French. In the drawing-room where Madame C. received were two splendid Sèvres vases, and great French-plate mirrors and French brocades cover the walls. Mr. Creel, fresh-complexioned, white-haired, speaking English very well, and liking to recall ambassadorial days in Washington, took us over the uncompleted part of the house. The large ball-room is awaiting special bronze electric-light _appliques_, door and window fastenings, now on their way from Paris, where all the woodwork of the house was executed.[27] _December 11th, evening._ This afternoon Madame Lefaivre and Mr. de Soto and I went out to Guadalupe to see the preparations for to-morrow's feast, the greatest in Mexico.