SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO BY NELLIE BLY AUTHOR OF "TEN DAYS IN A MAD HOUSE," ETC., ETC. NEW YORK AMERICAN PUBLISHERS CORPORATION 1888 TO GEORGE A. MADDEN, MANAGING EDITOR OF THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH, IN REMEMBRANCE OF HIS NEVER-FAILING KINDNESS JAN. 1st, 1888. CONTENTS I. ADIEU TO THE UNITED STATES II. EL PASO DEL NORTE III. ALONG THE ROUTE IV. THE CITY OF MEXICO. V. IN THE STREETS OF MEXICO VI. HOW SUNDAY IS CELEBRATED VII. A HORSEBACK RIDE OVER HISTORIC GROUNDS VIII. A MEXICAN BULL-FIGHT IX. THE MUSEUM AND ITS CURIOSITIES X. HISTORIC TOMBS AND LONELY GRAVES XI. CUPID'S WORK IN SUNNYLAND. XII. JOAQUIN MILLER AND COFFIN STREET XIII. IN MEXICAN THEATERS XIV. THE FLOATING GARDENS XV. THE CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC XVI. THE FEASTS OF THE GAMBLERS XVII. FEAST OF FLOWERS AND LENTEN CELEBRATIONS XVIII. GUADALUPE AND ITS ROMANTIC LEGEND XIX. A DAY'S TRIP ON A STREET CAR XX. WHERE MAXIMILIAN'S AMERICAN COLONY LIVED XXI. A MEXICAN ARCADIA XXII. THE WONDERS OF PUEBLA XXIII. THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA XXIV. A FEW NOTES ABOUT MEXICAN PRESIDENTS XXV. MEXICAN SOLDIERS AND THE RURALES XXVI. THE PRESS OF MEXICO XXVII. THE GHASTLY TALE OF DON JUAN MANUEL XXVIII. A MEXICAN PARLOR XXIX. LOVE AND COURTSHIP IN MEXICO XXX. SCENES WITHIN MEXICAN HOMES XXXI. THE ROMANCE OF THE MEXICAN PULQUE XXXII. MEXICAN MANNERS XXXIII. NOCHE TRISTE TREE XXXIV. LITTLE NOTES OF INTEREST XXXV. A FEW RECIPES FOR MEXICAN DISHES XXXVI. SOME MEXICAN LEGENDS XXXVII. PRINCESS JOSEFA DE YTURBIDE SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. By NELLIE BLY. CHAPTER I. ADIEU TO THE UNITED STATES. One wintry night I bade my few journalistic friends adieu, and, accompanied by my mother, started on my way to Mexico. Only a few months previous I had become a newspaper woman. I was too impatient to work along at the usual duties assigned women on newspapers, so I conceived the idea of going away as a correspondent. Three days after leaving Pittsburgh we awoke one morning to find ourselves in the lap of summer. For a moment it seemed a dream. When the porter had made up our bunks the evening previous, the surrounding country had been covered with a snowy blanket. When we awoke the trees were in leaf and the balmy breeze mocked our wraps. Three days, from dawn until dark, we sat at the end of the car inhaling the perfume of the flowers and enjoying the glorious Western sights so rich in originality. For the first time I saw women plowing while their lords and masters sat on a fence smoking. I never longed for anything so much as I did to shove those lazy fellows off. After we got further south they had no fences. I was glad of it, because they do not look well ornamented with lazy men.