FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   >>  
t manifested by the audience to find that he had come to life again. I confess that I felt sorry to see the cruelty to the bull and the horse. I did not stay for the conclusion of the performance; but while I did stay, there was not a bull killed in the prescribed way. Bull fights are now prohibited in the Federal District--embracing a territory around the City of Mexico, somewhat larger than the District of Columbia--and they are not an institution in any part of the country. During one of my recent visits to Mexico, bull fights were got up in my honor at Puebla and at Pachuca. I was not notified in advance so as to be able to decline and thus prevent the performance; but in both cases I civilly declined to attend. Another amusement of the people of Mexico of that day, and one which nearly all indulged in, male and female, old and young, priest and layman, was Monte playing. Regular feast weeks were held every year at what was then known as St. Augustin Tlalpam, eleven miles out of town. There were dealers to suit every class and condition of people. In many of the booths tlackos--the copper coin of the country, four of them making six and a quarter cents of our money--were piled up in great quantities, with some silver, to accommodate the people who could not bet more than a few pennies at a time. In other booths silver formed the bulk of the capital of the bank, with a few doubloons to be changed if there should be a run of luck against the bank. In some there was no coin except gold. Here the rich were said to bet away their entire estates in a single day. All this is stopped now. For myself, I was kept somewhat busy during the winter of 1847-8. My regiment was stationed in Tacubaya. I was regimental quartermaster and commissary. General Scott had been unable to get clothing for the troops from the North. The men were becoming--well, they needed clothing. Material had to be purchased, such as could be obtained, and people employed to make it up into "Yankee uniforms." A quartermaster in the city was designated to attend to this special duty; but clothing was so much needed that it was seized as fast as made up. A regiment was glad to get a dozen suits at a time. I had to look after this matter for the 4th infantry. Then our regimental fund had run down and some of the musicians in the band had been without their extra pay for a number of months. The regimental bands at that day were kept up
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   >>  



Top keywords:

people

 

Mexico

 

clothing

 
regimental
 
silver
 

regiment

 
country
 

attend

 

needed

 

quartermaster


performance
 

District

 

booths

 

fights

 

winter

 
stopped
 

doubloons

 

changed

 

capital

 
pennies

formed

 
entire
 

estates

 

single

 

matter

 

seized

 

infantry

 
number
 

months

 

musicians


special

 

troops

 

unable

 

stationed

 

Tacubaya

 

commissary

 

General

 

Material

 

Yankee

 

uniforms


designated

 

purchased

 

obtained

 

employed

 

During

 

recent

 
visits
 

institution

 

larger

 

Columbia