Hanna More Johnson

“ The dark-eyed señora of Spanish blood wrapped in the ample folds of her silken reboza bows on the stone floor close beside an Indian from the country on the way to market with a hen-coop on his back, and the cackling, crowing inmates of the coop in no wise disturb the prayers of either devotee. Perhaps half the crowd remembered to throw a kiss to their old deity, the sun, as they entered the shrine where the one true God is professedly worshiped. There is no Sabbath in Mexico. ”

“ TERMINUS OF LAKE CHALCO CANAL, MEXICO CITY. water, cool and clear, flows in streams from every part of the marvelous structure, sparkling, dripping, splashing, until it seems like some gigantic water-nymph just emerging with plentitude of blessings from the waves. The centre of the city is the Grand Plaza, a plot of ground about a thousand feet square with a beautiful little garden in the centre. There are pleasant seats among the tall old trees, statuary and fountains tossing their bright spray into the air. There is a music-stand about which the crowd gather in the evenings. ”

“ In spite of the cringing terror which Montezuma had lately betrayed in his messages to them, the soldiers of Cortez, gazing at all this splendor, dreaded to grapple with a people whose civilization seemed not only to equal, but to exceed, their own. Nothing but his own indomitable courage and towering ambition upheld Cortez as he led the little band of his countrymen over these mountain-walls, whose gates now seemed to close behind him and to shut out all hope of rescue should help be needed. ”

“ These imposing churches often stand in little villages of adobe huts, the homes of ignorance and squalid poverty. The contrast between the church and its surroundings is all the more striking when we remember that what the village is now it has always been since Rome took possession of Mexico, and nothing could better illustrate the perverted Christianity she has taught its people than these proud shrines, in whose unwholesome shadow they have been sitting for centuries. ”

“ With sash, long and ample, tied about the loins, collars, bracelets and anklets of gold-embroidered leather richly adorned with precious stones, and gaudy pendants from ears, under-lips, and sometimes the nostrils, we have a picture of the Indian brave of Mexico which would quite rouse the envy of his less-cultivated red brother of our own Western frontier. The chiefs, as we have seen elsewhere, had other finery, belonging to them exclusively. The festival array of an Aztec was sometimes a beast mask or in skins flayed from human victims, in which young men dressed themselves to dance. ”

“ About that time a galaxy of Spanish colonies had declared for independence— Chili, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela. The spirit of republicanism had been spreading like fire on dry grass. Mexico for the first time decided to be a republic, and was formally recognized as such by Spain. In the constitution which the whole country then adopted, although patterned after that of the United States, the people show themselves still ignorant of the first principle of liberty. ”

“ In 1812 the Spanish Cortes enacted a constitution which embodied many such reforms as the freedom of the press, the suppression of the Inquisition, the closing of monasteries and convents, the expulsion of the Jesuits and the cutting off of all privileges belonging exclusively to the army and the nobility. To crown all, the people were invested with power. But long before the ignorant peasantry of Spain could realize their high privileges a counter-revolution had seated Ferdinand on the throne, as firm a believer as ever in
"The right divine of kings to govern wrong." ”

“ How much of the truth the newly-converted Marina could communicate to the devout and thoughtful chief we cannot say, but we know that the story of the cross is thrilling no matter how simply it may be told. No one can listen to the fact that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," without hearing the gospel in its wondrous fullness. ”

“ AMONG some of the tribes of Anahuac a farmer or a mechanic or a merchant might be counted as a man; not so was it with the fierce Aztecs. Every male in that tribe was born to be a warrior; it was only when he was maimed, sick, old, or, worse than all, an outcast from his clan, that he could not claim the privilege of going to the battlefield. Even the priests took a leading part in every conflict. It was not only their business to interpret the will of the gods, but they marched at the head of the Aztec troops bearing a little image, or talisman, of the most famous of the war-gods of Mexico. ”

“ I believe that the Totonacs and Tlascalans have told you much evil of us, but do not believe them. They are our enemies. They have told you that my house and my furniture are of gold, that I myself am a god. But you see it is not so;" and he opened his robes as he spoke. "You see that I am flesh and blood like yourselves."
Once more assuring Cortez with much apparent sincerity that he was in his own home and, with his army, would be bountifully supplied with all that he needed, Montezuma concluded his long address and went away. ”

“ The Aztecs had maintained their supremacy for nearly a hundred years, and now the tribes far and near, outraged by their oppressions, were brooding over their wrongs, awaiting some leader who should head a new confederacy and mete out justice to Mexico. She was drunk with human blood, and the tide of war was turning—as, in time, it always will turn against a people whose only right is might. ”

“ The Protestants are daily accused of plotting to annex Mexico to the United States. The enemies of progress and reform are still found in the bosom of the Church of Rome. But with a free press, free schools and a free gospel Mexico cannot go back to the darkness of the past. She may fall for a time, but the prophecy of Abraham Lincoln for the United States will yet be realized for Mexico: "This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and a government of the people for the people and by the people which shall not perish from the earth." ”

“ The printing-press stood ready to speak for them, and thousands of handbills—probably the first ever thrown to the winds—were scattered broadcast, proclaiming the gospel of freedom for the people. The hard-working Germans were roused to a new sense of their manhood. When the spokesman of their great multitude came to plead their cause with the army of the Empire, he had an open Bible in his hand, and, pointing to the sacred pages, he exclaimed, solemnly, "We ask nothing which is not promised to us here by the founders of Christianity." ”

“ Gaunt and speechless, with faces as unmoved as are those statues, they wave a permissive hand to the bold intruder as they stand gazing at this wonder of our rushing age. If old Popocatapetl, the home of the gods, is safely tunneled for a new track, and the holy hill of Cholula is cut away to make room for the inevitable locomotive, innovations like American looms and ploughs and reapers will surely be tolerated in old Mexico, and the modern express-wagon will be permitted to take the place of the primitive ox-cart. ”

“ The cities were so infested with robbers that the streets were deserted at nightfall, and few rich men escaped being kidnapped for the heavy ransom extorted from their families. But men were thinking. The standard of liberty raised by Hidalgo had floated over the capital but sixty-six days, yet during that time the liberals had used the just-unfettered press to great advantage. Newspapers and handbills were scattered with a lavish hand, and truths were taught that burned in the hearts of men like smouldering fire, needing only one breath of free air to kindle into flame. ”

“ THE only opportunity which Europeans ever had of seeing the Aztecs at home, pursuing the ordinary business of life, was during the first five months which Cortez and his companions spent in the valley. Although a city invaded by the inhabitants of another world—as the Spaniards seemed to the Mexicans to be—must have been excited by their presence, it is probable that Mexico and its people appeared to these visitors much as they had been for nearly a hundred years. Possibly it had not been so long since it had been beneath the dignity of a chief of high rank to walk up stairs. ”

“ The great temple of Mexico was three hundred and seventy-five feet high. Each of its lofty terraces had its own flight of steps, rising one above the other on the southern side of the pyramid. In their worship the priests, with the victims chosen for sacrifice, climbed the first of these stairways and passed entirely around the terrace until they reached the next flight of steps, and so, ascending in solemn procession, they wound on up and up to the great altar in sight of multitudes assembled on housetops and in the great square which surrounded the building. ”

“ The aquadors, or water-carriers, throng to fill their earthen pots just as they did in the days of Cortez, and the bent figures with their loads strapped on their backs look as though they had just stepped out of the pictures on some old Egyptian monument.
There are no more beautiful objects in the city than the public fountains. One is built of hewn stone richly decorated with carvings and statuary and polished until it reflects the sunlight like some bright metal. ”

“ Iturbide found the Cortes torn with the dissensions of three parties, each eagerly claiming his support. A few urged a return to the old Bourbon principle of one-man power; other royalists insisted that, whoever was king, Mexico should have a constitutional government; and others, again, wished to throw overboard all these monarchists and establish a republic, taking the United States as an example. The tide of enthusiasm over the revolution ran high, with Iturbide on its topmost wave. ”

“ This temple he dedicated "To the Unknown God." No image of him was allowed in this beautiful shrine, and nothing but incense, fruit and flowers was offered upon its altar. A sonorous piece of metal struck by a mallet called the worshipers together.
The common people seem to have known but very little of this good and great being. The gods they served were like those who made them—fierce, unholy and delighting in blood. ”

“ Even Cortez regretted the destruction of this beautiful city. Seven-eighths of it were now in ruins. The people had been living on roots, the bark of trees and rats, without good water and surrounded by dead bodies. Famine and pestilence added their ravages to the terrible devastation. Women and children wan and haggard with disease and hunger wandered about the ruins. The allies were charged to let the wretches alone, but the Indians knew no pity, and, although for three days after they reached the heart of the City of Mexico no regular fighting was done, a merciless carnage went on. ”

“ Never did the Church of Rome have a grander opportunity than in Mexico to give to perishing souls the gospel as it is set forth in God's word. Almost every tribe had bowed to the yoke of Spain and accepted the religion imposed by their conquerors; but during the three centuries of Spanish rule the Bible seems never to have been brought to this dark shore, or, if it was, the book was hidden away in some mouldy library, to be read by priests alone. ”

“ A fine soft cloth woven of rabbits' hair and dyed in various colors was also used. Decorations of feathers, gems, pearls, little figures and trinkets of gold added great beauty to these costumes. The Aztec women walked the streets unveiled, though those of some of the other tribes wore a covering on the head. Their eyes were dark and their hair was long, black and thick, flowing about the shoulders. Their faces had the passive, even sad, look which marks their race. No product of Mexican patience and skill was more justly admired than were the exquisite feather-mosaics. ”

“ When this hideous idol was first seen by Europeans, there stood before it a brazier of burning coals in which lay three hearts just torn from the bleeding breasts of human victims.
Humming-Bird had a younger brother, a favorite with the Tezcucans, who was also a war-god. His name, Hacahuepanenexcolzin, is almost as bad as his disposition, and we would not venture to write it except to give one of the curiosities of Mexican spelling. These two gods stood side by side in the old temple in Mexico, fitting representations of the dark-minded priests who made them. ”

“ It was a shrine where of olden time the native worshipers flocked with their votive offerings—little clay images, men's heads, arrows and pottery decorated in bright colors. Thousands of these now strew the plain or are brought to light by the rude ploughs of the country. There are two large pyramids—one dedicated to the sun, the other to the moon—standing like grass-grown hills among these ruins. One wide, straight street—called "the Path of the Dead"—is raised above the level of the plain and leads up to the pyramid of the moon. ”