November 30th.
Zapata has just given some more building material to the new republic, in the shape of what he calls El Plan de Ayala, of the date of November 25th, written for him by one of the Vasquez Gómez brothers. To our surprise, the brilliant editor of La Prensa has spoken not unfavorably of it.
I don't know if it is bowing to the inevitable, or expediency, that makes him advocate the use of the aforesaid material, which provides for the division of the lands of the state of Morelos, the only state in which, for climatic reasons (not political), the distribution of land could be undertaken without installing gigantic irrigation processes impossible for the Indians.
All through Mexican history revolutionary leaders have launched these Plans.
Iturbide published the Plan de Iguala, February 24, 1823, known as Las Tres Garantías, Porfirio Diaz the Plan de Noria, 1869; Madero's Plan de San Luis Potosí is what we are now living and breathing (and sometimes panting) by.[26]
XIV
The feast of Guadalupe—Peace reigns on the Isthmus—Earthquakes—Madero in a dream—The French colony ball—Studies in Mexican democracy—Christmas preparations
December 1st.
A pinching, cold snap, the result of a norte of long duration blowing from Vera Cruz. The heat quickly goes out of the body, and at this altitude is not easily made up again. I have been penetrated to my soul as if by a thin knife. The air is so attenuated that there is nothing to it except cold, no exhilaration. The oil-stoves, I have discovered, are not lighted with impunity. They have a way of suddenly emitting a long, high column of black smoke, after which something detonates, and the room and the people in it are covered by a fine, black soot. One rings, the source of trouble is removed, and one stays cold.
Very pleasant lunch here yesterday; the only way to get warm is to eat, drink, and be merry, especially this last. The luncheon was for the Belgian minister, who had been appointed to Copenhagen. Can't you hear us telling him about the Rabens and the Frijs, Klampenborg, and the Hôtel d'Angleterre? The Lefaivres brought a friend who is staying with them—Vicomte de Kargaroué, a Breton of the vieille noblesse, who is that anomaly, a French globe-trotter.