Now the early morning was alive with the persons constituting the various committees who were appointed to make the large theatre an Eden of loveliness; a place befitting the great man who was to address them that night, and the distinguished guests. The President of the United States, accompanied by his entire family; ministers from foreign countries who felt themselves especially favored by their own country in being granted a leave of absence from their post of duty, and to the committee of Chihuahuans for the invitation, arrived that morning on a special train, which was a veritable drawing-room on wheels. This party was at once quartered at the “Mexican Annex,” a magnificent hostelry, containing more than one thousand rooms. “It occupies two blocks of ground; it faces East on the Alameda; it is five stories high, and built from the ground to the roof, of a greyish-white marble,” said a prominent member of the reception committee. “The magnificent pillars in the rotunda and those on the outside, which support the five stories of open-air promenades around the hotel, are solid onyx, carved in the most wonderful designs. This famous hostelry is the private property of the Governor, and is known throughout the States. It is lighted and heated by a means known only to himself and his two scientific coworkers. In each room there are several small instruments, curiously designed, back of pictures which represent, respectively, the face of the sun, glaciers, and small furnaces. They are of much interest to every person who visits the magnificent hostelry, yet no one can conceive for what purpose the curious little pictures are fastened so securely in the walls and ceiling. By certain mechanical action, a liquid extracted from the rays of the sun unites with other liquids obtained from the same source, which is concealed behind each picture, respectively. Then, if light is desired, a miniature lever is moved which causes the liquid concealed back of the picture of the face of the sun to unite with another fluid with the result that a soft, mellow light spreads over the house, which gradually increases in power until a light of the brightness required is obtained. On the same principle, if heat is required, another lever is moved which unites a fluid with another situated back of the small furnace, and gradually the air rises, balmy and fragrant like the air on a summer day in a garden of fragrant flowers after a light shower. The small pictures of glaciers represent the source from which cold is generated,” concluded the gallant Chihuahuan. More detailed information as to the lighting, heating and cooling of the hostelry, were unknown to the reception committee who were showing the distinguished visitors the many places of interest in their famous city.
While they expressed their great delight with the entire city, they unanimously voted the “Mexican Annex” to be the most magnificent and beautiful hotel building they had ever seen at home or abroad, and the most magnificent building they had yet beheld in Chihuahua.
It was well that the last clause was added, for the committee held in reserve a greater surprise for them. Those who had never heard of their auditorium, their great State theatre called “The Goddess,” could scarcely have imagined in their advanced day even, such a place to have existed; a place of such great dimensions; of such grandeur; of such beauty.
Chihuahua is honored by being the home of thousands of beautiful women, who are likewise known for their virtue and great intellects. These women indulge in the amusements,—the popular amusements of the day,—but never dissipate.
Many of them help to support large institutions of learning by practicing various professions for that purpose, and they do not think they are doing charity either. They contend that they owe their efforts to the further enlightenment of the age, that their own soul may grow stronger. There are, on the other hand, thousands of women in the city, beautiful women who have many of the lighter accomplishments, who indulge in the most hilarious forms of dissipation. Many of them likewise move in the most distinguished, intellectual circles. Yet these very circles are kept down; their progress retarded from the very fact of the presence of these women; women who have never felt the Divine power.
The entertainments given by these women teem with brilliant repartee and sparkling wit. Wit made sparkling, by the use of high-class wines.
The advent of so many distinguished people to the capital of their state was a welcome opportunity for them. All the morning they had paraded themselves back and forth through the route taken by the reception committee to best show off the city to their guests.
Most of them were becomingly attired in fashionable gowns for morning outdoor wear. They sped along noiselessly over the smooth streets in their chariot-like carriages, that swayed back and forth in a most delicious fashion.
Their vehicles were put into motion by means of the simple effort of pressing the thumb against a small button set in the center of the dash-board; and they were turned in any direction by means of a small lever, which required the slightest effort imaginable to handle.
These women succeeded in attracting the attention of the President and his party,—just what they were out for, and were often close enough to hear the bursts of admiration which unconsciously fell from the lips of some of the gentlemen of the party who were very susceptible to the charms of feminine beauty.