"There you have Mexican history boiled down," said Fred. "Perhaps it may be tedious to some of the boys at home, and if it is, they know how to skip."
The conversation that followed this reading naturally turned upon Mexican affairs. Doctor Bronson signified his readiness to answer any questions the youths might ask, or, if he did not know the correct answers, he would try to tell them where the desired information could be obtained.
"President Juarez was a native of Mexico, and not of Spanish descent, was he not?" Frank asked.
FIRST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN MEXICO.
"Yes," said the Doctor; "he was a full-blooded Indian, his parents having been people in very humble circumstances. He has been called the Washington or the Lincoln of Mexico; to him Mexico owes the Laws of the Reform and the concessions that have brought railways into the country and opened it up to commercial relations with the rest of the world. He was the first Protestant President of the country, all his predecessors having been of the Catholic faith. He is described by those who knew him as a man rather below the average height, stoutly built without being corpulent, exceedingly plain in dress, but always fastidiously neat. Ordinarily he wore a dress-coat of black broadcloth, with other garments to match, and on state occasions he substituted white gloves and cravat for the every-day black ones. He used to ride in a plain coach, with no liveried servants, which was quite a contrast to the grand turnout of Maximilian, who had a state carriage like that of Louis XIV.
"His complexion was Indian, and so were his features; his eyes were small and black, and his face, which was always clean-shaven, bore an expression of great firmness. He was not talkative, and was the same determined, silent man in prosperity as in adversity. His faith in the success of the republic was never shaken, even when he was living in an adobe hut on the banks of the Rio Grande, with less than 500 followers, and a reward offered by Maximilian for his head. When he arrived at El Paso del Norte he was accompanied by only twenty-two friends, who have since been called 'the immaculate.'
"I have read somewhere,"[4] continued the Doctor, "a curious story connected with his history. When Mexico was conquered by the Spaniards, a priest of the Aztec temple at Taos, in New Mexico, kindled a fire upon its altar, and planted a tree in front of the edifice. He prophesied that when the tree died a new white race would come from the East and conquer the land, and when the fire went out a new Montezuma would arise and rule Mexico. The tree died in 1846, during our war with Mexico, and the fire went out when the last of the Aztec priests of Taos died, in the year that Juarez became President."