A diplomat's wife in Mexico

_Letters from the American Embassy at Mexico City, covering the dramatic period between October 8th, 1913, and the breaking off of diplomatic relations on April 23rd, 1914, toge...

The Embassy has two _gendarmes_ to watch the gate, instead of the usual one given to legations--nice, old Francisco, who has been in the service of the United States for twelve...

To-morrow we lunch at the Simon’s. He is the clever French _Inspecteur des Finances_ of the Banco Nacional. They have a handsome house in the Paseo, an excellent French _chef_,...

N. has just returned with the anxiously awaited answer, which is quite beside the point. Huerta is probably sparring for time. He proffers vague, pleasant words in answer to the...

Several reporters were here early this morning to say they had positive information that Huerta had fled the country. But Mexico City as a rumor factory is unexcelled, and one n...

I have been reading accounts of the deportation of the Yaquis from Sonora to Yucatan, the wordless horrors of the march, the separation of families. I can’t go into it now; it i...

Lunch to-day at the French Legation. Very pleasant, as always. I sat next to Corona, governor of the Federal District, a handsome, highly colored, dark-eyed man in the prime of...

The _cantinas_ have been closed on Sunday for several months--a wise act of Urrutia, then Minister of Gobernación. The people thus buy food, instead of _pulque_, on the Sabbath,...

We had a peaceful _dia de campo_ in the old garden, the strange Mexican magic making beautiful things more beautiful and transfiguring all that is ordinary. Mme. B., an Englishw...

The room where Señora Huerta stood, which used to be Carlota’s boudoir, is now hung with an ugly, brownish-pink brocade; a lovely Gobelin border remains to frame the panels of t...

We had a most comfortable night. Practically no trains come and go in the station at night and there is none of the usual dust and dirt of travel, all the railroads burning oil...

N. went to see Huerta a day or two ago. The President was most relieved to have him safely back. He asked him the results of his visit to Vera Cruz and N. told him there was no...

Well, it is getting late and I must stop, but the history of Mexico is without exception the most fascinating, the most romantic, and the most improbable in the world; and the s...

The second telegram has just come, saying that the President intends, within a few hours, to raise the embargo, and that N. is to inform all Americans and foreigners. I keep rep...

This morning we received a telegram that Nelson’s father is seriously ill (pneumonia) and all day I have been broken with agonies of indecision. Ought I to go to New York, possi...

I thought of the 1911 anniversary of the _Grito de Dolores_--that night of the 16th of September when I stood on the middle balcony of the _Palacio_, with de la Barra and Madero...

I have just been reading an article by Mr. Creelman on Lind. He has caught the spirit of Vera Cruz and described exactly Mr. Lind and his _ambiente_ there. He speaks of him as “...

We can’t get out to the _Florida_, Captain Rush in command, on account of the high sea. I went to Mass with Ryan in the cathedral, which they have painted a hideous, cold gray,...

News from the north is more encouraging, but a horrible struggle is going on. Elim and I went with Nelson to Chapultepec. Though the park is no longer crowded in the morning, as...

N. said he might possibly have arranged the matter except for the little Sub-Secretary, who had never met the President before, and who wanted, all during the interview, to prov...

In thinking over Huerta’s remark, a few days ago, about the demonstrations of our fleet not being a calamity, I believe he means that this is, after all, the best way of consoli...

Nelson has been informed through Mexican sources--a most embarrassing way to get the news--that Vera Cruz was taken by our ships at eight o’clock this morning. (Cortés landed on...

At six o’clock this morning they awakened us at Esperanza, the highest point, to get out for a good breakfast offered by Corona. The troops accompanying us were also fed, which...

I have just looked through the glass to distinguish about a dozen of our men standing at the head of a street with fixed bayonets, facing a pink house, evidently ready to protec...

Yesterday afternoon Major Butler came to see us. He is in command at the “roundhouse” of Mr. Cummings’s telegraphic episode, and is decidedly downcast at the idea that some peac...

I suppose I am not only the only woman who has had a meal there under two flags, but the only person. I went up the broad stairs with Colonel Alvord, the stairs I had last desce...

The whole question of guarding the health of the United States at this station is most interesting. It is one of the largest in the world, but is taxed to its utmost now by the...