which the men and boys avail themselves, but the desire for knowledge is not yet sufficiently urgent for these institutions to be much patronized by women.
On the great Tacuba highway, at the eastern extremity of the Alameda on the right, at Mariscala No. 2, stands a mansion typical of the wealth and luxury of the capital. This stately edifice is the home of General Vicente Riva Palacio, the distinguished statesman, soldier, and littérateur.
The house is entered as usual through the zaguan, from which a spacious stairway, branching to right and left, leads to the principal apartments. A bronze statue of Guerrero, a leading hero of the Independence war, who was grandfather of the owner of the house, now stands as seen in the illustration. The stairs and floors of the corridors and halls are of the finest Italian marble; while around and on either side are tropical plants of every shade and tint; and on the north side swings an aviary filled with bright-hued singing birds.
The house contains about fifty rooms, including three parlors, a grand salon and two smaller ones, all fitted up luxuriously. The oratorio (chapel) is impressive with its altar handsomely draped, and the picture of the Virgin Guadalupe in the center—crosses, silver candelabra, kneeling-stools in plush and gold, magnificent vestments, and I was surprised and pleased to see, on either side, American mottoes—"In God we trust," and "God bless our home."
Quite near the chapel is the comedor grande (large dining-room), which is, perhaps, 100 feet in length and 50 in width.
The furniture is of native rosewood and mahogany, wrought in most tasteful designs, while the floor glistens like glass, in its varied mosaics of rare and peculiar woods. Mirrors alternate with the massive side boards, with their rare marble slabs from the quarries of Puebla.
In different receptacles were no fewer than 3,000 pieces of china, many of them hand-painted in the flowers of the country, 2,000 pieces of crystal, and silver that for quantity, variety, and brightness was truly dazzling. Included in this was the magnificent silver service
