Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/332

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FACE TO FACE WITH THE MEXICANS.

done well: if ill, I implore thy infinite mercy." "The next moment he fell, shot in the back, passing, through a traitor's death, into the sphere of patriot-martyr and hero immortal."

Among the many historic places that I visited, none interested me more than the house of Morelos in Morelia. In the drawing room I saw a finely executed portrait, placed there by the Junta Patriotica (Patriotic Club) in 1858. In this the expression of the face shows that blending of firmness, energy, frankness, and magnetism, which distinguished him, as well as the humor and gravity of his character, and other evidences of the genius of this remarkable man.

In the same room there hangs a frame containing a piece of the silk handkerchief which served to blindfold him before his execution at San Cristobal. At the bottom of the frame I read with pathetic interest these lines:

"This is the venerated relic,
The mournful bandage with which the tyrant
Hid the gaze of Morelos,
When the martyr of the Mexican people
Offered to his beloved country
His precious life as a sacrifice."

In front of the house is a commemorative tablet with this inscription:

"Illustrious Morelos! Immortal hero!
In this mansion which thy presence
once honored,
the grateful people of Morelia
salute you.
September 16, 1881."


It will be seen that in the portrait of Morelos a handkerchief is wound around the head. This somewhat eccentric habit of his was adopted as a measure of relief from headache, to which he was subject. His frame was massive and in harmonious development corre-