CHAPTER XVIII.
THE AMERICAN COLONY.
mention has yet been made in these pages of the little band of my own countrymen which has sought and found a home in Mexico. This orphaned colony, numbering between six and eight hundred, has been kindly adopted by Mrs. Cornelia M. Townsend, of New York, who has resided there upwards of twelve years, and right nobly does this gentle woman fulfill her high trust and merit the title that has been bestowed upon her of "Mother of the American Colony."
Since the successful inauguration of railways in Mexico, thousands of our people have drifted there—some for health, others for pleasure, and still others to improve their financial condition. The Mexican capital has naturally been the great rallying point with them, and whatever their successes, trials, sorrows, or misfortunes, their fellow-countrymen, in greater or less degree, have endeavored to aid and encourage.
Some time ago an American Benevolent Society was formed by the most prominent permanent American residents, which numbers about fifty members.
Of this society the American minister is ex-officio President; Mr. I. Mastella Clark, Vice-President; Mr. W. I. De Gress, Secretary; and Mr. Frederic P. Hoeck, Treasurer. The payment of $1 a month entitles one to membership, and it is a noble way to spend that dollar, the object being to render effective aid to their suffering and distressed countrymen, whose increasing numbers demand active cooperation.
