"
"Aren't there any beautiful ladies left?"
"A few, perhaps."
"What happened to the cathedrals and the velvet fellows and all
that?"
"Oh, the old state of affairs couldn't last forever. The Spanish
administration wasn't so bad as is generally supposed, yet of
course there was too much rapacity and not enough industry.
Central America, broadly speaking, was known as the treasure-chest
of the world, and there were constant wars and disturbances. The
colonies as a whole did not progress like those in the North, and
in course of time deteriorated. The old cathedrals decayed and
were not rebuilt. The old Spanish stock died out and in its stead
grew up a motley race given to revolt, revolution, and corruption.
Even when the provinces became free, they weren't able to unite
and form a strong nation. The Isthmus of Panama became a pest-hole
where the scum of the Four Seas settled. The people became mean
and unhealthy in mind and body and morals, preserving nothing
except the cruelty of their forefathers. Here and there, to be
sure, one comes across the old Castilian breed, like a silver
thread running through a rotting altar-cloth, but only here and
there, and most of those silver threads have become tarnished from
contact with the fabric.
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