December 7th
I was at Tacubaya this morning, to see the operation and cure for tuberculosis of a strange Brazilian, a Dr. Botelho. Rows of emaciated Indians, stripped to the waist, were lying or sitting in the sun. The operation is a painless injection of hydrogen gas into the lung, compressing it so that microbes, as my lay mind understands it, don’t get the space they need to develop. As the patients lay about they seemed to me like exotic vegetation, ready to drop to earth, rot, and spring up again. Strange Indian seed!
After Mass I found Colonel and Mrs. Hayes (the former a son of ex-President Hayes), waiting to see us. They are here for a few days only. I have asked them to dine with us to-morrow evening.
The foreign Powers used to think that, though extremely annoying, our Monroe doctrine was respectable. Now they seem inclined to think it is an excuse for monopolizing the New World for our own benefit. We may come into Mexico with glory. Can we get out with credit and not too high a bill? A letter from General Wisser (you remember him, from Berlin) came just now, written “In Camp, Texas City.” It had taken a little matter of two months to get here. It is not impossible I may welcome him to Mexico City.