Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1875 — Social Life in Mexico. [ARTICLE]

Social Life in Mexico.

The following interesting facts are translated from Princess Salm-Salm’s “ Recollections of Mexico": Although the Mexicans are a lazy people, they rise early—the gentlemen to take their morning ride, the ladies to go to early mass, which is the only occasion on which they appear in the streets on foot. They take a luncheon between twelve and one o’clock. Thg Mexicans are a very temperate people; they drink little brandy, wine or beer, but on every table you find pulque , alight, vinous beverage resembling cider, obtained from the American agave. As a general thing they lead very regular, exemplary lives, but gambling is their passion. The men are usually small, delicately but symmetrically made, and have very small hands and feet. They are very polite and graceful, reserved and cautious, as though they were always on their guard against deception—and for a very good reason, since trustworthiness is far from being a leading virtue among them. They are ready to promise —with words; are'always at your service, but they are not to be trusted. Fifty years of civil strife would be sufficient to demoralize better people than the descendants of Cortez and his followers. They love money, but have little idea how it is to be honestly obtained; hence it is looked upon rather as being meritorious than sinful to steal from the Government, be that Government what it may. Whoever gets into office uses his position for this purpose. In general they are very hospitable and at dinner there are always two or three covers laid for guests who may ‘chance to come in. Frugal as they usually are, when they entertain they provide very bountifully. The women of the better classes are very handsome, and are especially remarkable for their abundant heads of black hair, their large, dark, melancholy eyes and their small, delicately-formed extremities. They marry young, often at the age of fourteen br fifteen, and usually have large families; it is not unusual to see a woman with a dozen children, and sometimes with even more. The children are very frail, very quiet and well-behaved. I have never seen them romp and quarrel, as I have always seen hearty, strong children do in other countries.' The mothers usually nurse their children themselves', are very fond and devoted, and bring them up very irrationally. They treat them like dolls, and their chief study is to dress them prettily. The children are very precocious ; up to their tenth or twelfth year they progress with wonderful rapidity, but then their intellectual development becomes very slow or entirely ceases. Family life in Mexico is quite pleasant ; the husband and wife are always seen, together, and they live mostly at home, surrounded by their relations. Parents separate themselves from their daughters very unwillingly, and not unfrequently they marry them to men who are content to make the house of their father-in-law their home and to live at his expense. The ladies are exceedingly ignorant. They read nothing but their prayerbooks and are hardly able to write the most commonplace letter. They know no language but Spanish, and of history and geography they are entirely ignorant. They knew before they were invaded by the French that Paris is the capital of France, and of London they had also heard, since from both of these cities they have always received their finery and many objects of luxury. All they know of Rome is that the Pope has his residence there, and but for that circumstance thev would not know there is such a city, They, however, have a good deal of taste for music and many of them sing and play very creditably. In many Mexican houses they have, as a rule, no regular dinner. If they are hungry they eat some simple dish or drink a cup of chocolate, which is excellent; the coffee, however, although they raise a good quality, is not good—they do not know how to prepare it. At six o’clock they drive out and from the promenade they go to the opera or theater, taking their daughters, dressed in their finest, with them. If perchance there is no place of amusement to which they can go, then they remain at home and amuse themselves with cards and music. The young people assemble very frequently for a hop or a lertulia, as such gatherings are called in Mexico.

Although there are in Mexico among the 8,000,000 inhabitants about half a million negroes—very few in the cities—the house servants are Indians, mostly young girls, who are generally treated in a very friendly and familiar manner by their employers. They are well skilled in household affairs, and many of them embroider Deautifully. More than half the population of the country are Indians; those who live on the plateau of Mexico and in the vicinity are descendants of the Aztecs, who, 300 years ago, astonished the Spaniards with their civilization, which some say surpassed that of the ancient Egyptians. The conquerors, who expected to meet with savages only, found in the Aztec capital a flourishing city containing many fine buildings adorned with numerous works of art. What has become of this intelligent, industrious people? The manner in which the English treated the American Indians, bhd as it was, had some excuse in the obstinacy with which they resisted every attempt to civilize them; but the Aztecs were very far from being savages. Maltreated as the poor natives were, they took refuge in the forests, where they were deprived of every means of culture. Their children grew up in ignorance and, in course of time, they even lost their mechanical skill. No wonder they are shy and distrustful. When they are well treated they evince great goodness of heart, are faithful and evince a strong desire to learn. When the conquerors spread over the country the aborigines could not keep entirely away from them, especially in the vicinity of the cities. Of this contact there came among them a new sort of civilization. They soon learned the value of money, and that it couM be obtained by selling their services to their lazy masters. The consequence is that we see them everywhere the petty tradesmen apd laborers of the country. They were almost exclusively the providers for the capita]—they came from every direction with their poultry, fruits, vegetables, wood, charcoal, etc., etc. The women work more than the men, and, together with a heavy load, carrying their babies on their backs, they can be seen on every road leading to the city, going on a dog-trot to market. Their dress is verv simple. A piece of bluecotton stutf is wonnd round the waist and falls to the ankles, while the shoulders and breast are covered by another piece of cotton of a different color, ha which there is a hole to put the head

through. I have seen the peasants in the Tyrol wear pieces of carpet in a similar manners „ The dress of the men is still less complete. Around the waist they wear a piece of leather in such a manner that it forms a sort of short breeches. Their •shoulders they cover in the same stay the women cover theirs, and on their heads they wear a palm-leaf hat. The Aztec Women have large, handsome eyes, are generally welk’ formed, and many of them are quite good-look-ing; but the women of the other Mexican tribes are, for the most part, ugly. Not a few of the companions of Cortez married Aztec girls, and from these unions, which became more and more frequent, there sprang a mongrel - race called creoles. Many of these are rancheros, planters or farmers, and are looked upon as forming the best portion of the nation. Some of them are very rich; and, as they have little opportunity to get rid of their money except by gambling, they gratify their passion for costly apparel.