The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1853-12-01
Life i'm New Mexico.

A correspondent of the N. Y. Times
gives the following shady picture of Life
and Manners in New Mexico Territory:
l will now give you some faint insight
into the moral and religious character Of
the Mexican portion of the population
Inspiration teaches us that there were a
number of the tribes of Isrial that were
lost; and if it means that they were lost
to all sense of the decencies of humanity.
then [ am Of opinion that this people is
one of those tribes, and that the Lord
has lost track of them, or that this Terri
tory is not within his jurisdiction! At all
events, 4Ie does not at present, and I be-
lieve He never will, recognize them as
His creatures, judging from the total de-
prayity and besooted ignorance of all of
them. 1t is but one year since the first
school was established here, and that has
had but sickly growth. There are very
few Of the men who can read or write,
and to see a aconaa7a that can do either is
a curiosity. They live in houses one sto-
ry high, made of mud, with mud floors,
and a chair or bedstead in doors is quite
as much novelty as plow, wagon, or
scythe is out of doors. They have no
knowledge Of the use of tools, and not
withstanding the excellent and unbound
ed pasture lands, there is not a pound of
butter or cheese made in the Territory,
and it is seldom that l get milk enough
for my coffee, for the reason that they
are too lazy to milk their COWS. They
use no lcaven in making bread, and there
fore you can Judge of its palntablene
they make no pastry; they never salt their
meat, but cut it into thin slices and dry
it in the sun, and when dry it resembles
chips, both in taste and appearance
They keep large focks of sheep, but they
make no use of the wool, except for beds
and pillows.
1t would, perhaps, amuse you to stand
in my Office door and look upon the Plaza
and observe the dress and manners of the
women as they pass. Their dress is COM
posed Of skirt of common muslin, with
neither sleeves nor waist, and extending
to just above the ankles. In the place of
a bonnet, they wear a "rebosa"-a thing
similar to lady's loag shawl, and when
they choose to be particularly modest,
they use to cover the nakedness of their
bosoms, which is not often, howeyer.-I
Their peronal habits are coarser and
more detestable than the brutes of the
forest, and the women, as a mass, are,
without exception of condition; whether |
married or unmarried, the vilest kind of |
prostitutes. Mothers, without shame,
'ell the favors of their daughters; and
husbands with eagerness accept the price
# their wives debaucheries from the hands
If all who choose to pay the tribute. 1t
impossible to conceive of state of So
iety more degraded or Abandoned;
nd, although regret to write it, there
re many American lawyers and mer-
hants here who keep their mistrcsses O.
enly and without shame, disgracing not
My themselves and the commercial and
Professional character, but debasing the
ankees in the eyes Of the natives to
equally as base IS themselves.
The religion Of the country is the black
st kind of Catholicism, and it has been
he policy of the priesthood to keep the
eople in condition of the most supreme :
gnorance and abandoned superstition
hey have been taught to sanction the
ilest practices of immortality from their
lildhood to the close of life, and to toll
'ate the most heinous and unmitigated
lines; indeed, they believe that it only a
'quires the intercesSion of the priest with '
le Almighty, to procure pardon of vii t
ny that is blacker than hell; and yet, n
the treaty between the U. States and r
-exico, these same people are made free b
I'D enlightened citizens of the American Il
Mon But the more | write upon this n
Ibject, the more difficult it becomes for b
c to give correct idea of the extent of k
e native degradation, and 1 will close P
is part of the subject by quoting the re- a
ark of John Randolph, of Virginia, that q
e people here are "nation of blanket I'll
robbers and reboSad prostitutes. - OF
ut this is view of the masses, to which OF
ere are occasional exceptions.