The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-05-15
: COUNTRY LIFE in MBx1CM


d, ing Arennd the Front Door-No Work
sut Keeping In the shade. !, -, f...4 4
h The life of a genuine country family in
the warm districts of Mexico, writes Il
correspondent is about aB happy an
illustration of quiet resignation and
peaceful cohtehtment, and blissfu ignor-
ance as this world can afford. / had the
pleasure of visiting such happy house
hold, about fifty miles inland from Vera
Cruz, nearly on the line of the railroad,
and this family shall stand up for a.
model The train was to make stop
for nearly an hour, and we had time to
wander around. The place at which we
stopped was a watering slation for the
engihe, and the entire settlement consist
ed of three structures that were not ex-
actly, right shape to be called huts, but
coUld not be dignifed with the name of
houses. The weather was about right
for sitting in an ice-house and tanning
yourself, although it was the middle Of
January. The vegetation was very much
such as we useu To see pictured in the
geoglaphies. so thick that it was hard to
walk through the bushes, and the big
leaves growing far upward and thep
curving gracefully down again. 1t was
in the midst of this world of green leaves
and bright flowers that these three habi-
tations stood. They were only samples
of hundreds more we saw lust like them,
and they had the most delightful Robin
son Crusoe air about them They were
built of twigs or small sticks about six
feet long and from half an inch to an inch
in diameter. These were bound together
and fastened to II framework of four posts
driven into the ground. with cross
pieces. The roofs wore of the same. and
sometimes covered with big leaves that
looked like tobacco spread out to dry.
Sometimes the interstires between the
twigs were filled in with muddy plaster
but generally they were not, and the air
was left to circulate. There was no floor
in any of the houses except the hard
packed earth, and this was generally
pretty hilly and uneven, and hard to walk
on. A little raised place made out of
poles, and covered with such old cloth
ing. rs they could raise, was the bed,
which must have served the whole fami-
ly, for there was only one in each house.
An iron kettle, and two forked sticks 10
hang it over the fire with, completed the
furniture. There was generally a rough
bench across the front of the house.
shaded by twig awning, where the
family sat in the heat of the day. There
were no windows, the only opening into
the house being the doorway, with no
door. The interior was always very
dark, but cool.
This is not to be regarded as the dwell
ling place of some outcast, away on the
mountains. 1t is a sample of the ordin-
ary residence of the rural Mexican of the
lowlands. On the lowlands it is hot all
the year round, and protection against
the sun is needed more than ANYTHING
else. 1t is not necessary to work for a
living. With lemons and oranges and
bananas, and all sorts of tropical fruits
growing around you till the leaves of
their trees fan the roofs of the huts. the
fruit to be had for the picking, plenty of
game to be had for the killing. the less
clothing the more comfort, and wages at
twenty-five cents Il day, what an awful
guy any man would make of himself who
went to work. Half IN hours exertion
would provide the family with delicious
provisions enough for week. Nothing
is lacking but fire-water. Pulque is not
used in the lowlands. But the native is
patient about it. When luck throws a
copper in his way he goes to the nearest
town and drinks it up. When she doesn't
he stays sober. When by any stroke of
fortune little money does fall into his
hands, he has only to put his rope bride
on the first horse or donkey he meets
/ (and he will mot have to look far for one)
and ride away
, The people who live in the houses are
lust about suitable matches for thei1
dwellings,. If it is possible for human
beings not to know anything at all, these
people are in that happy condition. They
lOll away most of their time in the most
convenient shade, and shade is plenty
There are generally one or two old pro.
pie in the house, and the head of the
family and his wife. and great troop OF
children. Children seem to grow on the
; trees, they are so plenty. Up to seven OF
eight years old they run around entirely
naked. and the clothing they wear after
! that age does not burden them much to
carry. OF course, they have nothing tc
! do, and they have none of that careworr
md prematurely old look that the chill.
dren of the table-lands have. Some OF
-he children, both boys and girls, are ex.
'pedinglv handsome. They nearly AL
white as pearls, which show off well be-
hind their dark skins. Their beauty
. however, is short-lived. Some of thc
boys are good-looking until they reach
i,rh+nnn - .,-"otr, but tho brtttty of tlIt
women rarely lasts beyond fourteen ol
fifteen, At this age they correspond will
an American woman Of thirty, except
that they are much smaller. Both men
md women are ridculously small. and
he halEgrown children are not much
larger than big dolls. These people can
not read or write, and have no idea of
anything in the world beyond the hut
they live in and the neighboring town
they sometimes visit. Their whole
earthly possessions would not sell for a
dollar, and they lead as simple lives as
Adam and Eve in Eden Nonpwspaper
ever comes to them with the latest dis
patches from the other end of creation.
Occasionally few soldiers swoop down
on them and capture man for the army,
but they generally manage to hear of
their coming and keep out Of the way.
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