The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-05-10
Mexican Common Life.

You will find the miserable jacals (huts
Of tho Mexican lower class on the outskirts
Of every town. made of mud, sticks, straw,
cornstalks, barrel slaves, shoe boxes, TIN
cases any old drift that will hang together
when once faster ed into place. They are
tightly rooted with tulc thatch, which
| slopes almost to tho ground. Sometimes
they stand III rows III the suburbs some-
| times they are perched on tho top Of a
clay conc, aud sometimes tucked away III
tho cracks Of dry ravlnes. Every tacal
has Its garden patch, where the women
cultivate few onions, red peppers, beans
and sweet potatoes. a llttle mud oven
| stands close by. A Mexican family can
live on hill OF beans per day. In the
winter five penny soup bone and yam
will satisfy their needs. Nearly eyory
one keeps small donkey and a few chick.
ems, a couple Of goats and blue skinned
dog, with no hair on except white tufts
on the top Of his head and tho tip Of his
tail. They SINCE tho thorns of the cactus
and feed the pods to the donkey; give the
soup-bone to the dog and tho goats have
what is lcf. In the boan-hill. Other dogs
have they, marvellous in number and va
rietY, whose bite dlsturbs no ono, but
whose nocturnal baying divides the voices
of the night with the cock-crowing that
resounds from house to jacal, and from
farm 80 ranch, in surgcs of sound like the
waves Of the sea"
Of tho interior Of these huts, 1t may be
said that the carthen floors are always
swept, and the gaudily covered bed looks
clean aud neat, thanks to the house thrift
of tho women, who seem always busy.
There arc abundant evidences of extreme
h,,f oEQ
for pater famllias, who doZcs III the sun
or shade alternately, according to the sea-
son, 1t costs him mighty effort to turn
great an eXe1tion. Occasionally, in dcs-
perate straits, he mustcrs energy enough
TO EGS:1ide his donkey and rido out to the
chaparral for black load of mesquite
sticks, which lie will sell for ''bit" on his
return, driving his beast before him. This
is the most momcntous event of his life,
and stimulated with tho proud conscious
ness OF having earned a shilling, he rises
III his rags and salutcs you with the grave
courtesy of a Spanish don. 1t Is tho cli-
max of his ambition, but 1t Is painful. His
children arc more active, and they vary
their outdoor play 10y throwing the lasso
at each other, the dogs and the goats; but
they never lasso the old man. lie IL too
dignlfied to be trincd with. And you will
notice that he never demcans himself by
attempting to speak English-ho has not
sunk so low as that; but hc will accept
American money without question, IT pre-.
sentcd to hlm in a respectful way. Vul-
game diosl
1t IL interesting "olk through these
strange purlieus or III Nwns and watch
tho beggars ut the ch,. CHI doors visit the
cuHec BtaIIs On InU 'pB as; nUte JrrU waIcr
carts on their merciful crrands tho wo-
men at their spinning wheels or pounding
corn tor their frugal meal, and tho grotes-
que nllkman astrido his donkey, going
bis morning rounds, dipping from one can
or the other as he serves and sells. 1t is
all very strange and foreign, but not
whit like tho halls of the Montezumas or
the Alhambra. SEQ tho accquios rum
ming through the streets, and the lrrigat-
ing ditchcs dug by the early Spanish CO.
lonlsts. ! saunter under tho shade OF huge
grape vines with stems as largo as a troo,
and hear the clang OF the iron bells in tho
old stone belfry, built two centuries ago.
l recognize all these traces of an attempted
civilization, like halt-obliteratcd footprints
In tho miro. 1t is the imprint of the
sterling coin upon the basest sort of com.
position, l would fajn fec in disgust from
the squalor, poverty, ignorance and SEMI
barbarism which has settled in the valley
like miasma-but already l behold the
sun of new dispensaton; SEQ that all
these Mexican features are being rapidly
wiped out by tho settlements from the
East, which have followed the completion
of the railroads.