Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-02-28
LIVING IN MEXIUO.
Letter From An American Lady.


cooking stoves in Mexico or even fire.
places like those of our graudmothers
days. One side Of the room i5 Occu-
pied by a wide shelf, built into the
wall, about breast high, in the centre
of which q small wood Fl e is kept
burning. There is no wood here which
q New England housewife would con-
slider fit to burn, only the gnarled and
twisted branches of mountain trees,
and around = little heap of those the
earthern cooking pots arc ranged. II
the family is small, sometimes this
smoky process is improved upon by |
building charcoal Ere in large |
earthen pot, and setting the smaller
cooking vessels within it. In many
houses mud oven is built ut one end |
OF the shelf, or somewhere out of doors. |
To heat tho oven n fire must be butt |
inside, and the entrance closed with n
hot stone. But as baked food enters
not into the household economy, an
oven is superlluous and seldom used
luxury,
In the centre of the kitchen stands
its most important factor, the ''me'
tate, for tortilla.making. lts q hOl-
lowed stone, the ordinary bread. bowl,
having two stone legs, about four
inches high, at one end, which inclinos
ut an angle of forty-fve degrees. The
tortila-makcr knCrls on the floor nj the
elevated end of the metatc, and-thc
corn having been previously boiled in
weak lye and still quito wet-sho
crushes it into paste with stone roll
ing pin, the mixture gradually sliding
down the Inclined plane into q dish
placed to receive it. When quantity
has thus been crushed, it is rolled into
balls and left until required. 1t is as
tonishing what an amount Of corn a
family Of ordinary size will consume in
q day IN the form of tortillas-the Mex
lean "staff of life" When meal is
ION the boards" the last act in the
drama Is to heat the griddlr, or, more
commonly-a smooth, fat stone. Then
the cook takes u lump OF the prepared
corn-paste and shapes it into thin
round cakes with little water and
much loud spatting of the hands, with
a sound so exactly like spanking chill
dren that one invOluntarily listens for
cry. The cakes are then baked
brown in jifly, and as substitute for
bread one nigh. 20 farther and fare
great deal worse than subsiSt on tot
tllas,
Whatever else American housekeep-
ers may find worthy of imitation IN
Mexican methods, | am certain dish
washing as that disagreable duty is
performed hcIe-"lh No, no on" of them.
The Mexican dish.wa,her does not
bother with table, but seats herself
spronely upon the floor, beside pail OF
hot or cold water. Sho has no soap,
but slice of cmO!G root makes Il
stronger and cleaner suds, and in lieu
of u dish-ClOth she uses tiny broom,
precisely like our smallest-,i6ed whisk-
brushes, No doubt this cleans the
dishes letter than 4 cloth, the only dis
agreeable suggestion being that these
dish brOOms are exactly like those used
to brush the family hair (there are few
combs used in Mexico, and the fear
vii intrndn that thpsa brushes may
sometimes got "mixed," Ike Butter
cups babies. The dishes are never
wiped, Tut are turned up to dry-some-
Zines in tray or on an adobe ledge,
bu generally are ranged against the
wall on the hard driit-lloor. Strange
to say, they always come to the table
clean and shining. The brass spoons
and stecl-bladod knives are kept bright
enogh to see ones face in, though no
bath. bricks or patent soaps arc employ
ed in their polishing nothing but pure
unadulerated earth. Tho servant,
whose daily task it is, takes them out
of doors, digs the ground little,
kneel', and holding tho knife or spoon
firmly upon stone, poli3hes at her
leisure. Despite earth floors, and the
absence of all those conveniences
which we consider Indispensable,
have never yet 5ecn in untidy kitchen
in Mexico, even IN the houses of the
poorest. Everything is kept a7 bright
and fresh as hands and emole can maxi
, it-even the cooking pottery which OF
necessity is smoked black whenever
, used. Could we combine their innate
, neatness with our improved methods,
tho result would be that dc
gree of cleanliness which we are told
IS "akin to godliness.
> Every Mexican household has a great
, number of servants in proportion Il
! the size of the family, and how they al
occupy themselves is mystery. There
is one whose sole mission in life is Il
{ make tortilas; another to do the mar
> keting and act as steward; Others Il
$ cook another to wait on table
$ another to keep the house tidy
s another to attend the children
Q to brush the mistress hair anc
:, shake the dust out OF her dresses (whicl
r sweep these dirty streets whenever sht
d walks abroad); beside gardeners, hos
tiers, Wallets, etc. But sorvant-keep
ing in Mexico is n very different thin!
from that in the United States Her
they do not require congressman
Il salary, nor demand days out and com
pany in, nor grow so obstreperous tha
the lady of tho house Is barely pr
. mitted to remain, providing she is sui
ficiently polite. Mexican creados con
n slider four dollars month maniiicen
salary, and grow rich on it In time
&c according 10 their IDEAS of affluencC
They clothe themselves on the gifts q
n cast.off garments of their employers
sleep on the lloor-in the court, whol
70 ever it happens-and arc UNIVERSAL
', pious and apparently contented. IL
Il deed, | have observed that the poorC
they are, and the lower down in tn
IS social scale, the more pious and col
n tented they seem. Who shall say thc
the sponge, the oyster, the polyp, doe
t. not enjoy life better than the roarin
10 lion and the soaring eagleP As n elias:
these creados are the most homes
f. obliging aud simplc-hearted folks
Ie have ever met. Each wears his preciou
charm blessed by the priesD suspend
n ed by string around his neck, an
" " tells his beads devoutly many times
y day. When annoyances arise, or dar
!, gers threaten, tho words "Bal9a nj
'' Dios" (protect me, God) rise TO his liE
as naturally as sparks fly upwarc
u Happy people! How gladly would mo-
l. i of us exchange our struggles with th
"a world and tho little we have gained
y y the way of knowledge for their III
III questioning faith and tho contento
Innya,ty ,yhioh asnirna IN M hiuhpr In