River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-02-14
THE NIRXICANs.

Features OF Lite IN New MeX1cO-
characteristics of n People.
Correspondence Wheeling intelligence.
New Mexico is an immense country
and also very peculiar country. Its
largest town is Las Vegas, and ga
place of 5000 people-so the citizens
say at least-and you know how prone
people are to tell the truth about the
size of their towns. The late Thomas
Carlyle once said that England was
country of %, 100000 Of people, mostly
FOOLS" New Mexico is a country OF
114,000000 square miles, and $4,000
people, mostly Mexicans. Here the
Mexicans live in all their ancient
primitiveness and good-for-nothingnes
They constitute about two-thirds OF the
population. There are possibly $4,000
white peoble in the Territory. Mexicans
are not spoken Of as white people, for
tie very good reason that they are not
white. They are generally as dark as
mulattos and sometimes as white as
qladroons. Those of Indian mixture
that is, recent mixture-have straight
Indian hair. Those OF the more pro-
nounced Spanish type have dark, curly
hair. And yet, with dark compilations.
dark eyes, and dark hair, you rarely
see real handsome man or woman.
They live poor and look poor. People
generally look the way they live.
The Mexican masses live in adobe
houses--called Dolby houses out
here--that is, houses built out of brown
mud. They mix this mud with few
small stones sometimes, but not often.
1t is quite often mud bricks, about three
times the size of our bricks, dried in the
sun and laid in the wall two feet thick.
Nearly all of them are one story houses.
Many of them are built, like fort,
several famili, living in their different
compartments, and having common
courtyard and placeta.
The Indians call their haDllets puebles,
while the Mexicans call them placetas.
They live on the floors, of their houses,
aud the floors, like the walls are simply
"doby," or earth. Go in and out where
you will, you nearly always find
the women and children squatting
on the floor. | suppose that the
large majority of MeXicans sleep or the
ground and eat on the ground and live
on the ground. As a race they seem to
have been born tired. They are great
people to sit and lie down. In this re-
spect, as well in their general stvle and
manner of living, they seem to be near
akin to the Southern negro. They have
but little more get up and get in them.
Very few of them can speak Engllshs
They have a Spanish patois of their own.
And vet they are a very polite people.
You can venture to go into their houses
when visiting places with lmpunlty.
They salute you with nod and smile,
And if you can speak few words o.
Spanish, as for instance, "buenos dias'
good day. they are ever so much pleased.
And when you leave they salute you
with an "adios" (goodby).
The Mexican poor, and nearly al OF
them are mighty poor, live OH less
than any people in America, not ex-
cepting the Chinese. They can, for
instance, axe meal on little grease
mixed with red pc ppers. Red Peppers
seem to be a stanple article OF diet
with them, and you Will see strings oil
peppers on the sides of their 'po iys"
Just as you will see strings of garlic in
the French market in New Orleans.
They call then chilly" and chilly is
omnipresent in their diet. A Mexican
is content to drive three or four barros
into town 0ittle jacks and jennies
loaded with pinon wood, representing
perhaps week of work-and this he
sells for two bits burro-load-and with
the proceeds he buys sleeps head or
two or some equivalent In the way OF
meat, and then feasts for a week on
chilly soup. Their poor diet is the
reason, so it is sail, why they are so
small, delicate and weak as compared
with the whites. They only get about
half the pay for work that white men do.
A boss carpenter told me that he paid
Americans 81 and 81 50 per day, and
Mexicsns 1925 and $3.50.
By the way, this boss carpenter ls
German named Joseph Thielen, from
Guaymas pronounced Wymas), Mexico,
down on the Sonora Railroad, on which
he is division boss, and he is refugee
ing here from the yellow fever. he
says that the Mexicans are the greatest
gamblers on earth-exceeding the Chin
ese if possible-and that as soon as they
get their pay on paydaYs they proceed
to spread blanket and bet their money.
Hence they are always hard up, and FREE
quently they will sell their pay
ahead at a shave of so per cent. to get
gambling-money. And you would sup
pose they were a very religious people.
Even here in New Mexico they have an
adobe church in their adobe placetas.
And curious old structures these
churches are. There is placeta near
here that boasts church two hundred
years old. 1t hasn't a seat in II and new
er had. The women sit on the ground
during service and the men stand. The
door is very ancient and opens in two
sections. A man goes up ladder to
the roof to ring the bell The bell is
swung on cross-timber built into ga
BILE of dobe.