Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-02-15
THE NIE.XIC!ANS.
OF Life IN New Mexico
characteristics OF People.

reaCureS Oh LILO III W." Mt4iCO-
characteristics OF a People.
Correspondence Wheeling Intelligence.
New Mexico is an immense country
and also very peculiar country. Its
largest town is Las Vegas, and sa
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 %, o0o, 900 of people, "mostly
FOOLS" New Mexico is country Of
100000 square miles, and $4,000
people, mostly Mex.cans. Here the
Mexicans live in all their ancient
primtiveness and good-for-nothingness.
They constitute about two-thirds of the
population. There are possibly so, 600
white people in the Territory. Mexicans
are not spoken of as white people, for
tie very good reason that they are rot
white. They are generally as dark as
muattos and som etlnes as white as
q 1adroons. Those Of Indian mixture
that is, recent mixture-have straight
Indian hair. Those OF the more pro.
nounced Spanish tyne 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 q few
small stones SO nc ti'nes, bnt 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 famiIi living in their different
Compartments, and having common
courtyard and placeta.
Tue Indians Call their ha,nlets puebles,
while the Mex.cans 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 on the
ground and eat OH the ground and live
OH the ground. AS q race they seem to
have been born tired. They are a great
people to sit and lie down. In This re-
spect, as we'll in their general stvle and
manner of living, they seem to be near
akin to the Southern negro. They have
Very few of them can speak English.
They have Spanish patois OF their own.
And yet they are very polite people.
You can venture to 20 into their houses
when visiting places with nnpunity.
They salute you with nod and q smile,
And if you can speak few words Of
Spanish, AS for in lance, "buenos dias"
good day) they are ever so much pleased.
And when you leave they salute you
with an .'adlos" (goodby).
The. Mexican poor, and nearly al of
them are mighty poor, live OIL less
than any people in America, not ex-
coping the Chinese. They can. for
instance, make meal On little grease
mixed with red peppers. Red peppers
seem to be a sample article Of diet
| with them, and you will sec strings of
peppers on the sides OF their "po ,ys'
just as you will see rings Of garlic in
the French market in New Orleans.
They call then Chilly" and chilly is
! omnipresent in their diet. 4 Mexican
is content to drive three or four barros
into town tlittle jocks and jennies
! loaded with pinon WOOL, representing
perhaps a week OF work-and this he
! sells for two bits burro-oai-and with
the proceeds lie buys sleeps head or
two or some equivalent in the way Of
meat, and then feasts Cor q week on
chilly soup. Tneir poor. diet is the
reason. SO it is sail. why they are SO
small, delicate and weak as compared
with tho whites. They only get about
halfthe pay for work that white men do.
| 4 boss carpenter told M that he paid
Americans 81 and 81 81 per day, and
Mexic ms S2.25 and $3.50. .@
BY the way, this boss carpenter Is q
German named Joseph Thielen. from
Guaymas pronounced Wynas}, Mexico,
down on the Sonora Rail DAD, on which
he is a division boss, and he is refugee
ing here from the yellow fever. he
says that.Ihe Mexieans are the greatest
gamblers on earth exceeding the Chin
ese5 it possibl and that as soon as they
I get their pay on payaavs they proceed
ito spread n bianket and bett beir money
Hence tfreySare always hard up, and fire.
I4uently they will sell their pa,
iahead ct shave Of So per cent. to Sc