Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-02
MEXICAN LIFE.
Graphic Description of the Street and ."'
door Life of the Mexican Peasant, i.

t"CNVS~SN az
Graphic Description of the Street an" ga
door Life of the Mexican Peasant, i.
The Mexican dandy is one thing. and
the average life of the people is quite
another, but the tendency to hang col
ored banners upon the outer walls OF
the national life is the same in all
classes. The Indians or peasantry wear
white cotton shirts and trousers. that
contrast with their brown skins and
straw hats. They all carry the serape
or blanket hat is necessity for the
early morning and evening. and this is
always brilliant-hued. The costume of
the womenis equally simple-generally
a white waist and skirt, with Il shawl
called Il reboso. Gay colors are fire.
quently affected in the %petticoats and
rcbosos, and the passion for gew-gaws
and cheap jewelry betrays a universal
feminine weakness. Both wear
sandals of raw-hide. and while the
women most frequently cover their
heads with the shawl, they are often
hated like the men. These people live
cheaply and also very informally in
many ways. The climate is on their
side, as it's mildness necessitates much
less in the way of food, clothing, fuel
and shelter than with you. The scale
of their life is something between the
luxurics of your civilization and the
vicissitudes Of Indian experience in the
West-very far inferior to the comforts
of the old slave days of the South. The
idea of home life, as you know it, is
wanting. The independent house is
unknown to the laborers of the cities,
whose room or roomsa are on the ground
floor, where there is little light and
practically no ventilation. In the SUBJ
urbs of this city and in the country the
Indians usually own their adobe and
mud dwellings or cabins. 1t is q
strange domestic life which every
street stroller can contemplate in all
its details. The common laborers use
neither chairs, tables nor beds, the sub
stitute for the latter being rolls of rush
mating; these are very full of
life, but they are bare of furniture; IL
variety of carthen vessels holdthc fam
lily food and drink, and during the
morning hours the women are univcr-
sally occupied in grinding out corn
on a metate of flat stone. This is a
laborious preliminary to the prepara-
| ton of the tortilla or Indian bread. that
is eaten with ~frijoles or boiled brown
beans, and meat boiled or fried-whcn
! the latter can be afforded. A not UNI
palatable sauce concocted out of lard,
red pepper, onions and cheese, is q
priced accompaniment. These people
are not unhappy in their primitive and
1 Snalor,,o%, D,,r~,~lo% hut %l,1~
need better things. To live on an un-
drained dirt floor, in an unventilated
room, above the swamp that underlies
all this city, and amid the sharp daily
changes of ever a mild climate, is to
invite the grim destroyer. He comes
very frequently in the form of pnuemo-
MIA, as might be expected. 1t is pleas
ant to note that improved tenemcnts
are now being built, which will bring
| the laborer nearer to the comfort pos
sessed by those whom he serves so
faithfully, The new tenements havo
wooden floors raised several feet above
the ground, are neat, light and airy,
and open courts that are paved, drained
and supplied with water.
The street life of the city is cosmo-
politan, but essentially Eastern in
many of its features. The aguador, or
watcr-carrier is q more familiar
figure here than is the lctter-carrier
who fits about Il Northern city, and he
is also a more essential public servant.
The aguador might have stepped out
from a canvas scene of far-away Syria.
He wears a kind of leather armor that
encircles two great jars depending
| from fhn hanV D,,o 1f,r, 1,,l A. tho
beeind, and is the source of the house.
hold water supply. The water o:
the city is brought over the nam
moth a%queducts into the public
fountains. and thence it must be
obtained for domestic use. The aqua
dor serves alike the Just and the unjust,
and he is too busy to be any thing but
an honest fellow, who speedily becomes
a very accomplished and popular gossip.
The Indian trait of feudal fidelity to
places and the ancient customs appears
in these water-carriers, who are in love
with their labor and never dream that
they lag superiiuous OF the stage rs 3.
mighty poor makcshift for the %all-per-
vading water pipe. They keep out the
plumber, to be sure; but hat lord OF
the North would be a very harmless
individual in II country where Jack
Frost never intrudes in any serious
way. Beggars are as plenty as feas,
and the foreigner is made the victim Of
both pests. The flea enforces his claim
with a pair of sharp nippers, and the
mendicant wouldd do likewise; the former
is principally felt, and the latter is
always c Every corner, well nigh
each step. brings a pitiable applicant
for aims, and n speedily observes
that blindness is exceedingly common
in the raritied air and binding light,
insomuch that extraordinary precau-
lions are necessary to protect the eyes.
In going from brilliantly : lighted
theaters into the night air pleasure
seekers cover their eyes for a season so
as to make the readjustment less try
ing. Those having weakness of the
eyes may we'll exercise great caution
in coming to Mexico, and the least
that they can do will be toforego read
ing in the cars.-Merico Cor. ;Spriuo-
feM Republican.
Protection Against Dogs.