Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-26

evil-minded person introduced the bang"
into Mexico and Central America, and
ever since every female with any preten-
sions to style, between the ages of five and
fifty, wears her hair cut straight across the
forehead-a Ia poodle.
Speaking of dress, the costume of about
nine-tenths of the boys of Yucatan, under
ten and twelve years of age, is simplicity
itself, consisting of a straw hat, generally
crownless, discarded by somebody else,
pair of sandals made by his mother and
string around his neck with ''charm" at
tached which has been duly blessed by the
local priest. Sometimes, for state occa-
sions, he dons little calico shirt, but
evidently feels desperately hampered and
| lii at ease in such shackles of conventional
ity. The attachment of all classes TO their
homes is striking feature of the national
| character, and reverence for parents goes
| with them through their welded lives, in
creasing with the lapse of years. A man
| or woman never grows too old to kiss the
| hands of the aged father and mother, and
to visit them every day if they live in the
same city; and the time never comes in
the lives of the parents when the children
are not more or less amendable to them.
1t IS not unusual to see several families
! residing in the same casa, as the grown-up
sons with their wives and the daughters
with their husbands could not be spared
by their loving parents.
! AS to the Indian character the early
historians enormously affirmed that the
affection which naturally springs up be-
tween the sexes did not exist among
them. Perhaps the sentiment and refine
ment of love do not, but circumstances
and habit bind the Indian man and wo-
man together as strongly as any other
ties. When the humble Yucateco grows
up to manhood he needs a helpmate to
make his tortillas and wash his Clothes
and otherwise attend to his comfort.
Thereupon he procures one (often by the
providence of his MASTERY, without much
regard to compatibility of temper, or even
of age. But though a young man is
mated with a old woman, or vice versa,
| they invariably live contentedly together.
If he finds her guilty of any serious mis-
demeanor, he takes her to the priest, or to
the alcalde and has her soundly whipped,
after which he tucks her under his arm, a
| wiser if not, better woman, and they cog
home amicably together
l overheard an Indian woman complain
to the priest of her husbands utter neg
lect and indifference toward her, alleging
as the browning proof of his lack of con-
jugal affection that he had not whipped
her for more than two weeks As rule,
however, the Indian is not harsh to his
wife, and the devotion of the women to
their husbands has often been remarked.
They share their pleasures as well as their
labors. When a village fiesta is in pro-
gress they go up together with all their
children, and one of the most affecting in
cidents of their lives is when some bust
ness necessity takes the husband day or
two from his home.
As for the women, Of all classes, they
never so away from home and such a
thing as travelling for pleasure is I'M
dreamed Of The visible horizon COM
prises all their world, and in all Merida
there is scarcely a native-born woman who
has ever been outside the State.
FANNIE B. WARD.