The Opelousas courier., 1888-01-28
H MEXICAN DUDE.
A Wealthy Young Sugar Planter
on5His Prancing Steed.
trousers Decorated WithRows
of Half Dollars.

From this balcony of mine, writes a
correspondent of the Philadelphia Press,
one may see the grande danes and dons
of Yautepec out on dress parade; the
former mostly in their carriages, and the
| latter on horseback. The well-to-do
citizen is seldom seen on foot, and
among the upper classes id Mexico
walking has become almost a lost art.
It is a positive fact that because these
peeple walk so seldom their feet have
become dwarfed and shrunken to in
credible smallness. Fancy a New
Yorker or a Chicagoan in ladies' shoes,
No. 4 or 5, with toes Eapering to an in
finitesimal point, and enormous high
French heels set exactly under the in
step. What can you expect in the
way of great deeds and worthy
achievements from a race of men
whose feet are shod like that?
Yoader goes the dude of Yautepec, a
wealthy young sugar planter, whose an
cestral acres stretch away beyond Nhe
limits of vision. He bestriies a pranc-
ing steed, the pace of which is here
known as "single STEP" and the gor-
geous saddle and troppings that cover
the animal almost out of sight must
have cost a moderate fortune. Observe
how gingerly he holds his gold-headed
whip and how the big diamond sparkles
in the end of it. See his pearl inlaid
revolvers protruding from the sash of
crimson silk, which his short, black
jacket imperfectly ~conceals. His panta-
looms, tight as two candlemolds, are
decorated with double rows of genuine
half dollars up the outside seams,
set on SO closely as to overlap and
braided together with gold cord. The
pointed toes of his tiny shoes thrust into
silver stirrups of enormous size, and
from his heels dangle silver spurs that,
ten to one, outweigh his feet. His
great sombrero of white felt has a gold
cable large as your thumb wound round
and round it, and its broad, thick brim
bears a heavy arabesque of gold. His
horse is SO perfectly trained that the
rider never uses the rein, but bends
slightly to the right or left to indicate
his wish.
The mozo, or groom, who rides be-
hind at respectful dista1fe, forms an
admirable foil to the g~orgdSusnoss of his
master, whom he constantly eyes with
an air of excessive pride aif dignity, as
one who says: ''There he goes, just
look at him! Amt he a daisya His
hacienda covers 1905 square miles, and
that white sombrero cost 500 if it cost
a cent" The mozo is a good deal more
soberly dressed than the dude he fol-
lows, though his sombrero is equally
Broad, and tho coins on his breeches are
madros Decent pieces, instead of half
dollars. Besides the dagger and brace
of pistols which he sports il his cotton
sash, a broad, savage-looking sword,
called a mechate, is stuck in the saddle
sheath. This warlike rig, though
scarcely needed now, is o survival of
the time when personal defence was a
matter of daily necessity.
The elaborate dressing of the upper
classes makes the. simple dressing Of the
lower strata of society more apparent
by contrast. The street below our bal
cony is full of poems, who are as ig-
4orant, squalid and supegtitious as they
are guifeless and warm-hsarted. Most
of them wear a shawl of some sort, the
masculine shawl being calleta zarape,
AMI the feminine a rebqso. Many of
the women have q piece off black paper
pasted on either temple, which looks
like the label of a spoil of cotton.
Should you ask one of them what that
is for she would reply: 'Ror the head
ache, senior. Were 1t not: for that pre-
ventive | would perish of dolor de
cabesa."