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

SoA'oA' pOhCl any AS Sings -ooLHSN41lli5 vi
this sort:
No me matesl No me matesl
Con pistola hi punal;
Matame con I'm besito
De tus labias dc coral"
Translated into cold Yankee the love
lorn lay is about as follows:
''Do not kill me Do not kin me.
With pistol nor dagger;
XIII me with a little kiss
From your lovely coral lips
The sombreroed singer-in bright blue
breeches, silver-embroidered Jacket of
yellow kid, with complexion like an old
shoe and big black eyes of marvellous
brilliancy-is the valet of local digni-
tary, and reioices under the name Of Juan
Bautista-John the Baptist.
These gentle people, by the way, mean
no disrespect to sacred things in their
rather startling nomenclature, but on the
contrary, desire to prove their loving rev.
erence by giving to their children the
hottest names they know.
Don Juan Bautista has been singing to
our Jesusita nightly-so she tells me-for
about four years, and squandering good
share OF his income in bouquets to toss be-
tween the bars, uncertain whether they
are appropriated by maid or mistress.
care you engaged to marry him ?'
asked.
" Engaged! Senoritap' replied she, in
surprise. "He has never asked me to
marry him."
"Then why does he come every night
and give you so many flowers, if he is not
in love with you?
in love with me, Senorita, oh. yes"
said the blushing maiden, " but he has not
yet had time to tell me so only in songs.
He means me for his esposa (wife), by and
by, and he would kill any other man who
came to serenade me-"
To northern ideas it seems absurd that
love-sick swain has not found time, after
four years of constant attendance, to de-
clare himself, but that is the way with
these queer people-they fall in love
literally" in the twinkling of an eye" and
postpone the consummation of it often
half lifetime, content meanwhile to
moon about the windows and write the
most extravagant billet doux, full of ten
der expressions such as, " Vida mia, luz de
mis- ojoS, micOragoncjto go ii quiere a t.; me
queres taf" (My life, light of my eyes,
my hearts treasure, | love thee; lowest
thou me?)
Yucatecan gentlemen, higher in the
social scale than John the Baptist, are not
less extravagant in their expressions of
gallantry. In saluting ladies they still OBJ
serve the Spanish form, "a los pies de
listed cat your feet ", to which figure
of speech the correct response is " BeSo a
listed Ia mdnO" 81 kiss the hand to you').
In closing an ordinary letter of business or
friendship, everybody in this part of the
world always adds B. S. NJ, meaning "Beso
sus manos" az kiss your hands'5. The
Spanish-American, like his Latin brethren
across the sea, talks quite as much with
shrugs his shoulders as frequently
as a Frenchman. One of the pref
test of the many gestures in general
use here is called the beso soplaGo-throw-
ing kisses by gathering the fingers of the
right hand into a close group, touching
the lips, then throwing them out like
fan, at the same time blowing on the hand
as it is outstretched toward the person for
whom the demonstration is intended, thus
signifying that five kisses are given at
once.
Gentlemen manifest their appreciation
of female beauty by gazing intently into
the faces of the ladies, whether in the
street, in church OF at the opera. This
custom, which elsewhere is resented as an
lmpertinence, is here accepted-as it is
meant-merely as lattering tribute to
the fair ones charms. Between acts at
the opera men rise to their feet and with
leveled glasses pay admiring homage to
those dark-eyed senoritas whose beauty
has attracted them. Then the pretty Ian
guage of the fan comes into play and the
well-pleased maidens carry away blissful
memories Of gallant knights and "eyes
that spake again"
In ascending a stairway the lady takes
the gentleman's arm, as ut the north. but
in descending he always goes a step or
two ahead, holding her firmly BY the
hand to avoid accident, with rs much So
licitude as if she were an invalid or a Grip
pie, The same careful attention is offered
to the veriest stranger, as naturally and
with far more regularity and promptitude
than our own countrymen show in relin-
gushing a seat in Il crowded car to one of
the weaker sex.
On leaving the house after having made
a friendly call, the salutation with the
hand, the oft-repeated bow, and the "a los
pies Usted," are continued Just as long as
one is in sight, and instead Of finding any
thing tedious and wearisome in this long
drawn-out civility, one feels as if he had
been transported back to the DAYS of
chivalry.
One highly commendable trait of Yucca
tecan character is that they will never say
disagreeable to you, either on
their own account or in repeating the Cos
sip of others. For instance, in abiding to
ones age, the greatest delicacy is always
exercised: If one is considerably advanced
IN years, he is spoken of asrisjito ga little
old y. A girl may remain unwedded
thirty years or more before sheis ever con-
sidered 4 sOlterd, or in plain English an
old maid; and after that nothing more
offensive is ever said than that she is ''lnuy
Jastidiosd " every difficult to please ",
and they sometimes add that she is 4" good
to dress the saints" meaning that, having
no family of her own to make garments
for, she may devote her time to the holv
work of making vestments for the sacred
images
Bachelors are remarkably numerous, and
they also have special names Besides the
term s0heroHes, young unmarried men are
known as gallinos, and older ones AS qalios
-(young and old roosters). while the
dudish gallants, who are perpetualIy
standing about the streets watching for
passing senoritaS and staring them out of
eountenance, are appropriately called
tdigoTtyos- lizards because they are
always out in the sun. A Spanish-Ameri-
can dude and idler is not worse than the
species elswhere, but in dress and deport-
ment he is all complete. even to the eve
glass. Since small and elegantly-formed
feet are source of national pride. of
course the exquisite carry it to excess. Not
satisfied with the natural grace of slender
form and arched instep, he squeezes it into
a shoe at least two sizes too small for him.
extremely pointed at the toe and with
high heels in the center of the
foot.
Sisters have fancy for dressing pre-
eisely alike in the minutest particular. so
that not bow or a button, flower or an
article of jewelry varies. In the tropics.
you know, large families are the fashion.
and any day one may see girls cut In
groups, of three or four to a dozen. who
by one glance at their clothes. YOU nav
know TO belong to the same parentage |
Tins II - eaSy n distip,,,;sl, IL = II = !