Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-01-04
THE MEXICAN DUDE.
l0lOmOn In All His Glory Was Not Ar.
rayed Like One OF Them.

sOlOmOn IN All HIS Glory was Not Ar
rayed Like One OF Them.
From this balcony of mine one may
zee the grande danes and dons of
Tautepeo out on dress-parade, the
ormer mostly in their carriages and
he latter on horseback. The well-to-
10 citizen is seldom seen on foot, and
.mong the upper classes in Mexico
Walking has become almost lost art.
t is a positive fact that because these
people walk so seldom their feet have
become dwarfcd and shrunken to in
credible smallness. Fancy New
Yorker or Chicagoan in ladies' shoes,
No. 4 or S, with toes tapering to an
nffhitesimal point. and enormously
ugh French heels set exactly under the
nstep. What can you expect in the
way Of great deeds and worthy achieve
nents from a race of men whose feet
ire shod like thatPp Yondcr goes the
Jude of Yautepec, wealthy young
'ugar-planter, whose ancestral acres
stretch away beyond the limits of
ision. He bestrides prancing steed,
he pace of which is here known as
single STEP" and the gorgeous saddle
ind trappings that cover the animal
Utmost out of sight must have cost
Moderate fortune. Observe how GIN
yerly he holds his gold-headed whip.
md how the big diamond sparlSles in
The end of it! See his pearl inlaid re-
7olvers protruding from the sash of
crimson silk, which his short, black
Jacket imperfectly conceals: His panta-
oons, tight as two candle-moulds, are
decorated with double rows of genuine
,alf-dollars up the outside seams, set
IN SO closely as to overlap. and braided
together with gold cord. The pointed
;oes of his tiny shoes thrust into silver
,tirrups of enormous size, and from his
aeels dangle silver spurs that, ten to
one, outweigh his. feet. His great
'ombrero of white felt has q gold cable
rs large as your thumb wound round
and round it, and its broad, thick brim
bears a heavy arabesque of gold. His
aorse is SO perfectly trained that the
rider never uses the rein, but bends
20 the right or left to Indicate his wish.
The mozo, or groom, who rides be-
oind at respectful distance. forms an
admirable foil to the gorgeousness of
his master, whom he constantly eyes
with an air of excessive pride and
dignity. as one who says: "There he
goes. just look at him! Amt he a
laisy? His hacienda covers one thou
sand square miles, and that white
sombrero cost one hundred dollars if it
cost cent" The mozo is a good deal
more soberly dressed than the dude he
follows, though his sombrero is equally
broad, and the coins on his breeches
are madros (six cent pieces), instead of
half-dollars. Besides the dagger and
brace of pistols which he sports in his
cotton sash, broad, strengthening
sword. called a mechate, is stuck in the
saddle-sheath. This warlike rig, though
scarcely needed now. is a 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 ap-
parent by contrast. The street below
our balcony is full of poems, who are
as ignorant. squalid and superstitious
as they are guileless-and warm-hearted.
Most of them wear shawl of some
sort, the masculine shawl being called
zarape, and the feminine a reboso.
Many OF the women have piece of
black paper pasted on either temple.
which looks like the label of spool of
cotton. Should you ask one of them
what that is for she would reply: For
the headache, senior. We're it not for
that preventive I would perish of dolor
de ca6esa. "-PhiladetphiG Record.