Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-01-26
THE MEXICAN DUDE.
Solomon 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
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 in Mexico
walking has become almost lost art.
1t is positive fact thai because these
people walk so seldom their feet have
become dwaFfed and shrunken to in
credible smallness. Fancy n New
Yorker or a Chicagoan in ladies' shoes.
No or 5, with toes tapering to an
infinitesimal point. and enormously
high French heels set exactly under the
instep. What can you expect in the
way of great deeds and worthy achieve
ments from race of men whose feet
are shod like that?? Yonder goes the
dude of Yautepec. wealthy young
sugar-planter, whose ancestral acres
stretch away beyond the limits of
vision. He bestrides 4 prancing steed.
the pace of which is here known as
''single STEP" and the gorgeous saddle
almost out of sight must have cost a
moderate fortune Observe how GIN
gerly he holds his gold-headed whip.
and how the big diamond sparkles in
the end of it! See his pearl inlaid re-
volvers protruding from the sash of
crimson silk which his short, black
jacket imperfectly cOnceals. His panta-
looms, tight rs two candie-moulds. are
decorated with double rows of genuine
half-dollars up the outside seams. set
on so closely as 10 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 gold cable
as large as your thumb wound round
and round it, and its bread, thick brim
bears heavy arabesque of gold. His
horse is so perfectly trained that the
rider never uses the rein, but bends
to the right or left to indicate his wish.
The mozo. or groom. who rides be-
hind at respectful distance. forms an
admirable foil to the gor@eousness of
his MASTER whom he constantly eyes
with an air of excessive pride and
dignity. rs one who says: There he
goes, just look ut him! Amt he q
daisy? 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 brooches
are madros (siX cent pieces, instead of
half-dollars. Besides the dagger and
brace of pistols which he sports in his
cotton sash, broad, savage-looking
sword, called mechate, is stuck in the
saddle-sheath. This warlille rig, though
scarcely needed now. is 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 q shawl of some
sort, the masculine shawl being called
zarape, and the feminine a reboso.
Many OF the women have a 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, -senor. Were it not for
that preventive | would perish of dolOr
de cabeSa. Philadelphia Record.